On the "librarian shortage"

From the September 2003 issue of College & Research Libraries, p. 391-392:

In 1993, Library Journal reported that 20 percent of all recent library school graduates could not find full-time employment. By the mid-1990's, recent graduates were turning to nontraditional positions in the technology industy, such as Web design or online systems administration. Propelling this migration from librarianship was the average starting salary for nontraditional positions, which was 4.5 to 7.6 percent higher than traditional library positions. As recent graduates migrated toward careers in information technology, libraries gradually increased starting salaries, and in 1997, entry-level salaries surpassd $30,000 for the first time. In 1996, the average librarian had realized a salary increase of less than one percent over the previous year, but between 1997 and 1998, the average starting salary for all new hires was up 6.8 percent and then up another 4.4 percent in 1999 to $32,837....

Never fear, though. There's a government program for everything, including ensuring that library administrators will always have a vast pool of qualified but unemployed jobseekers whom they can hire for starvation wages, thus counteracting this unpleasant recent trend toward rising salaries. A press release from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services yesterday announced a $10 million subsidy to recruit yet more newbies into the grinder... er, I mean, the library profession.

Qui bono?

Geek hobbies

It seems that this list of the top 10 geek hobbies is making its way around the Internet, so I might as well join the swarm of links.

I'm proud to say that only five of them apply to me. How glad I am that they didn't include model railroading. I'm not sure how one would assess its "damage to sex life" rating. "I'll be your steam engine, baby" might have a certain kind of sex appeal, but I doubt that very many women derive erotic thrills from talk of lost-wax castings, weathering with chalk and acrylic paint, or wireless DCC. Almost by definition, anything discussed on Slashdot can't be good.

Authors' Guild objects to Amazon fulltext searching

Others have commented on Amazon's recent addition of full-text searching to its website. The Authors' Guild doesn't seem to be impressed, and objects that the publishers do not have the right to supply full text access without the authors' permission. More discussion here, and here, and at the Volokh Conspiracy. One of their concerns is that students and others will use Amazon's fulltext snippets as a way to look up essays, chapters, or statements from books and print or otherwise use them without buying the book.

Yes, these are the same folks who pettishly whined a while back about Amazon offering used books for sale. Perhaps this time they will have a legal leg to stand on, at least until book publishers incorporate mandatory surrender of all electronic full text rights into their "boilerplate" contract, as many periodicals publishers did after the Tasini v. New York Times decision.

My own thoughts about the usefulness of this feature are mixed. I can imagine plenty of situations in which this kind of search might be useful, but in many other kinds of searches it's just plain annoying. "Googling" full text via Amazon may help find forgotten titles featuring a certain character, or referring to some specific person, place or thing, but as any librarian knows, there are times when it's more useful to search only within data fields of limited scope but particular importance, like "subject" or "author". Just imagine trying to look through every book that casually refers to, say, Abraham Lincoln. Wouldn't it be more useful, if you want information about Honest Abe, to limit your searching only to books that list him as a major subject heading? Or contained enough lengthy passages from his speeches and papers that he was listed as an author?

For example: when I searched Amazon for "Frisco Railroad", I got "Where the Red Fern Grows" as the number-one result. Now, it's very nice that that fictional boy and his fictional dogs went walking between the Frisco Railroad and the Illinois River, but it hardly gives me the maps of Newburg Yard or the diagrams of the 1306-class freight locomotives that I'm looking for. The phrase occurs only once in the book, according to Amazon, so it appears that they're ranking the search results at least in part according to popularity and/or sales. This is not necessarily good.

Spurious Patent Follies of 2003

Oh, look. "Southern Michigan University" is among the universities targeted by Acacia Research Corporation, which, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Volume 50, Issue 8, Page A38,

...holds 5 U.S. patents and 17 international patents in digital-media-transmission technology. The patents cover not technological details but concepts like transmitting video on demand from servers to users' machines.

Acacia has sent patent-infringement letters to an unknown number of colleges across the country, offering to overlook past infringement in exchange for the institution's signing on to "a special royalty rate of 2 percent of gross revenue from each online course that includes digital audio and/or video content."

Must remember: Books Are Bad. Books Are Bad. Everything's On The Internet....

After All, Everything's On The Internet Anyway

It turns out that the library at "Southern Michigan University" has at least one feature noteworthy enough to have been mentioned in the Chronicle of Higher Education. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

First developed for the warehouse industry, the retrieval system is a vault, with books sitting in bins and arranged according to size, not subject, to save space....

.....A handful of college libraries have installed such automated systems, some more enthusiastically than others. "Southern Michigan University"'s was the second academic library in the country to set up a retrieval system, in 1998. (California State University at Northridge's was the first.) The library stores about 500,000 items -- more than half of its material -- in what staff members call the Automated Retrieval Collection.

"B", who chose the system as dean of learning resources and technology, says the university saved more than $8-million in construction costs, which would have gone toward bookshelves, but instead helped to pay for group-study areas, computer banks, and a television studio.

Asked how the system affected book circulation, he says: "I have no idea, and I don't care." The effectiveness of the library can't be judged on the basis of circulation, he argues, "because that's not what happens here anymore." Faculty members go to the nearby ... (name of institution omitted)... for serious research, and undergraduates do all of their research online now, he says.

Sigh. Wish me luck. At least I'm forewarned not to volunteer any information or ideas that contradict the Official Doctrine that Books Are Bad because Everything's On The Internet.

A glimpse into the Library of Dream

The American Library Association's catalog of posters and other library-publicity materials arrived today, and it includes a nifty poster and bookmark featuring Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams in Neil Gaiman's popular Sandman series of graphic novels. The poster looks good, but where's Lucien? He's the librarian of The Dreaming, after all!

The perils of freebies

The Washington Times today carries an article about the Council for American-Islamic Relations and its recent campaign of donating books to libraries. CAIR says the books are intended to promote harmonious understanding of Islam; critics charge that the books are pro-Islamic propaganda that deliberately obfuscate harsh passages from the Qu'ran and other elements of Islamic doctrine and practice.

I haven't seem the particular books in question, but I do recall seeing some materials that were donated to my former employer's library by an organization based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and which raised similar issues. The books were quite clearly biased, and included strained reasoning which I would consider quite unconvincing coming from the mouth of a high school debater, much less a purportedly scholarly source. For example, one of the books, Woman in the Shade of Islam, justifies sex-based restrictions on women with the metaphorical argument that, if a ship had two groups of passengers who were assigned to different decks of the ship, it would be foolish for the group assigned to the lower deck to insist on drilling holes for water. The book also asserts that Islam is superior to other religions because it protects women from "being exposed to places of iniquity" such as nightclubs, theaters, etc. I've known more than one woman who would gladly eschew such "protection".

Despite this, I was disappointed that the library refused to make them available to the public. Flawed as they are, they offer a useful glimpse inside a mindset that has substantial significance in the modern world, just as the tracts and other materials put out by fundamentalist Christian churches and publishing houses in the U.S. are important sources for understanding the worldview of those who write them and read them. The danger would be in allowing only materials of this type to represent Islam, or Christianity. Or of excluding them entirely, and thus distorting the collection by omission.

The article also refers to Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists, Mormons, et al, who are also frequently eager to "help" the library by donating copies of their latest tracts, or in the case of Mormons, offering to "update" the library's collection by replacing old copies of the Book of Mormon or other documents with "newer", "more attractive" editions. This is one area where caution is justified, and older materials should not be blithely discarded. See Jerald and Sandra Tanner's analysis of changes in the Book of Mormon for an understanding of how such offers are not entirely motivated by charity. Religions which retroactively alter their scriptures while simultaneously claiming that those scriptures are infallible have a vested interest in removing public access to older editions.

Joe Bob would be proud

Interesting doings at the Kansas City, Kansas, public library: the 14th Annual Bad Film Festival.

Attention skywatchers

The gse-aa listserv predicts heightened auroral activity in coming days:

The Earth has been in a sector of the solar wind that is conducive to
the production of active aurora. Aurora should be visible near
midnight from the northern US, Iceland, Scotland, Southern
Scandinavia, Northern Russia, Tasmania, and Southern New Zealand.

