Press "Enter" to skip to content

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound

Advice to New Librarians, Part 2

I want you to think in terms of the functioning and changing ecology in which you will be operating, the set of relationships between individuals, institutions, money flows, information flows, projects, programs and effectors. I will start with some considerations of this way of considering your world and then briefly illustrate it with some specifics derived from my experience with the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

When’s the Last Time You Measured Your Feet?

Popular wisdom says that girls feet stop growing around the age of 14 or so and boys a year or so later. But we all know that the shoes we wore in high school probably wouldn’t fit us today, as other factors such as weight gain, preganancy and a later growth spurt can affect the size and growth of feet. When’s the last time you actually had someone measure your feet before trying on a new pair of shoes? Maybe today’s the day.