Job Shadow

I got to job shadow at a public library today! My day included:

• Stamping things
• Folding pamphlets
• Talking to schoolkids about a summer reading club
• Eating pizza and cookies
• Riding around on the bookmobile

I had crazy amounts of fun. Maybe it's sad, but I like stamping stuff with a real inkpad and folding pamphlets. It's tangible stuff you can finish. Look, accomplishment! Right there! Plus I suspect I have always harboured a desire to stamp things in an official manner. I imagine doing either of these things for very extended periods of time would be less fun, but there's enough to do that you could break it up enough to be good with it.

Seeing the kids was pretty fun. They really do say the damnedest things. And it's great to see them enthusiastic, especially about reading. They seemed to enjoy my modeling swimming trunks for a guessing game, and I'm a sucker for getting a few giggles.

Supposedly library staff do not have pizza every day for lunch but I secretly suspect they do. That must be why they're all so funny and nice.

The bookmobile is a monstrous vehicle crammed full of books. Good books! The people who use it really really use it. The third seat in the back provides a bumpy ride. Sadly, the incinerating toilet does not make a FWOOSH sound when you press the button, but that was the day's only disappointment.

My feet hurt! Sneakers next time.

Working at a public library has a lot going for it, and I am very, very tempted.

The Library of Congress Twitter Project Continues

Remember that thing where the Library of Congress decided to archive twitter? They're still at it. While I've warmed up to Twitter since I posted about it last year, part of me still wonders if this is a worthwhile project. Just a small part of me. I'm more on board with Twitter being a reflection of society today (or at least society with ready access to computers).

Also to do with archiving internet junk: The Paleozoic Internet!

Seth Godin On The Future of the Library

A link for personal reference: Seth Godin's blog post on the future of the library. I have a feeling I might quote it for a school project someday. It has some very good points, succinctly written.

The library is no longer a warehouse for dead books. Just in time for the information economy, the library ought to be the local nerve center for information. (Please don't say I'm anti-book! I think through my actions and career choices, I've demonstrated my pro-book chops. I'm not saying I want paper to go away, I'm merely describing what's inevitably occurring). We all love the vision of the underprivileged kid bootstrapping himself out of poverty with books, but now (most of the time), the insight and leverage is going to come from being fast and smart with online resources, not from hiding in the stacks.

The next library is a house for the librarian with the guts to invite kids in to teach them how to get better grades while doing less grunt work. And to teach them how to use a soldering iron or take apart something with no user serviceable parts inside. And even to challenge them to teach classes on their passions, merely because it's fun. This librarian takes responsibility/blame for any kid who manages to graduate from school without being a first-rate data shark.

Lesbrarians, Censorship, and Equality

An article at Bitch Magazine that I thought was wonderful: Revenge of the Feminerd: Libraries, Lesbrarians, Censorship, and Equality. A good general post about some of the issues surrounding the profession and gays; I especially liked the bit about cataloguing:

Even today, “male nurses” and “women engineers” exist as subject headings. This is obviously problematic and an example of how classification systems sometimes lag way behind the times. The words we use are powerful, and the words that are used to define and locate people are often problematic and offensive.

Sandy Berman is a radical cataloger who was responsible for introducing subject headings like: two-spirit people (to replace berdache), intersexuality (to replace hermaphrodite), and transgender people. He also advocated for subject headings were less archaic: toilet (instead of water closet) and light bulb (electric light, incandescent). Until last year if you were looking for a book on how to make an Indian curry, the correct subject heading was Cookery--Indic.

Subject headings that Berman suggested that haven’t been adopted include: anal fisting, drag queens, feminist zines, erotic graphic novels, butch femme (lesbianism) and genderqueers.

Gender and sexuality often get mixed up by catalogers. I reckon this is partly because for many people these concepts are not different and partly because good subject headings don’t exist. The subject heading of "lesbian--identity" isn’t really appropriate for the new book Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme, but currently there isn’t a better option. Catalogers need to create one.