This will continue through the weekend. The first solar flare in 52
days occurred yesterday the 19th. The main effects of this flare are
directed away from Earth, but the side effects should be enough to
increase activity by the night of the 22nd.

With any luck, I'll have something pretty to look at as I drive back north from Southern Michigan University on Thursday night.

Yet another crisis

Seems the media conglomerates' lobbyist-termites that infest our political system are active on yet another front in their ongoing war against fair use, public domain, and other traditional characteristics of enlightened intellectual property law.

As reported by IP Justice, the proposed "Free Trade Agreement of the Americas" would substantially modify intellectual-property laws in most Western-hemisphere countries. Among the mandatory changes to those nations' domestic laws which are incorporated in the draft intellectual property chapter of the treaty are the following:

* Mandatory adoption of the U.S.'s terms of copyright protection (life-plus-70 years, or 95 years for corporate media -- Part II, Section 3, Article 10)
* Mandatory adoption of prison-term penalties for "copyright piracy" (Part III, Article 4.1)
* Mandatory adoption of DMCA-type prohibitions against analysis or discussion of electronic security features (Part II, Section 3, Article 21)

There's also a reference to inserting the language of something called "Articles x to xx of Treaty for the Protection of Non-Copyrightable Elements of Databases - placeholder;]", which sounds like it was probably written by the same lobbyists who are pushing for HR 3261 to be rushed through the US Congress so that your local telephone company can copyright your telephone number and encyclopedia compilers can sue your local library for letting you look things up without paying them for a personal subscription .

I haven't read the whole thing yet, and probably won't, but I've spot-checked enough items from the IP Justice analysis to be confident that they're right to regard it as a threat to effective intellectual freedom. At best, it's a bullying attempt to impose Hollywood's demand for perpetual monopoly protection on an entire hemisphere without ever consulting the people upon whom it's being foisted. In the case of the "database protection" element, this may be the people of the United States itself, a fallback ploy in case people find out about HR 3261 and persuade their sometime representatives to consign it to a well-deserved place in legislative Gehenna.

Preemptive gratitude

Yours Truly recently received a valuable keepsake in the mail: a "signed" photograph of George and Laura Bush, along with an effusive note practically begging me to "become one of the first to join the Bush-Cheney '04 Team as a Charter Member in Michigan". After all, "Only with [my] help can the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign create a viable grassroots organization". Also included was a "Presidential Photo Receipt Confirmation Form", complete with checkboxes for my suggested donation of $100, $50, $25, or "other $".

A "grass roots" organization, "created" by an incumbent president's campaign staff? Sounds like Astroturf to me....

As flattered as I am that Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney find my attention and my money so indispensible, I think I'll pass on the offer. The photograph ("suitable for framing!") may be useful as a prop should I be invited to interview at Thee University, though.

Don't call him a librarian!

The University of Texas at Austin is advertising on the Texas Library Association's jobline for a "Knowledge Gateway Metadata Analyst". It requires a master's degree in library science and two years of library experience, but heavens no, we can't call him a "librarian"!

You'll take what I give you and like it.

The following e'mail from Michigan's State Librarian, as sent to the MichLib-L listserv, serves as a good indicator of how libraries can expect to be treated by database publishers. Bear it in mind when considering the likely effects of HR 3261, discussed below, or the wisdom of making library services entirely dependent on such services. Ancestry.com obviously feels no obligation whatsoever to honor its contract in this case.

This message is from State Librarian Christie Brandau.

ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING REMOTE ACCESS TO ANCESTRYPLUS

Ancestry.com, owner of the genealogical database AncestryPlus, has
terminated access to the database remotely (from your home or anywhere
outside a library building) through the Michigan eLibrary (MeL)
beginning Sunday evening, October 19. This announcement from
Ancestry.com came abruptly and without warning to the Library of
Michigan. When contacted, the company cited an increase in usage and
customer abuse as reasons for discontinuing the contracted provision.

The announcement from Ancestry.com is surprising and extremely
disappointing. However, AncestryPlus will still be available for
patrons to use free via MeL in local libraries.

Feel free to contact the company at Ancestry.com, 801-705-7000.
Ancestry.com is a part of Myfamily.com, Inc., 360 W. 4800 N, Provo, Utah
84604. They may also be reached at
http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php.

Down the well-greased ways of paid political influence

HR 3261, a bill to allow database publishers to exercise monopoly control over the information cited in their databases, is obviously on a specially-prepared legislative fast track, and has already been rushed to approval in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. Votes were party-line, with Republicans in favor of paying off the the well-monied publishing industry by approving the bill and Democrats opposing.

In an embarrassingly cowardly "I've-got-mine-Jack" moment, the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges withdrew their opposition to the bill after legislators consented to throw them a bone by exempting universities and research labs from the prohibitions on disseminating information from databases.

The intent of the bill may be judged by the fact that an amendment offered by Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, which would have exempted other libraries from such prohibitions, was explicitly voted down.

Allow me to repeat that for the benefit of those who were not listening. AN AMENDMENT PERMITTING LIBRARIES TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION FROM DATABASES WITHOUT BEING SUED WAS EXPLICITLY VOTED DOWN.

Not exactly subtle, are they?

This information was primarily drawn from an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, which does not (yet) have the power to sue me for discussing events and information that I read about there.

A heartwarming tale

The Chronicle of Higher Education today contains a wonderful account of a fellow who got his Masters' in Library Science and walked from there straight into a job as collection development specialist for Yale's literature collections. Isn't life wonderful?

Of course, he first got a PhD in English literature and spent five to ten years working the slave-labor disposable-adjunct track before giving up on what he had really wanted to do. No offense to anyone is intended here, but I'm beginning to get the impression that college libraries hire permanant staff only from the pool of PhD's who couldn't get a steady job in their first choice of profession. People who were interested in libraries from the start aren't welcome.

I.P.-o-mania

Plenty of intellectual-property issues in the past few days to comment on, from trivial inanity to potentially serious bills proposed in the Congress. Here we go:

Ghettopoly

Some of you may have heard of the controversy over Ghettopoly, a repulsive ripoff of Monopoly in which "playas" compete to "pimp ho's", sell crack, and put up crackhouses and "projects" instead of houses and hotels.

Obviously this is going to be offensive to many people on grounds of race, and there have been protests against the game in Philadelphia and other places. Personally, I find it just as offensive that the game frivolously glorifies stupid and destructive behavior like robbing banks, beating up "ho's", etc. As a clinically certified First Amendment fanatic, though, I can't justify supporting attempts to ban it because of its content. However, offensiveness is not the only problem here. It's also a pretty unimaginative ripoff of the venerable Parker Brothers' game, which blatantly imitates its structure and gameplay and clearly trades on its widely-recognized appearance and name for commercial gain. This led me to wonder whether Parker Brothers or the current holder of their trademarks would have standing to sue on intellectual-property grounds. Sure enough, it looks like Hasbro is doing so. It'll be interesting to see what develops. I have to admit that I find myself wondering whether I'd feel so supportive of Hasbro in this matter if their target weren't so unattractive.

Thanks to Loreen for mentioning it and inspiring me to go digging for more information.

Copyrighting facts

Traditionally, US courts have held that information itself, that is to say, isolated facts, as opposed to a unified work of creativity, cannot be copyrighted (Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service Company, Inc., 499 U.S. 340 (1991) ). That will change if industry lobbyists have their way and get HR 3261 , the so-called "Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act", through Congress. The bill may make it possible for database publishers to prohibit libraries from publicly disseminating information from their databases -- a deathblow to libraries which have made themselves dependent on such databases, and a significant restriction on citizens' access to information through local libraries or state-level library consortia.

From the bill:

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AGAINST MISAPPROPRIATION OF DATABASES.

