It’s rare that you see a library library leader make a national list of creative business people. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a trend.
Congrats and Well Done Brian!
From the Chicago Public Library:
Brian Bannon (Image via Chicago Public Library) Fast Company announced its annual ranking of the 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2016, honoring an influential and diverse group of leading thinkers around the globe. This year, Chicago Public Library Commissioner Brian Bannon makes the list for his leadership in democratizing access to learning and technology across Chicago’s 80 library locations, building an entrepreneurial culture that supports innovation at all levels of the organization.
Under Bannon’s leadership, the Library is stepping boldly into the twenty-first century by reimagining traditional services and serving as a national model for how libraries can thrive in the knowledge and information economy.
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“I’m honored to receive this recognition on behalf of the work we are doing at CPL to provide access to all types of learning and ideas, in every form,” says Commissioner Brian Bannon. “Libraries serve as social, economic, and learning hubs in our Chicago communities and we will continue working to expand learning opportunities for Chicagoans with our investments in innovative programming.”
Bannon’s team is also building interactive early-childhood centers designed through partnerships and advisors at the MIT Media Lab, the Lego Foundation, and the Erikson Institute and funded partly by a $2.5 million grant from Exelon, as well as preprofessional training for youth that taps mentors in fashion, music, and the digital arts. Under Bannon’s leadership, CPL has become the nation’s leading laboratory for the library sciences, shifting the focus from objects–that is, books–to ideas.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