This is an especially conspicuous blind spot, because I have searched the Library of Congress Subject Heading books (five very thick, heavy volumes) and there is some strangely specific stuff in there. I wish I had written some of them down. It was not unusual for us to find something odd and immediately share it with others in our immediate vicinity. Huge oversight, glaring omission, things we need to change, pronto.

Partying at the Library

Three local libraries are experimenting with something new this summer: birthday parties for kids.

Price: $20 per kid, includes dynamic story time, one hour in one of the private rooms, a craft - four available themes: Digging for Dinos, Fun with Furry Friends, Under the Sea and Everything Princess.

How that compares to other paid party options:

• Cosmic Adventures - $24.99 per kid for the standard 8-kid package, includes food and cake
• Movie Theatre - $17 per kid assuming 8 kids, movie, snacks, party room for 1 hour (no cake)
• Ray's Reptiles - $23.33 per person (that applies to adults as well), 45 minutes in zoo with feeding demonstrations, 45 minutes in party room - pizza, cake, drinks, zoo themed loot bags for the kids, 1 Ray's Reptiles t-shirt for the birthday kid for the all inclusive birthday deal

Pretty decent and competitive, but competitive enough? I'm really curious as to how well this works out.

Maybe you want links to the other party options. You aren't getting them! I have to support the library above all else! You can use Google.

Windsor-Essex Librarian Layoff

This is pretty awful: the Catholic School Board system in Windsor has decided to lay off most of their librarians despite heated protest.

The decision was explained last month as a way to address an $8 million to $10 million deficit caused by a forecasted enrolment drop of 800 to 1,000 students in the fall. Most parents and students only found out about it once librarians cleaned out their desks, some libraries were shut and elementary schools were emptied of books.

“What communication was there?” asked Brennan student Shaun Steven. “We are all desperate to tell you how much we need the libraries and librarians, so why weren’t we asked?”

The decision ignores the needs of students in favour of buzzwords like “21st century learning,” he said. “Regardless of what century we’re in, a school needs a library.”

Parent Diane Westenberg accused the board of showing a blatant disregard for parents and students. She and other speakers urged trustees to cut administration costs instead.

The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library

A very cool library being built at the University of Chicago.



The robotic arms sound great. I hope they're easy to maintain and they have a lot of backup power. I also hope all that glass doesn't make the library into an oven on sunny days.

Anyone in New York Wanna Do Me a Favour?

The New York Public Library's 100th anniversary is coming up, so they're giving out a free book with pieces from '100 icons' from New York and around the world's favourite part of the NYPL's collection. It's just such a wonderful building, and while I don't care what Johnathan Franzen thinks (nor do I think he is an icon), I am curious as to what the Trinity Killer* has to say. You can read more about it on the library's website. Free is very affordable.


* John Lithgow is no longer the silly alien from 3rd Rock from the Sun. He is now the Trinity Killer in my mind.

If anyone looks at you funny for having this on your screen, just tell them the Trinity Killer kills... jam. Yes, jam.

Shelf Reader App

Snagged from librarian.net:


Very cool. I wonder how well it deals with the really freakishly similar long call numbers. I also wonder if one day I'm going to be carefully sticking little squares with the scanning IDs on book spines in the future. Hold on to your stomachs, the video has lots of shaky bits.

Not really on topic, save that it involves paper and paper is in books, which are in libraries: Simon Schubert is a German artist who uses paper as his medium. Just paper and folding. The results are pretty fantastic.

I Return With Porn

...Not really. I mean I don't personally have porn, but I do have an article about libraries deciding not to filter out pornography that I figured was a perfect way to get back into the groove.

I have been neglecting the blog, which is sad, but I have been doing so because I have been finishing up my first year of my library technician program. My last presentation (French, about kung fu) was yesterday and I am now free as a bird, or at least until my security clearance for my summer job goes through.

The thing about the porn is probably less exciting than you think, but hey, let's get some search results from sensationalism, shall we? From the Salon article:

If you found this article while searching for porn that fetishizes bookish bespectacled women, you're going to be sorely disappointed. In this rare case, we're talking about porn in libraries, not librarians in porn. That's because earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council voted against filtering out all porn on library computers. Just the day before, the Brooklyn Public Library publicly defended patrons' right to watch any legal adult content of their choosing. The first case was prompted by an incident in which kids were exposed to pornography being watched by an adult on a library computer; and the second followed a physical altercation between a man watching porn on a library computer and another man waiting to use said computer.

