Just had an interview on Friday for the position of "Reference and Government Information Librarian" at the local public library. Although I've gotten used to being an academic librarian for the past few years, the job description (responsible for the government documents, electronic resources as well as the reference collection) sounds like something that I would do well at and really enjoy as well, as well as being a lot of work (which I don't mind of course). They said that it shouldn't be too long until they make their decision, so I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for them to contact me. I'm still applying for others whatever the case but it would great if I got this one.

How come it's exactly those events that you want to happen inspire in me a reaction that makes it even more difficult for it to come to pass? The more you want the job, the more nervous you are during the interview, and therefore the less "perfect" they see your effort at impressing them. I can speak in front of a class full of total strangers including professors, doctors, whatever, and have no problem, but the second I have to speak to a small group of people about how awesome I am at whatever, I feel the god (or demon rather) of chickening out descend on my little head.

Anyway, I feel good about this one. Wish me luck!

Labels: librarianship, thoughts, work

Registration is now open for the Canadian Health Libraries Association 2008 Conference!

Taking place in sunny Halifax, Nova Scotia, the theme is "Navigating the seas of change"... I've never been to the east coast of Canada before, although I've lived and visited the east coast of the US before. It would obviously be much different and it would be interesting to attend this conference, but I went to last year's CHLA conference in Ottawa, many of my colleagues are going, and, besides, there are other conferences I'm considering, MLA and WILU being the two big ones coming up. I've never been to either Chicago, where MLA is this year, or Vancouver, where WILU is being held (Geez... I haven't been anywhere, have I?) so it would be interesting to see both but I don't know if I have enough professional development funds to cover both, and I certainly can't pay for one completely out of my own pocket so I'll probably have to choose. MLA is more closely linked to my current job but WILU is more generally applicable any job I'll have in the future. Chicago is closer and therefore cheaper, but Vancouver is still in Canada and if I took my wife we could make a little vacation out of it. Both locations sound interesting (although Chicago tips the scales slightly in this category). I don't know. I'll have to ask around for suggestions. Of course, YOU could tell me what you would vote for in a comment below... Hmmm...

Labels: family, health, librarianship, work

A few days ago, a colleague of mine remarked on how, being Jewish in an environment of mostly non-Jewish people she is usually called on to be the expert on her "people", how it really sets her apart, and how odd and sometimes uncomfortable that is.

Of course (being the completely self-centered person I am) I immediately tried to think about how this concept can be turned around and applied to me! LOL I'm not Jewish so that's out. In fact I'm not religious at all (I'm interested IN religion but am not a believer per se) and most people are if only just a little, but I don't think that really works either. But I am a male in a primarily female field (librarianship, for those of you not paying attention) and to some degree I can see how she feels. I take great care to communicate my non-stereotypically-male characteristics: I don't like sports, I don't drink (beer or otherwise), I'm a total spice-wuss, I'm not totally colur-blind, etc. but I still feel occasionally that I'm slotted into the "oh, he's just a guy" category. It's not vindictive and sometimes I play it up just to get a laugh. But there is slight pressure there to be the example guy in the room (there is one other male in the library out of 20 staff in total, so it's not all on me... lol) and a bit of barrier that I work at keeping down.

Or perhaps I don't know how she feels. I am not often specifically called on to be the expert on the male perspective and perhaps this feeling that I am an example is all of my own making. There are plenty of us guys around to examine and interogate so it's not like I'm a new concept to be explored or an issue to be tip-toed around. I can imagine this is probably how some "minorities" feel - like a specimen or a land mine depending on the level of comfort the people around them have - when all they want to be treated like is a regular Joe... er, Joan.

I don't know how I would feel in that situation. I like to point out and push out my differences (and eccentricities sometimes) but to have your difference(s) defined and thrust upon you might become tiresome and restrictive. We all want to belong somehow and to constantly be held at arms length for some stupid, superficial reason would be difficult to handle.

Labels: librarianship, thoughts, work

Ok, now I have another book to add to my list of things to read thanks to this entry from "Information Wants to be Free": How healthy is your organization?. Meredith talks about a book that really seems to touch on a subject "near and dear to my heart". She's reading the book, First, Break All the Rules and provides a list of 12 criteria of a healthy comfortable and happy workplace for employees:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, have I talked with someone about my progress?
12. At work, have I had the opportunities to learn and grow?

I am currently working in an environment that pretty much covers each of the 12 points listed, at least as far as I want it too. (Numbers 4 and 10 are a pushing it a little: I don't know if I regularly do something particularly praise-worthy EVERY week, and I don't really need a BEST friend at work when a bunch of good friends will do... lol) And comparing it to previous environments I've been in, this is absolutely heaven. When you have the tools, the support and the team to get this done right, you can't help but want to do the best you can.

