EDITOR'S NOTES
Stronger Together
by Dick Kaser
As this issue was in production, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was taking place in my hometown of Philly. It is sheer coincidence that the issue we were working on blended in so perfectly with the DNC’s theme: Stronger Together. But, as the authors in this edition of CIL demonstrate, it’s not just a political slogan—it’s a fact: People achieve better results when they collaborate.
In the realm of human knowledge capture, there is no better example of what collaboration can achieve than Wikipedia—the once maligned, but now increasingly accepted, online encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers. As Wikipedia librarian Nicole Askin suggests in her article in this issue, your library can help Wikipedia become an even better resource by lending your support to Wikipedia editors who would like to use your collections to verify their sources and confirm reported facts.
In his column, Marshall Breeding discusses how your library can save money—and reduce the number of headaches from maintaining a local ILS—by sharing a system with other libraries in your state or region.
Ellen Forsyth, from the State Library of New South Wales in Australia, tells how you can use the free videoconferencing feature of Google Hangouts to share professional knowledge with colleagues around your country and across the globe.
South Carolina State Library’s Jessica Dame describes her agency’s initiative to empower resource-constrained public libraries to digitize and share their local materials by providing them with a turnkey solution.
There isn’t a feature story or column in this issue that doesn’t coincide with and affirm the theme’s message. Collaboration is a great way to get things done, not only in and around libraries, but—I dare say—in nations, as well.
In this election year, similar to many before it, librarians will play a key role in making sure voters get registered and have the factual resources they need to make informed choices. Let’s do this together.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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