Rolling 2010 librarian/library assistant thread

"You're not organized by the Dewey Decimal System?"

"Well, no..."

Oh man, will LOL Dewey gags ever be phased out for LOL LoC gags, and if so how long after the demise of both will it happen?

Hello, I am not a librarian but I spent today elbow-deep in AACR2 serials enumeration and chronology specifications. Happy new year, folks.

"It's organized by the Dewey decimal system, right?"

"Well, no..."

― Ned Raggett, Friday, January 4, 2008 2:27 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

:-D

I'm no librarian, but I totally designed this thing!
http://www.lagrange.edu/resources/images/library/library.jpg

congratulations

(not sarcastic)

this is my favorite library blog (until i am working in a library and actually have to deal with the public again):

http://community.livejournal.com/library_mofo/

thx!

Agree/disagree?

http://flavorwire.com/64968/mixtape-10-best-songs-about-libraries-and-librarians

Why not?
Shoot I don't think I've ever heard a single song about libraries.librarians. Fun Fun Fun is not about the library.

yeahhh 'it is fun to lie about going to the library and do other things instead' = not a library song.

these lists are so lazy.

No Cursor Miner (warning: sound+animation), no credibility.

Also, no Railroad Jerk - "Sweet Librarian".

I am the sub-librarian, come in on the council bus
Chalk Farm to Highgate Woods, sportsbag of borrowed books
A steady diet of Brautigan, 'Tapestry' on the walkman
Paranormal ill-health from dusting off the top shelf
I am the sub-librarian, counter girl, tea-maker
I am the sub-librarian, swan feeder, spectacle breaker
I am the sub-librarian

uh LIBRARIAN GIRL?

dang being a librarian at the R&R Hall of Fame Library would be the perfect job for me. Too bad I'd have to live in Cleveland.

re: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/13203

You could escape to Erie for the weekend.

Do any of the ILX librarian/library assistants have a library-related blog? I know there are a billion of them but I'm thinking of starting one so that I keep thinking about library issues in the interim between finishing school and actually getting a library job (whenever that happens).

Also what should I call my theoretical library blog? (anyone suggesting a variation on "guybrarian" gets the gas face)

Desensitizing the Vacuum

n/a Happy Fun Time Library Blog

I don't know what it means but I like it.

re: Ned's obv

obv

and no i don't have a bloggity blog. i couldn't really blog about my job because of privacy concerns and stuff. how is the job search going? sucky?

Only being half serious there with my choice -- Alfred S.'s blog is called "Dehumanizing the Vacuum," which in turn is a Spoon lyric IIRC. Thus once more it's all back to bad puns on my part.

Pretty quiet. For the first month or so I was finding plenty of stuff to apply for, now it's rarer (partially because we decided we want to stay in Chicago for a while so now I'm just applying in this area). I've only had one interview, and that was for a PT job, and I didn't get it. Sometimes I feel bad about the situation, other times I'm like "well I've already got a job that pays pretty good, has benefits, lets me work from home, and is really flexible time-wise, so what's the rush to do something else unless it's cool?" So now I'm trying to do what I can to build up my resume a little bit (going to do some casual volunteering for the Chicago Underground Library, which is a fun place anyways) and "network" (i.e. meet other people who work in libraries, which is another reason why I'm volunteering and thinking about doing a blog).

I had an interview for a library assistant job today! Still mulling over whether I want it. Any LAs care to convince me?

i'm graduating with a bachelor's in English Lit, and planning on doing the LIS thing. i don't think i should have a problem getting accepted into it, but i'm flummoxed about what to write for my statement of intent, i mean, i wanna get a dang LIS degree so i can get a dang library job. i guess i should just say some stuff about information and...

So do you really not want people to re-shelve material, or just not want people not putting it back in the correct spot?

I should know, since I work at a library, but don't shelve (I can tell you though that it's kind of terrifying how often I'm unable to find specific books from the stacks).

the blog is a go:

http://infinitemonkeys.tumblr.com/

first full post is more about me than future posts will be, hopefully

The anticipation of reading--love it

great post, n/a

Thanks guys. I'm a little shaky on nonacademic writing but hopefully working on this will make me sharper.

