I wanted to believe that I had the head space to keep working on this blog when I published the last post. I thought if I published less frequently or something that I'd be able to sneak it in. But things haven't slowed down at all since early July, and there are a lot of things competing for my time and attention. My priorities have changed. I need to express my thanks, regardless. I have gotten so much from the time I've spent on this blog. The relationships I developed would have been enough to be worth all the work, but it's no exaggeration to say that this blog changed my career and life ..read more

This hiatus went on longer than I anticipated, but a lot of stuff came up for me personally and professionally that kept pulling my focus from this shouty little blog of mine. I even thought for a while about shutting down Letters to a Young Librarian. Then a few people said something about how they originally followed me on Twitter because they appreciated my voice on such a range of topics on my blog, and how they appreciated that I gave a platform to so many different kinds of library people. I also thought about how much joy I've gotten from this work (even if it's become more work than jo ..read more

Y'all, I have too many forks and not enough spoons so this blog is gonna be on hiatus for the rest of May and maybe into June. Thanks for your understanding ..read more

Biographical Name? Violet Fox Current job? As of June 2018, I work for OCLC as one of the editors of the Dewey Decimal Classification. How long have you been in the field? I started working as a library student worker in 1995 and worked as a paraprofessional for seven years, but I was outside of libraries for a while (buy me a drink and ask me about my job as an internet content moderator). I got my MLIS in 2013 from the University of Washington iSchool. How Do You Work? What is your office/workspace like? The Dewey editorial team has been working at the Library of Congress since 19 ..read more

My problem was this: after depending on a shelving tutorial borrowed from another institution for training purposes, suddenly the URL changed or the site no longer hosted this excellent (and free) resource. I thought I’d never have the time or the coding skills to make my tutorial. I was so wrong. I ended up creating a fun, low-stakes game that helped student employees a way to practice catalog searches and using the Library of Congress system, and I want to share with you! The game additionally allows student employees to further explore catalog searching and to nudge them toward using the ..read more

The most valuable thing we all have is time. As a mid-level administrator, my time is definitely at a premium with all the meetings I have that take me out of the library. And yet, I make sure to take time to meet one-on-one with every single person who works for me regularly. For those of you who may not know this, I'm the director of library services at a small/medium community college, and I have 17 direct reports according to the organizational chart. Yes, you read that right - 17. Sure, that's a lot of meetings, but it's important to me. It's so important to me that I meet with everyon ..read more

I've said it before and I'll say it again: my job, as an administrator, is to make things good for my direct reports. One of the simplest ways I can do that is to occasionally let them know how much I appreciate the work they do. I get everyone a little something for the winter gift-giving season, speak up about their successes in broader meetings, bring macarons regularly, and so on. One thing I've done every year since becoming an administrator is to acknowledge National Library Workers Day. I've also started trying to remind others: Hey, fellow library administration types - Library Workers ..read more

First, the G in "gif" is pronounced like the G in "girl". Second, thought I'd take this just for fun post and share some of my favorite and most used (perhaps abused?) gifs. Just a quick little fun post to serve as a respite before you plunge back into the void that is contemporary culture. Also, I feel the need to balance the heavy post I published earlier this week. Not feeling sure of yourself? This cat knows that feel. Feeling exceptionally sure of yourself? Like you could take on a monster many many times bigger than you? This cat is right there with you.  So excited about something g ..read more

Just before the beginning of the semester, I had to handle the fallout and ramifications of losing a staff member suddenly and unexpectedly. It was hard and I found myself wishing someone could help me with how to move forward. The person who died was very dear to everyone in my library and at my school, had worked here a long time, and had even graduated from this institution, so what I'm writing about how I handled it is coming from that perspective. Every post I publish has a little YMMV to it, but the differences between your experience and mine could pretty vast, so please don't take what ..read more

I'm 46. Of course if I had a time machine it would be a Delorean. Yes, this is another post making good on a months old promise This isn't exactly what Nick Schiller asked for when he said, "Letter from a young librarian to her mid-career self," but he got me thinking. I know the whole premise of this blog is advice for younger librarians, but what specific things would I tell myself if I could build a time machine and talk to my younger self at different points of my life? So here's what I've come up with: LIS Graduate School Jessica: Your ideas about what classes and experiences would help ..read more