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!