Public Libraries Take on E-Books

From Peter Osnos at The Atlantic: Public Libraries Take On E-books. More of the same; I was hoping for some update on HarperCollins' stance, but no such luck. The article mentions HarperCollins being willing to work with librarians, mind you. Another good quote about circulation:

For example, the New York system now has 125 copies of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but in three years it may only need a handful, and the revenue impact of pay-per-use could turn out to be small. Moreover, "dog-eared printed books" as one senior librarian explained to me, have always been replaced, and e-books significantly reduce the time, trouble, and expense of returning books back onto shelves.

Closed Stacks on Library Dating and Curriculum Suggestions for Library School

Closed Stacks is on an awesome run right now, with a post about a New York Times article about a library-based dating scheme and another with suggested courses for library school curriculum.

I suppose I would bring John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, since it is legitimately my favourite book. On the other hand, maybe I should try to game the system with something like Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game or Ender's Shadow, which would be more along the lines of truth in advertising.

My favourite curriculum suggestions include:

• LIS710 – Introduction to Library Perverts
• LIS738 – Mechanics of Photocopier Machine Repair
• LIS770 – Internship with Passive-Aggressive Note Leavers

If there was a training course for photocopier repair, I would probably take it to make my resume more appealing. Also, I like fixing things.

Book Smelling

So now smelling books and keeping track of what they smell like is art. (The New York Magazine goes into more detail.)

I would like to propose that is not art but rather a hobby. See, it's funny if you consider it a hobby, but it's just annoying if you consider it art.

I was amused by one of the comments on the LISNews post:

this is completely unscientific. she omits all types of metadata that a librarian would include.
how long did she sniff each book?
did she sniff a random page or the inside cover or page 23? and "paper-y" in place of "paper"??? is that like saying a book has "around 200 pages"?

How would you even decide which page to sniff in a scientific manner? Page 23? Halfway through the book plus one page?

Libraries vs. HarperCollins

HarperCollins is making big waves in the library world by limiting ebooks to 26 loans before requiring libraries to buy the ebook again.

Our prior e-book policy for libraries dates back almost 10 years to a time when the number of e-readers was too small to measure. It is projected that the installed base of e-reading devices domestically will reach nearly 40 million this year. We have serious concerns that our previous e-book policy, selling e-books to libraries in perpetuity, if left unchanged, would undermine the emerging e-book eco-system, hurt the growing e-book channel, place additional pressure on physical bookstores, and in the end lead to a decrease in book sales and royalties paid to authors.

Alright, it is an outdated policy. On the other hand, I'm still in the camp that format and file changes make ebooks less permanent than hardcopy books. (Then again, I haven't actually been at a circulation desk and seen how damaged books get, nor do I know how many loans they go through before they're written off.) Twenty-six times seems pretty low, however. Maybe if they upped the limit a considerable amount?

The article also points out that Macmillan and Simon&Schuster don't yet offer libraries ebook versions of their books at all.

HarperCollins announced it was doing this in late February; it's starting to come into affect now, so it's not exactly new. Maybe people thought they wouldn't go through with it.

The eBook is Not the Enemy

From a friend of my Database Searching instructor: The ebook is not the enemy, so who is? by Trudi Stafford.

Here’s the thing: public libraries are in a unique position to promote and support reading and publishers should want to be our friends, not try to cut us off at the legs. That approach just doesn’t make sense and it smacks too much of out-and-out greed. Remember Gaiman’s point: if anything, sharing leads to more buying, not less – publishers need to recognize the symbiotic relationship they’ve always shared with libraries, who act as promoters and advertisers. Libraries get us hooked on books, and eBooks are going to help libraries do that even more. Why then are publishers feeling the need to punish an ally like the public library, or the consumer for that matter?

