Libraryola

≠ New LibGig post: “Government Information News Sources, Part One”
≠ New DGI Blog post: “NARA to Participate In World Digital Library”

Oh yeah, you can bet I am going to get all sorts of silly now that I’m a cataloger and do things like use delimiter symbols as bullet points. Oh, and don’t even bother looking in the sidebar. You’ll just be shaking your head.

I was worried before I started my new job (cataloger at NOAA Central Library, doncha know; the picture to the left is the statue in the front of the building I work in) that I was going to need a while to get caught up. It had been years since I did cataloging with any sort of regularity. I actually had stress dreams during the weeks leading up to my first day. (The library in my dreams was really awesome, by the way, and was apparently inspired by the Jungle Room at Graceland.)

As usual, I needn’t have worried. You know that cliché about the bicycle? It’s like that. If the bicycle had added entries, I mean.

It didn’t occur to me until today how I’ve sort of come full circle. My first library job was as a catalog assistant at College of the Holy Cross, and I specifically handled science books. Now, my first job as a librarian is as a cataloger in a science library. There’s probably a lesson to be learned from that, but I’m too busy cataloging this pile of rare books to contemplate it.

So here’s what’s exciting in my life these days. On July 14, I’ll be starting my first job as a full-fledged librarian. I got a job as a cataloger at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Central Library. This is good, since I have to pay someone to smash a gigantic hole in one of the walls of my house (long story). Also, how can you not be excited about working for the parent agency for the National Weather Service? The job is a contract position through the employment agency InfoCurrent, which I mention as a segue into the next bit of personal news.

I have also started a job writing about government information for the new library professional networking site LibGig. The site is a service by Library Associates (LAC), another employment agency and one that I’ve worked for a number of times over my career. LigGig has a particular focus on library jobs, which makes sense given the nature of LAC’s business. The job board is intended to be a general job board instead of just a listing of LAC jobs. Of course, there are currently a lot of LAC jobs there, but there should a lot more general listings forthcoming now that the site is public.

Greg Schwartz and company discussed LibGig on Uncontrolled Vocabulary this week, which you can listen to here; the specific discussion begins at the 34:23 mark. They were a bit skeptical about it as a job site, which I think is understandable since there is an employment agency behind it. Greg invited anyone from LibGig to call into UV next week to talk about the site, and hopefully someone will take him up on the offer.

So far, I’ve had two posts published on LibGig. The first post is an overview of what I’ll be writing about for the site, while the latest post previews government information-related sessions at this year’s ALA conference.