I left the Library today for 7 weeks leave. I have worked there full time for 13 years. I start my PhD studies in two weeks. This is what was on the radio as I pulled away: If there’s one thing in my life that’s missing It’s the time that I spend alone Sailing on the cool and bright clear water Lots of those friendly people And they’re showing me ways to go And I never want to lose their inspiration It’s time for a cool change I know that it’s time for a cool change Now that my life […]
Categories News & Life Updates
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Blake rocks! http://www.lisnews.com/article.pl?sid=04/05/17/0729248 This is a good one. SPL probably is the first library of the 21st century and will set some standards for study and emulation for years to come. Read the piece at the New Yorker. It fired me up big time this am as I sit at Panera! Lordy! I love libraries!!
When I discovered LISNews, I wanted to teach everyone at SJCPL how cool it was to get all that news and info in one place. I’ve been evangelizing it for over a year… Now, we need to give back a bit! Blake needs some assistance with server costs. Read about it here and donate what you can! Back in the day, I was the list owner for Enchanted: the Stevie Nicks Mailing list and I had to ask for donations a few times to pay for server space etc. The support was overwhelming! So I totally understand how important it […]
Ok icontemplate, I’m in. A bit of verse that Stevie eventually turned into a song about the AIDS crisis: And walking through the room together In suspended animation No one saw us go – No one said goodbye And from my heart I leave behind Great expectations And that you find the answers to your questions And that life will once more be a celebration And that you will be touched by an angel Stevie Nicks
I have mixed emotions for sure but I am now the “proud” owner of a Sony VAIO laptop that meets the UNT Tech specs for our PCs. What a learning curve! I’ve used Apples and Macs since I was at IU in the 80s… and now… It’s good to be biplatform! Thanks to the ladies of the cohort who gave me good advice and nudges!! PS: To offset my guilt, I ordered a decked out PB 17″ to replace my older one!
Dale Prince, who I blogged about a few days ago, e-mailed this question and I responded: Dale asks: Hey, do you consider yourself to be a Next Gen librarian? The criteria seems to be Gen X or Gen Y. Coupland, I believe, puts people born between 60 and 72 in Gen X. I tend to agree with that assessment since the 60s and 70s are not watershed times for me. The eighties were my defining moments, I think. What about you? I have wrestled with this. I will be 39 in a few weeks. Sometimes I think I’m over the […]
While in the greater Chicagoland area, after my Dominican lecture, I zipped down to Western Springs, IL and dropped in on Aaron at Thomas Ford Memorial Library. NICE library. Friendly folks. Cool Technology… or shall I say, they have some sexy wifi and an official library IM presence. Well done. Aaron and I go to chat about libraries and conferences over dinner with his wife Kate. We had a great time at CIL this year and I hope we are all together for IL this year as well. Here’s a gallery…. (Oh..and I got to meet Mao!)
Yesterday, I drove back into Chicago to Dominican University to speak at Prof. Bill Crowley’s Public Libraries class. What fun! What great students. We had three hours of engaging discussion about technology in public libraries from OPACS to RFID and back again through blogs, RSS and building tech-spaces. One of the women in the class mentioned libraries wanting to have the sexy technology because it was cool. Oh yes! Technolust! What a great way to describe it: sexy. RFID is sexy. WiFi is rather sexy. Federated searching? SEXY! I was impressed with the student’s questions – one about copyright stopped […]
I have not mentioned the biggest thing happening in my life yet because I wanted to give a little time to thinking about new directions and life changes. My big news though, which came to me the day I got back from CIL: I have applied to and been accepted into the first distance independent PhD program for Information Science out of the University of North Texas. The program will begin in June with a few days on campus and then will be Web-based with cohort meetings a couple of times a semester for 2 years. I thought long and […]
Yesterday was our annual Open Book Festival at SJCPL. There were activities, authors and fun! The coolest thing was the appearance of spooky author Jonathan Rand, who resides Up North. He even wrote a book set in Traverse City! This is an excellent example of what libraries can do to promote reading of course but also to promote the library as meeting place and social center. Well done Open Book Committee!! Here’s Dana and Lori with the Man himself!