I recently discovered an awesome sub-Reddit called r/mapporn which features all kinds of really frickin’ cool maps such as “America 1681“, “Flipping European and North American Cities“, “World Map of Railways“, “Map of Facebook Connections” and I have to stop there or else I’ll just link to all their maps – each one is so […]
Head Tale
Category Archives: Library
You Know You’re A Library Nerd When… (aka Hawaii Public Libraries)
I admit that I’m such a library nerd that sometimes when I’m bored and can’t think of something to look at on the Internet, I’ll just go to a random library’s web site to see what’s up, what they’re doing, how they present themselves. It’s especially fun to pick libraries that you expect to be […]
Wisdom Wednesday – Do Happier People Work Harder?
The idea of a connection between happiness and productivity is a discussion I’ve had with a few people at work over the past couple years – some who are in agreement with the idea, some who feel there’s no link between happiness and productivity and some who are uncertain (or haven’t given it much thought […]
Happy RPL-a-versary to Me!
Today is my three year anniversary of starting work at RPL. A few stream-of-unconscious thoughts and observations… 1. I started working for the Writers Guild of Alberta at almost the exact same time of year – I know because I was in their office doing my initial training a couple days before September 11. (I’ve […]
New Prince of Wales Branch Opens in Regina!
This is the first new branch RPL has opened in something like fifteen years. Congratulations to all involved for all of your good work!
Friday Fun List – Some More Google+ Resources
Anybody still using Google+? 😉 The site definitely seems to have cooled over after the big buzz of its launch (my all-time favourite G+ post was the one Redditor who posted “This site is already dead. Nobody’s using it anymore.” ONE WEEK after it went live!) Anyhow, I’m still checking it regularly – beyond the […]
Friday Fun Link – “BAR”‘s and “BEER”‘s
Great to see that my former colleagues at Southeast Regional Library have started a YouTube channel with a focus on training videos for SRL staff. It is particularly gratifying to see that they’re still using the Branch Activity Report (BAR) that I created for our rural branches to report their ongoing activities to HQ. My […]
Alberta’s Got Gas and Sask’s Got a Pharm!
I’m currently reading a book called “Stampede! The Rise of the West and Canada’s New Power Elite” by Gordon Pitts of the Globe & Mail. This book came to my attention after winning a 2009 National Business Book Prize and, as you might expect given its title and author, it’s a fairly pro-business look at […]
Best Music Books of All-time
Hipster hangout, Pitchfork, gets their editors to name their 60 favourite music books of all-time. I haven’t read all of them but have definitely read a few – that Ian MacDonald book on the Beatles is awesome!
“Bravery-Based Librarianship” is the Only Future
This article claims that the future success of libraries revolves around the need to allow for a “little chaos”. The author concedes that it’s hard to purposely engineer a chaotic environment but that the rewards, when this approach is embraced, is worth it. I think that bravery based librarianship is the only future we have. […]