Some form of 'set' writing just for the practice of it is always good, and yes, nice start!

Had to drop a class this semester, and it was the interesting one (Social Constructs of Information). I'm still enrolled in Collection Development (snooze-ville). I would be a librarian at the RnR Hall of Fame.
Gonna take some time to get this damn degree.

What up! I have never posted in this thread! I work in a regional historical archives located in my University's library! I am going to go to the University of Arizona's information science graduate program starting in like July.

great blog post n/a. I particularly liked this:

And what I love even more than reading is the anticipation of reading: the feeling when you are between books and you could read anything next, or when you have a new book and you haven’t started it yet and for all you know it could be the best book you will ever read.

I feel that way all the time, though sometimes I think I like the anticipation a little too much and so the reading of the book itself just ends up getting in the way of more anticipation.

to add on to that, i love when i'm fifty pages into a book, and I'm enjoying it so much i have to put it down every now and then to appreciate some part of the book.

That is why I love libraries: they are spaces filled with potential.

otm!

working on a "controversial" post that involves contacting people from the ALA and the Chicago Public Library system, should be interesting to see if it actually pans out

cool blog n/a. Viceroy has the job i want, i think. right now i'm managing records for a real estate brokerage and it's less boring than it sounds. doing a digital preservation internship one day a week on the side. torn between pursuing "university" work and going all out w/ the records management thing, leaning towards the latter for the $$$ to ride out my years of student loan enslavement. i can also just move to thailand or something and disappear. glad i have options.

So I believe Abbott has some news to share!

Ha, Ned, you are great. I got a scholarship for library school at U. of Ariz.! (Even tho I have the world's insaniest transcripts & failed over 1/3rd of my 9 years of classes, which I was pretty sure would damn me for life.) And I'll share the Viceroy's good news, too: he got offered a grad assistantship (sp?). Fully stoked!

Hooray! Kick ass, take names! Overthrow the state! (Seriously, overthrow that state.)

For real ;_;

Good luck dude!

Congrats!

nice! librarians are pretty cool imo

speaking of which K is at some libraryish conference in beautiful dearborn michigan this weekend so if any of yall are going to be there too, let me know and ill have her say hello

congrats Abbott, that's awesome! Librarians are the best people in the world (and also probably the weirdest).

Congratulations! Librarians rule, you will kick ass and take names (and file them in a neat and organized manner)!

Congratulations Abbott and Viceroy! Libraries are pretty rad and librarians are mostly one of the best kinds of weird.

(I reserve the right to take this back next time one of them wants something impossible done within 5 minutes, seeing as how I am a library IT monkey)

I am still not a librarian. Only one phone interview and one in-person interview, both for p/t jobs, didn't hear back from either. I'm realizing that Chicago is not the best place to be looking for a library job if you don't have much experience, there are waaaay too many people with MLSs in this city. But I've been doing some networking-type activities and that's been fun.

I got offered a library assistant job a few weeks ago but had to turn it down because the wage was too low to cover 2 x childcare :(

Abbot, I am so happy for you -- congratulations. I hope everybody else finds work really soon. It is hard out there for a pimp (or a librarian).

My friend Stripey is damn thankful she's been getting her degree one course per quarter, just because it has been allowing her to stretch out dealing with this terrible market.

congrats abbott! libraries are the best. i have my fingers crossed for one of two library jobs i applied for this week myself...

I married a librarian. That's how cool they are. << serious ambiguity problems here

Meanwhile, for those of you who missed my incessant nattering about it elsewhere, my EMP presentation which addressed library issues, kinda.

We're having some major budget problems in NYC--if you like libraries please sign this position.

http://www.savequeenslibrary.org/

great news, guys: the MLIS is the 25th worst master's degree for jobs

One above an MFA.

The moral of that list is "don't get a job that helps people," I guess.

28. Education
27. Counseling
25. MLIS
24. Psychology
23. Social Work
21. Speech Pathology

:(

Funny Miss Manners column about a "nosy librarian."

The way to get to a librarian is to imply that a profession requiring technologically sophisticated researching skills is solely populated by cranky old ladies whose only pleasure in life is to shhh people.

