I knew it had to be there. A library client wanted a transcript of an interview from MSNBC's Meet the Press. I looked all over the MSNBC website for it. I scanned the menus on the left of the screen and found the web page for Meet the Press. There were many links among the boxes on the page, but I did not see one to the transcript of the interview. I tried the search tool for the web site and found information about the show's topic but not the transcript.
I took a different approach. I searched Google and Google Blogsearch with no luck. Then I went to Feedster but found it was down for maintenance. Then I searched Technorati and the first item on the results list was the wanted transcript posted to a blog. The library client said that it was the right thing and he left happy.
I noticed that the blog said that the transcript had been taken from the MSNBC web site. Being half crazed, I went back to look again. After gazing at the Meet the Press web page for a minute or two, I saw it. Near the top of the page in a dark rectangle in a spot often occupied by ads, in thin white letters I found the link “Transcripts & Resources.” I clicked the link and found the wanted transcript. It was right in front of me all the time.
My instincts for finding the link failed me this time, just when I thought I knew how web designers think. I am glad someone blogged the wanted transcript. I turn to blogs for current information and answer reference questions often these days when my other attempts fail. I am pleased how often someone has already posted something helpful.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Saturday, October 29, 2005
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith and Expresso Tales by the Same Author
Alexander McCall Smith must be one of the busiest authors on the planet. Every time I look, there is a new book, and I’ve enjoyed every one of them. Like many of the readers at my library, my favorite series is the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels. I am also keen on Portuguese Irregular Verbs and its sequels. According to Random House's McCall Smith web site, he has written over fifty books, including numerous serious academic titles. He is currently a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
I just finished listening to 44 Scotland Street, read by Robert Ian MacKenzie. In its introduction, McCall Smith says that he was impressed by the Tales of the City novels by Armistead Maupin that were serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. He took a challenge by editors at The Scotsman in Edinburgh to write a serialized novel and submitted 44 Scotland Street in 110 daily installments, which were run in the paper between January and June of 2004.
I do not want to say much about the story and spoil the surprises. The story is set in Edinburgh, and like in Tales of the City, it involves a group of people who inhabit or visit a particular apartment building. Pat rents a room in a flat occupied by Bruce, a young surveyor with many expensive hair gels and colognes, and two absent tenants. The ever sympathetic Domenica lives across the hall, and five year old Bertie practices his saxaphone and Italian downstairs. His mother Irene worries because his school does not follow the principles of Melaine Klein. Pat tries to help Mathew, her boss at the art gallery, establish whether a painting really is by the Scottish master Samuel Peploe. The real mystery writer Ian Rankin has a cameo role. It must have been fun to read in short daily installments.
Like all McCall Smith novels, there are sequels. A second series ran in The Scotsman last winter and is now available in the U.K. under the title Expresso Tales. If I had known I could have had Aaron buy a copy when he was in London. We could have been the first library in the area to have a copy. Amazon reports that the title will not be for sale in the U.S. until July 11, 2006. A third series began September 19, 2005 and can be read by subscription.
Warning: you might laugh out loud.
McCall Smith, Alexander. 44 Scotland Street. New York: Anchor Books, 2005. ISBN 1400079446
McCall Smith, Alexander. 44 Scotland Street. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2005. ISBN 1419340522, 10 compact discs
I just finished listening to 44 Scotland Street, read by Robert Ian MacKenzie. In its introduction, McCall Smith says that he was impressed by the Tales of the City novels by Armistead Maupin that were serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. He took a challenge by editors at The Scotsman in Edinburgh to write a serialized novel and submitted 44 Scotland Street in 110 daily installments, which were run in the paper between January and June of 2004.
I do not want to say much about the story and spoil the surprises. The story is set in Edinburgh, and like in Tales of the City, it involves a group of people who inhabit or visit a particular apartment building. Pat rents a room in a flat occupied by Bruce, a young surveyor with many expensive hair gels and colognes, and two absent tenants. The ever sympathetic Domenica lives across the hall, and five year old Bertie practices his saxaphone and Italian downstairs. His mother Irene worries because his school does not follow the principles of Melaine Klein. Pat tries to help Mathew, her boss at the art gallery, establish whether a painting really is by the Scottish master Samuel Peploe. The real mystery writer Ian Rankin has a cameo role. It must have been fun to read in short daily installments.
Like all McCall Smith novels, there are sequels. A second series ran in The Scotsman last winter and is now available in the U.K. under the title Expresso Tales. If I had known I could have had Aaron buy a copy when he was in London. We could have been the first library in the area to have a copy. Amazon reports that the title will not be for sale in the U.S. until July 11, 2006. A third series began September 19, 2005 and can be read by subscription.
Warning: you might laugh out loud.
McCall Smith, Alexander. 44 Scotland Street. New York: Anchor Books, 2005. ISBN 1400079446
McCall Smith, Alexander. 44 Scotland Street. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2005. ISBN 1419340522, 10 compact discs
Friday, October 28, 2005
The Journey That Saved Curious George by Louise Borden
Voila! It was there! A book that I had been waiting to read. On my desk I found The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey by Louise Borden, illustrated by Allan Drummond. Oooh, it was a nice looking book!
Everyone remembers Curious George, the mischievous monkey of picture book fame. If we did not read the books as children, we read them to our children. As a parent, I grew rather tired of them. Still, I wanted to read this book about an episode in the authors’ lives.
Margret and H. A. Rey were living in Paris at the start of World War II, and being Jewish, were very concerned for their safety. Both had been born in Hamburg and had become a citizen of Brazil, but they had been in France for four years working on children’s books. Two manuscripts were ready for publication, one about a penguin names Whiteblack and another about a monkey named Fifi, but the European publishers no longer had paper. The couple’s preparations to flee Paris became more serious when the Germans crossed through Belgium and the Netherlands. Getting all the paperwork completed was maddening.
Louise Borden heard the story of the Reys’ escape years ago and wanted to know more. She visited de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi to find the Reys’ papers, wrote to people who had known the Reys, and traveled to Paris and the towns through which the couple escaped. She enlisted Allan Drummond to illustrate the story.
The result is a fine book for youth and adults. I enjoyed looking at Drummond’s rich illustrations, showing the Reys on their bicycles in Paris, with people in their scarves and berets reading newspapers, crowded onto buses, carrying babies, all fleeing as Nazi planes dot the sky. Photos of the Reys, their passports, their day calendars, and other artifacts and illustrations of Curious George and Whiteblack also decorate the pages.
The penguin is really cute. I should read Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World soon.
Borden, Louise. The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. ISBN 0618339248
Everyone remembers Curious George, the mischievous monkey of picture book fame. If we did not read the books as children, we read them to our children. As a parent, I grew rather tired of them. Still, I wanted to read this book about an episode in the authors’ lives.
Margret and H. A. Rey were living in Paris at the start of World War II, and being Jewish, were very concerned for their safety. Both had been born in Hamburg and had become a citizen of Brazil, but they had been in France for four years working on children’s books. Two manuscripts were ready for publication, one about a penguin names Whiteblack and another about a monkey named Fifi, but the European publishers no longer had paper. The couple’s preparations to flee Paris became more serious when the Germans crossed through Belgium and the Netherlands. Getting all the paperwork completed was maddening.
Louise Borden heard the story of the Reys’ escape years ago and wanted to know more. She visited de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi to find the Reys’ papers, wrote to people who had known the Reys, and traveled to Paris and the towns through which the couple escaped. She enlisted Allan Drummond to illustrate the story.
The result is a fine book for youth and adults. I enjoyed looking at Drummond’s rich illustrations, showing the Reys on their bicycles in Paris, with people in their scarves and berets reading newspapers, crowded onto buses, carrying babies, all fleeing as Nazi planes dot the sky. Photos of the Reys, their passports, their day calendars, and other artifacts and illustrations of Curious George and Whiteblack also decorate the pages.
The penguin is really cute. I should read Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World soon.
Borden, Louise. The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. ISBN 0618339248
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Henry David Thoreau's grave
Andrea Mercado posted photos from her visit to Author's Ridge in Concord, where graves of Thoreau, Emerson, and Alcott may be found. I really like the tributes left before Thoreau's marker. I must go there next time I visit Massachusetts. Thanks to Andrea. Click to see her other photos.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Strange Virtual Afternoon
Ever have one of those days? On Sunday several of my virtual reference exchanges were a bit strange.
One student had a screen name that was an entire paragraph long. Everytime he sent a message, I had to scroll down the chat box to find his message. He kept rephrasing his request and adding details. He also threw in jokes while I was searching. It was impossible to actually work on his question if I kept reading his chatter. I told him I was going away for a book.
