Something To Talk About: Presents

If you think that it's crass that I am writing about some things I got for Christmas, I apologize. This post is my way of thanking some people for a couple of really special gifts I received this Christmas.

First, let me open the post with this video of Cosby and my BOOK for iPad case:

My Top Five Books of 2010: Best Book of 2010

Well, it's Christmas Eve, and I hope you all have those that you love with you already, or coming soon. I love this time of year - it has been hectic, but wonderful! For a very small Christmas Eve present for you, I want to share with you what I thought was the best book I read in 2010:

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 2

Reader,

I hope you know the drill by now - I am listing my top five books that I read in 2010. It's pretty fun, and I hope you all are enjoying it. Ok, enough of me yammering, let's get on to book number two, shall we?

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 3

Continuing in the theme of this week, I would like to share with you what I thought was the third best book of 2010... (drumroll)

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 4

As promised here we are again with the top books of 2010 series. Today's book comes in as no. 4 on the list, and here it is:

My Top Five Books of 2010: Book 5

On Saturday, I said I would share with you my top five books of 2010, starting with book 5, and ending with what was the best book I read in 2010. Well, without further ado, here it is:

What I read in 2010

It's the week of Christmas, and so as my gift to you, I would like to share with you the list of the 51 books I read this year. First, here's a photo of all the books I read, in chronological order from top to bottom:

Thoughts on the Codex

I was looking at my clippings in Evernote last night, and read an article about the bookstores in San Francisco. Early in our relationship, Jen and I went to San Francisco for a furiously quick and intense trip - and ever since, I have longed to return there. While reading the article, this quote caught my eye and gave me pause:

Phases, or, Thoughts on Syracuse

December the 15th marks the conclusion of my studies for my MSLIS at Syracuse. I suppose that means that it's time for me to think about my experiences there, and perhaps share a few of those experiences with you. A year and a half ago, I applied to several schools for my library degree (I call it that as I think they all give them different acronyms). In no particular order, I applied to the University of North Texas, Rutgers University, University of Washington, and Syracuse University. I was accepted at North Texas, Rutgers (on a wait list), and Syracuse. Of all these universities, Syracuse was simply stellar in talking to me and getting me up to speed. That (as well as their reputation) had a great deal to do with my choice to pursue my MSLIS there.

Job Search Update

Readers,

As you might know I have been searching for a professional position as a librarian over the past month. After approximately 50 applications and several interviews (with a few different places), I am excited to share with you that I have accepted a position at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art as the Cataloger & Technical Services Librarian. Jen and I are both thrilled about the job, about the institution, and to explore an all new area. I just want to tell you that you'll see lots of updates about the move and our experiences moving and discovering a new place.

So, what does the position entail? Well, here is the official description:

The Cataloger/Technical Services Librarian’s primary responsibilities are cataloging, managing the library automation & e-resources technology, and receiving & processing materials for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Library. The Catalog/Technical Services Librarian will also support the museum’s general operation by participating on teams and projects, and serve as a reference librarian as needed.

So, I get to catalog and do reference - two of the things I love to do as a librarian! I will also have a hand in the creation, cataloging, and implementation of a new library collection, which is really thrilling. Any other questions? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!!

(Here's an image of the museum under construction as of February 28th of 2010. Click the museum's name above for recent photos!)

In Defense of the Museum

Last week in one of my classes, a discussion arose about whether or not digital libraries are "the great equalizer" in the "battle" between museums and libraries. As you can imagine, I had some things to share on this point, and so I want to share with you the original post, followed by my response.

Is, or About?

A series of conversations in different contexts have me thinking about the age-old question for catalogers - do you describe the "about" of an item or the "is?" Let me back up before I continue...

Time (The Revelator)

One of the projects Jen and I are working on this week is wrapping up work on our yearly compilation CD. This is a CD we create every Christmas - included on which are songs which had some significance to us, or songs we really liked that were introduced in the course of the year. It's a lot of fun to make.

One of the songs on this years' mix is one of my favorite songs, Revelator, by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. It's a beautiful song with an almost equally beautiful video:

Holidays

Readers, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. Jen and I did - and we are now back and ready to finish up the year. I have a few projects for school to wrap up, and so The Dean Files postings by me might not be quite what they have been, and I apologize for that. Stick around, as things will get better!

Social Media Tools and Libraries

It's Friday - and I'd just like to share a presentation with you. Uber-librarian Jessamyn West recently gave a talk about social media tools and libraries, titled The Mayor of Everywhere: Using Social Tools to Be More Places at Once. I think it's a great talk, and if you click through this link here, you'll go right to the talk. What do you think about it? Have a great weekend!

200 Million Records

In the latest issue of C&RL News (Nov. 2010), there were a few things of note for me. First, if you are going to put a QR code on your cover, please don't cover it up with an address label! Second, Erin Dorney, young librarian extraordinaire, had another great Job of a Lifetime article - so cool!

An eBook Epiphany...

I felt as though I had an epiphany yesterday about eBooks. Someone else has probably had this thought before - I just haven't seen it. Anyhow - here it is:

A Catalog Mashup Idea

I was cataloging a book about the Hudson River school yesterday, and as I examined the record, I wondered to myself what purpose the 043 fields in a MARC record serve. I know they "have" to be there when you have a 651 field. Before I go further, allow me to explain myself a bit.

In the Year 3000...

It's Thursday, and for me the semester is beginning to wind down. There's been a lot to do, especially in my digital libraries course. One of the things that keeps me centered in this whole digital libraries movement and my education in it is this image, a cover by Dan Clowes for The New Yorker:

The Kimbell

The Kimbell Art Museum here in Fort Worth recently broke ground on their Renzo Piano addition - something that has been a long time coming. I want to share with you one of my favorite quotes from the American artist (and one of my favorites) Donald Judd about the original Louis Kahn building, as well as some images from the original construction and some images I took this week during the initial phases of construction on the Piano building.

Visual Explanations and Classification

Remember my previous post about Edward R. Tufte and Classification? Well, my presentation was well-received, and I would like to share it with you.

Bicycles and Fall

Fall has officially arrived here in Fort Worth. Jen and I have been celebrating with mulled Apple cider (yum), breaking out the jackets, and putting the winter comforter on the bed. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons, but this year has been absolutely lovely.

RDA Discussion

Readers,

I know I rarely do this, but I just want to share a link with you. This post over at Bibliographic Wilderness is one of the best overall discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of RDA I have seen. So, if you are interested, here's the link:

ALCTS RDA Presentation, at Bibliographic Wilderness

What do you think about what is said over there?

The Semantic Web

This idea of the semantic or linked web is a concept I have been wrestling with over several months. It's a concept I see bandied about regularly in American Libraries, but I think it's something few people outside of the programming and IT world take the time to familiarize themselves with. As a librarian, I think it's my responsibility to at least be conversant with this new web initiative, and (as I think it's a great concept) it is something I would like to advocate for.

A Lovely Morning

Readers,

It's a wonderful morning here in Fort Worth - it's nice and crisp outside, and it's November 2nd, which means it's election day. I know it's the midterm elections, which are less "fun" than the presidential ones, but I love voting. I really love voting with my wife on a cool November morning. So, go vote today regardless of who you vote for, and make sure your voice is heard. I think, perhaps a quote from LBJ is in order:

Indexing

Readers,

Once again, The Dean Files is back in action. Last week was great, but very busy, full of things that I hope to be able to share with you at a later date. Jen and I celebrated our second anniversary, which was lovely!

Cataloging is Suddenly... Cool?

