May 21, 2013

Bringing it Back Home: How Do You…? | Not Dead Yet

Cheryl LaGuardia

Here’s a question for anyone who’s willing to share their library’s practice for sharing what you learn “on their dime.” How do you bring back to your library, and share with your colleagues, the information you gain at library-supported professional development activities (conferences, workshops, training, etc.)? I’ve read plenty about libraries’ missions and strategic plans, and so on, but I haven’t been able to find many specific descriptions, or examples, of what librarians are doing to share their knowledge learned at professional events.

Meet the Pierce Sisters, AKA the Future of Libraries | Not Dead Yet

Cheryl LaGuardia

Ever worry about where our profession is headed? I do—a lot—but then something happens to make me realize there is indeed a bright future for librarianship, and that library work still attracts talented, creative, and interesting people. I recently had the good fortune to meet two such individuals: Ashley and Heather Pierce. They’re sisters who both happen to work at the Harvard Law School Library (HLSL), and they’re both vibrant, motivated young women who enjoy their work immensely and are obviously committed to it.

My Friend Sarah, the Library Data Analyst | Not Dead Yet

Cheryl LaGuardia

I’m a true believer when it comes to qualitative assessment: give me a room full of people and an hour and I’ll gladly do a focus group, but quantitative assessment based on data and metrics? Not so much. In fact, not at all… until I worked on a survey project with Sarah Tudesco, an organizational [...]

It’s About Time! Marketing Your Library’s Electronic Resources | Not Dead Yet

Cheryl LaGuardia

If you had told me when I was a newbie librarian a lot of years ago that I’d be co-authoring a book someday that had “marketing” in the title I would have (a) laughed and (b) told you “no way.” I didn’t see that in my future at all. Then 35 years passed. In the [...]

Data Scientist Training for Librarians | Not Dead Yet

Cheryl LaGuardia

If I had to name the one aspect of librarianship that has changed the most since I was a newbie librarian, I think it would be data: its use, and librarians’ support of it for their patrons. I’m fascinated by data, and frankly envious of those who are fluent in its use. I also suspect [...]

Stuff I Don’t Understand About Libraries Right Now | Not Dead Yet

Stuff I Don’t Understand About Libraries Right Now | Not Dead Yet

I may be trance-channeling Andy Rooney as I write this column (God! How I miss him on 60 Minutes!), because a number of library- (and maybe not-yet-library-) related things that perturb, confuse, absorb, and/or bug me have piled up and I have to ask if any of them irritate, perplex, or fascinate you, too.

Achieving Library Menschness | Not Dead Yet

I was on the Information Desk in Widener today and my friend and colleague, Joshua Parker, stopped by for a moment. It so happens I’ve been looking into MOOCs lately, with special interest in edX and Coursera, and when I saw Josh it occurred to me that he should be teaching a MOOC on supervision [...]

Copyright and Libraries – Help! | Not Dead Yet

Large copyright sign made of jigsaw puzzle pieces

Copyright’s an issue whose prominence has increased enormously since the long-ago days when I worked in interlibrary loan. Now, although I’m not working in interlibrary loan, I find that copyright raises its head at nearly every turn of my (and others’) library work.

E-Resources: What Could Be Better? | Not Dead Yet

Marketing Your Library's Electronic Resources cover

When I recently did my annual Best New Reference Databases list (it’ll be in the March 1 issue of LJ), it struck me that the state of e-resources is truly a mixed bag with respect to their discovery, access, and usability.

Therapy Dogs in the Library … and at Home | Not Dead Yet

border collie

One of the developments I’ve been watching with interest in the news has been the rising presence of therapy dogs in libraries. From Monty, the certified library therapy dog at the Yale law library, to Beck at the W. Gordon Ryan Public Library in Lucasville, OH, therapy dogs are becoming widely embraced as a means of bringing people of all ages into libraries and engaging them.