Christina Pikas

"creating, sending or displaying any email messages that violate a law (e.g. transmitting social security numbers)" what? tell the gov't office i had to visit a month ago when they sent my ssn in clear text on a visit request! - Christina Pikas

"prohibited activities... using personal instant messaging" - Christina Pikas

"social networking may only be done on personal time (i.e., breaks and meal periods) unless it is directly related to the job; prior approval from management is required." - Christina Pikas

"prohibited activities... storing any kind of confidential data on a local computer or laptop" - um, right. do they even have shared drives? how are they supposed to do evaluations? (right, last one i got was typed on a typewriter) - Christina Pikas

Haven't been to that library (as a civilian) since August. Sounds like the staff would be better off signing up to use the public computers outside of their work hours. - Julian

"employees... who discover a violation of this policy must notify the Associate Director or the Director immediately" - um, really? not, say, report to supervisor? hr? IT? compliance people? go directly to the director of the system? - Christina Pikas

Julian- your county's aren't like this, are they? these are completely bizarre - must have been written by a pg county lawyer - Christina Pikas

Typewriter? You're kidding, right? When customers come in to one of our branches, and ask to use a typewriter, we officially tell them to visit a specific branch one county over (not yours). In fact, I've only ever seen one typewriter at any of the Library's locations. [EDIT: Two typewriters. Forgot about the one in Cataloging.] - Julian

oh, there's no typewriter (oops typo) for the public to use - well there used to be one in Spauldings but you had to bring your own "supplies" - whatever that means. they do still have typewriters in the staff areas. - Christina Pikas

*giggle* - D0r0th34

i think the conference took place in Toowoomba. No country or other political division provided. - Christina Pikas

hi people! - Sir Shuping

Hi! - Sarah June

hi! - Björn Brembs

i tried to link to that list serv yesterday and couldn't - archive requires a login.. i'll paste snippets here - Christina Pikas

For the past thirty some years, I've been a librarian working in a library. The Special Library Association has been one of the great organizations to champion librarianship. I especially appreciated the Military Libraries Division. But today library workers are now only a third of this century-old organization. Over the years, the mission of the SLA has changed, and so has the membership. - Christina Pikas

I suppose the Military Libraries Division will now change their name to the "Military Strategic Knowledge Professionals" or the "Strategic Military Knowledge Professionals" or the "Military Knowledge Strategic Professionals" or something else similar. The US Army and the Office of Personnel Management may not believe that "Strategic Knowledge Professionals" are the same as GS-1410... more... - Christina Pikas

...So perhaps it is now time for the SLA librarians like me to go over to the dark side and join the American Library Association, and let the Strategic Knowledge Professionals do some peaceful ethnic cleansing of their own specialized organization. Thus, the two-thirds of the SLA who are Strategic Knowledge Professionals and who are not librarians can have the remnants of the old... more... - Christina Pikas

In unity is strength, and this discussion about the name change simply shows we are not a unified organization any more. We should promote our two professions by going our separate ways, and get on with our lives and our disciplines. Lordy, I must sound like General Beauregard firing onFt. Sumter! "Fire that cannon, Captain Cornpone!" - Christina Pikas

Secondly, I'm concerned about the laziness of relying on a name change to enhance the perception of our profession. The perception of "librarian" will only change through the efforts of individuals, not by name changes by organizations. A professional and reliable librarian will do more to enhance the reputation of the profession than any single action by a professional organization.... more... - Christina Pikas

But the answer is not in simply changing our name, but in reclaiming our discipline and our science and our profession again. It is not that our esteem has been lost, but that it has been thrown away. Relying on a name change to bring this esteem back is silly. - Christina Pikas

Thirdly, any name modification that does not clarify is sterile. What we do and what we are is found in the name, "Special Libraries Association." The feeling proposed is that this is an archaic word and does not promote the prestige of the members, so a new name is needed. However, "Strategic Knowledge Professionals" does not clarify what we do. It is a name picked to satisfy HR and... more... - Christina Pikas

those above were all quotes from him. - Christina Pikas