Diane Shaw's post for the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System blog titled What It's Like to be a Cataloger has been getting a great deal of traction in the online library world. I think it's great - especially when a specialization in cataloging and metadata generation has been under attack in this era of shrinking staff and budget cuts. It's also nice to read the thoughts of other professionals about why they love cataloging (as I do). Here's a lovely quote from Ms. Shaw's post:

Family History

I am currently reading Studs Terkel's oral history of World War II, titled The Good War. The book has been a great read, thus far - but I don't want to make this a book review post. It's really more about the importance of proactively learning about and recording your family history. I think this is something either done piecemeal by family members, or done after the passing of key familial figures.

Art Books and e-Books

I spend a significant amount of my time at the Carter working with what are broadly referred to as "art books." Be it fielding a reference query, cataloging, or shelving, much of my time is spent with these types of books. They are wonderful to view - high quality images and quality binding and paper. They are, though, quite heavy and ungainly to move - something I recently discovered when helping Jon Frembling with a major shift in the stacks. That said, they do serve an important purpose - they offer high quality reproductions of artworks for those of us that cannot visit (or own) the works of art reproduced in the books. They offer a convenient and personal method by which individuals can study or casually view artworks reproduced in these books. You might think this type of "analog" book will be replaced by, or at least outmoded by, an electronic replacement. Well, an article I read last week by Jim Lewis titled iPad, Meet Your Nemesis : Why art books won't become e-books any time soon points out that this might not be the case at all.

Baseball Archivists and Metadata

You know, it's aways interesting where metadata pops up. I was reading the New York Times on my iPad on the 13th of this month (October) and I read the article For Baseball Archivists, a Tag Ends Every Play, by John Branch, that combines two things I am very passionate about: baseball and metadata. This fascinating article discusses the task of describing all of the games in a "baseball year" (approximately 10,000 hours) with metadata, or, tags.

Tufte and Classification

One of the most fascinating classes I am taking this semester is IST 631 - Theory of Classification and Subject Representation, with Dr. Barbara Kwasinik. The class examines some of the psychology and methodology behind classifications, as well as best practices and implementation of the human act of classification. It's great looking at an intersection between my professional interests, as well as my broader personal interests (psychology, sociology, et cetera). Here's the official description, if you are so inclined:

Further Updates

Well, friends, our Mac has still not returned, but I am holding out hope to have it soon. Never fear, I am compiling many blog topic ideas to share with you when Rex returns. In the meantime, I have been working through classwork, and reasearching best practices for cataloging periodicals. Oh! I also signed up for ARLIS/NA, which is something I have been meaning to do for a long while.



Yesterday, I attended a talk by Joe Studholme about Banks' Florilegium, which was absolutely fascinating. Click that previous link if you want to earn more. It's been a great week, and I hope to have more to share next week - have a great weekend!

Allison V. Smith at the Barry Whistler Gallery

Friends,

I want to tell you that Jen and I are both thrilled to be attending Allison V. Smith's opening of new photographs from Maine, titled Maine. I'd usually say something pithy about the title, but I think it's great.

Rex and the Disaster

Well, friends, I want to tell you my blogging has been less regular than usual because not only have Jen and I been sick, but on Thursday our Mac, Rex, cratered. He acted funny and then wouldn't boot up. We took him into the Apple Store on Saturday, so we should have him back sometime next week. All I can say is AppleCare is your friend. Anyhow, I will do my best to post every day - thanks for sticking around!

Jason

Apologies and the Beinecke

Readers, I want to apologize for my lack of posts. I am feeling quite sick with a cold, but I still wanted to check in and let you know that I am still in this plane, and I anticipate a full recovery by Monday. At least that's what I am hoping for.

Old Movies and Fall

Well, as Jen has pointed out, cooler weather has arrived here in Fort Worth, heralding the arrival of fall. Fall is the perfect time to snuggle up to your significant other (even if that is a cat) and enjoy some movies. To me, fall is the perfect time to watch your favorite old movies. I hesitate to call them classics, as that word has been used too broadly and frequently to have any real meaning.

To be fair, I came to this post via an odd route. Yesterday's post over at A Continuous Lean wrote quite a bit about Steve McQueen and his personal style. It was a cool post, and be sure to check out the photos at the bottom. Of course, I can't think about Steve McQueen and not think about his roles in The Thomas Crown Affair and Bullitt.

Cataloging, RDA, and MARC

There has been a great deal of talk recently about MARC and RDA - which should not be surprising to those of you all who are catalogers (which is a few of us). Jason Thomale's recent article in Code4Lib, Interpreting MARC: Where’s the Bibliographic Data? was an excellent semi-outsider look at cataloging from a programmer/systems perspective. It has sparked some great discussion around the internet and has, yet again, raised the question - why should we go to RDA for an input standard when the format (MARC) is almost comically outdated?

Library Love: The London Library

By now, you know of my love for the London Library. What a place! Well, check out this wonderful video about the Library, and check out how much love libraries and librarians get. Almost makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Ha. Have a great weekend!

Exhibition Catalogues

So, I have a weakness for exhibition catalogues - and this is not helped by Jen working at the Kimbell, or my volunteering at the Carter. Exhibition catalogues are usually beautiful with phenomenal scholarship and images. They are, though, incredibly expensive books - with the hardback versions being between 70 and 100 dollars. I understand that even at this price, the museum subsidizes part of the cost - meaning that on every catalog purchased, the museum takes a loss. Much of my time cataloguing is consumed with cataloging small, "normal" and large publications created in conjunction with an exhibition. So, the article that Mary Jane and Sam at the Carter shared with me is especially pertinent, and got me thinking about exhibition catalogues:

Banned Books Week

This week, the ALA and libraries in many places are celebrating Banned Books Week. It's a wonderful idea, and something I am proud of my profession for - the active advocacy on behalf of our right to free speech here in the United States.

New Yorker iPad App

After months of patiently waiting and hoping... The New Yorker iPad app has finally arrived! It even includes a great intro video:

How to Open a New Book

This has been floating around the internet for a while, and I'd like to share with you some thoughts about the image and why it has such interest now. First, though, here's the graphic:

The Privatization of Public Libraries

I was going through my Google Reader feed recently when I came across this post about lazy librarians. The trend of privatizing formerly public libraries is disgusting and abhorrent to me. It seems completely counterintuitive to the concept of a free public library. I don't think I need to go into the details, but I did click through the post I linked to to this article in The New York Times:

Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries, by David Streitfeld

The most disturbing quote (I think) appears in the mid-point of the article:

E-Books and Data Integrity

I started reading a new book this weekend that Jen was kind enough to let my buy at Half Price Books: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward R. Tufte. I am working through the chapter on data integrity and thought it was apropos to share this article with you about E-Books.

Last Tuesday's post to the MIT Technology Review blog Mims's Bits had a wonderfully literary title: The Death of the Book has Been Greatly Exaggerated. I liked the reference to Mark Twain's remark upon reading his own obituary.

Technorati Code

Hi all,

Jen and I are getting out blog registered with Technorati. So, ignore this!!

CE537582J89K

Google Books and the Importance of Good Metadata

(It's Friday, and so it's time for me to wave the librarian/metadata flag once more. I wonder what a flag like that would look like? MARC fields? If you have a thought about that, let me know.)

If you keep track of any metadata-related librarian blogs, I feel sure that you've seen Laura Miller's article on Salon - The Trouble with Google Books. The Google Books project has been fraught with problems since its inception, chiefly licensing rights associated with the scanned works still under copyright. We've all heard about this, and I think that the issues surrounding rights resolutions will continue to be dealt with for years to come. What appealed to me about this article was that it takes one of the fundamental problems associated with Google Books - metadata and searching - and explains it in plain English. Librarians, and especially those of us that catalog, tend to use a great deal of acronyms and jargon in speaking to one another (MARC21, XML, DCMI, LCCS, DDC, LCSH, Authorities, Main Entry, Chief Source of Information, etc, etc.) so it's nice to see the problems highlighted and well illustrated in the article.

