The Colleagues Who’ve Left
Last year I started a chart tracking colleagues who had left my institution. When I left for the winter break finally, the number stood at 37 and I’m sure I missed a few. These are spread across the university, though nearly half are from the Library. It includes people I worked with regularly enough that…
What’s the Utility of a Day in the Life
Friday I did another “Day in the Life” Twitter thread (start at this link) https://twitter.com/hedgielib/status/1552996873706913792) . I sporadically do these on meeting heavy days, because I think there’s something of interest to colleagues, new professionals following along, friends who aren’t sure what “academic librarian” means, and the other types of faculty who also might not…
More than a Wallet and Free Labor : Volunteer Service in Professional Organizations
In The Truth, Sir Terry Pratchett wrote eloquently about canary (and other caged bird) breeding and how it allows people who may not have control in other ways in their lives to be in charge of something, to ensure something small and important. Through the voice of Sacharissa, he points out what is supposed to…
#90sSilhouetteBooks — Adventures in Finding a Book I Read in High School
This is sort of a compilation and reworking of a variety of Twitter threads generally on this topic — so if you were following along live, you’ve heard most of this story. When I was in high school I read Silhouette Romances by the stack. The Incredibly Patient Mother didn’t have very many restrictions on…
Cover Letters and References (No, Not Mine)
As higher education generally starts making it’s way “theoretically towards the end of the pandemic despite the numbers reality” I am privy to a number of colleagues planning or executing career changes. Some have graduated or are graduating from various advanced degrees undertaken just before or some even during times of lockdown. Others are examining…
NaNoBloMo: Will I Hit 20,000?
I remember when getting email was fun. Granted, that was probably still somewhere around my undergrad years and my college classmates and I are all just past or staring down our 20th anniversaries soon here. Now it’s just a constant onslaught amongst the sixteen other mechanisms of communication. At the start of 2021 I was…
NaNoBloMo — Do I Still Have Capacity for Long Form?
It’s National Novel Writing Month and writers will take pen and paper, keyboard, voice to text, and other forms to attempt to get that novel draft into it’s first fixed format. In years past I’ve seen Sweater Challenges (NaNoSweMo), Short Story Challenges, Podcast and Cooking Challenges — and blogging challenges. Daily blogging was something I’ve…
They Took My Pebble Pile – EurekaAlerts
Research colleagues, friends, and coworkers will recognize the behavior I’m about to describe as something I regularly do and which I heard recently called Penguin Pebbling. I see something — probably a journal article — and it reminds me of you and so I grab the pebble off the pile and fling it into your…
Happy to See the Year End…
The last days before the winter break are a few lingering meetings, some planned email deleting, and writing up task lists for what comes next. If I were in my regular office I’d have every single one of my whiteboards (3 big ones, several small ones) and a rainbow of colors around me –filled with…
A Decade
At a recent end of year All Staff Meeting our excellent Interim Dean was sharing work anniversaries — and then she said my name. Apparently, somehow, a decade has flown past for me at UIC. I have distinct memories of those first days ten years ago– sitting in a cubicle w/ door trying to figure…
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Hedgehog Librarian 