Just because Meredith has taken up the AL's cause in the war over blogger anonymity or because the AL came in #1 on her library blog survey (even though no one actually voted for the AL) doesn't mean that she writes this blog.
Just consider the stylistic differences between our blogs. I write unusually long blog posts with lengthy paragraphs that are often satirical and sarcastic, which some people claim I can do because my real name isn't attached to them, whereas Meredith writes unusually long blog posts with lengthy paragraphs which are rarely satirical and sarcastic, because even though she might want to be sarcastic people know who she is and she has a career to think of. There's probably also no correlation between our blogging frequency, either, with my monthly number of posts high during months when hers are low and vice versa, though I couldn't check that without doing some research. On second thought, I don’t think you should bother doing that research. I’m sure there’s nothing interesting there. Oh, and she uses Wordpress, while I use Blogger. That's a huge difference right there.
Note as well our different accomplishments. As anyone who reads my profile will know, I'm possibly the most successful, respected, and desirable librarian of my generation. Meredith, on the other hand, has merely developed a high profile library blog, given myriad presentations, written a book, designed the popular Five Weeks to a Social Library course, put together the Library Success Wiki and several ALA conference wikis, become an American Libraries columnist, been asked to adjunct at a library school, and been named an LJ Mover and Shaker, all within three years of becoming a librarian. As you can see, these two profiles just don't match at all.
Finally, there’s just the enormous difference in tone and content. Meredith is cheery and upbeat most of the time, while the AL is pessimistic and critical. True, Meredith has occasionally been pessimistic and critical in the past, such as when she used to criticize the ALA, but that was a long time ago, before the AL came along to criticize the ALA. Sure, it's true that one of her criticisms involved the alleged librarian job shortage that the ALA is always promoting as just around the corner, but that was back before the AL came along to criticize the job shortage hoax. Now that the AL's around, Meredith doesn't have to write about that topic anymore. She can be cheery and upbeat and say nice things about the ALA and get to be a columnist for American Libraries. She wouldn't have been able to do that saying mean things about the ALA under her own name. And sure, it's true that Meredith argued that the ALA should "raise the accreditation standards for library schools" so that they were more rigorous, but that was back before the AL came along claiming library school was an intellectual joke and the ALA should raise the accreditation standards. Meredith doesn't have to write about stuff like that anymore now that the AL's around.
And Meredith writes about social software and library 2.0 and such, and it’s obvious that I’ve never even heard of most of those trendy things. Oh, and she never writes about public libraries. That’s definitely one topic we haven’t both written on. That’s because she’s an academic librarian. I guess I’m an academic librarian, too, but I probably don’t work at Norwich University in Vermont. Everyone knows I don’t like rural areas and that I prefer civilization, and if I don’t like rural areas I couldn’t very well live in one, now could I? No, I couldn’t.
These are just a few of the many obvious reasons why Meredith Farkas isn’t the Annoyed Librarian. There, I hope that has gone a long way to set the record straight.
And thanks for reading!
66 comments:
Thanks so much for clearing this up.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
She/you isn't/aren't? I don't know what to believe anymore.
As it seems that ms Farkas does never ever even mention martinis: I guess it's obvious that she's not you!
You lead with 5 comments to 3: a second good reason to assume non-identity!
I've been through Vermont and I can confirm they have some paved roads.
Wow! Meredith Whoeversheis got to do all that after only three years. Boy, at that pace, she's going to be REALLY tired thirty-two years from now when she gets ready to not retire.
Besides, everybody knows the AL is really Leslie Burger (either that or Walt Crawford).
Meredith, your wit is showing. Best tuck it away before you get put on an ALA Anti-Wit Committee!
The identity of the annoyed librarian is not nearly as important as the service she provides. The issues that she brings up are often relevant, usually funny and a reminder that we really need pursue an identity outside of profession. Read the Annoyed Librarian for your mental health :)
Hmmm...see I thought this was Gorman all along.
Also, readers of the now defunct "Relaxin' with the AL" will note that the AL is a Catholic. Meredith's resume lists work with Catholic organizations.
At least we now know the AL is a hottie.
I get feeds from both blogs, and I really needed that laugh today. Thanks, AL!
