In the Library with the Lead Pipe – Page 27 – An open access, peer reviewed journal

As library travel budgets are increasingly slashed around the country, it’s a tough time for conference-going. In this group post, we compare notes about the conferences we’ve attended, which have been our favorites, and why. We hope this will generate creative ideas on good conferences (online or in-person) to look forward to, and maybe offer...

by Cindy Welch Brooke Shields is a descendant of Louis XIV; Emmett Smith is seven percent Native American; and Matthew Broderick’s ancestor fought at Gettysburg. We learn these things courtesy of a new television show called “Who Do you think You Are?,” which follows the rich and famous as they trace their family trees. For...

by Eric Frierson Librarians are always struggling to convince someone of something: convincing voters to say ‘yes’ to a library bond; persuading a library director to invest in a text-messaging reference tool; trying to get students to use library resources instead of Google. One of the most effective ways to be successful is to learn...

by Hilary Davis Déformation professionnelle is a French phrase, meaning a tendency to look at things from the point of view of one’s own profession and forget a broader perspective. It is a pun on the expression “formation professionnelle,” meaning “professional training.” The implication is that all (or most) professional training results to some extent...

by Ellie Collier A review of How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer I play Magic. It’s a fairly complicated card game which calls on many of the same skills needed for games like chess or poker. Poker has suits, Magic has colors. And I hate playing black. Unlike other colors, when I play a black card I...

by Robyn Vittek Have you ever noticed how many special events there are in library-land? National Library Week, Read across America Day, Teen Read Week, National Poetry Month, National Children’s Book Week—it becomes difficult to keep track! As much fun as it would be, it’s pretty much impossible to celebrate or even acknowledge each and...

Throwback Thursday for February 12, 2015: Take another look at Heather Davis’s article on the ACRL Standards from 2010. Stop back on February 25th for a critical information literacy perspective on the new Framework from Ian Beilin. by Heather Davis Picture it, a higher education institution, 2009. The sun is shining. It’s a warm summer day. Your iced coffee...

by Sara Seely Recently I was lucky enough to come across the publication of a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in 2005 to a group of wide-eyed graduates from Kenyon College. While it’s difficult to sum up what one takes away from a four-year-degree, this particular rumination helps to qualify the value of...

by Kim Leeder During the last few frenzied weeks of the academic semester last month I came across an article I reviewed quickly and put aside, but which has lingered in the back of my mind despite the fact that I can’t seem to find it again. Essentially, as a I recall, the article addressed...

All I want for 2010: Brief notes about practical or totally pie-in-the-sky ideas for things we’d like to see happen in our libraries, in libraries in general, or in the profession We thought the New Year would be a good time for us to get together and do another group post; what do we want...

Editorial: Conference this! Lead Pipers compare conference experiences

Making Connections: YAAN as a Paper Blog?

Making it their idea: The Learning Cycle in library instruction

Déformation Professionnelle

The Importance of Thinking about Thinking

Teen Tech Week: Create, Share, Learn @ Your Library

Critical Literacy? Information!

What water?

Vision and Visionaries: A Whole Bunch of Questions to Start off 2010 (As if you didn’t have enough of those already)