Assistant University Librarians and Assistant Directors met for the second annual Taiga Forum a day before ALA Midwinter, Seattle, to discuss the changing dynamics of academic libraries.
In a change from last year, the participants utilized the Open Spaces structure to stage an unconference, where the conversation topics were chosen by the participants.
Topics included Search, Radical Collaboration, and Google: Friend or Foe, among others. The guiding principles were, “Whoever comes is the right person, whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened, whenever it starts is the right time, and when it’s over, it’s over.” The Endangered Species conference met in an adjoining conference room.
Meg Bellinger, Yale University Associate University Librarian, said, “We came away with the sense that we don’t have all of the answers but we all share the same problems. We must spend time moving beyond the current issues towards solutions.”
The meeting was sponsored by Innovative Interfaces, Inc.