Hilarious! Well done.
Hmm, I was ready to step in and tow the line, except that the Farkas and AL stories about not being each other are practically identical, down to the same phrases.
I mean, if two unrelated people suddenly find they're being confused, they wouldn't both make almost the same denial.
Oh well, at least no one's figured out who I am.
I agree with Alex's comment that the identity of the Annoyed Librarian is not the point. I'd really rather not uncover that mystery! If her identity is revealed, she will no longer be able to get away with the content of her posts. It's time to move on, people, and simply revel in AL's posts.
RCN, SF Bay Area, California
A freely given image for all you AL's out there. Represent. http://tinyurl.com/24fje3
Ha! You just made my day AL.
"the Farkas and AL stories about not being each other are practically identical, down to the same phrases."
Pure coincidence.
"the Farkas and AL stories about not being each other are practically identical, down to the same phrases."
Pure coincidence
Uh-huh, I'm disappointed on more than a few levels. You were giving some of us who had hit the rails of despair something to rally to. Hope you had fun.
"I'm disappointed on more than a few levels. You were giving some of us who had hit the rails of despair something to rally to. Hope you had fun."
I'm not quite sure what this means.
Uh-huh, I'm disappointed on more than a few levels. You were giving some of us who had hit the rails of despair something to rally to. Hope you had fun.
You'd think a reader of this blog would have more of a sense of humor.
I keep waiting for "I'M the Annoyed Librarian!" posts to spring up on people's blog, a la Spartacus.
I happen to know that AL is a conduit for Mark C. Rosenzweig to present to the world the inner self, the alter ego that he's longed to show but couldn't due to a gag order issued by the US Communist Party.
Ugh. Meredith Farkas as AL? That would be just so wrong. What could possibly be the connection between Farkas' turgid self-promotion (and the boring, unneeded references to her "amazing" boyfriend) and AL's sense of humor and common sense?
By the way, why are Farkas' blogs, presentations, books, wikis, columns, and job offers considered accomplishments? I, too, am an academic librarian, but silly me has been spending my time (heh, about three years, too) helping students and faculty. To think, I could have been promoting my brand and earning the respect of my profession!
"Farkas' turgid self-promotion" --
wouldn't say THAT if you weren't anonymous, now would you?
Please don't write any more about my "amazing boyfriend"; my wonderful husband might get jealous.
"By the way, why are Farkas' blogs, presentations, books, wikis, columns, and job offers considered accomplishments? "
I would guess for the same reason that these things are considered accomplishments when someone else does them? Presumably if they were interfering with Meredith's day-to-day work, her employer would say something about it...
Meredith also writes the Vancouver Law Librarian Blog. An incredible woman, really.
Yes, no more about Meredith's boyfriend. We have a tradition of discretion here at the AL.
I didn't know that about the Vancouver Law Librarian blog, but I'll keep that in mind. Few people know that I also write Tame the Web.
"By the way, why are Farkas' blogs, presentations, books, wikis, columns, and job offers considered accomplishments? "
I'd have to agree with simon on this one. Since when is a publication or presentation not an accomplishment for an academic librarian, especially if one is on the tenure track? It's not even a matter of not doing the day job. For many academic librarians, part of their day job is to do just these things.
This may be the first time in history that anyone has suggested a connection between Leslie Burger and me.
I don't do booze. Wine, yes. Martinis, no.
I also don't do pseudonymous very well. Sorry.
"I also don't do pseudonymous very well. Sorry."
Of course you'd have to say that, wouldn't you?
I love the idea of Leslie Burger as the AL. Or better yet, every ALA president as the AL. They just take over when their term begins.
Well, Meredith Farkas may not be the Annoyed Librarian now, but she is still young.
There's always hope that when AL retires she can secretly recruit Merdedith to take her place, and the reader may never know when the "torch will be passed."
I can't imagine this library world without the sarcasm and wit of the AL.
There might be some Annie Linney types at the Massachusetts School Library Conference who won't be too happy with you.
The "annoyed librarian" is a front...for some sort of massive political organization...but who ever could they be?
Who on this earth would know SO Much about Librarianism and yet speak about it as if it was some sort of evil?
