Should you get an MLIS degree.

tl;dr NO

Wow, it's been a really long time since I have posted something.  Since my last post my jadedness and disenchantment with the public library and librarianship peaked.  Budget cut after budget cut, with no hope in sight.  Maybe I should have kept up my online ranting sessions for my own sanity.  Either way, here I am typing away.

Every week or so, there's a post on /r/Libraries asking if the OP should get an MLIS degree.  The characteristics of most thread starters are unshockingly similar:

- young
- about to graduate from college/just graduated
- has no idea what to do
- degree in History/English
- has never worked in a library before
- loves to read books
- library-delusional: thinks it would be cool to be paid to read all day
- already made up their mind about getting an MLIS, but just wanted affirmation from online strangers

9 times out of 10, I do not think that they should waste their time on an MLIS.  Let me count the ways:

- "The greying of the profession" is complete crap
- if the library actually chooses to fill any open full-time positions there are two things that usually happen now: turns into 1, maybe 2, part time positions and/or make the positions paraprofessional so ultimately getting an MLIS is moot
- if your only experience in the library world is as a patron, you have no idea what it's like behind the reference desk
- the majority of library jobs lies in the public library field, and they are struggling to stay afloat


I will upvote every person who cautions the OP to reconsider and downvote those that openly and enthusiastically encourage people to obtain an MLIS.  I find it completely reckless and moronic to do the latter.  Usually the encouragers give the following reasons:

- they had a full-time library job lined up before they graduated
- they weren't regionally restricted, so they took a job across the country
- they love books too!
- they used their network connections they made by being members to every god-forsaken library-related association out there
-you can totally use your MLIS degree in other places outside of a library


These people are the 1%, the exceptions to the rule.  For every one of these boasters, there are hundreds of those who are quietly disgruntled and underemployed.  Sure, take a job in the middle of no where, with such an overabundance of MLIS job-seekers, there's a reason why those library positions are open.  Honestly, I've always thought the idea of working in a library just because someone loves books as utterly ridiculous --- you do know that you'll have to weed the collection right?  I hate when people say that joining ALA/SLA/PLA/your state library association is the key to finding that dream job.  If the return on investment for this was truly as good as these people make it out to be, EVERYONE would be a member of these groups and employed.  Again, this is the vocal 1%. 

Do you know why so many people with MLIS don't work in a library setting --- BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T FIND A LIBRARY JOB.  People that say that their MLIS is helpful and worth it in non-library settings is in the biggest state of denial ever.  As it currently stands, and maybe always has in the library world, you cannot take someone with just an MLIS and no library experience and throw them behind the reference desk and think they'll do just fine.  What makes you think an MLIS can better prepare you for a non-library job if it can't even properly prepare you for a library one??

The only rare times I would say investing in an MLIS is worth it, is if your employee is paying for it and/or you already are in the library and you're in a position for a promotional opportunity for getting the degree.  Other than that, save your money and go for a paraprofessional positions, it's the exact same work minus the crippling tuition debt!

The Perfect Gift for that Stereotypical Librarian.

And by stereotypical librarian, I mean by "older" in life, going through a certain physiological change, experiences hot-flashes... You catch my drift.

I found this gift in my Christmas stocking last month.  I don't really have a need for it at home, so I brought it into work.  My cubicle has become a bonus storage area for me.  Everything that I don't have room for or need at home goes straight to work.

One of my circ coworkers saw the fan and I could feel the jealousy.  I told her that she is more than welcome to borrow it if her own personal fan at her desk conks out.  She actually might be the only person who isn't complaining about this Polar Vortex thing.

After staring at the fan for a few days, I couldn't leave it alone.  I had to modify it.

To all of my older female library coworkers...

I have a better understanding of why every fan in the library is set to Category 5 -- every single day of the year.

I don't think the A/C turned on at all today.  Yes, there were numerous complaints from patrons, but because upper management feels the need to micromanage every single thing, including every branches' thermostats, we were stuck with a warm, stuffy library.  This is when the temperature actually peaked, it was a steady 80 degrees all day though.

If I ever make bank, I will buy all of my library friends individual fans for their cubicles.

My coworkers get me...

Found this on my desk when I came in this afternoon.  Her grandson celebrated his 5th birthday over the weekend.  If only she saved me some cake !

I'd make a horrible "Library Yes-Man"...

