lostlibrarian

Do you feel lost?

2011-06-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

If you feel lost and overwhelmed with the amount of information and/or flood of technologies? Go to your closest library and ask for a library staff member who can help you!

Academic librarians as teachers

2010-06-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

I often read posts on list serves pertaining to teaching and nontenured librarians' common status as nonteacing faculty. However, we need to keep in mind that regardless of the current status we may be in, we ARE teachers. Whether we instruct information seekers one at a time or in a classroom setting, one-shot session or semester-long course, we ARE teaching. We need to make sure that we are reaching as many as possible and that we are "user friendly."

More than than ever before, librarians are vital. Not everyone lives in or close to a metropolitan area. Therefore, not everyone has exposure to school libraries, school media specialists and/or trained library staff. What happens when these students go to college? There is a growing pool of current research to support the book, How libraries and librarians help: A guide to identifying user-centered outcomes by Joan C. Durrance, http://tinyurl.com/28n6hrh .

We need to step up and prove our existence is a necessity rather than sit back and wait for someone else to do it for us or worse, wait until a Fahrenheit 451 scenario comes to fruition. Come on, let's conduct more observations and publish results to move forward.

-Sharon

For Illinois driver's licensees...

2009-12-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

you really should consider joining this database:
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/ecd/home.html

ALA-Chicago 2009

2009-07-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

While many attendees are recuperating from the exhaustive American Library Association's annual conference, which ended a few days ago, the rest of us returned to work.

I will share some of the highlights from my experience for those interested. I invite you to share yours, too.

Sincerely,
Sharon

Facebook: A value-added facet to library experiences

2008-10-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

Social networking has been around for a few years, now. Please put the stigma aside and at least research it, or try it before you make your final decision to skip this technology trend. Like it or not, social networking is much more than a fad. MySpace broke the ground for innovative platforms to follow and learn from mistakes and litigation. While Facebook is certainly not the end all, it is my belief, as well as others that there will be similar software to take over when Facebook has reached its exhaustion.

Why is Facebook so appealing? Facebook allows the profile creator to limit the amount of personal information viewers can obtain, and once another person is confirmed as a "friend," the creator can still maintain certain limits through his or her respective settings feature. This ensures a much higher level of security to avoid "spamming" and perhaps even pranks from a naive friend trying to post an unbecoming photograph or video on the creator's page.

As an academic librarian, I see this platform useful to perform outreach to those Internet users beyond email. This is a more personal way to communicate electronically than email and not as intimidating as face-to-face reference interviews for our Net Gen.

There are several of us active librarians moderating our accounts and we have created pages for our libraries, with administrative permission. We have seen success in reaching patrons in regard to library hours, materials, and exhibits as well as promoting other campus events. All of this possible while breaking the ice to gain the confidence of our fluid community members.

Rather than rejecting something new, view it as an opportunity or a vehicle to take advantage of "teachable moments".

Sincerely,
Sharon

No longer a lost librarian...

2007-12-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

I have been found! My official librarianship journey began on July 2, 2007 and I am so very thankful! For those of you currently pursuing your MSLIS, hang in there. Persistence will prevail and the right fit will come along. How much time until that happens is anyone's guess. For me, it was an adventure that included four rejections over the course of a year and a half.

I have been learning the many facets of my position over these past several months and will continue to gain competence for several more. Once "mastery" has somewhat occurred, I will begin to grow as a librarian in this rapidly paced profession. I must admit that it can be a daily challenge to remain current with new technological opportunities in addition to completing all the necessary tasks to maintain and not fall behind during those peak periods of the semester, in academia.

Sincerely,
Sharon

Stepping outside of the box...

2006-12-29T11:20:00.001-08:00

Granted, I am currently reading a book titled, "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat!" by John Ortberg. However, I have found that the concepts within these covers definitely carry a great deal of weight. Why should we fear taking chances in the library world rather than succumbing to failure? Maybe if we stepped out of that "comfort zone" or "box" and took some chances, we would grow and the benefits of that growth would resonate to our library communities!

If you are interested in the topic of risk taking, please feel free to explore articles published in Library Technology Reports, Library Trends, and Teacher Librarian to get you started.

MLIS complete

2006-08-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings! I am pleased to announce that I, along with twelve other cohorts, recently completed a masters degree in Library and Information Science. What an invigorating, challenging, and rewarding experience. I cannot believe how much each of us have learned and grown through this process. Now comes the really difficult part, finding a professional position!

Hanging yourself out there...

2006-05-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Everyone should be aware of this, not just tweens and teens. Recently I became aware of a situation very close to home. If you are a Children's Librarian, a Young Adult Librarian, or a parent, you may want to guide our future, should the opportunity arise. What am I talking about? For starters, MySpace.com, and other social networking web sites. Ensure that our young people do not put too much information out there to make them easy targets. Please follow this link. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec14.pdf
It will take you to the Federal Trade Commission's "Social networking safteey tips for tweens and teens." Retrieved May 18, 2006 from American Libraries Direct.
Keep in mind that this is geared toward young people, however the rest of should take this information seriously as well. We tend to think it will never happen to us. Think again and
stay safe!