Another seemed either to have no grasp of her topic or to be unwilling to read the pages that I sent to her. I had to point to the answer on each page that I sent and tell her why it answered her question. She had lots of followup questions. She would be silent sometimes for ten minutes or so and then come back. I fielded her questions for nearly two hours while juggling other clients.
A third student wanted mileage between two suburbs and then started telling me about seeing his teacher in a supermarket several suburbs away from his middle school. He wondered why his teacher would wander so far away from the school. "She might live near there." That he had also gone seven miles away from his school did not seem noteworthy. He wanted to know several other distances. I told him how to use Google Maps.
Then I had several "normal" virtual reference interviews.
Virtual reference has no monopoly on unusual transactions.
Constant talkers come to the reference desk every now and then, too. It is sometimes hard to think when bombarded by endless talk. It is interesting to see how the phenomenon manifests itself online.
I have students who want answers but who are unwilling to read what I hand them come to the desk, too. It should be no surprise to meet them virtually. I sometimes paste the answering statements into the chat box after pushing the web page.
At the desk I rarely get the students who mostly want to chat. Maybe I look too old. Online they have no clue to my age (other than my using complete sentences followed by periods.)
My library is now in its third year of offering virtual reference. The more I see the more I believe it is mostly like in-person reference. It is sometimes puzzling. It is more often very satisfying.
One student had a screen name that was an entire paragraph long. Everytime he sent a message, I had to scroll down the chat box to find his message. He kept rephrasing his request and adding details. He also threw in jokes while I was searching. It was impossible to actually work on his question if I kept reading his chatter. I told him I was going away for a book.
Another seemed either to have no grasp of her topic or to be unwilling to read the pages that I sent to her. I had to point to the answer on each page that I sent and tell her why it answered her question. She had lots of followup questions. She would be silent sometimes for ten minutes or so and then come back. I fielded her questions for nearly two hours while juggling other clients.
A third student wanted mileage between two suburbs and then started telling me about seeing his teacher in a supermarket several suburbs away from his middle school. He wondered why his teacher would wander so far away from the school. "She might live near there." That he had also gone seven miles away from his school did not seem noteworthy. He wanted to know several other distances. I told him how to use Google Maps.
Then I had several "normal" virtual reference interviews.
Virtual reference has no monopoly on unusual transactions.
Constant talkers come to the reference desk every now and then, too. It is sometimes hard to think when bombarded by endless talk. It is interesting to see how the phenomenon manifests itself online.
I have students who want answers but who are unwilling to read what I hand them come to the desk, too. It should be no surprise to meet them virtually. I sometimes paste the answering statements into the chat box after pushing the web page.
At the desk I rarely get the students who mostly want to chat. Maybe I look too old. Online they have no clue to my age (other than my using complete sentences followed by periods.)
My library is now in its third year of offering virtual reference. The more I see the more I believe it is mostly like in-person reference. It is sometimes puzzling. It is more often very satisfying.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Scarecrows at the Morton Arboretum
The Morton Arboretum, which has recently opened its new children's garden and a maze, also has an exhibit of scarecrows this fall. Different community groups have created scarecrows unlike those of tradition. Click the photo to see more. Better, go see them at the Arboretum.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the giants of Latin American literature, and my library has many of his novels and short story collections. I have enjoyed several, including Love in the Time of Cholera and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Both include mesmerizing stories unlike anything written north of the Rio Grande. Reading Living to Tell the Tale, I find that many of those stories are somewhat true; the author listened to every family tale and retold them in his fiction. His work earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.
As an experienced reader of Garcia Marquez would expect, he does not construct his memoir of youth in a chronological manner. He starts with adolescence, moves back to early memories, and follows with his school days. The latter part of the book recounts his newspaper work and early writing career; dates are particularly confusing in this section. Living to Tell the Tale ends with his leaving Colombia to cover a story in Switzerland. He did not return to his homeland for three years.
I like the beginning. While he is working for a newspaper in Barranquilla, living mostly in a outdoor cafe, with one year of law school behind him, his mother appears and demands that he return to Aracataca with her to sell his grandparents' house. They take a slow riverboat, a crowded train, and even walk to get there. When they arrive, nothing is as they expected. His mother does not sell the house, but they see old friends. In rich prose Garcia Marquez describes their every move and the many people they encounter. It is very like a story from his fiction.
I found the account of his early writing career very interesting. He really wanted to be a poet but wrote editorials for newspapers to make ends meet. While in school, his writing ability was noticed, and several publishers sought him for their papers. Out of school, he spent more than he earned and his friends often had to feed and shelter him. He wandered through the homes and bordellos of all classes, meeting every politician, policeman, criminal, and writer in Cartagena, Sucre, and Bogota.
I am leading a discussion on Living to Tell the Tale later this week. Garcia Marquez includes many names in the text, and I wish the book had an index to help me re-find what he wrote about these important people.
Devoted readers of his novels and short stories will want to read this first of three memoirs.
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Living to Tell the Tale. New York: Alfed A. Knopf, 2003. ISBN 1400041341
As an experienced reader of Garcia Marquez would expect, he does not construct his memoir of youth in a chronological manner. He starts with adolescence, moves back to early memories, and follows with his school days. The latter part of the book recounts his newspaper work and early writing career; dates are particularly confusing in this section. Living to Tell the Tale ends with his leaving Colombia to cover a story in Switzerland. He did not return to his homeland for three years.
I like the beginning. While he is working for a newspaper in Barranquilla, living mostly in a outdoor cafe, with one year of law school behind him, his mother appears and demands that he return to Aracataca with her to sell his grandparents' house. They take a slow riverboat, a crowded train, and even walk to get there. When they arrive, nothing is as they expected. His mother does not sell the house, but they see old friends. In rich prose Garcia Marquez describes their every move and the many people they encounter. It is very like a story from his fiction.
I found the account of his early writing career very interesting. He really wanted to be a poet but wrote editorials for newspapers to make ends meet. While in school, his writing ability was noticed, and several publishers sought him for their papers. Out of school, he spent more than he earned and his friends often had to feed and shelter him. He wandered through the homes and bordellos of all classes, meeting every politician, policeman, criminal, and writer in Cartagena, Sucre, and Bogota.
I am leading a discussion on Living to Tell the Tale later this week. Garcia Marquez includes many names in the text, and I wish the book had an index to help me re-find what he wrote about these important people.
Devoted readers of his novels and short stories will want to read this first of three memoirs.
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Living to Tell the Tale. New York: Alfed A. Knopf, 2003. ISBN 1400041341
Friday, October 21, 2005
Open WorldCat for Rural America
I was playing around with Open WorldCat search and decided to see how many copies of This Ain't Brain Surgery by Larry Dierker there were in West Texas where I grew up. The book tells about Dierker's baseball career, including his years as the manager of the Houston Astros.
Living for twenty plus years in the Chicago suburbs, where all the libraries have been networked and connected, I forget that it just is not so across rural America. I had forgotten how good we have it here librarywise. I put in the zip code 76932 for Big Lake, Texas, thinking I would see copies in San Angelo, Midland, and Odessa for sure. I was hoping I would also see copies in Big Lake, Ozona, McCamey, and Stanton. I was surprised to see the first library in the results list is the Central Arkansas Library System. It is 670 miles from Big Lake to Little Rock! That's a long way to go for a book.
Open WorldCat does have an explanation of how it replies to the zip code searches. The results are displayed according to libraries within concentric radii of the given zip code. If there are not at least ten libraries with the item within a set radius, the next radius is added. If the search has to go beyond 62 miles, the results are presented alphabetically by state and name of library. When you live in a place like West Texas, there will not be more than two or three libraries within 62 miles if you are very lucky. Therefore, in this case, libraries in Arkansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma get listed before libraries in Texas; these state all belong to Amigos, a regional OCLC service provider. Looking down the list, I find that the closest copy is in Abilene, 163 miles according to Google Maps.
To see what Open WorldCat is missing, because membership in OCLC is not universal, I went to individual library catalogs. The Reagan County Library in Big Lake does not have an online catalog. The libraries in San Angelo, Odessa, and Midland do, so I was able to search for Dierker's book. San Angelo and Odessa own it, but Midland does not. Do I assume the people in Midland, once the home of George W. Bush, are all Texas Ranger fans? It is football country. The librarians may be selecting only what will circulate.
Where does this leave the readers in West Texas who are hoping for more access for books? Two things need to be done. 1) All the libraries need to be added to OCLC so they show up in Open WorldCat. 2) A different formula for showing closest libraries needs to be created for rural America.
Does Open WorldCat even matter in places where towns are so far apart? Books can be requested through interlibrary loan. My aunt is always getting booksthrough ILL from Abilene and elsewhere. Would anyone really drive to another town for a book?
