LISNews: Librarian News

I just lost 5 hours and about 60 degrees going from Hawaii to Buffalo. So I'm back, the pain in my wrists is gone, my skin is tan, and I seem to be able to remember all my important passwords, so I should be back up to speed in no time.

LISNews/LISHost held up pretty well thanks to Joe, Aaron, and everyone who let them know it was down.

Thanks to all the authors, the stories kept flowing. I've always dreamed of the day LISNews ran itself, it seems we've reached that point!

Man, I so want some despair.com gear.

In fact, I would almost kill for a Cluelessness
poster. Of course, it would have to be for home. It's not exactly appropriate for work, even if that's the way I feel some days.

RedHat seems to be performing pretty well. Had to do some funky reconfiguration, as the system kept mis-identifying my network card. All's happy now. I just need to get some addtional software to make it complete, although you would be amazed at all the software that comes with the basic install, all open-source. If anyone has an extra PC lying around, it would be worth your time to try out one of the linux flavors. It's a nice change of pace from Windows.

Actually, it's not a myth, mostly. Unless you actually work in a library.

The other day, I requested a book transfered from another library in the university system to my library. The usual sort of thing. Now, this means that everybody in the circulation area (which for us is the whole library) knows that I want this book. Of course, it was Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, which looks at classification, and the creation of categories from a cognitive science basis, so it's not very concerning.

The problem is that it came with, for some odd reason, a book on Schizophrenia, also putatively for me. Too bad I didn't ask for it.

While regular patrons have some semblance of confidentiality, in the sense that we'll know the regulars and what they take out, but we would never tell anybody, it's different when it's your coworkers that know what you're reading, for at least some subject areas.

Shall I or shan't I? I found myself asking my college-aged son about the pros and cons of blogging. When/if he gets back to me (not that I'm waiting for his approval), you may/may not hear from me again! ps - don't hold your breath folks.

The Internet is down.
I'm sorry. The Internet is down.
Due to the power outage downtown, we don't have Internet access.
As it says on the sign, the Internet is down.
The Internet is still down.
The computers are up, and Internet is available, but spotty, and the catalog is still down.
"Oh, I don't need that. I just need my e-mail."
You've never heard of a RefGrunt?

Things I have learned this week:
I can live quite well without computers.
Everyone wants to sell you something in Hawaii.
People from all over the world say "ya know what I'm sayin?"
12 hours on a tour bus is about 8 hours too many.
I know what a humuhumunukunukuapuaa looks like up close.
12 hours on a plane is about 8 hours too many.
Dail up internet ain't so bad.
I'm broke.

I'll be back in a week. Thanks for a great 4 years, and for a great Blake-Free week.

Well, not dead yet; it's got a month or so to go. This just came from the education librarian:

Hi, all - like the sad news of the passing of an old friend, I understand
that the ERIC Clearinghouses have been given a deadline of December 19,
2003, to close all Web sites (including AskERIC) and disconnect all e-mail
addresses that make use of the name "ERIC", and all toll-free phone numbers.

The RSS feeds don't seem to have been updated since Wednesday. The last new story was the one about West Palm Library. I tried the articles*, index*, and lisnewscom* feeds.

This just in: lisnews.rss seems to be up-to-date.

On Hat Day, nearly everyone wore hats, so I felt confident that I wouldn't be the only one in costume on Halloween. WRONG. Here I am, walking around in full cowboy garb -- I even made myself a sheriff's badge with my nametag on it -- and nobody else dressed up!
Hi! I'm Karl and I'll be your library dork today.

I just had a patron call me "babe" and "hon" in the same telephone call. Welcome to Tulsa!

Trying my first install of RedHat on my old desktop today. Verifying the ISO install files now. I've used linux/unix many times, never installed. Cross those fingers.

"Preferred Customers" of our largest local bookstore, Novel Idea, received a letter last night inviting us to a special early opportunity to get in on their big clearance sale. They are closing down both locations, selling "to the bare walls" as the saying goes, fixtures and all.
I read the letter last night, and was overcome with a powerful sadness. I talk a lot about buying local when I can, but just a couple of weeks ago Borders had their big educator appreciation sale, and we bought $60 worth of books, CDs, etc. That's probably more than I've spent at Novel Idea in two years.
Sad to say, but my only contribution to the last gasp of a wonderful bookstore may be the purchase of some of their bookshelves for our new home.

well, I used to have an account here, and then it disappeared... I can only imagine because of lack of use. Perhaps if I put some data somewhere, that won't happen again. (pity though; I miss my low user number...)

I wrote this when I was doing an independent study paper in cataloging for my masters.

1. Reiterate either the Paris principles or Cutter's objectives of the
   catalogue. Make sure to reference the original publication, even though you've never actually seen a copy of it.
   
2. Describe the relationship between the set provided and the other. Again, make sure to reference the primary documents.
   
3. Lament the fact that the rules were created for a 5x3-index-card
   world. If you're Canadian, note that the cards were actually metric.
   
4. Propose a "radical" revision of the rules that includes at least one
   of
   

Just so you know, I hate them. And they're not getting any better

Hi, all.

I've got a Web page where I track news articles on a certain subject. I've set up an RSS feed to go with it. All I really need for each item is a headline, link, paper and date (which can go in description), and the date I posted it (pubdate). It looks like RSS 2.0 will do everything I need. But I notice some of the cool kids use RSS 1.0 (which is actually more complicated that 2.0, but that's another whole megilla).

Any ideas? Post a comment here or send me a comment via www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/comment.html.

Today we're having a staff potluck, and our social committee declared it "Hat Day". Everyone is supposed to wear a hat.
I really get into things like this. I love dressing up and being goofy. I wore a big black cowboy hat, and I brought along a selection of other hats from home, in case folks forgot or wanted to pick something different. It's really interesting to me how much people change when they have a hat on. I'm reminded of the Bugs Bunny cartoon ["Bugs'Bonnets" - 1956] where a hat truck turns over on the highway and Elmer and Bugs keep having new headwear fall on them. Each time, their personality changes to match what's on their head, ending with a bridal veil and top-hat wedding.
As I wear this faux-Stetson, I can tell that I walk differently. I talk differently. Patrons look at me differently (I guess that one's pretty obvious). It's an enlightening experience.

The members of fairy tales have been evicted from the homes, and now live in New York city. They have their own government, their own powers, and they live among the humans without being noticed. Things go wrong when Rose Red is murdered, and it's up to the Wolf (as in Big, Bad) to determine who did it.

Recommended to older teens and adults. There's one sex scene (a sheet covers the nudity)and some references to sex.

Zach can't tell the difference between what's real and what's only in his head because Zach has schizophrenia. While waiting for his mom (and his medications) at the donut shop, two teens with guns try to rob the store. What happens while Zach and the other shoppers are hostages isn't nearly as bad as what's going on inside Zach's head.

Excellent book, told from Zach's point of view.