I am on the verge of declaring an all out war on the administration in my library system.  They are taking the library I love and running it into the ground.  The sad thing is, is that it seems that I am the only one against their plans.  Well, until recently.  I made two open comments posted on our internal blog directly questioning our library director's motives and reasoning.

After the second comment, my coworkers wanted me to check my voice messages because they wanted to see if I got a call from the director.  I learned after leaving my first comment, that trying to talk to the director would only end in a never-ending game of phone tag.  It seems that my second comment is actually getting a reaction from the rest of my coworkers at other branches.  They seem to be in agreement with my statements and I hope that this will lead to some changes.  No matter what I post on this blog, no matter what some readers may infer from my posts, I love the library and I will fight for the it and librarianship.

I posted the comment using my log in so my name was posted with it.  The first two responses that followed were made anonymously from others working at two different branches.  I can understand why people would be hesitate to post their opinions under their own names, they have become "institutionalized."  They've been working in the library system for too long and/or they're worried about retaliation from admin.  Quite frankly, I've had enough of it.  Libraries have been screwed over enough by outside powers, I'm not going to sit around complacently while library upper management does the same to us.

I'm fairly certain that I have been blacklisted by upper management and HR so I honestly do not care about burning bridges.  In fact, when my library friends warned me to "not burn bridges," I could only reply with, "What does it matter if that bridge doesn't lead anywhere?"

Librarian Passive Aggressiveness Threat Level 1: Signage.

Don't make me use size 72 font!

This new school year has brought in a new bunch of regular patrons: newly licensed teens.  They come in around 4 or 5 and end up staying til we close at 9.  They study for the most part, socialize for the rest.  I mean, why wouldn't they?  The library has free wi-fi, plenty of seating, and it is a safe place to hang out.

There are only minor issues when it comes to them, they can get a little too loud, but they will quiet down if you talk to them.  They also sneak in food.  All you have to do is tell the teens to eat it outside and they will.  I find it funny how upset/freaked out some of my older coworkers get, I think they've become coddled by working at this branch for so long.  They've made such a big deal out of it in staff meetings and emails. 

These signs are the latest product of such staff discussions.  I say, if these are the worst offenses these teens commit: sneaking in french fries, then I welcome it.  At least they aren't procreating in the stacks, dealing drugs in the bathroom, graffiti-ing the walls, fighting in the study room... etc.

Old Librarians vs. New Librarians, What about the Middle?

I only thought that a few select readers visited my blog, because quite frankly, this blog is generally all over the place.  My personal thoughts and views mostly come off as negative and snarky, and the majority of librarians/library workers disagree, sometimes vehemently, with me.  So it was a nice surprise to see a reply from Miss Gina Milsap about a post I made about her comments when she was running for ALA Presidency this past year.  I really do believe there needs to be more open discussion and debate within the profession if it is to make any progress in the digital world.

I wanted to make my reply a post instead of a comment to bring this to "The Front-page" so to speak.  Seeing as how comments on this blog are open to the public, I'm going to repost the comment here [edited to insert line breaks]:

"Sorry to be so late to the party. I just found your post. With respect, you've misinterpreted what I meant. That's the problem with not having a real conversation and not seeking clarification. In my library, we've created a cohort of librarian leaders. None of them are in formal leadership at this time, but we are investing in them with training and assignments to be leaders and to demonstrate the value of librarians within the institution and in the community. I had wonderful mentors as a new librarian and I'm paying that forward with less colleaguesin my own library and around the country.

 Here's what I meant with my statement about new graduates moving into management. Look at the data --- we are graduating more entry level librarians than there are positions available. So, what does a new graduate do? He or she either seeks a job out of the profession or seeks a position for which they may not have all the qualifications, specifically experience. My point was that we need to look to library education to help prepare newly graduated librarians for the reality of the workplace they're coming into. If the only job available is supervisory, how do we help them improve their chance to stay in the profession?

That is what I'm seeing as a library administrator with 35 years of experience in the profession and 16 years as a public library director. Not all librarians will make good managers, regardless of their tenure in the profession. The goal should be to identify those folks whether they're already in libraries or in library school and make sure they're prepared to lead and manage effectively. Thanks for the opportunity to comment."

First off, thank you for the reply!  Better late then never and thanks for the dialog.

Okay, I wish I had more library mentors.  I have latched on to my supervisors and more experienced librarians and I constantly pester them with questions and bug them for their opinions about the library and the profession as a whole.  I love that they all have completely different backgrounds; ie, not an English or History major, worked outside of the public library realm, etc.  

