I'm thinking of dropping this blog. It didn't come together they way I had hoped, as a community place for "library talk." Which is fine, but I have 8 other blogs that I write/administer/team blog on, so I don't feel like I have enough time for this one anymore.

Or, does no one care if it doesn't get updated very often? Is anyone out there wanting to participate but now sure how?

I would love it if a few other people would post a topic from time-to-time - once topics are posted, we do seem to have some discussions.

Anyone? Bueller?

Posts like this one from the Annoyed Librarian were tailor-made for Library Talk. Not because I don't agree with most of it, but because I do agree with some of it. It certainly is a conversation starter.

Key word here being "conversation."

I could say LOTS about this post, and I will after the ball gets rolling here. But I will start by addressing this: "...The Twopointopians contempt for their non-Twopointopian colleagues is palpable." I'll give AL this - the contempt between library colleagues IS palpable -- but I do not agree that it is the one-way street that AL thinks it is, as evidenced by AL's own post. But, yeah, "anti 2.0" librarians don't want to hear anymore about 2.0 (check the comments), and "pro 2.0" librarians are frustrated with those who are unwilling, or unable, to acknowledge a changing profession and the changing needs of patrons.

Your thoughts?

(And don't forget, you can now subscribe to comments if you'd like to keep track of this, and any other, discussion. See sidebar for the button link.)

I recently bitched about not getting keychain cards for our patrons, which is, in reality, just one of the many ways our library ignores "customer service."

In this instance, though, my main bitch is that this decision was made, pretty much unilaterally, by one person - and that person is not a professional librarian (or a librarian at all, really). Now, in "fairness," we have been without a director for 8 months, and we have had no one really making any decisions for the good of the library - or our patrons. We've been in limbo. But we do have four librarians on staff, and not one of them was consulted about this - and I think that's a mistake.

So, my question for discussion is, "Do you think that at least one professional librarian should be consulted when it comes to decisions dealing with patron satisfaction?"

I know that it sounds - and perhaps is - obnoxious to pull the "MLIS card," and that paraprofessional staff often feel like they are not respected for the work they do, but isn't there a reason we went to library school and at the very least went through the rigmarole (and expense) of getting a professional degree? Shouldn't matters of collection development, equipment purchase, computer configuration, and yes, patron SERVICE at least have input from the librarians on staff (and especially when there is no director to oversee things)?

What do you think? Does stuff like this happen where you work? Do you have a "system" for decision making?

Oh, BTW - you can now subscribe to the comments on this blog - since comments are what this blog is all about!

A little light reading from Michael Gorman:
The Sleep of Reason, Part I
The Sleep of Reason, Part II

This should provide for hours of discussion fun, and actually leads quite nicely into the subject-matter of a post I have brewing in my head.

Let the commenting begin!

I admit I have been MIA on this blog. Between my other 75 blogs, my weird life, the explosion of the 2.0 community over at Ning, and the fact that it seemed to be just a few folks hanging out here, I sorta put it on the back burner.

But, according to my stats, people are still checking in here - daily - in spite of the fact that there hasn't been a new post in almost a month. So, I figured I'd toss something else out there.

I have been reading a new blog, The Effing Librarian, with great interest. I don't have any idea where I originally found the link, and I don't know who writes it, but it sure is interesting - and, um, "different" from much of my daily library blog diet.

This post in particular has lots to say, and while I don't "agree" (and I am not even sure that's the word I am looking for) with some of it, I found it very thought-provoking.

I am in the middle of a research project for someone right this minute, so I will hold my comments for now. But, hey, if you're reading this blog, feel free to discuss!

(Cross-posted from Cool Librarian - feel free to comment in either place.)

This tidbit of info popped up on a few of the feminist blogs I read, and I thought it was relevant to the "library world" as it is about search habits (I think).

American Airlines has introduced a new "women's" page, complete with "our own" search box:


Here's the search box on the main page of American Airlines (the one that, if I am understanding their implication, appeals more to men than women):

So, aside from the pretty pink color (cuz you know all we chicks just dig pink!), do you notice anything? Like, perhaps, that all of the advanced search functions have been stripped from the women's search box!?

Sigh.

OK, according to their women's page, American Airlines has, "...listened to women like you and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle." Is this true? Did their market research reveal that women would rather not have advanced search options in their search box? And, does American Airlines feel like removing those options provides us women with "additional information?" Really?

I fully admit that perhaps I am over-thinking this because I am an uppity feminist. But since I belong to a profession that is still somewhat dominated by women (79% of librarians were female in 2002 according to the Toledo Blade), a profession where "search" is what we do, this struck a chord with me. Maybe, though, we freaky librarians do not represent the mainstream American woman's search habits. But still...

And because I have nothing better to do until the American Idol Results show comes on, I'll toss out other thoughts, loosely related, as well. If American Airlines did indeed do a study that found women were more in tune with a "simple search," is that because the searching is computer (technology) based? Are women still more put off by technology than men? And if that's the case, should librarianship expect a surge in men joining the ranks now that times have changed and being a librarian is as much about technology as it is about books (or about accessing information via technology, if you are more comfortable with that)?

Naturally, I do not know the answers to these questions, though I suspect you could find "data" supporting both sides to each. And, here's some other interesting reading on the subject(s) for you.

In the meantime, if I ever decide to fly (not likely, though my fear of crashing may be gender-based as well), I will be using the "full service" search on the American Airlines website, thank you very much.

Has anyone not seen that Bill Drew created a MySpace-esque Library 2.0 social network community using Ning? It's really quite nifty. I'm just a li'l cranky that we didn't do it first.

But no biggie. I've created a page and here it is!