NexGen Librarian

2005-12-11T11:14:00.000-05:00

Topica Lag

Todd Michael Grooten asked recently on NEXGENLIB-L about possible noticed lag time. I personally have noticed that there have been major lags in time between when messages arrive and what they are actually time-stamped for. Such has been getting annoying as 2005 winds down to a close.

Have you experienced a time lag in posting to NEXGENLIB-L? Please share in comments. This helps bring together observations relative to the Topica back-end that might be able to be acted upon.

2005-11-12T06:56:00.000-05:00

Everything I know about doing reference I learned on the job

For all of you new reference librarians just starting out on the job, here's something I recommend: ask your new supervisor to take you up and down every aisle of the reference stacks and show you his/her favorite reference books. These books will curb your overreliance on Google, and give you further ammunition against those who would say "if it's not on the Internet, it must not exist!"

If your supervisor is a seasoned librarian, particularly the kind who loves doing reference, this request will impress. This will also get you in the know about any localized resources - tax maps, county documents, evacuation plans - that you wouldn't have otherwise known about, especially if you aren't from the area.

Then, take it a step further: every day, pull 5 reference books you've never seen before, spend about half an hour looking them over and making notes about their scope and what kinds of information requests they might be good for. Keep a log, and organize it by Dewey number. This is how I found hidden gems like a book on how to pose taxidermied animals so that they looked natural, a book of old treasure maps from the Library of Congress, and instructions on how to construct a hamburger-shaped bed, complete with pickle pillows.

Not that anyone ever ended up needing these things, but if they had, I'd have known where to go!

2005-11-09T08:36:00.000-05:00

A Simple Question

What are folks in the NexGen crowd who happen to be librarians in academia writing so as to meet tenure requirements in the realm of publication? I am curious.

2005-11-01T18:04:00.000-05:00

Elsewhere and Away, Response

My friend and colleague Elizabeth Burns, a branch manager here at OCL, drafted this response to my earlier post, then deemed it too complex to be "just a comment." So here it is in guest-contributor form:

Christine raises many excellent points; it seems to boil down to what do you expect from a job? What does the employer expect from you?

In terms of expecting something from a job: while it is very difficult to believe when you are in the midst of a job search, particularly when its hard to find a job, interviewing goes both way; it's not just selling yourself to an employer. It's deciding whether that job -- and that library and that community -- is right for you. And none of us have a crystal ball so sometimes it seems like its the right decision, only its not. It happens, its life. Sometimes people don't know they are city people until they aren't living in a city. Or other unexpected things happen, and a person moves. It happens.

But what if the employee is thinking, this is my year's experience? And when a job better suited for me comes along, I'll go for it?

Well, what's wrong with that?

Why an employer would care: because interviewing you costs. If there were relocation expenses they paid, that costs also. It's not cheap to do a job search, and most want you around for more than a year. It's an investment, an investment in a person, and they want that to pay off. And part of that investment is training: in how that library does things, in that library's culture, in a variety of things.

I think if an employer has too many people who don't stay around... they will look at why and use that when interviewing. Even if they don't want to admit to it. The person "there" will stay, they think.

From an interviewee perspective: you don't want to lie. But you don't want to misrepresent, either, because it will make it harder for the next person. Be frank and honest, but without giving too much information. For some things... you don't know until you've been there. And, even if you are thinking any job is better than no job -- this is your life. Where you will be living. Is it a job and life you want? Ask a lot of questions, explore around the library and the community.

And from the employer perspective: the times, they are a-changing. Don't expect that any employer is a "lifer." Don't hire expecting that; hire with something more realistic in mind. Yes, employers hate interviewing and training because they view it as taking away time and money from the “real” job. And it does cost money. But employers have to be realistic. The interviewee is honestly just looking for job experience....but to be honest, as an employer, your dream is to never have to interview again for 20 years because you’ve built the perfect team. That’s a dream. But realistically? It’s a position to fill, and you are looking for someone to fill that job right now, today, someone who will be competent, and to stay for a year or two. Financially, I'm not sure what in the library world the "recoup" time is, when an employer "breaks even" for the investment in a new hire. But that's the time frame that should be looked at, and looked at realistically. So that after a year or two, its not all sighs and gnashing of teeth. It’s a congratulatory handshake and good feelings all around because both of your realistic expectations have been met. And since the good feelings exist both ways, both sides have positive networking going on : the person who left after a year or two, knowing the library’s culture and community lifestyle, may know someone who wants that out of life.

But its only a year or two, an employer may be saying. Not enough time…. As I said, be realistic here about today’s job force and market. It’s not 20 years ago, or 10 years ago. People in all areas, not just libraries, aren’t looking at jobs for life. And don’t forget the benefits : new people, whatever their age, bring something valuable to the job. They bring a different perspective, new ideas, fresh ways of looking at things. Yes, you're getting just a year or two from that person, but it could be an awesome 2 years that are well worth it.

What does it mean that that person leaves after a year or two? Yes, you have to do the job search again. But guess what? This person left; he/she could have left for a variety of reasons. In the year 2005, there are no more "lifers". The person leaving may be the local person who has decided they want something different; the person from out of state may fall in love with your part of the country and put down roots.

So is retention important? Yes; but I do think employers need to reexamine realistic expectations for retention.

2005-11-01T07:32:00.000-05:00

Elsewhere and Away

Because of this supposed librarian shortage, you're told that you shouldn't be unwilling to relocate. But have you ever gotten the feeling that some of those out of town libraries are rejecting you because you're from elsewhere?

This is a conundrum for young librarians and employers both. Some geographic regions simply can't retain any young employees whom they might entice from away, because of the cost of living, the salary, or the sheer lack of amenities that young people (particularly city young people) are used to. Why, might you ask, would such a young librarian apply for such a job in the first place?

Well, we need the experience.

I bring this up because I've quit my job at Ocean County Library in New Jersey, where I came a year ago from Cleveland. I quit because of a combination of the above qualities -- ultimately, I am a city person and need to be somewhere urban. OCL actually loses a fair number of new people from elsewhere. Does that mean they, and other libraries who face this problem, should stop hiring new people from elsewhere? Part of me wants to say yes, but part of me wants to say, there are so many new MLS graduates out there who would just like some experience, and you have that to give. Is retention so important?

2005-10-30T07:03:00.000-05:00

TV and the Reference Librarian

Ask Nettie Day - she knows how an appreciation of TV is important to our work as reference librarians. I especially like the suggestion that a well-placed TV analogy can be used to deflate the irate. I've personally only used Star Wars and Harry Potter analogies in my professional life, but the Simpsons and Nanny 911 will undoubtedly be making an appearance soon.

I would add, too, that a solid background in daytime TV and late night infomercials can't hurt either, because patrons call the reference desk asking for books they've seen on infomercials, or information about gadgets they've seen on infomercials, or about loan companies that advertise during Judge Judy whose deals seem too good to be true. So turn those sick days and sleepless nights into professional development opportunities, and you won't be left floundering when the patron on the phone says, "you know, that thing they advertise on TV....."

2005-10-13T16:21:00.000-04:00

What's Your Major?

The average age of students at the community college where I work is 32. At five years younger than that, it shouldn’t surprise me that I’m mistaken for a student so often. But oh man does it bother me. I’m not proud of this, but I can’t help proclaiming my possession of a master’s degree whenever anyone asks me what classes I’m taking.

Why does it matter to me that everyone knows I’m not a student? Is it the same pride in expensive, extensive education that makes doctors correct people who call them Ms.? Don’t I know that accident of birth has more to do with my career path than anything else? And that I haven’t worked nearly as hard to get where I am than has a community college student with three jobs and four kids?

Sure. But this isn’t about economics and equality as much as it’s about appearances. Most of my colleagues are twice my age, and most of the students graduated from high school when I did. I don't want to sit at the kids' table anymore, so I wear blazers and skirts in a sea of jeans and backpacks. When I’m sixty I’ll love being in a field where older is better; for the thirty-three years until then, I’ll just keep buying more blazers.

2005-10-03T20:28:00.000-04:00

Know Thy Edges

Learning how to interact with The Public isn't easy. I've identified a few archetypal characters that I've run into again and again in my life, with whom I have the most difficult time:

1. The Obstinate Learner. That is, the person (usually a child or teenager, but not always) who seemingly refuses to do any critical thinking and insists on having the answer spoon-fed to them. How am I promoting learning by giving this character the answer? I have had a hard time with people like this since high school, when I was surrounded by them.

2. The Flaky Woman. This is the type of person who would say, "I shouldn't have to learn how to do research, I'm a poet." Usually speaks in an ethereal, floaty, indecisive voice.

By no means am I pointing to a particular patron that I've had, either in this library or any other I've ever worked in. I also recognize that people are individuals, not stereotypes. But there are common elements in human personalities, and these are two of the ones that I have a really hard time dealing with, ones that I haven't found good coping strategies for (yet). I know you have your own personal set of difficult patrons; I encourage you to admit rather than hide them.

2005-09-21T16:20:00.000-04:00

Checking Out People

Though there's a little bit of the whole "you're black so you speak for the entire black race" thing going on here, it appears that some European libraries have begun lending out people for 45-minute informational chats.

2005-09-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

Patience and the Tinfoil Hat Brigade

In the midst of the clean-up from Hurricane Katrina, librarians are faced with interesting issues. I was tapped on a “shadow” basis to serve as Coordinator for my local church relative to possibly relocating a refugee family from the area affected by Katrina to Conneaut in Northeast Ohio. After carrying out my inquiry for the elders I informed them that such was not doable since Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency were not relocating anybody to Ohio as of Saturday, 10 September 2005. The effort was to be interdenominational from the Conneaut area but may not get off the ground since Katrina refugees right now are staying in the American South more than anything else.

Not every church, though, has a duly-degreed librarian person to help dig up information about such response. Indeed, not every person in the world has a personal librarian to be able to assist with knowledge issues. My church’s elders are slightly spoiled in that regard as they have an MSLS sitting on his hands chomping at the bit to be able to stay in practice.

In the outside world, though, the public typically goes to public libraries and deals with reference services teams. People that want to know about the clean-up can visit libraries to seek information they cannot obtain from other resources available to them such as media outlets and Internet-based resources. Without information, though, strangely bizarre conspiracy theories can take off quickly.

Do public librarians have a duty and obligation to educate? In many cases it would seem totally necessary. No single person can responsible for the problems in New Orleans as discussion in papers such as New York Times and other publications show that break-downs have occurred not only at the federal level but also at the state and local levels of government. Many are likely culpable and inquiries are earnestly underway to resolve such lingering issues. Such is the nature of the federal republic that is the United States that nobody is a dictator in terms of handling emergencies. Responsibility for initial response begins locally, which is standing procedure for handling cases that has been around since Jimmy Carter was President if not earlier, and then requests for assistance up to the federal level can be made.

Now how can that be shown to people?

2005-09-10T12:28:00.000-04:00

Respect and Peace?

But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. Don't assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.
--Matthew 10:33-36 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Another recent thread on NEXGENLIB-L dealt with the matter of respect. Such then turned upon the question of whether being a certain age allowed one a certain degree of “immunity” from one’s actions. Most of the discussion was negative as to the viability of that notion.

A thought one might have would be to ask whether Christians have such things easy? Did Jesus come to make everybody respect each other and just love each other wholeheartedly? From the text above, we see he did not. He was not going to force everyone to love each other. That was only going to happen, as seen from other texts, if they chose instead to follow him.

So what does this mean in libraries? First and foremost we must remember that “respect” is not a natural course of action. Discord and strife are very ancient and very well-rooted aspects of this world in which we live.

To seek respect from customers and patrons is to seek something not natural. Common bonds, common values, and common culture are the building blocks upon which one must build to be able to respect one another. In a highly fractured society in which those common things are breaking down, as evidenced perhaps by the “two different worlds” reaction to the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, respect is a hard thing to have in any form in an increasingly hyper-polarized society.

A gentleman known for having been a foul-mouthed fisherman (sometimes called “Rocky”) in the Ancient Near East offered advice in a parallel situation that could be perhaps utilized by librarians today when seeking respect.

