Jeff Scott

Some people actually choose to work in these types of libraries. They aren't there because they are less skilled or able. - Silly Jilly

go Jill - bob frasier

Yes. Yesterday was a good exercise in keeping my temper and being tactful when faced with people like this. - Silly Jilly

And just because you work in reference or some other public service area like that doesn't make you better or more important than any other area of librarianship. Technical services, special collections, instruction, etc. are all equally valid. - Silly Jilly

I'm appalled sometimes by how narrow-minded some librarians can be towards others in the same profession. - Silly Jilly

I'm an academic librarian, and I've always worked for large state institutions. That said, I have mad, but *mad*, respect for public librarians especially -- I know it's not something that I think I'd be any *good* at, so more power to 'em. - John Fink

Ooh. A glimpse into a secret world. It's like watching one-armed paper hangers sword fighting in the alley way. - Christopher Harley

Something I must often remind myself to not do -- going too far in talking about my employer. - Julian

It's not everyone fortunately John. Today, I'm more amused by it. But yesterday I was left feeling like I had fought some sort of ethics battle and came out on the losing end although I know I was right. - Silly Jilly

Are you saying I'm going too far Julian? - Silly Jilly

I'm better than every other librarian in the world. :) Seriously, I work in a jail library. I get this attitude all the time from all types of librarians. I can't be that good if I only work in a jail. - Alan Simpson

Just saying that in my case, I could be going too far if I were to mention things like the collection size and reputation of my employer. All I do is check stuff in. If anyone ever needs to know my name, it's because I messed something up. - Julian

It doesn't? So much for my plan for making the leap to academic librarianship. ;-) - Cecily

And just because you have an MLS... - Lori Reed

I am deeply curious about what happened yesterday... - RudĩϐЯaЯïaȵ

That said, having just transitioned from a small to a large [edit: academic. how did I mistype that??]library, I can say that my first coalescing reaction is that the librarianship in those places is very very different. Better, worse, more or less important? That would depend on who you think you are serving, and for what purpose. But in many ways the audience and purpose (so far) is diametrically opposite. It's pretty interesting actually. - RudĩϐЯaЯïaȵ

It's true; there are so many other reasons I'm superior. Ha! I kid. Alan, I have so much respect for prison librarians -- I could never ever do your job. - Jαsοn Puckett

yuck, there are people who actually think this way? (works at an academic library at a big university) - Liam Sullivan

Alan, you ARE better for working in jail library. Not everybody is cut out for that. - Silly Jilly

Lori, you also have a good point. I'll be depending on my non-MLS staff to train me in things I don't know or haven't done in a few years. I have a great deal of respect for their skills, talents, and abilities. And Rudi, you bring up some good points. It's all different, but one isn't necessarily "better" or "more important." - Silly Jilly

And the lack of this attitude in the LSW is why I really like it and value it. Everyone has something to contribute and is important. - Silly Jilly

i think your feeling is perhaps fueled by statements like this one (from the Director of Harvard's Library): "Lesser libraries may rely on Google, JSTOR, and whatever they can harvest from the Internet, but Harvard has a responsibility to keep up with the production of scholarship by increasing its acquisitions of books–old-fashioned books, print on paper…No other university library has contracted such a heavy obligation, because none can compare with Harard in the depth and breadth of its collections." See more at: http://acrlog.org/2008/09/18/s... - steven bell

Amen! I've gotten a lot of condescension because I "only work with children"--which apparently renders me incredibly incompetent and incapable of thinking on a grand scale with academic librarians, and sometimes even adult services librarians. - Abigail (Hε₫§εhσ§ ĺﺃβ)

No, it's not. And they may have a point about Harvard. It's fueled by the condescending attitude that I've personally experienced from librarians at larger universities. Their words and actions show a complete disdain. I find this discouraging and disheartening...not to mention disgusting. (Thanks for the share Steven.) - Silly Jilly

Hmph. I have tremendous admiration for those of you who can work with children, in public libraries, and in prisons. I don't think I'd do well at the first two, and the third I think takes special dedication. (acad med center lib) - RachelW

Librarians like new ways of retrieving, sharing, consolidating, and understanding information. FriendFeed satisfies all of those needs. - Squirrel Girl

We are addicted to information and what better way than the FF fire hose. Also, because we love technology, are early adopters, and generally are pretty decent people. I think we also have pretty high percentage in Second Life. - Kenley Neufeld

Librarians are like porn stars. We'll try anything once, & we'll go anywhere to do it. - joshua m. neff

+1 for the Sheriff - Laura B. is for birthday!

