Librarian's Rant

I can't remember (or honestly be bothered to check) if I've posted these before. Sites where you can stop paper catalogs from being sent to you:

Catalog Choice - Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It's a free service where you can enter your catalog information (you'll need the label off your catalogs) and they stop them for you.

Green Dimes - I chose this one, because although it requires a small $20 fee, they plant trees to replace those lost to catalogs, and also do a number of other charitable, green things. It's also a bit less work, as you just need to give them your info and the catalog names, not the customer number, etc. from the label.

A good choice either way. I don't know about you, but I don't NEED six identical Signals catalogs a month!

Somehow this didn't post a few weeks ago...

My buddy Bill helped start a radio station at his kids' elementary school, and it just got a nice write-up in The Des Moines Register.

Parents at Cowles Elementary School, 6401 College Ave., can tune into a radio station in the school parking lot at dismissal time and hear a live broadcast of students announcing school news.

It's all thanks to one parent's technology hobby.

Bill Paxson, who has two kids at Cowles, is a stay-at-home dad who keeps up with the latest technology. One afternoon a few years ago he was sitting in his car in the school's crowded parking lot at dismissal time waiting to pick up his children. As he waited, he was using one of his latest gadgets - a low-power transmitter that allowed him to listen to music from his iPod on an FM station on his car stereo.

"I was thinking if these people knew what frequency I use to listen to my iPod, they could all listen if they wanted to," Paxson said. "Then it got me thinking, what if I had information for parents on my iPod and they all listened to that frequency. Then one thing led to another and I started exploring."

Way to go, Bill!

Bill Clinton: 'Screw It, I'm Running For President'the onion

So John Edwards met with Martin Luther King III yesterday, and received a gorgeous letter as a follow-up. One point really struck me, as I've been saying the same thing about Edwards for a while now:

There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father's legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.

I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are - a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.

You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don't have lobbyists in Washington and they don't get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.

So in most of the debates, those watching and being polled have tended to say that Edwards won these debates...but the media only respond to (and report) conflict, so they claim it was all about Clinton and Obama. Now each of these candidates has their strong points (and weaknesses), but their recent behavior has been, at best, childish and, at worst, divisive. I'm particularly sickened (though I wish I could say surprised) at the Clinton camp.

Why, why, why won't the media acknowledge that Edwards is hitting a very significant nerve with the American public? - the ones who actually manage to hear him over the media nonsense, anyways. Without the money to send his message to all 50 states every minute of the day, it's getting lost in the din of pissy rhetoric and backstabbing (wtf President Bill Clinton?? I thought you'd figured out how to be above all this crap!)

The Dems have an excellent chance of winning the White House in November, but ONLY if they stick together and keep it clean, civil, professional and grounded in real issues and real values (not those amorphous 'family values' no one can define to my satisfaction).

Enough already!!

As I mentioned last month, I got written up in the December issue of American Libraries for some work I did blogging for the MaintainIT project about wireless. The MaintainIT folks very kindly made note of the AL write-up, and gave me some kind compliments.

I'm very pleased with what they're doing over there, as I think it's helpful esp. for smaller libraries, who sometimes feel left out in the technology cold. I'm delighted I can be of some help, because really, why should they have to reinvent the wheel?

From WSJ (subscription required):

Apple Unveils Ultra-Thin Notebook

The new Apple notebook computer's major attribute is its sleek profile: it's about three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs three pounds. The Macbook Air features a full-sized keyboard, a 13-inch screen, a built-in camera, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, all powered by an Intel Corp. dual core chip.

Appearing on stage at the company's Macworld expo, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said the computer, which he called "world's thinnest notebook," will cost $1,799 and is scheduled to ship in about two weeks.

I keep meaning to blog about my amazing Caucus experience last week, but I've been so drained in its aftermath that I haven't had a chance. I will, I promise.

For today, I just got the email sent to Richardson supporters announcing the end of his presidential campaign. What a class act. An excerpt:

Running for president brings out the best in everyone who graces the stage, and I have learned much from the other candidates running. They have all brought great talents and abilities to the campaign.

Senator Biden's passion and intellect are remarkable.

Senator Dodd is the epitome of selfless dedication to public service and the Democratic Party.

Senator Edwards is a singular voice for the most downtrodden and forgotten among us.

