There is nothing private about going online

In September of 2008, Christine Stoddard, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada gave a speech about the use of social networking sites and their implications in regards to personal privacy and employee rights. If you work in Canada and have a social networking profile, you should read her speech.

Though I agree with many points in the speech and found some of the stories enlightening, I have long believed that if you have used a password to enter a site--as opposed to a Google search which leads you to information--you have violated a person's privacy. I also feel that people who use the sites to troll for information about people in this manner should be suspended from the site. I feel that more openness, as the commissioner describes is best:

If you do monitor the sites employees are looking at and how much time they spend there, you should tell them.

The simple work-around for my suggestion is when your friends hi-jack your personal information from the site and post it on a freely available site on the Internet. Good luck getting the ISP that hosted the site to give you the information to take the poster to court. There are protections for stealing people's personal property, or attempting to extort from people by taking their personal information, but we don't seem to have figured out yet how this will work online--possibly because we don't recognize it as personal space.

I do feel that it violates my charter rights to demand that I stop associating with certain (adult) people on a social networking site, or to track any information about my religious or political affiliations, or deny me a place online to "hang out" with friends. In case you aren't sure what those are--or you're not a Canadian--lo,

• freedom of conscience and religion;
• freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
• freedom of peaceful assembly; and
• freedom of association. 

I think we need to start thinking of the Internet in terms of a space, a forum, for assembly, as opposed to an amorphous "out there" that seems to have nothing to do with our lives or freedoms.

Oh, and don't be a jackass. At least not where people can see you.

I found a flaw

Keeping up with the bailout/meltdown coverage, Alan Greenspan testified at a congressional hearing about the practices at the Federal Reserve--which he presided over for 18 years--that could have contributed to the meltdown. Essentially, Greenspan says that by trusting banks to regulate themselves, he believed that they would show more astute self-interest than living from quarter to quarter. They did not and the system melted like a candle burnt at both ends.

Yahoo's Tech Ticker is a bit kindlier to Greenspan than the NYTimes article. Bill Moyer's Journal also carefully dissected Greenspan's testimony in light of Greenspan's intellectual allegiance to Ayn Rand. Yes, what you read can make a difference--not only to you, but many, many others.

Jobacle Professional Resume Writing Challenge

If you have ever considered hiring a professional resume writer to craft a resume for you, you may want to check out Jobacle's Professional Resume Writing Challenge. Andrew, the [evil??] mastermind of Jobacle has offered up his resume to 12 professional resume writers and is posting their makeovers, including his own draft, over the next few days. As of Friday, he was into day seven, so you can see 7 different versions of his resume and check out the new arrivals.

I think he has a lot of experience with recognized companies on his resume already, as well as some great experiences, so his resume is a standout (unless it arrived coated with Dijon, or he was in a slush pile of Rhode Scholars, he would probably get an interview,) but his tips are good and the challenge will answer the question: is it worth my money and time to hire a resume writer?

I'm your boss

There are a few library school students who have gone to library school with the intention of snagging a promotion. When they get it, if it is at the same the library they have worked at throughout school, they will become the boss of their former friends. Leila's House of Corrections has some suggestions on how to manage this new situation.


Also check out the House of Corrections video on eye contact. It gives me a chuckle but it is so helpful for interviews and customer service.

Leaving the door unlocked

Do you check your personal or school email at work? I bet that you do. Many workplaces will certainly allow you to do so, especially if you are on your break, but if you are checking your email at work, do you remember to close it afterward?

There are several terminals in my workplace that are shared terminals, meaning that they are not open to the public, but that many workers use the same terminal. And some of these workers leave their email open, including actual messages that they were replying to, or they have chat windows open. In fact, a little feud started a few years ago amongst a person who had left their email open, and the person who sent out email, pretending to be the owner, from their opened email account. Just fun messages, nothing mean. Now, I'm not condoning the emailing masquerade, but I think that the account owner should have been more careful and guarded their privacy by shutting down the account. Not to mention the fact that the person rather callously assumed that their business was so important that it deserved to remain, as is, on the terminal, as if no one else could possibly need that computer.

It doesn't matter if you will be right back--someone is going to read what is on your screen. They are going to find about your marks, how unhappy you are with a professor or your boss, and your pet names for your hunk o'burning love.

During a job search, it is better to act with greater discretion, so either avoid emailing from shared terminals or make darn sure that you never walk away--for a coffee or to the bathroom--with your email, Facebook or LinkedIn accounts open for all and sundry. Protect your business a little better, and remember that your workplace is letting you use that terminal, it's not yours.

