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Hi, this was me …
Before attending Pop!Tech
With my thinking cap on, I
would look out
my small, blurry
window into the world of
MD libraries
and what I saw was
this
Thinking Cap
OVER-
DRAMATIZATION
AHEAD
Hard working people, working hard to make this
I work hard for the money, so
hard for it honey…
Library
All natural Maryland library preserves.
I wasn’t just making this up … after rigorous research I found out that lots of people are talking about preserving libraries.
Then, just as I was about to take a big bite out of the library preserves myself…
DLDS approved my grant request for money to cover my attendance at Pop!Tech 2011.
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.
Like who?
Like The Who?
No. Not like The Who.
Like photographers…
Like NASA scientists…
Like 13 year old middle school students…
Like Egyptian revolutionaries…
Then, I’m inevitably asked, “so, why are you going?”
Who? Me?
“Is a librarian going to be speaking?” I could speak
at Pop!Tech. I’m brilliant.
“What does any of this have to do with libraries?”
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.
To preserve or not to preserve?
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.
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.
My Arguments Against preserving libraries:
3. Is catering to the status quo. It’s flat lining.
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?
My Arguments Against preserving libraries:
5. Is like embalming. No decay
but no growth either.
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.
Bernard Lietaerhttp://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity
“…political democracy without monetary democracy is ineffective.”
Mai
n th
esis
Bernard Lietaerhttp://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
“”
Bernard Lietaerhttp://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.
“
”i.e. The Swiss Wir
i.e. The C3 in Uruguay
Bernard Lietaer
“Money is an agreement within a community to use
something standardized as
medium of exchange.”
http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity
He just redefined what money is. What if we redefined what libraries are?
Bernard Lietaer
“Because we are only using one type of money, that is the very reason why it’s unstable.”
http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity
Unbalanced = unstable.
Bernard Lietaerhttp://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
Bernard Lietaerhttp://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.
WhatIf?
Bernard Lietaer
“Money is an agreement within a community to use something standardized as medium of
exchange.”
http://poptech.org/popcasts/bernard_lietaer_money_diversity
Libraries are natural communities. All we need to do is agree to adopt a complementary currency.
Julie Zamostnyhttp://www.westmdlib.info/
Libraries
Maryland
So, I created a complementary currency: the Marylib Ex Libris (or MExL for short)
Julie Zamostnyhttp://www.westmdlib.info/
How can MExLs be earned?
Through the usual volunteering channels like…
Students processing materials …
Julie Zamostnyhttp://www.westmdlib.info/
Like volunteers shelving books…
Julie Zamostnyhttp://www.westmdlib.info/
By donating materials (books, eReaders, CDs, laptops, etc) …
Julie Zamostnyhttp://www.westmdlib.info/
By donating time and expertise to teach workshops …
http://www.westmdlib.info/
Julie Zamostny
What if people earned MExLs by proving that they’re out advocating for their libraries?
I signed th
is.
Julie Zamostnyhttp://www.westmdlib.info/
How can MExLs be spent?
By paying library fines …
http://www.westmdlib.info/
Julie Zamostny
How can MExLs be spent?
By buying extra days of loan time …
http://www.westmdlib.info/
Julie Zamostny
How can MExLs be spent?
By buying extra time on the library computers …
http://www.westmdlib.info/
Julie Zamostny
How can MExLs be spent?
By buying a cup of coffee at the library café …
http://www.westmdlib.info/
Julie Zamostny
THIS METER ONLY
ACCEPTS EX
LIBRIS!
How can MExLs be spent?
By buying premium parking at spaces with specialized meters designed to only accept the MExL …
Why couldn’t this be reality?
Libraries
Maryland
Libraries
Schools
ParksLocal Biz
Museums
What If?
http://www.westmdlib.info/
Julie Zamostny
OR
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?
And that’s what I learned at Pop!Tech.
http://poptech.org/2011
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