Ok, another year down and it was fairly EPIC. It was one of the better years of my life professionally and a whole lot of growth personally. Not at all what I expected or thought would happen, but all things last year were good (even some of the bad things). These are the things that I am excited about from my last year of life;
The ALA Think Tank
The brainchild of JP Porcarro, and something that I was more than excited to be a part of putting together, The ALA Think Tank, became one of the largest librarian groups on FB and so many great projects have been bred there. There is an amazing sense of play and experimentation going on there. It’s not what I first thought it would be, but I think its even better. It’s the librarian’s sandbox. If you’re a librarian and looking for inspiration to do two things – Make It Happen and Party Hard – this group is awesome and its for you.
The People
I have met so many amazing people in the last year that I could never list them all here without it reading like the first chapter of Mathew (boring). The people I have met in real life, and those that I mostly just interact with online, have had an intense impact on my life and I wanted to thank all of you for just being rad.
The Projects
So many great projects like Guitar collections, Seed Library, eReader collections, Library Boing Boing, the Flash Mob in NOLA, graffiti arts project, our library’s social media campaign, starting a friends group, community newsletter, a multi-system Google Training, The Library Advocacy Store, The Great Librarian Write-out, and some secret ones (that you’ll hopefully hear about this year) have taken off this year. I’m so excited about everything that my awesome library staff and my amazing library system have let me get away with. A great big huge thanks to all you folks.
This Year
I’m excited about a whole bunch of great things that are already starting this year. The first of which was created by Jenny Levine and is Library Boing Boing. There’s going to be another epic set of conferences and I’m excited that I will be presenting at a bunch of them. I’m stoked about meeting a whole bunch more great people and seeing what we can put together. And of course, I’m excited to be surprised by what just kinda happens.
My List
I do have this list of professional things I need to do though and I’d thought I’d share them here just to give them a little more weight.
A kickstarter project
Either a CA library tour by motorcycle, Andrea Davis’ boatbrary, a Think Tank Project, or a non-library related project.
Drive the Book Mobile
One of the awesome things about my library system is that they will pay for me to get my C-class driver’s license so that I can drive the book mobile. I need to get this done this year. How fun would that be?
Sailing
Sail to Internet Librarian on my boat this year. I keep saying I’m gonna do it but I never do. This year is the year. I can feel it!
SXSW
Inspired by the great Andrea Davis, this year I want to get together some Proposals for SXSW about libraries.
Personally;
Of course I have long and continuing list of things I need to accomplish. Not necessarily this year, but in the next couple years this all needs to happen. Here it is, all updated.
Buy and live-aboard a Sailboat
Get a yacht surveying certification
Run for ALA office
Build an Electric Guitar From Scratch
Speak fluent Spanish (in process)
Scuba certification
Become a Certified Public Library Administrator
Ham Radio License
Knot tying
Guitar Lessons/Classes (In process)
Bungee Jump
C-Class Driver’s License
Drive the Book Mobile
Skydive
Take an Advanced Navigation Course
Learn Celestial Navigation
Present at two conferences
Publish 2-5 professional articles
Begin either a Masters in Business Admin or PHD in Information Ethics
Finally finish reading the Harvard 5 foot shelf of books
Captain’s License
Publish a short story
Learn HTML and other programming languages
Hang glide
Motivational Speaking
Writing more
Digital Publishing
Bay Area library Meet-ups
Participate in a Single Handed Sailing race
Week Long Sail
Motorcycle trip to South America
Build/learn a bunch of stuff (I can do it here)
- Build a radio from scratch
- Welding
- Build a Cigar Box Guitar
- Build a Telescope
- Learn Basic Cabinetry
- Automotive/diesel repair
What are your plans for this year?
PC Sweeney 
What are your plans for this year?
Be an awesome father and husband, stay in pajamas a lot until spring/summer, and then run around in the yard with my two boys and get dirty. Be less involved with libraries.
All good things 🙂
Thanks for sharing all your plans for the upcoming year! Always love hearing what people are going to be up to. I’ve got quite a long list of things to accomplish this year as well and am looking forward to all the new adventures.
Some of my goals include:
Finding a job and moving up to the bay area
Becoming more involved in the library community on and offline
Learning how to construct my own clothing
Buying an LED firehoop and begin performing
Backpacking in Europe for a few weeks
Eating healthier and living a more sustainable life
Getting my motorcycle license
Begin learning Spanish
Going skydiving
Being more active in the Occupy movement and local politics
Taking my mom to Burning Man
Self-actualization
Overall even if I don’t accomplish all of these tasks this year I want to, above all else, be the best person I possibly can be and give back to my community. Got to keep that karma circle going!