The Liminal Librarian

OK, no surprise to anyone, but this blog is now officially defunct. It’s been de facto defunct for quite a while, but I figured I should add closure here: Farewell.

This is largely because I’ve moved on to other ventures. If you’d like to follow those, head over to my totally unrelated site at MashupMom.com. I’m still around… I’m just not still around here! Guess I took that whole alternative career thing just a little too far.

Go figure! Amazon just dropped their pre-order price on Point, Click, and Save: Mashup Mom’s Guide to Saving and Making Money Online down to $13.46! (Not that I’m obsessively looking at my pretty book cover on Amazon or anything…) I wasn’t going to mention it again already, but thought I’d note the price drop. I’m not sure if I should be pleased that maybe more people might buy it, or sad for the lost royalties.

I find this both amusing and telling. Yesterday’s post about shrinking speaking engagements and conferences attracted zero comments here — but a number of comments on Facebook. So, I wrote in my Facebook status line yesterday:

fascinated as always by the fact that blog posts get a bunch of comments on facebook, none on the blog itself. It’s funny how conversations move over the years.

… which, in itself, got more comments on Facebook than any post here (yes, I know they’re dwindling ) has received in probably a year.

Then I went in my feedreader and ran across Meredith Farkas’ “W(h)ither blogging and the library blogosphere?” about microblogging and how it’s transforming the biblioblogosphere. (Sorry, I still like the word!) Meredith’s post? Up to 38 comments and counting. Is this because Meredith is an “A-list” blogger and has a bajillion readers? Or is it because she’s one of the few people still writing these long, thoughtful blog posts that she misses, and people want to be part of that conversation?

My other (totally nonlibrary) blog gathers many more comments than does The Liminal Librarian. Is this because I post more often there, or because of the topic, or because the people who are into that type of blog tend read it directly rather than on Facebook/FriendFeed?

Yes, I have more questions than answers. But am just wondering how people choose where to continue conversations online, and would love to… have a conversation about it!

After yesterday’s post, I got a message on Facebook asking: So what do you speak about, anyway? Well, that’s a reasonable question. So, here are a few recent topics:

• Career building in a down economy
• Alternative careers for librarians and info pros
• The cross-generational library workforce
• Writing for publication
• Accidental library management
• Getting unstuck

I also do local classes on saving money with coupons, so if your library is in the Chicago area, drop me a line about that! I’m happy to chat about rates, other topics, and your group’s needs, so email me at rachel@lisjobs.com, and we’ll talk.

And, if you’re reading this and don’t know who the heck I am (thanks!), here’s:

• My bio, and
• My resume, listing all the workshops/presentations I’ve ever done, ever .

Just published the January issue of Info Career Trends, on “alternative work arrangements.” Some interesting stuff in there for those of you interested in telecommuting or other flexibility.

If you’re reading this, I’ve managed to successfully migrate over to WordPress. Please update your bookmarks and subscriptions.

(I’m working on importing old content, but this will be the new URL, regardless!)