Surprise! You're a Mentor!
Yesterday morning one of the younger librarians mentioned in conversation that her goal in life is to be me when she " grows up. " This caught me completely off guard, which was obvious from the stunned look on my face.I know the feeling, though. When I entered grad school, my goal was solely to make a living wage, support my family, and leave time in the evenings for my creative activities (at the time, this was mostly writing poetry and music). My second term in grad school I took an intro course on information science from Judy Weedman, and was blindsided with an absolute and utter passion for information science and th...
Source: Marginal Space - December 9, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: professional Source Type: blogs
Surprise! You're a Mentor!
Yesterday morning one of the younger librarians mentioned in conversation that her goal in life is to be me when she " grows up. " This caught me completely off guard, which was obvious from the stunned look on my face. < br / > < br / > I know the feeling, though. When I entered grad school, my goal was solely to make a living wage, support my family, and leave time in the evenings for my creative activities (at the time, this was mostly writing poetry and music). My second term in grad school I took an intro course on information science from Judy Weedman, and was blindsided with an absolute and utter passion for inform...
Source: Marginal Space - December 9, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: professional Source Type: blogs
Information Needs During Wars
" Notes " . The Philosophical Review 1944 51(3):341-344.The following communication has been received from the Committee on Aid to Libraries in the War Areas :The American Library Association created this last year the Committee on Aid to Libraries in the War Areas, headed by John R. Russell, the Librarian of the University of Rochester. The Committee is faced with numerous serious problems and hopes that American scholars and scientists will be of considerable aid in the solution of one of these problems.One of the most difficult tasks in library reconstruction after the first World War was that of completing foreign inst...
Source: Marginal Space - November 30, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: lost & found Source Type: blogs
New Health Search Engine: MedStory
" There ' s a new kid in townI don ' t want to hear itThere ' s a new kid in townI don ' t want to hear it "There are so many different health search engines available, you might very well be tired of hearing about the new ones. They start up, do very little new, and fail, quietly fading away. Most people just use Google, and why not?For myself, it has been a long time since I was really excited about a new Internet search engine focusing on health. But. (You knew there was going to be a " but " , didn ' t you?) But now there is MedStory.This new kid in town is following in the footsteps of such other hot new players as Ko...
Source: Marginal Space - October 25, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: searching professional healthcare Source Type: blogs
Once Upon a Time There Was A9
Once upon a time there was a really cool federated internet search engine called A9. It had a great interface, great content, was easy to use and offered wonderful personal customization services.I loved A9. Really, fell in love with it, starry-eyed and rose-colored glasses and all. I put the link on the homepage for my library. I put it on my personal homepage. I used it more than any other search engine. I taught it in every class for two or three years. I showed it off to other librarians, other internet professionals, praised it in print as well.My favorite thing about A9 was searching three image search engines at the...
Source: Marginal Space - October 6, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: searching professional Source Type: blogs
Repetition as an Achilles' Heel
Today, after I finished teaching my second bibliographic instruction session for the day, the third in two days, the course director asked me how many times I ' d taught that or similar content in the past couple weeks. Sigh, I thought, does it show?Ideally, each group is different. I want to customize what I show for each group, target the content presented to their interests and needs. I want to reach out and ' touch ' them, get them engaged and excited, help them see how this connects with their projects and goals and life. I try (usually) to be entertaining, and think of the sessions as " song and dance shows " . I try...
Source: Marginal Space - September 14, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: libraries professional Source Type: blogs
Repetition as an Achilles' Heel
Today, after I finished teaching my second bibliographic instruction session for the day, the third in two days, the course director asked me how many times I ' d taught that or similar content in the past couple weeks. Sigh, I thought, does it show? < br / > < br / > Ideally, each group is different. I want to customize what I show for each group, target the content presented to their interests and needs. I want to reach out and ' touch ' them, get them engaged and excited, help them see how this connects with their projects and goals and life. I try (usually) to be entertaining, and think of the sessions as " song and d...
Source: Marginal Space - September 14, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: libraries professional Source Type: blogs
What's the Difference? Hospital or Academic?
Well, I ' ve been napping all weekend, and feel about to fall asleep again. Why so tired? Busy week. The high point of the week was being part of a panel presentation for the Metro Detroit Medical Library Group. It was fascinating. There were three presenters, all talking about the so-called " web 2.0 " applications in libraries. Our slides and handouts looked so similar, some people in the audience thought they had multiple copies of the same thing. To my delight, all three presentations, while talking on the same points, took dramatically different approaches to the concepts.The planned structure for the set of talks was...
Source: Marginal Space - September 10, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: libraries professional Source Type: blogs
What's the Difference? Hospital or Academic?
Well, I ' ve been napping all weekend, and feel about to fall asleep again. Why so tired? Busy week. The high point of the week was being part of a panel presentation for the Metro Detroit Medical Library Group. It was fascinating. There were three presenters, all talking about the so-called " web 2.0 " applications in libraries. Our slides and handouts looked so similar, some people in the audience thought they had multiple copies of the same thing. To my delight, all three presentations, while talking on the same points, took dramatically different approaches to the concepts. < br / > < br / > The planned structure for ...
Source: Marginal Space - September 10, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: libraries professional Source Type: blogs
Hospital Tests that Don't Hurt
Polysomnogram is the name of the game. One hospital test that everyone assures me truly does NOT have pain involved. All you have to do is hook up some wires and sleep all night. Where ' s the pain, eh?So my little one went in for this test over the weekend. My son is special. In a lot of ways, and I won ' t count them right now. For this story, the special ingredient that makes the story is his sensory hyperacuity. In other words, he has nerves where most people don ' t have nerves and he feels things that most people wouldn ' t notice in a very long time. We had a lot of problems with dental work early on. The dentist he...
Source: Marginal Space - September 6, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: healthcare personal Source Type: blogs
Hospital Tests that Don't Hurt
Polysomnogram is the name of the game. One hospital test that everyone assures me truly does NOT have pain involved. All you have to do is hook up some wires and sleep all night. Where ' s the pain, eh? < br / > < br / > So my little one went in for this test over the weekend. My son is special. In a lot of ways, and I won ' t count them right now. For this story, the special ingredient that makes the story is his sensory hyperacuity. In other words, he has nerves where most people don ' t have nerves and he feels things that most people wouldn ' t notice in a very long time. We had a lot of problems with dental work early...
Source: Marginal Space - September 6, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: healthcare personal Source Type: blogs
Boundaries Blurred and Bent and Bold
Today we had a steering committee meeting for designing our new consumer health website. We have the original version up at the moment. The original site was the concept of a truly passionate and committed woman who has decided to pass the torch along. We are lucky and grateful that she has allowed us to be the ones to carry on. Astonishingly, she has given us free rein in developing the site.We have a truly amazing great team from all across campus -- pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, surgery, hospital dentistry, psychology, neuropsych, public health, library, and informatics. The whole project is just amazing to me. Wit...
Source: Marginal Space - September 1, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: professional web stuff diversity Source Type: blogs
Marginal Space as a Concept
In libraries, marginal space is a rather technical term used primarily to refer to binding -- what we do to assemble pages into a unit, or volume. The pages must have blank space at the edges that will be joined, or else the binding will prevent the reader from seeing what was there. A book or journal can have wide margins (good for blinding) or tight margins (not so good).Marginal space is a concept that is also used in many, many other domains. Here are just a few examples." Liminality is not concerned with the old strategies of the edge, the avant garde and the marginal. Instead it is a notion offering a new way to expe...
Source: Marginal Space - August 31, 2006 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: thinking aloud Source Type: blogs
