This is a talk I gave at the LibraryLinkNJ Spring Membership Meeting on May 22, 2014. The focus of the talk was the power of leaderless or self-organizing communities.

1. SELF-ORGANIZING
COMMUNITIES
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GEOFF DIMASI

2. Your library as a HUB.

3. NOT what a library SHOULD be.

4. What do you WANT a library
to be, your library?

5. The one where you work.

6. The one you use.

7. What is your vocation?

8. What is the deep down reason
you became a librarian?

9. Why do you work in this field?

10. Junto

11. Exchange knowledge
of business affairs

12. Improve themselves,

13. their community,
and to help others

14. Business as a tool to make
change in the world

15. A thriving city is
good for business

16. People are treated fairly.

17. The sick are cared for.

18. The masses are educated.

19. What kind of community
do you want to live in?

20. What does it look like?

21. How do people treat
each other?

22. Indy Hall

23. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

24. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

25. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

26. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

27. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

28. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

29. Independents Hall
ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

30. ACCELERATED SERENDIPITY

31. Independents Hall
CLUBHOUSE

32. CLUBHOUSE

33. CLUBHOUSE

34. CLUBHOUSE

35. CLUBHOUSE

36. CLUBHOUSE

37. CLUBHOUSE

38. CLUBHOUSE

39. OWNERSHIP

40. Independents Hall
OWNERSHIP

41. OWNERSHIP

42. OWNERSHIP

43. KEYS!

44. COMMUNITY OF TRUST

45. COME TOGETHER TO
SOLVE PROBLEMS

46. N3RD STREET MARKET

47. N3RD STREET

49. N3RD STREET

50. Independents HallBar Camp
BARCAMP

51. Independents Hall

52. Attendees lead the sessions

53. Peer Learning

54. Community Mentoring

55. Apprenticing

56. Nurturing New Speakers

57. Passion & Responsibility

58. Community of the Willing

59. IGNITE PHILLY

61. Giving Ideas the Light of Day

70. LIBRARY AS HUB

71. You are experts at connecting
people to resources.

72. Connecting people to people.

74. Prepared Environment

75. Already a geographic & subject
matter hub of community.

76. BARCAMP EVERYDAY

77. Place for people to
express their expertise.

78. Place for people to
express their interests.

79. Index cards on a board?

80. room reservation system.

81. Frictionless
room reservation system.

82. WHY THIS MATTERS

83. Alternative University

84. What is school after all?

85. When broken down to its atomic components, the
classroom is an agreement between an instructor
and a set of students. The instructor agrees to
offer expertise and mentorship, while the
students offer their attention and dedication.

86. The question now becomes what role, if any, the
educational institution plays in coordinating any
of these components. Students can share their
ratings online – why wouldn’t they also share
their educational goals? Once they’ve pooled
their goals, what keeps them from recruiting
their own instructor, booking their own
classroom, indeed, just doing it all themselves?!
-Mark Pesce, futurist

87. Why not at your library?

91. Let’s reclaim our
family business!

92. How can you help create the
community you want to live in?

93. How can you do that as part
of your vocation?

94. A thriving library is good
for business, for community.

95. A thriving library is good
for people.

96. Give them the keys.

97. Thank you.
@geoffd