Guardienne of the Tomes

May was a light reading month, given the move and starting the new job. I'm planning to get back on the wagon for June. I've got a number of creative nonfiction books (both CNF and how-to-write CNF), there are some poetry collections I want to read, and I really need to start chipping away at my copy of Shahnameh, which has lain idle on my nightstand. In any case, Books read in May 2010: Marked by Elisabeth McNaughton Brazen Temptress by Elizabeth Boyle Ransom by Julie Garwood Sunrise in a Garden of Love and Evil by Barbara Monajem Don of the Dead by Casey Daniels Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell Sweet Ruin: poems by Tony Hoagland

While discussing the recent Friendfeed thread on LIS schools and student placement with my good pal, former bosslady and library management mentor Mary Chimato, some interesting things came up that I really think are worth sharing. I hope this post is particularly helpful for new grads or current (or newly matriculating) library students. My intent is not to discourage new librarians - I openly advocate for folks to join the profession. It is a career I love, and I think many would find it fulfilling. But I advise them to come in knowing what the hardships may be. The big thing, when it comes to hiring. The big thing, when it comes to looking how resumes and CVs are structured with relation to the job requirements. The big thing you need to walk into LIS school thinking about: How do you know you really want to work in libraries? Using the library as a patron - much as we all appreciate that you do so - is very, very different from actually working in a library. Unless you have done ...

There is a really fantastic discussion going on right now about LIS programs, asking about whether schools should still be churning out graduates in a depressed economy with few available jobs. Definitely go read the (still-growing) thread. The MLS is not useless - it imparts skills and knowledge that I have found a necessary foundation for my career in librarianship. This is not a discussion of what the degree is "worth," and I don't appreciate the arguments made that it is worthless. Questions in the thread cover questions such as whether huge programs (see SJSU) are problematic, whether programs bear the responsibility for curbing enrollments in a reflection of markets, and whether a SLIS is easier to cut than other program because it doesn't generate grant money or rich alumni. I suppose where I'd like to come in on the discussion is the fact that other graduate programs are naturally limited in growth. They advertise themselves based on student/faculty ratio...

Seeing some discussions of air-conditioning (and those poor souls lacking it) on Friendfeed lately have me thinking about the progression from "luxury" items & services to "necessaries." I grew up without air conditioning. The humid, hot summers of Long Island for a fat kid were miserable without A/C. I always considered it the height of luxury when I visited someone's house (or, ahem, the freezer section of the grocery) and they had the magical cooling machine. My father, who worked outside in all weather in all seasons, suggested I drink a great big glass of suck-it-up-atine. Instead, I lived in the pool or held my face to the cool floor tile in the basement. When I got to college, there was an airconditioning control in each dorm room. I called Housing and asked if we got charged extra tuition if we used it. (They were very kind and did not laugh at me. At least, not while I was still on the phone.) By the time my roommate arrived, I had grown accustomed ...

Moving in. While I hate looking at all these boxes and wondering where the heck I'm going to put everything (apparently the loss of 200 square feet of space is more significant than I thought), I do love the fact that when you are initially unpacking, everything has its place. I am a bit of a scattered person, and I inevitably start building up piles, but I do like that initial honeymoon of the move-in period. Most particularly, I love unboxing and shelving my books. My personal library is much smaller than it was a few years ago - carting eight to ten thousand books every 18 months moving crosscountry got old after the fourth move. I sadly (okay, I was *devastated*) weeded my own collection. Now I try to take advantage of used bookstores that buy back books, or give you credit toward merchandise. This allows me to go off on my various obsessions and change my collection around, and the books I keep are those I am very attached to. I am usually guilty of claiming that I am "Lo...

This is my penultimate day of work. I've been juggling a few posts that I want to finish, but then I read Sarah Glassmeyer's LibPunk ruminations (for the LibPunk Essay Contest ). I thought I'd toss my hat in the ring with a few haphazard thoughts on the subject. What LibPunk is to Me To me, LibPunk is unconcerned with whether or not it is considered a profession at all. LibPunk is more concerned with actual results than titles, accolades, the "rock-star" status or lack thereof, figuring out how to improve and augment services with little to no additional resources, and putting a big ole boot in the hindquarters of naysayers. A replacement of passive aggression with aggressive aggression. A focus on users while acknowledging the staff work necessary to create the best user experience. In effect, I like to think LibPunk is all the things I want librarianship to look like, and wearing some snazzy boots while doing it. Using Our Powers for Awesome "With great p...