Makr Carry Goods: Flap Wallet in Shell Cordovan

The final item I want to talk about this week that arrived recently is my new wallet. In reflecting on the things we have acquired recently, I think I am seeing the value of quality work over brand names, and my selections speak to this. Makr Carry Goods are made in the US by hand, and exude wonderful quality. I love the simple design of the flap wallet, and it fits well in a front pocket - where I carry my wallet. I like that it will hold a few cards, and the great business cards Jen made for me as a wedding gift - I seem to be needing to carry a few more of those recently.

BOOK for iPad

It's hard to find a really cool and "good" iPad case. When we bought our iPad originally, I bought one of the little neoprene sleeves that the Apple Store was selling. It worked well enough, but getting the iPad into and out of the case was hard - as you had to stretch the case around the iPad. I started looking for a new case about a week after I brought our iPad home, but with it being a new product, I had limited success in my search. All of the cases out then looked like overgrown iPhone cases, and that just didn't seem to work well for me. The iPad is a device for information consumption, not for voice communication and such. There were a few slightly better cases available, but nothing that I really liked. So, I kept searching every few weeks without finding anything until I found the case I have now.

Visual Explanations, Classification, and Libraries

I mentioned earlier here that I am in Theory of Classification this semester, and I am really enjoying the course - maybe more so than any of the other courses I have taken for my MSLIS at Syracuse. The texts that Dr. Barbara Kwasnik suggested for the course are dense, but fascinating. Here's a quote from Bowker and Star's Sorting Things Out, one of the readings for the course:

Firefly Press

(Over the past several weeks, I have been fortunate enough to acquire some new items for myself and Jen. I want to share the items with you all I thought you might like to know about, and might be of interest to you.)

You, reader, should not be surprised when I say that I love letterpress printing. I love the bite it leaves on the paper, the knowledge that the work was done by human hands - not by some digital process powered by Binary code. So, when the time came for me to order new notecards, I (of course) wanted letterpress cards. Last month, I commenced a search for a good print shop that could help me with my needs. I looked far and wide, virtually, and found some interesting shops - but nothing that was exactly what I was seeking. Then, I remembered this video I watched long ago:

Cosby and Cats

It's Friday - and so let's do something a bit off-topic. Let's talk about Cosby, and cats in general. When Jen and I first met, I did not like cats - at all. She had a cat named Dexter, and he was the first cat I ever really liked, and I think who might have liked me. When we lost Dexter to cancer, we waited about a year before a little tiny cat named Cosby worked his way into out hearts:

Andrew Bird at the Guggenheim

I know I've been talking about libraries a lot over the past week or so. I'd like to switch gears a bit and talk about one of mine and Jen's favorite musical artists: Andrew Bird. We enjoyed his music for a while, but when we went to one of his shows last year and heard this:

Hidden Gems (Or, Why I love Libraries)

I'll say it here: I love libraries, and I love being a librarian. Today I want to share something very specific that I love about libraries - their hidden gems. Over the past year and a half at the Carter, I have discovered a few of these - like Amon Carter's Makers of Fort Worth, bound in leather, with his name embossed on the front. Or his biography of Ringling with his hand-written notations. A few days ago, Jen sent this along to me, and it reminded me very strongly of one of those hidden gems one might find in a library:

A Weekend of Reading Contrasts

I am not entirely sure as to whether I shared this or not but this weekend, but I went "Unplugged" again. I didn't really get on the internet at all this weekend, thanks to the kind assistance of Jen. I really enjoyed doing this, and I think it came at a perfect time.

Recently...

It's Friday morning, and Jen just dropped me off from taking our cat, Cosby, to the vet. He's doing fine, he just needed his regular checkup. Dr. Hotchkiss gave him a clean bill of health, but they have to get a sample of his "used water" so Cos is at the vet now. It's odd and quiet without him here - I usually write posts for you all with him in my lap. I miss him, but we will get to see him again at 5. (Although it is nice that he is not attacking the various papers and magazines out on the desk now.) I don't have any single thing on my mind I want to share this morning, so let me do some housekeeping and update you on a few smaller things today.

M. Diderot and Classification

Note: as you might remember, I recently cataloged the Carter's copy of Diderot's "Encyclopédie," which I talked about previously on The Dean Files (Here) and on the Amon Carter's blog (Here). This week for my class on classification, I examine the classification scheme Diderot employs in his "Encyclopédie," specifically as to how it fits in as a schema for classification, as well as any flaws. What follows below is my response to that prompt:

Old Family Photos

As I am sure you read here recently, Jen and I went to visit my family in Lubbock last weekend. This side of the family includes my grandpa Jack, my aunt Joni, her daughter (my cousin) Anna, and my mother Gretchen. My grandpa has a huge number of photos from across the years, which he has been kind enough to loan to me for scanning. I was inspired in this project by our new friend, volcanojw on flickr. She scanned many older slides of her family, and is now sharing them - and the photos are great! You can check them out here:

My eBook Challenge

You know, it hit me this weekend that I talk a big game about eBooks and ePubs, but I have never even tried reading them for any extended period of time. So, on the way home yesterday, I came up with a challenge for myself: read only from my iPad this week. One of the advertised functions of an iPad is reading, and rather than trying a Nook, or a Kindle (which I have tried and don't like), I should use that which I already have.

Oxford English Dictionary in Binary

I imagine that you, good reader, know of the special place in my librarian heart that the Oxford English Dictionary holds. This happened about a year ago, as I examined common reference titles in libraries, and evaluated the OED. It's an incredible piece of work, and a very early example of what is now described as "crowdsourcing." In print, the dictionary is imposing and substantial. Sam Duncan, knowing of my interest in the OED, brought this article to my attention recently:

The Oxford English Dictionary Definitions of ‘Print’ And ‘Digital’, by Tim Carmody

In Defense of Catalogers

If you are a regular reader of The Dean Files, and specifically my posts here about my library experience, you know that I love cataloging. I might be one of, oh, a hundred people in library schools across the country right now that would say that. My love of cataloging comes from my belief that cataloging is the key interface between a library's patrons and the information resources a library holds. I was re-reading this blog post this morning:

Reading Tea Leaves, by Diane Hillmann

A Dearth of Manners

My grandmother was a stickler for good manners. Of course, this was a point of incredible annoyance to me as a kid and teenager - but the efforts to imbue politeness bear fruit much later it seems. Only now have I come to a point where I see the actions of a polite individual as being very important. I try and hold the door open for women (including my wife) and other than Jen, I rarely get a "thank-you" in response. I think this is just the latest symptom of the decline in common manners among people today. (I don't want to be one of those naysayers who claim that the next generation is the worst ever - something said since Juluis Caesar was Consul of Rome.)

What is a Digital Library?

As I discussed earlier this week, my final semester at Syracuse as an MSLIS student started on Monday. During the course of the semester, as I have done in the past, I want to share with you discussions that arise from class, as well as questions that come to mind. This week, I (and my fellow students) have been asked to answer this question:

What is a Digital Library?

Scouts

This probably does not come as any surprise to you, reader, but I was never much one for playing sports in elementary or high school. My replacement (by choice) for these typical extracurricular activates was Boy Scouts.

Fall Semester, 2010

Today marks the beginning of my final semester as an MSLIS student at Syracuse. It is frankly a bit odd to say that, but it is true. I will have been in graduate school for about a year and a half, much shorter (it seems) than many of my fellow classmates. I hope this semester is a great conclusion to the degree, as I am certainly taking some interesting courses:

Three Aspects of Teaching Architecture

I read this statement, part of a larger conversation with architecture students at Rice and Louis Kahn. Though he is discussing how to teach architecture, I think there are some great points that can be applied to librarianship as well. So, without further ado, here is the quote:

Library Robots

As it does every Wednesday, my American Libraries email from the ALA arrived in my inbox. It's pretty dense, but I usually glean about five articles from each email, and the best article from this week was this one, I think:

Downtime

I am halfway through my second (of two) weeks off from school. Classes start on Monday, and so I have a few precious days remaining in my break. What have I been doing? As you read yesterday, the Mrs. and I visited Kansas City, but much of my downtime has been filled with catching up on my reading, and I have loved this.

