Tomb of the Unknown Librarian » library

Zombie Idol Finalist

/paul — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:13:26 +0000

Boy I can’t believe I’m a Zombie Idol (Round Two) finalist in Maureen Johnson’s rewrite the opening, or in some cases the entire literary work except using zombies as characters or settings or all of the above. I chose Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (my version A Zombie’s Adventures in Wonderland).
Read my entry and all the other awesome finalists…

I’m not sure I”ll make the next cut but it was a fun exercise and of course a subject dear to my heart.

http://maureenjohnson.blogspot.com/2008/02/zombie-idol-round-two.html

Eclipse release party

/paul — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:42:11 +0000

So we held our release party for Eclipse yesterday. We had ten copies for checkout, Sarah and Amytha made t-shirts and they gave as prizes. Sarah also awarded two tickets to see Stephanie Meyer at Books Inc in San Francisco to a couple of very lucky people. About fifteen people showed up. I only stayed to take photos but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Wanted: Martian Services Librarian

/paul — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:56:36 +0000

NASA will be sending a library to Mars with the Phoenix Mars Lander this weekend. Sounds like they are going to need more than a librarian. They’ll need a min-disc player circa 1995 where writings by Carl Sagan, Ray Bradbury, Asimov, Swift, and other notable visionaries will be recorded. I wonder how they will be indexed. Obviously the purpose of the mission isn’t just to get a small disk of data to the surface of Mars. If the mission finds traces of water or organic materials AND Mars gets inhabited someday, there will be a time capsule of literary genius or a little piece of “earthling” detritus for those future generations of Martians to play Frisbee with.

[via Yahoo News]

Email Dead… Again!

/paul — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:20:00 +0000

C|net has a story that highlights the demise of email among teens. It really is dead for people under 25. Texting, IM, MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Blogging, and the plethora of other social networking sites have replaced so much of regular communication that email is essentially dead. It’s still necessary for transactions and stuff involving money but it’s not a mode of communication between peers. I hope libraries see what’s coming and start offering all of their services via Text or IM or even better FaceBook apps soon. The Buddy List is ever important so let’s get on with becoming a “Buddy” and not and outsider.

“I only use e-mail for my business and to get sponsors,” Martina Butler, the host of the teen podcast Emo Girl Talk, said during a panel discussion here at the Mashup 2007 conference, which is focused on the technology generation. With friends, Bulter said she only sends notes via a social network.

From C|net – Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead
by Stefanie Olsen

Questioning the economics of libraries

/paul — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:47:40 +0000

Freakanomics blog has an interesting posting on the economics of books, publishers, and libraries. Stephen Dubner really poses the question that if public libraries didn’t exist today could one be started without publishers, authors, and media-in-general getting on your case. Dubner points a couple things that most librarians know, libraries foster learning to read and life-long reading. Dubner thinks that with current economic pressures, the “owners” would prevent such a free distribution of ideas but they fail to realize that regardless of what they tried to do, “consumers” would do what suited them best, maybe a black market, or more prevalent individual book sharing, like the system that flourished in the Soviet Union… which essentially would be a public library of sorts. Besides, publishers know that librarians and libraries are their best customers, with some of the most defined marketing channels for books that don’t have a major marketing blitz behind them. As an aside, the best seller lists in the NY Times or other places are mostly recursive functions of marketing and not indicative of the overall quality or quantity. Libraries still buy best sellers but publishers produce a lot more than these few hundred titles per year and need to sell them to someone.

Besides, libraries do exist.

http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/2007/07/10/if-public-libraries-didnt-exist-could-you-start-one-today/

New app for eBooks

/paul — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 06:10:12 +0000

Information Today has an article that highlights Adobe’s new application for reading PDF & XHTML eBooks as well as managing a library of eBooks. Adobe Digital Editions has a slick interface very different from Acrobat. It also supports the Open Publication Standard which makes XHTML ebooks a lot more fluid and readable. I downloded the full version of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and it looked great even when I resized the window. Sony, HarperCollins, and a few other publishers have signed on and apparently approve of the DRM scheme. Sony will be incorporating it into it’s readers. And the publishers have made a few limited samples available.

The application downloaded and installed almost instantaneously on my Mac. PDF eBooks likewise were pretty quick to download and install. I’m on a fast (FIOS 6MB down) connection but launching Digital Editions was much faster than Acrobat Reader. It seems to have a very small footprint even with large downloads.

Will this format take off? Maybe we should encourage it. Will library customers be asking for this functionality? Libraries might as well offer it as one of their applications / plug-ins. Oh yeah, it needs Flash. Since it is not an exe it might work on most library computers without any fuss, but it can’t hurt to check.

[via Information Today]

Friday’s iPhone media frenzy

/paul — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:33:40 +0000

Friday, I stopped by the Apple Store in Clarendon, a suburb of DC in Virginia assuming there would be a long line, lots of Apple devotees and opportunists. What I didn’t expect was all the media. Local and international reporters and camera operators were swarming over the place. It was a zoo. They opened the doors and I left. I wonder what the Harry Potter media frenzy will look like.

Uneventful Journey to ALA in Washington D.C.

/paul — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 03:53:15 +0000

When I arrived at the airport today at 6:15 this morning there was a long line at the United check-in area, but no one seemed to be using the self-check kiosks or check baggage line. I wasn’t sure if it was just not working or a perfect example of herd mentality. Since I was already checked in, I went right up to the “Self Check-in Check Baggage” area and was helped right away. About five other people jumped the line and were hustling in behind me. Group Think, Die!

Security seemed like the traditional event where you take off your shoes, belt and other metal objects, take out your laptop, and place them in plastic totes on the X- Ray conveyor belt. I usually take off my jacket too and send it through. Something was wrong and they had to readjust my totes but the TSA folks seemed pleasant.

I met up with the library director and we had a nice chat while we waited to board. Once on board, I wound up sitting in the center seat, next to a man who smelled like Brie, as in stinky cheese. Mr. Eau-de-Fromage proceeded to make a cell call and speak loudly about how he was now on the plane and about how he didn’t like the security officials attitude. Blah blah blah. Earplugs and noise canceling headphones did the trick for the rest of the flight. However the odor was persistent and troublesome. I’m sorry stinky cheese man, but you need to take a bath before a five hour flight.

Once we landed, I started to see a lot more librarians, and library administrators especially at baggage claim. Karen and her husband Michael from Mountain View and a number of others that I didn’t say hi to. My bag was waiting for me. Melinda and I split a cab and talked about the future of libraries and about the conference in general.

I met up with a bunch of other folks from my library system for dinner. Todd, Nichole and her mother, Melinda and I went to Famous Luigi’s on 19th St NW. The food was good but the service was famously slow.

Reinventing Reference 3 first thing in the morning.

Changing themes and lamentations

/paul — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:29:14 +0000

I have been playing with the various WordPress themes lately. The latest one is Blackmagic. I think WordPress themes are great way to teach CSS as well as modular web design. I’m surprised that many libraries don’t use CSS to it’s full advantage by giving users the ability to change the text size, present pages in high contrast, or format them for printing, especially for pages that include directions, hours, or fact sheets.

Oh, CSS please invade every corner of every library web site.

Gearing up for ALA

/paul — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:39:26 +0000

So what to bring to ALA in DC, Gadget-wise? Cell, MacBook Pro, iPod mini, Airport Express, Canon 30D digital camera, media card reader, noise-cancelling headphones, every charger known to man, and a USB nose-hair trimmer [just a joke].

I want to bring the Wii but, I’m not that hardcore. I’ll probably bring the book I’m currently reading. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [interesting but so-far but a slow read].