Update: Minnesota Library Futures Initiative

Wondering what the latest is from the Minnesota Library Futures Initiative? The Minnesota Library Futurists hit the ground running after the successful kickoff event with Michael Rogers and Christine Lind Hage on October 18^th. The 23 participants have been busy getting to know one another, while also developing a plan for focus areas, upcoming meetings, and other logistics.

The Futurists will meet once a month as a large group to discuss, think, and learn about the following focus areas: collaboration, Minnesota in 2025, technology, marketing and promotion, education and information literacy, and organizational structure/physical and virtual spaces. At the end of the series, the group will revisit collaboration and look at Minnesota Libraries in 2025. The timeline will allow for careful examination of all topics, and will be flexible to construct outcomes.

The last meeting, held on November 19^th, focused on collaboration in libraries. The guest speaker was Chris Olson, MELSA’s Executive Director. Olson shared tips for the collaborative process, and tied them to examples from his own collaborative work. The group would like to thank Olson for his contribution to the day. The remainder of the day was used to develop a plan for going forward. With the help of Facilitator, Donna Rae Scheffert, the Futurists agreed on the aforementioned focus areas, and assigned themselves to work on at least one of the seven focus areas. In addition, several internal workgroups, such as the Communications Committee and the Logistics Committee, have been created.

The group’s next meeting will be on December 10^th at the St. Cloud Public Library. The focus for the day is Envisioning Minnesota in 2025. Prior to the meeting, participants are doing a little homework, and are reading and reflecting upon documents related to Minnesota’s projected demographics, economy, education, and politics.

The Futurists are in the process of developing a Minnesota Library Futures Initiative website and blog to be available to the public shortly after the December 10^th meeting. An announcement will be sent via the listservs when the website and blog are available. The group encourages feedback from the library community and will provide an opportunity for this on the website. In the meantime, questions or requests for a Futurist speaker can be emailed to Jenny Turner at jennifer.turner@mnsu.edu.

The Futurists would like to thank the Steering Committee and the larger library community for their continued support. The Futurists are thankful for the opportunity to take part in this process, and also are cognizant of the responsibility that comes with it. More updates and information will be available soon.

Kate Bessey, Information Specialist

Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE)

St. Cloud State University, Miller Center 130-D

720 4th Ave. S.

St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498

Video of the presentation by Michael Rogers is available at the Minnesota Futures wiki.