Internet Librarian: Day 1

Last week was the annual Internet Librarian conference in Monterey, a marvelous conference and one of my favorites. (One of these days I have to go to a Computers in Libraries so I can compare them...) Now that a week has passed I want to get my thoughts down, and share a summary of the sessions I attended.

I arrived Sunday afternoon to sunshine and sparkling waters, and only got lost once on the way to my room at the Hotel Pacific (awesome place, I highly recommend it). I had a delicious dinner with a friend (hi Donna!) at the Old Fisherman's Grotto then settled in back at my room to get in gear for the conference.

Monday kicked off with a very thought-provoking keynote session by John Seely Brown (JSB), who talked about how learning has and is changing, and what impact it'll have for all of us. He said we're moving away from an "I think therefore I am" paradigm and into "We participate, therefore we are" - made me think a lot about not only how I do things differently now than ten years ago, but how my son is learning in a completely different way in school than I did. Play has become more and more important - not just play for fun and relaxation, but as a very real way of learning. I see the truth of that in how I learn new tools and then show them to my staff, and I see it every week in my son's schoolwork. Another thing JSB said is that life skill sets are also greatly changing - what once was a skill set that could take you through the next 30-40 years of your professional life now will take you through no more than 5. (That tidbit just about blew my mind, but it rang true when I thought back on my own career.) "Play is key!" Play with your framing of the world, in all aspects of your life. Think about the emerging "Networks of Imagination" - think about Harry Potter, or World of Warcraft, and what kind of collaborative world-building is happening there. Bonus! InfoToday taped his talk, and you can watch it online.

After that, I grabbed a cup of coffee with my mentor (hi Stephen!) and chatted for a bit, then headed into the "Super Searchers" session with Mary Ellen Bates. I always learn a new thing to try in her sessions; this one was focused on how different search engines - and sometimes the same search engines - return different results on the same query, because of location-targeted results (whether you asked for them or not). She also stressed the importance of fighting the monoculture - use different search engines and multiple tools. The new things I'll be trying out of this session are Google Public Data Explorer and http://blekko.com/ - take a look! (I am definitely going to play around with Blekko some more.)

I took a break to get some work done before meeting my co-presenter for lunch to review our session on Tuesday. Peter B's Brewpub has some tasty salads!

Monday afternoon was about clouds and CMSs - I went to "Using the Cloud to Power Library Sites and Services" and enjoyed hearing how the Vancouver Public Library had implemented this. One thing I didn't know is that their hosting solutions were limited since not all countries (and Canada is one of them) allow private data (such as patron information) hosted on servers outside the country - i.e. the cloud. VPL was very limited in their options because of this.  Miami University folks talked about Libguide usability testing, as well. A good discussion option for these kinds of things is "We can't build this for ourselves for $X, but look what this hosted service can do for that…"

I then stuck around for the "CMS Smackdown - Drupal vs. Wordpress vs. Joomla" - I was probably not the target audience for this session, having gone through this myself a few years ago in choosing our CMS, but it was a lively and entertaining session. Poor Joomla, hardly anyone in the room was using it so it seemed a kind of wallflower CMS -

After that I was off to the Grand Opening Reception and ITI Book Signing Event - I sold some more books, woo hoo! I also had fun chatting with Lori Bell and David Lee King, and the Shanachies are always fun to hang out with. When that wound down I headed off to a planning session for the Tuesday night Face-off event…. and that's enough said about that for now!

Monterey, Here I Come!

It's that time of year again... time when thoughts turn to brisk ocean breezes, barking sea lions, and Internet Librarian! Should your thoughts turn to Drupal, come hear my colleague and I hold forth about it on Tuesday, in Track C, right before lunch. Hope to see you there!

McBrarian

Apparently, McDonald's is dangerous to your decorum ... thanks for the tip, Kathleen!



Untitled from christi cagle on Vimeo.

Men of the Stacks

Getcher 2012 Calendars Here! "We know what people think: Dewey, glasses, shushing, books, hairbuns, Party Girl and card catalogs.  Yes, we know what people think.  We know that the American, library profession is approximately 80% White and 72% female; and we know that tens of thousands of librarians are expected to reach age 65 in the next 5 years.  We also know that this is not us."

The 2012 "Men of the Stacks" calendar is now available for order for $20, with proceeds benefiting the It Gets Better Project, created "to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years." Wonderful! Not just a calendar that knocks the socks off (heh, sometimes literally) but one with a great benefit as well.  Go forth and order yours now!

Pearls Before Swine

Hair in a bun? Check. Glasses on a chain? Check. Machine gun? Check.
Pearls Before Swine, 16 September 2011

For the Love of Laura

Warning: more sharing with the choir here! Laura Warner has written a great post at Critics at Large about the wonders of the librarian, "Far More Than Shushing and Checking Out Books: For the Love of Librarians and Public Libraries". This is the kind of thing we need to be shouting at the congregation: we are fabulous and can find you anything!

To quote: "To put this plainly, librarians are surgeons with the Internet. They are specially trained to know how to find anything you need in cyberspace, how to locate the best answer and get it fast. They’re ready and waiting. They are the emergency-response personnel to all your information needs."

Yes! Now go share the news.

What Michael Said

Over at The Travelin' Librarian, Michael Sauers has been posting about his adventures working through "23 Things for Professional Development" as part of the Nebraska Learns project. His #16, Advocacy, really caught my eye:

"So, simply put, I need to advocate more to people who aren’t librarians themselves."

This got me to thinking... Michael says how sometimes he explains "What do you do?" without using the word "librarian" because sometimes it's just easier in some situations. When I think back on how I answer that question, I always say "I'm a systems librarian" and, inevitably, pull out my short explanation (I'm a trained information professional who works a lot with computer systems.") What I've been mulling over is how many times it would have been easier and more straightforward to say something like "I work with computers" or "I work at an observatory" and just leave it at that.


I do think I do a decent job of advocating the power of librarians... but am I preaching too much to the choir? I have to think about this a lot more.

A Librarian's Worth Around the World

from Ritu Pant via the Internet Librarian LinkedIn group, check out this great infographic on the worth of librarians.  There's a lot of really interesting information in there, even for us librarians! I particularly liked the "One week in the life of a librarian" and it got me thinking about trying to create a similar thing for my own library life. Hmm...

Year In Review, Or...

...why I haven't been posting as much as I could have (or should have). It's good to be busy, though! (Not so much with the knee thing.)

