You can lose your cutting-edge very quickly, I've discovered! I was promoted upwards & sideways into a different team a couple of years ago, and I've had to swallow my pride a few times when either my current team members, or the people in my previous positions, demonstrate a better technical grasp of the system than me. Managers can & should keep up an awareness of the latest issues/developments, but they shouldn't be expected to keep their practical skills to the same level as before. They have other duties now, which their team members prefer they spent their time on - like arguing their case to The Boss, making the policy decisions, writing the reports.
I was going to say exactly the same thing! In all my 24 years, I have never known a library where talking was frowned upon and I've never had to shush anyone myself. I think a lot of parents & teachers perpetuate the stereotype in order to keep their rugrats quiet! I also think the idea of using the library in association with the Distributed Library is a good one - I don't want strangers turning up on my doorstep either. Of course, the idea of letting someone I haven't known more than 6 mths walk away with one of *my* books would probably freak me out completely!
It's all about fear. Publishers have definitely _conceived_ of e-books, but they're too scared to go with it! e-book formats are much easier to read than a scanned in pdf, so once someone breaks the encryption on an e-book, it's going to be more popular with 'consumers'.
Some people also think that the readability factor is putting a dampener on e-publishing, but I think e-book readers are pretty OK on the eyes and easier to handle in bed than the latest Honor Harrington novel! I wish I had one...
I have to say a good, swift, kick up the pants does wonders for me:) Also, understanding how I think and learn was very useful. Are you a visual, auditory, or kinesthenic learner? Do you need to eat popcorn or put stuff to music, or huddle in a cold, dark corner? Write a list of daily goals, break them into smaller tasks. Try finding someone sympathetic to be accountable to (for that kick up the pants!). But the one thing that worked best for me was writing a timeline of my assignments and then only thinking of one at a time - don't let stress paralyse you.
From a library's point of view, the big companies that control access to online journal databases are pretty immoral. They charge exorbitant subscription fees, there is little choice about which databases you subscribe to, they won't give out detailed usage statistics, and they can remove the one journal you paid all that money for in the first place, at the drop of a hat. Libraries have turned to consortial arrangments to negotiate better conditions. I guess any discussion would be about whether the database companies are misusing their power of Copyright and their market monopoly to extort money from libraries.
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You can lose your cutting-edge very quickly, I've discovered!
I was promoted upwards & sideways into a different team a couple of years ago, and I've had to swallow my pride a few times when either my current team members, or the people in my previous positions, demonstrate a better technical grasp of the system than me.
Managers can & should keep up an awareness of the latest issues/developments, but they shouldn't be expected to keep their practical skills to the same level as before. They have other duties now, which their team members prefer they spent their time on - like arguing their case to The Boss, making the policy decisions, writing the reports.
I was going to say exactly the same thing! In all my 24 years, I have never known a library where talking was frowned upon and I've never had to shush anyone myself. I think a lot of parents & teachers perpetuate the stereotype in order to keep their rugrats quiet! I also think the idea of using the library in association with the Distributed Library is a good one - I don't want strangers turning up on my doorstep either. Of course, the idea of letting someone I haven't known more than 6 mths walk away with one of *my* books would probably freak me out completely!
It's all about fear. Publishers have definitely _conceived_ of e-books, but they're too scared to go with it! e-book formats are much easier to read than a scanned in pdf, so once someone breaks the encryption on an e-book, it's going to be more popular with 'consumers'. Some people also think that the readability factor is putting a dampener on e-publishing, but I think e-book readers are pretty OK on the eyes and easier to handle in bed than the latest Honor Harrington novel! I wish I had one...
I have to say a good, swift, kick up the pants does wonders for me :) Also, understanding how I think and learn was very useful. Are you a visual, auditory, or kinesthenic learner? Do you need to eat popcorn or put stuff to music, or huddle in a cold, dark corner? Write a list of daily goals, break them into smaller tasks. Try finding someone sympathetic to be accountable to (for that kick up the pants!). But the one thing that worked best for me was writing a timeline of my assignments and then only thinking of one at a time - don't let stress paralyse you.
From a library's point of view, the big companies that control access to online journal databases are pretty immoral. They charge exorbitant subscription fees, there is little choice about which databases you subscribe to, they won't give out detailed usage statistics, and they can remove the one journal you paid all that money for in the first place, at the drop of a hat. Libraries have turned to consortial arrangments to negotiate better conditions. I guess any discussion would be about whether the database companies are misusing their power of Copyright and their market monopoly to extort money from libraries.