Preaching to the Sinners or Only to the Saved?

Home after a wonderful time at Encyclo-Media in Tulsa. As I expected, the folks there were both gracious and organized, just as they were when I visited in 1999 and 2000. I commented earlier that I’ve long thought Kathryn Lewis has some of the best school librarians going working in her Norman program. I’m going to have to add Tulsa as another exemplary group, led by its outstanding director, Ellen Duecker.

Encylo-Media just ought to be the model for educational conferences. It started, I believe, as a school librarians’ conference, but they just kept inviting more and more kinds of educators to join them in the fun and learning. Now tech-types, gifted and talented teachers, school counselors, and administrators attend as well. It’s a great chance for cross-discipline networking.

And as a speaker, it’s both a delight and challenge to speak with mixed groups. School librarians and techies are without a doubt, my favorite people to visit with. We share the same concerns, talk the same language, and work toward the same goals. (I know what jokes and stories work!) But at the same time, I often feel like I am preaching to the choir at library and technology conferences and worry I’m not reaching the unconverted, so to speak. One of the comments I get most often is: “If only our administrators/teachers could have heard this talk!”

All of us in education need to hear each others’ “talks.” Should the issues of social studies teachers, reading teachers, superintendents, elementary classroom teachers, PE teachers, and business ed teachers be of concern to me as a techie and librarian? You betcha. Do these same folks need to learn about how libraries and technology can help make them more effective. Of course.

Do we need to re-think discipline-based conferences and move in the direction of Encylo-Media?

PS. A personal thanks to David Warlick. Late Tuesday afternoon I received an e-mail from the keynote speaker we had arranged for our MEMO conference that is about three weeks away, explaining that for health reasons (documented with a really ugly digital photo) that he would be unable to come to Minnesota. I gave David a call and he’s agreed on very short notice to step in as a replacement. Whew!

If you aren’t reading David’s 2 Cents Worth blog, give it a look. Today’s entry makes four interesting points including this provocative quote from William (Neuromancer) Gibson: “The future is here. It’s just unevenly distributed.”