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do evil, they may, by observing your good works, glorify God in a day of visitation.
--1 Peter 2:14 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

The apostle Peter wrote that Christians should be examples and that by those examples they might lead others to God. The same holds for librarians in a parallel track. For a librarian show others respect even if they do not show it to you. If they see proper behavior enough others may eventually come around and begin to at least emulate that behavior.

Would that not most certainly make libraries more civil places?

2005-09-02T22:39:00.000-04:00

Thinking About Katrina

The aftermath of Katrina has been a time to reflect and a time to consider. I have been shocked and appalled at all that has happened. Libraries have been flattened. Lawless acts have been increasing. People are dying.

Being perched on Lake Erie’s south shore can provide one with an interesting perspective. Such can allow one to view CBC television at times. News from the CBC is also available online. We are perhaps reluctant as a nation to admit that a few states had gas stations that ran out of gas. Such states were in a similar region (reporting indicated that Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania were part of the states concerned).

Gas supply issues are erupting. I do not necessarily mean issues are erupting from oil companies. Even in Ashtabula I see such issues popping up with consumers.

Most libraries are closed during the Labor Day Weekend (hopefully this can still be read, though). Librarians, whether serving others in libraries or serving in a variety of “private practice” settings, still do have obligations in regards to information. If librarians have antidotes to mass hysteria, what good does it do if we keep such to ourselves? Such merely devalues such knowledge to the point of making it worthless.

Another note is that calls are being made for hosting librarians affected by the storm. This is a perfect opportunity for inter-generational bonding. For those who are much closer than me to that area (I am much closer to Toronto & Buffalo than the Gulf Coast), why not capitalize on this? At the least it can show librarians of other generations that we are real people who are not in combative roles.

Those are merely some thoughts to think about during this great weekend when many librarians have time to themselves. Different thoughts can be approached differently in different settings. Now can this opportunity be taken?

2005-09-02T15:39:00.000-04:00

Culture of Patience, Part One, and Vacation

A recent discussion on Nexgenlib-l, has, as Stephen pointed out, got me thinking about how we can promote the virtue of Patience to impatient people. One of the ingredients to promoting patience is having adequate numbers of staff available to help the people who are lining up at the desk - ever been to the bank at lunchtime? Nobody's happy, and unhappy people are more likely to think they're getting bad service. Perceived bad service = community attitude that "the library sucks."

On that note, I'll be using up some of my generous vacation time for the next two weeks, and won't be posting! Enjoy my absence -- I will!

2005-09-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

Rachel on the Radio

The University of Missouri's library school is experimenting with webcasting. Listen to this upcoming interview with Rachel Holt:

The first "First Tuesday" interview will feature Rachel Holt, co-author of "The Entry Level Gap" (Library Journal May, 2005,) and one of the leaders of the NexGen Librarian group. NexGen is concerned with the perceived gap between the well publicized upcoming shortage of librarians, and the difficulty recent graduates have in finding employment. Ms Holt will be interviewed by SISLT faculty member Charley Seavey starting at 7 p.m., Tuesday, September 6. The interview may be heard live at http://lisradio.missouri.edu/. Listeners are welcome to call in questions or comments at 866-768-5483 while the program is in progress. Future interviewees will include Robert S. Martin who recently finished his tour as head of the Institute of Museum and Library Studies, and Mary Kay Chelton, of the Queens College GSLIS.

2005-08-30T09:01:00.000-04:00

Talking About Patience

Everything on earth its own time and its own season. There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping, for killing and healing, destroying and building, for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing, for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting. There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving, for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking. There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace.

What do we gain by all of our hard work?
--Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 (Contemporary English Version)

To make a post here is certainly a leap of faith. To make one's first post at this particular blog is quite the leap of faith. As such I jump in with both feet forward although lacking a wee bit in sleep.

Last night on NEXGENLIB-L an important issue was raised. Whether in librarianship or in fields where the MLS does give one transferrable skills (retail sales work being a perfect place to practice "the reference interview"), one runs into a lack of patience. What do you do when a patron or customer (depending upon where you are) demands your attention and feels that they are the center of the universe? Does it get harder if it is a young person and you are working with sweet, kindly seasoned citizens? Does it get harder when you are working with a "good kid" and an adult demands your attention?

This is certainly an area that causes much stress and concern for those in public service positions. There can only be one of you even if everybody else in the world wants you to be a million places at once. If you have ever worked retail on "Black Friday" during the Christmas shopping season like I have or have worked in a busy, fast-paced library you can easily see how patience is lacking by many.

Christine has written much lately about patience. We need more patience. Our increasingly hurried culture is tearing us apart physically in so many ways. Doubtlessly health would improve in the populace if we had more patience.

A Hebrew writer known as Qoheleth wrote the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. To him in the Ancient Near East he also faced similar problems of society lacking patience and with tempers being short. All throughout Ecclesiastes the meaning of life is pondered, weighed, and discussed.

In connection with that thread started last night it seems that a lesson from the Ancient Near East may be applicable today. Christine has mentioned it and I will raise it too. Patience is the key. Even if those in libraries have it, we have to convince patrons that they must be patient too.

For indeed, can it be truly be said that there is indeed a time and a place for everything? Even though NexGen librarians will indeed be "old people" some day, would it not be wise to be "old people" who lived lives with patience as a key aspect? All human beings are fallible (especially this author) but is that not a wise goal to strive toward?

2005-08-29T08:13:00.000-04:00

Harry Potter Blog

Apparently you can't beat the English major out of me with a holly-and-phoenix-feather wand, as I'm now writing literary essays voluntarily.

Behold my new Harry Potter blog, The Unlikely Tale of Vinegar Weasley -- a space for my crazy theories, far from the ears of my long-suffering friends.

2005-08-28T08:14:00.000-04:00

Overheard at Siam Garden

Last night, for what was at least the third time, Jim and I overheard strangers in a public place talking about wanting to go to library school. What to make of this? Jim says, rather tongue-in-cheek, that library school must be all the rage. I Googled that phrase and came up with nothing, so it must not be true. Right? But there are articles like this one from the New York Times last December, which I'm sure many of you saw and which you'll just have to get through one of your library's full-text newspaper databases, unless you want to pay $3.95 for it.

Would it be unethical for me to tell these people about how difficult it may be to find a job? What situation they might find themselves in after library school? The Unemployed Librarian wouldn't think so:

A coalition of young, tech-savvy librarians with lots of free time could be very powerful. Working together, we could expose municipal politicians who cut library budgets. We could disrupt the ALA recruitment drives. We could root out ineffective policies and practices that are killing libraries. We could form flash mobs of angry, shouting, pointing, unemployed librarians to surprise and terrify the people in the ALA leadership when they least expect it (well, maybe this is going a bit too far. But maybe not.) In short, we would do whatever was necessary to provide gainful employment to the 900 new and redundant librarians created every year.

What would you tell them? Anything? Or would you let them go ahead and enjoy their ped je phad prik keang in peace?

2005-08-23T11:21:00.000-04:00

More introspection.

I've realized that my "what I've learned" posts had somewhat of an argumentative tone, though if I look over my left shoulder and then my right, the only sentient creature I see is the cat, and she's asleep. There's no one arguing with me.

So. Now that I've released what's obviously been pent up for too long, I'd like to talk about what I thought I'd like about librarianship vs. what I was surprised to like.

Thought I'd Like:

1. Collection development.
Do I like it now that I've done it? Yes. Very much. I have a gift for it, for which I'm grateful. I have realized, though, that I wouldn't like a job doing just collection development, because I think that in order to do it best, you have to interface with the public. And to take it a step further, I actually learned more about people's reading tastes when I was a page. (What?? Librarians shelve books??)

2. YA.
I love teens because when they come to the desk looking for stuff for a school assignment, they're often miserable-looking, or at least indifferent, and I can commiserate with that. By contrast, it's harder for me to commiserate with the miserable adult, because they're often belligerent, too. Teens have a more shruggable, fatalistic quality to their misery.

The unexpected problem I ran into with YA is one that I've heard other YA librarians discuss: the pressure from above, especially from administrators who either aren't teen-friendly or (worse) who think they are but aren't. And being pulled in a multitude of directions: what you want to do, what the teens want you to do, what PR wants you to do, what your boss wants you to do. Being criticized the morning after a teen movie night where you'd had 100 kids for all the gum wrappers on the floor. This is a phenomenon I haven't experienced as an adult services librarian.

3. Programming.
As a library school student I thought that library-sponsored programs were the greatest idea since someone thought to wrap up a raw fish in a sheet of seaweed and eat it. I've only just identified the reservation I've had with programming, and I'm terribly excited about it:

I think that trying to do a lot of programming without doing any outreach is counterproductive, especially in a place where the library is competing with lots of other "things to do." I don't think that your average Joe Q. Patron thinks about the library as a place to go unless he sees our faces elsewhere. I'm not talking about sitting at the County Fair with a gift basket and a handful of free pencils, though I suppose that's part of it. I'm talking about creating opportunities to get out there and talk to groups about what the library is actually for. Because too many people think the library's just a place to find a beach read. How will the genealogists know that they can access Ancestry.com for free at the library, how will parents realize that we have books for them (and not just their children) unless we (gently) force our way into their lives and tell them?

Now...what unexpected pleasures have I found in my job?

1. Outreach.
When I'm out of the building I feel like I'm actually doing something, namely, changing people's perceptions of the library. The people that come to the desk already have something in mind about the library, be it good or bad, but when you take people "on the outside" by surprise the reaction is almost always good. I feel like a job comprised of 50% outreach would be ideal for me.

2. Virtual Reference.
On the screen, no one can hear me splutter or otherwise act inarticulate. I've always expressed myself better in writing, which gives me a keen edge at virt ref. Plus, my attention span easily allows me to easily work with multiple patrons.

3. Old Folks.
Sorry, I don't like the term senior citizens, and I truly hope by the time I get old it will have fallen out of favor, because I won't like being called one either. To me, it doesn't denote respect; rather, it just plays into our absurd desire to deny the aging process, to assume that youth is the more desirable end of the life spectrum.

I like old people. OK, I've admitted it. I feel sympathetic when they get frustrated by technology. I feel sympathetic when they get suspicious of technology. I feel sympathetic with their often crabby, bitter attitude toward life. Sure, not all of them are like that, but many are, and I'm there for them.

Like I said before, I think it's important for professionals to know their edges, admit them, roll around in the mud with them, and discuss them with others. I encourage you to share yours.

2005-08-22T18:39:00.000-04:00

Back to my roots, or, "excited and nervous about life"

Next week will be four years since I started library school, and I've lately been thinking back on that decision. I've gone through some of my old journals from that time - there are some amusing quotes, like "I can't wait to dress like a librarian!" (whatever that meant...I can't recall if it was privately tongue-in-cheek or if I was serious; I did go through a fairly fashion-challenged period). Mostly, though, I wrote about something I'd forgotten: the fact that I was intending on being a children's librarian.

Upon rediscovering that, I felt the familiar satisfaction of having things fall neatly into place. So maybe that's why I've felt a nagging dissatisfaction: because I got away from what I had wanted to do.

I've been reading Six Months Off: How to Plan, Negotiate, and Take the Break You Need Without Burning Bridges or Going Broke by Hope Dlugozima, who suggests that, when planning your six-month sabbatical from Real Life, you revisit some of your childhood dreams, and see if you can't work them into your plans.

I feel like it's time to apply this principle in my work life, too. Though I was not a literal child when I decided to go to library school, I was, figuratively, a professional one, and living my original intentions would probably do me a world of good. When I think about this, I remember something my friend Kevin and I used to say to each other during our youth services class: "I feel excited and nervous about life." Which is something I haven't felt for a long time.

2005-08-17T06:40:00.000-04:00

I Forgot Some

Thought of a couple more things I've learned in my three years of being a librarian:

7. For me, this is not a vocation.
I think early on I felt a lot of pressure to love my job. I think a lot of librarians who love their job get fiercely offended if they find out you don't derive ecstatic bliss from librarianship, and won't hesitate to suggest you should get out. I even felt a little guilty because all my simple living books said (or so I interpreted them) that you should love your job. For me, this is just a job, and I try and do my best. Calling it "just a job" will offend some people. Sorry.