Kansas City, 2010

Despite our regular posts on Friday and yesterday, Jen and I were in Kansas City this weekend. It was our first long road trip (9.5 hours) through multiple states (Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri), but we really had a great time. While they are fresh on my mind, I would like to share with you what we did and some thoughts from the trip.

Putting the "W" in Jason W. Dean

You might have noticed recently here on The Dean Files that I have added my middle initial to my "display name." I did this only after overcoming a large reservation on my part - people that use their middle initials all the time (seem to me) to be a bit, well, snooty. So why did I choose to ignore this reservation and add my middle initial? Well, there are two salient points to this little discourse, I think.

Higher Education and Me

As I have mentioned in the past, I read most of my updates and such through Times for iPad and Flipboard. I recently discovered (through Flipboard) this article, which was fascinating to me:

Meritocrats, by Tony Judt

Though not explicitly mentioned in the title, this post was all about the merits and purposes of higher education. And though I did not attend Oxford or Cambridge, I share many of the same thoughts about higher education as Mr. Judt shares in the article - and reading that article inspired me to write about what my higher education has meant to me.

Rediscovering my "Lost Albums"

I think we all have albums from our past that we don't want to ever recognize that we loved as teenagers. The albums you hear on the radio from time to time - when you hear them you think How did I ever think this was good? Stuff that is so patently bad that for a moment you question the whole of your taste in music? I think mine were Bush and Alanis Morrissette. My aversion to these albums caused me to lump everything that I liked at that time together in a whole pile of musical bad - something I wanted to sweep under the proverbial rug and forget about.

Well, a recent gift from Jen helped bring some of this forgotten, or "lost" music out, and back into my listening repertoire. A few weeks back, she surprised me with this album:

The New Yorker, August 9, 2010

Articles
Talk of the Town
Comment: Leaks, by Amy Davidson (p. 21)
Dept. of Bivalves: Afloat, by Raffi Khatchadourian (p. 25)

Reading and Me

I don't think this will come as any major surprise to you, reader: I love to read.

Conclusion of Summer School

Remember when you were in High School, and the term "summer school" had strongly negative connotations? It's where the bad kids went - and the good kids were threatened with it if they didn't "get their act together." Well, I never wanted to go to summer school in high school, but I confess to you that I love summer school in my undergraduate and graduate work.

Unplugged Challenge Video

Not to toot my own horn, but check out my video in the Unplugged Challenge:

Your Brain on Computers - The Unplugged Challenge

Also, Michelle Francl's submission is pretty darn interesting!

Times for the iPad Thoughts

I received an email yesterday from Sam Duncan about a little app for the iPad called, simply, Times. Times for the iPad is another feed display app, so that it takes my favorite feeds from the web, and presents them in one easy to use, reference, and read spot. As a matter of fact, here's how The Dean Files looks in it:

Recent and Upcoming Exhibitions

Jen and I love going to exhibitions here in Fort Worth, because (for the most part) they are free and consistently wonderful. I would like to focus on a few of our recent favorites, and then talk about one upcoming show. All of these shows either have been, are, or will be at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Books and Literacy in the Digital Age Article Thoughts

As you have surely read now, as a part of my ALA membership, I get the American Libraries magazine every month. While in Lubbock, I finished up the latest (August 2010) issue, and had some thoughts on one of the articles:

Books and Literacy in the Digital Age, by Ralph Raab

I must admit that I, like the author, have a love for the physical book - so much so that we have 274 books in our library at this time. I think the only e-books we have are the ones that came free with our iPad. I love them for many reasons that Raab mentions (as so many others before him have mentioned) but the best thing about a book to me is the reading experience. Not holding a book, or how it smells, but how the text is highly readable on the page in most any lighting conditions. In addition, a book (with some effort) will always "be there" meaning that in 200 years, one can still access and use the majority of books we have today - but the digital nature of e-books does not hold the same guarantee.

National Ranching Heritage Center

Jen and I recently went up to visit the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, Texas. I had been only as a child, and I remembered what a neat place it was. It was even better as an adult - here are some of my photos from the day:

The New Yorker, August 2, 2010

As usual, here is my post about this week's New Yorker. Enjoy!

Is Information More Valid in Print?

Most every morning I wake up, brew a pot of coffee, and check up on the news with the New York Times on the iPad, and I might look at the NYT crossword on my iPhone. I usually won't start the crossword until after my first cup of coffee, so I am a bit sharper. My news primarily comes from electronic resources, although Jen and I recently discussed subscribing to the Times daily delivery. (Man, that's expensive!) In the online content of the Times earlier this week, I read this article about the perception of printed versus electronically delivered news:

Bits: Readers Are Abandoning Print, Yet Don't Trust the Web, by Claire Cain Miller

This article raised the question in my mind: Why do readers see print sources (books, papers, magazines, etc) as being more authoritative over the same content found online? Take, for example, this quote from the article:

The New Yorker, July 26, 2010

Apparently, The New Yorker is slow in getting these to me, so much so that I received two issues in the same week. Oh, well. So, following the format I set here, I'll share with you my reading in this issue.

Some Short Personal Updates

Readers,

I just wanted to share with you some updates on a variety of things. First, my brother Zach came to visit, which was fun! We all had a great time, and I made a video of some of the things we did. Check it out:

Libraries and Infographics

So, I'll just come right out and say it: libraries need more cool infographics. To be fair, I didn't really know what an infographic was until recently. Our GOOD magazines actually have a fair number of them, as does Dwell, but I didn't know they had a name until I started using the Flipbook app on our iPad extensively. If (like I was until recently) you are unaware of what an infographic is, check out this handy article on the source of all of mankind's knowledge, Wikipedia:

"Information graphics." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Libraries With a Future Responses

It's a busy time for periodicals here at The Dean Files. The new issues of The New Yorker, Dwell, GOOD, ACRL News and College & Research Libraries all arrived within a few days of each other. I am working my way through these, and in an effort to get ahead of the reading, I stayed up a bit late reading the two ACRL publications. I read (and was super proud and happy to read) an article by my good friend, Erin Dorney about a "Job of a Lifetime," which was great. One other article in particular really piqued my interest, Libraries with a Future: How Are Academic Library Usage and Green Demands Changing Building Designs? by Michael Wescott Loder. Of course, I thought to myself "Oooo, Library Design post!" but it really turned into something more than that.

Fort Worth Streetcar

I think if you read The Dean Files regularly, you know both Jen and I love the city where we live, Fort Worth. We also love the walkability and public transport of forward-thinking cities, such as Portland. Streetcars, really, are one of the "things" that help make a city friendlier to both pedestrians, and the environment.

Earlier this month, the federal government announced that Fort Worth was to be the recipient of a large grant for streetcar construction. Almost immediately, pundits and politicians started holding forth about how we should decline the funds. Why is this so bad for Fort Worth that we have to turn down free money for its construction? Even if you are opposed to public transit, wouldn't it create jobs locally and improve tourism?



Well, it looks like the streetcar still has some supporters and proponents. Head on over to one of our favorite blogs, FortWorthology, to read more:

Smart Pro-Streetcar Op-Ed Shows Up in Star-Telegram By: Kevin Buchanan

Digital Memory and Identity

Jen recently shared this article from the New York Times with me:

The Web Means the End of Forgetting, by Jeffrey Rosen

I'll be up front with you: this article really raised my ire. So if you will indulge me, good reader, let me share with you some of my thoughts (previously and briefly expressed here) about this article, and online social interaction in general. I have a question for you, reader, which I hope you answer in the comments: are people totally oblivious to what they and others post about them online? Or, do they not care? This question came up frequently while I was reading the article.

