OCLC and Library Hotel settle suit
In case you're one of the few in Library(Blog)Land who hasn't heard, OCLC and the Library Hotel in New York have settled OCLC's lawsuit over the Hotel's use of the Dewey Decimal System name. Since Louise at the Librarian's Rant covered this story several days ago, I'll simply second her insightful comments.
Saturday, November 29, 2003
What's in a name?
While browsing through the online finding aids for recently acquired materials at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, I came across the following description:
Citizens for Traditional Values.
Citizens for Traditional Values records, 1984-2000 (bulk 1986-1992)
6 linear ft.
Organization originally established in 1986 as the Michigan Committee for Freedom to encourage and support the candidacies of conservative Christians for public office. MCFF worked closely with the Freedom Council in support of the presidential candidacy of Pat Robertson in 1988. MCFF changed its name to Citizens for Traditional Values in 1991.
I can't help but wonder about the impetus for the name change. Did they overtly decide that "traditional values" were more important than "freedom"?
While browsing through the online finding aids for recently acquired materials at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, I came across the following description:
Citizens for Traditional Values.
Citizens for Traditional Values records, 1984-2000 (bulk 1986-1992)
6 linear ft.
Organization originally established in 1986 as the Michigan Committee for Freedom to encourage and support the candidacies of conservative Christians for public office. MCFF worked closely with the Freedom Council in support of the presidential candidacy of Pat Robertson in 1988. MCFF changed its name to Citizens for Traditional Values in 1991.
I can't help but wonder about the impetus for the name change. Did they overtly decide that "traditional values" were more important than "freedom"?
Lift that bit! Tote that byte!
This story from CNN amused me. I admit that I gave a second glance to the words "master" and "slave" the first time I saw them applied to computer equipment a number of years ago, but that's all. As usual, Californians aren't content with that:
Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.... "Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors.
Perhaps they'll decide to call them "dominant" and "submissive". No way that could be misinterpreted, right?
This story from CNN amused me. I admit that I gave a second glance to the words "master" and "slave" the first time I saw them applied to computer equipment a number of years ago, but that's all. As usual, Californians aren't content with that:
Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.... "Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors.
Perhaps they'll decide to call them "dominant" and "submissive". No way that could be misinterpreted, right?
Sunday, November 23, 2003
More DMCA lies
A used-booksellers' listserv to which I subscribe carried a link to this discussion on Ed Foster's Gripelog yesterday. It seems that Warner Brothers is sending out the usual DMCA shakedown... er, "takedown" letters demanding that Ebay suppress auctions of secondhand Madonna/Missy Elliot promotional CD's which were originally distributed with Gap jeans. Ebay helpfully explains that "PROMO ONLY means just that: for PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY, NOT TO BE SOLD. We have to respect the requests of the artists, if they want us to remove those items."
Hmm. That's not what the U.S. copyright law says:
Title 17, Chapter 1, § 109. Limitations on exclusive rights: Effect of transfer of particular copy or phonorecord. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106(3), the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord. (Emphasis added.)
It looks like Warner Brothers is using the DMCA's "takedown clause" (and the cowardice of Ebay management) to unilaterally abolish the established doctrine of "First Sale" as described and explicitly protected in US law. If their cease-and-desist letter to Ebay, like most such letters, states, "under penalty of perjury" that resale of these CDs violates copyright law, then they are deliberately and knowingly lying under penalty of perjury.
So. Which Attorney General or Federal Prosecutor is going to be the first to haul WB's executives and lawyers into court and charge them with perjury?
I'm waiting....
Any time, guys....
A used-booksellers' listserv to which I subscribe carried a link to this discussion on Ed Foster's Gripelog yesterday. It seems that Warner Brothers is sending out the usual DMCA shakedown... er, "takedown" letters demanding that Ebay suppress auctions of secondhand Madonna/Missy Elliot promotional CD's which were originally distributed with Gap jeans. Ebay helpfully explains that "PROMO ONLY means just that: for PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY, NOT TO BE SOLD. We have to respect the requests of the artists, if they want us to remove those items."
Hmm. That's not what the U.S. copyright law says:
Title 17, Chapter 1, § 109. Limitations on exclusive rights: Effect of transfer of particular copy or phonorecord. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106(3), the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under this title, or any person authorized by such owner, is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord. (Emphasis added.)
It looks like Warner Brothers is using the DMCA's "takedown clause" (and the cowardice of Ebay management) to unilaterally abolish the established doctrine of "First Sale" as described and explicitly protected in US law. If their cease-and-desist letter to Ebay, like most such letters, states, "under penalty of perjury" that resale of these CDs violates copyright law, then they are deliberately and knowingly lying under penalty of perjury.