8. I have no ambition to move up the ladder.
Early on, I thought I might, but I don't. It has something to do with #7. I might in the future, but I think I'd prefer staying one of those maddening librarians who doesn't want to move into management. Feel free to climb over me!

2005-08-16T23:11:00.000-04:00

Librarians to Google: Stop Being Evil

And now here's a guest post from Fritz Herrick, a librarian whose current position in Geneva, Switzerland counts as "interesting" in my book. Tell him what you think at fritzherrick@hotmail.com

Librarians to Google : Stop being evil.

By Fritz “Ian” Herrick, MLIS

Google has a corporate motto. “Don’t be evil.”

An unusual motto for a search engine. After all, what could be evil about indexing the internet? Plenty. Since the search engine is so popular, Google has grown and now has bigger plans than being a search engine. It is growing so quickly that is doing things considered “evil,” perhaps even without realizing it. For example, the company is threatening the public library.

Invading the territory of other companies is considered “evil” in Google-land. A Newsweek reporter once asked Google’s CEO if the company would start an online auction house similar to that of eBay. “Why?” he asked. “They are doing a fine job.”¹ EBay has carved a niche in the internet world, and Google won’t invade this niche; that would be perceived as “evil” in Google’s corporate offices.

Seven years ago, Google’s computers started indexing the internet. The index was so successful that Google added features to their simple website. More and more features were added as the years went by, and Google is now a calculator, a telephone directory, a newspaper, an atlas… basically an entire reference collection. The humble little company that began in a college dorm room now has big plans for the world. They won’t be going into auctions, but they do plan on filling the role of the public library. Over the past 100 years, public libraries have carved a niche in society, and Google is invading this niche. That’s evil.

Just look at Google’s mission statement.

“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” ²

Sounds to me like the mission of the public library.

If you needed a list of dry-cleaners in Syracuse, you used to call the library. If you needed the zip code of an address in Tallahassee, you used to call the library. If you needed to know the capital of Mozambique, you used to call the library. Now, everybody uses Google.

There’s nothing evil about this. Now that Google is available, the library doesn’t need as many encyclopedias; it can buy more children’s books. The librarian now can spend her time teaching information skills instead of thumbing through big books with a phone pressed to her ear. But Google, the image your company has is threatening our budgets. The taxpayer looks at his tax bill and murmurs, “Everything’s in Google. Why are we paying for a library?” Then he sits idly by as his city cuts the library budget.

This is evil because public libraries fill some roles that Google can never fill. If our budgets continue to be cut, there will be no story hours. There will be no safe place for teenagers to go after school and check their email. There will be no oasis of calm for the stressed adult after a hard day at work. No friendly librarians will be available to teach a grandmother how to view digital photos of her grandchildren.

Google benefits directly from public libraries. As a librarian, I spend a lot of time teaching local people how to use Froogle, Gmail, and Google Print. Not everyone can effectively use the advanced search screen. Many internet users can’t tell the difference between a sponsored link and a relevance-ranked link. Others have trouble finding news or images, or using the more complicated features of Google. Lots of people in my community and in communities around the country would never go beyond Google’s home page if it weren't for the public library. If the librarian's job gets cut, Google will lose many customers.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, I have a message for you. Your company does a very good job at indexing the internet. That’s its niche. Public libraries make information readily available to everybody. That’s our niche. We benefit from you, and you benefit from us. But you are currently invading our territory. If the image of your company causes our budgets to be cut any further, everyone loses.

That’s being evil.

Fritz “Ian” Herrick, MLIS, is temporarily working for the ILO Library in Geneva, Switzerland. He will be available to accept employment offers in early 2006.

Notes:

1. Levy, Steven. “Living by Google Rules: Mining the Internet is Only Part of it” Newsweek, April 25, 2005, Atlantic ed. Proquest.

2. Google, “Company Overview,” Google Switzerland, www.google.ch/intl/en/corporate/index.html (Accessed July 29, 2005).

2005-08-16T10:11:00.000-04:00

Not Perky, No Tattoos

Hmmm, I wonder if I'll ever be able to get a job as a teen librarian again......

2005-08-13T19:09:00.000-04:00

What I've Learned in Three Years of Being a Professional Librarian, Or, "Oh My God, You're Alive!"

It's time to revive this blog from the dead. Well, the dying, at least; let's just say I had a particularly bad experience with a bulldog-like girl in my 11th grade history class who always talked but rarely said anything, if you catch my drift, just to earn participation points. In real life, there are no participation points, so why say something if I have nothing to say?

But lately I've been thinking about what I've learned as a newish professional, and I thought I'd share it all with you.

1. Don't try and do more than you can do.
I've felt, at many points in the last three years, that I should be "getting involved" more. With ALA, local library organizations, etc. Consequently, I've volunteered for projects that I clearly have no time for, and that just ends up making me look bad and can make young/new librarians in general look bad. Don't do it. Seriously, if you're not a Type A, if you're a person who values their personal time like gold, think very hard about whether you want to take on a committee appointment. Just take your first years to lean back and learn.

2. If you don't like what you're doing, try doing it someplace else before chucking it entirely.
A colleague gave me this piece of advice when I didn't like being a YA Librarian at my first library. I thought I didn't like being a YA Librarian. But it was just the library I didn't like.

3. The 4o hour workweek is a farce.
My first few months as a professional were miserable because my lifestyle changed dramatically. I gained 30 pounds from my new lifestyle, because my new lifestyle involved sitting on my duff for 8 hours a day. I was depressed because I never had time anymore for things I enjoyed, as I spent all my outside-work time doing the necessities of life, getting ready for work and commuting, and doing all those work-related things that you aren't allowed to do at work, like read YA books. I've never quite settled into the 40 hour workweek, either. There is a big part of me that would rather work an abbreviated workweek (25-32 hours) and have my life back. But, for the moment, there's an equally big part of me that wants to save enough money to buy a house and not go broke doing so.

4. I play a good game of Devil's Advocate, and I need to be in an environment that not only supports that, but also requires it.
On occasion, I've been incorrectly identified as a negative person. That's not true. I'm a very positive person who's skeptical of a lot of things. It's very important and necessary that I be in an environment where I bring balance to overwhelmingly positive types. They need me as much as I need them, because it is not a pretty thing for me to be in a group of people who are overwhelmingly negative.

5. F@#! living at the speed of today's technology.
Sorry for the jarring lack of professionalism, but a guy came to the reference desk once in what should have been a frustrating moment: his daughter had been taken to the hospital and he didn't know where that hospital was located. Yet he was calm and pleasant. He said he found out years ago that rushing and getting frustrated was a waste of time and just annoyed the people around you. Someone give this guy Patron of the Year award for his wisdom. In my own life, I've discovered that acting as if technology has sped up the pace of life is ridiculous. It isn't my world, I don't choose to participate in that world, and in fact, I reject that world. Thus, I've found that I can't blog every day (or, it seems, even every month!), I can't return email in a lightning flash, I almost never answer the phone (at home), and I have no use at all for things like text messaging, PDA's, direct deposit, and online bill pay. That's not to put down those who live that way, but like I said, I want no part of it, and at the very least that gives me a lot of empathy for senior citizen patrons who scowl when I have to say, "I'm sorry, but we no longer have typewriters."

6. Public service isn't customer service.
Wait, is this the NexGen Librarian talking or the Luddite Librarian? Isn't customer service the big buzz-phrase in libraries these days? It is my opinion, and you can argue with me if you like, that the two are fundamentally different. There is a deep distrust in our culture for anything perceived to be stemming from Big Gub'mint (i.e., you and me sitting at the reference desk at tax-funded Anywhereville Public Library), whereas Big Business is exalted as the saviour of civilization. I've worked in both environments, and I tend to think morale is lower in the public sector, owing to the possibility of being erased as a wasteful expenditure come Election Day, and the ever looming threat that someone will approach you with "I'm a taxpayer and [insert any number of mountain-out-of-molehill complaints]". "Let me speak to the manager" has nothing on "I'm a taxpayer."

Well, what have you learned as a new professional? I'd like to hear about it.

2005-05-09T13:24:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday NexGen Librarian

NexGen Librarian is two years old today, and there are currently 1,277 of you subscribed to the listserv.

How has NexGen Librarian helped you? How could we continue to help you? What would you like to see on this site? Let me know!

2005-05-05T10:36:00.000-04:00

Stop the Recruitment Nonsense Right Now!

Today, my inner Randy Jackson emerges to give mad props to Adrienne Strock and Rachel Holt on "The Entry Level Gap: Breaking Into the Profession is Harder than Ever—If You're Fresh Out of Library School" in the May 1 issue of Library Journal.

Because I agree with everything they said, I won't enter into a detailed commentary here. However, I would like to briefly address those who disagree with the anti-recruitment camp.

I have heard it said that those new graduates who can't get jobs are just a bunch of whiners who, if they put enough effort into it, could find something. I've heard it said that new graduates should be grateful for having 3 part time jobs which require them to work 7 days a week. I've heard it said that library school is "what you make of it", which is an inane prescription for success, as every aspect of one's life depends on what one "makes of it", and which tends to absolve library schools of any responsibility for actually educating people. I'm sorry, but when you fork over ten or twenty grand, you do expect a high quality product.

I've heard it said that your expectations can't be too high, you can't be unwilling to relocate, you have to make yourself stand out. If jobs were falling off of the trees, why would you have to make yourself stand out?

And I've heard it said that those who complain about no jobs have just gone all sour grapes because they can't find one. Which is absurd. I got my first job before I'd even finished library school and I've moved on to work for one of the most visible public library systems in the country. And I still think the recruitment issue is total crap.

Strock and Holt point out something that every new library jobseeker I've ever met knows to be true: there are tons of experienced people out there applying for entry level positions. This is a problem in our profession: no one wants to move up.

Maybe ALA should drop the recruitment campaign right now and start a nationwide management training effort. Ditch the fancy websites pitching librarianship to liberal arts grads without goals, and start doling out Me? A Library Administrator? DVDs free with everyone's montly American Libraries.

2005-05-03T18:50:00.000-04:00

Call for Contributors

If you would like to share your experiences as a NexGen Librarian, I would like to have you as a contributor to nexgenlibrarian.net.

Please send me, in 100 words or less, a paragraph describing why you should be a spokesperson for the next generation of librarians.

You won't get paid, but you'll get some instant resume gratification and maybe a little notoriety. Who can hope for more than that?

2005-04-28T09:49:00.000-04:00

Yep, There Must Be A Librarian Shortage

Two and a half years after graduating from library school, my boyfriend finally got his first professional position, at the Queens Library. Because Jim would be too modest to put together what he's learned from this long, difficult process, I'll try and distill a few outsider observations for him:

1. If you have no formal library experience, don't bother applying for jobs outside of your geographic area. Instead, try and move somewhere where you'd be situated to conceivably work in several large and many medium-sized libraries. We came to Central Jersey because I started working at the Ocean County Library (note: if I had had no experience, I seriously doubt they would have thought twice about a resume they'd received from Ohio.) Since then, he's had OCL, Newark, Elizabeth, The Brunswicks, Trenton, Monmouth County, NYPL, Brooklyn, Queens, and others within his geographic employability range.

2. If it was meant to be, you will get a job offer at the exact moment you've decided to give up and go back to school to pursue a career that seems to have a future.

3. Keep working in jobs that are remotely library related. Jim worked at Half Price Books for over a year, where he learned more about people's reading habits than I've learned in almost three years as a professional librarian. Since we moved here, he's been working for Facts on File, as the person who links articles to other articles in the databases that we, as librarians, use every day. There's bound to be one library with smarts enough to recognize that those skills are just as important as your piece of paper.

Obviously, I'm going to be a little biased because I've grown rather fond of Jim over the past three years, but a quick and somewhat bitter note to all the libraries that have turned him down: you really lost out, guys. If you were looking for someone who's patient with difficult people, cool under pressure, who's passionate about his many and varied interests, who cares a lot about the place where he lives and works, who's willing to work hard and keep himself busy with projects at all times, who's ethical enough to never slack off on the company dime, and who's extremely knowledgeable about what seems like everything, you lost.

And to the Queens Library: you won't be disappointed. Jim was simply made to be a reference librarian.

2005-04-23T16:24:00.000-04:00

I'll Have a Medium Skinny Double Murder Mystery, Please....

