Letter from the editors

Above and beyond

International libraries! Finding a job! Conferences! Traveling through space and time! iSchool students are ranging far afield lately. In this combined April/May issue, we focus on the things that draw us outside of the iSchool. We spotlight international libraries and librarians, with this month's Biblioteca and our profile of Whiskey Monoma, a dynamic and inspiring librarian from South Africa. We have a section on career issues this month, including a helpful guide to résumés, a reflection on being a paraprofessional, and a review of a recently published LIS career guidebook. There are also two student perspectives on the recent ACRL conference - an essential venue for academic librarians from all over the country to meet, and a space where the role and mission of the academic library is discussed and shaped. Time traveling gets its due with a review of the novel The Time Traveler's Wife - not to mention the Blast from the Past, which is also topical on the subject of careers. We editorialize about how librarians can reach outside of their typical sphere to reach a wider clientele through teaching. Finally, in honor of the recent movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of your editors sticks out her thumb and comes back with a brief guide to Douglas Adams, that consummate space traveler.

Whiskey Monoma states that her library "is a platform" for any issues that arise in her community. She gives us all food for thought. What is the role of librarian or information professional in their communities? In the world? If we are living in an "information society," then where does the job of the information professional end? Whiskey Monoma takes on the role of a social worker, a teacher, and a community advocate as well as a librarian. As many of us actively set out to find jobs in the next few months (or continue our search), it is worth thinking about what our broader role might be, not just in the library and academic community (as was highlighted at ACRL) but in the world.

This is our next-to-last issue as editors. There will be a final June issue for the year, and we cordially invite submissions for it. In the meantime, we hope that you enjoy this issue, and enjoy the springtime!

-Phoebe Ayers & John Glover
Silverfish Co-Editors
Please send submissions, comments, and letters to:
thesilverfish@gmail.com

 

 

Features Biblioteca A continuing series about international information issues. Librarians in Minneapolis A review of the ACRL national conference Scholarships If at first you don't succeed apply, apply again The Library as Platform: Whiskey Monama "So, How Does That Work?" A Paraprofessional Library Manager Explains Herself Seattle's City Librarian An interview with Deborah Jacobs

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Page last updated:May 13, 2005