(a) LIABILITY- Any person who makes available in commerce to others a quantitatively substantial part of the information in a database generated, gathered, or maintained by another person, knowing that such making available in commerce is without the authorization of that person (including a successor in interest) or that person's licensee, when acting within the scope of its license, shall be liable for the remedies set forth in section 7 if--

(1) the database was generated, gathered, or maintained through a substantial expenditure of financial resources or time;

(2) the unauthorized making available in commerce occurs in a time sensitive manner and inflicts injury on the database or a product or service offering access to multiple databases; and

(3) the ability of other parties to free ride on the efforts of the plaintiff would so reduce the incentive to produce the product or service that its existence or quality would be substantially threatened.

(b) INJURY- For purposes of subsection (a), the term `inflicts an injury' means serving as a functional equivalent in the same market as the database in a manner that causes the displacement, or the disruption of the sources, of sales, licenses, advertising, or other revenue.

(c) TIME SENSITIVE- In determining whether an unauthorized making available in commerce occurs in a time sensitive manner, the court shall consider the temporal value of the information in the database, within the context of the industry sector involved.

More commentary here, and here, and here, and here. The Association of Research Libraries has a timeline of legislative and political activity on this issue here.

Thanks to the clever folks at ALAWON for mentioning this in their newsletter.

Black Box Voting

Diebold, the company that manufactures and heavily lobbies for the use of computerized voting machines, is using the DMCA to squelch discussion of flaws in its machines, according to the current issue of Library Juice. EFF to the rescue!

This has been an ongoing issue. Many commentators have noted flaws in the machines' security, which raise the ugly specter of elections being decided by which political party's black-ops teams hire the better team of hackers. With phantom electronic votes, of course, there would be no embarrassing paper trail to be re-counted. Whoever hacked into or otherwise controlled the machines could simply declare a winner. Diebold has, according to documents published here and elsewhere, left gaping holes in the security features of their voting machines' auditing routines, the very feature that guards against such tampering, and appears determined not to fix them.

I don't know about you, but when I have something that absolutely, positively must be preserved in an undisputably accurate form, I print it out. Hanging chads or no hanging chads, a hard-copy paper trail is at least auditable and re-countable.

Whining works, Part Two

This whining stuff is amazing. I got another call for an interview yesterday, this one at a place I'll call Southern Michigan University, which is located in one of those "great festering urban masses" that I referred to yesterday. The Fates must be snickering.

Your Tax Dollars At ... oh well. Never mind.

The Great and Sovereign State of Michigan has decided, in its wisdom, that it will no longer produce the simplified EZ tax form. Furthermore, it will no longer distribute tax forms through college libraries. No doubt the student population will appreciate this wisdom. I wonder whether they'll rate Governor Granholm "hot" as a result? From the Michigan Electronic Library's Government Documents Specialist, via the MichLib-L listserv:

The MI Dept. of Treasury sent out a second letter to academic institutions
totally dropping them from the program. In other words, colleges and
universities in Michigan will not receive ANY paper forms, reproducibles,
etc. What they will get is a poster.

As we pointed out to Treasury, students, faculty and staff who still want
paper forms will now be sent to the public library for tax materials. So,
while supplies of forms for public libraries are being cut by 25% or more,
the demand for forms will only grow. And academic libraries are left high
and dry.

That better be one impressive poster.

I'm not sure why this surprises me. After all, this is the same state that recently decided there was no need for unemployment-office locations in the entire upper peninsula. After all, we all know how stable the jobs are in the industries which dominate the upper peninsula. Tourism. Logging. Mining. (Not to mention, um, education.)

But from a political standpoint, the great festering urban masses of the lower peninsula are where the votes are. So I guess that's the most profitable place to pander.

From the Department of Unsurprising Discoveries:

The Chronicle of Higher Education discovers, to its dismay, that college students evaluate their professors for superficial reasons:

* GOOD-LOOKING PROFESSORS consistently outscore less attractive
ones on student evaluations of teaching, a new study finds.
--> SEE http://chronicle.com/jobs/2003/10/2003101501c.htm

Ratemyprofessors figured this out some time ago, and included "pepper" ratings on its website so that lovestruck, vengeful, or disgusted students could express their views on whether professors were "hot or not". Mercifully, they do not add up and display negative "hotness totals".

Whining works, apparently.

After whining piteously about my boring life yesterday, I received another request for a telephone interview, this one from a place I'll call Big State University. It's a state university with 17000 undergraduate students, located in a flat, rectangular midwestern state best known for agriculture and limestone, one well known to Carlos.

The telephone interview with Down East State U. was fairly informal. I think I avoided blurting anything terribly embarrassing. Interestingly, one of the four people on the search committee was a student. This is something I saw at a previous interview at a small junior college in Wisconsin, but I haven't seen it yet at the university level.

No news

Pablo recently mentioned that it seems I'm spending a lot of pixels discussing politics and events rather than myself lately. There happens to be a rational reason for this. My life is pretty d*mn boring right now. Last weekend, in between marathon sessions of Alpha Centauri, I got correction letters mailed out to all the places I applied to in the month of August, along with a couple of new applications for positions advertised in the last week. I note, however, that I have already received thanks-but-no-thanks letters in response to many of the August applications, so I wonder whether it's worth the trouble of delving further back into the July applications.

One glimmer of interest: I have an upcoming telephone interview with a place I'll call Down East State University. This was one I had given up on a while back, since their original position description referred to a start date of September 1. Perhaps their first choice backed out on them?

Downeast appears to be in one of the few places in the eastern contiguous United States that can compete with northern Michigan for remoteness and frigidity. It's about as far north and east as you can go without treading salt water or becoming Canadian. I searched the Chronicle of Higher Education and found about five articles that mention them, the most entertaining being a description of their athletic program's remarkably rigorous winter fitness exercises, which apparently involve running for two hours at a time in snowshoes.

On the other hand, they do seem to have some strong environmental and ecological study programs, and it looks like it could be an interesting small-town area with remarkable scenery and surroundings. And it pays better than my current gig.

One of the local theaters is showing American Splendor, and it sounds like it might be interesting enough to see. If anyone has seen it and has comments, thoughts, or rotten tomatoes to throw, let me know.

NEWS FLASH: Muskogee, Oklahoma schools run by morons

From CNN: An 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has been suspended from a public school because officials said her Muslim head scarf violates dress code policies...

The stated reason is "to stem gang-related activity." I guess Muskogee must be having a lot of trouble with menacing gangs of 11-year-old Muslim schoolgirls. I wonder what kinds of problems they've been causing. Koran smuggling? Drive-by gossipping? Conspiracy to acquire an education?

Of course, this is the same benighted state where school officials in Broken Arrow recently filed suit against a student for allegedly "casting magic spells" at a teacher. And Duncanville, Texas, persists in thinking that "ejjikashun" consists of suspending straight-A students because their shirts aren't tucked in tightly enough to please some pinhead administrator who couldn't spell cat if you spotted him the "C" and the "A".

Anyone who judged Oklahoma and Texas by the quality of these public school administrators would conclude that H. L. Mencken was right to dismiss everything south and west of his beloved Baltimore as a "Sahara of the Bozart" populated solely by drooling, illiterate yokels. But it's worse than that. These so-called "schools" are using their inescapable, taxpayer-funded monopoly power over children, not to teach them how to be functioning, responsible, educated citizens, but to indoctrinate them into habitual, abject submissiveness to pompous administrative drones. Let's be honest. These aren't schools. They're madrassahs of mindless bureaucratic conformity.

(For further reading, in case anyone's interested: John Taylor Gatto's The Six Lesson Schoolteacher and Dumbing Us Down.)

Who, me?

The pseudonymous "Ms. Mentor", in her October 6 column in the Chronicle of Higher Education, advises students and academic bloggers to be "canny and pseudonymous" lest their blogs "hamper [their] chances of getting a job."

Gee, I wish I'd thought of that.... [grin]

Too good to be true?

