Librarian's Rant

So you may have heard that the Midwest got SMACKED by a major storm this weekend. I was supposed to go to Chicago to see off a friend who is moving to Florida, so I was already bummed when the weekend began and I realized I couldn't go. But I figured I'd make the best of it. Hunker down, get some tasty provisions and some bottled water, watch some of the backload on my TiFaux (what I call my TiVo-like DVR from my satellite company) and play some Sims2 (what? I can't be useful all the time!).

Friday night I had an engagement, but Saturday morning I wake and turn on The Weather Channel to see if this thing was real (I still held out hope of going to the windy city). TWC is going nutty with some "Two Sided Storm" nonsense, trying to hype up this winter ickiness coming our way. Whatever sells, I guess. I decide to head out to the store to get the tasty provisions et al, which I do. It's sloppy, but mostly just rain mixed with a touch of ice. I can tell it's going to get nasty, though--I've lived in the Midwest most of my life, I know what a gray/purple/brown sky means in any season. So. Begin the hunker down.

I get home and put away my groceries, tell my house guest to pack a bag if she's going to see her friend south of here, cuz there's no way she's going to get home safely tonight. She does, and informs me that while I was out shopping, our power went out for a bit. Hmmm. Once she leaves, I throw in a load of laundry and head to my PC for some personal relaxation. Of which I get maybe an hour before, yes, our power goes out again. Okay. I wait a bit, it goes back on. I took advantage of one quite chilly interlude in the afternoon to take a nap under my eiderdown. Really, what else was I going to do? It was rather dark for daytime, and the first floor was too cold. The cats and I snuggled down and waited for enlightenment.

To shorten an already too long story, this goes on much of the day, with each successive outage getting longer and longer. I get a break in the evening, during which I catch up on some Battlestar Galactica (best show on TV!) and cook some hot food until, yes, the power goes out again at 10:30. Okay. But here's a new problem:

The power doesn't just go out. It goes out, flickers on, then goes out again. Which, as it turns out, causes my Littermaid (electronic self-cleaning cat box and gods' gift to cat owners) to run its track once, and then stop in the middle of the box. NOT acceptable. My eldest cat is both finicky and neurotic. But I had neglected to put the battery backup in (d'oh!). It required 8 "D" batteries. I had 6, if you counted the ones in my flashlights (one for each floor plus 2 spares--I wasn't completely unprepared, you see). Not good. Luckily my cats managed to weather the storm (pun not entirely intended) and hold it in for a bit.

My basic realization this weekend: I am entirely too dependent on electricity.

For my amusement, my heat (gas furnace, but electric blower), my cats poo needs and so much more. Did I read by candlelight? Well, yes. Or rather I tried out my new battery-powered booklight after a bit, cuz it turns out graphic novels are hard to read by candle light! You can't see the colors properly. Again, Too Dependent!!

Saturday night to Sunday had more power, but also much, much more snow. This was another annoyance, as I'm on my homeowners board and I had to wake twice in the night (each time the power went on or off, basically) to call and bug our snowplow company about coming to dig us out. They finally arrived at 10:30 on Sunday morning. NOT acceptable. They were already on our list, but this clinched it.

Clearly I was one of the lucky ones, however. I went over to my church Sunday night for an Oscar night bash and there was a power line and a TON of branches down over there. Very woody area. They clearly had no power for several blocks - it was very spooky coming out at 11:30 to dark streets and dark houses. Our church was fine, thankfully. Hard to watch the Oscars with no juice!

At least now I know I need to buy some more D batteries (for my flashlights AND the cat box!) and some better matches (I bought a bargain brand, and they're crap. Back to Ohio Blue Tip for me!).

And perhaps I need to think about how dependent I am on power generation to get through my day. I'll think about it soon. After I go home and watch some BSG on my TiFaux!

Seems an Egyptian blogger is facing a four-year sentence for insulting Islam and the Egyptian president.

Judge Ayman al-Akazi sentenced Nabil, 22, to three years in prison for insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and inciting sectarian strife and another year for insulting President Hosni Mubarak.

Nabil, who has called himself a secular Muslim, did not react as the verdict was read. His religious family didn't attend any of the trial sessions.

Egypt, a top U.S. ally in the Mideast, arrested a number of bloggers last year, most of them for connections to the pro-democracy reform movement. Nabil was put on trial while other bloggers were freed — a sign of the sensitivity of his writings on religion.

Nabil, who used the blogger name Kareem Amer, was an unusually scathing critic of conservative Muslims. His frequent attacks on Al-Azhar, where he was a law student, led the university to expel him in March, then push prosecutors to bring him to trial.