Labels: reading, work

It's funny what occurs to you when you take the time to just sit and think. I wonder if it's Secretary's Day.

Labels: funny, thoughts, work

So, I was sitting in my office at work thinking, "I wish I had a way to make blog entries quickly from other pages" -- online newspaper articles, other bloggers entries, cool sites, etc. -- and, as a lark, I typed in "blog this" into Google (in the vein of bookmark this and digg this, etc.). Lo and behold, the first link is to Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?. Problem solved. Way to go me! (With a little help from Google and Blogger, of course.) So, I just made this entry with the "BlogThis!" link. QED.

Labels: internet, thoughts, work

Presentations are over! I talked about library resources that can be used in the classroom last week at EOSET 2007. It was at RMC which was cool. Never been over there before. Nice old buildings. Probably older than some of the older buildings on the Queen's campus. Very impressive talk by Major Workman on teaching, technology, policy, and the future. Very inspiring and refreshing, and of course, candid. It is the military you know!

Also a great description of a new automated assignment/testing system for some professor of math... can't remember his name right now. (Check on the EOSET program, you'll find it.) Anyway, it was about this system that randomizes rather complex math problems so that students can take "quizzes" with as many questions as they'd like, as many times as they'd like. It actually turned out that students were doing like ten times as much work and loving it! Pretty cool.

And in other news, my coworker is having twins. Don't know whether they are boys or girls or what, or identical or not, but that's pretty cool. Actually, it's really old news but I haven't mentioned on here yet so it's news to you! And my sister-in-law is apparently pregnant. Babies everywhere!

Still looking for another job for when this temporary contract runs out. I spent a lot of time today working on my resume and cover letter for the one I'd like the most (gotta apply soon) and I've got to work on applying to a bunch of others as well. Wish me luck. Again. Oh boy.

Labels: family, librarianship, work

Today, I attended the second and last day of the Cross-Faculty Teaching Forum conference that I presented at yesterday. (Check out my abstract in the list: A3 on this list) Informative, inspiring and interesting. And it brought me into Goodes Hall, a very nicely reworked building that I've never been in on campus. (I'll put my materials up here somewhere when I get a chance...)

And I may have helped save 400 lives yesterday... Just a regular day in the life of a reference librarian. But seriously, it's possible. When I came to relieve my colleague at the desk, she had just received a request to look up a non-profit foundation based in Ontario, working in Columbia, by the name of "Child & Youth of the Future". I took over and scoured all the foundation-related directories that we have, plus called over to Stauffer (the humanities library) to get them to do the same. Nothing. I also checked the Canada Revenue Agency website which has a searchable database of charities registered with them, which this foundation would probably have to be. Not the easiest search function I've ever used, but nothing there either. Calling back, I told the info-requester that I had found nothing in the main resources that such an institution should be in if it existed, so, it's unlikely that it did. He told me about the offer a group going by this name and description gave to 400 students in Columbia: free university education. Very elaborately set up: recruiting local trusted figures to help pass on the message, tours, t-shirts, some free cellphones, etc. Before they were taken away to a university where they were to stay the night, something interfered, and some sort of police involvement developed. Nothing very clear, I don't know how the person contacting us was involved, or whether any of this ever really happened, but scary nonetheless. But apparently a tragic ending avoided. And I helped. Whew.

Labels: librarianship, work

OMG. I am a mass of aching flesh and fatigue. Not only have I been riding my bike back and forth to work everyday, but today I also rode over to RMC today to check out their library and test my proxy access for the conference I'm presenting at soon: EOSET 2007. Woot!

And to top it all off, I insanely cut the lawn yesterday after work (it needed it... neighbourhood children were missing) and I transplanted, about a billion day lilies. Ok, it wasn't a billion and it was only a few feet away but they grow in one solid mass of bulbs (I first spelled it "blubs" and really considered leaving it that way) and go pretty deep, though not as deep as I feared, so thank you Day Lily God (or Goddess, probably). I put them all under this evergreen we have in the back yard, as they're the only things insane enough to grow under there. And it gives me more room to plant some REAL plants: tomatoes, carrots, onions maybe... Which will be even more work outside... What do I have, a death wish?!? LOL I don't even like the outdoors all that much. Gawd.

Hey, I can't remember whether I mentioned that I submitted an article to the Queen's Gazette a while ago. I'm trying to publish as much as I can, and it also fulfilled my final requirement for my Focus on Foundations teaching certificate. Sweet. Two-fer.