1959: Electronic Home Library

While using the new Flipboard app for the iPad earlier this week, I came across this really cool look back into 1959 for the perception of the home library of the future:

Electronic Home Library, on Paleofuture

So, first, I admit to you that I would love to have a home library that looks something like the one in that image. How cool mid-century is that? I think I would skip the shield and spears, though. Oh, and the book projected on the ceiling as well. Now reader, I know that you expect me to discuss what this has to do with library science and how it piqued my librarian brains. I won't disappoint you!

Assessment Metrics and the Catalog

By way of introduction to this post, I want to tell you, I am terrible at math. This posed something of a challenge for me in one of my classes last semester - Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment. The assessment part was a challenge, but I think I have a good grasp of the practices and broad theories of assessment in libraries. I filed away my assessment tools and have been thinking about them vis a vis the Manifesto project.

Mad Men Season 4 Premiere

Well, last night was the premiere of season four of the one drama TV show Jen and I watch regularly - Mad Men. Our friends the Tainters turned us on to the show, and after the first three episodes of the show, we were hooked.

Mad Men Season 4

It's Sunday the 25th, and that means that tonight is the premiere of Mad Men Season 4! This is one of the few TV events Jen and I were looking forward to, and I think we have been pretty dang excited about all summer. So, settle in in front of your TV, tune it to AMC, and join us for a trip inside Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce! And, in honor of the event, here is my "Mad Men Me!"



(And, if you have comments about the show, let us know - I feel sure one of us will blog about it!)

Make My Media Less Social!

While browsing through my Evernote client earlier, I came upon an article featured in the New York Times:

Managing Reputations on Social Sites, by Teddy Wayne

I have many Facebook friends between the ages of 18 to 29 - as a matter of fact, I would say that that age group is the vast majority of my Facebook friends. Quite to the contrary of what Wayne says, I see people in this demographic sharing more on Facebook, not less. Of course, this is not true of all my Facebook friends, but there are some about which, frankly I know way too much.

Why I Hope Libraries are Not the Next Big Pop-Culture Wave

One of our friends on Facebook recently shared this NPR piece with Jen and I:

Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries, by Linda Holmes.

I am happy to see that libraries are getting some much-needed attention in the public eye during this most difficult of times for libraries. People are talking about this article, which then gets people thinking about libraries (also good). I would like to add my voice to the growing chorus of discussion surrounding this article here on The Dean Files.

Private Libraries: Alberto Manguel

It has been a while since I have shared a library design post with you all, so I think it's about time. A private library has a variety of meanings, I think. Broadly applied, I can see that almost everyone has a private library, whether it's a collection of 10 or 10,000 books. If you have a collection of books, and it's in your office or your home, I would call it a private library. However, for the purposes of this post, I am going to narrow it down to the very grand idea of a private library - a special room for one's books, or even a separate building. Remember this?

Diderot at the Carter

I know we have had many posts today, but I wanted to share a link with you all. Last week, Sam Duncan (Library Director at the Carter) asked me to catalog one of the hidden treasures of the library - Diderot's Encyclopédie. He also asked me to write for the Carter's blog about my experience in researching and cataloging the work. Please click through to this post at the Carter to read more, and please leave a comment (and let me know if you want to see the Diderot!)

Diderot's Encyclopédie, at the Amon Carter Museum blog!

History Detectives

Last week, Jen and I settled in to our bedroom to watch one of the shows we recently started recording on our DVR, History Detectives on PBS. During each episode, a team of historians and appraisers examine about three artifacts that individuals have in their possession. The owners of these objects often have an interesting theory about the items in their posession - the one last week thought he had a letter signed by Clara Barton.

iPhone 4 Thoughts

It has been a few days since Jen and I received our new iPhones, and I want to share with you all my thoughts about the new iPhone, now that the dust has settled out there about this new product. To be honest, this is my third iPhone - I had the "original" 8GB model, and then a 16GB white model 3G. So then the iPhone 4 represents a big leap ahead as far as camera and speed for me.

Empire of Liberty

I just wrapped up the second of three Oxford History of the United States titles I am trying to finish by the end of the summer: Empire of Liberty. This book was great, and gave me a good base of knowledge about a period in American history about which I was less than familiar. It truly was a time of sweeping change in the United States, something Gordon Wood illuminates beautifully with his text. It was highly readable and accessible, but his scholarship was excellent - typical of the series. If you love American history, then you should give this book a shot! I'll conclude this brief review with a quote from p.2 of the book:

By 1815 Americans had experienced a transformation in the way they related to one another and in the way they perceived themselves and the world around them. And this transformation took place before industrialization, before urbanization, before railroads, and before any of the technological breakthroughs usually associated with modern social change. In the decades following the Revolution America changed so much and so rapidly that Americans not only became used to change but came to expect it and prize it.

Your Dean Files Experience Is Now Complete

Readers,

I just finished uploading and categorizing the entirety of the posts from the old Dean Files. In celebration, here is an image I made last night on the way home:

Internship Update

As you might remember from a previous post, I am completing my formal internship at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. The Cowgirl has an archival photographic image collection of about 4500 images, each with an associated surrogate record (think: catalog record) in their collection management software. These are, generally, images of cowgirls - be they inductees into the Hall of Fame, or other cowgirls. Of course, the images also include many cowboys. It doesn't sound too challenging on the surface, but allow me to get into more detail.

New Music Purchases

Last night, after having some delicious Mexican food at one of our favorite places here (Esperanza's), we headed over to Barnes and Noble on Hulen to browse through their music section and see if there was anything out that we wanted to purchase, or listen to.

The New Yorker, July 12 & 19, 2010

Well, readers, in an effort to give this blog a broader array of topics, I am debuting a new recurring post series about each issue of The New Yorker. I feel sure by now that you know Jen is kind enough to buy me a gift subscription every year, and so for the majority of the 52 weeks of the year, we receive a fresh issue each week. As an homage to Heather Champ's great blog post about how to read The New Yorker, I want to begin this inaugural post with a small overview of how I read each issue.

Why We Went Wordpress

Well, it's day two here at the newly redesigned Dean Files, and following on the heels of this new iteration, you might be asking, "Why would Jen and Jason change their site again, and make me update my reader and stuff?" As a matter of fact, fellow librarian and blogger Erin Dorney asked the same thing. Allow me to answer that question with a bit of background.

Manifesto of a 21st Century Librarian

Soviet printed stationery 1962

Originally uploaded by sludgegulper

Readers,

Other than the new design and format of The Dean Files, I have been working on a document titled "Manifesto of a 21st Century Librarian," a document which contains a set of talking points about the key topics and trends in librarianship in the 21st century. Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite:

New Design

Arches, Kimbell Art Museum

Originally uploaded by eloquentlight

Hello all!

As you might have noticed, there is a new design around here. Make sure you update your links and such, and let us know what you think!

New Phones

Well, Jen and I’s new iPhones come today. We’ll let you know what we think about them soon - and hopefully we will have lots of videos and photos to share. Have a great weekend!

ALA 2010 Reflections

Well, I think I have had enough time to digest my experiences at my first Annual conference of the American Library Association. This is a pretty good video representation of how I felt, blown away by everything there:

Periodicals

Well, readers, I want to talk to you today about something Jen and I have been talking about for a while: periodicals. You thought I was going to say our frequent, and highly impressive dance-offs, didn't you? Sorry to disappoint you, but Jen and I have been talking about adding some subscriptions to our periodical lineup.

Bow Ties

Ok, readers, I have a confession for you: I wear bow ties. You probably saw me in one for the Kimbell holiday party. A catalog of my bow ties is not what this post is about, though. I want to talk about why I want to wear a bow tie - as it is an unusual sartorial choice, and I always have liked them, but I never knew why.

