Archive for 'Just Thinking'
What’s Your Signature Statement
Most academic librarians go through their careers performing a host of jobs and filling a multitude of functions. From selection to reference to instruction and more we are true workplace multi-taskers. But amidst all these different activities have you ever stopped to ask yourself what’s at the center of it all? What defines you as [...]
Posted by StevenB on May 4th, 2008 under Just Thinking.
Comments: 16
A Surprise Ending
At ACRLog, I try to write about the biggest issues I can wrap my head around, and I try to write primarily for librarians who are new to the profession, especially those who are only a year or two into school or who have recently graduated. I think of this as following the imperative to [...]
Posted by Brett Bonfield on April 22nd, 2008 under Administration/Leadership, Just Thinking, Technology Issues.
Comments: 4
Telling Our Story
When I look at other academic professions, it seems that most practitioners have a good sense of their own history. For instance, even undergraduate physics majors seem able to speak knowledgeably about Bohr, Curie, Einstein, Fermi and dozens of others who have made notable contributions to the field.
I don’t see that in librarianship, especially academic [...]
Posted by Brett Bonfield on March 19th, 2008 under Administration/Leadership, Just Thinking.
Comments: 2
Sudden Thoughts And Second Thoughts
You’ve Never Been To A Library Like This
I recently made a visit to Cabelas, which is a store dedicated to those who partake in outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, hunting and fishing. The retail stores are huge. You could fit about five Wal-marts into the one I visited. You need that much room if [...]
Posted by StevenB on March 12th, 2008 under Information Literacy, Just Thinking, Libraries and Learning, Student Issues.
Comments: 1
Academic Librarianship’s Future Strengths?
In my first job after college, as a manager at a small nonprofit, I was taught to use the euphemism “future strengths.” For instance, when I conducted performance reviews, my colleagues would often mention punctuality as one of their future strengths. We also used dozens of other terms that ate at my newly minted English-major [...]
Posted by Brett Bonfield on February 29th, 2008 under Just Thinking, Open Access, Scholarly Communications, Technology Issues.
Comments: 3