 How many of us are familiar with gray gardens? Oh good. I love it. Okay, so this was kind of weird But for some reason I've been thinking a lot about Little Edie boobie a feel boobie a um and the Maisel's documentary about gray gardens talks about this mother daughter Who live in a sort of derelict mansion in the East Hamptons and in a lot of ways. It's a very sad Story, but one of the reasons that I love it is because little Edie especially is probably one of the most poignant thinkers you will find in a documentary and one of the Quotes that I think comes up quite a bit as you search the internet and search for clips and other things is this one She's reminiscing and she says it's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present You know what I mean? It's awfully difficult And I know that this frames this in terms of the past But I think sometimes when we think about things we think about well the past is this discreet thing The present is this other discreet thing and then the future is this other discreet thing and especially when talking with libraries I think many of us because the work we're doing is so important is focused on the present because we're responding to really urgent and important needs and Sometimes then when people come in and they want to talk about the future it can be somewhat off-putting perhaps It can sometimes come across as perhaps Disrespectful to the very important work that's happening in the present But I think what little Edie is trying to say is that it's all part of a continuum And so a part of me who's been wondering what would little Edie start to think about in terms of the line between the present And how hard is it for us to determine what that line is and in truth? I think it's very hard to keep a very distinct line between the present and the future because it's always emergent It's always kind of stringing together this idea of what we're doing right now We do not simply because we're being responsive to what's happening in our communities now But we do it because we have a vision for the types of organizations and the types of people and the types of communities That we want to be going forward. I would say also You know, I feel with so many things these days lines are blurred with our intersectionality as people and places and Experiences, you know That those lines we're all stepping over them. There's This poet whom I stalked for a little while Achi Obeha And she would always talk about she's Cuban American. She has a great book. We came all the way from Cuba for you to dress like this short stories that are hilarious and But she always and this was in the 90s. So, you know, this is tight She would always talk about dancing on both sides of the hyphen and I think we do that with you know, some of us Given wherever we are actually in a lot of different strata's we're always whether we like it or not and sometimes I don't like it Are kind of bopping around these hyphens So we wanted to talk a little bit about ways of thinking about the future because I think sometimes we miss the philosophical point of what Little Edie is saying we think that the future is going to be defined by people sequestering themselves off And thinking about things deeply or in different tangential ways and then coming back and telling us But I think it's really important for us to think constructively about how all of us can think about the future So baron did I wanted to walk through four different people's perspectives of thinking about the future? Before you do that fancy thing One thing I just would have said you're like Get off this stage But there are several challenges with this talk that you guys are has anyone watched Jerry Springer any He's like so embarrassed that we we are just have very different styles in case that's not clear yet But you know obviously Miguel is the director for the Center of the Future at ALA and I am a library chick So and I say that to say Though I'm so interested in this and I've learned so much from him about it My goal today is like what does all of this mean and to and I've learned a lot even working with him on it But you know we want this to be conversational You know like Jerry Maybe not so much like Jerry So but we want this is all of us We're on this journey together, okay, so I just wanted to say you're like why are you you know? This is my struggle. I know I'm a total uptight control I can deal with it in private, but you've got me on stage Okay So the first person is somebody that I always bring out and if you've seen me present before this is usually like the third or fourth slide it always is because Jane McGonagall is a genius number one And she's just brilliant. So if you know why is she a genius? Okay? Do you want me to shut up? No? No, no, no, why is she a genius Jane McGonagall is a scholar whose research is excellent? She's a consulting futurist. She's a game designer and game developer She has wonderful opinions about so many different things and she's just smart as smart can be so didn't you do that talk? How gaming change can see yeah, I looked at her Ted talk and she was so that actually is interesting you guys It is really how gaming saves the future and she was talking about yeah, she's great So you can look up the Ted talk. I'm sorry the South by Southwest EDU talk that she did But she said how to think and learn like a futurist and distilling it down just to its four essential points She says that we need she she believes strongly that anyone can do this It's important to say that anyone can engage in these four steps Collect signals from the future. She says that those are things that we observe in the present Whether it's at our library work the people that we see the things that they're asking for the nature of the work that they're doing in our spaces But it's also the things that we see outside of our identity as library professionals and library workers things that we see with our Families things that we watch on television anything else She says that we start to combine those signals into forecasts We start to ask ourselves okay as we look at those signals and think about them How do they help us think about not only what's changing in the present, but what might change in the future? She says that we have to create personal foresight to a certain extent We have to ask ourselves not just how those change the world But how they change the types of people that we want to be and the types of organizations that we want to build and Then lastly she challenges us to play with the future She believes that to a certain extent the future is somewhat imaginary and that should give us the freedom To start to think in bold and positive ways about what the future could be to seek the aspirational and to sort of be playful Tell fun stories tell interesting things and start to motivate people in those directions so Chime in you're like Jerry You know Jerry is lower on my list and now I have aspirations higher Like real housewives So in terms I'm really intrigued by most with this by the play with the future piece Because I think I mean I am at work. I work for Khalifa The consortium of California libraries. How many of you are Khalifa members before I go on. Thank you I'm very new there. So I'm looking forward to chatting with you afterward and sharing my information With that being said the you know, I've worked in quite a few libraries And I'm sure you have too and I've always done it for a paycheck So that means I'm playing by someone else's rules so depending on the culture and What's go other priorities sometimes it's challenging to have the opportunity within the context of an organization To play with that future When I've when people when I love to work with new librarians because I learned so much for them and when they're looking for Opportunities to do things like play with the future. I always encourage them in interviews to ask describe a big change to me that you've done in the library and How that you know if it is it something like hey, we tried something new we wanted to you know Do it didn't go well. So we tried something else And if you know if that sounds good to you then maybe that's the place you want to be But I interviewed somewhere once and they're like well We have coffee time at 10 and and I'm not joking this you know who And they're like we changed it to and I thought they were and they added iced coffee Well, you were there. So I don't know I'm kidding, but uh, yeah, and I'm like this might not be my jam And I mean for me for me you might love it But so play with the future is the hardest one every time I go into a presentation Play with the future is the dividing line between the people who can and the people who can't Because the play with the future a lot of people start to chime in about well But our budget but our building is set up this way, but our this is this or something else So McGonagall isn't saying that we should throw out all of those considerations What she's urging us to do is say if we don't articulate the positive hopeful future for our organizations No one else is so and if we can articulate that positive hopeful vision How do we assemble power in our communities to start to change that we have to start to circulate an idea that says This is the aspirational vision that we could have if we do pursue these things I often think of Ryan Gravel who did the belt line in Atlanta Atlanta has is encircled by the sort of abandoned railroad tracks essentially and as a grad student He started to articulate this vision for that city that would revitalize that whole encircling space into green space and public space And he slowly but surely started to assemble power all the way to the point the city council started to pick it up as well And they started to see that vision as well, but he had to play with the future He had to assemble all the little parts and start to tell a different story than the narrative currently had and that's tough for people But it's what we have to do in a lot of and I guess it's true. I hadn't that piece of it to what I would call kind of gain that agency takes a level of boldness and Commitment and vision that sometimes is scary when you know things like budgets are on the line Sometimes it's scary to think of that one thing that we are going to do a little later though is maybe talk through Small and large strategies to begin to use that kind of stuff in organizations that we hope are helpful So I often bring out Marsha Lynn Ray as one of my second examples for thinking about the future She kind of supports a lot of what Jane McGonagall says So she says that foresight is thinking ahead to how trends issues and developments that can be observed in the present are likely to lead to alternative and lead in shape alternative futures She says so again It's about looking around at the environment you're in right now Starting to hone in on things that are changing and then ask yourselves. What will those build toward as we do those? She says that there are three things we have to ask ourselves What are the key forces that are changing so a little bit different than McGonagall? I think Marsha Ray draws a line and starts to say you can't act on everything You got to pick your battles at some point So you have to say what are the key things that we want for our organizations? That me may be vision mission and value statements many of us are committed to literacy others of us are committed to Active civic dialogue others of us have prioritized the sense of public space So part of it that helps part of it is also our own personal ethics and values and saying you know what? I'm a stalwart intellectual freedom privacy person I'm taking all the names of the trends that are threatening those and those are key to me for what I'm doing my work in the Organization she says that we also have to ask ourselves What might be their possible outcomes if these things come to fruition? What how would the world change and then in a different way from the learning and from the play that