I still have to disagree with the idea of hiring newly minted MLIS grads with library management positions, and this is coming from a recent MLIS grad (Dec 2011)!  Even if there were drastic changes made to MLIS curriculums, which I doubt would ever happen, it would be foolish to do this.  I know this isn't a direct comparison, but you don't see recent MBA grads stepping into CEO positions.  Book smarts =/= Branch smarts.  I never believed that a MLIS grad could go from the classroom straight to the info desk successfully and efficiently.

Personally, I believe there are many issues with the current state of MLIS schools; letting everyone in and graduating everyone.  There are A LOT of MLIS students who have no experience working in library, I am not saying that they don't belong in MLIS school.  It is just that they have no idea how the library day-to-day goes.  Okay, so we both agree that there is a deluge of MLIS holders and a drought of entry-level jobs.  Even if there are only supervisory positions open, what about those who aren't technically "old librarians" nor "new librarians."  There is black and white, but there's also a lot of gray in between.  It's not like MLIS schools haven't been continually pumping out MLIS's.  There has always been a steady stream of graduating librarians every year.  There are a lot of librarians with between 5 and 10 years of solid working experience in the library.  I am sure that some of them would be excellent for these supervisory positions.  It would be a huge disservice to this select group of qualified librarians to not promote them.  Especially after all the crap they've gone through with the recent and on-going budget cuts, changing hours and procedures, trudging through this "new normal" and "doing more with less."  I was with the library before it all hit, I have seen staff morale take a nose-dive.  How much more damage will be done when you bring in a new graduate to supervise older, more experienced librarians?  Or does library management not even care about its greatest asset --- the employees, not the branches or collection.

I have also seen several of these "middle librarians," for a lack of a better term, jump ship to other places because library management is doing nothing to retain and nurture them for their positions.  I am extremely worried that libraries do not seem to have a solid succession plan in place for when this "greying" takes place, nor do they care to seriously consider it.  They seem to be more obsessed with the right now and not about the near future.
Now, I'm not saying that just because someone has worked in the library for x amount of years that they should automatically become a manager.  I'm saying that the odds of finding library management material already within the library ranks is astronomically higher than someone sitting in the classroom right now or in the future.  I also believe that current library management is to blame for the lack of entry-level librarian jobs because they are the ones who have begun hiring paraprofessionals instead of librarians.  Is this the future plan for libraries now?  MLIS holders for management only positions and paraprofessionals for the info desk.  But that is another blog post for me to rant in.

I admit that I'm only a lowly info desk worker who doesn't know what upper management does during the day.  But I see first-hand how their decisions affect the bottom-line.  Again, I really am grateful that you responded, it is nice to hear from upper management, I doubt that my library director would have been so open to discussion. Thanks again Miss Gina!

The Rules of the Library #4: Fans, Fans Everywhere.

Rules of the Library #4: Fans, Fans Everywhere.

They don't call it the "Greying of the profession" for nothing.  With older coworkers in every branch, a lot of them experience hot flashes on the daily.  Usually being the lone male in the library, I have heard way too many jokes and references to menopause from my coworkers.  That usually isn't the worst of it, it's the jokes about Viagra and their husbands which I usually cringe at.

Right at your hoo-ha

It is not uncommon to hear the whirring of fans at the info desk, circ desk, and the backroom.  This is all year round too.  The circ manager stopped asking my opinion if "the branch is too hot" during the winter months --- "Wait, your opinion doesn't count!"  I'm sitting at the info desk, all layered up, and she's across the way at the circ desk with a fan blowing at hurricane speed.  I don't know if fan salespeople exist, but if you do, hit up your local library and you can send your children to college from all the sales.

Catty Librarians...

With my supervisor having left the library completely last week and the youth services manager on annual leave this week, my branch had to ask for outside help. We ended up getting 6 different librarians from 3 other branches to cover some shifts.  I've been around the system so I was only unfamiliar with just 2 of them.  Yeah, I get around.

Two of the librarians covering shifts applied for my supervisor's job and were turned down, they probably didn't know that I knew.  They both wanted the job pretty badly because they talked to me about how much they like the new building and would really like to work here.  They both asked me what I knew about the guy who got the job.  I really didn't have anything to tell them, I don't know the guy.  They would just get this sad look on their face.  Awkkkwwaaaarrrddd.
When I told my friend from another branch who would be the PIC on Saturday she warned me that "she's a complete b."  Whenever my friend has run into her, she only gets attitude or completely ignored by this other librarian.  My friend described her as young, well-dressed, and stuck up.  So my impression about her from my friend is that she doesn't get along with other females.

