Category Archives: librarianship

Losing librarianship?

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Since my job change at the end of September, I’ve noticed that my professional interests and reading habits have shifted quite a bit. In particular I’ve noticed that most of the library blogs to which I’ve subscribed don’t seem as relevant any more. Consequently I’ve unsubscribed from most of them.  I wonder, am I losing librarianship? I’m proud to be a librarian, don’t get me wrong. And I’m not exactly thrilled about all aspects of corporate life and the silly pap that I sometimes need to consume as part of that. But I do really like my new, expanded role focusing on search and taxonomy, with the opportunities for learning new things and expanding my horizons. As part of that I’m looking around for other sources of information in the blogosphere and elsewhere that will help me keep well informed and current, and I don’t have as much time for keeping up-to-date with purely library-related things.

New job, new direction

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Monday afternoon I accepted an offer to take a job in a different group within the library where I work.  Basically what I’ll be doing is leading efforts to implement and expand search and taxonomy company-wide.  A lot of work has already been done so I’ll need to get up to speed quickly on that.  Also it is important to note that there is a whole team of people with whom I will be working on this large set of responsibilities.  I have always felt it was a huge plus that the library group in my large, global company has been given the responsibility for search and taxonomy.  That means that just about everywhere there is a search box on a page within our intranet or on external Internet sites, that is set up and maintained by the library.

This will probably be the most “un-library-like” job I have ever held. But I am ready for a new job and a new direction.  I will still be working within the library but the scope of the job is much broader than that.  One of the new things I’ll be doing is a lot of client development and managing client relationships as well as relationships with a new set of vendors.  There is much more to it and frankly I don’t understand it all just yet.  My official start date will by September 29 but I am already easing into the role and out of my existing one.  This means that the next several weeks will probably be pretty crazy.

Why the change?  Well, there are many reasons.  Mainly, I have been looking for a way to get to another level of responsibility and this provides that.  I have long wanted to try new things, to have a new set of challenges and learning opportunities.  There is no question in my mind that libraries and information centers of all stripes need to have a great awareness of and involvement in search, especially in this Google era when everyone thinks search should be as easy to use as Google and just about everyone uses Google many times a day.

It seems to me that a lot of people in my company aren’t happy with search as it currently is established, so I hope that along with many others, I can help to improve that.

A free (yes, free) XML workshop

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Few people are as good as Eric Lease Morgan at explaining technical things in a way that is easy for just about anyone to understand. Eric has been at this for a long time and has a rich history of innovative applications for libraries and I like the way that he is so passionate about libraries and technology. Therefore I was pleased to read his announcement on the code4lib discussion list the other day about the availability of all of the materials relating to his XML in Libraries all-day workshop. I’ve never attended one but I am going to review this material very carefully and I am sure I’ll learn a lot of new things. Highly recommended. (And it’s free.)

What I want to be when I grow up

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You know how you were often asked the question when you were in grade school, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I hated that question, because I really didn’t know for sure. And the only answer I could come up with at that time was that I wanted to be a jockey, racing thoroughbred horses. Ha. Look at where I ended up, as a librarian. That was more accidental than anything, anyway. It wasn’t something I ever felt “called” or “destined” to do.

Now, I am proud to be a librarian. But I still sometimes wonder what I want to be when I grow up. I wonder, more exactly, what’s next, career-wise? Should I just stagnate and become something that I have always held in little regard, the drone working 9 to 5 and living just for vacations and weekends? What else can or should I do with my career?