Jennifer Macaulay, who really just has to stop writing such insightful pieces or I will never get anything done, wrote a piece on her experiences as a distance learner a couple of weeks ago. And if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that I had written the entire thing myself, so much did …
I’m on vacation in Florida this week and have happily been away for the computer for long periods of time, so I was very surprised to find all of the comments on what I had written a few days ago on skills for the 21st century librarian. I guess it really touched a chord (it’s …
A few weeks ago, I finished a chapter I was writing (not for my book — another one) on the topic of technology in LIS Education. I think Rachel asked me to write it because I had complained about my own library school education in the past and the fact that many schools create this …
When I graduated from FSU with my MLIS, I didn’t come out of it with job searching tips, an alumni network or really any help of any kind in finding a job. The College of Information, as it is now called, wasn’t great with the mentoring, networking, support stuff. So when I saw the Prospectus …
In a month where lots of people seem to be making major transitions, I am so happy to congratulate Michael Stephens for his appointment to a tenure-track teaching position at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University!!! I’m happy not only for Michael but for the students who will benefit from …
Ok, Rilke’s title sounded a lot better. I got an email this morning from a gentleman from New York City who is in his early 40’s. He recently started library school and has been hearing all sorts of horror stories about the job market and how terrible it is to work in public libraries. While …
I am in charge of our website redesign at my job, and I’ve been putting my graduate coursework in Web Usability to work over the past few weeks. This week, I’ve been doing usability testing of students (all Freshman and Sophomores) and here are a few interesting things I’ve learned: The average Freshman doesn’t know …
I just finished writing up all of the results of the Survey of the Biblioblogosphere. The results have been broken down into four parts. Since I posted them in the order in which I wrote them, I thought I’d put links to them here for easier retrieval. Survey of the Biblioblogosphere: Demographics Survey of the …
I received 116 responses to the open ended question “why do you blog?” Instead of presenting every answer to you, I went through and categorized them by the different goals one would have for blogging. Many of the answers fit into more than one category. Here are the reasons why we blog: To share ideas …
16. How many blogs are you subscribed to (or if you don’t subscribe, how many do you read regularly)? Less than 15…. 21 (12.8%) 16 to 40…. 36 (22%) 41 to 75…. 33 (20.1%) 76 to 100…. 23 (14%) 101 to 150…. 24 (14.6%) 151 to 200…. 13 (7.9%) more than 200…. (8.5%) Skipped this …
Here are the questions relating to people’s blog(s) and their blogging history: 11. How long have you had your current blog? Less than 4 months…. 20 (12.3%) 4 to 8 months…. 33 (20.2%) 9 months to 1 year…. 29 (17.8%) 13 months to 2 years…. 39 (23.9%) 25 months to 3 years…. 27 (16.6%) 37 …
Since there were 19 questions in the survey, one essay question, and many questions that allowed “write-in’s”, I figured I’d break the results up into a few blog posts. Here is the list of the other posts in the series: Survey of the Biblioblogosphere: Blog Demographics Survey of the Biblioblogosphere: Attitudes and Behaviors Survey of …
Vermont is so beautiful I can hardly believe I’m allowed to live here! Even though I started work today, I still feel like I’m on vacation, and I’ll probably feel that way until we move into our house on Friday. Our first house. It’s too many changes to process all at once. Today is also …
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 technology …
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 came from …
I just want to wish a hearty congratulations to Dorothea Salo who just received her MLS today. So glad you made it through! Ever since I started reading her blog, Dorothea has inspired and challenged me with her insightful comments and consistent questioning of the conventional wisdom (about everything). If you don’t read her blog, …
There are a few bloggers who have spent a lot of time questioning the library shortage due to their own experiences in library school and on the job hunt. Dorothea Salo at Caveat Lector seems passionate about librarianship, but has become disillusioned by much of what she’s been told by library schools and the ALA. …
From the PLA Blog, I learned that the ALA is planning to launch a recruitment website to attract more future librarians to the profession. I’ve written a whole bunch about the so-called librarian shortage and have made no bones about the fact that I think it’s a major bunch of hooey. Sure, I believe in …
Dorothea has written a very interesting post comparing the ALA to the guild system in the Medieval world. She makes some great suggestions and observations about the ALA’s mission and whose interests they should be serving. I agree with her 100% that if the MLS is to mean anything, programs need to become far more …
I know blogging is getting bigger. Blogs seem to have been featured in every magazine and newspaper lately. Everyone keeps saying 2004 was the “year of the blog” yadda, yadda. But the Pew American Life Project recently came out with actual stats on blogging and its effect on mainstream America. They found that blog readership …