Posts filed under ‘Uncategorized’
At least its not the roof . . .
I came home from Minneapolis with the thought that I was going to “reorg” my life. I have way too much going on and not enough time or energy to do it all. So I decided that I needed to start thinking about the things that were really important to me and what I really wanted to focus on.
In my effort to do this, I am posting my progress here to keep me honest. I’ve been back from Minneapolis for a little over 2 weeks and I haven’t gotten far. But I have started making lists of all the things I am currently involved in and what those obligations represent in time/ effort/ energy. The next step is to decide which of those I want to continue, which I can gracefully bow out of or fulfill my current obligation and those that I want to stop immediately if not sooner! And this isn’t just about work. It is about valuing my time. And learning to say no, which I traditionally have a hard time doing, especially if its something that I could be interested in or think I SHOULD be interested in.
What I realize is that this is about me being the most productive and useful in a handful of activities, committees, etc and not over-extending myself. As I start training for 3 sprint triathlons this summer, I don’t need obligations weighing me down!
Help keep me on track! If you have suggestions or want to follow the progress, I think I might try to revive my personal blog to keep track of the reorg as it goes.
(I actually started this post last night when I couldn’t sleep and I was trying to type it on my iphone. At 3:30 in the morning, when it was not working I thought that I couldn’t be more frustrated!! I realized, though, that at least what was keeping me up was this plan I had for reorganizing my life and not the roof at the library!)
You can never guess what will offend someone
While in Minneapolis for PLA I had an opportunity to visit the Minneapolis Public Library and I picked up one of their t-shirts. The back of the one that I bought reads: “If a public library is doing its job, it has something in it that offends every single person.”
What are the first things you think about when you think about “offending” someone in the library? Popular controversies are things like Harry Potter, comics and graphic novels in libraries, unfiltered internet access, etc. The usual intellectual freedom issues.
Each year we have a Dr. Seuss story time at the beginning of March, in conjunction with Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’s birthday. This year we had 2 elephant shaped pinatas, to go with our “Horton Hears A Who” theme. The kids had a great, if sometimes difficult, time getting into the darn things!
However, I recently heard from a board member that a parent who attended with their child mentioned that they were disturbed by the pinatas. Because we were
“teaching children that its ok to hit animals with sticks.”
Who knew that of all things in my library what would offend someone would be pinata?!?! Of course, I have the usual fears that I really did misstep with this one. I’m not a parent and I don’t think I would be offended by something like this. I talked to number of other parents who attended and they told me they were not offended, nor would have even thought about being offended. But I recognize that not everyone has the same outlook!
Its a great reminder that it isn’t always the most obvious thing that will offend your library users or the public you serve . . . it really can what you thought was the most innocuous thing. It could be a pinata!
Return of the ‘Prodigal’ Blogger
I just wanted to write and thank my Library Garden fellow bloggers for taking me back! I always enjoyed and wanted to continue being a part of this great community but for a variety of reasons, it wasn’t the right time for me.
But I hope that this time will be different! And special thanks to Amy Kearns for twisting my arm to return!!
I’ll be posting again soon with some notes from Minneapolis!
Glad to be back and thanks again!
LG Turns Two!
It’s our “blogaversary” and we didn’t even know it until several of us were sitting in a hotel bar at PLA unwinding after a busy day of conferencing and presenting. I mentioned that I thought it was during the last week of March that we officially started Library Garden, so Pete grabbed his laptop to verify the date. Lo and behold, it was on March 28th that Pete posted the intro post and I quickly followed with my thoughts on Sharing:It’s the New Black.
It was not planned, but what a happy coincidence that several of us could share a celebratory drink and photo op on the occasion of Library Garden turning two [more photos on flickr]. We just wish that Ty, Cynthia and Robert could have been with us and the event would have been perfect (but we did raise our glasses to those who remained behind in Jersey).
We are also celebrating our anniversary by announcing that Karen Klapperstuck of Bradley Beach Public Library will be returning to the blog team. Karen blogged with us in our early days before taking a blogging sabbatical. We are so thrilled that she will be joining us to once again share her insights on running a small public library.
I also want to extend my gratitude to all the members of LG, both past and present, for so richly enhancing my life for the last two years with thought-provoking posts, professional support, timely advice and (most importantly) friendship and fun.
Pete Bromberg: More Than Meets The Eye!