While doing some (ahem) research on the webpage of the one, the only Joe Bob Briggs, I discovered that he'll be hosting movie night at the Alamo Drafthouse bar'n'theater during the 2003 Texas Book Festival in Austin. From their schedule for November 7 :

• TBF at the Movies
Midnight
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, 409 Colorado St.
Books and film merge seamlessly at this soirée at the Alamo Drafthouse. Enjoy a Q&A with Festival author Joe Bob Briggs, followed by the screening of a film featured in his new movie Profoundly Disturbing:The Shocking Movies That Changed History.

One of you Texas-type folk better give me a report. Book fu, tacky movie fu, beer-and-nacho fu. Does it get any better than this?

Well, actually, it does. The famous Rock Bottom Remainders (or at least some of them) will be playing the Festival, too.

O, those wacky televangelists....

... what will they think of next?

This is the same fellow who, you might remember, has claimed that God steers hurricanes according to his directions, and that the September 11 attacks were acts of God because he was mad at homosexuals, abortionists, and the ACLU. (Pretty poor aim for an omniscient God, if you ask me. How many ACLU members work at the Pentagon?)

Then again, Hurricane Isabel just hit this guy's home town dead center. Maybe God's aim isn't so bad after all.

The world turned upside down

I've discovered further proof of the total chaos into which the world of American politics has fallen since 2001. In this column, published in the December 6, 2002 issue of the Texas Observer, Molly Ivins, the reigning doyenne of Texas liberalism (and yes, Virginia, there is such a thing), she of the perky smile and the razor-edged pen, actually said Nice Things about hardcore right-wingers such as Barry Goldwater, William Safire, and longtime Texas nemeses Dick Armey and Ron Paul. (Well, to be fair, she has been known to grudgingly acknowledge that Armey is at least more consistent than some other politicians. But only to call him consistently "mean".)

The uniting factor? Opposition to what Ms. Ivins rightfully calls "Total Information Creepiness", the same issue that has brought together habitual opponents like the National Rifle Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, et al.

More of Miss Molly's words of wit-n-wisdom can be found here. She's one of the few people who really understands the weird & wacky world of Texas politics. Too bad she's such a habitual lefty.

Miss Molly on Texas redistricting circa 1971:

In the process of screwing all the Speaker's enemies, the redistricters inadvertently screwed a few of his friends as well, one of whom was Rep. Bill Finck, a cigar manufacturer from San Antonio. Brother Finck rose to protest the butchering of his district. "Lookahere, Dell-win," he began plaintively. "Look at what y'all have done to my dis-strict. You have drawn a great big, ol' ball at the one end, then it runs in a little-bitty ol' strip for 300 miles, and then there's a great big ol' ball at the other end. The damn thing looks like a pair of dumbbells." Finck's voice rose in pain. "Now the courts say the districts have to be com-pact and con-tiguous. Is this your idea a com-pact and con-tiguous?".

Dell-win pondered deeply at the front mike. At last he replied, "Whale, in a artistic sense, it is...."

Bipartisan disgust

Judicial Watch first came to most people's attention by filing numerous lawsuits against the Clinton administration, alleging misuse of FBI files and other abuses. They're generally regarded as conservative in orientation. But that hasn't kept them from pursuing information about the Bush administration's secrecy and suspicious corporate ties. (Stories here, here, and here....)

As I said before, it's not just the usual liberal suspects who are getting tired of the Bush Administration's coverups and connections. Are those trees marching up the hill?

D'oh.

I've been absent from the blogiverse for the past couple of days. On Tuesday morning I realized to my horror and disgust that the standard letter I had used as the basis for virtually every cover letter I sent out in the past two months included a stupid, stupid error which needed to be corrected as soon as possible. (Bad form, old chap.) Two days, a ream of paper, and about $15.00 in postage later, I've managed to send out corrections for all the applications from October and September. Next, I get to go back and check the August letters to see if the same error lurked in them.

The Doctor regenerates again

Apparently the BBC has gotten over its recent aversion to science fiction. A September 26 announcement states that they will revive Doctor Who, but is somewhat vague about the timeline. I'm not quite sure what I think about Thursday's report, attributed to none other than Tom Baker, that "cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard will be the new Dr Who". Is fandom ready for a cross-dressing Doctor? Better than no Doctor at all, I guess.

If that proves too hard to enjoy, I can always look forward to the Blake's 7 miniseries announced back in July, and hope they don't stuff Paul Darrow into one of Jacqueline Pearce's old outfits.

Political ponderings

Am I the only one who finds it morbidly funny that the Bush Administration appears to think national security is so important it's necessary to destroy it in order to save it? Or, to be more accurate, in order to wreak petty personal vengeance on someone who criticizes the Bush Administration?

Unfortunately, this is a distinction which the Bushies seem incapable of perceiving. The whole Plame fiasco is further proof, in case anyone needs it, that this administration adheres to no principles whatsoever, conservative, nationalistic, or otherwise, save the Machiavellian lust for power at all costs.

I doubt that very many conservatives outside of the Bushies' own insular neo-conservative faction of Enron and Halliburton alumni will feel much inclination to defend them in the long run. Bush speechwriter David Frum's hysterical, chest-beating March 19 National Review article, "Unpatriotic Conservatives", in which, with rabid saliva practically flying in all directions, he furiously denounced libertarians, Patrick Buchanan, Robert Novak, Llewellyn Rockwell, Samuel Francis, Thomas Fleming, Scott McConnell, Justin Raimondo, Joe Sobran, Charley Reese, Jude Wanniski, Eric Margolis, Taki Theodoracopulos, and any other conservative who deviated from the War Party's dictates as "traitors" who "hate their country", pretty well ensured that.

From Frum's article: "War is a great clarifier. It forces people to take sides. The paleoconservatives have chosen — and the rest of us must choose too. In a time of danger, they have turned their backs on their country. Now we turn our backs on them."

He's right about one thing. These traditional conservatives and libertarians chose to follow their consciences at a time when it was politically dangerous to do so. (Novak, of course, has had several miraculous retroactive changes of heart after being threatened with the loss of White House favors and tipoffs.) But what they turned their backs on was the War Party's corrupt maneuvering and dishonest dealing, not "their country". As the Bush Administration begins floundering in the morass of its own corruption, it should expect no help from this quarter, any more than MacBeth could expect help from MacDuff or any of the other people he climbed over en route to his short-lived reign.

Of course, the favorite refuge of scoundrels is always an option. As the 2004 election approaches, perhaps the Administration will find it useful to once again manufacture a war.

(Note: For a less biased idea of what the much-vilified libertarians and paleoconservatives actually say and think, check out websites such as www.lewrockwell.com, www.antiwar.com, the Libertarian Party, or Buchanan's "The American Cause".)

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light....

It's good to read that the U.S. of A. still has one strong export: jobs.

Job Search Follies of 2003

It turns out that not only am I unable to compete with other job applicants, I'm unable to compete with an empty chair. "Westover" politely informs me that, rather than hire me, they've decided to leave the position vacant.

The grapes were probably sour, anyway.

No honkies need apply.

A pseudonymous writer in the Chronicle of Higher Education sadly bemoans the lack of suitable candidates for tenure-track positions at his unnamed college. What measures of suitability are they looking for?

From the article: "We won't discriminate, but let's be honest here, we were not looking for a white male Protestant...."

Let's try this on for size. How about "We won't discriminate, but let's be honest here, we were not looking for a woman." "We were not looking for a Mexican." "Not looking for a homosexual." Fill in the blank with whatever convenient label might happen to be attached to you, Dear Reader. See how it sounds.

And academics wonder why rational people accuse them of being quota-obsessed bigots. Perhaps this unnamed college would have better luck finding good hires if it actually looked at job-related qualifications.

Michigan wine laws declared unconstitutional

Bytes in Brief reports that the 6th Circuit Court has declared unconstitutional those portions of Michigan's wine-regulating regime which discriminate between in-state and out-of-state wineries. More details at FindLaw.

Earlier this year, there was a similar case in New York.

Perhaps there is hope yet for Carlos and others who pine for exotic vintages.

More on the "PATRIOT" Act

Ashcroft sez it's never been used to seek information from libraries. Hmm. That's odd, considering that in May the Justice Department acknowledged having contacted about 50 libraries as part of investigations.

