Archive for May 2009


Shovers and Makers is closed for 2009

May 15th, 2009 — 10:15pm

From March to May of 2009, well over one hundred librarians declared themselves Shovers and Makers. This site had over fifteen thousand pageviews in that time. Thank all of you for making this project fun.

If you are new to the site, please see the About page to see what we were up to, and page through all the great profiles of the 2009 Shovers and Makers.

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Galadriel Chilton

May 14th, 2009 — 9:03pm

GaladrielWith just one day remaining, I am honored and delighted to join the 2009 roster of Shovers & Makers!

Since 2003, I’ve been the e-resources librarian at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.

I received my MLS from Indiana University with concentrations in library instruction, electronic resources, and intellectual freedom. Additionally, I completed a masters in Educational Technology/Instructional Design from San Diego State University in December 2007.

The work that excite me the most, and coincidentally, appears to be the most Shover & Maker worthy, includes the collaborative creation of an open source ERM with my colleague, William Doering, and, becoming an embedded librarian so that I could “know thy user” and better teach information literacy. Perhaps just as exciting as being an embedded librarian is seeing a colleague and friend get excited about it too!

I also initiated and again worked with William Doering to create a price-sharing project that enables University of Wisconsin librarians to share e-resource subscription information so that we can more effectively negotiate subscriptions and form buying groups.

Recent professional development participation includes FB, FF, and Twitter.

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Nancy Spaid

May 12th, 2009 — 5:41pm

I’m Nancy Spaid, and I’m proud to be among such distinguished company as the LSW Shovers and Makers! Although my title of Systems Librarian at Jane Bancroft Cook Library, a shared service of New College of Florida and USF S-M, has remained the same over nearly 7 years, my duties and activities have morphed considerably.

I’m generally responsible for all of the library’s tech needs. Among other things, I provide support for all library computers – staff and public. I serve on the FL State University Libraries OPAC subcommittee. I also act as liaison for Circulation, ILL, and Technical Services staff in the use of Ex Libris’ Aleph system. I’ve also spent several semesters staffing the reference desk.

I’m currently collaborating with a team of people from diverse departments at the College in the creation of a new digital image database for Art History faculty – and perhaps someday Archeology and other disciplines Faculty as well – to use for teaching their classes. This exciting new project means new skills – cataloging cultural objects and database management – and new technologies – MDID and imaging.

I love using the new social networking tools available to keep abreast of what other LSW members are doing in their respective fields! It’s amazing how much I’ve learned from others over the past year or so, and I look forward to someday having something relevant to share that may help others as well.

I can be found as nspaid in various places around the web: FF, FB, twitter, gmail, flickr, delicious, etc.

PS – Go Rays!

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Reminder: Shovers and Makers 2009 closes on Friday, May 15

May 12th, 2009 — 1:05pm

This is it, folks. Only three more days left to join this self-selected group of Shovers and Makers before we close down new postings for 2009. Impress your friends! Pad your resume! Buy a t-shirt!

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Stephanie Willen Brown is a Shover! and a Maker!

May 6th, 2009 — 9:15pm

Gosh, I’m tickled to have been nominated as a Shover and Maker, but it *is* better to win, especially since the company is so awesome. To borrow @Candy‘s phrase, I’ve been making new librarians since 2003, after @Candy helped make me a librarian back in 1999. I graduated from, and currently teach part-time at Simmons’ GSLIS – which has been a delight.

I also like to shove resources around at work, which most recently was as an Electronic Resource Librarian at the University of Connecticut. I am currently shoving my way south where I will direct the Park Library at the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication (starting June 1). I look forward to rejoining my NewsLib colleagues after a 10-year absence; hopefully there will be some cross-pollination between my favorite f2f group and my favorite online group, the Library Society of the World. swb-nasig

My talents include assessing and pontificating about web usability, shoving resources into my patrons’ faces, serving as a dental hygienist to my feline companions, and making “best of the year” mix CDs for my friends. I’m very good at ordering clothing and shoes online, and I’m a pretty good teacher and librarian-maker. I’m relatively consistent at blogging, too, about matters relating to cognitive science, librarianship, and related topics; take a peek at CogSciLibrarian.

I would like to thank the LSW Academy for the award, and I congratulate all of my S&M colleagues!

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Anne Graham

May 6th, 2009 — 3:07am

Me holding Calvin as he noms my handI’d like to thank LSW and all the people who made this award possible: my husband, Librarian X; my cats, Calvin and Marley; my agent; and all the people who helped along the way.

I got my MLIS from Florida State University last year and got my first professional position in October as the Digital Collections Archivist at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. I’m currently setting up our digital collections and implementing some outreach sites on Flickr and Facebook, as well as redesigning the website and starting a departmental blog.

In my copious spare time I’m hoping to grow tomatoes in my backyard this summer and to begin the MSIS program at KSU in the fall.

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I wrote this post and all I bought was an awesome t-shirt. –Jennifer Smathers

May 6th, 2009 — 1:42am

This librarian first heard her calling in 7th grade, when she discovered she could shove aside her boring study hall for the opportunity to volunteer at the library. Her ability to make young children stay in line (being the oldest of 5, you learn a few things) had Jennifer quickly picked to help the librarian with the Kindergarten class that visited the school library at the same time as my aforementioned cursedly boring study hall.jsmathers

The following summer she found herself shoving her way into library politics by writing a letter to the neighboring town’s public library regarding their policy to only employ resident teenagers, rather than the most qualified person for the job. That successful foray into library politics earned her the next open page position with that library. Needless to say, her parents were thrilled. (Sadly, her father is still waiting for Jennifer to become a full chapter.)

So her shoving and making started early and hasn’t stopped. Most recently, as Head of Technical Services at The College at Brockport, she has had success shoving thoughts back and forth with colleagues. Locally, that has resulted in the creation and implementation of a Banner-based library material ordering module that automates the movement of requests through a two-step approval process. State-wide she’s been an active member of the group making progress in cooperative collection development projects across the SUNY comprehensive colleges sector. (Let’s go C4D!)

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Jenna Freedman has always been a late bloomer…

May 5th, 2009 — 9:58pm

…and so is just Making her Shoviness known a few days before the deadline. zine librarian In fact, I’ve been meaning to poke my head into the Library Society of the World for literally years. Alas my to-do list is long and sometimes keeps me from taking on new projects and making new friends. Among my tasks

So anyway, thanks for this award. I’m proud to be in such fine company.

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I’m Candy Schwartz

May 1st, 2009 — 11:24am

Candy Schwartz
I am thrilled to be so honoured as to be self-elected for a Movers and Shakers award. Thanks to all my nominator. I have been shoving LIS students out into the world and making librarians since about 1978. I am on the faculty of Simmons College GSLIS in Boston and Mount Holyoke, and I am surprised (or maybe not) to see very few faculty here. My major LIS accomplishments of the past couple of years have been making doctoral students (yes, more faculty), managing to keep up with work while also keeping up with social networks, editing a very respectable quarterly professional journal (yeah, I know, but it’s pretty good), and working with 25 students in a class each year to put new digital libraries on the web. I teach the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into library services (information organization, subject analysis of all kinds, metadata, digital libraries). When I was a working librarian (at Concordia U. in Montreal) I was a cataloguer. My blog is really only for students, but I am in the middle of moving to WordPress and will probably have a “real” blog sometime – though I am not sure I have enough to say. I am a resident alien Canadian (hence the spelling).

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