• January: Attended SLA Leadership Summit. Interesting, as always. It was bracketed by two major reviews at MPOW. Began long run-up to pre-conference panic attack.
• February: Every major software package at MPOW collaborated on a huge simultaneous meltdown. There was much swearing and running about.
• March: Finished beating software into submission. Spring Break... when we went noplace. Trip to the wilds of New Mexico. Start work on major Drupal migration. Mark mid-point of pre-conference panic attack ramp-up.
• April: The amazingness that is the Kentucky Libraries Joint Spring Conference. They were kind enough to invite me to speak as the opening keynote presenter. There was much nervousness, then much relief. Last good walk outside, in Jenny Wiley State Park.
• May: Lots of household repairs. Drupal migration kicks into high gear. Nine thousand million jillion final changes for the upcoming SLA conference. Significant management change at MPOW. Knee begins complaining more than usual.
• June: More cortisone shots just before heading to Philadelphia for the SLA Annual Conference. (As a division chair this year I was responsible for all the division programming.) Back-to-back major reviews immediately after SLA.  X-Rays and MRI scans.
• July: Bad knee news... start setting up surgeon appointments and physical therapy. Major progress on the Drupal task front.

As of today, I'm teleworking full time and fairly restricted mobility-wise; I see a surgeon next week who hopefully can fix things up a bit. My plan for the rest of the year blog-wise is to get back on the horse with regular postings as soon as I can! Thanks for sticking around.

National Library Week...

...was April 10-16 of this year, with the motto "Create Your Own Story".  CNN acknowledged that librarians are "Masters of the Info Universe" but what really got my attention - made me laugh, but made me sad, too - was Craig Ferguson's opening monologue on the 11th (slightly NSFW):



Craig hit on all the things libraries are facing these days - budget cuts, facilities maintenance, homeless shelters, e-books - and even the sexy librarian stereotype. However, while he always makes me laugh, most of this was rather rueful laughing... followed by a big sigh.  

Also, we know about pants!

Again with the "librarians are frumpy and unfashionable" trend... Leanne Jernigan, who I can only assume is a librarian herself, has created and posted a fabulous, humorous, and pointedly insightful look at librarians in fashion... a major part of the stereotype that just won't die. Yes, it affects us - and yes, we should care whether major fashion houses are pimping "librarian chic" as a style when it blows back on our profession rather... unfashionably.

March was good to me!

March was good to me!, a photo by desertlibrarian on Flickr.

March was very good to me - in addition to the appearance of the Info Pro Handbook, two other articles I wrote were published.

Jake Carlson and I co-authored "Embedded librarianship in the research context: navigating new waters" in C&RL News, and I wrote the introduction to Information Outlook's theme article on librarians and their image, titled "Yes, It Still Matters."

Now I have to figure out what to write next!

I'm in this book!

I'm in this book! a photo by desertlibrarian on Flickr.

"The Information & Knowledge Professional's Career Handbook", by the wonderful Jill Hurst-Wahl and Ulla de Stricker. Jill and Ulla interviewed me for a career snapshot of an active information professional; I'm delighted to have been a part of it.

Spread the Words

Edmonton Public Library has created an amazing PSA about their values and importance to the community. Plus, they have great shirts! Check it out:

Random but Good

Not dead, just crazy busy. Here's a few things to share:

* Seen the Pearls Before Swine comic of January 16th? Those are some serious librarians! 

* Hey, cool! Wil Wheaton thinks librarians are awesome. (Well, we are.) "I beg you: please support your local libraries in any way you can, and if you enjoy reading, take a moment to thank a librarian." Amen, Wil, and thank you!

* I am pleased that I can represent STEM librarians again at this year's WISE conference, "Expanding Your Horizons". It's an honor to speak to young women and encourage them into the sciences, show them that engineering is fun, and get my techy groove on.

Kickass Librarian

I post with no comments other than (1) This is absolutely and smashingly wonderful, and (2) I want to learn the Song of the Cobra.

Expressing My Value

So, I won a contest that I didn't realize was really a contest! Neat. SLA has been running an "Express Your Value" contest, encouraging members to submit videos (or other media type) to share what we do and why it matters - in other words, to express our own value. I had a lot of fun with my video, and was pleasantly surprised when I won the contest!  Here's what I said:



Thank you, SLA, for the opportunity to channel my inner TV ad-man!

Speaking to Truth

Kathy Dempsey over at "The M Word - Marketing Libraries" has written an excellent post titled "Be Clear About the Value You Deliver!" that every librarian needs to read.

Go, now; I'll wait.

Why do you need to read it? Because it addresses the never-ending question of relevance in the Internet age in a better way than I ever could:

"So next time someone asks why you still matter in the age of the internet, answer thoughtfully, using words that will make sense to whomever you're talking with. Otherwise, people will just keep asking the question and never understanding why libraries and librarians are still essential."

Well said, Kathy. Takeaway question: Do you know your applicable org-speak? On pondering, I'm not sure I do. I'll be pondering more, you can be sure.

The Little Librarian... really?

"Be a Real Librarian. Just Add Books!" I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this new toy. I'm all for encouraging reading, but... Hm. As someone who's been obsessively organizing her books at home for years (decades?) this would probably have appealed to me as a kid, but then again, so would a copy of the AACR. Nowadays, I'm not so sure; it doesn't quite represent the modern library anymore. But does that matter, really? This toy is going to appeal to any kid like I was, with a love of books and of categorization, who likes to keep track of who has the books.

(Then again, a gift subscription to LibraryThing would serve the same purpose, I think!)

Another Car Like a Librarian

...Or something like that. With shades of the 2002 Honda ad, the new 2011 Volvo S60 is being compared to a "naughty librarian". At least they acknowledge it's a stereotype:

"You know the sexist stereotype. A supposedly shy, near-sighted librarian, who when given the chance, lets down the hair, doffs the glasses, and becomes the out-of-character 'naughty' librarian.  So by adding more performance, more athletic driving dynamics and less-boxy styling to its “'Naughtiest Volvo Ever' new-for-2011 S60, Volvo wants to throw off its stereotypically staid image and help accelerate the brand’s struggling sales."

Naughty, sexy, car, librarian - yeah, ok. Based on past on-the-spot polls at conferences, most folks don't mind being compared to a great car. Do you?

Don't forget to play!

National Gaming Day @ your library. Join the thousands of folks across the nation (and around the world!) who'll play games on Saturday.

You know you want to!

I Has a Drupal Happy

Today, after a longer time than anyone would have ever thought necessary, I finally took our site upgrade to Drupal 6 live. (Just in time to start planning for 7...) It was an illuminating process, not least of which was learning what password exactly was set for the mysqladmin account (it wasn't any of the ones I thought, and I lost A MONTH over this little wee tiny datum. I can't tell you how gosh-darned smart that made me feel.) Thanks to the patience and digging of my Drupal guru, we got everything migrated and updated and transferred over. Then I - through the power of CSS! - fixed the dramatically-changed template back to the basic layout my staff knows and loves. (That made me feel a bit smarter.)

