Whether we think of ourselves as innovators or purveyors of knowledge, or both, librarians are, as a profession, a group of know-it-alls. Lovers of fact and trivia, we are the first at a party to look up a word in question, or find the exact date of a random event most others would let slide into conversational obscurity. We like being right, and we like to find information that eludes us. Yet, we try to do so in a way that creates for our users an approachable, rich environment for learning and experimentation. There's the rub: in relying so much on our own authority, we often deny ourselves and our institutions the very values we encourage in our patrons, the room to play and act inexpertly. If we expect users to come to us and ask for help, admit they need our expertise and guidance, why can't we insist on and promote the same from ourselves and our colleagues?

Room to experiment

Much has been made of the purported difference between tech-savvy Web 2.0 librarians and the old guard. In practice, we know this is largely an ageist mischaracterization. All of us work with colleagues who are meeting the challenges of a changing field head-on, regardless of experience or status. That said, the digital librarian divide isn't the point. The point is what individuals are able and motivated to do within our institutional contexts. If librarians are to thrive in this age of information flux and changing user expectations, we must have the freedom to move quickly with new ideas rather than crawl through minefields of momentum-stifling bureaucracy. Being comfortable playing with new tools and technology is one step. Creating a workplace amenable to experimentation and supportive of peer education and collaboration is the next. As new modes of learning and communication become more accessible and ubiquitous, librarians need to create cultures of play not just in our learning commons but in our offices as well. We must foster a dynamic where working teams win out over cumbersome committees, where we can download and test free and open source programs without having to vet every request through a systems department. By encouraging a culture more tolerant of on-the-fly innovation, we will be better equipped to collaborate with colleagues and/or faculty to implement more user-centered library content and instruction.

Going forward

If you learn about something promising or have an innovative idea, you shouldn't have to form a committee to move on it. Just evaluate the tool, approach, or service, gather input and allies, and go as far and as fast as you can until you hit your first roadblock. Be prepared to look a little foolish if things don't go as planned—but remember, we learn from our mistakes, and learning from mistakes is rarely unbearable. Of course, going against library policy is no way to get things off the ground. Funding and IT limitations combined with the all-important lack of time are very real issues when discussing the viability of new ideas. That said, look around. Who is doing innovative, “unknown to the profession five years-ago” things? Michael Stephens's Library 2.0 classes are a prime example, as is the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's, NC, Creative-Commons licensed Learning 2.0 program.

Worth the risk

Asking students to create a Wikipedia post in order to understand bias, collective knowledge, and peer review would have been impossible five years ago. These days, it sounds like the perfect confluence of media, technology, and information literacy. If we are afraid to take chances where services and new technologies are concerned, or hampered from trying new things just for the sake of experimentation, we not only face the danger of creating less dynamic and responsive libraries, we also miss an invaluable opportunity to define ourselves not just as stubborn answer-seekers but as intrepid guides and capable risk-takers. Fostering an environment of creativity and experimentation frees colleagues to collaborate, reinvent, and renew established ideas. Combine that with the rapidly changing technology landscape and you will have opened your institution and yourself to the realization that change is not only possible but essential. Institutional support aside, successful new initiatives start with individuals ready to take risks and unafraid to fail. If your innovative project craters, your colleagues will not think any less of you as long as you are able to share the expertise you gained and apply it to the next go-round. Risk leads to innovation. Once you embrace this and connect with other risk-takers, you'll find that, regardless of the possibility of failure, finding your inner librarian moxie will create results.

---

Lia Friedman, Instruction and Outreach Librarian, University of California–San Diego Arts Libraries, is a Staff Librarian & Assistant Editor for Make/Shift magazine and an active member of Radical Reference. Char Booth, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Ohio University, Athens, is a 2007 American Library Association Emerging Leader and a 2008 LJ Mover & Shaker.