Oh, and a few inhibited young ladies who could find love if only they would remove their glasses.

Mayonnaise bandit arrested for library condiment crime spree

If I opened up a library drop box full of rancid mayonnaise, I think I would puke until I died.

I've never been a fan of Will Manley (mainly because I've never been able to get past his name), but I have to admit some of these recent blog posts, and the comments as well, talk about some grim but real issues. (Maybe you should ignore this if you are already in an MLS program.)

Yeah, I've been enjoying his recent blog posts (+ comments), though they are as depressing as all get out. Some of the commenters are really annoying too.

I guess this is the post that started off the recent spate of rants:

http://willmanley.com/2010/06/07/will-unwound-135-librarian-anger-is-real-by-will-manley/

That's actually the post that I saw a link for that brought me to his blog recently.

so 6 months of applying for library jobs = one interview for a p/t job (that I didn't get). The problem isn't a lack of jobs; I've been applying for around 5 jobs a week on average. I think the problem is my lack of actual library experience (beyond my degree) and a surplus of people with MLS degrees AND experience who are looking for jobs in the Chicago area.

Any ideas on how I can get actual in-library experience? I talked to one woman who said she shadowed someone else on their library job for a coupel of days and put that on her resume. I've applied for some p/t jobs because my schedule is such that I might be able to keep my current job and work somewhere else in the afternoon. I'm volunteering at a couple of library-related organizations. It seems unlikely that I'd be able to get an internship when I'm done with school already but maybe I can look into that.

oh I'm also applying for some jobs outside of Chicago (mainly in the DC area) but I feel like employers are reluctant to call in people who live outside the area. I could do the old "use a local address on your resume" trick (using my sister's address) but it feels dishonest, and part of me doesn't want to travel to DC for an interview unless I'm pretty sure they're interested.

I'm kind of wishing I had interviewed at Las Vegas (NV) public library when I had a chance. I decided at the last minute that it was too hot and dry for me to want to live there, but dryness has turned out to be less of a sinus issue than it seemed for me here in Albuquerque initially. I'm not sure how things would have turned out in Las Vegas, but right now they aren't looking that great for me job-wise here, and that's all I'm going to say about it. (I am working at least.) I don't know, maybe I would have been laid off in Vegas, or maybe I would have been spending all my time shooing homeless people away from porn on the public computers.

I didn't even get a bite from Spokane County or Colorado Springs, when I applied at their public libraries (for actual openings). Kind of glad I didn't end up in COS.

Do you have an MLS/MLIS Rudipherous? I was hoping to end up (with a job) in ABQ someday.

This other librarian forum I read is freaking te fuck out, with joy, because "Library of Congress has authorized the change in subject heading terminology from 'Cookery' to 'Cooking' in approximately 800 subject headings.”

what is the other librarian forum you read?

It's a forum on the knitting website Ravelry.

I like the archaic-ness of Cookery. But I don't really care either way.

They are stoked bcz apparently it's a word that never occurs to patrons to use, which makes sense.

Ah, I was wondering what was so exciting about the change. As a Britisher I had not really noticed that -ery was archaic but quite like the weird assortment of different noun formations English has and would be sad if they all got standardised away.

Maybe not so much in the summer, but if my employer is anything to go by academic libraries often have part-time vacancies (mainly desk duty, but some more specialised things too, and at least p/t desk vacancies are often outside 9-5), and those seem to be a good way of getting feet in doors - I know one of my supervisors is pretty good at keeping an ear open for other posts going for people and putting a word in

though I work at a UK university with tens of different libraries, so I guess centralised American universities are a very different beast

PS good luck to all jobhunters on this thread

I’ve been following the Cookery --> Cooking proposal from the beginning. I am SO excited for this change. It is long overdue. I am a cataloger at a college with a substantial culinary program, and none of the students here have ever or are ever going to search by keyword “cookery” in the catalog.

I think Britishers use LOC subject headings too, but I may be mistaken (I am not and could never be a cataloguer). This is a pretty mild US/UK difference as they go, but now I'm wondering how much accommodation there is for our stubborn old-world ways.

