The Power We Each Have

By Gregg Atkins, CCL Executive Director

Maybe you know this … but it’s almost 9 years since CCL first began discussing the idea of a shared ILS!  We talked and talked and talked among ourselves until we felt the ground beginning to turn solid under this proposal (and ever-advancing technology and software capabilities contributed a lot to that!).

And then we talked with others:  people in the Chancellor’s Office, technology leaders in the CCC world, stakeholders (think ASCCC, students, CIOs, the League … and so many more), other groups of libraries headed in the same direction.

Sharing our ideas and “the vision” opened minds to the possibility of such a thing and also started to build an awareness that librarians were strategic thinkers and good partners in the efforts to improve and expand the CCC frameworks for student learning and student success.  CCL built many bridges and forged many working relationships as a result.

I hope that you and your colleagues are finding (making!) opportunities to share the ideas and vision with others:  on your campus, in your district, with your friends, at your service club or social group, etc.  I’ve been sharing news about this LSP effort with my Rotary club and my church groups and even with librarians in other types of libraries.  

Why?  The more people who know how we’ve marched forward and grabbed the brass ring, the better it is for our profession and our work.  And those “more people” share information with others; I know that one or two have mentioned it to legislative types that they know.  

Yes, “the more people who know …” keeps making that ground more and more solid!  It may be what helps to get us the ongoing state funding we have asked for.  It may be what helps you achieve an important library milestone at your college or what helps CCC librarians reach for the next great thing after LSP.