Restructuring Public Libraries
Posted January 16, 2013 by Julie Steenson
I like my blogs to be fun but informative, which usually means avoiding politics. Unfortunately, there is a political situation taking place across the nation that just might influence your decision to go to library school. I live in rural NH, and more often than not, rural libraries are staffed only by paraprofessionals. Librarians with Master’s degree are not the norm, but that is changing, for good and bad. Why a change is good? In the year I have been at GSLIS, I have learned there is a lot more to being a librarian than one might think when one checks out a book. Along with a ton of technology skills, there are many things that just make good practice and good library management. In my experience, paraprofessionals are smart people who use a lot of common sense, but their decisions may or may not be informed by library theory or tried and true methods. Why a change is bad? Recently, in St. Johnsbury, VT, the board of trustees fired the entire Athenaeum library staff…
On Starting A New Year, and A New Semester
Posted January 15, 2013 by Carolyn Lucas
I cannot believe that Christmas break already came and went. I spent my time tanning in the Floridian sun, crafting all of my Christmas presents, catching up on some quality sleep time, and enjoying hot beverages… I am especially enjoying the newfound glories of a proper cup of English Breakfast tea, and the new delights of the French Pressed coffee. As 2012 ended and 2013 begins, I always find that a few New Year’s Resolutions make their way into my habits as a student. Read: I WILL read all the readings this semester. I WILL go to office hours if I need help. I WILL start papers and projects well-enough in advance. Like many students, procrastination is a good friend of mine, who pops in more often than I’d like to take up way too much of my time with persuasions of nail-painting and dessert-baking instead of paper-writing and presentation-practicing. Typically, I despise trendy productivity techniques. But over Christmas, I found myself reading an interesting article about the benefits of the small, self-indulgent pleasures in…
Occupational Preoccupation
Posted January 14, 2013 by Sarah Barton
I went to work at the library on Saturday dressed as a librarian. Hair pulled back, cardigan, sensible shoes, blah blah blah. (Fortunately, my vision is still ok, so I didn’t top it off with a pair of glasses perched on my nose.) I was a stereotypical librarian. I hate the stereotype. It drives me nuts. Librarian is one of the only occupations I can think of that has such a preoccupation with its image. I chose Saturday’s outfit because I wanted to wear my new cardigan, not because I was feeling particularly librarian-y that day. I actually felt self-conscious before I left my apartment because I thought I looked too much like a librarian. Isn’t this generation of librarians supposed to defy the stereotype? To rid this and the next generation of librarians of this burden forever? A few months ago, in an attempt to abate my distaste for the librarian stereotype, I read a book about it. Turns out, that only made it worse. There were all kinds of examples of librarians who…
McAllen Public Library Part Two: People and Programs
Posted January 13, 2013 by lazylibrarian
Last week I had the pleasure of sharing with you some insights from my visit to McAllen Public Library, winner of the 2012 ALA Award for Interior Design. To read the first part of this two part series that talks about the physical building click here. A library, of course, is not just about the building. The building itself might be marvelous, but if the library is not consistently offering services and resources that its patrons desire it will not remain praiseworthy for long. Fortunately, the director of the McAllen Public Library, Kathleen Horan, is not one to forget this. She is not content to let the library rest on its laurels. “Because of our culture and the way the news, the fads and trends come at us, everything comes and goes so we can’t afford to sit back and say ‘ok we can rest easy now because we won this design award,’ because we constantly have to stay valuable,” states Ms. Horan. In her eyes, although the national and international press is welcome, the more…
All but the best laid book plans…
Posted January 11, 2013 by Maggie Davidov
A few posts ago you may or may not recall my assertion that what GSLIS students should be doing during their break was to take some time to professionally develop. Well develop I did, but in the exact opposite way I intended. You see, over the break I read prolifically (for me, anyway). I read books I had been dying to take home and snuggle with. I read when I woke up every day. I read after my luxurious mid-morning naps. I read next to my family’s Christmas tree with a cup of tea in hand. ‘Twas glorious! Now, while this wasn’t strictly professional reading. I think it’s SO VERY important for librarians, who have very little time for pleasure reading (BIG misconception about the profession in my opinion), to read their hearts out. To read until their eyeballs pop right out of their sockets. Readers advisory is a skill to be honed and the only real way to get anything done on that front is to read and share. This, I have done. This,…
