Law Librarian Blog

A View from the Stacks: Can a Personal Statement Include Beer Recommendations?

(Congratulations on the baby Anna Nicole.)

I learned two things this last week: people never listen to me about turning their cell phones off in the library and that my personal statement for graduate school may be a bit “out there.”

Since high school, I have done well with writing prompts for essay assignments.  What I struggle with, however, is how to write an essay about me, detailing a time in my life when I felt that I was most accomplished, without mentioning beer.

Let me back up.  A little over a year ago, I sat for one of the most technical tests in my life:  the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).  For those of you out there who were not aware that this program exists, let me tell you that they take their testing and studying VERY seriously.  After 18 weeks of study, which included reading about the history of the beer and a variety of breweries, I sat for a 4-hour long, 10 essay question test that included a portion where I was “forced” to drink beer.

I am not joking when I say this was an important test to at least one person that day.  One of the goals that my sister has in life is to start up her own brewery. She has been home-brewing now for over five years and some of her beers have placed in local competitions.  She was the catalyst for my interest in beer, as well as the reason for why I took this course along with her and her husband.  By studying for and passing the test, we would become beer judges who could be called up to judge beers at events all over the nation (money and time permitting).  By attending beer events as a judge, my sister would have the chance to meet movers and shakers in the brewing industry, as well as learn a little bit about the business.

For me, the test was the climax of one of the most technical courses that I had ever taken.  In high school, I loved math and science.  In college, I was burned out by math and science and decided that making sense of politics and the Russian language would be more fun.  When I graduated, I had not taken a test that involved math of any sort in over three years.  But here I was, taking a beer class that forced me to determine things like alcohol content and original gravity using mathematical equations that should be left to the calculus students.

On that fateful day in March when I sat down to take the test, I was convinced of one thing:  I was going to fail miserably.  In fact, the only thing I was looking forward to was the tasting portion of the test because I knew that that would require drinking beer.  When all of the test sheets had been distributed, I was prepared to flip over the paper and draw some nice pictures of hops on the page and maybe write a nice limerick about an old man from Nantucket.  But, it turned out that the first question was pretty straight forward.  And the second question looked pretty straight forward as well.  I figured out that I could pass this thing.

And I did pass.  I even got a little pin that said “Certified” on it in the mail.

And so it goes that this was, to me, one of the biggest accomplishments in my recent life.  Sure, when I was little, learning to multiply up to 12 was huge.  And when I was in high school, taking the AP tests that I took for college credit were challenging yet satisfying.  But I took those tests without too much fretting.  This beer test, though, was a whole different story.  And frankly, I was proud of myself for doing well on a test that seemed impossible to pass.

This leads me back to the title of the piece and why I was even thinking about this in the first place: my personal statement.  It seems that every prompt I read has something to do with biggest accomplishment/greatest accomplishment/time when I was most academically proud.  My beer test was a big accomplishment and I am thinking about using it as an example of a time I set out to do something and did it, despite thinking I was going to fail the entire time.  My only concern is that the person(s) who read it may think that I should be going to work in a bar and not a library.

Or that they will start relying on me for beer recommendations and not like what I suggest.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: But Stina we need more beer connoisseurs in this profession. Apply, apply, apply.

A View from the Stacks: In Support of Anna Nicole

A story:

Two Law Librarians, both boasting an MLS degree, work at two different libraries. One works at a fully accredited law school.  Another works at a busy law firm with bar card carrying lawyers.  And both asked to get slip opinions of the Anna Nicole Smith case.  Because the people asking just want “to read what the court has to say on this one.”

On May 1, 2006, Marshall v. Marshall, 547 U.S. ___, 2006 WL 1131904, was handed down.  Written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the case was surrounded in media fanfare from the minute that the Supreme Court granted certiorari.  While the actual subject of the case was dry by most folk’s standards (or wildly complicated) the players were not.  On the one hand, you had the son of an oil rich Texas tycoon named E. Pierce Marshall, who was feuding with his siblings and his father’s widow.  On the other, you had Vickie Lynn Marshall, a/k/a Anna Nicole Smith, a character unto her own self.  Among the questions:  Does the “probate” exception fall under federal court’s jurisdiction?