Being a good librarian is a lot like being a good barista, minus the caffeine.

2005-04-20T18:59:00.000-04:00

Recent Projects

I'm pretty pleased with how engaged I've become with my projects here at OCL. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Attending an interactive workshop on how to build effective Teen Advisory Boards, given by Diane Tuccillo
Setting up programs for our customers in partnership with the Toms River Seaport Society and Maritime Museum and the locally based Acoustic Musicians Guild
Ordering mass quantities of graphic novels
Reviewing a multivolume set on religions of the world for VOYA
Coordinating pesky tax forms
Developing a presentation for local Head Start parents on health resources at the library, to be given in conjunction with several other community groups at a six-part program on child obesity
Toying with the idea of starting a 20/30 book discussion group
Writing an article on how to find your perfect second job for Info Career Trends
Participating in a Customer Service focus group
Collaborating with my illustrious colleagues on a presentation about graphic novels for the annual New Jersey media specialists' conference
Generally roving around the stacks looking for ways to help customers

What are you guys up to?

2005-04-15T07:26:00.000-04:00

New Spaces, Smiling Faces

Sorry I haven't been moving and shaking NGL much lately - I've been preoccupied with moving into our new library. What an effect moving into a new space has on one's morale! I'm beginning to suspect the reason why this profession is so consistently down on itself is because 90% of us aren't working in clean, modern, bright spaces like Princeton Public Library, Eugene Public Library, or (now) Toms River.

2005-03-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

The NexGen Librarian Endorsement for ALA President

Christine Lind Hage, for what it's worth, gets the NexGen Librarian endorsement for ALA President. Why? Although she throws that old "58% of librarians will retire by 2019" statistic around (hmmm, in 2019 I will be 41....), she acknowledges what the rest of ALA seems to be in the dark about:

"...there is a serious disconnect with the very same generation of librarians we so urgently need. ALA must address the limited job opportunities for librarians in many areas and unreasonably low starting salaries. ALA must also cultivate a better appreciation in the public and profession for the value of developing a diverse population of library leaders and professionals." (taken from here).

Whereas Leslie Burger, the other candidate, pays some homage to next gen librarians, she doesn't acknowledge the recruitment/job shortage tension that many of us feel.

So, choose your candidate carefully, and don't forget that voting ends April 22!

2005-03-11T16:40:00.000-05:00

Stupid Computer Tricks

Anyone who works in a public library will appreciate how terribly funny these stories are.

2005-03-08T12:49:00.000-05:00

How Not To Reach Age 90

Last week I recounted the story of how a frustrated instance at the reference desk made me feel like a lousy librarian. Here's a reader who seems to tell me I'm right:

(I wrote): it's OK to feel like you suck at your job once in a while

(they wrote):
No it's not. We're professionals, remember?

First, we're not supposed to let our feelings come to the surface.

Next, if there is a problem with the quality of the service we provide, we need to do whatever is necessary to be able to provide quality service at all times.

And how come you couldn't find anything online? The Ocean County Library System subscribes to EbscoHost - an unlimited source of children's information about just about any topic.

Normally I wouldn't respond to this, as the personal barb at the end made it seem like a garden variety flame. (Please note that I didn't even specify what the reference question was, so it's really strange that this person should be making suggestions on how I answer it.)

Here's why I'm going to respond.

One time I went in for my annual pelvic exam. (I assure you, I will spare the details of the story.) The woman who saw me was not my usual GYN, and she treated me so rudely and roughly that I remember thinking, if this was my first visit to the gynecologist, I would never come back. For those who have never had a pelvic exam, you're in a pretty vulnerable position - one which you have to be in once a year, one which you really don't want to be in again unless you're treated well.

I am confident enough as a new librarian to not let this comment bother me. However, I wasn't always, so I don't want any inexperienced librarians, library students, or people who are considering the library profession to come across that comment and feel like they can never make a mistake. God, who wants to feel like that? I've met enough mortally perfectionistic librarians to know that many of us are already saddled with that inner guiltmonger. I also went to my boyfriend's grandmother's 90th birthday party this weekend and I know that she didn't get to be 90 by being a self-berating perfectionist.

I also want to point out that my original story didn't include the fact that I thought about this little girl's question all evening and sought her out with an armload of hard-to-track-down information the next day when she came in with her friends to work on their project. There are few things that make a child look happier than having their name remembered by a grownup.

So, to all those out there who feel like you suck at your jobs once in a while, it's still OK. Feel that way and act on it. Talk about it with other librarians. It's more than just "OK" to notice your bad experiences and figure out how to fix them.

It's called growth.

2005-03-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

Staggering Genius

Dewey be praised, I figured out the microfiche reader. I should've been a rocket scientist.

2005-03-02T20:10:00.000-05:00

Microwhat?

I'm still feeling bad about my abilities as a reference librarian because I can't figure out for the life of me how to use the microfiche reader. I feel like there's a little old nasty librarian in my head berating me for being such a dumb kid.

What is wrong with me? I must need some Bhindi Masala. I've not experienced curry bliss in a long time.

2005-03-02T16:31:00.000-05:00

Crisis of Faith?

I got annoyed at a kid today. Here's the thing: the kid wasn't even annoying. She even had (get this) two whole weeks before her assignment was due. (I know, I'm going to Library Hell for this.)

I used to deal with some pretty obnoxious kids at Shaker, and I never got annoyed by them. Not when there were swarms of 10 of them all around the reference desk, not when they were jumping on the furniture in the Teen Center, not when they yelled across the library at their little brothers. No, instead I got annoyed at a sweet, polite girl who just needed something for her homework assignment - something that clearly every other kid needed because there was nothing on the shelf and nothing I could find online either.

Really, I got annoyed at my own inability to fill her needs instantaneously, which is one of the biggest things I struggle with at the reference desk. Deep down, I didn't want to disappoint this kid. I might grumble to myself and my close associates about how it's them I don't like, how it's the patrons, how I can't stand their neediness, their desperation, and their complete lack of ability to articulate themselves, but if I'm being totally honest with myself, it's really about my own insecurity about my abilities as a reference librarian.

Some people might think, why are you writing about how bad you feel at customer service when you know that your employers have been known to read your blog? It's simple: I haven't seen much middle ground between the anonymous, Ref Grunt type blogs and those that make public library service seem like saints' work. Without being too touchy-feely, I just want other newish, inexperienced librarians to feel like it's OK to feel like you suck at your job once in a while. Don't beat yourself up about it.

Wish I could take my own advice.

2005-02-24T14:07:00.000-05:00

Feelin' Good at the Liberry

When your working life is like Tales from the Liberry, take a Pollyanna break with the Feel Good Librarian once in a while.

2005-02-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

For Those of Us Who Like Reading

I just was introduced to the Hip Librarians' Book Blog. What a cool thing!

2005-02-10T17:47:00.000-05:00

Personal Space

As part of my plan to open up nexgenlibrarian.net to multiple contributors (I know you're out there waiting on me, guys, so sit tight), I've started a new site just for me, and a new blog. If you care to hear me make ornery complaints about life and/or talk about food, please check out the new (but growing) Really Bad Cleveland Accent.

2005-02-07T19:22:00.000-05:00

Two Views on Libraries

We need libraries.
No we don't.

2005-02-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

Meet Other Broken Hearted Librarians and Eat Food

This, via the listserv:
Join Metro's New Librarians Special Interest Group for:

The Heartbreak of New Librarianship
Wednesday, February 9th, 5:30 pm at Bua
(122 St. Marks Place-Between 1st Avenue and Avenue A/Tompkins Square
Park) [in New York City]

This is a great opportunity to join with other new librarians and discuss
some of the great (and sometimes tough) things about being a new
librarian. This is a casual, networking event, so bring a smile and get ready to meet new people.

Please RSVP by replying to either Miguel Figueroa
or Monica Ruck

2005-01-27T13:05:00.000-05:00

Even More Unemployed Librarians in Cleveland?

Case Western Reserve University and Syracuse University are conspiring to bring an MLS program back within the 216 area code.

This is shocking, fascinating, bizarre, pleasing, and intensely irritating to me all at once. Is this an early April Fool's joke?

It overjoys me to hear of good things happening in Cleveland, no matter what they are. New masters' program at Case = more $ being invested locally. Perhaps breaking up Kent State's monopoly on the Ohio library school front would force it to be more competitive and stop churning out graduates who don't know a) how to save things on floppy disks and b) what a browser is.

But there is an immense glut of MLS-holding people in Northeast Ohio already. Last year I attended one of CCPL's infamous prescreening tests for (I believe it was) an adult reference position. There were, in my estimation, 75-100 other people there. If a librarian who had a year and a half of prior reference experience and had received a paltry (but in the tight-knit coterie that is librarianship, significant) bit of national notoriety could not get past that prescreening, how could a new graduate with no experience expect to get a job in that environment?

Add to that all the talk of regionalizing Cuyahoga County. This is where it becomes tricky for me to be a librarian and an urban renewal advocate at the same time. I think that regionalizing services might be good for Cleveland, in the long haul, but when you start talking about folding all of the non-CPL CLEVNET libraries and all of the independent libraries into CCPL, I get a bad case of NIMBY-ism. At any rate, if the regionalizing of library services should occur, that would mean even fewer professional librarian jobs to potentially come available: consolidate all of those independently functioning organizations with directors, deputy directors, branch heads, catalogers, etc. into a bigger library system where they won't be needed, and all of a sudden there will be more than a few much more experienced librarians pushing their way ahead of new Case graduates in the unemployment line.

Fortuitously enough, I'll be in Cleveland for the info session on February 19, so maybe I'll pop in on my way back from a cannoli-gathering trip to Presti's!

2005-01-24T20:19:00.000-05:00

How to Write a Cover Letter

Here are some tips from Wendy Juniper of Moravian College, posted to nexgenlib-l.

I got my MLS in 2002 and have been a librarian for just over 2 years
now, and 6 months ago had the VERY eye-opening experience of
participating in a search for a new librarian. Based on this
experience, I will add to what others are saying: YES! Cover letters
are EXTREMELY important! We had over 100 applications for our
position.

With this many, it was necessary to weed applicants out immediately
based on qualifications in resumes (things such as where is the
applicant's MLS from, what experience and skills do they have, etc.).

I think it is after this initial weeding that the cover letter becomes
vital (at this point, we had about 75 left).

When we looked at cover letters, we were, essentially, looking at
people's personalities, communication, and work styles. At a small
college, it is very important that you find a personality match as
well as a skills match for the position and department. With such a
strong applicant pool we had to be picky, so little things would turn
us off.

I was actually shocked at the hard-core ways we discussed people's
applications (and really - we are nice people here! I swear!) and
could just imagine what was said about mine.... It was extremely
cut-throat.

I hope this doesn't scare people....it is true that searches can be
random, and what one institution finds attractive, another will find
unattractive, so just put out your best self, and PROOFREAD!!!

I will tell you a few things that we loved:

people who told us what they could do for us, and not what we
could do for their careers. Something like: "My experience working with
statistics would add greatly to your goal of evaluating your reference

services for the upcoming accreditation." is much better than "I would
gain a lot from working for you towards my goal to manage a medium
sized academic library

people who read our mission statement, and commented on our
mission as a teaching college not a research college

And some things we did not love:

coverletters that sounded formulaic - the worst is when a small
college gets a coverletter that says "I'd love to work at your
university." we tossed these right away. Also - know what the
organization does. Think back to your intro to librarianship class
(or whatever it was for you) and remember what makes a small college
different than a large, different than a public library, etc.

cover letters that were too too too too long. (we do have 100 of
these to read in addition to our regular work!) - we didn't dump these
right away, but it was a turn off because these letters often
blathered on and on

misspellings and typos - we felt that these show the attention
to detail

coverletters that addressed us by our first names only

coverletters that sounded like the people were desperate. Really, we sat around and said "No - this person is way too desperate,
why do you think s/he can't get a job?" You want to try to sound like
you want the job because your skills are so vital to the organization
you are applying to, without sounding too snotty. It's a tough
balance.

Funny coverletters were those that claimed that the applicant had good
written communication skills, but the applicant, judging by all the
errors in the letter, did not. We wondered about the rest of the
skills the applicant claimed....

