Future Librarians and Information Professionals
I was just reading the reviews for a new book that might make a good choice for the next book club selection:
This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
by Marilyn Johnson
And just a reminder: We will be discussing our first book selection – “Everything is Miscellaneous” – at the next FLIP meeting on February 19.
Kato Ha’unga, a UAA student here in Anchorage, is in the process of saving books for a new library in Tonga.
Here is her story: UAA student helps Tonga gain a library (from the Anchorage Daily News).
I’m currently enrolled in a Reader’s Advisory class, and thought it would be fun to repeat one of our discussion exercises here. Our professor set up a thread where we can come clean and voluntarily admit to the books that we feel guilty for never reading.
You would be surprised how many people have never read Orwell’s “1984”, the number of English Lit majors that struggle with Jane Austen, and all the children’s librarians out there who have somehow steered clear of anything “Harry Potter”. I sheepishly posted that I have never managed to get through anything by Dickens, which started an avalanche of agreement . Glad to know I’m not the only one!
What about you: what haven’t you read that makes you feel just a little bit guilty? Chances are that someone else will sympathize with you completely. Post in comments and free yourself now!
ALA’s New Member Roundtable (NMRT) posts monthly discussion topics on their listserv. This month’s topic is on mentorships. Here is the link to join the listserv–I don’t think you need to be an ALA member to join the NMRT listserv:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/nmrt/news/nmrtmailinglists.cfm
Here’s this month’s discussion topic–I thought there were some good questions:
My name is Tricia Dean; Esther Giezendanner and I I will be co-leading this month’s discussion with . Our topic this month is Mentor/Mentee 101: Developing a Career Essential Relationship. For individuals new to the profession, having a mentor can be a huge benefit. On the flip side, mentoring can be a great opportunity to share skills and expertise and connect with a newer colleague who may bring in a fresh perspective. How do we develop solid mentoring relationships that strengthen the individual participants and the profession as a whole?
Here are a few questions to get us started:
-What are some reasonable expectations for mentors and mentees?
-Are there any pitfalls that should be avoided when starting a new mentoring relationship?
-What are the benefits you’ve gained from having a mentor, or what benefits would you hope to gain from having a mentoring relationship?
-Various subdivisions of ALA and some libraries offer formal mentoring programs. What are the advantages and drawbacks of going this route?
If you’ve been in one of these programs what are the pluses and what do you think might have been better in an informal relationship?
-If none of the formal mentoring programs fit an individual’s needs, how might he/she find a mentor informally?
Looking forward to a great discussion with you,
Esther & Tricia
I loved this video:
There won’t be a December FLIP meeting, but (as mentioned in a previous post) we are planning a movie night here in the Consortium Library. Mark your calendar for Friday, December 18 (probably starting around 7:30 p.m.). No final decision has been made on the flick, so if you’ve got a favorite, please add your suggestion(s) in a comment!
Also, we are starting a book club! The first selection is Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger. We plan to meet sometime around the end of January or beginning of February to discuss, so start reading (or add it to your Christmas list) now. More details coming soon…
Neither of these events are limited to only those that attend FLIP meetings. If you are interested in hanging out, chit-chat, and/or library fun, please come!
Two librarians were recent guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to talk about the materials they feature on their blog Awful Library Books. Pretty funny stuff.
Here is the link to the video on YouTube (7 mins):
Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (11/11/2009)
At the last FLIP meeting, we talked about all kinds of things, as we are wont to do, but perhaps the two most fun were the ideas of a FLIP Book Club (not a flip-book club) and a Library Movie Night. The book club could be anything, really, and if we wanted to move away from library-themed books, we could actually extend it out to patrons. Maybe we could do something for The Whale and the Supercomputer. But it could also be a professional development kind of thing, internally. (Coral’s suggestion: Everything is Miscellaneous.)
The Movie Night could be some kind of library-themed movie–I hear this has been done before?–in 307, in the evening, with people throwing in for pizza or something. It would be pretty informal, and “library-themed” can mean anything from “Party Girl” to “Desk Set” to a documentary about libraries. Ideas are welcome!
Do either of these thoughts interest you, though? If so, comment!
EBSCO offers five scholarships to attend 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting
CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) and EBSCO are partnering to offer five scholarships for librarians to attend the 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston. The meeting takes place Jan. 15-19, 2010, and offers an opportunity for continuing education, meetings and interaction with colleagues.
Each EBSCO scholarship will be in the amount of $1,500, and one of the five scholarships will be awarded to a first-time conference attendee. The scholarship money is to be used for conference registration, travel and expenses.
Deadline for entry is Nov. 23, 2009, and the application information can be found at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/awardsgrants/awardsrecords/ebscosponsorship/ebscosponsorship.cfm
Scholarship recipients will be notified no later than Dec. 15, 2009.
To apply, candidates must complete the application criteria and submit an essay that answers the following question: “What do you believe to be the biggest challenge in managing electronic resources in libraries today, and what solutions do you envision?” Essays and applications will be judged by a jury designated by ALA.
About EBSCO
EBSCO is the world’s premier full-service provider of information, offering a portfolio of services that spans the realm of print and electronic subscription access and management, research databases and more. The company’s e-resource renewal and management tools help librarians accomplish in hours what once took weeks. For more information, please visit www.ebsco.com .
Contact: Cheryl Malden
ALA Governance Office
(312) 280-3247
cmalden@ala.org
Are local libraries in process of checking out?
(Published as a feature story in the Anchorage Daily News on Nov. 7, 2009)
And on the local news (KTUU Channel 2, Nov. 10, 2009)
Library supporters try to come up with plans for future