Image via Wikipedia
After my reference desk shift was up I accompanied my supervisor to the first monthly journal reading group of the year. This is something they originally did every month but from what I gathered it’s been on hold because of time conflicts, not to mention they started the moving process of relocating some of the collection to off site storage. The basis of the group is that someone from the group picks a journal article that is relevant to libraries. They send out the article to everyone on staff. You read the article and if you so chose to, come to the meeting and you discuss it with your co-workers. I have never seen this done before in my library experience. And I hope this will not be the last time I do. It was only for an hour but the discussion that happened was better than some of the really good ones I’ve had in class.
The journal article picked was Slater, Robert (2010). “Why Aren’t E-Books Gaining More Ground in Academic Libraries? E-Book Use and Perceptions: A Review of Published Literature and Research“. Journal of web librarianship (1932-2909), 4 (4), p. 305. First off the article was a really good one and brought up some good points. The discussion was even better, such a treat to sit around with people who have the same interest as you and talk about future trends. Yes that happens again but it was different here because it wasn’t based on theory. It’s was grounded in reality and application. How is this future trend going to affect us specifically. The main point bouncing around the room was, Why is there a disconnect between how personal for fun e-books are viewed and handled and how academic e-books are viewed and handled?
It was interesting to note how some librarians had brought up the topic with their liaison subjects and how some were go hung for ordering their textbooks in e-book format and how some (students included) were appalled at the idea. Personally I think I could go either way. I’m not overjoyed about reading a book such as a textbook from cover to cover on the computer. But I do it anyway when I read pdf articles. I read for fun pleasure books so I guess it would be the same. Now that I incorporate my laptop into any research I do. It’s almost like okay well one less thing to carry around.
Later that day I met up with the Librarian in charge of Social Sciences (for the most part). She was super nice and didn’t mind me asking about her journey to where she is now. Her advice to me was to not be afraid to take that random position on the other side of the world, if the chance came up. Use that kind of experience to shape what kind of librarian you are going to be. I can handle that.
Archiving Desk to Desk 