Joe Janes is my new hero!

Internet Librarian 2007 was my first chance to hear Joe Janes. What a hoot! He had over a thousand librarians laughing and cheering. The topic for his keynote address was Reference 2.0. He tossed out rapid-fire jewels of wisdom and fired a few shots across the bow at the same time. Here are a few nuggets:

• An academic is the sort of person that would face the apocalypse with a historical overview. (How's that for an opening salvo?)
• Early librarians faced some of the same challenges we do today. In 1876, Samuel Green complained about too much information that was too difficult to find. In 1930, James Wyer described the typical reference interview: "they will choke and die before they tell you what they want."
• Anecdote: A man watched his kid flipping TV channels. After about 15 minutes, the father asked, "When will you pick a channel?" Answer: "I'm not picking a channel, I'm watching them all."
• Don't bitch about Wikipedia, change it. If you're not participating, you have no right to complain.
• We're made for the deep dive, not the horizontal search... We're there for people who care or can be made to care. Stop chasing things you can't catch - provide services to the ones that want your help. For people diving deep, do the full-blown reference interview and help them with their research. If someone wants it quick, point them in the right direction, give them a tip - they'll ask for the next step if and when they need it. Don't waste their time with a full reference interview. Leave the people who aren't information users alone - just let them know you're there.
• Print is our secret weapon right now, but it's becoming less worthwhile as things move online. If something has an online equivalent, put it in the circulating collection and "whimper when you walk by." We need to do better online. We need to be better than we are in person, or they will be gone in a flash.
• Keep an eye out for "tendril people" - these are the folks who are building online information sources - help them tend the network. If we participate, we can show them how it's done and lead by example. Imagine picking one day a month to do something like SlamtheBoards.
• Web 2.0 is the latest manifestion of "I just want to be heard." It started with prehistoric handprints in French caves..."I was here, I matter, I want to be heard."
• People hear one note about who we (librarians) are -- give them scales, chords, and symphonies.