Author: Kendra

  • Road block or goodbye? I got laid off.

    – road-block –, originally uploaded by Jacqueline ter Haar. This has been a weird week. I received my 90-day layoff notice on Monday. My last day at MPOW will be August 1. It sucks, but it’s just a sign of larger problems. The institute I work for is crumbling since most of the research funding…

  • Realism, cutting back, and letting go.

    Library Closed, originally uploaded by bigoteetoe. Have I told you about the hard times at MPOW? It’s bad… really bad… The institute we’re a part of has lost a huge portion of its funding, which means the library is facing massive budget cuts. How massive? Well, 35% is the optimistic cut, though we’re still waiting…

  • How do special librarians/info pros really fit in the big tent?

    (Photo source) This is Chris Zammarelli and his son Kieran cataloging something for the Department of State. I love this picture on many levels, but today I’m using to put a face on government librarians. This is a follow up from my sloppy and somewhat ranty post last week comparing SLA to the Bundesliga. I…

  • Special Libraries – Respected, but not always thought of… sort of like the Bundesliga?

    Photo source. The looming Government Shutdown reminded me how little most librarians actually interact with the federal government on a direct level. This all came about when Chris Zammarelli asked in the LSW Friendfeed room if any feds/fed contractors had plans for the shutdown. The silence was deafening. Well, OK, people liked talking about the…

  • Reflections on #transpo: Licensing public data so that everybody wins?

    Idle Transit Data is the Devil’s Playground, originally uploaded by williac. So yesterday I posted my first thoughts about Transportation Camp. Today I’m following up. Let’s talk about data licensing. In the afternoon I attended a couple of sessions focused on transit data. One, lead by Ian White of Urban Mapping, discussed data licenses for…