Our Own Selves: More Meditations For Librarians

Abstract

Amid thorny and challenging issues facing librarians today - technological changes, the pressures of multitasking, budget cuts, the Patriot Act, hassled customers, job insecurity - there's solace in realizing that others experience similar frustrations. In Our Own Selves, bestselling author, revered librarian, and ALA president-elect, Michael Gorman creates 100 new meditations specifically addressing the issues at the heart of the library profession. Reaffirming the value of librarianship and reintroducing the joys that make it unlike any other vocation, Gorman expands and follows up on his popular first collection of meditations, Our Singular Strengths (ALA Editions, 1997). Gorman traverses broad swaths of ground, with such intriguing essays as: Living with bibliomania; Four centuries of information overload; Micromanage this! The belligerent librarian; The allure of paper; The curse of PowerPoint; Each reflective essays opens with a quote and concludes with a Resolution, all in a succinct meditation for a quick mental pickup. The affirmations that conclude each meditation present attitudes and actions that are potent reminders: librarians are far from helpless in addressing these challenging times in their profession.

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