Posts Tagged 'anarchy'

Get yer gov on in Hickory, NC

Published September 21, 2011 conferences Leave a Comment
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The North Carolina Library Association Conference is coming soon. These are the sessions for the Government Resources Section. We are a bit light this year (a session was canceled recently), but we’ve been putting most of our resources to the webinars anyway. Should be good times. My full schedule will be a-coming soon.

Thursday, October 6

9am-10am: “Do We Really Need to Pay for this Anymore?” The best free v. fee sources for statistics and country research

Lynda Kellam and Steve Cramer

A Government Resources Section (GRS) and Business Librarians in North Carolina (BLINC) co-production

These days it’s more important than ever to consider what’s worth paying for to support country & statistical research. Recently, some important databases, previously fee–‐ based, are now free. At the same time, some famous, expensive country reports are now available through NC LIVE. We’ll review core sources and cast a “vote” about whether certain subscriptions are still worth the money. This should be useful for reference, collection development, and subject specialists.

4:15-5pm: GRS business meeting

5pm-6pm: UNCG LIS alumni association happy hour at Carrabba’s in Hickory (feel free to crash)!

Friday, October 7

10:30 am – 12:00 pm: Census 2010: An Update

Michele Hayslett, Bob Coats, and  Erin Casullo Watkins

Come here Michele Hayslett talk about the new American Factfinder! Bob Coats will give us an update on the Census 2010 results and next steps.  Erin Casullo Watkins of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce will talk about Census 2010 at the local level, primarily trends and implications in the Charlotte area.

reference is dead! long live reference!: a (very) personal rant

Published April 28, 2011 the profession 1 Comment
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I admit that the Geeks are the Future article in Library Journal got me a bit fired up. I admit that I know getting fired up is the purpose of such presentations. I also admit that I have heard the same comment repeated by so-called knowledge makers, so it is hardly revolutionary. But this refrain hit home today because it helped to clarify my own thinking about the subject. Is reference dead? Well, in many ways it depends on your definitions.

An underlying assumption of The “Reference is Dead” view is that reference librarians are sitting patiently at a desk waiting for people to come and ask random questions about the seven dwarfs or ten reindeer or whatever other useless figure was mentioned in the movie Desk Set. Or even, what is the population of Mexico? I mean, really. I even google the population of Mexico instead of going to the library’s website. That is not reference. Maybe it was ten years ago, but it isn’t anymore.

Let’s try this. How about reference involves teaching both one shot and for-credit classes (sometimes even content classes! shocker!), creating online materials, sitting in curriculum committee meetings, consulting with students in your office, virtually, and in the coffee shop, and doing a hundred other things? Real reference involves answering questions like, “Can you help me figure out what this professor means by operational definitions?” Some librarians might say “No, that is not my job,” but considering I know the answer to this question it would be rude not to help a student think through her problem (without giving her the answer). Can a database or a tutorial do that? It can give her definitions, but she had definitions. What she needed was context and that was what I, a reference librarian, could give her.  What she needed was a teacher not an automaton.

Second, whether or not Neiburger intends it, these blanket proclamations are sometimes used to make statements about necessary changes at all types of libraries. I do not pretend to understand what goes on in a public library and I do not know what kinds of questions patrons are asking in a public library. My library, however, is not a public library. Our library is used heavily by many different types of patrons (including community members who dislike the public library for whatever reason). In an era of budget cuts, I find it troubling that a librarian would proclaim the end of reference and not even be bothered to qualify that statement in a meaningful manner. Thank you, Eli Neiburger, for giving potential fuel to a General Assembly bent on gutting education. If they decide to go after our academic libraries specifically, I’ll know where to place the blame.

Furthermore, who are these “patrons” to whom he refers? In the academic library, we aim to be mindful about the differences in our patrons — undergraduates in political science, graduates in nursing, faculty in business administration. There is no one patron. There are many types of patrons who all use the library in different ways. The question we need to be asking is why do they use the library so differently? What insights to they bring to the research process from the beginning? What kind of personal assistance do they need? What expectations do they have about the library, its resources, and its services?

If you don’t address those questions, how can you even begin to make decisions about where your IT resources should go? And even when you know the answers to these questions, you need public services people who will market what the geeks have created. Some geeks are fabulous marketers. But I don’t expect they will have the time, in addition to managing servers and building tools, to go out and make the connections necessary to get those tools used. “If you build it they will come” is not a mantra for any institution’s survival.