The Facebook Beef. Everyone is taking sides on either extreme. It's either "I want to lock my social network down so no one can access anything and I am an island of internet" or "Don't be an idiot, everything on the web is billboard-worthy and privacy is a thing of the past." The debate has many of us on FriendFeed wanting to shake people like Etch-a-Sketches. You can be holier-than-thou ("You should expect this from a monetized company!"), smug ("Told you this would happen.), an apologist ("Maybe Zuckerberg means well and is just forwarding the case for open networks,") or suspicious ("I heard if you get your settings wrong, companies and applications can steal your pictures and use them for ads."). In any case, most people are missing the point. It's not the nerds, social networking experts, librarians, Alex Scobles or other techgeeks Facebooks awful privacy settings take advantage of, though we're teh ones bitch...

Prayer of the Beleaguered Manager And Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Management, I shall fear no performance issue, for the Man With No Name sits over my shoulder, and his glare it doth soothe me, and his six-shooter proclaims that we will take no shit. And we shall get resources to those that worketh, and we shall make the lives of those that worketh easier, and woe unto those who would throw a wrench into the good works of staff. Amen.

Dear University of Alabama Libraries, Yes, we want to encourage folks to enter the profession. However, I'd take issue - and there have been other grumblings - at the way you've decided to implement your plan. In your job ad, you state the following: Qualifications: Master’s degree in Library & Information Sciences from an ALA accredited institution, or a Master’s degree in instructional technology or a related field received since December 2009. So, only if you graduated in the past 5 months are you eligible for this job. I am curious as to whether this is because: A) An MLS received six months ago is terribly out of date (as in, "You poor thing, you probably don't even know what an RSS feed is. I bet you even still use the blink tag in your html. How quaint. *clucks sadly* Bless your heart!"); B) You have an internal candidate and wanted to write the job description to fit them as well as possible to weed out other applicants (understandable, but better t...

Keeping track of my reading is probably one of the best things I started doing this year. (Going back to my gym and personal trainer in Chattanooga once I'm moved will likely be the other.) Books Read in April 2010 Damaged by Alex Kava High Windows: poems by Philip Larkin Sestets: poems by Charles Wright Bells in Winter; poems Czeslaw Milosz Here, Bullet: Poems by Brian Turner Bethlehem In Broad Daylight: Poems by Mark Doty Slantwise: poems by Betty Adcock Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006 by Ellen Bryant Voigt Broken by Karin Slaughter Jane Kenyon’s Collected Poems by Jane Kenyon Captive Heart by Phoebe Corr The Uncertain Certainty: Interviews, Essays and Notes on Poetry by Charles Simic Gravity: Stories by Michael Davis

Looking ahead at the Google calendar I am just started to use rigorously, I can see that November 2010 will be a busy month! November 5, 2010 is the Brick and Click conference. If you're going (and I hope you are, it's a highly recommended conference by folks I respect and admire), try to stop by and see me. I'll be presenting on "Managing the Multigenerational Library" and on "Leveraging Technology, Improving Service: Streamlining Student Billing Procedures." Making the month an all-Access bonanza, the 2010 Access Services Conference is November 10-12. I will be attending at least as a committee member (presentations pitched, but we'll see), and am very much looking forward to it, as I've heard that even in it's inaugural year of 2009 it one of the most useful conferences Access folks had attended. It is also relatively close to my home-to-be in Chattanooga, which is a lovely bonus. And then, of course, Thanksgiving is the 25th, and I have...

NCSU Libraries made it onto the local news! MyNC.com has the video here, where our own David Woodbury discusses our 30 iPads that we lend to NCSU library users as an extension of our technology lending program. Yes, thiry - three-zero - iPads. You heard him right. It was like Christmas. And they're being checked out at the circ desk, as the video shows. Hooray for my staff and student workers!

As time slips swiftly away and you are planning your conference travels, don't forget to see myself and Mary Chimato at Computers in Libraries on the morning of April 14th. We'll be in the "Learning: Expanding Our Knowledge" track, speaking about "discuss the managerial skills necessary for library staff who must adapt to rapidly changing technologies and how to help your staff develop and maintain the technical skills your library needs to keep its competitive edge." We're joined by Janie Hermann, who "looks at how to offer staff development opportunities throughout the year that actively teach technology and other important skills while engaging all staff in the learning process." It should be a great time - make sure you come see us if you're free!

