JollyLibrarian

Twice a year, the deans and directors of the Tennessee Board of Regents Libraries meet to discuss issues and trends. At last fall’s meeting, the director of the Chattanooga Library, Vicky Leather, who is one of my librarian heroes, pointed out that people who work in the libraries have the opportunity to see students in [...]

Yesterday, I played several rounds of Duck-Duck-Goose. I quickly realized that old people have a hard time getting up from the ground to chase a five-year-old. And beige corduroys do not do well on the damp ground. But what I’ll remember most was the constant laughter of both children and adults as  we played. No [...]

While various websites choose different days (January 23, January 16) as the most depressing day of the year, most agree that the latter half of January is quite a desolate time. The holidays are over, but the bills are coming in. The weather is grey and dreary.  And spring seems a long way away. I [...]

Today we had one of those orientations that we’d prefer just to forget. Students couldn’t log in.  Articles wouldn’t pop up. And a search of one newspaper database brought up articles from another.  This probably did not go a long way in proving that research is easy or fun, but it did serve a purpose. [...]

Followers of the Jolly Librarian know that I am often forcing my colleagues to participate in team-building activities, such as weight loss, goal setting, and thirty-day improvement boot camps. In general. there have been two results: First,we have failed in our goals. Two, most of the library staff will now not meet my eye when [...]

One of library staff was stopped in the parking lot on his way back from lunch and informed if he didn’t turn his music down, he was headed for a ticket. I was glad of the heads up, because I too have a tendency to play my music loud on the way in to work; [...]

My friend Janusz said the other day as I was telling him the sad news that the Krystal across from my house had closed, “You know, you’re one of the few people I know who freely admits to liking  those hamburgers.” And I’m not sure why, but he’s right. Among our group of friends, Krystals [...]

Students will not know the name of their textbook, instructor, or class on the first day of class even when they have come to the library for the purpose of checking out the textbook. If the campus computers do not default to an actual printer when students need to print, you must be prepared to [...]

If you are entering college in spring semester, you may feel more nervous than if you were starting in the fall. You look around and think that everyone else knows where classes are, how to get books, how to log in to course shells, etc. But relax. Keep these five things in mind: In college, [...]

This morning started with a relatively minor task: I was to buy concert tickets for two friends and me. I had my password for the presale, and I had my credit card. So when the site opened at 10, I entered my information. But instead of having three tickets for the show, I was turned [...]