Inspiring stuff to read, Take 2
I was thinking about writing a post reflecting on recent posts about the myth of the graying of the profession (and the coming librarian shortage) and Peter Brantley's post about…
Posted ininstruction libraries MPOW search Work
What’s the deal, JSTOR?
I've written some posts in the past about vendors that have done some pretty slimy things in the name of making a profit. At least that makes sense to me.…
Posted inInspiring Stuff librarianship online education our digital future social software tech trends Work
Inspiring stuff to read, Take 1
Between work, my son and the class I'm teaching at SJSU (which is about to start), I rarely have time these days to blog. It's certainly not that I'm uninspired…
Posted inALA instruction management Work
Immersion reflections
Wow, what can I say about Immersion? First of all, you have to be there to really understand what a profound experience it is. My in-laws were visiting when I…
Numbers vs. meaning
Forgive this less-than-well-thought-out post. I've been thinking a lot about assessment lately and the librarianly love of numbers in assessment, and I'm a troubled by the way that some academic…
Posted inscreencasting social software
The Social Divide
I think it's fantastic that companies are using social media to promote their brands and communicate more directly with their customers. It's wild when I write about my favorite wine…
Posted inlibraries
History and change
I've been thinking a lot lately about finding a balance between honoring history and promoting change. Then I read a post by Kendra entitled "The tension between 'memory' and 'complacency'"…
Posted inALA
It’s unconference time!
Last year, Michelle Boule and I organized what ended up being a FANTASTIC first Unconference at ALA Annual. I was so impressed with the quality of the talks and discussions,…
Posted inour digital future social software tech trends
A skeptic gets a Kindle
I never in a million years thought I'd get an eBook reader from the current batch of options. They were so not on my radar. I didn't get all excited…
Posted infree the information! social software
Old media really doesn’t “get” new media
Last semester, one of my students linked to this great conversation between Teresa Nielsen Hayden (community manager for Boing Boing) and John Scalzi about community-building through comments and moderation. It's…
Rethinking online learning
This was another amazing semester teaching at San Jose State University. I had significantly more students in my class this semester than in the past (more than double), which at…
Posted inamerican libraries free the information! job search librarianship libraries library school MPOW Work
Tips for library job applicants in a tight market
Another semester of teaching at San Jose State's SLIS program has ended. Many of my students are graduating and others are starting to think about applying for jobs so they'll…
Posted inamerican libraries writing
Follow my American Libraries columns online!
The folks at American Libraries have done a beautiful job with their Drupal-based website. It's a heck of a lot more polished than their old site and contains not only…
Posted inour digital future tech trends
Shuffling off to Buffalo
For library folks near the Buffalo area, I wanted to let you know that I'll be participating in an all-day conference on "Gadgets and Gear" for the Western New York…
Computers in Libraries Recap: Day 3
I took an absolutely obscene amount of notes from Ken Haycock’s keynote, because it was just one pearl of wisdom after another (I’m only including some choice bits here). I’ve…
Posted infree the information! instruction librarianship our digital future social software tech trends
Computers in Libraries Recap: Day 2
Day 2 was just as full and wonderful as Day 1. I continued my mostly staying offline during the conference and I think it really helped me to keep focused…
Computers in Libraries Recap: Day 1
Since it had been two years since I’d been to an Information Today Conference, I was really excited to attend Computers in Libraries and it did not disappoint. It was…
Posted infree the information! librarianship library school our digital future social software tech trends
Coming to terms with Twitter
I've been teaching a class on Web 2.0 since 2007, and this semester is the first time that I've actually had a full week on Twitter (well, microblogging and lifestreaming…
A lot of Davids make one heck of a Goliath
In response to my post a few days ago about EBSCO, Sarah Houghton-Jan just wrote an impassioned post about unethical vendor practices, suggesting that we let our vendors know when…
Has EBSCO become the new evil empire?
Absolutely. I was less than thrilled with the way EBSCO has dealt with some of its customers vis-à-vis Harvard Business Review. I thought it was pretty evil that they signed…