I am thoroughly pleased with the new functionality in the D6 versions of my modules; I swapped editors to FCKeditor and love it; I'm no longer quite as trepidacious about Views; my image galleries now look nice and streamlined; and my users can now even upload files to the server! (Doesn't mean they will, but at least now they can.)

I am a happy, happy person. (Cary, you rock.)

Why is it always "versus"?

As I've mentioned once or twice before, I've got definite warm fuzzies for people who work in libraries and do library tasks and duties but who may not have an MLS (hereafter known as "paraprofessionals"). Andy Woodworth strikes again with his posting "The Master's Degree Misperception" - his post itself was intriguing in discussing the worth, or lack thereof, of the degree in relation to the tasks done in most (public and academic) libraries. The reference desk got its own particular commentary... and I recall the drama stories I heard both from my mother (at a community college) and a close friend (at a public law library) relating to who manned the desk when and what questions they were allowed to answer, and what they were not. (I never did understand that.)

My own thoughts are that, while I didn't learn anything practical in grad school that I could apply to my jobs (my first professional presentation was titled "Things I Didn't Learn in Library School"), I did learn quite a lot philosophically, and that helped me with the larger questions and exposed me to issues I hadn't been before. When they came up again (as they always do), at least I had a clue of what they were and where to go to get help. But, in day to day life? My MLIS doesn't do a thing for my job skillset, security, or capabilities, nor is it a factor in how my coworkers see me.

What's been reeeeeally interesting is the comments and Twitter discussion. Some folks are gettin' downright feisty about the whole thing. It's been fascinating to watch the flames. I'll be watching this one for a bit.

---

Update September 9th: The conversation continues to evolve.  Emily's responses are well stated, and Kendra had a very good point; I'd rather be out with my patrons (albeit not at a reference desk in my case) than tucked away somewhere, unseen and unknown about.

How do you feel about it?

Over on Will Unwound, Will Manley is hosting a series of guest posters. The first one was Andy Woodworth, of Agnostic, Maybe, and his post is titled "How do you feel about the Librarian Image?"  It was an interesting post about how his attitude towards the inevitable stereotype of librarians has changed - originally irksome, he has "learned to stop fretting and embrace the stereotypes." Here's to intelligent and passionate!

Just as interesting to me were the multitudinous comments, both accepting and dismissive of the stereotypes, including plenty of examples and stories. One subtheme I learned about - being unaware myself as I've pretty much only worked solo - is the intra-library stereotype situation. Much was made of the sexual stereotype as well, and we even delved into pop culture via Project Runway.

As I noted in my own comment, I can only hope that the view changes in the next 25 years more than it has in the last 50... and it's up to us to help those changes along!

Bookworms, Indeed

On August 9th, Jason Smalley mused in a blog posting for American Libraries on the importance (or lack thereof) of the name of the job. In "A Bookworm by Any Other Name," he points out that it isn't always so easy to answer the seemingly-innocuous question, "So, what do you do?"  As another librarian who doesn't work at a library, and as a librarian whose job title doesn't include "the L-word", Jason has some really interesting thoughts on the matter.

When I stopped to think about it, some of what he said rings true for me as well - I almost never get away with saying simply "I'm a librarian," because I always then have to go into what kind of librarian I am, and no, I don't work at the public library, and yes, there are librarians who don't work at public librarians, and yes, there are librarians who spend their entire day working on computers, and....

I must say, however, that I disagree with Jason's statement that he's not a librarian, because he doesn't park his car at a library and "there aren’t thousands of me doing the same job that I do." I think this is just another case where we can stand up and say loudly, "Yes, I am a librarian!"  Yes, many of us do things you don't expect, and there are a whole lot of us who work in places that aren't labeled "library", and there may only be a few who do what we do individually (there certainly aren't a lot of folks doing the same job that I do!).

I hope Jason is able to reconsider his statement of belief. What about you? Do you believe you're a librarian, even if you don't work in a traditional library, or don't have a job title that states such?

Random Librarian Humor

* There is nothing we can't do, including hypnotizing lobsters.

* Bulgari's fall eyewear collection is "fit for a librarian with its tortoiseshell rims and blocky design." Sigh. At least they're "luxurious and stylish" this time around.

* "85 Reasons to be Thankful for Librarians."  Check #15.

* Visit "Three Turtles and their Pet Librarian" on those days when you really can't figure out what to read next. The turtles will tell you.

* Once again it's time to Pimp Your Bookcart!

* Last but not least, I can't believe I didn't post these here! Of course by now you've probably seen them (or at least heard of them), but hey, I can't not put 'em up here. Here are Old Spice and New Spice... now look at them. Now back at me. Now back to them. You're on a cart!

Does your job title get it done?

Thanks to Meryl and Guy over on LinkedIn, I recently read a blog posting at the Harvard Business Review by Bill Taylor titled "Does Your Job Title Get the Job Done?" It got me thinking a lot about the ever-present discussions about job titles - how what we are called impacts so many things. It's a light-sounding article ("Lodestar of the 21st century"? Really?) with a serious focus in the middle.

There are two lines in the article that really got my attention: "Their work truly mattered to them, and how their work got described to the world mattered as well," and "People do their best work when they do work they love — which means it's work that somehow connects with their unique skills, talents, and passions."

Isn't that us? No matter what we're called - and every year the list gets longer - we tend to be in this profession with a passion; because we love what we do. (Sadly, it's not to get rich.) While, yes, I'm one of those people who feels strongly that "the L word" shouldn't be discarded, when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter what we're called as long as we get that job done.

(PS: I am now starting a campaign to get my formal title changed to what everyone here calls me, which is Information Goddess.)

Currently 85° and 63%Rh. Yes, it's monsoon season!

UNT LISSA: The Interview

I was pleased to be interviewed recently by Angel Durr of the University of North Texas Library & Information Sciences Student Association - and she posted the interview today. Thank you for the opportunity, Angel, and for the kind words!

Effing Does Quiet

So, there's this guy, you know? the.effing.librarian. Irreverent, humorous, librarianish, all that stuff. He's also written a really interesting post on the history of "The Quiet Librarian," where he started out looking for the earliest published reference he could find on the shushing thing, and found a whole treasure-trove of information about the early days of librarianship and the never-ending battle with image. In answer to the questions posed at the end of the post, I agree, it's like a pendulum... but my favorite line is the last one:

"Maybe it keeps us interesting. It keeps everyone guessing about us. If so, that's kinda cool."

Indeed!

Not what you think!

