A week and a half ago, I was giving a talk in South Florida (where I used to live) and it’s made me a little reflective about how much my life has changed since then.
Four and a half years ago, I was a Library Assistant I at the Boca Raton Public Library, working in circulation. Ten days ago, I stood at a podium in Ft. Lauderdale as the keynote speaker of the Southeast Florida Library Information Network’s (SELFIN) annual conference. I started my talk by commenting on this and stating that I think my story is indicative of the growing openness of our profession — how anyone with good ideas and a little chutzpah can achieve a lot in this profession regardless of their age or years of experience.
But could I possibly have made this huge transition without the Web? Not a chance. Without the Web I wouldn’t have been able to get my thoughts and ideas out there on my blog. Without my blog, I wouldn’t have gotten a book deal. Without the book deal, I wouldn’t have gotten the speaking gigs and the column. Even if I’d faithfully served in ALA and wrote peer-reviewed articles until my hands bled, I probably still wouldn’t have been up at that podium without the Web.
And it made me think about what else I wouldn’t have been able to do without the Web. Like meet my husband.
Six years ago, I was despairing that I’d ever find a true life partner. Anyone who’s lived in South Florida knows how many shallow, materialistic people there are in that area, and how difficult it can be to meet kindred spirits. After meeting one too many guys who looked like they spent more time on their hair than I ever have, I decided to try match.com. Within a day of creating my profile, I had about 80 emails from interested men, but ruled 95% of them out due to extreme spelling/grammatical errors, the scent of desperation, or the obvious form-letter nature of their email. I figured I might have better luck finding someone myself instead of waiting for them to find me. While looking through people’s profiles, I saw a guy with an adorable smile who quoted the Simpsons, was well-educated, and who said he was the sort of person who friends depend on to drive them to the airport. Considering that my biggest pet peeve is unreliable people, that statement was probably the most appealing thing anyone could have written. I deleted my match.com profile after two dates with Adam and never looked back. I’m still amazed by my luck.
Around the time I met my husband, I was applying to library school programs. We’d only been together several months when I found out I’d been accepted to the University of Maryland’s LIS program and was offered a huge fellowship to go there. What an awful decision to have to make so early in our relationship. Had I gone to Maryland, I feel pretty sure that Adam and I would not have stayed together, as I have a very low tolerance for long-distance relationships. Instead, I chose to get my MLIS at a distance from Florida State. That way, we could build our relationship and I could go to school. If the Web didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be married to Adam (heck, I wouldn’t even have met him).
Almost four years ago, I was getting close to the end of my MLIS program and was frustrated by the lack of connection/community between students. I was getting increasingly interested in social software and knew no one from school who was interested in that stuff. So, after driving my husband crazy talking about the sort of stuff I’ve blogged about over the years, he convinced me to start a blog. And from that, I made so many wonderful friends — people who challenge me, who make me laugh, who teach me things, and who inspire me. My life has been so enriched by knowing so many of you. If the Web didn’t exist, I wouldn’t have this amazing (and cherished) professional network.
The list goes on and on. I’ve reconnected with old friends online. I’ve planned a destination wedding in the Napa Valley entirely online (from choosing the location to the photographer to the officiant). I found other people with common interests online. I’ve learned so much online. And while we take it for granted every morning when we fire up our computers and open our Web browser, it’s really changed so much about how we live. It has opened up opportunities to people who may never have had them otherwise. It’s allowed for new ways to contribute to the profession and to network. It’s allowed good ideas to get an audience. It’s given us opportunities to connect with people with common interests. It’s really kind of amazing. I do take some credit for getting to where I am, but, really, none of it would have happened without the Web.
How has the Web changed or enriched your life?
Some things similar to you. While I didn’t meet my husband online (we first met nearly 30 years ago!), when we reconnected two and a half years ago, much of our courtship was conducted via e-mail (and Google Chat).
There’s NO WAY I would have been able to go to library school if I hadn’t been able to do it (mostly) online. I was a circ clerk too, for a large public library system, almost three years ago.
