The Library Files

Hi, Everybody!

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:32:00 -0700

Hello Gentle Readers (if you really exist),

I am knee deep in my penultimate semester of Library School. This semester I'm learning about how to be an independent information professional (and other non-library career options), how to design learning models (by far the most challenging, and worthy of a post all its own), and archiving, which is fun and about...archiving.

I hope to post on my blog more in the near future, in the hopes that someone may read it and "discover" me, a la old fashioned movie stars (think Lana Turner).

In the meantime, I manage to balance a full load of coursework with a full-time job. How do I do it? Grit and determination, my friends!

Stay tuned for more scintillating adventures...

Back to School...

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:59:00 -0700

Hi Everyone,

School has started again, and I am getting into the swing of it. This semester, I'm taking Intellectual Freedom, Designing Web Interfaces, and JavaScript. So far, so good. This semester seems to be somewhat easier than the last two, but of course, I speak too soon.

My next step is to contact my advisor and see where I go from here. There are many possibilities in the library world, from collections development, to developing online databases. A combination of the two would be very exciting.

Anyhoo, I'm sorry I've been away so long, but I'm back now! I hope you all are well, and I look forward to seeing you soon in the ether.

Jonathan

Eco Library Cards in San Francisco

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:14:00 -0700

Hello Readers,

Here's a fun one. San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) has recently introduced eco library cards, made of corn starch They're free for new members and $1.00 for current members.

As the author of the blog points out (click here or on the title of this post), libraries have always promoted free, re-usable materials, so why not the card as well?

It makes perfect sense, and I'm all for environmentally friendly measures, but I also remember receiving a paper library card from my local NYPL branch in the Bronx, waaayyy back in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if there may be room for paper library cards to make a comeback? It would be environmentally friendly and totally retro!

Jonathan

Hello World!

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:55:00 -0700

Gentle Reader,

This post is to announce the launch of my new website: www.jonathanleff.net, by which I hope to take the library and information world by storm.

This site shows what I have been up to in the world of Library Science, as well as in my current career as the Education Coordinator for the UCSF Division of Geriatrics.

Please go have yourselves a visit. I look forward to hearing from you all soon!

Jonathan

The Library Files Podcast 1

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Sun, 5 Apr 2009 15:39:00 -0700

Gentle Reader,

If you click on the icon below, you will be taken to my podcast, chock-full of all sorts of exciting information! Enjoy!

Jonathan

Sunday Morning, Lying in Bed

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:12:00 -0700

Gentle Reader,

The blogosphere provides the opportunity for oversharing of one's most intimate details and thoughts, which probably only the blogger in question truly cares about, and the reader of said blog probably doesn't find nearly as fascinating.

At this very moment, I am sitting in bed, my husband is reading "The Red and the Black", and our cat is curled up next to him having demanded and received attention. Exciting, no?

Later we shall go to Bed, Bath & Beyond, where we will exchange curtains for different curtains. This is the radical gay agenda that the right wing is trying to put a stop to. Our attempts to undermine the American family were even more heinous yesterday when we stepped out in the afternoon to get some slices of pizza and Diet Coke because we were hungry! I ask you, will this outrage never end?

As I am a library student, I suppose that all that I have written above can be related to principles of equal opportunity for all, and our mission to provide equal access to all seekers of information, whomever they may be, and whatever walks of life they come from, regardless of whether or not we may agree with their lifestyle choices, their style of dress, or - and this is most important - their ideas. Ethically, this mission would behoove me to assist someone whose ideas I find offensive (or at the very least disagree with) with as much respect as someone whose ideas I do agree with.

Anyway, It's Sunday morning, I'm still in bed, and I haven't had any coffee yet. However, I humbly remain,

Jonathan

The Wine

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:48:00 -0700

Gentle Reader,

For those of you who are simply fascinated by the goings on in my life, the wine I consumed in my last post was not a chardonnay, but was instead a sauvignon blanc by Fetzer (cheap but good). Having written this, I hereby acknowledge that I have completely forsaken by New York roots, and have instead become a bona fide Northern Californian, with all the preciousness that entails. I will try to redeem my New Yorker street cred in a later post. In the meantime, I remain,

Yours,
Jonathan

The Second Post

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:49:00 -0700

Gentle Reader,

Some people choose blogging, while others have blogging thrust upon them. I fall into the latter category, dragged kicking and screaming into the last part of the first decade of the 21st Century (a big shout-out to Stacy Wile at LIBR240 for being the one to thus drag me), but I must say, I am now rather intrigued.

What scintillating adventures am I up to right now? RIGHT NOW? Well, I am blogging about blogging (metablogging?) while my partner makes dinner (some sort of stew with chicken, shrimp and pasta - yum!) as we listen to the uplifting strains of Mozart's Requiem, as I sip a glass of chardonnay (at least I think it's chardonnay. I'm too lazy to walk into the next room and look at the bottle).

No blog entry of mine would be complete without a gratuitous mention of my elderly cat, Pamina, who is at this moment curled up at the end of the couch staring blankly into space.

Stay tuned for more chills, thrills, spills, and adventures!

Yours,
Jonathan

The First Blog

jleff@ccomcast.net (Jonathan Leff) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:13:00 -0700

Hello Readers,

Welcome to my first blog, posted after a long, hard day at the office. My partner is home from work now (yay!) and my cat is waiting to be shot up. It's nice and quiet in our home, though any minute now, my partner is going to ask if it's ok that he turn on the TV. We will then eat dinner, and watch "Futurama" while our cat either hangs out with us, ignores us, begs for attention, or all of the above.

Stay tuned for more pulse-pounding, scintillating adventures!

Jonathan