Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Librarians
May 14, 2012 | Monday | 11 Comments
Awhile back, I was contacted by Beth, a library science student, about doing a school project. She needed to create an annotated bibliography, and wanted to know if I'd like to be her "client" for the project: "I am taking a course called Search and Discovery, which is a fancy name for using and evaluating online research tools and databases. Our final project for the course is to compile an annotated bibliography for someone with a research need." I fail to see how this could possibly be a bad thing. Beth has piles and piles of databases at her fingertips,…
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February 02, 2012 | Thursday | 120 Comments
Winner time! First, your entries were so inspiring I re-read that thread (ha! do-over!) several times yesterday. Thanks to the random integer generator, the winner is: #26: Michelle Harlan! Michelle, please send your mailing address to me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOROTHYcom. Thank you to everyone who entered, and I hope your weekend is free of any need for a do-over! I received an email from Knock Knock about doing a giveaway, and it made me so giddy, I bounced on the sofa. I love Knock Knock - I use their "All Out Of" grocery list pad every week, and it's a…
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November 24, 2011 | Thursday | 20 Comments
Back in May, inspired by this rant from librarian Censored Genius,I created a set of shirts perfect for badass librarians, including one that reads, I'm the Fucking Librarian, Motherfucker. When I created the shirts, I promised to donate the proceeds to the American Library Association. I also greatly underestimated the allure of a t-shirt for badass librarians. After doing some careful math and rounding up, I'm firing off a donation for $110.00 to the American Library Association in your honor. It's Thanksgiving, so time for the typical squishy message of thanks and gratitude. I'm enormously thankful this year for librarians,…
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November 23, 2011 | Wednesday | 29 Comments
First up: per Publisher's Lunch, Overdrive announced on their blog yesterday: "‘Get for Kindle’ for all Penguin eBooks in your catalog has been restored as of this morning. Penguin titles are available for check out by Kindle users and the Kindle format will be available for patrons who are currently on a waiting list for a Penguin title. This does not affect new releases, which remain unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused for your library and patrons. At this time, no further information is available. We hope to share more details in the near future." So Kindle lending…
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June 15, 2011 | Wednesday | 36 Comments
I admit, I’m terribly curious to find out what the Kindle on-device library lending will look like, whenever it arrives this fall. But I learned recently of another library lending program that totally knocked my socks off. At the Cudahy Family Library in Cudahy, Wisconsin - where is that, you ask? It’s right here - the librarians have the Most Interesting Lending Program. They lend Kindles. No, really, they lend Kindles. Preloaded with a ton of books, each device devoted to a different genre. I will let Michelle Gibbs, the Adult & Administrative Services Librarian (or, as I called her,…
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May 26, 2011 | Thursday | 16 Comments
Want some stuff to read? The internet is happy to oblige. First: Kobo has announced their Read On initiative, focusing on getting one trillion minutes read on Kobo devices and apps. From their site: Sign up, and tell us the school or community organization you would like to support. For every 10 million-minutes read on Kobo, we will make a contribution of eReading valued between $1,000 and $20,000 to a school or organization in your community. I think this is spiffy. And it makes me curious how many minutes I actually do read! Second: librarians at BEA discussed the impact…
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May 18, 2011 | Wednesday | 54 Comments
No, really, you need some links. Really. I bet you’re bored and thinking coffee and HTML A href is JUST WHAT YOU NEED. Never say I’m not psychic. First: everyone should watch book trailers the way Susan does. HOLY LOLZ Y’ALL. The original trailer can be found here. I hereby declare that Susan has won the internet for the day. Co-ownership of the internet today is also awarded to Censored Genius for the epic library rant in response to Seth Godin’s blog post about how librarians and the role of libraries can be reinvented. Censored Genius’ rant in response reads,…
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May 05, 2011 | Thursday | 33 Comments
I was invited to present a session on romance collections and romance readers at the Connecticut Library Association conference in Stamford this week, and I learned two key things: 1. I was SO wrong 2. Librarians are even more awesome than I thought I figured that at a state-wide conference of librarians from all different types of libraries, which are STAID and QUIET and INSTITUTIONS of QUIET STAID BOOKISHNESS, I had to be formal. I NEEDED PIE CHARTS. And graphs! And sexy numbers with decimal points when talking about romance. Note above: I was SO wrong. Much like romance readers…
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April 29, 2011 | Friday | 39 Comments
Monday I am going to speak about romance at the Connecticut Library Association conference. My session goals are to both talk about romance to librarians who may be leery or misinformed about it, and to also highlight some excellent books to have in a library collection and share ways to welcome romance readers into libraries. I’m also going to talk about what avid, rabid readers we are, and how much we love libraries with solid romance collections (I just got tingly goosebumps writing that, thinking of all the shelves of romance novels at my local library growing up). I have…
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April 20, 2011 | Wednesday | 43 Comments
I had a feeling this would come eventually: Amazon announces library lending for the Kindle. Over 11,000 libraries are going to be linked to the Kindle universe “later this year” and according to the press release: Customers will be able to check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. If a Kindle book is checked out again or that book is purchased from Amazon, all of a customer’s annotations and bookmarks will be preserved. “We’re doing…
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April 11, 2011 | Monday | 28 Comments
I’m home from RT, I’m unpacked, and, in deference to the past 5 days I spent in heels, I’m not wearing shoes. It’s weird to go from hearing and seeing the people I talk to all day back to reading their comments online. It’s very… quiet in here. The roundtable Jane and I led focused on where and how readers discover books. Kat from the ARe Cafe has a write-up of the session. Most readers discover books they want to read online, either by recommendations or by reviews - or even seeing what people have recently bought. I said this…
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March 04, 2011 | Friday | 34 Comments
From reader Gry, a link to this marvelous video from Pioneer Library Systems’ Virtual Library, which shows off what more than 26 checkouts looks like in a physical book. My favorite part: Harper Collins offers a lifetime guarantee of their copy of Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline.” Mmmmmmm. Irony. This video is long, but I learned from it, particularly what types of damage librarians consider easily fixable. Link to the video? Right here. You can read their Open Letter from the Pioneer Library System to HarperCollins about their decision to limit check outs of digital books to 26, and requiring additional purchase…
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March 02, 2011 | Wednesday | 2 Comments
I can has budget? Oh yes, and you can has winner, too!
With 221 votes, the winner is: Andy Woodworth for his entry
Congrats Andy! Email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with the bookstore of your choice. Thank you to those who entered - and thank you to all librarians everywhere for kicking ass.
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February 28, 2011 | Monday | 11 Comments
This will be fun! Behold the entries in this weekend’s LOLibrarian contest, submitted by readers, librarians, and all those capable of Photoshop shenanigans. Voting will be conducted for the next 24 hours or so, and the winner receives a $25 gift card to the bookstore of his or her choosing. And librarians, as usual, get mad props and high fives and the people’s ovation and fame forever.
Hey! Here’s an idea! Let’s have the NFL players and the librarians trade salaries for awhile? Heh.
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February 24, 2011 | Thursday | 43 Comments
One of the sessions I attended at Tools of Change was from BeneTech, which works to make books accessible to those with significant physical obstacles to reading, such as visual impairment or learning disability. Listening to that presentation, I tweeted some of it and heard back from a reader named Sassy Outwater, who agreed with some of the points and offered to school me on what blind readers need and have to facilitate their own reading enjoyment. I know absolutely squatnada about blind readers. And so I asked a bunch of really ignorant and obvious questions, and Sassy was kind…
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