Fighting through the decline

  • Turf Wars: Stepping on toes in Libraryland

    I always like to joke about the number of committees I sit on. Librarians love to complain about the number of meetings we attend, and of course meetings are just the time consuming playthings of committees. (I suppose teleconferences/webinars are the time consuming playthings of groups that meet at a distance.) Maybe this is old…

  • The tension between “memory” and “complacency”

    Disclosure: I will own up to my deep seeded worries (perhaps paranoia) that libraries are in a vulnerable situation and we need to assert ourselves back in relevancy, particularly for special libraries. It’s not so much justification, but more of a reminder of our value and aligning (yes, that word) our message with that of…

  • LibPunk Essay Contest Essay: How I walk the contradictions

    I’m slow on the uptake, but here’s my entry for the LibPunk Essay Contest. I’ve been thinking about the meaning of LibPunk for a while, and trying to determine how I could be both LibPunk and a professional librarian. It’s not to say that it’s not possible, but where do I draw the lines? Well,…

  • Facebook’s going crazy, and I’m not talking about privacy (really)

    It seems a little goofy that in a week where people are deleting their Facebook accounts due to Facebook’s stance on privacy and going rogue. Criticizing Facebook is nothing new, I mean check out the Wikiepedia page. The rumored “Places” feature coming to Facebook is already freaking people out. So people are deleting their accounts…

  • How did you use the library for research? (Or what’s up with the kids?)

    blue haired with a knife, originally uploaded by kendrak. It’s that time of the semester here at MPOW, where we get the students coming in with their end of term research topics. (Instruction ends Friday.) Here’s a fairly typical interaction: Me: Hello, can I help you with something? Student: I need peer-reviewed resources about the…