Recently I interviewed Joann Ransom, Head of Libraries for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand.

Joann is one of the thought leaders responsible for the Koha and Kete open source library systems. Earlier this year, Joann was named one of the American Library Association’s Movers and Shakers for 2010, the first New Zealander to be honoured in this way.

Joann’s thoughts on innovation are simple, practical and incredibly profound. Her advice to other librarians includes:

• Go to conferences in other sectors, not just library conferences
• Don’t over think things – ask yourself, “how hard can it be?”
• Use critical friends from outside libraries to test ideas and prototypes
• Communicate your vision (the big picture) from day one
• Don’t get stuck trying to be perfect, and above all
• Don’t be scared…try things!

It’s all good advice, from someone quietly changing the library landscape, one innovation at a time.

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Tags: Innovation, Leadership, Libraries, Management

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 9:41 am and is filed under Consulting, Expertise, Services. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.