Recommended Reads

I realized it's been almost a year since I've shared my non-libr* reading with you, so I thought it was high time. Here are some things I've read lately that fall outside library science that I recommend highly.

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The first up is Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind from 99u. I've written before about how  helpful I find that website and their blog posts, but this is a book with all that super practical advice for putting your ideas into action all in one place (well, not all of it, but a lot). It has short chapters with actionable advice for a variety of situations. I love this book so much I bought a copy for myself so I wouldn't have to steal the copy I borrowed from our library consortium. This is actually the first in a series of similarly practical books from 99u. I've been pushing Manage Your Day-to-Day on others already, and everyone has come back with good things to say.

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The second book is more about emotions than the first but it can help practical decision making. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are was hard to read in some ways, since the drive for perfection hasn't been an easy thing for me to abandon. On the other hand, letting go is worth it. After reading this book, I'm usually capable of believing that done is better than perfect. Also, playing to and working with my strengths is a much better use of my time than trying to be all things to all people. I know all fields have these issues, but I think embracing our mistakes is particularly hard for librarians. I recommend everyone read this. Really. Everyone. 

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A new to me blog, Just Visiting, has me thinking lots of thinks since I discovered it. The author, John Warner, has the laudable (at least to a librarian) Twitter handle, @biblioracle. I find his observations about navigating academe as a visiting college instructor useful when applied to my own situation, despite the difference in our positions. In fact, there's at least one - if not two - blog posts I'm contemplating writing in response to his. 

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Finally, this is one I'm still reading, but so far it's fabulous. Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food published by O'Reilly Media and written by Jeff Potter is exactly what you'd expect from a book with that title. There are lots of geek jokes - I laughed 4 or 5 times during the preface alone. There's also lots of good science. This book feels like a natural successor to Good Eats. That show taught me to cook by showing me the science of food and this picks up where the show left off. I'm loving this book so far.

How about you? What have you been reading lately that you think everyone should read? 

Bloggity Blogging (Librarian) Blogs

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I talk a lot about making sure you read outside of library professional literature, but it's just as important to read within the field - at least from time to time. I read a lot of isolated posts, and a lot of librarian blogs in general, but when it comes to my own part of this crazy profession (academia), there are a few blogs that I recently noticed that I read without fail.

Feral Librarian, written by Chris Bourg
I've quoted her here before, and I'm sure I will again, but really you should be reading her blog for yourself. She writes about librarianship, race, gender, and higher ed. She doesn't pull punches, as the saying goes. I appreciate how her sociology background informs how she writes about librarianship. (She's also on Twitter @mchris4duke.)

Library Babel Fish (part of Inside Higher Ed), written by Barbara Fister
Barbara makes noise about controversial issues, phrasing her concerns and assertions in ways that make me want to be a better writer. In the past, I've shared her thoughts about freshmen writing assignments (concerns I share) with writing professors and had productive conversations about the integration of information literacy as a result. I got to see her speak at LOEX 2013, and her keynote was a major highlight of one of the best conferences I've attended. (Find her on Twitter @bfister.)

Beerbrarian, written by Jacob Berg
Jake's posts always make me laugh and make me think. His post about surveillance and libraries is a must read, as are his semi-controversial ideas about interviewing. For the record: I agree with what all he wrote; I say "controversial" because he got a lot of negative comments. A bonus for those of you who love craft beer and indie music: he occasionally writes about those things, too. (Before any of you accuse me of bias because of the not-at-all-secret librarian bromance I have with Jake, think again: our friendship developed because of the admiration I have for him professionally, not the other way around.)

How about you? Which librarian blogs are indispensable and/or shape your practice?

First Thursday's Just For Fun: Beer!

I am a librarian and I must, by law I believe, love wine and/or craft beer. Wine doesn't like me much, but that's okay because craft beer loves me, and I love it back.

There are many I adore, and I'm always finding new ones to love. But in the interests of keeping this to a readable length, I've only listed three. The beers you see below are off the top of my head:

HopDevil IPA by Victory

This is definitely my favorite IPA.

