John Blyberg (B.A. English, University of Maine, 1998) is the Assistant Director for Innovation and User Experience at the Darien Library in Connecticut. He was formerly the System Administrator and Lead Developer for the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) in Michigan. Prior to working in libraries, John was the IT manager for the North American office of the British car company, Lotus Engineering.

He has had an intense interest in technology since disassembling and escaping from his crib when he was fifteen months old but has spent the last ten years applying that passion in more constructive and professional ways. He is an open source software advocate and considers unfettered collaboration and participation the primary intent of information technology. To that end, he has authored a number of open source projects, including SOPAC, Locum, and Insurge, a social catalog application suite that allows libraries to focus holistically on digital strategy.

John was named a Library Journal “Mover and Shaker,” took first prize in Talis’ 2006 “Mashing-up the Library” competition, and speaks nationally and internationally about libraries, user experience, innovation, and technology. John has also received the 2009 LITA/Brett Butler Entrepreneurship Award for his work on the SOPAC Application Suite. He has written for Library Journal, American Libraries, and has contributed chapters to several published books. He also blogs at blyberg.net.