Where to find the time?

For a long time, I've held the belief that we're all given the same amount of time in a day; what we choose to do with it is up to us. So I don't buy arguments of "I didn't have time to do that." More accurately, one should say, "I didn't take (or make) time to do that."

There's an old saying that if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it. There were days when I thought I was busy. Now, caring for four young children and helping my husband with the farm while serving on library boards, volunteer organizations, and church groups and keeping track of school schedules has made my life downright hectic. Are there other things I could be doing during this time? Of course! But I have chosen, for the benefit of the library system in which I am a trustee, to learn as much as I can. Perhaps it's easier for me than for other trustees since I have a library background, but I think anyone who is interested could find the time to do these 23 things, at least on a cursory basis.

I want to (and may still do it) send a link to the Stephen Abram's video to my fellow board members and the library staff in our system. In that segment, less that 7 minutes, there's a good start on what this is and why it's important. Another ten minutes spent reading the OCLC Web 2.0 articles provided even more information about what Web 2.0 is and why it's important to libraries. So, even if you don't fully want to participate in this program by writing the blog entries, you could "audit" Thing 2 in about 17 minutes and have just a start on thinking about the future in our libraries.

Those brief readings certainly have my wheels turning.