Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge has an hour-long program this week on libraries, books and reading. Interviewed are Maryanne Wolfe, author of “Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain” (which has some pessimistic things to say about the internet); Geraldine Brooks, who talks about the rare … Read more Some good listening
Puzzle Me, Puzzle You: “My Account” “Your Account” Which is it? The autonomous liberal subject wants to know. Whichever it is, it’s somebody’s account – mine, yours, Jacques Lacan Jr.’s, the Egg Man’s, the Walrus’s – and the password is not to be shared. I want to ponder it but I think I’ll just Be … Read more Whose space?
That’s the winning design in the IFLA/UNESCO design contest for an International Information Literacy Logo. The winning designer was Edgar Luy Perez, of Havana, Cuba. I like the logo, and I think it was a good idea to pursue in an international effort. It is part of the InfoLit Global Information Literacy Resources Directory.
Robert Kent, Steve Marquardt, Walter Skold, FREADOM, “Friends of Cuban Libraries”… What is that perfume, that perfume that you won’t let anyone forget? Ah, I recognize it…. It is:
Thank you The Onion, for this: “Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book.”
I don’t read a lot of blogs. I won’t say why, as other people have said enough about what is wrong with blogs, but I want to give you a fun a propos link. One type of blog that I kind of enjoy seeing, which I won’t link to here, is the class assignment blog, … Read more An example of a blog
Carmen D’Avino created a lot of recognizeable animation in the 60s and 70s, some of it for The Electric Company, a PBS show for graduates of Sesame Street that I remember well. Here’s his animated bit about Libraries for The Electric Company:
A good start to the day: Cereals Solutions
Slate Magazine has an interesting photographic item featuring eight pictures of library buildings, with a bit of thoughtful discussion about the architecture of library buildings in the digital age. I caught this in the Livejournal community “Libraries.”
Obviously the analogy I suggested yesterday for encouraging undergrads to use library resources instead of Google has problems. (It was, “Why eat at McDonalds when you can eat at a five star restaurant for free?”) Objections had to do with the fact that many students like McDonalds and want their info fast and in a … Read more or whatever
My first experiment as a publisher was a Pig Latin translation of the Book of Psalms and the Book of Proverbs. I have not been very public about this project, but as the months have passed I’ve gradually grown more comfortable with the idea of letting people know about it. I will say that it’s … Read more Pig Latin Bible
After offering reference help to a student the other day and having it refused, I had what I can only call an evil thought. I’d like to share this evil thought with you now, at the risk having an evil influence on library discourse. Sometimes it takes a devil’s advocate, though, to inspire work on … Read more Are we the friendly produce consultants of the information age?
I love that CAKE song, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle,” and thought of it during that thread on “A Hipper Crowd of Shushers.” Liz of the LibraryTavern blog wrote great new lyrics, really great new lyrics, to that song, that apply to hip next-gen librarians: “How do you afford your 2.0 biblio-lifestyle?” Thanks to Mark Rosenzweig … Read more How do you afford your 2.0 biblio-lifestyle?
The following is a brief email correspondence that I found amusing. I’m withholding the name and email address of the person who contacted me at Library Juice Press…. I recently borrowed a copy of one of the books you published, Barbarians at the gates of the public library. Preparing the book for Interlibrary Loan distribution, … Read more Amusing correspondence
For several years I hosted Joel Kahn’s “Frankentoons,” a fun fair-use protest site, on Libr.org, and took it down due to a change in my hosting situation. I just received the following from Joel: Yes, the Frankentoon project is back online! http://www.geocities.com/frankentoons Some things should be noted about this current incarnation: I played no part … Read more Frankentoons back online
The Globe-Wernicke Vertical File
This is really funny.
This is a cute visual argument for the value of printed books. A friend at work sent it to me….
Bank of America execs exchange their souls for money in front of a camera. Not specifically library related except inasmuch as it paints a good picture of what we’re up against, and gives us a reason to feel good about our chosen career.