I have an article in Library Journal this week on HathiTrust, the giant "digital library by libraries for libraries." It's an interview with Heather Christiansen and Paul Fogel, two key HathiTrust staffers that I've enjoyed working with in the past. An excerpt: As librarians and users, we constantly encounter digital discovery interfaces and collections, but we don't... Continue Reading →
project curve, part one: maker breaks.
In my last post I set the stage for a series: to explore my learning curve at a new job at the Claremont Colleges Library through a few initial projects and collaborations. This is part one. Several stereotypical (yet accurate) generalizations: librarians are nerds, librarians like crafts, and librarians tend to have lots of interesting... Continue Reading →
learning curve: month one in projects.
As I have observed relatively recently, communities of practice are groups of individuals bound together by characteristics, traits, rituals, and norms that 1) distinguish them from other communities, and 2) orient their members some sense of collective purpose. The process of integrating into a new community is complex, involving acclimation on a number of levels.... Continue Reading →
ongoing goings-on.
I've been a bit slow on the blogging uptake lately, thanks to a full slate of projects and the massive learning curve that occurs when one starts an (excellent) new job, not to mention residual writing trauma after finishing RTEL. Future posts on all of the above are percolating, but I can at least share... Continue Reading →
post-acrl post.
Having returned home after nearly a full week in busted/beloved Philly, I've had a bit of time to process ACRL 2011. Based on my three times attending, it's as close to a model conference as one can get in terms of on-point collaborative utility. I've invariably come away with contacts and tech/teaching strategies that have... Continue Reading →
preso projection: acrl 2011.
Having successfully shifted from one end of California to the other and into (among other wonderful abodes) this unbelievably dreamy airstream office space, I can finally hammer the last rivets into the subject of this post: the invited paper I will be giving this Thursday at ACRL 2011: The Librarian as Situated Educator: Instructional Literacy... Continue Reading →
farewell cal, hello claremont.
Several years ago, after I started my position at Cal, I wrote an homage to Ohio University that outlined what I gained and learned during my time there. Thanks to my love of the place and the impressions it left on me, this was simultaneously one of the easiest and most difficult things I have... Continue Reading →
thick v. thin (as in skin).
A confession: I am having an affair with the ocean. It hasn’t always been this way, mind you. I was once actively against salt water. My marine indifference began in childhood, while inhabiting hotel rooms with post-Spring Break holes in the walls (also known as vacationing on the Texas Gulf coast). After the family drive... Continue Reading →
conference autopsy (an interview).
The 2011 ALA Midwinter conference is coming up later this week, and I find myself performing the familiar preparatory motions of consolidating schedules, deleting spam, touching bases, and shuffling envelopes. Like other seasoned conference attendees, I do this to stave off the unpleasant deer-in-headlights sensation that occurs if you do not plan at least nominally,... Continue Reading →
effort v. output: the second of several posts on writing.
When the drafting is done, there are two sides to any publication: effort and output. Effort is what it takes to get something written, output is what is (eventually) suitable to be read. These rarely resemble one another as much as an author might hope, and the former always takes a greater than expected physiological... Continue Reading →
info-mational 