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Busy Bee

Monday, May 11th, 2009

bees The summer term is starting up tomorrow at FSU. I’m signed up for two classes at the moment: Health Information Resources and Information Architecture. I want to take both — really, really badly! – but I am not sure if I can handle two graduate classes at the moment…

(On a side note, I am also currently enrolled in CS 195 – Beginning Web Authoring – through Oregon State University, which is where I work full-time. I’m half-way through the class – it ends four weeks from now). I’m learning lotsa good stuff, by the way.

I want to learn as much as possible about librarianship – not only because it’s uh, kind-of important, but moreso because I LOVE it! Furthermore, I am working to supplement the academic experience with practical experiences – which I also love and find joy in. But, at the same time, I am keenly aware that I can’t let the full-time job that pays the bills suffer… I put 100% into that for sure… and I am putting 100% into the other responsibilities important to me: my volunteer experiences through the local public library and my internship.

As a result, it’s been a little tough to add in the weekly blog writing like I wanted, and staying on top of all my RSS feed subscriptions has been rough…When Bloglines tells me I have two thousand posts to read, it’s a tad bit daunting.

And there’s that thing called family that needs to fit in too…

Ah, the joys of work-life balance!

So yup, I’m purty busy… yup, my brain is ’bout to explode… Nah, I don’t get much sleep… But there are other folks who are doing twice as much as me…(How the heck do y’all do that, by the way?! Please share your secrets with me!)

So… back to the original question: shall I jump in and take the two courses or just one…?

Photo credit: bees wallpaper from flickr user jelene

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GPO's YouTube channel

Monday, April 6th, 2009

The geek in me likes that the Government Printing Office has a youtube account.

In honor of my LIS 5661 government documents class, I share with thee such splendor.

gpoyoutube

Tags: GPO, LIS5661, youtube

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LIS Publications Wiki – compliments of SJSU

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

By way of Meredith Farkas’s blog Information Wants to Be Free:

Students from San Jose State University’s SLIS library and information science program have created a wonderful collection of LIS publications. Using a wiki, they have it organized by:

LIS scholarly journals

LIS professional and trade publications

LIS online forums

Civilian publications

Book publishers

Unclaimed titles

Professor Laurie Putnam noted that her students have created profiles on over 200 publications! All LIS professionals can contribute to the wiki, meaning this resource can only get better!

Tags: information professionals, journals, MLIS, scholarly journals, SJSU, SLIS, wiki

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A discussion on the future of librarianship

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

Wow, folks are talkin’, and I’m so glad about it!

As someone who is working on her MLIS, I am always interested in reading about the future of the profession, no matter how wonderful – or bleak – some may predict it to be. It’s important to critically analyze where the profession is, where it’s going, and where it can go.

Three posts – and the comments generated by them – have my head spinning (in a good way):

First, Karin Dalziel (Nirak.net – the Musings of a LIS student): Why every library science student should learn programming

Then Matt Hamilton (Brewin’ Librarian): What I’m Finding as an Information Professional

And a response by Bobbi Newman (Librarian by Day) with her post, What’s the Matter with our Profession?

I don’t claim to have answers – I’m only a rookie in the world of librarianship – but it is clearly obvious that librarianship/libraries/librarians are changing as information changes and the way people want/need information. As for the solution, well, what’s the right thing to do today may likely be out of date tomorrow, but it is good we’re discussing this… Either way, the profession needs people who can adapt and are willing to adjust to professional, societal, and economic changes (just to name a few variables). I don’t think this is just a librarianship issue, however; I believe, actually, that any profession needs adaptable professionals or problems with relevancy will exist (and persist!) For example, in my day job as an academic adviser on a college campus, the very field of advising — which is about sharing information and educating students regarding university policies, academic programs, appropriate resources and so on – also demands adaptation. We cannot solely depend on traditional ways of advising (i.e., make an appointment and wait a week to see an adviser)… Over the past several years, I’ve seen academic advisers and departments incorporate new ways of advising via email advising, instant messaging, text and even through social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter.

I believe a big part – which has never changed – is that it’s all about the constituents we serve. As such, we should tailor our delivery and programs the way that best works with our constituents in a way that they want and need.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, of course… there is so much more to this discussion, which is why I have enjoyed reading what others have to share.

Other thoughts: