Our profession is steeped in a murky racial and gendered history. When Roxane Gay came on stage, the first thing she said to us was “man, there’s a lot of white people in this room.” And, she’s right. Librarianship has been feminized and white ever since Melvil Dewey. You remember, the Dewey decimal system guy? […]
Category: Academic libraries
LOEX 2016: Grumpy conference notes and other things
The end of the Spring semester is a nightmare for academics most of the time, and it was especially so this year as I was finishing out my 1st full year at Paul Smith’s College and planning to conference the last week of the semester. Between visiting students in the residence halls, staffing the main […]
Off to Portland for ACRL 2015!
In a few short hours, I’ll be heading to Portland, Oregon for the 2015 Academic College and Research Libraries (ACRL) conference! I’ve never been to ACRL, so I’m super pumped and somewhat overwhelmed. Lucky for me, I’m going to be staying with a pretty awesome librarian blogging over at Librarian for Life & Style, so keep […]
Library Links & Loves: Professional Development
For me, professional development is the most important aspect of my job. Not only do the students benefit when I learn something new, but then I can share it with my co-workers and begin to make a larger cultural change. One of the reasons I took the job here is because I saw so much […]
Saying Thank You: A Post-Interview Essential
In the last few weeks, we’ve been interviewing for an evening Reference Librarian position, and it got me thinking about my own grueling job search, not so long ago! I remember stressing out about how much stuff I had to get together: update my CV to highlight what the posting is asking for, re-write my cover […]
Why librarians make great mentors
I was asked last May if I would be interested in being a mentor for an incoming freshman at my institution, and I quickly said yes yes yes. In fact, last academic year, I was supposed to, but things fell through. So, I jumped on the opportunity this time and got in contact with my protege […]
Fall semester is here again!
Holy crap – is it really the first day of the semester? This summer has flown by, and I’m still sitting here in the dust. Luckily, having 6 weeks off for maternity allowed me some time outside of the workplace, but now that I’m back full-force, it’s still taking my body (and brain) a bit […]
From the Desk: Handout for Academic Departments
Wow, it’s Wednesday already and students are unloading their trucks and moving in as I write this. As you can imagine, we are very busy getting everything together for those students, but on this edition of From the Desk, I want to share a handout I made for writing instructors on what the library can do […]
From the Desk: Library Basics handout
On this edition of From the Desk, I want to share a Library Basics handout that I’ve created using Adobe Illustrator. A lot of my job, aside from teaching information literacy sessions, involves designing handouts, signage, and other promotional materials for library events and services. I consider myself a self-taught designer, garnering lots of advice […]
Library Marketing & Outreach- Texas Style
There is a new ACRL interest group called Library Marketing and Outreach (ACRL_LMAO), formed at ALA in Vegas by Virginia Alexander and Adam Haigh. I was lucky enough to get in touch with them to volunteer as a Texas representative and I’m excited to get some of these marketing meet-ups going. If you’re in Texas, you […]
Amy Pajewski 