I am sure that this happens with female coworkers in other work environments but if you haven't noticed by now, this is a blog by a public librarian.  The library is a woman's world, if anything, this might be happening more often than not.  This is not the first time I have seen this happen.  When I was working Sundays for the city library, my supervisor did not get along with one of her regular weekly coworkers.  That's pretty much an understatement, they HATED each other and everyone knew about it.  The few times it was brought up in conversation, I never really understood how it started, it just happened.  Then again, I was the only male staff member on Sundays and the other female coworkers would bitch to me about our supervisor, who is also young, well-dressed, but I can't personally say she was stuck up, she put up with my stupid antics.

My first desk shift was scheduled with my friend's nemesis.  Since it was my first time ever meeting her, I asked her the usual questions I ask every librarian: How long have you been in the system?  What other branches have you worked at?  Do you like your branch? etc.  She seemed friendly enough and talkative.  I worked the whole day with her and talked to her quite a bit.  Since it was her first time working my branch and she was the PIC, she kept asking me questions about the branch since I was the only Info person who works there.  I did notice something from the other librarian covering that day.  Near the end of the day when we were working the desk together, she noticed the PIC walking around the branch and she turned to me and said, "What do you know about her?"  There was a little something in the tone of her voice.  I mean, both of them were working the whole day together before I started my shift and had yet to talk to each other... weird.  It just confirmed that she gives other female coworkers signals that she isn't friendly.

The next day my friend emailed me asking for my opinion on her nemesis.  I know she was looking for validation for her not liking her, but I honestly did not get that feeling from her.  So I told her that she was nice to me, and that she probably doesn't get along with other females.  My friend pretty much said my opinion ended up not counting because "you're a young, cute, well-dressed male."  Well then, we'll just have to rerun the experiment with a female.

The Biddies: Library's Good Ol' Boys

Not to be confused with Bitties.

Every long standing organization has an exclusive network of members, better known as Good Ol' Boys.  The Library is a woman’s world, there is no denying it and it will stay this way to the end when these myopic librarians run the field into the ground.  Within the few levels of the public library hierarchy, there, not-surprisingly, exists a network of these women who have banded together and only look out for “their kind.”  

I always knew how clique-y my library coworkers were when I first started out as a page.  You can see them huddled together, whispering about coworkers at the desk and in the backroom.  I never had the proper word for them until my friend mentioned one of her older coworkers refer to them as “the biddies.”  Brilliant.

In order to "be down" with The Biddies you have to look like them, whether in physical appearance or dress.  You have to act like them, think like them, manage like them, and talk just like them.  Something I don't find easy to do when I see them mismanaging left and right.  You have to play by their rules even if they don't make any sense at all.  It's their way or the highway. 

Within the library system, there is not much room for any employee movement, vertical or horizontal.  If it isn't bad enough that one can't work their way into a management position, you could be stuck at one of these mismanaged branches with no choices but to suck it up and stay or leave the system in the hopes for greener pastures.  Nowadays, when a position opens up, there are a lot more applicants than ever before.  That is if your resume even gets any consideration in the first place.  Even when positions are only open to current library staff, you can still get screwed over by the biddies.  As the saying goes, it’s not about what you know, but who you know.

The Biddy Network has done nothing but erode staff moral throughout all the branches.  Two employees apply for the same promotion, both currently work the same position and have similar education and experience, but only one is forwarded to interview because the other is deemed, "unqualified."  An employee jumps from being a page to a circ manager when other better qualified circ people applied as well.  If this only occurred once or twice, I would chalk it up to a poor pool of candidates, but this happens every single damn time a position opens up, no matter what level it is.  I could go on and on with examples I've collected during my time at the library.

Even when your name gets forwarded for a position and you set up your interview you can't help but feel it's a waste of time.  Management already knows who they want for the position, but because of requirements/laws, they have to hold interviews all under the pretenses of "fairness."  Sitting at the end of the table as an interviewee it feels very patronizing.  I feel like cutting through all the BS and saying, "Let's keep it real, you already have someone in mind for this position and it isn't me.  So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time."  Sure, I could turn down the interview to begin with, but that would just give the biddies further reason to blacklist me from the beginning of the hiring process: "Bibliotecher - doesn't show any motivation."  I falsely tell coworkers who ask how the interview went that, "it was good for experience."

