my new t-shirt

Library Science thanks to my friend cathy, i am the proud owner of this t-shirt!

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the peer review process as collaboration

a few weeks ago i got the reviews on an article i had submitted for publication.  long story short, the decision was to revise and resubmit.  i knuckled down and read through the reviewers’ and editor’s suggestions, to figure out how to incorporate the changes.  the changes weren’t so much about the content, but about how to rearrange the order of the paper’s elements for a different effect.  after revising, using their suggestions, i ended up with a paper that was broader in scope and much more interesting to a general audience.  in the end the paper was  better than the one i initially submitted.

i guess i’ve always thought about the peer review process as a kind of test on my concept and methodology; i hadn’t ever thought of it as a collaborative effort on the craft of writing.  but without the suggestions of the reviewers the article would have only been interesting to a narrow audience; their ideas broadened the possible readership.  i’ll keep this in mind for future articles — the reviewers aren’t there to just judge, but are there to guide the process of academic communication.

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weboggle

weboggle

Posted in monkeys/bananas | 1 Comment

a year in librarianship

today marks a year that i’ve been a librarian. here are a few things that have surprised me during the year:

  • some of my colleagues are more word-nerdy than i
  • writing collaboratively has given me a new perspective on the peer-review process
  • being the youngest librarian on staff hasn’t been intimidating
  • though i had no ambitions to work at a reference desk, my 2-hour weekly shifts are quite enjoyable
  • i haven’t had to cheerlead my staff to do a solid job; they do it naturally

sounds like it’s been a pretty good year, yes?

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russian nesting bags

it seems that there are two ways to store your plastic grocery bags: all jammed inside a bin or the russian nesting bag way (one bag inside another, inside another, ad infinitum). i prefer the every-bag-for-itself way because when i reach inside our storage bin i am certain to pull out just one bag. by storing them the russian-nesting-doll way it is likely that instead of pulling out just one bag i’ll actually get one bag filled with many other bags, which can be frustrating when i’m in a hurry.

does anyone have a really good way to store plastic grocery bags?

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