Skip to content

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 the mix and going with terms that (to me at least) connote corporate values – you work at a resource centre serving clients or customers. 

That's why it was nice to see the following notice in the latest CLA Digest about my former workplace (true, I only worked there for a week shelving books before getting an offer from the Writers Guild of Alberta but it still counts – especially since it's the only “real” library experience I have!)

NAME CHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Dr. Alan
Harrison, Provost and Vice President (Academic) of the University of
Calgary, recently announced the change of organizational name from
Information Resources to Libraries and Cultural Resources in his
presentation to the University’s Board of Governors on Friday, October
20.  He also announced a change of title for Thomas Hickerson,
currently Director of Information Resources, to Vice Provost for
Libraries and Cultural Resources and University Librarian. For further
information, please contact Lauren Spencer at spencerl@ucalgary.ca

Posted 25 November 2006 § Jobs § Library § Main Page ‡ Comments (4) °

Vote on Monday

I don't know about you but when I come to the end of something – a job, schooling, a vacation or whatever – I start noticing how things tend to come full circle. 

Another example of this I noticed recently is that the year started with a federal election at the end of January that saw my fellow political junkies – Quinn & Christina – sitting at the Grad Club watching results come in (and being happily surprised when one of our profs, who'd we only had for a couple sessions by that point, joined us for a beer when he popped in after doing volunteer work for a local campaign.) 

Now, at the end of the year, the very important federal by-election for London North-Centre will happen on Monday.  Most students living in London will likely fall within the electoral boundaries and I've been told that you don't need to be pre-registered – you can simply show up at your nearest polling place with ID and proof of residence and be allowed to vote.  Call the toll-free number (1 866 241-7804) to see if you're on the list already or if you have any other questions. 

There is a wide field of candidates and even if you're not from London, you should probably consider voting as the results of this election will have national implications, especially since we're in a minority government.  (Besides, most of the candidates aren't from London either!)

Continuing my non-partisan record of late, I'm not going to talk about who I'm going to vote for but I think a good policy for life is “always listen to Rick Mercer.” (Thanks to Barb J. for the link.)

A few of us happened upon a speech by Elizabeth May, leader and candidate for the Green Party, at the Grad Club last Wednesday and after getting over the affront that our conversation would be drowned out by her speech for ten or fifteen minutes, I decided this would be a good opportunity to ask a question. 

“What do you say to people who would normally vote NDP to convince them to vote for you?” 

Her response covered a variety of things.  Working the question really well, she made allusion to the Green Party today being in a position similar to the early days of the CCF.  (Does that make her Tommy Douglas?) 

In her answer to my question and others, she made a number of  points that did appeal to me – she'd become the only female leader of a political party, she'd be allowed to participate in the next leader's debates, she'd push for proportional representation so we don't have a situation where concentrated popularity like the Bloc is rewarded with 50 seats in the House while parties like the Greens who have definite national support don't end up with any seats.  She pointed out that Greens are the only party that's part of an international network, she promises to be honest (but what politician doesn't say that?), electing her wouldn't affect the balance of power in the House of Commons (she'll have to run again in a year or two so it's a “try before you buy” model.)  But I don't know – that all sounds good but there are some that say she's a Tory in green clothing. 

On that note, did I mention that Megan Walker is running for the NDP?  And she's <gasp> from London?  And she's got a pretty strong bio and background herself?  [Edit:  Ian pointed out in the comment that Megan cut her teeth doing advocacy work on library issues, a fact that should matter if you're a library student.  Whether you agree with the politics of the NDP or not, I think it's important to support candidates who have an awareness of issues that are relevant to you and your life.]

See you on Monday!

(Oh, and another thing that's come full circle – the prof who joined us in January for the election results was at the Grad Club on Wednesday and provided some interesting analysis on this by-election to help my thought processes along.  I've got a tough decision to make on Monday but I think I know which way I'm leaning.  Tommy Douglas would be proud.)

[Edit: here's a good story on the race from the Toronto Star.]

Posted 25 November 2006 § Canada § Main Page § Politics ‡ Comments (5) ° Tagged:

Spirit of Librarianship Fall 2006 – Call For Nominations

The two people on student council who would normally run the SoL Award process were both nominated (along with Council chair) so I ended up volunteering to take it over since it was guaranteed I wouldn't be nominated (well, I could be nominated I guess but I wouldn't have been able to accept having won it before.)

