Look Around You: Ghosts

Because it’s the week of Halloween, allow me to share this episode from one of my favorite television shows with you. Enjoy!

Some Of My Recent Work

Readers, I would like to share with you this video featuring some of my recent photographic work. Enjoy!

Mr. Carter’s Library

The library director of the Amon Carter Museum Library today uploaded an interesting description of the original contents of that library. I thought I would share the link with you.

Amon G. Carter’s Library, at the N-Files

Digital Libraries

Since starting library school a few months ago, I am frequently asked about efforts to digitize, as well as share the information that libraries collectively hold. I could point these people to a few places, but this is the best summation I have seen, and I thought you might enjoy it.

Behold! The Power of Libraries

I just finished looking at this post about the power of libraries, and thought I would share with you all. Follow the link!

Libraries in Action, by Dave Lankes.

Educational Thoughts

I was reading Barack Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope earlier this week, and came across a thought-provoking quote about education, appearing on pages 192-193.

If we’re serious about building a twenty-first-century school system, we’re going to have to take the teaching profession seriously. This means changing the certification process to allow a chemistry major who wants to teach to avoid additional expensive course work; pairing up new recruits with master teachers to break their isolation; and giving proven teachers more control over what goes on in their classrooms.

It also means paying teachers what they’re worth. There’s no reason why an experienced, highly qualified, and effective teacher shouldn’t earn $100,000 annually at the peak of his or her career. Highly skilled teachers in such critical areas as math and science - as well as those willing to teach in the toughest urban schools - should be paid even more.

There’s just one catch. In exchange for more money, teachers need to become more accountable for their performance - and school districts need to have greater ability to get rid of ineffective teachers.

So far, teacher’s unions have resisted the idea of pay for performance, in part because it could be disbursed at the whim of a principal. The unions also argue - rightly, I think - that most school districts rely solely on test scores to measure teacher performance, and that test scores may be highly dependent on factors beyond any teacher’s control, like the number of low-income or special-needs students in their classroom.

But these aren’t insoluble problems. Working with teacher’s unions, state and school districts can develop better measures of performance, ones that combine test data with a system of peer review (most teachers can tell you with amazing consistency which new teachers in their schools are really good, and which are really bad). And we can make sure that nonperforming teachers no longer handicap children who want to learn.

Let me say, I am not endorsing this, nor asking you to accept it - I simply thought it was a thought-provoking article.

- Jason Dean

The State Fair of Texas

Dear readers,

As you might know, last weekend Jen and I went to the State Fair of Texas. As I know some of you are from out of state, or have never been to the state fair, indulge me for a moment while I give you a brief overview of this annual event.

Since 1886, the state fair has been held at Fair Park in Dallas, home to some lovely art deco architecture built for the Texas Centennial in 1936. Since 1952, a fifty-two foot tall cowboy named Big Tex welcomes visitors to the fair. The fair is also home to a large assortment of fried foods (including fried butter) as well as a large midway. The centerpiece of the midway is the Texas Star, the largest Ferris wheel in North America. The Texas State Fair is the largest on the United States, and has an annual attendance of approximately three million people, second only to the Minnesota State Fair in attendance. It’s a great experience, one which we try to go to every couple of years. We love going for the experience itself, as well as what a great social equalizer the fair is. People from all walks of life come to enjoy themselves, and eat a bit too much fried food.

Jen and I went on a particularly lovely day last weekend, and the weather was not unnoticed by many of our fellow fair-goers. The fair was very busy - so much so it took us about thirty minutes to get through the front gate. Admission was fairly inexpensive due to a free ticket (you know who you are - thanks!) and we proceeded on to eat the only “true” Texas State Fair Food - Fletcher’s Corny Dogs.

Let me tell you, there are corny dogs and then there are Corny Dogs, with Fletcher’s being purveyors of the latter variety of hot dog on a stick. Perfectly cooked with a tasty breading, Fletcher’s are excellent - and best eaten at the fair. Half of the enjoyment of eating the corny dogs is trying to put your condiment of choice on it with your hands full, as well as trying to eat standing up while staying out of the way of your fellow fairgoers. Jen and I managed to successfully consume three dogs between us, as well as take some fun photos of the corny dogs and Big Tex himself.