My wife and I met through online personals. I don’t think I would’ve had the guts to make a personals ad through a newspaper or magazine, but online, it felt OK. Especially being able to interact through email first. So the web changed my life pretty significantly. Plus, my wife works from home, telecommuting, so without the internet, we wouldn’t have the flexibility to move wherever our lives take us.
Also, if it weren’t for the web, I wouldn’t know you, sunshine!
I too met my to-be-husband (Nov. 1 wedding date) online but more than that, my job as a librarian daily opens up opportunities to grow, share, change, be challenged and inspire. I’m not sure I would find my current position as enriching without the online community of like-minded (and not-so like-minded) people out there doing their thing. And even though the libraries in my area are somewhat slow to take on some of the newer and important attitude shifts that will allow libraries to continue to thrive, just knowing (and hearing about) what others like you are out there doing offer inspiration, hope and sustenance!
That’s a great story, Meredith. Without the Web I wouldn’t be here enjoying your blog.
The Web enriched my life in many ways that I cannot imagine what it would be like without it. I am deaf. The web is one of my major communication links to the world outside. Here are few examples:
* Work: Since graduating from college, all jobs I’ve done involved the web in one way or other. I was a customer & technical support rep answering email inquires (my co-workers were envious), a web developer, a web marketing manager, and a web technology consultant.
* School: I am a new student in the SJSU’s MLIS program. Although the school is in SF Bay Area where I live, I choose to take the courses via online, not only to save commute costs and time but also taking the classes online would make it much easier for me to follow class discussions.
I don’t know yet what kind of librarianship I will do at graduation, but I do not doubt that the Web would be a major part of the work I would do.
(What I find very interesting today is working part-time as a library assistant in law firms. I follow procedures that do not involve a computer and the Web, such as loose-leaf filing, checking-in serials on log sheets, etc. The transition to databases and web-based digital collections is occurring very slowly at these firms. The tedious and manual tasks make me *appreciate* so much more the changes that the Web is enabling at libraries.)
* Personal: Years ago, long before match.com, I met my husband, a hearing person, on CompuServe, one of the oldest online services on the Web. (It still exists!) I responded to his inquiry in a forum for the deaf. He needed candidates to interview for his PhD dissertation about computers and the deaf. At that time he was at the University of Illinois at U-C and I was in the SF Bay Area. Over the course of several months I answered his questions via email and when he finished his paper, we continued our email correspondence until he graduated and moved to the Bay Area. With the world as big it is, I doubt very much that we would have met offline.
In a way, when I started using the web in the 80’s, it feels as if the stars aligned perfectly ever since!
Thanks for a great post Meredith.
Not only did your post make me realise how the web has changed my life: 2 Masters via distance ed (1 completed, 1 just started); great opportunities as a Systems Librarian; and the chance to create a Web 2.0 learning program for my colleagues which has lead to my very first conference presentation which will be in December at the New Librarians Symposium 4 (Melbourne, Australia); but your post also gave me confidence in my ability to achieve success as a web savy librarian. Reading your story showed me that information professionals like yourself (and others) that I have read so much from and about, and admired are just normal people and not that different to myself. Thanks.
PS. It also gave me a reason to be a commenter and not just a lurker.
Meredith,
It’s hard to pinpoint for me exactly how the web has changed, is changing my life. But, I know that it has, and will continue to change it profoundly. Though, I can’t ride my bike on the web, I can learn from a community of enthusiasts. I can’t, on a consistent basis, have an ongoing discussion with all of my colleagues about important issues happening in our library, but we can learn together to utilize wikis and blogs to help facilitate that. I can’t find a decent radio station, but with pandora and last.fm I can listen to music that I find personally compelling. I can’t possibly keep up with all of the interesting things going on online, but with RSS feeds I can catch a few of the things most important to me without hardly lifting a finger (after set up).
Once again, a thought provoking post. Though I don’t often comment, I’m always reading.
I agree. I think you would have been noticed without the web, but in the past these things took longer or took a lot more work to maintain contacts or attend events.
For me the Internet is the leaping off point – I research something online and I network with someone who knows about it and arrange to meet.