You don't have to be someone who doesn't follow rules or is a complete pain to work with in order to be blacklisted by the biddies.  One of my old coworkers would repeated get turned down for positions, while those around her would move up.  She's smart and a hard-worker, something that never gets any recognition.  She just isn't a carbon copy of what the biddies look for.  They are very judgmental and narrow-minded; you could describe them as xenophobic.

The way the biddies run everything it can be considered organizational inbreeding.  Hiring and promoting more "yes-people" to appease their group ego or whatever their delusional motive is.  Because libraries have been run like this for so long, they are constantly fighting for relevance, for the institution as a whole and the profession.  If libraries actually let in and promoted capable people who "think differently" they would realize how complementary it would be to their mission.

Diversity breeds stability...

Thank goodness the ALA president has no real power or authority...

Flawless Logic

In between the lulls from answering questions at the Info desk ("Where are the bathrooms?"), I spend a lot of time browsing the interwebz.  I try to keep it library related lest Johnny Taxpayer see me browsing electronic websites and complain about their tax dollars being wasted.  There really aren't a lot of interesting library related websites out there, at least not enough to quench my ennui, so I read even the "boring" stuff.  That is how I came across the Library Journal interview with the ALA presidential candidates.

What disturbed me the most was Gina Millsap's response to the question regarding paralibrarians damaging the elite and pristine status of the Almighty MLIS of which was blessed to be accredited by the infallible ALA.  Okay, so that's not completely verbatim but I could read the underlying tone the question was trying to evoke.

She says, "There are more MLIS graduates than there are entry-level positions, but we’re having trouble finding managers and library administrators who are really qualified." 

Okay, first thought, why is there such a dearth of qualified librarians if the supply is so high?  Would it be because current managers did not do a good job, or any for that matter, of training and nurturing their potential successors?

She ends her answer with:  "I think we are going to have MLS librarians moving right into management from their studies, especially as we boomers retire.

How do you prepare a librarian to be a manager if that is their first job? 

There are library schools working on this, but part of it can only come from experience, or from a practicum. 

LIS programs will have to provide more opportunities for MLIS students to work with administrators and managers."

WTF lady!?!?  Thanks for giving the middle finger to every librarian out there who "is stuck" at a Librarian I position or the countless other underemployed and unemployed MLIS holders.  Do you know what this is?  This is a clear symptom of Library Management Syndrome.  It is a sign of the complete and utter lack of touch management has with branch employees. 

If  my current supervisor was replaced with someone right out of library school I would go ape-ish.  Forget Going Postal, I'm "Going Biblio": I'm kicking over book carts, jamming all the public printers and copiers, I'm going to circulate the Reference collection, hell, I'm going to tear down every single one of those damn Kitten Calenders in the backroom!  

You have to be crazy to think that just because someone with no library work experience, who just "earned" an MLIS, must mean that they can go from the classroom to the Info Desk successfully, let alone one with a II or III at the end of their title.  You are just the visionary role-model the world's biggest library association needs!  If this position had any real authority what-so-ever, you would see me on the next episode of "Doomsday Preppers."

Yet another example of how current and past librarians are screwing over the profession and field in general.  YOU LIBRARIANS WILL BE THE REASON FOR LIBRARY EXTINCTION!  My friend is going through this right now.  She has been in the library system as a Librarian I for about 5 years now, she's put in her time and hard work.  She's joined numerous committees (not like there's any shortage of them to join but still), she has taken the training and shown the initiative to lead.  And it has all been for naught, she is now looking out of the system, out of the region for a chance to climb the library managerial ranks.  She isn't the power thirsty/power trip type either.  Do libraries not care about succession plans for employees and managers?  It will be the library's loss when she leaves and they'll end up hiring Jane Greenhorn as a branch manager.  You know they don't teach you how to handle "special patrons" in library school.

How about this, now this is just me spit-balling here, brainstorming, you know, using my BRAIN/COMMON SENSE, how about instead of having LIS schools attempting (wasting time) to train students for these managerial positions, the library, you know, take a serious look at the current supply of able-bodied MLIS holders who already have library experience.  Crazy sounding, I know, some might even call it revolutionary, put a pin in that.

Damn this Anti-Cardigan Weather...

Taste the (partial) Rainbow...

I was looking forward for some paid snow days this winter but was left completely disappointed.  Now, spring seems to be in full effect and it is too warm to wear any sweaters at work. 

