I don’t think I will ever forget the thrill that coursed through my spine as I walked behind a library service desk for the first time, or the moment of glowing pride I felt when the first patron looked at me and asked, “Can you check this out for me?” and I said, grinning ear … Read More
Author: admin
New Library Job
Yesterday, I was offered the position of Library Assistant for the Carver County (MN) Library, which I was thrilled to accept. Though I have served as ad hoc support to school library and media centers on many occasions, this is my first real library job and I could not be more excited to start putting what I’ve … Read More
Dakota County Library Poetry Contest
Many thanks to all the library staff and community volunteers that made this year’s Dakota County Library Contest possible. I am very pleased to say that one of my pieces, “The Wind,” took second place in the adult category. You can read it and the other winning entries here.
Of Place and Memory in the Library
Yesterday, I had an interview for a school media position at a local high school. Throughout it, I was repeatedly put in mind of the conversations I have had with my good friend Christopher Cocchiarella, who writes over at Mindful Media Musing on how media technologies impact our experiences with information. He has many times shared with … Read More
Peak Literacy
I was recently invited to interview for a gig answering questions via live chat for fifty cents a minute. What struck me about this was that I was contacted in my capacity as a scholar of world religions and, indeed, my interview included me responding to a number of prompts such as “What caused the … Read More
There’s a Sheep Loose in the Lane
Every week, I help high schoolers with their research projects. I watch them take the assignment, type its prompt questions exactly into Google, and then copy-paste the answer from the search result preview box into their slideshow/paper/spreadsheet. They evince no awareness of whether the text they are plagiarizing is thematically compatible with what they have already copied, … Read More
APCs and the Independent Scholar
As Katie Shamash says in her recent review of the impact of article processing charges on libraries, “We’re part way down the road to open access.” This road has been long and perilous, and like most roads leading to terrible unintended consequences, paved with good intentions. The dream of open access academic publishing has been … Read More