+1 Josh, Do we even know how many people are on ff? I'd like to see some stats. - JлsonTFleming

Librarians have had a big online presence for years. So when friendfeed was the new thing, an existing librarian network took it up. For why there was already an online librarian posse, see SG and Kenley above. - Qui-Gon Binks Lawson

So that when we get called out, we can respond like a big, scary mob and make sure you never ask questions again. - Greg Schwartz

Site Analytics (http://siteanalytics.compete.c...) says there are 648,443 people on Friendfeed (which is a 1012% growth in the last year) but you know not nearly that many people are active (if my friends list is any indication). What can the other librarians dig up? - Kenley Neufeld

What I find so interesting is how many people on FF have friends on FF who are librarians! I know we are here in huge numbers, but we could have stayed all insular. Instead, librarians have become this huge *presence* on FF. Dunno if we're as big as Scoble, but.... - RudĩϐЯaЯïaȵ

I think that I would qualify Kenley's statement by saying that a particular 'subset' of librarians are early adopters, love technology, etc. Unfortunately, not everyone in our profession embraces technology and new information systems as quickly as some. So, you should assume that there are some of us who are ahead of the curve, while others see no use or need for 2.0 type tools. It's an on-going debate about the developing tool kit that Web 2.0 has opened up for us. Either way, we kick ass. ;-) - W!cKeD

Because librarians are awesomesauce and friendfeed is awesomesauce...ergo they are one and the same...Flawless (nonsensical) logic FTW! - Alex Scoble

We're a bunch of lemmings following the "ooh shiny" wherever it takes us. - åņņå

...don't piss us off. - MLx

Yep. I'm a lemming like Anna says. You discovered my secret identity. - Silly Jilly

Because we get to goof off on social networking sites and call it 'research'. - Cecily

Because the Dewey Decimal System is not fun like it use to be back in 1957 - Outsanity

hahahha! Librarians are hot! - Mona N.

Why are there not more Librarians? - Chris W

Cecily, don't let the secret out. Everything is "research" and therefore work related but I can't let my non-librarian colleagues know I play so much. - Kenley Neufeld

Nice Alex. :) That logic works for me. - Squirrel Girl

FF is the perfect place for people that specialize in research. Their the best at finding things. One of the most useful class I ever took in college was a basic Library science class. - Michael Fidler via twhirl

librarians are hot. - Thomas Hawk

Do most libraries even use the Dewey system anymore? I mean what's the point when all the books are searchable on a computerized database that tells you what section they are in...or even better, in PDX area you can request a book be sent to your local library for pickup. Awesomesauce. - Alex Scoble

I'm a former librarian... does that get me in the "hot" club or does it mean I was formerly hot? :) Seriously, the best full-time job I ever had was a five-year tenure at a college library while studying part time for my undergraduate degree. The library was the "brain center" of the place... - Kevin C. Tofel

Alex: most public libraries use Dewey, yes. (Looking at the Multnomah County Library's catalog, it looks like they do.) The section that a book is in is based on its Dewey categorization. - joshua m. neff

Not that I want in any way to be advocating for Dewey, which is deeply flawed, but it does more than just position a book in a section of the library. It positions it in a particular shelf-order that achieves more granular collocation of similar items than can be accomplished by sticking them in alphabetical order by author within a general section. The bigger the collection, the more important that granularity becomes. - Greg Schwartz

What else do they have to do inbetween check in and check out books....JOKING! :) lol. no seriously, I haven't been in a library since early college - I started using the internet for stuff that was book related. You can even use the online libraries. :) - dafire