After our bellies were full, we moved on to the indoor car show. This is one of my favorite parts of the fair - the opportunity to look at and sit in cars, without the annoying salesmen, is wonderful. I can report that the new Lexus hybrid is great if you are in the market, and so is the new Subaru Outback. Our favorite, though, was the new Prius. People were crowded around the new Camaros on the floor, ogling them - but we just moved on. I’m sure my brother James is annoyed by this - but sorry - we just weren’t interested.

As we left the car show, it began raining lightly - which we took as our sign to start wrapping things up. We proceeded into the food hall, home to the many fried culinary curiosities that the fair is well known for. Fried Butter, Chicken Fried Bacon, and most unusual was the Fried Coca-Cola. We did not try any of these foods, as we were out of Lipitor and coupons needed to purchase the food.

Leaving the food hall, we walked around the side of the Cotton Bowl to the Midway. The midway has lots of games you can play, with prizes awarded with varying regularity at each stall. Another highlight of the midway are the rides, all of which looked a little questionable to Jen and I - but maybe that’s just me growing up with a family that runs an amusement park mistrusting carnival rides. I will say everyone on them was safe, and sounded like they were having a great time, though I cannot speak to whether or not fried food and the rides went well together. The Grand Dame of the midway is the huge Ferris wheel, the Texas Star. I rode this once with my dad, and you can hear the slag from the welds rattling around inside the support arms as you go around. With Jen (and my) fear of heights, we passed on taking a ride.

We made our way around to where we came in, and got to the car. We were tired, but we had a great time. I feel sure in saying it will be another couple of years until we return - but hopefully we made a few great photos - which will be posted either on the site here, or on flickr.

Check out the fair, if you can - it’s a great place!

- Jason Dean

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Fair_of_Texas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Park

A Note from Cosby

Well hello, hello, humans!

I just wanted to write today and tell you things are going well for me. I have calmed down quite a bit, and I am really enjoying this home life. It’s great!

I think my favorite new thing I want to tell you about is my new litter box. I used to love scattering my litter all across the floor, something which annoyed Jen and Jason to no end. Now, though, I can’t do that anymore because of the litter box. Also, I like it because it’s much more environmentally friendly, and I can do my cat business in private.

It’s called a ModKat, and if you have a cat, I’d say check it out!

- Cosby

My Time on the Reference Desk

Yesterday I sat down with a library staff member to observe for an hour at the reference desk of the Amon Carter Museum Library. The observation was very fruitful, as I learned about the many facets that constitute working the reference desk in the library.

First, staffing the reference desk in the library includes many different tasks. Of course, one does fulfill reference duties, which are top priority while working the reference desk, but a person staffing the reference desk is also responsible for observing patrons and protecting the artwork that is displayed in the library. Another responsibility reference desk staffers are charged with is to continue their normal duties if they are not fulfilling their reference duties. Meaning that they need to continue cataloging and circulation duties if they are not answering reference questions.

After a general demonstration of tasks associated with working the reference desk, I learned that the Carter library answers reference questions in three ways: through e-mail, phone, and in-person. The library also answers reference questions through postal mail, but this option is rarely used - the library might receive three questions through postal mail in a year. Most reference questions from the public are submitted to the library through phone calls, followed by email, and then in-person reference sessions. Museum staff members mostly submit their reference questions in-person, with a few phone and email questions submitted.

After giving me a rundown of the monthly reference statistics, I was then shown the steps taken to answer most reference questions. Many requests deal with information about a specific artist or artwork. If this is the case, the person working the reference desk generally will consult the bio files first. The bio files are simply a collection of ephemera about a specific artist. While the patron consults these items, the person working the reference desk then will consult the library catalog to see what items the library has about the topic. Before pulling books, the patron is consulted again to narrow their request a bit further, and then if they are needed, items are pulled from the stacks and brought to the reading room. A phone reference interview needs to be more specific, so that the resources can be pulled and consulted with the person on the phone. If the needed resources are found, they can be photocopied or scanned and emailed to the patron.

However, as a non-profit institution, staff members or volunteers of the Amon Carter are not allowed to value, or authenticate works of art. If a valuation or authentication request is made, the patron is referred to an appropriate appraiser or authenticator.

Overall, my time observing was very illuminating as to the multiple roles of working the reference desk. One does not simply answer patron questions - one also has a number of other responsibilities to manage. I look forward to observing again next week!