I think it can matter. People who live in the small towns in West Texas drive great distances to shop and conduct personal business. My friends and I used to drive 72 miles from Big Lake to San Angelo for a pizza or to see a movie. If you were going to Midland to get a piece of oilfield equipment or to San Angelo to visit a friend in the hospital anyway, you could pick up the book at the library.
Open WorldCat is still a trial. It has a long way to go before its dreams are realized. Let's not let rural America be left out.
Living for twenty plus years in the Chicago suburbs, where all the libraries have been networked and connected, I forget that it just is not so across rural America. I had forgotten how good we have it here librarywise. I put in the zip code 76932 for Big Lake, Texas, thinking I would see copies in San Angelo, Midland, and Odessa for sure. I was hoping I would also see copies in Big Lake, Ozona, McCamey, and Stanton. I was surprised to see the first library in the results list is the Central Arkansas Library System. It is 670 miles from Big Lake to Little Rock! That's a long way to go for a book.
Open WorldCat does have an explanation of how it replies to the zip code searches. The results are displayed according to libraries within concentric radii of the given zip code. If there are not at least ten libraries with the item within a set radius, the next radius is added. If the search has to go beyond 62 miles, the results are presented alphabetically by state and name of library. When you live in a place like West Texas, there will not be more than two or three libraries within 62 miles if you are very lucky. Therefore, in this case, libraries in Arkansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma get listed before libraries in Texas; these state all belong to Amigos, a regional OCLC service provider. Looking down the list, I find that the closest copy is in Abilene, 163 miles according to Google Maps.
To see what Open WorldCat is missing, because membership in OCLC is not universal, I went to individual library catalogs. The Reagan County Library in Big Lake does not have an online catalog. The libraries in San Angelo, Odessa, and Midland do, so I was able to search for Dierker's book. San Angelo and Odessa own it, but Midland does not. Do I assume the people in Midland, once the home of George W. Bush, are all Texas Ranger fans? It is football country. The librarians may be selecting only what will circulate.
Where does this leave the readers in West Texas who are hoping for more access for books? Two things need to be done. 1) All the libraries need to be added to OCLC so they show up in Open WorldCat. 2) A different formula for showing closest libraries needs to be created for rural America.
Does Open WorldCat even matter in places where towns are so far apart? Books can be requested through interlibrary loan. My aunt is always getting booksthrough ILL from Abilene and elsewhere. Would anyone really drive to another town for a book?
I think it can matter. People who live in the small towns in West Texas drive great distances to shop and conduct personal business. My friends and I used to drive 72 miles from Big Lake to San Angelo for a pizza or to see a movie. If you were going to Midland to get a piece of oilfield equipment or to San Angelo to visit a friend in the hospital anyway, you could pick up the book at the library.
Open WorldCat is still a trial. It has a long way to go before its dreams are realized. Let's not let rural America be left out.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Domaine Carneros 1997 Brut Carneros Sparkling Wine
We do not drink champagne very often, but we opened a bottle of Domaine Carneros 1997 Brut Carneros last night after the Houston Astros won their game against the St. Louis Cardinals, earning them a place in the 2005 World Series. I have never opened a bottle of champagne after a game, but then again, the Astros have never been to the World Series.
(I hope I cited the wine correctly. I do not think there are rules in AACR2 - library lingo.)
Bonnie poured the champagne into our seldom used crystal wine glasses, and I took a sip. Wow, it was good! It didn't have the aftertaste of Sunday brunch champagne. The bottle had been a gift a few years ago. It seems to have been a nicer gift than I realized. Not outlandish, but still very nice.
It was pleasant to sip while watching interviews and highlights. On ESPN the coverage went on and on. My favorite play was Adam Everett bunting down the third base line to score Chris Burke. That's classic Astros baseball! Everett and Craig Biggio both made nice diving plays during the game, and I appreciated Jason Lane's home run. Most importantly, the pitching trio of Roy Oswalt, Chad Qualls, and Dan Wheeler limited the Cardinals to one run.
We still have some champagne. Maybe we can have some more next week.
(I hope I cited the wine correctly. I do not think there are rules in AACR2 - library lingo.)
Bonnie poured the champagne into our seldom used crystal wine glasses, and I took a sip. Wow, it was good! It didn't have the aftertaste of Sunday brunch champagne. The bottle had been a gift a few years ago. It seems to have been a nicer gift than I realized. Not outlandish, but still very nice.
It was pleasant to sip while watching interviews and highlights. On ESPN the coverage went on and on. My favorite play was Adam Everett bunting down the third base line to score Chris Burke. That's classic Astros baseball! Everett and Craig Biggio both made nice diving plays during the game, and I appreciated Jason Lane's home run. Most importantly, the pitching trio of Roy Oswalt, Chad Qualls, and Dan Wheeler limited the Cardinals to one run.
We still have some champagne. Maybe we can have some more next week.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
This Ain't Brain Surgery by Larry Dierker
I hardly slept Monday. The Houston Astros were only one strike away from winning the game that would send them to the World Series for the first time ever when the St. Louis Cardinals rallied and won the game. It would be easier to take if the games were in the afternoon. When tragedy strikes around 11:00 p.m., it is hard to stop thinking "what if ... ."
Few people understand the position of Houston Astros fan. Most major league teams have been to the World Series at some point in history. For those who do not know Astros history, I recommend This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind by Larry Dierker. Dierker is someone who really knows Astros history. He was a pitcher for the team in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1979 until 1996 he was the primary color analyst (the announcer with lots of interesting facts and stories) on Astros radio and television broadcasts. From 1997 through 2001 he was the manager. Under his leadership, the team won four division championships but never won a playoff series. In his book, you will read about forty years of Astros baseball. You will learn how close the team has come to the World Series without ever succeeding. You will learn about many of the team's great players. There are many sad stories, too, so keep a handkerchief handy.
To the left is a photo of Nolan Ryan pitching to Ryne Sandburg in Wrigley Field in 1987. Ryan was a key Astros figure of the 1980s. He has been shown in the stands during the current games. (The picture does not really have anything to do with the book, but I wanted to use it anyway. It is the best I have from that day Bonnie and I had really great seats.)
By the way, the This Ain't Brain Surgery is also an autobiography. Dierker, who is an avid book reader and otherwise interesting character, tells about his experiences on and off the ball field, and there is brain surgery in the story.
It is Wednesday and Game Six of the playoffs is tonight. I wonder how I will sleep tonight.
Dierker, Larry. This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. ISBN 074320400x
Few people understand the position of Houston Astros fan. Most major league teams have been to the World Series at some point in history. For those who do not know Astros history, I recommend This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind by Larry Dierker. Dierker is someone who really knows Astros history. He was a pitcher for the team in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1979 until 1996 he was the primary color analyst (the announcer with lots of interesting facts and stories) on Astros radio and television broadcasts. From 1997 through 2001 he was the manager. Under his leadership, the team won four division championships but never won a playoff series. In his book, you will read about forty years of Astros baseball. You will learn how close the team has come to the World Series without ever succeeding. You will learn about many of the team's great players. There are many sad stories, too, so keep a handkerchief handy.
To the left is a photo of Nolan Ryan pitching to Ryne Sandburg in Wrigley Field in 1987. Ryan was a key Astros figure of the 1980s. He has been shown in the stands during the current games. (The picture does not really have anything to do with the book, but I wanted to use it anyway. It is the best I have from that day Bonnie and I had really great seats.)By the way, the This Ain't Brain Surgery is also an autobiography. Dierker, who is an avid book reader and otherwise interesting character, tells about his experiences on and off the ball field, and there is brain surgery in the story.
It is Wednesday and Game Six of the playoffs is tonight. I wonder how I will sleep tonight.
Dierker, Larry. This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. ISBN 074320400x
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda
I just finished listening to Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned by Alan Alda. I was surprised and slightly disappointed at the start that Alda did not read the book himself, but the compelling story soon let me forget his vocal absence. Having seen countless episodes of M*A*S*H and movies starring Alda and knowing his voice well, I almost heard his voice telling the story. His writing sends his voice well without the actual sound. Some of the story is so emotional, it might have been difficult for him to read.
I was surprised that Alda's earliest memories came from the period of traveling around the U.S. with his father on the Burlesque Circuit of the 1930s. I think of Alda as much too young to have ever seen something so ancient as Burlesque. I always equate him with the generation of college students protesting Vietnam in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That is when M*A*S*H debuted. That's where I had pegged him. On further reflection, I can seeing the Burlesque influence in his work.
