Library Technician

One of my jobs is indexing management journals. It isn't a job I really like and sometimes the articles are really annoying, but hey, it's just a job that has to be done so I do it. Once in a while I find an article I really like, such as the short one a few months back that said if you wanted your knowledge managed keep your library open! This time it was an article (and of course the reference is at work) from someone describing how managers either focus on their team and so get great results from them or focus on the ones they report to and so get career advancement. I think I've already said in a previous post that I think people skills and ambition are mutually exclusive. It was so nice to see a similar view in a management mag! And they put it so simply! I actually wrote to the author, something I've taken to doing lately if I appreciate someone’s writing enough and if they provide their email address. I wondered if there were any managers who could change their focus and if there were any that could focus on both directions at the same time. He thinks there are a very few exceptional managers out there who can do that without conflict, but I'll have to take his word for it, I haven't come across them.

Another great resource I've found which would really help anyone dealing with dam engineering is the website for the Association of State Dam Safety Officials http://www.damsafety.org/ . They have a resource centre with ASDSO's Online Bibliography which includes ASDSO publications (conference proceedings, technical seminars, newsletter articles, special publications; Periodicals (articles from journals and magazines); News Sources (newspapers, television and radio broadcasts); Research (information about current and recent dam-related research)and Miscellany (books, reports, CD-ROMs, videos, proceedings, etc. published by organizations other than ASDSO). Full citations free to search online, aren't they wonderful? Organisations like this renew my faith in the internet being a huge resource for everyone, not just another way for people to make money.

I've had four days of fun work. My lib'n comes back tomorrow. Damn. But who want to talk about her?

I hear all the time from library staff and others that the reason libraries are having difficult times is because of the internet. People either think the internet has everything anyone could ever need or they think people think that. As a result people either don't need or don't think they need libraries. For library staff who think the internet is to blame I would recommend they stop being afraid of technology and explore the possibilities. You will also get a much clearer view of the limitations and be able to give informed opinions.

Anyone who uses the net as an integral part of their daily work will know that it adds dimensions to our ability to provide information. It's true there are a percentage of people who are power searchers and probably don't need us for net based information, but most of the people I see have no idea of the possibilities. And for a library coping with poverty it is a source of free information. Can't afford a subscription database? There are so many free databases on the net. There's even Google Scholar. Can't afford interlibrary loans? Sometimes the articles will be free full text. If not sometimes you can look up catalogues to find a library subscribing to a particular journal that the reader can travel easily to. Can't afford journal subscriptions? Check out your subject area amongst the free online journals and concentrate on using them.

In the last few months I have found a geological reports database, a free online journal about dam technology, an engineering articles database and almost 20 articles that were full text online separate from the mags they were published in.

So why are libraries having such a hard time? Later. Tired of typing now.