I have been following this case rather obsessively.  Not because I have any stake in the probate exception.  Should I ever marry a man 85 years my senior who is worth a small country's gross domestic product, I will make sure I am mentioned somewhere in the will.  What struck me was how obsessed the media was in covering this case.  I became obsessed with how much time the news chose to devote to this seemingly boring topic.  In a day and age when the nightly news covers the birth of TomKat and whether or not Brittney Spears is a fit parent, you are hard pressed to see any reports on the Supreme Court being in session, let alone handing down decisions.

But, with the advent of Marshall v. Marshall, gossip blogs were even publishing reports about the decision.  Nestled in between the latest Angelina Jolie gossip and what Paris Hilton did last weekend, there were reports about Justice Scalia being charmed by Vickie Lynn and Justice Ginsburg asking the tough questions of Pierce’s attorneys.  Some legal pundits have argued that the coverage was not because the issue was so earth-shattering that all eyes should be watching (in fact, Dahlia Lithwick sums up the rather silly coverage that the news was providing of the case in her May 1, 2006 column for Slate) but because for the first time in a long time, the Supreme Court and celebrity gossip collided. 

And made for really good TV.  So good, in fact, that most people thought the trial was a complete joke. 

And maybe it was, but truth be told, my hat is off to Anna Nicole Smith.  Her persistence in battling this case all the way up to the Supreme Court (well, both sides persistence actually) may have unknowingly educated a few people to the court process.  At the very least, it meshed the names of some Supreme Court justices in with today’s celebrities.  The people from eBay cannot say the same thing about their Supreme Court Decision.  Please don’t misunderstand me.  I do not think for one minute that we are now a nation of legal scholars because of Ms. Smith, but there now may be one more person who knows that the Supreme Court exists.  This could be considered a victory in this day and age.

And, while the actual case is still being argued, remanded back to the lower courts for further discussion, other judges did in fact take note.  In fact, on the same day that Marshall v. Marshall was handed down, a case from a District Court in Iowa cited to the decision.  In the case In re H&W Motor Express Company, 2006 WL 1192370, the decision cites Justices Ginsburg’s writings concerning bankruptcy judges entering judgment in non-core matters, and not just making recommendations that will be reviewed by the district court de novo.  (On a side note:  I really, really, really wanted to do a timeline of this case on a bulletin board at my work.  But somehow, and don’t ask me why, the topic of immigration won out over the probate exception.)

I suspect, in the end, that this case will make for a wonderful Trivial Pursuit/ Pub Quiz question.  However, when attorneys and students are taking time out of their days just to “read what the courts have to say” it means that the media did a very good job in making us care about the outcome. 

Hopefully they will do the same with the 2008 elections. 

Maybe if Anna Nicole Smith runs.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: Damn! Not 85 years older, not worth a small country's GDP...

A View from the Stacks: Do You Need Some Help?

The title of this entry has brought out my analytical side.  So much so, that I thought that I may be able to put into words a problem that I see plaguing libraries across the nation: signage.

OK, not really plaguing.  More like a nuisance. 

Last week, my coworker Tamara and I (she being of the librarian technician persuasion as well) went to local Seattle libraries and examined their spaces.  Of particular interest was the use of signage to direct patrons through the maze of shelves, copiers, and in the case of the Central Seattle Public Library, a romp with some escalators.  This was all in an attempt to determine what signs work, what signs confuse and which signs should be avoided at all costs to preserve patron sanity. 

These outings were not just a nice excuse to be out of the office.  They were an attempt for us to figure out what signs our library needs to make it a more user-friendly space.  At the time of this writing, we have some temporary signs set up, and it has come to the attention of some of the staff that these signs may look, well, a little too temporary (emphasis mine). 

But what we lack for in quality, we do make up for in quantity.  Our walls, tables, study carols and circulation desk are covered in signs.  So much so, that I believe there are some people who suffer information overload from just looking at our breadth of signs before they even get a chance to crack open a law book.  But how do you balance presenting important information for patrons with the desire to not overwhelm?

Some of the libraries thought that forgoing signage entirely was the way to go.  They now have temporary signs up, showing locations and giving directions.  Other libraries posted their book stack map every other stack, in case you were unwilling to walk two stacks down to consult the map.  This makes the space look cluttered and too busy.  While each of these libraries probably had very good reasons for the signage they chose, it seems that picking a sign strategy for a library can be likened to organizing a battle strategy.  Or selecting a book for book club that doesn’t follow Oprah’s advice.