Library of Congress Thoughts

Jen and I are back from ALA, and I have a lot to share. I am working on compiling my thoughts about the conference itself, but in the meantime, I want to share with you a thought/idea I had this morning while reading a bit.

As you might have guessed, Jen and I visited the Library of Congress, the national bibliographic institution of the United States, to use MARC appropriate language. It was so busy, filled with people wearing their ALA badges (mine is pictured above) that it was hard to really get any sense of the institution at all. However, it was great just to be there, and I got a cool mug.

Anyhow, the Library of Congress is (I think) almost entirely devoted to the collection, organization, and preservation of the labors of the mind, so to speak. As you read last week, I am reading Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood right now, and came across this passage on page 351 while reading this morning:

Although Jefferson was an aristocratic slaveholder, it was his political genius to sense that the world of the early Republic ought to belong to people who lived by manual labor and not by their wits. Cities, he believed, were dangerous and promoted dissipation precisely because they were places, he said, where men sought “to live by their heads rather than their hands.”

As you probably know, the Library of Congress was founded with the purchase of Jefferson’s entire library of 6487 books by the US Congress in 1815. It is an interesting contrast to me that the man who was so against those who sought to “live by their heads” ended up selling his collection to found an institution almost entirely dedicated to that purpose. I would like to think that his action was perhaps a tacit decision to acknowledge the importance of the labors of the mind, as well as the importance of working with your hands.

What do you think his founding of the Library of Congress says about Jefferson? Other thoughts?

ALA, 2010

Well, reader, Jen and I leave tomorrow for ALA in DC, and we sure are excited. If you are going/are in the area, let us know if you’d like to meet up. Meanwhile, just hold on to your britches for our return - hopefully I will have good stuff to write about, and I feel sure Jen will as well!

Summer Reading

It’s Monday night, and that means Jen is volunteering at Cook’s Hospital. I look froward to her return and sharing an evening with her, but for now, I want to tell you about my summer reading plan, reader.

I think most people try and read very light fare in the summertime, on vacations and visits to the pool and such. I think that’s great, but for me Summer has long been the season for heavy reading. Summer is always a time (because of the climate where we live) that one spends a good deal of one’s time indoors. In addition, summer is the season of a bit lighter and less demanding work (for me) and thus lends itself to more mentally challenging diversions.

This practice of reading lengthier and more challenging works in the summer began several years ago, while I was still an undergraduate at Hardin-Simmons. I would visit my grandparents in Indiana for several weeks at a time, and this gave me the ability to read practically uninterrupted for each afternoon. I think my first couple of “long” works were Ron Chernow’s biographies of John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan. These were great, but my most memorable (thus far) summer reading bacchanal were the three volumes in Caro’s biography of LBJ. If you’re curious, I wrote about that previously here:

Robert Caro and Lyndon Johnson

Well, as I wrote about in January, (here) I purchased the first three (chronologically) books in the Oxford History of the United States. I finished the first book The Glorious Cause earlier this year, but my goal this summer is to finish the next two, Empire of Liberty and What Hath God Wrought. So far, I am doing pretty well, and as a matter of fact, I am off to read for a bit now. What are you reading this summer? What is your perfect summertime book? Let me know in the comments!

Death of the Inscription?

On Wednesday, I was reading this Times article:

Book Inscriptions Reflect Personal Histories, by Susan Dominus

In the article, Dominus highlights the idea that the inscription could go away if our society completely embraces digital books, and abandons physical books. She was thinking specifically about personal inscriptions - when one writes a note to a friend on the occasion of giving them the book, for example. I’d like to think of this in a bit different context: when the author signs or inscribes the book.

Both in our personal collection, as well as the collection of the Amon Carter, there are many signed books. One of the best I have seen at the Carter was a book about the photographs of Ansel Adams, inscribed to Laura Gilpin, describing her as a “very great lady of photography,” and it had a cool little doodle as well. (The Carter has the book as Gilpin donated her papers, prints, negatives, and library to the Carter on her passing.) We have several (12, I think) signed books, and they are among our favorites. How does one get the author to sign your e-book? Do they sign the reader? Type a note into the document?

I know it’s not exactly the most earth-shattering concept, but it is one that is important to me, as well as to many other folks out there. Would you miss inscriptions?

Favorites from the Commons

(Before I get started, I want to give a shout-out to the inspiration for this post, Allison V. Smith’s posting about the Commons. Thanks, Allison!)

I think I’ve mentioned the Flickr Commons before. As a matter of fact, I have. Check this post out:

New Fun Photos from the Library of Congress

Well, it’s not just the Library of Congress sharing their images and such on flickr, 44 major cultural institutions are contributing to the Commons. You can see the list here. I love that these institutions are showing some leadership in digitization - and what a great way to digitize. All you really have to do is scan and upload, and flickr takes care of the rest.

And what advantage does this have over simply cataloging the images, you might ask? Well, it allows people to examine them and (in the case of the photos in the Commons as they are public domain) re-use them in different works. It gives people from far away the ability to view your library/institution’s holdings. However, following the idea of participatory librarianship, if one could track what people “do” with these images (if they reuse them, or adapt/incorporate them) what a wonderful way to show the relevancy of what it is that you are doing (digitizing and sharing) and how your collection is reaching a wider audience than those in the immediate geographic vicinity. Imagine if someone used one of your images for, say, a billboard in Miami? With the proper crediting, what cool exposure for your library!

Anyhow, here are some of my favorite images from the Commons, and pleace click on the image to see where I “got it” from. I made a “gallery” on flickr of them with my comments, and you can check that out here:

Best of the Commons, A Gallery.

Tools for Fighting the Information Flood

Obviously, I have been thinking a great deal about curating the content that you want from the vast seas of information available online. I think I was running an errand when a thought about digital curation occurred to me. As librarians in the 21st century, we are charged with helping people discern “good” from “bad” information, as well as the information they seek from the information that is unnecessary. If we cannot do this in our own (for lack of a better term) “information lives” then how can we be expected to do it well for others?

To this end, I want to share with you some of the tools and such that I use to see and use only the information I want to see online. If you want to know more, please let me know!

My first attempt at some form of digital curation was my use of Google Reader. It’s simply an online RSS feed aggregator that allows you to see all your favorite websites’ updates on one page. Here’s a screenshot of mine:



Of course, the problem with this is that one can add far too many feeds to the Reader, as I have done several times. If you consistently don’t read something (like news sites, for example) delete it! There is no point in constantly clicking the “mark as read” button if you don’t read the feed.

My next tool grew out of my deletion of my news feeds - the New York Times Editor’s Choice App for the iPad. I know I have mentioned this several times before, so I won’t harp on it here. I’ll just say that the app is my only source of news during the day, cutting down on my feeds and “website checking.” And, because I can, here’s a screenshot of the front page in the app from this morning:



Another relatively new tool in my toolbox is the app and service called Evernote. (Thanks, Sam!) As we go through information, how do we save the information we want to reference again? Web links are, frankly, unreliable, and it’s environmentally irresponsible to print everything out that one might want to save. That’s where Evernote comes in. And rather than have me blather on about the service, I’ll give you this nice video description:









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlOLXWvaIy0












And here’s a screenshot of my Evernote, as of this morning:



It’s actually how I save most of the content I want to share with you on this blog, so it’s an integral part of that creation system.

Of course, you already know about my effort to cut down on the number of friends I have on Facebook, which is going well. Another suggestion is to use the “hide person from newsfeed” or “hide app from newsfeed” tool in Facebook. This helps my to have my newsfeed on Facebook cut down to the stuff I want to read from the people I want to know about. I tried making a screenshot of this, but once again, the video is better:








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7wBqyw_LGs













I think that’s about it for now. I will be sure and share new tools with you as I use them! Any questions, please ask!

