Author: jessamyn

I know you already know what a genius Rachel Singer Gordon is. She’s written a great piece on Systems Librarian Impostor Syndrome. For more on accidental systems librarianship, see this reference page. [ lisnews ]

I’m trying to pick up the Dewey Decimal System really sort of quick-like since I’m a bit embarassed that I managed never to pick it up in library school. This page is currently my favorite crib sheet, though this one is a close second.

And do weblogs belong in the 040’s?

Great letter to Adelphia in Library Juice. Have you seen their ads conflating their high-speed service with the library [only better, no card!]? I feel the same way about this stuff as I did about Google Answers. It’s fine to have both services, but the people with the for-fee service seem to need to try to explain why they are better than the for-free service. And in reality, it’s just apples and oranges. Adelphia, you are not the library. Google Answers, you are not librarians. Why pretend you are? I think it’s the strength of our reputation, don’t you? [ juice ]

I’ve been getting interested in alternate classifciation schemes. The Warburg Institute Library has its own brand. Four sections: Action, Orientation, Word, Image.

Is protecting the rights of users and supporting free access to ideas one of the fundamental values of librarianship? I sure think so. [ commonsblog ]

Soon to be a new favorite of mine: Ref Grunt, pullquotes from life at the reference desk. [ blogsource ]

You’ll have to scroll down for this gem from Neil Gaiman’s blog.

Hey, a writer is writing about reading. She’d like some input into people’s feelings about reading for a book she’s writing. Five questions, give her a hand?

PATRIOT Watch: doesn’t this article make it seem, from the headline, that librarians are doing somethign bad? I mean, they’re against making something easier…. really they’re just making sure it’s not so easy to get at your library records. [ thanks john ]

PATRIOT Watch: Slate chimes in detailing the “Attack of the Angry Librarians” among other things. [ thanks john ]

Librarian dating.

You know, whether you do or do not like the librarian “action” figure, it’s still $9 for a hunk of plastic. Buy a book instead.

Hey I’m starting my job during Library Card Sign Up Month. I guess that’s better than Pester Your Librarian Month. But really, isn’t every month Pester Your Librarian Month? I wonder why the the press release doesn’t have the URL on it? Maybe it won’t fit on one line?

What do you do when you follow all the steps an organization gives you to avoid spam and you still wind up getting some? You ask a lot of questions. Emma Jane details her back and forth with ALA about junk mail she received when they sold her name to mailing lists before she had a chance to set her communications preferences at all. Upshot? Her name and address were sold before she even got her membership card and could login to set her preferences. Uncool.

PATRIOT Watch: Library cartoon. And not the one we already all know about.

Dear editor, do you really think no one has ever written a newspaper story about a library and used the phrase “checking out” in the headline? Austin TX seeks their own Big Beautiful Library, with retail space. [ thanks alisha ]

If reading banned books were really that scandalous, no one would admit it. Me? I read porn — among many other things; where’s my t-shirt? [ thanks jenn ]

When does “own” not mean own? When you own an ebook, of course. Smart talk from the shifted Librarian.