Hello, Dr. Stephens and classmates:

In my Dashboard, I scrolled down and saw the “Tools” section on the left-hand side.  When I clicked on it, I didn’t see the options of “Import” and “Export” listed there (as they have been mentioned in the blog).  I saw the following content:

Therefore, I couldn’t continue to do the next steps for exporting files.  Is there anybody else has this problem?   What causes the tool to be “missing”?  How can I get it back?   Any suggestions and help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Tutucn

Outcome:

Have a better understanding for the meaning of “Communication is KEY”.

Overview:

Over all (in my opinion), this course is a window/channel/stage for us to engage and re-vision new information technology through a faithful/discussable conversation; it allows us to share idea/experience through an effective pattern of critical thinking.   In here, we can hear expressive voices and the moment of silence as well.  The established concepts have a chance to be examined; the merge of verbal-greatness and actionable-realities become challenge.

Through this window, I saw the answer cross the maze; the lesson is there.  Through this channel, I hear the voice/idea is traveling; sunshine is whispering.  Through this stage, I saw the performance with an on-going theme; and I saw expectations, approaches, and achievements from each one of you.

Thoughts

It would be an irony if we emphasize human conversation and connection without a true/effective communication established in a reality base.  It would be an incomplete WAY if no one continually travel or explore when time passed.  It would be a cold/empty HOME when there is no passion of heart to receive/influence…

Suggestion

Adding the elements of motivation/stimulation/encouragement on the WAY towards the participatory service concepts and practices will make this approach even more significant and powerful!

Greetings

Thank you, Dr. Stephens! – For your professionalism and serious responsibility!  Thank you, my classmates! – For your voices and the memory we build together!

Wish you all best!   Have a beautiful Christmas Holiday!

Tutucn 兔兔笙

My research topic is about reaching all populations (specificity focus on Asian patrons). Here is the link for the presentation:

http://www.screencast.com/t/EbpY7B45w

The tool I used is called “Jing” -  Simple and FREE.   you can use it to create images and videos of what you see on your computer screen, then share them instantly! the limitation is that it only allows you to make  5 minutes for focused communication. Here is the tutorial link, take a look if you are interested it.: http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-jing.html

Through this project, I have a better understanding of how the various courses in the MLIS program interact and enhance each other.  The theory and concepts that I have learned from this class helped me to see the library profession in a newer, more open light, giving me better/further guide for my other class.  The statistic resources and related knowledge I have learned from the other class this semester ( such as the “Jing” tool )  really become very handy for my research and this presentation.

Thank you for watching!  You all did very good, and I have learned a lot from you as well.  Thanks !

Inspired by the knowledge of Emerging Technology and the course related readings and  scholar studies as well as our classmates’ insightful posts, I created a social media guideline policy statement for the Santiago Canyon College (SCC) Library in Orange County, California where I received one of my degrees.   Based on the principle that any policy should reflect the true situation and needs for that organization, my thought processes are finding out and analyzing the background and current situation of the Library, investigating the need/purpose of using and re-form the Social Media Guideline Policy for it, then creating a possible applied policy to meet the change and needs.

The information that I focused on:

Background about SCC Library

Physical Capability:

(SCC Library, 2006)

Dedicated on September, 2006, the SCC new Library/Learning Resource Center is a two-story, 40,000 square foot building with a capacity for 100,000 print volumes. According to its current website information, the Library has 75 student PCs; 7 super Dell computers and two Macs in the Student Innovation Zone (SIZ) for creating multimedia projects or innovative works. It also has 12 Group Study Rooms for student groups with as many as 12 students and a Media Area with 6 TV/DVD/CD players. In addition, the Library has a Faculty Development Center (FDC) dedicated to professional development for faculty and staff (SCC Library, 2011).

My thought:  The SCC total enrollment number in fall of 2010 was 15,248 and the total faculty number was 438 (SCC, 2011). Those are the primary numbers that will use the Library service.  The community users that are closest to this campus come from the Cities of Orange, Tustin, Irvine and Santa Ana, which provides a quite large potential numbers that might use the SCC Library services. The physical area/space and utilities contained in the Library should be able to handle both primary and potential users or even can be made more useful to them. How the Library should spiritually/practically provide any possible significant ways to serve those numbers is a challenge. Effectively using social emerging technologies might be one key to open a new vision of the library service in this campus.

