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All books can be indecent books
though recent books are bolder
for filth I'm glad to say
is in the mind of the beholder

- Tom Leher


my booklist

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user: librariansrule
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2001
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jul

2000
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jul : aug : sep
oct : nov : dec

1999
apr : may : june
jul : aug : sep
oct/nov : dec

24aug01

Hi. I'll be offline pretty much completely starting tomorrow for about ten days. Heading to Burning Man where I will be camping at 8:30 and the esplanade [in case you'll be there, and/or understand Burning Man directional systems] staying in a rickety shack called Snake n' Bacon. While I'm gone, please consider supporting the King Couty Library system AND causing a fuss, by purchasing a tile for their library fundraiser [please see "support Christ..." below] and writing something smartass on it. I am fresh out of smartass suggestions, amazingly, but I'm sure you can think of something.

NYPL buys Kerouac archive, 120 foot scroll of On the Road regrettably not part of the collection. [ thanks jenny ]

FBI Most Wanted "known to frequent libraries" Keep an eye peeled. [ thanks mk ]

Texas librarian named temporary head of NEA. Keep your fingers crossed. [ thanks chris ]

21aug01

Rockingham doing pretty okay among North Carolina libraries, some of whom are not as well off. "95 percent of all library systems in the nation have more books per capita than Davidson County." [ thanks chris ]

Henrietta Milstein, librarian who helped found the Burlington Coat Factory, RIP. "Mrs. Milstein advised her husband to buy a former coat factory outlet in Burlington. But, Mr. Milstein's father ... refused to give them money to buy it. Mrs. Milstein offered her savings from the [librarian] job to cover most of the $75,000 down payment, and Mr. Milstein bought the business." [ thanks jen ]

"Librarians happen to drive men wild; bookish and naughty, let's just set these glasses right over here, Miss Dinkley, that's the fantasy." An article on how Velma is coming back in style, though honestly, it's fine with me if she is a lesbian.... [ thanks molly ]

British Library "to undergo a radical commercial makeover to attract more funds" Waaaahhh! [ thanks eoin ]

The Merritt Fund is devoted to the support, maintenance, medical care, and welfare of librarians who, in the [fund's] opinion, are:
  • Denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of sex, sexual preference, race, color, creed, or place of national origin;
  • Threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their stand for the cause of intellectual freedom, including promotion of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the freedom of librarians to select items for their collections from all the world’s written and recorded information.
[ thanks jim ]

Support Christ and your local library. The Friends of the Library web site does not provide any subject matter limitation or other guidelines. Thus, the library would accept tiles that said both "Jesus Saves" or "Religion is the Opiate of the Masses." In a designated public forum operated on the content-neutral principles you describe, the library would also be obliged to display tiles that said "Keep Abortion Legal," "US Out of UN," "Vote Jones for County Commissioner," "Jimmy Is A Creep," "White Power," "The Holocaust Is A Hoax," or "Overdue Fees At This Library Are Too High.?" [ juice ]

Some ads, good information WheretodoResearch.com. [ newbreed ]

15aug01

This is a one-link day just because this link is so good and I am so busy. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you: The Bristol [portable] Art Library. Suffer the flash, it's worth it. I mean it.

13aug01

Hi. You may need to get used to weekly updates from now until early September. I have been detailing some of my travels over at notlost.org

Sleeping with the enemy (for chump change). ALA partners with Barnes & Noble. Ick. [ juice ]

"A new children's book called The Day My Bum Went Psycho has been withdrawn as the drawcard of the annual campaign to inspire children to read and write." [ thanks victoria ]

Simpler times? Roosevelt and his library. [ thanks rcb ]

The right librarian could save your life. [ thanks rcb ]

"A lot of people think that being a librarian is all action...." Overdue: a librarian animation. [ thanks fi ]

I'm sure you've seen this by now, but I love it anyway: 273 year old Gulliver's Travels book returned to library. [ thanks michael ]

Reading with Rover: "Children spend 15-minute sessions reading to a dog. The dog's owner and sometimes the child's parent sit nearby and help the child sound out tough words."

My dream job is to get paid to work someplace like this. [ newbreed ]

06aug01

Hi. I'm in Seattle for another 24 hours. This is a quickie update and then I'm off for another week or so. So, you may want to check out the marvelously linked or just work on your own projects.

Library information anxiety artwork . "I wanted to give a feeling of being lost in information, overwhelmed by it," [the artist] said..."But not overwhelmed so it became noise, more overwhelmed so it became beautiful chaos." [ thanks steve ]

No library in the world has a complete set of Chicago Tribunes. [ thanks charles ]

Diary of a Catalogger: "I have this magic 8 ball at my desk because, well, I need it. My theory is that cataloging rules are completely random, so I'll save a lot of time if, instead of trying to figure things out, look them up, etc., I just consult my handy oracle. But I was seeking more profound knowledge this morning, so I inquired "Will I ever be satisfyied with this job?" And the 8 ball was quite firm: "My reply is NO." [ thanks chris ]

Rising price of journals giving you Sticker Shock? [ thanks keith ]

Should the record of scientific research be privately owned and controlled? Some online activism to get public control of scientific research. A boycott is beginning September first.[ newbreed ]

More newspapers shutting down their archives instead of paying their freelancers. [ thanks pete ]

At Digital Book Index, the only way to opt-out of having your email address distributed is not to use the service at all. Feh.

Asking whether libraries are the next napster is really really missing the point. [ thanks jenny ]

Talking Moose takes a gander at Ebrary. "Ebrary puts a thin layer over Adobe Acrobat files of content like books and magazines. It's basically a library business model. You can look at the content in an "Ebrary" for free, but if you want to print, or copy the information, you pay a small fee. Just as you would if you wanted to use a copying machine at a library." [ thanks aaron ]

"putting therarin' back in librarian since 1993"

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