Comments for A Modern Hypatia

Comment on ‘Real’ names online : part 2 : defining ‘real’ by What’s in a name? | Geekonomicon

What’s in a name? | Geekonomicon — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:26:59 +0000

[...] of people were rather annoyed that you could only use your own “real name“, whatever that means. In fact, G+ specifically disallowed people from using pseudonyms, whilst other forums like [...]

Comment on Background (‘real’ names online : part 1) by What’s in a name? | Geekonomicon

What’s in a name? | Geekonomicon — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:23:19 +0000

[...] was launched, an awful lot of people were rather annoyed that you could only use your own “real name“, whatever that means. In fact, G+ specifically disallowed people from using pseudonyms, [...]

Comment on Near and Far by Jill

Jill — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:03:27 +0000

Oh, your post makes me miss Maine. You are right about the diversity that is present. For the year I lived there, I found the people so open and welcoming; I learned about all kinds of different ways of living more quickly than I did in other states. I more quickly made friends there than other places, too. And the loons! I was lucky enough to live by a lake for most of my time there and how I miss hearing the loons now that I’m gone. Can you be homesick for a place you only lived in for 12 months?
Jill recently posted..Public Library Volunteer Day: December 21

Comment on File management: self-awareness and philosophy by iPhone 5

iPhone 5 — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:57:28 +0000

iPhone 5…

[...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…

Comment on Lots of New by Jill

Jill — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:26:33 +0000

I enjoyed reading about your new job. When I finally get a job, I hope it’s as good a fit as the yours seems to be for you.

I discovered your blog a few weeks ago (I think through a link on Ask a Manager to your interviewing posts), and immediately liked your content and writing style.

Glad you’re feeling better. Leaf season is a beautiful time to be hiking.
Jill recently posted..Tell Us About a Time You Made a Mistake

Comment on Ask This Librarian: Black clothing by mordicai

mordicai — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:47:49 +0000

& then we start getting into the fact that “black” is one of those words that cover a lot of ground, historically– I’m personally a subscriber to the notion that the explosion of colour names has to do with cheap dyes making colours readily available to the common man, but the fact remains that the historical record is littered with words for colours that…probably don’t mean what they sound like they mean to modern ears, like “wine dark sea.”

Comment on Job hunting retrospective by Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:02:38 +0000

I hope you didn’t think I asked and ran! It’s been a crazy week, of course.

You’ve said some really interesting things, and familiar ones. When I was trying to focus myself right after college I used one of those career development books that encouraged you to come up with a sentence describing your “point” – aka your “part I’m really passionate about.” Mine is/was “I teach people how to figure things out for themselves.” So it seems we’re both flexible enough to go where we’re needed in the next couple of decades!

Comment on Hi, nice people! by Loreley

Loreley — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:26:34 +0000

(There is a lot of rebooting involved in the process, which means you get these 2-3 minute gaps periodically in which you can’t actually do much.)

That’s usually when I go to get coffee!

Comment on ‘Real’ names online : part 2 : defining ‘real’ by rahaeli

rahaeli — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 09:44:28 +0000

And of course halfway through your post, I got the Mike Doughty song “27 Jennifers” stuck in my head:

I went to school with 27 Jennifers
Fifteen Jens, ten Jennys, and then there was her…

Comment on Job hunting retrospective by Jen

Jen — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:10:32 +0000

Hi, Sarah! Great question.

In some ways, my thoughts about the answer are more about the future of libraries, than about my personal decision. I think that there’s going to continue to be some form of “helping people find information that matters to them” job out there – but I’m in my mid-30s, and it’s really hard to know what that’s going to look like in 20 years, or even 10.

My own theory – and this should maybe become a post sometime soon – is that we’ve had a rapid rate of change over the last 5-10 years, but we’re pretty much hitting limits of what people can meaningfully learn/communicate/whatever in a given amount of time, and I don’t think the rate of change is going to keep increasing in the way it has.

My own suspicion is that we’re going to see a period of “how do we do this more sustainably” (in terms of a range of things – cost, accessibility, usability and design) but really, who knows.

The part I’m really passionate about is connecting people with information that makes their lives better – and I’m perfectly happy to keep at this job for a long time, as long as that continues to be true (and provided some basic things are true about salary and benefits and all of that practical stuff.)

But I also know that communities change, and budgets definitely change. So I’m glad that my job actually includes “keep up to date with a wide range of technology tools” so that if I ever do need to go looking again, I’ll be in a really good position to do so.

(And as I’ve done since college, I intend to keep supplementing that with time on my own and in community volunteer positions that helps me build or practice skills I’m not currently using as much at work…)

As to type of library: I love helping a wide range of people, and I love working collaboratively with other librarians or educators on a regular basis (it’s why I mostly wasn’t looking at special libraries).

But I’m open to that being in an academic setting (which is probably my first love: my father was a university professor, so it’s been part of my life for my entire life) or in a public library, or in some kind of new technology format that no one’s quite invented yet.

(If – well, when, probably – someone gets fully immersive virtual spaces going, I am so there.)