More Jessamyn - two great links from her site:

1. Overdue, a library comic strip. I especially liked this one, as it's the kind of misunderstanding we have at my house all the time.
2. Cybernetics and Librarianship by Lynn M. Fortney

"Automated library processes via integrated library systems, electronic databases with full text, e-books and online journals, the World Wide Web, and the interlinking of all of these information resources are making cybrarians of us all.  Why haven't these electronic wonders made librarianship obsolete?  Because after overcoming the first hurdle of "how to" use computer technology, librarians are in the best position to understand two important things: when to use the technology to locate information, and what to do with technology to better manage information resources...."

See Marylaine's Rules of Information for an illustration of why librarians are so important. But to get back to Lynn Fortney's essay:

"We've all heard and probably used the term "cyberlibrarian" and assume it to mean a librarian who is in constant touch with the Internet, but where did the word “cybernetics” originate? Norbert Wiener coined the term "cybernetics" more than 50 years ago, not to describe the use of computers, but rather as a term denoting the study of the use of messages to control machines and the use of communication to control society. He derived it from the Greek word “kerbernetes” – a “steersman”: the one who controls the ship....

'To live effectively is to live with adequate information' is a quote directly from Wiener's book.  His purpose for writing the book was to show that we exercise control over our environments based on the information we have available, and the more information we have, the less likely it is that we will succumb to the second law of thermodynamics: in a closed system, energy spontaneously runs down, leading to increasing entropy. As time progresses, a system will tend toward an equilibrium state of uniformity where nothing really new ever happens.  Are you lost yet?  Wiener's theory is that human beings and the machines we control constitute "local islands of decreasing entropy".  If the flow of information can work to "keep things happening", then libraries must be an integral part of a society’s successful future....

The traditionalist view is that libraries are about books, journals and pieces of information.  If it is so easy to get to any of these, what do they need us for?  However, think about what librarians actually do.  We collect information on behalf of our users, and we provide a means of access.  It is a relatively new innovation that we are able to connect users to information that we do not have in our own libraries.  Talk about "steering" patrons in the right direction…we should have invented the word "cybernetics" ourselves!"

I'll stop there because I'm finding myself quoting the whole article, so make sure you read it in its entirety for yourself.

""Being in the library is so addictive for me that I really have to exercise self-control so I can get some writing done at home," said Fitch in the March 12 issue.  Chevalier said of her experience in libraries, "I find that when I come out of the library I'm in what I call 'the library bliss' of being totally taken away from the distractions of life."

Part of ALA's Put It in Writing @ Your Library campaign with Woman's Day magazine. Could be fun, although Jessamyn warns that ALA and Woman's Day you're giving up rights to your submissions (check under the March 3 entries).

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that Teri has a blog, too, and It's All About Books. I had forgotten that she signed up with iGive in order to enable a percentage of purchases made through their link to go to the Chicago Library System. Great idea! It's seems like every time I see or talk to Teri, I learn something interesting about her that I didn't know before. She's another non-stereotypical librarian.

Today I learned that she used to work at an auction house. If you ever have the chance, ask her about her wedding....