2010
7
Jul
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14 Comments
Tryin’ to Get My Mojo Workin’
Muddy Waters, can you help me get my mojo working? by Emily Ford I have a problem. Several months ago I realized I’d lost my librarian mojo and since that time I’ve been struggling to reclaim it. Being the person that I am, I have been hyper-analyzing my mojo loss. I have been disenchanted at... Read More
2010
23
Jun
The Fiske Report
by Ellie Collier Introduction I have a soft spot in my heart for library history. I credit my library history classes for making me the academic librarian I am today. They taught me more about critical thinking, how to do research, and how to navigate an academic library than the rest of my program combined.... Read More
by Kim Leeder Summer Interlude Three years, twenty committees, twelve hundred instruction sessions, forty thousand monograph purchases, and half a million reference questions later, I’m at the point in this librarian job where I have enough experience to know how to get things done, and also enough to wonder, “What exactly am I doing?” The... Read More
by Selden Lamoureux and Hilary Davis When I asked Selden Lamoureux, Electronic Serials Librarian at the North Carolina State University Libraries, “what are the most challenging issues for electronic serials librarians today?” we launched into a fascinating conversation about a topic that hits at the core of what it means to work in library acquisitions... Read More
by Brett Bonfield A few months back, someone emailed In the Library with the Lead Pipe asking if we could recommend an online course that could give her an overview of library responsibilities. She was about to start working at a K-12 school and, though she had no library experience, part of her job included... Read More
2010
28
Apr
Editorial: Conference this! Lead Pipers compare conference experiences
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... Read More
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... Read More
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... Read More
2010
17
Mar
Déformation Professionnelle
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... Read More
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... Read More