Made it to 50 books in 2010 by the end of March! A pretty steady pace on the reading. I have moved away from the bodice-rippers and towards essay & short story collections, as well as books that presaged their movie counterparts. For April, I see a great deal of poetry. But, the list for March: Books Read in March 2009 The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle Life Makeovers: 52 Practical and Inspiring Ways to Improve Your Life One Week At A Time by Cheryl Richardson The Road by Cormac McCarthy Find Your Strongest Life: What the happiest and most successful women do differently by Marcus Buckingham I Wish I Had a Heart Like Yours, Walt Whitman (poems) by Jude Nutter Notes from No Man’s Land: American Essays by Eula Bass Push by Sapphire Face (poems) by Sherman Alexie Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite Bone Magic by Yasmine Galenorm So Cold The River by Michael Koryata You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier (Full list of this year's list of books I've read available...

Jenica Rogers, Director of Libraries at SUNY Potsdam, has written a magnificent blog post about her experience as a new director. Before you continue reading here, please go read it. No, really. Read it here. I met Jenica in Monterey at Internet Librarian 2008, where she was gracious and warm and friendly, and I got to know her a bit better on my online social networks. Because I interacted with Jenica this way before she became a director, I find her far less intimidating than I might otherwise. (I admit to feeling the full weight of organizational hierarchy - my family's military blood in my bones, I suppose.) I feel like I can contact Jenica without feeling as though I am "bugging" her, we can occasionally discuss ridiculous things like our love for The Mighty Boorito, and various other things. Perhaps part of it is that I know Jenica is not only The Director, but also a human being. In any case, I not only respect her work, but I like Jenica as a person quite a bit. ...

I just got off of a conference call which served as my interview for the EdD Program at UTC. While I hope (and think) it went pretty well *crossed fingers*, it left me pondering some things libraryish. When we got on the topic of how change tends to impact libraries first since we're on the cutting (or bleeding) edge of technology use, once of the committee members identified with the changes, telling me that he had taken some library science classes, and had been great at Dewey, but now he felt lost in the Library. I asked if the committee remembered having to go to a librarian to have a DIALOG search done for them, and they all laughed and chimed in "Yes!" The conversation leaves me thinking this: to me, the mission of academic libraries is inextricably tied to the needs of the institution's students and faculty (at least, if you're doing it right). We may have done our patrons (or users, or client base, whichever term you prefer) a great disservice if they are...

Not nearly as much damage done as January's list... Under the Dome by Stephen King Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane Relentless by Dean Koontz Sizzle by Julie Garwood Cloud Watcher by Lilith Saintcrow A Tale of Two Gardens: Poems from India 1952-1995 by Octavio Paz The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney The Last White Knight by Tami Hoag The Scripture of the Golden Eternity by Jack Kerouac Days We Are Given: Poems by Alice D’Alessio Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning

Object Lesson n. 1. a convincing demonstration of some principle or ideal 2. (Social Science / Education) (esp formerly) a lesson in which a material object forms the basis of the teaching and is available to be inspected (from The Free Dictionary ) The short story: I am moving in May, and finally decided to get a bank account that's local, since I've been out-of-state banking since I left Kentucky in 2007. This, of course, meant that that I've had to change all of my autodrafts to the new checking account. Not a big deal, right? Well, only kind of right. Apparently Regions Bank is still in the Dark Ages. To change your autodraft for an auto loan, you have to call. Then they mail you a form. Then you mail it back. Then it takes them up to 16 days to change your info. (Ernk - how come it only takes Progressive two days after I change it all myself online?) Back to the lesson. I called Regions on February 8th to get the account switch done. They said the fax would arrive ...

I decided this year to keep track of my leisure reading (I don't count reading I do in the course of work or for the classes I take, since neither of those count as relaxation-time). I've been using amazon.com to find what I want to read, and then placing holds at my local public library. The damage for January 2010: Hidden Fire by Jo Davis Under Fire by Jo Davis Trial by Fire by Jo Davis Door into the Dark: Poems by Seamus Heaney Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh The Demon's Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt Blinking with Fists: Poems by Billy Corgan Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh The Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh Caress...

A Library Day in the Life. Doing this sort of post never fails to remind me of how much of my day is spent wrangling details, trying desperately not to drop too many balls, and hoping I'll land on my feet, get my staff what they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability. And manage a meal or two in between (this figure requires upkeep!). Here is a day in my librarian life as the Associate Head of Access & Delivery Services at the NCSU Libraries: 5:00am - Hit the snooze button in a decidedly disgruntled way. 5:42am - Got up (still cranky), fed dog, chopped veggies to put in with marinating pork loin in crock pot. Various morning waking-up and getting-ready stuff. (which may or may not have included a small nap between 5:58 and 6:15am). 7:00am-7:15am - Briefly go over materials for morning meetings. 7:20am-7:45am - Snarl at traffic on my way in to campus. 8:00am-9:00am - Met with Campus Employee Relations. 9:30am-10:00am - Played Catch-Up. I was pretty good about n...