LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text
"Unable to rest their eyes on a colorful photograph or boldface heading that could be easily skimmed and forgotten about, Americans collectively recoiled Monday when confronted with a solid block of uninterrupted text...Dumbfounded citizens from Maine to California gazed helplessly at the frightening chunk of print, unsure of what to do next. Without an illustration, chart, or embedded YouTube video to ease them in, millions were frozen in place, terrified by the sight of one long, unbroken string of English words."

BoingBoing Pointed the way to this funny because it's true comic: Audiobook DRM versus the patrons of the Cleveland Library. "This installment of the Brads webcomic shows the 22 steps a reader has to take in order to borrow a DRM-crippled audiobook from the public library. A compelling argument for libraries to boycott this stuff."

“Balan whispered to the Wart, “Colonel Cully is not quite right in his wits. It is his liver, we believe, but the kestrel says it is the constant strain of living up to her ladyship’s standard. He says that her ladyship once spoke to him from her full social station once, cavalry to infantry, you know, and that he just closed his eyes and got the vertigo. He has never been the same since.” T. H. White. The Once & Future King.

One of the questions that comes up frequently, especially among librarians applying for their first or second job, is the question of social status. While we may not understand it, we all recognize it, especially when it is applied to us. Mostly it is seen when a librarian attempts to change the type of job he or she does in a library.

"It doesn't surprise me that there are problems of going from one aspect of librarianship to another. It violates class rules in libraries, and upsets the social order. Actually, there is an unnamed but very strongly identified pecking order in the class of librarians. Why are people getting so upset over this problem? Passions are heated because the stakes are so small. Actually, social settings are set up rather like a water fountain, with a number of different library jobs floating at the top, but fewer identified ones at the bottom."

As the LISNews Librarian Essay Contest winds down it seems like a good time to formally announce the LISNews Librian Joke Contest! We won't judge each joke, but anyone who submits a joke will be entered to win some cool prizes.

From www.funkandweber.com and www.StitchingForLiteracy.com ...a set of four Needle and ThREAD: Stitching for Literacy cross stitch bookmark patterns, including two designed from the old chicken-and-frog library joke. You know, a chicken walks into a library and says, "book, Book, BOOK!" (you gotta say it like a chicken), so the librarian gives her a book. The chicken takes the book outside and down to a pond where a frog sits on a lily pad and croaks, "read-it, read-it" (that's right, say it like a frog).

Book Marks from www.InMyBook.com
Web Hosting from www.LISHost.org

You'll want to submit your joke(s) HERE starting on MONDAY.

Follow along on the tracker page (http://lisnews.org/joketracker) or RSS feed (http://lisnews.org/jokes/rss)

I'm a librarian. In May I will begin my eighth year as a librarian. I also write a weekly column for a small town newspaper. This I have been doing since Christ was a pup. Hopefully that note will not offend any other Christians as much as it does myself, but I digress. One of my two library bosses (classic case of too many Indians and not enough chiefs -- again, if you find that offensive let me note that I'm a lone librarian in the only public library located on this particular Indian Reservation) knows I write said column. Who knows what the other boss knows. This regional library system keeps secrets better than the CIA. In fact, it keeps them so well, sometimes it's years before us lone librarians hear of them. Usually policy and procedure nonsense of little or no consequence. Usually.

My patrons are better than most. I am a bitch. Former substitute teaching has to be the best training for a lone librarian who takes over the reigns of a library gone wild. Kids on the Internet looking at porn (yes, this was prior to the infamously bad filters), people speaking very loudly (the former librarian boasting that this was the "loudest in the system"), books in disarray, and yes, the prior librarian will come back and kill me if she got wind of this, so let's not spread it around. Today my library is quiet enough to read. And being one large room, this is really a plus. Just the presence of the chess set on the back table screams QUIET. Just the way I like it.

Sarah Palin is taking cues form Cliff Stoll. See the first minute of this video. Pay special attention from the 40 second to the 50 second mark in the video.

On the heels of last night’s post, I saw this older article come across Twitter entitled “100 Things You Should Know About People: #8 — Dopamine Makes You Addicted To Seeking Information”. Apparently, it would appear that librarians are not simply the kind, educated information philanthropists that society and culture has caricatured us. No, we are users and pushers for the dopamine system.

[…] the latest research shows that dopamine causes seeking behavior. Dopamine causes us to want, desire, seek out, and search. It increases our general level of arousal and our goal-directed behavior. (From an evolutionary stand-point this is critical. The dopamine seeking system keeps us motivated to move through our world, learn, and survive). It’s not just about physical needs such as food, or sex, but also about abstract concepts. Dopamine makes us curious about ideas and fuels our searching for information. The latest research shows that it is the opoid system (separate from dopamine) that makes us feel pleasure.

10 Best Songs About Libraries and Librarians
"So you’re laid up in bed with the flu like everyone else, with nothing to do but chug Emergen-C, ride the NyQuil train, and gaze glassy-eyed at hours of DVRed shows that you’d usually let languish. It’s time for a new playlist! When even keeping your eyes open starts to hurt, queue up this nerdy mixtape and zonk out to the best in library-inspired jams. Thanks to @flavorpill follower Lauren for the smart (and challenging!) idea."

Offline Book "Lending" Costs U.S. Publishers Nearly $1 Trillion

From what we've been able to piece together, the book "lending" takes place in "libraries". On entering one of these dens, patrons may view a dazzling array of books, periodicals, even CDs and DVDs, all available to anyone willing to disclose valuable personal information in exchange for a "card". But there is an ominous silence pervading these ersatz sanctuaries, enforced by the stern demeanor of staff and the glares of other patrons. Although there's no admission charge and it doesn't cost anything to borrow a book, there's always the threat of an onerous overdue bill for the hapless borrower who forgets to continue the cycle of not paying for copyrighted material.

Thanks Chuck!

The Librarians

The US definitely needs to import the Australian TV series 'The Librarians' here.

It worked for 'The Office.'

I made this picture for one of my MLIS class presentations, we'll see how it goes this Tuesday night.