Banned Books Week

Nothing gets me excited like being a little subversive. 

And with this week being Banned Books Week, I get to be a subversive book-pusher--even better!

I don't know why I feel more excited about Banned Books Week this year than in previous years. Maybe it's the classes I've taken where we've talked about access and censorship. Maybe it's been my recent interest in Christian anarchism. Maybe it's the fact that I had to drag that bookshelf (see photo) out of my office for our display and now it's all empty in here and I have personal, physical investment in this display.

Whatever it is, I'm all in and I've already had some really great conversations with students about censorship--what it is, why it's bad, and why we should do everything in our power to stop it. Several students have already taken books off the shelf to check out. So rewarding!

I'll be back later this week with another Banned Books Week themed post or two, talking about my favorite banned book(s) and why the heck the Church is so often leading the crusade against information.

I hope you're celebrating your freedom to read this week! Pick a book off The List and stick it to The Man!

ALA12: Recap

Just a quick recap of ALA Annual in Anaheim, for posterity and to prove I was actually there.

Highlights, in no particular order:

1. I met David Weinberger! It was exciting, and I was awkward, and he signed a copy of his new book for me. I'm very happy about this. Looking forward to reading it. Also, his speaker session was pretty great. I especially liked his analysis of Reddit.
2. Disneyland was the most un-crowded ever. We were there for only like two hours, three maybe, and we just walked on a bunch of rides (including Thunder Mountain, my fave) and saw the fireworks.
3. Sessions on distance education librarianship and embedded librarianship. I took soooo many notes. Really helpful and inspiring for some of my short-term goals.
4. The Philosophical, Religious, and Theological Discussion Group. There were ten people there, including me and another recent MLIS grad who also has his MA in theology from Fuller. It was really cool being in a small-group setting with people who actually do what I'd love to do some day. Plus they were super nice.
5. Learning about Duke Divinity School's digitization project for American Methodism and churches in North Carolina. Super super interesting, and I got to talk to the guy who's heading it up (or was... I guess he got a job somewhere else). He's also involved in the ATLA's online open access journal, which he encouraged me to look into and think about submitting content for.
6. Hanging out with my iSchool cohort friends. THE BEST. I'm so glad I had people there to spend time with (and split the cost of a hotel room with!). I had an awesome time in the company of these smart and wonderful people!

Overall, the experience was overwhelming and tiring, but so informative and inspiring. I doubt I'll be able to make it to Chicago for next year's conference, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to go to this one, since it was so close to home.  It gave me an insight into librarian culture and got me excited to be in the field all over again!

ALA12: Packing

If I'm being completely honest, packing for my first professional conference has made me want to just go out and buy all new clothes.

I don't know how many blog posts I've read about what to wear, and all of them are so ambivalent: dress professionally, but not too dressy;  it's summer so dress cool, but there's AC everywhere so bring a jacket; you'll be in meetings all day, but don't forget about the social night life part.

I'll be meeting so many new people, hanging out with colleagues from my cohort, making a million first impressions. This is too stressful.

At this point, all I've decided on is lipstick.

So, you know, if you see a girl walking around in underwear and red lipstick, that's me.

ALA12: My Schedule

I've spent most of the morning cobbling together a rough schedule for events and sessions I'll want to attend during ALA Annual this weekend (YES, THIS WEEKEND. I can't believe it's already here).

So here's where I'm planning to be, if you want to stalk me or something:

Friday
4:00pm-5:15pm Opening General Session
5:30pm-Midnight DISNEYLAND

Saturday
8:00am-10:00am Embedded Librarian Best Practices
10:30am-11:30am David Weinberger
11:30am-1:30pm EXHIBIT HALL
1:30pm-4:00pm Reference Resurrected OR Current State of Academic Librarians (undecided)
4:00pm-5:30pm Ebrary
5:30pm-7:30pm iSchool Happy Hour
7:30pm-10:30pm Newbie/Veteran Tweet-up
10:30pm-Midnight After Hours


Sunday
10:30am-Noon Diving in and Learning to Swim as a New Distance Education Librarian
1:30pm-3:30pm Revitalizing the Research Process
4:00pm-5:30pm Philosophical, Religious and Theological Studies Discussion Group
7:00pm-9:00pm Hack Lib School/Boing Boing Meet-up

Monday
8:00am-10:00am Virtual Faiths: Cooperative Digitization Projects


I am so so excited! Hoping to learn a lot of stuff and meet a lot of people.

Let me know if you'll be there and we can meet up!

I'll probably be pretty active on Twitter while I'm there, so look me up there. My handle is @keegzzz!

Knowing What Kind of Chemist (or librarian) You're NOT

I took my first look at the preliminary ALA summer conference schedule this week, and immediately got overwhelmed--not only at the sheer volume of sessions and presentations, but at how much of it I just didn't care about.

Panicked, I rushed to the office of my nearest empathetic librarian, and fretted about how maybe I don't want to be a librarian after all. I mean, of course, library stuff is wonderful, and I am--more or less--enjoying school, but it hasn't yet been able to get me excited the way theology does. I don't gobble up readings the same way I did in undergrad. What if I've made a huge mistake???

As she so often does, the wise woman talked me down, saying, "It's not that you don't want to be a librarian. It's that you don't want to be that kind of librarian. And that's OK. Not every chemist is a biochemist."

She's right (of course). I am not fit for public librarianship. And heaven help any child or teen who wants to "book talk" with me. And that's OK. I don't have to terrorize children or teach immigrants how to find a job. I can focus on what I'm interested in and play to my strengths--which are unequivocally situated in academia.

Though certainly not in chemistry.

And I'm sure there will be plenty of conference sessions in which I will be interested.