By Michael Casey & Michael Stephens — Library Journal, 11/15/2008

We recently presented a workshop in London at Internet Librarian International, based on our writings here, and realized that throughout the columns we’ve identified a set of mile markers for the journey toward transparency.

Give everyone an avenue to talk. Offer online and real-world mechanisms for all of the library’s stakeholders, staff and users, to talk, react, and suggest solutions. A good start is a suggestion box and a way to share the answers with everyone. Add an online forum or blog and “town hall meetings,” and the stage is set.

Your goal is to engage your community and get them talking even if it is within the confines of your firewall or within your institution. Encourage trust, respect, and a willingness to be open. Remember, no one should be punished for speaking up or speaking out. And use that feedback from staff and library users for planning…

Read the rest of the column at Library Journal…

A hearty and well-deserved congratulations to Michael for this wonderful recognition of the amazing amount of work he has done for the profession of librarianship. I have had the honor and privilege of knowing and working with Michael for over three years now (wow, has it been that long?!) and I have seen the energy and emotion he pours into his work.

Dr. Stephens, job well done.

“it’s morning in America!”

Originally uploaded by Michael Casey

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

37K followers on Twitter. We’re gonna miss you!!!!

Originally uploaded by Michael Casey

Over 37,000 people on Twitter were following the Mars Phoenix lander — many of those 37K were students in schools around the world. It’s been amazing to watch, on a day-by-day basis, as @MarsPhoenix sent messages to its many Twitter followers. What a community it built. We’re going to miss @MarsPhoenix. A bit of sadness may seem odd for those who have not been following, but @MarsPhoenix has become a part of our daily lives, and seeing it “go dead” on a cold lonely planet so far away is, strange as it sounds, very sad.

Job well done, @MarsPhoenix.

It’s not the kind of literary fare usually associated with the prim image of librarians. But public libraries from Queens, the highest-circulation public library system in the country, to York County in central Pennsylvania are embracing urban fiction as an exciting, if sometimes controversial, way to draw new people into reading rooms, spread literacy and reflect and explore the interests and concerns of the public they serve.

“We’ve got people who are reading for the first time. We’ve got people coming into our building asking for Teri Woods” — the creator of Angel — “who have never come here before,” said Lora-Lynn Rice, the director of collections at the Martin Library in York County, which held a symposium on urban fiction during National Library Week in April. “Why would we not embrace this?”

Why not, indeed!  Read the entire article on the New York Times website, here.

The rules of marketing have changed. Do libraries know that?

Corporate PR-types used to control the message. Sitting behind a desk, they’d write a carefully crafted press release and then send it off to newspapers and upload it to their web site. The attention the company got might barely justify the salary of the PR professional.

Today’s world is fundamentally different. Neither news nor brand identity are controlled through press releases or carefully choreographed newspaper articles. Brands are molded and shaped by the audience—and the audience is everyone. People talk. And people listen.

Read the entire column here, for free.