It's odd, I guess I've always thought of Egypt as fairly progressive, but I suspect my impressions are both dated and based in comparisons to more hard line regimes.

In the back of my mind I find myself imagining our country as a Christian fundamentalist regime, and me being arrested for insulting Shrub (who is, as far as I'm concerned, an insult to me). Can't happen here? Well, it would certainly be harder, but not impossible. Ask anyone who lived through McCarthy. We may be one nutjob (and, one hopes, an intelligent electorate) away from just such a scenario.

Thanks to my new buddy Joel for the heads up!

My buddy Laura just sent me this: Cell phones in the library recently showed up in a Miss Manners column. Her answer has the basics right.

http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3064852

As any of you who work in libraries know, this is a constant battle, though most people don't realize it. We just (finally!) put up signs about "cell phone etiquette". We have gone the extra step to offer patrons one of our quiet rooms (study rooms) if they have a lengthy conversation to complete. Of course NO cell phone user thinks they're having a "lengthy" conversation, and "will be done in just a minute" but we have some regulars who are happy to ask us for a room if they get a call. We bend over backwards for them, because they're being conscious about the noise they're making and we appreciate their maturity.

Our semi-unofficial rule is that if it's just a quick call to check a fact or phone number or something, we don't worry about it. If someone complains (we have one perennial complainer who is, ironically, one of the rudest cell phone users I've ever encountereed), we make a judgement call (or we're supposed to) about whether it's a lengthy and disturbing call (how many patrons are near them? are they being particularly loud or are they making a quick, quiet call?) and then choose whether to say (as Miss Manners suggests) "I'm sorry, but if you need to make a call, we can offer you a quiet room where you won't disturb others". If they've finished the call by the time we get over to them, we don't bother them, but we keep an eye out to see if they make additional calls. We've had very few problems with this, especially since we're offering them an option, which is the key to customer service, IMO.

For what it's worth. I know we all struggle with this. At least Miss Manners is on our side

So I have a friend staying with me while her new apartment is prepped. Good thing, as it turns out, cuz when I called home to check on her (she's got a cold), she informed me that MY WATER WAS OFF! Huh? I pay my water bill automatically, so I know they got paid. Last month they were paid a day or so late because, and here's where the bureaucraZy begins, my credit union managed to NOT send any payments for like 6 days to ANYONE, but they chose to inform me by MAIL, so it was an extra couple of days before I knew. Luckily I have great credit and had no problems. The credit union offered to pay for any late fees. The only fee I got charged, in fact, was from Water Works. So spring ahead one month exactly to today.

I get up this morning, take my shower, leave the house shortly before 9am. There is a Water Works van parked across the street, but as I know a water conduit is under where he his, I think "maybe he's finally working on that stupid rusted cover we've been asking them about since last spring, but how dumb to do it in the winter!" and go on my merry way. So I call home this afternoon to check on my friend, and she tells me the water's been out since shortly after I left. Now, the guy could see me leave the unit he was shutting off this morning, but did he say anything? No. Understandable, I guess, as he probably assumed I knew I was being cut off. But of course they never told me, because I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE CUT OFF. I suspect it was supposed to be the unit next to me, which is a rental and is empty. However, since it's the middle of a FREAKING COLD WINTER, turning off the water may or may not be the thing to do. Especially since all these units are somewhat connected. Dunno.

I called this afternoon right after hearing from my friend and raised (polite but firm) holy hell. At first they're trying to tell me that there are "no water main breaks in your area, so it must be a frozen pipe". Now, in the old days, I would have gone all girlie, believed them, hung up and probably spent a ton of money, and a lot of stress, calling out a plumber to tell me that the water company had cut me off and be out of water the whole weekend. But I've learned a thing or two. I firmly (but politely) insist that there was a frakking water works van across the driveway from my townhome this morning, could they at least tell me why he was there, in case it was related! I'm on hold for like 5 minutes while she checks with dispatch (why didn't she do this before? I do not know). She gets back on and sheepishly tells me that I was cut off accidentally, and they'll send someone out to reconnect me right away. Uh-huh. I'm heading home now to see. If I'm waterless and stinky all weekend, there will be frakking bureaucratic hell to pay!

What, what do I keep saying?! DON'T MESS WITH THE LIBRARIANS!

Thanks, Tracey. Meant to put this up a while ago:

Barnes and Noble is now offering free online book clubs. It's based on social networking ideas (e.g. a "Friends" option). It does require setting up a free account, so expect marketing emails. One nice option: the authors themselves (known authors, not the weird lady down the street who self-publishes erotic mysteries) supposedly join the discussion.

