Author Archives: Martha

Thanks to Daisy the Great, I have the perfect description of what working on a phd is like. Nobody I know in person is particularly interested in what I do. I mean, I can explain it, and people say “oh that’s interesting” but it rarely comes up and I don’t talk about my work inContinue reading “My self and my stuff and my thoughts”

Summer off and I confess I got nothing done. My adhd has been overwhelming, despite medication. I have too many irons and too many fires and I don’t organize myself as well as one might expect, given that I am a librarian. I am back in school with an instructor who has TWO PhDs. Goodness.Continue reading “Back at it”

I have been reading a lot about writing, largely out of fear. I have a lot of writing to do in the next few years and I feel like I don’t have a handle on my habits yet. I just finished Air & Light & Time & Space by Helen Sword and my biggest take-awayContinue reading “better reader/better writer”

I started thinking about my dislike of “text-to-self” reading exercises in elementary school. I always felt like my kids naturally experienced text-to-self without needing more concentrated effort. I wished that the teacher spent more time with text-to-world. Children don’t really need a push to think about themselves. Then I started thinking about all the recentContinue reading “making connections in research”

I’ve been reading a lot about writing, trying to figure out how to write more. I often feel that I am full of things to say and have no way of getting them out of my head. My personal bug-a-boo is a concern that I have nothing new to add. All thoughts and words haveContinue reading “writing blocks”

Just as research is not limited to the library, the creation of art is not limited to the studio. This is, perhaps, easier for students to understand. They know that art making can take many forms; can be digital or not; time based or not; conceptual or not. What is harder for many students toContinue reading “Art does not begin and end in the studio”

Mark Granovetter studied the strength of weak social ties in 1973. Weak social ties are those relationships that are not central to your life, but still essential and important. I contend that classroom interactions are an example of the strength of those weak ties. Teacher/student relationships are rarely deep. Though students are often affected byContinue reading “Weak ties in the classroom”

I just finished reading an article in the most recent Art Documentation. The authors talk about the many and varied sources of information that artists use in their practice. It is a mistake for librarians to ever believe otherwise. I think it is a mistake to believe any researcher stops at proquest or ebsco andContinue reading “Research does not begin and end in the library”

There are all kinds of ways to examine the digital divide in modern life. Among college students the divide can be seen across age, gender, socioeconomic status, and previous education. One of the more interesting cases of a digital divide is that of a student who has spent their lives on their phone, but cannotContinue reading “A digital divide”

In considering personal information sharing, I am reminded of the strength in weak ties. Weak ties are those relationships you have with people not directly in your personal network. I think back to dance clubs in the 80s. We would often hang out in the lady’s room and talk to whomever happened in. Those wereContinue reading “Weak Ties”