Labels: health, work

Although it seems pretty far off still, September, for me, is looming large. That's when my non-renewable contract at my present place of employment runs out. I've been constantly looking for something more permanent, or at least something to give me a little more time, but still no luck. Fortunately there're three new possibilities coming up right here so hopefully I'll have better luck, especially since I've got some new ideas and strategies to help me better market myself. Although I am sometimes a little too full of myself, I tend not to be so in interviews. But I've got to toot my own horn more, as well as be prepared with lists of notes to toot.

Labels: work

Long simple day at work today. I received an email requesting advice/help with a search yesterday that was described as being for a systematic review. Now, in medicine, systematic reviews are the cream of the crop in terms of documentation/publication. They take a lot of research (in the literature), a lot of care, a great deal of analysis, are incredibly practical and focused, and are meant to be regularly and eternally updated. I thought, "Yes! I'm going to really do a good job on this and be part of something really useful!" I worked all day preparing the search, checking definitions, finding subject headings and synonyms to ensure that the search would be comprehensive, and I wrote back to the requester mid-stride to make sure they were aware of what I was doing and what they could expect. Also, for stats purposes I wanted to know whether they were faculty or professional health care staff... Near the end of the day I get a response saying that they are a student actually working on an assignment that they will be handing in (the first part of, anyway) to US!!! All that work for someone I can't do the work for! Gaaahhhh!!! Well, hopefully their supervisor (this person is on a work assignment outside of the school doing this research) is the one doing the systematic review so that I can at least give the work to someone. Maybe. Who knows. At least it was a good experience and the next time a request like that comes in I have learned a few tricks and tips to help me do an even better job!

It's funny though. This really came at an appropriate time. I have been thinking lately about how I (and other librarians) really should do "more work" helping our users. Not that librarians don't already do a lot of work, or that we have loads of extra time on our hands. I just feel as though we could (and should) be doing more impressive work for our users. For example, not many libraries do literature searches for their patrons. Many, if they do, charge for the service. Bracken Library here at Queen's University does this for staff and faculty and health care professionals for free (at least on an individual level). But even though these are time consuming, difficult, and usually much better than the user could have done alone, sometimes I feel as though we're still not doing enough. I discussed this with a colleague of mine and I'm not as confident in this opinion as I was... I'm not quite sure what exactly we could do more, given our time and education restraints, but I feel as though we are not quite as impressive as I know we could be. Or perhaps I'm just feeling as though I could do more and wish I had the opportunity. I don't know.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been playing the free beta version of Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) for the past week or so. It's not bad. World of Warcraft (WoW) is still my favourite but I can definitely see how someone could like LOTRO more. The graphics (of the environment) are much more impressive (flowing grass, more realistic animal behavior, etc), the quests and activities, etc. are much more involved, serious and have many more layers than WoW. But there're still some things that are keeping me in WoW: the interface graphics are much nicer and clearer, the world seems much bigger and full of more possibilities, and there are vastly more people using it making the experience a little more varied in terms of interactions and socialization. They both have jerks and morons who cheat, swear, hate, disturb others, or don't play "fair" although I'm surprised at the numbers of these players who have swarmed into LOTRO already. I'll play it until I have to pay, and then move on to another free demo/trial edition: Final Fantasy, Matrix Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Trek Online (whenever that comes out), etc.

My daughter is suffering from a bad headache right now. Well, actually she's probably asleep now but she was feeling pretty bad before she went to bed a while ago. Aren't headaches about the worst kind of pain you can imagine? It hurts sometimes just to think, and try not thinking for a while! Go on, try it. LOL Unfortunately, migraines seem to be common on both my side of the family and my wife's.

And I just finished watching my current favourite show on TV now: TVO's "The Agenda with Steve Paikin". Not for the faint of heart, or rather, mind. A political show, but one that deals with issues calmly, rationally, and intelligently. Today's show discussed France's upcoming presidential election, and the recent provincial vote in Quebec. One of the leading candidates in France (in second place no less) is a woman, who, if elected, would be the first female president in France's history. It always dismays and confuses me why, in this day and age why (US, Canadian, European, etc.) political leaders are still always white and male. Are voters the last to be able to see past our prejudices? And an interesting last note in the French election portion of the show was some comments about the animosity France has for the States, talking about how France sees itself as having once what America has now, and that it represents for France both their worst fears and their best dreams for their future. At the end of the discussion about Quebec politics, one of the "panelists" spoke of how Quebecers tend to vote for and respect intellectual candidates more than Ontarians (gawd, what a mouthful). I think this is a trend throughout Western society (and probably the whole world), that we seem to be getting smarter on average and yet we still despise or at least avoid intelligence. Quebec may be able to fend this bad habit off a bit more, thanks to a language barrier between them and us english-speaking troglodytes but we'll bring them over to the dark side yet! LOL Finally, at the end of the show, Steve spoke with one of the producers of the show, which totally cracked me up. Following on the heals of the anti-intellectualism comment, it was brought up that the producer had (and has) spoken to guests on the show about words they cannot use: "narcissism" and "ontological" being two examples of words that "don't travel well". Writing this down now makes me wonder why I totally cracked up at this at the time! LOL