I wonder where those 50 inquiries disappeared to between May and September. Down the memory hole? The rabbit hole? An oubliette in Guantanamo Bay?

Ig Nobel Prizes announced.

Yay. Research that "can not or should not be reproduced."

The "PATRIOT" Act:

It's not just for terrorists anymore!

But I thought the war was over.

After all, our esteemed President said so.

So what on earth is Riverbend writing about? Or Salam Pax? Or Moja?

You know, I have to remind myself from time to time that the situation could be worse. Instead of being out of work in a nation run by a cynical War Party that can't be bothered to pay attention to anyone outside its own little ideological clique, I could be living in the nation that it is paying attention to.

Thanks to Louise for the link to Riverbend's blog. Without it I never would have discovered this amusing search result.

Yet another librarian role model?

Tori Amos seems to have librarian fantasies. From an interview: "I've always said the songs are alive and I'm really a librarian. I admit I'm a well paid librarian with great shoes. (laughs) You have no idea how unglamorous it can be sometimes but if you think of me as a librarian from a different dimension, these are books that come to me in sonic form and I have to stay focused or I am manipulated."

Um.... right. It's nice that she's thinking of us, but are we really sure that's Tori talking, and not Delirium of the Endless?

Open Range

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to forgo a couple of the History Channel's back-to-back-to-back documentaries about the World Trade Center and see the only Kevin Costner movie in recent history to receive a positive review. Overall, I enjoyed it, despite the presence of a few annoying cliches. (At one point, so help me, one character tells another to "Rustle up some grub.")

The basic scenario of the film is a blend of two common western themes: (1) free-ranging cowboys clash with greedy, evil town boss, and (2) man with mysterious past must face down both an external evil and his own dubious background.

It's a truism of frontier history that many early settlers were simply people who couldn't get along with their neighbors in civilized territory. Many of them were on the run from the law, from inconvenient family obligations, or from creditors. In the American west in the late nineteenth century, the situation was further complicated by the social and psychological aftermath of the Civil War, and especially of the ruthless bushwhacking and banditry that characterized the frontier border states. After the war, hundreds of men, desensitized to violence, socially rootless, economically destitute, well-armed and trained to kill, were loosed on the frontier. Some became lawmen, some became outlaws, and some tried to forget it all. One such man is Charlie (Kevin Costner), who has taken refuge in an isolated existence herding cattle on the unclaimed open range in the employ of "Boss" Spearman (Robert Duvall).

Unfortunately for Charlie, the open range of unclaimed land upon which freelance cattlemen could graze their herds is giving way to the development of towns and the inevitable attendant political and economic power grabs. The open range is becoming more and more constricted by the demands of civilization, and free-ranger herders like Charlie and Boss are doomed to clash with those who want to enclose the commons as private property.

There's a romantic subplot, too, although it develops slowly and somewhat unobtrusively.

The scenery and cinematography in Open Range are gorgeous. The movie was filmed in Montana and/or western Canada, and unlike the arid landscape of John Ford's classic Monument Valley westerns, this land looks lush enough to be capable of growing salable cattle. It's land productive enough to be worth fighting over.

As one might suspect, there's a substantial amount of violence in the film. It's not glamorous. It's chaotic and brutal and ugly. Open Range, like many historians, attributes the effectiveness of the most "successful" killers to their sociopathic desensitization to killing, their ability to unhesitatingly murder others in the blink of an eye, seizing the initiative and then taking advantage of the resulting disorientation to further decimate, intimidate, and disorganize the enemy. At one point in the film, as a threatened showdown looms, Charlie matter-of-factly analyzes the opposing side's "soldiers", identifying which ones are likely to freeze up or react slowly, who's likely to panic or fire wildly, and who poses the greatest threat and thus must be pre-emptively eliminated. Such men have difficulty fitting into the world of rose-patterned teacups.

Interestingly, the townspeople in Open Range are not mere props who stand around like bystanders and conveniently disappear once the bullets start to fly; depending on the situation, they flee the town, hide, or shoot back with rifles and shotguns. When necessary, they drag bodies off the street and tend to the wounded.

Some aspects of the romantic subplot seem forced. It's hard to imagine that an attractive woman with no apparent prejudice against men, such as Annette Bening's character, would have remained single for very long on the frontier, given the unbalanced ratio of men to women. But it is refreshing to, for once, see a 40-something year old male lead slowly and haltingly develop a relationship with a believably 40-something woman, rather than promptly tumbling some 19-year-old sexpot. Bening is both authentically windworn and powerfully attractive in her role as an independent-minded and educated woman who quietly chafes against the social customs that keep her from achieving her ambitions, but has to live with them nonetheless. Just why she would be attracted to a borderline sociopath is not explained, but there's a nice teacup motif that helps ease things along.

Blooper alert: Be on the lookout for a close-up shot of a character standing next to a broken-down barbed wire fence which is totally absent from the long-angle shots immediately before and after. I felt sure that someone, sometime in the movie, was going to refer to the conflict between those who wanted to enclose land with barbed wire and those who wanted to move herds freely across it, but only this short blooper and one or two store signs in town even acknowledge the stuff. If there was a subplot here, most of it got left on the cutting-room floor. Perhaps Costner decided that portraying "good guys" Charlie and Boss vandalizing fences would cost them audience sympathy.

Rumors of the Winter King's approach

I awoke this morning to a city lightly frosted with snow. It's very pretty. It's also a harbinger of things to come, a casual flourish of the Winter King's sceptre betokening more of his icy attentions in the coming months.

Well, I'm back.

I arrived home late Sunday after spending the weekend driving all over lower Michigan. It's safe to say that the interview is unlikely to result in a job offer. They're clearly looking for a politician/administrator, rather than a librarian, and I don't have enough talent at manipulation and schmoozing to make an administrator.

On the positive side, I did get to visit a good friend with a beautiful lakefront house (the kind that I'll never be able to afford), and I was able to take a quick look around a downstate university library that has recently advertised for a reference/instruction librarian. Nice library. But I'm growing more than a little bit skeptical than I'll ever get an interview for any position that I'm actually qualified for. It's irritating that, of the four in-person interviews I've had, two were for positions that were essentially political and administrative in nature (for which I'm totally unqualified, as discussed above) and one was for a specialized library position that I would consider myself only marginally qualified for. The one that I was best qualified for -- the one that essentially duplicated exactly what I've been doing for the past two years -- didn't consider me quite good enough to hire at a 70% part-time salary.

No one expects the Inquisition!

Thee University has sent me a cute little "Statement of Current Religious Affiliation and Involvement" form to fill out, with appropriate lines for Name, Denominational Affiliation, Local Religious Affiliation, and "current religious leadership positions".

I wonder. Should I fill it out truthfully, and in all likelihood be immediately struck from the candidate pool for not being a sufficiently loyal member of the One True Denomination, or lie through my teeth, tell them what they want to hear, and state that yessir, I'm a loyal God-fearin' Republican-votin' member of the One True Denomination? That illusion wouldn't survive an in-person interview, but it might last long enough to get them to pay my way to Texas.

What Would Jesus Do?

Gut-check time

I had great fun yesterday teeing off on a couple of humorous and counterproductive censorship controversies of past decades. But I feel like delving into something a little darker tonight. So get ready, folks, it's gut-check time for banned book defenders. How far are you willing to go?

Suppose you had a situation in which a publisher put out a book which gave explicit instructions about how to commit a murder. Suppose that after 13,000 copies of the book had sold over a period of ten years, eventually someone bought the book, followed the instructions, and murdered three people for pay.

Should such a book be suppressed? If not suppressible, should the publisher be held liable for civil damages related to crimes committed using information found in the book?

Some of you may know what I'm talking about. This is exactly what happened in the so-called "Hit Man" case involving Paladin Press, a publisher of books such as "The Complete Guide to Lock Picking", "The Art and Science of Money Laundering", and... drum roll please .... "Hitman : a Technical Manual for Independent Contractors". And it happened twice. Subsequent to each crime, a civil case for a seven-figure amount was filed against the publisher. More detailed information is available here . Here (and here) what Paladin Press has to say for itself, here's what a sympathetic book distributor has to say (a bit out of date).Here's someone who seems thoroughly disgusted at Paladin's productions.

