Appreciate your speakers

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Appreciate your speakersfree the information!, librarianship, speaking

by Meredith Farkas on 3/16/2016 with 3 comments

I have been very fortunate to address librarians nationally and internationally as a speaker. I love sharing my ideas, experiences, and things I’ve learned and meeting other librarians. I have gotten research ideas, column ideas, and made friends through my travels. I have visited places I’d always wanted to visit. I am not nearly as …

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Playing the super-productive librarian. My #LISMentalHealth Week post

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Playing the super-productive librarian. My #LISMentalHealth Week postabout me, libraries, Work, Work-life balance

by Meredith Farkas on 1/19/2016 with 12 comments

I know a lot of librarians who’ve suffered with depression or anxiety, take psychotropics, or who go to therapy. It makes me wonder if people with mental illness are drawn to librarianship in greater numbers than other professions. I was very happy — and a little trepidatious — when I saw that two fantastic librarians …

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Reputation is everything: On problematic editing and sponsored content

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Reputation is everything: On problematic editing and sponsored contentALA, american libraries, librarianship, writing

by Meredith Farkas on 1/5/2016 with 6 comments

First, full disclosure: I am a columnist for American Libraries. They pay me to write columns every other month in which I state my opinion on various things relating somewhat to technology. What I’m writing here is my own opinion and represents me alone. As a professional librarian and a writer, I take my credibility …

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Should the horrible first job search be seen as a rite-of-passage?

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Should the horrible first job search be seen as a rite-of-passage?about me, career, free the information!, job search, librarianship, libraries, library school, management, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 11/9/2015 with 13 comments

I felt really sad when I read Kyle Shockey’s post on the Librarian Burnout blog about feeling burnout after library school and being in the midst of the job hunt. By all indications, he is one of those rare recent grads who followed the advice so many of us give to LIS students — don’t …

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The Next Librarian of Congress?

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The Next Librarian of Congress?ALA, free the information!, intellectual freedom, librarianship, libraries, management, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 10/6/2015 with Comments Off on The Next Librarian of Congress?

Late last week, I received an email from the culture editor at the New Republic about writing an article on the next Librarian of Congress. It was the first offer I’ve ever had to write for a non-library-centric publication and the New Republic has a political bent I really respect, so it was an offer …

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The insidious nature of “fit” in hiring and the workplace

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The insidious nature of “fit” in hiring and the workplacelibrarianship, libraries, management, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 9/28/2015 with 12 comments

Organizational culture is a very real and a very powerful force in every organization. I have worked in a variety of different organizations and each had had its own rituals, norms, values, and assumptions that influenced the way people worked together, shared information, and got things done. Culture is this weird, powerful, unspoken thing that both impacts …

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”

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Are online MLIS degree-holders “less than?”library school, online education, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 6/22/2015 with 42 comments

When I graduated from library school, I worried about anti-online-degree bias. I worried that people would think my degree was somehow “less than” because I’d done it fully online. I remember being asked some questions about it at one interview that made the search committee’s biases pretty clear, but the people who eventually hired me …

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You could learn a lot from us: community college librarians at ACRL

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You could learn a lot from us: community college librarians at ACRLassessment, community college libraries, community colleges, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 4/9/2015 with 8 comments

ACRL was ridiculously amazing this year. I feel energized, affirmed, and hopeful (and completely exhausted and sick since it ended). The programming was so high-quality and relevant that, in most cases, I had at least four options in every time slot on my planner that I wanted to attend. Luckily, ACRL records all the sessions …

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Framework? Standards? I’m keeping it local.

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Framework? Standards? I’m keeping it local.assessment, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries

by Meredith Farkas on 2/4/2015 with 8 comments

I’m sure most of you have already heard that the ACRL Board has decided to adopt the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. What I think is more interesting is that they deferred action on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, choosing instead to take a wait-and-see approach. I think this is a …

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LibGuides, you’re not “Web 2.0” without an open API

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LibGuides, you’re not “Web 2.0” without an open APIfree the information!, instruction, libraries, reference, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 1/27/2015 with 5 comments

Update: I’ve been in touch with a Springshare representative who tells me that things like the contextually aware D2L widget from Portland State University will work in LibGuides 2.0 and apparently, the responses we’d received from support were based on hypotheticals (though we’d explicitly sent the link to PSU’s code in our emails to support). …

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Peer learning in library instruction

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Peer learning in library instructionfree the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries

by Meredith Farkas on 1/6/2015 with 1 comment

Teaching is such a solitary thing. Sure, you’re up in front of a bunch of students, and maybe an instructor if you’re doing course-integrated instruction, but the act still feels solitary. We try to make it less so by seeking feedback from instructors and doing assessment, but we rarely get feedback from people who really …

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teaching

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Free and Cheap Technologies to Supercharge Your Teachinginstruction, speaking, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 9/3/2014 with 1 comment

Just gave a fun whirlwind instructional technology talk and I wanted to provide the slides and links below for the attendees (and anyone else who’s interested). Slides: Links: Tools for Point of Need and/or Mobile Instruction Library DIY ARIS QR Codes QR Codes Video Demo QR Code Generators Kaywa QR Stuff QR Code Readers Kaywa Quickmark …

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Reflections on library assessment and the Library Assessment Conference

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Reflections on library assessment and the Library Assessment Conferenceassessment, free the information!, instruction, knowledge management, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, research, speaking

by Meredith Farkas on 8/22/2014 with 7 comments

I wanted to write about the Library Assessment Conference as soon as I returned, but unfortunately, life got in the way. I got barely a week and a half before I was set to leave my job and, not surprisingly, there was a lot of wrapping up of projects and getting things to a good …

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Getting into the gray areas with the draft Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

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Getting into the gray areas with the draft Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Educationinstruction, librarianship, libraries, our digital future, social software

by Meredith Farkas on 3/3/2014 with 5 comments

This semester, I’m teaching I new course I developed for San Jose State’s MLIS program entitled “Embedded Librarians/Embedded Libraries: Embedding the Library into the Fabric of Higher Education.” It’s been a pleasure so far because the students are so ridiculously smart, insightful, and engaged that I can’t help but be excited about the future of …

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Don’t go it alone. On the benefits of collaboration.

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Don’t go it alone. On the benefits of collaboration.free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries, Work

by Meredith Farkas on 1/31/2014 with 5 comments

I don’t have all the answers. There, I said it! I’m a pretty smart person who did well in school and has been relatively successful in her career, but I don’t consider myself an “expert” in anything. However, when you teach, write a column for a major magazine in your profession, or even express yourself …

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