Which brings me to a dilemma. Since becoming a librarian I have been subjected to two ideas over and over again. 1) Patrons want to be able to “google” it, and 2) Millennials want their professors (and everyone else) to know their names and what makes them super special. So, here’s my dilemma. In creating online tools, how do we create an experience that is truly personal? Yes, Flickr may say “Bok Lynda” when I log in, but I (most of the time) realize that it isn’t a person interacting with me (and I only rarely say “Bok” back). Will a database or an online tutorial know the needs of my students in the residential college as well as I can? Maybe someday, but not now. And in putting all of our resources to create truly personal library tools are we really saving money? I can assure you (and our wonderful General Assembly) that I cost a whole lot less than an IT admin and server space. Even if you don’t see my logic, you have to admit the tension exists. Our youngest users (according to the illustrious literature) want educators to know their names and who they are. And, yes Virginia, I am an educator.

When it comes down to it, I like people. I like working with, interacting with, and learning with people. I expect the library to be about people too. Surveys, usability tests, and other standardized techniques are critical for understanding users. Ultimately, however, they aren’t going to do us any good if we aren’t engaging in a more fundamental act of data gathering — interaction. And that word alone, if anything, is what reference is all about.

Accidental GovInfo Librarian series kicks off and kicks butt!

Published April 15, 2011 outreach , teaching 1 Comment
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The North Carolina Library Association’s Government Resources Section kicked off its Accidental Gov Info Librarian webinar series! If you missed it, the slides and the session recording are below. Join us for the next webinar on Genealogy and Government Information on Wednesday, May 11 at 12:00-1:00 pm (EDT). You can sign up for this second session using our handy form. Deadline for RSVP is May 10 at 5:00 pm. More information coming soon!

It was so exciting to have a number of participants from outside of North Carolina join the session! I tweeted about the event during the Depository Library Council and it went a bit viral. The interest in this session demonstrates a desire for virtual training sessions, and getting this organized wasn’t difficult. Mostly it was a matter of finding someone who was willing and had the knowledge to present in the first session. Luckily our GRS Chair knew someone, Bryna Coonin from East Carolina University, who could present on this topic and do a good job.

Ultimately the technical part isn’t a huge hurdle. A bigger hurdle is dealing with the demands (or expectations) of perfection. It just isn’t going to be an absolutely perfect situation (or even remotely analogous to the in-person presentation), but thems the breaks kid. Technology just requires that we be adaptable.

And, here’s where adaptability matters. The recording is less than ideal, but it works. We learned an important thing about our Elluminate room yesterday. The DE librarian had another session before ours and for some reason the recordings of both merged into one. Here is the awesome, super special, two for the price of one recording. The other session is on our not quite ready for prime-time Instructional Tech Toolkit. To get to the gov info session you can fast forward the video to the 2 hour mark using the controls at the very bottom of the screen. At first I was annoyed with the glitch, but in reality the session went well, we had few tech problems during the session, and ultimately the recording WORKS! If anything these glitches encourage us to practice my fave (and new) philosophy of librarianship: “Adapt and move on!” :)

Hope you enjoy! And please join us for the next webinar!

Help! I’ve got govdocs dust in my eye!

Published March 24, 2011 outreach , work Leave a Comment
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I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian…

My apologies to anyone who has used this title before, but well, you know, creativity and all that. Anyway, the NCLA’s Government Resources Section is trying out a webinar series starting in April and (fingers-crossed) having one once a month through the summer. Upcoming topics will include law, Economic Census, and lots more (maybe even military history??). I’ve opened this up to anyone hoping that our Elluminate software can manage it. Hope you can join us! It is a great prof dev opportunity to put on the pesky annual report.

Feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions (or concerns). We can commiserate over a froyo.

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian…

For many reference staff, even those with years of reference experience, integrating government information into our ‘reference toolkit’ can be a daunting prospect.  The proliferation of electronic government information means that reference staff will be expected to have knowledge of government information that was previously largely the purview of government documents staff.

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

Our first session, “The Basics,” provides a general, basic overview of government information as it pertains to reference work.  What types of information flow from the three branches of government that are important to your patrons?  What major portals are most useful for finding U.S. Government information? What types of government statistics are available and how can they be found?  What basic knowledge do I need to effectively locate government information?

The introductory session will be followed over the next few months by more specialized government information sessions on congressional materials, legal materials, government information for business, statistical resources, historical/genealogical resources, science, state-level information, and more.

