LISNews: Librarian News

AncestryMagazine: Your research work at the library will go better if you follow the practical guidelines recommended here.

Yesteryear’s stereotype of the little gray-haired librarian, with her hair in a bun and her eyeglasses perched on the tip of her nose, pacing the library shushing people, no longer exists. The modern librarian is an information broker whose job is to provide us with a wealth of different resources.

In the genealogical research arena, the information and materials we request are often unique from those in other areas of the library. And the questions we ask librarians can often be challenging. But before you run to the librarian for help, consider the following research strategies to becoming an effective library patron.

Read the whole article.

Referring to a previous article in the Daily News Tribune, Mary Ellen McKenna, herself a parent volunteer, salutes parents who volunteered to man the school library in Ashland Massachusetts when the librarian position was eliminated. But she adds:

"The article sited budget cuts and the inability to hire professional librarians. The parents in town did not want their children spending another academic year with [sic] library services. They formed a unique volunteer team to support the lending of library resources to the children. While I am very impressed with the commitment of the volunteers, I am concerned the article serves to perpetuate the lack of appreciation for our professional school librarians.

As a volunteer library parent, I routinely check out books for the children. However, the librarian's job goes much beyond checking out books. Who will teach these children the origins and ways of the Dewey decimal system? Who will teach them a true appreciation for the various genres of writing? who will teach them the research skills that become lifelong tools? Our school librarian is constantly thinking outside the box to meet the needs of the children."

September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and [the fill-in-the-name-of- your-county-library-here] wants to make sure that all children have the smartest card of all - a library card and/or that everyone in the county is among the two-thirds of Americans who carry a library card.

Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning.

Stories from Prescott AZ, Fort Bend, IN, Lexington, NC, etc. etc...

Story from Game Pro : According to a Flickr photo, the man set up an Xbox 360<, monitor, and wireless router and began to play a shooter, possibly Halo 3. He was apparently shouting commands into his headset while he played, so it didn't take long for him to get kicked out.

This guy brought a monitor, Xbox, wi-fi router, external HD, earphones with mouthpiece and a controller (disguised under a NY Post, no less).

He proceeded to play Quake/Halo/Call of Duty...some nerd fighter game while yelling out instructions to his "teammates".

Took him 20 minutes to set it all up. Took him 2 minutes to get kicked out.