Librarian Employment Plan B.

My library friends and I are coming to the realization that we should broaden our job search outside of the library realm.  I'm sure that the majority of MLIS holders have and will do the same.  There are too many MLIS's and not enough jobs.

So playing to our strengths, we have determined that the best option for me would be Personal Shopper.  I know my way around online shopping: coupon codes, cash back options, price-matching, and ways to get free shipping.  I believe in never paying retail, I also feel comfortable shopping for most things: cars, clothes, electronics.  Now I can add "Baby Stuff" to my repertoire.

Here are two of my latest satisfied customers:

My niece with her favorite toy, and my supervisor's baby sporting her summer clothes.

Not your usual library staff meeting...

Have to make sure his baby is ready for the summer...

In lieu of our boring monthly staff meeting, my branch manager sent out an email saying that we are having a surprise baby shower for my supervisor.  His wife is due any day now, so my work schedule is up in the air since I may need to cover a shift or two.

On another note, my literacy council student passed his citizenship test and is officially an American!  I didn't realize how much I had forgotten about the government and civics until I was helping him prepare for the process.  "Name a power that belongs to the state" --- what now!??

Year of the Tablet...

This time last year I had never owned a tablet.  Then it started with HP's firesale and I bought a Touchpad.  Around November the Christmas deals started to roll out and within 2 weeks I ended up buying an HTC Flyer, Nook Color, and a Samsung Tab 7, a week after that I bought an HTC View, and then finally another Touchpad.  So I started out 2012 with 6 tablets.

I originally bought them to practice downloading e-books from the library's OverDrive site.  I wanted to gain enough experience to give a detailed review and comparison but I was hooked on the HTC Flyer because of HTC Sense it felt just like a bigger version of my old phone: the HTC Inspire 4G, great phone with a horrible battery, don't buy it! --- I know have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it really does live up to the hype.  In the end I kept the HTC View (a 32gb, black version of the Flyer) for my personal use.  I gave the Flyer to my sister and a Touchpad to my dad for Christmas, and sold the rest.

I personally LOVE the HTC Flyer/View.  The 7" form factor is perfect to carry around and has enough screen space to read/browse/email comfortably.  Personally, I couldn't spend that much money on a Kindle Fire or Nook Color when I could have a fully loaded tablet.  It's the same size and weight, why not get one that can take notes via a stylus or has front and rear facing cameras?  Then again not many people shop as diligently as I do for the good deals.

Every report from last week's CES says that 2012 is the "Year of the Ultralight" but I tend to disagree.  2012 is the year of the tablet.  With the amount of Kindle questions I am getting at the desk since Christmas, I am in no way shocked to hear that it is estimated that Amazon sold a million Kindles a week during December (one source).  On a side note, Hey ALA, is it now time to pay attention to Amazon or are we just going to chalk it up again as, "Amazon can't beat the library"?  I've never believed that tablets could/would ever replace laptops or desktops now or anytime in the near future; they are just another "must-have" electronic addiction we add to our ever expanding collection.

Today during our monthly meeting, we were told that e-books and a working knowledge of e-readers are now our top priority.  Circ and Info are now supposed to be able to explain to patrons the basics of downloading from OverDrive.  Just a couple months ago, we were supposed to redirect any e-book related questions to OverDrive.  So the library is not the quickest when it comes to adapting to current trends, hopefully they'll act much quicker to unite and defeat the evil empire that is OverDrive.

Damn You Black Friday...

6 - Free After Rebate Software programs to flip. 2 - HTC Flyers. 1 - Samsung Tab. 1 - Nook Color. 1 - Pair of high-tops. That was my haul during the first few days of the Holiday shopping season that kicked off last week. The real kicker is I didn't have to deal with annoying crowds... annoying crowds armed with pepper-spray. Reminiscing about working Black Fridays makes me hate people even more. If you want to see how low people will stoop all in the name of claiming a "killer deal," then just join the masses who camp out on Black Friday and trample others just to save a few bucks. How much further can they push it? Christmas creep sets in way before Thanksgiving now. Stores now open Thursday night. Cyber-Monday deals are available the weekend before. Before you know it, the mall and all of the stores will keep the holiday decorations up all year long like those perpetual Christmas stores that somehow stay in business. They must be fronts for money laundering or something shady, no one in their right mind loves Christmas that much to support those stores.