Paula’s E-Musings

Educause Connect is a rich resource for the CIO or anyone looking for information about IT and libraries in higher education. Along with online articles, there are links to podcasts, blogs and wikis. Earlier today I listened to a podcast about IT Leadership and the Role of the CIO presented at EDUCAUSE 2007 by Michael Zastrocky of the Gartner Group, a leading IT consulting company.

The annual Gartner EDUCAUSE update focused on leadership traits of the successful CIO, especially the critical role of educating the campus about IT initiatives and marketing IT’s value to the success of the organization. The importance of aligning IT goals with institutional goals and the need for the campus to embrace and embed IT into its overall culture was also emphasized. As a CIO I have always considered advocacy as one of my primary responsibilities. The American Heritage Dictionary defines advocacy as “the act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy.”

Advocacy, education and marketing go hand-in-hand along with communication. The campus must understand how and why IT supports the tactical as well as strategic goals of the entire organization and each individual department and the CIO must take every opportunity to convey the message to individuals and groups.

An interesting post on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s The Wired Campus references Sharing, Privacy and Trust in our Networked World,  a recent OCLC report about how libraries can best use Web 2.0 and social networking tools. The 280-page report is based on results of a study that explores both patron and librarian practices and preferences in the use of social networks, including attitudes about privacy and sharing and receiving information.

The Report concludes that most everyone uses basic Internet services such as searching and e-mailing and the majority use e-commerce services and instant messaging. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed use social networking sites and blogging is becoming increasingly popular. However the percentage of people using Library Web tools has actually decreased.

What do those findings mean for those of us who invest heavily in online library resources?  How do we reach our students who feel self-sufficient in their online research skills and often circumvent library resources? They don’t necessarily use the library Web pages that we often design as a result of our own usability studies. There are no clear answers as we traverse the online information world and explore the implications and opportunities of Library 2.0. Librarians must be willing to question current practices and be open to new and different service venues, both real and virtual. We must all accept and embrace change. As OCLC’s report concludes, “The new Web is a very different thing. Libraries need to be very different, too.”

Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday that I was getting on a plane to attend the 2007 EDUCAUSE Conference held in Seattle, October 23-26. For the first time ever the conference was sold out and there was no on-site registration. As always the conference was an excellent opportunity to hear terrific speakers, catch up with friends and colleagues, network with the higher ed library and IT community, and enjoy Seattle.

The conference kicked off with an inspiring presentation by renowned Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin. She focused her remarks on the leadership style of Abraham Lincoln, as he faced challenges and dealt with adversity. She also acknowledged that her keen interest in history began as a young child when she dutifully recorded the plays of her beloved Brooklyn Dodgers by listening to their games on the radio and keeping score so she could report details of the baseball action to her father when he came home from work in the evening. I’m now eager to read both  Team of Rivals , her biography of Lincoln, and Wait Til Next Year, her memoir of growing up in Dodger-centric Brooklyn.

The conference closed with a thought-provoking session by Bruce Schneier on trends that affect security. I was particularly interested in the economic factors that impact security risks of our data and the networks. You can learn more by subscribing to his monthly Crypto-Gram newsletter that addresses issues of security technology.

It was hard to choose from the many high quality sessions that were offered. Since SUNY Cortland has an island in Second Life where courses are being taught I went to a couple of sessions on learning in the virtual world environment.  And of course I attended sessions on social networking, Web and Library 2.0, and the Millennials. EDUCAUSE was a rich and enlightening experience and I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference.

PS Some of my favorite Seattle experiences included Pike Place Market, Experience Music Project, Pioneer Square with its galleries, shops and restaurants,and the innovative architecture of the Seattle Public Library.