Opening keynote: "Driving Our Own Destinies"

The conference has about 900 attendees, about evenly divided between men and women, representing 42 states and 10 countries.

Opening quotes:
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves” Shakespeare
"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny." Albert Ellis, Psychotherapist

Opening Keynote: "Driving Our Own Destinies" by Brendan Howley, a Canadian journalist who works with a library in Hamilton, a Canadian city that is a burgeoning cultural hub.  Howley focused on the importance of stories ("data with soul") and their ability to draw people into networks, motivate them and share teachable moments.  Stories document and share experiences, and Howley suggests that librarians share our stories and that libraries take an active role as "cultural triggers that activate networks" - media, literature, art, film, local history, archives, databases.

At the Hamilton Library, he mentions an open media desk (community newsroom) and a makerspace where patrons can create pieces of media & distribute via the library.  Adam and I were both intrigued by his mention of iBeacons, $25 mobile Internet transmitters that could be used to push content at specific locations via Bluetooth to patrons who opted in.  Howley painted a picture of the library as an institution that could provide community mapping, a participatory culture hub, and even a small business development engine that could create useful interactive maps of city (this reminded me of our upcoming partnership with GIS). Overall Howley's vision is an ambitious but exciting one and a thought-provoking way to start the conference.