transparency

Don Tapscott, the author of Wikinomics, recently talked to CIO Magazine for their monthly "5 Things I've Learned" column. While his comments were directed to the corporate sector, there's a lot that we in libraries and information agencies can take away from his remarks as well:

1. We are under the microscope - like corporations, libraries are being scrutinized in ways we've never before imagined. Evaluation of our services and the sharing of that information is occurring at levels never before possible.
2. Transparency is power - it is central to organizational success. Open organizations perform better. As Tapscott said, we need to "undress for success."
   
3. The benefits of mass collaboration are boundless - Leaders of old paradigms have the most difficulty embracing new ones and are the most likely to engender distrust and dislike in our rapidly changing environment.
   
4. Practice what you preach - use the same tools internally as you do externally. Promote collaboration throughout the library; not just for external-facing services, and
5. Thinking forward pays off - what we see and use today will be significantly different in just a few years. We can't become complacent in thinking that we've done it all now that we've created an avatar in Second Life. We need to stay on top of what is happening and investigate the possibilities as they present themselves.