Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

As the first summer session draws to end, I have tentatively decided to stick to my guns and take the rest of the summer off. Given that the University offered a Museum Studies course at the last minute, this has been a tough choice (largely dictated by the demands of money, transportation, and early marriage). Well, as that great philosopher Mick Jagger once opined, you can't always get what you want.

In the meantime, I am going to make it my mission over the remaining weeks of this stifling Texas summer to gather a comprehensive list of perfectly free resources for the aspiring young historian.

Some things we will be exploring:

1. Free online lectures
-- Videos, presentations, and notes from some of the top professors of the country's most acclaimed universities, all at your fingertips. Although resources for the liberal disciplines lag a bit behind the sciences, expect to be amazed/delighted/impressed.
2. Government resources
-- In the spirit of David Ferriero, self-titled "Collector-In-Chief"... those wacky historians who find themselves high in the federal ranks get just giddy at the opportunity to share their findings with the people at large; we will have a look at some of the programs, resources, and websites they have sponsored.
3. Disciplinary resources
-- Sites like http://archiveswiki.historians.org, put together by professional historians to facilitate research at all levels.
4. Whatever else we can find!

So, stay tuned...

Ever one to keep a promise...

Obviously,in my last post, I proposed a rather ambitious project (especially considering it fell right in the middle of Finals Season and coincided with my belated honeymoon). While I would love to touch on that subject at some point in the future, there are many other blogs far funnier and better suited. So, in lieu of adding to the web clutter I will recommend a few books on the topic instead.

1. "Free for all: oddballs, geeks, and gangstas in the public library."
Borchert, Don.
2. "Quiet, please : dispatches from a public librarian."
Douglas, Scott

Public librarianship is largely misunderstood, at least on the front lines of reference and circulation. Basically, you should ask yourself whether you have ever wanted to be a grocery clerk, babysitter, public case worker, security guard, manual laborer, secretary, custodian, private detective, and teacher. Simultaneously. With little pay (and even less appreciation).

If your adoration of literature, humanity, and inquiry can withstand those demands, you my friend are destined to be a librarian. That being said, it was a tremendously satisfying job in the same way a bag of Bertie Bott's jelly beans might be satisfying... sometimes, the flavors are sublime, and sometimes you find yourself eating a booger.