So anyhow, this is the blurb that went out last night.  I would encourage anyone reading this who's eligible (basically any student, faculty or staff) to vote.  It's a very strong field of candidates once again so I won't try to bias anyone by saying who you should vote for – totally non-partisan, that's me! 

I'd made some noises at Council about expanding the Awards program a bit but nothing happened this term unfortunately.  I see no reason why we don't have awards for things like volunteer of the year, highest academic average (one for part-timers, one for full-timers), maybe a “rookie of the year” award out of the first-termers, “unsung hero” for those who don't have a big presence but still are helpful, friendly and effective at school, on and on.  It wouldn't be hard to do (future councils, are you listening?) and would help “spread the love” instead of having only one award. 

—
Voting for the Spirit of Librarianship Award is now active!        

All
students, faculty and staff are eligible to vote. You may vote any time
between now and Thursday November 30 at 11:59 pm.  Late votes will not
be counted.  The winner will be announced at the “Destressor”, a social
event that is tentatively scheduled for Monday December 4 at 4:30pm at
the Grad Club. 

Below is a list of the nominees and the blurbs which were
submitted that explain why each person was nominated.  You can only
vote for one person and your first vote is final.  (If you nominated a
person that does *not* count as your vote and you have to re-vote for
them for it to count.  Sorry for this inconvenience.)

      
Please send your vote with the subject heading “SOL VOTE
– <Nominee Name>” in the subject line to the following email
address:
mlisstudentcouncil@gmail.com

   
Thank you for your participation!      

The Spirit of Librarianship Committee
Jason Hammond
Mary Brown



PS – if you would like to learn more about the Spirit of Librarianship Award, you can visit: http:///www.headtale.com/spirit.htm

——————————————————————-

Spirit of Librarianship Nominees – Fall 2006
Emily Gusba
Iona Henderson
Lindsay Holdsworth
Dave Hudson
Barb Janicek
Michael McAlpine
Megan Potts
Magda Skowran

Gillian Webster

Emily Gusba
Emily
is energetic and friendly in class.  She has helped organize
extra-curricular activities for our class and eagerly supports other
peoples ideas.  She worked hard to make class sweatshirts. Emily is
good at working with others and is always helpful.

Iona Henderson
Iona
is always cheerful, outgoing and energetic every time I see her.  She
is always there to listen to anyone who has problems and is heavily
involved in councils.  Her positive attitude and genuine concern for
everyone makes her an awesome person to be around and work with.  Her
tireless attempts to expose MLISers to the professional and social side
of librarianship should earn her the spirit award.  As a member of the
peer mentoring committee, she has spent countless hours connecting us
with working professionals.  Iona also works to build connections
between students, through her coordinating work with the peer
mentorship group.  Her efforts on the social committee include trying
to convince us that even if we are in library school, we should still
have the occasional evening off.  Even better, she gives out food to
her classmates!  Iona once came to class with home-smoked Pacific
salmon, fresh off the plane from the west coast.

Lindsay Holdsworth
Put
simply, Lindsay is a dynamo.  In addition to taking five classes per
semester for each of the last three semesters (and maintaining an
honour roll average overall), she's worked a part-time job at the
London Public Library and volunteered on a number of student
organizations in high-commitment, high-responsibility positions
including Treasurer for CLA and Chair of Student Council.  When we met
with our Advocacy professor earlier this term, the professor observed
that she felt like she was teaching at
least three future CLA Presidents.  I don't know who the other two
people she was referring to were but I am pretty sure Lindsay

was the third one!

Dave Hudson
I'd
like to nominate Dave Hudson.  He is a great classmate who is
enthusiastic, inquisitive, very helpful, friendly and an all around
good student.  The job of a librarian- we are taught, is to find
information for information seekers.  He has helped many in my class by
sharing his knowledge with those of us who may be lacking it with
regards to assignments.  I think he would be a wonderful candidate for
this award.

Barb Janicek
I'm
nominating Barb Janicek for the Spirit of Librarianship award. Barb is
a dedicated student and a supportive colleague. Always there with a
helpful suggestion, a sympathetic ear or just a videotape of your
favourite show (that you missed, because there's no time!); Barb
represents what is great about the MLIS program. Barb's advocacy on
behalf of her fellow students is inspirational, as is her attention to
detail and strong work ethic. Her calm demeanor and good humour make
her an excellent future librarian and a valuable fellow-student.

