File this one under “how am I just now getting around to reading this.”

Rick Stoddart of the blog L1BRAR1AN has written an excellent piece on libraries  (as well as museums and other information institutions) as “open works.”  In other words, libraries (including their services and resources) have set parameters and structures, but what these institutions represent to individuals is a much more subjective matter, open to interpretation.  I’m very much inclined to agree — and I especially love the comparisons to jazz, as well as the idea of “libraries as communication.”

I remember learning about the differences between “collection development” and “collection management,” how the latter implies a state of flux as opposed to the achievement of a terminal goal.  In a way, a good library (like many Web 2.0 applications) is in a constant beta — a “perfect” library is a fundamentally unattainable goal, and attempts to be “perfect” can only end in self-sabotage and / or burnout.  Instead we must judge ourselves by other criteria — including our adaptability and our responsiveness to a constantly change (external and internal) environment.

Thinking about your library in all its various contexts can create a rich picture of what your library means to your patrons, as well as the ways in which you library could be doing better.  In the same way we can prevent back injuries by doing stretches, both libraries and individual librarians would be well-served by reaching (hoping, of couse, to exceed our grasps), at least every once in a while.