Perhaps those who see Libraries as the place that removes their masters ahem Servants from thier presences for such long hours while they are stuck home all day to ponder just why anyone in the world would take their master ahem servants away for so long.
A political organization made up of librarians's cats?
Hey, they've always said anyone could be a dog on the internet. But why not a cat? But then nobody would suspect that!
The perfect identity for the AL will always be: NO iDENTITY!
Merc Kat
I comment anonymously because I like my job.
My system loves Library 2.0. The administration and my bosses are also very active on interwebs, blogospaces, and myTubes. While I don't think they'd be able to outright fire me if they knew about my overwhelming disdain and utter contempt for their attitudes and policies, I know that they'd be able to make my life hell for 40 hours a week.
I thought I was alone in my frustrations before I found the AL. If I hadn't come across it, I may well have quit and gone to something else by now. (It's still up for debate as to if that were a good thing or a bad thing).
Actually this post confused me too. Now that I think about it, it occurs to me that maybe Meredith Farkas is just pretending to be about library 2.0 and all that jazz. Because in her actual career I don't see any evidence that she uses social software or implements any 2.0 anything. Her library doesn't have a blog or a wiki, no interactive finding aids, not even an online suggestion board! So maybe it's all pretense and she's secretly laughing at everyone and she's really the AL after all bwa-ha-ha
"I'd have to agree with simon on this one. Since when is a publication or presentation not an accomplishment for an academic librarian, especially if one is on the tenure track? It's not even a matter of not doing the day job. For many academic librarians, part of their day job is to do just these things."
And why is the "day job" part never among the things we measure accomplishments by? If the number of presentations on a CV is more important than the number of satisfied patrons what is the point of this profession? Why should I even bother with the "little things" if they don't help my tenure or get me noticed as the Hot New Thing? Sorry, I still don't see publishing more equals accomplishing more.
OMG, you lot are funny! Thanx Mer (for the gentle twit in this direction).
I am not the AL because we just met. I fain to believe I blog semi-anonymously. Yes, you there with the bangs, you can find me out. Do you know I think I sat at at table with some of y'all in June. In not-my-favorite city? I am oblique, unlike you know whos. I am possibly verbose, I mean chatty.
Oh, if anyone wants to start the I Was SO Bored in Library (ahem) School Blog, it can be my gift to you. With attribution :). GD, multi-how many authors; 'tis a wiki?
Almost forgot: I am a lowly, low-profile PUBLIC librarian. It's a dirty job, but so is special collections. How do I know that? "Who on this earth would know SO Much about Librarianism and yet speak about it as if it was some sort of evil?" My wonderful boyfriend, said the cynical, sarcastic, OLD, jaded, bitter, yet Cheery (in public) and even hopeful HA! Thanks.
Well anonymous, you'd probably be happy to know that at my library, speaking and writing does count for nothing and the only thing that matters is how we treat our patrons. I work very hard to do the best I can for our patrons and I am really proud of the changes I have spearheaded since I got there (IM reference, a web portal for our distance learners in WebCT, an embedded librarian in research-intensive classes, a wiki for our military history students to share knowledge, lots of online tutorials, etc.). No, it's not the stuff that gets me the most attention in the blogosphere, but when I can help a student learn how to use a database or find something someone has been struggling to find for hours, it's more satisfying than any approbation from the blogosphere.
Everything I do that you know about, I do outside of work. I am not allowed to do it at work. Which means that I spend my nights and weekends writing things, creating courses, developing talks, etc. in the hopes that it might help someone. If I thought I wasn't helping anyone, I would stop doing it. Do you really think "fame" is why people do this stuff? Dude, it ain't Hollywood; we get no Oscar baskets or free upgrades in hotels or endorsement deals. I've made some great friends through my speaking, but that and the thought that I'm helping people, are the only "perks" of what I do.
Are there really places where publishing is valued more than service to patrons? I've visited some of the most tenure-heavy places and have never noticed that to be the case. Do you have any examples you could share?