has to happen She says what might be the learning and implications and Actions that have to happen in the present to start to align ourselves to that vision of the future So she thinks not only do we have to tell a story, but we have to ask ourselves What am I going to commit to change about myself to prepare myself for that future? There's a certain inadequacy there I think that's really hard and there's a certain vulnerability to say We are not wholly prepared to confront the future with who we are right now We have to recognize some amount of deficiency in both who we are and the organizations that we've set up But to recognize the power that we have to overcome those deficiencies if we start to plan and prepare right now That's you know what I was thinking of when you said that in terms of a the library world is For me, and I don't know how anyone in here feels so this might be a Jerry moment of For me it's old thought to think of libraries as neutral that's not my opinion and this idea of putting a stake in the ground and Like the priorities of who this library is and what we are to the community connected to that and that we are not That not new we're just not in my opinion. We are not neutral space You know and it really articulating who you are is safe space Etc. So that's what that Okay, so two more to look at so this is Richard loom and he wrote this book called four steps to the future It's a small little book. It's interesting. So he's cool. He's cool. I It's so I throw this up because it's a little bit different. So He believes that they're sort of four steps part of you has to look to the past to understand how we got to where we are This is the weird thing that a lot of other Futurists or foresight people don't talk about is an acknowledgement of the past So here's why I think this is interesting because we all know deep in our hearts that we're past people Like most of the library and information people who come in we have some amount of allegiance towards past practice And so sometimes this can be the dividing line is that we think like oh, well The people who are going to talk about the future are all those innovative whippersnappers and the upstarts and everything else and it excludes The tenured seasoned professionals however you want to frame it It excludes them and I think what this approach says is no It's very inclusive of that thinking as well at one point They say if you want to look 10 years into the future you need to start your journey by looking 20 years in the past So if you were to think about what's the future of our collections? Part of your due diligence would be to start to do a self study and say well How is our collection path changed over the past 20 years or if you looked at a new building that would be Fruitful for the next 10 years you'd have to ask yourself Well, what have been the pattern the building patterns for the past 20 years to start to understand that future To a certain extent, but it also helps you understand both the pace of change that has happened so that you understand Okay, in the past 20 years all of these remarkable changes have happened How does that help set a context for what will actually happen in the next 10? It sort of gives you that little barometer to evaluate against So and then you embark on the present to start to look at the changes in the present the futures to start to think about how those futures will start to come to pass and then Also to articulate an aspiration so something like McGonagall at some point We have to coalesce and assemble around a shared vision that says this is the future that we want This is the aspiration that we have and that you know, but I share shared with you that aspiration piece is My favorite because it's about For me, it's about that striving to connect our communities A little bit later. We're going to share signals that we've identified and what they've meant to us And I don't know. I am so shallow. I should just say that So it a recent project runway episode You're gonna leave aren't you I still got this power point This recent project does anyone watch okay, you may not want to admit it I watch project. Do you remember the episode with the guy dapper Dan? He is a Harlem Design a fashion designer which I hadn't heard of him and what he did what he is known for and is now in a creative partnership with Gucci is kind of doing this mix-up with Logos from major brands, but giving them the street vibe, right? So on this episode, I don't know if you remember we can watch it together What it's what I was most struck by as I mean like I have my life has been in libraries I worked at the gap and then I worked at libraries I would I became I went to the library school and was a page and did stuff like that But as he was they were asking him, so how did you decide to do it? What made you get into this and he said I Thought to myself what makes my community happy? And I'm like damn Well Yeah, that's how I want to be as a librarian and how I want to connect people my aspiration in the future to support communities is What makes my and he specifically was talking about Harlem the black community that he the neighborhood he lived in but And I always am thinking with this great work Miguel does it's like how do I get it? You know, how am I gonna get into this? and for me it's like Connecting things that I are my passions Which is a lot of pop culture with my passion for libraries and that really resonated to me in thinking about How we can have those aspirations for our in this piece this context for the future don't move on stuff You don't care about I mean, it's yeah, no you mean that are you making fun? No, I mean it so like yeah People starting to talk about all of these trends and other changes don't move on stuff Yeah, love like if there's stuff that does not have resonance with your community That means it doesn't resonate with your community and it's okay not to do that And it's not your jam you do have to do the things that make your people happy things that both will make them happy and happiness to security and Long-term health and other types of things Okay, so our last one Adrienne Marie Brown's emergent strategy book Let me just tell you if you want a book that will make you happy and hopeful for the future read emergent strategy by Adrienne Marie Brown It is just amazing But she says and she quotes a scholar. She says that emergence is I'm gonna steal this Making fun that I had paper do you recall you like I'm okay you guys I have to tell you this so before we come up here He's like yeah I don't use paper anymore cuz and then this whole time he's been reading my slides upside down. Thank you May I get a round of applause? So she says emergence is the way that complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions Think back to you know McGonagall says it's the stuff that's happening around us It's lots of different places So she's quoting that as well and then she says that her vision is changing our how More deep more than seen clearly our what I see a how where we are all much more comfortable with change and with our personal power To change conditions. I want a future where we are curious interested visionary and adaptive To me the resonant thing and what I think all of us need to reorient ourselves Toward is that middle set the middle section my vision is changing our how more than seen clearly our what I think a lot of us invest in future strategies with a goal of prediction and it's not prediction Our goal should be a change in culture It should be an opportunity for us to reorient the work that we do so that we're not just coming up with one solution But we're creating a culture that helps foresee lots of different possible solutions and an adaptive culture that Continues to think about the future not once every five years, but in every day in every way that we work I think last night you like the way you simplified it for me resonated more with me I hope this mine is better than yours But wait you guys seriously if you vote on put this on your evaluation about me Simple interactions and getting to know each other. Yeah, and and then how do we build harmony in getting there? I think that for Our commute us working together, but in for our communities is what it's about Simple interactions and getting to know each other is at the base of this and that the harmony that One of the weird things that I often say I think futures work is diversity work. It's really thinking Because it's not about Isolating certain ideas and privileging certain ways of thinking or privileging certain Final solutions that we come up with It's fundamentally about figuring out the ways that we better relate to each other and bring together Lots of different perspectives and ideas for a greater whole and that's always what we're pursuing in diversity Is the fact that you see things differently than I do and our vision is better for your working with me rather than something else Yes do it Diversity is accessibility. Yes accessibility. Thank you. So you're in the Bay Area and this is the battle royale here We're innovation future is really it's it's the program or white world that's pushing out a lot of people in social justice work and Alameda County, we're kind of toying with the Innovation and EDI and where is the spectrum connection to it and I see you two talking about it I'm like, oh, yeah, we can do this and then I see all of the other EDI work or the work that we've done with old Lose and ALA with the office of diversity and I'm not seeing that connect quite yet. I'm I'm seeing it theoretically. I'm I'm hearing it verbally I'm not visually seeing that connect. So can you talk a little bit about that and this is that action piece? Oh, is that are you gonna say something else go ahead? No, I guess That the thank you Deb, but it is oh wait Is her question was just because I can't read back She asked what EDI stands for equity Diversity and inclusion is what EDI stands for so thank you for that request for clarification No, don't be sorry and this is I mean, this is safe space So please do ask any and everything so do what I was just saying that action So I think one of the challenges that we have is that we've separated these conversations out We think that we're doing diversity work Exclusively for the sake of diversity work And I think that that's an important issue for us to address is that diversity is about Exploring concepts of justice and making sure that we both write the wrongs that have been done and build a more just future But I think the other thing that sometimes we forget in the diversity Conversation is the level of scholarship and research that has been done to show that diverse and inclusive teams Consistently make better ideas have better innovations. They come up with newer and better ideas then largely homogenous groups and Also better than experts perceived expert groups And so if you look at books like The Wisdom of Crowds by James Soriecki a lot of the other research It consistently points to the idea that if you build organizations that allow lots of different people to talk that honors and Respects the different perspectives that people bring That you will end up with a fundamentally better final product whatever goal you are pursuing You will end up with a better product than if you do that as a homogenous group Now one of the challenges that we have I think is that in many of our organizations. We have cultures that are Primed to have a largely homogenous group already and so not only do we have to think about well, how do we collectively heart Utilize the diversity that we have in our organization But how do we also undo the systems to make sure that we have a fuller pipeline? Coming into our organization so that when people do arrive here They feel welcomed they are ready to participate and we are ready to to leverage their great ideas for our collective benefit I would also say I recently at DPLA digital public library of America Fest which was just in Chicago Elaine Westerbrook