This is something I could ask at work if I thought the answer would take less than half an hour and not be really confusing.

(Subject headings make me laugh - my favourite so far is the Disney picture book of the Jungle Book under Juvenile fiction / Pictorial works / Feral children, or thereabouts)

They are stoked bcz apparently it's a word that never occurs to patrons to use, which makes sense.

My guess is that most patrons do keyword searches now, and the books they are looking for should theoretically turn up in a keyword search regardless of subject heading.

Do you have an MLS/MLIS Rudipherous?

Yeah. (I am the former Rockist Scientist.)

I am currently working in a position that doesn't require an MLS, but only pays $5,000 less after taxes than what I was making in my last job (which did require one). (Gross income is more of a cut, but comparing what I actually take home makes more sense to me.) I might be able to help out down the line with job tips, if I ever get more comfortable situated.

comfortably.

Mine and Abbot's first MLIS class started today! Speaking for myself, I am very excited.

Best of luck. :-)

rock on

I've finally got an interview for a library job on Weds. It's P/T and kind of far away in the 'burbs but the hours would work well with my F/T job, it would help get me some actual experience and extra $$$, and the work sounds pretty agreeable (combo of reference/collection development/reader's advisory). Trying not to get my hopes up too high though since this is only my second interview in seven months of applying for library jobs.

ooh, good luck dude. kind of a grim job market for libraries right now...

i OUGHT to be hearing back about a library fellowship i applied for this week, or soonish anyway

kind of a weird niche question but is suit w/ no tie appropriate for an interview for a p/t gig at a public library? or should I wear a tie?

Ooh, good luck on your interview, n/a! I have no idea about the tie, though. I always tend to err on the side of dressing over-formal, but the lines of formality in dress are much blurrier for a woman.

I figure go with the tie. Can't hurt.

man, I'm never sure about interviews at public libraries either. I think I usually go with a tie but no jacket. But it probably doesn't matter.

Good luck though!

I would do suit without tie or tie without suit--it's summer and it's hot and it's part-time. But I'm sure whatever you choose will be fine. I would go so far as: khakis, button down, and tie.

Meantime, life is good, really:

http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice#p/u/0/Bu-KBxOtJxs

Looking for the embed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu-KBxOtJxs

I would probably go with a suit, but I'm pretty conservative about interview dress. I interviewed in Taos last summer*, and if you want to stick out like a freak in Taos, walk around in a suit! Especially late in summer when temperatures are actually pretty high there. And I was stuck there because I had to wait around until my Greyhound bus came and left in the evening. (Riding the Greyhound in an interview suit is also somewhat of an adventure.)

*for a really poor paying position which I was not offered but which I probably would have turned down anyway if spending more time thinking about the logistics of living and getting around in Taos without a car)

And by suit I mean suit & tie obviously.

Oh man, kinda vicariously glad you didn't end up in Taos.

Thanks. I do think it would have been awful on such a low salary, but after my second trip there (for the interview), I pretty much decided I wasn't willing to move there (again, unless somehow I was offered enough money to live well immediately, and that wasn't about to happen).

So my library coworker and fellow KUCI DJ (at a remove) Ziba Z had me on her public affairs show Our Digital Future a bit today to talk about library stuff. My specific appearance is archived but she talks with a variety of other library folks on her show so if you'd like to check it out:

http://ziba.kuci.org/

Does so much of the professional literature have to be so boring to read?

Evidence of the presence of an invitational mood or an indicative mood was sought as indication of how attitude stance might affect the search process. Characteristics of the search process were sought to develop a model of the process that would demonstrate the common experience of users.

Maybe documenting library user studies just lends itself to this type of writing?

Thoughts?

http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2010/09/music-in-libraries-were-doing-it-wrong.html

I saw that yesterday but just skimmed it, I need to read it properly before responding.

OK I wrote a quick response on my blog, not the best thing I've ever written.

I think this post last week about the ALA's continued publicizing of the library industry as a great area for jobs and Closed Stacks' angry response could also be worth discussion.

Hi I'm obnoxious-linking-to-my-own-blog dude.

The music thing will probably become a huge problem, but I'm not sure what we can do about it.

