I was reading this recent expose about VP candidate Tracy Flick and saw in the comments that there is a new (days old) blog called Librarians against Palin. It is so-so, but they are trying to get as much info relating to her book-banning attempt. Perhaps something will come of it. Pass it on.
I just had to help a patron with mothball breath. Yes, mothballs.
I'm gonna go pass out now.
In these wacky consumerist and message-saturated times libraries, too, must compete for attention.
Wyoming Libraries has a pretty slick ad campaign which has some witty bumpersticker slogans but also includes a modified "mudflap" girl. I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, it is an image that has been modified and does not necessarily carry the misogynist overtones of the original image.
On the other hand, I immediately recoil at the sight of the image, even though it's modified, because the original is such a powerful one of the objectified female form.
Thoughts?
Tuesday I received a letter from a certain library concerning a certain job opportunity. It was for the job I applied for 4 years ago and never heard back about. How they found my new address, I'll never know, but I do know I couldn't make this stuff up!
I guess the bright side is I didn't end up with that place. They obviously have some bureaucratic/administrative issues they need to work out.
Not only did this couple get married in a library, the bride wore her mom's 70's dress. It looks pretty cool!
"I call it the 'Library Suit'. See this pocket? That's for your library card. See this pouch? Loose change in case you get any fines."
Ah...anagrams. Some are cool, some are spooky. I figured I'd try my job title and see what other words could be formed from the letters. Here are the oddest results:
Salon has an interesting article discussing Yahoo! Answers. I used Answers for the 1st time last week. I asked a simple question and got back two responses. The first one was from some choad who said, "I don't know! Never?" and the second was from a person who actually tried to answer my question. Neither gave me a definitive answer and Yahoo emailed me to tell me my question would be "closed" in two days, thereby unable to receive any "answers" (and I use that term lightly) after such time. I've received no other responses and really don't care if Yahoo shuts my question down.
Any system where users are rewarded for answering instead of rewarded for correctly answering is flawed. Plain and simple. Dear gods, if librarians pulled that shit at work, we'd all be out of a job!
Eyeroll. The Daily Mail chose to focus on a vague comment Dolly Parton made about her marriage instead of the literacy program, Imagination Library, she's touring the UK to promote.
I spent the previous 3 days traveling to, through, and from Oklahoma. A fairly boring state, yes, but mostly flat in topography, allowing for quick travel. I was sent there to learn how to cull data from our ILS via MS Access. Yep, a whole 6 hours of tables, queries, and SQL. My meager brain was oatmeal by 3:30 pm.
After the session ended I whipped my green name-tag holder off over my head and strode out of the very imposing, but aesthetically-lacking, OSU library toward my car. I had a very cold bottle of stolen water in one hand and a file folder of powerpoint presentation pages in the other. I made it to my car and of course, went the wrong way. Again. I got lost many times in the tiny town of Stillwater. It's small and everything looks the same: either small house or campus building.
Not all who wander are lost, but I certainly was. Fortunately, work is reimbursing me for mileage.
Some thoughts and experiences:
My final bib. instruction class went well. The students were responsive and eager to find info for their research papers. It's still a relief that I don't have to get in front of a class of 18 yr olds again for another 12 months. Now that I'm back in my office, I've got the headphones on to block out a certain chatty coworker and student worker; I'm enjoying a very cheesy remix of Xanadu by Hanna. It's like an ironic rainbow explosion of ghay in my earphones. Sassy!
I teach my first bibliographic instruction course today. (eeep!) I have three more, but those will happen in later weeks. I forgot to wear my watch, so I'll be stuck pulling out my cellphone like a jackass in front of the students to keep track of time and pace myself. I only have 1 hour to tell them everything they need to know about the library, subscription databases, etc. That's a ridiculously short amount of time, but we do what we can, right?
I'm back from the 'liberrian' convention in DC. Whew! It's odd to be away from HN for so long, but also a much-needed break.
The weather was gorgeous (compared to here, where it rained the whole time and now the rivers are cresting...) and the food was delicious. We saw old friends and new museums. We took lots of goofy touristy pictures and walked about 8-10 miles over the course of 5 days. I witnessed a book cart competition and I saw Julie Andrews speak for her contractual 15 minutes. It was great! I even learned some stuff. I think Baby Guanaco had a good time, too.
Up this week:
This library just gave up when some church got antsy about a reading program they were hosting for teen readers. That's just sad.