Description from the brewery: "Bold, spicy and Menacingly Delicious™, this American hopped India Pale Ale offers an aromatic punch and then follows through with a lasting, full-bodied finish provided by quality German malts."

Raison D'Etre by Dogfish Head

I could drink this beer every day, all day, in the winter.

Description from the brewery: "A deep mahogany, Belgian-style brown ale brewed with beet sugar, raisins and Belgian-style yeast."

Lucky 7 by Evo

I was introduced to this one recently, and it was love at first sip. Super local (they are located in Salisbury, Maryland) as far as I know, but if you're anywhere nearby, definitely get some of this delish beer.

Description from the brewery: "Black with garnet highlights, this porter is rich and full flavored with notes of chocolate, coffee and smoke playing off the sweeter toffee and dark dried fruit tones."



So, how about you? Do you have a favorite craft beer?

By the way, if you didn't already know it, Jake Berg - who has written for this blog in the past - is one of the people behind DC Beer, a beer blog that is well worth your attention if you don't already read it.

When Publishers Attack

Before I get into the heart of this post, let me be completely up front about something: I consider Dale Askey to be a personal friend. Not only has he written a guest post for this blog, but he was also a member of my Frye Leadership Institute cohort. (A slightly unrelated note: Frye has recently been renamed The Leading Change Institute.) That all means that when it comes to Dale, I am definitely biased. So I'm sure you'll understand that when I learned that Edwin Mellen Press is suing Dale (and Dale's employer, McMaster University) for libel, I was beyond astonished.

If you want details about the case, many others have written about it already:

• J Whyte Appleby: "How to Respond to Criticism"
• Jake New, at The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Edwin Mellen Press Sues University Librarian for Libel"
• Wayne Bivens-Tatum: "Edwin Mellen Press Suing a Librarian?"
• Colleen Flaherty: "Price of a Bad Review"
• Hamilton Nolan, at Gawker: "Publisher Sues College Librarian for Saying Publisher Sucks"
• Cory Doctorow, at Boing Boing: "Publisher launches $3,000,000 suit against academic librarian who criticized its books"

Rather than duplicate their efforts, I'm going to talk about the online librarian community's response. 

You see, the truth is that academic publishing has been broken for a long time. The prices are astronomical; the way authors end up having to sign away their copyrights in order to publish with top tier journals and publishers seems almost criminal; and the fact that getting tenure is dependent on publishing in the top tier outlets makes the whole thing a vicious cycle with no way out.

I feel like Edwin Mellen suing Dale is yet another escalation in this increasingly adversarial relationship between publishers and librarians. It brings to mind a recent strip from Savage Chickens:

Citing Savage Chickens might seem ludicrous, but an academic press metaphorically biting the hand that feeds it is equally unbelievable. It sounds like a headline from The Onion.

So what has the librarian community done? Mostly, we've "thrown rocks" at Edwin Mellen Press by highlighting the absurdity of the situation and bringing it to the attention of a broader audience. There are blog posts and a hashtag: #freedaleaskey. There is even a Change.org petition with 1500+ signatures. I'm sure there are blog posts and articles that I've missed that discuss the case, and I'm equally sure there will be many more written. (This page seems to be tracking what is written.)

Why is all this happening? Because the truth these days is, "When publishers attack, librarians fight back."

First Thursday's Just For Fun: Bloggeration, Part Deux

Earlier this year, I devoted a "Just For Fun" post to chatter about the non-librarian blogs I love. It's been a while, and I have some to add to the list, so I thought I'd share my new non-libr* blog loves. Here goes:

io9's tagline is "We come from the future," and trust me when I tell you that it's appropriate. This website's raison d'être is "science, science fiction, and the future," and it's immensely cool. 

Recent favorite posts include: "A Book That Will Make You Question Everything You Knew About Dinosaurs," "5 Amazing Real Life Facts About Superman," and "The Hawkeye Initiative redraws absurd superheroine poses with Hawkeye."

