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31
Take a quiz…pick a candidate!
Filed Under Politics, Recommendations, Reference Sources | Leave a Comment
I haven’t been paying much attention to all the election talk, but I’m starting to keep my eyes and ears more open to the various candidates. Project Vote Smart is always a good place to start, but with elections it’s nice to have more than one source to go for information. I came across Glassbooth.org a few days ago and I think it’s worth checking out, both for the fun factor of taking a quiz to see who’s right for you and for straight-up information on the candidates and how they’re positioning themselves on the bigger issues.
According to them, Glassbooth is built on providing information with integrity, nonbias, nonpartisan, transparency, and insight. You can take a look at the site for yourself and decide whether or not you believe them.
And, of course, they have their own YouTube account where they post videos of candidates doing what they do best…talk.
Dec
21
Members Only
Filed Under Libraries, Podcasts | 3 Comments
The 10 Things are over (do I hear people cheering in the background) and I’ve been catching up with my podcast feeds. One of my favorite podcasts is Thinking Out Loud with George Needham and Joan Frye Williams. I heard them speak at ALA last year and thought they really do a good job raising and discussing some important library issues.
Their most recent podcast addresses the question of what we should call people who use the library. Do we call them patrons, users, customers, or something else? I usually use the term “patrons,” only because I don’t like the sound and connotation of “users” and “customers,” but I realize that a lot of people don’t like “patrons” either. Joan and George offer “member” as an alternative name and liken it to when people become members of Costco or American Express. When you get a card anywhere, you’re called a member of whatever group or organization is issuing that card.
So what do you think? If you work at a library, what should we call the wonderful (mostly) people whom we serve? If you don’t work at a library (i.e., you’re a “civilian”), what would you like to be referred to?
Patron, Customer, User, Member, Constituent, Human, Man, Woman, Person, Living Being…or something else?
And more importantly? Do you still have your Members Only jacket in your closet?
Dec
17
Staff Day
Filed Under 10 Things, Libraries, Professional Development, Videos | Leave a Comment
MPOW just had its annual staff day and I think everyone had a good time (especially the staff who took home the prizes, including a Dell Computer, Wii, and iPod). I know I did. It was especially fun to see people let loose a little during the gaming session, led by the Jenny Levine herself! We had three different stations where people experimented with Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, and DDR. I spent most of my time with the Wii Sports crowd and it got pretty intense at times! I think more than one person went home with some sore muscles that day.
Our library director, Carolyn Anthony, also gave her State of the Library address and we had a short video to introduce her. She deserves a lot of credit for being such a good sport (no pun intended) about it. My colleague and I had a lot of laughs as we worked on the video. You can check it out here:
More pics from Staff Day are available from The Shifted Librarian, The Analog Divide, The Utopian Library, and TheSkokieTen.
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