I was going to agree with Anonymous about Meredith's accomplishments--publishing & blogging vs. day-to-day meeting of info needs--but then I realized I was just basically jealous of Meredith. Yep. I'm jealous. That means she's doing really great things and is good at being successful and I'm sure she deserves it. No sarcasm intended. Honest. I just wish I could get so organized that I could spend my free time doing so much.
"Are there really places where publishing is valued more than service to patrons?"
I'm not sure I would phrase it like that, but there are definitely plenty of libraries where publishing is a requirement of the job. Many faculty status, tenure track librarians have to publish or they won't get tenure. In some places this means doing a lot outside of work. In others they get time off to do research, and are eligible for research leaves and sabbaticals. They are supposed to be scholar librarians. And when it comes to tenure, the tenure committee might not see those patrons you helped, but they'll sure see those 10 peer-reviewed articles.
Just as real professors sometimes sacrifice their teaching for research because they have to publish or perish, so do many academic librarians sacrifice their service for research. Of course they're supposed to be excellent in their jobs, but job excellence is a tenuous concept compared to a proven record of publishing.
I'm not saying I approve of this system, because I think it leads to the sorry state of library literature, some of which I just might have written myself. But it's the way the world works. People respond to incentives. Someone might go the extra mile when working on a reference question because they love the work, but people can't always afford to go the extra mile with service with a tenure deadline approaching.
Well, Meredith, you could ask me what makes me happy rather than making an assumption and running with it.
And are you honestly saying your ego doesn't get a boost from having your name everywhere? Blogging isn't--at least a tiny bit--about ego? Not that I am saying that's bad, but denying it sure is disingenuous.
And I would be happy to have a dialog with someone about "examples" or whatever else I think, but somehow I doubt you really care what I think as an individual. If you do--great!--but not many hotshots in this field care about the thoughts of the nobodies.
"but not many hotshots in this field care about the thoughts of the nobodies."
And that's why we have the AL. I feel your pain! Really, I do. But then again, I'm literally a nobody.
I am coming round to the view that AL is a group mind.
Having made this lurch I now have to fight the temptation to suspect that the group in question is the ALA Comintern and that this all was just an experiment in post-modern irony. That would be so disappointing.
Alternatively, the group could just be Martini and Gibson. I do hope so.
I was not being disingenuous. I feel good from knowing that I was useful/helpful to people. You can call it ego, but everything is about that, isn't it? Anyone who sacrifices to help others gets something out of it. I'm a former social worker, so I've always gotten pleasure from helping others. Seeing my name all over the place has always made me a little uncomfortable, but that's my own issues (and because that means people also write cruel things about you that make you feel like crap even though you probably shouldn't care because they are usually writing out of jealousy and bitterness).
Hot-shot? It's funny you think that. Wow, I'm a hot-shot in the tiny little world of the blogosphere. I'm a celebrity at Internet Librarian. I'm well-aware that it doesn't mean anything outside that little microcosm. It doesn't matter when I'm at work and it probably wouldn't matter if I was looking for another job (since most bloggers are not the people making hiring decisions -- though a few are). Come visit me at my library sometime and you'll see how NOT a hot-shot I am. I work at my desk, go to meetings, do reference shifts and teach information literacy classes just like everyone else.
But you're right that I don't care what you think; not because you're a nobody, but because you wrote inconsiderate things about me.
"An incredible woman, really."
Thats not the half of it! From a recent ALA release:
Recently, I have read many posts about a woman named Farkas
and I sought her out to find out just what the
buzz is about in the library world. I found her at the FunZone in Charlestown,
New Hampshire
Munching on a lobster roll and reading a copy of the
nineteenth century newspaper El Clamor Publico. While we were there
several ALA luminaries dropped by to kiss her ring and say
confession but she merely told them that their sins were absolved and
to go and sin no more. Former librarian of the year Susan Kent
broke off from her ham
and cheese croissant and came over to hug the woman who was at that
time chatting amiably in Middle English with a pal. Maddy for that is her
actual name graduated from divinity school when she was nine years
old and preached around the Azores while traveling with her family
who were the last of the evangelical Human cannonballs. During her
time in the islands he learned about a dozen languages and was able
to gain her MD and MSLS from the University of the Caribbean at the Carnival
Cruise Line. During her youth he ran a leper colony, saved a busload
of kidnapped children in Chowchilla, brokered the peace accord
between Begin and Sadat for Jimmy Carter and actually killed her a
bear when he was only 3. All this while acting as a sous chef in a fine
New York restaurant and acting as advisor to Mother Teresa. During
that time she wrote an emmy-award winning after-school special
called "administrators are the antichrist" and composed a string quartet
performed by the Academy of St. Martin's in the Field based on the
old german nursery tales "Der Strumpeter." She married only once to
the man who played Hickey in the Burlington Players “the Iceman Cometh”
Revival in the backwoods.
