Is your library doing something exciting with social software? Do you know of a library or a librarian who is doing cool stuff with social software? The applications could either be for their patrons or for the profession. I’m looking for the best examples out there to highlight in my book. I’d love to see …
I’m never afraid to try something and have it fail. I’d rather learn from a mistake than learn nothing because I was afraid to make a mistake. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Certainly, in the four months I’ve been at my job, I’ve learned a great deal (in …
Just a head’s up for those on the job hunt, though this is not a position for those who are brand-new librarians. We are hiring a Coordinator of Public Services. Here’s the description and the requirements: Description: Norwich University’s Kreitzberg Library seeks a dynamic, team-oriented librarian for the position of Coordinator of Public Services. This …
The unsinkable Rachel Singer Gordon’s column about the role Gen-X’ers can play as a bridge between the boomers and the millennials. She’s dead-on and this is an article you should clip out and give to the boomer library administrators you know. Heidi Dolamore’s blog, Quiddle. Her posts about her job interviews should be read by …
HigherEd BlogCon is a totally online conference exploring the new technologies being used in higher education. I am thrilled to announce that I am going to be chairing the Library and Information Resource track for the conference and am excited about getting submissions from librarians who are thinking about the future of social software and …
I’ve talked a lot in the past about the gulf that is growing between libraries that are change agents and libraries that are change averse. Lately, I’ve been seeing a new gulf growing in libraries, that has less to do with one’s attitude towards change and more to do with the skills of one’s staff. …
Today is the anniversary of my blog (Adam laughed at me when I used the word “blogiversary”). Part of me can’t believe it’s already been a year since I first started this blog. The other part of me can’t believe it’s only been a year for all I’ve written and for all that has changed! …
My mother tells me that I was terrible about sharing when I was a little girl. My toys were MY toys. I would lick cookies so that no one would ask to have a bite. My dad even has video footage of me at age three grabbing my book away from my best friend Bonnie. …
These days it’s completely impossible to keep up with all of the “Web 2.0” apps out there. I read eHub and TechCrunch and it seems like dozens of social software apps are released in beta (or even alpha!) each day. Social browsers, collaborative editing tools, RSS aggregators, social search, mashups of other social software apps …
I have a problem remembering to keep track of my reference transactions on the little clipboard we keep at the reference desk. My office is three floors above where the reference desk is and, more often than not, I am answering reference questions from my desk (or even from home). By the time I get …
I am not one of those people — like Steven Cohen or Jessamyn — who is very comfortable giving talks. No matter how well I know the material, I still get insanely nervous when I have to get up in front of people to talk. I’ve never had a talk go badly, but it doesn’t …
Or does using a specific type of software necessarily define the product? I was as excited as everyone else when I heard that the WorldCat wiki was live in Open WorldCat and that people could start adding reviews, tables of contents, and other notes on books. It will add tremendous value to WorldCat! How easy …
Well, it’s new to me at least! It’s always exciting for me to see librarians using wikis to share information. The fabulous folks at Librarians with class pointed out the Library Instruction Wiki, which was created by the Oregon Library Association’s Library Instruction Roundtable. It has the very wiki-propriate slogan “… stop reinventing the wheel…” …
There’s been a lot of talk about the place of librarians in academia. It’s something I thought about a great deal in the during the job search as I applied for tenure-track and non-tenure-track positions. I would have been happy with either position since I’m going to publish and speak regardless of whether or not …
Wow, this is some month for me! Library Journal and School Library Journal! This month, the Library Success Wiki is featuerd as SLJ’s Website of the Month. It’s a terrific, concise piece and it really promotes the wiki as something school librarians should contribute to. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like school librarians are …
I got our Virtual Private Server all set up at work so now I can get to the business of actually putting up webby things. I’d really love to create some sort of Staff Intranet where we can post announcements and info so that our email boxes don’t become clogged with them. I was thinking …
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 …