Category Archives: Library

FIMS-related Online Forums and Groups

I mentioned the idea of (re)starting an alumni association in the “50 Ways To Improve FIMS” post a couple days ago.  Someone wrote to let me know there is a group that exists online via Western's Purple Cirlces community portal.  The MLIS one is called (in very logical fashion) MLIS Alumni Network.  I don't think […]

50 Good Things About FIMS

Here is another massive list – “50 Good Things About FIMS” to complete the “95(+5) Theses of FIMS” I started yesterday with my “50 Ways To Improve FIMS” post.

50 Ways To Improve FIMS

Here is the granddaddy of all library school lists – 50 ways that FIMS could be improved. Some are incredibly simple, small changes; some are pretty significant and maybe even unrealistic (or would require a lot of work and bureaucratic maneuvering which makes them unlikely to happen, even if they are possible.)

"The OPAC Sucks" (C'mon MuchMusic, Play It Once!)

(Thanks to Denise H. for the tip!)

Five Things You Can't Say About Libraries, Librarians, and Library School

As with any sector, there are a lot of unchallenged statements, pieces of accepted wisdom and politically incorrect sentiments in the library world that seem to be lurking just beneath the surface.  But for a profession concerned with freedom of expression and sharing of information, this restraint seems to be especially preposterous.  So here are […]

"Should We Be Surprised? After All, Librarians Donated to Kerry Over Bush By A Ratio of 223:1"

“Librarians are extremely liberal and, thanks to our tax dollars, insulated from their consumers' preferences.” The National Post looks at the bias against conservative books in bookstores and public libraries in an article titled “Ignoring Canada's Conservative Readers”.  (Thanks to Christina W. for the tip!)   (By the way, the second last book I read […]

What's In A Name?

Here at library school, we talk a lot about what we call things.  Patrons or customers or clients or users (or even neighbours as one classmate suggested.)  You also have libraries or resource centres or information centres or Idea Stores.The trend seems to be towards taking the traditional terms – “library” and “patron” – out of […]

Librarian Activist

Just a reminder that if you like reading this site (or if you don't and want something with more 100% library-related content with zero tangents about baby poop, Fred Eaglesmith and Saskatchewan), you might also want to boomark LibrarianActivist.org (or add it to your RSS reader.)  Sabina's back in radio contact after being without Internet […]

Friday Fun Link – International Children's Digital Library (Nov 17, 2006)

“The International Children’s Digital Library was initially created by an interdisciplinary research team at the University of Maryland in cooperation with the Internet Archive. Members of the team include computer scientists, librarians, educational technologists, classroom teachers, graphic designers, and graduate students from the University of Maryland’s (UMD) College of Information Studies (CLIS) and the UMD […]

A Tale of Two (Four?) Libraries – It was the worst and worst of times then the best and best of times

Not very often but sometimes, I really don't like libraries.I was over at the University today for a group meeting and afterwards, went to the Business Library because the catalogue showed that they (as well as our main library Weldon, the Taylor library and a few others in the system had a copy of a […]