Current Rules and Policies

(Possible related to the use of social technology):

Rules in General:  No eating.  Drinks are permitted if in a container with a lid; Cell phones must be on silent or vibrate mode. No cell phone use in Library open areas; No use of electronic equipment that disturbs other Library users; No unauthorized entry into staff offices or work rooms; No unauthorized possession or use of library material or equipment (SCC, 2011).

Cell Phone Policy:  Anyone making or receiving a call must immediately put the call on hold and move to a study room or outside the library to answer the call (SCC, 2011).

Library Computer Use: No games, multiple-user game playing; loading software onto a Library computer is not permitted for anyone.  Users will only use software in Library computers that has been approved by the librarians and loaded by library staff; using the network for personal or commercial advertising or political activity is not allowed (SCC, 2011).

Group Study Room Policy: Reservations are not accepted; furniture may not be moved in or out of the rooms; while you may receive cell phone calls in the group study rooms, please do not disturb others (SCC, 2011).

Wireless Access: offers wireless access to the Internet to currently enrolled students. If students or staff members have a wireless connection on their laptop they will be able to access the Internet in selected areas on campus (SCC, 2011).

My thought:  the SCC Library emphasizes that these policies have been “designed to balance the needs of the Library with the convenience of our patrons” (SCC Library, 2011). It also points out that the SCC Library is committed to providing an environment that is conducive to study as well as welcoming to all users (SCC Library, 2011). The questions might be: since the needs of the library and the level of the convenience of the users might have changed or increased, what can we do to re-balance them?  Should we adjust or modify the rules and policies as needed to meet the changes?  What is the real meaning of “welcoming to all users” towards the process of accessing the library information and interactive communication? Should we put limitations?

Current Available Use of Social Media Technology

For the Users in General: according to the SCC Library on Facebook, one of five cool things about SCC Library is “to contact the library via meebo chat, email or phone”. The Library invites questions about students’ assignments and research needs (Facebook, 2011).  The library also has its Blog (http://scclibnews.blogspot.com/ ) available for all users. The Library Photo Gallery is located on Flicker.  Recently, SCC Library started to offer a Library Mobile service, which allows the library users to view their library account “via cell phone, the iPhone, Android or other mobile devices through the Library Anywhere application” (SCC Library, 2011). The Library website also provides a simple instruction on how to use/connect it and how to install the Library Anywhere application.

For Faculty: The Faculty Development Center (FDC) in the SCC Library is available to support faculty and staff in the use of technology.  “It serves as a dedicated space for technology training as well as a meeting place for faculty to share their expertise, explore new ideas and different technologies. In addition, it provides a nice quiet place for adjunct faculty to work on their lessons, check their email and grade students’ assignments (SCC Library, 2011)

My thought:  Good approach and lots of potential opportunities! However, when you look at the SCC Library on Facebook, there are not many comments or involvements, and the few posts only came from the library staff or the faculty members – there are not many students’ involvements. The library photo gallery doesn’t have many images reflecting the Library’s ongoing activities or promoted services. Even in the Blog, from its start in April, 2007 to November, 2011, there are totally 24 posts (includes one common). The Blog only had 3 posts last year and 5 posts this year so far!  What is the true situation — the Library users don’t like to participate in these types of library services, or the library hasn’t figured out how to promote them, or other reasons?   Should the Library consider what the best ways are to get the most out of these services instead of just using them?

The Need for Social Media Guideline Policies

Mission Statement of SCC Library

“The mission of the Santiago Canyon College Library is to support the learning community of the college and to make available a variety of information resources and services in support of the Education Master Plan. The Library strives to stimulate the use of the library resources for intellectual development and to develop information literacy skills. Librarians are primary guides to information resources and facilitators for their use. The Library exists to further the research and scholarly needs of the college community” (SCC Library, 2011).

Vision of the SCC Library

“The vision of the Santiago Canyon College Library is to provide an unrestricted gateway to sources of knowledge throughout the world, to instill a love of books and ideas and an appreciation of the rich history of human thought. The Library is a resource for all learners and provides intellectual refreshment to our learning community. The Library is a sanctuary in which to read, think and study and a place where the curiosity and interests of all are nurtured (Facebook, 2011).

My thought: The mission and vision of the SCC Library along with the needs for change /adjustment to build a positive and interactive library service shows the reasons why it is so important to have Social Media Guideline Policies well established in the academic library today. Good social media guideline policies will definitely help the users to expand their vision of what today’s library services can possibly be and open their mind to re-evaluate as to what the best learning environment is that can be established in an academic library.

