This document outlines 10 lessons learned from a class on the hyperlinked library. The key lessons are: embrace constant change as libraries evolve; make the library mobile and accessible wherever people are; focus on serving the needs of the local community; be transparent and invite community involvement; improve the user experience by removing barriers; mobile devices are expanding access to collections; maker spaces engage and empower users; learning happens beyond classrooms; diversity of ideas fuels knowledge; and libraries should explore possibilities and embrace change.

1. The Hyperlinked
Library
10 Lessons I Learned
By
Kathy Anderson

2. 1. Change Is Always Coming Embrace It
• Approach change purposefully and thoughtfully.
• One of the most important things I’ve learned in this class is
that the library is always evolving as “the library is a growing
organism.” So we, as librarians, must continue to evolve with
the library.
• The good libraries and librarians
among us are in a state of constant
change because our communities
are in a state of constant change,
or better yet, evolution.

3. 2. The Library Is Everywhere
• We need to go where the people are.
• I agree that with today’s on-the-go society, we need to make
the library more mobile.
• I was inspired by the examples we learned in the Module 3
lecture:
• Roving Librarians with laptops
• Taking a wheelbarrow full of books to the beach
• Opening a branch library in an
airport
• And of course, making our
library services accessible
through mobile devices

4. 3. Need to focus on our community 1st
• Libraries are defined by the
services they provide to their
communities.
• A library is more than a
storehouse of books
• I learned that we can’t just
use quantitative surveys to
look at our patrons because
they live very rich digital lives
online. Then, we need to
learn how to serve those
Hyperlink communities.
• Only then can we push our
profession or libraries
forward

5. 4. The Library Is Transparent
• The transparent library has no secrets.
• I learned that we need to build a community that involves
everybody so that everyone feels ownership for the library.
• It’s important that the transparent library gives everyone an
avenue to talk.
• We must speak to our users and staff in a human voice.

6. 5. Focus On User Experience
• The whole building at all times should be managed in the broadest
spirit of hospitality; the atmosphere should be as gracious, kindly
and sympathetic as one’s own home. Then do away with all
unnecessary restrictions, take down all the bars, and try to put face
to face our friends the books and our friends the people.
I love this quote by Gracia Alta!
• I learned it’s so important to break down barriers that interfere with
users interacting with our resources, our services, and our people.
• “Every decision we make affects how people
experience the library. Let’s make sure we’re
creating improvements.” Aaron Schmidt
• I now realize these seemingly small things,
like unfriendly signs, can make such a
difference in a person’s library
experience.

7. 6. Mobile Devices Are Changing
Libraries
• A world of information in my
hand.
• I think it’s very exciting that
Mobile apps are making unique
collections available to
everyone – they enable us to
give access to more people
than we could before & they
can make it interactive too.
• I found the topic of the Mobile
Device so fascinating that I did
my Director’s Brief on it (23
Mobile Things).

8. 7. Maker Spaces Engage
Community
• Sometimes you have to create what you want to be a part of.
Geri Weitzman
• I think it’s so ground breaking that libraries are shifting from
the consumption of knowledge to sharing and producing
knowledge.
• I really enjoyed learning about Maker Spaces like the Idea Box
at Oak Park Public Library. I would love to work on a project
like this.

9. 8. Learning Isn’t Just About the
Classroom
• Where imaginations play, learning
happens.
• I think the Learning 2.0, 23 Things
program is a brilliant idea. In fact, it’s
something I’d like to participate in
myself. When I was doing research on
my Director’s Brief project, I
discovered there’s a SLIS 23 Things
program. I’d love to join it when they
restart the program.
• I thought David Perkins, author of
Making Learning Whole, made an
important point, “We need to help
students understand not just the
‘what’ but the ‘why’ in learning.”

10. 9. Diversity of Ideas Create
Knowledge
• Only when we have diversity will great ideas
come about.
• The idea of Echo Chambers really resonated
with me. I first heard about this concept
from David Weinberger, the author of Too
Big To Know, who I was introduced to in
Module 4 while studying the Hyperlinked
Library Communities. Because this struck a
chord with me, I wrote about echo chambers
in my September 8 2013 Blog post:
• “. . . We need to teach our children about the problems
of the Echo Chamber. Too often on the Internet and in
life, we like to hang out with people we agree with who
have the same ideas. However, you can become more
extreme in your beliefs; more polarized. We need to
teach our children to act against this and have “real
conversations” because when people disagree, minds
become open and then real thinking occurs and true
knowledge takes place. . . “

11. 10. Key Takeaways
• Be explorers
• Consider what the possibility of the future could be –
see the bigger picture
• Embrace change
• Play!
• Be human
Thank you Michael
& Kyle
for an amazing class!