DOPA is Dopey

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Just say “NO!” to DOPA
This is a site asking social networking advocates to sign a petition. They are trying to gather 1,000,000 signatures in a month.

http://www.saveyourspace.org/

Just say No to DOPA

For those who don’t know, DOPA is the Deleting Online Predators Act, which is a poorly crafted bill built on stereotype and wrong information that will not be able to deliver on what it promises, and will only cut funding from already shoestring budgeted Libraries and schools.

This doesn’t affect just libraries – “new legislation that would cordon off access to commercial Web sites that let users create public “Web pages or profiles” and also offer a discussion board, chat room, or e-mail service.

That’s a broad category that covers far more than social-networking sites such as Friendster and Google’s Orkut.com. It would also sweep in a wide range of interactive Web sites and services, including Blogger.com, AOL and Yahoo’s instant-messaging features, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which permits in-game chat. ” (from: http://news.com.com/Congress+targets+social+network+sites/2100-1028_3-6071040.html)

Contact your legistlators – Senators and Representatives and let them know you think DOPA is dopey!

More info here:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6099414.html?tag=sas.email
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deleting_Online_Predators_Act_of_2006
and (from ALA)
http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/techinttele/dopa/DOPA.htm

news!

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So…i’ve been waiting to post this until it’s truly official, but now it is, so here goes – I have a new job! Starting August 4, I will be an academic librarian at one of the local universities! My boss didn’t cry when I told her I was resigning, even though a part-timer resigned the same day. She gave me a hug and wished me luck. We’ll see what the rest of the staff’s reaction is on Monday….I sent email, but our work email server has been down all weekend…I’m telling all my knitting girls tomorrow….

So now I have a new source for angst! I will soon be faculty!

ugh

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“Good morning. It’s 80 degrees at 6:00” is *not* what you want to hear the morning of an interview that includes walking around outside. Maybe I won’t melt….but I doubt it….hopefully it won’t rain, at least.

Wish me luck!

stormin’

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I’m safe. My family’s safe. We are all thankful that we are safe and sound, especially in light of all those who lost loved ones…. The library in Goodlettsville, near my parent’s house, was apparently pretty heavily damaged. I’m going to look into it and see how (or if) I might be able to help…

more conference stuff

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The conference is almost over…and I’ve made several new friends, actually. Thanks, everyone, for the great comments! I appreciate knowing I’m not the only one! Fortunately, another librarian was so relieved to see someone else her age that she walked up and asked if I had plans for dinner…I had a car, and the rest, as they say, is history :^) Hopefully, it’s the start of a good friendship, as well as a good professional experience.

stupid conferences

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I’m at the Tennessee Library Assoc. annual conference. I always learn stuff at professional conferences, and it’s usually useful stuff. But I always feel inadequate, ignored, and blech. I’m a terrible networker. I realize that. But I also feel like everyone already knows someone and I look too young to be taken seriously. I don’t want to wear my work clothes to conferences, but I think I’m going to have to start. I’m tired of being smiled at, said hi to, and then largely dismissed. I am trying to figure out how to get involved so that I can know people when I go to conferences, but it’s not easy to figure out. I need to try to find out if there’s some way I can get better at networking…maybe if I start going to functions at work where I can meet people….I’m really too tired to think about it right now…stupid hotel pillow was too thin to let me sleep the whole night uninterrupted….plus, lunch! is calling.

professional stuff, you’ve been warned :^)

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Okay, so I did go to the Alumni day at my alma mater….it was…okay, I guess. Not what I expected. But that’s okay. I gained a passenger Friday afternoon, so that was cool. It was a fellow alum, but not someone I knew well. The 6 hour (round-trip) car ride solved that :^) I have some new(ish) professional goals, which I’ll put here, but mostly for my future reference. All in all, it was a pretty good trip. I miss my doggie, though. He’s at my parent’s house for the night.

Anyway….goals

1. Figure out Library 2.0
2. Get involved in local and maybe national associations
3. Find out about the Alumni Board
4. Learn about web/electronic services librarian positions

I’m sure there were more, but those are a pretty good start :^)

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I was reminded today that the work I do actually does help people. A man from Waveland Mississippi came in, looking for information about the effects of Hurricane Katrina and whether or not he could go back. Well, I looked on his local news channel’s website and found a Ham radio call sign that he could contact for information…then, we have a Ham radio operator on staff, so we gave him the names of people in the area who could help him….

I’m just glad that the library could help him get the info he wanted and needed….Hopefully his house is okay and his family…

ALA schedule

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Still plugging away on my ALA schedule for ALA in Chicago….more details to come

UPDATE:

SATURDAY
9:00-11:00 NMRT Conference Orientation

10:30-12:00 Give Them What They are Reaching For: Identifying Customer Wants and Needs with the Public Library Geographic Database

1:30-3:30 Are You Preparing for Your Next Job?
Planning the Next Step in Your Library Career: Strategies for Keeping Pace with the Changing Library Environment

1:30-5:30 Wow! We Really Do Change Lives–Knowing and Showing Outcomes (per director’s request)

4:00-5:30 Back to School: Teaching Information Literacy to Adults in Public Libraries, Academic Libraries, and Adult Distance Learning Centers

UPDATED: Opening Session???

8:00-11:00 SCHOLARSHIP BASH Museum of Science & Industry

SUNDAY
UPDATE: Exhibits??
10:30-12:00 Don’t Move Out, Move Up! Strategies for Librarians to Move Up the Ladder, Not Out the Door
10:300-12:00 Taking the Guess Work Out of Non-Fiction Reader’s Advisory

1:30-3:30 Library Book Cart Drill Team Championships (this just looks fun!)
1:30-3:30 Outreach 101

4:00-5:30 Bilingual Issues in Emergent Literacy

MONDAY
8:30-12:00 Getting Published: From Practice to Print

10:30-12:00 Libraries: A Supportive Environment for Teens!

1:30-3:30 Generation Gap: The Challenges and Benefits of a Mixed Generation Workforce (per director’s request)
1:30-3:30 Perspectives in Spanish Book Publishing, Distribution, and Acquisition

5:00-6:30 PLA President’s Program and Awards Presentation with David Sedaris, part of the ALA Auditorium Speaker Series

small work-related rant

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I rarely do this, since this is an extremely public forum, but….

I really don’t want to go to work tomorrow. We are supposed to have 2 people on the reference desk at all times, but the people I’m scheduled to work with tomorrow are really bad about disappearing and leaving me to run the entire 2nd floor. By myself. And I’m really getting tired of it. But mostly I’m tired of the management and their lack of response. It seems that some people can break every rule and still keep their jobs, while the rest of us have to pick up the slack and do what they don’t. Or cover the reference desk alone. Covering the reference desk in our library means answering the phone, dispensing printouts and collecting money for them, answering tech questions for 43 computers, and answering the questions of anyone who walks up to the desk. Now, I can multi-task, but geez! that’s asking a lot, even from me!!

/rant