h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

After reading Woodpigeon's excellent entry on Toastmasters A2520884, I've made enquiries about starting one in my local authority. I was invited to a local meeting yesterday evening in Canary Wharf.

Not a typical meeting, it was a competition where the host club had already won through two rounds and there were four speakers competing for two places in the next round. There were four excellent and accomplished speakers who gave well paced and expressive speaches. There were table topics - where members of the audience were chosen to speak on a subject for a minute to a minute and a half. The chap sitting next to me was asked to speak about what he would do if he were the Prime Minister. He had suprise writ large on his face. He started slowly and then became animated, saying he'd rather be President of the USA.

So now, I've been invited to a meeting on 12 May at TubeTalk - a club set up by the London Underground. I've been offered help in setting up my club. I'm trying to be cautious and not to try to do too much too soon. I need to do my homework - find out whether my authority is willing to take part - put together a business case, and a small team of people to do the work - organising, marketing, recruiting, treasurer, membership secretary etc. Then there's a demonstration meeting to organise to put to whoever it is that can authorise it. It could be loads of fun!

Off to read Woodpigeon's entry


Fb

Likewise

Websailor

It's now off to be sub-edited - guess who got to pick it! .

I make a speech every time I open my mouth.
Why would I want to give others equal time?

I imagine you would be a whizz at the one to one and a half minute table topics, then, tonsil!

Gimme a topic and start the timer!

What would you do if you could have any job you wanted?

... start the timer!

Be a librarian!
In an age where college-trained "information specialists"
sit behind computers and study borrowing trends to
figure out how to increase lending figures, the old-fashioned
librarian who knows how to find everything and has read half
of it is a dying breed. I would like to work in a library
where every patron is considered a student. It is not just
enough to give them what they ask for, one has to ask about
them and suggest other avenues. A well-used library card is
just as significant as a diploma, if the card is used to
explore, not just read the paper or go back through the
works of John Creasey one more time. There are corners and
avenues in your average library that are almost never explored,
because the patrons want whats new and many of the shelves
are filled with the crumbling trends of yesterday. While
a good book is a good book regardless of age, and it might be
interesting to go back and see what the attitudes were like a generation ago, there is no excuse for not separating or discarding
the absolutely trendy crap that every decade spews out and making more careful choices in the future. While there are those who will
walk out in disgust at not finding what they want, others are willing
to see what they can find that they have not thought of looking for.
It is the librarian's job to be a kind of Priest or Priestess of Knowledge and Curiosity. Curiosity is also dying. It deserves to
be nurtured with a caring hand. I'd like to be one of those.

Nicely said¡ Librarian was one of those professions I have thought would suit you. It's occurred to me a few times. Is there any reason you shouldn't be a librarian?

No diploma.
Gotta have a graduate degree in "library science", as approved by
the American Library Association.

Oh, OK.

How long would it take you to get one?

Six years....
after the brain transplant...

You mean you have to be less intelligent than you are?

Six years sounds an awful long time. Here - librarianship degrees probably take three.

I don't take well to classroom instruction,
particularly when I am proofreading the poorly written
textbook while the agonizingly slow lectures are
taking place.

I think colleges are like lawyers, they charge you
for their time, whether you get anything out
of it or not.

Do you know what the content of a librarianship course would be? What would be the way you would get your results - examination? - continuous assessment? - assignments? Is there any way you could talk through your reservations about going on a course and come to some successful outcome?

http://www.ala.org/ala/accreditation/lisdirb/lisdirectory.htm

Traveller in Time in the books
"I can imagine it takes long to become a librarian. It already requires a study to get through all these red tape systems."

Yes, there's an *awful* lot of information on the site, however it doesn't seem to be organised to tell you easily and quickly what you need to know (or is it just me being thick?).

Traveller in Time on the registration counter
"Well, I must admit, I started reading there yesterday.
And I gave up after just a few pages. I always thought libraries would be interesting, not boring."