"Making Tracks for Elephants" at the Bronx Zoo

And Many Thanks to All Who Supported Mr. Guy's Elephant Walk 

While we are all struggling with the realities of the great tragedy that has come to the African elephants, it was extremely gratifying to see so many people participating in the Wildlife Conservation Society's "Making Tracks for Elephants" Run and Walk at the Bronx Zoo today.

But you thought it was "Mr. Guy's Elephant Walk" didn't you? Well, a little personal note: when I made my appeal, I used that reference as a not-too-successful play on the title of an Elizabeth Taylor movie from my childhood. Well, it didn't work. No one remembers the movie ("Elephant Walk") and, besides, it took place in Ceylon or some such place, not in Africa.

So not a good gimmick for getting people to support your favorite cause, Mr. Guy.

No matter. We did very well, and while I haven't yet heard from the folks at the Wildlife Conservation Society about how much was raised by all participants (I suppose that will be in the press sometime next week), I am very grateful to Mr. Guy's friends and family. We contributed nearly $1,700.00 to this important cause, and our donations will go far in funding more research about the elephants and, particularly, in trying to figure out how we can influence African governments to take serious action against the criminals who are poaching elephants for their ivory.

How bad is the poaching? Re-read the posts I sent out with my appeal, one on March 17 and another last week. Or read this from the WCS:

"If we do not act, we will have to shamefully admit to our children that we stood by as elephants were driven out of existence.”-- WCS conservationists Samantha Strindberg & Fiona Maisels, writing in The New York Times

"Alarming reports from the Central African Republic (CAR)  indicate a new spike in elephant killings, as poachers infiltrate areas once considered safe havens. This latest crisis is occurring near the Dzanga-Sangha protected areas, a World Heritage Site.

"Across the globe, elephants are vanishing. Up to 30,000 elephants are killed in Africa each year for their ivory tusks, which are in demand in Asia. Well-funded and well-armed criminal cartels are to blame. To combat them, we're scaling up our ecoguard programs and monitoring elephants in some of their last wild strongholds, building on our hundred-plus years of wildlife conservation expertise."

So to one and all who responded to M. Guy's appeal, my since thanks. Let's keep thinking about this important work, and talking about it with our friends and neighbors.

And once again, to all of you who contributed, I very much appreciate your taking the time to respond, and for your generous and kind contributions.

We did our part, and I'm very proud of you all.

Thank you very much.

Join Me in My Next Public Webinar

Mark your calendar now to join me on May 7 for an exclusive free webinar sponsored by Soutron Global.

In addition to my work with SMR International, I am the Consulting Specialist for Knowledge Services for Soutron Global. I am extremely pleased to be providing webinars sponsored by Soutron Global as part of my work with the company.

Soutron Global’s corporate mission is to transform libraries into the digital information resource centers of the future, and Soutron Global leads the way in assisting specialist librarians and other strategic knowledge professionals as they make the transition.

Our first webinar—“Transforming Libraries: Knowledge Expertise=Knowledge Effectiveness” focused on the role of the knowledge professional in the transformation process (go here to access the PPT slide deck).

We are looking forward to another good discussion on May 7, when we'll speak about “TRANSFORMING LIBRARIES: What’s Required?”

I’m very honored that Tony Saadat, Soutron’s President and CEO, has invited me to conduct the current series of webinars. Tony and I have worked together for many years, and for the Transforming Libraries Webinars, we’ve put together a full line-up of critical topics to discuss with friends, clients, and colleagues over the next eight months.

On May 7, in our webinar on “TRANSFORMING LIBRARIES: What’s Required?” we’ll dive deep into some of the major issues you’re thinking about, and we’ll address the following questions:

1. What is the governance "picture" for sharing knowledge in your organization? Who owns the content?
2. Does your system allow for integrating this knowledge into the organizational workflow?
3. Can you and your team -- with the tools you have -- operate the specialized library as the company's knowledge nexus?

During our one-hour session, the Soutron Global team will also showcase the company’s cost effective enterprise library solutions to demonstrate how you can enhance the economic value of your knowledge assets and improve personal productivity while reducing operating costs. After the demonstration, a question-and-answer session will conclude our time together.

Webinar:              “TRANSFORMING LIBRARIES: What’s Required?”

Date:                     Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Time:                     2:00pm EST (11:00am PST)           

Venue:                   GoToWebinar

Please RSVP to reserve your place. Register on Soutron Global’s Webinar Registration page, as there are limited seats available. You will receive a GoToWebinar invitation with instructions in a separate email prior to the session.

Save the Elephants: One Last Appeal from Mr. Guy

By now you've seen what I've written about this on my personal blog, with the entry entitled Guy's Elephant Walk - Let's Save the Elephants.

I'm using the blog to invite people to join me in supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society in its work to save the elephants and to stop the awful poaching, and I hope you will support this work, too.

For my part, I will be participating in the WCS Run for the Wild on Saturday, April 27 (I'll be walking - I'm not a runner).

Please join me in contributing to this important fund. We've done very well with our campaign, but we can use more contributions.

If you want to know more, go directly to the blog post or, if you prefer, just go directly to my appeal, which is published on the Wildlife Conservation Society's site.

And here's one last thought: I heard this quotation recently, and as a grandfather of six granddaughters and one grandson, it really spoke to me:

"The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?" (David Attenborough)

Think about it.

Please join me in supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society as we seek to learn more about the elephants and try to figure out how to stop the poaching.

A Personal Appeal From Guy - Let's Save the Elephants

Many of my friends and colleagues have already heard from me about this, but I want to make one last appeal before the run at the Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo) next Saturday.

Don't know if you're interested in this kind of thing, but I'm taking seriously the impact of all the poaching of the elephants in Africa.

It's now become a true epidemic, and I'm doing a little fund-raising here in New York.

I don't think I need to go into a lot of detail, for almost anyone who knows me knows how much I love Kenya and all our friends and our "Kenya family" there.

Kenya - and all of Africa - is in the grips of a horrible tragedy now, as gangsters have taken to slaughtering the magnificent elephants for the ivory.

I've written about this on my personal blog, with the entry entitled Guy's Elephant Walk - Let's Save the Elephants.

I'm using the blog to invite people to join me in supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society in its work to save the elephants and to stop the awful poaching, and I hope you will support this work, too.

For my part, I will be participating in the WCS Run for the Wild on Saturday, April 27 (I'll be walking - I'm not a runner). I invite you to join me in contributing to this important fund.

If you would like to know more, go directly to the blog post or, if you prefer, just go directly to my appeal, which is published on the Wildlife Conservation Society's site.

Thank you very much for thinking about this. And to give you a couple of images to show you why I love these magnificent creatures so much, here are two photos from the last time I visited the elephant orphanage in Nairobi. I had earlier written about the elephant orphanage here (the post includes a link to more photos, too). Please join me in supporting the Wildlife Conservation Society as we seek to learn more about the elephants and try to figure out how to stop the poaching.