Bunny and I were talking about information literacy last night -- and no, we are not usually that librarian-geeky at home, there was an actual reason for it -- and we both tend to rebel against the prevailing mentality among many librarians that Google Is Evil. Sure, we don't go for the first hit off a search and take it as gospel, but a Google search is a start toward finding related keywords and broader/narrower views of what you're looking for. Wikipedia is another example of this sort of thing -- where else are you going to find such a current summation of the Israel-Lebanon conflict? -- as long as you don't take the information as incontrovertible fact, but use it as a jumping-off point for further research.

(Hey look, every now and then I post something of informational substance!)

Anyway. On that note, Google has a government-specific search engine, which can be really useful for a law librarian.

More on what a librarian should/could do these days: Skills for the 21st Century Librarian. (I also think library schools should offer a retro class, like "skills for the 20th century librarian," where students learn how to fix copiers and lift boxes properly and build/repair bookshelves and project their voices and assert themselves in the face of pompous administrators...)

Speaking of administration and pomposity...the inflated salaries of the top White House staff don't surprise me, but the $30,000/year salaries for other staffers do. Is 30K a decent living wage in DC? I wouldn't think so...

Hey, librarians, you can host a murder mystery event in your library! I think the mortuary college would have a lovely time with this. Har.

I had no idea you could get an out-of-state library card for the New York Public Library. Sure, it's expensive, but the amount of information you can use with it might be worth it to a solo librarian or a grad student.

The Photography Preservation Society not only has a neat website, they have good ideas. It'll be interesting to see how preservation develops in the era of digital photos and mp3s.

And lastly, for the techies: fun and/or incomprehensible error messages. You can go back and view the previous month's, and then just keep going back in time to see more. I especially like the message that tells the user to "call Henrik." Lucky Henrik.

Tomorrow: links from others!