This page is older archived content from an older version of the Emerald Publishing website.

As such, it may not display exactly as originally intended.

On the brink: librarianship in an age of possibility


By Rachel Singer Gordon

About the author

Photo: Rachel Singer GordonRachel Singer Gordon ([email protected]om) is Consulting Editor, Information Today, Inc., Books Division, webmaster of the library careers site Lisjobs.com and editor/publisher of its associated Info Career Trends electronic newsletter. She is the author of The Librarian's Guide to Writing for Publication (Scarecrow, New York, 2004), The Accidental Library Manager (ITI, 2005), The NextGen Librarian's Survival Guide (ITI, 2006) and What's the Alternative? Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros (ITI, 2008), and has published widely in the library literature on issues from systems librarianship to library management to alternative careers.

Welcome to "On the brink: librarianship in an age of possibility", a new monthly column which tackles (and moves beyond) the topics discussed in Rachel Singer Gordon's popular blog, The Liminal Librarian (www.lisjobs.com/blog/).

Why “On the brink”?

Librarians today have been hit with the old curse: "May you live in interesting times". Our times are interesting and inherently unsettling – but also inherently full of potential.

Being on the brink requires an openness to possibility, leading to a celebration of in-between spaces.

Being on the brink requires that we give up absolutes and commit to the exploration of possibilities.

What's in each section?