In other words, it is very difficult.

Maybe it is because libraries move things around.  A lot.  Or maybe it is because libraries don’t or can’t pay to have a specialist come in and do it for them.  Or perhaps, as I suspect, libraries and the staff that occupy them over think the usefulness of certain signs and believe they need to be put up to help patrons.  Of course, these signs are the ones that are never read.

In the end, Tamara and I decided that our outing were helpful because it showed us that the process of putting up permanent signs in libraries has yet to be perfected.  This takes a lot of pressure off of us, because what we suggest for signage does not have to be based on what we think will be perfect, but what we think will work for us for the time being.  Plus, it allows us to think about how the staff can more effectively interact with the space along with our patrons.  Do we really need a page of instructions detailing printing options?  Or can we just have a simple sentence that tells people to ask a staff member for help with printing?  And is it necessary to have “Quiet Study Area” signs set up when people are going to disregard them and still answer their cell phones?  Wouldn’t a simple cell phone with a line through it at the front do the trick?

So, in the coming weeks when we all get together as a staff to talk about signs in our space, I am looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say.  And maybe, with some luck, somebody will like my idea of tearing down some signs, putting up others and maybe moving some pre-existing signs around.

Of course, if this doesn’t work out, at least Tamara and I got out of the office on some of the first nice days of Spring in Seattle.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: Time for a sing-along:

And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said you look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do
So I took off my hat I said imagine that, huh, me working for you
woah!

Chorus:

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

Continue the Five Man Electric Band's classic, "Sings."

A View from the Stacks: You don’t have any Internet access?

When I prioritize my list of important things, my top two are always the same: myself and the TV.

So when I found myself at home, sick and splayed out on the couch in my Power Puff Girl pajamas, I saw the silver lining immediately in the form of watching hours of daytime TV.  Between naps, I theorized that I could eat soup, watch Judge Judy, eat some more soup and maybe catch a True Hollywood Story, or maybe even a rerun of Taradise on E! (Judge me all you want, but bad daytime TV can cure a bad cold much faster than any cough suppressant.  And it goes down better.)

After two days of learning about all the new fitness fads out there, of which Yoga Booty was my favorite, my illness had yet to pass and I was beginning to feel a bit guilty for not actually doing anything.  My answer to this was to write some emails to friends I had not spoken with in a while, maybe read some articles dissecting the new Library School rankings and maybe (this was stretch) read up on healthy financial planning.

But I don’t have Internet access at my home.

Let me back up.  As a strong supporter of the TV, I allocate funds to Comcast and not to AOL.  At one time, I had given AOL my money to keep me connected to the outside/not-really-outside world, but in one moment of budget clarity, I chose to scale back.  I knew my decision to forego Internet access was earth shattering when I would casually remark to some people that I could not go online and they would give me a disbelieving look.  I will say, though, that most of these people are Computer Science majors. 

At home while sick, I realized just how important Internet access is to people.  For me, when I go back to school, it will be essential.  Creating my portfolio, sending emails that have “???????” subject lines to my instructors and the ability to research materials from online databases are par for the course in graduate school.  I had taken all this for granted because up until now, I could always rely on my lunch break at work to satisfy my Internet needs. The more I thought about it, the more I began to worry that I may have to give up cable in order to make this work.

But then I remembered that I work in a library.  Libraries have computers.  Libraries have computers with online access.  University libraries also have online electronic resources that only universities have access to.  And it was at this somewhat panicked, still very sick moment that I realized libraries are so much more essential then the credit even I give them.  Truth be told, I even felt reassured about my decision to go back to school after this moment, because I knew that I firmly believed that this whole “shelving books and stamping job” (as some I know call it) is really important.

In the end, I did sign up for basic Internet that week I was home sick.  But it is a free trial, and I will be cancelling it soon enough.

Then I can get back to watching my TV.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: Is there a more worthy cause than getting Stina Internet access at home? I think not. You can send your donations to me: Joe Hodnicki, University of Cincinnati Law Library, PO Box 210142, Cincinnati, OH 45221. Please make your check payable to Stina McClintock.