2005-01-20T17:56:00.000-05:00

Giving the Good Stuff

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year is to donate 5% of my income to charitable causes. If you're interested in doing the same, but can't think of any organizations off the top of your head, try Guidestar - they have a huge database of nonprofits searchable by type, location, income, etc. For instance, I largely want to donate to organizations within my old Cleveland zip code - so I just typed it in and voila! El Barrio, Cleveland Public Theatre, the Stockyards Redevelopment Corporation.... in the words of my favorite polka tune, "Try it, you'll like it!"

2005-01-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

Fun With Site Statistics

8% of the people who end up at nexgenlibrarian.net have googled various hypochondriac complaints, such as:

cricopharyngeal spasm serious
i think i have hodgkins

To compare, only 5% end up at my site because they've googled my name....

2005-01-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

Where I Want to Be

I've been sideswiped by homesickness. Seasoned relocators know how much we tend to romanticize our hometown, no matter how inelegant. I understand why Garden Staters would get misty reading the story of an old man who was dying of cancer 3,000 miles away and whose only wish was to eat a Taylor ham sandwich.

Right now I feel like all I want is a pork chop at Sokolowski's University Inn. Tried to think of the first thing I'd want to do when I got home and that's what bubbled up, seemingly out of nowhere. Like an old man on his death bed, suddenly babbling in the long-forgotten language of his youth. Hopefully, through a mouthful of Taylor ham.

2005-01-10T20:33:00.000-05:00

Not the Only One

Caveat Lector doesn't believe in the librarian shortage.
Neither does Jessamyn West.
Neither does Meredith of Information Wants to be Free.
Do you believe in it?

2005-01-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

Morose Morass

The unsinkable Rachel Singer Gordon would like you to fill out her survey on next generation librarianship. Your thoughts might be inscribed for posterity in her upcoming book, so think carefully before you blab....

What have I been up to? Amid conflicted feelings about being a librarian, I've been spending too much money on things like records and candy (what am I, twelve?), spending too little time planning my upcoming 37 days of vacation (want ungodly amounts of vacation time? Apply at Ocean County Library), and generally laying low. January and February are usually the months where I hunker down psychologically, brood, and take stock of where my life is going - however, I'm having trouble with it this year due to the lack of unending grey, snowy weather. God, who thought I would miss that?

A little bit of Cleveland jumped out at me while spending a lazy Saturday evening at the Princeton Record Exchange. There was Rosavelt's The Story of Gasoline on the budget CDs shelf. I'd actually never heard these urban alt-country sweethearts whilst in the land of Cleve, but I took this as a sign. I'll underestimate my wistfulness by saying I got a little choked up when I opened the liner notes and recognized that hip drabness that is the Beachland Ballroom. Budget CD, my ass.

Those who've been with me since the beginning of NexGen Librarian might be urging me to back the truck up... what's this about being conflicted about librarianship? A few weeks back, the New York Times published a big article in the NJ section about the "librarian shortage", which is, to a household that received something like 200 rejection letters in the last two years (i.e., mine), about as real as the Jersey Devil. People have been calling the reference desk asking about librarianship, and whether they should consider it as a career. I haven't personally talked to any of them, but if I get one on the phone, God give me strength not to mention any of the following:

The 200 rejection letters, surely

My boyfriend still having to pay off $8,000 for a degree he's fairly sure he's never going to use

My friend from library school who gave up and went back to the much more lucrative career of Social Work

My friend from library school who's been working a 2nd job at Marc's (sadly, only Northeast Ohioans will know how bad that really is)

My friend from library school who hasn't worked in 2 years

The endless horror stories I've heard from people on the listserv about not finding jobs

To be sure, librarianship can be a very rewarding career. It's pure geeky fun to figure out the biology of a hangover, chat with a precocious teen about which installment of the Sandman was the best, or order cookbooks with someone else's money. But if you're 23, and torn between library school and law school, I'm going to recommend the one that will bring you more earning power. The dean of my library school had this schpiel he'd always do about librarianship being a career of late-deciders. In the interest of promoting financial freedom amongst my age cohorts, I often wonder if it shouldn't stay that way.

2005-01-05T17:53:00.000-05:00

What Makes for a Good Day at Work

Being busy every second

Having a concrete list of tasks with deadlines

Lots of teens in the library after school

I'm better at dealing with psychic vampires when I have a day like this.

2005-01-05T15:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a No-Brainer

I find it easier to do the kind of customer service outlined in the Pike Place Fish Philosophy when the transactions are simpler, like along the lines of "a quarter pound of roasted red pepper hummus? Coming right up!" Not impossible, per se, in a more complicated and professionalized transaction (reference anyone?), just more challenging.

2004-12-27T15:16:00.000-05:00

New Year's Resolutions

I've decided that in the coming year, nexgenlibrarian.net is going to change focus. Since I've begun this project, I've become increasingly uncomfortable with being labeled "the nexgen librarian", as if I was the only one. I'm not. There are over 1,100 people on the nexgenlib-l list now, and I want to morph this little acre of bandwidth into a place where more "nexgen" librarian voices can be heard. (Plus, I need a little space to grow my own nonlibrarian identity.)

At this point I'm not totally extending a formal invitation for multiple contributors, but I've gleaned about a dozen potential bloggers from the list. So, if you would be interested, let me know. Tell me a little about your librarian self, how you consider yourself a member of librarianship's next generation, what you would want to write about, etc. I'm envisioning nexgen librarian success stories, tribulations, issues in nexgen librarianship ... something similar to Liscareer.com but more bloggy. I would want as many perspectives as possible, so please - don't write it off if you're a red-voter in a red-state and have been consistently annoyed by my aquamarine leftoriousness. We need your perspective in the library sphere as much as anything else.

2004-12-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

Better Than Christmas

Next year, I'm going to celebrate International Noise Awareness Day. Check out the Noise Center's Recipe for a Quiet Diet - I just feel better knowing there are other ~~crazy people~~ sensitive people like me, somewhere out there.

2004-12-23T15:41:00.000-05:00

This morning my luck ran out.

My loud neighbors, who had been away for nearly two weeks, came home some time during the night. Maybe I should treat myself to a white noise machine for Christmas. I'm so depressed I don't even want to go home. Do you think they'd let me sleep at the library tonight?

2004-12-17T16:57:00.000-05:00

Reversing the Damage

It struck me today that I've been content with the direction of my life for a while now. I'd been wondering how long it would take before most of the psychological damage done to me by the kids in high school, and the teachers in high school, and even the process of high school itself, had worn away. I think it's now. I no longer feel like a screw-up, I don't feel like every new person I meet is going to call me ugly, and I've Googled all the kids who were supposed to end up more successful than me and none of their names get as many hits as mine does.

Still, I doubt that any of the sensitive middle-schoolers I've worked with at the library would take much comfort if I told them, hey guys, it'll only take fifteen years before you feel normal again!

2004-12-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

A Wet, Green Christmas

Here's a not-so-fond memory from last winter:

There was a foot of snow on my car.
Underneath the foot of snow, there was an inch-thick layer of ice.
I spent 15 minutes cleaning the snow off.
I spent another 15 minutes scraping the ice off.
Yes, the defrost was on this whole time. No, it did not help much.
While cleaning off my car, the snow continued to fall.
While cleaning off my car, I was standing in about a foot of snow.
My shoes and pants cuffs were completely filled with snow.
I thought to myself, "this is the absolute last year I'm spending in the Snow Belt."

It gives me more than a little satisfaction to compare the forecasts of my prior zip code to my current one.

2004-12-10T18:35:00.000-05:00

Tiny Pineapples

Get yours at Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, NJ.

2004-12-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

Mortality and Me

Is anyone else like this? You live in abject horror of going to the doctor, yet you are convinced that you have a rare disorder which (when you do eventually frighten yourself into making an appointment) the doctor will say, oh, if only we'd known about this sooner, we could've saved you. This isn't quite hypochondria, because hypochondriacs tend to go to the doctor often with lots of complaints. Maybe I've got something unique: Borne's Syndrome. I can imagine little pamphlets with an apprehensive-looking woman gazing at a handsome doctor, who has placed his reassuring hand on her forearm: "It's OK. There's lots of things we can do to treat Borne's Syndrome these days."

I just made my first doctor's appointment since 1996. (Of course, he will find a tumor growing on a vital organ which he will then pronounce "about 8 years old.") I'm going because I've got the feeling of something being stuck on the way back of my tongue, and I think the glands in my throat are swollen - I'm not sure, because I think they always feel swollen, which probably means I have Hodgkins' Disease. I've been a good librarian and searched MedlinePlus for all my symptoms; and, I've been a bad librarian and done furtive, random Google searches for every combination of symptoms I could think of ("lump in throat" AND "stuck on tongue" AND "cancer"). When I'm in this mode, I'll believe anything any grammar-challenged "doctor" will tell me, especially if he tells me I don't have a serious problem and that most people who feel like I do always think they have cancer but don't really. The cricopharyngeal spasm, for instance, sounded good for a while, but inevitably I decided that it wasn't what I had, because it wasn't life-threatening enough.

I've been like this for my whole life. At age 5, I remember being horrified at the picture of dividing cancer cells in volume D (for Diseases, which followed my favorite topic at the time, Dinosaurs) of World Book Encyclopedia. When they determined that Alar sprayed on fruit caused cancer, I recall biting into an apple and thinking gravely, this will be the last thing I ever eat. (I believe this was also at age 5.) I also was precocious in my Magical Thinking Skills (I know what that is from listening to Augusten Burroughs' book of the same name on CD): while watching a PBS special about a child with leukemia (this was around age 7), I determined that if I kept hearing a certain buzz from the typewriter (on which I was writing My Little Pony stories), it meant that I also had cancer. (Writing this, I remember that many of my stories ended up with the Ponies in the hospital, waiting wretchedly in pools of their own filth to die of rare, untreatable diseases.)

I think my hypochondria went into overdrive when a kid in my 10th grade class got lymphoma. He got sick over summer vacation, so the teachers told us on the first day of school. God, it was like an Afterschool Special. "Matt was having trouble breathing," they said. "So he went to the doctor and they found a big tumor in his chest, growing all the way around his heart." I remember thinking that the last time I'd seen him, there was big mass in his chest that was trying to crowd out his internal organs. A big mass that he didn't even know about. This kicked off a yearlong spurt of emergency room visits, where I claimed I had a lump in my throat and couldn't swallow, or that I had trouble breathing, or that I had chest pains. When they announced at school it was likely Matt would die, I practically went catatonic with fear. There's something in the water, they'll find out that a dozen other kids at school have cancer. I'll be the first to go, without having done so much as graduate from high school or travel abroad.

(As it turned out, he didn't die. Actually, the last time I left for London, I saw him working at the video rental kiosk inside Hopkins airport. I didn't say hello or anything, just solemnly thought to myself, "he had cancer." Not "he had cancer and didn't die," just "he had cancer.")

So, I continue to suffer with the fear that I will contract a fatal disease while tragically young. All of this worry probably isn't helping. In Kurt Vonnegut's Timequake, Kilgore Trout writes a story about Hitler's last days holed up in his cement bunker. When it's clear that the troops are at the door and he'll be arrested, he pulls a gun and shoots himself in the head. His last words? "I never asked to be born in the first place." Perhaps my obsession with disease comes from conflicted feelings about being alive "in the first place." Anyone conquered this?

Anyone? Anyone?

2004-12-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

Walking About

I love Librarians' Index to the Internet. Every week, I get a list in my inbox of their newly added sites. As a reference librarian, it's in your best interest to know about as much as possible, so you don't stand there going "duh..." when people approach you with their question. Of course, the City of All-Knowledge doesn't exist, but the walk toward it can be satisfying.

I am a natural rambler. "Feet are intimate," a friend said to me today. I thought that was simple, and sweet, and true. Since I would rather get to know a place intimately au pied than with the celerity of a gas-powered one-night stand, I appreciated the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center's Neighborhood Walking Guide: 8 issues that make your neighborhood walker-unfriendly (and what you can do about them). The Walkability Checklist will tell you exactly how your neighborhood is doing, pedestrian-wise - right away I could see some strikes against my neighborhood (i.e., no sidewalks). Although, I do suffer a fortunate lack of scary dogs and scary people. (Perhaps because there are no dogs and no people.)