from University of North Carolina. She's the University librarian there spoke about and she was speaking of the academic library world, but I believe this is cross types about The role libraries can play in reconciliation And I'm not just talking About ethnic I'm talking about barriers We've put up at we as an industry have put up in a lot of ways and we as a country have put up to keep people out and What reconciliation needs to occur and how we can play a role in active role in that to move forward? Because sometimes I mean it our industry is not unique in this that and I'm not speaking of any specific thing right now Well, I am but I'm being professional It can be like lipstick on a pig and That okay that pigs looking good, but you know Where are we in our hearts and where you know, and it's back to me. It's back to this, you know Commit, you know us saying knowing people. What does that mean in your life? What does that mean in your community? What does that mean in our culture? What does that mean globally and Where you are with that and where your organization is and I don't think we have enough of a collective To have done that To take on the work that you're really to really commit authentically to that kind of work We don't believe it as you said what those that's kind of scholarship hasn't trickled out Well, we don't think about it together. I think we still think about them as two separate ideas But we really need to unify our yeah. Yeah Hang on one second, I'm doing the lunges. I know I do see I'm not even getting up So I think a lot of what's happening with the theory and trickling down is that It's at this the first step and people are not thinking about how Diversity work and thinking about a collective of diversity affects outcome measures Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah. Yeah, and without Doing the top of work on how outcome measures are The traditional old-school way of measuring things that don't apply to a lot of diversity work Then then we can't argue for They say well, we're doing all these meaningful work, but the outcome measures are not there It doesn't fit in that structure that story So Miguel that's like thank you. I feel like you should be up here with Like I'm should be up here. She should but that kind of also in my opinion New ways of working and they're not new but in this in this in these white institutions Let me just say, you know, that's new So but it speaks to you remember we were talking about how you were saying Futures work tends to have the elements of feminism In it, why don't you I want you to say that right now? Is it on the screen? So I don't know that it has as well. You did say that don't lie So I guess I what I'll say is that I choose to mostly quote women when I talk about futures Thank you That's just the way that I choose to do things and I think the only male that I put up is Richard someone of ethnic diversity and I think that part of that is because I think that Those individuals frame thinking about the future from a collective Vision they think that we're not waiting for a savior. We're not here to find an expert We're here to prove the inherent value that everyone provides towards a vision of the future And that's how I choose to do it. I think that's also how Libraries for the most part have proven their worth time and again is that they have there's a reason that we've always been around and It's because we are reflective of the communities that we serve We are responsive and respectful to those communities and we try to shepherd a cultural trust going forward so so yeah, I was in my opinion that collective peace reflects a lot of Social justice work in So the through line that we see across all four is this idea that what we need to do to think about the future However, you want to frame it is collect information Make connections think of isn't it Walt Whitman? That's only connect. I think it's one of the lines from this Project Okay, then I know I know who we is Okay, we have to prioritize and then ultimately we need to commit to action So with the next few slides Rhonda, and I wanted to talk through how we started to see like different opportunities to collect information To start to make connections to start to prioritize and a call to action It's gonna be interesting to see if you can tell whose slides are Well, they'll know that because of the person I know Okay So um If you've ever seen me talk one of the things I love to talk about is space and specifically space from a retail and restaurant Perspect because I am a retail kid like you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, I was Victoria's secret separate competing companies, but that's okay Okay, so I think we were seeing a lot of really interesting indicators about the future of semi public space We see this movement of co-working that is really trying to figure out how to make very inviting Collaborative spaces this image in the upper left is from the wing which is a women's Co-working collective. Well, it's not women's only but it's women first. I guess in their collective And so they've created these very sort of posh in a lot of ways clubs and other spaces This particular image is from their library, but they have a vision that women entrepreneurs women Professionals can come into their spaces work collectively work together start to build social networks friendships professional relationships and collegial Relationships that advance the place of women in society and I coincidentally just visited one I was telling Miguel last week so the the catch in all of this kind of is their membership You have to pay to have a membership in those spaces But they're creating the sort of public good that is tied and attached to a fee that you have to pay They do have a sort of sliding scale that they see wherein they can allow non-members in for Semi-public events lectures or talks or other types of things But it really is sort of blurring this line of how do we work in these sort of collective third spaces? We see this movement of more and more restaurants that are trying to break into this idea of Hangout mess around geek out in a very for-profit and business-driven space So this image is from sweet green the salad restaurant that has popped up in New York DC San Francisco Chicago and lots of other spaces They sell these very nice salads and everything but you can see the way that their seating is arranged a lot of it Is communal in nature? It's flexible you go into some of their spaces and they have these tiered three seat Sort of bleachers that in the evenings they transition to have public performances music Music performances public readings and other types of things So they for sure want you to come in and have a salad But what they're really selling is this idea of social connection and an aspirational future that you can have where you're in The public, but you're not quite in the gritty public. You're in the nice public in the nice public and The best example of the nice public might be this image On the left. I'm sorry on your yeah on your right. Yeah over there This is Apple's rendering for its new store location in Washington DC that is taking over the former Carnegie Library In DC. Oh, I love the gas You say it like that every time He's like I'm gonna show the slide of the Apple library that is taking over the former Carnegie I mean, we're just like talking about moving the slide He's like, you mean the one of the Apple store that's taking over the former Carnegie Library Is that the slide you mean? So my previous thing about Apple was that they slowly rebranded their store concepts It went from store now. It's this town square idea They're actually marketing it as a town square and their purpose is not just to sell and move product But really to give people a place when they can come in bring their computers work They can attend coding camps and coding classes. That's how familiar they can do weird E-book clubs Performances and lectures you can go in there and see an art installation There are even meeting rooms that you can rent out and use for your own purposes And there's the genius part to provide a certain amount of instruction and guidance Maybe like a reference desk. I don't know So the weird thing that they did though with with this DC location is that they purchased this from the city And there are certain benefits that they are giving they're Proporting to give back to the community First of them was the restoration of this cultural asset. So they paid I think 30 million dollars for the full restoration of what had previously been a publicly owned building They also paid for the relocation of the Washington DC Historical Society that had previously been housed within this space So they helped them move out of this space into a better space as part of the agreement that they made The weird thing though is that they also have greater access to the open public Park space that on which this library formally sat on so they not only inherit the building itself But also this sort of third public space And so all of these signs together I think point towards this concern that many of us should have about the privatization of public space and Even if it's not the formal acquisition of once public spaces the seeming Blending of public private starts to become of concern It becomes concerned especially because those people who can afford and feel themselves Entitled to enter these spaces will opt to do so and By doing so they may then have less of a reason to interact in truly public spaces They will substitute these interactions for their interactions in the general public which is problematic The other concern that we have is that these are not truly public spaces even though they are framed in this way We know that they will prohibit certain people for any one of a number of characteristics from entering and participating in those spaces And so what happens to that and then I think as we look towards the collective What happens when our cities our managers whatever it may be Start to look and say well Why do we need a library if we have we brought an apple to provide this particular space or We will have right now We have a good portion of the public that values the public library or library spaces in on campuses in schools Because they're that third space will those individuals start to question and say well There's also this other opportunity for a third space And so their their support for libraries might erode slightly as they start to conflate the opportunities that both of them offer So this mimicry also reminds me of like business improvement districts So and for those unfamiliar with bids They're a blend of public and private monies to create like downtown and very specific districts They have this kind of very uniform cultural field to them But they actually are more private than public for instance one that I lived by for a while was Pacific Avenue Which is technically a mall in Santa Cruz So you can't do things like sit on the sidewalk or have a dog in this open-air space but yeah, like how do we deal with the What I see around like futurist thinking and this mimicry of public and private blending styles and you know, what is our role in terms of Teaching to to discriminate between the two and to differentiate So I think this challenges us to articulate the true value of what we're offering in a new and different way So we do have to distinguish and say well We can provide many of the services that perhaps an Apple store is aspiring toward But also that there's a fundamental value to having truly accessible public space that that is one of the only things that drives true Social mobility and economic mobility and development in most neighborhoods and communities Is that true intermingling and access of those spaces and while these might be aspirational and they certainly help us Rethink what we can pull from our spaces We have to understand that they do not substitute for the fundamental value of the spaces that we offer Their aesthetics