Archive for 'librarianship'

I’ve been lucky to have had some recent involvement with two online conference models — one that recently happened and one that will be happening soon. I’m really pleased to see more organized professional development opportunities being offered online in light of the current economic situation and, selfishly, the fact that I personally won’t be …

For the past year and a half, I’ve had the pleasure of serving on Jim Rettig’s Presidential Advisory Committee. I honestly had no idea at the time what it would mean to be on this committee, but Jim seemed like a really cool guy with a vision for a more inclusive ALA, and I really …

Yesterday I received the ALDirect (from American Libraries) Special Issue on the Tough Economy in my Inbox. It contained great information about library advocacy during tough times. What I found glaringly missing from this email was any discussion about or tips for librarians who’ve been laid off or about-to-graduate LIS students. Obviously, if we advocate …

We are sadly losing our beloved Distance Learning Librarian to her family (but good for her!), so we are again in the position of looking for a new Distance Learning Librarian. The position reports to me and I’ve had a wonderful time mentoring our current DLL and growing in my role as a manager. I …

When I read David King’s post about Ask-a-Librarian services last week, I didn’t have a strong emotional response to it. That was, until he wrote a follow up which brought my attention to some of the responses people had made to it. With email reference, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not a synchronous medium. We …

Last April, I started in my new position as Head of Instructional Initiatives, though for the first four months, I was also still doing the job of Distance Learning Librarian. Since taking this on at the end of July as my only job, it’s been a wild ride. I took a lot of risks, tried …

You can view an update to this post (and an update to my update) here. In an economy where there’s lots of competition for a smaller and smaller number of dollars, good customer service becomes an issue of survival. While product is important, customer service can make the difference between creating a life-long customer and …

My friend, the incredibly awesome David Rothman, has co-authored a book (with another fantastic medical librarian and a physician) on Internet Cool Tools for Physicians. The book is designed to help physicians find the best medical resources on the web. Given the glut of medical resources online — some questionable, some excellent — this should …

I just love that feeling of serendipity when I find that people are thinking about the same things I am at the same time. Karin Dalziel made an impassioned case for every librarian to learn how to program. Dorothea Salo responded to it and described how she thinks technology should be taught in library school. …

Last week, my students in the Web 2.0 and Social Networking class I teach (at San Jose State) presented their fantastic proposals (via web conference) for implementing a specific social tool at a specific type of library. I was so impressed with their creativity and professionalism. Each of them made a very good case for …

I know people have been bemoaning the death of blogging in recent months. I certainly haven’t helped any with my lack of posting, but it’s certainly not from a lack of inspiration nor from my immersion with microblogging (which I’ve never quite managed to get into on a regular basis). I actually have lots of …

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine commented on the fact that I hadn’t written anything about the Annoyed Librarian being paid to blog for Library Journal. That was more a result of my having kidney stones and being in excruciating pain than my not wanting to comment on it. But also, I really …

The Maintain IT project is awesome, so when equally awesome Stephanie Gerding asked me to pass on info about their new offerings, I didn’t hesitate: The MaintainIT Project is pleased to announce the latest Cookbook! “Planning for Success, a guide for the overworked librarian” http://www.maintainitproject.org/cookbooks/planning-for-success This free online resource brings together the most current ideas …

My last big library-related trip before baby is taking place next week. I’ll be jetting off to Chapel Hill, NC for the TRLN Management Academy, a week-long intensive learning experience for individuals looking to develop strong resource management and planning skills. I am absolutely honored to have been chosen to take part in the Academy, …

I got back from Iceland this weekend just in time for a storm to knocked our power out at home. It’s back on and I’m slowly recovering from the travel, jet lag and mountains of emails and to-dos. Iceland was absolutely amazing! The landscape is so unique — I got to see lava fields, double …

Since getting pregnant, I have become a terrible procrastinator (mostly because I seem to forget everything I need to do). So if you’re anything like me, you probably haven’t yet turned in your nominations for Library Journal Mover and Shaker for 2009. Well get to it!!! I just submitted nominations for two awesome people (who …

With the pregnancy, I tried to keep my speaking schedule light for Fall. However, all three of the talks I’m giving fall within a two-week period, so it’s made me a bit harried in October. Last Tuesday, I gave a webinar for METRO NYC which was very fun, but it’s always weird to give a …

Update: Just realized that our article is this month’s cover story for LJ. WOW! I know some people really want to be named a Mover and Shaker by Library Journal. It is a great feeling to be honored like that… or at least it should be. But I think few people who have not yet …

From the library school survey, looking at the list of skills and competencies people think are important for librarians to have , there are a lot of “soft skills” on that list. You probably won’t find classes on customer service, openness to change, flexibility, commitment to continuous learning, developing a willingness to beat things with …

A few weeks ago, I posted a survey to Survey Monkey to get people’s views about their library school education and what they think should be taught in library school that isn’t (or wasn’t when they were in school). The 91 responses I got were really interesting and I wanted to post them so everyone …