...why weren't the librarians babysitting my children at the public library? Whah! I'm a parent who doesn't get it that the public library is just that: PUBLIC. As in, it's for EVERYONE, not just school-aged children dropped off to do homework and wreak havoc at the local library.
The father is asking for damages: $10,000 per kid(!). Apparently his children are having "sleepless nights." I'll bet they are, but not for the reasons he thinks!
My favorite part of the article? Oh, definitely this quote by the boy's father:
"Any effort to reinstate the book will be met with legal action and protests from the Christian community."Right. I'd bet you just about anything he's got a nice stash of so-called lesbian porn on his hard drive at home. Perhaps he wants the $20 grand so he can buy more?
I was recently fulfilling my duty as a member of ALA and voting for the governing council members. It can be painfully boring reading through everyone's personal statement and for me voting for people who have not previously served on ALA council.
Now as an archivist I'm not all that involved in ALA or the politics surrounding it. I've only been to one mid-winter and even then I wasn't really there.
Down the list a piece was a person whose job title was simply "blogger." It intrigued me so I thought I'd check out the guy's blog. Big mistake.
This so called "conservative" librarian holds the usual positions that diversity is a non-issue and that censorship is okay, sometimes (but who decides?). In his words,
I'm sure the Third Reich would agree.
As I've learned from politics, this guy likes to play the "professional victim," always being shot down for their attempt to "balance" the liberal leanings of ALA. And fuck yeah ALA is liberal. Its hard not to be when constantly pitted against fascist censorship; when the organization's mission is to inform the citizenry, which is anathema to conservatism (because conservatism's very existence relies on an uninformed populace). As a professional victim, he puts up a piss poor bio profile on the ballot, which says nothing of what he would do as an ALA councilor. His intellectual design-similar profile is merely a criticism of ALA. So when he is not elected he'll claim that no one voted for him because the membership is liberal not because his plea to be elected was confrontational and half-assed.
He also attacks nominees for council that he deems progressive, yet you'll find no mention of where he works on the ballot*. Presumably he doesn't want his name connected with his library because a) he's a paranoid delusional, believing that ALA will hire thugs to throw his books in maple syrup or b) he doesn't want to shame his library.
The list does not even have true criticisms, but is used as a McCarthyite tool to generate support for his views without substantive evidence. Some nominees are simply on the list for having the word "diversity" in their "Statement of Professional Concerns."
Actually his list (which was posted by a 3rd party on the listserv) is actually a pretty good guide to go by if you really want people who are primarily progressives on ALA Council.
Personally, I think its a bad idea to overly politicize something as vital as ALA. The organizations advocacy is really minimal compared with the rest of its activities. And personally I believe that ALA's positions have actually enhanced the image of librarians. I'd rather we be known as trouble making iconoclasts than invisible Alice-the-librarians.
*His pitch for council reads: "I am a conservative librarian who is concerned about the tone ALA takes on many library issues and also the stands it takes on many non-library related issues. I believe intellectual diversity is the most important kind of diversity. I believe Library 2.0 is overrated though I’m involved with 4 blogs and have accounts with YouTube and Flickr. I don’t support software filters on all public computers but access to pornography is not a right of intellectual freedom. I support the MLS (it does need an overhaul) and its not what makes you a librarian. I’ve been a professional librarian for 11 years. I enjoy what I do and like many fellow librarians I don’t see ALA as influencing what I do today. It does affect the relevancy and importance of librarians and libraries in the future. For more information about me and my positions you can visit www.shush.ws."
Have you ever just been sitting around thinking, "Gee, I just don't have enough blogs to read." Well, today is your lucky day. In my latest effort to promote the blogs of others, I bring you Booktruck, where fashion, pop-culture, and libraries and archives intersect.
Whats that? No, no I guess they don't really intersect as much as they cohabitate. And no, I'm not being paid write this glowing endorsement, how dare you! But yes, the two authors (or at least the two i know) are archivists.
And though I take no pride in it, I believe HN's readers deserve their daily dose of irony and outrage, so here you go, when politics and Archives go bad: The disposal of the SAA listserv archives.The perfect library/archive may be just above you, on the Moon. Scientists propose storing data on the Moon because of the benefits. "There is no oxygen to erode the material, constant sub-freezing temperature and the Moon is currently free of all of the havoc wreaked by humankind." Do they need any catalogers on the Moon? The commute would be a bitch, but the gravity-free workplace would be so much fun.
Lawrence: No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.
--Office SpaceDr. Rick Dagless: As I turned the corner, I felt muscular and compact - like corned beef.
unique visits since May 2005
