Cat and Girl and Librarians

I’m pretty sure Dorothy Gambrell of Cat and Girl must have heard the same cringe-worthy NPR story that I did when ALA was in town.

Read Full Post »

This is what I get for sending out an email with a question in the subject line

… and yet at the same time, this is totally an asshole move, Mr. Faculty Member who shall remain anonymous.

I can get annoyed with all-faculty emails as much as the next person, but I’m advertising a workshop for faculty.  Mr. I Talk on National Public Radio may not be interested in Facebook, but this workshop [...]

Read Full Post »

The kind of reference question for which it is hard to find patience

I’m a recent MLS graduate and I’m looking for some online job finding resources.
Let me Google that for you.

Read Full Post »

Librarians are helpful, Google less so

I spent way too much time trying to find a list of the magazines that Google has added to Google Books this week with so very little luck.  After a bit, I gave up and just did an Advanced search limited to “magazines” with the word “the” in them.  Nice, huh?
Naturally, it took a librarian, [...]

Read Full Post »

Outside Interests

It’s pretty obvious that the semester is drawing to a close.  Students have that slightly-crazed look in their eyes, they wander the stacks clutching books, journals, iPhones and very big coffees, snarling if you come too close or look like you might ask them to take their poorly concealed Pringles to the cafe.  Plus, all [...]

Read Full Post »

There’s gonna be a shoot-out at high noon, fer shure

The Library is working in conjunction with the college’s Public Information office (which sounds either very 1984 or very politburo to me) to create a series of large, glossy framed READ posters.  Currently, we have half a dozen or so on the walls by our main floor classrooms.  There are some faculty and staff members [...]

Read Full Post »

Passive aggressive patrons bug me more than the students they rat on

Have the rules changed or is it now acceptable for students to eat sandwiches in the library?

I’d much prefer this old codger to storm up to the desk with the offending sandwich eater by the ear and demand that he be tossed to the curb, actually.  Outrage is so much more dignified than what passes [...]

Read Full Post »

How Not to Welcome Students Back to School

Despite all our efforts here at the Library to greet students and make them feel connected to the Library, we’re being severely hamstrung by frustrating failures here on campus. Here’s a few stand-out examples:

Last Friday (the third day of classes) faculty and staff email tanked– inbound and outbound messages trickled through when they worked, [...]

Read Full Post »

Beyond Beta

We’ve all become accustomed to seeing the BETA tag under the logo of our favorite websites and services.  The phrase “perpetual Beta” has entered our lexicon with ease and acceptance.  Things seem to work so well under Beta that we not only tolerate, but accept glitches and inconsistencies in the products we use and rely [...]

Read Full Post »

Libraries Engaging Other Librarians Successfully, News at 11

Let me go on at length about my problem with library news, such as that received via media like American Libraries Direct.
Ahem.
Apparently, libraries are doing really exciting things. Really, really exciting things! Like this:
One library’s NLW video contest
Hastings (Nebr.) College’s Perkins Library is celebrating National Library Week 2008 (April 13–19) [...]

Read Full Post »