Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I just finished listening to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley read by the veteran British actor Michael York. I think I dismissed it when I read it in a college English literature class. I thought it was just fancy speculation, excessively sensational, and I did not have much time to think about it then, having four or five other classes demanding my time. It still has an excessive quality, but I find it more disturbing now. I read about the expanding abilities of medical science every day. The scenario does not seem so far fetched. Genetic engineering, cloning, chemical mood modification, the social emphasis on entertainment, and the erosion of civil liberties are issues today. Brave New World is a nightmare of how it might all turn out.

I enjoyed listening to Michael York. At times I imagined he was throwing his whole body into the reading, making faces and gesturing. He is an energetic reader. Listeners can not fall asleep.

I think audiobooks of the classics circulate as well as recent fiction in my library. I recommend this title for all public libraries.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Auburn, California: Audio Partners, 2003. ISBN 1572703024 7 discs, 8 hours 20 minutes

Call Numbers Matter: A Review of The Art of the State Series from Harry N. Abrams

Between the years 1998 and 2001, the art book publisher Harry N. Abrams produced 22 books in its series The Art of the State. Starting with Iowa, New Mexico, Maryland, and California, these books presented an overview of the arts, history, culture, and literature of the states. In the preface of the book about California, an editor said the publisher intended to complete books for all the states. Something must have gone wrong. Several books were published just before the publisher reorganized in 2001, but none have been published since.

Though these small format books limited to 96 pages were attractive, they were a little light on content. They touched on many topics with brief texts and representative illustrations, mostly in color. All they could really do for a reader is introduce topics for further research. I liked them just to get an idea of what I wanted to see when visiting a state. I thought it might be helpful to have a full set in our library, but I did not buy them all, as our funds were short a couple of those years. I ordered mostly the popular travel states.

The books can be a little confusing to find through catalogs and databases. The series is Art of the State but the books are all subtitled The Spirit of America. You may have to try both to identify them.

The books must not have been a total loss to Abrams. Most of them still seem to be available through Amazon (several warn that there are only one or two copies but more on order), and Baker and Taylor shows them in print (though the company has few in stock). I still see them at the big bookstores and in the gift shops of museums and historical sites.

When I was weeding a couple of weeks ago, I found that Maryland: The Spirit of America, which we had purchased in 1998, had a total circulation of one. Just one, and I was the one back in 1998. I had been excited to look at it because some of my ancestors were from Maryland. Because the book was not moving, I withdrew it and gave it to our Western Springs Library Friends, and then I bought it.

Before I withdrew any more books in the series, I decided to see how they were doing here and at other libraries in our shared library network. I discovered a few interesting things.

1. Not many libraries ever bought the books. Some of the titles were in only three or four of our nearly eighty libraries.

2. Books on the high tourism states go out more than the ones of less popular states.

3. None of the books go out nearly so well as other travel books.

4. Call numbers matter. I saw that libraries divided between two numbers for each of the books. Some libraries put them in state travel area and others put them in state history area. In general, the books in travel went out more than the ones in history. The one exception was Illinois: The Spirit of America. We are in Illinois and many children do Illinois history projects, and the higher circulation counts were for the libraries that gave it a history call number.

What am I going to do now? The books do seem to be going out occasionally, and they are nice books. I am not going to seek out the ones we do not have, as they are starting to age a little already. If the choices are buy, sell, or hold, I say hold.

You can stop reading now, unless the sample statistics interest you.

Illinois: The Spirit of America was published in 1999.
Library 1, call number 917.73, 3 circs in 6 years
Library 2, 917.73, 4 in 6
Library 3, 977.3, 6 in 6
Library 4, 977.3, 9 in 6
There were actually more libraries with this book as 977.3. They ranged from 2 to 9 circs.