Leader for the first session, “The Basics,” will be Bryna Coonin, M.L.I.S, M.B.A.  Bryna served as a graduate student at UNC Libraries in the mid-1980’s for the late Ridley Kessler. She has worked as a reference librarian at the University of Georgia, NC State University, and is currently at Joyner Library, East Carolina University (ECU).  Bryna taught basic reference for the School of Information & Library Science at UNC-Chapel Hill and basic reference and government documents courses for the graduate library school program at ECU. A longtime member of NCLA, she has chaired both the Reference & Adult Services Section (RASS) and the Government Resources Section (GRS).

We will meet together for Session #1: The Basics, online on Thursday, April 14, 2011 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Please RSVP for the Session #1 by April 13: http://tinyurl.com/grs-session1

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Elluminate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software. The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page at http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources .

Stats Abstract: Not just a ‘govdocs’ issue

Published March 23, 2011 outreach , the profession 1 Comment
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In the data and government information world there have been a lot of noise about the demise of the Statistical Abstract because of the planned termination of the Statistical Compendia Branch. Others have discussed this issue in much greater detail than I can do at this point. Below are their posts to help you make up your own mind about this issue.

Sources for more information

I don’t do govdocs! Why should I care?

I have had questions from non-gov info or non-data librarians about the situation, and some of those have hinted at why they should care. Well, here’s my two cents (or rant if you prefer).

  1. Stats Abstract is the entry-level source for finding basic statistics. You can then use it to find more statistics from the collecting agency. I know non-data/gov librarians who use it this way, and I do so myself as well.
  2. At a school with a data/gov info nerd, they could stand in as a human Stats Abstract (ideally), but some schools and public libraries aren’t so lucky to have one of our kind. I know, I know, shocking, but true.
  3. Other commercial sources aggregate the same kind of information, especially ProQuest Statisical Insight, but at $16K a pop there is no way my library can afford it. Beyond that, should we expect this kind of information to come from commercial publishers? Do you want to pay a commercial publisher for information that is produced by our government (and paid for by taxpayers)? It seems ludicrous to me.
  4. This may be my closet conspiracy theorist coming out, but the Census Bureau seems to be on a wild tear to make it HARDER for our citizens to access data. I say this because of the Bureau’s decision to remove the quick Fact Sheets in the new American FactFinder. The new interface is great for a person accustomed to using data, but for a novice it is horrible. It throws so much information at you at once that I swear they’ve made it less usable (detailed tables anyone?). Every time I look at I dread the intern training I have to do in two weeks. Is this a trend for the Bureau? Concentrate on the data collection programs at the expense of the the compendium approach? If so, it is going to make people turn to easier to use commercial sources or, even worse, crap sources like NationMaster, which takes me back to point 2.
  5. On a purely selfish side, Katharin Peter and I just wrote a book meant to introduce non-data librarians to numeric data in all its glory. The goal of the book is to make numeric data easier for anyone working in reference or instruction. A key source in that book is the Statistical Abstract because of the reasons given above.  I’m convinced the Census Bureau hates me.

Below is a sample letter for sending to your congress people (taken from FGI). Please spread the word! Write your Senators and Representatives!

TO YOUR SENATOR:
The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator ___________:

TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE:
The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative __________:

Paragraph 1: Why you are writing and who you are. List your “credentials.” (If you want a response, you must include your name and address, even when using email.)

My name is __________, and I’m a librarian at INSTITUTION which has served the government information needs of the constituents of your Congressional district and state since DATE LIBRARY BECAME A DEPOSITORY. I’m writing because I and many other librarians are deeply concerned that the U.S. Census Bureau’s Budget Estimates for Fiscal Year 2012 calls for the termination of the Statistical Compendia Branch which would mean the elimination of the United States Statistical Abstract and all titles produced by that branch (State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, County and City Data Book, USA Counties, Quick Facts). The library community is deeply upset at the thought of losing access to this important program and urges you to take action to stop this program change.

Paragraph 2: more details about the situation.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published annually since 1878, is a key publication for the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which provides free, public access to government information. Both the print and online versions of the “Stat Abs,” as many librarians affectionately refer to it, are on the FDLP Essential Titles list. It is the first place that many librarians, researchers, students and your constituents(!) look for statistical information, because it compiles a vast amount of information, some of it unpublished and not available anywhere else. The Statistical Abstract also provides a citation for the original source for each table, acting as a guidebook to a huge array of diverse government statistics. The Stat Abs (as well as all of the titles published by the Statistical Compendia Branch!) is a staple of reference librarians and the public for its ease of use, comprehensive content, and as a guidebook to federal statistical sources.

