I'm a library science student who also runs a small library in a residence hall.
You can email me, or chat with me:
SpinsterLibrarian at Hotmail dot com
Yahoo:SpinsterLibrarian
Baskets serve as mini libraries
By Dr. Stanley Melburn Campbell
With minimal fanfare the Poseyville Carnegie Public Library in the small rural town of Poseyville, Indiana opened a mini library in the Poseyville dental office of Doctor Alesia Brown on December 8, 2004. Although the dental office is just a few blocks down the street from the library, the staff anticipates a significant turn around for books at the new site.
It is a rare situation when a doctor’s office waiting room is found to have the latest magazines, or anything you have not previously read. On average what reading material is available is months old - considered ancient by magazine standards. But now this particular doctor’s office can boast it has a mini library in the waiting room.
The library is targeting those individuals who are waiting for services. There are three additional mini library sites presently being negotiated in northern Posey County and are expected to open by Spring 2005. Doctor’s offices, hair salons, dental offices, automotive repair shops, and restaurants are just a few of the possible locations being considered as prime mini library sites.
The mini libraries will consist of stylish baskets purchased from a Pier One Imports store in nearby Evansville, Indiana and should regularly contain between ten to twenty paperback books. The books are donated by the public or purchased out of pocket by the staff and include selections from popular authors. A card in each book explains that the reader may take the book home with them and can return it to either a mini library site or to the Poseyville Carnegie Public Library at 55 South Cale Street in Poseyville. Volunteers from the community will be responsible for restocking and maintaining the mini libraries.
Why mini libraries scattered over the county? Although the library covers most of northern Posey County the population is largely rural with a significant population of adults who rarely read books. It was clear that reaching everyone would prove difficult without actually purchasing a bookmobile or adding small library branches. In either instance the cost proved prohibitive.
It is not often that something innovative comes along that can be of service to the community on such a wide scale. The Poseyville Carnegie Public library operates on a minimal budget with one full-time and one part-time staff member and is extremely dependent on private donations for special projects and programs. In this instance, repeated appeals to area corporate contributors failed to stimulate any interest, so the staff decided to fund the program themselves.
Admittedly there will be books that are never returned, but that is of no concern in this instance. Tax payers are not footing the bill for this project because everything is donated by seriously concerned citizens. The objective is to provide some form of reading stimulation for adult minds, not to improve library circulation.
Although the library has become an active gathering place for local children and teens since 1997 there are few adults who can be considered regular patrons. It is not because this 100 year old Carnegie library is afraid of innovation, far from it.
In 2000, the library doubled its floor space with the assistance of a community development grant, and additional grants have significantly increased the book and video collection. Nearly all of the activities and special educational programs offered at the library have been the result of both corporate grants and private donations from in and outside the community.
The library has ten computers with plasma screens available to patrons, and of those nine have Internet capacities. Five of those computers were custom designed and built by local resident Stanley Forzley.
The card catalog database, barcoded checkout system, and computer security system also designed by Forzley were designed exclusively for the library at a fraction of the cost normally required for comparable systems. The card catalog program has been available to other libraries in Indiana free of charge for the past two years.
The library has embraced the technology of the twenty-first century with a vengeance, but the library has not lost sight of the significance of reading books and thus continues to investigate new approaches to increasing literacy in the community it serves. So, it is hoped that these new mini libraries will be that next step in the right direction.
Where is this generation's Woodward and Bernstein?
This morning on NPR, Juan Williams was interviewing Donald Rumsfeld, and asked him about the possibility of restarting the draft. Rumsfeld BS'ed a bit and then qualified his answer by saying something to the effect of, "If you ask me personally - personally, I don't think that that is going to happen." But what if he was asked OFFICIALLY?! This was not some Barbara Walters interview, getting to know "the REAL Donald Rumsfeld", this was an interview on NPR in his capacity of Sec. of Defense! Back in the days of Watergate, that was what was called a "non-denial denial" - if he's called on it later, he can say that that was just his "personal" view, not the actual view of the Dept. of Defense. And Williams just let it slide by, not following up and making him really answer the question...in fact, by the end of the interview, they were chuckling and acting like best buds. Puke. Rumsfeld also claimed that we have enough troops, and that the commanders have all the people that they have requested. Yeah. Right. Let's see, the Guardsmen and Reservists are refusing to re-up in record numbers, enlistments are down across the board, we have over 1000 soldiers dead, and thousands more permanently disabled...yet we magically have just enough troops. Rummy, in the immortal words of Mark Andrus, "go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here."
posted by Kate Monday, July 19, 2004
After many weeks, and a few hundred dollars, my Honda Civic is back on the road. Jeff, our new mechanic, replaced the cap and rotor - which had gone bad, the timing belt - which was waaaay past when it should have been replaced, and gave her a tune up. He dropped the car off today while I'm working circ at the university, and I cannot wait to drive her home. She's a good little car, it's just that at 12 years old, she needed some vital parts replaced. The car got 37 mpg before this, and I can't wait to see if her fuel efficiency goes up even more.