Texas: The Spirit of America, 1999
Library 1, 917.64, 8 in 6
Library 2, 917.64, 3 in 6
Library 3, 976.4, 0 in 6
Library 4, 976.4, 2 in 6

Hawaii: The Spirit of America, 1999
Library 1, 919.69, 12 in 6
Library 2, 919.69, 13 in 6
Library 3, 996.9, 5 in 6
Library 4, 996.9, 7 in 6

Iowa: The Spirit of America, 1998
Library 1, 917.77, 4 in 7
Library 2, 917.77, 2 in 7
Library 3, 977.7, 2 in 7
Library 4, 977.7, 3 in 7

Arizona: The Spirit of America, 1998
Library 1, 917.91, 11 in 7
Library 4, 979.1, 4 in 7
Neither library 2 or 3 has this title. Library 1 is the only site with 917.91. Four more libraries have this title at 979.1, none with more than 7 circs.

Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm by Jane Brox

Jane Brox crosses time in her latest collection of essays Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm to present a very personal view of New England history and what it has meant to her family. She tells how the collective fields of the early colonies were turned into small farms that supported families and why many of the descendants have sold out to either corporate agriculture or real estate developers in the past fifty years. Some other families have clung to the land by turning their farms into tourist destinations and their farm stands into stores selling fruits and vegetables from Chile and California.

“It’s nice to talk to someone who knows.” I think this simple statement by one of the farm women that Brox visits captures why she writes and why we should read her books. Though the author has done extensive research into the history of the region and quotes Thoreau, Jefferson, and Frost, the strength of her book is her telling about her family and of her own experiences. She knows why the farm is failing. She does not know yet what she will do.

Brox, Jane. Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm. New York: North Point Press, 2004. ISBN 0865476497

Michael Gorman at LITA in Portland, 2000

With Michael Gorman scheduled to speak at the upcoming LITA Forum in San Jose, It seems a good time to pull out an old report I wrote about his keynote speech at the forum five years ago in Portland.

"High Tech/High Touch: The Human Aspects of Technology."

The presentation "Human Values in a Technological Age" by Michael Gorman, formerly Head of Technical Services at the University of Illinois Library, now at California State University, Fresno, opened the forum. Gorman, who was the editor of Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed., author of The Concise AACR2, 3rd ed., and a founding member of LITA, asked listeners to put our time of change into a historical context. He said that people have always seen themselves as modern and have always lived in a time of great change; our era is not revolutionary in that sense. He went on to describe the period between 1890 and 1910, pointing out that nearly every major technical innovation of the twentieth century (including computers and telecommunications) had its beginnings in that period. That period was particularly known for development of transportation, which he felt had changed our world more profoundly than computers ever will. In both of the eras, technological changes have worked (at least in the short course) to make the rich richer and poor poorer. The third world always falls farther behind and becomes an easy victim to exploitation by the stronger nations. With this in mind, he urged us to control technological change and make it work for a better civilization. He urged us to be active using technology to provide library access to all. Gray-haired, impeccably dressed, and British, Gorman radiated sincerity, sophistication, and scholarship, and was the perfect keynote speaker.

I hope we can all put aside recent controversies and enjoy another Gorman presentation at LITA.

A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist's Reflection on the Salt Marsh by Harry Thurston

Harry Thurston lives on the edge of a salt marsh in Nova Scotia. As a naturalist, he spends many hours watching the marsh from his window and wandering through it when the weather allows, noting the activity of its animal life. Using his journals, he has been able to identify seasonal patterns. He knows when the ice will break, when the alewives will run, and when to look for the resident foxes to leave their den. Still, he is surprised when storms bring in European birds or when a dam breaks and floods the marsh. In A Place Between the Tides, the reader learns through Thurston’s stories much about birds, fish, mammals, and people that inhabit an essential border environment. This is good reading for any season, but I think autumn, when all the leaves are falling and life slows down, might be best.

Thurston, Harry. A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh. Greystone Books, 2004. ISBN 1553650352

Librarians Should Support Hotel Housekeepers

When you attend a library conference, do you think much about your hotel housekeepers? If you are like me, you probably do not. I think most of us are used to having our beds made and bathrooms cleaned and think little of it, unless we actually see the maids (usually women) with their carts in the hallways.

