Posted by: afitz09 on: December 31, 2009
Jill Hurst-Wahl, MLS, is a digitization consultant who writes a blog on Digital Libraries. She recently posted a useful article about the career path of Digital Librarians here:
http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2009/12/digital-librarians.html
Posted by: afitz09 on: December 19, 2009
I just wanted to mark this date into history as the date that I’ve completed all of my credit coursework for the MLIS at St. John’s University. After successfully completing the comprehensive exam this upcoming spring I will be eligible for graduation! Who Hoo!!!
Learning from my teachers and classmates has been a terrific experience, and I am truly looking forward to my new career in librarianship.
My husband, Dan, deserves a HUGE THANK YOU, for being so understanding and gracious during these last two and a half years. I love you!
I would also like to extend a special thanks to my good friend and study buddy, Pat, for without whom I never would have started such an endeavor, let alone finish it. Best of luck in your new career too!!
Posted by: afitz09 on: December 3, 2009
Posted by: afitz09 on: November 20, 2009
Here is a video from the recent Web 2.0 Expo in NYC. In it, Tim O’Reilly talks about his visions of the future of the web.
Posted by: afitz09 on: November 18, 2009
Tired of hearing about the bad economy and unemployed workers? Well get used to it, and while you are at it go ahead and add the employed workers to the list. Librarians should be prepared for the next wave of information seekers: the workers who are left behind. These are the workers who are still employed, and who are being told that they are the lucky ones. These are the workers who get to do the extra work since the company has downsized. These are the workers that are having benefits and rights taken away, while getting more and more duties added to their job descriptions. These workers are the ‘lucky ones’.
Are corporations playing fair? Or are they using the bad economy to some extent as an excuse to further maximize profits and workers output? According to Art Wittmann, “what beat-down, disillusioned, burned-out employees need today is a belief that management knows that “business as usual” just plain sucks right now, and that it has a vision for how things will be different – and better – in the future.”
Wittmann suggest three things that management can do to help alleviate this situation.
Librarians can also help this burnt out workforce by preparing them to search for new jobs or explore new careers via Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter or LinkedIn. Perhaps even some of these newly learned Web 2.0 tools could help them in them become more efficient in their current jobs, making their life just a little bit easier, while at the same time adding some valuable skills to their resume.
Hopefully corporate America will become sensitive to their employees’ plights, and take sincere actions to improve, or at the very least acknowledge, their employees stressfully overloaded situations. Companies not addressing these potentially hazardous situations have a very short sighted stance, and are endangering everyone’s future by ensuring an overburdened and burnt out workforce.
References:
Wittmann, A.. (2009, August). ‘I’d Rather Work Anywhere Else’. InformationWeek,(1239), 46. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1862293081).
Posted by: afitz09 on: November 11, 2009
Here is a follow up to my Gov in the Clouds blog entry from September 25, 2009.
Follow the link below to view a news conference from NASA Ames Research Center during which Vivek Kundra, White House Federal CIO, outlined his vision for a new federal government cloud computing initiative. (note that I found this link through a listserv sla-kinf)
Posted by: afitz09 on: November 8, 2009
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A listserv that I subscribe to (“sla-kinf” — the discussion list for the Information Futurists (IF) Caucus of the Special Libraries Association) supplied a link to highlights from a presentation based on the results of a recent Pew report. The report analyzed the changes in the demographics of social network users over time and the presentation, prepared by Amanda Lenhart, offered some noteworthy statistics regarding adult usage (Lenhart, 2009):
Of adult Social Networking Site (SNS) users:
References:
Lenhart, A. (2009, October 08). Adults on social networking sites, 2005-2009. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Infographics/Growth-in-Adult-SNS-Use-20052009.aspx
Posted by: afitz09 on: November 4, 2009
For any of you who may be interested in vaccine safety, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has a web page listing resources on the topic, and covers all types of vaccines:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/index.html
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If you are interested in reading about specific Vaccine Information Statements (VIS), such as the 2009 seasonal or H1N1 flu vaccines, this web page contains one sheet pdf files for the current versions of each vaccine and each form. There is also a feature to sign up for email updates.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/default.htm
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Finally, the CDC media page is a good starting point to stay abreast of the latest news, press releases, and podcasts available: