Community @ TTW

After completing my Library 2.0 course, I find myself wondering why most library professionals don’t return to the classroom on a regular basis after completing their degrees. I believe I say “most” with some authority; I’ve been taking individual classes for two years now, and I have yet to run into a post-MLS professional in [...]

Technophobia, defined as the fear of or uneasiness toward adopting and using new technologies, is a phenomenon that has been experienced by significant numbers of people over the course of time. Historical writings from the 1970s and 1980s discussing technophobia have been validated by the rapid changes and adoption of technologies such as the…[Read more]

I created this social media policy for a fictional academic library (the ABC Library). I decided to concentrate on the staff side of the library simply because of time constraints, but as I look over the policy, I believe it could be adapted pretty easily for patrons with a few simple wording changes. In some [...]

Spring break has arrived at the library where I work, which means, among other things, that it’s time to get cracking on my research paper. As I mentioned in one of my previous blog postings, I’m planning on studying the role of technofear/technophobia/technostress in Library 2.0 in an attempt to determine what roles they play, [...]

While scouting for a potential library to study for my brand monitoring assignment, I realized I wanted to follow a library similar to the one where I work – i.e. a community college library that was open to the general public as well as students. As it turned out, I only had to look westward to [...]

Let’s flash back to 1988, when the Apple IIe ruled the classroom, hair metal bands roamed the musical landscape, a bull terrier named Spuds MacKenzie inspired people to drink copious amounts of light beer, and an awkward junior high kid struggled to get through shop class. Intimidated by the various power tools such as drill [...]

Like most things socially related, I’m a latecomer to the world of social networking. While I knew about MySpace, I never joined because MySpace seemed so ghetto and trashy. I finally joined Facebook in October 2008, and only then because I was doing research for the Community Informatics class I was enrolled in. And even [...]

My first attempt at a podcast!

AnArmyOfDavids

While wading through the “Hyperlinked Organization” chapter in The Cluetrain Manifesto , it wasn’t the ideas of technology or power structures that hit me. It was humanity, especially fallibility and vulnerability, which made the greatest impact. Some of the quotes that stood out: “To have a conversation, you have to be comfortable being human –…[Read more]

Here’s the list that my instructor, Michael Stephens, adapted from David Armano’s list “10 Questions for the Agency Executive,” with a twist towards librarianship. I’ve answered the questions as I would have way back in 2002, when I wrapped up my master’s, with some notes as to whether or not these were covered in my [...]

Confession: I’ve been having trouble wrapping my head around this word “transparency” when it comes to libraries. What is it? When I think of transparency, I keep thinking of that cellophane see-through backing you peel off of a Fruit Roll-Up after unrolling it (although that’s really more translucent than transparent). Perhaps a better term would [...]

I was a relative latecomer to the online world. My first experience surfing the Web took place in 1996, and I got online for good a year later through AOL. While I had a computer well before then, I really only used it as a glorified word processor, and by 1997, my 1991-era Macintosh LC [...]

During my time in the library field, I’ve encountered many people who have known from day one that being librarians was their calling in life. I am not one of those people. I’m someone who looks back and scratches his head wondering how on earth he ended working in a library. I grew up in [...]

I’ve noticed I tend to get some odd reactions when I tell people I’m back in school. “Wait, I thought you already had an MLS,” tends to be the most common reaction. And maybe it is an odd thing. In the year and a half since I started taking classes again, I have yet to [...]

I received my MLIS from Dominican back in 2003 and came back to school so I don’t rust. I am currently employed at the College of DuPage Library in Glen Ellyn, splitting my time between the circulation and reference departments. During the rare times when I’m not working or studying, I enjoy traveling, eating, sleeping, [...]