empty pages and anti-social behavior

So I realize that a week between posting is not a good idea for someone like me who has never been able to successfully fill a journal’s pages in all of her dear sweet life. Luckily the web does not offer the guilt of all of those wasted trees at the end of every pretty book ever purchased with diary-like intentions, but still, I would like to try to stick to something! I’m not really comfortable with being a quitter even if I have often been one.

One reason for my blog-shyness was the verbal assault I received via these friendly computer-mediated-communication channels that the internets (too) readily provides. Last Friday I thought to try my hand at participating in a Listserv discussion. Mistake. Big mistake. Basically someone wrote to a listserv (which will remain nameless) bemoaning the fact that they are “underwhelmed” by library school and I wrote back to the list saying that I am “completely unimpressed” with anyone who is underwhelmed by school and that grad school does not provide babysitters to make sure that you are properly engaged all of the time and that if you are really so bored with it, you are not putting enough into it. Try conducting some research, publishing an article, writing a conference proposal, even doing some outside reading to better meet your interests…these things can be incorporated to enhance your current class assignments. Basically, a “you get out what you put in” kind of attitude. This led to a very small (two people) but very LOUD backlash charging that professors should have more of a responsibility to their classes and that I am a rude, arrogant, jerk for not agreeing with that point of view. Basically that is how it went down. So I apologized for being brash and inconsiderate with my word choice. Saying that I am “completely unimpressed” with someone is a little harsh, and, especially if they haven’t had the benefit of experiencing my sparkling personality, someone might think that only a jerk would say these types of things. But I am sticking to my side of the argument. and I unsubscribed from the wussy listserv.

I think I’ll keep my comments to my blog from now on. No one has to be polite here. If I don’t like what you write, I will just delete it. Man, I love the internets.

reprimand

I’m starting to feel like this semester is just about to crash down upon my head at any moment. And to think, I was feeling so confident just one week ago. I got so excited about the OCLC report and extra-curricular reading about blogging as professional development for librarians and daydreaming about internship possibilities that i FORGOT to hand in an assignment. You know, an assignment, like something relevant to my life RIGHT NOW and not off in my romantic librarian future? Anyone who knows me knows that I am the kid that gets assignments done a week early not a week late, so I’m thinking that it’s time to reign myself in a little bit and put my nose to the grindstone. No more fun trips to Indianapolis with my rocking keytar band. No more Lost Season One DVD watching. No more birdwatching. No more fun. Only schoolwork. Okay. I’m not completely serious, but jeesh, if I forget an assignment again, I’m certainly going to consider grounding myself. In fact, I’ll probably lecture myself and then send myself to my room with no sandwich for dinner. And no bath.

perception prescription

I just spent two hours fantastically captivated by Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership released last Fall. Wow. Everybody needs to read this. By everybody, I mean everyone. All librarians, future and current, and all library educators. Read it. Now.

The report was compiled from survey data submitted by over 3000 people from six different countries during Spring 2005. This data is invaluable to anyone in this field. The most compelling part? It includes verbatim comments on things like positive associations with libraries, negative associations with libraries, advice for libraries, etc. Complete with the spelling and grammatical errors, this is some of the most important stuff I’ve read all year. And I’m a student.

Overall, the people surveyed believe that libraries are valuable, but they don’t use them. Essentially, they find them to be inconvenient, unfriendly, and outdated. They don’t see any distinguishable value to using library resoures as opposed to internet resources. They find information accessed via a search engine to be at least as reliable and valid as information accessed via library resources. Overwhelmingly, respondents equated the library with books and the internet with information and people are looking for information. A huge portion don’t know that their library has a web site, let alone electronic resources. They have never heard of databases. When validating information found on the web, they are most likely to use their own personal knowledge, or information from other web sites. They are least likely to consult a librarian.

Clearly, we need to communicate our value to our communities far more effectively or we risk becoming obsolete in their minds. I wrote a paper about this very topic last semester, the importance of marketing and branding for libraries. This is an area that is not sufficiently covered in library schools. It needs to be. According to the report, respondents consistently advised libraries to be warm, well lit, staffed by friendly people, be open more and during more convenient hours, and to advertise. It is clear: People are not going to magically discover what we offer them. Libraries cannot afford to exist as passive institutions any longer. We must find a way to deliver our resources, our services, and information about them to our communities. If we don’t tell them, who will?

i wanna be an internet librarian

But currently not for all the right reasons.
I just got promotional materials in the mail for all sorts of neato computers and libraries publications and I find that I want them all. I know that I should say that I want to be an internet librarian for noble purpose like to facilitate widespread information literacy, help eradicate the digital divide, and to more effectively reach and serve my (future) patrons, but honestly I just want these cool books and magazines that are too expensive for me to justify subscribing to without some job description to validate it. Also, and here’s the kicker, I want to go to the Internet Librarian conference in Monterey, CA this October. Okay, I know that I am the world’s biggest sucker for advertising, currently obsessed with getting out of Indiana and getting into California, and generally over-enthusiastic about everything I think I might ever be interested in, but really I just want to be an internet librarian.

where’s my happy ending?

I took Vickyg. to see Nanny McPhee last night as it was the only movie that we could agree on. Actually, it was the only movie that she would go see. Did you know that when we first started dating it took somewhere around 6 months or so for Vickyg. to ever even go to a movie with me? No, you probably didn’t know that. How would you know that? But seriously there’s something pretty difficult about getting that girl to the theater. I don’t know what it is. It can’t be the crappy theater location. I mean, she goes to the Hobby Lobby craft store just about 17 times a day and that’s right next door to the movies. Perhaps it’s because just when you get into the middle of the movie there’s always that chance that they’ll stop the reel and come inform you that there is a gas leak in the building and everyone has to evacuate the theater and go out into the dark, cold January night. Maybe that’s why Vickyg. doesn’t like the movies. Maybe she’s on to something. On the up side, at least the evacuation occurred after we saw the basset hounds in dresses and bonnets. Another positive? Spending a disjointed evening at the noxious theater is better than spending any time at all listening to W’s State of the Union lies.