If we don't receive sufficient funds to keep basic Internet for one year, Stina can use the money for library school.

Or shoes.

A View From the Stacks: What about the photo contest?

An open letter to AALL:

Dear AALL-

National Library Week was just not the same this year.

I’ll be honest, I am a little hurt right now.  National Library Week came and went, and there was no hint of having another photo contest for “Day in the Life of a Law Library.”  After last year, the Public Relations Committee called the contest a “success”, as well as other applicable synonyms.  In December’s issue of Spectrum, the intro to the photo winners highlighted the fact that photos from all over the country came in, showcasing the profession in all its fun, serious, busy and fashionable glory.  Even Elvis made a cameo in one of the photos!

Now, understand that I am not upset because I wanted to replicate the photo I was in last year, only with different shoes.  And no, I did not buy that new pair of stilettos just for the photo.  They went nicely with a bag I am eyeing.  And even though I considered lobbying the library to fly Tina Ching up to Seattle from Phoenix to take award-winning pictures, I figured that this would seem excessive in the eyes of some.  No, the real reason I am upset about no photo contest is because taking photos gave us law library folk something fun to do during National Library Week.

I think it is a bit difficult for a law library to plan events during NLW.  Not because a law library staff lacks creativity or desire (OK, this may be true in some cases), but because it is pretty difficult to offer a read-along hour in the courthouse featuring Moore’s Federal Practice Volume 2.  And offering cookies and bookmarks is a nice way to draw attention to the fact that a National Library Week even exists, but the week is for patrons and library staff alike.  A photo contest is just the thing that engages staff and patrons together.  Plus, it provides AALL with a lot of photos to use in future Spectrum articles.

So why not make this photo contest an annual event?  Allowing law libraries to submit photos that we believe most accurately display our libraries is one part showing off and another part sharing input about how we fit into the community.  And while there is the incentive of winning, there is also the fact that each year we could look for new things in our libraries to highlight.  For example, I have always believed that the sport of book-cart racing is not just for the local public library anymore.  And what better way to show the world law library athletic prowess then taking photos of it during National Library Week?

I ask that you please take this idea into serious consideration. 

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: Book-cart racing, a Gen Y sport. I raced book carts some 30 years ago but now I favor law library pitch and putt golf tournaments. 

"I think one of the funniest parts of the [photo] controversy is this outrage over sexy stiletto shoes. Who knew that I am so sexy because of my shoes?" - Stina

Quoted by Tina Ching in Images from a Library: Reflections on a photo and a profession, AALL Spectrum (March 2006) at 21.

Award winning photographer, Tina S. Ching (Arizona State), writes about taking the historic "Shelving in Silhouette" photo with Stina and offers her thoughts about smashing pumpkins and passing the torch to a new generation in her March 2206 AALL Spectrum article Images from a Library: Reflections on a photo and a profession:

Perhaps the most significant issue that can be derived from the photo is the entrance of a new generation of law librarians. In the photo, the person shelving is looking forward, not back at the camera as is most common in photos. What is she looking at? Being Seattle, she was most likely looking at the fog or rain, but it can be interpreted as her looking to the future. According to the AALL Gen X Gen Y Task Force Members’ Briefing from December 2004, both McClintock and I are members of the generation known as Gen Y (born after 1977). I will not go into a discussion of generation issues here (best tackled in its own article); I will simply say that believe it or not, Gen Y has already entered the profession.

A View from the Stacks: Everything I Need To Know I Learned From My Math Book?

Higher standardized test scores are to better school admissions what Oprah’s Books Club is to better book sales.  Wait, no, that is not the proper analogy.  Or is it?

I bought a GRE book a while back off Amazon.com in the hopes of spurring along my higher-higher education track.  Turns out that it makes a wonderful prop for my curling iron, balancing my $50 Kmart table and making it look like I am serious about this whole going back to school.

My reluctance to dive right into this book is based on the simple fact that every time I look at the math portion, I think the same thing: where in the history of law librarianship has someone needed to answer a reference questions involving the area and volume of a cone? Or calculating the amount of space a cylinder occupies?  My 12th grade calculus teacher may be disheartened to hear that after I passed my college admissions math tests, the most math I have done is to balance my check book (albeit on rare occasions).  But when I open my GRE test prep book, I am confronted with differential equations, formulas that I know I once knew and those annoying matrix things.  And I begin to wonder, “Do graduate programs really look at the GRE?”

