I like listening to Terry O'Reilly's radio show on CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/radio/) called "The Age of Persuasion" (http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/age_of_persuasion). But the latest I heard (not on the radio but rather from a blog for CBC podcasts - http://cbcpodcasts.wordpress.com/) was called "The Sport of Persuasion" (http://cbcpodcasts.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/episode-2-the-sport-of-persuasion/) and was about the connection between sports and advertising. Now, I'm not a huge sports fan but I am a little OCD so, since this was next on my rather hastily compiled list of things "2" listen to (http://delicious.com/mjthomas43/2listen), I had no choice but to give it a go. Also, as a librarian and productivity-fanatic, I always try to pull something useful related to librarianship out of whatever I'm experiencing.

Try this on for size: Since we librarians want patrons to act a little more like us, in that we'd like people to give a little more thought to how authoritative their sources are, to read more or at least learn more, and to plan their searching a little more, particularly in the realm of academia (read university students and professors), there are a couple things that this podcast indirectly suggests we could do.

1. Just like sports stars are popular at least in part because of the amazing things they do, we librarians need to showcase some of the "amazing" things that we can do. Patrons are often surprised and thankful for some of the things that we can and will do but this information does not get out enough. We need to brag and communicate such bragging. lol
2. People tend to act like the people they admire. Also people admire the people they act like. This may be used in the library by us emulating the people that our patrons admire. Academic librarians can and should act more like faculty in some important ways. (This also seems like a supporting reason for faculty status.)
3. And just like advertisers attach celebrity sport stars to their product to add instant attraction, the library should select and connect ourselves with a "celebrity" of sorts, again, perhaps a popular prof for us university libraries.

I don't know if these would work or not. But they seem promising to me. What do you think? We don't want to embarrass ourselves. lol

(Of course can you even comment about the effectiveness of a marketing effort on yourself? We all think advertising doesn't work on us, and we are all wrong...)

Labels: aboutLibrarianship

 

I have subscribed to a great blog called Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/) for some time now and although it's a veritable avalanche of entries in my feed reader every single day that I can barely keep up with, I do continue to keep up with it because it's got a lot of great ideas.

Now, I've recently come across a blog called Parent Hacks (http://www.parenthacks.com/) and I'm thinking that if you can just fit "hack" somewhere in your blog title, you've got an instant winner. (This one was inspired by the computer books in the "O'Reilly Hacks" series (http://hacks.oreilly.com/) which are also excellent. This is an excellent site of "hacks" for parents, such as a long list of tips for getting read for Halloween (http://www.parenthacks.com/2009/09/halloween-tips.html), a suggestion to update your resume before leaving a job to take care of the kids (http://www.parenthacks.com/2009/09/update-your-resume-before-you-leave-your-job-to-stay-home-with-the-kids.html), and the most recent one as I write this, "In the Parent Toolbox: New Foods Chart" (http://www.parenthacks.com/2009/09/in-the-parent-toolbox-new-foods-chart.html) which suggests a simple practice of recording your child's/children's eating habits and encouraging them to expand their horizons.

This is an excellent (and regularly updated) blog, written by 3 mothers/writers, full of useful and interesting tidbits of info for those of us with small children. Check it out at http://www.parenthacks.com/ and then come back and tell me what you think.

Labels: WebsiteReview

 

I spent a lot of today trying to fit in all the chores and responsibilities I have to do into a coherent and workable schedule, one in which I can get what I need to get done done but also not go absolutely bonkers with no time for myself, my kids, or the unknown.

I THOUGHT I had achieved a rock solid schedule but of course, it has cracked in a few key places already: forgot to include my daughter's new homework club time that started today, dinner took longer than expected to prepare particularly because the kids helped out, and important phone calls interfered. All perfectly expected unexpected things to happen and I'm glad they happened today... it will help me work out the kinks of the "time layout".

But it does bring into sharp relief the fact that, no matter what you're doing or what your priorities are, you can't get everything done. There is not enough time to fit everything in. You have to pick and choose and some things will have to fall by the wayside. I'm not sure what I'll have to drop but it will have to be something.

What has helped me is that I've taken the advice of almost every productivity-related website and actually written down my goals. I've even put them in order of importance:

1. My health (Exercise and eating right, as well as my comfort and entertainment. If I'm not happy and well, what's the point?);
2. My family (Both immediate and extended, my being with them and their welfare.);
3. My money (Not only making it but keeping it and saving it. Kind of important in this world.);
4. My learning (This includes self-imposed challenges, much of my non-fiction reading, things I would like to learn as well as things I really should learn for my career.);
   
5. My friends (Just as with my family, this in about connecting to them as well as supporting them. And it also includes other social efforts, making new friends, chatting up strangers meeting new people and the like.);
   
6. My profession (Librarianship of course, but can include related efforts such as anything else academic. This involves both working on my own professionalism and librarianship skills but also supporting the profession itself, with getting published and presenting at conferences.);
   
7. My "goodness" (Lacking a better single word for this, it refers to my efforts at making the work a better place, ethical goals, and helping people, however that manifests itself.); and
8. My administrative matters (Checking email, filing, organizing, communicating, etc. Holding a lot of the previous 7 together.).

Although I've created this list, and tag all my activities in my to do list (RTM) with them as appropriate, I don't feel as though I've fully integrated them (and it) into my routine and efforts. But I guess, what it should come down to is that activities furthering goals near the bottom of the list must be sacrificed for those nearer to the top. Thinking of it this way, I'm not sure I can, although I quite sure I should. I can't really stop checking email or the going through the bills as they come it. Perhaps for things like that, they need to be filtered and focused on how they support what is higher on the list of priorities. That sounds better. Still, some things I'm trying to do, must be canceled. Don't know what of course, and all that rambling above means that it's not going to be a simple matter to determine what or how.

Any ideas? Anyone out there in this situation with any part of the solution?

Labels: aboutParenting, aboutProductivity