Happy (belated) Doctor’s Day to all of those who give the years to learn and train, all to care for us. There are LOTS of things broken in America’s healthcare system, but the individual physicians usually aren’t part of that mess.
I had an appointment with my cardiologist this week. I just love her. She’s such a kind and caring physician. The first time I saw her, several years ago now, she told me that she remembered me as one of her librarians during med school. During our visit this week, we talked about book clubs and work and families and my health. We were both very happy with my blood pressure (the reason that I see her). I told her that after a really difficult year that included losing my beloved dog, Eliza, I got a new pup in December. Now I’m back to walking with a four-legged friend twice daily. I know that our morning walk through the park is such a welcomed treat for my physical, mental, and emotional health. And I didn’t do it during those months alone. I’m grateful for Bayer, for Eliza, and for Dr. Carlson. Here’s to good health!
And for more being outdoors, it’s Opening Day for the Worcester Red Sox! I’ve got my ticket and am looking forward to cheering on the hometown team. I’ve never been to an opening day before. Being New England, you’re taking a chance on a baseball game in March, but it looks like we may luck out and have a little sun and temps near 50. Play Ball!!
A few good resources that I came across this week include the IMLS-funded project, Data Quality Evaluation, a national forum to build and promote competencies in academic librarians around quantitative data, data quality problems, and evaluating data quality. I’ve just begun to scratch the surface of the resources available. It also reminded me of the IMLS-funded project, Visualizing the Future, that my colleague Tess and I were a part of. More great resources can be found there on the topic of data visualization.
The Librarian Parlor is a project aimed at building a community to strengthen original research among librarians. My colleague, Regina, shared it with us this week after learning about it at ACRL’s recent annual meeting. You can find recommended readings, online learning, and classifieds – calls and opportunities to engage in research projects.
And lastly for fun finds, I read an interesting paper, “Publish, Don’t Perish: Recommendations for Mitigating Impacts of the New Federal Open Access Policy” in The Journal of Science Policy and Government. It offers lots to think about regarding the recently released Nelson Memo and how the benefits of open access weigh against some of the burdens it brings to authors, publishers (particularly smaller ones), universities, and libraries.
Speaking of sharing freely, do people in your workplace have their own personal libraries of work-related books in their offices – ones that they’d gladly lend in-house to colleagues, if asked? Well, we do here and I want to give a shout-out to Kayla, our library school intern from the University of Rhode Island who’s helping us solve this problem. One project that she’s tackled is cataloging these personal collections to create a means where staff can now find the items in our regular catalog to borrow between one another. This is such a useful project and one that’s provided the opportunity for Kayla to learn several new skills. I know the staff will be really appreciative of her work.
Other stuff:
I finished “Daisy Jones and the Six” this week. Based on the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, it’s a 10-part limited series on Amazon Prime that follows the rapid rise and fall of a rock band in the 1970s. I liked it a lot, particularly in part because all of the actors are singing and playing their own instruments. I appreciate that a lot. I’m also very ready for the new season of “Ted Lasso”. I’ll start that soon. Can’t wait!
Nickel Creek’s long-awaited new album, Celebrants, dropped this week. It’s super! Here’s a review from the good peeps at Folk Alley.
And finally, I read a great piece in The New Yorker on Audie Cornish, the former NPR host, now on CNN. She has a new podcast for the latter called, “The Assignment.” I’ve listened to a couple of episodes and find it thoughtful and refreshing; a highly effective way to bring important stories in the news to listeners. I recommend it.
That’s a wrap for this week. Until next time, be well and be kind.
A Librarian by Any Other Name 