I used to blog a lot more than I do now. I was unemployed and had a lot of free time. Now that I have a job and a house and other committments, I had to ask myself why should I continue blogging? Is it worth the time it takes? The answer I came up …
I certainly know a few. It’s time to nominate the librarians who inspire you, who create change, and/or who do great things at their library. Check out what Marylaine Block wrote about the Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers issue: NOTE: It’s time once again for nominations for Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers issue. Please participate …
I was excited to see that the Bloggers Roundtable I did with several other fabulous librarian bloggers finally made its way into Library Journal. It’s a great article, but part of me was disappointed that it didn’t capture the synergy that was going on in that room. It was a truly amazing, enlightening, and inspiring …
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 …
When I was looking for a job, I remember reading (and sometimes participating in) the many discussions about the job market on NEWLIB-L and NEXGENLIB-L. People would talk about how they’d read articles about a rosy employment forecast for librarians and how the graying of the profession would lead to plentiful jobs. I read those …
Over the past month, I’ve worked with the folks at WebJunction to develop September’s Online Communities focus. I had the opportunity to work with some fantastic librarians/writers/bloggers and got to do some wiki evangelizing in my own two articles. It was the first time I’ve ever been involved in the publishing process and the first …
I was about halfway through my Masters of Social Work program when I realized that I did not want to be a social worker. It’s not that I don’t love working with people (I do. Very much), but being a therapist never came naturally to me. Most of the time I just felt as if …
When I was a child, I was always reading (surprise, surprise, right?). Often, I would read books that were perhaps a little advanced for my age range in terms of the vocabulary. I’d lay in bed with my book and my most trusty sidekick: my dictionary. When I’d read a word I didn’t know, I …
Next month, WebJunction’s editorial focus will be on Online Community for Public Libraries and I was asked to serve as guest editor for this segment. I know I don’t work at a public library anymore, but I am very passionate about developing online communities using blogs, wikis, and other online media, and these obviously can …
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’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 whole “change is …
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. Unfortunately, we don’t …
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 …