Reasons to Visit Baltimore!

The main reason (in my biased opinion) is to attend the SLA (Special Libraries Association) Annual Conference which is going on this week.  But, for those of you that may require some additional reasons here are a few to consider (most of which involve food/beverage):

• the best crab and crab cakes in the country
• home to the chicken box (chicken wings and fries)
• getting a genuine half-and-half (1/2 iced tea, 1/2 lemonade)
• a booming city area with waterfront homes
• the Baltimore Ravens (if you’re into pro football)
• numerous local wineries to visit
• great cupcakes
• the historic Lexington Market
• Captain Crunch French Toast
• the resting place of Edgar Allan Poe
• the Under Armor World Headquarters
• Berger Cookies
• fried lake trout
• home of the hubcap margarita
• home of National Bohemian beer (Natty Boh)

Check out the full article here.

Muy Caliente!

Welcome to Phoenix!  I arrived last Thursday (to attend the Annual Conference of the Special Libraries Association) and Thursday has been the “coldest” day of the week thus far at 109 degrees fahrenheit.  It has been gradually getting warmer each day throughout the week peaking around 118 degrees on Monday and the temps will remain in the one hundred and teens range through the end of the week.  What a fitting start to the official first day of summer (which was actually at 11:24 PM last night, the 20th)  The good news: less than 10% humidity each day and no precipitation.  Positively glorious.  Hot, but glorious!

Eight Years . . . and Counting!

Happy Friday, and Happy Anniversary!  Eight years ago today I started blogging and began my journey with The Gun-Carryin’ Librarian.  This endeavor began as a learning opportunity when I undertook the Special Libraries Association’s “23 Things” self-paced course of study.  I had no idea what blogging was and was quite behind the curve on all things Web 2.0.  And, while I am still not an early adopter when it comes to new things/technology, I’m not completely afraid to try them either (thanks to SLA’s 23 Things).

Over the past eight years, I’ve managed . . .

• more than 3,080 posts
• more than 255,000 views
• more than 39,100 visitors

My most popular date — June 14, 2012 (1,091 views).
My most popular day of the week — Thursdays (18% of views).
My most popular hour of the day — 5:00 PM (8% of views).

 

Let’s Go For Great!

Last week the Special Libraries Association (SLA) board had a board orientation in Alexandria, Virginia.  It was a several day event filled with meetings, team building exercises, an orientation of important association information (including Robert’s Rules of Order, Parliamentary procedure, and how to run a meeting), and a strategy session. A full few days to say the least.  Earlier in the year, I ran across a quotation by Rosalynn Carter, that perfectly captures where we (the SLA Board) need to be as leaders as we continue down the road to a more sustainable future for SLA.  Let’s get where we ought to be!

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”  (Rosalynn Carter)

Be Revolutionary!

The theme of this year’s SLA (Special Libraries Association) Annual Conference in Boston: Be Revolutionary!  So, I thought I would consult my copy of The Cynic’s Dictionary by Aubrey Dillon-Malone, to see how they defined “revolution” and “revolutionary.”  Here’s what I found out . . .

Revolution:
” A trivial shift in the emphasis of suffering.”  (Tom Stoppard)

“An attempt to substitute misrule for bad government.”  (Anthony Butler)

Revolutionary:
“Someone who ends up either as an oppressor or a heretic.”  (Albert Camus)

SLA Announces Candidates for 2015 Board of Directors!

Yesterday SLA (the Special Libraries Association) announced the slate of candidates for the 2015 Board of Directors.  What an honor!  I have been nominated as a candidate for President-Elect!   Congratulations to all of my fellow candidates and thank you for stepping up and agreeing to be considered for candidacy.   What a talented and diverse slate of candidates to help lead SLA forward.  Let the dialogue begin as we embark upon this journey to the Board for the opportunity to work for and represent the members of this great global association.

For President-Elect:

• Jim DelRosso, Cornell University Libraries, Ithaca, New York
• Tom Rink, Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

For Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect

• David Cappoli, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
• Kim Silk, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

For Division Cabinet Chair-Elect

• Ruth Kneale, National Solar Observatory, Tucson, Arizona
• Valerie Perry, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky

For Director (2 positions)

• Kevin Adams, Institute of Environmental Science & Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
• Dr. Saif Al-Jabari, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman
• Elaine Lasda Bergman, State University of New York at Albany Libraries, Albany, New York
• Catherine Lavallée-Welch, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Library, La Crosse, Wisconsin

– See more at: http://www.sla.org/sla-announces-candidates-2015-board-directors/#sthash.m39vdxos.dpuf

For President-Elect:

• Jim DelRosso, Cornell University Libraries, Ithaca, New York
• Tom Rink, Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

For Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect

• David Cappoli, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
• Kim Silk, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

For Division Cabinet Chair-Elect

• Ruth Kneale, National Solar Observatory, Tucson, Arizona
• Valerie Perry, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky

For Director (2 positions)

• Kevin Adams, Institute of Environmental Science & Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
• Dr. Saif Al-Jabari, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman
• Elaine Lasda Bergman, State University of New York at Albany Libraries, Albany, New York
• Catherine Lavallée-Welch, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Library, La Crosse, Wisconsin

– See more at: http://www.sla.org/sla-announces-candidates-2015-board-directors/#sthash.m39vdxos.dpuf

For President-Elect:

• Jim DelRosso, Cornell University Libraries, Ithaca, New York
• Tom Rink, Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

For Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect

• David Cappoli, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
• Kim Silk, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

For Division Cabinet Chair-Elect

• Ruth Kneale, National Solar Observatory, Tucson, Arizona
• Valerie Perry, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky

For Director (2 positions)

• Kevin Adams, Institute of Environmental Science & Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
• Dr. Saif Al-Jabari, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman
• Elaine Lasda Bergman, State University of New York at Albany Libraries, Albany, New York
• Catherine Lavallée-Welch, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Library, La Crosse, Wisconsin

– See more at: http://www.sla.org/sla-announces-candidates-2015-board-directors/#sthash.m39vdxos.dpuf

Two Thousand, And Going Strong!

Today marks my two-thousandth post to this blog!  Wow, what an adventure this has become.  From my humble beginnings with SLA’s “23 Things” (which I started a little over 5 years ago), I’ve managed to stay the course and still find myself enjoying this activity.

And now for some shameless statistics . . .

To date, of my 2,000 posts I have had

• 211,442 views
  • 2,826 views in 2008 (the last six months only)
  • 42,412 views in 2009
  • 53,973 views in 2010
  • 37,149 views in 2011
  • 59,303 views in 2012
  • 15,867 views (so far in 2013)
• 555 comments
• 104 average views per day
  • 15 views per day in 2008 (the last six months only)
  • 116 views per day in 2009
  • 148 views per day in 2010
  • 102 views per day in 2011
  • 162 views per day in 2012
  • 81 views per day (so far in 2013)
• Month with the most views: June 2012 (9,236)
• Day with the most views: June 14, 2012 (1,091)
• Month with the highest average views per day: June 2012 (308)
• Categories utilized: 29
• Number of tags utilized: 5,746
• Number of “followers”
  • 55 blogs
  • 237 twitter
  • 614 facebook

It ebbs and it flows, but it continues to be a lot of fun.  The “Gun Carryin’ Librarian” will blog on . . . for now.

My Personalized Word Cloud Portrait!

Earlier this month, while attending the Annual Conference of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) in San Diego, Califorornia, the New York Times was offering to create a personalized word cloud portrait for conference goers.  So, I stopped by their booth, had my photo taken, and then selected the “travel” section of the NYT to populate the word cloud.  I could have selected any “section” from the paper (the other sections that I considered: the Arts and Sports).  I even got to select the color for the words — I picked green of course, Go Green!  The end result was pretty darn amazing and not too shabby at all.  What a great idea to generate traffic to their booth!  And, what was even better . . . no hard sales pitch whatsoever (my institution already subscribes, so this takes a lot of the sales pressure away from the git-go).  All in all, another fabulous conference.  Next year: Vancouver, I can’t wait!

One Thousand, and Counting!

Happy Monday!  I started blogging on June 24, 2008.  Two year, four months, and two weeks later, I’m publishing my 1,000th post!  My blog started as a learning tool and was created as an exercise during my progression through the Special Libraries Association’s “23 Things” (an introduction to Web 2.0 technologies and tools).  My blog is purely recreational, and, like the many other interests in my life, very eclectic.  And on this the one thousandth post, I would like to thank all of my loyal followers . . . I hope you have enjoyed reading my daily reflections as much as I have enjoyed creating them.

Here are the stats (for now):

• 28 categories (some used more than others)
• 282 comments 
• 3,092 tags
• 94,573 views
• 293 (most views in one day, March 3, 2010)
• 2,826 (views in 2008, an average of 15/day)
• 42,412 (views in 2009, an average of 116/day)
• 49,423 (views so far in 2010, an average of 159/day)

Happy Blogging!

Yaaawwwnnn!

What a perfect word to highlight as the SLA (Special Libraries Association) Annual Conference comes to a close.  Following a week of Board meetings, excellent programs, visiting with vendors, and networking with other information professionals, I’m looking forward to getting back into a more normal routine that does not include the really late nights followed by the super early mornings [yawn] that kept me in a constant state of exhaustion.  But, it was conference week, and this is to be expected. 

oscitant

\OS-i-tuhnt\ , adjective;

1.  Yawning, as with drowsiness; gaping.
2.  Drowsy or inattentive.
3.  Dull, lazy, or negligent.