Exhausted but gratified
The absolute best thing in the world is to see the things you’ve been working on come to fruition. That happened for me on Saturday at ALA at the Mayflower Hotel when 30 people showed up in person (and 7000+ people virtually visited) LITA BIGWIG’s Social Software Showcase. As Michelle said, it was hand-down “best thing I did at ALA this year”. Not just because I helped put it together, but mostly because I got to hang out with some people who I respect and admire within the profession and discussion/debate social software and libraries. The Tim Spalding-Michael Porter debate (which I stuck my nose into) was interesting and awesome all at the same time.
To be frank though none of it would have happened without: Michelle, Jason, Karen, David, Dave, Jessamyn, Casey, Michael, Michael, Tom, Iris, Simon, Tim, and all the folks in LibraryLand who gave us shout outs before and after the event.
All of this was beyond gratifying, but at the same time when I saw the email which Griffey posted about. My heart sank completely, honestly it made me think long and hard about again about whether or not I want to continuing my relationship with ALA. It seems I still have a love/hate relationship with ALA.
But the truth is that the only way the system changes is if people participate and try to change it. Cindi points this out as does Aaron, Karen, and Josh. So I took a deep breath and a mental break and decided that we must be doing something right if we are getting this much attention. Now, I’m mentally planning BIGWIG’s next potential projects that I’m hoping to post about it August (not before because the UH Libraries web redesign is killing me right now) and pondering what else I might possibly do to effect some change. Will I lose my sanity and/or soul if I say, run for a seat on ALA Council?
Glad to help out. In answer to this question:
Will I lose my sanity and/or soul if I say, run for a seat on ALA Council?
My answer is “not necessarily but you will use up a lot of time that you could have spent on other more fun projects being on Council” I did my time and opted not to continue. I’ll vote for you if you run.
Run for LITA Board instead! You may not change ALA that way, but you can help fight the good fight to make sure that LITA doesn’t totally succumb to ALA inertia. LITA may not be perfect, but it at least tries to be more agile and it takes folks like you and Jason and Michelle to keep that free spirit alive and kicking.
My only regret is I couldn’t join the showcase discussion at ALA. I’ve been in an unconference event and I know this kind of setup is usually more useful because what our discussions are always to the point. So, congrats to the team. I’m looking forward to be able to participate next year.