I will say that at my (public) library, CDs are still (perhaps inexplicably) one of our most-circulated formats. There are still a lot of people who don't know how to get music off the net, or who think that if they do, they will be immediately arrested.

Also, the ALA (and library schools) do bear a lot of blame for increasing the number of LIS graduates well past an acceptable point.

Also, the ALA (and library schools) do bear a lot of blame for increasing the number of LIS graduates well past an acceptable point.

I agree with this.

eh I already said all this in my post but the ALA's whole job is to promote the library industry, so I wouldn't necessarily turn to them for a realistic portrayal of the job situation at libraries.

I see that, but I also don't think fucking over a large percentage of your membership is good policy. Nor is promoting falsehoods.

Also, I don't think that a glut of people with an MLS is good for the profession, at all.

If they did a better job of promoting the library industry I would probably feel more generous towards them. I feel like the way they set out to do things isn't as helpful or productive as it could be. xxp

I thought this was pretty good: Seven things I hate about librarianship

Nice. I liked number seven quite a bit.

thought this was compilation of obsolete data carriers super fun to look at, and relevant for music librarians and archivists who constantly have to reckon with advancing technology for media storage: http://www.experimentaljetset.nl/archive/lostformats.html

*thought this compilation of obsolete data carriers was

That the professional organization often seems to be defending porn addicts in the library.

lol

feeling guilty for clogging up your library industry and pretty bummed about probably not being able to find a job with my MLS. i was so optimistic...

Oh man everyone in my little study group is already a hardened cynic about the program. As usual I fell in with the bad crowd.

I am now employed as a (part-time) librarian. Just nine months after getting my MLIS.

Yeah, jeez -- sorry for wanting to become a librarian I didn't know I was further ruining the industry by getting an MILS...

If that was directed towards me, I apologize, I certainly didn't want to make anyone feel bad or anything -- being a librarian is awesome and I'm glad awesome people are getting into the profession. My ire was directed only at library schools and the ala.

Heh, you and a few others... It just seemed some people were caustic towards new grads as if we are the problem and not the fact that libraries are underfunded to the extreme and continually being edged out of business by corporations.

But I didn't buy into any ALA hype going in, I was pretty aware that its a tough profession to be in in terms of getting a job and that the salary is not very good in general. I don't really care about that because IMO being able to work in a library is worth a pay cut.

the library where I just started working has bought five Kindles that it's going to lend out to students. so I was looking around online to try and find out exactly how this works, and it's interesting because as far as I can tell there's no real consensus on whether this is allowed under Amazon's user policy. Some libraries have been told by Amazon that it's OK, while others have been told it's not OK. Some places say it's technically OK to lend the device but not the ebooks. The consensus seems to be that technically it's not allowed, but that Amazon is not going to go after libraries that do it. It just seems weird that this is all so unclear, but libraries are doing it anyways.

We were just discussing the murkiness of the policy wrt Kindles. I don't want to get involved with purchasing them until there is something more clear in place. Plus, I can see Kindle being supplanted by the ipad as the ereader of choice in the near future.

This library is brand new, very small, and has almost no books in the collection (and the ones we do have are totally random because they were shipped out from other campus libraries). Also they haven't really figured out how hold books are going to get out to the library or how long it will take, so we might actually end up using the Kindles a lot for requested books, since it's going to be a lot faster and more reliable. But I'm wonder if I should ask the library director if she contacted Amazon about if they're cool with us using the Kindles in this way.

Hmm, hadn't had any talk about e-readers come up over here, then again given our primary clientele pretty much everyone has a laptop. Ebooks in general, that we're already well on our way with.

This library is brand new, very small, and has almost no books in the collection (and the ones we do have are totally random because they were shipped out from other campus libraries).

This is exactly how my campus library started out 7 years ago. If I had had the option to get Kindles or something similar back then, I probably would have done the same thing. I don't think your library is going to get in trouble for it, I just wish Amazon was more clear on their policy.

About right.

Every Book its Reader... if a book hasn't been checked out EVER then it seems like a p. good candidate for weeding to me.

I don't know, you could argue that somebody somewhere should have all these unloved books, just in case. And if not research libraries, then who?

