OCULA 2013 Fall Conference: The Startup Library

In his “Think Like a Startup” white paper, Brian Mathews asserts that libraries don’t just need change, they need “paradigm-shifting, transformative, disruptive ideas.” But how do we discover those ideas? And how do we make them happen?

The Startup Library is a crash course in entrepreneurial thinking for Library Land. It is about identifying opportunities, taking smart risks, and learning by doing. This one-day workshop will engage participants in a number of activities designed to inspire, energize, and challenge. Presented by M.J. D’Elia, the goal of Startup Library is to help make entrepreneurial thinking a habitual part of our practice and profession.

Participants will work together to identify a problem worth solving, generate potential ideas to solve that problem, strengthen their solutions, and make a final “rocket pitch” to support their best idea. As part of the session, participants will have an opportunity to learn and apply key entrepreneurial thinking concepts, including:

– Staying within acceptable loss
– Using constraints as enablers
– Establishing smart steps to test hypotheses
– Adopting the “build, measure, learn” method
– Evaluating desirability, feasibility and viability

M.J. D’Elia is the acting head of the Learning and Curriculum Support Team at the University of Guelph. He provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for the Learning Commons units: Learning and Writing Services, Information Literacy, Supported Learning Groups, and the Data Resource Centre. He is a co-conspirator in a number of interesting side projects, including Innovation Boot Camp, PIM Labs, and the Startup Library.

In addition to his library role, he also instructs the entrepreneurship course for the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies. This course features a Dragon’s Den-like business pitch competition at the end of the semester. When time permits, M.J. doodles, plays with Lego, and runs a small facilitation company that specializes in creative problem solving.

Where: Ottawa Public Library, Rideau Branch, Program Room. 377 Rideau St, Ottawa, ON K1N 5Y6, Canada

When: October 25, 2013
 from 10:15 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Lunch and afternoon refreshments will be provided.

Register or find more information on our registration page.