Originally, we thought that the timing belt had broken, and as the car has what is called an "interference" engine, that would have meant mucho dinero to repair. It ended up costing us quite a bit, but probably less than half of what a broken timing belt would have cost.
While the car was our of commission, I still had classes in Bloomington, so I had to find alternate transportation. I borrowed my mom's car twice - for a total of four days, rented a car four times, and carpooled with a friend a few times. The rentals were interesting. I always requested (and paid for) economy cars, but I don't think that this particular branch even has any economy cars. I got a Chevy Cavalier, a Chrysler Pacifica, a Dodge Neon, and a Pontiac Grand Am. Three of the four had V6 engines, and the Pacifica was all power with leather interior - it was the fanciest, most expensive car that I have ever driven.
posted by Kate Sunday, July 11, 2004
Monday, July 05, 2004
Literature Abusers Anonymous
Are You a Literature Abuser?
Take this test and find out! How many of these apply to you?
- I have read fiction when I was depressed, or to cheer myself up.
- I have gone on reading binges of an entire book or more in a day.
- I read rapidly, often 'gulping' chapters.
- I have sometimes read early in the morning or before work.
- I have hidden books in different places to sneak a chapter without being seen.
- Sometimes I avoid friends or family obligations in order to read novels.
- Sometimes I re-write film or television dialog as the characters speak.
- I am unable to enjoy myself with others unless there is a book nearby.
- At a party, I will often slip off unnoticed to read.
- Reading has made me seek haunts and companions which I would otherwise avoid.
- I have neglected personal hygiene or household chores until I have
finished a novel.
- I have spent money meant for necessities on books instead.
- I have attempted to check out more library books than permitted.
- Most of my friends are heavy fiction readers.
- I have sometimes passed out from a night of heavy reading.
- I have suffered 'blackouts' or memory loss from a bout of reading.
- I have wept, become angry or irrational because of something I read.
- I have sometimes wished I did not read so much.
- Sometimes I think my reading is out of control.
If you answered 'yes' to four or more of these questions, you may be a
literature abuser. Affirmative responses to seven or more indicates a
serious problem.
Once a relatively rare disorder, Literature Abuse, or LA, has risen to
new levels due to the accessibility of higher education and increased
college enrollment since the end of the Second World War. The number
of literature abusers is currently at record levels.
Social Costs Of Literary Abuse
Abusers become withdrawn, uninterested in society or normal
relationships. They fantasize, creating alternative worlds to occupy,
to the neglect of friends and family. In severe cases they develop bad
posture from reading in awkward positions or carrying heavy book bags.
In the worst instances, they become cranky reference librarians in
small towns.
Excessive reading during pregnancy is perhaps the number one cause of
moral deformity among the children of English professors, teachers of
English and creative writing. Known as Fetal Fiction Syndrome, this
disease also leaves its victims prone to a lifetime of
nearsightedness, daydreaming and emotional instability.
Heredity
Recent Harvard studies have established that heredity plays a
considerable role in determining whether a person will become an
abuser of literature. Most abusers have at least one parent who abused
literature, often beginning at an early age and progressing into
adulthood. Many spouses of an abuser become abusers themselves.
Other Predisposing Factors
Fathers or mothers who are English teachers, professors, or heavy
fiction readers; parents who do not encourage children to play games,
participate in healthy sports, or watch television in the evening.
Prevention
Pre-marital screening and counseling, referral to adoption agencies in
order to break the chain of abuse. English teachers in particular
should seek partners active in other fields. Children should be
encouraged to seek physical activity and to avoid isolation and morbid
introspection.
Decline And Fall: The English Major
Within the sordid world of literature abuse, the lowest circle belongs
to those sufferers who have thrown their lives and hopes away to study
literature in our colleges. Parents should look for signs that their
children are taking the wrong path -- don't expect your teenager to
approach you and say, "I can't stop reading Spenser." By the time you
visit her dorm room and find the secret stash of the Paris Review, it
may already be too late.
