A simple thing I did was to unhide the Library folder and then drag it into my Sidebar. Even if an update hides it again, it's just one click away.

Or make an alias of the "~/Library" folder called "~/Library ."

I thought this was a big deal until I actually got Lion and found that option-clicking on the "Go" Menu item it was there in the list. that's easy enough for me.

This should be the hint.

I simply can't imagine that a person needs to access that folder often enough to justify un-hiding it. You can easily access the Library when you need it by holding "option" and choosing Library from the Finder's Go menu.

As a software developer, I definitely need immediate access to this folder, preferable in the way I have always had access to it, by simply double-clicking the folder.

This is interesting. I made my Library folder visible when I first installed Lion, and it has stayed that way through every update. I can't remember what method I used though.

Here's a launchd plist that will do the same thing, but without the need for AppleScript, login items, etc. Just drop it in /Library/LaunchDaemons and set the permissions properly.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>local.library.nohidden</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/chflags</string>
<string>nohidden</string>
<string>/Users/*/Library</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>EnableGlobbing</key>
<true/>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/dev/null</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Using the Option-Go menu is fine for the occasional use, but that doesn't work in File dialogs. VERY irritating that they reset this flag for updates or even feel the need to hide it in the first place.

All I do is run the command: $chflags nohidden ~/Library/ There is no need for //usr/bin/ (as mentioned in the previous hint) Then, browse to the folder in the Finder, drag it over into the sidebar, then do the command again. Only this time making it hidden: $chflags hidden ~/Library/ Then, it won't be visible in my ~ folder anymore, but it will still be perfectly accessible from the sidebar.