Senator Obama is a bright light of hope and optimism at a time of great national unease, yet he is also grounded in thoughtful wisdom beyond his years.

Senator Clinton's poise in the face of adversity is matched only by her lifetime of achievement and deep understanding of the challenges we face.

Representative Kucinich is a man of great decency and dedication who will faithfully soldier on no matter how great the odds.

And all of us in the Democratic Party owe Senator Mike Gravel our appreciation for his leadership during the national turmoil of Vietnam.

I am honored to have shared the stage with each of these Democrats. And I am enormously grateful to all of my supporters who chose to stand with me despite so many other candidates of accomplishment and potential.

Now that my time in this national campaign has come to an end, I would urge those who supported my candidacy to take a long and thoughtful look at the remaining Democrats. They are all strong contenders who each, in their own way, would bring desperately needed change to our country. All I ask is that you make your own independent choice with the same care and dedication to this country that you honored me with during this campaign. At this time, I will not endorse any candidate.

Now I am returning to a job that I love, serving a state that I cherish and doing the work of the people I was elected to serve. As I have always said, I am the luckiest man I know. I am married to my high school sweetheart. I live in a place called the Land of Enchantment. I have the best job in the world. And I just got to run for president of the United States.

It doesn't get any better than that.

I, for one, will miss his voice in the ongoing conversation this political year.

Sorry for the Xmas time silence. To explain: My Xmas = pain, Xmas Eve in ER, Xmas Day on drugs, Boxing Day having emergency oral surgery. Bright side: I got a Kindle! Total surprise gift from Dad. It wasn't even on my list!

I also got a cool colander and butter dish from my SIL, which were on my list. Once I can eat solid foods again, they'll be very handy...

For that librarian on your gift list:

2nd Draft Recycled Microfilm Accessories
Yes, that's right, Microfilm Bling!

From Molly at LU.

Jenna Freedman just sent this to the LU list, and I couldn't stop laughing.

This has been making the rounds via email:

More than half of the systems responsible for managing the nearly 17 million titles in the Library of Congress catalog have tested positive for prohibited "performance enhancing" content, according to an Inspector General's report expected to be published next month.

In a public statement issued by the IG, he stated that "The use of taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and other performance enhancing content often referred to under the catchall term 'metadata' has long been suspected by Library fans. For much too long, Library owners have simply turned a blind eye, choosing not to question how their high-priced key assets had been able to break one long-standing performance record after another. As long as they were seeing the performance, nobody wanted to question or acknowledge how it was being achieved."

The investigation was triggered by anonymous tips and overheard conversations between certain unnamed staff members alluding to "a card catalog on steroids."

continued...

[From Jenna] I thought it needed a home on the web, and so posted it, with permission http://jenna.openflows.com/loc/steroidscandal

John, a Grinnell classmate of mine, recently received this online holiday card from a public relations firm in his area. It reflects much of what has been on my mind this current season of Peace.

http://www.goodforbusiness.com/ftp/holiday/gfb.html

Happy Holidays and a Safe, Healthy New Year to you all.

My friend Erica sent this along:

From PW ShelfAwareness 12.14:

Sadly Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, as he stated online yesterday. He added: "We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)"

The Hennepin County and Minneapolis Library System will now merge. This should solve a host of problems for the Mpls system, which was in major need. I know my friends in the Twin Cities are looking forward to branches reopening or restoring cut hours.

Well, sorta. I got mention in this month's American Libraries (p.29 if you're interested) for some work I'm doing over at MaintainIT.org. Of course, the one bit they chose to pull out as the teaser isn't actually what I said...

At the Polk County Dems Central Committee meeting last night, my friend Mary and I (both precinct reps) got to meet Sen. Joseph Biden and former VP Walter Mondale. His assistant (in the background) asked if he could sit with us, and we were delighted. I had a nice conversation with "Fritz" as we listened to Sen. Biden, who then Senator Mondale had sworn into office many years ago. Mr. Mondale is stumping for Hillary. We used my phone camera, which Mary wasn't familiar with, hence the blurriness.

My political stalking campaign continues!


UPDATE: Turns out I'm inspiring envy with my stalking. Chris Z. on the Library Underground list recently posted the following:

It's that time of year when I am jealous of Iowans. Specifically Louise Alcorn [link to this post]

Bwahahahaha! Don't worry folks - we're a strong people, we Iowans. We'll toughen these politicians up for you.