So. Which Attorney General or Federal Prosecutor is going to be the first to haul WB's executives and lawyers into court and charge them with perjury?
I'm waiting....
Any time, guys....
Saturday, November 22, 2003
The Truth About The Internet
Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie has some of the funniest short videos I've seen lately. Particularly enjoyable : "Every OS Sucks", "The Privacy Song", and "Keep Your Parents Off the Internet". (From the link, click on "video" on the left side of the page. Broadband connection recommended due to file size. )
I think the part about "Scanning Bank Account" is a joke.
Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie has some of the funniest short videos I've seen lately. Particularly enjoyable : "Every OS Sucks", "The Privacy Song", and "Keep Your Parents Off the Internet". (From the link, click on "video" on the left side of the page. Broadband connection recommended due to file size. )
I think the part about "Scanning Bank Account" is a joke.
... and your dissertation advisor dresses you funny!
This writer thinks academics dress funny. Is he right?
"Historically, academics have been the subject of both high and low humor. From the sixth century onward, how we look has prompted nearly automatic laughter from onlookers, even if the onlookers were dressed in twigs and had painted their faces blue....
"Look at us. Glance around a room at a professional meeting: we look like refugees. And not refugees from an interesting culture...."
Of course this article does not apply to anyone I know. The fact that I can't find a store that carries shirts in my preferred style is a reflection on the benighted, Philistine clothing industry, not on me. It has nothing to do with the fact that they were in style circa 1995.
Harumph.
This writer thinks academics dress funny. Is he right?
"Historically, academics have been the subject of both high and low humor. From the sixth century onward, how we look has prompted nearly automatic laughter from onlookers, even if the onlookers were dressed in twigs and had painted their faces blue....
"Look at us. Glance around a room at a professional meeting: we look like refugees. And not refugees from an interesting culture...."
Of course this article does not apply to anyone I know. The fact that I can't find a store that carries shirts in my preferred style is a reflection on the benighted, Philistine clothing industry, not on me. It has nothing to do with the fact that they were in style circa 1995.
Harumph.
Parental notification bill passes Wisconsin House
According to this story in American Libraries, Wisconsin may institute a law permitting parents to find out what titles their children have checked out from public libraries. Many library-confidentiality laws and policies currently prohibit this.
Personally, I'm of two minds on the issue. On the one hand I recognize that parents have the right to oversee their children, especially if they are going to be held financially responsible for damaged or unreturned materials. On the other hand, I've seen many examples of overbearing parents who want to enforce ridiculously strict control of their children's mental development ("We don't let Johnny read anything that isn't endorsed by The Church." "We don't let Sally watch movies that glorify violence/sex/whatever.") I recognize that for such children, the comparative freedom of reading the books and other materials in the public library can be a Godsent release from a repressive environment.
Fortunately, libraries don't keep records of what books or magazines people browse through in the stacks, so this law will have little effect on those kids who are wily enough to avoid officially checking out the books their parents don't want them to read. Can the same be said for E-books?
According to this story in American Libraries, Wisconsin may institute a law permitting parents to find out what titles their children have checked out from public libraries. Many library-confidentiality laws and policies currently prohibit this.
Personally, I'm of two minds on the issue. On the one hand I recognize that parents have the right to oversee their children, especially if they are going to be held financially responsible for damaged or unreturned materials. On the other hand, I've seen many examples of overbearing parents who want to enforce ridiculously strict control of their children's mental development ("We don't let Johnny read anything that isn't endorsed by The Church." "We don't let Sally watch movies that glorify violence/sex/whatever.") I recognize that for such children, the comparative freedom of reading the books and other materials in the public library can be a Godsent release from a repressive environment.
Fortunately, libraries don't keep records of what books or magazines people browse through in the stacks, so this law will have little effect on those kids who are wily enough to avoid officially checking out the books their parents don't want them to read. Can the same be said for E-books?
Banned Books Weak
Here's a link to an essay I meant to mention during "Banned Books Week" in September, but forgot about in the rush and confusion of job interviews. Enjoy.
Here's a link to an essay I meant to mention during "Banned Books Week" in September, but forgot about in the rush and confusion of job interviews. Enjoy.
Even a stopped clock....
In the past, I have dismissed Gore Vidal as a pedantic blowhard. But this interview with LA Weekly contains ample food for thought. Notable quote:
We are talking about despotism. I have read not only the first PATRIOT Act but also the second one, which has not yet been totally made public nor approved by Congress and to which there is already great resistance. An American citizen can be fingered as a terrorist, and with what proof? No proof. All you need is the word of the attorney general or maybe the president himself. You can then be locked up without access to a lawyer, and then tried by military tribunal and even executed. Or, in a brand-new wrinkle, you can be exiled, stripped of your citizenship and packed off to another place not even organized as a country — like Tierra del Fuego or some rock in the Pacific. All of this is in the USA PATRIOT Act. [See note below -- Felix] The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.
