I got to work this morning to find 3 email messages waiting for me, 2 of which were spam. I’m now staring at my screen in shock that I’ve gotten through half of my morning and still only had that 1 email message to answer. ONE!!!!
Should I be hiding under my desk?
Comments closedNo, I’m not dead. I was just on vacation last week. And a lovely long vacation it was, too.
Anyway, I got back to find a new Information Today on my desk (somehow, every issue I get is always my last “Free Sample Issue”… don’t know how that works). This one (Dec 2007, vol 24, issue 11) includes an article by Vanessa Fox, called “The Anatomy of Personalized Google Results,” that includes a few great tips for managing the problem of personalized search when you’re doing searches for library patrons. If you don’t want personalization to influence your searching, you have three options:
It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow here in the U.S., and in keeping with the season I’ve been thinking sappily thankful thoughts.
But of all the many things I’m thankful for, one keeps bubbling to the surface: my village. Little by little I’ve found myself surrounded, online and offline, by an array of friends and colleagues that I talk to even more than I talk to the people I’m actually related to (and I talk to my blood relatives almost every day). And I’ve come to realize that it takes a village to keep a village going. Some days it’s my turn to give… offering hugs and jokes and whatever it takes to support and lift the spirits of those I care about. Other days, the community is strong for me, letting me mope or cry at them in person or online and generally letting me know that they care, that they’re there for me, and that I’d get through everything I have to get through.
It’s a good thing we aren’t all down at the same time.
It’s also a good thing I don’t write sappy posts all the time. :)
2 CommentsToday is the last day of exams for Fall term, and the students are feeling the burn. This morning I held one as she cried on my shoulder about everything from papers to lost socks. There we stood, in the middle of campus with the fog and drizzle closing in around us, and all I could do was hold her, remind her that she will survive, and encourage her to tackle just one task at a time.
Later, walking through the library, I passed a couch where two students were sitting and writing papers, and out of the blue one of them just suddenly crumpled into tears. It was as if, mid-sentence, her paper had rebelled and flung up on the screen an image of herself flipping burgers for the rest of her life. What’s a librarian to do? … So I went downstairs and got four pieces of candy from the staff room, two for each student.
We’re all looking forward to tomorrow.
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