Blogger's ego, Feeding the

If you meet someone at a library conference and you identify them as an anonymous library blogger that you regularly read, never admit that you've heard of their blog and that you subscribe and post comments to it. It will only give them a (totally unwarranted) rock-star ego.

The 10 Hottest Occupations, On librarianship not being one of them anymore

Five to ten years ago, library schools were abuzz with projections about the importance of information professionals with MLS degrees and their roles in the New Economy. This line of thinking is as dated as the term 'information superhighway' and now you are faced with the startling realization that your skill sets aren't needed nearly as much as the dean of your grad school had promised. You read magazines that compile annual lists of the hottest job trends and you see that an MLS degree is sandwiched between 'Clerk at Doctor's Office' and 'Phone Sex Operator,' though either of those professions would probably pay better. And with every passing day, your technical skills become more outdated and less relevant to the work force at large.

Buzzword Bingo (conference edition), Revisiting

To keep your mind sharp while sitting through professional conference presentations, adapt your homegrown library buzzword bingo game for recurring buzzwords dropped at the conference. Some real-life examples:

• embedded librarians (... as in embedded in BlackBoard, WebCT, etc.)
  
• wikis (bonus points for instructional uses for wikis)
  
• blogs (bonus points for instructional uses for blogs)
  
• 24/7 reference / e-reference
• co-browsing
• meta-search
• librarians as advocates

Privacy, ALA and your

The American Library Association is a staunch advocate for personal privacy and intellectual freedom...

“The American Library Association affirms that rights of privacy are necessary for intellectual freedom and are fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship.”—Privacy: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

However, those ethics apparently go out the window when a vendor or publisher offers to buy the mailing addresses for ALA members. ALA would sell your mailing address to the devil himself if he had an encyclopedia for sale.

Vacationing, Checking email while

Never check your email when you are on vacation. Leave the laptop at home. If you can't give up reading email about library stuff for a week, you may have a problem. Yes, your inbox may be filled with messages in your absence, but trudging through that filled inbox is a great way to kill your first full-day (or two?) back on the job.