Note: Vidal is apparently here referring partly to the so-called "PATRIOT II" Act, which was drafted by the Justice Department but not presented to Congress after being leaked to the media this spring. Nat Hentoff, in the Village Voice, referred to the anonymous staffer who leaked that draft for public comment before it could be railroaded through Congress as a true patriot whose action may have saved this country from being saddled with a government with even more intrusive powers.
"There are two ways to tell the truth : anonymously and posthumously."
-- Thomas Sowell, as quoted by "Trebor" in the prestigious academic journal SuPress (vol. 2, no. 1, p. 5).
In the past, I have dismissed Gore Vidal as a pedantic blowhard. But this interview with LA Weekly contains ample food for thought. Notable quote:
We are talking about despotism. I have read not only the first PATRIOT Act but also the second one, which has not yet been totally made public nor approved by Congress and to which there is already great resistance. An American citizen can be fingered as a terrorist, and with what proof? No proof. All you need is the word of the attorney general or maybe the president himself. You can then be locked up without access to a lawyer, and then tried by military tribunal and even executed. Or, in a brand-new wrinkle, you can be exiled, stripped of your citizenship and packed off to another place not even organized as a country — like Tierra del Fuego or some rock in the Pacific. All of this is in the USA PATRIOT Act. [See note below -- Felix] The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.
Note: Vidal is apparently here referring partly to the so-called "PATRIOT II" Act, which was drafted by the Justice Department but not presented to Congress after being leaked to the media this spring. Nat Hentoff, in the Village Voice, referred to the anonymous staffer who leaked that draft for public comment before it could be railroaded through Congress as a true patriot whose action may have saved this country from being saddled with a government with even more intrusive powers.
"There are two ways to tell the truth : anonymously and posthumously."
-- Thomas Sowell, as quoted by "Trebor" in the prestigious academic journal SuPress (vol. 2, no. 1, p. 5).
At least the concept hasn't died
It appears that Utne magazine has borrowed an idea from the late lamented Oxford American, and will include a music CD with its upcoming issue on "Indie Culture".
The OA's annual music issue and its accompanying CD of music from and about the South was one of the things I most enjoyed about that magazine. It introduced me to a number of musicians I never would have noticed otherwise, and who would never, ever be heard on a Clear Channel radio station (or even on NPR). Where else can you hear gravel-voiced Billy Bob Thornton and legendary bluegrass banjo-picker Earl Scruggs collaborating on a surreally hip-hop-flavored version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, sentimental Civil War ballads sung by Billy Bragg and Wilco (and then omitted from their Woody Guthrie album Mermaid Avenue after they found out that Guthrie didn't write the song after all), and R&B crooners like "King Pleasure" imitating the sounds of lonesome train whistles on songs like Swan Blues, mixed together with bits of rare aural gold from nearly-forgotten doo-wop groups like the Delta Rythym Boys, bluesmen like Fred McDowell, and regional Southern bands like the Yo-Yo's?
Utne has a high standard to meet, if it plans to replace the OA's musical collections in my esteem. I wish them well.
It appears that Utne magazine has borrowed an idea from the late lamented Oxford American, and will include a music CD with its upcoming issue on "Indie Culture".
The OA's annual music issue and its accompanying CD of music from and about the South was one of the things I most enjoyed about that magazine. It introduced me to a number of musicians I never would have noticed otherwise, and who would never, ever be heard on a Clear Channel radio station (or even on NPR). Where else can you hear gravel-voiced Billy Bob Thornton and legendary bluegrass banjo-picker Earl Scruggs collaborating on a surreally hip-hop-flavored version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, sentimental Civil War ballads sung by Billy Bragg and Wilco (and then omitted from their Woody Guthrie album Mermaid Avenue after they found out that Guthrie didn't write the song after all), and R&B crooners like "King Pleasure" imitating the sounds of lonesome train whistles on songs like Swan Blues, mixed together with bits of rare aural gold from nearly-forgotten doo-wop groups like the Delta Rythym Boys, bluesmen like Fred McDowell, and regional Southern bands like the Yo-Yo's?
Utne has a high standard to meet, if it plans to replace the OA's musical collections in my esteem. I wish them well.