These long published titles — and the federal depositories that distribute it to the American public — are not an earmark, but are critical to the provision of social, economic, and political indicators to the American public and greatly benefit every American in every Congressional district. Without it, librarians, the public and your constituents(!) will waste much valuable time looking for statistics in multiple places and compiling longitudinal data.

Paragraph 3: Close by requesting the action you want taken: a vote for or against a bill, or change in general policy. If a certain bill is involved, cite the correct title or number whenever possible.

Please urge the Department of Commerce to reinstate the budget for the Census Bureau’s Statistical Compendia Branch and the essential, valuable titles that the Branch provides to the public. Many thanks for your time and your service.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
YOUR POSITION
YOUR INSTITUTION
INSTITUTION/CONTACT INFO

Voices of librarianship and #librarydayinthelife

Published January 22, 2011 outreach , the profession Leave a Comment
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Round 6 of library day in the life (LDITL)! Oh my! So, for the past three years a group of fearless librarians have been documenting their days for a week at a time and the next round starts on Monday. The justifications behind it have been presented and Annoyed Librarian has made his snide remarks (I firmly believe AL is a man and probably Stephen Abrams.)

Personally I like the project. Sure, it is navel gazing, but every profession does that once in a while, even political scientists (Hello, Mr. Perestroika). We have heard the reasons. Yes, someone interested in the profession could read a post and say “That’s is exactly what I want to do do!” Yes, it provides for reflection on daily work, which is something we don’t do enough anyway. Yes, my interns and other LIS graduate students can see what madness they getting into. And yes, it provides a window into the profession for those wondering about the value of libraries.

For me, the striking thing about LDITL is that we aren’t ever really doing the same jobs. Entries have common themes usually: technology, collections, instruction (both group and one-on-one), professional work. But if you were to put my posts up against a technician you’d probably think we had different professions altogether. First, you don’t want me anywhere near cataloging rules (or rules in general). Second, the daily work is pretty different. I spend most of my day running from meetings to instruction sessions to remote office hours to having impromptu research consultations in the middle of the library lobby (or the line of the coffee shop). I have to fight to find times to sit in my office uninterrupted (actually that is called working from home).

I’m not saying this is a better approach. The technician probably gets way more to do’s checked off her list on average and therefore can demonstrate Productivity much easier than I can. But, the daily job is just not the same and this is what is interesting about LDITL. I call myself a librarian, but what I do in my daily work does not necessarily resemble the librarian beside me. Factor in my focus on numeric data, stats, and the government and the world becomes even more different. I’m sure this is true in many professions, but librarianship is stereotyped more than most (“NO! I do not shelve books!). So, LDITL is way for us “librarians” to document the differences.

The one thing I would like to see coming from LDITL is some sort of curation of the posts. Now that we have hit the sixth round I’m worried that the voices from the past are going to be overlooked. I got hooked on this because of Lauren Pressley’s thoughtful posts from the first round and I had tons of fun reading Dennis Nangle’s hilarious and prolific tweets from rounds 4 & 5. Bobbie Newman’s wiki helps to keep the posts together, but I had in mind an online archive with a representation of voices featured on a rotation and then links into the older posts. Different types of librarianship could be highlighted by choosing some key/funny/representative posts: Hey! here’s instruction in libraries or Hey! here’s cataloging in libraries or Hey! here’s writing in the library profession. Maybe it is the “traditional” librarian coming out, but it could be an interesting project. Any other visions for on how it could be done? Thoughts on how to use the LDITL posts?

Oh, and btw, you may see a bunch of LDITL posts coming from this spot on the internets over the next week. Word of warning…

So it begins… #ala10 #el10ala

Published June 21, 2010 conferences 2 Comments
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My preparations are gearing up, and my schedule is filling up.

The largest conference of our profession will smack some of us in the face this weekend. ALA is not my favorite conference but it has its moments. I’ve met some exciting librarians both new and experienced. My work with the Emerging Leaders program has been a lot of fun and has taught me more about working with a group (especially at a distance) than anything about ALA (but that was what i wanted from the experience ;-) ). Luckily all of the members of Project P were easygoing. We met throughout the semester using Elluminate. The one time it failed to work for us Elizabeth, another member, quickly reconvened using a free online meeting site. It was so seamless I don’t even remember which one it was! I love working with people who just look for possible solutions and go with it without complaint or hesitation. Fun times! You can check out the Emerging Leaders projects on ALA Connect and be sure to hit the poster session to say “Howdy”!