may be ambitious But the value of them is not the same that we're pursuing and so part of it is a public relations message that we need To start sharing out and and sharing in new and different ways I think that also goes back to if I understand your your comment question correctly How we were talking about the two streams of thought back to Deb's point around equity diversion and inclusion of Not only do work teams get better And have more innovation with that communities do what? Yeah communities do as well and What civic engage, you know, you know, I always in my experience The beauty when I you know, I know I'm sure other people those two go to other libraries when they're somewhere and this idea of You know, where else, you know, is that intersect, you know, is society really coming together? and Not just coming together to get your license or to get, you know, I'm just thinking of other agencies that are Have the same experience, you know funding but where are we where's their true civic opportunity and as you said with the PR message but how I mean nice to sound super corporate, but how do we leverage that and And may show them, you know, really the outcome. What are the outcomes us demonstrating the outcomes of those opportunities for civic engagement? I mean, I think we should also take a note. They want to be us So there is something in that message to start to talk to our funders our advocates and say we're doing something, right? You know what the difference is between that Apple store and another public library the difference is money So how do we get money to funnel into the civic institutions that we have? So that we can execute the full vision that they have because they didn't come up with all of this They took a lot of it from other spaces and so we need to start to use that not only as a Message of caution to our communities, but also as a message of we could all make we could make this vision achievable and Equitable for everyone if we have your support Okay, so this is my slide You'd said ten times you hate the car every time I said that you're like he just kept texting back I hate the Kardashians then I'm like this demonstrates that I hate the Kardashians. It is a strong word. I didn't say that Okay So what this is our and I like that we were calling our vision board signals and What and you know So mind Dapper Dan who you know what makes communities happy and did this? Logos and community making things happen, you know making this famous and the reason I included him in that project runway experience I also recently I want to connect that to a documentary I watched about first the hundred years of Vogue magazine and Anna Wintour was the you know queen of Vogue was saying, you know It used to be that hookah tour and what was in the pages of our magazine determined fashion for people whereas now what's happening in quote-unquote the street and Every way, you know looking around that pushes up what we have in Vogue and I say that to say Anna's wise words because that's happening in so many parts. That's a signal I see in other parts of our culture How people get famous? specifically I Have a feeling there were not TV critics writing about the Kardashians and this is the show you should watch and Here's a poignant message of our future. It's people You know loved this show. I from a voyeuristic standpoint love it But pushing up what became famous and I specifically wanted to include how much money each of them were worth In this slide to show I mean, you know, these are you know, we can roll our eyes and oh my god I'd never watch that is she really a librarian. She likes this crap But I mean, this is real and these you know as we look at The and I love that when you talked about the history piece the history of how libraries build collections Services and programs. I think a lot of us We did what we think the collective we we think people need as Opposed to what they want Um, there's a great training that I attended a hundred years ago and I would love to do it again Maybe I should work at Califa and try to make that happen Called bridges out of poverty Do you guys already everyone here? I didn't know the training is like in the Midwest. I was a genius What that training is about is sometimes and they applied it to libraries like let's have a retirement program It's like girl. I'm trying to get to work today and make sure my kid has childcare You know, let's do a program with you know Walt Whitman book it's like how does that connect making fun of you? But you know, how does that connect to the lives of the communities we serve but really Letting the people drive You know and if that means and I my past job I ran a statewide e-book platform. So yeah, we had 50 shades of and y'all do too. I'm sure it in publics and probably in some academics 50 shades of gray in multiple I mean, that's what people want to read and even how that book in terms of the self-published market You know, you know, there's always there's a tension in my e-book life of well, it doesn't have a review We can't get it. Sorry. Good luck, but really changing the system of how can we serve people with What they want and what they're requesting and not just what we think they we need or What the system we perpetuated of how we buy like that's not in a title source? 360 is what I use, you know, whatever and everyone's like a different having a little PTSD if you're me, but yeah those systems that we perpetuate perpetuated not just in collections But in other ways of how these things happen the history of how we've developed it and how we can change it to do it differently and not just what we have but how we serve our communities so and Jeffrey star is a YouTube makeup expert and again, it's not You know and even and you see brands doing this now with covergirl and all these other You know really having not only inclusive models in size in Non-binary to whatever to really showcasing to boys in Makeup like what it means they're following You know people on YouTube who are that's what people want to see and that's who they want to emulate and how these What channels are making these people famous I guess is the other the media Social media is where it's coming from. So that's my signal I Mean, so I think I totally agree I think this feeds into a larger trail of the general diminishment of expertise across society and culture I mean, they are one manifestation of this is that there is no one dictating the official Coronation of culture in our society call it diminishment. I'd call it a disbursement. That's true. Yeah, but I guess Where I come from still my vulnerable insecurities and so part of me looks at this and feels like I went and Went through grad school and everything else with a sense that at some point I would become expert in something and What this and other systems are really telling us in a lot of ways is that that idea of expertise We have to have a certain amount of Humility to let go of some of that and to listen to what people really need and recognize that the expertise that we actually need to develop is One of facilitation. Yeah, one of listening one of trying to figure those things out What you know, it's just before you that's interesting There's someone I follow on the Twitter Chris Borg who's a and I keep saying these academic librarians, but They there's she does a lot of work around open access and Opening up resources in academia, which are so out of control, but this new collective of academics That are working to do this together in their manifesto is like is and I need to find it again always Listening and ready to lead So and I think that is a good signal of what How we need to work in the future that as you were saying that facilitation is more important than Sage on a stage kind of an expert like us We are the past. Thank you. The talk is done. I Like I love the idea of having like more pop culture and more I don't know what some people would consider trash in the library Did you just call me trash? No, cuz I love like I remember people telling me like, oh, why are people reading 50 shades of gray? And it's like, well, why are you reading Harry Potter? How is that? I mean, I like reading barrel wolf like some people think that's trash It but at the same time, how do you tell people also educate have those in your collection? But like point out that Jeffrey star is a like blatant racist and that the Kardashians are not actually self made millionaires and 50 shades of gray is actually a really bad example. Yeah Everything it has in it. So how do you have? Yeah, so we were Talking about this member the piece we were talking about we've chosen these very surface Examples in terms of signal or I have you probably would say surface examples of signals and that you know and there You know are some are problematic in nature But that really this isn't what it's you know, this is just like we need to dig deeper in terms of What signals are and what they could what impact they could truly have on our communities? So I think that's the piece we were going to move to next So let me also just say though Facilitation is not neutral. So what these are examples of what has happened when unmediated? Systems have just allowed whatever to popularize to popularize No one has at any point come in and said, okay, you've watched this or that Let's get you to the next thing. Let's do this and so I mean I think that that's one of the challenges that libraries have had in their long history is that originally we were supposed to be Nonfiction collections that were supposed to be for the improvement of people. No fiction. No nothing People said they wanted fiction. We brought fiction into our collections, but I don't think we just allowed that to exist Unmediated we started to say, okay, how do we leverage this fiction? How do we leverage series fiction? How would we leverage audio books? How do we leverage DVDs blah blah blah into a larger vision of the values that we have so I think you're absolutely right that You know, there are Terrible elements to some of these things what we need to figure out is okay How do we harness the good elements from these and leverage them for our more productive futures? These are the signals There's positive and negative forecasts that we can expand out from these things and it's all about the learning and actions That we execute in the present to shift them towards our positive ends and goals Yeah, and as we experience signals like these How do we leverage them to start kind of spark conversations? Across groups and not just spark conversations when people are at home talking about it, but how can our How can the library? bring new conversations to the table as People are consuming these signals and what they mean and not like here's what you should think about this But here are perspectives around this. I think is the most important piece. Oh I'm sorry. Oh She there's appears a mic Would criticize the Kardashians in the past because I didn't understand or wasn't interested but because Kim Kardashian was the main impetus behind the first step act, which is one of the major Criminal justice reforms. I think that we can all agree has been You know just monumental She kind of became some what I needed to follow up on and I'm slowly learning to have a spec for her So I just wanted to mention that part because But it is it's like it's complicated. It's and I'm not you know I'm not By no means do I want it to sound like people are great They're you know, this is what we should have everything about them, but these things are complete, you know in What role can we play in? Unpacking just what you're describing and when people are using their platform for something that that can create that kind of change Then that's when I listen up and I kind of get out of my Walt Whitman world Well, so I think one of the things that I really appreciate about what you said is that we do have to remain curious about Looking at these things even if our gut reaction for whatever maybe it may be is to dismiss