"Weblogging"! What did you say...

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"Weblogging"! What did you say...

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New 811 Number to Call before Digging in the Yard

Call 811 before you dig in your yard. For more information on this subject, click this link.

Assumptions about the Future of Academic Libraries

The American Academy of Research Libraries requested of its Research Committee a study of the most relevant and important issues that academic librarians should anticipate in the coming years. Their report is quite interesting, and should provide some guidance to those in library school now or planning to enter library school in the near future, and to anyone interested in the future direction of the profession.

Librarians Worry, Too!

Psychologist Saqib Saddiq will soon present his research to the British Psychological Society on the results of a study of 300 people working in a broad spectrum of fields. Among the areas of employment were librarians. Although it is widely thought that librarians might be more relaxed than other workers, according to Saddiq this will not be the actual case.

300 volunteers were chosen for the study from among firefighters, train operators, teachers, librarians, and police officers. Nine "stressors" were analyzed, such as size of workload, independence measures, earnings and the like.

Surprisingly, librarians did not fare well in this study. Primary causes, according to the article, concern the lack of control librarians feel they have over their daily work lives, pay levels and the environment of the library. Librarians tended to be absent from work more often than workers in some of the other fields.

Reference: BBC News.

Book Review: "Treasure of Khan"

I will make this short and as painless (for me) as possible. In an effort to broaden my reading to cover "beach reads" and popular best selling fiction, I read "Treasure of Kahn," by Clive Cussler and his son, from beginning to welcomed end. I saw this book on a best seller list somewhere, and knew that Cussler was a popular writer, although I had never read anything before by him. I doubt I will read anything else by him either.

Cussler is a master of the plot. Unfortunately, the plot of this tale is totally unbelievable. I wish I had counted the incidents in which the main characters extracted themselves from death defying situations through extraordinarily unbelievable means. I just could not believe the machine that created earthquakes on demand, nor the hiding of an entire motorcycle under a desert bush.

As for characters, I was truly disappointed in the total lack of character development in this book. There was none. Two of the main players were so poorly defined that I constantly confused one from the other.

I will invite you to read Amazon or some other cite for a formal review. I consider this one to be more in the nature of a warning.

Cussler co-wrote this book with his son--I suppose he is trying to groom the younger man to continue the Cussler dynasty. This book did nothing to pass on a brilliant legacy. Sorry.

The Dirty Dozen: Common Everyday Actions that Assholes Use

Although I have only recently graduated from library school and am now searching for a fun, satisfying position somewhere, recollections of my first career as an attorney still linger in the mind. When I reviewed the brand new bestseller noted below, I immediately recognized a work long overdue. In the workplace, there is no place for assholes. The author makes this brilliantly clear in his book. Without further adieu:

The Dirty Dozen: Common Everyday Actions that Assholes Use

• Personal insults
• Invading one's "personal Space"
• Uninvited physical contact
• Threats and intimidation, both verbal and nonverbal
• "Sarcastic Jokes" and "teasing" used as insult delivery systems
• Withering e-mail flames
• Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
• Public shaming or "status degradation" rituals
• Rude interruptions
• Two-faced attacks
• Dirty looks
• Treating people as if they are invisible

Excerpted from "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't," by Robert E. Sutton

refdesk.com

As a librarian, I am constantly striving to find that ultimate single ready reference web site. Among some of the sites that I have discovered is the Librarian's Internet Index. Another good reference source is Bartleby's. However, I believe that I am safe in stating that the best overall reference site on the internet at this time is the Drudge version of refdesk.com. Here , in one location, you are no more than one click away from most any information you might need. refdesk.com not only aggregates many references sources--dictionaries, encyclopedias, news sources, and other ready reference sources--but it also is one click from most popular mailboxes. For instance, I hit a drop down box at the upper right corner of refdesk.com, locate Google or Yahoo, click, and am brought automatically to my two primary mailboxes. Check out refdesk.com for yourself.

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