IST-Data Services Blog

Nina Simon (who writes the Museum 2.0 blog) recently wrote about her impressions of the IMLS Meeting on Museums and Libraries in the 21st Century that took place last week. The meeting was preliminary to a large report that NAS is commissioning on the subject.  It is an interesting survey of the state of attitudes in the industry, from the perspective of someone who wants to see things move forward.

She includes notes on the six topics that the workshop discussed:

1. How do you plan for the future?
2. What are the essential differences and similarities between libraries and museums?
3. How do you measure and articulate the value of museums and libraries?
4. How can our expertise and assets be applied towards new ends?
5. Who owns the stuff? Who controls the experience?
6. How do we reimagine physical space and assets?

Her general observations:

1. Some leaders are more radical than I hoped, and these people have a hard time advocating for change when their accountability is to those who have not changed.
2. Some leaders are more conservative than I feared, and these people are alternately smug and desperate about maintaining their power.
3. Meetings about the future end up being about the present. We were much less creative and forward-thinking than we could have been. Dream big, share it in the comments, and help this be a more productive study.

Read the post – it is interesting, and a good introduction to that blog, if you do not know it already.