Just a Bit More

If you read my post regarding recommendations for alcohol consumption by women yesterday here is a bit more to go along with that.  I found this yesterday:

"The United States, as a nation, has great confusion concerning drinking. It does not appear to be able to come to a consensus regarding alcohol consumption or what constitutes moderate and responsible drinking. More awareness concerning the importance of religion in shaping aptitudes towards drinking may shed light on this ambivalence. Different religious backgrounds along with differences in cultural attitudes that originated "in the old country" among the ancestors immigrants of many Americans today, still shape every day thinking and assumptions concerning alcohol. Numerous studies from both the United States and Europe have suggested that Protestants consume less alcohol but perceived great problems with the substance. In contrast Roman Catholics consume more alcohol but do not perceived its consumption as problematic. The reason for this may be based in the distant past. Recent research (Engs 1991a; 1995) has suggested that in antiquity different drinking cultures developed in the Northern and in the Mediterranean areas of western Europe. This was due to a number of factors including the ecosystem, seasonal variations, climate, and socio-political structures."

http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cathprot.htm

Have a great weekend!  (wink, wink)

14 Months

Last night I thought to myself, “I wonder how long this (the Dean Files) website has been around?” So I looked it up, and it’s fourteen months. That’s pretty neat. I hope you have enjoyed some of my posts over that time, and stick around - as I will keep writing.

One of my earliest posts was all about my favorite Shaker song. You can read about it through this link:

Simplicity (4-14-09)

At the time I originally wrote that post, a copy of the song I referenced was not available. Now it is, and so I share it with you here. The song starts about 46 seconds in.










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Jpsc6MZKg












I was thrilled to find this, and wanted to update the original post some. I thought I would share another song (and broader musical tradition) I find very powerful and interesting: Sacred Harp singing. Very briefly described, Sacred Harp singing is the oldest form of American music and uses shaped notes to assist singers in sight reading. If you would like to know more about it, here is a video, and under that is a link to a wikipedia article.












http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHUfHNEZDPc









(Wikipedia article: Sacred Harp)
So, without further ado, here is another of my favorite songs (I know, it’s kinda old fashioned, and I am not trying to be preachy!) and this one is from the Sacred Harp movement. It’s about 300 years old, and there is something really chilling about the song:









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKzwqV0yOdU













What are some of your favorite (and kinda unusual) songs? I’d like to know!!

Syracuse University’s Bird Library

One of the articles I read in this month’s issue of American Libraries was an article about academic libraries and the trend toward moving items in the library collection to an offsite storage location (The Myth of Browsing by Donald A. Barclay). Highlighted at the very top of the article was the Bird Library, the library for Syracuse (where I am attending for my MSLIS).

For all of my Syracuse readers, skip this paragraph. For all of you who aren’t familiar with the controversy surrounding the Bird library, read on. Syracuse, and the Bird, wanted to move a significant portion of its low-use books to an offsite efficient shelving storage location, much like Harvard has done. This caused a massive protest from students and faculty - one which caused Bird to cease plans for moving to offsite. I think that’s about the gist of it. Please let me know if I got it wrong!

I can see and appreciate the desire to keep all of the library’s collection on campus, but I think librarians are missing a great opportunity to showcase what is really important about libraries: the librarians. Of course, the collections that libraries hold, organize, and preserve are important - but of what use are they without professionals to “maintain” the collection, as well as connect users to the information they seek?

I am reminded of another quote I read recently, this one in Harvard Magazine. In the article Gutenberg: Harvard’s libraries deal with disruptive change, the author has this quote:

“Who has the most scientific knowledge of large- scale organization, collection, and access to information? Librarians,” says Bol. A librarian can take a book, put it somewhere, and then guarantee to find it again. “If you’ve got 16 million items,” he points out, “that’s a very big guarantee. We ought to be leveraging that expertise to deal with this new digital environment. That’s a vision of librarians as specialists in organizing and accessing and preserving information in multiple media forms, rather than as curators of collections of books, maps, or posters.”

I think Bird should have highlighted this key idea: that the libraries of the 21st century are not about stuff, they are about people, Specifically, offering services to connect people to information they seek, and to help them utilize that information in a substantive way. Where do you come down on this debate?

Fighting the Deluge

As I told you yesterday, I tried an experiment seeing what life was like a bit more off the grid on the weekends. Honestly, it was pretty nice. So nice, as a matter of fact, that I am trying a variant of that same experiment in my online realm.

I read a great deal of information (and I wish I had a citation for you) about the deluge of information we as internet users are faced with every day. A cornucopia of choices, each with massive amounts of information presented each day. This presents me (and I presume, internet users more generally) with many choices. First, what sources of information online do we look at, or aggregate? How do we put these together in one place? How do we “keep” things we find to be significant, or important? And, how do we filter out the things which are, as Nero Wolfe would say, “pfui,” like he does here:














http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAKjT4GizS8







For me, I added far too much to my Google Reader to be able to digest. I deleted all of my news RSS feeds and now read the New York Times on my iPad. If it’s not in the Times that morning, I probably won’t read it. I think this is how newspapers can be relevant - their curation of news events. Picking out the key and significant stories from the flummery that fills up much of the news sites on the internet.

This virtual spring cleaning extends to my email inbox as well:


See that? Nothing in my inbox. My aunt told me long ago about paper mail that you touch it once. You reply, file it, or throw it away after you open it. This is perhaps a bit utopian, but I try and apply it in my email inbox, and tends to work. However, the last few weeks have been very busy, and so mail accumulated in my inbox - requiring me to sort through the messages and deal with them appropriately. I have also been proactively unsubscribing from distribution lists, as well as postal mail catalogs.

And finally, this spring cleaning applies to Facebook as well. If you are reading this and are no longer a friend of mine on Facebook, feel free to send me another friend request. However, if you were deleted, it means we had no contact over the past year, so please do make an effort to keep in touch. This part was brought about when I was reminded about Dunbar’s Number, which I read in one of Malcolm Gladwell’s writings. Dunbar hypothesizes that we can only really “know” 150 people (or so) and so I wanted to reduce my friend list on Facebook to meet that number. I’m at 121 friends now:


So if you made “the cut” thanks for being a good friend and keeping in touch. If you didn’t, let’s try and catch up!

The Experiment

Readers,

As you might have noticed, I was online less than I normally have been this previous weekend. Well, let me tell you that I made a special effort to not be online at all, but that didn’t work out well! I needed to look some things up and contact some folks, so my no iPhone/online effort failed, and turned into a limited iPhone/online weekend. I don’t really have a definition of “limited” but I did give my phone to Jen and had to ask her to use it. We had an awesome weekend, part of which I might attribute to my limited connectivity.

Why would I choose to do this? I felt that I was becoming more and more distracted by the deluge of information that comes at me every day, between emails, general internet items, and social networking. The urge to check on these notifications and updates can be overwhelming - to the detriment of one’s connection to the “actual” world. I am so connected during the week that having limited connectivity on the weekend is really refreshing, and gives one a chance to reconnect with the world around you.

Interestingly enough, the New York Times published an article today about the very same topic (electronic distraction). First, I’d like to ask the Times to get out of my brains, and second, here is the link if you are interested in reading the article:

Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price, by Matt Richtel.

So, if I didn’t reply to you quickly, or not at all, I apologize. Just know my wife and I were enjoying one of the most awesome weekends we have spent together since, um, ever. It went so well that I imagine I will be doing the same thing over the next few weekends, and so if you want/need to get a hold of me, give me an old fashioned phone call.