What to do if you suspect your child is becoming an English major:
- Talk to your child in a loving way. Show your concern. Let her know
you won't abandon her -- but that you aren't spending a hundred grand
to put her through Stanford so she can clerk at Waldenbooks, either.
But remember that she may not be able to make a decision without help;
perhaps she has just finished Madame Bovary and is dying of arsenic
poisoning.
- Face the issue: Tell her what you know, and how: "I found this book
in your purse. How long has this been going on?" Ask the hard question
- Who is this Count Vronsky?
- Show her another way. Move the television set into her room.
Introduce her to frat boys.
- Do what you have to do. Tear up her library card. Make her stop
signing her letters as 'Emma.' Force her to take a math class, or
minor in Spanish. Transfer her to a Florida college.
You may be dealing with a life-threatening problem if one or more of
the following applies:
- She can tell you how and when Thomas Chatterton died.
- She names one or more of her cats after a Romantic poet.
- Next to her bed is a picture of: Lord Byron, Virginia Woolf,
Faulkner or any scene from the Lake District.
Most important, remember, you are not alone. To seek help for yourself
or someone you love, contact the nearest chapter of the American
Literature Abuse Society, or look under ALAS in your telephone
directory.
Apparently, the fashion pendulum is swinging back to more modest styles this fall. This is a good thing, but I don't know if I like that the librarian stereotype is being invoked...
Shoppers are starting to see higher waistlines and lower hemlines, and tweeds, fitted blazers and layers are expected to be big this fall, Schanen said.
"It's kind of like a sexy take on a librarian," she said. "I think people are tired of seeing so much skin and want to leave a little more to the imagination."
With this coupon, you can get 10% off at Borders, and they will give 10% to the ALA. Good only June 4th through 6th.
posted by Kate Saturday, May 29, 2004
Weekend Librarian
Today, one of the campus police officers at the university called me "the weekend librarian." Until I find a full-time job, I guess that's exactly what I am - grad student during the week, librarian on the weekend. The money is pretty good, and if I can get enough hours, I can pay the bills; but once I graduate in August, and certainly by the time the student loans kick in six months after that, I'll either need a full-time position, or a second part-time job.
posted by Kate Saturday, May 29, 2004
Saturday, I moved from Bloomington back home. There was only one casualty, my air conditioner. When the maintenance man had installed it, he simply clamped it in the window and sealed it up with duct tape. While I was carrying some boxes to the truck, my stepmom-to-be, Joyce, and my sister, Christine, decided to take the air conditioner out of the window. They stripped off the duct tape, and simultaneously, Joyce pulled up the sash, and Christine said, "Wait a sec...OH SHIT!" as the air conditioner tipped back out the window. Christine was able to catch the cord as it went through the window, but it just ripped right out, and the air conditioner landed in the courtyard, four floors below. My dad wanted to take it home and try to fix it, but even he had to admit that it was beyond hope - the grill looked like a paralellogram, and it was leaking freon.
Now, I'm back home trying to combine the contents of one small house and one small apartment in one small house. We started with the kitchen today, and so far the results are promising.
I now have a Gmail account. I'm going to start phasing out my Hotmail and Yahoo accounts and use only Gmail since it has such incredibly large storage capacity. My school email account will end later this year, but I still have the one at the university. Basically, by the end of the year, I hope to be down to two email accounts total instead of the five I currently have.
posted by Kate Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Monday, April 19, 2004
From Howard Stern show transcript, March 30, 2004:
Caller Tom says he was kicked out of public library in Ohio for looking at the HowardStern.com website. Caller Tom says the librarian told him that Howard's website is a pornographic website.
evan_kaiser: holy shit, did i tell you about the guy i had to sit next to on Sunday?
