Twitter: Not for Conferences for me

I recently spent some vacation time at ALA. I took it as vacation so I could visit friends and family after the conference was done.
Like Walt Crawford before me, I thought Twitter had potential as a communications tool during ALA. He didn’t find it helpful, but I thought it was worth a shot. I had [...]

Cheers for Padma

As I’ve mentioned before and will try not to overuse, I was named one of Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers for 2008. In the printed issue, I was fortunate to share the page with Padma Polepeddi. I say fortunate, because based on her profile, I’d say we’re something of kindred spirits. She reportedly “buttonholes new [...]

Welcome Determined LJ Readers!

At the possible risk of sounding narcissistic, I’d like to extend a warm Alaskan welcome to anyone who found this blog as a result of reading my profile On a Mission in the March 15, 2008 issue of Library Journal.
My post title refers to determined LJ readers because Library Journal printed the prior address for [...]

Japanese Libraries in the 1930s: No Maps for You!

The book North Pacific: Japan Siberia, Alaska, Canada by Edward Weber Allen has an entertaining story of the author’s visits to several libraries in Japan back in the 1930s. The chapter is called “libraries” and appears from pages 232 to 236. One part that struck me was the author’s inability to view maps of Japan [...]

RDA: Imminent Debacle?

RDA: Imminent Debacle is an opinion piece by Michael Gorman in the December 2007 issue of American Libraries appearing on page 64.
My blog post here is not to pass judgment on the new Resource Description and Access (RDA) or on the current Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules AACR2.
What I do want to address is Mr. Gorman’s interesting [...]

A Beacon Level Error and the McLaughlin Group

I was listening to episode 23 of Uncontrolled Vocabulary this morning and learned a new phrase - “A Beacon Level Error.” This phrase was used by Greg and several guests to describe the possible outcome of Google’s new Knoll initiative. For those totally unengaged in social networking, Beacon was a very bad idea by Facebook [...]

Nuevo servicio para detectar plagios

Plagiarism lives the world over, as this post by Argentine blogger Diana Rodriguez suggests:

Nuevo servicio para detectar plagios

via BiblioTICando(r). Blog bibliotecario con humor (por Diana Rodríguez) by Diana Rodríguez on Aug 20, 2007
“Según informa María Valerio, para El mundo.es Salud, se ha implementado un nuevo servicio para detectar y frenar el plagio de publicaciones [...]

Griffin James

Congratulations to Greg Schwartz, host of Uncontrolled Vocabulary and one of the nicest and most knowledgable librarians I know.
Griffin James

P1000453
Originally uploaded by planetneutral.
I hope you’ll join me in welcoming the newest member of our family, Griffin James, born 11:05 this morning. Both he and Mommy are doing well, as is Daddy.
Comments?

Librarian resistance through the ages

Stephen Abrams has a post called Kicking and Screaming, which gives a good overview of technologies or approaches that librarians have resisted over the years.
A few good quotes:
“It is certainly not the function of the public library to foster the mind-weakening habit of novel-reading among the very classes—the uneducated, busy or idle—whom it is the [...]

Uncontrolled Vocabulary - Listen Today, Talk Tomorrow

If you’re a librarian and you haven’t yet listened to Greg Schwartz’s new podcast Uncontrolled Vocabulary, zip on over to the site (see below) and listen to the first episode. Then sign up for the podcast.
Uncontrolled Vocabulary (UV) #1 featured Greg and several other librarians having a live discussion on various library issues from patron [...]