Via the amusingly-named blog "How may I shush you today?" via-via @jokrausdu, I'm pleased to bring you a great public service announcement at Ignite Lansing from two staff members of the Capital Area District Library in Lansing, MI:

LSW does Code Monkey

I know, I'm late, but hey! Here we are! (Yes, that's me in the coffee scene, and my son's monkey in the coffee and job scene.) The LSW? Totally amazing group of folks.



Bow down to the LSW! Also bow down to Jonathan Coulton, because really, you just should.

Time for a New Design

I redesigned the blog site using some of the new Blogger templating tools and a CC-licensed Flickr photo from Ken Lund (who takes great photos of the desert). I like it a lot; for anyone who actually visits the blog to read it (rather than via RSS), I hope you like it too.

ObWeatherWoot: Monsoon's coming!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming...

I Went to New Orleans and All I Got Was...

...a great SLA Annual Conference. Plus a helluva lot of humidity...


Now that it's been two weeks since the conference ended, it's time for a recap! Well, not a recap per se - I won't put you through every session I went to - but I will hit some highlights. It was a long conference this year - four and a half very full days - but it was good!

Saturday: Board Meeting #1! This was followed by the 2011 annual conference planner's meeting. 2011 is shaping up nicely! I'm pleased to be working with the divisions that PAM is cosponsoring with, and I'm excited about our sessions. I'm also extremely pleased that the Arizona Chapter is going to be participating in a session next year, with other Western State chapters. We're working out the details now.


Kudos to Khue D for the PAM Early Bird Dinner at Liborio's Cuban Restaurant! It was definitely a leisurely event, but the crowd had fun and the mojitos were amazing.

Early mornings ho - 7:30 meetings almost every day, bleah! The first one was Sunday with the Leadership Development Institute. (I have been developed!) Discussions about the direction of SLA, the upcoming conference, and other activities (Alignment Toolkit, anyone?) were held. More to come at January's Leadership Summit, I'm sure.

Sunday also brought Board Meeting #2 and the interesting opening session, with Mary Matalin and James Carville - they're entertaining speakers but I got the impression they didn't quite have a good sense of their audience. I tell you, though, I could listen to Carville reading a cereal box with that accent and enjoy it...


Monday was full of business meetings, roundtables, the exhibit hall, and a lively book group discussion while the heavens poured buckets and buckets of water on New Orleans. After dashing through the dwindling raindrops we enjoyed the PAM Open House. I missed four other things I wanted to go to - the whole conference sorted out schedule-wise quite well except for Monday at 5:30, when five things collided. One of those things - that I missed - was the West Coast Chapter Reception; I'm proud to say that the Arizona Chapter will be involved with it next year (after we sort out a bit of a name change)!

Tuesday... more business meetings, a co-moderated session on Data Curation, prep with my co-presenter for our session the next day, and a lovely book signing event during the French Quarter networking reception. The ladies in the walking table dresses were fun! And thanks so much to everyone who bought a book and had it signed. I hope you enjoy it!


The big deal Tuesday night was, of course, the IT/PAM/LMD Dance Party - a Masquerade! The turnout was great, the masks in use were even greater, and we closed it down, once more having to shoo folks out at midnight.This is a great event and I highly recommend that everyone just plans on putting it on your schedule!


Wednesday brought the last of the board meetings and a definite decrease in energy - until the adrenaline kicked in for my session "Embed Yourself: The Librarian is IN!" with Jake Carlson of Purdue. We had a good time and gave, if I may say so, a great session - we ran over our time slot with the Q&A session, and we've had a lot of post-conference interest in it as well. This was followed by the jam-packed Astronomy Roundtable - always one of my favorites - and then the closing session with Nicholas Carr. I was intrigued but too tired to argue at this point!

The Kentucky chapter was kind enough to include me in their post-conference celebratory dinner (these people know how to have a good time at a conference, I tell you what) but I pooped out before the Bourbon Street crawl. It was an exhausting week but really good in a lot of ways, and I'm excited to be working on the 2011 conference planning. I'm also continuing to plot library world domination.... mua-hahahaha!

It's not dead yet...

For everyone who keeps saying to me "But I thought that stupid stereotype was dead already!" - no, it's not...

When: May 21 and 23, 2010
Who: Marie at Library Garden and Kathy at The M Word0
What: "Librarian Stereotypes, Alive & Well, Alas." New Jersey's having a hard enough time of it... fooey to Brad Parks! (This post, and others like it, will show him how "unexcitable" Jersey librarians are, heh.) Followed up with "The Stereotypes Do Live On" - with pictures and excellent suggestions from Kathy on response tactics.

So, then, why do people keep working in libraries? The Librarian in Black wondered that, and asked, and got answers... and I love 'em.  Of the top five results, I agree with four of them! (My top one would be "Enjoy the work itself", to be honest.) What are your reasons?

Do you care?

From the LSW room on Friendfeed: "Do you care about stereotypes about librarians and images of librarians in popular media? Or not? Discuss." There's some excellent comments in here, from both sides of the question - and most of them continue to reinforce the thought that the dratted stereotype is far from dead.

But not professional librarian sex...

In case you haven't already seen it: Yes, amazingly enough, librarians (being people just like, well, people) have... sexual thoughts. Read sexy publications. And - gasp! - even have sex! Of course, just asking about this could get you fired back in 1992... just ask Will Manley.

And now for something completely different!

Are we professionals, or not? Ryan Deschamps poses the question, and (amongst many others) 3 Geeks and a Law Blog chimes in. I'm torn - on the one hand I feel I've worked very hard to get where I am, to be able to call myself a librarian... on the other hand there are days when I feel a trained monkey could do my job. (But not with the same élan!) Make sure to read through the comments as well... and then read David Rothman's rebuttal, too.

On reading through Ryan's ten points, I have to admit - they're very good points. #8 (“Accredited Library Schools Do Not Adequately Prepare Students for Library Work") got me - my very first presentation after library school was titled "What I Didn't Learn in Library School." And heaven knows #9 ("Competing Professions Are Offering Different Paradigms to Achieve the Same Goals") impacts me daily... am I a geek in librarian clothes, or a librarian in geek clothes? (Today I'm wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Which category is that?)

Perhaps I'll just stick, for today at least, with "yes."

Celebs Go Librarian!

Short but sweet:

• Spike Jonze wrote and directed a librarian love story with a twist.

• Betty White's gonna play a cranky librarian on "The Middle"!

• Keith Richards always wanted to be a librarian...

Also, keep your fingers crossed for David Hoskins, a librarian competing on Jeopardy this week!

In the "not so much fun as cause for giant worry" column, don't forget that "When one library is in trouble, all libraries are in trouble." Do you have something to share with these grassroots organizers? Use the tag "savelibraries" in your content.