The God of the Gaps shrinks (again)
Ever since the Victorian era, when scientific discoveries such as Darwin's theory of evolution first started to seriously threaten established religious beliefs, a certain subset of people who are not comfortable with either outright atheism or dogmatic Creationism have adopted the fallback position of asserting that belief in God is necessary because, after all, human science can't explain everything. This is sometimes called the "God-of-the-gaps" position. The problem is, of course, that such a God is destined to shrink ever smaller as the gaps in human knowledge which He serves to fill in like so much metaphysical Bondo continue to shrink.
Consider, for example, this story from USA Today, which describes how a research group has managed to create a virus that reproduces itself, thus infringing on territory -- creating life -- which has heretofore been cited as an exclusive province of the God-of-the-Gaps. Creating a virus that reproduces itself is admittedly less spectacular than producing men from clay or women from spare ribs, but it does appear that the Gap just shrunk by a noticable amount.
Ever since the Victorian era, when scientific discoveries such as Darwin's theory of evolution first started to seriously threaten established religious beliefs, a certain subset of people who are not comfortable with either outright atheism or dogmatic Creationism have adopted the fallback position of asserting that belief in God is necessary because, after all, human science can't explain everything. This is sometimes called the "God-of-the-gaps" position. The problem is, of course, that such a God is destined to shrink ever smaller as the gaps in human knowledge which He serves to fill in like so much metaphysical Bondo continue to shrink.
Consider, for example, this story from USA Today, which describes how a research group has managed to create a virus that reproduces itself, thus infringing on territory -- creating life -- which has heretofore been cited as an exclusive province of the God-of-the-Gaps. Creating a virus that reproduces itself is admittedly less spectacular than producing men from clay or women from spare ribs, but it does appear that the Gap just shrunk by a noticable amount.
Happy Pills for everyone! (Or, It's Something In The Water)
It appears that before long we'll all be on Prozac, whether we want to or not.
According to the article, a researcher at Thee U. made these disturbing discoveries in a reservoir near Denton, Texas. I've lived in both places. No wonder I'm weird.
It appears that before long we'll all be on Prozac, whether we want to or not.
According to the article, a researcher at Thee U. made these disturbing discoveries in a reservoir near Denton, Texas. I've lived in both places. No wonder I'm weird.
Linkstorm!
The fact that I haven't been blogging much does not indicate that I've failed to notice any interesting news stories. It just means I haven't taken the time to post anything about them. So the next five or six postings here are going to be various news stories that have caught my eye over the past week. Feel free to comment. Or not.
The fact that I haven't been blogging much does not indicate that I've failed to notice any interesting news stories. It just means I haven't taken the time to post anything about them. So the next five or six postings here are going to be various news stories that have caught my eye over the past week. Feel free to comment. Or not.
Returning from orbit
It hasn't been my intention to let the Hill devolve into desuetude, or to once-a-week posting. Unfortunately, working until 9 or 9:30 p.m. two or three times a week, and then having to get up and moving by 8:00 a.m., has severely diminished my supply of that most basic raw material of blogging, idle time. Perhaps matters will change as I get re-accustomed to life as a wageslave.
It certainly appears that social life will not interfere with blogging. Other than work acquaintances, with whom any personal interaction must be limited due to the ephemeral nature of the job and the common-sense admonition "don't sh*t where you eat", I know only one person in the entire southeastern portion of the state, and she lives about an hour's drive away. There's a group of people from the library who meet weekly for dinner at various local restaurants, which is a pleasant way to sample the many nearby culinary offerings, and there is a modular model railroad club which I will probably join. Other than that, so far, zilch. (Although there are plenty of young and attractive undergraduates of the opposite sex around, such are verboten fruit to faculty members, especially lowly untenured ones!)
In some ways, the town I've moved to resembles what Walker Percy called a "non-place". That is to say, like Covington, Louisiana, where Percy made his home, it has little dramatic local history, no flamboyant eccentricities, no unusually beautiful or hideous natural surroundings or any other characteristics that demand attention. Perhaps this will have the salubrious effect of encouraging me to concentrate my efforts on career advancement and/or personal development. Perhaps.
It hasn't been my intention to let the Hill devolve into desuetude, or to once-a-week posting. Unfortunately, working until 9 or 9:30 p.m. two or three times a week, and then having to get up and moving by 8:00 a.m., has severely diminished my supply of that most basic raw material of blogging, idle time. Perhaps matters will change as I get re-accustomed to life as a wageslave.
It certainly appears that social life will not interfere with blogging. Other than work acquaintances, with whom any personal interaction must be limited due to the ephemeral nature of the job and the common-sense admonition "don't sh*t where you eat", I know only one person in the entire southeastern portion of the state, and she lives about an hour's drive away. There's a group of people from the library who meet weekly for dinner at various local restaurants, which is a pleasant way to sample the many nearby culinary offerings, and there is a modular model railroad club which I will probably join. Other than that, so far, zilch. (Although there are plenty of young and attractive undergraduates of the opposite sex around, such are verboten fruit to faculty members, especially lowly untenured ones!)
