LSJ Editors’ Blog

My call for nominations for the Emerging Leaders issue has caused quite a bit of buzz amongst current LIS professionals. (And my buzz I mean emails from folk asking me who I think I am and something in Latin about standing on the shoulders of giants.

Off the record: I love it.

There isn’t enough dialogue between current professionals and LIS students other than in the form of mentoring. Now before you start posting that I hate mentoring, hold your cursors. Mentoring is great, and crucial to really understanding the job. I love it I love it I love it.

But why don’t we sit down and talk “big picture” with other LIS professionals (other than our profs)? I feel like there is almost an eternal separation between the MLIS’d and the non-MLIS’d which presents itself as never asking the librarians we see daily what they think about information literacy, or asking if has now usurped Dialog. We feel we can’t ask, because we don’t know enough. That, as my grandfather would say, is “malarkey,” because we have things to share with current LIS professionals, things which they might like to know (should know?) (There I go again…)

So if you do sit and talk with an LIS professional on an even semi-regular basis - tell me about it! I had a great conversation in Second Life (about the theory/practice divide) with current professionals and found that they were as interested in what I had to say as I was in what they were saying.

So to all of those who mentioned they were miffed with my wording for the Emerging Leaders issue: thank you for your feedback. Why not bring it up with an LIS student (should you bump into one)? You can both talk about how nuts I am, sure, but that’s too easy. Why not talk about something better and create a dialogue between two groups which ought to be one?

And for those wondering what I think “on the record” - I REALLY LOVE IT.

Cheers!
amy

P.S. We’re still accepting nominations for the Emerging Leaders issue. More info here.

P.P.S. Check out Jimbo’s new search engine - Search Wikia. Thoughts?

P.P.P.S. I’ve started Twitter-ing. If any of you are doing so, let me know.

For current LIS students - what course do you think is missing from your LIS education?

Alternatively, for those of you who are already MLIS certified, what was the most useful course from your LIS education? (Jason Hammond has a great post about this here. A course on advocacy - AWESOME!)

I know a number of people who graduated 4+ years ago who say they wish they had learned more about techie things in school (though some who mentioned this, like this one are all kinds’o tech now.)

Way back in 2004, Meredith Farkas discussed the fact that some universities offer wildly different courses than others.

So what course do you wish was offered? And which ones have proven the most useful?

amy

Since beginning my MLIS degree I have met a number of students (at conferences, online, in Second Life, and in class) complaining about one of the following:

1. “My program focuses way too much on theory. I really want to learn the practical components of working in a libarary. I wish we were back in the guild days when apprenticing was the main way of learning.”
2. “My program focuses way too much on the practice of working in a library. Why aren’t we learning the theories and concepts which are the foundation of the LIS discipline and encouraged towards a PhD?”

Do MLIS programs have a responsibility to produce professionals or researchers?
Does this dichotomy actually exist?

I am eager for responses to this issue, and will publish an editorial in February about the discussion which arises. If you are uncomfortable with posting your responses to the comment board - please email me at [email protected] with “Editorial” in the subject line - but this is really to foster healthy discussion - so post!

Cheers,
amy

Library Student Journal believes that in many ways the average LIS student today understands the average user better than does the average LIS professional. We have new and exciting ideas. We see information needs in new places (and new worlds). We can, and should, make a vital contribution to the LIS field while we are still students.

Do you have a colleague who is doing innovative research? Have you met someone at a conference whose blog you read daily because it inspires you to think in new ways? Has a classmate come up with a creative new way to address a current problem in your local library?

If so, we want to hear about these people!

To nominate an emerging leader, please send us the following:
1. Full name, school affiliation and email address, of nominee.
2. Reason for nomination. Try to be as specific as possible - which project, event, concept makes this person an emerging leader.
3. Your full name, affiliation and email address.
Send your nomination to librarystudentjournal [at] gmail [dot] com, and be sure to put “Nomination” in the subject line.

We want to hear about students who are doing something!

The special issue will appear in April 2008.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Cheers everyone!
amy