Oh, dear.

One of my student assistants shared a story from a science lab this week. A girl in her group was using a light meter to measure the amount of sunlight in a particular area of a tree. The girl asked where to put the light meter, and the other group members told her it needed to point toward the southwest, near the sun. Her next question?

"Where's the sun?"

List-o-rama

There has been some chatter about the annual Beloit College list of "things to know about this year's college freshmen that will make you feel old."

I've been reading some of the comments (e.g., at Dances with Books and The Annoyed Librarian) and decided I would add a few items of my own. Please note that although I have looked at the list in the past, I have not memorized all of the previous entries. I apologize if I duplicate some things that have been said before.

I started college in 1989, when most of this year's freshmen were born. Here are some things I have to say about this age group and their realm (not necessarily using 1989 as the "starting point"; how many of us remember much before we were 3 or 4?):

• Ricky Martin has always been a solo artist. (Menudo, anyone?)
• They have no idea who Willis is or what he's talking about.
• The Simpsons have always been on TV. M*A*S*H has also been on, but only in syndication.
• "New Coke" was never an option.
• They have always had cartoons on some channel at any given time - not just on Saturday mornings.
• Chances are they have never worn a Members Only jacket, Swatch watch, or leg warmers.
• Their parents fought over Furbys while Christmas shopping, not Cabbage Patch Kids.

I'm sure I'll think of other things. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Come on, and do the Circulation!

Today is the first day in my 10+ years of library work that I've actually spent time at a circulation desk. It's a whole new world!

This definitely isn't my turf.

Hipster librarians?

Here's my favorite line from http://www.nysun.com/article/57835?page_no=1

"Asked how she can tell the archivists from the librarians, Ms. Cane said, 'Different gang colors.'"

That's great!

7/26/07 - Follow-up

A colleague asked what the gang colors are for archivists. I suggested "black and blue."

Testing...1...2...3...

Hi! Welcome to my ramblings. I just want to see how this works!