Michael McAlpine
I
would like to nominate Michael McAlpine for the Spirit of Librarianship
Award.  Michael has no previous experience in libraries and from the
beginning of the semester he has shown enthusiasm for learning about
librarianship and a dedication to the ideals of the profession.  He is
an eager, hard-working guy who is always willing to help someone in
need and he is excited about his future in the field.  Michael loves
the MLIS Program and his devotion to both his studies and the
profession of librarianship is inspiring to those around him.  

Megan Potts
I would
like to nominate Megan Potts of section 002.  She is always attentive
in class, she always participates in class discussion and offers extra
insight into course material. She is very friendly and very
enthusiastic about being in this program. She offers help whenever
asked for it.

Magda Skowran
I'd like to nominate Magda Skowran because she embodies the energy and optimistic attitude that I think librarians should have.


Gillian Webster
I'd
like to nominate Gillian Webster for the Spirit of Librarianship.  I
feel that Gillian exemplifies the true spirit of library and
information science through her dedication to organizing social outings
for the stressed out students of this programme.  We all work hard at
our studies, and often it is refreshing to get out with our colleagues
and friends and blow off some steam.  From my past experiences on
student council I know how much time and effort goes into organizing
these events.  Gillian has also been responsible for fundraising within
the MLIS programme, and takes time to attend and support social events
including the trivia nights on Wednesday evenings, and the speakers
that are brought in by the MLIS administration for lectures.  As well,
she is an active member of her community, working part-time at the
London Public Library, and publishing short stories in some campus
feminist publications.  For these reasons I feel she is an ideal
candidate for the Spirit of Librarianship this semester.

Posted 24 November 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (5) °

Friday Fun Link – World's Oldest Blogger? (Nov 24, 2006)

Is 92-year-old Donald Crowdis (former host of the Candadian TV program The Nature of Things) the world’s oldest blogger? Even if he isn’t his blog is terrific. He’s funny and astute. Here’s an excerpt from a recent entry he wrote on cannibalism:

[T]he best food, or at least the best protein, is that which is most
like our own. Of course, eating others of our kind gives rise to social
problems, and is rare as a result, but it happens. In times past, among
some of the Pacific Islands peoples, since a butchered human very much
resembled a butchered pig, it was referred to as “long pig”. I presume
these cannibals ate only their enemies, not their family members, no
matter how tasty they may have looked. Most of us have accepted that
humans are precious in the sight of God, while ordinary pig, or “short
pig”, is OK nutrition.

(via Boing Boing)

Posted 24 November 2006 § Blog § Internet § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

Oscar's First Photo!

Shea and I went for an ultrasound today and got to see our first glimpse of the baby.  No glimpse of twins (unfortunately) or whether it had dangly bits.  But it was still pretty cool to see the little guy/gal swimming around.  The technician had to wake the baby up by giving Shea's belly a poke but once Oscar was awake, he/she kicked his/her feet, waved “hello” at us and then did a somersault for good meaasure.  It goes without saying that we have the cutest baby ever!

I attempted to digitally enhance the photo a bit so it wasn't so dark but this is about as good as I could get it.  Oscar's laying on his/her back with the head to the right side of the picture. 

Posted 23 November 2006 § Baby § Main Page ‡ Comments (4) °

My Favourite Britney Spears Song…

Ooops, I did it again…

The blob was down again due to bandwidth issues.  (Hmm, blob could be taken literally in this case – damn fat web site!)  Last month when it went down, they told me they'd double my bandwidth on an ongoing basis but I talked to them today and it seems like that didn't “stick”.  Hopefully the problem will be solved now. 

Some random thoughts…
– either thousands of people are hitting this page per month or my mother-in-law is hitting refresh thousands of times by herself.  (Probably a mix of both.)
– for those of you who do refresh this page a bit “obsessively” or have an automatic reload on your RSS feed, don't worry about it.  It's my responsibility to make sure the page is available and as someone who wrote me offline observed, I guess I'm a victim of my own success in many ways (or being punished by going with a company with a really low bandwidth limit!)
– no, I won't be putting banner ads on the site anytime soon to help pay for more bandwidth!

Thanks for your patience and understanding about these problems.  I think there are two types of readers out there – those who read to see what's going on with me and my life and those who are reading to see what's going on with FIMS (again, the lines aren't 100% distinct.)  But because of this, I have a feeling that my bandwidth is going to drop off significantly in a month or so when I'm gone.  So hopefully this won't be an issue again!  

