Check out Etienne Wenger‘s theory on Communities of Practice. He says the following to describe what makes it different from just a group with shared interests:
Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction.
Intrigued? Read more on it at the link above.
Posted in Communities of Practice
Tagged communities of practice, etienne wenger, sharing
O
ne of the main goals of PLP is to get all of our libraries working together, across systems. So many times, one of our libraries does something really special, but unless it gets published in a journal, or there is a presentation at a CLA conference, no one knows about it. What if we could share all that expertise among our libraries, right away? What if your library was grappling with a brand-new initiative, but then you found out that another PLP library had a lot of experience with that, and could give you a good start? It would save a lot of work and frustration in our time-strapped environments, and build a working connection. Think about what you are experts at doing. What makes your library special? Do you have a person that is a powerhouse that would love to share, but hasn’t found the platform to do so yet? PLP is that platform.
Posted in Pacific Library Partnership, Uncategorized
Tagged communities of practice, sharing