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Inspired Thinking: Big Ideas to Enrich Yourself and Your Community
Curiosity, respect, goodwill, and these are a few of what Plato calls "big ideas," and they're concepts that libraries can harness to enlighten humanity in the long-term and help solve problems in the short-term. The journey toward applying your potential starts with personal discovery. A guide for leaders and courageous followers from all types of libraries, this book’s aim is to cultivate inspired thinking in library workers as well as the communities they serve. Demonstrating how big ideas can serve as a foundation for core values, perspectives, and an energized mindset, Stoltz and her co-authors By following the concepts in this book, libraries of all kinds can build bridges between big ideas and the needs of libraries and their communities.
123 pages, Paperback
Published December 19, 2019
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December 14, 2020
I liked the idea that libraries should promote ( even embed as core values/mission vocabulary) big ideas- such as curiosity, ingenuity, goodwill, optimism, cooperation and gratitude. For example, an organization that lives and breathes curiosity- we should then see that the organization values thinking, it allows experimentation as staff and patrons learn new things, the organization has a sense of playfulness... so the big idea of curiosity is an umbrella that drives the library and community. If an organization breathes goodwill- we should see it in the way staff is treated, in the way the community is treated, etc.
While that is inspiring, there is nothing in here on how to make your organization embrace or be receptive. What if the staff is all for it, what if the staff already exhibits these elements, but the administration does not? Or what if the administration does, but the staff does not? What are some libraries that are doing this, and how? How did they start, how was it introduced, how was momentum maintained?
What I did not like is the constant reference to the great thinkers over addressing the more pressing issue of application. A chapter reviewing Plato, Franklin, and Socrates would have justified the points.
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I have recorded this quote from the book "the main weakness of our current education system {is} a focus on what to think, not how to think (from John Couch- Rewiring Education)"
While that is inspiring, there is nothing in here on how to make your organization embrace or be receptive. What if the staff is all for it, what if the staff already exhibits these elements, but the administration does not? Or what if the administration does, but the staff does not? What are some libraries that are doing this, and how? How did they start, how was it introduced, how was momentum maintained?
What I did not like is the constant reference to the great thinkers over addressing the more pressing issue of application. A chapter reviewing Plato, Franklin, and Socrates would have justified the points.
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I have recorded this quote from the book "the main weakness of our current education system {is} a focus on what to think, not how to think (from John Couch- Rewiring Education)"
Displaying 1 of 1 review