Thursday, September 11, 2008

Assignments, Writing Library

Librarians should make the instructions on library assignments as excruciatingly detailed as possible. Always assume that your students are mentally retarded and require phonetic spelling of big words like pir-e-ah-deh-kul and mi-kro-film.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought the mental retardation in a number of students was a given. Or, as they used to say in the olden days before the PC Police, "they are slow." Then again, a lot of their professors could need some phonetic spelling as well. ;)

Anonymous said...

Phonetic spelling can help library school students. So can a bottle of vodka or hitting the nearest bar to forget about the sheer mind-numbing stupidity of library school assignments.

Kevin Musgrove said...

Library management assignment: dee-sssi-o-oh, there's plenty of time yet before we have to decide what we're doing.

Anonymous said...

My favorite are the students who are *almost* smart. They're so earnest, so close, but so off the mark. We've been in session two weeks, and I've had one girls stand out in particular. She just couldn't grasp what "peer reviewed" meant, even though her assignment actually said "anything in JSTOR." Sweet girl, so almost smart.

Anonymous said...

...and then move your mouse acrodd the desk so that the mouse pointer's arrow on the screen is aimed at the name of the database (it should change into a little picture of a hand), then push down on the left button on the mouse two times one right after the other...

...no, wait, that's from my lecture notes for the faculty seminar on library resources...

never mind

Anonymous said...

That's not how you spell them?

Anonymous said...

I got an email today from a colleague at my college who spelled "mannequin" as manikin.

Spell check anyone?

Anonymous said...

God. Why are my fellow librarians so detailed when giving instructions on handouts? White space, people, is not a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

Too detailed? I'd kill for an instructor who provided adequate details!

Anonymous said...

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