Libraries Inspire – Who inspires you?

October 14, 2014

The theme of Canadian Library Month this year is “Libraries Inspire” – they help to inspire Canadians to celebrate our culture, to advance universal and equitable access to information, to support lifelong learning and to document and preserve our heritage for generations to come.

If libraries inspire Canadians, who inspires members of the Canadian library and information management community? Where they get their inspiration from?

To get the conversation started, we invited some members of the community to share their thoughts:

Jane Dysart
Senior Partner, Dysart & Jones Associates / Conference Program Designer

As the program designer for many events, some of which have to be planned 8 months in advance, I am always looking for inspiration! Doing something new and different to get people’s attention is important to what I do. I look to many different fields, especially business and technology, for inspiration. I follow many leaders from those fields on Twitter, Facebook, and through their blogs. I also have a large network of speakers I have worked with and am always watching what they are up to and saying. Some of those colleagues also make suggestions to me about topics and speaker. A recent example: Michael Edson who works in the office of the CIO at the Smithsonian suggested Michael Lydon, Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative and author, Tactical Urbanism. Lydon talked about hacking library spaces and helped our text focused profession visualize and see things differently! I find there are so many things in other fields that apply to information professionals, and we can really learn from different thinking and ways to handle things.

Liane Belway
Librarian, Holland College

Trying to choose only one inspiring person, idea, or service in our profession just brings out the librarian list maker in me. (Can we say list makers inspire us? Or is that just perpetuating the stereotype?)  But when I think about what inspires me here in my own library, one area where our people and programs make a real difference is in supporting literacy.

When I worked in public libraries, back when dinosaurs ruled the earth (you know, the ones who went extinct because they didn’t read), I got the chance to with literacy collections and services, matching people with the best resources for information, learning, and pleasure. This was an amazing experience, and not “just about books”: videos, CDs, picture books, language acquisition software, and mixed media all helped add value and enjoyment to an often challenging process. When I moved to college libraries several years ago, I had a similar opportunity to build services to support literacy for all ages (with some updated media formats, of course!). Past and present librarians, students, and teachers have some incredible success stories, and the dedicated teachers who make this process possible always inspire me with their energy and engagement. They are some of the strongest supporters of the library and the work we do, and I’m always on the lookout to make the journey towards literacy a bit easier and a bit more fun.

Lisa Gauthier
Document Coordinator, Office of Advancement, University of Alberta

Sometimes I take for granted how amazing and diverse this profession is. Then, I reflect on what inspires and motivates me. I am fortunate to have had amazing mentors who pushed me to do better, and to go out and seek different opportunities. Mentors who taught me that it is an important responsibility to support new professionals and to pass down knowledge in order for the field to grow and prosper.

I am proud to have friends and colleagues who are emerging trailblazers in academic and public librarianship, in the federal and provincial public service, in archives, and in information and records management. Their ambition and passion for the information field continues to grow stronger; they inspire me every day.

I am in awe of community public librarians who not only ardently work to provide literacy skills but give hope and support to all of their patrons. Their service and dedication is imperative to society.

Finally, I am inspired by library and information advocates and organizations that fervently canvass and fundraise to support our field. They publish both on social and traditional media platforms calling for people to act. They make noise, they protest and they educate the public on the survival of libraries and archives. They inform the public on information and privacy rights that should be protected and free from influence and corruption. These advocates fight the good fight and our profession is better for it.