In some ways, the town I've moved to resembles what Walker Percy called a "non-place". That is to say, like Covington, Louisiana, where Percy made his home, it has little dramatic local history, no flamboyant eccentricities, no unusually beautiful or hideous natural surroundings or any other characteristics that demand attention. Perhaps this will have the salubrious effect of encouraging me to concentrate my efforts on career advancement and/or personal development. Perhaps.
Saturday, November 15, 2003
www.sacred-texts.com
A site which may be of some interest to Carlos, Pablo, and others. Perhaps Pablo won't have to drive back to Archer City for that multi-volume set of the Babylonian Talmud after all.
(Link ripped from current issue of Library Juice.)
A site which may be of some interest to Carlos, Pablo, and others. Perhaps Pablo won't have to drive back to Archer City for that multi-volume set of the Babylonian Talmud after all.
(Link ripped from current issue of Library Juice.)
Matchmaker, Matchmaker....
Thanks to Louise for this "plain-dealing" response to Dennis Kucinich's well-publicized quest for a prospective First Lady to go with his presidential aspirations.
"First of all: Never, ever, ever entrust your romantic life to Fox [television] ...."
Thanks to Louise for this "plain-dealing" response to Dennis Kucinich's well-publicized quest for a prospective First Lady to go with his presidential aspirations.
"First of all: Never, ever, ever entrust your romantic life to Fox [television] ...."
PhD's in libraries redux
The estimable John Berry III sounds off in Library Journal about the tendency for university libraries to favor PhD's over MLS's. An interesting counterpart to the Chronicle of Higher Education article that I mentioned on October 17. Yale University figures prominently in both articles.
The estimable John Berry III sounds off in Library Journal about the tendency for university libraries to favor PhD's over MLS's. An interesting counterpart to the Chronicle of Higher Education article that I mentioned on October 17. Yale University figures prominently in both articles.
Well, I'm back
After a period of what Carlos would call "desuetude", the "Hill" is once more active. It doesn't seem like a week since I last updated the blog, but I suppose that lack of time for weblogging and personal communications comes with being employed. I suppose I'll have to get used to it.
The job at "Huron State" is quite different from my previous gig. To begin with, there's no nice, enclosed office for me, only a Dilbertesque cubicle located between the departmental coffee machine and the copier. Fortunately, this means that I get to eavesdrop on incautious gossippers. Unfortunately, it means that blogging or checking personal e'mail from work is even more inadvisable than normal.
The office coffee machine, by the way, is an olive-green monstrosity, held together with rubber bands, which splutters and smokes like an ailing steam locomotive and has the interesting habit of dribbling coffee everywhere but into the pot. Worse, it's usually empty. Note to self: Buy el-cheapo coffee machine that works, install it in cubicle, set timer to make coffee automatically at 8:50 a.m., watch popularity soar! (Beware of time-wasting conversations, though...)
Reference duty here is quite different from at my previous employer. "Huron State" depends even more on electronic resources than they did, and makes it more difficult to access older printed materials. The fact that students do not have mandatory laptop computers is to some extent balanced out by the fact that the library does not (yet) charge money for printouts of electronic documents.
The "Information Desk" here is located in a three-story-tall central atrium, close to the circulation desk and an extensive bank of computers for student use. The printed reference collection and a few specialized non-circulating collections (law, business, maps, and university theses) are the only printed materials on the first floor, and they are all located far enough from the reference desk to make it awkward to use them during a typical reference query. The publicly-shelved periodicals, government documents, and books are all on different floors, which makes it difficult to refer users to them if the user is not already familiar with the layout of the building. At my previous job, where most of the printed periodicals, government documents, maps and reference books were within sight of the reference desk, I could simply walk with the patron over to the shelves that held the desired journal article or reference book, and in the process make sure that it really was what they needed. Not so here. As a result, I never feel quite sure that that patron I sent up to the third floor with the list of call numbers actually found what he/she wanted, or just got lost, wandered around for a while, and gave up. (I suspect that any day now, we'll find one of those poor students wandering around the second floor gov-docs shelves with glazed eyes and symptoms of severe dehydration, twitching and moaning and mumbling disjointed pieces of SuDocs call numbers.)
