Celebrations

Celebrations, Library Management, Online Collaboration
Five years, five lessons, five memories
May 15th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

I fell off the turnip truck in June of 2003, stumbling in the door to join the WebJunction project with little idea of what I was getting into. There are way more than five things I have learned since then, but here are the biggies:

1. It’s not about technology. WJ is successful because we have great people and we work with great people–and those people make great things happen. That is our not-so-secret weapon.

2. Hang in there. There are few virtues as valuable as persistence. There have always been and will always be tons of new and creative initiatives in libraryland: I think what sets us apart is that we just keep at it and keep at it and find ways to keep it stable and keep it going. I love that!

3. Take the middle path. It’s not content or community, it’s not big libraries or small libraries, it’s not folksonomy or taxonomy, it’s not top-down or bottom-up. Balancing seemingly irreconcilable opposites is one of the main keys to our character and our strength.

4. If it’s going to be difficult, it might as well be fun. Humor has saved us from ourselves over and over again. This is a high-stress business and it helps enormously to find and enjoy the absurdity of it all. I am so grateful for the amazing collection of funnybones that I’ve been privileged to work with.

5. We’ve only just begun. As our Seattle staff has grown from 3 to 30 and our network of partners has exploded exponentially, it’s become ever clearer that WebJunction has the potential to represent and support the consciousness and vitality of the library world in even greater ways than we have so far. Building on our considerable success so far to realize WJ’s potential as a comprehensive platform for library staff–that’s what keeps me excited and motivated and passionate about WJ.

OK, I am an old-timer so I will maunder on a bit more, as old-timers are wont to do. Here are a few select memories from my five years at the WJ:

2003. Writing my first Crossroads newsletter in June 2003 a few weeks after I started at WJ (Web-what?), and getting markup from Chrystie Hill on my copy, in which every instance of the word “you” was crossed out and replaced with the word “we”. The beginning of my online community education.
2004. Putting the one-year anniversary cupcake on the site in May 2004, one of our first custom home page graphics, I shudder to admit, but at least it was a small step toward the much more graphically dynamic site we have today.
2005. The first OCLC blog salon at ALA 2005 in Chicago, when it seemed like we really hit a new critical mass of awareness and interest. There were people who actually recognized what we had started writing on our baby-infant blog. (And I got inspired to write my very first parody song ever, “The Blog Party“.)
2006. Getting a fresh round of funding, validating the work we’ve done and propelling us into the future. “You mean we’re for real?” Boy that feels good.
2007. Presenting the Government Documents librarians workshop in Denver in spring 2007, and seeing the palpable excitement in a room of a whole new type of mostly non-WJ-savvy users about the possibilities for the site. Something clicks: hmm, maybe this really is real.
2008. Welcoming an influx of dedicated, professional, committed staff who see WebJunction as, yep, a real thing, not just an idea. This is great–they actually know what they’re doing AND they think WJ is a cool place to be? Wow, that is an accomplishment!

And the best is yet to come…
5th Birthday, Celebrations
WJ Birthday Memories: Five from the beginning
May 12th, 2008 | Permalink | 2 Comments
Kicking off the WebJunction birthday week is WJ Executive Director Marilyn Gell Mason with her memorable “fives” from the founding of WebJunction.
1. Five partners who wrote and received the original grant from the Gates Foundation to create WJ: Benton Foundation, Colorado State Library, ISOPH, TechSoup, and OCLC.
2. Five days before submission of the proposal when Mike Teets and I met in Dublin to organize all the pieces created by the partners. I kept wandering the halls of OCLC saying, “There’s something missing” until it finally came to me in a dream. Mike ended up chasing a fed ex truck in the rain to make sure the paper copy of the report got to Seattle on time.
3. Five days before launch in May, 2003. Don’t ask. Some of us survived.
4. Launch event at the Library of Congress. And the staff party that followed.
5. The go live moment when people, real people, started signing in and using WJ. We discovered that DC had been omitted from the states list.
We invite you to share your memories of WebJunction from the distant or not so distant past. Comment here in the blog or add your list of five to the memories discussion thread.
5th Birthday, Celebrations, Online Collaboration, Tim
Celebrating Five Years of WebJunction Community
May 10th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

Monday WebJunction turns five! In this web-based world where the shelf life of blog posts and RSS feeds is measured in hours, five years is a major milestone that we couldn’t have reached without all of you.