This means that I now have to iron all of my shirts.  Yes, I am that much of a lazy but I've completely embraced the whole librarian sweater style.  I guess I don't really have to, but I couldn't be that "constantly wrinkled shirt guy."

Today, the circ manager broke out all of the table top fans from storage and plugged them all in... ALL.  There were a couple at the circ desk, one at the info desk, and a handful in the backroom.   

How do I put this delicately... First off, no offense to any of the older library staff out there I love you all.  But a lot of my coworkers, current branch and past, are at a certain age/stage in life where their body temperatures tend to get warmer than usual, much warmer and I really feel for them.  Branch thermostat control is all handled remotely by admin, supposedly to help save some money.  I know for a fact that when branches had control of their own thermostats, most branches could be described as "chilly" during the non-winter months and I didn't mind it because you can always layer up.  There's only so much you can take off before it gets awkward... let's just hope it doesn't get to that point of awkwardness this summer.

I am the Library 1%

These past two years have flown by, I am now officially a "librarian."  Yes, even though I do not look like one, it is true and I have an expensive piece of paper that says so.  I really, really, really hate to bust the beloved stereotype.  If it's any consolation my friend who also graduated at the same time gets, "Oh, you really do look like a librarian!"  I, myself, get "You don't look like a librarian."  So my oddness is evened out and the balance is restored in the library.
It even happens at the info desk during the rare times there are two of us staffing it.  Patrons tend to line up on her end of the desk and when I ask them if they need help, they quickly eye her to make sure I'm not some nut who wanted to play librarian for the day.

Let's see how I stack up against the stats:

So I am not your stereotypical librarian.  This will either help me or hurt me when I apply for jobs.  It really depends on the organization and what they are looking for.  Maybe I should try to conduct my own study with my stereotypical looking librarian friend.  We both graduated at the same time, unfortunately, our undergrad degrees aren't the same (she's an English major---shocker right?).

If the title threw you off, I apologize.  I am not making re-dick amounts of money from the library.
Damn, I wish I was the "Library 1%" making that J.K. Rowling money.

Luddite Librarians...

So I have a lot of extra time on my hands when I'm not hustling at the Info Desk.  My supervisor has taken notice to this and has let me create handouts on the various items patrons seem confused about, namely online resources.  One of these handouts was for the mobile apps related to the library.  I assumed that since it was for mobile apps, why not through in a QR code that takes the user directly to the app-store for their respected platform?

My supervisor okay-ed it and thought the QR codes were a nice tough.  The image above is the handout edit after my branch manager looked over it.  She said everything was good, but to take out the QR codes.

A handout on mobile apps is okay, but you don't want any QR codes!??!  That's like ordering a pizza but without any cheese.  What's the point in me making a handout for it if you won't let me include it?  Sure, QR codes seem complex and intimidating at first glance, but they really are awesome and pretty amazing for what they can do in such a small factor. 

I guess my branch manager is stuck in the old school librarian state of mind.  But it is not like the other side of the spectrum is any better: there's no need for libraries or librarians to jump on every single 2.0 application without any consideration or focus.  Listen up libraries: just because a lot of people are on the Facebook bandwagon, does not mean the library should be as well. 

These Luddite librarians are holding back the library, unfortunately, they are also the older librarians who are in managerial positions.  It is long overdue for the diligently progressive librarians to take the lead.

Tip for MLIS Presentations: Don't Be 'That Student'

This evening will be the last MLIS lecture I will ever have to attend. I will be presenting my final project with my Collection Development group. With it being grad-school you would come to expect some level of common-sense when it comes to presentations. Unfortunately, this was not the case for one of last week's groups.

Last week, one group decided to choose the font CURLZ MT for their PowerPoint.  I am pretty sure the person in charge of the PowerPoint was one of the older ladies in the group, you know the second-career students.  Bless her heart, I know she might not have had the privilege of having PowerPoint around for her undergrad classes so she's really gung-ho about it now.  If it wasn't bad enough she chose Comic Sans' black sheep cousin as the only font, she also used the retina-searing color combination of white on red.  I was literally crying from their presentation.  Don't be that student that tries to have a "creative" PowerPoint by using "fun" fonts and seizure inducing animations.