Also of interest is the survey on Americans' Attitudes Toward Walking, which reports that 55% of people would rather walk than drive to where they're going, if only those destinations weren't so far away. It's a heartening thought, but would these people really walk to Wal-Mart?

2004-12-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

When in Jacksonville

Who knows if ALA will ever hold a conference in Jacksonville, but if they do, act like a local with this list of Jax specialties supplied by Kevin "Florida Fun" Ferst:

Robert's Seafood

Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

Jacksonville Public Library

Chamblin Bookmine

St. Augustine

Museum of Science and History

Larry's Subs

Corrine Brown

Cassadaga Spiritual Camp

Coral Castle

For those who don't know me well, I prefer knowing about and patronizing local spots (ahem...downwithwalmart). So if you have some spots in your town that I'd like, let me know!

2004-12-07T16:29:00.000-05:00

Losing My Cleveland Accent

No, I'm not talking Jersey yet. But I've noticed that I've been affecting a more rural Midwestern accent than is natural to me. Could it be because the only person I talk to is Jim, with his firmly-anchored Central Ohio drawl? It's hard to keep talking the way you naturally talk, when no one else around you sounds that way. Feeling sad, I Googled "cleveland accent". It's good to know other people acknowledge its existence.

(For all of you that have never heard a Cleveland accent, try calling any store at the Parmatown Mall. You'll get some of the best examples around.)

2004-12-03T13:05:00.000-05:00

A 3-Book Reading List

Better Places, Better Lives: A Biography of James Rouse by James Rouse and Joshua Olsen
Who would have thought the father of the shopping mall was opposed to urban sprawl?

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam
Got that niggling lonely feeling? If you're an American, you're not the only one.

On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense by David Brooks
Americans' search for the perfect world. God, I'm glad it's not just me!

2004-12-03T10:14:00.000-05:00

The Devil in Ocean County

Point Pleasant, a new gothic thriller, will premiere on Fox next month.

This isn't the first time Hollywood has claimed a town where a branch of my employing library is located (i.e., The Battle of Shaker Heights) and used it for its own purposes.

Although I've long thought (well, at least since I became aware of the town in June) that "Point Pleasant" just sounds ripe for sinister goings-on, I have low expectations. These low expectations ride on thinly veiled allusions -Christina "Nickson" is the daughter of the devil - can't you just imagine some Fox executives congratulating each other on their cleverness with that one? (Sadly, I can imagine many Fox viewers not even getting it.)

Plus, I have a suspicion that they'll clean up a lot of the tacky charm that is the Jersey Shore (no carnies, rickety rides, or Fun Food). Had they set the show in Asbury Park, I'd have much higher hopes for some true, unsettling psychic "funniness". As it is, the show is being filmed in San Diego - they've even added a fake lighthouse to make it look all East Coast (there is no lighthouse in Point Pleasant, unless you count the Italian ice shop with the same name. I've been informed the Orange Ice is to die for.)

I do hope it's not going to be a watery Twin Peaks ripoff. I hate it when David Lynch is dumbed down and resold to the hoi polloi in pretty, quirk-free packaging. Tell me you don't recall Jack Nance on the phone saying "She's dead...wrapped in plastic!" when you see the trailer.

2004-12-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

Weekend Plans

Inspired by Clare, here are the three beautiful things I plan on doing this weekend:

Picking out a Christmas tree

Watching Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas

Drinking hot buttered rum with friends

2004-11-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

Attention Marshmallow Fans

If you like the things that float in your hot chocolate to be all-natural, hand-cut, and slightly freaky looking, you'll adore these. There's even a hoof-free variety for vegans!

2004-11-29T13:11:00.000-05:00

Fun With Ghosts

My apartment appears to have a haunting.

2004-11-26T10:39:00.000-05:00

The Day After Thanksgiving

I'm feeling sick (when will I remember: "beer before liquor, never sicker") and I have the day off, so I'm going to lay low and catch up on some cinematic homework. Here's what I'm going to watch:

Heavenly Creatures
Dancer in the Dark
On Golden Pond
Easy Rider
From Hell

Perhaps not in that order.

2004-11-21T13:17:00.000-05:00

Regionalizing Cuyahoga County's Libraries

I'm ecstatic to see that the Cleveland Free Times has tackled the dander-raising issue of consolidating Cuyahoga County's independent libraries. Given this librarian's anti-corporate leanings, my opinion on the matter should be fairly obvious.

2004-11-19T07:53:00.000-05:00

How to Dissolve Traffic Jams

Being a reference librarian is fun when you stumble across articles like this one.

It can really put you ahead.

2004-11-17T11:15:00.000-05:00

The Moral of the Story

Is. Don't swig down the whisky right before bed, even if you think it will help you sleep, because it will only give you frightening, hateful dreams that you won't remember when you wake up and which will surreptitiously eat at your waking thoughts. All. Day.

To bring myself back to reality, I played with the appearance of the site all morning. Maybe my dreams had an influence on my choice of colors. (Actually, these were the colors of my walls in Shaker Heights.) Seriously, though, if it's hard to read, let me know. God knows I can't tell.

2004-11-12T23:07:00.000-05:00

Hey World: SHHHHHH!

I hate noise.

I hate even more to embody the worst of all librarian stereotypes - the harsh, shushing marm - but my sensitive little ears betray me every time I come home. I'm poised for Neighbor Noise. My head is always cocked, listening. Sometimes I sit in the stairwell and eavesdrop, in a frantic attempt to somehow re-assemble all wavelengths of the noise so that the ceaseless low vibration from their Surround Sound doesn't jostle my delicate sanity molecules and leave me with an impossibly wrought noise-induced cancer.

My mental health must be in a very precarious state.

Noise from below - or above - or on the other side of the wall - has plagued me for my last five residences. It seems that it was bad luck to leave my silently perfect (yet poorly plumbed) efficiency on Lake Avenue, as I can't seem to get the formula right again.

First - Missoula. Our living room window looked straight out onto someone else's living room window, and for a great deal of the time we lived there, that someone enjoyed having loud, naked parties in the middle of the night. With the windows open, and the shades (hence, how I knew about the naked part). Often, when partygoers would disappear from the living room, I would sense their presence - I will refrain from specifying how- in the bedroom, which abutted my bedroom wall. Below Naked Guy was an apartment full of what seemed to be a troupe of homeless teenagers, who were responsible for the cloud of illicit well-being that drifted up through the window screen afternoonly. And then there were the Knockers. The Knockers were friends of the on-site maintenance guy who would run down the hall and pound on our door. Just ours, no one else's. They knew we hated it. That guy eventually got fired (and evicted) for chucking beer bottles out his fifth floor window. Brilliant.

My next residence was in Ravenna, sister city of Kent (as in - State University, where I was going to library school). I deliberately chose Ravenna because it wasn't Kent, and therefore wasn't full of college students. It was, however, full of a certain variety of people who could list as their primary interests: "scaring children and small animals in the next county over with my car stereo." Not to mention my apartment overlooked a) a McDonald's drive-thru; b) an alley, where the kind of shifty folk who hang out in alleys tended to hang out; and c) a gravel quarry, of all things. BANG! CRASH! "Uhh, I'd like two - wait, no, three - quarter pounders, no pickles."

Then when I got my first job, I moved to Cleveland Heights, to a neighborhood which as a teenager I thought was very cosmopolitan and enlightened. It was in this neighborhood that I, age 24, realized once and for all that I hated other young people. Suffice it to say that I grew a sadomasochistic, hateful joy from calling the cops on frat boys next door during that long, loud, tense year.

Whereupon I decided that to solve the problem, I needed to move someplace that would be prohibitively expensive to the type of people who make noise. So, I moved to what I considered an upscale, well-landscaped, structurally sound (and expensive) building in Shaker Heights. Where I met my arch-nemesis, Stereo Mom (and sidekick Stereo College Brat). I have not, to this day, decided what wrongdoing I committed that karmically necessitated my meeting with Stereo Mom. Whatever it is, for God's sake, I'm emphatically sorry.

Stereo Mom was one of those 40-ish women who thought they could stave off the curse of droopy breasts and crow's feet by dressing like a trust-fund hippie and listening to "world music." My first and only direct interaction with Stereo Mom was on a Thursday at 11 pm and went like this:

Me: Hi. Would you mind turning the volume down? It's getting a little late.

SM: You know, it's really not that loud.

Me: Well, it's mostly the bass. It's pretty heavy.

SM: I don't intend to live in silence.

Me: I'm not asking you to turn it off; if you could just adjust the bass, that would be great.

SM: (indignantly) I have lived here for seven years, and I am not about to give up living in comfort for you.

Stereo Mom also had a boyfriend who I hated. I called him Captain Corporate America. He had a loud, humorless laugh that would echo through the stairwell, where he would inevitably be taking a business call on his cell phone on an otherwise quiet Sunday morning. Once, I saw Captain Corporate America on the road. He was driving his red convertible too fast and talking on his cell phone. Unsurprisingly, he passed me from the right and subsequently cut me off.

I do remember, though, during every one of Stereo Mom's stereo episodes, thinking: "it could be worse. She could listen to it all the time."

Now, here. In New Jersey. I think I harbored a secret hope that people in New Jersey were too sophisticated to produce much noise, or that buildings were better built, or that I would finally be granted the perfect living situation. In truth, what happened was that in an astoundingly child-free apartment complex - all the units are 1-bedroom - where the average tenant's age is around 65 - I had to get the one unit in the whole place that's adjacent to young people. Who like SurroundSound and music with ponderous, driving beats. All the time. So every night I go through hours of what is for me the audial equivalent of Chinese Water Torture.

Tonight, noise capped a peculiar week, and it sort of threw me over the edge. Beyond the weirdness of helping a helpless little old lady find love on the Internet, beyond the funky things that happened to my body chemistry after I ate the first cheeseburger I've had in eight years. I'm still in a nauseous, sad funk from the election, still (daily, upon waking) thinking for a frail, vulnerable moment that the love affair is in full force, then being socked in the gut with the rotten brick of reality. Ohio's role in all this mess has been a source of suprising disappointment, betrayal even, niggling underneath my consciousness, and I've constantly and silently begged Ohio, "why? Why do you keep shooting yourself in the foot?"

As I was making a pot of cabbage soup for dinner, the phone rang. It was my mom. Mom always calls when people die, or when institutions significant to my coming of age burn down, or when friends of mine from high school get divorced. Mom lives off the energy that is released when bad things are revealed. Sometimes I will get an undecorated envelope from her that will contain nothing but a newspaper clipping about a former teacher getting a rare cancer, or a restaurant I always liked closing forever.

This evening Mom made small talk for a while and then dropped the bomb that my favorite independent grocery store in Cleveland, Danny Boy Farm Market, is going out of business. Every time I leave Cleveland another of my favorite things about it dies. Danny Boy's was one of my earliest memories and I had every reason to suspect it would be there forever: it was popular, it did a good business, it wasn't in an impossibly awkward location. And it had been there forever - or at least for the last 60 years. I feel a heart's load of numb grief. The way Cleveland lets things die... The Clay Oven, Nature's Bin, My Generation, and now Danny Boy.

It makes me think that maybe the reason I'm plagued by endless noise situations is because I've been cursed for leaving the city limits. This is karma's answer to my endless desire for more, for the perfect situation, for silly thoughts like "maybe I'll really find myself in Portland, or Vermont, or San Francisco."

Maybe I should take a hint, and go back to Lake Avenue, the only place where I ever felt like I really belonged. To the brick Tudors that smell like PineSol inside, to the Shoreway, and the 55X and Truffles and the abandoned Christian Science Church on the corner of W.117th, and the mulberry tree outside that church, and the ghost footprints of all the walks I took up the winding streets along the lake late at night to catch a glimpse of Cleveland's brightening skyline, and the ghost thoughtprints of all the hopes and neuroses I had then, as a directionless 21-year old.

God, how I miss that life. I miss it very much.

2004-11-05T13:50:00.000-05:00

The Future of Libraries on NPR

Listen to Who Needs Libraries? on NPR. Or, listen to it online. (Thanks to Rita from nexgenlib-l for this tip!)