Discuss amongst yourselves, folks, since I'll be on the road for the next couple of days, driving to Troll Territory for a job interview in a town where the two biggest annual events appear to be the Mint Festival (with, of course, the election of the Mint Queen!) and "Pumpkins on Parade".

Mea culpa.

Or, perhaps, felix culpa. At any rate, I have sinned by failing to post the promised banned-books link yesterday. For my penance, I shall post two links today.

September Morn

The first is the lightweight but entertaining tale of a 10-cent print which became a best seller and a cultural icon through the efforts of Anthony Comstock and the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice. Of course, that's not quite what they intended to do. I guess would-be censors just aren't bright enough to figure out that their effortsgive free publicity to the things they loathe.

Jurgen: Banned in Boston

Banned Books Week just would not be complete for me without at least one mention of James Branch Cabell and his best-known novel, Jurgen : A Comedy of Justice. It's another example of the work of the Comstock Publicity Agency, aka the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice. A short description of the 1920 censorship controversy over Jurgen can be found here, and here as part of a series of essays on book censorship. I'm sure Cabell appreciated the irony that this notoriety of being "banned in Boston" led directly to the bestseller status he enjoyed throughout the 1920's. Cabell had his own satirical say about the "Philistine" book-banners in a pamphlet called The Judging of Jurgen, which was included in later editions of the book. Although not quite up to his usual allusive, bantering style, it's worth reading.

That's all for tonight. I'm packing for yet another interview trip, and may or may not be able to post for the next few days. For now, I'll entertain myself by polishing that strange sigil I found while walking in the Garden Between Dawn and Sunrise.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it....

Some local government types may find pleasant surprises on their doorsteps Monday morning. I hope it does them some good. Sadly, I couldn't be a part of this, but I'm with the Bookcrossers in spirit. I hope no one misinterprets the phenomenon.

Forbidden Library (stolen link)

K. mentioned a banned-books link which is in some ways more snappy and interesting-looking than the ALA's page, while containing some of the same type of information: www.forbiddenlibrary.com

If you check the list of banned/challenged books by title, you will note, under the letter "B", a book highly favored by many prospective book-banners: the Bible, as translated by William Tyndale, who was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536 for the "crime" of translating the New Testament into a vernacular language at a time when the religious and political authorities wished to control the general public's knowledge and interpretation of the scriptures.

When I worked in a public library, I always made a point of including Tyndale's translation in any Banned-Books Week display I put up, for several reasons: as a way of trying to defuse potential objectors who might argue that BBW was politically "biased" against Christianity, as a way of acknowledging that Christian texts can be the target of censorship too, and as a sort of coded message against allowing earthly authorities to control religious belief. I somehow doubt that all three messages were received by the same people.

Banned Books Week

Today marks the beginning of Banned Books Week, September 20-27. From now through the 27th, I'm going to try to post one link a day dealing with a banned book or some other interesting censorship-related tidbit. Why not begin with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week page, and especially their list of the 100 most frequently challenged books? See any friends on the hit list?

Oh, the thrill of it all!

Ref Grunt is one of the funniest blogs I've ever seen. Also one of the saddest. I have lived this blog. If you have ever hungered for the glamorous life of a reference librarian, take a look.

Dang, dang, dang.

Librarian uber-blogger Jessamyn West beat me to the punch by blogcasting a link to the current issue of Library Juice, which contains excerpts from an ongoing dialogue between several American Library Association head honchos about whether the ALA should sever ties with its current legal counsel, the law firm of Jenner and Block. Jenner and Block also represents the Recording Industry Association of America, which may pose conflicts of interest, since the ALA and the RIAA seem destined to clash over fair use, "digital rights management", and other intellectual-property issues.

Oh well. If you don't subscribe to Library Juice or read Ms. West's blog, you heard about it here.

A Small Prayer

I spent the first part of today (Friday) looking for an alternative (read: cheaper) place to live, and the second part at the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society's annual convention in Gladstone, Michigan. While driving home and idly twirling the radio dial, I came across something called the "Gospel Opportunities Radio Network". (GORN?) The soaring, triumphant voices of the echo-enhanced choir and their synth-brass accompaniment seemed like an ironic soundtrack to my life, much like Brian cheerfully singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" while being executed, or Alex and his droogs committing mayhem to the bouncy strains of "Singin' in the Rain". And so I drove a while through the dark pine woods in the sort of meditative state that is inspired by headlights, highway lines, and long, deserted roads, all the while habitually listening for any telltale signs that my 18 year and 200,000 mile old pickup truck was preparing to throw off a belt, blow a seal, or otherwise self-destruct in some creative way.

And then The Voice came on. I could almost hear his shellacked hair and polyester suit as he intoned the following words in a fake-folky tone: "You know, folks, prayer is like room service, with everything charged to the Big Credit Card in the Sky!"

How long, O Lord, will the false prophets of Prosperity Theology infest the land, teaching people that You are merely a Big Credit Card in the Sky, or a Celestial Cash Register that will spew out whatever they desire if they are "Holy enough", send the right amount of bribe or protection money to the right denominational leader, or speak the right magic spell and call it a prayer? That You work for them, rather than the other way 'round? And that those who don't have shiny cars and big houses in fashionable communities are that way because You are righteously "punishing" them?

How long, Lord, how long?

Oh, and please forgive me for thinking that The Door is pretty damn funny, especially that article about the Prayer of Lamech.

An incremental victory

Louise at The Librarian's Rant brought it to my attention that, in response to political pressure from Congressman Bernie Sanders and other critics of the so-called "PATRIOT" Act, Attorney General John Ashcroft has agreed to supply information about how often Section 215 of the Act has been used to secretly rummage through library and bookstore records.

This is a Good Thing, assuming that the information supplied is complete and accurate. Accountability is an essential part of a functioning democracy, and one of the "PATRIOT" Act's most egregrious flaws is its emphasis on governmental secrecy and unaccountability, as exemplified by the Justice Department's refusal to supply Congress or American citizens with any information about how its various provisions were being used. But I hope this isn't just a sop thrown to the unexpectedly outspoken librarian lobby to keep them quiet while the Justice Department continues to use other provisions of the Act to push beyond the boundaries of the Constitution.

(I would have posted links to THOMAS's text of the "PATRIOT" Act, but THOMAS seems to be offline, possibly due to the hurricane currently raging through eastern Virginia. Damn hurricanes.)

Celebrity Death Match: Hollywood v. The Internet!

Those wacky, fun-loving Hollywood lobbyists and their representatives in Washington are at it again. House bill HR 2885, introduced on July 24 of this year, seeks to prohibit distribution of peer-to-peer file trading software. It's to protect the children, dontcha know. From THOMAS, the official website for US Congressional legislative information:

A BILL
To prohibit the distribution of peer-to-peer file trading software in interstate commerce.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act of 2003'.

The rest of the bill is considerably more entertaining than any comedy I've seen lately. It includes such amazing logical deductions as this:

(6) The availability of peer-to-peer systems as a distribution mechanism for child pornography may lead to further sexual abuse of children, because the production of child pornography is intrinsically related to sexual abuse of children.

I guess the parts of the bill that prohibit postal service, the printing press, cameras, film, and Internet use in general will be forthcoming later, right, guys? After all, they're "distribution mechanisms for child pornography".

The RIAA has stated its support for the bill. Some of its members' bloviations on the subject have been almost as amusing as the bill itself. For example:

"As a guy in the record industry and as a parent, I am shocked that these services are being used to lure children to stuff that is really ugly," said Andrew Lack, the chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment. (from an interview with a newspaper which has removed itself from civilized discourse, quoted here.)

Um, let's see: a record executive is shocked... shocked!... to find that sexualized images of youngsters are being distributed. ("Your winnings, sir.....")

