The following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Audrey Misiura, CMLE and ECRL Board Member.

Explore eBooks MN Summit

 

I had the opportunity to attend the Explore eBooks MN Summit on the beautiful campus of St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul last month.

The keynote speaker was Deb Hoadley, an advisor and team leader for a statewide e-book project in Massachusetts. She talked about the journey of implementing a statewide e-book partnership for the library patrons of Massachusetts.

I especially appreciated her candidness in sharing the mistakes and setbacks her team experienced throughout the project.

The Technology of Participation group facilitators were awesome. I was amazed that in a short time the group would have boiled down our objectives into a few key concepts.

Although a statewide leader did not emerge from the conference, I am hopeful that momentum will grow as Minnesota library stakeholders see the need and benefit to resource sharing among all types of libraries in Minnesota.

I think that for Minnesota moving forward it remains helpful to understand that other library professionals have gone on before us, celebrated their successes, managed their losses and are able and willing to share their knowledge and experience with us. E-book collaboration and resource sharing continue to challenge library administrators across our state. However, as our society becomes increasingly digital and as the needs of our patrons continue to evolve and change, and as new technology becomes available, sharing and collaboration will become inevitable.

 

Did you miss the Explore ebooks MN series of webinars? Not able to make it to the Explore ebooks MN Summit? Not to worry, all content from the webinars and summit are available at theExplore ebooks MN website.