The American Library Association has taken action on the proposed EPA Library Network budget cuts. This is the kind of advocacy that makes the pittance I spend on ALA dues worth every penny. Yes, pittance: I spend more on my local NPR affiliate… more on Starbucks… and, let’s see… even at $1.09 per cup twice [...]
Tags: American Liberry Ass'n
Steven Cohen has a post on Library Stuff about regretting comments as of late. I posted a comment, but all I can say on FRL, sitting here in the wet darkness of a California winter that won’t stop, is that I’m glad the Steven I know is back: that funny, quirky, unafraid, observant, but basically [...]
Tags: Librarianship
In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
You will hear almost nary a word of complaint about the MFA program I’m in. I’m happy with it. My writing has improved. I’ve made good friends. And I even forgive Aaron Shurin for making us read W.G. Sebald. But I need to gripe.
Don’t get me wrong: In Cold Blood is [...]
Tags: FRL Spotlight Reviews · Writing
As I patiently hand-code the user comments in the survey for My Place Of Work (2,000 down, 4,000 to go!), I come across quite a bit of humor from librarians in the trenches. My favorite so far: “We could have the government declare war on you, then spend billions to subsidize your infrastructure…”
Bookmark to:
Tags: MPOW
I couldn’t figure out why I felt so icky in my PJs this morning until I realized I had fallen asleep last night in my gym clothes, sitting in front of the TV set during the first five minutes of what I persist in calling Miami Vice.
Sandy says she kept shouting at me to [...]
Tags: Blogging
I have fallen behind on a few bits of personal news.
Isabelle, the little girl I told you about earlier, is still seriously ill, but following stomach surgery is holding her own.
I’m about seven weeks away from my last class in the MFA program, and then I’ll spend the summer working one-on-one with a [...]
Tags: American Liberry Ass'n
.flickr-photo { }
.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }
.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
MPOW Talk at PLA 2006, originally uploaded by freerangelibrarian.
That happy fella in the front row is none other than PUBLIB denizen Thomas “DatCalmGuy” Hennen. The talk went well, the crowd was enthusiastic, and the best part, after it [...]
Tags: American Liberry Ass'n
This is just a preliminary report on the 2006 user survey at My Place Of Work (MPOW). I’m writing this prior to going to PLA, in preconference gear-up mode, so it’s somewhat rudimentary. But I wanted to THANK everyone who contributed. We had over 6,000 completed surveys, 1,471 suggestions for addressing our budget shortfall, and [...]
Tags: MPOW
Nice upward bump in turnout! Per Mary Ghikas, “As of 3:14pm today, 3/20/06: 3,849 voted. (The first reported statistics for 2005: 2,764 as of 3/22/05.)”
I’m partially through my ballot. I plan to get it done before I leave for PLA Wednesday night. The interface is nicer than last year’s. It’s not perfect, [...]
Tags: American Liberry Ass'n
I’m headed off to the big city to research local newspapers from the mid-1980s–the kind of material that’s not online. I just wanted to be extra sure before my northern trek that the library was open and the materials were available, so I asked, “This isn’t the day that you’re cleaning the microfilm, is it?” [...]
Tags: Librarianship