Happy Friday!

Happy Friday and Happy Veterans Day, dear readers! I know I’ve been away for a while after the crazy busyness of Internet Librarian, but now I’m back. And, I have a good excuse for being away for a bit: my sister got married last weekend! It was a lot of fun and if you want to see a beautiful photo of my sister and her husband by Ryan Greenleaf, check it out here. So now that I’m back in archives and library-land, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. So let’s get on to the good stuff!

When I saw this article from Lifehacker, how to make and sustain a good first impression every time, I had to post the link to it. It is a fantastic article and great to share with your students, friends, and family. Making a first impression is utterly important, so check out some tips that will help you make a better one.

For those of you doing usability testing, check out Smashing Magazine’s Comprehensive Review of Usability and User Experience Testing Tools. Super-helpful reviews. And, as Internet Librarian has taught us, usability testing is key for success.

And, because it makes me happy to see an article about an university’s archives and special collections (especially one that is so heavily used), I had to include this article on Iowa State University’s Parks Library. Archives and special collections (and libraries) are super-important and still relevant to researchers today.

Now to just for fun stuff. This photograph makes me smile (and makes me want to take a vacation to Ireland asap!), from Beautiful Portals Tumblr:

National Library of Ireland by faceted nerd

National Library of Ireland by faceted nerd

Have a lovely, fun-filled weekend! If you need some inspiration for weekend baking, check out Joy the Baker’s Pumpkin Millet Chocolate Muffins I’ll be back next week with more tips and tools. Allons-y!