Archive for July, 2005

Online communities in a “locked down” society

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I’ve never understood librarians who are afraid of change. Maybe it’s because I’m young, but I doubt it, because I’m probably a bigger fan of routine than the average person. I’m far more open to change inside the library world than outside in my personal life. I’m not a believer in the [...]

Email is like so 5 minutes ago

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

This survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project entitled Teens and Technology makes me feel very old. Apparently teens think of email as something they do to communicate online with old people, like teachers. They primarily use IM to communicate online with their friends. I’ll admit that I’m not a [...]

Of wikis, communities, and moving

Friday, July 29th, 2005

I’ve been feeling very guilty about my lack of posts this week, especially since they will probably become even more sparse during the month of August. My mind is truly in a million different places. We’re leaving Chicago for Vermont on August 3rd and I start my new job on August 8th. [...]

Living under a rock

Thursday, July 21st, 2005

I know this may be shocking to some, but I just started reading those Harry Potter books for the first time, and you know what? They’re a pretty good read! Since I’d seen the first three movies, I decided to read The Goblet of Fire and immediately after finishing it (which I did very [...]

The “kept-up” distance learning librarian

Thursday, July 21st, 2005

I have gotten several emails from library students who feel that their programs are not teaching them enough about technology. The student I heard from a few days ago expressed concerns that she would be at a distinct disadvantage when she got out of school and wondered if I learned what I know about [...]

Research-phobia

Friday, July 15th, 2005

Joy at Wanderings of a Student Librarian wrote a great post on what’s wrong with so many Research Methods classes. Research Methods classes often seem to be taught because they’re a requirement and not to actually inspire in library students a passion for research and scholarly literature. For me, the passion for research [...]

To the Lighthouse

Tuesday, July 12th, 2005

Thanks to Steven Cohen, I just learned that Stephen Abram has a new blog, entitled Stephen’s Lighthouse. What an exciting new addition to the biblioblogosphere. He’s already written an insightful piece on Virtual Reference and the fact that, increasingly, patrons’ only interactions with the library will be virtual. That certainly was the [...]

“Just do it”

Tuesday, July 12th, 2005

Library Success wasn’t the only wiki to come out last week.
We also saw the birth of the LISWiki, which has been criticized by various people in the biblioblogosphere (love that term! Thanks Karen!). I do agree with some of the critics that the LIS Wiki needs more of a defined focus and purpose, [...]

The Job Hunt: What I Learned

Saturday, July 9th, 2005

Over the past few weeks, I’ve taken some time to reflect on my job search. I spent a long time looking for a job; longer than I’d expected, though a shorter time than many others I’ve met or read about. I’ve heard about new librarians having anywhere between 200 rejection letters to only [...]

ALA Wiki: What I learned and what I’m doing with it

Tuesday, July 5th, 2005

I don’t know how many of you have looked at the ALA Wiki since the conference, but there are a growing number of conference reports culled from other blogs. Definitely worth checking out. It’s great to have a single place to read all of the reports people have written about the conference. [...]

Safe blogging

Tuesday, July 5th, 2005

Now that I have a job, I’ve started thinking about how my work will affect my blog. I was even asked by a soon-to-be colleague how I would handle blogging in the workplace. There are some things I know. I certainly wouldn’t blog anything that would hurt people’s feelings and I wouldn’t [...]

ALA Wrapup: Days 3-4

Sunday, July 3rd, 2005

OCLC Blogger Salon
This has been covered by a lot of people, so if you want more details, the posts were all pulled together at the ALA Chicago Wiki. I, for one, haven’t been to such a fun party since college (except, of course, for my wedding). What a pleasure to hang out [...]