Turns out they do. 

And each year it gets more competitive to get into the top programs.  So now, I have found myself in the situation much like I was in the 10th grade, prepping for the SAT: making flashcards.  Nothing fancy, but frankly, in beginning to review those tricky little formulas that I at one time really enjoyed working on, I have begun to see the benefit in being an active learner in all stages of life.  I never really understood the value of intellectual curiosity when I was in high school because they pretty much forced it on me.  But today, I realize that allowing skills that I once had to fall to the wayside has resulted in me making flashcards.  The same flashcards I made when I was 16, for that matter.

But, in the end, I think I can honestly say that I will be better off for really taking the time to study for this rite-of-passage test.  Because my initial instinct to wing it might end up backfiring when the first question I see asks me to identify the value of a plane cut by two lines in three-dimensional space.

And I break the computer out of frustration.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: No calculus or trig in LSATs because, as we all know, lawyers aren't rocket scientists.

A View from the Stacks: So, What Really Goes On In Those Librarian Staff Meetings?

On any given day, I am reminded that life is full of many little mysteries. Some of these mysteries hold no real impact on daily life. For example, how do dog food companies know that their dog food is “better tasting” then their competitors? Or how did Anna Nicole Smith get her own reality show?

Each week, the librarians at my work meet to discuss library issues in a closed-door setting. It has always seemed so secretive to me. Through the window, I can see that the librarians are furiously scribbling (well, some are) down notes on their agenda sheets. And after an hour, they emerge, still discussing one thing or another, leaving me to wonder: What in the world is going on in there?

When I first started working at King County Law Library, the librarians would meet weekly for something called “Breakfast Club.” Early on, I noticed these weekly meetings because I thought breakfast was being served at them. After a few months, I noticed two things: 1) the staff did not know what was going on in those weekly meetings and 2) Breakfast was never served.

After three years of working here, and one director change, the weekly meeting went from “Breakfast Club” to the even more puzzling weekly “Staff Meeting.” Puzzling because a staff meeting would imply the entire staff. Not just the librarians. But beyond that, I wondered if the change in name marked a fundamental change in the weekly meetings themselves?

With National Library Week coming up (April 2-8…get your vendor gear now!!), my chance to finally sit in on one of these weekly meetings arrived. When our director wrote an email addressed to the entire staff soliciting ideas for NLW, I decided it was far more important to think up fun things to do than actually file the Federal Standard Tax Reporter. I guess my constant “what if we did this?” line of questioning to the higher-ups was just enough that I ended up being asked to attend the weekly meeting to discuss planning.

Boy, was I disappointed.

For some reason I expected that these newly anointed “Staff Meetings” involved plotting world domination, or, at the very least, cookies. To my surprise, this was not the case. Instead, everyone took turns throwing out ideas (Side note: I whole-heartedly believe that National Library Week would only benefit from having “County Law Librarians vs. County Judges” compete in a friendly game of Twister) and listening to other people’s ideas. A lot of head nodding, some volunteering to take on a task, and that was it. In fact, not even an hour went by before an email detailing the discussion from this meeting went out to the entire staff. So much for feeling like I was “in the know.”

Don’t get me wrong. I am glad I got to sit in on the meeting and actually have some of my ideas taken seriously. The beauty of a small staff is that I get the opportunity to see many sides of the library. In the future, I will know that librarians at my work meet up to throw out ideas and see what sticks. And the closed-door policy is just an attempt to keep out the sounds of the reference well. And the furious scribbling? Well, frankly, I am not sure what that is all about.

But I do know one thing: If I am asked to a meeting again, I am bringing cookies.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

A View from the Stacks: That Guy From ER Is A Librarian?

No not George Clooney.  The other guy from ER, Noah Wyle.

So it seems that Noah Wyle just wrapped up production on a follow up film to 2004’s The Librarian:  Quest for the Spear called (I hope temporarily) Librarian 2. 

Frankly, I am outraged.

Dr. Carter is no librarian.  I have never, in my life, seen a male librarian who looks like Noah Wyle.  Or, for that matter, have I ever heard of a librarian having to go on a quest to find a missing artifact with a skilled marital arts lady.  How dare Dr. Carter insinuate that male librarians are attractive, albeit meek, and go on adventures.  I have to say that that sort of stereotype really damages the profession as a whole.