them Is that we have to kind of maintain that sense of like I'm gonna keep learning about this because maybe things will change Maybe I'll just learn something new that reinforces what I already believed but also perhaps it might expand understanding to change that perception and That that's that through line of being curious continuing to be inclusive and keep thinking about things in different ways I know you don't want to talk about it right now But the thing we were talking about also is Not just doing it around things you in that you like and enjoy like I don't I mean where I mean make up, you know, I'm not looking at personally at a lot of YouTube beauty stars I mean, I think it's interesting, but it's outside of my experience that my personal passion so This idea of really using it as an opportunity, you know as we talk about the commuters we serve It's not just what we personally are interested in though that for me It can be a gateway to some things but to really step outside of that just to look at signals outside what you Do all what your thing is your jam this Okay, so I'm an ILL person so we're gonna talk about access and delivery because that's what I like So I think there's lots of interesting signals out there about how people are going to Both expect to receive things and the level of convenience that is going to come to them And I think the signals themselves teach us both something about how it might Improve the position of the library, but also challenge the position of the library so in the upper left We have an example of Amazon's book box program Which is one of several growing subscription service delivery programs that are coming out not only from Amazon But from you know blue apron trunk club any one of a number of things The mark difference in this isn't simply that things are being delivered to people's doorsteps I think the change that's starting to happen and perhaps what we might want to be interested in is the fact that people are willing to Sign up in advance of knowing the content that they will receive Provided that the service can bank on a certain amount of expertise If you look at how Amazon book box framed their value proposition It wasn't just that you would get three books every month for your specific age child It was that Amazon's editors and buyers were specifically selecting the best of both classic children's books and newly published children's books if you look at blue apron They trade heavily on an idea that it's chef prepared meals It's centering expertise of culinary experts if you look at trunk club You're assigned a stylist to help you pick the clothes that you want So that individual is leveraging their expertise to deliver something to you that will be both delightful and Convenient so I think when we think about this in a world that's seen a lot of shifts in how people value expertise This is one of the few indicators that there's also a growing respect for individuals who market themselves as expert If you can develop a relationship with them in the long term can I so in one thing That personally, I'm very interested in is how can we leverage? the expertise of librarians to increase the value proposition of us in relation to the Retail market. He's coming right now Is a big thing where again? I talked about the e-book stuff that I did briefly and we did an e-content strategy and With something it's similar to in our collection development. Our goal was how can we create access? content experience and delight So and that spells aced by the way But how can we you know leverage our expertise as these retail partners do or partners do to? Really deliver that and I think we've not Kicked up our game and articulating that you know, I know it's inherently people believe that about our programs and everything else I'm talking about books right now, but I think there are a lot of ways we could Elevate that with you know, just as they do in their advertising. So I think there is a It's going to give you an example locally of the random the blind date with a book club There's also a Random book club They have no idea what they're gonna be getting but more often than not they love the books I think there's a science fiction book Science fiction by the way is a great way to stretch your mind around the future. Yeah, that's very true So I mean I think we there's lots of I so we all know in public libraries Especially readers advisory remains a popular service and when people know have a trusted expert in readers advisory They're willing to come back to them one of the other ones though is children's story time people don't know what stories are going to be shared, but they develop an awareness that the library workers are Expert in delivering those story times and they have a trusted relationship that they will go not knowing too much But knowing that there will be something great that happens at the story map. Yes Many years ago when I was trained as a librarian They talked about the reference interview and that's gone by the wayside Particularly with programs where librarians are trained through online programs. They don't you know for two years They're just doing things through a computer and not actually Face-to-face talking to people. So we used to build a relationship With an individual in the community and people knew what types of books they liked They knew what they wanted to read and as you're saying they develop that relationship where oh mr So-and-so he's he always wants mysteries or whatever and that the tendency has gone away from that And I think it's unfortunate, you know, I think those thank you first of all, but those Relationships occur in different ways online and people build their people who I've never seen before but I trust their taste former teen editor of Vogue his name is Philip Picardi and First of all if you ever saw my Twitter with his it's like I have liked almost every comment But when he recommends something because I'm watching what he says I think there are ways and I think librarians I think we can translate our trust to Online mediums as well, and I think and people have I'm sure libraries here have done it too, but there's I know NYPL did it in some libraries in Illinois You know, we were talking about watch the hashtag watch this read that are you guys? I'm some of you I'm sure are familiar with that of just libraries going to Twitter and Connecting movies that are being talked about with what people should read if they like that movie and the You know, so I think we can build that expertise in other Mediums that we did in that face-to-face just like people are doing now with that those That disbursement of expertise But I want I want to roll with what you're thinking because I think you're recognizing a very Significant threat that is inherent in a lot of the other signals that are up on this board. So let me just Roll through some of these so we're also starting to see this movement of the sort of locker pickup stations This was this is Amazon's locker program So Amazon of course will deliver to your Homer office But some people for any one of a number of security reasons or other issues They've introduced an option where they can deliver to these online to these lockers basically you place your order you're designate the Box to which you want it delivered locally in your city or Geographic area and they deliver there. You're given a code and you go up and access that particular item They've expanded this program away from just convenience stores. They're now in a lot of their Whole Foods markets They have a partnership now have it in my apartment building with chase Hi, right, and they've also rolled this out to high-rise and high-capacity Residences like apartments and condos to actually manage their package receiving Thousands of people who in certain communities don't have the internet don't have computers don't Can't get self-delivered or be stolen in like ten minutes. So that leaves out a whole segment of So I think that is absolutely true I think the thing that I'm concerned about and perhaps what I was very interested in your earlier comments about is that it also Disassociates the humans who are responsible for the delivery of services from the receipt of the goods that are provided And that's a really big challenge as we talk about, you know The value of a relationship with a human being to understand how this service is fulfilled and to have that relationship We're seeing a lot of indicators that they're just moving away with these Amazon is moving to their Amazon Prime will start to shift from today Free delivery to single-day free delivery. So they're expediting their entire shipping process It's made possible of course by the automation of many of their warehouses and the cheapening of labor as they deliver things out into communities But it's also Acclimating consumers towards this idea that if you can afford it You can have all the conveniences of the world and none of the human connection or burden And we're gonna have to start to figure out how we adjust those types of things now the locker program Several libraries have actually adopted those Academic institutions universities and colleges have them and many academic libraries are actually using them for holds and reserves Public libraries are using them for online holds and reserves a library in Kansas Actually put one in their high-v grocery store so that people can go online Request the book and pick it up when they go and purchase their grocery stores When they go and purchase their groceries the challenge that we have of course is one of both How do we manage access to that not everybody can have all of their materials in that way? And also do we want to proceed with a model of service that removes human labor from it? Let me just show the the last example is the book bot from I'm sorry, which led Mountain View public library here in California So I want one of the I love that you just put that in the universe So Starship Technologies, which is the firm that manufactures these robots has worked with legislatures in seven states Washington was the most recent to legalize the delivery of the legalize the Movement of these bots on sidewalks and crosswalks across their states And so it's becoming easier and easier for them to use these for delivery This library has used it to deliver to homebound patrons or patrons who just choose to have their books delivered to their house I thought it was interesting when we first started to see this especially on library Twitter I think there was a certain amount of people who said I want this. It's interesting. There were a lot of other people who Frankly hated it They hated the idea that they were removing humans from a very human exchange and transaction And especially for homebound patrons for whom that interaction with a homebound delivery person might be their only Opportunity to see someone that day or week. This was particularly Concerned and so again I think we'll have to figure out and I'm sure this library is figuring it out as they go is How do we make sure that the people who want this convenience have this convenience? But understand the human labor that goes behind it and then also how do we make sure that people who want the human contact? Have the opportunity to have access to these services without just the automated version of it in a different way So we have to figure out all of those types of things together as we start to assemble these signals into how we integrate them into our future Click. Oh, do you want? Brian, you are just working it. I just want to say I would I would like to have this in my building The people request that we get a book we Walk our little buns over usually to this library to pick it up I work at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is a few blocks away And it's quite the neighborhood to walk through and then the book sits at the reference desk for sometimes 2448 hours before the person who wants it is Disentangled enough from their work to come down and