Library Stuff

Your patrons may ask, so:

AnnualCreditReport.com is a centralized service for consumers to request annual credit reports. It was created by the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

AnnualCreditReport.com processes requests for free credit file disclosures (commonly called credit reports). Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) consumers can request and obtain a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. AnnualCreditReport.com provides consumers with the secure means to do so.

Phone and mail requests are also listed on the site. Western states are now available. Midwest states are available March 1st, Southern states June 1st, Eastern states and US territories, September 1st.

New Google beta. Good idea, bad idea? Discuss.

[link is to Ben Hammersley's weblog]

Thanks, Alexia, for the link to this GREAT library Flash cartoon: Overdue.

"Days like this make me want to go home and hug my kid."

I was having another in a string of what I call 'bad librarian days', when my energy level and my patience are both at low ebb, when the link to this blog came across my statewide list: Feel-good Librarian.

I have seen more heart-breaking, hopeless-looking situations at this desk than I could find in the newspaper. I have seen more joy and helpfulness standing before me than I knew existed. All at the Reference desk.

Think of yourself. Pretty complex little being, aren’t you? All your likes and dislikes, fears and phobias, secret fantasies and fetishes, must haves and can’t stands, all the things you are proud of and ashamed of; everything that makes up who you are: and there are six billion of us walking around the planet, all equally complex.

At the library, a piece of that world walks up to my desk every day. That’s what this blog is about.

Call her Pollyanna if you like, but she reminds us of why some of us work with the public by choice. Brava!

My favorite library comic strip, Unshelved, is celebrating its 3rd birthday. Bill and Gene have, consistently and with increasing skill, brightened my email and my day with their charming, quirky and occasionally snarky viewpoint on working in a public library. More than once, I've thought they were following me around at my job, detailing my day!

Congrats, guys. All the best from one of your biggest fans!

For the library geeks among us: watch Worldcat grow!

Thanks to Todd K.

Some new gear, including buttons and other non-wearable stuff.

My friend Tracey recently lost a dear colleague to cancer. Why do I mention this? Because from these descriptions, she strikes me as exactly the kind of supervisor we need more of in this profession. Positive, hard-working, open to change. Very sad.