(Sarcasm is hard to infer through typing.  Just for the record, the above statement is a joke.  I think Noah Wyle is great.  But George Clooney is better.)

A few days ago, one of my favorite “librarians portrayed in film” movies was on TV.  From one library blog to another, this film is mentioned, generally in a good light.  The story, or so it goes, is about a young woman, in debt, who takes a job as a library clerk to earn money (and oh, can I relate).  Later in the movie, she decides that she does not hate the job as much as she thought, and in fact wants to get her master’s degree in library sciences.  Parker Posey plays the main character of this film (before her Scream 3 days).

Anyways, the title of the film is what I like the most.  Not just because it goes counter to the stereotypes of librarians, but because I can identify: Party Girl. 

Actually, I don’t throw, nor go to many parties, but I like to believe I am fun.  And parties should be fun.  If you go to a boring party, you might as well just mill around a 7-11 for a while.  At least you have access to cheap beer there.  And sometimes, when librarians get so upset about their portrayal by the greater society, they forget to have fun.  And in circumstances where you feel slighted by a particular way someone has shown the profession, it is far better to have fun (especially if the alternative is being catty).  In fact, librarians should have a lot of fun breaking profession stereotypes.  If you think the sexy librarian is an inaccurate portrayal, then leave your stilettos in the closet (but don’t forget about them).  And if you think a pencil should be for writing and not anchoring a bun on the back of your head, don’t make it your life’s work to have all pencils removed from the library, just don’t put one in your hair.

As someone who looks forward to becoming a degree holding librarian, I have to say that I am worried that maybe the profession suffers from not having enough fun at our own expense.  Certain stereotypes are harmful, and I am in no way saying that they should be taken lightly.  But to get upset about how a costume designer dresses an actor who is playing a librarian is simply foreign to me.  Even worse, however, is when librarians get upset with each other for just being themselves.  As far as I know, no one librarian has the power to “set back the profession” by the way they look, dress or choose to accessorize.   If so, that would be one influential person. So influential that they may even be able to save the TV show Arrested Development from being officially cancelled.

What makes Party Girl such a great film is that it dares to not make a statement about librarians (plural).  Instead, it just tells a story about a librarian (singular).  Which, in a way, is statement itself: we are a profession of individuals.  Who knows how to have fun. 

In our own individual sort of way. 

P.S.  For more on one aspect of this topic, please take a minute to look through the upcoming March issue of AALL’s Spectrum.  When you come across the article written by Ms. Tina Ching, please stop what you are doing and read it.  As usual, she has written a thought provoking, and highly entertaining, piece on the subject of capturing the librarian image on camera.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: My heart sank when I read "I have never, in my life, seen a male librarian who looks like Noah Wyle." Then I remembered Stina and I have never met in person. Then I looked in the mirror and decided that our not meeting was probably a good thing.

A View from the Stacks: If everything is on the Internet, then why don’t we have any shelf space?

Everything is on the Internet.

I know this because I “googled” myself the other day and I came up.  Which means, that in my universe, everything is on the Internet.  I am on the Internet.

So why is it that when I come to work, I am constantly shifting books to make room for more books?  Since I am a library technician, I have first hand knowledge of the shelving situation at my work because I am the girl who shelves (and yes, always in heels).   Countless times, I have been told by patrons (and sometimes friends) that everything they need is on the Internet, so someday shelving will be a thing of the past.  I am not so sure that this is a reliable statement.  In fact, I am fairly confident that space issues in our library can be so drastic at times that it can only compare to my home closet and the age-old “one too many shoes, not enough floor space” dilemma.

In The Myth of the Paperless Office, Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper study paper and its usage in people’s lives.  The book addresses the notion that one day, offices will be paperless, desks will be clean and all our information will be in a digital format.  Since I have not done a formal book review since college, I will spare you my thoughts, but just say that it is worth the read.  Especially since it provides some interesting counter arguments to those who go so far as to say that books will someday be obsolete. (Sorry folks, could not find the book in its entirety online, thus proving my whole point).

