Librarian's Rant

Ayanna just turned me on to this latest school library ban. I've also sent it on to Chris over at Censoround, cuz he should know if he doesn't already (and you should know about Censoround--go! Visit the site!). Anyone else see the irony in this paragraph?

Committee member Barbara Waldrop, network manager for Spook Hill, said that the objectionable material was not the main theme of the book. She said the main theme of the book is the idea that forming preconceived notions about the world is a bad habit to get into.

Credit to Karen Schneider for 'Gormangate'. You may remember an earlier post. Now a favorite author of mine, Neil Gaiman, whose blog is read by thousands, possibly millions of fans, discusses the issue (scroll down, past the Nook entry). Neil's a huge proponent and cheerleader for librarians. I met him in November, and he couldn't give enough positive comments about us.

There are a great many wise and sensible librarians out there, lots of whom have been keeping blogs as long as there have been blogs around, and all of whom understand that the people who can and do read and write and comment on what they read and write are probably not the enemy. Can some of you take your president-elect aside and suggest to him that articles like http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA502009 don't put him, or the profession, in the best possible light? And tell that there are some fine blogs out there, too.

If you're old enough, and geeky enough, to remember an early text game based on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you will want to check this out: the BBC has put the game on the Web!

It's as frustrating as I remember!

Need Monkeys.

Your patrons may ask, so:

AnnualCreditReport.com is a centralized service for consumers to request annual credit reports. It was created by the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

AnnualCreditReport.com processes requests for free credit file disclosures (commonly called credit reports). Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) consumers can request and obtain a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. AnnualCreditReport.com provides consumers with the secure means to do so.

Phone and mail requests are also listed on the site. Western states are now available. Midwest states are available March 1st, Southern states June 1st, Eastern states and US territories, September 1st.

On the lighter side of today...looks like Battlestar Galactica will start its second season as early as this summer. That's just fracking great!

A fascinating vision of the near future (movie).

Thanks, Beth.

Interesting article in the Detroit Times about the changing nature of public libraries and how they're dealing with 'those darn kids'. I joke, but it is a serious problem.

By now, you've heard that Michael Gorman, ALA president-elect wrote an article in Library Journal bashing bloggers. Specifically the bloggers that disagreed with an editorial he wrote discussing some of his concerns about Google Print and the Google phenomenon. I happen to agree with some of Gorman's concerns about users over-dependence on Google and the Web as a whole. However, he chose to paint all bloggers, or "Blog People", with the same brush. He claimed later that his comments were satirical, which I find a little odd. He states that bloggers can't get published, so blog instead. Well, I've been published, thanks, but I also have opinions on issues of the day, which don't fit into the narrow field of 'juried' library journals.

There was much talk on the ALA site in response. In the library blog world, Jessamyn and Karen have already discussed it, so I'll leave it in their far more capable hands.

What I find interesting is that non-library sites have picked this up, as well, like Slashdot and Metafilter. In particular look at Jessamyn's comments on Metafilter. Like her, I support Gorman for ALA president, but I think this is one more example of our 'professional' association being entirely unclear on the activities and interests of a huge number of its members.

This is an interesting idea. From the KiddieRecords site:

For the entire 2005 year, Basic Hip Digital Oddio will be featuring weekly stories and songs from the golden age of children's records, a period which ran from the mid 1940s into the early 1950s. This era produced a wealth of classics, headed by Capitol's Record-Readers and the RCA Victor Little Nipper series. Each one of these recordings has been carefully transferred from the original 78s (plus a few 45s) and encoded to MP3 format for you to download and enjoy.

Hunter S. Thompson, who shot himself last Sunday, may have his ashes shot from a cannon. Seems fitting somehow.

New Google beta. Good idea, bad idea? Discuss.

[link is to Ben Hammersley's weblog]

Astronomers find star-less galaxy.

Thanks, Akeisha.

Thanks, Alexia, for the link to this GREAT library Flash cartoon: Overdue.

"Days like this make me want to go home and hug my kid."

In a way, I kind of keep hoping these idiots keep it up, cuz they're just making themselves look bad. The Traditional Values Coalition (like we needed another one of these) has 'outed' Shrek 2 and blamed DreamWorks for "helping to promote cross-dressing and transgenderism". Are there subtle sexual references in Shrek 2? Yes. Will they go over the heads of most kids? You betcha. Do parents have the brains to make the decision on their own? Doesn't seem to matter to the TVC.

Amusing sidenote: a colleague on one of my listservs tried to link to the TVC...and her filter blocked them