8.7.99 Do we know Dewey? Does anyone? Computerized Technology and Human Responsibility, FAQ. Go read this now. An excerpt: 43. Should we smash the intelligent machines around us? Neither the uncritical, pro-technology stance nor the violently anti-technology stance is a matter of wakefulness. Mastering the machines in our lives is as different from smashing them as it is from yielding passively to them. 8.6.99 The seemingly definitive list of conferences you can go to internationally. Can't go? Live vicariously through system librarian Eric Lease Morgan's travel logs. Excerpt from most recent trip "My trip to Worcester, MA was a logistical nightmare where I was misinformed by every institution involved and I have born an unncessary, $400, out-of-pocket expense." 8.5.99 More professional sports players letting down libraries. "'In the catalogue ye go for men': evaluation criteria for information retrieval systems." Great article with a great title from Information Research IR also maintains the incredibly useful but bizarrely formatted list of journals in the info research field that have free content on-line 8.4.99 Sure you can look at porn on our library computers.... but it will cost you $100. Bookmobile, meet cybermobile. 8.3.99 In the eerily titled article "Cyberspace, Deviance, and Children", Terry Gudaitis posits that teaching children how to responsibly navigate the Internet is analogous to other socialization skills such as teaching them not to steal and how to say please and thank you. While you're there, check out the rest of the cutely named Imp Magazine. 8.2.99 Books may actually cost more online than at local indie shops. Who sez? A local indie shop! 8.1.99 How did I miss revenge of the librarians? It begins: "I have a confession to make: I'm a librarian." 7.31.99 Is that new additionto your collection a stolen book? Check here. While we're at it, here's an FAQ about rare books. Did you say good looking books? Here's a good article on those pesky book exhibits librarians love: "...the whole process is mysterious. One day, the cases are empty. Another day they contain a lot of stuff about some agricultural society or an orchestra conductor. Then another day there's a lot of old-looking books which are illegible, indecipherable, written in Wog, or some excruciating combination of all of these. Really, how or why any of it ever got there is one of those minor subterranean mysteries of modern life, sort of like the city sewage system, that we usually feel makes us better people to know nothing whatever about." 7.30.99 And, in the somewhat contrived category Best Free Intergenerational Entertainment the winner is.... the library! Even though they almost blew it with the Reading Wizard debacle. Shameless self-promotion: Naked Librarians new and improved If we can't filter, we don't want your darned internet. An odd example of overkill in a suburb of Grand Rapids. And you know how they say the filters don't work anyhow...? [NYT article, free registration reqd.] 7.29.99 A good, albeit often prosaic answer to "what do you do all day?" by Laura the librarian If you are not interested in lesbian librarian pornography, for god's sake, don't click here. Sometimes I just like to check out what's new with Dewey. This week: Yemba language, walk-in coolers and freezers, rotaviruses, pinweaving and Northern Finland. 7.28.99 I already kind of associated librarianship with a lot of cats, but this is ridiculous. 7.27.99 "We have about a half-dozen jock straps" Which librarian said this? Some Thoughts on the Function of Library History in the Age of the Virtual Library. A short piece by IFLA's library history round table. 7.26.99 You think you are king or queen of the bookworms? You are not. A marvelous paeon to library science of yore. 7.25.99 State library wins 75K in lawsuit. Baker & Taylor says "Uh, will you accept payment in books?" But what ever happened to that reading wizard kid who was going to sue the SF library for not being allowed to volunteer? Scroll down this page for the answer. 7.23.99 "If your company is looking for someone to help it understand how to take advantage of the Internet, hire a librarian." a nice article on how librarians really do get it with regards to the web. "Don't build the library if you can't afford to put books in it." says Hawaii's new state librarian. 