I Am A Digital Librarian... I Am A Goof

Wow, I'm on LibraryStuff!

Of course, I'm making a goofy face... on my bedroom floor... without any makeup or grooming to speak of. But then, you were looking for the real me? Well, that's probably the ticket, then.

In real life, I don't have time to blog about how little time I have. Let's just say that thus far with Alex in Finland, I've spent two 14+ hour days at work and look like I'm in for more, if I'm to accomplish several major deadlines that are looming in front of me. I have six presentations (six!!) scheduled for October. And that's really in addition to what's been taking me 14+ hours.

Boundaries. I respect you people that have them.

Thought-Provoking Conversation

Today, my student assistant* (who will be a senior next Fall), came in to talk to me today about librarianship. (And about Life, the Universe, and Everything, but that's another story.)

It's a neat, new thing for me to do this. Heck, I've talked plenty of people's ears off about librarianship, but they tend to be my peers; this quasi-mentor/boss thing is a different role for me.

It was an interesting conversation, and I didn't expect that it would cause me to reflect on how much the past eleven months in this profession have changed me. Granted, many of those changes weren't specific to librarianship--they were more of the first-full-time-job variety, and a little of the "oh my gosh, I've just graduated and now I have to start my real life" type. But hearing CRS-wiz* talk about her desires and changes and frustrations brought it all back to me. I found myself telling her about finding myself a senior in Fine Art and English who didn't want to paint, write, or teach for a living--and escaped to grad school. I told her about then nearing the end of my Art History MA and realizing that I didn't want to teach, and my furious hunt for a career I'd love. I suddenly remembered that upon getting my dream job here, after graduation with my MLS, that I felt suddenly trapped and scared that my whole life would be the same from here on out. I told her that after about three months, I realized how mistaken I had been--that my life, and my job, would never be a boring "same-old, same-old" routine. That I had grown and changed so much not just professionally, but personally over the past year that I felt like a different, better person.

Then I remembered that she mostly wanted to know about librarianship and good schools and possible career paths, and I settled down. She had great, great questions, ones that resound all over our profession:

• Will the advancement of technology mean that fewer librarians are needed?
• Do you need to get a PhD?
• Are there many jobs out there?
• What do librarians make?
• What are my options?

I didn't have even close to all the answers, but I offered my own experience, some places to look, and any contacts she was interested it. I don't want her to choose librarianship just because it was right for me, but I'm glad and honored that she's interested in it--and just for the record, I think she'd make a bang-up librarian.

*I'll call her "CRS-wiz" to protect the innocent.

Making a Fool of Myself

I recently found out that late last month, when Dreanna was filming me for an ALA recruitment video (as part of the ALA Emerging Leaders project) in the new Library Mall area, I was noticed by coworkers.

It's probably not that surprising, given that I was standing on the edge of a fountain, my arms spread wide, shouting:

I protect democracy... and I read comic books!
I'm a librarian!

Yes, whenever in the following months the edited video hits YouTube, you may be assured that I will post my humiliation here.

DFW Young Librarians Group

Calling all DFW NextGen librarians!

I want to call attention to a new group for young librarians in the DFW Metroplex. All librarians and library support staff under the age of 35 are encouraged to join for discussion, socialization, etc. You can join on MySpace at http://groups.myspace.com/dfwyounglibrarians/ or you can email the moderator, Katy, at dfwyounglibrarians@hotmail.com

I look forward to seeing you there!

Just Like a Librarian

There’s nothing like four hours or so of office re-organization. I feel like the cobwebs of my mind have been cleared, as well—just wish that I could reorganize my whole home in the same amount of time it takes to do one office. (And that’s also considering only six months or so of office artifacts, versus six years of objects settling into the strata-like layers of my house.)

Luckily, I chose to do it all today. The past two days were a madhouse of catching up, and next week the chaos begins as students return, courses begin, and our service desk opens again. Today was intensely quiet and miraculously interruption-free, perfect for labeling file folders and overflowing my paper recycle bin.

