Local library blog to follow: Library Lady.

Updating the Ol' Blog for the New Year

Every so often, I get tempted to move this blog to one of Blogger's snazzy new templates. There are lots of widgets that make editing and moving all that sidebar stuff easy. We used it for the wedding blog, and I use it at work - it's nice. When think about doing it, I get to the part that reminds me that I can't transfer any of the stuff currently in the sidebar, and I give up the idea. I don't feel like doing all that.

What I can do is say farewell to retired blogs (bye-bye, Ref Grunt! Best wishes, Juice [who actually has a non-liberry blog, now]) and add a few new finds.

I've been laughing along with Miss Information for a while, but never had a quick link before. The Swiss Army Librarian is a newish discovery. The 12/14 week post finds him grappling with the ever-popular reply, "I can't show you how to do something illegal."

"What I Wasn't Taught in Library School"

Here's a good wish-we-had-learned blog.

I clicked over there because of the book repair story. Since I went to library school wanting to be an archivist or museum librarian, I took a proper Conservation class. I recall disagreeing with my classmate and pal who worked in a NoVa public library. She'd try to explain to the instructor that of course it makes sense for a public library to slap some everyday tape on books and magazines. And I thought, But no! Even your copy of Green Eggs and Ham deserves treatment with archival supplies: it will last longer and therefore save money! It took only a few weeks' real-life experience to see that, really, it makes no sense to spend that kind of time and money on a disposable collection. Make a repair that will suffice. We're not collecting for All Times, here. Let kids chew on that Dr. Seuss for a few years, then buy a fresh one. By the time the hinge tears on that Grisham, it's probably not circulating enough to bother with.

Now, back when I was in the museum bizz, that's when I learned about another poster's point: wear machine washables! Hmm, and then there's the plumbing one. Now, I haven't learned that trick, but working at summer camp afforded me lots of opportunities to clean up icky messes, including taking a plunger to the toilets at the dining hall.

If I often draw on skills from beyond library school, is there something I wish I had learned during that fun-filled year? Resume coaching? How to say "no" to resume help and school paper proof-reading?? I'll have to think on this one.

What She Said (Blogging)

Yeah, that's about it - this blog is a place to park ideas and try new things. See Christina's LIS Rant.

Misc.

Does observing Banned Books Week put you on pins and needles? Uncomfortable about starting those difficult conversations: "Well, sir, at the public library we believe people can read whatever they like, even if it's the political opposite of what you believe"? Then turn to Dewey's Bland Books Week!

Speaking of observances, it's also Mental Illness Awareness Week this week. You might mark it like the commenter on this blog (anon. who posted at 1:31 pm) by affirming your good works with the mentally ill.

xkcd.com

Balancing the Collection

If Society for Librarians Who Say . . . and similar blogs bring you down, try Library Lemonade. (via Library Stuff)

Because it can't all be about libraries, how about "A gathering place for nerdy women"? (via NotMartha)

A sweet patron hoped to make my day by pointing out the TD's Easter slide shows: the parade and the Stations of the Cross and Good Friday ones. We did not parade this year. :-(

Watching: A BBC "Robin Hood" series.
Reading: 700 Sundays, by Billy Crystal

Collection of Librarians in Lit, Pop Culture

Here's a swell little website. I recommend the Clark Gable - Carole Lombard talkie posted on 2-18.

Librarians and Tax Forms...

... the t-shirt.

Also noteworthy, this library LJ from Marky-Mark.

Cool Stuff

From library blogs. (I started with this list of top LIS blogs.)

One Minute Critic.
Book by Its Cover.
RSS explained; hints offered.

**** this list interrupted by the 17 year-old who was mad that we block MySpace. "This liberry wack." "Sucks." ****

New Friends Teach You New Tricks
(I Hope)

Okay, thanks to peer pressure from Vampire Librarian, I am joining LibraryLinks. I think I figured out how to get Flickr to host the LibraryLinks logo and how to write the html for that. The list of participants (which was just cut-n-paste) looks kind of weird on Firefox. I'll have to open Explorer and see if it's better that way.

By the way, the VL has two interesting links to stapler sites. I thought our patrons take their right to staple seriously: others have whole wikis devoted to the subject. For the record, at my branch we let them staple, have a paper clip or two in moderation, borrow the scissors, borrow pens, and take some tape. I get a little begrudging about highlighters and white-out. Sometimes pens don't come back, but then again, so many are left behind, we're Even Steven.

Random Question: If "metadata" is data about data, what's a blog about blogging?

Capital City weather: hot, humid, drought-like. Have I made the joke about September being the fourth month of summer, lately?
On the Muzak at Ukrop's: "Voices Carry"
At the Byrd: Johnny Depp as Pirate, III

Online Education Database ranks library blogs, here. I read, like, two of those.

For now, I'm not so into people Musing About the Profession, networking, and positioning themselves. I like funny ones. I like ones that make me say, Yeah, that happens to us, too: glad we're not alone! And, in a way, I do learn stuff from those, in that the stories of others often model ways (good and not so) to handle crazy (yet typical) library situations.