Warren L. from Libre-arian has a post summing up his experiences at FIMS (including a shout-out to yours truly.) Not sure if I mentioned before but while I was at FIMS, someone told me that as soon as you're done the program (really, as soon as you hand in your last assignment because, really, if […]
I even knew the answer – “where's the bathroom?” wins in a landslide! (via AskMetafilter)
I'm not sure where I first heard the term “degree snob” but it was most memorably put to me in reference to a professional librarian who would literally not lower themself to speak to non-professional staff if it could be helped! With that as a jumping off point (and based on some of my […]
I was thinking about this today – Gorman's list is one of the first things you should acquaint yourself with in Library School 101 to learn the framework for everything that will inform your role as a professional librarian. But I was also thinking about the fact that a lot of people who work in […]
I started the week talking about a discussion the librarians at RPL were having about the issue of patrons viewing pornography on the public access computers. Although this is an important philosophical discussion, I'm happy to report that (at least as far as I know), patrons' viewing isn't being monitored or censored and no policy […]
One of our branch librarians did a three-week study in her location to record the type and variety of reference questions her staff received. With her permission, I've reprinted the list her staff compiled below. The list of questions includes the criteria she gave her staff as to what should be recorded.I think this list […]
“How many librarians does it take to change a light bulb?”“I don't know but I can look it up for you…”(One of our maintenance guys told me this one today. Of course, I immediately tried to come up with a “How many maintenance guys does it take to look something up in the ready reference […]
I've got Web 2.0 on the brain lately. After former FIMS classmate and current RPL colleague Trudi S. gave a very well-received “Introduction to Web 2.0” session for a mixture of staff members from across the RPL system, I was asked by one of our branch heads if I could repeat this training for them […]
The role of management is to do what's in the best interest of the organization.The role of the union is to do what's in the best interest of the people who make up its membership.Union members are expected to adhere to the rules and duties described in the union contract and their job description.Professional librarians […]