Going through my papers, I found my “$100 folder.” I started it when I read this blog post by Steven Cohen last June. This is going to be a great resource when PAC (Personnel Affairs Committee review) time comes around at the UNT-L. I print out particularly pleased patron responses to email reference answers, photos of any library displays I’ve worked on, and examples of applied ideas and accomplishments (with specific number comparing before/after, if possible). For instance, before vacation my former boss changed our online comment form to direct all email to me. Two days before Christmas vacation, I got 35 messages in a row, all of which were spam. I requested that one of our LAN guys add a CAPTCHA feature to the form to verify human vs. computer entries. Since he implemented it, I’ve received just 6 emails, none of which were spam. Success!

Card-Carrying Member (as soon as it comes in the mail)

I'm now an official member of ALA, LITA, and GODORT--all for the this-time-only reasonable price of $135 (don't you hate to call anything over a hundred bucks "reasonable?"). Next year on this date, my checkbook will weep, I'm sure.

Last year, there was a lot of frustrated talk among NextGens about ALA, some of which has now quieted. But it seems a little hard to be active in the library community without the membership--first of all, I wanted to be in LITA and GODORT, and second, if I'm going to attend a few ALA conferences a year anyway, then I might as well get a slight discount.

Speaking of professional activity...

• Whew! I just submitted a presentation proposal--my second in two weeks. The first one was a lot easier than this one, on which I procrastinated until the deadline loomed, and then just forced myself to write it and send it in. Sometimes I can spend a week crafting and perfecting a proposal, and sometimes I just blurt it all out in desperation. My philosophy is, at the very least if I just finish it and send it in, I've got a chance.
• It's only a week and a half until DLC--I've got to start planning what to pack! (I'm finding it's hard to pack light when you need a laptop, hairdryer, and iron just for starters...)
• I'm pondering harnessing the power of RSS for the CRS archive and the CyberCemetery. The problem, as a colleague quickly pointed out, is that the batch-uploads to CRS (often 100+ at a time) make for a messy feed. So we're thinking about creating a feed for each of the browse terms (which are actually LIV top terms). I think this would be a great way not only to help researchers, but to market our department's digital collections. I'd love to have links to the feeds on the GovDocs homepage... guess I'll add that to my project wishlist.

And now, for something completely different (but, um, still library-related):

• "Show Your Librarian Some Love" -- great article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about teaching faculty and academic librarians.
• Google's buying YouTube! It's the millennial version of AOL/Time-Warner.
• Back to Sophie Brookover's "Priorities and Professionalism" article about finding that balance of career vs. family, I thought I'd link to LIScareer.com's articles on the topic; in particular, I liked this quote from Susanne Markgren's "Librarianship and Parenthood: Confessions of a New Mother:" "...I feel that working and being able to step outside of the mommy role helps me to be a happier and therefore better mother."
• Just to prove that I'm still in tune with my MA, here's a story on Greece still wanting those Elgin marbles from the British Museum. I remember writing a paper on this topic for my MA... seven years ago, and they still haven't given up. Wow, this is what I call hopeful thinking: "Greece hopes the landmark structure, purpose-built to showcase finds from the ancient Acropolis, will eventually host the collection -- even as a permanent loan -- despite repeated refusals from the British government and British Museum officials."
• In more Art History news, the Vatican opened a Roman necropolis.
• The ultimate nerd-job: Blogger for NPR!
• Did you know that ALA is older than the IRS?
• On making up words (a librarian's prerogative, apparently).
• Teaching in Second Life... at Harvard, no less!
• And while we're on the topic, why not attend one of these Grand Opening events at SL's Info Island?
  
• Here are some resources for ePortfolios.
• Google blog search!
• The nitty-gritty of web typography (aka, Something Else to Waste Time Obsessing Over).