It would be great to keep everything forever but thats not physically possible if a library also wants to continue to acquire new books.

I don't think slashing your collection by half is a good solution though.

Is anyone in the field seriously still considering 'cataloging' web sites, or trying to enforce site creators to include standardized metadata of the kind librarians want (DCMI)?

Like, this is the craziest pipe dream, I think. But this class I'm taking, they still talk about it like it's a serious, doable goal that is waiting just around the corner. I am being assigned readings that claim things like we need metadata because search engines "are completely useless for the many non-textual documents - images, audio, video, and executable programs (accessible through CGI scripts) - that populate the Web."

I just have a suspicion this is a total red herring! I am having a hard time putting my frustration about this into words, but I guess it comes down to not seeing how or why library-style metadata should be implemented. Or who the hell is going to pay someone to do this!

already getting kind of frustrated with mixed messages/wishy-washiness at new job
* they tell me if I want them to order anything for the library, all I have to do is ask, so I send an email with a few requests, and they reject all of them (including basic things like maybe having a newspaper subscription)
* they say they want to encourage the students to use online resources, which is cool, except we have like 10 bookshelves that are almost completely empty out in the main area, which looks pretty bad as a visual representation of the library and the campus
* it was implied that it's too early for me to be requesting materials and I should wait and get familiar with the students/campus first, but meanwhile classes are already in session and we have students on campus and we have almost no books at all
* all of this was not coming directly from the library director, but second-hand from a librarian at another campus, so it was not exactly clear

I'm ok with not buying books/not spending money, whatevs, but I wish they would just tell me "we aren't going to be spending money on physical materials" instead of "we can order anything you want," and I wish I could get rid of the bookshelves completely instead of trying to fill them with leftovers from other campuses for the sake of appearances

all of this was not coming directly from the library director, but second-hand from a librarian at another campus, so it was not exactly clear

Is there a way you can meet with the director to talk about this? My campus is small, so I'm able to talk to my two librarians all of the time and if they were having issues like this I would want to hear about them.

yeah I can call her but I think maybe I should just try to get the lay of the land for a few more weeks before I push forward on this stuff any more

kind of a longshot but has anyone here had to give a presentation as part of the interview process for a library job? i have to do one in a couple of weeks and i'm really nervous about it and can't figure out how to get started putting it together

I gave a presentation when I interviewed at L0y0l@. I think I essentially looked upon it just as a continuation of projects I did in library school? I did some research, put together a powerpoint file, and put on a suit. It went well, I think, or at least it wasn't a total disaster.

But I didn't end up getting the job and I'm not sure what advice to give. Do you have a topic?

No, I can present on anything, but it's supposed to be like I'm teaching students about how to do something library-related. I don't even think I'll have powerpoint (and I don't know much about putting together powerpoint presentations) so I was going to present on a specific database and walk them through using the database. I haven't decided which database yet though; this is at L0y0l@'s medical school and I'm not sure if I should do a medical database or not. It might be good in that it shows I know what their students are going to be researching, but it might also be more obvious if I miss something important (since presumably the people who will be assessing me will be pretty familiar with these types of databases).

I had a specific topic -- something to do with using web 2.0 technologies to blah blah blah. Not sure if that made it easier or harder.

I feel like students in medical school would only ever use medical databases, so doing one of those would definitely make sense.

I was going to present on a specific database and walk them through using the database. I haven't decided which database yet though; this is at L0y0l@'s medical school and I'm not sure if I should do a medical database or not. It might be good in that it shows I know what their students are going to be researching, but it might also be more obvious if I miss something important (since presumably the people who will be assessing me will be pretty familiar with these types of databases).

I don't know what databases you have available to you, but I think it might be a good idea to go with a non-medical database for the reason you discussed. Usually, the presentations are done just so that the interviewers can see how well you present and how comfortable you are with an audience. There's a pretty good percentage of librarians that do very well in an interview setting but fall apart at the idea of having to do a presentation. Being relaxed and having confidence is more important than nailing down the more obscure aspects of whatever database you will be discussing.

A friend just posted this. Mindboggling.

yes that is also the reason I am not cut out for public library work