I accepted a full-time, professional library job this morning. It is an entry-level reference position at a public library. My duties will include time at the reference desk, collection development tasks like weeding and book selection, and managing the library’s periodicals. It would be quite the understatement to say that I am excited.
This job search process, however, has been protracted, grueling at times, and certainly a catalyst for introspection and self-doubt. I do not envy any person, in any line of work, in the midst of looking for jobs. It really is a thankless process, but at least there is (hopefully) a worthwhile reward on the other end.
The whole librarianization thing takes on new meaning now that a professional job is on the horizon. There definitely will be a learning curve, coworkers to meet and get to know, a new patron base, you name it. I am looking forward to the challenges that this position will offer, and I am also cognizant of the fact that I will not love this job every day.
The director who hired me today told me something that has lingered with him since a conversation with one of his former employees, and it rings true: “Change is hard, even good change.” As I move forward, this will be important to remember.
Google searching has become a reflex — type in a couple words, click a link or two from the first page of results, and move on. Not much thought involved here. We trust that Google has gotten their algorithm right, and that the best and most authoritative results have bubbled magically up to the top.
Few people stop to think about the fact that “The Google Way” is not the only way to search for information. Indeed, lots of folks are working hard on alternatives to Google. One notable example is Cuil (pronounced “cool”), the brainchild of former Google employees. It arrived on the scene a couple weeks ago, but only to mixed reviews.
Another exciting area of search engine development is in the display of results (the buzz words are “visual search” or “visualization”). Here are a couple sites that do very cool things with your search queries:
Give these sites a try sometime when you have the urge to Google, or if you’re feeling especially librarianish, compare your results in Google with those from a visual search engine. Go ahead, be bold! Think outside the Google.
Something on the sidewalk caught my girlfriend’s eye last night. We were walking home from the bus, and it was after dark, but the glint of something shiny on the ground was unmistakable. What had we stumbled upon?
Not your average slug...at least I hope not.
It was a slug. Not just any slug, mind you. We’re talking about sluggus giganticus. The creature had to be four inches long and almost inch in diameter. More impressive than its size, however, was the length of its slime trail. Looking like the consequence of a most unfortunate sneeze, the trail started at the right margin of the sidewalk, then proceeded in a gentle arc toward the other edge.
What struck me about the slug’s predicament was that the slime trail started on the sidewalk, not on the grass; it had almost certainly fallen out of the tree above us, a drop of fifteen feet or more. Maybe it had been enjoying a nice dinner of maple leaves, or was settling down for a quiet evening with its partner slug. Then all hell breaks loose. There’s an unfortunate tumble, barren new surroundings, and home/safety an awfully long way away, especially at a slug’s pace.
Having survived the fall, what to do now? Wait until morning and bake on the sidewalk? No, the only choice is to get moving. If you forget about the slime part, a slug in motion is weirdly beautiful. The undulations of its body are precise and hypnotic, and progress is definite, even if not at a rate that we would prefer.
Who knows how long that slug had been there when we happened upon it, but by the time we finished gaping at it and went on our way, it had reached the middle of the sidewalk. Not half-way home, necessarily, but progress for sure. Oh, to have the patience of a slug.
A recent post by Meredith Farkas, one of our profession’s “celebrity librarians,” got me thinking about that oft-heard question, “Where do you want to be in five years?” She begins the post:
Four and a half years ago, I was a Library Assistant I at the Boca Raton Public Library, working in circulation. Ten days ago, I stood at a podium in Ft. Lauderdale as the keynote speaker of the Southeast Florida Library Information Network’s (SELFIN) annual conference. I started my talk by commenting on this and stating that I think my story is indicative of the growing openness of our profession — how anyone with good ideas and a little chutzpah can achieve a lot in this profession regardless of their age or years of experience.
Given my current position — fresh out of school, looking for jobs, a little uncertain (aren’t we all?) about what the future holds — I find some solace in Meredith’s path. To go from circulation desktender to having a column in American Libraries, all in the space of five years, gives me reason to believe that great successes lay on the horizon for those with the initiative to seize opportunities when they present themselves.
Meredith goes on to talk about how much of what has transpired in her life would not have been possible without the existence of the Web. She earned her Master’s degree online, gained exposure in the profession through her blog, and even met her husband through the internet.
It’s true. The way I’m going about things right now — communicating with people, looking for jobs, staying up-to-date with what’s going on in the world — is a far cry from what it would be without the Web. As frustrating as it can be to send off a resume to the black hole of an institution’s job Web site, finding that job in the first place has been made worlds easier by innovations like RSS. I will bear a little frustration to gain a lot of convenience and time saved searching.
I am excited to find out what the next five years have in store for me. Now is a tumultuous time, with moments of doubt and uncertainty, but also of hope and joy and celebration. Getting through this period will take patience and support from those who love me. But on the other end, who knows? There is almost limitless possibility.
Do you have burning questions about copyright law, the public domain, or fair use? I didn’t think so.
Be that as it may, the following video, created by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University and hosted on Stanford Law’s Center for Internet and Society Web site, elucidates the basics of copyright in very clever way.
Bear in mind that Disney, not wanting to lose copyright on that famous mouse of theirs, has been a driving force behind changes/updates in copyright law (like the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act). You can read more about that here and here.
I spent a fair portion of last weekend watching episodes of The Backyardigans with my niece, Maddie. I’m not sure where this show rates in the pantheon of children’s television programming, but it does have a significant effect on people.