The story about the stuffing of a pet dog comes from Alda's youth. His father was an actor under a Warner Brothers' contract during World War II, and the family was living in a house in rural California. The author had been given the dog as a companion during his polio quarantine. It died a very strange and shocking death after eating leftovers. Its stuffing, suggested by Alda's father, did not succeed in lessening the pain of the memory of its death. Even as a child, the author saw how misguided the gesture was, and the story became for him a standard by which to measure other episodes in his life.
Readers wanting M*A*S*H stories to dominate the book will be disappointed. There are some stories about the making of the show and his friendship with the other actors, but Alda's biography is mostly about his education, his career, his study of acting, and his relationship with his parents. He tells about his near death in the mountains of Chile in the later section of the book.
All Alan Alda's fans should read this book.
Alda, Alan. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned. New York : Random House, 2005. ISBN 1400064090
Alda, Alan. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned. Santa Ana, CA : Books on Tape, 2005. ISBN 1415924325
I was surprised that Alda's earliest memories came from the period of traveling around the U.S. with his father on the Burlesque Circuit of the 1930s. I think of Alda as much too young to have ever seen something so ancient as Burlesque. I always equate him with the generation of college students protesting Vietnam in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That is when M*A*S*H debuted. That's where I had pegged him. On further reflection, I can seeing the Burlesque influence in his work.
The story about the stuffing of a pet dog comes from Alda's youth. His father was an actor under a Warner Brothers' contract during World War II, and the family was living in a house in rural California. The author had been given the dog as a companion during his polio quarantine. It died a very strange and shocking death after eating leftovers. Its stuffing, suggested by Alda's father, did not succeed in lessening the pain of the memory of its death. Even as a child, the author saw how misguided the gesture was, and the story became for him a standard by which to measure other episodes in his life.
Readers wanting M*A*S*H stories to dominate the book will be disappointed. There are some stories about the making of the show and his friendship with the other actors, but Alda's biography is mostly about his education, his career, his study of acting, and his relationship with his parents. He tells about his near death in the mountains of Chile in the later section of the book.
All Alan Alda's fans should read this book.
Alda, Alan. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned. New York : Random House, 2005. ISBN 1400064090
Alda, Alan. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned. Santa Ana, CA : Books on Tape, 2005. ISBN 1415924325
Monday, October 17, 2005
Adding Reviews to Open WorldCat
OCLC has announced that as of October 9, everyone is free to add content to the records in Open WorldCat. Click here for the announcement. Any book enthusiast can now put a review onto an Open WorldCat record as easily as putting one on Amazon. Karen Schneider did it on Thursday and urged others to try. I tried it Friday and found it was easy.
For those who do not remember or have not heard, Open WorldCat is OCLC (a very big library company) putting the bibliographic records from WorldCat (a very big database showing what libraries around the world own) onto the Web so that they can be found through popular search engines, like Google and Yahoo, and other non-OCLC web sites, such as Alibris and BookPage. These records tell anyone who finds them the closest libraries with the books they seek. While this might seem to a knowing librarian as a fairly easy thing to find otherwise, it should help nonlibrarians who do not know the URLs for their area libraries' catalogs. Librarians can also use Open WorldCat (as they do in FirstSearch WorldCat) to find library holdings in multiple systems in one search.
Joe Janes, Roy Tennant, and many others in the library community have called on librarians to use the Web to take library services to the public, reminding librarians that it is the libraries that are remote, not their public. Using Google and Yahoo to get the libraries to the public is one attempt.
Furthermore, online library catalogs are adding features, such as book covers and reviews, to make them more attractive to the public. Open WorldCat is going a step further adding an interactive component. Any reader can add reviews, the table of contents, or notes to Open WorldCat records.
Here is what you do to add a review to an Open WorldCat record.
1. Find Open WorldCat. There are several ways of doing this. The easiest way is simply go to http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/tryit/default.htm. Save this link. (An intended way is at the end of this piece.)
2. Enter your title in either the Google or Yahoo search box. Click "Search." I do not recommend the Google Scholar box, as it takes an extra step and it did not find many of the titles for me.
3. Click the correct title on the results list.
4. Click the tab that says "Reviews."
5. Click "Write an Online Review."
6. Open an Open WorldCat account if this is your first visit. It is free. If you have an account, sign in. (Karen had some difficulty signing up because she already had an account that she did not remember having.)
7. Select a rating for the book.
8. Give the review a title. I just used author and title of the book but you could give your review its own title.
9. Paste in your review. You can write the review at this point, but you are much better off having written it in advance. Open WorldCat will not time out as you write, and you will have a second chance to catch typos. Your readers will appreciate a better edited review.
10. Click "Submit Review." You will be returned to the record and your review will be on the screen. (Karen said her review took awhile to appear, but my reviews appeared instantly.)
I added five reviews to Open WorldCat on Friday:
Given: New Poems by Wendell Berry
Active Liberty by David Breyer
Before Lewis and Clark by Shirley Christian
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
I was the first to add reviews to these titles, which I chose to see how a variety of short and longer reviews would appear. As the trial is so new, there is little contributor content, but I did find the publisher had added the table of contents for Before Lewis and Clark. The reviews do look rather plain, as there is no way to use bold, italics or underline the text.
I found adding the reviews was easy for all the titles except A Year Down Yonder, which is available in hardcover, paperback, and compact discs, all of which were separate records; I had to paste the review into each of the records. This is not necessary on Amazon, where the submitted reviews post to all the editions of a title. Perhaps OCLC will find a way to connect the editions, too.
Back to step 1. You can get to Open WorldCat records directly from Google and Yahoo by using the phrase "find in a library" within quotation marks and the title and author. At this point I would recommend Google, which found three editions of A Year Down Yonder. Yahoo only found the hardbound edition. Remember to use the whole phrase "find in a library." I forgot the "a" once and it did not work. I wonder how many people will try "find in library" and be disappointed.
I will follow Open WorldCat developments and report when there is anything interesting. The review writing feature is promised for FirstSearch WorldCat in the near future.
For those who do not remember or have not heard, Open WorldCat is OCLC (a very big library company) putting the bibliographic records from WorldCat (a very big database showing what libraries around the world own) onto the Web so that they can be found through popular search engines, like Google and Yahoo, and other non-OCLC web sites, such as Alibris and BookPage. These records tell anyone who finds them the closest libraries with the books they seek. While this might seem to a knowing librarian as a fairly easy thing to find otherwise, it should help nonlibrarians who do not know the URLs for their area libraries' catalogs. Librarians can also use Open WorldCat (as they do in FirstSearch WorldCat) to find library holdings in multiple systems in one search.
Joe Janes, Roy Tennant, and many others in the library community have called on librarians to use the Web to take library services to the public, reminding librarians that it is the libraries that are remote, not their public. Using Google and Yahoo to get the libraries to the public is one attempt.
Furthermore, online library catalogs are adding features, such as book covers and reviews, to make them more attractive to the public. Open WorldCat is going a step further adding an interactive component. Any reader can add reviews, the table of contents, or notes to Open WorldCat records.
Here is what you do to add a review to an Open WorldCat record.
1. Find Open WorldCat. There are several ways of doing this. The easiest way is simply go to http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/tryit/default.htm. Save this link. (An intended way is at the end of this piece.)
2. Enter your title in either the Google or Yahoo search box. Click "Search." I do not recommend the Google Scholar box, as it takes an extra step and it did not find many of the titles for me.
3. Click the correct title on the results list.
4. Click the tab that says "Reviews."
5. Click "Write an Online Review."
6. Open an Open WorldCat account if this is your first visit. It is free. If you have an account, sign in. (Karen had some difficulty signing up because she already had an account that she did not remember having.)
7. Select a rating for the book.
8. Give the review a title. I just used author and title of the book but you could give your review its own title.
9. Paste in your review. You can write the review at this point, but you are much better off having written it in advance. Open WorldCat will not time out as you write, and you will have a second chance to catch typos. Your readers will appreciate a better edited review.
10. Click "Submit Review." You will be returned to the record and your review will be on the screen. (Karen said her review took awhile to appear, but my reviews appeared instantly.)
I added five reviews to Open WorldCat on Friday:
Given: New Poems by Wendell Berry
Active Liberty by David Breyer
Before Lewis and Clark by Shirley Christian
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
I was the first to add reviews to these titles, which I chose to see how a variety of short and longer reviews would appear. As the trial is so new, there is little contributor content, but I did find the publisher had added the table of contents for Before Lewis and Clark. The reviews do look rather plain, as there is no way to use bold, italics or underline the text.