That's enthusiasm

If people ask if you are enthusiastic about libraries, your career and the mission of your workplace, you should look like this.



With a little less panting and jumping, but no less sincerity.

It's the economy, baby

Since the economy is on everybody's mind and lips, it may not hurt to do some tracking about what is being said about the economy in these turbulent times. During my daily work, I have to read labour market information and stay on top of economic indicators in general. Sometimes, I come across items that I think that everybody should take a look at, or they offer a summary of what is happening.

Again, without historical perspective it is difficult to determine WTF is happening--and even then, experts won't always agree. But it can help you feel better if you know just a bit about what is going on.

And you might get a question on these in an employment interview--reference librarians, if you don't read or follow at least one newspaper you're going to blow these questions. You might save yourself on pop culture--Daft Punk for 200, Alex?--but reading the newspaper is a requirement.

So, for today, watch Yahoo Tech Ticker explain the 5 signs of a recession.

LinkedIn Maintenance

Jason Alba of JibberJobber has a good post about some basic LinkedIn maintenance that you should perform on your profile: make sure the main email address for your LinkedIn profile belongs to you. It shouldn't be your employer-supplied email and it shouldn't be your college email, since those aren't yours and have a limited lifespan. Hypothetically, you will want to keep your LinkedIn profile for the remainder of your professional life.

The same goes for your LibGig profile, or really, any social networking profile you maintain. The address you use should not be the most convenient, but the one that you personally "own",

Layoff creepers

Bob Sutton, the author of the No Asshole Rule, has a thought-provoking post on his blog about the quality of the workers who will lose their jobs if layoffs occur. Do the innovators get the pink slip--and the slackers, possibly by virtue of tenure, get to stay?

This is not to say that new workers are the brightest apples in the bushel, but that sometimes layoffs mean that organizations lose quality workers--and probably the people that they could least afford to lose in a crisis. Sutton makes a good argument for the timing of layoffs and how, if you must layoff, to give workers enough of a lead to know what will happen, so they can resort to plan B. In addition, he also mentions companies, like Toyota, that invest in training and skills development during a downturn. Remember, he advises, recruiting and training replacement staff, on the upswing, is as significant a cost as keeping workers through the downswing.

But it probably earns more goodwill to retain than to let them funnel down the layoff drain.

And how will you be paying for this?

According to this article from American Libraries, the stock market collapse will have consequences for many libraries that rely on endowments for funding, which means cuts to library hours, as well as, library staff. This could mean layoffs--but it could also mean decreased hiring in the coming year. It could also mean keep the people but fewer books and licenses, so don't despair about job offers yet.

One thing you can do is some research to figure out how your prospective employers are funded. The American Library Association has a section on their site dedicated to library funding, and Library Journal also offers a roll of articles about library funding from their pages. The state or provincial library site should have information about how the libraries within that area are funded (state name + library in Google should get you these websites).

So don't lose your nuggets over the news, but do a dig into the money sources of your prospects. This should also be part of your basic employer research that you take to an interview.

Tech Therapy compares librarians to IT staff on campuses

According to this Tech Therapy podcast, librarians and IT staff on academic campuses have lots of commonalities, but they can't seem to get together to help one another. Forced collaborations, rather than voluntary project sharing, appears to be the big difference between these two groups.

They are looking for people from both departments to comment on their premise that librarians and IT can't seem to get along, and so far, not many comments (yes, some libraries call their patrons "users", some call them "clients" or "customers", others use "students"; it depends on the library), which I hope doesn't mean that librarians and IT personnel believe there is no way we can get along.

The meltdown and the bailout

The meltdown and the bailout are examples of how macroeconomics--large scale economics--can affect a person's microeconomics, your own little-big life and budget. But what the heck is going on?

What a good question, and since I am not an economist--generally skeptical and willing to wait for a little historical perspective--I have a few resources that will help you make up your own mind:

• NPR's This American Life is looking at the meltdown and explaining what is happening on Wall Street and Main Street, by looking at the housing crisis, as well as what is happening on Wall Street.
• ProPublica items tagged Wall Street Bailout, will help you keep on top of the stories.
• Business Week Behind the Cover Special Feature on the Bailout. In general, Business Week will have good up-to-date reporting on the bailout, so you might want to add it to your news reader.
• Silobreaker's Freetext Search Map on the "meltdown" will allow you to explore news stories and their connections.
  
• The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, published in January of this year, is looking awfully prescient. 
  
• If you want a historical view of past financial fiascos, the Wall Street Journal published a round-up on the five best books about past financial crises.