Exhibit A: Maddie could be doing anything — playing with her toys, running circles around the kitchen table, or (hypothetically) eating a giant bowl of ice cream — but when that theme music starts to play, she snaps to attention and does this cute little knee-bending jig with a huge smile on her face.
Exhibit B: This capacity to mesmerize is not limited to children. Witness my brother-in-law (my sister calls this the “Backyardigans Trance”):
The Backyardigans Trance, as exhibited by my brother-in-law
What’s going on here?!
Since I am trying to get noticed by prospective employers these days, I have been wondering … can I recreate “The Backyardigans Effect” for hiring librarians when they read my cover letter and resume?
What am I missing? Do I need theme music, or perhaps the willingness to break spontaneously into song and dance? Maybe I just need to take a cue from the Backyardigans crew and use a little more imagination.
It’s safe to say that “wireless reading devices” like the Amazon Kindle are a step in the right direction toward a usable e-book reader. That said, librarians aren’t losing sleep over them just yet, what with their hefty price tag and a tactile experience similar to cuddling with a calculator.
When we talk about the importance of the experience of reading a book, a similar argument can be made for the experience of reading a newspaper. While there are many (myself included) who use the interwebs almost exclusively to stay abreast of the daily news, few can deny the pleasure to be derived from spreading a newspaper on the kitchen table and leisurely flipping through the pages with one’s morning coffee.
Unfortunately, the demise of the newspaper as a print-on-paper entity is almost assured, and profitable alternatives have been elusive. So… will “wireless reading devices” (the dork factor on that term is off the charts) like the Kindle provide a new home for newspaper content?
The Boston Globe, among other major dailies, is now offering a special edition of its paper that can be delivered wirelessly and automatically to Kindle owners every morning. It costs $9.99 a month, which certainly won’t break the bank, but there’s a catch:
The Kindle Edition of The Boston Globe contains articles found in the print edition, but will not include some images and tables. Also, some features such as the crossword puzzle, box scores and classifieds are not currently available.
Hmmmm. Sounds like there is still work to be done. In addition to the price of the “wireless reading device” needing to come down, all of the content that appears in the print edition and online, like images and tables, should be available in the Kindle edition.
While it looks like Amazon’s relationship with the newspaper industry will not be a life-saver, it’s an idea that hopefully provides fodder for further innovation in the future.
Seeing how it takes $40 to fill up a Honda Civic these days, people are more than a little concerned about how they spend their money. For those whose path to Borders or Barnes & Noble is well-worn, and who may be seeking ways to cut down on monthly expenses, it would be worthwhile to check out the local public library, instead.
Consider this excerpt that I came across recently (you can read the full text here):
It has been a long held belief by librarians that when the economy goes down, public library use goes up but that theory had always been hard to substantiate. However, the University of Illinois Library Research Center has results from a five-year study that concluded in 2002. The study found that beginning in March 2001, when the National Bureau of Economic Research pegged the start of the latest recession, library circulation increased significantly. It was found that circulation was 8.3 percent higher than what was predicted. After the events of Sept. 11, circulation exceeded the prediction by 11.3 percent.
We should not give the researchers a free pass on their statistical analysis without first reading the document, but in general, the assertion being made by the study makes sense. In healthier economic times, trips in the car to the strip mall — where the warehouse-sized bookstore lives — can be passed off without a second thought. In times like these, however, jaunts to the mall feel wasteful and it begins to make more sense to take public transportation or walk to the local library.
This is not to say that librarians should be praying for the economy to tank. We have seen dozens of examples across the country of library services and staff being cut during budget crunches. However, when decisions like these are being made, it would be helpful to have studies like the one cited above to refute arguments that public libraries are not essential to a community’s functioning.
Among the many contentious issues being discussed in this election season is the impending vote on a bill that would update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — you have probably heard it referred to in the news as “FISA.”
Issues like these tend to catch the attention of the American Library Association. As stated in a press release following House passage of the bill, “Protecting patron privacy and the confidentiality of library records are deep and longstanding principles of librarianship and guide ALA’s legislative activities on privacy, surveillance and other related issues.” Meanwhile, Loreine Roy, the president of the American Library Association, expressed her disappointment:
“There were far better versions of this bill that would more effectively protect our civil liberties from needless and illegal surveillance,” Dr. Roy said. “We have taken a woeful step backwards.”
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the FISA bill after the 4th of July holiday. Liberal groups have not been so happy with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s take on FISA, and Republicans have insinuated that he is “spineless” on the issue.
It’s all enough to make your head spin. If you would like to learn more about FISA, and maybe get a better sense of what all the commotion is about, here are a couple resources that could be helpful:
We’ve heard many heartbreaking stories from Iowa and other midwestern states in the past two weeks. People have lost their homes, their pets, their farms, and even their lives. These losses have taken center stage in media coverage, and deservedly so, but the damage suffered by libraries in the region also deserves mention.
The Des Moines Register published a story yesterday about two public libraries whose collections were almost entirely destroyed by flood waters. Understandably, local government officials’ priorities are to restore essential services such as water, sewer and electricity, but soon the libraries affected will have to take stock and begin the arduous process of starting over.
It’s heartening to know from the article that concerned neighbors, realizing the role that libraries play in these communities, have already inquired about donating books to replace those that were lost. It’s also significant that in towns where local libraries were not submerged, they served as “important information hubs, where residents can go online and apply for aid, send e-mails or use maps to traverse around closed roads.” What a relief and a blessing that institutions like libraries can be counted on to serve the public in times of need.
Starting over is a daunting task, but hopefully it can also be seen as a chance for a new beginning.
