Is it just me, or is it the habit of most library employees to continually be checking out resources that look interesting - and never finishing them? I must be in the middle (or near the beginning) of at least 5 books, all located in various locations in my apartment, my car, my backpack... And I just discovered I have 2 days to finish one of them before it's due, and I can't renew it because someone has a hold on it.
Goal 1: Keep everything I have checked out in one location. Goal 2: read it!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
More Lessons from Recycling
Sorting the recycling helps one learn what NOT to keep... years of files of things that seem important, unceremoniously discarded in one fell swoop. Sign in sheets, letterhead from the 80's, whatever it was that used to fill filing cabinets is now relegated to the blue bins next to file 13. Instead of recycling paper copies of our data we are using energy, electricity, 1's and 0's to file all that information we might need someday.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Reference Interview... is important.
Patron: "Can you tell me where your baby books are?"
Me: pulling a kids' cardboard book from the cart behind me "We have a selection of these board books on the back wall of the kids' section downstairs..."
Patron: "No, I'm having a baby..."
Me: "Ohh!"...
Yep, clarifying what the patron is looking for (e.g. "So you're looking for books for babies, or books about babies?") is important!
Me: pulling a kids' cardboard book from the cart behind me "We have a selection of these board books on the back wall of the kids' section downstairs..."
Patron: "No, I'm having a baby..."
Me: "Ohh!"...
Yep, clarifying what the patron is looking for (e.g. "So you're looking for books for babies, or books about babies?") is important!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Two classes
Two classes this semester can be my excuse for not posting... and my reason for posting again.
In database class we are learning about organizing information so as to make it possible to write queries of a database and find pieces of information we are looking for. In reference we are looking at materials with information on statistics, bibliographies, indexes... It's as though an index tries to be the report generated by a query of all known information in a certain area or time. Imagine if all the words in all the books and journal articles in all the world were in one large database. (It would take forever to query. Well, not forever, but more than a few cups of coffee.) Perhaps someday we'll know for sure if we've found ALL pertinent resources, not just sufficient ones.
In database class we are learning about organizing information so as to make it possible to write queries of a database and find pieces of information we are looking for. In reference we are looking at materials with information on statistics, bibliographies, indexes... It's as though an index tries to be the report generated by a query of all known information in a certain area or time. Imagine if all the words in all the books and journal articles in all the world were in one large database. (It would take forever to query. Well, not forever, but more than a few cups of coffee.) Perhaps someday we'll know for sure if we've found ALL pertinent resources, not just sufficient ones.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
