... A librarian with nice shoes

PS Craft for a Sunday!

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:18:00 +0000

P.S.- LOVE IS IN THE AIR! Whether you heart St.Valentine’s...

I really enjoy the blog PS I made this. I saw this and thought it would be a great use for all those cheap pearl necklaces I have laying around that I don't wear anymore. What a great way to repurpose - I'll post the results later.

Court Appropriate?

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:43:00 +0000

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Maybe not court appropriate but I like L. L.'s dress.

Work Appropriate

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:29:00 +0000

A co-worker and I have decided that we will form a committee in which we help coach other library workers to dress "better". While I realize this is subjective - there have been some interesting observations / conversations lately that we have witnessed...

1. While not an employee.. we saw a person wearing a sleeveless muscle shirt in the library. The same one. Repeatedly. In the Winter.
Not appropriate. Ever.

2. A male co-worker was told at a library interview (not ours) that men at the *%@%(& Public Lilbrary wear suits.
As in full business suits.. Huh?

3. Is it really necessary to coordinate your shirt. With your pants. With your shoes. With your hair clip?

Ohhh the joys of library work . . .

Spring

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:05:00 +0000

It was one of those bitterly cold days today that made me crave Spring. There was sunshine but not the warmth.
So I thought I would do a little bit of dream Spring Shopping (maybe NYC shopping ? C + I are heading there in a little less than 2 weeks....)

My Spring Wish List:
1) A cute blazer that is not black. I own far too much dark clothing. I think that I'd like this one from J Crew...

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2. A cute, colourful skirt. I wear skirts to work almost every day. I love them. I like this work appropriate length skirt by Anthropologie.

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3. I also love these heels. I love the chunkiness (Perfect for klutzy people like me). I think these would be great in the Spring with Skinny dress pants and later into the summer with dresses and skirts.

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4. Skinny trousers from Zara. I really enjoy Zara. Their website has been a bit of a time suck lately. I really think that short trousers like this would be great.. although I'm probably too short and would have to get them hemmed.

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5. Minimalist blouse. I enjoy the simplicity of this sleeveless blouse. I feel that it's classic enough it would stay in my wardrobe for awhile. I'm trying to purchase for simple items since I did a BIG closet purge.

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Hopefully I'll find some treasures in NYC......

These.

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:43:00 +0000

I would like these.
(Aldo Shoes)
I need more brown shoes.

Why the comments section drives me crazy

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:39:00 +0000

I just read this article - Nine ideas for fixing comments and it really hits on a lot of issues that I have with reading news media online.

I absolutely love reading the news online. The Globe and Mail and a good cup of tea in the morning are an excellent way to start the day. However, what isn't a good way to start the day is reading negative, rude and sometimes racist and ignorant comments. I have had to force myself to not read the comments although sometimes I can't help it and my eyes are drawn. And... the cringing and anger builds and the negative energy spreads to myself.

I like that the author really looks at all ways of monitoring and dealing with comments. This is such a tricky situation. I found it especially interesting the idea that real names and avatars are needed to create an account. I'm not sure that I believe 100% with this, but I think that it poses some interesting questions and propositions to be considered in a world where our online personalities may be a large part of our identity.

I also was intrigued in what these commenters get from posting online. This made me think about my own research into people's reading habits and how they interact online. When discussing with students they mentioned the sense of community that they gained from participating in online forums. The comment by this author about attention through being connected to an article brings up another aspect of what individuals are gaining from participating in online discussions, especially on very publicly used sites, such as newspapers.

As I am talking with clients and discussing ways to deal with commenting in public forums I think that it's important to look at all options. I think that you need to walk the fine line between encouraging discussion and interaction with the site and maintaining a welcoming and positive environment in which thoughtful discussion can occur.

A new adventure

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:50:00 +0000

Where has the summer gone?

With pet health issues and family health issues, our summer seems to have escaped us. My partner and I had planned to start our own company upon moving back home (my childhood home - Bancroft,Ontario) this summer. We founded Ado Media Consulting.

Founding Ado, has been an exciting and exhausting experience. We are both working other jobs, to deal with our student debt and working away at this new venture.

At Ado we are creating Facebook pages, websites, Twitter, Youtube etc. for businesses in the area. I love being a part of the community that I grew up in. Doing this is also helping me to delve more into things like Facebook and Google Ads and Analytics and learning how to use these to the benefit of our clients.