New Info on Rex Libris: The Movie

From James Turner, creator of Rex Libris:

"Mark Burton (Madagascar) turned in a screenplay to Warners for Rex, but they weren't happy with the result. He's out. The search is on for a new screenwriter.

I had a conference call with the producers (Mosaic; they produced Batman Begins, Dark Knight, etc) about direction and possible ideas. No idea how that went. Everyone in Hollywood says they love you, and when everyone says it..."

Keep your fingers crossed!

It's Ada Lovelace Day

Today is Ada Lovelace Day - who is Ada, you might ask? Well, she's the first computer programmer. Today is also an "international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science" - and thousands of folks are doing that over on the Finding Ada site.

Pondering all the women in tech and science I know, who have encouraged or inspired me, is an interesting exercise. As I said last year, choosing just one would be problematic, so what I decided to do is list some of them, with a brief indication of why they inspire me.

• Jan R., then a Captain in an area I probably shouldn't talk about, for encouraging me to go for the Air Force scholarship when I was a junior in high school;
• My mother, for never letting me be afraid of math or science, and for insisting I could do anything I set my mind to. She lived up to that, too, becoming a systems administrator for her library when she was in her 50s. (*That* for anyone who thinks only the young can learn tech skills!)
• Sue H., a systems administrator at MPOW, who deals with hundreds of user accounts and cranky people complaining about access with nary a scream;
• Celine d'O., a laser systems/adaptive optics engineer and dear friend; and
• LeEllen P., a thermal systems engineer, for showing me you can embrace both sides of your brain and still do it right.

There are many more I could mention but I think I'll save them for next year's post. Thank you to every single one of you!

This Book is Overdue!

I'm assuming by now you've probably heard of Marilyn Johnson's "This Book is Overdue!" - a new book about librarians, data overload, and why we are the saviors of the future. I've had several tabs open all week to share about this great new book, but intelligent commentary just ain't happening right now - so here's the links and a promise of more to come!

* Wisconsin Public Radio's "To The Best of Our Knowledge" interviewed Johnson on February 14th - "Marilyn Johnson is the author of 'This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All.' She talks with Jim Fleming about how librarians are emerging as heroes of the digital age because of their love for the written word, free speech and open access."

* "Here's to librarians, saviors of the data-weary." Kim Ode at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune gives a really nice review of the book. I also quite like her line "Yahoo doesn't light up with a smile when we log in, but a familiar librarian will." Amen!

* Jed Lipinski over at Salon.Com also interviewed Johnson, in "Hot for Librarian" on February 21st.  "[T]here's bad news for those of you with a shushing fetish; as Marilyn Johnson explains [...] the uptight librarian is a species that's rapidly approaching extinction."

 * And Tommy Wayne Kramer in Ukiah, CA needs to read Johnson's book; he recently stated in an opinion piece for The Ukiah Daily Journal that we should "save the county, close the libraries." For someone who is clearly proud that he hasn't set foot in a library in ages ("But it's easy to go years and years without visiting a library - I haven't had a library card in a quarter century and can't recall a single time I wished I had one.") he certainly has some strong opinions about what should be done with them. I'm astonished at the negativity in this opinion piece, and depressed that a series of book stores provided support for the piece.


My copy of the book is half-read, and I'm sure I'll have my own review and opinion once I'm done. In the meantime, check it out, rejoice in the spirit in which it's offered, and keep fighting the good fight!

The Library Routes Project, or, How I Became a Librarian

Ned Potter, Digitisation Coordinator at the University of Leeds (bless his patient self), has sent me a few emails regarding his Library Routes project and his CILIP presentations on "Why are we still defined by our buildings?" (interesting concept, that) and "Realizing your potential: rising above the stereotypes". I'm way overdue in recognizing Ned's papers but I really want to take a moment to talk about Library Routes.

I like the idea behind the Library Routes project - to "bring together the thoughts and experiences of Information Professionals on how they got where they are today, and why they chose to work in libraries at all" and, of course, you know my thoughts on stereotypes and how they affect us even today. Reading the perspectives from our UK brethren was really interesting - yet all the stories had the same feel to them as others I've heard. Some folks went right into librarianship (under various names), others took the roundabout way through some more, some less exciting career paths - but they all feel now as if they're in the right place doing the right thing.

My own route to librarianship has its roots in my childhood, and follows a few roundabout ways of its own. My mother was a librarian - everywhere we went in the military she ended up working in a library, so I was surrounded by that all my life. I didn't set out to be a librarian, though - my first job was as an engineering aide (blueprints and concrete testing kind of stuff) and it wasn't until well into my second job that I started getting involved in information management. One thing led to another, I ended up in charge of all the documentation for the project, and then my questing path led me down the street to the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science. I met my most excellent advisor and that, as they say, was that. Grad school was a blast and I've never looked back - I truly feel I'm in the right place doing the right thing, and I love my job as a systems librarian. It's definitely not much like the job my mother did in a lot of ways, but at the base it's the same - getting folks the information they need.

Take a moment, take a read, and join in the discussion at the Library Routes wiki. Thanks muchly, Ned!

What They Said

It's not quite a random collection of stuff today; rather, posts relating to the future (both things to do, and things to dream of):

* AndyW's posting "5 Universal Truths That All Librarians Can Agree Upon Right Now" is, IMHO, danged true.

* Blake's collection of "10 Librarian Blogs to Read" is always good, and I always find one or two more to add to my reader. Check it out, I bet you'll find a few too!

* LJ has a series of video interviews with Marilyn Johnson, author of "This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All," currently on my to-read list. (hi Sally!)

* For the first time in 1600 years, there is again a Librarian of Alexandria. (hi to Mandy, who's lucky enough to work there!)

* I am totally going to be playing around with concept maps.

What will you add in the new year?

Holy Apparition! Also: Say "Thank You"

Briefly, some bits & pieces of interest:

* Jonathan at Zen College Life gives us 85 Reasons to be Thankful for Librarians. There are some good ones in here! My faves would have to be #s 15, 29, 53 and - very important - 71.

* Watch the first-ever Batman episode to feature Batgirl! I love her casual use of library furniture for mayhem.

Musings on 2009

It's the time of year when we all think about the year that's passed, and what may come next year. I've been thinking about my significant events of 2009.

Professionally, it was a very rewarding year. A big event was the publication of my book. I still can't believe that I wrote a book, and that people are reading it! Thank you! I'm sure the SLA Alignment Project will be an equally large part of 2010; it flavored almost all my dealings with SLA events and issues in 2009. I'm going to continue to be deeply involved with SLA; in 2010 I'll be the Chair-Elect for the Physics-Astronomy-Math Division, and will continue as the Information Systems section chair for the Information Technology Division. Although it's in limbo while SLA shakes things out, I hope the Innovations in Technology Committee has a chance to do its thing again too; it was a fascinating process to be a part of last year. And the Arizona Chapter has some big changes coming, too!