I found adding the reviews was easy for all the titles except A Year Down Yonder, which is available in hardcover, paperback, and compact discs, all of which were separate records; I had to paste the review into each of the records. This is not necessary on Amazon, where the submitted reviews post to all the editions of a title. Perhaps OCLC will find a way to connect the editions, too.
Back to step 1. You can get to Open WorldCat records directly from Google and Yahoo by using the phrase "find in a library" within quotation marks and the title and author. At this point I would recommend Google, which found three editions of A Year Down Yonder. Yahoo only found the hardbound edition. Remember to use the whole phrase "find in a library." I forgot the "a" once and it did not work. I wonder how many people will try "find in library" and be disappointed.
I will follow Open WorldCat developments and report when there is anything interesting. The review writing feature is promised for FirstSearch WorldCat in the near future.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
A Small Mystery to Solve Regarding Peter, Paul & Mary
In the past three days, I have noticed unusually high interest in my short review of old Peter, Paul & Mary recordings. It has been the most popular individual page other than my main page in this blog. Of course the numbers are small really: eight people have accessed the review, which usually has a visitor every week or so. After the fourth visitor I began to worry: had one of the members died?
I have been to the Peter, Paul & Mary website and to Back Porch News, and can find no bad news about the trio - though it does seem a lot of other folk singers have died in the last month, according to Back Porch News. I have also checked Yahoo News and Google News: no recent news. I guess there is a small resurgence in interest in Peter, Paul & Mary: that's good news!
I have been to the Peter, Paul & Mary website and to Back Porch News, and can find no bad news about the trio - though it does seem a lot of other folk singers have died in the last month, according to Back Porch News. I have also checked Yahoo News and Google News: no recent news. I guess there is a small resurgence in interest in Peter, Paul & Mary: that's good news!
Active Liberty by Stephen Breyer (with thoughts about libraries)
Stephen Breyer believes that the U.S. Constitution and the statutes passed by Congress must allow interpretation that maximizes the participation of the public. "Active Liberty" is his term for a method of judicial interpretation that considers the intent of the framers of the Constitution, the wishes of the legislators who wrote the laws, the administrators who enforce the laws, and the public in whom all authority rests. While it calls for judicial restraint, it is not a method of literal interpretation. Breyer shows in the text of his new book Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution that word by word analysis sometimes leads to mistaking general Congressional intent and often serves the public badly. Breyer wants as a Supreme Court Justice the ability to look beyond the statutory text to form decisions; he will often use texts of hearings, commentaries, and testimonies that suggest the consequences of law.
In Active Liberty, Breyer discusses the application of his concept to free speech, federalism, privacy, affirmative action, statutory interpretation, and administrative law. He discusses cases brought before the Supreme Court, telling why he agreed or disagreed with the court's decisions. He points out that most Supreme Court decision are unanimous; most attention is given to the cases that divide the court. The colleague he quotes most in the book is retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
I thought about libraries in his discussion of administrative law. Breyer points out that democratic control of government has to be tempered by expert knowledge in our technically modern life. The wishes of the public and the public good are not the same in areas of civil liberties, the environment, and other areas of controversy. The experts who work for governmental agencies and have to interpret their jobs daily should be listened to closely in judicial inquiries, according to Breyer. Librarians are such experts. Justices should listen to us in cases involving libraries and information.
The public library would never work as a totally democratic institution. We could never get our community of users and nonusers to agree to the hours of service, the services to provide, and the materials to stock. The public library has the mission to serve the informational, educational, and recreational needs of all its residents, and only professional librarians with the authority to sometimes do the unpopular can complete the mission. The role of the library, however, is to support active democracy, and librarians should listen to the library users; librarians should incorporate as many of their ideas and buy as many of the books they recommend as possible. We must make our users feel that the libraries are theirs.
Active Liberty is a more readable book than you might imagine would be written by a Supreme Court justice. Taken from a series of lectures, it is also fairly short. It includes a really good explanation of why we have many elected officals with differing lengths of service. More libraries should buy it.
Breyer, Stephen. Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 0307263134
In Active Liberty, Breyer discusses the application of his concept to free speech, federalism, privacy, affirmative action, statutory interpretation, and administrative law. He discusses cases brought before the Supreme Court, telling why he agreed or disagreed with the court's decisions. He points out that most Supreme Court decision are unanimous; most attention is given to the cases that divide the court. The colleague he quotes most in the book is retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
I thought about libraries in his discussion of administrative law. Breyer points out that democratic control of government has to be tempered by expert knowledge in our technically modern life. The wishes of the public and the public good are not the same in areas of civil liberties, the environment, and other areas of controversy. The experts who work for governmental agencies and have to interpret their jobs daily should be listened to closely in judicial inquiries, according to Breyer. Librarians are such experts. Justices should listen to us in cases involving libraries and information.
The public library would never work as a totally democratic institution. We could never get our community of users and nonusers to agree to the hours of service, the services to provide, and the materials to stock. The public library has the mission to serve the informational, educational, and recreational needs of all its residents, and only professional librarians with the authority to sometimes do the unpopular can complete the mission. The role of the library, however, is to support active democracy, and librarians should listen to the library users; librarians should incorporate as many of their ideas and buy as many of the books they recommend as possible. We must make our users feel that the libraries are theirs.
Active Liberty is a more readable book than you might imagine would be written by a Supreme Court justice. Taken from a series of lectures, it is also fairly short. It includes a really good explanation of why we have many elected officals with differing lengths of service. More libraries should buy it.
Breyer, Stephen. Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 0307263134
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Where Are the Stories? Where Are the Bloggers? U.S. Cash Fuels Human Trade by Cam Simpson and Aamer Madhani
In Sunday's Chicago Tribune were two articles by Cam Simpson and Aamer Madhani about the exploitation of foreign workers in Iraq by subcontractors working for Halliburton. Halliburton, as many remember, is paid tons of money by the U.S. government to provide meals, housing, housecleaning, fuel, and other support services for U.S. military forces in Iraq. To get non-Iraqi labor to reduce the possibility of terrorist infiltration, Halliburton turns to local subcontractors who use Middle East brokers in contact with South Asia labor recruiters. The recruiters often take money from both the brokers and from the desperate laborers who want good paying jobs. The laborers are often told they are going to work in Jordanian hotels for good pay, when they in fact end up in compounds in Iraq for poor pay. The subcontractors confiscate their passports and may only pay them at the end of the contract, making it impossible for the laborers to flee. Halliburton and the U.S. military do not question the subcontractors, brokers, and recruiters about their practices. This seems to me an important story.
As of Tuesday morning, I do not see any reporting on this story by the New York Times or Washington Post; a search of Google News does not find the article either. One of the articles was an exclusive for the Chicago Tribune, but I would think that such an important story would some how be commented on by the other papers; when I search for Halliburton, I find many stories but not the story about expoited Asian workers. Using Google and Google News, I find plenty of news about Halliburton and Iraq, but again I can not find the article by Cam Simpson nor comments about it. I also do not see anything about the story on CNN, BBC News , National Public Radio, or Reuters.
Finally, using Yahoo News I find the story from the Chicago Tribune itself and a parallel release from the Baltimore Sun. Maybe I should have started with Yahoo News.
I thought I might find more by checking the search engines that search blogs. Using Technorati I found one posting, two using Feedster, and two using Google Blog Search. That is not the buzz I expected for this story. At the LITA Forum ten days ago, Danah Boyd said that bloggers keep the mainstream news organizations honest, reporting what the latter pass up. In this case, most of the bloggers must not even know the story, unless they are Chicago Tribune readers.
Michael Gorman said at the LITA Forum that access to content on the web is poor. Someone else, it may have been Danah Boyd, said Google and Yahoo and other search engines are often blocked from indexing and linking by the sources of exclusive content, such as the news sources. Whatever, everyone seems to agree that information is lost to the readers who are not persistent.
I wonder if this story will be found in next year's Project Censored (The News that Didn't Make the News) annual report. Censored 2006 is already on sale. 2007 seems a long time away.
Cam Simpson and Aamer Madhani. "U.S. Cash Fuels Human Trade." Chicago Tribune. October 9, 2005. Section 1, page 15.
Cam Simpson. "Desperate for Work, Lured into Danger: The Journey of a Dozen Impoverished Men from Nepal to Iraq Reveals the Exploitation Underpinning the American War Effort." Chicago Tribune. October 9, 2005. Section 1, page 1.
Cam Simpson. "Into a War Zone, on a Deadly Road: Worker's Chilling Call Home: 'I am Done for.' " . October 10, 2005. Section 1, page 1.
Update for Wednesday, October 12
As of this morning, the big national newspapers are still not mentioning this story. CNN, NPR, BBC News, and Reuters still have not chosen to report on it either.