McAllen Public Library Part 1: Building a Community
Posted January 10, 2013 by lazylibrarian
You may have heard of the McAllen Public Library. It has been mentioned in such places as the L.A. Times and Time. It is the library that won the 2012 ALA Interior Design Award, the library converted from an abandoned Wal-Mart. But while the media may concentrate on this unique layout, the McAllen Library is so much more than building, amazing as it. While this blog post will focus on some of the marvels of the building itself, it is only the first part. Come back next week to learn more about the amazing programs and people involved in this “big-box” library. For a gallery of photographs click here. McAllen, TX is the state’s 20th largest city in terms of population. It is home to 133,742 people but it serves many more. For instance, my family lives in Harlingen, TX – about 40 minutes southeast of McAllen, but we regularly drive to McAllen for its dining and shopping options (and the closest Barnes and Nobles!). McAllen, by nature of its location on the American/Mexico border down by the tip of the state,…
A Book by Any Other Name
Posted January 9, 2013 by Julie Steenson
Yesterday was a busy day at my local library. A recent phone call from a patron began with, “I can’t believe you have only one copy of this book…” He wasn’t talking about the copy on our shelves, but about our virtual e-collection that we share with other libraries in our state (New Hampshire). The discussion turned to an explanation about library costs for eBooks versus what a patron might pay on Amazon for a Kindle download, as well as a referral to other sources of free eBooks (such as Project Gutenberg and Amazon’s Lending Library), and lastly, of course, a brief lesson on how to search only for available titles one can read right now on the state’s downloadable eBook consortium. This call was followed by a visiting patron, Nook in hand, who needed help to access the downloadable collection. Behind her stood a patron who wanted to download an audiobook to her iPhone…and a young lady of 12 with her new Kindle Fire… and a mom, with a stack of thirty picture books….
Time to Face the Music
Posted January 3, 2013 by Sarah Barton
The holidays are over, which means there’s only one thing left: New Year’s resolutions. It seems like a lot of people are resolute about not making resolutions, while some think of January 1st as a yearly opportunity to set new goals. I generally tend to fall among the resolute “non-resolutioners,” but right now I’d say that my 2013 resolution is to listen to more country music. Yesterday I spent forty dollars worth of iTunes gift cards (thanks, Santa!) solely on country tunes, so it seems I’m well on my way. I was pretty proud of my aspiration to unearth my inner honky-tonk until I realized what my real resolution for 2013 should (and will) be: getting a job. This is arguably more of a necessary life activity and culmination of two years at GSLIS than a new year’s resolution, but I am pretty darn resolute about gaining employment. Suddenly the “Simmons GSLIS anticipated December 2013” line on my résumé seems slightly more imminent. I mean, December is a solid eleven months from now, but it…
Do we still need libraries?
Posted December 29, 2012 by Maggie Davidov
It still blows my mind that the New York Times still thinks that this is a controversial question, worthy of their op ed section. And yet, every couple of months the topic rears its ugly head. This time, the conversation has four professionals arguing in favor of libraries from many different perspectives. One of the voices in this pro-library dialogue is Buffy Hamilton, school librarian of Canton, Georgia. I am a huge fan of Buffy’s, and her Unquiet blog. She speaks about how libraries are not just about book collection, but about connecting with a community and providing a learning space for that group. Lest you think that this is the only valid opinion posited, there are three more. All are wonderful, and use all those buzz words we hear in class: digital divide, marketspace, technology access and that echoing refrain, “…of the people, by the people and for the people.” There are also plenty of comments by the people like you and me. It’s a quick, interesting read that will get your engines revved…
Visiting Libraries Over the Holidays
Posted December 23, 2012 by lazylibrarian
I am spending my holiday down at the southern tip of Texas. Harlingen, Texas, to be exact, which is about thirty minutes north of the Mexican border. The culture down here is very agricultural/technical based and was a culture shock for a family moving down from academic based New Jersey, as my family did 5 years ago. It was also a shock to go from a place where we had access to not only the school library, but the town library and county library which were both large in addition to multiple Barnes and Nobles, Borders and Walden Books within driving distance. Quite the opposite exists down here. For a while we had a small Walden bookstore in the town’s mall but now that has closed down and the closest bookstore is 45 minutes away. For an avid reader that is definitely a sad thing. The library here is small and to meet the needs of its public must fill its small shelf space with a large amount of Spanish language books as well as…