To ensure this happy little blog has more than one post, I'm linking to an interesting rant (as all rants should be) by a librarian about those who inhabit her world.
I didn't keep the original link from where I first bumped into this, so I can't Hat Tip the person who found it. To them [I think it was a MLS student in the ole USA]...keep fighting the good fight.
Now, I would like to say from the outset, I work in an academic library and NOT a public library. So my interactions with homeless men are solely on a social basis rather than a professional one.
And the last time I caught any girls smoking pot in a bathroom, it was my sister and her friends trying to be hippies for a day. [Big shout out to you sis...guess it didn't work out being a hippy, but hey, the paychecks from that Big Oil company probably help.]
I think ANYONE who has worked in pretty much ANY library will see similarities to what this librarian is going on about.
HOWEVER, the best part is the end. Ain't it always the case!
She re-affirms what all true librarians feel...
[to paraphrase...]
LOOK. YOU IDIOTS WHO ARE IDIOTS SUCK, BUT I WILL HELP ANYONE WHO IS HERE TO USE MY LIBRARY LEGITIMATELY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF MY ABILITIES AND EFFORTS.
Amen sister.
Link : http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/mil/97473665.html
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Hit the ground running, face first
Well here we go...Library 2.0!
Well, it sorta feels the same as Library 1.0, or Library 0.1. And I'm sure it won't be that different from Library 3.0 or Library 666
Heck, I bet Library Papyrus or Library Clay Tablet or even Library Flayed Skin and Blood Tattoos didn't feel that different either. Not that I was there for any of those, although I did bump my knee once and the scratch looked like book trolley. Not sure if that counts.
Ultimately, while we might change the technology involved in providing library services, our purpose remains the same.
Spread information literacy
Offer access to resources
Promote our profession, both internally and externally
Um....did I forget something? [yeah ya nog, heaps]
Oh yeah.
Bitch about our patrons.
Why do they mess up the shelves, or rollerblade in the stacks (yes, I have had to ask a gentleman that if he wants to skate he will have to "take it outside' to which he answered that there were no signs up saying you couldn't skate in the library...go figure).
Or forget their library card (or any credible ID) and still demand to borrow. Or eat in the library, or use their bloody mobile phones...under the DO NOT EAT OR USE PHONES IN THE LIBRARY signs no less.
I have visions of a monk, robed and avuncular, complaining that his charges aren't putting the scrolls back in order. Or some dude at the Alexandria Library saying there's no smoking in the stacks. Or J. Edgar Hoover (did you know he worked at the Library of Congress as a cataloguing clerk, where do you think he got the FBI indexing system from you bleeding pinko) promising to 'get up in ya grill' for messing up the card catalogue. Or Mao Zedong (yep, a librarian from way back) saying to his boss that he's taking the book mobile out for a long march and might not be back in time for the next OPAC meeting.
But I digress.
Despite our love/hate relationship with those below us (our patrons) and those above us (the management teams which fund and perhaps don't fully recognise the contribution libraries make to the organisations they are a part of) we are not only compelled to operate with both of them, we must actively seek new ways of improving their lot.
For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health....blah blah blah.
It's up to us librarians to ensure that we are valued by our organisations and that our patrons have as full as access as possible to our services and resources. I bristle at the use of 'client' and positively loathe the use of 'customer' when referring to our users.
[exhale]
Here endth the rant.
I'm hoping to have less rant and more Library 2.0 in the next post, but I ain't guaranteeing nuffin'.
:)
Well, it sorta feels the same as Library 1.0, or Library 0.1. And I'm sure it won't be that different from Library 3.0 or Library 666
Heck, I bet Library Papyrus or Library Clay Tablet or even Library Flayed Skin and Blood Tattoos didn't feel that different either. Not that I was there for any of those, although I did bump my knee once and the scratch looked like book trolley. Not sure if that counts.
Ultimately, while we might change the technology involved in providing library services, our purpose remains the same.
Spread information literacy
Offer access to resources
Promote our profession, both internally and externally
Um....did I forget something? [yeah ya nog, heaps]
Oh yeah.
Bitch about our patrons.
Why do they mess up the shelves, or rollerblade in the stacks (yes, I have had to ask a gentleman that if he wants to skate he will have to "take it outside' to which he answered that there were no signs up saying you couldn't skate in the library...go figure).
Or forget their library card (or any credible ID) and still demand to borrow. Or eat in the library, or use their bloody mobile phones...under the DO NOT EAT OR USE PHONES IN THE LIBRARY signs no less.
I have visions of a monk, robed and avuncular, complaining that his charges aren't putting the scrolls back in order. Or some dude at the Alexandria Library saying there's no smoking in the stacks. Or J. Edgar Hoover (did you know he worked at the Library of Congress as a cataloguing clerk, where do you think he got the FBI indexing system from you bleeding pinko) promising to 'get up in ya grill' for messing up the card catalogue. Or Mao Zedong (yep, a librarian from way back) saying to his boss that he's taking the book mobile out for a long march and might not be back in time for the next OPAC meeting.
But I digress.
Despite our love/hate relationship with those below us (our patrons) and those above us (the management teams which fund and perhaps don't fully recognise the contribution libraries make to the organisations they are a part of) we are not only compelled to operate with both of them, we must actively seek new ways of improving their lot.
For richer or poorer, in sickness and in health....blah blah blah.
It's up to us librarians to ensure that we are valued by our organisations and that our patrons have as full as access as possible to our services and resources. I bristle at the use of 'client' and positively loathe the use of 'customer' when referring to our users.
[exhale]
Here endth the rant.
I'm hoping to have less rant and more Library 2.0 in the next post, but I ain't guaranteeing nuffin'.
:)
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