While I didn’t get tagged yet, the passion quilt meme really spoke to me. For this meme, you’re supposed to post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about.
Here’s mine:
Original image
When I was in high school, I had a best friend I was pretty much joined at the hip to. She and I both had part-time jobs, though hers was for money to pay for college while mine was just for spending money. As a result, I always had more spending money than she did. So, if I wanted to do something with her that involved money, I had to pay for both of us. I never felt like that was a sacrifice, because spending time with her was so much more important to me than money. But my mother used to get really angry about it, saying that she was taking advantage of me and whatnot. She felt that things like this had to be “tit-for-tat” and if she wasn’t paying me back, then I was being taken advantage of. I didn’t buy that argument then, and I don’t buy it now. I realized then that sharing was rarely going to be tit-for-tat, but that people were more important than things or money. And frankly, I was benefiting. Sharing my money with my friend made me much happier than if I hadn’t. I wouldn’t give up the memories of that summer before college for anything.
I feel the same way about sharing in the library profession, but of course now it’s ideas. I really believe strongly in sharing knowledge. I do it on my blog, on wikis, through Five Weeks to a Social Library, in my column, in my LIS class, etc. Lots of people hold on tightly to what they know and don’t give it out unless someone’s paying. I believe strongly that my willingness to share has been a driving force in my professional success. It’s not always a direct “tit-for-tat” but I believe all the good I’ve given has come back to me ten-fold. I even found out late last week that I won a Nintendo Wii for attending a feedback session at Computers in Libraries. Wow! I don’t know if all this is luck or karma or what, but I know that I’m going to keep sharing because good things seem to happen when I do.
So maybe you think your knowledge wouldn’t be useful. I used to feel that way too, and I’ve learned how wrong I was. Maybe you feel it’s not worth sharing. I assure you, it is and it will help others. Maybe you just don’t want to make the effort to share. I promise you, your sharing will benefit you; maybe not immediately, but it will. You can’t look at sharing in the short-term what’s in it for me? sense, because the benefits are much more long term and much less direct. Sharing will help others. Sharing will make you feel good about yourself. Sharing will help you make friends. Sharing will make others see you as someone “in the know.” But most importantly, sharing will encourage others to share. And when there’s a culture of sharing, when we’re all sharing knowledge, we will all benefit.
Vikings! Tied inextricably to the reading of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” in my memory.
Yeah, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were totally vikings. Definitely. 😉
To me, sharing is exactly what librarianship is all about… we are sharing knowledge with others, and helping others to find the shared knowledge that already exists. I think it would be hard to be an effective librarian if you don’t like sharing! 🙂 Just my two cents….
-Talking Books Librarian
http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/
For various reasons, most of which I can’t articulate, I find it absolutely hilarious that you won the Wii. Way to go!
Here, here! What I have always found interesting, is how those closed-moth types think they are protecting their job. End the end it never does and can end up costing them their jobs. Librarians should not be like this. Great post and keep up the good sharing.
Love this. Libraries are supposed to be all about sharing information with our patrons, sometimes we forget to share with each other. We’re testing a Drupal installation as an Intranet and everyone is really getting into the collaboration aspect. It’s great to watch and be a part of.
Good luck with that Marianne! I’ve found Drupal to be an amazing collaboration platform in my experiences using it for online learning.