At SXSW I finally had the chance to meet Baratunde Thurston, where we talked about the kind of work I’m interested in doing. SXSW was the
first time I introduced myself as a librarian to the general public,
and I had ample opportunity to think what it was about libraries that
drew (back) to them in the first place. I told Baratunde that I’m
interested in examining the library’s role as physical community
center, and how that sense of physical community can be moved into
virtual spaces. In a Future of Libraries interview, David Lee King
had this to say about libraries as community:
“The community part (besides where I mentioned it above) is
interesting. For example, my library has thousands of public meetings
scheduled each year - we have, in effect, turned into a community hub.
We are a gathering place for the community. We even have plans to make
our website more social, too, so both our physical AND digital spaces
can be community gathering places.”
Over the next little while, I’ll be thinking about ways that I can
help my library become more social. How do we encourage
community-created content? How do we distribute it? What are some of
the perils and pitfalls that might be associated with cataloging this
content?
Only the third day on the job, and I’m already thinking like a librarian again. 