By analyzing all of the information above and combining my thoughts as well as inspiration from both the course materials and my classmates’ blog posts, I have created my version of the SCC Library Social Media Guideline Policy Statement as attached: Sullivan_Social Media Guideline Policy Statement

The related resources for this topic really helped me to set my focus and direction on how to address my idea/thought in developing a practical social media guideline policy statement for the library setting of my choice.

Comparing the situation in the college that I received my earlier degree to its new face showed/reflected from the NEW BUILT library (physically and spiritually) now, I saw the huge changes as well as the influences of social technologies.  The knowledge I have learned from this module is motivating and guiding me to re-look at and re-evaluate this particular library service that I used to set it in my mind as standards for a community college.  I have seen how much potential and how much spaces are there that will allow us to do better.

The best thing of discovering / learning what we have involved now is to help us to open our mind to a new vision of what a community college library / library user / librarian / administrator should or willing to engage through a positive/interactive academic environment.   The policy reflects our thoughts then influence our acts. We have new thinking and new ideas everyday; therefore, to make a policy full of a fresh life will be challenge now and future.

This module provides us the ways of how to react the rapidly changed social technologies and emerging technologies and what the possible things we can do to help us facing the challenge from these changes.

The Significance of the TEN STEPS

I’m impressed by the Ten Steps listed in our lecture which greatly opened my mind. I had some confusions and un-clarities about the “issues/concerns” related using social technologies such as how to balance between the true voice/needs and possible implementation; how to adjust what we really like to do and what the library actually enable to do.  I think that these Ten Steps are the core concept that will not only guide us to create a healthy/positive/opened learning/practice environment for both our library users and staff but also point out alternate directions that everybody can freely discussion, try/test, speak/act, practice, interact, motivate, encourage, cooperate, etc…  The Ten Steps will help us to design/build an effective plan for social technologies and emerging technologies in our libraries.

Practice –Practice, and Learning from Successes and Failures

Evaluating our emerging technology plan can not be a simple conclusion of right or wrong; good or bad.  It is a learning process of progressively building-up with practices/successes and failures. As the lecture states, “lot of these technologies are no more then 6 years old; we still try to figure out how they fit and what is exactly they might be”. We don’t know what is going to happen; but we can “use the great evidence, reports and things that are available for us and to help us to find way” in a new world (Stephens, 2011).  Many related examples and readings also reflect this concept such as DC public library develop the iPhone App and tested it through their innovation and experimentation site; MLibrary Lab’ practically usage in the University of Michigan; the experimental activities of Emerging Technology Group from McMaster University as well as the Blog topic of “Library Emerging Technologies Group” from the Librarians Matter website, etc… Then we might not able to create a “perfect” plan but a “well-thought-out technology plan” (Stephens, 2004) to benefit all of our users and ourselves! I believe that it will be getting better and better!

There are many insightful information and messages from the topic of Transparency. The examples from the lecture, “Selections from The Transparent Library” from the readings, the transparency action from “ACPL Director Krull on YouTube”, etc… and many other related scholar articles really opened my mind into a new stage on understanding the concept of Transparency and its value. The progress I gained from this chapter is being able to expend my limitation of only focusing on library users to looking at the whole picture of the library, including the library staff and administration.

Spirit of Transparency

I think that “Six Signposts on the Way” and “Six More Signposts” (by Michael Casey & Michael Stephens from the course reading) indeed reflect the spirit of transparency – the emphasis of opening, listening, communicating, accepting, sharing, caring, trusting, encouraging, promoting, recognizing, acknowledging, cooperating, reaching, changing, growing and celebrating.

These spirits allow us together to build a trust/ interactive / motivated environment, which is positive and healthy for the library’s growth. These spirits give an avenue or chance to both the library users and staff to speak out, provide input (feedbacks / comments / suggestions / ideas / criticisms / solutions / directions / fresh information) which helps to improve the library services greatly.

These spirits provide the channel and opportunity for the library administrators or managers to directly/closely communicate with the library users and staff in frontline through an open space, which makes the possible of seeing through what’s really happing, how it is performed and who is outstanding, where the “noise” comes from, why we should pay attention to and how we could do it differently or better.

These spirits let the library become a base of making meaningful influence and self contribution, encouraging everybody in the library to find the values of others and themselves.  As our lecture has stated that the truly transparent library will find ways to facilitate, encourage, and nurture the conversation, creating the best learning energy field for all participates within and outside of the library.

