A thought from President Clinton at Masie

The Masie Learning 2011 conference was an amazing experience! It was a privilege to be able to spend three days with some of the most thoughtful and influential learning professionals around, soaking up ideas and making connections.

The Monday night keynote was by former President Bill Clinton, who's a truly talented and engaging speaker. He had a lot to say about the difference between putting the inquiry before the answer, and putting the answer before the inquiry. The former is what allows us to learn and make progress; the second admits of no information that doesn't confirm what we already "know."

This brings to my mind the question -- what in libraries are we so sure we "know" that we don't pay attention to what the data actually say? What are our blind spots, the places where we need to work on putting the inquiry before the answer?

Only four more days...

...until I leave for the Masie Learning 2011 Conference! I'm so excited to go and pick up new training and learning ideas!