SpinsterLibrarian: no
evan: oh man
evan: i knew he was trouble right off because he was a talker
evan: he didn't talk the whole flight but he did talk a good portion of it
evan: first he was bitching about how the airline made him check his duffel bag
evan: because it was too big to take as a carry-on
evan: and it had some fragile things of his grandfather's in it,
evan: which he was taking to Dallas because his grandfather is dying
SpinsterLibrarian: dang, how big was it?! I've carried on some pretty big bags before.
evan: it wasn't that big, just long
SpinsterLibrarian: k
evan: too long to fit under the seat
SpinsterLibrarian: ah
evan: anyway there was poetic justice
evan: he was looking out the window the whole time to see if they loaded his bag with the other luggage
evan: because he wanted to make sure they didn't leave it
evan: well his bag is on the last luggage cart thing
evan: and when the guy tossed his bag onto the automatic ramp thing,
evan: he tossed it too hard and it slipped off and fell on the pavement
SpinsterLibrarian: oh!
evan: so then of course he griped about that for five minutes
evan: how the airline was going to have to pay for anything that got broken
evan: the further irony that i learned later was the he himself was an American Airlines employee
evan: anyway he asks me where i'm going, and i say Sacramento
evan: but then he doesn't ask what i'm doing there
evan: i'm guessing he just asked as an excuse to talk about himself
evan: which he did to no end
evan: when we were taxiing to the runway, he was looking out the window at the other planes
evan: wondering what kind they were
evan: and when i knew or had a guess as to what kind a certain one was, i would tell him
evan: somehow he got on the subject of how many people the plane we were on could hold
evan: he thought it could hold about 300 people
evan: i don't know if you know how big a Super 80 is but it's not very big
evan: it's one of the smallest non-regional jets there is
evan: so i had to tell him that he could just figure out how many people the plane could hold by counting how many rows there were
evan: ~19 rows of 5 seats each in coach is 95
evan: plus 12 or 14 in first class was ~120
evan: wasn't until later that i looked on AA's site and saw that it held 127 according to spec
evan: anyway as you might have guessed, this guy was not the sharpest knife in the drawer
evan: when we get to the runway and turn the corner to start accelerating, he starts saying,
evan: "1, 2, 3, speed! 1, 2, 3, speed!" as we're speeding up
evan: then finally "1, 2, 3... takeoff!"
SpinsterLibrarian: omg
evan: i managed to avoid laughing or choking him
SpinsterLibrarian: how?!
evan: but the girl sitting in front of him would turn around and look at me from time to time
evan: with a wide-eyed expression
SpinsterLibrarian: She was amazed by your fortitude.
evan: part, what is the deal with this guy? and part, how can you stand it?
evan: anyway then right after we take off he asks me if i want to do a word search puzzle from his book
evan: i say, no thanks, i'm gonna listen to some mp3s on my laptop and read
evan: he says, oooh! get out your laptop, i wanna see it
evan: apparently he had never seen a laptop computer in person before
evan: but they hadn't given the ok to use electronic devices yet, so i said, hang on, i will in a bit
SpinsterLibrarian: Never seen a laptop before? I think that he was an escaped mental patient.
evan: then when they did, i got out my headphones first
evan: the Bose noise-cancelling ones, of course
evan: i don't know if i showed them to you but they're the older kind
evan: with a little box for the power switch and batteries
evan: the box is black plastic and maybe 3" tall, 2 or 2.5" wide, and less than 1" thick
evan: apparently, he thinks it's the laptop, and says, "wow, that's a small one."
SpinsterLibrarian: How long was this flight?
evan: then i get out my actual laptop and boot it up
evan: about 2 hours
evan: and since my laptop is slow, it takes a few minutes
evan: and he makes some comment about how slow it is, and i say yeah, it's old and slow, about three years old
evan: then he says he's thinking about getting a laptop of his own, and asks what a good brand is
evan: and how much they cost
evan: that part wasn't very amusing, i just said, cheap ones you can get for ~$700-$800, really good ones are up to $3,000 and more
evan: so we talk a little more about laptops but nothing interesting happens there
evan: then mercifully my laptop finishes booting so i load Winamp and start listening to something, i can't remember what
evan: STP's No. 4 i think
evan: but that didn't stop him from talking to me sometimes
evan: can't remember what he asked about then
evan: anyway as luck would have it, i had the crappy battery in my laptop at the time, so it only lasted an hour or so, just enough to play one album
evan: so even after i shut it off, i pretended like i was still listening to music, since i figured he probably didn't know any better
SpinsterLibrarian: good move
evan: but he still started talking to me again eventually anyway so i just took the headphones off then
evan: i can't remember what order he told me the following stuff or how he got started,
evan: but he started talking about how he had been flying back and forth from Grand Rapids (which is near where he lives) to Dallas to go to court to get custody of his son
evan: because his ex-girlfriend is crazy and a drug addict