MPOW passed some pretty significant milestones, the biggest one being approval to move to construction. (I get to keep my job! Yay!) And I learned a lot with MOPOW (my other place of work); my time with them has come to an end but they provided a large portion of new tech experiences for me in 2009. I had a lovely, stress-free year running our web site with Drupal; in 2010 I'll be taking us to Drupal 6, and then will finally start the migration of our parent organization into it as well. I'm excited! Hopefully I'll also be bringing a new file server online, and upgrade/migrate all our major systems (including our EDMS) onto it.


Personally, it was a more challenging year. I lost my father-in-law, a great guy who is deeply missed. We had a fun quirky less-than-thrilling experience with our first major house repair when the bathroom ceilings fell in. I ended up in the emergency room more times than I'm really happy with. On the up side, though, thanks to some new medications, I'm not getting devastating migraines nearly as often as I used to, so I'm pretty pleased about that. My family continues to be a source of amazement and joy to me. And, hey, I get to keep my job!

I met some great people this year, both in and out of the library world, and I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 will bring in all the arenas of my life. I hope it brings wonderful things to you, too.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou - Feliz Año Nuevo - Happy New Year!

The Calendar for 2010

It's true, it's true! There's another in the long line of calendars that feature librarians available now to order: The Mildly Attractive Men of SLIS Calendar. Brought to you by the Library and Information Science Student Association (LISSA) of the University of South Carolina, it features male librarians in "iconic poses from the history of film." Get yours today!

SysGrunt, or, A Day in the Life of a Systems Librarian

Just, y'know, because. This was actually a fairly quiet (and abnormal) day, as I spent most of it working on just one task... aah, it was nice!


Make coffee.
Email (95 messages)
Spec out a new engineering laptop (mmm, Asus).
Cancel account for no-longer-used web conferencing system.
With help from programming friend, figure out bug in application script.
Web site update.
Tweak bogus registry keys for EDMS system, hopefully to fix a recurring bug.
Document processing (update database, update docs with approval info, share appropriately, PDF, post to web)
Lunch.
Email (32 messages)
Install new software.
More document processing.
Install yet more new software.
Last batch of email (22 messages)
Out.

Thank You, AzLA!

Thank You, AzLA!
Originally uploaded by desertlibrarian

So I put 280 miles on the car yesterday driving to Phoenix to present at the Public Library Division's business meeting at the Arizona Library Association (AzLA). I had a good time, and hope I entertained and informed the attendees; thanks to Mary and the rest of the PLD for having me up!

I then was fortunate to attend a SIRLS reception and boy, howdy, are we everywhere! That was pretty cool, and I met some great folks from the school who I hope to continue conversing with. I guess it shouldn't come as such a surprise to see so many of us there, but it was, and a pleasant one at that.

I'll be joining AzLA; have you joined your state library association?

Librarian Meetup

November Meetup
Originally uploaded by desertlibrarian

Thanks to the folks who came to share a nice selection of beer, some really good pizza, and a great wide-ranging discussion about librarianship at Old Chicago tonight. I hope some of the topics discussed lead to greater things, especially a re-energizing of the Arizona Chapter, and I also really hope some of the tips shared help with job searches.

A tip o'the frosty beverage to Robert, Cindy, Jennifer, Lisa and Leslie, and a hoist for Cindy who was sick, Laura who had dental work, and Joe who was just cold (and, you know, lives in Colorado). Cheers!

Never Forget

Red Poppies for Remembrance
Originally uploaded by Arwen Twinkle

In remembrance of all the veterans in my life, past and present - I thank you.

In honor of today I want to share a memory with you all from a military brat who grew up in the Benelux. I shall never forget the day my brother and I - I was 14, so he was 10ish - made a quick run to the local Delhaize supermarket. A tiny, bent, withered old woman came up to us, hugged us both, and said "Thank you". I asked her what she was thanking us for, and she said "Americans saved my life and my family in the War." Then she hugged us again, and left.

It was so powerful - I mean, of course we learned about the Wars in school, but it was detached, from a textbook - easy to read about and then move on. This woman changed that. After this chance meeting we paid closer attention to the land and structures around us and it was everywhere - we were in a part of the world that had been overrun by armies over and over, where many of the forests still held the dead, and where the old people in our neighborhood had been there since the last time it was battled over. It gave us both new eyes - and new respect - for the rest of the time we lived there.

The veterans of the old World Wars are being replaced by veterans of these new World Wars - never forget what they have done for their country and by extension, for you.

Internet Librarian 2009

I'm doing things a bit differently this year - and a bit later, ah well. I'm not going to summarize everything I went to and everything that happened - there are plenty of places to read about the conference. Instead I'm just going to touch on highlights, things that worked well for me or made me groove. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

• Seafood, every day. 'Nuff said.
• The hotel I stayed at, where I will definitely be staying again.
• Meeting with my mentor Stephen for a nice chat about future possibilities.
  
• The Digital Library Practices track on Monday, especially the session on visualization and virtualization. (Not the same thing at all, but they got put together into one session.) I'm looking forward to trying out Graphviz, the open-source tool used by the UNReno folks.
• The book signing event Monday night!
  
• I really enjoy Paul Holdengraber's passion and humor, and his keynote interview with Erik Boekesteijn was great. (And thanks SO much to the Shanachies for all the streaming video they did throughout the conference!)
• Meeting my Drupal guru in person. At last! You rock, Cary.
• Having lunch - including buffalo artichoke hearts, nom! - with my most awesome book editor Rachel.
  
• Surviving my talk... and actually having folks attend it! (Thank you!)
• Rockin' Battle Decks. I haven't laughed that hard at a conference session in a really, really long time. (and there are too librarians in the desert! Ha!)
• Bluff the Internet Librarian at the closing keynote. Cracked me up - both the way the speakers presented it (quiz show style) and the amazing-but-real things used as the quiz items. Who knew?!?
  
• Last but far, far from least: Library 101. Really, Michael Porter and David Lee King are just amazing in their creativity, and if even a quarter of us can channel some of their energy and enthusiasm for libraries into our own arenas, we will KICK BUTT. (If you haven't seen their earlier video presentation "Hi-Fi Sci-Fi Library", go watch that too.)
  

Farewell for this year, Monterey and IL. I'll see you again next year.

ITI Authors On Parade

ITI Authors On Parade at #il2009
Originally uploaded by libraryman

The booksigning event at Internet Librarian was a blast - what a great bunch of folks to be a part of! Thanks to Libraryman Michael Porter for the photo op... and for buying one of everyone's books!