According to a front page article in the Chicago Tribune today, the work of housekeepers is getting harder. The hotels are in a war to attract guests, and they are adding amenities, such as extra thick mattresses, more pillows, soft robes for guests, more coffees, more teas, more cups, more water glasses, and more toiletries. I know this is true. At our LITA hotel in Houston three years ago, we had heavily promoted new beds; I think the literature in the rooms called our beds “sleep systems.” At my PLA hotel in Seattle I had use of a soft bathrobe and at least ten pillows in my room. In my hotel bathrooms I always find not only soap and shampoo but also lotions, mouthwashes, and special sponges. Who sees that all these items are in the set in nice little baskets on clean bathroom counters? The housekeepers do.

Oscar Avila, the Tribune reporter, points out that most hotel chains are increasing the duties lists for their housekeepers at the same time they are decreasing housekeeping staffs. The maids are required to do more rooms on their shifts, while lifting heavier mattresses and straightening more layers on every bed. Is anyone noticing this demand on housekeeping? Is anyone noticing the increase in housekeeper injuries? Is anything being done to help the housekeepers?

The Illinois legislature passed a law requiring hotels in Cook County (why not the rest of the state?) to guarantee that housekeepers get two paid fifteen minute breaks during the work day. The corporations that run the hotel industry are very upset and their lawyers were able to get a judge to issue a temporary restraining order, preventing the law from being enforced. Marc Gordon of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association said that hotels can not stay profitable if they give breaks to their maids.

I think this is ridiculous. Breaks should be basic employee rights. Why are hotel housekeepers being exempted? Is this an example of gender, class, and racial injustice? Are shareholder dividends more important than the health and welfare of employees?

What can librarians do?

As individuals, we should be considerate of the maids. We should agree to reuse our towels and sheets when we are staying several days. We should not leave out things that maids have to move when vacuuming. We should not collect publicity from conference vendors just to dump it in the room. If there is a way to leave a tip for the maid, we should do so. In the surveys we complete after our stays, we should always say that we support breaks for maids.

As a profession we should ask hotels to verify that their housekeepers are guaranteed breaks before we book them for our conferences. If they do not, we should seek other hotels, if possible. Our conference planners should look into this.

If we own stock in these corporations, we should raise our voices at stockholder meetings. We should tell our elected officials that we always support employee rights.

Any other ideas?

Avila, Oscar. "Hotels Make Beds Cozier, But Maid's Day Lot Tougher." Chicago Tribune. August 23, 2005. Page 1.

A Simpler, Acrimony-Free Definition of "Women's Fiction"

What is “women’s fiction” and why do some people consider the term “sexist and contemptuous” is the topic of an essay by Roxana Robinson in the Books section of the Chicago Tribune, Sunday, August 21, 2005, section 14, page 1.

In her essay “A Simpler, Acrimony-Free Definition of ‘Women’s Fiction,’” she argues that everyone uses the term “women’s fiction,” but no one agrees what it is. Some would point to mass-market romances. Robinson describes the formula for many paperback romances, telling how they are escapist yet serve a societal purpose. She then describes thrillers and wonders why no one ever calls them “men’s fiction.” She claims that the thrillers are every bit as shallow and predictable as the romances, yet they seem to be admired. The hunt that leads to death seems to be regarded more highly than the hunt for love.

Literary fiction written by women also gets lumped into “women’s fiction,” according to Robinson, and is dismissed by men. Robinson points out that a majority of the readers of Updike, Cheever, and men are women. Why aren’t their novels “women’s fiction?”

As a librarian, I hope I never use the term “women’s fiction.” I know women who would never consider reading a romance. Some women read a lot of thrillers. I know women who read only nonfiction. I know men (including me) who have read literary fiction written by women. In fact, a lot of my favorite authors (Doris Lessing, Muriel Spark, Ursala LeGuin, Anne Tyler, and Edith Wharton) are women. Our readers are individuals not limited in their reading by gender. The term is not the least bit helpful in reader’s advisory. Let’s avoid it.

How to Find the Carnival of the Infosciences

Bonnie showed me months ago that there is a weekly virtual gathering of cat photos called Carnival of the Cats. Each week a different blogging volunteers to host the gathering. This week it is Mind of Mog.

Carnivals snuck up on me. I see with a quick glange the Carnival of the Capitalists, Carnival of the Vanities, and the New Jersey Carnival. It looks like clubs are using carnivals to share their reports. Where have I been?

