Creative Class: Me? Yes, You!

At the recent annual Ontario Library Association Superconference I had two key privileges over and above being able to roam though an exhibit hall with hundreds of publishers and information service providers: Chairing a well attended session featuring library technicians who have taken untraditional paths in their careers, and attending celebrated economist Richard Florida's keynote session in which he presented highlights of his work.  The two events were a perfect pair.

At the morning session (see http://www.accessola.com/superconference2009/showSession.php?lsession=400&usession=499 and scroll one page to session 402) the focus was individual:  How does a personal drive to make a difference for stakeholders and clients make a difference in one's career?  Pam Casey, Nanci Abbondanza, and Linda Pauloski engagingly told the stories of how their innate creativeness and desire to "do more" had taken them in career directions they had not envisioned when they obtained their professional credentials. Let me thank those attendees who posed such questions as "if you were 22 now, what would you do?" and in so doing created interesting reflection on the part of the three presenters who made their careers supporting knowledge workers.

In Richard Florida's speech, the focus was societal:  How does personal creativity makes a difference in how communities and economies evolve? (see http://creativeclass.com).  There we were - a huge ballroom full of information professionals - watching a vivid articulation of our economic role:  Though we manufacture no tangible goods and though we perform services unrelated to or somewhat removed from physical objects or processes, we contribute heavily to the economic life of our community.  I found his summary of extensive research fascinating in the way it points for me to the impact of the role of every person whose work is evident in the content of intranets, in the riches of databases, in myriad web based services, in research activities, in the services offered by libraries.

I am such a person, as are you my readers.  At first, we may have thought "creative class" referred to people in the arts or in advertising (etc).  But in fact, we information professionals belong to the groups who, according to Richard Florida's research, feed development in society and economic growth. 

Let us all take his findings to heart and use the supporting evidence in our communications with our stakeholders - as we exercise our own personal creativity.

Comments

[Connie Crosby]

I missed Florida's talk, but I keep seeing his name everywhere. I will have to read his book. I do believe creativity is needed for innovation and leadership, and therefore necessary for advancement generally.

Thank you for making the connection for us.

Cheers,
Connie