Thoughts on SLA's Name Change

Once again, the specter of "what does that name mean anyway? Maybe if we change it to something else things will be better" rears its head.  SLA - the Special Libraries Association - is proposing a name change, this time to "the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals".

To say the discussions are running hot would be an understatement. Even the quieter listservs I belong to had over a dozen postings since yesterday, and the larger ones had many more.  A glimpse at the Twitter feed for #slaname will give a decent overview of the hullabaloo. I won't even go into the details of what folks have been saying about the acronym, "ASKPro" - I bet you can figure that out by yourself.

How do I feel? I'm - baffled. If the whole point was to find a name that expressed our profession better, I don't think this one is it. I also have never felt the way to solve the problem with the image of librarians is to remove the word "librarian" from the discussion (but, that's just me, and I admit it). Many of the discussions I've seen include some variation on "What does that mean, anyway?" and to paraphrase a post in one of my listservs, having to define what your name means to your membership = FAIL. I just don't think this is the right choice for us.

It does seem an opportune time to mention a new discussion group called "Libraries Need Librarians", where this topic has been one of the most discussed to date. It's a new discussion group, based on the need to support the role and necessity of librarians. Take a look.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I'm just sayin'.

Call for Nominations: PAM IMA

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division is now calling for nominations for the International Membership Award. The SLA-PAM Division will present this award to a librarian from the developing world; it provides a two-year SLA membership, for the years 2010 and 2011. For complete information, please visit the following web page: http://units.sla.org/division/dpam/manual/awards/pamimadetails.html

Please submit nominations to the co-chair/s of the International Relations Committee (IRC) of the PAM Division (address below) by November 1, 2009. The award will be announced in December 2009. Thank you.

Objective:
The purpose of the award is to provide an opportunity for librarians from the developing world to be an active member of SLA and of SLA-PAM.

Components:

• The award will provide SLA membership, including PAM Division affiliation, for a period of two years.
• The award recipient will serve as a member of PAM's International Relations Committee (IRC) during the term of the award.
• SLA-PAM will fully fund the award recipient's attendance at SLA's annual conference during the first year of the award, including travel costs, lodging, conference registration, and related expenses. Please note: travel to the conference is contingent on several factors including procurement of a visa to travel to the United States. This is the award recipient's responsibility.
• The award recipient will prepare a short report on the state of scientific information/libraries in his/her country, to be presented to the membership at the annual SLA conference either in person or in writing.
• The award recipient will also prepare a final report reflecting on his/her experience with PAM and providing recommendations for future improvements to the award program; this report is to be sent before the end of the second year of the award to the PAM Executive Board and PAM IRC.
  

Qualifications:

• The nominee must reside and work in a developing country and have basic English skills.
• The nominee must be working currently in a library, information center, library school or other information-related capacity, in one of the subject areas related to science and technology. Priority will be given to applicants working in Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics areas.
• The nominee will not have had a previous opportunity to become actively involved in SLA, such as by attending an SLA conference or other professional library association meetings in the U.S.

Nomination Process: Self nominations are encouraged. Nomination documentation should include the following:

• A letter highlighting the candidate's professional career and qualification and explaining why this person should be granted the award.
• The candidate's current professional resume.
• Contact information for the nominee: name, position, business address, and (if possible) email address.

Nominations are to be submitted by 1 November, 2009, to the PAM IRC chair, and the award recipient will be announced in December. Selection will be made by the PAM Executive Board in consultation with the PAM IRC Chair/Co-Chair.

Please submit nominations to:

Mangala Krishnamurthy
Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
Rodgers Library for Science & Engineering
University of Alabama Libraries
The University of Alabama
P.O.Box 870266
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Phone: (205) 348-2109 | Fax: (205) 348-2113 | Email: mkrishna@ua.edu

Or

Kiem-Dung Ta
Co-Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
Oklahoma State University
Edmon Low Library
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078
(405) 744-9743 | Email: kiem.ta@okstate.edu

Guybrarians, machinery & merriment

Not all at the same time, mind you...

* "When I tell people what I do for a living, a now expected look crosses their faces, somewhere between a suppressed chuckle and a barely contained rolling-around-clutching-their- bellies guffaw." Rob Huffman shares his confession about "why he became a guybrarian" and addresses those who make that face at him.

* It sucks to be in Leicestershire UK, where the County Council is replacing all the library staff with automated machines. No, really. Staff is not surprisingly against this decision - 19 of them will lose their jobs over it - but the locals are also pretty upset. What a rotten situation.

* Horror stories (and sometimes happy stories) from the stacks! Check out The Merry Librarian, a new site that collects and shares true library stories (some more wince-inducing than others).

Thank You, SABL!

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of speaking to the Southern Arizona Biomedical Librarians here in Tucson about the librarian stereotype, pop culture, and why it's important to be aware of how we're presented. It was a really good talk, with an energetic and involved crowd, and I had a lot of fun. Thanks again to Cindy for the invitation to join them, and thanks to the SABL folks for sharing their stories with me!

Sterotypical Linkdump

Yes, I know, I need a new name for the "Hey, here's a bunch of articles I found interesting and want to share" pile -

* WestLaw just doesn't get it. "Are you on a first name basis with the librarian? If so, chances are, you're spending too much time at the library." Read the furor and the fallout!

* Today’s Librarian: Hip, Delusional, and Doomed. A well-thought-out and thought-provoking article by Michael Antman, discussing ye olde stereotype, the future of libraries, digital versus print, and so much more. I'm still chewing it over!

* The Librarian Stereotype War. "Can we please just stop debating about the library’s image and what a librarian is and just go out into our community–whether a city, a hospital, or a university–and do what we do best? No more debate will be needed when our community is well-aware of our existence and that *gasp* librarians are people. Who’d have ever thought it, eh?" - Yes, please! I would love for this to be the case, really I would...

* They're called net generation librarians. Librarians in the Philippines tell it like it is!

* It's Not Generational. In a recent NextGen Librarians column at LJ, Erin Silva points out "One of the things I've been pleasantly surprised to learn in my time as a blooming professional is that the generation to which you belong does not determine how forward-thinking you are."

Would any of this be news without librarians?

I'm always cheerful when a fellow librarian gets their name in the paper, but I wonder if there are similar articles out there about, say, lawyers, or police, or other professions?

* Jennifer Garner wanted to be a librarian when she grew up. "...my dream was to grow up to be a librarian, because I had a librarian named Mrs. McCann who I thought was the most magical woman on the planet." (Go, Mrs. McCann!)

* It's hip to be a librarian! "Yes, a librarian can now be anyone -- from your cute neighbor or cool classmate, to that sophisticated babe or handsome hunk."

