Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Doubt, Giving the benefit of the

Always assume that patrons are using your library computers for legitimate, academic reasons. It is not uncommon for students to research...
  • autobiographical communication perspectives in Facebook user profiles
  • the effects of high bandwidth speed on illegal file sharing
  • a "how they do it" demonstration on student plagiarism
  • feminism and gender identity in pornographic depictions of big beautiful women
  • a participative ethnographic study of librarians' hostility towards cell phones, loud iPod ear buds, and unapproved beverage containers

Friday, November 07, 2008

The, The

A polite librarian should always insert a the before proper names of Internet name brands. Demonstrating your familiarity with the Google, the Facebook, or the Twitter, is a good way to establish some internet-cred with the kids.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Shark, Jumping the

Librarians should be wary of jumping the shark when it comes to their use of technology. During its election night coverage, CNN introduced "hologram" interviews. And now, dear reader, sit back and wait for the first hologram reference librarian, hologram library instruction session, and vendor-sponsored holograminar... coming soon to a library near you.

Ask the readers: Have libraries already jumped the (technological) shark? If so, when? And how?