The Clueless Librarian

tweedlebop:

Delmona Monster, MLS

Monster: cuddly, librarian, heroic.
http://robotsandmonsters.org/

(via poplibrary)

Libraries are a hallmark of a civilized culture, and librarians represent that culture to all facets of society. We artists have a great affinity with you librarians, for many reasons, not the least of which is that we exist in large part to educate, and to protect. To make order out of chaos, and to teach others to do the same. To keep the dreams of a nation, of a people, safe for future generations. To make those dreams available to everyone – not just the wealthy or beautiful, not just the people of one race or one color or one religion – but available to everyone who dares to dream of something bigger than themselves.

[via CALIBK12 listserv]

The Librarian #4
“I am not a babysitter for teachers’ planning periods.”

I am a librarian in a school setting. I am a professional with a Master’s degree and am a certified teacher in two states. I teach basic life skills, like how to find information, evaluate it critically, and use it in an ethical and creative way. I help children explore their passions and find out what about their world interests them the most. I am not a babysitter for teachers’ planning periods, I am a teacher too and the time children spend with me is valuable. My job cannot be done effectively by volunteers, and managing, cataloging and promoting a library collection both physical and electronic is just as demanding as having your own classroom of children.

In March 1970, Marguerite Hart became the first children’s librarian at the Troy Library. She was hired to plan children’s activities and to develop a children’s collection for the booming youth population in the City. […] In early 1971, Hart wrote to dozens of actors, authors, artists, musicians, playwrights, librarians, and politicians of the day. She asked them to write a letter to the children of Troy about the importance of libraries, and their memories of reading and of books. Hart received 97 letters addressed to Troy’s young people from individuals who spanned the arts, sciences, and politics across the 50 states, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, the Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

[via Brain Pickings]

An analysis by Oxford University Press using 120 years of census data

The carpet at the new Gungahlin Public Library in Canberra, Australia

[via A Fuse #8 Production blog]

lavacheestdanslepre:

The great library stereotypometer.

(via poplibrary)

We know a lot these days; we just don’t know where we learned it. “The source of information you’re using, the evaluation of that source, how you use it, how you respect it and cite it – that’s all what we call informational literacy,” pointed out Carole Moore, chief librarian at Robarts for the past 25 years. “It has been more of a problem in the information age then ever, because there’s so much information out there, and it’s hard to know where it comes from. On the Internet it all looks the same. But in the library you have so many more cues.” Librarians know those cues.

From the Globe and Mail, May 20, 2011