2004-11-04T18:25:00.000-05:00

Could You Have Won Ohio?

Try this fun game brought to you by the Christian Science Monitor. Only you can decide whether you'll spend more time playing this campaign simulation ... or the new Myst.

2004-11-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

What Now?

Ohio makes me sad.

I'm beginning to think the reason why there are so many more red states than blue states is because blue-leaning people tend to gather in enclaves, whereas the redsters. I too have a yen to move to San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle, but maybe I have to resist in the interest of geographically balancing out the country.

No, John Kerry and his latte-sipping liberal allies are not "out of touch" with the mainstream. Nearly half of all American voters voted for him. To say those people aren't "in the mainstream" is just wrong.

I know from mail and comments I've received that plenty of my readers don't agree with me politically. That's OK - as long as my conservative friends out there listen to, think about, and respect what I say, I promise to reciprocate. Clearly, the partisanship isn't working.

Perhaps what we Middle-American Democrats need to do is not freak out and run away to the Coast every time our state school board starts talking "Intelligent Design." Perhaps we need to go home, because our country is divided and home needs us just to maintain a healthy homeostasis.

2004-11-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

For the Good of All Who View

Teach your students to be documentary filmmakers with Teaching Youth Media: A Critical Guide to Literacy, Video Production and Social Change

2004-11-04T07:39:00.000-05:00

I'll Scratch Your Back If...

I now have a tacit agreement with potential difficult patrons:

"As long as I provide you with memorable service, so shall you promise to be utterly, utterly unmemorable yourself."

2004-11-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

The Day After

Brian Schweitzer is the only reason why I'm not killing myself.

If John Kerry had won, it would have been a tenuous victory. As it is, Bush's victory is a tenuous one: there is fully half of the country who doesn't support him. Whoever wins, half of the country gets left out in the cold.

I'm too despondent right now to discuss exactly what disturbs me about Bush; it isn't really relevant anyway. What bothers me most right now is that this isn't my country anymore - I don't feel like there's anyone out there "looking out for me." I don't want all the power concentrated in the hands of people whose policies I don't agree with. I'm sure all those people in the "fly-over states" (a term which I find disgusting and offensive, having lived all but 3 months of my life in one of those places) would have felt the same way if Kerry had been elected. Deep inside, I wouldn't have been happy with that either - it wouldn't have been fair. I wouldn't have wanted to foist my crazy liberal beliefs on people that don't want them; I want to be treated with the same respect by Bush and his government.

It's why Brian Schweitzer's win of the Montana governorship gives me hope. This is a regular guy who's smart, has never held elected office, and who rallied Democrats and Republicans to his side by choosing a Republican running mate. Brian Schweitzer was sick of the partisanship in state government, and saw that it was bad for Montana. It's bad for the country, too.

Hopefully he'll run for President in 2008.

2004-11-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

PUT DOWN THE REMOTE!

I'm thinking about library programs for TV Turnoff Week 2005, and have put together a list of things I (and maybe you) can do when the urge to reach for the remote hits:

Make a batch of soup
Sweep the floors
Read the newspaper, or a magazine or (gasp!) a book
Blog
Check out a new store (or other place I haven't been to yet)
Draw
Listen to music (really listen, not just use it as background noise)
Try new guitar chords
Explore new music genres at allmusic.com
Download old episodes of This American Life
Play with language software (Learn Cornish Now!)
Do the Sunday crossword puzzle
Take a walk
Go to the park
Plan my next vacation
Play with the camera
Play with the cat
Gaze at the World Atlas (I like maps)
Check out 5 new blogs
Plan a trip to a museum (or go to one!)

2004-11-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

Oh, To Be in Old Edinburgh

If you dig Scottish pop, check out the free downloads from delightfully named Aye Tunes. If you can't get ahold of the necessary code from Scotland on Sunday, you can at least be redirected to the featured band's website where, more often than not, you can take a wee listen. This week it's Strangefeelings.

2004-11-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

To Buy or Not To Buy

Buying a computer is not rocket science, nor does it have any bearing on whether or not I will be alive at the stroke of dawn tomorrow.

But it's frustrating. So many choices. I know what I want (an iBook with SuperDrive), but I'm not willing to pay that much for it ($1,500). So, of the models I can afford, do I want a slower processor with more memory or a faster processor with less memory? Do I want to sacrifice mobility? (In my case, more "do I want to lug this 50-lb eMac up and down 2 flights of stairs next time I move" than "hey, Claudio, meet you at That Internet Cafe for a decaf mocha in 20 minutes.")

Consumer choice is part of the American Dream, right? Then why do I feel decidedly unfree - trapped by potential hours of sifting through obscure Mac retailers looking for The Perfect Bargain?

2004-11-01T13:39:00.000-05:00

Librarianship: It's Not About the Money

I shudder to think what karmic ill will befall me for chucking serendipity and actually searching my coat pockets for forgotten wads of cash.

But ... because I remembered that I'd hidden some spare bills for the sheer pleasure of being surprised by them in the future, I now have exactly enough for a book of stamps!

2004-10-29T17:43:00.000-04:00

My Unique Place in the Universe

I don't know what made me miss Shaker Library the other day - it might have been seeing The Coldest Winter Ever sit untouched on our Diversity display for 3 weeks. But I started checking out all the stuff my old patrons would request in droves (in addition to my usual motley assortment of oddbins).

Indeed, I may be the only person in the history of the public library to have checked out both Donald Goines and The Holly Hobby Cookbook in one transaction.

2004-10-29T16:19:00.000-04:00

Vacation, Day Two

Vertigo: comics for the brooding person. I love it.

I spent a large part of the morning eavesdropping on the neighbors ... she had the cleaning lady in (hmmm, she stays home all day but needs a cleaning lady? It's hard for me to not make judgements here) and they were positively yelling, so it wasn't like I could help but listen.

At any rate, I learned a lot about TV Girl and her husband, Big Truck Man, in the process, and it actually allayed my hatred of them and their TV-viewing ways. Having lived in 9 different apartments since I moved out of my parents' house at 18, I've experienced sundry neighbor-types and have developed a keen code of neighborliness. Constant childhood exposure to Mr. Rogers (who my genealogist mother became convinced of our relation to when she unearthed a "McFeely" among the ancestral Saxmans) probably also plays a part in my nature.

I think about Mr. Rogers a lot, actually. We could probably get far with just an ounce more courtesy, good neighborliness, and cooperation toward our fellow citizens every day. If it sounds like I'm suggesting we go out and hug Osama bin Laden until he weeps for joy - clearly, you've never met me. But perhaps we'd do well to remember that every grand action is performed by a puny little human who, at heart, just wants to feel like others aren't out to get him.

I struggle with remembering that in my daily life. It's hard to be nice and helpful when you feel pretty powerless in the world at large. Election season has really gotten me down - I'm about to cast a fairly meaningless Presidential vote for someone who doesn't excite me and who I don't think will do that great of a job. I've thought about not voting. Truly, the people who believe what I believe are so marginalized that I feel this isn't my country.

Final note: just went down to talk to TV Girl, who just turned the stereo up in what I assumed was a sickening kind of imaginary revenge. She said, "you can hear that??" My reactionary, internal response was "duh!!" but I forced myself, in memory of Mr. Rogers, to be forgiving.

2004-10-28T17:05:00.000-04:00

Pizza vs. Silence

TV Girl downstairs finally left, right when I was thinking about walking up to the local pizzeria for a "regular slice" (New Jersey talk for "a piece of pizza"). I feel a Charlie Brown-like sense of defeat.

Instead, I may experiment with the appearance and content of this site, so if in the next few days you visit and it looks like how yesterday's fish might smell, please remember that my HTML knowledge is cobbled together from many funny (i.e., not "ha ha") sources, and take a suitable dose of pity on me.

2004-10-28T14:02:00.000-04:00

What I've Done on My Vacation

Well, right now it's Strip Polka Time with Frankie Yankovic. Greeted this first morning of my revered Vacation Time (indeed, a big reason why I came to OCL) by Surround Sound From Downstairs (curse ye gods! why must I be punished with loud neighbors every time I move?!) I decided it would be a good day to eclectify my listening pleasures. I've now had a solid 5 hours of Bjork, Sow, Barry Adamson, and polka music, and I'm in a state.

Can't decide what I want to do about NexGen Cleveland. Originally, I wanted to have a professional blog (this one, although my professional timbre has taken a nosedive) and a personal one, but the strain between keeping my two lives separate has made me feel a bit schizophrenic. I wanted to collapse my two babies so that I felt more like a whole person (why should I give a #%@! about what my employers might think about what I have to say about the future of my old haunts, Dennis Kucinich, and the search for the Perfect Pizza?) But I hesitate in the wake of the Queen of the Sky's unfortunate grounding.

Sigh. Just changed the lineup in the old CD player: early Tom Waits, the Cure, Vic Chesnutt (i.e., proof that any of Jim's music will grow on me if I listen to it often enough), the Barolk Folk, and PJ Harvey. My mood is already discernibly different. Could also be that all I've ingested today is as follows: grapefruit juice, oatmeal, 1 pot of Linzer Torte flavored coffee, 2 Aleve tablets (for the pain that could be sinus trouble, wisdom teeth aggravation, a combination of both, or, more likely, a rare tumor growing from my upper jaw into my brain).

I also started reading the Sandman series this morning (unbelievable, I know, that I have never read this before). I think I may have to buy the new Neil Gaiman poster from ALA.

What else am I going to do on my vacation? Probably a combination of the following:

Nothing

Staring at the sea

Walking - may have Jim drive me up to Asbury Park and walk the 12 miles or so of boardwalk back to Spring Lake. In preparation for the Coast to Coast Walk, which I want to do next fall (England, not the US -- who do I look like, Granny D?)

Checking out some of the local fishmongers and specialty food shops ... there's a couple Italian and Latino shops in Belmar and Bradley Beach, and I just know I saw a Polish deli around here somewhere.

Get out the Bondo and pretty up the old Kucinich Kar (which is talked about much more in NexGen Cleveland)

Half-assedly composing that graphic novel script I've been working on

Half-assedly "Teaching Myself Film Making" with that book I got from the library ... my friends just got a Super 8 camera for 2 bucks at the Collingswood Flea Market and I talked my mum & da into bringing their old projector with them when they visit for xmas

It does grieve me that I apparently won't be able to sit at home basking in the Perfect Quiet that is the weekday vacationer's right: maybe I'm just being a brat, but the girl downstairs must be a real loser if all she does is sit around and watch TV all day. The two of them, in fact, can never be at home without having the TV on (in stereo). God, can't they pick up a book and read once in a while??

2004-10-27T17:50:00.000-04:00

Political Blogs

I like the Campaigns & Elections directory of Political Blogs.

2004-10-12T07:32:00.000-04:00

Recent Discoveries

Jerry Springer is on here at 7AM. Which means I can eat my oatmeal amidst tragically familiar cries of "you skanky-ass whore!" and, of course, "JERRY! JERRY!"

The pants I bought for my first job (roundabout 2 years ago) no longer fit (in an equally tragic way). Oh, for the days I spent slinging hummus and eating nothing but bruised apples and stale pita bread at Nature's Bin.

The commercials for Technical School and cheap phone service that they invariably play during Jerry Springer are looking much more appealing to me these days.

I can't get the hang of the "blogosphere". I read blogs like I read fiction, which is to say not in volume, but maybe one or two I get hung up on because I enjoy what I have in common with the "characters".

That's all for now. Sorry, Jerry's calling.

2004-09-30T07:31:00.000-04:00

Not For the Faint Hearted

The Fiction Bitch will tell you if your writing should, er, be kept out of the library.

2004-09-27T18:15:00.000-04:00

Scraps

Check out the South Jersey Ghost Research program at the Point Pleasant branch of Ocean County (NJ) Library on October 11. I've had paranormal experiences. Have you?

Toldja. Living in the suburbs is bad for you.

I, like many thinking people, am hyper-conscious of my own mortality and am constantly looking for ailments (thank God for Medline Plus). Here's my latest one. I'm particularly disturbed by the image of one's brain being squeezed out the bottom of the cranial cavity rather like a hemorrhoid. Doesn't do much good for the uneasy peace I already have with my brain, like the guy in Pi.