I am honored to be the one to announce on behalf of the entire Library Garden crew that our own Pete Bromberg has been chosen as one of Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers for 2008!
We are so proud and happy to congratulate Pete on his wonderful and well-deserved designation as “Transformer” for the library community!
In his role as a Transformer, Pete has spearheaded many projects for the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative while delivering “state-of-the-art” trainings and programs. He is also a fearless leader here at the Garden and never fails to inspire us, whether with his posts or in our conversations.
Pete is in excellent company as a Mover and Shaker, as you can see from the list compiled here. Personally, I want to congratulate Pete and thank him – in many ways I would not be where I am today if not for him. We are all so pleased for him to receive national recognition for all he has contributed to librarianship here in the Garden State and across the country. Never one to toot his own horn, Pete is truly a self-less person “hard-wired with a built-in desire to help,” and it’s lucky for all of us that he is!
Cheers, Pete! You truly RAWK!
Don’t reprimand me too harshly for doing this! š You deserve to be celebrated by all! š
Announcing āA Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trendsā Conference August 4-5, 2008 to be held in Denver CO
Exclusive scoop! Library Garden is pleased to proclaim this exciting news!
The Reference Renaissance conference website just went live and hereās the link to the call for participation with submissions due by April 4, 2008. I am honored to be chairing the conference program, and to be in on the ground swell (dare I say movement?) that is bringing this conference to life.
The Reference Renaissance is sponsored by BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research) and RUSA (Reference and User Services Association, ALA). BCR’s dynamic President and CEO, Brenda Bailey-Hainer is chairing the conference committee. The committee is a group of vibrant library professionals who recognized the vacuum that was created when the Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) series of 7 conferences ended in 2005. The Reference Renaissance conference fully embraces and builds on the legacy of the expanded VRD mission to create a forum of LIS professionals, researchers, and students to explore all the facets of today’s reference service array, including traditional and virtual reference environments.
I believe that reference and information services are far from moribund and are undergoing an incredible, rapid, and revolutionary transformation. Our title āReference Renaissanceā was taken from an editorial by Diane Zabel, in RUSQ, in which she wrote of a āresurgence of interest in referenceā and that āreference is experiencing a regeneration, a reference renaissance.ā
I am thrilled (alright, downright ecstatic actually) that one of the inspirations for her editorial was the reference retreat I spoke at and helped to organize at the forward looking Penn State University Libraries last summer.
Mark your calendar and please think about attending and/or submitting a proposal for a paper, panel, workshop or demonstration! As noted above, all submissions are due to me by April 4! If you are interested in becoming involved in the conference planning activities, please e-mail me ASAP at mradford@scils.rutgers.edu. We are eager to hear about how you and your library are embracing the Reference Renaissance!
By Monday, all your favorite listservs will be carrying e-mail announcements about the Reference Renaissance conference, but you (well-informed reader of the Library Garden Blog that you are) can say you already know about it š Please help us to spread the word!
Results on FaceBook U.S. Citizen Test
At some point in the future it is highly likely that I will take the test and become a U.S. citizen. So when I saw the U.S. Citizen Test on FaceBook yesterday I decided to take it just for some fun (and to see if I will need to study). What I really liked about this test (besides FaceBook telling me that I got 95% correct) is that it gives a nice little plug for “the local library” — a message that must go to everyone, whether you pass with flying colors or fail.
Carnival of the Infosciences #88: Call for Submissions
COTI is back in the LG!It has been well over a year since we last hosted a carnival and apparently I should have put up this call for submissions last Sunday since the carnival is now bi-weeekly. My apologies for missing that detail — I was actually proud to be up early on a Sunday posting this and it turns out I am still late.
Not to worry though as I have complete faith that the info carnies will be out in full-force with lots of submissions and sending us links to great blog posts from last week as well as this week!
This edition will cover all posts from January 21st to February 3rd and submissions will be accepted until 6 pm on February 3rd. I am up in northern Vermont on a ski trip all week so I am sure I will enjoy reading all the submissions by the fireplace after a day on the slopes.
You can send entries to janieh at gmail dot com or you can use the Carnival Submission Form.
Thanks for participating and keeping the Carnival going!
I am Napster’s B*tch
I feel like such a chump. I feel like I just went back into an unhealthy relationship and, despite my hopes that things will be better this time around, I know it will all be the same.
