200th post = 4 years

So here we go. 200^th post. It’s taken me four years to get here, but that’s not too bad. It averages out to about a post per month. Ideally I aim for one every two weeks, give or take a week. By some accounts that’s very slow. Will Manley cracked 100 posts in less than 6 months. And Steven Bell probably has 2,000+ over at The KeptUp Librarian (circa 2003.) But hey—tons of library blogs have gone under, and happily I’m still here.

I’m in the process of retagging everything. My taxonomy has gotten way out of wack and so over the next several days I’m going to hack at it. I’m also going to play around with some different themes and typepad tools. I never really considered myself a blogger, just a guy who uses a blog to tell a story… but now, after four years, I guess I should embrace the blogger image. What I’m saying is I’m going to try and make the blog look and function better. Lots of tweaks as we head into the summer season. So…if you subscribe (thanks!) please bare with the redesign… I’ll probably be re-publishing a ton of old posts to get everything in sync.

…being ubiquitous four years later. I don’t think I’ve ever really expressed that concept well enough. I think “the disembodied librarian” might have been more on target with my goal. Or perhaps “the holistic librarian.” At the time I was fascinated with how I could be a librarian outside of the traditional boundaries of that title. People needed help (in the broadest sense) both within and outside of the building where I worked—how could that be re-imagined? How could I do things (that were not in my job description) to help them with their academic and personal pursuits?

This led me deep into the forest of outreach and marketing. I learned a lot about myself, about libraries, and about people during that process. While I still enjoy the marketing stuff there is definitely a transition happening. I’m fully invested as a library administrator now and that’s clearly the direction I intend to follow. I’m trying to soak up as much as I can from anyone who will mentor me.

Over the years I might have lost my edge a little, but perhaps that is a sign of maturity? I’ve also evolved away from social media—although I still use and enjoy it daily—but there are just bigger themes drawing me in these days. I have about 30 more years of librarianship left in me, so it is a long road ahead.

Lately I’ve been dabbling on my next book for ALA Editions, which I call “the alchemy project.” I am reading immensely in the areas of biology, physics, psychology, and architecture. That’s what’s on my mind these days. Blend those disciplines together and there you have it. I’m hoping to get the majority of it written this summer, but I don’t expect to finish it until summer 2011.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading this little experiment of mine--- and a special thanks to those who have commented over the years—even the negative ones! Hopefully I have done my part in providing some degree of entertainment, insight or commentary on library matters. Four years later the conversation continues.