So, what is on my plate for ALA? Emerging Leader events of course. Some work the Government Documents Round Table, my awesome sponsoring organization! And my first time being on a committee for the ACRL Law and Political Science Section. I’ve been amazed how such a small section can be so active. I mean, there really aren’t that many polisigh librarians out there! It should be fun. To be honest, I’m really excited about the ‘social’ events. LPSS is having an awards luncheon at the CQ press headquarters, and GODORT is holding theirs at the Naval Observatory. Hot stuff! Two places in DC I’ve never had a reason to visit. Plus the Pro Quest Scholarship Bash at the Newseum, and my brain might explode! Or that’s an exaggeration.

Here is my schedule (may haps, things change). Maybe our paths will cross!

Friday June 25
9am – 3pm: Emerging Leaders training
3pm – 5pm: Emerging Leaders poster session – WCC 201
5:30pm – 6:30pm: LITA happy hour
6:30pm – 7:30pm: GODORT happy hour
7:30pm – 10pm: ALA open gaming night
10pm – 12am: ALA dance party

Saturday June 26
8am-
10:30am-11am: Visit vendors?
11:30am-1:30pm: LPSS luncheon
1pm – 1:30pm: social explorer demo – booth 3805
1:30pm – 3pm: Federal Documents Task Force, GODORT
4pm – 5pm: DIG (ACRL Numeric Data Interest Group Meeting)
7pm – 9pm: proquest scholarship bash
9pm – 12am: after hours party

Sunday June 27
8am – 10am: lpss nominating committee meeting
10am – 11am: lpss general membership meeting
1:30pm – 3:30pm: GODORT Education Comm meeting
3pm – 3:30pm: GODORT gitco meeting
4pm-5:30pm: LITA President’s Program
5:30pm – 6:30pm: UNCG reunion reception
6:30pm – 9pm: GODORT awards reception – Naval Observatory
Oh and I turn 35!

Monday June 28
8am – 9am: Dennis Lehane
or
8:30am – 11am: ACRL’s STS program on “Federal friends: Creating greater access to and support for science and technology information”
10:30am – 12:30pm: GODORT Program – “Archivists and Librarians: Together we can save Congress”
1:30pm – 3pm: GODORT General Membership meeting
3pm – 4pm: Junot Diaz
6:30pm – 12:15am: train for GSO

Woohoo! See you there!

10 Reasons Why I’m a Sucker for a Good Conference

Published October 3, 2009 conferences , the profession 2 Comments
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Our state library conference as well as my first virtual conference, ICPSR’s OR meeting, are next week, and I am as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve. Certainly no conference ever lives up to expectations (even Computers in Libraries), but I love attending them (I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it!). In the spirit of mad conference prep, here are my top 10 reasons why I love conferences. Feel free to add your reasons!

10. Travel: This has less to do with attending conferences than with getting to conferences. I’m the rare bird who loves the process of traveling. I love the build up and preparation, the early morning departures and the late night arrivals. I love the waiting and the movement. Granted, I once loved air travel a lot more, but a large part of me is excited about the process of traveling and nothing more. Conferences simply give me a destination.

9. Swag-bringers: When I first started attending conferences, I didn’t really take interest in the vendors. I don’t enjoy taking things I don’t need and I especially don’t need post-it notes or more pens. (Sarah Glassmeyer, a University of Kentucky law librarian, once suggested they should give out Advil, which is brilliant truth.)

I needed a couple of years in my job to realize the importance of the swag-bringers. You can ask them anything. Instead of having to send a long complicated email about how to do/fix/understand something, you can just make a list prior to the next conference and they will answer. And they reward you with swag. Actually they like you better if you ask questions before taking the swag. I think you get even better swag. Be nice to your swag-bringers; you will learn lots.

8. New places Oh yes. You know we all skip out on that least interesting session to go sight-see. The last day of Computers in Libraries is always a ghost town because everyone is packed into the Washington Monument. As a presenter, I’ve been dismayed by last day light attendance, but it is a fact of life. That’s why we like to go to conferences in interesting places and not in Hickory, NC. Oh wait…
I kid, I kid.