I hope that we can continue to work at Ado. I love this type of work. It allows for the right amount of creativity and technology.

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Thesis Submitted.
I will actually graduate on time now.

Readers Advisory in Academic Libraries

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:36:00 +0000

Image courtesy of JCLC Reader's Advisory Roundtable

In my thesis (where I am looking at the pleasure reading habits of undergraduates) I have stumbled across research which suggests that Academic Librarians need to be encouraged and comfortable providing readers' advisory to patrons. I thought this was wonderful, but then thought that during the course of my internship as a reference librarian, I had never had a patron ask me about what to read next.

And then it happened.

Just like that. I was writing my recommendations for my thesis, then one week later I had a patron walk in and say "I'm a scientist, I don't read for pleasure. But I read those Harry Potter books and ..... and I really liked them. What can I read next?"

Well. This was tougher than I thought. I give public library librarians a lot of credit because this is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Maybe in part because it caught me completely off guard. It then lead to my first encounter with a different sort of reference interview, what did he like about those books? and what books didn't he like?

So interesting. And such a lovely little bit of coincidence for me.

On another related note, I also found this lovely site: which draws on Amazon (who doesn't use Amazon/Indigo for recommendations?) and Library Thing I believe.
Worth a look. I think this is going to be handy for adding to my ever-growing summer reading list. Plus the interface of The Book Seer is rather cute as well.

Snooping

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:48:00 +0000

So on a recent walk downtown Halifax (which by the way is becoming one of those dead downtown cores which is sad - but that's another post) I stumbled across this delightful read which is sort of filling my Malcolm Gladwell fix. Snoop: What Your Stuff Says about You is by Sam Gosling and looks at, well exactly what it says it does - What your Stuff Says About You. This author has a similar style of using anecdotal stories to explain different theories. This book is really interesting because I just love seeing other people's homes, bedrooms, closets etc. I've always been intrigued by this and thought that Real Estate agents must find this part of their job so fun. However, my Mother (a Real Estate Office Owne r) assures me that after you visit a few homes that smell like cat urine the novelty wears off.

Anyways - back to this book!

Gosling is a Psychology professor at University of Texas at Austin and he does a great job of bringing to life the world of snooping. He provides great anecdotal examples that help to illustrate what peoples' belongings say about them. I'm really enjoying the prospect of psychoanalysing people and learning how to read people better.

So far, I'm about 80 pages in and really enjoying it. It is a little more dense than Gladwell but it's definitely got my attention. Lately I've been on a getting back into reading kick, which is greatly improving my quality of life. Unfortunately life had gotten in the way the past couple years and my pleasure reading had declined tremendously. But I think it's somewhat of a habit building thing, and now I'm on a roll!

Image courtesy of Amazon.

She's kicking my butt

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:08:00 +0000

This DVD is kicking my butt.

In a good way.

This is honestly the first time a workout dvd has been able to hold my attention for more than 3 days.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.

Wheel of Fortune. Sorta. But not really.

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:56:00 +0000

I suppose you could compare it to Wheel of Fortune. If you imagine playing to win awkward conversation with pre-teen males looking to see naked women.

I recently heard from a lovely colleague about the joys of chatroulette. I had two reactions. First I was slightly creeped out and second I felt old and out of the loop.

I found this little G & M article on chatroulette interesting. He emphasizes that if you are willing to push through you can find other sane and interesting individuals on the service. I'm still scared of stumbling across nudity. And sad stories. I'm a sucker for sad stories and there are too many of them out there.

I have yet to actually try chatroulette. I went to the site and was so thrown off by how old school chat room it felt I decided that I wasn't quite ready to try this nor do I really have the time to get addicted to something else at this moment because right now esty, ebay, and google reader already consume far too much of my time.

Here's to yet another viral social site on the Internet. Oh what will they come up with next?

Shoe Love

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:32:00 +0000

I've been following Fashionable People, Questionable things (one of my SIM classmate's wife is one of the bloggers) for awhile now. I thoroughly enjoy their daily banter about fashion, Gossip Girl, etc. Lately they have begun a theme day on Monday's entitled "Shoe Porn Monday." I wanted to contribute to this as soon as I saw it. I was pretty excited - looking at other people's shoes is almost as good as owning them. At least I can live vicariously through others footwear.

Anyways - I finally contributed.

Check out my shoe porn.

