Crossing Borders, Spanning Boundaries: How Today’s Libraries (and Librarians!) Cultivate Open Knowledge

Keynote at 2018 NC Live Annual Conference

Today’s world is characterized by its fast pace of change, new forms of connectivity, and technology-based market shifts. The channels of communication have shifted radically over the last few decades, and it’s impacting both what libraries can do and what libraries can become.

I’m going to ask you all to think with me for the next 40 min or so about what roles libraries are playing in the world today, and how these roles both reinforce and expand the traditional boundaries of the library.

Ultimately, what I’m excited to have the chance to explore with you today is how librarians are both champions and exemplars of “open knowledge,” and in the process, how librarians are finding ways to straddle and bridge a wide range of stakeholders into powerful and resilient knowledge networks. COMMUNITY networks.