Bring Transparency to Library Policies

Mind-setting is big issues during the shift from secrecy to transparency; it’s also a cultural shift – a redrawing of the lines between what’s private and what’s public.  As one of readings states “the culture of perfection can hurt an organization while a culture of experience and curiosity can lead to better things, such as library use, public awareness, and recognition”.  How can we let the “keeping stories, sharing stories, and making stories” became part of every Transparent Library’s mission? Where are the spaces /areas for Transparency developing into user-friendly policies?  We should considerate these elements when we adjust the old library policy or recreate a new one, benefiting the value of the true nature of transparency.

Some library policies are more focus on the physical part of the library itself and the roles for the library users.  The direction valued from transparency might be missed; the consideration for the major and primary resources of the library—staff might be missed; and creating positive influence from the administration and management of the library might be missed.  As ACPL Director Krull (on YouTube) suggested: we should “retain our primary resources as healthier as possible; our primary resource is staff”!   Based on the information and knowledge that I have read/learned from the course materials, I think that when we consider bringing Transparency to our library policies we should pay attention to the following:

• How to respond in a true voice
• How to teach the library users to access collections
• How to serve all of our user groups and how to reach out to nonusers
• How to position the library where the individuals will find us
• How to deal with the relatively unconstructive criticism
• How to find ways to deliver something that becomes popular or well used
• Should we listen in every direction, using both old and new tools?
• Should the member of the library share reviews; observe the facilities, staff, and services; and let it become part of the duties?
• Should a learning blog or other social media for the staff and accept contributions from all be launched?
• Should the library staff be urged to shine to do their best helping users and promoting the profession?
• Should a great customer service and rewarding ideas brought to fruition be acknowledged?
• Should staff’s accomplishments (big and small) be encouraged and promoted?
• Should we build change into everything we do?
• Why do we need to build a trust / naked / see-through conversations?

We all have limitations, and we all want to see and know the truth. Transparency will give us a key to open a new door for what we want to accomplish and will make it happen.

Library reaches all users is not just a concept or goal, it practically involves not only the implementation steps towards a major reaching-out projects / programs but also some little things happened daily in the library.   Most importantly, we WANT to understand our library users and strongly WILLING to reach them, which gives the foundation of finding any possible ways to make it happen.

Involvement

One example that Dr. Stephens gave to us in the lecture was that the Glendale Public Library posted the library users’ pictures and their commons on the library website, letting them to share their favorite books or valuable information they found from different sources.  I think this is a great idea of library’s reaching the users – when one’ name or picture showed in the local library, he/she will feel being noticed/attached and doing something meaningful because their contributions have benefited to others. Their involvements make them feel being part of and care about the library and more closely being connected with others who also use the same library service.   These needs of involvement are deeply built-in many people’s subconsciousness; we just need to find the chance and place for our library users to explore / express / participate. Creating significant/interesting ways for the involvement is a big challenge for the library; we should put more efforts on it.  

Characteristics

Both our lecture and one of required readings (article “Born with the Chip” by Stephen Abram & Judy Luther) demonstrate how important to aware of the nine characteristics of the new generation of the library users and their impact to our library services. As part of “cultural DNA” mentioned in the article – the next generation are format agnostic, nomadic, multitasking, experiential, collaborative, integrated, principled, adaptive, and direct. I think that the best way to reach-out to them is to understand and pay attention to what is really behind or attach to these characteristics, understanding their expectations for using information, cooperating with their learning behaviors, and respecting their beliefs. The specific steps or approach towards this conversation can be reflected in our library policy, the library resources availability, and the library service. Most importantly, it all comes back to the principle of providing library service for all library users in different needs.

All Populations

As our lecture has emphasized, we should take the library on the road to where the populations are. Having becoming one of major populations of the library users, Asian American students have their own culture-based learning behavior and communication styles. Many research studies suggest that further understanding and appreciation of different approaches to learning can help design better educational programs for Asian American students. To reach the library users from this population, we need to notice their environmental preferences, psychological orientations, specific emphasis and needs. As my experience, many Asian American Students fear that their English is inferior and fear of not understanding instructions.  Because of the disadvantage of the language, they rather to use email instead of using chat/phone for communication with their instructors to ask questions or get additional help.  It is very important to let them know that we understand this situation and willing to help with what ever possible ways they prefer to or any channel that are available to guide them when they need assistance from our library.

Hi, all!

