A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette: The Blog

OK, now I put this on my other blog, the one no one knows about. But since this blog is my first and dearest-to-my-heart blog, I must tell all of you about it as well.

My night-time buddy at the reference desk turned me on to this one: A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette: A polite librarian is a good librarian.

These two are truly funny, insightful (oh yeah!) and they really hit the mark each and every entry. I'm tellin' ya! Click the link. Go there. It's worth it. Trust me.

Librarian, Reference and Instruction

Now there's a disturbing trend going on here. Why in the hell would reference librarians want a few specialized dictionaries behind their reference desk? "Did you try some of our online resources?"

Makes me sick. Because, to the student who was seeking stuff to support her paper, the hidden cache of biographical sources in our "reference collection" was exactly that. Just because there's "everything" on the internet? Who're you kidding? A wiki encyclopedia is only as good as its contributers. Just the same as any other reference work. It's all about "evaluation." There has to be real criteria by which to judge these folks, right?

Sometimes you just have to look something up quickly. Just a little something. By the time you've found something online that has what you need, you would've found it in that book behind the desk, and gone for that cuppa Joe at Starbux already.

Why does it have to be this way?

There really IS hope!

This is the end of journalism - Editorial

Well now, this is truly an eye-opener for me. Who knew that kids out there today really are paying attention? I am so tempted to send this to the folks mentioned in this editorial. Especially since I've been known to watch them in the late afternoons when I first get home and try to get some rest before my beloved arrives.

What do you think? Or are you even paying attention to what's been happening to YOUR local paper? Do you even read it? What 'bout your kids? Do they read anything other than what's online?

OK, I'm off the soapbox. [Do you even know to what I'm referring now? What's a soapbox?]

As a librarian in a large "research I" library, I am constantly appalled at the "beligerant in her/his ignorance" I see everywhere. Not just in the student population either. Oh no. Don't get me started.

That Sunset Wedding

Here's the best photo I've got of that wedding a couple of weeks or so ago. You'd never guess there were 15 other folks there, but we were! I hope they don't mind my posting this rather romantic scene...