That group also had the pleasure of being asked ridiculous questions by a student peer.  It was quite obvious that the group created their collection development for a made up but for some reason this girl started asking serious questions: "Is it a town or a city?" "How big is the population?" etc..  Really?  You're going to ask these stupid questions about a made up place?  Don't be that student who drags lecture on longer than usual by asking stupid questions and don't put your peers on the spot by asking hardball questions that make them look bad because they can't answer it.  

On a side note, I actually did this to one group in one of my undergrad business classes.  During our peer review session, this girl completely trashed my group's business model.  First of all, I was the only one in my group who was born in the States and spoke English as my first language.  She wasn't very constructive in her criticism and it made my group-mates feel stupid.  So I personally felt like it was my responsibility to do the same to her when her group presented.  They were presenting on Nvidia and they erroneously said that Xbox 360 used Nvidia's chipset.  C'mon now, that one won't slip by this gamer.  Funny thing is, is that 2 years later in my last business class, that girl and I ended up teaming up together and became friends.

The Librarian Generation Gap... Hating on Google.

This is my second week working the Info desk and there is a lot of "stuff" being thrown at me.... "but I don't want to have any PIC-like responsibilities!!"  I went to a Reference Interview training last week with my coworker/friend "Red."

It was basically filled with fairly new Info people, a few Info volunteers, and Circ people who want Info positions.  Out of the 16 attendees, there were only 3 of us who were under the age of 30.  The average age was about early to mid 50's and I was the only male in attendance, shocker.

We had mini break out sessions and role played actual questions the presenters faced at the Info desk.  My friend Red played the person working the Info desk handling the question and suggested using Google to find the answer to a fact-based question which caused one of our older group members to get all upset like we told her that her kitten wasn't all that cute or something.  "You would use Google?" she asked us incredulously.  I told her that I agreed with Red and that it's a great way to find facts as long as you check the sources and citations of whatever resource you choose.  She still didn't agree with us and thus continued the debate for another 5 minutes. 

I really do not understand why any librarian out there would have so much beef with Google.  It is not the enemy to librarianship and if you think that Google has put librarians out of jobs well then those people shouldn't have been librarians in the first place if you ask me.  Adaptability is a must for any librarian.  I believe that Google is one of the greatest tools a librarian should use.  You would be hard-pressed to find any younger MLIS student who also objects to using Google on the job.  I just don't get it, I best she probably uses AltaVista...

Looking for Love in the Library...

I am the library man-whore.

Librarians love to find and share information, it's their job.  So it should come as no surprise that they love to gossip.  A former coworker who transferred to Tech Ops stopped by the branch last week and told me that she heard that me and coworker/friend #2 were dating.  She doesn't remember who told her, but she said it wasn't anyone from my branch.  WTH, other branches are talking about me and my love life!??  This isn't the first time, I've been associated with a coworker/friend.  My former coworker/friend #1 was also romantically linked to me and everyone secretly thought "it was cute."  This went on unknown to me for a few months before I burst their bubble.

This hasn't happened at just this particular library system either, when I was working Sundays for the City my coworkers and supervisor thought I was dating another coworker/friend because we would take breaks together and hang out outside of work.  Okay, I can kind of understand her because she was/is kind of flirty, but irregardless!  And every time I visit my first branch, the first thing the ladies ask is, "are you still dating the same girl?"  They've never met any of my past girlfriends, but yet it's always the first thing they say to me.  Guess they've heard through the library grapevine that I get around.  Thankfully, I've dodged any and all of their matchmaking attempts.  It's actually pretty easy to do, I just change the subject to either 3 topics: grandchildren, cats, or sewing, or if I'm up for a challenge I ask about them sewing for their grandchildren.

I'm worried about what they say when they see me talking to my info BFF who's married.  Actually, I'm worried about any female coworker who is seen talking to me, it's the whole guilty by association thing.  My friends at work are taking bets on who my latest library conquest will be.  I guess I shouldn't really complain, when I first started at this branch, a few coworkers later told me they thought I was gay because the way I dressed.  Thanks for the compliment, I guess???

Cut-Throat Librarians.

Last night during my Tech Services class, the professor had us run through a process analysis activity as a group.  It's something I would have expected in my Operations Management class in undergrad, but I don't see how feasible that would have been with 40+ classmates, so it worked out well in this small class setting.  Without getting into a long drawn out explanation, it involves 6 people doing 6 different tasks while being timed.  It starts with one person and works its way down from person to person, it continues until the 20th completed item reaches the end of the line.