evan: he said something about how one time he went to her apartment when she was there and picked up his son to hug him,
evan: and she went nuts and got a kitchen knife and attacked
evan: and bit him and bit the baby
evan: well maybe he wasn't a baby anymore at that point, he said he was almost 4 now
evan: and who knows how long ago that was
SpinsterLibrarian: geez
evan: and how whenever he saw his ex she would always accuse him of being with another woman
evan: so he goes on about his crazy ex-girlfriend and how he knows he's going to get custody of his son because she's a bad mother and a druggie
evan: oh, and because he prays to God and God will arrange for his son to be with him
evan: and then he starts talking about how his mother wants him to find a woman and get married
evan: presumably because one grandchild isn't enough
evan: and he says repeatedly that he does want to get married, he just has to find the right woman
evan: and it doesn't matter if she's white like his crazy ex-girlfriend or some other race
evan: as long as she's a good woman who will love his son
evan: apparently his mother had asked him if his next girlfriend would also be white
evan: or something to that effect
evan: oh, i forgot to tell about the word search puzzle
evan: he had this book of really easy word search puzzles that was in bad shape
evan: looks like he'd had it for years
evan: but he obviously hadn't done all the puzzles in it because he was working on some when i was listening to music
evan: and they were so easy it was sad
evan: i sorta looked sideways at the one he was doing
evan: they were small, probably less than 15 x 15 letters
evan: and within a few seconds i saw two words that he hadn't yet found
evan: then he moved his hand out of the way and i saw how much more pathetic it was,
evan: because there was a list of the hidden words next to the puzzle
evan: in addition to a theme for each one
evan: the theme for that one was Nebraska
evan: and in the center of the top row was the most obvious word, yet he hadn't found it yet
evan: G R A I N
evan: anyway so he's not smart, he can't help that, but it was just sad
SpinsterLibrarian: Yeah, we used to sell those at Readmore. Pathetic is the word.
evan: so back to later on, he's telling me about how he was threatening this family court
evan: saying if they didn't give him custody, he'd just appeal to a higher court
evan: and it didn't matter how much money he'd have to spend on a lawyer, he'd get his son no matter what
SpinsterLibrarian: Yeah, threaten the judge, that'll help.
evan: that's what i thought
evan: of course he had to show me some pictures of his son
evan: they were some of those stupid studio ones he had done when he was a baby
evan: so they were several years old
evan: in one of them he was dressed up in a little business suit and had a fake calculator and everything
SpinsterLibrarian: omg
evan: and he said that when his mother saw that one, she joked about how he shouldn't be putting his son to work already
evan: yeah, that's hilarious
evan: then in the other one he was dressed up as an angel
evan: and he said his mother had some other comment, something about how the kid's second middle name should be Angel
SpinsterLibrarian: oy
evan: he also talked about how he wanted to go to Puerto Rico
evan: and i asked if he had friends or relatives there or if he just wanted to visit
evan: he explained that he was from there originally and wanted to go back to see how the town he was from was these days
evan: then move back there permanently before too long
evan: because he knew his son would be happy there
evan: and they'd be safely away from his ex
evan: plus, although he said he was ashamed to say it, Puerto Rican girls are easy
evan: though i don't think he was trying to say that he was going to attempt to find a wife among them because of that
evan: then he goes on about how he takes reservations for American
evan: and how he's the fastest of all the reservation-takers at the office he works at
evan: and since he's on good terms with his boss, he thinks his boss will let him have a few weeks off to go to Puerto Rico with his cousin and his stepfather or whoever
evan: but he knows the manager won't want to let him go because he's the fastest and all the other guys are slow and lazy
evan: somehow he also got to talking about how people think he looks really young
evan: he said he's 32 but most people think he's mid-20s
evan: he did look younger than 32, but i'd have guessed he was late 20s
evan: it was a little harder to tell because of his moustache
evan: he said one time recently he went into some office,
evan: and somehow he and the receptionist got to talking about how old he was
evan: she thought he was 25 and was amazed when he told her he was 32
evan: so she asked him how he kept looking so young
evan: he said, God takes care of me
SpinsterLibrarian: geez
evan: i had to wonder how many times he had actually been on an airplane,
evan: because his assumptions about what various maneuvers and noises were weren't ever right
evan: near the end of the flight we banked left to head south to get to Dallas,
evan: since we'd been heading sorta southwest from Chicago
evan: and he thought we were descending
evan: then a bit later when they deployed the front air brakes on the wings,
evan: he thought it was the landing gear going down
evan: despite the fact that we were still in the clouds
evan: then of course when we were landing, he had to say, "1, 2, 3... touchdown!"