My first website was a fan site for a tv show. I met my husband nearly 11 years ago online, through a newsgroup and he interviewed me about that website. And yes, online tools like Skype and IM let us stay in touch easily, since we lived on opposite sides of the country then, and again now while we are living on opposite sides of the world.
Given how much I travel, I am not sure I would travel so much if I didn’t have the web to make organising everything faster (if not easier – researching hotels and destinations still takes a long time).
I did my first library school degree face to face, but not the last two. Blogging helped to make contacts, which made me more confident to volunteer for other things.
I never underestimate how awesome it is to have a question and be able to get an answer as a blog comment or on Friendfeed/Twitter, or support from a friend on the other side of the world. I really wonder what involvement I would have had in the profession if I graduated two decades earlier.
Without the web, I wouldn’t be a librarian. If it wasn’t for Distance Learning, I’d either be an associate (with a second job?) or would have left the field for something else.
Also, I have no idea how people developed collections before the Internet. Runes maybe?
It was really awesome hearing you speak and meeting you! And you should watch Black Books: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJg_WMw56Hw
Great post Meredith! Like you I probably wouldn’t have a lot of what I have without the Web. The one main thing is my Library degree (Also from FSU -’04 ((could we have been in some classes at the same time??))) The web has enriched education tremendously. Blogs, facebook/myspace/etc, chat and virtual worlds are taking distance education to whole new levels. For that I am grateful and excited!
Hi, 🙂
I’m 5 classes away from completing my Bachelor’s (online) and then moving on to complete my MLIS (also online). This is an opportunity that recently came my way, but given that I live in such a small town in the middle of nowhere, and have a family, and work full time–if it weren’t for online ed this would not be something I could do.
Other bits… I sold a lot of my old stuff a couple of years ago on eBay to fund a week+ trip to New York.
I’ve met all sorts of people from all over the world (literally! I have formed very close friendships with people in Italy, Prague and all over England) & some of these friends have made trips to my tiny corner of small town USA to come see me.
I sincerely love what the Web has done for me–the doors it has opened for me and the vast, wonderful resource it can be.
Without the Web, I might not be a librarian.
After 8 years in the restaurant industry, I was burned out and used Google to help brainstorm possible new careers. With not much more to go on than “I like to do research,” I found articles, websites, listservs and, most useful, ALA.
While the Web helped me decided, it was also the Web that helped me do it– I got my MLS online through the University of Illinois’ LEEP program. With debt piled high from undergrad and a 4-year MFA, I needed the in-state tuition, but couldn’t move downstate. The online program not only solved these problems, but it got me thinking about the Web, the internet and new technologies in ways I never would have in a traditional classroom setting.
I love you, interGoogleWebnets.
I live a lot on the web. My job is virtual services in my public library, I communicate through the web with other people more than by phone (and to a wider group of people), I do most of my bookings, organising, seeking information and contact with government, businesses etc through the web at least first.
My life would be totally different without the web.I don’t know if that’s all good, but I’m happy being a virtual girl. (I do still have a very good physical life too!)
Without the web — I couldn’t do the work I do from home… I wouldn’t have met my husband… I would know almost none of my library colleagues… I may not have written any books! 🙂
So to all of those people who says that the Internet makes people more isolated, I say look at all the people who commented on this post who have made personal connections and enriched their careers because of it. Awesome! Thanks for commenting everyone!
For those who haven’t seen Meredith speak, I remember (maybe last year) how she once worried about her presentation skills (I think you had a video that you were criticizing)… well, she’s an excellent presenter (imo). I like to listen to people who are both excited about their material and comfortable enough with their knowledge that their speech sounds like normal conversation. It’s fluid, as if the whole audience is a single person; so it’s intimate, not like someone just reading their notes.
So I really enjoyed seeing her at SEFLIN. And meeting her. She’s so much taller in person. (!)
More ways than I can think of, I’m sure, but the most recent and immediate thing is that it allowed me to go to library school.
I just graduated from the FSU distance ed MLIS program. The last library school in Atlanta closed a couple of years ago, and there’s only one program in Georgia (Valdosta, not accredited until about a year ago). My wife and I aren’t in a position to relocate, and thanks to the web we both able to get our master’s degrees this year.