Push

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:25:00 +0000

The bf purchased Push: A Novel for me for Christmas. This short novel was an excellent foray back into pleasure reading. Which ironic as it sounds I haven't done much of lovely. This is extremely ironic for those who are aware of my thesis in which I'm looking at the pleasure reading experiences of first year undergraduate students.

I've decided to commit myself to reading for pleasure more. Regardless of if I think I have the time or not. As I'm coding and organizing my data the voices of the undergraduats keep reminding me how important reading is to our being. As a future librarian I can't help but be concerned over the lack of pleasure reading that is being done by many. But I digress.

Back to Push. I stumbled across this article in my reader today and was reminded that Push wasn't just a novel. This is a very lived and real experience. I think about how disturbed I felt as I was reading Push, I would find myself skimming over the particularly graphic parts in some effort to pass the moment quicker.

I guess I wonder how books such as Push help individuals who are dealing with such heavy issues move forward. It reminded me of the PostSecret event I attended recently. Where even if you don't personally share a secret. It helps just that other people have similar shared experiences. So as disturbing as Push may be I think that engagement and sharing are a positive thing that I hope can be encouraged by librarians and educators alike.

Fonts & Baking

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Fonts have come up a lot in recent months for me.

My boyfriend is in Photography and recently (as in last semester) took a course that focused on using InDesign. This was lovely because it allowed me the opportunity to learn this program a little better. I currently have the trial of CS4 on my computer and am dreading the day when it notifies me that my 30 day trial is over.

So this led to some discussion over fonts.

The conversation of fonts continued this semester for me during my E-Text class, which I am thoroughly enjoying.

Fonts have always interetsted me. I think that a font can change how much or how little I enjoy a wesbite.

So when I stumbled across this little post about combining my other love (cooking) with fonts I was overjoyed. I think that these cookie cutters are just adorable.

Add these to my list of 'wants'.

Courtesty of: Beverly Hsu

Google Books and Librarians

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:12:00 +0000

I recently presented (with 2 lovely classmates) on Google Books and the ethical issues that we face. We focused on background on the issue, some technical issues, and where this leaves us information professionals. My part of the presentation focused specifically on how Google Books will fit into the future lives of information professionals. I was really interested in looking at how Google Books is changing scholarship. For example, instead of going to the library and taking out a book, students can just type in a concept or key word and only have to glance at a page or paragraph that focuses on that. So quick! A study done by the British Library found that the average time spent on an e-book is 8 minutes! What does this mean for future scholars / librarians ?

I would like to see Information Literacy courses that encourage students to understand how Google Books /Scholar work and understand the limitations. But not just the limitations, I would also like to see them understand how they can use the better because we, as information professionals, are there to educate. When asked during the presentation whether we should embrace this technology, I said "yes" absolutely. And I certainly do believe this, my reasoning is that if we don't, students are going to use it anyways and we will be left behind and we will not be helping them. The cost of this in terms of developing scholars of the future is something that does concern me though. Students are learning in entirely different ways and approaching the way they gather information in a much different way then their predecessors. One quote I came across, to attempt paraphrase said something about "not confusing knowledge with information gathering." Just because you have access to the millions of digitized resources available, does not mean that you can take all of those that you access and internalize them as knowledge.

Should be concerned about the future of academia?

You can check out the resources/ presentation of my group here.

It's Fall . . .

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:50:00 +0000

So, school is back in and I seem to have less and less time on my hands every time I turn around.

This is sad. Two things have been keeping me motivated / from self destruction - caffeine (Earl Grey Tea to be exact) and daily affirmations.

When I told my partner about my daily affirmations he found it hi-larious. But I like them. I find that if I have something to repeat to myself that is positive it reinforces positive thinking. It helps me to avoid becoming discouraged by the amount of things I have to accomplish.

Lately I am fond of following AffirmationSpot on Twitter. Sometimes just reading positive things is helpful. I also find it useful to write your affirmation and keep it somewhere where you will see it often. I keep mine in my planner, so as I'm looking at what I have to do, I am reminded to keep positive.

As for Earl Grey and I, we've had a long-standing relationship and there is nothing new there.

On another note, something that has greatly improved my quality of life is Google Sync. I really enjoy this tool. Because I am back and forth and frequently not on my own computer I have found Google Calendar to be invaluable in keeping my too many jobs / school / appointments straight. I also love my Outlook calendar though, so this allows me to keep them in sync!

Yay.

Small accomplishments.