get it and Oftentimes we will deliver it to them But they're in chambers and we can't always get back to see them And so having this little bot deliver it would actually be a connection Kind of the opposite man. I love some library people because Well, so this is the thing that I love about what you just did is that I think that you took this Indicator and you didn't just say how would it make my life easier? I think you saw it as an opportunity to improve the general transaction The experience and this is what it is all about is trying to figure out How do we bring these things in and figure out how they are best used to our values and purposes? Not to make life easier for us or anything else, but to really increase the value for communities So, I mean then the goal becomes well, okay, how do we explore this bot? How do we figure all of these things out? What do we have to work with in our buildings to make that future a reality so? Yeah, I know I think you're gonna steal one. I Yeah, and you're at a court so maybe you could get a break So, I mean I get that these indicators are here and and you do see it all over the place And but there's also a concurrent conversation happening around loneliness That's our connection steal our jam No Man, I love me some library people because we see these things and we see you're doing it you're on it shut up Okay, so I'm gonna Okay, well What is your name? Who are you? Jessica from the future even though You know when we were talking about this this signals of mine I feel like you were pointing out that I'm lonely, but we can talk about that late And now Jessica's pointing out that I'm lonely and I don't know how I'm feeling about all of this so anyway, so I'm not sure if y'all are familiar. These are YouTube or shows I watch on YouTube and They're what I I was like why I am I am inherently nosy and I love Eavesdropping which none of you will ever want to be near me on Any public or it near me at ALA or anything because I just love eavesdropping and things like this have Like eating with my eating with my ex is does anyone seen this show? Yeah, I know it. That's what I mean. It's so awkward. It's awesome that people a cup exes come together and And I was playing the Miguel. I know you know, I know getting you don't know this But when I was trying to explain it to you I sensed I wrote I could feel your eye roll through the phone So what it is and a piece of the plate is covered up and it's in each course is a question for the other person watch it, so it's like Did you cheat on me and then and the waiter takes the napkin off Did you cheat on I say in the British accent though? Did you cheat on me and the person has to answer the question and Then the other one You know so and they just do this course and have a conversation and then it ends with the dessert is sometimes Do you want to get back together? I? mean I could throw up right now thinking about my Asking people I've dated I want to die right now. You're watching other people do it. I love it and Yeah, and this You know some of them are also around watching people's first dates, and I'm always when I'm out with people and I'm eavesdropping I'm like this is our date wait what data this is and Dating no filter, which is an American show and hilarious So it's like it's this phenomena, which is a new T in my experience new TV phenomena of people you're watching people watch it and So they're first dates that you're watching people comment on the first date but this idea of like Media social media Kind of feeding into and when I was saying oh, this is feeding into our voyeurism. Okay. This back to you Jessica So this was like this fees into our voyeurism, and we could do it so much more openly and Miguel goes I think it's about loneliness What shut up all of you because that means but this idea Well, okay, let's talk about the loneliness that I mean not my And you were saying I didn't read the article could you that New York Times article so last week I think the New York Times did an article about the level and number of services that are now being introduced to address loneliness that Not only the co-working spaces and other things, but they're like bumble the the data at bumble also has a version That's BFF which is for women to find other women to befriend and sort of expand their social circles There's just lots of different elements, and I think a lot of these are also trying to feed into that idea of how do you oh Co-living spaces wherein people are renting smaller and smaller Individual living spaces to trade an exchange for larger social spaces and a built-in social network Especially for people who are moving to New York or San Francisco Wherein they may not know anyone else they will pay a premium to have that sort of built-in social network in their building And a lot of it is just trading on loneliness. Yeah, why are you looking at me? Well, because you're watching me But so even think about our young people though the amount of people who now the amount of kids who watch other kids play video games On YouTube the unboxing phenomenon, you know, especially for young children and kids It is this idea of watching someone who is like you do something that you likely want to do and you're doing it for the Most part these young people are doing it alone and so I think as public spaces and libraries we need to prepare ourselves for Perhaps an epidemic of loneliness if it's not already here It is already. Yeah Go ahead person behind Jessica Right, I want to just connect on that too. Well, it's about connection, right? It's not just loneliness but connection with other people like you said Miguel who are like you I mean, I watch the mass singer I don't know if any of you watch that, you know B level Kinds of celebrities trying to figure out who these mass singers Oh, they're like the costings and stuff like that and because celebrity now is so big It dwarfs like even like reality television So you need to connect with people who are not even famous really Because then it's then it becomes a more interactive process. So it's just interesting to hear all of this Because it's about connections Find some platform on which you can connect with not just the experience of people watching mass singers But like other people like Was So One of my go-to stories about this is that I think fast company had this article a year or two ago about These two guys who went into a Starbucks and they went into the Starbucks on Monday and had the intent to stay there all week So they went Monday Tuesday Wednesday And they saw all these people who are working side-by-side and would just come in day after day and work and work and work And finally on Thursday or Friday, they decided we're gonna go and ask them what they're working on and They went up to the people and the report out in fast companies said that I Think 90% of those individuals number one were happy to tell them what they were working on But more surprisingly they said they had been waiting for someone to ask them what they were doing Yeah, like because and I had a children's librarian who explained it to me She said that young people engage it Is it parrot play where they like they mimic what the child next to them is doing whether they know why or not? And she said that a lot a lot of adults also engage in that in our formation of lines or other types of things But even at a Starbucks or perhaps even in many of our public spaces academic or our public libraries people come in and they see everyone else working by themselves on a laptop and closing That laptop and leaving and so their assumption is is that this is a space where you just do quiet Alone together work. You're working alone But you're together in a public space and what those those individuals were trying to point to is that? Even if people come in and pair it that day after day that perhaps their larger need is one of connection They would have been happy to engage in that connection, but somebody has to broker that somebody has to be there to actually facilitate that discussion okay So we're done with our collected signals. Let me put a caveat on what we did So we tried to show how we collect pieces of information those signals Try to establish the patterns that run through those things and understand how they might fit into library priorities the confession that I will say that we kind of recognized last night, especially was that many of these signals come from a largely privileged perspective these are the luxuries of Public space the luxuries of service and delivery and as I think as our audience member pointed out Libraries are confronting some very difficult realities. I know San Jose just did their homeless census and they found an increase in homelessness People experiencing homelessness over the past year and so not only are there good signals and indicators or fun signals and indicators, but there are some very negative Societal environmental Economic indicators that we're all starting to deal with so what we want to do with the next amount of time was to talk amongst ourselves about Well, what are some of the other signals that we're seeing? So some of us have already shared some things But we're challenging you to think about things that you've noticed outside of your library work that have kind of made you go Hmm, what's changing in this world and then maybe we can all talk together about how those have Resonance in libraries and how those indicate larger patterns across society, so Anyone noticing things that they're like I've been noticing this. Oh good a volunteer. Thank you Especially public libraries become more of social services and staff it's not free Yeah No one wants to talk about So this the signal really has been that more and more people are coming into public libraries as a last resort for social services Because cities and governments have underfunded traditional social services absolutely Well as a former social worker And I'm the Spanish translator here in San Francisco public libraries and I before I worked in literacy in San Mateo County libraries What I'm seeing is Even though the theory is there there are people doing it happens in pockets and I think what I'm seeing and what I adore is that people that I Heard librarians that I used to work with all these people can't come into the library and With the programs I was doing I started listening to what their needs were and make them Make the space more safe for them now. They're the star volunteers their children Their high risk has gone down and they're always at the library and I'm seeing little pockets of cultures changing within libraries and then those librarians are showcasing those programs and These volunteers and these at risk communities that were the problem people in libraries being showcased and at the events in CLA LA and I think There's these big ideas but the work starts in small pockets and I like that you bring all this pop culture because we can't ignore that those are big waves and they're part of People's lives that come into the libraries every day. So they're things people connect to exactly and the connection connection connection connection So you have to see what motivates a person and how can I leverage that? To open their world a little bit more without being condescending with respecting where they're coming from You don't need to know every culture. You don't need to know every language, but you need to have the skills to be able to listen to the other I I want to Because that's what you're talking about Where I My background is academic libraries and I worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago and where it's located in Chicago Unfortun- used to be because they it's gone now across the street the library was directly across the street from public housing and And I when I would work at night kids would run through the library and My I used to go to the library with my mom when she was working on her masters And so I'm like we suck. We don't have anything for kids So I said and so I