Labels: family, funny, librarianship, thoughts, work

So, hello and goodbye to Easter. My family and I spent the weekend at my parents, which is ok (unlike many people I know, I like my parents) but I always prefer staying home. Yes, yes, what a bore I am. But I just like being with all my stuff: I like sleeping in my own bed, I like being able to do the things I need to do (whether I actually do them or not), and besides, my parents only have satellite TV and dial-up internet access! Gawd! LOL

The weather has been horrible lately. It's supposed to be spring now! I mean I like the cold more than anyone else around apparently but even I'm getting a little tired of it. It actually snowed for several days recently. It's all gone now but it's still cold. I've "put away" my winter coat but I might have to get it right back out again... Fortunately it's still hanging on the hook by the door so I won't have to go very far to get it. LOL

I was away (from work) sick back on the 3rd. I don't usually take sick days and I wasn't anywhere as near sick as I usually am when I convince myself to do it but I think it was the best thing I could have done. It usually takes be several days of dragging myself into work sick as a dog before I stay home and then I'm sick for many more days after that. This time I felt 100% better the very next day. I think I may make this "listening to my body" thing more of a habit!

I attended a web/teleconference on the changes in the catalog by K. Calhoun back on the 4th. She wasn't the most engaging speaker but with my growing interest in the perceptions people have about librarianship (see my new blog, Buns & Shushings) and therefore the usability of our resources, I was rather opinionated about it. I was furiously scribbling down notes throughout the presentation and at the end, when she asked for comments/questions, I let her have it! LOL Well, actually, I hung back, not wanting to be the first to talk (nobody else was saying anything, at my location or otherwise), but then I leapt. Of course, when I leapt, several other people leapt too and my "hand up" wasn't recognized until the very end and I had to cut my "tirade" short. I was pretty tame actually, trying to convince the audience of the seemingly obvious point that we need to give people what they want, listen to why they "hate" us so much, and just offer more possibilities. The catalog (and really all information tools) needs to change but it should be in the direction of offering more, rather than replacing what it already does well with different functions. For example, don't replace subject headings with social tagging, use both!

Labels: family, librarianship, work

And speaking of heads, isn't mine big??? LOL I read somewhere that in a personal blog/site you should have a picture of yourself to let your audience know who they are dealing with. So what better way to include a pic of me, than to have my big head sticking into the works from stage left?

So, this is my latest design. I'm not completely happy with it but it will pretty much have to do for now. I've got other things to do now. I will implement some minor changes here and there (I've received some valuable advice from JennTSG, and am open to advice from anyone else) but the general layout will remain the same... Unless I get struck with inspiration (which is sometimes as painful as being struck by lightning).

The other things I have to do are: create two other blogs I have ideas for (one on reference service and one on perceptions of librarianship, libraries, librarians, etc.), work on some presentations and posters and reports I have signed on to do, keep beating away at the dead horse I call looking for a permanent position nearby, and probably some other things that escape me for the moment.

I've been watching TVO's "The Agenda" which is totally awesome. Political and geeky and certainly NOT for the drowsy, it is primarily a interview/discussion show that focuses on Canadian (and sometimes world) politics and social issues. Put your thinking cap on, have a cup of coffee (ewwwww!) and give it a try.

Took my 2yo son to the photographers tonight to get a picture taken to include in his "Application for a Citizenship Certificate from Inside Canada (Proof of Citizenship) Under Section 3" (he was born in the States) which I really should have done a year ago but I'm doing it! Get off my back already!

And I was working on creating a "cheat sheet" for using the staff wiki at work today. I'm training the staff at Bracken on how to use a/the wiki and they've requested a handout. Of course, I can't just give them some notes and stuff on a piece of paper.... I have to create a work of art! Place the screenshots just so, choose colours, select fonts, perfect the layout... It has to be something I can be proud of, something people LIKE to look at, something they can hang on their wall... well maybe not that good, but still.