Planners, Lists, and Planning to Write Lists

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:11:00 +0000

I love lists.

I love ticking things off. That feeling when you start to mark things off as complete is incredible.

Lately I've been contemplating why exactly it is I love lists so much. Sometimes I feel that it's a compulsion. That if I write everything down it will allow me to keep my life organized. Which leads me to my other love - planners.

With the coming of a new school year, comes the coming of a new planner.

Usually I debate over planners. But this year (finally!) I am being consistent and have chosent the same planner I used last year (be it in a new colour). I have gone with the Quo Vadis Scholar Planner.

I really like this planner. The only thing that I might add is a nice "month" page before each month begins (I like the space that you have for each week (2 pages), but sometimes it's nice to see things in terms of what is going on over a whole month (especially in terms of assignments that require more than a weeks worth of work).

My old planner had served me well. You can see from the sample page I have inserted :)

My new planner is beautiful.

Now I have many blank pages to fill, with lists and assignments - oh joy!

Now back to the issue of lists.

This is what my lists tend to look like.

I have evolved. I now have a book that I use for my list making. When I used to work at a grocery store all my lists were on receipt paper. I will use scraps if I have to but I love having a full page (plus using a notebook makes me less likely to lose it).

I make lists about everything. Normal things such as groceries, other things such as, what would I like to buy (I love to shop - clothing/shoes etc), but my favourite thing to list is stuff to do. I even write down things like dishes, laundry, etc. I think that it gives me a sense of control over things while also keeping me organized.

Any other compulsive planner/list people out there?

Dal Reads

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:40:00 +0000

I'm really excited about an initiative that I'm working on with Student Services at Dal. I'm currently working on a blog for Dal Reads. Dal Reads is a new way of reaching out to first year students and building a sense of community by having all incoming students read The Book of Negroes.

I think that this is a super exciting. I heard about this through my thesis supervisor, Vivian Howard, who suggested that this might be something that I'm interested in (because I'm interested in reading, especially the reading habits of those transitioning from young adult to adult). Plus, I'm very interested in the community aspect of this. I think that any opportunity to build community should be seized! I did a little exploring, and Oprah's not the only one getting everyone to come together and read the same book. Initiatives like this are happening all over North America. The ALA provides a great deal of encouragement and information on developing community wide reading programs.

Check out my first post for the Dal Reads blog!

What do you think about community reading programs? Would you participate in one?

And... Have you read Book of Negroes? What did you think?

The first one . . .

noreply@blogger.com (melaniesarah) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:24:00 +0000

First Blog Post

I’ve wanted to begin a blog for sometime now. Not only am I surrounded by ‘techy’ people at work and school everyday, I’m also fascinated by the ability to connect to so many people and really create a dialogue. I’m currently a future librarian (with an interest in nice shoes!). I’ve just completed my first year of my MLIS degree at Dalhousie University (in Halifax – Nova Scotia – Canada).

I stumbled across this cute book in a favourite blog of mine [Awful Library Books ]. This book “I want to be a Librarian” inspired me to be motivated and create a wonderful list about why I “want to be a librarian”.

I love books, now I know that this sounds cliché, but I absolutely without a doubt love books. All kinds. Novels, encyclopaedias, online, trashy paperback, the classics. You name it I love it. I love the smell of books, I even love bookmarks! Being a librarian gives me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with books.
I enjoy people. Now I know most people probably don’t think about libraries as a place to meet people, but you do! I love meeting other students and faculty while on the ref desk and of course I enjoy getting to know my co-workers.
More of an elaboration on the previous point but I enjoy helping people. I like that relieved look on a frustrated students face when you help them find the answer to a question that they have been googling for the past 3 hours.
I love a good challenge. I truly enjoy the hunt for the answer. I have a hard time giving up (even when the probability that the answer exists seems to get smaller and smaller!)
Technology. I’m a geek from wayyy back. [ I definitely created a fan site for Buffy on Geocities when I was 12 ]. I love social networking, web design, design in general, blogs, and just the sense of community that can exist when like minded people come together and share their creative thoughts.

Now, this is only the beginning of my list. Being surrounded by my peers and the faculty of the MLIS program is a great experience. I am currently pursuing research interests in Reader Development and Reading Habits. I’m specifically interested in how students transition from being young adult readers to adult readers (exploring concepts such as self-authorship ). This is sure to be adjusted / completely change as the summer / year progresses.