I mentioned before that this institution had made the controversial decision to place 50% of its printed collection in storage rather than on publicly browsable shelves. This does not turn out to be quite as horrible as it sounds, since such materials are findable through the online catalog and (at least nominally) retrievable in 15 minutes or less. This is accomplished through the use of a huge, two-story-deep vault in the basement of the building, where the books and old journals are stored in tubs according to size and automatically retrieved by robotic devices whenever requested through the online catalog. The electronic "request" procedure, which requires the use of a university ID number or a guest "courtesy" number, is somewhat confusing and probably deters a significant number of users. And as I mentioned before, it makes it extremely difficult to browse the library's holdings in an organized fashion.
This was demonstrated a couple of days ago by a fellow who came to the desk wanting biographies and other materials on Cervantes. After showing him a couple of entries in literature reference sources and checking the online catalog, which assured me that the library owned several biographies of Cervantes, I sent him upstairs to the appropriate Library of Congress call number. (LC, unlike the Dewey system, shelves biographies and criticism of authors with their works, rather than hiding them in a rarely-visited separate section of the library.) Unfortunately, it seems that the biographies of Cervantes were among the items exiled to the Robotic Dungeon, so the student was shortly back at the ref. desk informing me that he had found only copies of Don Quixote and some collections of criticism, but not a single biography of the author. A quick course in storage-retrieval requests followed, as well as a mental note to myself that I couldn't make the same kinds of assumptions about browsing the shelves here that I could in other libraries.
On the positive side, it's better than discarding them, and a 15 minute retrieval time is far, far preferable to the week-long waits that I've experienced elsewhere. But if you don't know what to ask for, or if the catalog record is skimpy or screwed up, you'll never know what you missed, since it's not on a publicly-viewable shelf where you could see it.
Another positive note: In looking up a number of books mentioned in the current newsletter of the state historical society, I found that Huron State has purchased most of them already, and has another one on order. Ironically, they're doing a better job of acquiring recently published materials on upper-peninsula and Great Lakes history than my previous employer, despite the latter's location. This may be a result of having a healthier acquisitions budget, or it may be a result of the fact that Huron State actually has permanent staff librarians who are interested in history, as opposed to my previous employer, where none of the permanent reference staff seemed to have any particular interest in that discipline, and acquisitions in that field lagged to such an extent that the history faculty eventually started discussing ways to establish their own departmental library so they could get the information they needed for their research and publishing.
After a period of what Carlos would call "desuetude", the "Hill" is once more active. It doesn't seem like a week since I last updated the blog, but I suppose that lack of time for weblogging and personal communications comes with being employed. I suppose I'll have to get used to it.
The job at "Huron State" is quite different from my previous gig. To begin with, there's no nice, enclosed office for me, only a Dilbertesque cubicle located between the departmental coffee machine and the copier. Fortunately, this means that I get to eavesdrop on incautious gossippers. Unfortunately, it means that blogging or checking personal e'mail from work is even more inadvisable than normal.
The office coffee machine, by the way, is an olive-green monstrosity, held together with rubber bands, which splutters and smokes like an ailing steam locomotive and has the interesting habit of dribbling coffee everywhere but into the pot. Worse, it's usually empty. Note to self: Buy el-cheapo coffee machine that works, install it in cubicle, set timer to make coffee automatically at 8:50 a.m., watch popularity soar! (Beware of time-wasting conversations, though...)
Reference duty here is quite different from at my previous employer. "Huron State" depends even more on electronic resources than they did, and makes it more difficult to access older printed materials. The fact that students do not have mandatory laptop computers is to some extent balanced out by the fact that the library does not (yet) charge money for printouts of electronic documents.
The "Information Desk" here is located in a three-story-tall central atrium, close to the circulation desk and an extensive bank of computers for student use. The printed reference collection and a few specialized non-circulating collections (law, business, maps, and university theses) are the only printed materials on the first floor, and they are all located far enough from the reference desk to make it awkward to use them during a typical reference query. The publicly-shelved periodicals, government documents, and books are all on different floors, which makes it difficult to refer users to them if the user is not already familiar with the layout of the building. At my previous job, where most of the printed periodicals, government documents, maps and reference books were within sight of the reference desk, I could simply walk with the patron over to the shelves that held the desired journal article or reference book, and in the process make sure that it really was what they needed. Not so here. As a result, I never feel quite sure that that patron I sent up to the third floor with the list of call numbers actually found what he/she wanted, or just got lost, wandered around for a while, and gave up. (I suspect that any day now, we'll find one of those poor students wandering around the second floor gov-docs shelves with glazed eyes and symptoms of severe dehydration, twitching and moaning and mumbling disjointed pieces of SuDocs call numbers.)