Information Literacy

2006-03-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

Last Summer I worked on a project and developed a bibliography on Information Literacy. What is Information Literacy, you ask? It is really about teaching others to find the desired information they need or want. So, do we need libraries now that more and more journal articles are available (free) on the Internet? Of course we do! How is the information seeker going to wade through the web to find credible and/or relevant sources without assistance from a trained professional? How will they know what tags to use? The wonderful world of Subject Headings maintains accessibility, however the end user has no idea what they are or how they help. The Librarian's role has evolved from the stereotypical shusher to an educator. Let's jump on board and ride the web, shall we? Rather than feeling intimidated, use those same skills that we used in the print indexes of yesteryear and get online. You will amaze yourself at what you can and will find. In order to be a better educator, you must play and learn. Happy treasure hunting!

Plea for the future of libraries...

2005-10-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

ALA has recently made a plea and is in hopes to raise $500,000.00 for the school, public and academic libraries losses in floods and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Let's think about this for one moment and reassess our core values. Just the future of the book alone must move you, let alone the aspect of the library as a place to escape, grow, and connect to the outside world. In reality, $500,000.00 is a mere drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to bring even one of these libraries back into business.

Please join me in focusing our efforts to ensure life after loss.

Sharon

Do you need to search deeper than the surface?

2005-08-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

I recently became aware of some very useful search tools that allowed me to search much deeper for pertinent information. I encourage you to try these the next time you want to dive a little deeper. Your patrons will be amazed at the quality of information they received and you will be thankful for the time you saved!

Infomine:
http://infomine.ucr.edu/

Librarians' Index to the Internet:
http://lii.org/

Complete Planet:
http://aip.completeplanet.com/

Helpful links

2005-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Helpful Links for Librarians:
(All links accessed 6/21/05)

http://www.mls.lib.il.us/cats.cfm?catid=150&mid=80
This source is used by librarians and professionals in Acquisitions and Collection Development Departments. This is an excellent portal of information in the library and information science field. Vanderbilt's page is down 6/21/05

http://xoom.xoom.com/
This appears to be a great page to get you started with creating your own web page. Don't be afraid to create something, it may turn out to be very useful for yourself and others.

http://www.refdesk.com/
Have you ever needed to finds facts in a hurry? Next time, check this source out. It is truly amazing.

http://readingsoftware.notlong.com/
For questions about writing techniques, proper grammar, etcetera, give this source a try. It is a highly recommended evaluation tool.

http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/language/index.asp
Here is another useful tool to encourage literacy skills. It is great.

http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/mills2.html
Have you been asked where to find papers that have already been written about a topic on the Internet? This site may help you guide those students in a better direction.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
Health statistics can be accessed via the Center for Disease Control. This is their website.

http://www.libraryspot.com/
This is a great reference tool. There are also links to about any helpful tool you can imagine. Information is provided for homework, parenting information, reference materials, and much more. The following link can be accessed through this page, as well.

http://www.govspot.com/
If you are looking for an excellent starting point for government information, this is it.

http://www.census.gov/
This is another great site to find out information on the most recent census.
The amount of information available seems infinite. There are even current topics links, which would be useful for educators.

Intellectual Property- Why should I care?

2005-04-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

I recently attended an enlightening workshop: Copyright in a Digital World, which was sponsored by OCLC. Since then, I have done some searching on this topic and found a very good article pertaining to how copyright issues impact the academic world. While intellectual property is a "buzz" topic, it is very real and should be taken very serious!

Here is how one institution addressed a need:

Deyrup, M.M. Intellectual Property and the University: An Interview with Kim Bonner, Director, Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland, University College. Library Administration & Management v. 19 no. 1 (Winter 2005) p. 4-6.

Blogs in libraries?

2005-04-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

You have got to read these articles. They help explain what blogs can do for you.

Ojala, Marydee. Online.Ownership, Access, Retrieval, and Sharing.Mar/Apr2005, Vol. 29 Issue 2, p5, 1p

SCHMIDT, Aaron.Future-Minded. Library Journal; 3/15/2005 Movers & Shakers, Vol. 130, p8, 1/2p, 1c

Here is a great example of a library blog:

http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/

Here are a couple of must see blogs:

http://publicmusingsandcomplaints.blogspot.com

http://oyarsa.blogspot.com

What if I don't know how to blog?

2005-04-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

No sweat! If I can do it, so can you!

Step 1: Think of a cool, unique, yet obvious name.

Step 2: Once you have your name, you are ready to post. What this means is that you are ready to type something meaningful for the whole world to see.

Step 3: Click on "Publish Post."

Step 4: Click on "Republish Entire Blog."

Step 5: Click on "View Blog" tab at the top of page (or on the small print).

Step 6: Write the url address of your blog down (http://www....blogger.com) .

Step 7: Smile in amazement at what you have done and sign out.

Start your own blog

2005-04-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Come on, don't be scared...
Click on this link and follow the three easy steps to start your own blog.

http://www.blogger.com/start

I must warn you though, this is addicting! I now have two of my own blogs.

For additional help with your blog, or if you want more from your blog, click on this link:

http://www.blogger.com/knowledge/2004/06/this-old-blog.pyra

Intimidated by the rampid technology?

2005-04-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to provide some helpful tips, links, and literature to help bring you up to speed.

Just for starters, look at this link:

http://libraryspot.com/

You will be amazed at the amount of quality information in one site. It is like "one-stop shopping."

Sharon