Playing wild and wacky water volleyball games went a long way toward making friendships. Eating meals together under the oaks, cleaning up afterwards, and taking out the garbage also formed a sense of community. The importance of community for the profession as a whole was not a concept that I had given much thought before attending the institute. A comment by a public librarian that she had not realized how much she and I, an academic librarian, have in common gave me pause. We are interdependent.
Academic librarians help students who come from school libraries.
Our students use public libraries for information in areas we do not support. Public libraries send people to academic libraries for esoteric information. We share similar problems of shrinking resources with increased demands for service. And all of us are looking for better and cheaper ways to cope with ever changing technology. As more people from different types of libraries participate in the leadership institute, there should be a better understanding of what each of us does and how alike we really are.