Not only is The Fluffington Post a real thing, and it's also really cute. Obviously, it's a parody of a similarly named website, but I'm willing to admit that I like FluffPo better. Slightly snarky captions + cute animal pictures = full of win.

Recent favorites include: "Cat Hired to Guard Shoe Collection," "Tiger Cubs Chip In For New Bubble Machine," and "Criminal Cat Nabbed for Carjacking."

As you can see from the logo, Colossal is a blog devoted to sharing/highlighting "art & visual ingenuity." Beyond that general umbrella, anything is possible and everything posted by Christopher Jobson (the man behind the blog) is beautiful.

Recent favorites include: "The Surreal, Infrared Photography of David Keochkerian," "Spectacular Entries to the 2012 National Geographic Photography Contest," and "Birds on Twitter."


How about you? Do you have any non-libr* blogs that you love?

Library Science Is Not Enough

Obviously I want you to read libr* stuff, since that's what this blog is. But we need to fight the insularity and get outside the echo chamber. This isn't the first time I've brought this up. Back in April, I wrote a post about the reading I do outside of library science, but that was all about books. This time I want to talk about some of the non-libr* blogs and websites I read for professional development purposes, so here they are:

• Harvard Business Review (blog network). I'll bet you're wondering how something with "business" in the title could provide professional development reading for an instruction/information literacy/outreach librarian like me, and I felt the same way a couple of years ago. Now, though, this is one of my favorite blogs. It's full of short articles that are useful to a broad range of people. Example: "If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This."
• 99u. This blog's name comes from the oft quoted Edison line about inspiration, and its tagline is: "Ideas on Making Ideas Happen." Who doesn't need that kind of help? In the library field, we're all about making ideas happen. Here's a recent gem: "Grin and Bear It: How to Tackle Your Tougher Tasks."
• Wired. Whether we like it or not, libraries are in the technology business, and Wired Magazine and it's associated website are a great source of this kind of information. This recent piece about Big Data is pretty interesting.

What about you? What kinds of non-library oriented blogs do you read?

First Thursday's Just For Fun: Bloggeration

Last month, I gabbled on and on about the webcomics I love. You agreed with many of my choices (yay!) and even introduced me to some new ones. That was so much fun that I figured I'd continue in the same vein for the new "Just for Fun" post, and talk about some of the non-libr* blogs I follow. Before you go any further, remember I'm both a crazy cat lady and a big ol' nerd. You still in? Good.

So, in no particular order, here they are:


 
BoingBoing is a random collection of awesome, including some library related materials. Posts range from esoteric to nerdy to simply cool. Some of my recent favorites are "Haunting photos from Fukushima, one year later: 'Invisible You,' by Satoru Niwa," "Star Wars pancake molds," and "Stained glass TARDIS."


The Daily Squee 
This is pure, unadulterated, cuteness. Each picture is more squee than the last. Recent favorites are "Drink Me Up" (a cheetah cub), "Bow Down Before Me" (a sleepy ferret), and "But Doc, I'm Not Sick" (a red panda getting a vet check).



The Daily What is another random collection of awesome. Lots of news, interesting videos, and random cute things. Recent favorites are "Not Dead Yet of the Day" (a woman got up out of her coffin and made herself breakfast), "Toy Chain Boycott of the Day" (some doofuses are planning to boycott Toys R Us over Archie featuring a same sex couple getting married), and "Kids Unintentionally Say The Darndest Swear Words of the Day" (NSFW, but cute).



The Daily What Geek is The Daily What's geeky kid sister. All the random goodness I expect from The Daily What, but with an amped up geek factor. Recent favorites are "T-Rex Bite Study of the Day," "Star Wars Yoga Posters of the Day," and "Interesting Ethics Study of the Day."


There are more I follow, but I think that's enough for now. Besides, I want to hear from you. What non-libr* blogs do you follow, and why?