I did not hear Betsy Wilson's talk, but I attended the 1st meeting and I've been reading this Blog. I have a couple of observations and suggestions.

I am all for "new directions", but I have noticed that constant restructuring can also create chaos, and prevents the Library from have a clear vision and clear goals to accomplish.

In an era of rapidly advancing new information technologies (and libraries have been impacted dramatically by new ITs), the best thing to do is to improve communication up, down and across the organization, and to create multiple sources of support. The worst thing to do in such a time is to create little Academic silos which do not communicate with each other very well.

If the Library is going to meet the challenge presented by the Internet and Web 2.0, we need to create opportunities for multiple sources of support. We will need tons of technical support for keeping up with new tools and techniques, such as blogs, wikis, dynamic web pages, Second Life (for those who select to experiment) and even email. Since the new ITs advance more rapidly than the physical organization can keep up, one thing we could do is create small informal "user affinity groups" which can easily be formed across units, which would draw talent from different departments, and which can be joined by those who have a desire or a "need to know:. One person, one unit, is not enough, but would also be necessary to act in tandem. I realize this addresses just one aspect of the challenge ahead, but it's a start.

Submitted by Mari Miller