When the wolf is at the door and its howl locks you flatfooted in the hallway, while you’re on the way to the kitchen, starkers, it is only natural, for a moment or two, to forget how sound your house is and how many friends with shotguns and cellphones live nearby.
Optimism is high, going into the meeting. Just have a look at Choice Review Online University Press Forum; Forum 2011: The End of the Tunnel?. Choice, v.48, no. 09, May 2011. You could chalk this up to directors being directors, rallying the troops; but there’s more to it.
Even gloom-and-doom holdouts have to marvel at the sheer number of new business models being auditioned across the industry, if they're being honest, and the population of people taking part in the discussion; case in point, an entire meeting dedicated to fostering a Culture of Collaboration.
Fearing the wolf at the door could be taken as the true, Churchill-esque cautionary tale for us moving forward. As a metaphor for unavoidable and impending mano-a-lupo threat, it's beginning to show its age in any context; one might say it’s getting a little long in the tooth.
In days of yore, a wolf at the door could well mean that there will be fewer of us come morning; pick your favorites and hold them close. Today, if you had a real wolf in front of your house, you might wake the kids, but it would be for the novelty, so they can shoot a YouTube video to show their class—or the Audubon Society.
It doesn’t sound like we are all the way there yet with our wolf(s), to the point of novelty; there is still real threat and a long night ahead; but, it sounds like we will be placing more calls together.
As the meeting begins, I am looking forward to learning more about identifying and reaching out to said friends with the shotguns and cellphones and how we will be collectively mobilizing, as we head into 2011-12 together.
Here’s to a wolf-free community for all u presses.
DISCLAIMER: no wolves were harmed during the making of this blog.