SpinsterLibrarian: omg
evan: i seriously suspected early on in the flight that this was some kind of hidden camera prank
SpinsterLibrarian: hahaha
evan: maybe it was, who knows
evan: anyway when we finally get to the gate and they turn the fasten seatbelt sign off,
evan: he stands up and turns around to get to the overhead bin
evan: and the girl sitting in front of him turned to me and quietly asked, "how do you do it???"
evan: fortunately he didn't hear
SpinsterLibrarian: hahaha
evan: or if he did, he didn't know she was talking to me since he was facing the opposite direction
evan: that's about all i can remember
evan: i'm sure i left a few trivial things out
evan: so i guess the lesson is that if you pray to God, he'll take care of you
evan: except when the bag full of your grandfather's fragile and irreplaceable possessions is being tossed onto an automatic ramp by a careless airline worker
I'm switching my domain name from one company to another, so the spinsterlibrarian.net URL may be down for a while. In the meantime, you can get here via spinsterlibrarian.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
23/5
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
The book that I had closest at hand is HTML for the World Wide Web, 5th edition. The fifth line on page 23 is, "In their case, they share precisely the same vocabulary (to the letter) but have a slightly different syntax."
posted by Kate Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Smoke Up: n. a midterm school report indicating a need for improvement...
When I was in middle school, at midterm time, if you grade was below a C, a notice would be sent home to your parents. This report was always called a "Smoke Up" - both by students and school officials. (While my mom had been really involved when I was in elementary school, she was not involved with the middle school, and was not aware of them. I did get a few, but never got in trouble for them because mom had no idea what they were. Sorry, Mom!) I was wondering about the source of the term Smoke Up so out of curiousity I Googled it. All the relevant hits I found about Smoke Ups were from Indiana schools. I guess it's just a Hoosier word. I'm still curious about the source.
posted by Kate Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Coming soon to a theater near you...
They are making a movie of a Judy Blume novel...finally. How many bestselling books get made into movies? Let me rephrase that...how many CRAPPY bestselling books get made into movies? I hope they get this right, it would be a shame to screw up a Judy Blume novel, and if they get it right, there will be many more to come...she wrote 24 books.
"Why must we be subjected to `Agent Cody Banks' when there are Judy Blume books out there? It's not right." says Terri Minsky, creator of "Lizzie McGuire"
It looks like we are going to put on Rocky Horror Picture Show at Collins this Saturday night...not for sure yet, but it might happen.
posted by Kate Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Vlogging: blogging with video
I first posted a video clip last year...I didn't know that there was a name for it. The article says that you need a digital video camera, but I make my clips with my Fuji FinePix 100, a n inexpensive digital photo camera.
posted by Kate Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
From a Library Journal interview with Michael Gorman:
"The fundamental problem is that the core faculty in most library schools are not interested in teaching librarians," Gorman asserts. "They are interested in other things like information science. When we get applicants for our library jobs we have to check to see which courses they have taken. Just having an MLS or MLIS or one of these other degrees doesn't mean anything. You might find you have a graduate who has taken four courses on JavaScript and no courses on cataloging.
"Clearly the Congress on Professional Education didn't work," Gorman says as he warms to the subject. "The product has not been successful. We can't even agree on core values or core competencies. I plan to meet with Ken Haycock, the incoming president of ALISE, to try to set up a working conference to develop a national agenda for library education and the schools.
"I would like an event that isn't just another gabfest, a conference that comes up with ways to reform library education," Gorman adds. "We must think innovatively about such questions as: Do library schools have to be in research universities? Why couldn't they be housed in major urban public libraries? These questions are worth thinking about. The information scientists tell us they have to meet the expectations of their institutions. 'I'm sorry,' they say, 'I'm not interested in cataloging, I have to study business taxonomy.'"
Gorman sees library education reform as a top priority for ALA because the profession is aging. "We just have to have a diverse group of younger people coming into this profession," Gorman states. "Trying to disguise this by telling them to go to library school to get a job not working in libraries is not a positive way to go."
He writes in Journal of Academic Librarianship:
"There is a dearth of research in U.S. LIS schools that is dedicated to the
real needs of real libraries. This is the result both of the divorce between
information science–oriented faculty and practicing librarians and of the
fact that LIS schools in the United States tend to be part of large
universities that value (and reward) pure research over applied research."
