The latest kerfuffle from LibraryLand comes courtesy Jeff Trzeciak, university “librarian” at McMaster’s, whose recent speech has garnered tart responses from other librarians and library directors (spoiler alert: count this as another notch on that post). I have this theory that an uncomfortably high percentage of research library directors are fundamentally very anxious about their […]
Over last weekend, while librarian outrage over HarperCollins’ decision to limit ebook loans (among other restrictions) grew, librarians Brett Bonfield and Gabriel Farrel launched a project, Boycott HarperCollins. Kate over at the Loose Cannon Librarian sums up the rationale for joining the boycott as well as I could state it, and this week I’m too […]
Last weekend on Twitter I saw a post: “Tell me your favorite books on failing and failure, especially as it relates to innovation and leadership.” I responded with this comment: “another blog post I don’t have time 2 write: how failure is overrated, & often confused w iterative design.” I got up a little earlier […]
In February I’m giving a talk to medical librarians that explores these questions: How do we know when and what to let go? What are the ingredients to effective change management? How do we inspire buy-in from those we work with and from our key stakeholders? I would add this final point that has arisen […]
I was teaching a library-science class about a decade ago when a student snaked her hand into the air. “You know how no good deed goes unpunished?” she asked. “No,” I said, and continued lecturing. I knew where she was going with that question, because I knew her from another context, where she was the […]
Imagine, all this time I’ve been working my behind off in library jobs, and I could have spent it reclining on a chaise-lounge reading fat novels? Or so says LSSI, the library-outsourcing company, in a deliciously slurpy quote for the New York Times: “A lot of libraries are atrocious,†Mr. Pezzanite said. “Their policies are […]
In the end, I don’t think I “lost” or “won.” USAA was very nice to me, and I even got a nice letter and phone call from MasterCard. Avis pretended to be in the cloakroom the whole time. Probably the best moment (if a year of wandering in the bureaucratic gulag has best moments) was […]
So I’m a little tired tonight and this will be brief, but the Consumerist gave me some web-time, USAA’s social-software team responded, and I had a nice preliminary talk with someone today. I really only want two things: I want my credit rating cleaned up, and I want this all to stop. Now, full disclosure, […]
Or as I think of you at the moment, Larry, Moe, and Curly… Yes, I will immediately send $641 to the collection agency to settle my “debt.” But in the meantime I will use my bully pulpit to vent about a year of being jerked around. First of all, I have a great credit rating […]
Centralized mass storage for legacy print materials (paper-based books and journals) is by far the most under-observed trend in libraries today, so I was delighted to receive a memo from SCELC, the innovative consortium my library belongs to, outlining SCELC’s work with the WEST regional storage project and adding, “please also feel free to share […]