My Favourite Tipples from a special collections librarian
Jinfo Blog

By Emma Davidson

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Emma Davidson, a special collections librarian in New York's Morgan Library and Metropolitan Museum. She shares her go-to sources for insights on productivity, leadership and staying cool under pressure.

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Working in museum and art libraries, I'm surrounded by the work of incredibly talented individuals who haven't always chosen to take a conventional view. Similarly, in my professional reading, I like to keep up with thought leadership from a variety of perspectives. Here are my go-to sources for challenging my outlook:

• Darius Foroux: The strapline for this website is "How can we live a useful life that matters?", which I think says it all. I always appreciate these posts for their refreshing take on issues around productivity, organisation and self-management.

• Leadership Matters: This blog is written from a museum leadership perspective, but the topics covered tend to be much more broadly relevant. Recent posts have discussed vision clarity and tracking accomplishments, which I feel are important wherever you happen to work.

• The Bulletproof Musician: In my spare time, I sing in two different choirs and I initially started reading this as I hoped it would help me become a better musician. I quickly realised that it also contains a lot of good advice for the regular workplace, with science-based insights into matters including consistent performance and staying cool under pressure.

• The Economist: This publication really needs no introduction. I particularly enjoy its tone and appreciate the global news coverage as well as its analysis of happenings closer to home.

For fun:

• Good Tickle Brain: My first degree was in English Literature, so perhaps it's not surprising that this whimsical Shakespearean web comic never fails to raise a smile.

• Out of Eden Walk blog: I'm also a huge fan of this site. Journalist Paul Salopek is retracing humankind's ancient migration from Ethiopia to the rest of the world. He started this epic trek in January 2013, and his weekly posts combine fascinating glimpses of his journey with reflections on the shared needs of humanity.

An article in Jinfo I found particularly interesting:

• I really appreciated Steve Bynghall's recent article, "Amplifying the strategic contribution of the information team". Articulating the value of your service is tremendously important, regardless of the type of library or information environment in which you happen to work. Steve provides a straightforward yet powerful framework both for approaching the task and for driving your message home.

Contribute your "My Favourite Tipples"

Would you like to share your "My Favourite Tipples" with the Jinfo audience? For contributor guidelines email catherine.dhanjal@jinfo.com or visit the Publish with Jinfo page.

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