Yesterday I learned there is a new Carnival of the Infosciences, which is bringing library bloggers together. The first two were hosted by Greg Schwartz at his blog Open Stacks. Click here to find week 1 and week 2.

Week 3 is being hosted by Joy Weese Moll of St. Louis on her blog Wanderings of a Student Librarian. She is currently accepting blog postings to add to the mix. The deadline is Sunday before 6:00 p.m. (which time zone?). The Carnival is scheduled for Monday.

There are two topics for which Joy is seeking contributions.

1. The digital divide. A debate started with a posting on It’s All Good.

2. Walt Crawford spent a lot of time reading blogs by librarians and wrote a 24-page (his estimate) report on the biblioblogosphere and busiest 60 blogs. It has lots of tables with rankings and includes profiles to which some people are taking issue. Whatever the merits of the objections, the report does identify 60 blogs (who has time to read them all?) and concludes that there is much good and worthwhile reading (a response to Michael Gorman?).

Joy also seeks new topics. Should you be inclined to contribute, act quickly. Of course, there should be a week 4 soon.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is not classified as a mystery, but it is very mysterious. I was listening to the second of eight compact discs before I began to understand the situation of the story.

The book starts with a short chapter in which Kathy H., the narrator, tells a little about being a carer for longer than anyone else she knows and about how she is now allowed sometimes to choose the donors for whom she cares. Most carers become donors after two or three years, but she is such a good carer, she has been allowed to stay one for over ten years. She is very tired. She will be retiring soon.

Then Kathy begins to tell about her years at Heilsham, a boarding school in the rural England, where the guardians were very keen to teach the arts to the students. It was very important to be able to draw well. The guardians were always taking the best drawings from the students for Madame's gallery, but Tommy never had one chosen. Tommy had other problems and sometimes had to be separated from the other students.

Ruth was Kathy's other close friend. She remembers the first time Ruth allowed her to join in her private games on the playground, the many disagreements they had, and how they always seemed to be drawn to each other, despite several serious betrayals.

I happened to be deep into Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when I started listening to Never Let Me Go. In both, students attended classes, ate together, and started "snogging" in their teenage years, but in Ishiguro's new book, the students never received mail. They had no idea what lay outside school grounds, except for what the guardians told them. They could not go past the poplars on the hill or the rhubarb patch past the playing field until they graduated and were sent to the cottages to wait for their assignments.

Ishiguro is a very talented writer. In Never Let Me Go, he is able to introduce some very large ethical questions without spelling them out. He takes what seems to be ordinary life in contemporary times and twists recent history. His story makes readers think about the
implications of a new, not-so-impossible situation long before he ever reveals the answers to the mysteries. I think Never Let Me Go would be an excellent book for discussions.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New York: Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1400043395

Compact discs version. Santa Ana, CA: Books on Tape, 2005. ISBN 1415916292

Given: Poems by Wendell Berry

Readers of Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry will remember that the author has many concerns about the way we live our lives and about the impact of our actions on the people we love and the earth that supports us. He questions whether the commonly accepted idea of progress, the proliferation of machines, pavement, noise, and crowding, is really a worthy goal for us. In the course of the story, he shows his readers a better way, people living thoughtful lives, caring for the world around them.

Many of the same concerns appear in the poems in his new collection Given. Many of the poems focus on the forest, the river, the soil, and the people that he knows well. Not all of these people are strictly real, as several of the poems and the short play in verse “Sonata at Payne Hollow” focus on characters from the world of his novels and short stories. Berry poses that people who care for the land on which they live are happier and more satisfied. There is gentleness in much of this verse, like in the following untitled work:

This is the time you'd like to stay.
Not a leaf stirs. Not a sound.
The fireflies lift light from the ground.

Berry does at times raise his voice in forthright criticism of current society. In his poem “Some Further Words,” he begins “Let me be plain with you, dear reader,” and continues with frank discussion of politics, science, and economics. His emotions peak in the following verse:

When I hear the Stock Market has fallen
I say, “Long live gravity, long live
stupidity, error, and greed in the palaces
of fantasy capitalism.” I think
an economy should be based on thrift,
on taking care of things, not on theft,
usury, seduction, waste, and ruin.