7.22.99 The Invisible Web -- those specialized databases of info that you can't reach through the major search engines. "Lo, we have become the tools of our trade" Thoreau, as quoted in a thick but interesting report entitled Building and Supporting Library Research: A National Focus 7.21.99 Ways to promote Spanish literacy in your library Things to think about when putting computers in your library, a sensible assessment of space and lighting issues. Librarians misplace ashes, "I remember what color they were..." says one. [note: animated GIF librarian] 7.20.99 A new poll -- should librarians have personalities at work? How much? 7.19.99 A belated congratulations for the newly-formed Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table of the American Library Association. SRRT will miss you! "A is for Access, a large part of our creed..." a librarian's sampler 7.18.99 Special Edition Sandy Berman Festschrift, way to go Katia! Just in case you still believed books were for intellectual enrichment and not a mass-consumer product, along comes CNN's book section. 7.17.99 TV star runs over librarian in his Ferarri, TV star sues librarian. Technology + librarians = potentially lifesaving combo. 7.16.99 New fundraising technique: lawsuit. Another technique: make people pay the money they promised you. Sandy Berman's Last Stand 7.15.99 Librarians to the rescue! Assembling data from old phone books to aid in identifying Kosovar refugees. Again with the puppets! But have you tried this...? "Learning yo-yo tricks has also helped him with his reading habits. If he gets bored reading, he said, he'll play with his yo-yo awhile until he feels like reading again." 7.14.99 Are the nation's librarians really pimping for pornographers and pedophiles? What do you think? A nice article about Dr. Laura from Freedom Forum First Amendment Ombudsman. "There is a certain beauty in controlling one's own destiny" says Andrea Copeland on her decision to become a poor NYPL librarian. 7.13.99 The Librarian of Babel says "technology puts whatever knowledge we can muster only at the disposal of those members of the human race who possess... a willingness to come to grips with Boolean algebra." More recently from Ariadne: 404's in libraries Top Technology Trends in libraries 7.12.99 Sometimes maybe lack of patron confidentiality ain't so bad. Barnes & Noble dot com has all their past author interview transcripts online. My favorite line: PJ O'Rourke "You should be reading instead of fooling around with your computers." 7.11.99 Is the face of the library profession really changing? Check out this year's SILS class at UNC. Thanks to James [he's the cute one] for tipping me to this great sociological resource. [note: page has a zillion images] If you think James is not the cute one, perhaps you are a lezbrian. And if you are, you're in good company. 7.10.99 Looking for a good quote for your bookplates? Check out these inscriptions from the walls of the Library of Congress. Suave non-librarian named Canada's national librarian. 7.9.99 Three precepts of librarianship: Everything is going to hell in a hand basket We are committed to providing users with information, within the resources available to us, before they start bitching We know more than anyone else As quoted in GraceAnne A. DeCandido's speech The Architecture of Fire: Librarianship Transformed 7.8.99 Would you like fries with that copy of Harriet the Spy? Does everyone know Dan, the tattooed queer ska librarian? [aka The Librarian That Looks Like A Big Skinhead Who Will Eat My Child] 7.7.99 Hot Pants Librarian and other racy titles at Dan Lester's Image of Librarians in Pornography page Back in my day, we used to have to deliver books to patrons on the back of a horse in the Appalachians. 7.6.99 More on the odd link between puppets and librarians. 7.5.99 Maybe it's not R rated videos, maybe kids shouldn't get to rent any videos... one Kansas columnist's opinion. In the not enough information category: crucified or conscientious? And, US News & World Reports finally realizes that libraries are kinda cool: "The American public library -- that dowdy dowager of the '70s and homeless shelter of the '80s -- is now a full-fledged urban 'destination'." What data influenced their decision? 30,000 puppet shows, of course. 7.4.99 Head librarian commands cannons for National Symphony Orchestra. What better way to celebrate America than to view your tax dollars at work churning out things from the GPO like how to buy butter, and The Domestic Costs of Sanctions on Foreign Commerce [i.e. Massachusetts, you are in big trouble for trying to restrict trade with Burma...]. 7.3.99 Just look at all the books in this house! Woah, deja vu! New Zealanders are POed at the National Library tossing out 43,000 books. 7.2.99 Does your library web page have a good 404 page? Mine does. July is Anti-Boredom Month and more specifically today is I Forgot Day. Other tidbits like this in Brookline Booksmith's email newsletter. 7.1.99 Blankety blank filtering bill approved. Nearly a week later, Libby Dole comes out in favor of filtering, wants to return "moral authority" to the White House.

"putting the rarin' back in librarian since 1993"