Posted 23 November 2006 § Blog § Main Page ‡ Comments (4) °

I'm Losing Bibliographic Control Here!

With apologies to Mike T. for stealing his t-shirt slogan for a mostly inaccurate blog post title, I just wanted to post a note that I have around 250 unattended messages in my in-box right now and will get to them, hopefully by the end of this week.  I don't think there's anything life and death (it is library school after all) but if you need a more timely response from me, please write again or ask me in person or uhm, mail me a letter. 

Posted 22 November 2006 § Internet § Main Page § Randomness ‡ Comments (0) °

My Course Picks – Winter 2007

(I wonder if that post heading got a few people doing double takes? )

The course selection meeting was this afternoon and even though I'm finished the program in a couple weeks, I thought about going just to hear what the profs said and hang out with some of the students.  Then I realised this was sort of an O'Bannion move (that's the guy in Dazed and Confused who graduates high school but still hangs around) so decided not to.  Also I fell asleep.

But anyhow, I thought I'd do some more hypothetical reality (I'm really getting to like that phrase!) and pick the courses I would take if I were still here.

570 – Instructional Strategies – J Noon. (Monday afternoon)
650 – Information Entrepreneurship – L. McKinnon (Wed evening)
OR
762 – Enterprise Content Management – M. Debicki (Wed evening)
756 – History of the Book – B. MacDonald (distance)
758 – Publishing, Media & Librarianship – T. Oliphant (Fri morning)
760 – Communication Technologies and Connectivity: Current Trends and Researches – A. Quan-Haase (Monday morning)

So what's that give me – Monday morning, Wed afternoon, Wed evening, Friday morning and a distance course.  Yikes!  That's a pretty bad schedule to be honest. 

I'd probably try to massage things a bit – maybe pick a different class that interests me equally to a couple of these (Advanced Info Sources, Services for Children and Young Adults, Information Policy, Managing Vendor Relations, maybe I'd even take the plunge and take that one course that I know I should take but which I avoided all year – government documents.)  Maybe do another independent study or a research proposal.

Hmm, on second thought I'm glad I don't have to pick.  My last two semesters things worked out really well, both in terms of classes I got into and when they were scheduled.  I only got bumped once (into Genealogy this term) which sounded good and useful but turned out to be not as good or useful as I hoped.  (At this very minute, I'm finishing up a presentation AND a paper that are due tomorrow and isn't that like illegal or something?  Probably the most work I've done for 25% in this entire program!)

Posted 22 November 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (5) °

Hypothetical Reality

“Hypothetical reality” is a term I've come up with to describe a lot of the assignments we're asked to do at library school.  Unlike an undergrad English program (for example) where you're given an assignment, you do the  research and then write a paper in a pretty straight forward manner, something entirely different often happens at library school. 

Because it's a professional program, you end up being given assignments that are some weird blend of the real world and the fictional.  Right from day one in 503 where you're told to “describe your answers for these questions as if you are a working reference librarian” (even though you may have never spent a day working in the library before), you're asked to enter this hypothetical reality mode.  For the most part, it makes sense and can even be fun (I spent a bunch of my weekend working on a floor plan for a hypothetical special library) but again, you're entering that netherworld between the real and not real where it's sometimes hard to find a balance. 

It struck me today again when a group were presenting in public libraries and one of the group members stopped in the middle of the presentation, said “outside of the conceit that we're librarians presenting to the board of LPL, can I ask you a question about…?” 

I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing – for the most part, I think it's a good thing but it can be frustrating when you write something in your hypothetical role and get back a comment like “This would never happen in a real library.”  Oh.  Uhm, I'm not a real librarian yet so I didn't know that. 

To bring it back to 503, I have to admit that my confusion and frustration about dealing with hypothetical reality boiled over a bit when I wrote my final reference question (of five in a row we had to do at the end of term, like clockwork every Monday), as a surreal narrative where a grouchy old lady showed up in my apartment in the middle of the night (half of that sentence was hypothetical, half was reality – I leave it to you to figure which was which.) 

She asked me a reference question and then, as I answered it, various other random elements appeared including a crazed Scotsman from the other optional reference question that week, Mr. Miyagi, and one of the worst cliches you can use in writing.

Here it is.  The little ranty aside at the beginning was in reference to the previous week's RQ where I'd given the right answer but because I hadn't described it very well, had lots nearly half my marks for the question (although to be fair, the professor did bump my mark on appeal.) 