As usual, the discussion at Slashdot ranges from Informative to Flamebait. To be honest, in reading the text of the bill, I can't see precisely where the bill explicitly outlaws peer-to-peer software, although it states that this is its purpose and mandates a long and ridiculously burdensome list of requirements, including age-verification and the development of "do-not-install beacons" which would prevent computers from installing p2p software if so desired by parents, employers, manufacturers, etc. Hmmm... can you think of any reason why the RIAA might want mandatory collection of identifying information about p2p users?

Perhaps someone with more legal expertise could see more than I do.

The bill is sponsored by Joe Pitt (Republicrat representing the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America) and, in a stunning display of party unity, 14 other representatives, all Republicrats representing the RIAA and MPAA. Check here to see if any of them are nominally supposed to be representing you instead. Whether or not your "representative" is one of the sponsors, let 'em know what you think of this bill. Pay attention to how they vote, and vote accordingly to what they do, not what they say in their slick, expensive pre-election propaganda next year.

Can you say Congresswhores, kiddies? I thought you could.

A phrase which unfortunately does not apply to me:

Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habeas.

(Discussed recently on the Stumpers listserv.)

Note for skywatchers in northern latitudes:

The gse-aa listserv, based at the University of Alaska, sent out the following alert today:

Passage of Earth through the solar wind neutral sheet on the 16th
produced some auroral activity seen in the northern tier of states in
the US and in Northern Europe now (1900 UT). There should be
continued activity tonight (9/17), and on the 18th, tapering off by
the weekend.

If you're in a northern clime and happen to be outdoors tonight or tomorrow night, Keep Looking Up. (Insert deedily-deedily-deedily Jack Horkheimer theme music here.)

Home again home again

Back from Westover late Sunday.

The countryside around Westover College and the surrounding town is pretty, with hills and forests and some fair-sized mountains visible in the distance, but to my midwestern-raised eyes, it seemed oddly disquieting. The hills (considerably steeper and closer together than the Ozarks, the hills of central Texas, or the Huron Mountains of northern Michigan) always seemed to be just a little too close, blocking out just a little too much of the sky, and the vegetation seemed almost jungle-like in its profusion, as if anything that stood still for a moment too long risked being overrun by vines and creepers.

Westover is a private and religiously-supported college, with a traditional and beautiful campus of red-brick Southern-colonial buildings around a tree-shaded campus. It would be a beautiful place to work, and the library, though small, has some pleasantly modern and populist touches, such as a good-sized CD collection of both classical and contemporary music and a leased browsing collection of current fiction, to go with the more traditional scholarly tomes and Internet terminals. The college is part of a consortium that makes it possible for it to have a good selection of electronic indexes and databases, although a different and smaller selection than I'm accustomed to.

Although religiously-affiliated, the college is politically more centrist than the much larger and much newer university on the other side of town. That's not saying much, though, considering that said university-across-town is run by Jerry Falwell.

Whether the interview went well or not, I can't say. I enjoyed talking with the library staff, and thought that I answered their questions reasonably well. The presentation went well, other than some momentary difficulty in getting J-STOR's cranky search interface to give useful search results in the demonstration. The head of the college library, however, seemed peculiarly insistent on reminding me that Westover is in a very conservative area, as if I couldn't notice for myself the two dozen Baptist churches I drove past on the way in from the airport. He also went out of his way to "casually" mention that the contract of an adjunct faculty member who had criticized the war in Iraq had not been renewed.

Supposedly, they'll make their decision in a week or two. We'll see.

Wish me luck

Not much time to blog today, since I'm packing for an interview trip to "Westover College". I don't know whether I'll be able to post messages while travelling. If not, hasta la vista, bay-bee, until Sunday.

Attention Wodehouse fans:

Blandings Castle has been found!

Biff, Pow, Shush Redux

It seems that other librarians have noticed and commented unfavorably on the Librarian Action Figure and her Amazing Push-Button Shushing Action. Despite my slightly snarky previous comments on this, I wonder whether those who object so strenuously have any constructive alternatives to offer, or are just reinforcing the stereotype of librarians as cranky, literal-minded sourpusses who can't take a joke. It's hard to think of suitable action-figure features for librarians, since most of the tasks they perform are considerably more complex and abstract than, say, launching plastic thunderbolts, or bopping bad guys upside the head with improbably-proportioned fists, and thus difficult to replicate in a toy. Computer keyboards or reference books scaled to match a five-inch high figure would be pretty useless. Shredding miniature library circulation records, disabling internet filters, or waving copies of the Constitution in John Ashcroft's face would be difficult to reproduce in plastic, as well as being unpopular with the Powers That Be.

Perhaps they'd prefer the projectile hair bun?

Rant of the Day: Library Internet filtering

K. brought to my attention the situation in the Ottawa, Ontario, public library, where a union representing library staff has filed a lawsuit to force use of Internet filters on library computers, arguing that it creates a hostile workplace environment when library staff see obnoxious images and websites accessed by people using uncensored Internet terminals. American librarians may well note the similarity to a recent lawsuit involving the Minneapolis Public Library.

I wonder -- does this mean that if I am mortally offended by websites run by, say, Planned Parenthood, or the Mormon Church, I can insist the library not permit them to be displayed, on the ground that seeing them creates a hostile environment for me? And what about books, including illustrated books and magazines, that portray things which I or other library staff find obnoxious? Can librarians summarily toss all those stupid Dr. Atkins diet books, Jackson Pollock's ugly paintings, and "Doctor" Schlessingers' self-righteous moralizing tracts in the trash because they offend... well, somebody?

This is just the latest clash between two competing and incongruent views of libraries.

One seeks to make libraries nice, safe sanctuaries from controversy and from everything that they regard as unpleasant or undesirable, a place where suburban mommies can safely dump the kiddies for free day care while they go shopping. A place where no one will ever find anything that might disturb their delicate sensibilities. Holders of this view are neither exclusively conservative nor liberal; in fact, the argument from percieved "workplace hostility" is lifted directly from the playbook of traditionally liberal-friendly sexual-harassment lawsuits, not from the moralistic Right's playbook of blue laws and obscenity statutes.

The other views libraries as gateways into the world of information and ideas, and acknowledges that such access inevitably means access to controversial, unfamiliar and sometimes ugly and obnoxious ideas and images. It believes that such access is essential for democracy or education to function properly, or for freedom of speech, press, religion, etc., to exist. And it recognizes that, given the power to censor, the advocates of censorship will not stop with banning squicky sex stuff. Peacefire, an anti-censorship website, provides ample examples of censorware banning political websites or advocacy groups, including, most arrogantly, sites like Peacefire that criticize filtering software. (The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation also have useful anti-censorship resources.)

In other words, it's perceived security versus liberty, just like the ongoing debate over the Patriot Act and related matters. And it's exacerbated by a refusal to acknowledge any difference between library usage by children and adults.

Neither side is willing to settle for a rational middle ground that would allow parents to designate a level of filtering to be applied to their children's Internet access, but preserve uncensored access for adults. Each insists on demanding all-out victory, the American Library Association demanding total unfiltered Internet access for children regardless of parental wishes, and the censors (N2H2, Focus on the Family, "Doctor" Laura, et al) demanding the power to pre-emptively ban adult citizens' access to anything and everything that they deem unpleasant. The ALA's insistence on recognizing no difference between adults and children is politically foolish, and difficult to defend in light of traditional parental prerogatives over children; the censors' insistence on controlling adults' as well as childrens' access shows their real motive, which is not to protect children, but to control what people are permitted to think.

American librarians, meanwhile, are trying to decide how to react to the US Supreme Court's July decision upholding the so-called "Children's Internet Protection Act", which mandates that any library receiving federal "E-Rate" technology subsidies install internet filters on all library computers, including those used by adults and staff, ostensibly "to protect the children". The midsummer issue of Walt Crawford's Cites & Insights newsletter is must reading on this topic. He analyzes the Court's decision and points out a number of things that librarians and library users should be aware of. Among other things, the Court's reasoning explicitly assumes that librarians are able and willing to promptly disable a filter whenever requested by an adult patron, without delay or intrusive questioning. Any library which fails to do so is operating outside the model endorsed by this case, according to Crawford.

