sept06b.indd


conference circuit 

Rebecca Blakiston, Constance S. Weatherford, and Michael Schor 

Living the Future 6: Wow— 
Where next? 
Student reflections on a professional conference 

Once again, the University of Arizona (UA) Libraries provided an opportunity to 
network, collaborate, and participate in peer­
to­peer learning at the sixth biennial Living 
the Future conference in Tucson, Arizona. 
The beautiful and sunny locale provided 
a relaxing backdrop for the rigorous in­
tellectual pursuits of the 172 participants 
who came from across the continent and 
as far away as Ireland to attend Living the 
Future 6: WOW—Where Next? April 5–8, 
2006. The conference was cosponsored by 
the UA Libraries, Association of Research 
Libraries, and ACRL, as well as being gener­
ously supported by various vendors. 

The intimate setting and scale of the 
conference was the perfect opportunity 
for students from the UA’s School of In­
formation Resources and Library Science 
(SIRLS) to begin learning and practicing 
their professional development skills. 
The Living the Future 6 conference plan­
ning committee encouraged students to 
attend at a discounted rate in exchange 
for helping with the conference by intro­
ducing the speakers, time­keeping, and 
presenting gifts. This gave the students a 
way to interact personally with many of 
the participants, thereby creating unique 
networking opportunities. This also gave 
the students a taste of what it is like to 
present at a conference, something that 
will be essential in their upcoming careers. 
Seven students from SIRLS attended, and 
for most this was their first opportunity to 
attend a professional conference. For them, 
this was a fascinating introduction to the 
many issues faced in the library profession 

and the transforming role this profession 
has in the information world. 

Wow—Where next? 
Carla Stoffle, dean of the UA Libraries and 
Center for Creative Photography, began 
the conference with a presentation fi lled 
with visions and advice for the thriving 
academic library of the future. Key points 
included the importance of embracing 
change and allowing flexibility, bringing as 
many services as possible to the desktop, 
and partnering with other organizations, 
the community, and the campus. 

Another presentation by the Director’s 
Panel (comprising Paul Gherman, universi­
ty librarian at the Jean and Alexander Heard 
Library, Vanderbilt University; Duane Web­
ster, executive director of the Association 
of Research Libraries; and Brinley Franklin, 
director of libraries at the University of 
Connecticut) provided responses to three 
important questions: 

What are the three critical opportunities 
for libraries that we must pay attention to 
in the next fi ve years? 

What are the characteristics of strate­
gies that we need to learn in order to be 
successful? 

What are the risks we need to be ready 
to take? 

Rebecca Blakiston is a library information associate at the 
University of Arizona Libraries, e-mail: blakisto@email. 
arizona.edu; Constance S. Weatherford is a library 
associate with the Tucson-Pima Public Library system, 
e-mail: coni.weather ford@cox.net; Michael Schor 
is a project director at the Analytical Group, Inc., in 
Scottsdale, Arizona, e-mail: mikeschor@cox.net 
© 2006 Rebecca Blakiston, Constance S. Weatherford, and Michael Schor 

C&RL News September 2006  508 

mailto:mikeschor@cox.net
mailto:coni.weatherford@cox.net
http:arizona.edu


(left to right): Lindsay Wyatt, Rebecca Blakiston, Michael Schor, 
Gabrielle Sykes-Casavant, and Coni Weatherford (all SIRLS students) 
attended Living the Future 6 in Tucson. 

Several of the insights 
the panelists shared fo­
cused on the need to 
transform library envi­
ronments and to reinvent 
the traditional roles of 
libraries and information 
professionals. The discus­
sants encouraged librar­
ians to embrace change 
during this transformation 
and start using the pro­
cess of beta testing new 
ideas to create oppor­
tunities in areas such as 
social computing, rather 
than continuing to strive 
for perfection. The panel 
of experts encouraged librarians to become 
political advocates for many of the issues 
facing libraries today, such as fair use and 
first sale, relating to intellectual property. 
The panelists also discussed digitization as a 
matter of course for collections, repositories 
and archives, suggesting that libraries ought 
to embrace these new technological opportu­
nities as a premier service for their users. 

“Reframing Work through Language”— 
presented by Maggie Farrell, dean of libraries 
at University of Wyoming; Barbara Hutchin­
son, the assistant dean and team leader, 
Digital Library and Information Systems 
Team, at the University of Arizona Libraries; 
and Barbara Preece, the executive director at 
the Boston Library Consortium—examined 
workplace and personal transformation using 
an exercise from the book, How the Way We 
Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven 
Languages for Transformation, by Robert 
Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey. In this ex­
ercise, the presentation participants moved 
through the seven languages to understand 
what may be holding them back from real 
change. This exercise demonstrated how a 
person or organization can move from com­
plaint to commitment, and from blame to 
responsibility—examining the assumptions 
that have been preventing true transforma­
tion from taking place. This exercise enabled 

participants to learn the skill sets necessary to 
embrace change by understanding the under­
lying causes of resistance to change. 