My search in Yahoo News found a new article in the Seattle Times from a Los Angeles Times writer about the same subject. I then found the original article. Perhaps I should look west as much as east for news.
Twenty-four hours allowed a little more blog activity. I found two blogs on the topic through Technorati, five (including this posting) through Feedster, and still two through Google Blogsearch. Still, bloggers must be focusing their attention elsewhere.
Update for Saturday, October 15
Through Google News found a new article of the topic from AlterNet, an Internet reporting project from the Independent Media Institute. Two of the Chicago Tribune articles are now posted at CorpWatch (click here also).
Yahoo News shows that several other newspapers are republishing up the Chicago Tribune articles and the Los Angeles Times article.
Blogging activity seems to be increasing. I found more postings through both Techorati and Feedster. Google Blogsearch had fewer entries than the other two. I noticed that plurals did not matter in Feedster searches.
As of Tuesday morning, I do not see any reporting on this story by the New York Times or Washington Post; a search of Google News does not find the article either. One of the articles was an exclusive for the Chicago Tribune, but I would think that such an important story would some how be commented on by the other papers; when I search for Halliburton, I find many stories but not the story about expoited Asian workers. Using Google and Google News, I find plenty of news about Halliburton and Iraq, but again I can not find the article by Cam Simpson nor comments about it. I also do not see anything about the story on CNN, BBC News , National Public Radio, or Reuters.
Finally, using Yahoo News I find the story from the Chicago Tribune itself and a parallel release from the Baltimore Sun. Maybe I should have started with Yahoo News.
I thought I might find more by checking the search engines that search blogs. Using Technorati I found one posting, two using Feedster, and two using Google Blog Search. That is not the buzz I expected for this story. At the LITA Forum ten days ago, Danah Boyd said that bloggers keep the mainstream news organizations honest, reporting what the latter pass up. In this case, most of the bloggers must not even know the story, unless they are Chicago Tribune readers.
Michael Gorman said at the LITA Forum that access to content on the web is poor. Someone else, it may have been Danah Boyd, said Google and Yahoo and other search engines are often blocked from indexing and linking by the sources of exclusive content, such as the news sources. Whatever, everyone seems to agree that information is lost to the readers who are not persistent.
I wonder if this story will be found in next year's Project Censored (The News that Didn't Make the News) annual report. Censored 2006 is already on sale. 2007 seems a long time away.
Cam Simpson and Aamer Madhani. "U.S. Cash Fuels Human Trade." Chicago Tribune. October 9, 2005. Section 1, page 15.
Cam Simpson. "Desperate for Work, Lured into Danger: The Journey of a Dozen Impoverished Men from Nepal to Iraq Reveals the Exploitation Underpinning the American War Effort." Chicago Tribune. October 9, 2005. Section 1, page 1.
Cam Simpson. "Into a War Zone, on a Deadly Road: Worker's Chilling Call Home: 'I am Done for.' " . October 10, 2005. Section 1, page 1.
Update for Wednesday, October 12
As of this morning, the big national newspapers are still not mentioning this story. CNN, NPR, BBC News, and Reuters still have not chosen to report on it either.
My search in Yahoo News found a new article in the Seattle Times from a Los Angeles Times writer about the same subject. I then found the original article. Perhaps I should look west as much as east for news.
Twenty-four hours allowed a little more blog activity. I found two blogs on the topic through Technorati, five (including this posting) through Feedster, and still two through Google Blogsearch. Still, bloggers must be focusing their attention elsewhere.
Update for Saturday, October 15
Through Google News found a new article of the topic from AlterNet, an Internet reporting project from the Independent Media Institute. Two of the Chicago Tribune articles are now posted at CorpWatch (click here also).
Yahoo News shows that several other newspapers are republishing up the Chicago Tribune articles and the Los Angeles Times article.
Blogging activity seems to be increasing. I found more postings through both Techorati and Feedster. Google Blogsearch had fewer entries than the other two. I noticed that plurals did not matter in Feedster searches.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Bookmarks Found in Library Books
When I am reading library books or when I am looking in a book for an answer to a reference question or when I am browsing through the books that I might weed, I find lost bookmarks. They may be bookmarks that my library has printed to promote our programs or recommend books; they may come from the government agencies and nonprofit organizations that supply the library with bookmarks to market their services or promote causes, such as daily dental care or recycling plastic; occasionally they are fine bookmarks of hand-made paper or embroidered silk that I am sure are sorely missed. People also leave items that become bookmarks only because they were used as such: grocery lists, church bulletins, train tickets, movie tickets, utility bills, wedding invitations, unused tissues, torn strips of paper towels, newspaper clippings, notes passed in class, post-it notes, postcards, baseball cards, cash register receipts. I recently found a hand-drawn doll dress pattern on very thin paper in a book about dolls. I can only imagine the story behind each lost item .
Friday, while I was reading A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit, I found a Dominican University GSLIS Alumni Council bookmark. On one side of the wine colored bookmark with white lettering is a list of the alumni council members, including the names of some librarians that I have met. The other side lists the council's 2005 events, including the McCusker Lecture to be held in October, no date, "call for further details." How did the lost bookmark get into a book about getting lost?
Someone I know may have read this book before me. Three of the librarians in my library attended the library school at Dominican University, one when it was still called Rosary College, and our neighboring libraries are full of GSLIS alumni. I know several residents of our community who are currently attending the library school, and several Dominican students come to our library every semester to interview us for their class assignments. Who could it be?
I am enjoying the book and this mystery seems very appropriate to the mood of the book.
Solnit, Rebecca. A Field Guide to Getting Lost. New York: Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670034215
Friday, while I was reading A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit, I found a Dominican University GSLIS Alumni Council bookmark. On one side of the wine colored bookmark with white lettering is a list of the alumni council members, including the names of some librarians that I have met. The other side lists the council's 2005 events, including the McCusker Lecture to be held in October, no date, "call for further details." How did the lost bookmark get into a book about getting lost?
Someone I know may have read this book before me. Three of the librarians in my library attended the library school at Dominican University, one when it was still called Rosary College, and our neighboring libraries are full of GSLIS alumni. I know several residents of our community who are currently attending the library school, and several Dominican students come to our library every semester to interview us for their class assignments. Who could it be?
I am enjoying the book and this mystery seems very appropriate to the mood of the book.
Solnit, Rebecca. A Field Guide to Getting Lost. New York: Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670034215
Friday, October 07, 2005
How Libraries Deal with Donated Books
Marilyn Oorbeck of the Riverside (Illinois) Public Library recently polled the readers of RefList (a listserv for reference librarians, mostly in the Metropolitan Library System) about their procedures and policies regarding donated materials. She thoughtfully reported her summary on reflist and gave me permission to pass along to other readers. I particularly like her last paragraph.
Hello Everyone,
I received 11 responses concerning my posting [on reflist] about donations and library booksale procedures.
Here is a summary of the responses:
At 4 libraries Friends of the Library volunteers sort the donations, manage and run book sales and/or Friends stores.
One Library is in a state of transition because the Friends Book Sale coordinator will be stepping down after managing the book sale for 20 years.
Several libraries have one big book sale a year, with a smaller ongoing sale. The ongoing sales are usually managed by library staff.
At one library a large annual sale is not possible due to lack of storage space.
Of the libraries in which staff (not volunteers) manage donations, usually the Technical Services Manager, or T.S. staff, sort the donations. Sometimes the Reference Librarians manage donations. In one library the administrative secretary sorts through the donations.
The person(s) who triage the donations separate them into: discards, possible additions to the collection, and book sale items.
Often the Technical Services staff (or Friends volunteers) will alert selectors to the arrival of choice items. It is the responsibility of selectors or managers to look over the donations at least once a week to claim items for the collection.
Either a staff member or volunteer decides which items are saved for the annual book sale and which are immediately added to the ongoing sale.
One library keeps its ongoing book sale fresh by tagging items and removing them if they have not sold after a couple of months.
The consensus from the group about the possibility of adding items of marginal value that would only have to be weeded sooner rather than later was: don't worry about it. Selecting materials is an art. We all make miscalculations. If an added item needs to be weeded - it's ok.
Donated copies are often used to replace fiction or nonfiction classics in poor condition. If space is available items can be saved for future addition to the collection.
Several librarians commented that while most donations are not added to the collection, the time and effort necessary to manage donations is worth it. All of our collections have been enriched by our patrons' generosity.
Thank you for emailing me your responses. It was very helpful.
Marilyn Oorbeck, Adult Services Manager
Riverside Public Library, Illinois
Hello Everyone,
I received 11 responses concerning my posting [on reflist] about donations and library booksale procedures.