Jack Nicholson and JK Rowland stopped by in a limo driven
by Kato Kaelin for a dopo latte and at one point Jake Gylenhall sat on
her lap and gave her a signed Yorkshire terrier with a diamond
collar with a marc record engraved upon it. La Farkas read to the assembled gardeners and contruction crew
members from the original manuscript of Don Quixote and broke
into "Che Gelida Manina" from La Boheme in a subtle but powerful
soprano. She's still fairly fit despite her moving toward her 30’s and her trim
torso harkens back to the days when she simultaneously held the record
for hammer throw, low hurdles, 1600 meters run and depth in
spelunking. With all of this on her plate she still cares for her 107
year old great-great grandmother and donates bone marrow to the local red cross.
For the life of me I cannot understand the attacks on her by Al Queda,
Hamas, the Bader Meinhoff gang and those nattering nabobs of negativity on the Annoyed Librarian but as she threw
her arm around Father Gregory Boyle she assured me that she forgives
them and asks only that they do the stations of the cross with her
and a novena next Sunday at the Cathedral. Wow, what a gal I said as
I watched her solve the New York Times crossword puzzle for a little
crippled boy in a matter of minutes and assist the Cambodian owner of
the shop by simplifying his accounting procedures, therefore saving
him thousands of dollars….
I don't know about Meredith Farkas, but this sounds suspiciously like someone I went to library school with.
You are an alien, from outer space, who was sent here to confound and to chastize the dullards who populate the higher elements of ALA, the SRRT, and the faculties of the various second, third, fourrh and fifth rate so-called "library Schools."
Your masters (or colleagues) furnished you with your present disguise as a human librarian.
Why did they send you? Well, someone on this planet is needed to tell the truth.
"Are there really places where publishing is valued more than service to patrons?"
Yep. If you don’t publish, you don’t get continuing status at the law school library where my wife works. I have nothing to do with the academic library at the main campus, but I hear that it’s the same way there.
Deliberate (red herring) or inadvertent? Using Michael Hart's sign off: thanks for reading! Whatever ..very much enjoy your blog. Thanks for writing.
OK, I tried sitting on my hands but that just hurt too much. So I took notes and developed an outline. So then I couldn't post this there because it's not aloud/allowed. The Boyfriend from lower-case heaven complains if I make him speak before coffee or 8a, whichever comes first. I can bear looking at the MacBook screen by the light from the French door, and it was going to say "you are now running on reserve battery" when I picked it up any way, so I did not violate policy. BTW, I can't figure out why "you are now running on reserve battery blog", if not a true null set~result (at least not in the first results page this morning which is all that counts (according to whatwasthatname school of librarianess. OMG, I almost wrote a run-on there! OK, since you made me laugh, you may make me cry. I think someone has already taken Puppy Obedience II (not 2.0 and puppy 2.0 was like soooo long ago). I think the line between ego and finding and making friends may indeed be fine. I've made friends online, even met some of the in person, and have never had sex with any of them at an American Library Association Midwinter or Annual Meeting. Don't ask about preconferences. You have a nasty, dirty, prying mind, which is the only reason any of us ever yak to Walt! Do we have subject verb agreement? Why can't I find AL on LikedIn? She/He has friends. MF is my friend I mean contact or it is connection? on LinkedIn. Ahem. MF has subscribed to a certain low-level infrequent blog which shall remain unmentioned since I cannot, in good conscience, call it Nameless. Farkas' Will'n' (sp? lazy thing) (I am happy to report I am getting tired), I don't think we discussed Hive Mind before? I LOVE HM. I am not trying to write the longest comment on this thread, so don't go gettin' competative even if you are a librarian! Non-librarians excepting Walt, go for it! (Walt can't because he has to do some metrics or something ON THIS THREAD). Damn. I am worried the career in stand-up comedy isn't going to fly because I CAN'T DO the MATH!