"There is a lack of consensus on the nature of librarianship. ALA's recent
struggles to formulate agreed statements on the core values and required
competences of librarianship illustrate this confusion. Professions are
defined by their ability to control education for that profession and by
agreement on the basic areas of study required for such an education. My
submission is that our profession is perilously close to losing control of
both."
Tomorrow, a new radio network debuts, Air America. It can be heard in NYC, LA, Chicago and Portland (OR), or streamed live via their website.
posted by Kate Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Okay. It's official. Marc has the coolest library job ever:
EW has a library, with 3 full time librarians. my job? well - it's to be up to date with pop culture. hmmmm... i generally see 98% of all movies that come out, read about 15 magazines a week, surf the web all day, go to concerts. and most of that is related to my job.
the library answers queries from reporters when items are being fact checked and we get background clips for writers when they are starting to work on a story.
i cover toy fair for the magazine and have written a few music reviews.
super lax work environment. where else can you run down the hall asking if anyone has the paris and rick video or show people the jenna jameson doll you were just sent and not get fired?
i interned at the library at 'people' magazine the summer between my first and second years at library school. 'people' has 10 librarians on staff. and i only took one 'library' class in lib school. [i was an archives + records management person.]
.marc.
information center associate
entertainment weekly
Last year, a self-published author emailed me asking for advice on how to publicize his book. I'm no expert, but I do know a few successful self-published authors, so I shared what I knew about what they did that worked. As a thank you, he sent me an autographed copy. He has recently done a radio interview, and sales have gone through the roof. Now, a copy is being advertised on Amazon for $198!?! WTF?!?
Update: I found out that he was on Coast-to-Coast.
posted by Kate Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Monday, March 22, 2004
This is not the proper way to deal with a noisy library patron...though I wish it were some days. (link from Evan)
posted by Kate Monday, March 22, 2004
On the Bush/Cheney re-election website, you could make a B/C poster with your own slogan at the top. That is until the oppostion started having some fun with it. The Bushies have now changed it so you can't add your own text. Bummer.
However, you can use this PDF to make your own poster. Click on the text above the logo, and fill in your own text. Note: Our server is scheduled to go down for maintenance at 5pm EST today, but until then, knock yourselves out. (Thanks to David for the PDF file)
posted by Kate Friday, March 12, 2004
Saturday, March 06, 2004
No child left behind?
According to this Miami Herald article, a study shows that students in schools with good media centers do significantly better on standardized tests. Here in Indiana, due to budget problems, school media centers have taken a big hit, which means we can look forward to lower scores on standardized tests. (Indiana schools were already hurting for school media specialists, and now we've lost the ones that we had...)
Also, my hometown was one of the few in the state that offered all-day kindergarten, but it was eliminated last year, just before my oldest niece was to start kindergarten. Her daycare center started an all-day kindergarten, so she hasn't been affected by it, but I worry about all the other kids who were not so lucky.
posted by Kate Saturday, March 06, 2004
I snapped this pic at my cousin's wedding on Valentine's Day. The kids had been seeing the adults using the keg, and started imitating them, not knowing what they were doing...
posted by Kate Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Sex, sex, sex
Check out this story about a librarian who collected and catalogued porn for 30 years, then sold his collection to the Museum of Sex. (If you need a login for the article, try Bug Me Not.)
As an interlibrary loan librarian, at least a couple times a year I processed requests for articles from Playboy magazine -- yeah, guys, there are articles in there -- usually for the interviews, which are usually pretty good. I cultivated a few sources from which I could borrow issues so I could copy the articles for our patrons. Officially, our library didn't carry "erotica" but we would request it via ILL -- and we got lots of requests for it -- so there was no policy problem with what I was doing. BTW, Penthouse also has some good articles. When I worked in a bookstore, I used to read certain columns regularly, such as Ben Stein's.
Update: I just found out that Playboy is indexed after all, but only available in a couple expensive databases:
As for it not being indexed...
Online it is indexed in FirstSearch's Periodical Abstracts and FactSearch and
LRI (LegalTrac - Online). It is also indexed in ASIP (Access: The Supplementary
Index to Periodicals), BEL&L (Annual Bibliography of English Language and
Literature), IPRAL (Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law), MRD (Media
Review Digest), MagInd (Magazine Index Plus), and PMR (Magazine Artile Summaries
- Formerly Popular Magazine Review). (Thanks, Heather C.!)