Here is a summary of the responses:
At 4 libraries Friends of the Library volunteers sort the donations, manage and run book sales and/or Friends stores.
One Library is in a state of transition because the Friends Book Sale coordinator will be stepping down after managing the book sale for 20 years.
Several libraries have one big book sale a year, with a smaller ongoing sale. The ongoing sales are usually managed by library staff.
At one library a large annual sale is not possible due to lack of storage space.
Of the libraries in which staff (not volunteers) manage donations, usually the Technical Services Manager, or T.S. staff, sort the donations. Sometimes the Reference Librarians manage donations. In one library the administrative secretary sorts through the donations.
The person(s) who triage the donations separate them into: discards, possible additions to the collection, and book sale items.
Often the Technical Services staff (or Friends volunteers) will alert selectors to the arrival of choice items. It is the responsibility of selectors or managers to look over the donations at least once a week to claim items for the collection.
Either a staff member or volunteer decides which items are saved for the annual book sale and which are immediately added to the ongoing sale.
One library keeps its ongoing book sale fresh by tagging items and removing them if they have not sold after a couple of months.
The consensus from the group about the possibility of adding items of marginal value that would only have to be weeded sooner rather than later was: don't worry about it. Selecting materials is an art. We all make miscalculations. If an added item needs to be weeded - it's ok.
Donated copies are often used to replace fiction or nonfiction classics in poor condition. If space is available items can be saved for future addition to the collection.
Several librarians commented that while most donations are not added to the collection, the time and effort necessary to manage donations is worth it. All of our collections have been enriched by our patrons' generosity.
Thank you for emailing me your responses. It was very helpful.
Marilyn Oorbeck, Adult Services Manager
Riverside Public Library, Illinois
Library Journal with Aaron on the Cover
Look for the October 1, 2005 issue of Library Journal with Aaron Schmidt among other bloggers on the cover. The article can be found at the Library Journal website.
Brazilian Turns His Home into a Public Library
Library Link of the Day sent another wonderful article to me through my email. (I know I could move this service over to Bloglines, but I like having something to look forward to in my inbox.) Yesterday's article is This Illiterate Brazilian's Home Speaks Volumes. It is humbling to read what some inspired individuals can accomplish.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich
The author Louise Erdrich went on a spirit quest through the land of the Ojibwe, boating through Minnesota and Ontario, visiting islands in Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake. In her 1995 blue Windstar minivan, with her eighteen month old daughter, she left Minneapolis to seek out the literature of her tribes (Ojibwe and Caucasian) captured by the atisikan or eternal paint on the rocky islands and found in the collection of a special library of rare books on an isolated island. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country, a title in National Geographic’s The Literary Travel Series, is her account.
Though Erdrich is a modern woman who has forsworn smoking, she took tobacco to offer to the spirits, to strengthen her connection to the past by practicing its traditions. Her daughter enjoyed sprinkling the bits of tobacco from the bags before the ancient symbols. At very special places she also left food and ribbon shirts. She sought comfort and good fortune for herself and her daughters.
The author thought Ojibwemowin had become like Latin, a language of prayer, until she found on a previous trip the older people who speak it daily. Now she studies to learn the many verbs; two thirds of the vocabulary is descriptive verbs that need few adjectives. Erdrich says that the best speakers of the language are always creating new words; there are now words for computers, animals from other continents, and other ethnic groups; Asians are “the tea people” and Europeans are “frog people.”
A small foundation granted Erdrich an invitation to visit the island that was the home of Ernest Oberholtzer, who collected thousands of books and studied the Ojibwe and their language. Spending days thumbing through his vast and varied collection, she mused that children could learn much if they were given one school year devoted strictly to undirected reading; she would put children in libraries and let them discover literature for themselves.
The author has the book collecting addiction. Recently, as an antidote, she started an independent bookstore called Birchbark Books in Minneapolis. In the final chapter she discusses its operations and the joy she has arranging the displays when no one else is there.
Readers of Erdrich’s novels and book lovers in general should read this personal travel account, which reveals much about the author’s reading and literary culture.
Erdrich, Louise. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003. ISBN 0792257197
Though Erdrich is a modern woman who has forsworn smoking, she took tobacco to offer to the spirits, to strengthen her connection to the past by practicing its traditions. Her daughter enjoyed sprinkling the bits of tobacco from the bags before the ancient symbols. At very special places she also left food and ribbon shirts. She sought comfort and good fortune for herself and her daughters.
The author thought Ojibwemowin had become like Latin, a language of prayer, until she found on a previous trip the older people who speak it daily. Now she studies to learn the many verbs; two thirds of the vocabulary is descriptive verbs that need few adjectives. Erdrich says that the best speakers of the language are always creating new words; there are now words for computers, animals from other continents, and other ethnic groups; Asians are “the tea people” and Europeans are “frog people.”
A small foundation granted Erdrich an invitation to visit the island that was the home of Ernest Oberholtzer, who collected thousands of books and studied the Ojibwe and their language. Spending days thumbing through his vast and varied collection, she mused that children could learn much if they were given one school year devoted strictly to undirected reading; she would put children in libraries and let them discover literature for themselves.
The author has the book collecting addiction. Recently, as an antidote, she started an independent bookstore called Birchbark Books in Minneapolis. In the final chapter she discusses its operations and the joy she has arranging the displays when no one else is there.
Readers of Erdrich’s novels and book lovers in general should read this personal travel account, which reveals much about the author’s reading and literary culture.
Erdrich, Louise. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003. ISBN 0792257197
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Information and the Quality of Life: Environmentalism for the Information Age by David Levy
I was very pleased to learn the final keynote speaker at the LITA Forum in San Jose was David Levy. I heard Dr. Levy, a professor from the Information School at the University of Washington, at the Public Library Association Conference last year in Seattle. I was impressed with his presentation then and have since read his book Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age. This year's presentation was Information and the Quality of Life: Environmentalism for the Information Age.
Dr. Levy began his presentation reminding us of a train accident that occurred in Japan earlier in the year. The train was running 90 seconds late and the engineer was running the train beyond the recommended speed trying very hard to get the train on schedule. Being late was unacceptable. Many people died. The author Richard Ford recently said, “The pace of life seems morally dangerous to me.”
Dr. Levy told a personal story. His daughter had a very busy imaginary friend when she was young; when asked about the friend, she would say that the friend was too busy to talk that day. Even five year olds know about information overload and the hectic pace of life.
All of us are too busy. Dr. Levy says his addiction is his email. There are many fine things about email, but he gets too much of it and he feels compelled to answer it all. He anticipates getting wonderful messages, such as news of grants or acceptance of his writings in publications, and dreads bad news. He will not check email on the Sabbath, but finds himself thinking about it anyway. He is still trying to work out a sane way of dealing with it.
In 1945, Vannevar Bush, science advisor to President Roosevelt, said that people were suffering from too much information, and he suggested a “memex,” a device that would store and make retrievable data from books, records, and communications. The memex would help organize the information and give people more leisure. The computer does everything that Bush hoped the memex would do, except it does not lessen the stress of information overload; instead, the load is heavier.
Dr. Levy said that the dangers of the stress of information overload include poorer physical health, poorer mental health, falling productivity, decreasing quality of work, less satisfaction from work, bad decision making, less socialization, and less democracy.
In his book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper claims that work has become the sole purpose of being for many people. Our society needs to provide leisure to allow individuals to reclaim perspective. Attending football games, racing cars, partying, surfing the web, listening to Ipods, are not leisure. Pieper means contemplation and stillness. “Only the person who is still can hear.” People need to find silence and sanctuary.
Dr. Levy said that there are two types of thinking: ratio (pronounced ratzio) and intellectus. Ratio is based on taking facts, doing research, calculating. Intellectus comes by just looking, contemplating, meditating. The Web and information technology is strong on ratio and weak on intellectus. To restore quality of life in our hectic lives, we need to create an ecology that balances ratio and intellectus.
Dr. Levy described the movement of which he is a part. He organized the Conference on Information, Silence, and Sanctuary last year and will be leading The Workshop on Mindful Work and Technology in March 2006. He is starting a Center for Information and the Quality of Life at the University of Washington. Redesigning technology and promoting new applications that offer contemplation are some of the goals of the movement. An important book is Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
The question and answer period following the formal presentation was lengthy. Many librarians asked questions about the library role in bringing a balance to the world of information. Dr. Levy noted that libraries already have a reputation as a place to go for quiet, though the reality is that libraries are often busy places. He thinks libraries should restore the reputation somewhat and market it. There would be many grateful people.