I got an email form my previous LIBR 240 instructor Derek Christiansen. The info related to use new social media mode — Using Social Media/Web 2.0 Tools For Publication. The section is free to join. If you are interesting it, please see the detailed info: FW guest lecturer

Judy

Book Title: You are Not a Gadget by Lanier, Jaron

Of several main books with cover page images that are listed on our course lecture, You are Not a Gadget by Lanier, Jaron might be the one I don’t want to choose most to read since I’m not tech-savvy.  However, because it is the only one available through my local library, I got the chance to discover it and was surprised to find how valuable it is!  Actually, this book is written for the regular reader with a minimal background in computer technology, presenting the authors ideas and concerns step by step with raised issues. It is also very closely-connected to our class which helps us to understand the true spirituality of “The Hyperlinked Library” (Stephens, 2011) that gives us the opportunity of equally learning, creating and contributing with our curiosity in a new magic world. This book will significantly help our awareness of the importance of smoothing the transition from the traditional to a more dynamic world.

About the book

Jaron Lanier is a Silicon Valley visionary who was “among the first to predict the revolutionary changes the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture” (Lanier, 2010). He is also a virtuoso musician with well know music such as “In Return”; “After Seeley and Pederson” (Fleming, 2011)… etc.  You are Not a Gadget is his first book.

Even though Lanier is known for creating the use of revolutionary computer technology that he named virtual reality, in this book, he steps back and critiques the current digital technology, arguing against views of what computers and the Internet could accomplish.  He “discusses the technical and cultural problems that can grow out of poorly considered digital design and warns that our financial markets and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter are elevating the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and judgment of individuals” (book’s cover page). Most importantly, he emphasizes that the words in his book “are written for people, not computers” (ix). The core of his five part (14 chapters) book is coordinated with PEOPLE at the center.

In the beginning, Lanier points out that the freedom on the surface of the web “ironically is more for machines than people” (p3).  His main target is Web 2.0.  He states that “anonymous blog comments, vapid video pranks, and lightweight mashups may seem trivial and harmless, but as a whole, this widespread practice of fragmentary, impersonal communication has demeaned interpersonal interaction” (p4). He senses that “a new generation has come of age with a reduced expectation of what a person can be, and of who each person might become” (p4). By pointing out that “the most important thing about a technology is how it changes people”, he gives us the direction of how to use the different media designs to stimulate different potentials in human nature – “We shouldn’t seek to make the pack mentality as efficient as possible”; instead, we should “seek to inspire the phenomenon of individual intelligence” (p5).  “We have to think about the digital layers we are laying down now in order to benefit future generations: We should be optimistic that civilization will survive this challenging century”, and put some effort into “creating the best possible world for those who will inherit our efforts” (p20).  In detail, Lanier provides some strategies on how to prevent technology from “Locking-In” your personal expression:

•  Don’t post anonymously unless you really might be in danger.

•  If you put effort into Wikipedia articles put even more effort into using your personal voice and expression outside of the wiki to help attract people who don’t yet realize that they are interested in the topics you contributed to.

• Create a website that expresses something about who you are that won’t fit into the template available to you on a social networking site.

• Post a video once in a while that took you one hundred times more time to create than it takes to view.

• Write a blog post that took weeks of reflection before you heard the inner voice that needed to come out.

• If you are twittering, innovate in order to find a way to describe your internal state instead of trivial external events, to avoid the creeping danger of believing that objectively described events define you, as they would define a machine. (p20)

Lanier expresses the concept of “The Circle of Empathy” which is drawn by each person. “It circumscribes the person at some distance, and corresponds to those things in the world that deserve empathy…we might not be able to fully understand what goes on between us and others, that we should leave open the possibility that the relationship can’t be represented in a digital database” (p36). He worries that the possible of beginning to design ourselves to suit digital models of us might result in a leaching of empathy and humanity in the process. In addition, he thinks using the “wisdom of crowds” as a tool has limits – it adds the lack of curiosity (p59). He suggests that “when it comes to people, we technologists must use a completely different methodology. We don’t understand the brain well enough to comprehend phenomena like education or friendship on a scientific basis. So when we deploy a computer model of something like learning or friendship in a way that has an effect on real lives, we are relaying on faith. When we ask people to live their lives through our models, we are potentially reducing life itself. How can we ever know what we might be losing”? (p70)

Although he thinks that cybernetic totalism has been a spiritual, behavioral and economical failure, Lanier reminds us that he “is not Anti-Net” (p71).  “It is also important to address the romantic appeal of cybernetic totalism. That appeal is undeniable” (p178). However, he re-emphasizes, “It is the people who make the forum, not the software. Without the software, the experience would not exist at all, so I celebrate that software, as flawed as it is. But it’s not as if the forum would really get much better if the software improved. Focusing too much o the software might even make things worse by shifting the focus from the people… once you have the basics of a given technological leap in place, it’s always important to step back and focus on the people for a while”(p72).

