librarian

Ramping Up for Another Semester

The new school year starts at UMF next Monday, and you can definitely feel things churning into gear around here. Summer always feels like a chance to catch my breath and get on top of various projects. It also never (ever) feels long enough, because once we hit this point in the year, it feels like I’m at the top of a rollercoaster, looking down, just before it all takes off. That’s generally a good thing, because I like being busy, and I like having students back on campus. But it’s also pretty stressful, especially when you remember Denisa is

Welcome Back to the Library!

It’s a new semester, and in many ways, it feels like a return to the old semesters. Last year at this time, the library was open for keycard access only. The building was, by and large, a ghost town most times of the day. The coffee bar (one of the biggest draws of the library) was open, but with limited options. There were no places to sit in there, and most of the comfortable furniture in the library was removed. Even for the furniture that was left, it was all placed very far apart. Libraries typically try to be places

On Doing Your Own Research

It seems these days more and more people are encouraging each other to “do the research” so they can be properly informed about a subject and make their own decisions. As an academic librarian, you would think I would be thrilled with this newfound desire to delve into research. Instead, I’m left scratching my head. The problem is that what I mean by “research” seems to be quite different than what many other people think it means. Perhaps a lot of this stems from the fact that I believe different levels of research are appropriate for different projects. For example,

The End of an Era: Stepping Down from the Maine Library Association Presidency

I had my last meeting as part of the Maine Library Association presidency today. It’s hard to believe it’s been six years that I’ve been doing this. Six years! So much has changed in that time. I remember first getting the phone call from the incoming president, asking if I’d be interested and willing to serve in the presidency (as Vice President for two years, President for two years, and then Past President for two years). It was a big commitment, especially for someone who had just been in the Maine library world for less than six years. In the

A New Desk

I started working at the University of Maine at Farmington in 2007. At the time, I was down on the main floor of the library, working as the Information Technology Librarian. After a year and a half or so, I moved up to the third floor when I became Library Information Services Manager. That lasted for a few years, but then four years ago or so I moved back to my original office and desk, to be closer to the action. I’m still in that office, but today I upgraded my desk to a bigger one, and it feels lovely.