said to these kids listen You have to come say hi to me every time you come in this library From now on and you know, I have a teacher voice. So they did and Some of them and of course, you know, again, this is academic But I taught some of them how to use and this is a long time ago info track. I know I know I'm dating myself But and it became it became so hilarious because I get a call from our reserve desk in the first floor And this little girl because I showed her how to find where everything was and so she wanted to get the magazine But she couldn't even see over-the-counter and it became her library is my point and I In she loved it was all about to pock Shakur and fortunately info track has a lot on to pock Shakur But you know and it became a way to talk for me to talk to her and to get to know her and for her to say You know They want my school wants me to go to a different school But my friends are at this school and it was a Acceleration program and I said I know that's scary because I moved away too From everybody I know and you know the same kind of and I say this to say You know, some may say That's not the role of a academic You know blah blah blah, but I think it's important. I mean that's our future user and part of my Goal when I was an academic library was to demystify higher ed To people who live next door to it especially But yeah and to kind of I'm that signal of those kids not having an opportunity to Have another space to go and there was actually a public library in the same neighborhood But I don't know what their experience and they may not have been able to go there without a parent or something at night But yeah, it's just really interesting how you could you those pockets and leverage them to Do to really support each other as humans more than anything else I have a question I Wanted to talk more about Two ideas you guys brought up one is that the look the library the public libraries are providing social services to a certain extent and We also talked about the development of things that are a lot like libraries But they're not gonna have that social Aspect in them, so I think that this needs to get talked about or Worked on or it's gonna continue. You know what I mean? Like there's a force where people are coming in, you know Who are somewhat home or whatever? I don't know how to say this In need of social support and other people who might want to use something like a library are uncomfortable with that So I think the the line of thinking that you have is one of my concerns about What's happening with Stores like Apple or even Starbucks or anything else is that and I'm gonna have to tread carefully here because so If a certain category of people Stop coming to public libraries and instead opt to go to another Private space private space My concern becomes that the public library becomes Inundated with individuals who then See it as a vacated space into which they can do any one of a number of things from loitering Disruptive behavior violent behavior in those spaces, etc. Other things part of what happens is that are the Civilized work the civilized space that we have that we create is part of the social contract We have to other people to other people now that is a separate issue from people who have actual Needs so that's that's not to say that you know other people won't continue to come into our library who have Valid real mental health Economic needs and other types of things, but if Many of our functions now become But many of our staff functions become focused on Managing disruptive behavior instead of delivering services We're going to be in a lot of trouble And I think that that's what we hear from a lot of libraries right now is the fact that our society is Splitting is that the library has become this sort of disruptive catch-all And we can't sift through the people who have actual valid needs from the people who are there just to loiter to disrupt And and to do other things so that's a concern the positive sign in where I think we're going back to the comment That was shared back there about you know that there has been this depletion of social services and other types of things I think we are starting to see many libraries move towards models where they either co-locate or house Non-library professionals in more of a social service capacity I know this library was one of the first to hire a nurse other Institutions have hired a social worker. So I'm sorry social worker Pima County in Arizona was the one that hired a nurse I'm sorry about public health nurse So we're starting to see those types of models I think we start to see other types of models in other especially large urban libraries where they're starting to figure out how to hotel Specific workforce development communities Phoenix public library has college Depot, which is all about college advising especially for individuals who have matriculated out of the normal K-12 and higher ed pipeline other types of things They're not focusing as much on making their library staff Universal in what they can provide they're recognizing that library staff have a very specific purpose and other Disciplines and specializations have another purpose, but they can be housed within a larger umbrella of the library and we see this trend Not only within libraries, but a lot of other city agencies and other departments and other nonprofits and organizations And we need to let go of some of our proprietary sense of like only the library can only hire library people I think that idea has gone in a lot of ways I completely agree with that that we need to do more collaborations It's unrealistic to expect library staff and librarians to have the ability to do their work and also the work of social workers and everything else, but I think that there's a We typically think of going to our personal security before we think of those Collaborations that could prevent the need for those security But I also it's a slip is that a hard thing to say yeah, it is a really hard thing to say and But how you said like we need to think of less having people who are also not library people in the library is kind of a slippery slope at times because We see libraries starting to have more IT people who do not have the same kind of mindset that we have or Then it becomes that public and private A lot of times they're making decisions that impact what I would say our ethos as an agency I think As a P, I mean, I don't know what I mean by this. I do know what I mean, but we don't have a lot of time I Have to up our great game and start bragging more Yeah, I really don't think we do that enough about Keep going you see that's why you should be up here our impact and the Contribution and the role we play in that civic space and creating Residents that can that participates In a diverse society's the role we can play Doing that. I don't think we talk about that at all. Well, some I'm sure somebody is I just don't know I mean, I think there's a challenge of humility in what you just said is that we also have to We have to confront our own egos and ask ourselves is this strict adherence towards the primacy of our profession Is that in the best interest of our? Users in community and that's a tough thing to confront I think the thing that we need to start bragging about and perhaps Recentering is the professional values that guide these organizations that it cannot be run by anyone It needs to be run by people who are aligned with a specific core set of values that have shepherded this profession for generations I think we're institutions for generations. We're very good at bragging to each other I don't think we're very good at bragging in Government and open public places or people who don't necessarily come to the library who Might see us as obsolete. We definitely need to get into those spaces outside of our comfort areas and Stop being in this echo chamber of how great we are. Totally. I Want you to run for president? I Seriously would right now I'm thinking about Eric Kleinberg's book and the social infrastructure thing. I think one One big brain saying maybe not for you guys Maybe you've been doing this a long time, but I really want to figure out how to bring together People who don't meet one another in their general lives But they do have shared interest and and help them build communities in our libraries and One example that you know if people have story time We have a little deaf kids who come to an ASL baby story time and the thing that has been so Fascinating and wonderful to me is to see that the parents come together then they meet each other and talk about what their kids are doing in school and One dad saying oh, yeah when my daughter wrote her bus for the first time They let me ride along and it's cool and this is how you know the staff treat them Just seeing communities of people who have shared concerns and shared interests come together in the library I think is really important making a place for that to happen just like we we were talking about the connections we make for our communities with the services and information we have but really Leveraging that as an opportunity to make those connections between people Who may not have connected? Any other way and let me just I I think that a lot of this process of spotting signals of trying to identify Trends and changes gives us the capacity to start to understand the other sectors the other disciplines the other professions that are aligned or in Contrast to our goals and objectives and gives us a guiding park a guiding point of saying We need to reach out to this group because they share something with the overall values that we have But so part of futuring isn't just about thinking about that prediction It's also trying to give us the language to advocate for the futures that we want. I Think a big trend that I'm seeing that is very effective is doing library services outside of library buildings Especially for marginalized communities and communities that traditionally do not come to a library Doing things like Going to the American Legion on Friday night and Giving library cards and having books to give away And things like that going to bars where intellectuals meet and The people paid to go there and hear somebody talk and the library is there and we're doing button-making and things like that these are all examples of things that are fun and and It gives librarians a stage With the people you don't have to think about a great program and you have a library and nobody shows up Everybody's there and your expertise is there So and people start recognizing the value of the library in ways that they didn't think about Because we're very we work so hard librarians work so hard That the marketing part normally is like the last thing So we wanted to just wrap up by talk and then make sure we have time for questions and comments But a couple of things so how do we keep the line between the future and the present going and continuous? Try your best to be open that includes trying to evaluate and re-evaluate the social value of the Kardashians or other celebrities but having that Having that openness to think about things that you don't like things that you think are disassociated from your professional work Whatever it may be be inclusive and collaborative. I think that's something that we all need to continue to do Remain curious try to be respectful. I think sometimes it's very hard for it's very easy for us to do Dismiss or shut down a signal, but there's we have entire collections That are respectful to human knowledge in its multiple forms We need to embrace that same amount of respect in the ways that we look at our world and the changes that are happening And then to be intentional Two ways that we can exercise this in practice, how can we change our cultures both personally and organizationally? In practice, I think for a personal commitment that you can make and perhaps you don't need to make all of these commitments But a good way to orient yourself towards the future is to think