[Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times / Dissolution of Reference

[Robert Balliot]

Ross,

I am not sure how you are getting to the definition of 'servant', so I can't
answer your question. Are you saying that people who go to meetings are
defined as professional, while everyone else is a servant?

That may be one of the fundamental problems with the lock-step group-think
notions about meeting attendance I challenged here. The people who attend
the meetings have been sold the idea that they are of a higher class / caste
than non-attendees - even if they are not active participants. And, of
course, an abundance of snacks
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVgZlaVtEu8>validate self-worth.

But, it is often the people who would benefit the most from meetings and
conferences that are unable to attend. They are busy working. That is one of
the reasons why I think facilitating
telepresence<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfNC_x0VvE&feature=related>can
be extremely helpful to any meeting or conference.  The capacity to
reach people who can and will use the information is exponentially
increased.


R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com



On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 10:02 PM, Ross Singer <rossfsinger at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 6:23 PM, Robert Balliot <rballiot at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Dave,
> >
> > Could you provide a few examples of the problems you face in libraries
> that
> > are not investigated and discussed in a book or an article?
> >
> > Of course, once you do that, they will be and the point will be moot.
>
> This is a bit of an asinine and condescending statement, honestly.  If
> you are doing anything new, unorthodox or revolutionary, what book or
> article are you going to read to "solve your problem"?
>
> If you are trying to bring in collaborators on a particular project,
> how is a book or an article going to help that?  Even an email will
> only go so far.
>
> If, as you imply, everything's already been done and we have solutions
> to everything already if we just bother to do the research, why do we
> even bother trying to improve our services?
>
> Are we servants or professionals, Robert?
>
> -Ross.
>