Salesmen, Tribes, and an Overdue Crisis

Some days it is hard to keep doing what I am doing.  Librarianship is a difficult go right now; it can be a time of great opportunity for visionaries.  Alternatively many a library in this country will die, and librarians wearing sensible shoes will dutifully carry the caskets.  I checked my email this evening to find an ad for a textbook salesman.  It was tempting.  Do a Google search for the phrase "leaving librarianship" and you'll see I'm not the only one who has those days.

http://www.amazon.ca

I have been reading Tribes by Seth Godin.  I mentioned him a few months ago in a post about making leaders.  He argues that we are past the age of mass media and re-entering the age of tribes; specialized communities, linked through the the internet and new media.  New tribes need new leaders who can connect like minded people.  I like the quote: "The Beatles didn't create teenagers, they merely decided to lead them." Intriguing stuff.

I've been wrestling a lot with my own career path.  Presently I have feet in two work worlds: academia, where my worldview about people and information is being transformed, and librarianship, where I am engaged with people seeking answers.  There is a tension here; the two worlds don't talk to each other like they ought.  A wise friend has challenged me to "choose my tribe."  Professor or Librarian. Academic or Practitioner.  Then I think of Seth Godin's comments, and I wonder if there is another tribe to choose.  Perhaps a tribe of misfits like me.  Maybe a completely different tribe.

The tribe I want to belong to is terribly dissatisfied with the status quo in information-work, and desperately wants to change it.  I like Micheal Ridley's presentation blurb from the CLA conference "Is there a Crisis in Academic Librarianship?...Yes, and frankly it's about time."  Wish I could have heard that one. 

So where then do I find my local tribe?  I guess I need to ask around.  "Excuse me: Are you my tribe?" (On a unrelated note... for those Doctor Who fans out there: "Are you my mummy?")

Don't want to read the book? Here is Seth's TED presentation.

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