Pantsuits, Pink and the Power of the Librarian

Alex Yarrow on the librarian stereotype:

The librarian stereotype, if you are not familiar with it, is the bun-wearing, bespectacled, sharp-edged shushing spinster, the woman Donna Reid’s character in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life would have been had she not married Jimmy Stewart’s George. There has been much backlash within my profession, most markedly in recent years, against this stereotype (see particularly The Hollywood Librarian and You Don’t Look Like a Librarian). While I applaud these efforts, I sometimes think there is a jagged edge of self hatred hiding in this discourse, mixed with generous portions each of anxiety and self-congratulation: we seek to distance ourselves so much from the stereotype that we go around boasting about how we love noise in the library, how we hate the smell of old books, and, goodness, we would never own a cat or wear glasses. See, look, we have tattoos. We like to make music videos.

Do read further! I still think it'll only help patrons find me if I continue to pull my hair back and wear my glasses. Really, it's the glasses. Also name tags might work...

CPD23 Thing 14: Citation Services

CPD23's Thing 14 is all about citation stuff, namely Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike. I had fully intended to try all these out and see what I liked about them, but I put it off a few times and now, finally, I admit I'm probably not going to get around to doing it soon so will post anyway.

I like the idea of these. Personally, I don't really mind writing up citations. One girl in my program (and I can't remember who) said she liked writing up her reference list; it was like a reward for finishing the job. Something like that. I'm pretty indifferent.

I do recall a partner on a project finding a citation website that she was very enthused about, though her enthusiasm faded when she discovered the citations it formatted weren't quite what she needed. And that, I suppose, is my issue with sites like this that attempt to simplify 'tedious' work: they make little mistakes. Citation rules change often enough that I'd be careful using gimmicky stuff. I rely on two sites: Research and Documentation Online, 5th Edition and, to a lesser extent or when I want to double-check something, Purdue OWL Writing Lab. They've served me well. I particularly like the format and examples at RDO5E. Some databases like EBSCO helpfully provide citations for their articles, which is also great.

Mysterious Paper Sculptures Appear In Libraries

There's been a rash of mysterious paper sculptures showing up in libraries and other such places in Scotland. They seem to be little gifts of love to places where books and literature live, quite fond of words. Cute, cool, anonymous, and very talented!

Bear Police

I'm probably not supposed to find this Penny Arcade strip funny, but I do. I so, so do.

"You probably remember Berenstain Bears quite well, assuming you endured a larval state and did not simply emerge from your father’s head, fully formed, like Athena. Well, they’re still making them: they’re still making most of those things. They’re still making Goofus and Gallant for Chrissakes, except now Goofus retreats into his hoodie with his iPod while Gallant helps his mom with Powerpoint. But these Bears, man! They’re still bearing it all the way up."

Maggie Goes On a Whatnow?

Oh, gosh. Just look at this.

The children’s book Maggie Goes on a Diet hasn’t even been released yet, but it’s already been deemed problematic by many, and rightly so. Even without reading the book, much can be gathered from both the title and the cover, which shows Maggie, the book’s 14-year-old protagonist, holding a dress while looking in the mirror at a slimmer version of herself.

The summary reads,
This book is about a 14-year-old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal-sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.

Maggie Goes on a Diet is getting some pretty bad press already, concerning both libraries and bookstores as well as health professionals.

Wow, that is some pretty nasty stuff. I think this subject could be approached differently; a book encouraging kids to make healthy changes to their lifestyle that result in weight loss is a good idea. It's kind of a good idea? Except not this way. This way rhymes and has the protagonist losing weight and gaining popularity and attention from boys. Whuh? Couldn't Maggie have friends when she's not skinny who are happy she's more comfortable playing when she's lost some weight but love her regardless? I can just see some parent giving this book to a kid and leading to some self-esteem issues and trauma.

Thing 13 - Google Docs, Wikis, and Dropbox

Google Docs: Google again! Praise Google. But be careful with Google because things you put in their systems are subject to their copyright which, last I heard, gives them rights to anything you shove in Google Docs. Some workplaces think Google Docs are awesome without realizing that they aren't copyright secure. So, as always, mind what you do with Google and cover your ass.

Wikis: I love these. Wikis are beautiful. It's like having knowledgeable monkeys at typewriters happily updating about things they love. Granted, it means Pasqualina is a fine Irish name, but these things happen.

Here is some advice about setting up a wiki: use templates and make rules about appearance. My experience with wikis has generally been through hobbies. While wikis allow multiple people to update, those people mostly have different ideas about what looks good on a page. They like to be different, so there will be different background colours, different fonts, thirty million pictures, unnecessary banners, and a whole host of other design 'features' that look like crap. Templates, templates, templates. It may seem draconian to limit the maximum pixel size and number of images allowed, but these things can and will be abused. Even if you're in love with the idea of multiple people editing a webwork of pages (like I am, I would marry it but I don't think it's interested in me), you want those pages to look the same. A wiki needs to be a unified whole even if it has a bunch of different writers. This means moderation and upkeep. The less control you keep over your wiki, the less professional it looks and the harder it is to navigate.

Dropbox: This one I don't know. The little video presentation in the CPD23 post is behaving oddly for me, so I'll just say this: this sounds like a great idea! I like the part where multiple copies aren't floating around. I'm not sure how it deals with various file formats/compatibility issues. Is there a limit to file size? Is this going to lead to music file sharing? What's the copyright like? I'm tempted to set one up now, but I have no idea what I'd put in it to share so I think I'll pass and try to remember this in the future.

What do you use your Dropbox for? Have you ever contributed to or maintained a wiki?

Thing 12 - Putting the Social Into Social Media

Oh. My. Gosh.

Over a month without updates, that is crazy. I did this daily. What?

Work started, and for the first couple of weeks I was adjusting to that. Generally, when I got home I just didn't want to update the blog. I would think about it guiltily sometimes, especially on weekends, but that was about it. I'm so lax! Whoa!

Anyway, I have some time now on beautiful, beautiful Labour Day, so I'll write up some posts and queue them up. Maybe.

Putting the Social Into Social Media: Are we still talking about this? Okay. Yes, social media and CPD23 has put me into light contact with people I would not have otherwise met, mostly British people. Which is cool, I like British people! How 'bout that wedding earlier this summer, eh? For people in my city, not so much. I'm a little more shy about poking my virtual head out with people I might actually work with, something I should probably get over but I do manage to meet some people at live events.

I don't really like the idea of adding people to follow just to add people to follow: it's a signal to noise ratio thing. I still find that being so new means I don't even know what questions to ask yet. As I get more experience in the workplace (I am looking forward to this year's fieldwork program), I know I'll have more to ask about.