Sunday, April 4th, 2010
A colleague of mine had this on her computer in her office. While it is a joke, I wondered, what if folks in Student Affairs or Librarians had such a phrase on their business card? What would you say if someone gave you a business card with that written on it? Would you laugh? Would you think it a tad unprofessional? Or would you appreciate the thinking outside the box?
Tags: business cards, humor, innovation, librarians, student affairs
Posted in Uncategorized | View Comments
Monday, March 29th, 2010
From Forbes.com – Young Learners Need Librarians, Not Just Google.
Mark Moran writes:
In the libraries of old, the Dewey Decimal System got you started on research. But there is no card catalog 2.0. To use the Internet as a library you need new research skills: the ability to pick out reliable sources from an overwhelming heap of misinformation, to find relevant material amid an infinite array of options, to navigate the shifting ethics of creative commons and intellectual property rights and to present conclusions in a manner that engages modern audiences.
This is another wonderfully well written piece about the challenges we face in teaching our students 21st century research skills. The bright side is that we have the ability to teach our students how to effectively evaluate resources and determine their authority (a.k.a. “crap detection“). While this seems like an uphill (and at times futile?) battle, school librarians are doing it every day, trying to reach kids when they’re young and before they can develop a dependency on Google. One school librarian in particular, Buffy Hamilton, is – in my humble opinion – a leader in this area. (To see what she is doing with her students, check out her blog, The Unquiet Library. She also writes at the blog, Libraries and Transliteracy).
Tags: google, information literacy, librarians, research
Posted in Uncategorized | View Comments
Monday, January 25th, 2010
#libday4 has been a very popular tag in the library world today.
Eh?
#libday 4 = A Day in the Life of a Librarian, Round 4.
Ah ha!
I remember when Bobbi Newman first wrote about her day in the life of a librarian, just over a year and a half ago. It has grown exponentially since then. All it took was one blog post about her day… then it quickly grew into a wiki where others shared their stories… and today I noticed a Day-in-the-Life netvibes page filled with all sorts of social-sharing goodness from twitter, delicious, flickr, friendfeed, etc.
I recommend all MLIS/MLS programs incorporate it into their introduction to the information professions classes. Information/Library science students can learn about real people straight from their own writings rather than from static handouts filled with random charts or book chapters dryly explaining librarian-related tasks.
[Think of this vs. this].
I wanted to write more about how grateful I am to everyone who shared information about their day, allowing others to take a peek into their daily professional lives. I had many thoughts in my head about why this project was a brilliant idea, but I can’t say it any better than Erin Dorney (see blog: Library Scenester).
I especially like her idea of some sort of day-in-the-life spinoff of library school students sharing what they’re learning. Just as professional librarians have a lot to share about the practical things that happen daily, MLIS students have a lot to share from what they are learning in the classroom. I’m not saying this because I am one, but MLIS students are great resources of information about new trends, theories, and so on (for a great example, follow the #lis768 tweets from Michael Stephens’s students at Dominican U).
So as a side note for all graduate and doctorate students – I call on you to share what your day is like in the life of being a librarian/information professional-to-be, what-have-you. A few folks have posted already:
- Rachel Slough, MLS Candidate, Indiana University SLIS: Lib and Learn
- Karen Cawley, MLS Candidate, Syracuse University—School Media: karenthelibrarian
- Alison Miller, Doctorate of Professional Studies in Information Management, Syracuse University School of Information Studies: infolibnow.net
- Laura Williams, Graduate Trainee, Oxford University Library Service: Theatre Grad Blog
- Sarah Hogg, Graduate Trainee, Oxford University: Library Trainee in Oxford
Tags: information professionals, librariandayinthelife, librarians, library, MLIS, mls
Posted in Uncategorized | View Comments
Monday, May 11th, 2009
Despite the fact that the Ducks are our in-state rivals, but because I’m a native Oregonian and have love for any Oregon school, I’m pleased to report that the University of Oregon library faculty has declared their own OA mandate.
For more information, see:
Open Access News: An OA mandate for U of Oregon library faculty.
UO’s temporary FAQ page.
Go Ducks!
Tags: librarians, open access, university of oregon, UO
Posted in librarians, open access | View Comments
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
I’m having a laugh (and an educational experience at the same time) by reading through the Library Society of the World‘s 2009 Shovers & Makers list. It’s a play off of the Library Journal‘s annual Movers & Shakers list that profiles the lucky few designated with the prestigious honor of “shaping the future of libraries.” For those folks who didn’t quite make the cut – but are just as valuable nonetheless (“you’re already a winner!”) – the Shovers & Makers receive their recognition as well.
I’ve enjoyed reading the (self-) nominations and learning about what other library folk are doing, no matter how small. The short postings remind me of the broad spectrum of responsibilities and accomplishments to be had in the profession.
Tags: 2009, librarians, librarianship, Shovers and Makers
Posted in librarian | View Comments
