What Pop!Tech Has to do with MD Libraries
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The document discusses creating a complementary currency called the Marylib Ex Libris (MExL) to redefine and revitalize Maryland libraries. It notes that preserving libraries is like embalming and prevents growth. Instead, the author was inspired by Bernard Lietaer's talk at Pop!Tech about how redefining money through complementary currencies stabilized economies. The author proposes that libraries could work with local businesses, schools, museums and parks to create a currency earned through volunteering and spent in the community. This approach would spread the benefits of libraries more broadly compared to preservation alone.
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What Pop!Tech Has to do with MD Libraries
- 2. Hi, this was me … Before attending Pop!Tech
- 3. With my thinking cap on, I Thinking would Cap look out my small, blu rry window into the world of MD libraries and what I saw was this
- 4. I work hard for the money, so hard for it honey… Hard working people, working hard to make this
- 5. All natural Maryland library preserves.
- 6. I wasn’t just making this up … after rigorous research I found out that lots of people are talking about preserving libraries.
- 7. Then, just as I was about to take a big bite out of the library preserves myself…
- 8. DLDS approved my grant request for money to cover my attendance at Pop!Tech 2011.
- 9. So, what’s Pop!Tech you ask? At first I didn’t know what to tell folks when they asked this so, I bumbled around and said something about brilliant people speaking about their brilliant contributions to the world in about 15 minutes.
- 10. Like who?
- 11. Like The Who?
- 12. No. Not like The Who.
- 15. Like 13 year old middle school students…
- 17. Then, I’m inevitably asked, Who? “so, why are you going?” Me?
- 18. “Is a librarian going to be speaking?” I could speak at Pop!Tech. I’m brilliant.
- 19. “What does any of this have to do with libraries?”
- 20. To preserve or not to preserve? To answer that question, “what does Pop!Tech have to do with libraries,” and to connect the Pop!Tech message of, “a world rebalancing” with the Maryland library world I was seeing through my window, I’ve chosen to focus on one speaker who, for me, illustrated the incredible possibilities of sitting down the idea of preserving and choosing instead to adopt a mindset of redefining. This is the message I feel will rejuvenate Maryland libraries right now.
- 21. My Arguments Against preserving libraries: 1. Is keeping us in denial of the fact that everything comes to an end. Remember, we’re balancing here.
- 22. My Arguments Against preserving libraries: 2. Is forgetting that some of the most poignant lessons learned come from harm and mistakes. We need to welcome these lessons, not avoid them.
- 23. My Arguments Against preserving libraries: 3. Is catering to the status quo. It’s flat lining.
- 24. My Arguments Against preserving libraries: 4. Is all about control and ownership. Of what? Buildings, services, people? The “idea” of what a library is and does and should be?
- 25. My Arguments Against preserving libraries: 5. Is like embalming. No decay but no growth either.
- 26. Naturally, I changed my mind about library preserves and instead I’ve chosen to focus on the following speaker based on his position in a situation that he could have chosen to preserve – in one form or another –but instead he chose a different path.
- 27. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity “…political democracy without monetary democracy is ineffective.”
- 28. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity “ We’ve moved out of the industrial age but we keep using industrial age monetary concepts – the idea ” of a single currency. a.k.a. monetary preservation
- 29. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity “ [complementary currencies]…are available to do very, very, very important things. i.e. meet the challenges of ” the 21st Century.
- 30. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity “Money is an agreement within a community to use something standardized as He just redefined what money is. medium of exchange.” What if we redefined what libraries are?
- 31. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity Unbalanced = unstable. “Because we are only using one type of money, that is the very reason why it’s unstable.”
- 32. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity An example of a very successful complementary currency: The Swiss Wir. • Created 75 years ago • By 17 small business owners • Has been scientifically linked to the economic stability of Switzerland. http://wir.ch
- 33. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity Short video clip of Lietaer describing his revitalization project in Gent, Flanders. Of course, it involved creating a complementary currency.
- 34. What If?
- 35. Bernard Lietaer http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity “Money is an agreement within a community to use something standardized as medium of exchange.” Libraries are natural communities. All we need to do is agree to adopt a complementary currency.
- 36. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ Libraries Maryland So, I created a complementary currency: the Marylib Ex Libris (or MExL for short)
- 37. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ How can MExLs be earned? Through the usual volunteering channels like… Students processing materials …
- 38. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ Like volunteers shelving books…
- 39. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ By donating materials (books, eReaders, CDs, laptops, etc) …
- 40. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ By donating time and expertise to teach workshops …
- 41. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ What if people earned MExLs by proving that they’re out advocating for their libraries?
- 42. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ How can MExLs be spent? By paying library fines …
- 43. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ How can MExLs be spent? By buying extra days of loan time …
- 44. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ How can MExLs be spent? By buying extra time on the library computers …
- 45. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ How can MExLs be spent? By buying a cup of coffee at the library café …
- 46. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ How can MExLs be spent? THIS METER ONLY By buying premium parking ACCEPTS at spaces with specialized meters designed to only accept the MExL … EX LIBRIS! Why couldn’t this be reality?
- 47. What Libraries If? Libraries Museums Schools Maryland Local Biz Parks
- 48. Julie Zamostny http://www.westmdlib.info/ I ask you, which view of Maryland library preserves is tastier to you? The one where we look pretty and can fit nicely onto a shelf but one where we can’t be fully experienced or the one where we’re messy and sweet and sticky and spread all over some pound cake – one where we can be enjoyed by all 5 senses? OR
- 49. And that’s what I learned at Pop!Tech. http://poptech.org/2011
Editor's Notes
- Introduce yourself: Preface with, “journey through pre-poptech, poptech, and post-poptech.”Do energizer exercise. Ask 3 volunteers to share their fortune with the group.
- This was me. Before I went to PopTech last October. There I was. With my thinking cap on gazing out on the world of MD libraries – and it wasn’t even a very clear view at that – look, it’s all blurry – nor was it a very big view – it was very limited. But what I started to see, from my non-administrator point of view, was this …
- People working hard to produce this…
- All natural Maryland library preserves.
- And to show evidence that I wasn’t entirely off base, I did very thorough research on the topic and was unsurprisingly overwhelmed by the results.
- So, just as I was about to take a big bite out of the library preserves to have a taste for myself …
- Along came DLDS with their generous grant that allowed me to attend PopTech2011 in Camden, Maine.
- Now I could assume that everyone here is already familiar with PopTech but the trainer in me says, “make no assumptions and ensure common ground.” So, first and foremost, what is poptech? I actually struggled with this prior to attending the event. Friends and family and colleauges would ask, “what’s poptech?” And having not yet attended, I didn’t know what to say…so, instead I bumbled my way around some incomplete description involving brilliant people speaking about their brilliant contributions to the world in 15 min or less. Like who?
- Like photographers, like NASA scientists, like 13 year old middle school students, like Egyptian revolutionaries …
- And then, after I gave that answer, my friends and family would inevitably ask, “so, why are YOU going?”
- “Is a librarian going to be speaking?”
- “What does THIS have to do with libraries?”
- In an attempt to answer that very question – what does poptech have to do with libraries – and in an attempt to make the connection between the PopTech 2011 message of a world rebalancing with the maryland library world I was seeing through my small, blurry window –– I’ve chosen to focus on one speaker whose presentation – and message – illustrated for me the incredible possibilities of sitting down this idea of preservation and instead, adopting a mindset of redefining – and it’s this message of redefining that I feel could truly help rejuvenate Maryland libraries right now.
- But first, I want to explain why I think we should rethink / reexamine / reconsider this notion of preserving libraries. This notion of “preserve” is keeping us in denial of the fact that everything comes to an end. Remember, we’re balancing here.This notion of “preserve” is forgetting that some of the most poignant lessons learned come from harm and mistakes. If we arent able or willing to accept experience of harm or mistake then how will we learn?This notion of “preserve” is merely catering to the status quo …. Not going above and beyond. Improving.This notion of “preserve” is all about control and ownership. Ownership of what? A building? Services? People? The “idea” of what a library is and does and should be? This notion of “preserve” is like embalming. They won’t decay but they won’t grow either. They won’t do anything.
- But first, I want to explain why I think we should rethink / reexamine / reconsider this notion of preserving libraries. This notion of “preserve” is keeping us in denial of the fact that everything comes to an end. Remember, we’re balancing here.This notion of “preserve” is forgetting that some of the most poignant lessons learned come from harm and mistakes. If we arent able or willing to accept experience of harm or mistake then how will we learn?This notion of “preserve” is merely catering to the status quo …. Not going above and beyond. Improving.This notion of “preserve” is all about control and ownership. Ownership of what? A building? Services? People? The “idea” of what a library is and does and should be? This notion of “preserve” is like embalming. They won’t decay but they won’t grow either. They won’t do anything.