of how do you make time for discovery? intentionally That's a tough one especially because we all have a full schedule of work But trying to carve out time Maybe it's the first 10 or 15 minutes when you get into the office Trying to figure out well I'm going to make room to learn something new even just a snippet of something new than what I don't know already Make it a practice. It only works if you do it intentionally Look for those patterns that you see one offs are great But as you start to look and think about things intentionally, you'll notice different patterns happening Know your own interests and start to build a network. I don't watch pop culture. Thank God you do But I mean I watch I do pop culture, but I don't watch reality TV Every concert in America And then ask people what they are interested in so this is one of the saddest things that I often notice is that In a lot of our organizations The people who get to chime in about the important things going on have a certain rank or title or Responsibility and I'm often confronted by individuals who say I'm 22 years old I know a lot of what's happening for 22 year olds and I could be informative to programming But my job title here is page or shelver or this or that and I've never asked a question We really don't want to be those people Everyone on our organizations has inherent value knowledge and wisdom and it does require us to go and ask people What are you interested in? What are you noticing that's happening? You know But I do think that's a piece that I'm always it's like that again Getting to action is the other piece. So even if it's like a snippet of and I was doing it is okay People in an organization may agree that this is something like maybe some of you are here from the same organization How can we put this on just our team weekly meetings? It and I haven't my fabulous colleague Christian is here. So he's like you don't do that But I do because our team meetings I tried to and we only work with four people But put an article for us to discuss that's outside of libraries And what this means for the libraries we serve in a small way how we do that to create a point of discussion around these signals or Around the observations that we're having just even just if it's 10 minutes and how can we as that goes? How can we move it forward? Keeping that, you know, you can most most of us we you can see what we're talking about But then starting to build those stories And you know as we talked about the importance of diversity on teams the diversity of different signals and what people are seeing similar to the person who is 22 similar to people who may be Talking about something that we personally haven't experienced. I think it is critical and with things like social media We have so much opportunity to dip into things that we wouldn't have information about otherwise And it given our profession. It is our responsibility to do so Across library types in my opinion, so In that helps us those obviously that kind of access to those signals from your own Expir observations and your colleagues helps you work together to build those futures Alternate futures, but I would say also as you people are sharing those signals to have to you know Kind of have an open safe space to be like well. What exactly does that mean? Like I don't know who was talking about the Masked Singer show So at first I thought you said a mass Seder and I was like who did a mass Seder? I can't believe it was it on YouTube and I was too nervous at first. You know, oh my god. I would watch a mass Seder, okay? so I Shouldn't You know, but I do know the Masked Singer show, but I was like wow that's interesting But you know just to even in a safe way, maybe it's something that you're like well Someone is saying something either that you don't want to offend them or something even to just I always try to use this phrase Just could you say more about that? Just you know, like I don't get that. I'm scared of them. What are they doing? They're taking over the bus or whatever just could you say more about that just to to safely get to Something that may not be your jam or you don't want to seem like that person, right? so that's that's what a And I will look for the mass Seder later. Maybe I should do so I Hope you didn't come thinking we're gonna talk about self-driving cars and flying cars and the singularity the merging of machine and human Intelligence driving cars I do But again to Adrienne Marie Browns. It's not about the what it's about the how and so more than anything I hope that we had this opportunity to talk about different things that we don't normally talk about in libraries And I hope you will be inspired to go back to your organizations and find new ways to talk with other people About things that aren't inherent to what we're doing in libraries, but that have that long-term potential So I think we have about maybe eight minutes To chat was I'm on it So eight minutes to chat as you'd like and then Baronda and are both also hanging out so we can also just do Well, I just have a I have a question. I'm sorry. No Who said you could ask questions, you know right around here? We have like the museum of ice cream and you know all these museums of Three three dimensional like experiences where people are really going to places now. They are not museums, right? but they're They're trying to their Instagram experiences So can you talk about anything like that in terms of the how that's you know the filter base of our world of like You know taking your photo filtering it all of how that affects how we use our spaces This is interesting because I think we're prejudice Come on, but see this you we're doing the thing. We just said not to do so I'm just gonna give you my I don't want to talk about this because the Wonder Museum is in Chicago and I was gonna go and invited him It is thirty five dollars to get into the Wonder Museum It is a privately owned piece of art that a collector is Financing his purchase of that collection by charging people to have 30 seconds in the room with it and it's rushing them out And it irritates me to know and that they have dubbed that a museum and I invite isn't that funny and I said Hey, do you want to go to this with me? I didn't know what it was And I said no because we have values and we know what a museum You see why we're friends if they called it anything other than a museum That's that's my only that's my beef with it. So beyond that I mean, I think that the I think what a lot of these public spaces tell us is that people do want to have a Sense of pride in the public spaces that they have as you brought up Eric Kleinberg's, you know palaces for the people I think that there is that sense of strong connection if you look at what's happening in academic libraries right now They are designing academic libraries to be part of the parent tour before freshman year. I know that's what they're doing They're trying to create an asset in that community where parents will feel safe sending their students sending their Children to that space and so we may also want to think of how do we develop an aesthetic that conveys Safety that can take conveys joy whatever it may be in visual as much as the programmatic elements Are you saying more? How do we? Engage people who want that experience to or no somewhat. I mean, you know, there's that's just a That's a signal that's a signal out there that you're seeing people line up and that like you're saying over there It's you know, it's a one-hour experience. It's $30 or $40 So it's very exclusive about having access, right, which is the antithesis of the library right of that exclusivity So but you know, that's just what we're seeing around us like here in the Bay Area that those are pop Those are popping up in like these historic buildings that just really operate those as private Spaces which are exclusive to others. I mean I this I am thinking out loud right now Which is not probably a good idea, but I feel like you are gonna just like I Mean I wonder what it would be like to try to partner with one of those things and value add to it as a library and to be there and to Like deepen that experience, of course, they probably charge us to deliver this public good but I mean it would be I my executive director has Like that's our competition. Let's say libraries competition first attention space and time To get close to that competitor and what could we do together? What what's our shared goal? What do we have in common? Or what are what could we value add to what they have is? One thing we like to think of yeah, my next president would like to speak. I Well, I just wanted to point out that a lot of these pop-up museums are a threat to Curated museums as well like they're very much like the librarianship where and Apple stores Where they are not curated by a professional or someone who has a degree which has its blessed minuses Just like having an Apple store But you know, I mean I think a lot of libraries are taking invent are Recognizing these signals and building in little experiences. So God bless those children's librarians who do the animal overnights in the library That is totally taking they're taking that Instagram ability that experience thing and they're figuring it out I love going into a library Where whether by design or they retrofitted a window into the sorting machine? Because the little steps do also kids can see it people like a behind-the-scenes element And they're starting to figure out like that something interesting Jane McGonigal was involved with the New York Public Library They had an overnight experience for teenagers where they actually got to spend overnight in the library And they gamified the public library to provide again that trade on an experience that has exclusivity But is accessible to lots of people so they make something exclusive Broadly accessible and it can be something that is simple, but we do have to think creatively about what's the behind-the-scenes? Curiosity that we can exploit that is still safe for us to exploit for lots of different people Librarian for a day. I mean the librarian of when dr. Hayden brought that little girl who had read all the books I mean that was something viral that I think dr. Hayden and her team at the Library of Congress recognized the value of Experience that they could provide for that young and us to get to see ticks to be along for the ride high-tech changes I don't think it's just recognizing the pattern I was actually saying the one-minute thing, but also I did have a thing to say And it kind of goes to the like the the shock or the the Marvel value of Instagrammable moments, and I'm reminded of the photographer and essayist novelist at Teju Cole who He's like look it. We all think we're having this very Unique moment taking a picture of this thing and then his photo project was we all took the same photo Yeah, same areas, and I feel like that's kind of a capturing moment But for our our feeling of loneliness and our feeling of like oh we actually are kind of synchronizing our brains Even we don't realize it. Yeah. Yeah, that's I had that will end on this very shallow note When I first moved to Chicago and you know I was so interesting young and I was at this on the subway and I see this Jennifer convertible ad and It's a black girl with locks like mine thumb ring Hugging her white college roommate. I thought I was so interesting That was me and my car, you know and there was something to be said for like thinking you're so unique and then you See your and I don't have that it's a lot of you like oh that Billy looks like me on TV so for me to be like I Am a cliche and She's like your college roommates come in a town, and I'm like my college roommate is And we look just like that So it was like I am you know Despite all my rage. I'm still just a rat in the cage So thank you all so much for your time. Thank you wrap up We're gonna hang out veranda's friendlier than I am, but I can take it. So he's lying. He's nice. It's just different