Gene Spencer, associate vice president 
for information services and resources at 
Bucknell University, explored the empow­
ering nature of the upside-down pyramid 
organizational structure. Spencer suggests 
that in this type of structure, leadership is 
based on “authority rather than power.” In 
this collaborative work environment em­
ployees are encouraged to step forward and 
take appropriate leadership roles supported 
by all other employees in order to meet the 
needs of the customer. This is made pos­
sible by building an environment of trust in 
which initiation is encouraged, supported, 
and rewarded. Spencer suggests that this type 
of environment in the workplace will take 
an organization and its employees from the 
mundane to the visionary. 

Closing speaker Richard E. Luce, the re­
search library director at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, said, “We cannot experience the 
future until it becomes the present.” The Los 
Alamos National Laboratory is host to the 
largest digital library in the world, containing 
nearly 2.5 terabytes of data. Luce discussed 
such concepts as Web 2.0, Science 2.0, Library 
2.0, and wiki science. He also spoke about 
the Berlin Declaration on Open Access, which 

September 2006  509 C&RL News 



is supported by approximately 140 countries, 
unfortunately none of which are from North 
America. Luce pointed out the troubling fact 
that the United States is far behind other na­
tions in the next generation of science or e­
science. To prepare for this new future, Luce 
suggested that we must not only learn to use 
the new and emerging technologies available 
to us in our professions, but also study our 
customers and observe what they do and how 
they do it. In other words, we must discern 
the patterns they follow to gather knowledge 
and learn to adapt to their wants and needs in 
order to succeed in our chosen profession. As 
Luce put it, “Success is our own fault.” 

Delivering the closing plenary presenta­
tion, John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the 
Electronic Frontier Foundation—known for its 
staunch advocacy of open­access and digital 
rights, engaged the audience with his highly 
progressive views on such topics as copyright, 
freedom of information, and the role of the 
librarian of the future. Referring to librarians as 
“real warriors on the barricades of freedom,” 
Barlow shared humorous and controversial 
insights with a captivated audience. 

Experiences beyond the presentations 
While providing many structured intellectual 
opportunities, Living the Future 6 also included 
social activities that fostered networking and 

brainstorming among attendees. The poolside 
Mexican buffet dinner with entertainment pro­
vided by the Tortolita Gutpluckers provided 
one such opportunity. Another one presented 
itself when SIRLS students still in attendance 
on the final day of the conference were in­
vited to lunch with members of the event’s 
planning committee and other distinguished 
guests, which included Lorrita Ford, director 
of library and learning services at San Mateo 
College; Deborah Turner, research investigator 
and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wash­
ington Information School; and John Perry 
Barlow. This important opportunity allowed 
the students to engage in high­level network­
ing, while enjoying the company of powerful 
representatives from around the nation. 

Final refl ections 
At this conference, we were reminded of the 
transforming role of librarians and the library 
environment. We were encouraged to embrace 
these changes and create new opportunities 
through collaborations with other libraries, 
as well as with other community partners. If 
we choose to embrace these transformations, 
the collaborative results could be amazing. As 
Maureen Sullivan, consultant with Maureen 
Sullivan and Associates, pointed out, the most 
powerful recurring word she heard at the 
conference was we. 

Registration for October e-Learning seminars opens September 18 
ACRL e-Learning offerings will get back into swing in October, with registration opening 
for two online seminars on September 18. 

Creating a Comprehensive Plan for 
Information Literacy will guide you 
through the process of developing a 
comprehensive plan for information literacy 
using worksheets developed by the presenter, 
participating in weekly online chats, and 
comparing examples of completed plans 
from a variety of institutions. October 
16–November 4. 

Designing Web Sites for Academic 
Libraries, par t 1. Participants in this 
seminar will learn how to plan, design, 
and develop content for Web sites in 
an academic setting. XHTML and CSS 
(external) will be introduced. At the end 
of the session, participants will have a 
completed Web site plan and design. 
October 16–November 11. 

Other seminars being offered this fall include,“Assessing Student Learning Outcomes” and 
“Electronic Collection Development for the Academic e-Library.”Webcasts on leadership and 
combating plagiarism will also be offered.Visit www.acrl.org/e-learning for details. 

C&RL News September 2006  510 

www.acrl.org/e-learning