Labels: family, internet, work

This image from flickr is an excellent graphic to go along with today's post. I've spent several days over the past week or so rethinking and redesigning my blog. I'm still not perfectly happy with it (can you ever be) but I think I've got it to a point where I can let it be for a while. I've still got to create a forwarding page from the old url to here but that shouldn't take much time.

In other news... I've been going for family walks a little bit more recently. I was helping my 6yo daughter ride her bike and after a few trips up and down the sidewalk I felt like I was going to die... I think that's a hint from my body telling me that I should get a little more exercise. LOL

Work's good. It's getting closer and closer to the end of my temporary contract at Bracken so I'm getting a little anxious, looking and preparing for any job openings at Queen's U or in Kingston (or near enough anyway). Now that my colleague across the hall has officially announced that she's going on maternity leave in October, I feel a little less panicked, but I certainly don't want to just assume that that will be enough: I will still be looking and preparing in any case.

I've been using the "Remember the Milk" site to record my to do list and I've put several presentations I'd like to give at some upcoming conferences and events. Hopefully I'll be able to submit them, get accepted and complete them all... Speaking of which, I'd better get doing some of them and stop procrastinating. I've got to make dinner for the family first.

(Oh yeah, I've also taken some nice screenshots of some things in World of Warcraft. I'll put them in flickr and then maybe post one of two of them here. Along with a screenshot of my "completed" new design. For historical purposes.)

Labels: family, internet, work

Max continues to get up several time during the night and managed to, for the past two mornings, end up in bed with us without knowing until it was too late. I swear he's now hardwired to get up and stumble over (with incredibly ninja stealthing abilities) to our room.

Listening to Pink Floyd's "Coming Back to Life". I remember listening to this in university, alone in my dorm room. It starts out as a very "pity me", "how could you" kind of song but then turns into "Damn straight, screw you, I'm gonna make it" kind of song.

Did a HUGE literature search for a faculty member/resident/grad student (not sure really... it's very complicated... LOL) yesterday on zinc. Yes zinc. That's pretty much all I had to go on. Rather broad don't you think. Just RCTs and reviews of course, but still. Now you're jealous of my fantabulous job, aren't you?

The fire alarm went off yesterday... Thank GAWD it was a pretty nice day, weather-wise.

Found out that a co-worker of mine is pregnant. Congratulations and good luck and all that, yeah, yeah... go on maternity leave already so I can stay at Bracken a little longer please!!! LOL

Watched a couple webcast/webinars today. One on the databases Expanded Academic ASAP and Academic OneFile (didn't learn much new, already played around with them a few weeks ago), but the other one was about getting new knowledge to clinicians more and faster (see a summary of the session). We thought, "Hey, that sounds like libraries should and would be involved in that. Nope. He didn't really put librarianship in too flattering a light. In fact, he put us in a column of other "ways for doctors to stay current that DON'T work". Thanks, Bri.

But in a way I agree with him. We don't do enough. We do a lot of work, and, what we do, I think we do well. But when it comes to pushing the information out to the users, changing people's minds about the value of good research practices, helping answer the questions that people have and may not even know that they have, we're not pushing hard enough. Most of the time we're not pushing at all. We need to be proactive, to be out there in people's faces, showing them that we exist, that we are valuable, and that we want to help. We can't always wait for them to come to us. That may sound odd from a librarian, but we need to be "loud and proud" and prove out worth. But it will take more work and smarter work for us to do it. But we can. I hope we will.

Labels: family, librarianship, music, thoughts, work

Funny rain today.

My 2 year old son woke up, like, a million times through the night, and, as usual, got out of bed, left his room and came into our room to climb into bed with us. We're not having any more of it so we had to get up too, every time, to take him back to his own bed.

Since my ears were on full alert, listening for the tell-tale squeak of his bed to tell me I've got to get out of bed again, the incredibly loud thunder scared the hell out of me, conjuring images of furniture falling on my son as he stumbles around in the dark.

Then it doesn't really rain that hard all day (of course, how can I tell, the nearest I can see a window from my office would require me to lean out my doorway and squint 30 meters or so) but seems to wait until I have to walk to my car on my way home.

As I've said before probably, I like the rain. And it's nice to have a change of weather after so much cold and snow. Of course, I like snow too. I like the weather people grumble about the most.

I'm listening to Tori Amos' cover of Billy Holiday's "Strange Fruit" right now. It strangely fits into talk about the rain. It's a sad story about... well I'll let the lyrics speak for themselves:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Here's the allmusic.com review for the piece.

Labels: family, music, work