The article is full of good points like this, and also has The Ebook User's Bill of Rights, which I had not yet seen before:

The eBook User’s Bill of Rights


Every eBook user should have the following rights:

the right to use eBooks under guidelines that favor access over proprietary limitations
the right to access eBooks on any technological platform, including the hardware and software the user chooses
the right to annotate, quote passages, print, and share eBook content within the spirit of fair use and copyright
the right of the first-sale doctrine extended to digital content, allowing the eBook owner the right to retain, archive, share, and re-sell purchased eBooks
I believe in the free market of information and ideas.

I believe that authors, writers, and publishers can flourish when their works are readily available on the widest range of media. I believe that authors, writers, and publishers can thrive when readers are given the maximum amount of freedom to access, annotate, and share with other readers, helping this content find new audiences and markets. I believe that eBook purchasers should enjoy the rights of the first-sale doctrine because eBooks are part of the greater cultural cornerstone of literacy, education, and information access.

Digital Rights Management (DRM), like a tariff, acts as a mechanism to inhibit this free exchange of ideas, literature, and information. Likewise, the current licensing arrangements mean that readers never possess ultimate control over their own personal reading material. These are not acceptable conditions for eBooks.

I am a reader. As a customer, I am entitled to be treated with respect and not as a potential criminal. As a consumer, I am entitled to make my own decisions about the eBooks that I buy or borrow.

I am concerned about the future of access to literature and information in eBooks. I ask readers, authors, publishers, retailers, librarians, software developers, and device manufacturers to support these eBook users’ rights.

These rights are yours. Now it is your turn to take a stand. To help spread the word, copy this entire post, add your own comments, remix it, and distribute it to others. Blog it, Tweet it (#ebookrights), Facebook it, email it, and post it on a telephone pole.

John Allison On the Danger of Releasing Librarians Into the Wild

John Allison writes and illustrates some of my favourite webcomics over the years. He started with Bobbins, moved to Scary-Go-Round, and is now working on Bad Machinery. Characters have carried over from one comic to the next, sometimes supporting the new cast or, in the case of Scary-Go-Round, pretty much replacing the new characters. The guy is funny and his art has changed so much over the years. Looking at it makes me wish I'd kept up with drawing, or had one good webcomic idea I could've used to practice drawing characters that always looked the same. Anyway, I love Mr. Allison, and it was like a little Christmas to see he'd made a post in his blog about library troubles in the UK. (Mr. Allison is very British.)

Mr. Allison's art style has changed a lot over the years; I really love how his work looks now. His style is very distinctive.

Now go read Bad Machinery, it's brilliant. I think one of the best things to be in the world would be being one of John Allison's characters (it is a very difficult goal to achieve).

Sunday Library Secrets

I read PostSecret just about every Sunday. The site collects secrets mailed in on postcards, posting a few and publishing others in a series of books. It's a glimpse into the not-always-awesome corners of people's minds. Some posts are wonderful; some are disturbing, so read at your own risk. And it's occasionally not safe to be viewed around children or at work, so be warned.

In any case, this Sunday there were some secrets involving libraries:

On the back of the last one it says, "I hope this inspires people to do the same".

Is there a site to look up what sort of book would be categorized under a specific Dewey number? I get that the 150s are Psychology, but the most I can get from that is that the image's file name mentions burnout.

Our Puny Human Brains

Ken Jennings writes about his experience playing against Watson, the IBM computer, in Jeopardy.

One part that made me laugh:

Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It's very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman.

Swinging this back around to libraries, I don't think librarians will be replaced by computers any time soon. I want to know how well Watson would do bibliographic verification is what I'm saying here.

Incidental Comics: The Library

A couple of cute comics over at Incidental Comics:

The Library

Confessions of a Book Fiend

And Now, Good News from England

There's been quite the uproar about the closing of libraries in the UK. Good news - eight got saved. Northamptonshire responded to pro-library campaigning and adjusted their budget to allow the libraries to stay open, and libraries in a handful of other places have been spared, too.

St James resident Graham Croucher, who has been campaigning to save St James Library, which was one of those earmarked for the chop, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that common sense has prevailed.

“But the work starts now to protect the libraries in the future, because these proposals will come back then, I’m sure.”