7. Old Friends: I should be a better friend and not use conferences as a means to meet up with former classmates and colleagues, but we are all busy people. And conferences are by far the best way to meet up with your BFF librarians from your past. In addition to catching up, you have plenty of fuel for discussion–from that awesome session to the crazy vendor antics at the bar to your crazy antics after the bar…

My favorite tactic is for everyone to spread out and attend different sessions. Even if I get the snoozer, my friends will have lots of exciting stuff to tell me about the other sessions. Plus, I am notoriously bad at picking sessions. If you go to a conference with me, don’t ever let me pick the sessions. You will regret it. Anyone have any great tips for choosing the most awesome session ever? Please let me know because I need some.

6. New friends: I love meeting new people especially those in completely different jobs from mine. Hanging out with your polar opposite provides invaluable perspective and insight. After listening to public library problems, I’m always a bit more comfortable with the relatively secure position of the academic library. You certainly realize how petty or stale the debates can get in your own world. Plus, these new friends often become old friends, especially if you attend the same conference frequently (Hello, Computers in Libraries).

5. Discussions: Maybe my Generation X age is showing through here, but I’m not a huge fan of listserv discussions. Or maybe it is my Millennial tendencies because I tend to lose track of the topic being discussed (even with gmail so nicely threading things). Or maybe I feel like I am wasting time reading a discussion about the new APA when I need to be planning the class I’m going to teach in 5 minutes.

I don’t know, but I certainly prefer bringing these discussions to conferences and having them in person. One of my favorite experiences at ACRL this year was being in a focus group discussion with other librarians under 35. It was brilliant because we were told to let it fly and we did. Because no one was taking tabs on who said what the ideas were free and the criticism was constructive. While in most of my experiences these discussions have been informal (usually a group in the back of the bar at 2:00 am), I have high hopes for the future of round tables, discussion groups, and unconferences. They all seem to have the same goal of getting people together to just talk.

4. Learning: My boss probably would like this higher in the list, but if you read the rest I think you’ll understand why it is number four. I love to learn about new things and while formal conference sessions can be hit or miss sometimes, it is undeniable that I learn a tremendous amount when attending a conference. From small groups to the exhibit hall to formal presentations, conferences are about the creation and dissemination of information. I certainly love that.

3. Rejuvenation: I appreciate my students, faculty, and colleagues, but at times I need a break from all of them. The beautiful thing about conferences is being able to recharge and refocus on your profession. A political science faculty member once told me never to check my work email during a conference. His reasoning was that you need the time to rejuvenate your interest in your field, to step back and learn and to remember the things that made you excited about the profession in the first place.

I have yet to follow his advice (although I set up an away message) because I worry that a patron may have a question only I can answer. But I am getting better at it. Luckily the web version of our crummy email system is at times uncheckable. At least that way I don’t have to feel guilty about allowing myself freedom and time to think.

2.Community: The past two years I have attended the annual conference for the International Association of Social Science Information Service and Technology, the primary conference for data librarians and archivists. A common refrain of attendees is “I love being surrounded by people who understand what I do.” Working in a niche position like data librarianship can be somewhat isolating especially when your colleagues don’t understand your work. Conferences can provide that community and support.

1. Bringing it all back: After it is all over, we need to bring it back to our libraries. I firmly believe this. To support the process of bringing it back our library has a Professional Development Blog and conference attendees provide informal brownbags. Sometimes it can take a few months to get your blog entry posted, but eventually is better than never. In addition to formal dissemination, it is our duty to convey information in informal ways. If I hear a great idea about another library’s use of twitter, then I need to let my colleagues know. This sharing of information is how we ensure that our libraries develop and adapt to the future.

Well, those are my reasons. Any others?

Oh, if you are attending the NCLA conference you should blog about your sessions. Contact information is available on the official blog. If you aren’t going, you can follow the events there or check in here!

Game Night Lives

Published February 1, 2009 outreach Leave a Comment
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An LIS student rocks it Guitar Hero style

An LIS student rocks it Guitar Hero style

I know Game Nights are virtually ubiquitous in libraries nowadays, especially with the hip libraries, but I really must brag about our Game Night.

 

Game Night Lives, the sixth biannual UNCG Game Night, was on January 30, 2009 in the Reading Room of Jackson Library. It was probably the biggest and easily the most stress-free. We are getting to be experts at planning this event after having five under our belts, but this one was a blow-out. We haven’t got the stats yet, but there were over 150 students. We also had a larger variety of games–from the usual vids to board games to card games.

Although we do a bit of organizing, most of the planning comes together in a very anarchic, slightly disorganized fashion. We depend heavily on the students to show up and bring the noise. We also never, ever dictate what they can play or how the event is to run. I LOVE that. Controlled anarchy in the library … just for a night.

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