"Part IV: Sabbaths 1998-2004" is the largest and final section of the collection. These poems written on Sunday morning walks continue a series begun in previous collections, and they often deal on the surface with what Berry sees in the changing seasons. With them, he also expresses his Christian beliefs, as in the third poem in the subsection for 2000:

As timely as a river
God’s timeless life passes
Into this world. It passes
Through bodies, giving life,
And past them, giving death.

The collection can be read quickly, but I recommend taking a few poems at a time. Some readers will find many quotes to collect and keep. Given belongs in most public libraries.

Berry, Wendell. Given: Poems. Washington, DC: Shoemaker Hoard, 2005. ISBN 1593760612

Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America’s Laureate of Light Verse

When I think of Ogden Nash, I think first of a poem I read in school a long time ago titled “The Purist.” I have read it too many times to actually laugh out loud again, but I still smile when I read it. I become the kid I once was somehow, happy to hear the joke over and over again.

I think Ogden Nash brings back memories for many older Americans. When I was reading the new biography Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America’s Laureate of Light Verse by Douglas M. Parker, while eating a sweet roll in Panera last week, an older man noticed. As he passed my table he said, “Ah, Ogden Nash, he was a wonderful man.” I noticed the older man, who looked like a retired executive, having a look of competence and industry, was cleaning tables. Was he laid off by a corporation, replaced by someone young? Was he working at Panera because he was unable to find a management job in the new economy, which disvalues the older, experienced worker? Is Nash for him a link to a happier time, his time?

Nash has often been a bright spot in a dark time. He became popular for his humorous poetry during the Great Depression when his works began to appear regularly in The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines. Because he was never paid much for his poems, he had to write and sell a lot of them, which he continued to do into the 1960s, when changing tastes made his work harder to sell. By the time of his death in 1971, he had published over a thousand poems.

Nash did not only write poetry. He tried his hand as a book editor, magazine editor, screen writer, playwright, lyricist, and game show panelist. He was valued as an editor at Doubleday and other publishers, but the pay was poor and he left the profession to write fulltime. His efforts in Hollywood and on Broadway always started with lots of promise but usually fizzled. Radio and television appearances eventually paid fairly well, but poetry was his steady income.

Being a writer, he often worked from home. Unlike many men of his era, he seems to have spent much time with his two daughters. On several occasions, he was the primary parent as his wife took long European vacations. It may not have been difficult to do, as the family always had servants. His wife had her own money inherited from her “old family” Baltimore ancestors. She and Nash were always able to live the country club and martini life.

I think readers will enjoy learning how involved Nash was in the literary scene of the 1920s and 1930s. He knew Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. B. White, and many others. Douglas M. Parker also tells much about mid-twentieth century world of publishing. Fans of The New Yorker will especially want to read this book.

Some will enjoy the book for their own memories. There are many Nash verses scattered throughout the text.

Read “The Purist.” The punch line ends with a word that rhymes with “smile.”

Parker, Douglas M. Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America’s Laureate of Light Verse. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005. ISBN 156663637X

Go to rickindex to find more book, movie, and musice reviews.

Cheetah Stalking Young Gazelle

Cheetah Stalking
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

At the point this photo was taken, this cheetah was stalking a young gazelle, but an eland wandered by. Click the photo to find more cheetah photos.

Duma

Bonnie and I were lucky, for we got to see Duma at a theater last night. If you have not heard, Duma is a movie directed by Carroll Ballard (Fly Away Home) that features a cheetah that is orphaned and raised by a family. It is a really beautifully made movie, which Warner Brothers is not really promoting to theaters. It was test marketed on a small budget without television ads in April in San Antonio, Phoenix, and Sacramento and did poorly at the box office. Because it was given a really good review by a critic in Los Angeles, the studio decided to give it another chance. It is currently showing at five theaters in the Chicago area, again with no television advertising. The ticket sales have not been good, according to Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune. Our theater was about half full Friday night.

