Happy New Year friends and welcome to my new readers and friends!
If you're reading this, then congratulations! You made it out of 2020 and into a new decade. I do not know how your 2020 was, but if I can be frank with you about mine, I really have absolutely nothing to complain about concerning last year. No, I was not under a rock the whole time. It's just that if I could say anything about 2020 is that I learned way more about myself and life than probably any other year of my existence. For that reason, I am deeply grateful.
I won't get into all my epiphanies here. AND, I won't recap the events of last year either. If you lived through it (and duh, you're reading this now) then you already know. And if by some chance you have happened across this post in the distant future and don't have a clue of what I'm talking about, if Google is still around, just Google "world events of 2020." It will be interesting to see what will pop up first!
So let's turn our attention back to why I blog, libraries! Speaking of Google, (I have NOTHING against Google) it would be really lovely if we as a society and culture (referring to American or Western) could shift our perspective to not lay all of your questions and research requests on "Google" knowledge when we have libraries. I'm aware that the word "library" has a very specific connotation to it. However, as I have mentioned in other posts, libraries have evolved with the changing times while also keeping its rich traditions of all the memories the word "library" evokes.
The opportunities and possibilities birthed out of last year (and decade) for libraries are really vast if we choose seek them.
Virtual programing for youth and adults
Community partnerships
Educational partnerships
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion partnerships
Expansion to even more diverse physical collections
Expansion of virtual collections
Re-assessment of subject analysis and ethical cataloging
Rethinking physical spaces (small boutique libraries vs large all-services libraries)
just to name a few. All of these items are not new considerations. Librarians and information services professionals have been evaluating these ideas for decades. Yet, one of the many outcomes that came out of the events of 2020 was a force to re-evaluate how we do things in EVERY industry.
Think about it, businesses that were struggling are now thriving because we all have new needs. Businesses that were thriving are now struggling because they now need to find new ways to serve their customers. Libraries are no different. At the risk of this post going on for many more hours, I will end here. This is a conversation and open dialogue that can generate more ideas about how to serve and learn. Let's consider that one the foci for this year for ModPers. Thanks for hanging out with me. Let's chat!