* Tiny librarian is hell on wheels. "She's petite, she's middle-aged, she's bookish, and if she gets a chance, she'll knock you on your keister."

* Hefting kettlebells, hitting the books. "You know you're not in the average librarian's office when two Apollo brand kettlebells -- one 70 pounds, the other 53 pounds --are positioned directly across the desk."

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

A note: this has nothing to do with librarians, libraries, image, perception, or pop culture. Feel free to skip it if you want.

This week - September 14-20 - is National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. While I'm not a member of the group that's putting on the conference referred to at the website, I am a member of the group of people it targets. In that spirit, here's my blog entry in support of this week.

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: Fibromyalgia

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2006 (formally, at least)

3. But I had symptoms since: the mid-1990s. Several docs diagnosed me with various chronic inflammations. Lots of fun. When it got to the point where I had one doc treating me for seven different chronic inflammatory situations it was conjectured that perhaps, just perhaps, I really did have a systemic issue!

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Mentally accepting there are things I just can't do anymore. I tell you, it makes me so angry sometimes... I'm still working on this step.

5. Most people assume: that it's no big deal, or that I don't really mean it when I say "I'm fine as long as you don't touch me". Really, I do mean it.

6. The hardest part about mornings are: First putting my feet on the floor. Some days I have to really work at making myself to stand up that first time.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: Don't have one, actually.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my Treo!

9. The hardest part about nights are: Getting to sleep, followed by staying asleep.

10. Each day I take 13 pills & vitamins. (No comments, please)

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: absolutely positively believe in and find relief from therapeutic massage & myofascial release. (I wish my insurance company did.)

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Oh, that's a toughie. Having seen how folks react to visible situations in this "enlightened" age, I'd probably stick with invisible. At least I don't get pigeonholed right off the bat.

13. Regarding working and career: I have a great and very understanding boss and team I work with who are totally not fazed if I IM them rather than walking down the hall (because some days that's just tough to do). I can telecommute if I need to, as well. I love what I do and am glad I haven't had to change my career path because of the fibro.

14. People would be surprised to know: how physical I used to be, and how much I miss it.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: See #4.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Put in a new floor. It took a really long time and my husband was really patient!

17. The commercials about my illness: There's a commercial?

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Dancing! Oh, my god, I miss seriously dancing. I still do it - I can't live without it - but now I have to weigh the fallout against the benefits. Sometimes I can't dance more than five minutes - but damn if I'll give up those five minutes. (In my head, though, I live life dancing...)

19. It was really hard to have to give up: Some forms of physical exercise. I miss rock climbing and hiking - I have a great trainer at a great gym but strength and resistance training just isn't the same. I also really, really, really hated giving up learning and teaching bellydance... can't do much of a routine if you can't dance for more than a few minutes at a time. (Dammit!)

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Uh.... damn. No, really, I have hobbies.... let me think....

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Dance dance dance dance dance! Oh, and maybe get a few hours of solid uninterrupted sleep. Yeah, that'd be nice too.

22. My illness has taught me: an incredible new level of respect for my mother, who also suffers but has it much worse than I do (between fibro and diabetes she had to take early medically-necessary retirement). It's also teaching me how to get on with life in spite of it!

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "It's all in your head." Come live in my skin for a day and try to say that again!

24. But I love it when people: Don't judge me if I walk slowly or have to take the elevator instead of the stairs.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: "Hurts if you lie still and do nothing, hurts if you get up and get on with life; might as well get up!" My motto, from something my mother said to me once.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: That this is manageable. It ain't fun, but it also isn't the end of your world.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How much it impacts every aspect of life, and I mean *every*.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: My husband will let me shut myself in our room and just rest, whenever I need to. It hasn't been a "once he did this" thing, either -

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: I've met some amazing folks who also deal with invisible illnesses and they're inspiring. I've found a support group through it. I honor my mother because of it. And I wish the doctors out there who still think fibro is imaginary would learn something more from it.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Nervous! This is the first time I've really put it all out there - my family and friends know, of course, but I feel as if perhaps I'm risking things by sharing this much. But as I said in #29, I've met some amazing folks, and maybe by sharing my own bits and pieces I can be amazing for someone else.

The League of Librarians

Let me just say: BRILLIANT!

I am extra impressed and uber-jealous of the "League of Librarians" covers created by the librarians from Carleton College River Campus Libraries of the University of Rochester, and "kudos to Marc Bollman who came up with the concept, took the photographs, and made magic happen." The Facebook photo album of images is posted to Katie Clark's profile, and I really encourage you to check it out!

thanks to Liz for sharing!

Updated to fix my incorrect library credit; also, the set's available on Flickr so you can see it even if you don't have a Facebook account.

Superheroes & Sterotypes

It's Friday so there must be blog reading!

* A new superhero at Comic-Con? Hmm...

* Cat and Girl does it again with "Long Time Listener". Amen to "it's a start"!!! (via about a half-dozen blogs)

* I am a slacker; I've only just found the Library Leadership Network. (I need to add this great resource to my Information Systems wiki!)

* Just for fun: Non-Wrecky Children's Book Cakes. Beautiful!

* Necessary Science Stuff: Check out Experience the Planets, "our solar system through the eyes of artists" - amazing, amazing, amazing!

3BT: Catchup Edition

Three Beautiful Things, albeit a bit sideways....

1) The wonderful photos in the slideshow at my beloved father-in-law's funeral.
2) Having ceilings in the bathrooms again, rather than large holes.
3) The air conditioner working properly again.

Also, this is my 500th post.

(So, what's been up with you?)

Random Fridays

Bits-n-pieces to end the week!

* More on the forthcoming calendar from the Texas Library Association. (thanks to many!)

* The secret side of happenings at the ALA conferences? (NSFW language)

* I just love precision book cart drill teams, especially ones that channel Marilyn Monroe. (thanks Coleen!)

* Speaking of bookcarts, don't forget that Unshelved's Pimp My Bookcart contest is accepting entries!

Yeah, sorry, that's all I've got for now. More next week! Currently 103° and thinking about rain.

Tattoos and Cartoons

Thanks to Pamela A, who I met at SLA and who then sent me a photocopy of a cartoon that just made me laugh, you too can check out the winners of last year's Caption Contest of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. To the right you can see the cartoon to be captioned; be sure to check out the top suggestions! My particular favorites:

• "Miss Vivian hoped that her 'extreme makeover' would put muscle behind the 'no food or drink in the library' rule."
• "With the entire Dewey Decimal System tattooed on Ernie's body, the library saved a ton of money on costly computer systems."

In other news, the Texas Library Association is at it again with their calendar fundraiser, this time with the "Tattooed Librarians of Texas". Brilliant!