Bonnie thinks that Warner Brothers sees its profit on this film coming from DVD sales. It would make a nice family film to watch over and over again with the kids. So I looked around to see if a sales date is set. Amazon is already taking orders for the DVD, but no date is mentioned for release. One of the articles I saw said that the DVD goes on sale in the U.K. on September 26. The U.S. sales probably will not be set until after the studio decides whether to distribute the film to theaters. Whenever it does go on sale, libraries should buy it.

Warner Brothers has gone to the trouble of setting up a nice web site for the movie. It even has study sheets for students and teachers, buddy icons, and downloadable wallpapers. There must be some plan to promote the film to youth.

If you are anywhere near Chicago this week, you should try to see Duma at a theater. It may be your only chance. The cheetah on the run should be on the big screen.

Weeding Clinton and Bush

One of the realities of life in a medium small public library is that the amount of shelf space for books is always limited. The promise of electronic books freeing up space has not come true for us as yet. Like many other libraries, we have gotten to the point that we need to withdraw a book for every book we add. It has certainly come to that point with all of our books about the Clinton and Bush II presidential administrations. Books are being piled on top of books. Having just placed orders for some more new titles that are forecasted to generate reading interest this fall, I decided that I had to weed 973.929 and 973.931.

How did I do?

973.929 was pretty easy. I found eight books about the Clinton administration that had not been out in two or more years that I doubt will be requested in the future. Some were from early in the administration and later books tell more up-to-date stories. Some focused on cabinet members. One was about how Gingrich would be stirring up more trouble. It was easy to let these go. I kept anything by or about Hillary Clinton, including Dear Socks Dear Buddy. The “long tail” of public interest of which I hear may whip these items back into currency. I kept twenty-four books in the area, so I withdrew twenty-five percent.

973.931 was harder. The covers of many of the books still shine. Most of the titles that had not been out recently were about September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and still seemed relevant. The books about the president’s character (pro and con) had all been out recently, as had the books about the conduct of the war in Iraq, but some had only been out two or three times total. I would think that these books should be jumping off the shelves. While I would like to free up some space, I could not decide which titles would not be read soon. I would still like to get some value out of all of them. I withdrew nothing.

My thoughts return to the books I am ordering. I do not want to get caught without books that are going to be demanded, but I do not want to waste our limited funds (and shelving space) on titles that will mostly sit. What am I to do? I have to accept the reality that I can not perfectly predict which books will be well read and buy the potentially hot books and shift other books to make a little more room. Still, it bugs me.

Book Shop at Bristol Renaissance Fair

Book Shop at Bristol Renaissance Fair
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

I think I missed the Bristol Renaissance Fair last year. When I attended over the past weekend, I found a book shop that I had not seen before. To my surprise it really had a good selection of Medieval and Renaissance histories, biographies, and historical novels, as well as a children's book section. There was a range of shelves with Renaissance music books, another on period weapons and armor, several shelves on women in the Renaissance, and a section on the Tudor monarchs. All the topics of everyday life, such as cooking and clothing, also had sections. I hope the shop prospers. It provides an interesting shady retreat. Visit it when you attend the fair.

Click on the photo to find more photos from the fair.

Hybrid Librarians

I read and enjoyed “Architect of Learning,” an article by Sam Allis in the July 30, 2005 issue of the Boston Globe, which discusses the bright future of college libraries. It is reassuring to read an optimistic forecast, and I wonder how the trends for college libraries transfer to public libraries. What struck me as strange in the story was the description of “hybrid personnel with technology and content expertise” helping students in the new libraries.

Because many college libraries have more money and specialized technical staffs, I think they are often ahead of most public libraries with technological innovations. They have more computers and more databases, write their own software, try and abandon gadgets, and study their services with the intent of writing scholarly reports. I attend LITA Forums to see what might work its way down to public libraries. When I read about these “hybrid personnel” I thought, “Hey, public libraries are ahead on this one.”

I know colleges have often been able to have specialists. One librarian might focus on acquiring Latin American documents, while another might be a bibliographic instructor. We have never been able to do this in smaller public libraries. We have always been “hybrid personnel.”