Oh, and I knew it was a bit of a risk handing this thing in – either the prof was going to really hate it or maybe get a bit of a laugh after having to read twenty-odd reports that would all basically say the same thing.  Luckily, they  apparently weren't bothered by me having some fun with the conventions and I ended up getting an 85% for my answer. 

(Another thought – does it bug anybody that I use “they” when its a singular antecedent (ie. “professor”)?  Frankly, I don't know if it was my female prof or the male TA who marked this RQ and anyhow, I'm not a huge fan of the “he or she” or “he/she” or even just picking one and sticking with it options.  I *did* get killed on a different assignment I got back today though because of this.  Ooops.  Me know grammer gud.  Edit: Shea pointed out another horrible one that people sometimes use – “s/he”.  Yuck!)

PS – welcome to everybody from Ask MetaFilter who found this site after my recent comments about the job market for librarians in Canada.  Hope you find something of value here if you're a librarian (or even if you're not) and keep coming back! 

Posted 21 November 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (24) °

Top 10 Memories of My Year At FIMS – My Book Zine Submission

Each semester, some students put together the “Book Zine” which is a collection of Top Ten book lists and other randomness.  If you haven't submitted yet, you should!  It's a great little memento of each semester that also will provide lots of great book suggestions.  The deadline has just been extended.  Here's the scoop:

—
Our zine submission deadline has been extended to Friday, November
24th at noon, Mailbox 98 in the Grad Lounge or email your cool, wacky,
and/or inspirational top ten lists to lbussier@uwo.ca

If you haven't received submission info here it is:
1. Write your NAME and book recommendations or funky lists on a 4/5 x 5/5 piece of paper.
2. Decorate it however you like, but in BLACK INK as we just photocopy as is.
3. Drop off your list in mailbox 98 in the Grad Lounge or email submission to lbussier@uwo.ca
4. Contribute and get a FREE copy!  Extras will be $2 and available at the Destressor.
5. For inspiration, look at previous issues which are held in the GRC.

Questions, concerns, comments can be directed to Linda: lbussier@uwo.ca

So far we've got some cool submissions such as
“Guide to the Books that Got Me Through Library School”;
“Top 5 Things to Draw During Class”;
“Top Ten Indie Albums of 2006”. 

Previous submissions have included
“Top Ten Things to Say to Annoy Your Professors” and
“Top Ten Beers at the Grad Club”. 

USE YOUR IMAGINATION — there must be some of it left even if it is 3 weeks from end of the semester.

Good luck & have fun.

Cheers,
Linda B.
—

My submission this term was “Top 10 Memories of My Year at FIMS”.  I've chosen not to identify people by name to protect the innocent (er, the guilty.)

My Favourite Memories of a Year at FIMS
10.  A professor who's sick with a cold asks a student to read the day's lecture notes to the class for her.  Admittedly the professor's sick but the illusion that her own lecture managed to put her to sleep when the professor nods off is unavoidable.

9. A student returning from the washroom during the middle of a 503 class goes to sit down on their chair…and misses. 

8. Someone asks “What does this have to do with libraries?” during a particularly off-topic 506 class.

7. Someone reads the “fuck” section of the Dictionary of Slang during the Freedom to Read Week student reading in February. 

6. The one time a group did a presentation without using Powerpoint (hard to believe, I know!)

5. A group of students show up to class with red eyes and the munchies after smoking a very fragrant cigarette. 

4. Two students watching a movie on a laptop during class nearly get caught when the professor suddenly walks down the aisle to ask them a question.  (By the way, if you don't think professors know what you get up to when you bring your laptop to class, you're delusional.)

3. In defence of bringing laptops to class, a student is able to point out that the prof's analogy that the Internet is like a “spider web tattoo across the face of the globe” has another meaning…spider web tattooes are also a gang symbol that you've killed someone while in prison.

2. A group of students shave someone's head after a night of drinking (Since I was there, I feel obligated to mention the person volunteered and was conscious, although wobbly, the entire time.  Oh, and that it wasn't me that got my head shaved.  I was Assistant Barber #2.)

1. An instructor, the following day, facing a wall of beer stench, says sarcastically: “This process is a hangover…is that the right word?…no, a holdover…from the early days of librarianship.”

Posted 19 November 2006 § Humour § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (2) °