Ernie Ingles on Making a Difference

Ernie Ingles from the University of Alberta has participated on may teams to create transformational change and to get it funded. Besides leading one of the most electronic university libraries in North America, Ernie has assisted in the transformation of his province’s libraries through the Alberta Library as well as many digitization, publishing, preservation and bibliographic projects. This year I asked him how one raises tens of millions of dollars to fund such amazing projects. He gave a very thougtful response. He discussed networking and used the fabric metaphor where his network of friends and contacts for the fabric. He noted that it wasn’t so much the fabric that was important but the spaces between the threads. This he equated to social capital. Social captial:
– is strong ties and weak ties.
– is trying and hard work.
– is sincere and passionate.
– is understanding.
– has reciprocity as a quintessential element.
– has practicality on call at all times.
– is all about maintenance too.
One can see that Ernie lives his list through just his annual 5,000+ Christmas cards! If you know Ernie you know that this network is your network and if you engage your passion for libraries into his, amazing things happen.
Stephen