LISNews: Librarian News

This will be my 3rd week into my first semester for my MLIS.

Here are some of my preconceived notions before the semester started:

1. I would be one of the few males in the class.
2. There would be a lot of younger classmates compared to other advanced degrees.
3. I could find a full time job and handle the class work with ease.
4. My classmates would be considered my "competition" in the future job search.
5. Again, I thought there would be tons of young, attractive, bookish females in my classes

The reality:

1. Surprisingly, there are a lot more guys in my classes then expected.
2. A LOT of my classmates are older, like "coworker-older;" a few of them mentioned that they are in career transitions while other are forced retirees.
3. Even though my classes are blended courses (online and face to face), the amount of work for projects and papers is pretty hefty. One of my project's requirements is almost a part time job in itself.
4. I never realized the spectrum of careers an MLIS can be used for; quite a few of my classmates are planning to work in law libraries.
5. Yeah, I'm fairly disappointed so far with the guy-girl ratio.

Hallmark Day

Work yesterday was rough, I don't know what brought all the patrons out but they came out in droves. I didn't have any time to check the Jets/Colts game on my phone at all, but I digress.

When I told the patrons their due date, surprisingly, only one patron out of the near 100 patrons I interacted with actually said, "Oh, Valentine's Day." I never referred to their due dates as that Hallmark Holiday, but I would just say the 14th of next month. It was funny to watch the reaction of the couples that I helped. The females would nudge their husbands/boyfriends in the side and give them a look, while the guys would just roll their eyes. A couple of the guys would just mouth back, "I know."

The most awkward was a preface to a fight on the car ride home: she asked where he made reservations, he seemed to not care and shrugged it off, she gave him "the look," which continued on their way out to the parking lot.

Gotta love those unique patron interactions.

Article from Publishers Weekly which mentions the ascending titles for these plus other prizes to be handed out by the ALA's ASLC and YALSA divisions next Monday.

Librarians have begun steadily posting results of mock Newbery discussions/events on the ALSC listserv. Consensus there appears to give the nod to When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead as the winner, with a variety of honors going to The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice and All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg. Calpurnia Tate and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon received a couple of first-place votes, too.

While doing my homework for the Blogs To Read in 2010 List I noticed Google reader has a TON (449 currently) of Feed Bundles. "A quick way to add feeds is to subscribe to pre-packaged bundles. " I'm not sure how a site makes it into a bundle, but I'd imagine it means an increase in readership. The 10 sites list for "Library" is pretty good (LISNews is on the list, so it's gotta be good!)

The Shifted Librarian
librarian.net
Library Stuff
LibrarianInBlack
LISNews.org
Tame The Web
The Ubiquitous Librarian
Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week
Information Wants To Be Free
Annoyed Librarian
Stephen's Lighthouse

There doesn't appear to be a way to link directly to the bundle, if you use Reader, hit "Browse for stuff" then "Bundles from Google" and "View all 449"