List-servs

Today I got an email through my government documents librarian list-serv from one of my old professors. It's been over a year since I've seen him, and then there he was, telling everyone that the Depository Library Council is working with the GPO to fix the problems with PURL (did anyone else undestand that, because I know I didn't!)

I emailed him back (privately, not so the whole list could read!) and told him about my job and what I was doing here, and we've been having an e-mail chat about government docs and reference services for researchers, and all the crazy things I'm doing.

It's kind of cool. I've been feeling awfully lonely and isolated, being the only librarian here. It's been a hard leap from working in two public libraries, where I'm surrounded by library advocates, and interested patrons, not to mention from being a student at Dominican, where I lived and breathed library advocacy (and occasssionally LISSA bar nights). So it's nice to know that the avenues I'm taking to stay connected with the library world aren't peopled with strangers.

Of course, I've got this blog, and other people's blogs, and Facebook, etc., to keep me connected, but the list-servs are so immediate, and so directly related to helping me do my job. On my old list-servs, which were all related to children's and young adult library services, there was a feeling of community to the list members. There's not so much of that with the uber-professional lists, like Gov Docs. Of course, there also arent's 50-email-long arguments about whether John Green's latest book is good, or if Accelerated Reader programs help or hinder. So I guess things even out.

This post has been all over the place. I have a cold, and I think it's making my head fuzzy.