Rolling 2010 librarian/library assistant thread

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