The importance of human creativity over computer formatting is also reflected in the middle part of Lanier’s book. Regarding the “flat” global structure, Lanier states:  “flatness, as applied to human affairs, leads to blandness and meaning lessness.  And there are analogous problems related to the increasing popularity of flatness in scientific thought. When applied to science, flatness can cause confusion between methodology and expression” (p120).  From the examples of those beloved successes of digital culture (such as iPhone, the Pixar movies, etc) that involve innovation, Lanier states that “in each case, these are personal expressions. True, they often involve large groups of collaborators, but there is always a central personal vision – a Will Wright, a Steve Jobs, or a Brad Bird conceiving the vision and directing a team of people earning salaries” (p132).

At the last part of the book, Lanier is back to human basics, analyzing that “separation anxiety is assuaged by constant connection. Young people announce every detail of their lives on services like Twitter not to show off, but to avoid the closed door at bedtime, the empty room, the screaming vacuum of an isolated mind” (p180).  He told the reader that he is trying to crate a new way to make software that escapes the boundaries of preexisting symbol systems; to find a way of making software that rejects the idea of protocol. Instead, each software module must use emergent generic pattern-recognition techniques…to connect with other modules” (p191) to escaping the prison of predefined, locked-in ontologies in human affairs. He concludes with a “passionate and hopeful argument for a new digital humanism in which radical technologies do not deny the specialness of personhood” (Ebooks Bay, 2011).

My thought:

Again, I think the core of Lanier’s total five part (14 chapters) book is concerned with the center of PEOPLE, which meets the principle of this class and makes it very valuable. Lanier’s purpose in this book is not to criticize but to build an awareness of what is going on, which may help us to pay attention to the issues and challenges when we get involved with this new digital world.

For the library, or librarian, it is very important to be aware of and to understand what issues and side effects might happen during the big transitions caused by new technologies so that we can have the ability to evaluate and provide guidance for our library users in a truly connected and liberated direction. We should also be aware that the wide use of the internet in being able to access massive amounts of pre-written information is causing a decline in originality as people “copy” other people instead of creating their own information. The limitations of the computer’s basic ability of only recognizing bits of information (instead of creating content) is still the failing of the machine, which is being ignored because of the speed and complexity of how it can deliver that information. True creativity is being compromised without being realized. We should keep in mind that regardless of how good the artificial intelligence computers are getting, they are still only imitating how brains think – still not real thought. Even nature is still evolving thought in many different species, so how can we expect the machines to be able to do it properly?  We need to be aware of what is actually happening and take steps to avoid it getting completely out of “control”.

The principle point of view expressed in this book also reflects the spirit of “The Hyperlinked Library” module as shown in our class by the following :

• “Be curious, trust, respect the space”
• Using the “design, story, symphony, empathy, play, meaning”…. these six senses to “guide our lives and shape our world”
•  “The way that many young people are using information technologies is changing the way the world works”
•  “Communities are human systems given form by conversations that build relatedness”
• The core of social connection: “creating, contributing, sharing”.
• “The secret to high performance and satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world”.
• “Thinking of the library as a growing organism”
• “The Hyperlinked Library model is more than the network, or triangular pyramid shape of people and people helping people. When the world is so shining, so much is going on, how do we go forward?”
• Hyperlinked Library module will help us in “planning, serving, extending library users, to make library everywhere”
• “Even though the young library users are so involved with the new technology devices, they still have strong needs for guidance. We need to understand them and we need to reach them”,
• “The Transparent Library gives everyone an avenue to talk”.
• “Focus on user-driven policy not driving users away…”
• “Be the change you want to be”!

• … (Stephens, 2011)

Other thoughts:

For the future, Cloud Librarians need to pay close attention to what we are doing when we use the cloud resources—How can we “work in the cloud” without getting “lost in the cloud” to provide our library users with accurate and correct information. How do we avoid becoming too depending on electronics?

How do we significantly accomplish the process of shifting the perception of libraries from traditional “bookshelves” to “dynamic centers” (places that offer tools for personal development and economic improvement, places that create the sense of local community and provide the connection to the global community– (Stephens, 2011) )?