Month: August 2004

boxes boxes boxes

Still packing, but the end is near.

I took the first car load of boxes to the post office this morning. It was easier than I expected, and they had enough people working so I didn’t feel like I was holding up the line too much. Then I went home and started packing more. By the time I decided to quit, I was amazed by how much stuff I had either put in the charity shop pile or in a packed and labeled box. I was also pleased to see how little was left to pack. Of course, it will likely end up more than I thought, but at least I’m starting to see an end to all this. I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow.

I’m house/farm sitting for my friends for the last time. They live about an hour from my house, so I’m losing some packing time by having to be here from about 6pm until 8am, but probably I wouldn’t be packing late at night anyway. It’s hard work! I need the break. I left my laptop at the farm today, so from about 9am until 8pm, I was without access to email/blogs/Internet. It’s in these times that I realize just how wired I am on a normal basis.

At work at my desk, I have email open all day, so I’m usually reading messages as they come in. In the evenings at home, I’m often logged on, even if I’m doing other things around the house. At first, I felt disconnected without at least checking email once an hour. Then I got so busy with all that I was doing, that I almost forgot all about it. I know I got a lot more done with the packing than I would have if I had brought the laptop home!

Maybe I should take more off-line mini-vacations…

it’s all about the books?

Librarians love Google… and books, of course.

Earlier this week, Jessamyn posted an excerpt from the Playboy interview with Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page. Brin said, “Actually, more and more librarians love Google. They use it. They do an excellent job helping people find answers on the Internet in addition to using their book collections.”

I use Google almost every day. I like the interface and the search results listing, and usually I’m looking for something specific. Plus it’s integrated into my browser (without the annoying toolbar). I don’t use it for academic research, though. I wouldn’t use it to help a student do research, except as a finding tool for a resource I know should be online somewhere (like government information). I digress. I did not intend this to be a libraries v. Google rant.

What I take issue with in his statement is the implication that the only thing libraries have to offer to supplement Google is books. Books are great sources of vetted information that every researcher should use. However, in addition to books, libraries provide access to scholarly journals and indexing resources that are not on the public Internet. Libraries are more than books, and it is apparent that Brin either has forgotten this or does not want others to remember it, since it’s in his best interest if Google takes precedence over, say, EBSCOhost or InfoTrac.

thoughts about the new job

In the midst of all the stuff I am doing to get ready to go, I’m also thinking about what I want to do when I get to Washington.

In the midst of all the stuff I am doing to get ready to go, I’m also thinking about what I want to do when I get to Washington. There will be, of course, the getting-to-know-you period, but I have some ideas of what I want to do there based on my experiences at my current-until-Friday place of work. The nice thing is that at my new place of work, it will be in my job description to do those things! I’ve had virtually no voice in some decisions made about our serials collection, and that is very frustrating. These decisions are short-sighted and didn’t include input from those who will have to deal with the ramifications, nor has there been any follow-up.

I’ve also been reflecting on management styles. I’ve learned some what to dos and what not to dos from my current-until-Friday place of work. I don’t know how my management style will evolve in the new environment, but I hope that I will have absorbed enough from my past experiences to know how to avoid mistakes. A lot of management involves being able to understand personalities and how to push the right buttons to get the best results.

Maybe this is true of other professions, but it seems that librarianship attracts a significant number of socially dysfunctional individuals. Or at least, the places I have worked have had quite a few of them. It is much harder to build a cohesive team when the players don’t have the necessary skills. I suppose that if this turns out to be true at my new place of work, then it will just be another challenge for me to overcome.

I suppose that’s enough Saturday night rambling.

publication pattern change

A magazine with “weekly” in the title will actually be published 52 times this year — go figure!

I heard on Marketplace this morning that the magazine US Weekly will actually be published 52 times this year. The reporter said that the magazine had made enough money from ad revenue and sales to be able to publish an issue every week this year. I was curious to see what the publication pattern history has been, so I took a look at the Library of Congress record for the magazine. It appears that from 1985-Jan 1991, the magazine was published weekly, but from Feb 1991 until now it was published bi-weekly. I expect that something about this may show up on SERIALST, eventually.

what has anna been up to lately?

You may be wondering why all of a sudden this blog got rather quiet. Or not. In any case, I’m going to tell you if you decide to keep on reading this entry.

You may be wondering why all of a sudden this blog got rather quiet. Or not. In any case, I’m going to tell you if you decide to keep on reading this entry. I have wanted to write this entry for three weeks, but since it’s a long story, I haven’t had the time to do so (or the energy when I had the time). Most likely, by the time I actually get to writing it out, it will be much shorter than all of the mental versions of the story and then I’ll feel silly for not having written it already. Speaking of which…

I have a new job at Central Washington University that starts September 7th!!!!

Oh, there I went and gave away the ending. Silly me.

This whole thing came about rather quickly and unexpectedly, and I am still having trouble adjusting to the idea (and the work) of moving across the country to a place I have never lived and where I know virtually no-one. If you told me a year ago that I would be leaving Kentucky for the Pacific Northwest I would have laughed in your face. Heck, if you told me that six months ago, I would have done the same. Lucky for you that you are not a gabby psychic.

Last spring, some friends in Oregon told me about the job opening for the Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian at CWU and encouraged me to apply for it. I did so, but with the expectation that I would never hear from them and that would be the end of it. I was wrong. They not only wanted me for the position, they also made me an offer I couldn

gps tours

Campus tour and geocaching combined — sign me up!

Prospective students at Arizona State University have the opportunity to go on hand-held GPS-assisted tours of the campus, rather than with a human tour guide. Now all they need to do is to dump in the waypoints for nearby geocaches and let the kids have some fun after the tour. [thanks steven]

fuh2

Do you get ticked when you see people commuting to work in huge gas guzzling SUVs?

Do you get ticked when you see people commuting to work in huge gas guzzling SUVs? Do you particularly dislike the Hummer H2? Vent your anger.

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