We did 6 different runs with different variations in the process to eke out the most efficient process before we hit the point of diminishing returns.  It took a little over an hour and after we were done the professor mentioned that the activity was created by one of her business professor coworkers.  They have run the activity through different academic disciplines and "the librarians" seem to do it differently.  This has been done numerous times with different majors so while this isn't scientific, its results can be taken as quite realistic.

Apparently, you librarians(in-training/ in-theory) want to do as much to help the person that comes before and after you.  Other schools tend to focus on what they, personally, or someone else could do to speed up the process instead of balancing out the workload among their peers.

I can say from my personal experiences as a business school undergrad student that this is true.  It was repeated in all of my classes: Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Economics, Management, and Operations Management that "we", business students, were the number one cheaters in school.  Not much of a shocker when you look at all of the business school predecessors involved in all of the corporate scandals this past decade alone.  It was because of them, that I was constantly drilled about this thing called ethics in every single class I took.  It became so mind numbing that I think the main message was entirely lost on most of my peers.  This was well apparent during finals.  While I love the subject of marketing, I did not see myself happy in that kind of setting.  This is one of the reasons why I chose to pursue my MLIS, I like working in a library environment.

Can one link the on-going debate of  the relevancy of librarianship to the unavoidable librarian stereotype found in libraries and library schools?  Personally I think so, you cannot expect much change within a field when it's filled with a bunch of yes-men.  I wonder what an all-about-business, cut-throat librarian would look like?  Out with the "shhh's" and in with the "STFU."

Best and Worst Jobs in 2011... Librarians in the Top 50!??!

Congrats to all you librarians out there.  Not only is 2011 the Year of the Rabbit, but the year Librarianship ranks #29 on The Wall Street Journal's Best and Worst Jobs of 2011.  No lie, AND shockingly enough, it is not on the "Worst" side, it's on the "Best" spectrum.

Wedged right in between Optometrist/Computer Programmer and Medical Technologist.

Apparently they ranked the jobs based on "income, working environment, stress, physical demands and job outlook.  Oh, and the all important expertise of their "researchers."  I'm pretty sure a librarian was not a part of the researchers.

Anyone who works at a public library knows that a LOT of workers are on the older end of the age spectrum and you would think that they would be close to retiring but of course they love their jobs so much that they are hanging on to them, even if the economy is in the crapper.

I guess the only aspect librarianship has going for it based on the WSJ ranking would be the physical demands.  The library system recently upped its physical demands from having to be able to life 20 pounds to 30 pounds.  Yeah, if you want to trim the ranks, the minimum weight lifting requirement would be the first think I would suggest testing.

Library Management

From the people I know in the library system, the vast majority do not want to assume any managerial positions.  Unfortunately those that do, lack any of the necessary skills to be a successful one.  It seems as though the more lazier and incompetent you are, the higher they move you up on the already short library totem pole.

There's good reason why no one wants to be the PIC.  Who wants to do want they do for the pay they get??  The only way I would consider a managerial position in the public library system would be if it was any above branch manager.

Personally, there have only been a handful of decent managers out of the 20+ I have worked with/for.  My current circ managers are fun-suckers.  They have pointless monthly meetings in which they huddle together in a closed office and discuss ways to make work less fun and more boring.

Case in point, the page manager is a control freak who wants every single cart to be organized HER way.  Anything less and you find her stalking you in your cubicle asking if you saw her umpteenth revision of her sign on cart order.  Really??  Eff that, our pages aren't that dumb and can figure this out on their own.  It's not the end of the world if the Nancy Drew series was sorted before the American Girl series, they can both suck it.

Their latest concoction  was the banning of putting empty book carts in peoples cubicles.  Really??  This was what you took 2 hours out of the day to do?  How about if the four of you actually DID WORK instead of sitting around pooping out this?  There are only four sub-30 year old's in the branch and we enjoy annoying each other.  I actually started this trend of jamming carts into each others cubicles.  The best method is "ghost-carting" or "stealth-carting" which is to place carts in someone's cubicle while they're in them without them knowing.  This is usually feasible while said person is preoccupied with G-chat or online shopping, then you call them over to look at something you found on ICanHasCheezburger (they're suckers for LOLcats) and they swivel in their chair and get startled by the mass of carts which have snuck up on them.  Juvenile - yes, trivial - yes, amusing - yes, worthy of branch banning - HELL NO!

Oh yeah, try to use the carts with brakes.  They add to the amusement of when your coworker with the upper body strength of a kitten, can't for the life of them push the carts out of their way.