I have been informed that a better name for my blog might be “The Life of a Sapient Search Engine”. It seems that the two words are often confused. Many people, including myself, assume that the definition of sentient includes “self-awareness”. This is not so, according to the OED sentient means “That feels or is capable of feeling; having the power or function of sensation or of perception by the senses.” Sapient has several definitions. Generally, it means “wise” but in anthropological terms it means “Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of modern man,” a definition which includes being “self aware”.
I’ve decided that I don’t care. This is for four reasons:
1. It’s meant to diferentiate me from computers, which are neither sentient or sapient. When they develop sentience I may change my mind.
2. “Sapient” as already mentioned, implies “wisdom” which I will not be so bold as to declare I’ve attained this at my age (nearly 23).
3. Most people get what I mean and might be confused by sapient.
4. I’ve already changed the name of this blog once and don’t really want to change it again.
If you have a problem with this, tough noogies, its my blog durn it! (Yes, that’s right, durn it!)
Reading things like this makes me feel truly fortunate that I (1) work in Ohio, which in the worst of times funds its libraries better than some states fund their libraries in the best of times, and (2) that I work in a place that truly loves its libraries. Franklin County, Ohio (Columbus specifically), is a truly a blessed place to be a librarian, and I am really lucky to work in this fantastic environment.
My thoughts are with my colleagues in Massachusetts, Oregon and everywhere else libraries have been closing lately. Hopefully your new funding will come through and you can back to serving your patrons, which I imagine is all you really want.
Today, I had the distinct pleasure of shifting in the nonfiction collection. In the process I came to the conlusion that this can be one of the most mentally and spiritually renewing tasks a tired librarian can undertake.
For those among the uninitiated, “shifting” is the process of moving books on the shelves so they fit better and are more evenly distributed. This is an essential process that goes on day to day (a small section at once). Once a year its good to do a “big shift” where you do the entire collection in a short period (a week or so).
When you’re out in the stacks, you’re alone with your thoughts finding treasures you didn’t know (or forgot) were there. You also find stuff that has no business still being there and thus can do a little weeding while you’re at it.
Shifting also lets you do something physical for awhile which is always great for your outlook on life. After all, there aren’t too many day to day library tasks that let you get your blood moving quite like a shift, (except maybe storytime, but I’m not a children’s librarian so I can’t be sure).
So if you’re a desk-bound librarian, do yourself a favor and do a little shifting once in awhile. Its not just good for your collection any more.
