Members Council

Hosted by Members Council President Charles Kratz, tonight was the opening session and dinner for the February 2005 OCLC Members Council meeting.

The theme this meeting is "Pattern Recognition: Moving Beyond Our Comfort Zones." And I for one would like to move us beyond our comfort zones with ages, too. I looked around the room and realized, even in my relative old age, I was one of the youngest people in the room. And I think this situation could change. Of course, this idea may or may not reflect the wishes of OCLC or OCLC Members Council delegates...but I'd love to hear what we'd be talking about with a good mix of ages in Members Council.

Of course the challenge is, the issues that face a Library Director can be quite different from the issues facing a day-to-day e-resource, reference, cataloging, acquisition or children's librarian. And I agree, Members Council is not a place to solve day-to-day problems--but it is a chance to step back and look at our libraries together as a massive body of unified force.

We're a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure. A force that knows no age barriers. So support your up-and-coming someday-Directors! We Gen Xers and Millenials are up to the task, with your Baby Boomer guidance and direction.

Side note: Check out the Boomer Project data: only $US50.

Homer Simpson (on after the Super Bowl) just quoted that "the Internet wasn't made for entertainment. The Internet was made for academic universities to share large data sets." --Sound familiar?