"There’s probably also no correlation between our blogging frequency, either, with my monthly number of posts high during months when hers are low and vice versa, though I couldn’t check that without doing some research. On second thought, I don’t think you should bother doing that research. I’m sure there’s nothing interesting there...."
Thank you for providing the raw data for a case study in the psychopathology of Internet communications. Soon I will be invincible!
AL, I am surprised at you, since I assume that you are in a tenure-track position in an an academic library. I think you are confusing service and librarianship.
'Service' is generally defined at my school as committee work--be it in the libraries, at the University-level, or at the State or National level. In other words, using your expertise to be of service to others.
Librarianship is the work you do day to day in the library, including the programs, collections, etc... that you develop.
At my institution, librarianship is primary. Research & Scholarship and Service are secondary. Although you cannot get tenure without achieving relative excellence in all categories, if your librarianship sucks, essentially, you're sunk.
Yes, I'm using "service" in the more generic sense of service to patrons, since that's how it seems to be used generally. You're quite right.
However, "librarianship" or service to patrons is harder to measure and easier to fake than a list of peer reviewed publications, at least in my opinion. I've seen too many fakes to be convinced otherwise.
To TEll US THE TRUTH?
oh no.
She IS an alien, only she is here on earth on a sabatical to do study for her next upcoming paper in the Alien Librarianship Journal. Mind you, it's only a B list journal, and the aliens already know their system of doing things is vastly superior to ours, but they always welcome more research to support their position, and besides, half of them used similar materials and topics for their own tenure seeking track of alien librarianism authorship. Jesse Shera? No, just another alien. His research topic was "how easy would it be to screw the whole field over with jsut a few well placed words?"
When she gets back and publishes her paper, they will give her a pat on the back, a dry martini, and ask her if she would prefer a desk with view of the particle discombobulator instead of the boilercloset door. Not enough to make her famous, but she'll get a slightly better job.
See, the really famous aliens did things like research Human Intelligence by writing the holy bible...and that research seems to be ongoing....
The most famous alien research in effect right now...would probbaly be George W. Bush.
~merc kat
i say we leave a a trail of martinis and rig up a Wile E. Coyote contraption to snare the elusive AL at the next ALA throw-down. i'm sure acme makes a cocktail shaker?
Yes, there is no possible way she could accomplish all these things without doing them outside of work. Truth be told, there are a lot of opportunities out there if you are willing to sacrifice a lot of your free-time and hobbies. It doesn't have to be this way (I am on the tenure track and do have a semblance of a life outside of work), but perhaps for some people this all encompassing view of librarianship makes them happy, and a lot of involvement on the national level does garner attention. If you want that, then follow her example. Start blogging. Present at any conference that will have you. Then, the invites will start rolling in.
I really like my job, and in general, this career change has revitalized me as a librarian, but leisure activities (not passive tv watching) also contribute greatly to my happiness.
I noticed at Meredith Farkas blog, "farce" was selected as one of the descriptors for her identical post....
I think some of the commenters on her blog missed that.
AL, have you seen all the bloggers who are now "confessing" they are the Annoyed Librarian? Too funny... you have created an epidemic! :) And (ha ha) just to set the record straight, I am NOT the Annoyed Llibrarian, and since everyone else is blogging that they are or aren't, I figured I better too, lol... :) Check it out...
http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/
>>I keep waiting for "I'M the Annoyed Librarian!" posts to spring up on people's blog, a la Spartacus.<<
And today they have.
uh-huh, cat fight...
*See, the really famous aliens did things like research Human Intelligence by writing the holy bible...and that research seems to be ongoing....*
No one kills for the Bible anymore! All the hip groovy assassins read the Holy Qu'ran!
*The most famous alien research in effect right now...would probbaly be George W. Bush.*
Yawn. Please try to be unique.
Pish tosh!
All the hip groovy assassins read The Beano.
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