I have been thinking a lot about the concept of an Imaginarian. I wrote about it back in April, 2011 and thought I should revisit it here.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my mission to inspire a generation of imaginarians and information activists. Many have told me that they like the term imaginarian. Others have asked what it means. So, like a good doctoral student, I thought I would define my terms.
An imaginarian is built on the concept of imagineer from the Disney Corporation. The term imagineer is the blending of imagination and engineering. So I define the term imaginarian as the blending of imagination and librarianship. Imagineers are tasked with designing and building Disney’s parks, resorts, etc…
Imaginarians are tasked with designing and building the human imagination. We focus on the creative and learning processes that take place in the human brain and soul. We help people construct realities and worlds that meet their desires. Imaginarians help people find their voice, identity and creative-self. We foster an environment in which these can soar.
Libraries are the only place anyone can go to become anything they want. Whether this is manifest only in their mind or becomes a reality in the physical world, the library can truly take people anywhere they want to go. And imaginarians help people get “there”.
The Information Activist Librarian 
I enjoyed reading this dialogue. Our ‘burban public library has a children’s imaginarium (pretty certain that is how we spell it) that is filled with toys that can inspire children from toddlers to sixish. What this post reminded me, however, is adults need to escape and imagine too. Hope you post more in the future of how to foster this enviro for All ages. Cheers ~ a