Lexis Nexis has Playboy "selected full text" since 1983. Westlaw has it from 1994-2000. (from another librarian named Kate)
Last week, I went on a tour of the Kinsey Institute with a bunch of other library science students. They took us into the stacks, which is not on the regular tour, and I got to see the unique classification system that they have developed to manage their unique collection.
101 Psychology, General
105 Fantasies, Dreams
110 Abnormal Psychology
112 Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry
114 Psychoanalysis
115 Other Therapies
120 Sociology, Methodology
132 Deviant Behavior
134 Ethnic / Racial Groups
136 Developmental Psychology
142 Communication
146 Personality, Emotions
150 Sex Differences
160 Sex Roles, Courtship
162 Marriage / Family Relationships
163 Divorce
180 Social Customs
200 Religion
208 Catholic Church
300 Social Sciences
300 Research Methodology
312 Statistics
332 Family Life / Marriage Education
333 Sex Education
340 Law
360 Crime
380 Prostitution
391 Clothing, Furniture
500 Science
520 Sexual Behavior
525 Bisexuality
526 Autoeroticism
527 Diseases / Disabilities & Sexual Behavior
535 Exhibitionism, Child Sexual Abuse
537 Fetishism
538 Transvestism, Transexualism
570 Anthropology
590 Zoological Sciences
James called me on his lunchbreak with this great story...apparently this morning in Evansville someone stole a taxi. Now, I'm sure that this sort of thing happens from time to time, but it's the way that it happened that was interesting...
Last night, a man walked into the dispatcher's office of one of the local cab companies and said that he needed a cab. Assuming that he was a new hire, the dispatcher handed him a set of keys and told him to take number 81. He came back a few minutes later because the car wouldn't start. The dispatcher called the mechanic, who got the car running and sent him on his way. Sometime after that, they realized that he was not an employee and had just stolen their taxi. There is now an APB out for "cab number 81."
posted by Kate Thursday, February 05, 2004
Mingle @ your library
"Mingle!
12 February 2004
Meet and 'Mingle' with other book-lovers and gallery visitors at an early evening private view in the British Library exhibition galleries. The event is open to anyone who is single, likes to talk, and wants to make friends and network with like-minded people.
Event time: 18.30 - 21.00
Location: British Library Treasures gallery, St Pancras
Price: Free, but you need to book
Further details: To reserve tickets email mingle@bl.uk or tel +44 (0)20 7412 7110"
posted by Kate Thursday, February 05, 2004
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Smackdown!
Todd brought up the Al Franken-Heckler incident repeatedly in the comments area of the last post, so I looked it up to get the whole story.
If someone attacked a bunch of people and then broke my glasses, I'd kick their ass, not just put them in a wrestling hold to subdue them. Al has more restraint than I do.
posted by Kate Wednesday, February 04, 2004
If you want to ask me anything about the trip, put your questions in the comments area. Thanks.
posted by Kate Sunday, February 01, 2004
Friday, January 30, 2004
My computer crashed this morning, and didn't want to reboot. It finally got going again, but I'm afraid that it could go down again. I have a DVD-RW drive on the way right now -- I hope it arrives in time for me to be able to back up the hard drive. *fingers crossed*
posted by Kate Friday, January 30, 2004
I have to wonder if The Advocate didn't Photoshop this picture of Wesley Clark. There is a smaller picture with the article, presumably from the same photo shoot, where he is wearing a black suit, white shirt, and dark patterned tie. I think that they Photoshopped his suit into a more casual look.
Update: I read an article where a Clark staffer described the photo shoot stylists descending on Clark and unbuttoning his black shirt, tugging the t-shirt down to show more chest, and putting more bronzer on him -- a sort of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy drive by.
posted by Kate Thursday, January 22, 2004
Thursday, January 15, 2004
The Associated Press has done a story on the delightful Southwestern Indiana practice of eating cow brain sandwiches and the implications of the discovery of mad cow disease in a cow in Washington State.
Here's a picture of James eating one at this year's Fall Festival.
Brain sandwiches are very popular here, especially at the Fall Festival, and there is always a long line in front of the brain sandwich booths, until they, inevitably, run out. I have never eaten a brain sandwich, and don't plan to eat one any time soon.
They are making a movie of a Judy Blume novel...finally. How many bestselling books get made into movies? Let me rephrase that...how many CRAPPY bestselling books get made into movies? I hope they get this right, it would be a shame to screw up a Judy Blume novel, and if they get it right, there will be many more to come...she wrote 24 books.