But what about things that are already online?  We have patrons that come in all the time asking for materials to be pulled up via the Internet.  Chances are, though, that they will not read the information on the computer itself, but print whatever resources they find so they can read them later.  Books, more to the point, paper, provide people with this option.  Books can be highlighted (not borrowed materials, of course), dog-eared and flagged.  People can put a book down and come back to it later.  And from what I can tell riding the bus in the morning, books are still pretty popular.  That or nobody is reading the books themselves, just trying to look occupied.  Either way, they are useful.

Someday everything may be on the Internet.  Every book may be scanned and available to read online.  I am willing to bet, however, that I will still be trying to decide how to shift the digests in the library to make room for the 12 new volumes that arrived in the mail.

In heels.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

A View from the Stacks: Are you a librarian? A law student? What do you do here?

It seems that I have developed quite the love/hate relationship with the term “Library Technician.” On any given day, sometimes any given hour, library patrons like to inquire about my “library credentials.” An example if you will:

Patron: Are you a librarian?
Me: No
Patron: Law student?
Me: No
Patron: [confused] Should you even be behind the desk? I think that sign says staff only.

I have worked at King County Law Library for about 4 years now (killing time until American Idol/ Jeopardy finally calls), and after hearing this question asked more times then “Where is the restroom?” I decided there was only one thing to do about it: Lie.

Turns out I am bad at lying.

I had to adopt a new approach. But then it dawned on me that maybe it was time. Time to settle down and fill out the paperwork. Time to realize that my initial dream of reality TV stardom may not be in the stars and that a master’s degree may be more rewarding then getting rich quick eating some internal organ of some dearly departed animal.

This decision has made my mother and coworkers very happy. My mother is happy for obvious reasons (master’s degree=job promotion=daughter not asking for money as much). And I think my coworkers are happy that post-MLS, I can now stop the inquisitive patron after their first question of “are you a librarian?” with a confident sounding “yes”.

Or a nod. I may be smug at that point. Who knows?

Which brings me to this writing thing. This whole master’s degree decision has brought up a lot of questions. Questions about the process, about the work, even about the decision itself. Will libraries be obsolete in 20 years? Will West and Lexis really give me money to go to school and not just pens that light up and coffee mugs? I have lots of questions, and by writing about them, hopefully I can get some answers.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: I'm pleased to announce that Stina McClintock will be writing the "A View from the Stacks" column for Law Librarian Blog. The column will appear on Mondays, every other week, give or take a day, a week... If you don't recognize Stina's name, you probably recognize the above image of her. If you don't recognize the image, you must have been in a coma for the last three months.

Stina is "the girl in the photo." Stop the PC nonsense! This is how Stina has referred to herself in this context. The photo won first place in the Best Overall category in AALL's A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest." See the December 2005 issue of AALL Spectrum if you can find a copy. I've been collecting as many as I can to sell on eBay (hereinafter as "my retirement plan").

In addition to wearing heels while explaining to patrons why she can be behind the circ desk, shelving books in the stacks, replacing pocket parts, and all the other library tech stuff we "professionals" dump on our grossly underpaid assistants, Stina is preparing for library school. I'd hire Stina right now even without a MLS degree but then so would any 50-something, balding, overweight, married with teenage step-sons, true blue American male. [Note to self: I'm going to catch hell from some humorless 1970s feminist for that statement.]

Stina has an off-the-charts LSAT score, a degree in feminist studies, if I recall correctly, and a great sense of humor about herself and her world. In discussing the publicity generated by her award winning photo, she wrote in an email to me the following:

You know, notoriety can be a fickle thing. When I was in the third grade, a haiku I wrote on leaves made the local paper and I got an extra cupcake from my teacher on "Fun Friday" that month. Later in life, I had an essay published in the local paper, and strangely, no cupcake.

LOL. Did I mention, Stina also judges home brews contests! If Stina represents the future of law librarianship (and I hope she does), I will die a happy man, albeit sooner than I care to if my wife reads this post.

For earlier posts published in this blog about Stina's award winning photo, taken by Tina Ching, Reference Librarian (Arizona State) and submitted by Kimberly Ann Ositis, Reference Library (King County Law Library), see Winning Photo in AALL Contest (Oct. 20, 2005), The Girl in the Photo Speaks! (Nov. 14, 2005) and The Girl in the Photo (Dec. 6, 2005).

God bless America.