While I think it’s going overboard to sic collection agencies on people for overdue fines, having this man show up on your doorstep just to pick up the books you haven’t returned might not be all bad.
Month: October 2004
FBI called for margin writing, library has nothing to show them
After all the huffing and puffing about the USAPA and our rights versus national security, it’s going to be interesting to see how the case of the little library with the book with the sketchy bin Laden quote in the margin turns out. Looks like it’s pretty well stalled for now since the library doesn’t keep borrower records more than a week. Nothing to see here, move along. [thanks all]
AK state library drastically cuts hours
State Library Illnesswatch: Alaska State Library hours are being cut in half though they’re still available full time via phone and [I’m guessing] email.
ooooh insurance library
Who is up for an insurance library visit during ALA in Boston this January? For now, you can just peek at their web site.
why you can’t find it on Google, a few ideas
Andrea looks at Cantfindongoogle.com a list of failed searches. When people ask me, as they often do “how do librarians stay relevant in the age of Google” I tell them that Google is a very powerful tool that very few people know how to use well. I’ve been reading Tara’s Web Search Garage lately and even I’m learning more about how to massage information out of Google. Sometimes it’s as simple as explaining to the patron that if you’re looking for LTD Consortium, it’s going to be pretty important to use both words. Or maybe telling the patron who is trying to find the Boston Museum of Fine Arts that the key word to include in her search is “Boston.” This is second knowledge to me, and many of us, but it’s not to my patrons. Google is so fast and so useful that I’ve taken to remembering some web pages just by the search terms that I can use to find them, since I can never remember their URLs. I’m also pretty good at ballparking whether some information that I need either can or can NOT be found in Google before I waste a lot of time looking. That’s powerful stuff, and a useful skillset, so it’s good to remember that some people don’t have that mojo, either because they haven’t learned, don’t care, or give up too easily.