I went back to Napster. Iām giving them a second chanceā¦
I know, I know what you are going to say to me. You left Napster eight months ago because of the way it treated you! Theyāre going to treat me the same as before. Napster is still going to put those programs into my computer and mp3 player. It is still going to pseudo-forbid me from using players b/c it likes to be controlling. Itās still going to make me link to it once a week, because Napster always wants to know what I am doing (it is jealous of me using other programs).
But, canāt you see that Napster was good to me price-wise?!And Iāve tried to break the habit. Iāve used other music programs and, although friendly at first, all they really wanted to do was get deeper into my pockets. I even tried buying individual albums, but that only made me realize how much money I was spending and how much I was still missing out.
Iām sorry, but I had to go back for something that was going to offer me better financial stability. If not for me, for the childrenā¦ Birthdays are coming up for crying out loud. Do you want me to get them nothing!?
So, okay Napster, you got me back. I hope you are happy. You will see me linking my mp3 player to you and letting watch who Iām listening to, but that doesnāt mean I love you!
Advocate in 2008 – Wait, don’t tune me out!
You might think this doesn’t really apply to you, or that it won’t really affect you, or (most likely) that you do care but you don’t have time for it . . . but the truth is, we all must be advocates for libraries all the time, especially here in NJ, and what better time than 2008?
2008 provides us with the easily rhyme-able number 8 and is a “great” year that provides us with many ways to call for action:
Advocate in ’08!
Be Great in ’08!
Communicate in ’08!
Demonstrate in ’08!
Personally, I really love all of these, but we have to do much more than just come up with cute rhyming mottoes.
I know you have been bombarded with information about contacting Governor Corzine’s office to request that the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative (NJKI) be fully funded. As you probably know, NJKI was funded for $3 million dollars. Then, it lost $1 million of it’s funding. If it isn’t fully funded we will lose it on February 29. BUT PLEASE, stick with me here.
By now, you have all seen this:
Special Message from New Jersey Knowledge Initiative staff:
“Access to RefUSA (and other databases) may end on February 29, 2008 due to a cut in state funding for the NJ Knowledge Initiative. To help keep this resource for NJ, please call Governor Corzine’s office at (609) 292-6000 and ask that the Knowledge Initiative be fully funded for 2008.”
You might not think it really matters if you call. You may think this really isn’t your fight – that this is for the State Library and for NJLA and Pat Tumulty and others to do. Well, this IS all of our fight and making a phone call DOES matter and only takes literally about two minutes.
You pick up your phone and dial the number. Someone answers. You literally say, “I am calling to request that the Knowledge Initiative be fully funded.” The person says okay I’ll put down the message. You say thank you and hang up. THAT IS IT. I’m not kidding. I don’t mean to be condescending, but sometimes it is the simplest things that we don’t do.
For those of you who have placed the call, and I know there are many of you, thank you! I also appreciate everyone who has echoed my testimony that this is a very quick and simple thing to do.
Does it matter if you do this or not? Well, yes. They are counting all the calls. I personally have always believed that one person can make a difference. I can’t promise that your call will be the one to put us over the top, or that this phone campaign will definitely work, but I personally would feel terrible if I didn’t call at least once and we lost the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative.
Do you know what NJKI is?
There is information here. There is also an article from the Daily Targum that is very informative here. Also, SJRLC Connections provides a lot of good information. You can find information from NJLA and the New Jersey State Library.
You might think if you don’t work in or use an academic library, a special library, a scientific or business environment or governmental agency that this doesn’t matter. If you work in a public library, you probably use and know the popularity and value of at least ReferenceUSA. If you work in a school library you may not use the resources of the NJKI. Does this mean you don’t need to call? No, saying that this isn’t a resource you use and so you can ignore these pleas is like the old refrain, “First they came for the Communists, but I wasn’t a Communist so I did nothing.” We all know how that ends. (I know, it’s controversial and possibly incorrect, but….you get my meaning here.)
Now, I am not picking on school libraries – many school library staff have called, and this may sound extreme, but if we do not learn how to, and commit to, doing a better job of speaking up about our value, we literally will not be around anymore.
Even after this NJKI challenge passes – whether we win or lose – there will always be other issues to face. Please think about the ways in which you can become a true advocate for libraries in 2008.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to say Celebrate in ’08 and beyond!
Library Garden 