All good reference library should trawl for interesting tidbits, right?

2004-09-23T08:19:00.000-04:00

The Hardest Part of Being a Librarian (or, I Know Why the Rude Patron Complains)

I know, because I'm about to go to the DMV.

I know, because despite the TV commercials telling me about how friendly everyone is at the "new MVC" (Ohio renamed the DMV too, so this trick doesn't fool me), I am at heart suspicious and cynical. And I am steeling myself for an encounter with a "customer service representative" who doesn't want to be there, wrongly assumes that I know more than I do, and gets irritated with my question because the transaction suddenly becomes too long and too complicated and they're afraid they won't know the right answer to tell me.

Like many people, most of my visits to the DMV have involved getting angry. (Except in Missoula. God bless those blissed out Mountain Folk for the effect they had on my nerves.) Many visits have involved the customer service representative subtly trying to pin the blame on me for something that I couldn't have known, or was their fault. It's hard to tell whose fault infamously bad service is: ours or theirs. We go in there grumpy and expecting bad service, so we get it. People come to the library with the same expectation sometimes.

I only hope that when confronted with them, I can remember how I feel at the DMV, and forgive them their mighty shoulder-chips. Truth be told, I think that's the hardest part of being a librarian.

2004-09-22T11:03:00.000-04:00

More Lefty Loosey, Righty ... Whatever

In response to my suggestion that politically-minded people take a look at both sides, Greg writes:

"Just hanging out in regular library channels is enough to see the opposite side."

Living and working in an overwhelmingly Republican area with a Kucinich bumper sticker on your car must be similar to being a conservative librarian amidst the throngs of liberal ALA-er's. This is what I'm finding out.

The other day, a gentleman library user chided us for having "too many anti-Bush books" in our Election 2004 display. For a "Kucitizen" I am famously fair-minded, and although I thought the display was pretty balanced, I lightly defused the complaint by pointing out that conservative books were what people in this community liked to read, and what he was looking at were partly the leftovers. Which he was pretty satisfied with. (To further prove my point, no one touched the Reagan display we put up at Shaker Library, where the community leans decidedly to the left).

2004-09-16T18:00:00.000-04:00

Strangers Like Me

Nettie Day and I have some things in common:

We both live on a coast
We have angry cats
Our angry cats have somewhat Dickensian names (hers: Emma; mine: Cora)
We both appear to enjoy bright pink walls
Glasses bother our delicate ear flesh
We both like film and all things urban
We have complicated relationships with school
Oh yeah, we are both library people

It's nice to find folks who are like you. Probably if we ever met, the universe would fold in on itself.

2004-09-16T13:46:00.000-04:00

Kurt Vonnegut Loves Me

If I had to pick an author who meant the most to me, it would have to be Kurt Vonnegut. Why? Because he, like me, loves humankind but is awfully disappointed in the mess we've gotten ourselves into. In I Love You Madame Librarian, he lauds us for standing up to those who would censor. This speaks to me particularly:

"So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."

It speaks to me because this is the America I love too. I never thought much about "America" as an abstraction until 9/11. Although I agreed with most of Fahrenheit 911, I was pretty grossed out by the audience. I was pissed off that everyone in the theatre already agreed with it. I wished someone had booed, or thrown a tomato at the screen. I hate that it seems like conservatives aren't paying attention to what liberals are saying, and vice versa. It's just a big childish stupid fight.

I'm annoyed that people purposely only read things that they agree with. I've said this before, but for spit's sake, pick up a book, a newspaper, or read a blog from the "other" perspective once in a while - it doesn't matter if you think it's going to make you puke. Carrots make me want to puke too, but I eat them once in a while because I know they're good for me! Even if you are as lefty-loosey as they come, your ideas aren't the only valid ones ... isn't that what the public library is about?

2004-09-16T11:54:00.000-04:00

My ALA Membership

Quietly Expired. I think I'm going to leave it that way. Had a long talk with Kevin last night about money. It was depressing that I left for Montana with $9,000 in savings - depleted about half of that while out of work and in grad school - then went up to my all-time savings high of $13,000. Now, between a long-distance move and a surgery that my insurance - God Bless Them - refused to pay a cent for, I'm back to my pre-Montana figure of $9,000. In other words, I've made zero financial progress since 2000. (That $9K, incidentally, was largely saved while working desperately inglorious jobs that officially put me below the poverty line.)

I'm not a big spender. I drive an old car and I pay my credit card balance in full every month (and I only use it for gas and groceries, anyway). Is it because I'm a serial relocator? Is relocating just not worth the financial loss?

Or is it this profession? I never once thought about the monetary aspects of going into this profession, but maybe I should have. Maybe all young people should. Maybe this isn't a good career for young people after all. Maybe this profession should remain a career of "late-deciders" because they've already built up their dough from some other life. Lately the "helping people/doing good in the world" spin on librarianship is ringing a bit hollow for me. Why on earth should I concentrate on helping other people if I feel like I'm sliding down the slippery slope all the time?

2004-09-05T16:45:00.000-04:00

Another List

Here is a list of patrons from my former library whom I shall not miss:

Creepy Prison Guard Guy
Angry Mean Lady Whose Eyes Pointed in Different Directions
Sourpuss Newspaper Lady
Google Guy (A condescending telephone patron whose tagline was, "Yeah, uh, you have a browser open?")
Full Moon Garbage Bag Guy
The Grandchild Smacker
Expressionless Video Vampire
"5-A-Day" Criss-Cross Lady
Guy I Picked Out of a Lineup (aka "Mr. Wiener" - guess how he earned that moniker)
Prison Girlfriend Man (or, Guy Who Always Says "You're Pretty - What's Your Name?")

and the patron I shall miss least of all:

Asked-Me-Out-While-On-Jury-Duty-And-Doesn't-Understand-No-Means-No Man

Perhaps some of you out there recognize these patrons from your own library....

2004-09-04T07:57:00.000-04:00

The List

Probably most people who pass from their mid- to late-twenties have (consciously or not) created a list of things they always wanted to do but probably will never have time for. Here's mine:

Live abroad

Take a year off and travel

Get a second master's degree (and a second career, presumably) somewhere in the realm of Urban Studies or Public Administration

Learn several modern languages and possibly one (near) extinct language

Learn to DJ

Drive across the country with my dog in a pickup truck (I have a surly cat and a rusted out '92 Corolla, in reality)

Live on the other coast

Be an independent filmmaker (not knowing many actors, probably everything I do will be akin to Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times))

Every time I think about this list, it seems longer. I must be forgetting things.

If I had to pick the three things that thrill me so much I could never give them up, I'd pick Writing, Traveling, and Food. I do get afraid though that once I start making a career of something I like, I get bored and stop liking it. If I made a career of my Big Three, I'd be left with nothing.

I am frustrated because the 5-day workweek leaves me little time for my creative interests (most of which, I just realized, can be satisfied by the latest version of iLife).

It's so much better here, though, because I don't take work stress home with me - there isn't any. Being a librarian here is not at all disagreeable work, and I'm learning so much about reference, which renews my belief that knowing where to find information is the ultimate power (and I'm constantly exposed to proof that not everything's "findable" on the internet). Plus, I think not living in the same county as my workplace helps. (Should've moved back to Edgewater last year after all.)

Maybe my goal should be to find a way to write half time and be a librarian half time.

2004-08-17T07:29:00.000-04:00

Growing Pains, Sans Kirk Cameron

Although I know this is my second job, and I know I worked at my previous library for two years, I feel like I'm learning everything over again, from scratch. I told myself to stay at Shaker until I'd learned everything I could from it, but what did I learn? Or rather, what did I learn that was transferable?

I don't feel like I learned a lot about reference there. I learned a lot about Shaker Heights, and what Shaker patrons liked and didn't like about their library. I learned a lot about the history of how that particular library had operated in the community, what the staff culture was like, the hidden dramas behind the scenes. I learned how to deal with difficult, demanding, and sometimes unbalanced and potentially dangerous patrons, the likes of which (no matter what they tell me) just don't seem to exist in Toms River. I also learned a lot about what not to do, but that is a subject for another post.

In short, I learned that particular job, not the librarian's trade. Which frustrates me.

(To my credit, I learned that I had a gift for collection development. Particularly for tailoring a collection to improve circ for a specific population. At the large county system I'm in now, it seems everything is ordered centrally - leaving me feeling a bit useless.)

In The Basic Eight, precocious Flannery Culp's English teacher tells her, when she's disappointed at how few early American poets she's heard of, "You're young. You will be wise." Of course, Flannery goes on to kill one of her fellow students. Lesson learned: don't kill people. How do I apply that to my situation, exactly?

2004-08-15T15:50:00.000-04:00

A Young Librarian Success Story

My librarian boyfriend, Jim, finally got a job reflective of his education. No more produce jockey or bookstore monkey jobs for him.

We've been in New Jersey for two weeks. He's had as many interviews here as he'd had in our whole year and a half in Cleveland.

Northeast Ohio is a very bad market for librarians. If you're thinking about going to Kent State, DON'T DO IT unless you are positive you wouldn't mind relocating.

They say Cleveland's economy is bad. I don't know if it is or not, since I only have experience with the absence of jobs in the Library Sector. I do know that Kent State churns out ill-prepared library grads at a rate unsuitable for the job market. Last year Michael Schwartz, President of Cleveland State University, announced he would toughen admissions standards, since so many entering freshmen were not up to snuff academically. He called CSU's current open enrollment policy "unethical" because so many students were in essence wasting their money - signing on for a semester or two and then flunking out. Kent State's library school should think about this, too.

Much of my evidence is anecdotal. Hearing from a colleague who interviewed with a library which said they didn't like to hire Kent State grads because they "don't usually work out." Observing students in the computer lab who didn't know basic computer skills such as sending an attachment or saving a file to a disk. Knowing that most of my friends from library school either a) are still jobless in Ohio; b) "in exile" in other states, by chance or by choice; or c) out of the library profession already. But I believe, as someone who prefers talking to people and hearing their stories (rather than calculate the numbers on paper), that this evidence should count for something. If anyone else decides to do their culminating experience on this subject, let me know.

2004-08-06T12:02:00.000-04:00

Of Recent Pursuits

My quaint new downtown is heavily populated with cheery, milk-fed vacationing teens on bicycles. I'm thinking about finding a decent used book store (no Half Price Books around here, I'm afraid), loading up on some YALSA-fied favorites, and strategically, anonymously, Bookcrossing them.

Speaking of the B-word - in my relaxed, between-job languor I actually read one. The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (who, in a different and less deliciously lustmord-y frame of mind, calls himself Lemony Snicket) was pretty darn good, if you like the kind of teen angst that results in gory death.

Incidentally, Daniel Handler plays accordion with a favorite band of mine: The Magnetic Fields.

2004-08-03T11:10:00.000-04:00

Anonymous Tip

I'm tickled pink that I finally have critics to respond to. Anonymous says:

"Gee for someone considered a "mover and shaker" by ALA, this blog sure doesn't move and shake much, does it?"

First of all, it was Library Journal, not ALA, that gave me that distinction. Personally, I don't think ALA is interested in moving or shaking anything.

There are many reasons why this blog isn't updated ten times a day, like many library blogs.

1. I am the sole contributor, I try not to blog on company time, and I have a life.
2. In that life, I detest feeling like I am constantly plugged in to some form of technology. Especially because that's what comprises my workday.
3. The listserv, which is really the heart and soul of this project, is very active. "NexGen Librarianship" - whatever that means to those who choose to use the phrase - is in the hands and voices of the 850+ people on the list, not just in my silly blog.
4. I don't really intend to do ever-bigger, ever-better things with NGL. I could add all kinds of bells and whistles to the site, but that's a freaking headache that takes time away from the graphic novel I'm composing in my head, learning how to grow tomatoes properly, and figuring out how to choose the perfect grappa. I got young librarians connected to each other, and now the thing runs by word of mouth. I know how to recognize "enough" when I see it.
5. As I pointed out in my post yesterday, I've been off for a month. Blogging isn't really a priority when you're driving a moving truck across Pennsylvania.

I wonder if Anonymous is the Luddite Librarian, who has revealed that he/she has been lurking on NEXGENLIB-L. Maybe....