I mentioned before that this institution had made the controversial decision to place 50% of its printed collection in storage rather than on publicly browsable shelves. This does not turn out to be quite as horrible as it sounds, since such materials are findable through the online catalog and (at least nominally) retrievable in 15 minutes or less. This is accomplished through the use of a huge, two-story-deep vault in the basement of the building, where the books and old journals are stored in tubs according to size and automatically retrieved by robotic devices whenever requested through the online catalog. The electronic "request" procedure, which requires the use of a university ID number or a guest "courtesy" number, is somewhat confusing and probably deters a significant number of users. And as I mentioned before, it makes it extremely difficult to browse the library's holdings in an organized fashion.
This was demonstrated a couple of days ago by a fellow who came to the desk wanting biographies and other materials on Cervantes. After showing him a couple of entries in literature reference sources and checking the online catalog, which assured me that the library owned several biographies of Cervantes, I sent him upstairs to the appropriate Library of Congress call number. (LC, unlike the Dewey system, shelves biographies and criticism of authors with their works, rather than hiding them in a rarely-visited separate section of the library.) Unfortunately, it seems that the biographies of Cervantes were among the items exiled to the Robotic Dungeon, so the student was shortly back at the ref. desk informing me that he had found only copies of Don Quixote and some collections of criticism, but not a single biography of the author. A quick course in storage-retrieval requests followed, as well as a mental note to myself that I couldn't make the same kinds of assumptions about browsing the shelves here that I could in other libraries.
On the positive side, it's better than discarding them, and a 15 minute retrieval time is far, far preferable to the week-long waits that I've experienced elsewhere. But if you don't know what to ask for, or if the catalog record is skimpy or screwed up, you'll never know what you missed, since it's not on a publicly-viewable shelf where you could see it.
Another positive note: In looking up a number of books mentioned in the current newsletter of the state historical society, I found that Huron State has purchased most of them already, and has another one on order. Ironically, they're doing a better job of acquiring recently published materials on upper-peninsula and Great Lakes history than my previous employer, despite the latter's location. This may be a result of having a healthier acquisitions budget, or it may be a result of the fact that Huron State actually has permanent staff librarians who are interested in history, as opposed to my previous employer, where none of the permanent reference staff seemed to have any particular interest in that discipline, and acquisitions in that field lagged to such an extent that the history faculty eventually started discussing ways to establish their own departmental library so they could get the information they needed for their research and publishing.
Saturday, November 08, 2003
Thoughts of a Rent-a-Librarian:
I'm blogging tonight from a cheap apartment near a place I'll call "Huron State University", where I've just begun a six-month temporary contract. I can't regard this as an end to the job search, but perhaps it will stop the financial bleeding for a while.
Now if I can only find a REAL job.
On the positive side, the surrounding city has several thousand college students and faculty and a correspondingly large number of theaters, bookstores, and other ways to spend money productively. Unfortunately, this university feels no particular need to pay a decent salary to term employees. That honor, in academia, is apparently reserved for stellar performers like the former president of my former employer. After running it into the ground financially and announcing that, as a result, the university would lay off hundreds of staff and abolish several departments and programs (including the only public radio and television stations within 150 miles), she made a tearful, public pledge to forgo all future salary increases from said employer. True to her word, within two months she jumped ship to a larger university, where she's currently receiving a cool quarter-million a year and free use of a university-supplied house and Lincoln Towncar. (See last paragraph in this story.)
Isn't it nice to see Virtue Rewarded?
That's all for now. I'm off to see whether the local repertory-theater company can do a creditable job with George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Of course, I won't get any staff or faculty discount, since the university's bureaucracy is still claiming that I don't exist because I'm not in the computer network, and therefore can't have a university ID.
I'm blogging tonight from a cheap apartment near a place I'll call "Huron State University", where I've just begun a six-month temporary contract. I can't regard this as an end to the job search, but perhaps it will stop the financial bleeding for a while.
Now if I can only find a REAL job.
On the positive side, the surrounding city has several thousand college students and faculty and a correspondingly large number of theaters, bookstores, and other ways to spend money productively. Unfortunately, this university feels no particular need to pay a decent salary to term employees. That honor, in academia, is apparently reserved for stellar performers like the former president of my former employer. After running it into the ground financially and announcing that, as a result, the university would lay off hundreds of staff and abolish several departments and programs (including the only public radio and television stations within 150 miles), she made a tearful, public pledge to forgo all future salary increases from said employer. True to her word, within two months she jumped ship to a larger university, where she's currently receiving a cool quarter-million a year and free use of a university-supplied house and Lincoln Towncar. (See last paragraph in this story.)
Isn't it nice to see Virtue Rewarded?
