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The Librarian in Black blogging about Stephen Abram’s CLA 2006 speech: He quoted Karen Schneider’s famous line: “The user is not broken.” We are trying to turn our users into little librarians. We should not market “information literacy” — we are calling users illiterate before they come to us for help. That does not begin [...]
On the eve of Election Day, MPOW’s teen blog has had a patron-submitted name chosen by patron vote. The blog has been dubbed “OPL Teen Hot Spot” and the YA librarians are now soliciting logo designs from our teen patrons!
A woman asked me for help with the computers this afternoon. She was trying to apply for a job online, and the website wasn’t cooperating. While she wasn’t an internet whiz (she didn’t know she could tab from one field to the next, and instead would move the mouse to click on the next field), [...]
I’ve been blogging for 5 years now, and I’ve only just started to really think about why. No, that’s not entirely right. In 2001, you didn’t need a good reason to blog. In 2006, I think you do, and with the premiere of MPOW’s blogs, I’ve been thinking about my reasons and the reasons for [...]
I wrote a letter to the editor of the Lawrence Journal-World. The hardest part was keeping it down to the required 250 words or less. Brother, do I have a lot to say in response to Mark Hirschey’s piece! Of course, it’s a week after the opinion piece was published, so who knows my letter [...]
John Blyberg has more thoughts about the Lawrence anti-library piece. He’s got a point: we should be listening to what people like Mark Hirschey have to say, even if their conclusions are completely off. That being said, the library can’t be all things to all people, and some folks will never be on our side. [...]
At this point, I’m sure everyone who reads this blog is aware of the opinion piece “Libraries are limited, obsolete” in the Lawrence, KS, Journal-World. The piece breaks my heart and angers my soul. But, honestly, talking about it in blogs doesn’t really do much good. (It’s not “strategic,” to quote Karen G. Schneider.) This [...]
Taking advantage of my new wireless laptop, I’m going to blog about Pattie Johnston from the Lawrence Public Library. She’s talking about doing library programs and general library service for seniors. Pattie’s a really good speaker, very funny and smart. Programming for seniors is something that applies to me personally, so even though I’m blogging, [...]
Iris has written a dilly of a blog post about keeping her enthusiasm and optimism for this profession in the face of bitter, crusty librarians who see only the broken side of library users. In light of the idea that “the user is not broken,” I find I have a lot to think about here. [...]
There are a lot of really brilliant statements in this meme-ifesto. Another good starting point for what should be some really fruitful discussions. UPDATE: With a spring in her step (and no doubt a song in her heart), Michelle Boule adds some to the manifesto list. My favorite? “The library does not belong to librarians, [...]