I am old enough to remember when we first got computers for the public in our community libraries. There seemed to be a lot of debate about how much we could help computer users, for many of us had few technical skills at that point. I remember libraries with signs saying that users were responsible for knowing how to use the machines. Library staff would give only minimal help, according to the signs. Thankfully that did not last long. We are born to help people. Those of us who were not already became “hybrid personnel with technology and content expertise” at that point.

Today it is hard for me to imagine a librarian is not a “hybrid.” Of course, the list of necessary skills keeps increasing. I am not keeping up with Jenny Levine, but I have her list of twenty five skills that librarians need (20 from T.H.E Journal and five of her own). I had better sign off and work on three or four skills before she adds another.

What's This?

What's This?
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Where is this truckload of giant pumpkins going? Laura took this while I was driving on I88 on Sunday.

Are Bloggers Defined as Unhealthy?

On Thursday, Laughing Squid reported that the dictionary on Apple’s Tiger operating system defines a blog as a pursuit of twenty-somethings with “an unhealthy interest in computers.” The author later modified the report to say that the definition actually came from the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd edition, which Apple uses.

I do not have a copy of the new edition of the dictionary, but I found that the ResourceShelf posted a complete list of the new words and definitions. Looking at the entry for blog, it appears to me that the slight to bloggers is not in a definition, but in an example showing word usage. When the italics are lost, as they are in some of the postings of this dictionary entry, it is not clear that the OAD was just showing how to use the word.

So, OAD did not actually define us as unhealthy. The definition writer was probably trying to be funny, much as I tried in junior high school when writing sentences using vocabulary words.

By the way, I can only wish I were twenty-something.

The Old Ball Game by Frank Deford

I enjoyed The Old Ball Game by Frank Deford. He tells his story well, including enough tidbits to keep readers entertained. Did you know that baseball fans used to be called “cranks?” Deford quotes headlines like “20,000 Cranks Fill Polo Grounds.” (Does that make you want to go to a game?) It also gets into the serious topic of gambling and dishonest players. Even the revered Mathewson bet on games. Gambling was a way some players made ends meet. Some of those who failed literally died in gutters and slums.

How important is a subtitle on a book? On both the cover and on the title page of this new book I see How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball. Having now read this book, I wonder if the author or some marketing editor wrote the subtitle. The book is about McGraw and Mathewson and their relationship, but Deford never really makes the case that they created the modern game. They were innovators and important figures in the history of the game, but the subtitle is an overstatement. I think I would have used "Unlikely Friends" in the subtitle. There is more about relationships than baseball in this work.

The Old Ball Game captures the flavor of the early twentieth century well. Both general readers and cranks will enjoy this book.

Deford, Frank. The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005. ISBN 0871138859

How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes

Would you want to be a “bad” birdwatcher? If you define “bad” as disregarding the rules drawn up by competitive birders and just watching and enjoying birds, the answer is “yes.” You do not have to rush about checking off as many species as you can on a lifelist. You do not have to seek out the rare birds at the expense of enjoying the common birds, which sometimes do extraordinary things. You do not have to have fancy equipment or join any groups or take expensive trips to exotic places. All that you have to do is take time to observe the birds around you everyday. You do not “go” bird watching. You “are” bird watching wherever you are.

How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes is a bit of a memoir as well as a bit of a guidebook. Readers learn about Barnes’ relationship with his father, his career as a sportswriter, and his learning to love the simple pleasure of observing birds. Every chapter is a well-formed essay on a birding topic.

Barnes is a good story teller and relates several adventures that make the point that it is still okay to go all out to see birds, so long as you are really having fun. He tells about going on numerous assignments to cover sporting events and seeking out local Audubon experts who take him to good birding sites. Birders like to share. He always finds someone to guide him to the birds.

Don’t just read with envy. Get out and see some birds.

Barnes, Simon. How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. ISBN 0375423559

Birding note: Bonnie and I saw a bunch of first summer American redstarts from the observation deck of Mount Baldhead (called Mount Baldy) in Saugatuck, Michigan last Friday. They were cute little birds that flitted around the shrubs. Their yellow patches will be orange next year. We needed The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley to verify their identity.