That's all for now. I'm off to see whether the local repertory-theater company can do a creditable job with George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Of course, I won't get any staff or faculty discount, since the university's bureaucracy is still claiming that I don't exist because I'm not in the computer network, and therefore can't have a university ID.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
A belated note
Since I mentioned the new look of The Librarian's Rant recently, I should also mention that Carlos's Biblioblog also has a new and spiffy look (now with added Weatherpixie!)
Since I mentioned the new look of The Librarian's Rant recently, I should also mention that Carlos's Biblioblog also has a new and spiffy look (now with added Weatherpixie!)
A trip down memory lane : M.U.L.E.
Yesterday, while pondering on things geekish, I found myself absentmindedly humming the theme from a computer game I haven't played for ten or fifteen years: M.U.L.E.
Ah, the memories: the blocky Commodore-64 graphics.... the skanky carpet and sofa of a friend's family's game room.... the salty snacks and gallons of whatever sugary, caffienated carbonated liquid happened to be on sale from Skaggs Alpha-Beta or Brookshires... the bleary-eyed buzz of stumbling outside and navigating home in the eerie quiet of 3 a.m. in suburbia, or the pale light of impending dawn....
Taking this as the sign from the gods that it clearly was, I did a bit of websearching and found that I am not the only one to fondly remember this long-unavailable game. Earlier this year, Salon published an article about the game's creator, Dan/Dani Burten, which is as much an indictment of the electronic gaming industry as it is the story of one person's tragedy. A planned re-release of the game in the 1990's was apparently dropped when Burten refused to accede to the boardroom boys' demands for "guns and bombs", an incredibly clueless demand in dealing with a game whose unique and defining characteristic was its simple but very nearly pure theoretical model of classical economic competition. It's not as if there's any shortage of guns and bombs in the putrid swamp of indistinguishable, interchangable first-person-shooter games that have flooded the market. (Considering that Burten was at that time undergoing a sex-change operation, the demand for "guns and bombs" was also a particularly unfortunate double-entendre.)
As a result, although the game is fondly, even reverently, remembered by gaming geeks, it is effectively lost in the multiple morasses of corporate indifference, superceded computer systems, and vague confusion about who owns the intellectual property rights. There is a website, World of M.U.L.E., with information about the game and various copycats and clones, and a Dani Bunten Berry memorial webpage with information about Burten and his/her best-known creation, but apparently no readily available version of the game which is compatible with contemporary computers. The closest copycat seems to be something called "Space Ho.R.S.E.", which supposedly is downloadable in a free demo version, but the download didn't go so well over my dialup connection.
Oh well, at least I can still enjoy the cheesy but still oddly catchy theme music.
Yesterday, while pondering on things geekish, I found myself absentmindedly humming the theme from a computer game I haven't played for ten or fifteen years: M.U.L.E.
Ah, the memories: the blocky Commodore-64 graphics.... the skanky carpet and sofa of a friend's family's game room.... the salty snacks and gallons of whatever sugary, caffienated carbonated liquid happened to be on sale from Skaggs Alpha-Beta or Brookshires... the bleary-eyed buzz of stumbling outside and navigating home in the eerie quiet of 3 a.m. in suburbia, or the pale light of impending dawn....
Taking this as the sign from the gods that it clearly was, I did a bit of websearching and found that I am not the only one to fondly remember this long-unavailable game. Earlier this year, Salon published an article about the game's creator, Dan/Dani Burten, which is as much an indictment of the electronic gaming industry as it is the story of one person's tragedy. A planned re-release of the game in the 1990's was apparently dropped when Burten refused to accede to the boardroom boys' demands for "guns and bombs", an incredibly clueless demand in dealing with a game whose unique and defining characteristic was its simple but very nearly pure theoretical model of classical economic competition. It's not as if there's any shortage of guns and bombs in the putrid swamp of indistinguishable, interchangable first-person-shooter games that have flooded the market. (Considering that Burten was at that time undergoing a sex-change operation, the demand for "guns and bombs" was also a particularly unfortunate double-entendre.)
As a result, although the game is fondly, even reverently, remembered by gaming geeks, it is effectively lost in the multiple morasses of corporate indifference, superceded computer systems, and vague confusion about who owns the intellectual property rights. There is a website, World of M.U.L.E., with information about the game and various copycats and clones, and a Dani Bunten Berry memorial webpage with information about Burten and his/her best-known creation, but apparently no readily available version of the game which is compatible with contemporary computers. The closest copycat seems to be something called "Space Ho.R.S.E.", which supposedly is downloadable in a free demo version, but the download didn't go so well over my dialup connection.
Oh well, at least I can still enjoy the cheesy but still oddly catchy theme music.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)