Rock on Steve. Though I follow you on Twitter and FF, I first saw it on Twitter. Thanks for the question (and may end up being one of your highest commented topics if you're not careful). I've already picked up a few more "friends" to follow. And, Greg, WTF "achieves more granular collocation of similar items" - are you a librarian or what?? - Kenley Neufeld

Kenley, it actually is research for me - my title is Web Services Librarian. :) - Cecily

There are also a ton of scientists on FF. Since I'm a science librarian, I followed the scientists to see what I could learn about them. And, like Cecily said, it's a great way to combine fun and research. - John Dupuis

lol, i saw this - brilliant! :) - Zee.

Fantastic! I knew he was a kindred spirit! - Mike Paul

indeed, posted a few times on FriendFeed by others. One of the best collections of Obama imagery I've seen online yet. - Thomas Hawk

great - Murat Bişkin

Very inspirational. So many great photos, but the one in the rain says a lot to me. - Michael

That's quite a photo essay! I felt somewhat envious of the photographer on the tamac, though. Would that I could have an entourage that could whip out a reflector and schlep extra lighting equipment when I'm out shooting! :-) - vicster

Consistantly the place to go for the best of the news photo pool. - Michael W. May via twhirl

Those are wonderful photos. I was very touched by them. Thank you. :) - Carmen

Thanks for sharing the link. Those are some incredible shots. - ChiliMac

It's like he has this forcefield which prevents him from having bad shots. - Scott

Indiana went blue, that was a pleasant surprise. - Jason Wehmhoener

Wow. That's rather amazing. (Both Indiana and the map.) - Abby Martin

I'm willing to trade perfection on 538.com for a blue Indiana. But I'm just boggled by how close they called it. Rove got it too http://latimesblogs.latimes.co... - DeWitt Clinton

Congrats to Nate and Sean, this close a projection will ensure lots of media attention and probably a bigger role in the media during the next election cycle. I think their approach is the right one too, very open on their methodology. - mikepk

+1 mikepk - DeWitt Clinton

FiveThirtyEight.com FTW! - Mike Reynolds

They did a good job, that's for sure. I'm amazed by NE2 and Indiana and surprised by how close NC is... - Stephen Foskett

Yeah and it's even better than the electoral map shows...he nailed the pop vote too. - Alex Scoble

It may partly depend on your proxy server. We use ezproxy and the rss url reflects that, eg http://rss.ebscohost.com.ezpro... This means that it won't work on web rss readers like Bloglines, Google Reader, etc, without manual editing (which would presumably come back to your problem) but if you had it in a desktop reader then I'd expect the item links would 'inherit' the proxified url and work okay. Hobson's choice... - Deborah Fitchett

Bummer. Wonder if there's something we can do in EZ Proxy to make it work without users having to edit feed URL or use desktop readers (ick!). - Stephen (a) Francoeur

If you find something, please let me know! The only database I've found that gives de-proxified RSS urls is Compendex. Students look at you like you're crazy when you tell them they have to edit the url manually. - Deborah Fitchett

Nope. I would just prepend the proxy. A pain. Can you move the articles from RSS into RefWorks or something (sorry, I only know RefWorks)? I think you can do that, then when you login, you will get proxy links. Too complicated perhaps. Or maybe I am making it up. - Meg version M.0

I wrote an iGoogle gadget that adds our proxy prefix to a URL. It's a pain, but it works. And you can only use it in iGoogle. - Chad Haefele via twhirl

ezproxy solution: http://distlib.blogs.com/distl... - David Rothman (☤)

Let me check. I know my coworker has been fiddling with this and I think she's figured it out. I'll ask tomorrow if you still don't have a solution. (Liking this so I remember.) - Låura Harris

David - wow, thank you! I'll forward that link to our IT folk pronto. - Deborah Fitchett

If David Rothman doesn't have the answer, always a good idea to check with Paul Pival at the Distant Librarian. Thanks, dudes! - Stephen (a) Francoeur