Although I am not a lawyer, I note that although CIPA mandates filters, it does not specify how permissive or restrictive those filters must be, and I see no particular reason why libraries should be obligated to spend public tax money installing censorware which is likely to incorporate political or religious bias. The Court acknowledges that all filters overblock or underblock. Are libraries compelled to err on the side of overblocking? Are there permissive filters being developed which seek to minimize or wholly avoid the blocking of First-Amendment-protected material?

There are unintended financial consequences as well. If filtering software costs as much as or more than the federal subsidy that requires it, it makes the subsidy meaningless and eliminates any positive effect it might have had in making Internet access available to poor or rural libraries.

Decisions, decisions (or, Thoughts on Enumerating Embryonic Poultry.)

Despite the upcoming interview with "Westover College", I find myself intrigued by a few of the library positions I've seen advertised recently. One is at my undergraduate alma mater "Thee University". It would be interesting, I suppose, to return to the scene of my inglorious undergraduate days from the other side of the Great Divide between faculty and students, like some kind of academic Ouroboros chomping into its own hinder parts. I would already have a degree of background knowledge of the area, the local history, and the university that other candidates might take years to acquire, and I would be relatively close to friends and family whom I haven't seen in a long while. On the other hand, I found Thee University's spoken and unspoken rules to be vaguely irritating as an undergraduate, and I'm not sure how wise it would be to take a position where I would be continually surrounded by the kind of conformist-conservatives who I recall as being prevalent there. (As opposed to other kinds of conservatives, who might be quite interesting.)

Another advertised position is at a place I'll call the "University of Midwestia at Oldburg", an engineering-intensive state university located in a very rural area where my father attended yea these many years ago. It's in a pretty part of the country, and its special collections include some of the archives of one of my favorite railroads, with two or three comparably excellent archives on similar subjects located within a half-days' drive. The presence of many, many relatives in the area could be good or bad, though, and my father's recollection of the place is that it had little use for the humanities or social sciences

News flash!

As I was composing this entry, I got a call from a small downstate public library where I had applied, on a whim, for the directorship. Guess I'll be interviewing there later this month, although I find it difficult to believe that I'll be taken terribly seriously, having no managerial experience and a demeanor that a small-town library board might find unusual. But heck, if they're willing to pay for the gas, why not?

Biff! Pow! Shush!

For the benefit of those who haven't seen it already, here's a description of the forthcoming Librarian Action Figure based on the esteem'd Nancy Pearl of the Seattle Public Library. Who says that librarians aren't glamorous role models right up there with GI Joe and Barbie?

Granted, the "amazing push-button shushing action" isn't quite the groundbreaking, stereotype-defying type of feature that I plan to emulate, but it could have been worse. According to this article in the Seattle Times, the other option considered was a projectile hairbun.

Although I respect Ms. Pearl as an excellent librarian and literacy promoter, and enjoy reading her columns in Library Journal and elsewhere, I think I still prefer this Media Librarian Stereotype. And never forget that Batgirl Was a Librarian!

Come up and see my etchings...

This morning the Stumpers-L mailing list, a discussion forum for reference questions that have "stumped" reference librarians, had an interesting question. It seems that the famously insinuating suggestion that a member of the opposite sex "come up and see my etchings" is thought to have originated in the notorious Evelyn Nesbit Thaw affair of the early 1900's, in which Harry Thaw (the husband of showgirl Evelyn) shot Stanford White (one of her past lovers) in spectacularly public fashion during a play. Evelyn, the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing", is said to have testified in her husband's subsequent murder trial that his actions were justified because White had taken advantage of her after luring her into his home with an invitation to view his etchings.

But did she really say it? Or is it just another urban legend?

As recently as a year ago, a nearby university library held a copy of Evelyn's autobiography, which might reasonably be expected to contain her account of the trial and the events that led up to it. Unfortunately, it seems to have been discarded since then. Library "weeding" enthusiasts and techno-dogmatists who believe that "everything's on the internet", take note. To my knowledge, this book is out of print and nowhere available on the internet. Secondhand copies I found through Bookfinder are priced in the hundreds of dollars. Think before you weed.

There are times when the librarianly struggle to preserve the published and historical record seems doomed to be nothing but a long defeat.

Theology and Tolkien's "Long Defeat"

While Googling for the phrase "long defeat", I came across this interesting article from Crisis Magazine, which describes Tolkien's religious views and how they influenced the creation of Middle Earth. Excellent reading for anyone who's interested in Christianity and fantasy literature, or who wants to contrast Tolkien's authorial intentions with Peter Jackson's ongoing film adaptation.

Comments welcome

Okay folks, the comments link seems to be working. Fire away.

In honor of this auspicious occasion, here's a link to the lyrics of a song that seems appropriate.

(They've) been workin' on the railroad

According to the local free entertainment-and-events monthly, the Houghton County Historical Society, way up in the Keewenaw Peninsula, is building an impressive "train layout" using secondhand rails donated by the LS&I ore-hauling railroad and a collection of rolling stock including a narrow-gauge 0-4-0 tank engine which formerly belonged to the Calumet & Hecla mining railroad. If anyone reading this has entertained thoughts of restoring a steam engine, take a look at their railroad webpage for a sobering description of the work and expense needed to get even a pint-sized steam engine back into action. I think a pilgrimage to Lake Linden might be in my future.

Due to popular demand (Okay, two people... hi Carlos, hi K.), I've revamped the template of this weblog, which was originally created as a one-shot experiment to see how Blogger worked. I had completely forgotten about it until someone asked earlier this week whether I had ever tried blogging. This query led me to delve back into Blogger to try to find the page, and in the process I clicked on a link to Carlos's weblog which I had inserted into the experimental page. His evil spyware recorded the referring link, and next thing I knew he had "outed" the existence of the page.

The current layout may be unoriginal, but at least it's not quite as horrible-looking as the previous iteration. I'm still not quite sure why I thought dark-blue and black was a good color scheme. Perhaps it was because I was playing with the computer late at night in a darkened library after everyone else had gone home, and subconsciously chose a screen display that would be less glaringly visible to campus security officers and other random passers-by who might look in the windows and wonder what that weird guy was doing in the library after hours.

More importantly, the current template is much simpler than the first one I used, which helps immensely in trying to figure out how to edit it by trial and error. The title may change without warning if and when I think of something that I like better. "Hill of Himring" was the result of a moment's whim when I first experimented with Blogger. (Anyone who knows where the name came from can win free karma points, I guess, although only those who already know my e'mail address are eligible to answer, until I start playing with comments fields.)

I may even start posting to it occasionally, whether or not I have anything of importance to say to the World At Large.

Recent news? Let's see. Since my contract with my previous employer ended on June 30th, I've spent part of each day cruising library job-posting websites and mailing or e'mailing resumes. Unfortunately, a recently discovered fondness for Trigun and Cowboy Bebop, a couple of Japanese anime series which the Cartoon Network airs at 1-2 a.m. local time, has exacerbated my tendency to sleep later than Ben Franklin would deem advisable, so this usually doesn't get done until the afternoon.

Today was a bit different. A freind and former library co-worker was visiting This Fair City for a high school reunion, so we got together for a few beers at the freindly local brewpub and a hike to the top of nearby Sugarloaf Mountain. She was kind and considerate and did not call until after 11 a.m., fortunately. There was some mention made of going swimming in Lake Superior tomorrow.

Notable quote: "It's not so bad after you get numb."

Some bad news: about 5:55 this afternoon, one of the places I interviewed in July finally got back in touch with me to notify me that they'd hired someone else for the position. Oh well, there's always the upcoming interview with a place I'll call "Westover College", and another university in the same general area just e'mailed me to query about references, so the farce continues.

This is not a functioning weblog at present. It's a brief one-shot experiment, to which an acquaintance of mine posted a link without querying me first. Perhaps I'll play with it some more in the future, but for now, there's nothing to see, folks, so move along....

Hi K.!