- But first, I want to explain why I think we should rethink / reexamine / reconsider this notion of preserving libraries. This notion of “preserve” is keeping us in denial of the fact that everything comes to an end. Remember, we’re balancing here.This notion of “preserve” is forgetting that some of the most poignant lessons learned come from harm and mistakes. If we arent able or willing to accept experience of harm or mistake then how will we learn?This notion of “preserve” is merely catering to the status quo …. Not going above and beyond. Improving.This notion of “preserve” is all about control and ownership. Ownership of what? A building? Services? People? The “idea” of what a library is and does and should be? This notion of “preserve” is like embalming. They won’t decay but they won’t grow either. They won’t do anything.
- But first, I want to explain why I think we should rethink / reexamine / reconsider this notion of preserving libraries. This notion of “preserve” is keeping us in denial of the fact that everything comes to an end. Remember, we’re balancing here.This notion of “preserve” is forgetting that some of the most poignant lessons learned come from harm and mistakes. If we arent able or willing to accept experience of harm or mistake then how will we learn?This notion of “preserve” is merely catering to the status quo …. Not going above and beyond. Improving.This notion of “preserve” is all about control and ownership. Ownership of what? A building? Services? People? The “idea” of what a library is and does and should be? This notion of “preserve” is like embalming. They won’t decay but they won’t grow either. They won’t do anything.
- But first, I want to explain why I think we should rethink / reexamine / reconsider this notion of preserving libraries. This notion of “preserve” is keeping us in denial of the fact that everything comes to an end. Remember, we’re balancing here.This notion of “preserve” is forgetting that some of the most poignant lessons learned come from harm and mistakes. If we arent able or willing to accept experience of harm or mistake then how will we learn?This notion of “preserve” is merely catering to the status quo …. Not going above and beyond. Improving.This notion of “preserve” is all about control and ownership. Ownership of what? A building? Services? People? The “idea” of what a library is and does and should be? This notion of “preserve” is like embalming. They won’t decay but they won’t grow either. They won’t do anything.
- After looking at Preserve more closely and in the context of our libraries, I no longer wanted to bite into that. And so, I’ve chosen to focus on the following speaker based on his position in a situation that he could have chosen to preserve – in one form or another –but instead he chose a different path.
- I’d like to introduce you to Bernard Lietear – author of The Future of Money and an international expert in the design and implementation of currency systems. His main thesis is this …
- The problem is this: monetary preservation.“We’ve moved out of the industrial age but we keep using industrial age monetary concepts – the idea of a single currency.”
- The solution is complementary currencies like the C3s in south america, the wir in switzerland.“[complementary currencies]…are available to do very, very, very important things. i.e. meet the challenges of the 21st Century.” challenges like poverty, unemployment, and community strife.
- In order to realize the solution of complementary currencies, he simply redefines what money is….He just redefined money – on his own – he didn’t ask permission – he didn’t form a committee – he just did it. What if we did that for libraries – just keep that thought in the back of your mind. . .
- It’s unstable because it’s unbalanced. Provides evidence of such instability … banking crashes, monetary collapses, sovereign debt crises.… “systemic problem is assumed to be just something that happens … in development.” another example of preserving an unhealthy assumption.
- But how do we know complimentary currencies work? Example: WIR in Switzerland. A complimentary currency created 75 years ago by 17 business owners. With it they created private sector jobs and as a result the WIR has been scientifically linked to the economic stability in Switzerland. www.wir-bank.ch
- 14:15 cue end at 16:10
- Connection with libraries: stop preserving and start redefining what our libraries are; what we are as librarians.
- So, one big idea i got from poptech was that maryland libs need to create our own currency.We already have the community we just need to agree to adopt a complimentary currency and then decide what that currency is going to be and how it’s going to be used.
- There ya go – the Marylib Ex Libris (MExL)
- How could ExLibris be earned? By the usual modes of volunteering - Processing materialsShelving materialsTeaching workshopsDonating materials – books, ereaders, etc.Each act of kindness could be worth a different amount of ex libris depending on the library system.Ex Libris could be given out spontaneously – when a library staff member sees a patron doing something to benefit another.
- Or better yet, earn ex libris by advocating for libraries!
- Pay your fines in libris.
- Buy extra days of loan time.
- Buy an extra hour of computer time.
- Buy a coffee at the library café.
- Buy a better parking spot.
- And after a while, once the ex libris grows in value to the community members, there’s a chance it might be accepted in other community areas as well. It could take over Visa’s slogan as being accepted everywhere you want to be.
- So now, in conclusion, I’d like you to ask yourselves: which view of Maryland libraries is tastier to you? The one where we look pretty and fit nicely onto a shelf but not fully experienced or the one where we’re messy and sweet and sticky and spread all over everything?And that’s what I learned at PopTech.