In honor of the occasion, we thought it appropriate to share some of our memories, invite you to share yours, and generally enjoy a fun week of both looking back and looking forward.
Where shall we start?

First of all we have a little recap of WebJunction history. We take you from the the WebJunction launch in 2003 at the Library of Congress to updates on some of our favorite programs and events.

We’ve also thought it would be fun to share our personal memories of WebJunction and related library experiences. We’ve created a discussion forum where we hope members will share some of their favorites. Already we have well wishes (thanks Maddog!) and a few WJ team recollections. Please add yours!

Also this week WJ staffers plan to share some of our personal “top fives” on the blog. The scuttlebutt I hear around the office hints at topics like favorite programs, shoes, WJ member milestones, memorable meals, conference swag, stories and more. I can’t wait to see what surfaces.

If you’d like to get in on the action and share a five (or two), I invite you to either drop us a note in the blog comments or add your list of five to the memories discussion thread.

It should be fun week. Stay tuned!
Celebrations, Community Building, Library Management, Online Collaboration, Teens, Tim
Move over Free Cone Day: Saturday is Free Comics!
May 3rd, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

Each year in the Spring, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream runs a “free cone” promo at their stores. Kids (and parents) line up around the block—last year my two ice cream junkies waited 40 minutes—40 minutes on line and the cone was gone in five! Luckily, the goodies from Free Comic Book Day should last quite a bit longer (and could bring returns for years).

All you need to do is stop by a participating comic store and make your free pick from a selection of titles like Archie, Superman, Hellboy, World of Aspen, X-men, Tiny Titans and many more. Seriously. These are free. I know you are thinking: “What’s the catch?” Nothing is free, right?

(more…)
Celebrations, News, WebJunction Staff, chrystie
Farewell Liz Kellison
April 15th, 2008 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Liz, Chrystie, and Marilyn at ALA07
Originally uploaded by WebJunction

It is with great sadness, but lots of well-wishes for a bright future ahead of her, that we bid farewell to Program Director Liz Kellison. Liz was our first Content Manager and the third WebJunction employee EVER. She’s been with the project since before it began – quite literally! – as she was one of the authors of our original grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with our Executive Director Marilyn Mason. Largely responsible for the initial vision of our service, Liz is famous around the office for promoting “read, learn and share” – i.e., bringing together courses, discussions, and articles all together on a single WebJunction page. Liz has been fun to work with, inspiring as a leader for us and for libraries, and a tireless advocate for our programs and the people we work with. We will miss her dearly, but hope you’ll join us in wishing her well in all her future endeavors. (sniff. sniff.)
Advocacy, Celebrations, Recognition
National Library Week: Happy Library Workers Day
April 14th, 2008 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Tuesday is National Library Workers Day!

You’ll get no argument from me on the the premise of this campaign: “Libraries Work Because We Do.” I love my library and all my library friends and invite you to pat your co-workers, friends, employees, or (even yourself) on the back today.

If you have an library appreciation /awareness event in the works, we’d love to hear about it. If you don’t, well, never fear; ALA/APA has your back with some quick celebration ideas. While you are on their site, take a gander at the map of library stars. You may find someone you know.

Finally, don’t forget to share your plans for this and other events you are running during National Library Week! We’d love it if you’d share your thoughts in the blog or our Library Week discussion in the WebJunction community forums.

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Celebrations

Celebrations, Library Management, Online Collaboration

Five years, five lessons, five memories

5th Birthday, Celebrations

WJ Birthday Memories: Five from the beginning

5th Birthday, Celebrations, Online Collaboration, Tim

Celebrating Five Years of WebJunction Community

Celebrations, Community Building, Library Management, Online Collaboration, Teens, Tim

Move over Free Cone Day: Saturday is Free Comics!

Celebrations, News, WebJunction Staff, chrystie

Farewell Liz Kellison

Advocacy, Celebrations, Recognition

National Library Week: Happy Library Workers Day