I'm not a book clubber, myself, as I tend to read a) odd, usually genre fiction, b) in bits and pieces, often putting down and picking up a book over some months before finishing and c) for my own pleasure - if I want to discuss it with friends, I have plenty with whom to do so. I think book clubs a great idea, though, and I love to see people engaged with reading. I don't think the virtual component of these online clubs would be a detractor - quite the opposite, in fact.

Obviously online book clubs are nothing new - many libraries use Dear Reader and other services to offer them - but as this one is through a major retailer, they can get known authors to participate as part of their marketing. ::shrug:: Why not?

Al's running, and bless him for doing so. He's smart, articulate, he has a POV, so why not?

In Al's own words (YouTube).

Too, too funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfNfDiqAF9Q

By the way, have you watched the wonder that is the new Doctor Who? Two seasons (plus) so far, two doctors so far, one (plus) kickass companion, all so far superior to anything that came before, it's almost indescribably wonderful.

This is brilliant: Introducing the Book (YouTube)

This is SO my week in a nutshell.

Thanks to Ray for the link.

Actual conversation with a patron Tuesday night (paraphrased):

Patron: I want a quick definition of this Islamic sect, but don't look on Wikipedia.
Me: You've already looked on Wikipedia and you want other sources, or...? (I suspected this was not the answer, but I figured I'd check)
Patron: It's not authoritative, it's just idiots (or words to that effect).
Me: Well...okay. (I agree that it's not authoritative, per se, but it is one among many possible sources. whatever. So I go to the reference stacks and grab a 10 year old encyclopedia of religion which is all I've got that covers this topic in print.)
Well, sir, I have 6 or 7 entries on your subject, let me skim through them. Is there something you're looking for in particular? (I know this patron - he NEVER asks for what he really wants on the first pass, no matter how hard you try to do a ref interview)
Patron: What does it say?
Me: It's like 20-30 pages of information. I could hold it for you and you could come in.
Patron: No! I just want a "quick definition".
Me: (in my head: well, that's what wikipedia is for!) So I give him a couple of key paragraphs on the basic outlines of this sect's beliefs, indicating that this barely scratches the surface. He finally reveals what part of it he wanted to know about (I won't bore you - he's a conspiracy theorist). As it happens, wikipedia has the most concise 'definition' on that aspect, taken from more current sources than the 10yo book in front of me. I cross-check it with both my book and a couple other sources and give it to him, making sure to note that wikipedia WAS one of my sources, but was cross-checked. (What? I was in a snarky mood.)

::sigh::

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska is at it again. The ignorant Luddite. Now he wants to "ban" Wikipedia from schools, along with a host of other sites. Yeah, cuz simply keeping students from information is going to make them more information literate. Idiots! You have to teach them HOW to read information, to weigh it carefully and...oh, what am I saying? This is the man who thinks the Internet is a series of TUBES!

Article at Computer WorldU.S. senator: It's time to ban Wikipedia in schools, libraries

Originally posted on the Web4Lib and PubLib lists, the San Diego PL is doing a survey of libraries asking about lending laptops. Survey closes tomorrow, February 16 at 2pm Pacific.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=734083289937

I'm a bit late putting this out, but I just loved this. Thanks to Tracey for sending it along. It's a very delightful 'mockumentary' a la March of the Penguins done over footage from ALA Midwinter in Seattle. What was amusing for me is that I was at PLA in 2004 when it was in Seattle at the same conference hall. I coulda been a penguin!

Enjoy! March of the Librarians at YouTube.

I got an email from the DCCC asking for input on the Iraq War 'surge' proposal. This one is tougher for me than one might assume. Here is what I sent them. It will probably be ignored, as they're hellbent on being anti-Republican/anti-Bush rather than actually thinking about what we need to do as a country:

I find myself torn on this issue more than any other. I thought the invasion of Iraq misguided and disgusting from the start. You would think that my response to a possible 'surge' would be outright dismissal, but I find myself torn. Not because I want any more men and women in harm's way, but because I feel strongly about cleaning up one's own messes. We created instability and horror for the people of Iraq. We must do whatever we can to make amends. Among other things, I want to see Halliburton and their ilk forced to give back every ill-gotten billion squandered in the area and that money spent for real infrastructure work. A pipe dream, I suspect, but that is my hope. I still believe the US can be a force for good, but I haven't seen evidence of it from the government in far too long. And I cannot blame that entirely on Republicans. We need to decide who we want to be in the world, and we can start by cleaning up our horrific playground.

::Shrug:: We'll see what happens. The whole thing makes me sick to my stomach.

All the recent chatter on library techie listservs about MySpace and whether libraries should have a MySpace page has been mildly interesting to watch. More amusing is this Unshelved comic from last week.