Dr. Levy began his presentation reminding us of a train accident that occurred in Japan earlier in the year. The train was running 90 seconds late and the engineer was running the train beyond the recommended speed trying very hard to get the train on schedule. Being late was unacceptable. Many people died. The author Richard Ford recently said, “The pace of life seems morally dangerous to me.”
Dr. Levy told a personal story. His daughter had a very busy imaginary friend when she was young; when asked about the friend, she would say that the friend was too busy to talk that day. Even five year olds know about information overload and the hectic pace of life.
All of us are too busy. Dr. Levy says his addiction is his email. There are many fine things about email, but he gets too much of it and he feels compelled to answer it all. He anticipates getting wonderful messages, such as news of grants or acceptance of his writings in publications, and dreads bad news. He will not check email on the Sabbath, but finds himself thinking about it anyway. He is still trying to work out a sane way of dealing with it.
In 1945, Vannevar Bush, science advisor to President Roosevelt, said that people were suffering from too much information, and he suggested a “memex,” a device that would store and make retrievable data from books, records, and communications. The memex would help organize the information and give people more leisure. The computer does everything that Bush hoped the memex would do, except it does not lessen the stress of information overload; instead, the load is heavier.
Dr. Levy said that the dangers of the stress of information overload include poorer physical health, poorer mental health, falling productivity, decreasing quality of work, less satisfaction from work, bad decision making, less socialization, and less democracy.
In his book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper claims that work has become the sole purpose of being for many people. Our society needs to provide leisure to allow individuals to reclaim perspective. Attending football games, racing cars, partying, surfing the web, listening to Ipods, are not leisure. Pieper means contemplation and stillness. “Only the person who is still can hear.” People need to find silence and sanctuary.
Dr. Levy said that there are two types of thinking: ratio (pronounced ratzio) and intellectus. Ratio is based on taking facts, doing research, calculating. Intellectus comes by just looking, contemplating, meditating. The Web and information technology is strong on ratio and weak on intellectus. To restore quality of life in our hectic lives, we need to create an ecology that balances ratio and intellectus.
Dr. Levy described the movement of which he is a part. He organized the Conference on Information, Silence, and Sanctuary last year and will be leading The Workshop on Mindful Work and Technology in March 2006. He is starting a Center for Information and the Quality of Life at the University of Washington. Redesigning technology and promoting new applications that offer contemplation are some of the goals of the movement. An important book is Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
The question and answer period following the formal presentation was lengthy. Many librarians asked questions about the library role in bringing a balance to the world of information. Dr. Levy noted that libraries already have a reputation as a place to go for quiet, though the reality is that libraries are often busy places. He thinks libraries should restore the reputation somewhat and market it. There would be many grateful people.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Clearing by Wendell Berry
Clearing by Wendell Berry is a collection of poems, all between four and fourteen pages in length, that deal with stewardship of the earth in general and more specifically with the caring for a farm. Berry has been a farmer, poet, and novelist since the 1960s, and is revered by environmentalists. This book is one of his best.
Berry selected a very appropriate quote to highlight in the introductory pages:
What has been spoiled through man’s fault can be made good again through man’s work.
I Ching
Like Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass, Berry says that history and the future are present in the present moment. Berry refers specifically to the spring, when life arises out of the frozen ground; without the springs of the past there would be no present life, which is preparing for future life. The poet refers to his farm labor also, which follows the work of the sod busting farmers and which he will pass on to future generations. In his poem “History” he says:
All the lives this place
has had, I have. I eat
my history day by day.
In the title poem “Clearing” he takes up the theme of restoration, a healing of the land after the bad practices of many poor farmers:
Vision reaches the ground
under the sumac and thorn
under the honeysuckle,
and begins its rise.
It sees clear pasture,
clover and grass, on the worn
hillside going back
to woods, good cropland
in the bottom gone to weeds.
Healing work is a calling, according to Berry, and no person can be truly happy who does not work for good. Work is to be enjoyed. It is to be a song and should bring people together.
We will write them a poem
to tell them of the great
fellowship, the mystic order,
to which both of us belong.
It would truly be a good earth if every person, urban and rural, loved their work and made of it a song in the manner of Wendell Berry. This older collection of poems should be retained and read.
Berry, Wendell. Clearing. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. ISBN 0151181500
Berry selected a very appropriate quote to highlight in the introductory pages:
What has been spoiled through man’s fault can be made good again through man’s work.
I Ching
Like Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass, Berry says that history and the future are present in the present moment. Berry refers specifically to the spring, when life arises out of the frozen ground; without the springs of the past there would be no present life, which is preparing for future life. The poet refers to his farm labor also, which follows the work of the sod busting farmers and which he will pass on to future generations. In his poem “History” he says:
All the lives this place
has had, I have. I eat
my history day by day.
In the title poem “Clearing” he takes up the theme of restoration, a healing of the land after the bad practices of many poor farmers:
Vision reaches the ground
under the sumac and thorn
under the honeysuckle,
and begins its rise.
It sees clear pasture,
clover and grass, on the worn
hillside going back
to woods, good cropland
in the bottom gone to weeds.
Healing work is a calling, according to Berry, and no person can be truly happy who does not work for good. Work is to be enjoyed. It is to be a song and should bring people together.
We will write them a poem
to tell them of the great
fellowship, the mystic order,
to which both of us belong.
It would truly be a good earth if every person, urban and rural, loved their work and made of it a song in the manner of Wendell Berry. This older collection of poems should be retained and read.
Berry, Wendell. Clearing. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. ISBN 0151181500
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Blogging Out Loud: Shifts in Public View
Danah Boyd is not a librarian; she is a Ph.D student at the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley. She appeared before the LITA Forum as a keynote speaker in a big furry hat, which made her look like a wolf, and she was not at all happy that Roy Tennant had called Google and Amazon the enemy in his presentation. She believes that she heard a call for librarians to be the gatekeepers of information in Tennant’s keynote speech and she is alarmed. She desires a more democratic system of information. She wants librarians, who so strongly support civil liberties, to extend a hand to bloggers, remixers, and other innovators of digital communication.
Boyd took exception to Michael Gorman’s complaints that blogs do not meet the traditional standards of journalism. She first said many of the charges made against blogs can often be made against news sources - who can claim that FoxNews is unbiased? The main point she said was that blogging is not journalism or publishing; she says it is correspondence or communication. Blogs should be compared with letters, which archivists collect for future researchers.
Boyd is a social scientist who has worked for both Google and Yahoo. She has studied the ways that youth use various services on the Internet for social interaction. She suggested that these services work as important forums and safety valves. She told of how suicides among gay youths have fallen as more youth became involved in Internet communications; they were able to find others of like minds; they no longer feel alone.
Blogging is increasing in popularity; Technorati reports that the number of blogs doubles every five months. A blog can do everything a piece of paper can: tell a story, show a picture, promote a product, etc. Blogs empower individuals to speak their minds and can be a check on the mainstream media that reserves comment to those selected by the news industry.
Boyd said librarians need to decide how to react to blogs. She doubts there is real value in archiving all blogs, but there is some preservation worthy work. She urged librarians to read blogs and use them in their work.
Boyd gave very articulate answers to the many questions after her formal presentation. I would have enjoyed listening to her longer. One of her blogs is apophenia. Her presentation was definitely one of the high points of the conference.
I am missing some of the many things that she said. You can find more about Boyd's speech from LITA bloggers Sarah Houhton and Michelle Boule
Boyd took exception to Michael Gorman’s complaints that blogs do not meet the traditional standards of journalism. She first said many of the charges made against blogs can often be made against news sources - who can claim that FoxNews is unbiased? The main point she said was that blogging is not journalism or publishing; she says it is correspondence or communication. Blogs should be compared with letters, which archivists collect for future researchers.
Boyd is a social scientist who has worked for both Google and Yahoo. She has studied the ways that youth use various services on the Internet for social interaction. She suggested that these services work as important forums and safety valves. She told of how suicides among gay youths have fallen as more youth became involved in Internet communications; they were able to find others of like minds; they no longer feel alone.
Blogging is increasing in popularity; Technorati reports that the number of blogs doubles every five months. A blog can do everything a piece of paper can: tell a story, show a picture, promote a product, etc. Blogs empower individuals to speak their minds and can be a check on the mainstream media that reserves comment to those selected by the news industry.
Boyd said librarians need to decide how to react to blogs. She doubts there is real value in archiving all blogs, but there is some preservation worthy work. She urged librarians to read blogs and use them in their work.
Boyd gave very articulate answers to the many questions after her formal presentation. I would have enjoyed listening to her longer. One of her blogs is apophenia. Her presentation was definitely one of the high points of the conference.
I am missing some of the many things that she said. You can find more about Boyd's speech from LITA bloggers Sarah Houhton and Michelle Boule
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
