Creativity = Commodity

Pssst. Hey, you. Yeah, you. You're creative, you know.

In order to be successful in the future, creativity will be is a hot commodity useful in distinguishing oneself from a sea of other smart, capable people. Anyone can be trained, but not everyone can think creatively and inventively. As librarians, we need to practice our creative thinking skills and apply them to our professional work in order to help keep libraries relevant, promote innovative change, and be worthwhile citizens.

Psychology Today has a quick, easy article listing some 12 characteristics of creative thinking that we often forget about. Skim over this and start practicing.

Michalko, M. (2011, Dec. 02). Twelve things you were not taught in school about creative thinking. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creative-thinkering/201112/twelve-things-you-were-not-taught-in-school-about-creative-thinking

It occurs to me--how would you practice thinking creatively? Well, I usually ask myself questions, like "what could reference services be like in the future?" or "what other uses are there for my earbuds?" or "what if we had ears on our hands?" All require creativity, and in my little mind, the weirdest idea wins because it stretches my creative thinking the most. Doing this as a group is also fun. Try it at your next soul-sucking staff meeting.

What ideas do you have to help you practice thinking creatively?

SLA's FutureReady365

If you are not already aware of SLA's FutureReady365 blog, check it out. http://futureready365.sla.org/
I'm bouncing in my chair at Internet Librarian 2011 right now, listening to Cindy Romaine--current SLA President--and Meryl Cole talk about the project. 365 in the name = a blog post a day related to being "future ready." I can't wait to start reading through the posts. Sounds like a lot of their thinking and dreams parallel a lot of MNFLI's thinking and dreams. I like seeing that. I like that they balance between being smart professionals and being playful and personal in their blog. I'm also embarrassed I wasn't aware of this project until 47 minutes ago.
Here's an excerpt from their about page to get your interest piqued:

What is Future Ready?

• It’s an attitude of being more adaptable, flexible, and confident in utilizing the skills of the information & knowledge professional.
• It’s a strategic shift toward being more effective at aligning with emerging and robust opportunities in the information industry and beyond.
• It’s a focus on preparing ourselves for emerging opportunities in the information industry through:
  • Collaboration to accelerate the availability of useful information
  • An adaptable skill set that anticipates and responds to the evolving marketplace
  • Alignment with the language and values of the community you serve
  • Building a community that connects stakeholders in mutually beneficial relationships

In sunny LA, librarians are not "teachers." How grandiose.

Whilst relaxing over the Memorial Day weekend, I saw this article come through the blogosphere: "L.A. School District Tells Librarians: You're Not Teachers." Available at http://n.pr/m1UW7A

After seeing that, I was no longer relaxed. Thank goodness for BBQ and beer and mosquitoes to get me back in the mood of the weekend. But I digress.

Hoo boy, this librarian/media-specialist-as-superfluous-employee trend had better stop before it begins or else the US may end up trending toward this. As usual, all librarians need to step up the marketing and explain or demonstrate to their colleagues and employers why they are indeed teachers. A lot of times what we teach is off the standardized curricular map. There is probably not a single one of us librarian/public servants that wouldn't consider ourselves teachers, be it of reading, critical thinking, resume writing, navigating the Internet, navigating to the bathroom, job searching, information finding, emailing, current events, blogging, source evaluation, spelling, culture, history, research strategies, web design, oral and written communication, globalization, computer software, healthcare, taxes, self-reflection, community involvement and civic organizations, "Netiquette," customs, English and other languages, stewardship, plagiarism, creativity, and trust.

That last sentence: It was long. And I could've gone on. But I think the point was mildly made that librarians do teach--maybe just not to the tests and curricular standards.

As we move forward in our futurist planning, we need to consider:

• How does one define what it means to be a teacher--not just in theory but in the eyes of school districts, administrators, job descriptions, parents, community members, ????
• How do the skills and information librarians teach line up with state and national learning standards?
• Do librarians need to overtly "teach to the test"--that glorious trend in education right now--so that their educational contributions may be measured?
• Or is this a better model to consider? http://ntrls.org/downloads/EDCFeb2011.pdf

What do you, the reader, think about this? When did librarian and teacher become two disconnected entities in the eyes of some? Were they ever considered synonymous terms by those outside the field of librarianship? Why or why not? In your opinion, are librarians teachers?

Transliteracy, you say?

We've been a-talkin' and a'readin' about transliteracy, what the term means, and how it affects the library world. There was a good interview of Ned Potter recently on the blog Libraries and Transliteracy. My favorite excerpt is below.

• Question: How do we become transliterate? (Jane's note: The question isn't really answered, but I like the comment he made.)
  "For the normal person on the street, becoming transliterate involves becoming educated in all the literacies relevant to them. Not everyone needs to know about all types of literacy – ‘trans’ doesn’t mean ‘all’, it means ‘across’. [...]
  But for the Information Professional, the challenge is greater. We really do need, insofar as is possible, to become expert in all forms of literacy, in order to lead the way for others to follow. That means investigating new trends, becoming early adopters of new technologies and platforms, and not burning any bridges with more traditional information literacy either. Building on sound pedagogical principles is important, particularly in the academic community, but so is being flexible and able to move with change and encompass new developments."
  

Ned Potter goes on to suggest you become transliteral as you "Read, write, listen, watch, and interact." THIS is the responsibility and the burden of the Library Futurists, methinks. Staying on (or creating?) the cutting edge, embracing open-mindedness, and nurturing your intrinsic desire to keep learning.

Educators - 21 things that will be obsolete by 2020

Since we're focusing on education this month, I thought this article was interesting - 21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020.

The article lists 21 things that will no longer be around in terms of education, or at least our idea of them will be different than today.

Some things listed are things we've been talking about, like number three, mobile computing. By 2020 I do think computing will be almost all mobile, so what do we need to do right now in education to prepare us for this?

One of the items on the list I hope comes true, number five, the role of standardized tests in college admissions. I actually hope this will transition to high school, too, and that the focus won't be on standardized testing but on creative and critical thinking.

Number eleven is interesting - IT departments will be a thing of the past, or at least what they do now will be a thing of the past. With cloud computing being the norm, IT departments that currently focus on software and upgrades and security will have their focus completely shifted.

I also love the idea of number nineteen, outsourced graphic and web design. Graphic and web design won't need to be outsourced anymore because we should let the kids do it. Isn't that a novel idea! We've been letting kids paint murals on school walls for a long time now, but are we letting the computer class design the school website? Let's give up some of the control and let them learn by doing. Another article I recently read reported on a study stating K-12 schools aren't adequately preparing students for tech-based skills they need to use in business. Letting them do things like this could certainly help with that.

And, of course, an item in this list states that we'll all be reading from handheld devices in ten years time. Sigh. I still have no desire to read this way, but I recognize that things are going this way. I still won't buy an ereader until I have to, but maybe by 2020 (or earlier) I'll have to.