Carter New Books

It’s the first of the month, and that means it’s time for the new books report from the Carter. Check out all the maps on the top of the report (that was me doing those!) We had many great books come into the collection this month, and I hope you can come in and check some of these new books out:

May, 2010 New Books Report

Yale Library Studies

Among the books I read last month, I completed the annual issue of Yale Library Studies. As it dealt with library design and architecture, my interest was especially piqued to read the issue, and I was not disappointed. Wonderfully illustrated, with many great articles, the issue had a great deal to offer. Over the coming weeks, I will discuss with you some of the things I took from my reading of the issue, but for now, allow me to leave you with this quote which I feel is applicable to all libraries:

A question that has exercised more than one University Librarian, however, is how far that truth so evident in stone and metal and wood manifests itself in the interior life of Yale. To what extent do the Library's many buildings embody the ideals and aspirations of the University? Do the scholars and students who use these buildings find in them not just the books and collections but also the environment the need to help them teach and study and learn? And what, in a twenty-first century library system, is the relationship between the virtual environment found on the computer or handheld device and the physical built environment?

I know I already posted this, but I would like to hear your thoughts before I move forward!

Cool Library Promotion

Check out this very funny video below. I really enjoyed when the ghost gets out his laptop and uses the dictionary:











http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKB7zfopiUA










When I first watched this, I thought “man, that’s funny, and its in the gorgeous NYPL reading room.” Then I saw the credits for the library at 3:24 and I wanted to share it with you all. What a great way to promote not only your own library, but libraries in general. It was nice how NYPL not only promoted themselves specifically, but they promoted libraries in general. Maybe some effort should be made to advance the cause of libraries through viral videos (like the one above). (Hello ALA, are you listening?)

And I appreciate these folks’ effort, but the few seconds of library advertisement above are far more effective, I think, than this whole video. Or, maybe it’s that I don’t like Lady Gaga. Either way, here is the other video:









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uzUh1VT98













To be frank, this is the only Lady Gaga song I have heard anywhere that I like (meaning this specific version):








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vEStDd6HVY








Sorry if that’s too many videos. Have a great Tuesday!

Facebook and Privacy

Before I get into today’s post, I do want to wish you a happy Memorial Day holiday. Jen and I are really enjoying our three day weekend, and I hope you are as well. Also, thanks to all the veterans, and those who are no longer with us, for serving our country.

I feel confident in saying that by this time you have heard about the uproar over the changes in Facebook’s privacy settings. Many people strenuously objected to these changes, and many threatened to leave Facebook. However, some mass exodus did not happen, and Facebook responded (in a way) to the complaints of its users. Still, the erosion or privacy rights on the internet is a topic getting a great deal of attention in libraryland, and so I thought I might share a few things here.

First, as an information professional, privacy and anonymity on the internet are incredibly important to ensuring net neutrality as well as allowing the internet to be the “sandbox” of ideas that it is today. Privacy on the internet also plays a part in “future-proofing” the internet, as the FCC wants to do (if the courts will allow it). So, before we go further, maintaining the privacy of internet users from anyone is incredibly important.

However, there are a few strong objections I have to people complaining about privacy concerns, specifically on Facebook, and more broadly on social networking sites. Facebook, by its very nature, is designed to share personal information with others. I would presume, perhaps erroneously, that people understand this when they sign up. Why, then, should you put all of your personal information on the site? Why share more than you are comfortable with sharing and being in the public eye? To be fair, maybe I am making something out of nothing, but it seems apparent to me that people should think about what is shared online before they put that personal information out there in the first place.

In addition, something that people of my age and younger need to understand is self-editing. Maybe you went out and had a wild night on the town last night - and maybe Aunt Edna and your boss should not know about that. Also, complaining about your workplace, or sharing confidential information, should never be done on Facebook, or in a public forum for that matter. Once it’s on the internet, you really have no control over what happens to what you post.

One of the overall ideas librarians are trying to foster in the public is the concept of information literacy. For many librarians, this is simply helping patrons determining what is and is not “good” information on the internet, but to me it is a broader concept, helping people determine how to function in out information environment today - including best practices for social networking and such.

Anyhow, here’s a great link if you want to check your privacy settings on Facebook, as recommended by the ALA:

Facebook Privacy Scanner

Update

Well, it has been ten days since my last update. Sorry. I realize that you, reader, expect to see a post from me every weekday and I have not delivered. I think I am back on top of my blogging skills, so check back Monday. In the meantime, allow me to update you on my summer.

First, as you already know, I am interning at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. In their overall collection, they have a collection of about 4500 images of cowgirls - inductees, as well as well-known cowgirls from history. I am working on assessing the collection to determine what has been digitized, if the photos are stored archival, and if the metadata about the photos is appropriate in the collection management software of the museum. Thus far, I have sorted through about 500 images, so I have 4,000 to go. I’ll give some updates now and again as I go through the collection this summer.

Second, I am in management class this summer. It started just last week, so I have very little to report, other than that I ordered my books, and that gave Jen and I an opportunity to order a few books from our respective wish lists. I’ll let Jen tell you about hers if and when she so chooses, but here is a link showing one of the books I bought (and am very excited about reading):

The L!brary Book: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools (Princeton Architectural Press) documents the unique partnership between the New York City Department of Education, the Robin Hood Foundation, and architects, designers, artists and illustrators that has produced 56 libraries (to date) in schools across the five boroughs. Written by Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi...

Check out some of the murals they did:

http://www.pentagram.com/en/new/2009/03/murals-for-the-library-initiat.php

Man, isn’t that cool?

Third, I am still doing work at the Carter in many areas. I still need to catalog that Diderot, but recently I have been working on the library and archives’ elements for the 50th anniversary celebration of the museum, as well as doing some research to support efforts for that project. I can’t tell you much about it, but it really is going to be very cool.

I’ll keep you posted as things go along this summer. You should do the same.

So, reader, what have you been doing??

iPad: One Month

One month (or so) has passed since we bought an iPad, and I thought you might be curious to know how that is working our for us. I think mine will join many other bloggers writing about this, but I am not them, so here we go.

Confession: the iPad is not my constant companion. I don’t take it everywhere, nor do I use it all the time. I suppose there are people out there who use theirs all the time, but really I don’t find myself in situations where the iPad is useful all the time.

More specifically, what do I use it for?

Over the past two weeks, I have used it most every morning to read the news. The New York Times app is wonderful, and brings me a selection of headlines that change as the day progresses. I think others might lament that you cannot see the whole paper, but I prefer having someone curate the articles beforehand, so there is less to choose from. I realize that this is a bit like our grandparents reading the paper every morning over breakfast, and on some level, that appeals to me as well. The key difference (or advantage) for me is twofold: that the iconic graphic identity of the Times is preserved, and reading articles on the iPad is far preferable to reading them on a traditional computer, regardless of if they are in a reader, or their native website. Here is a screenshot of what I was reading yesterday:


I also love watching video podcasts and videos in general on the iPad. They look wonderful, and it’s great to be able to have the video wherever you want it. I have watched many TEDTalks on this, and plan to continue doing so!

When we do take the iPad places, it is excellent for sharing photos. The ability to utilize faces and places from both iPhoto and Aperture is wonderful, and our grandparents (who normally have a hard time with this stuff) loved seeing photos on it, and had no problem seeing them.

I would say I use the iPad about an hour a day at this point, though that might change as time goes on.

What are my complaints? Well, wifi reception is pretty awful. In our living room I get spotty reception, and that is not very far from our router. Hopefully, Apple will be able to improve this with a software update. Also, Facebook needs an iPad app.

Do you have an iPad? What do you think about it? Any questions for me? Let me hear from you!

Internship: Day One

Well, readers, today is the first day of my internship for my MSLIS. I am working with the photography collection of the National Cowgirl Museum here in Fort Worth, and I am excited to see what all that entails. I’ll tell you more about it soon!

Jason

Cosby’s New Treehouse

In trying to come up with some new (and hopefully interesting) topics for this week, I realized that our great kitty, Cosby, has gotten relatively little “press” here over the past few weeks. I don’t think that’s fair, and he’s been asking me to write something about him, so this one is for you, Cos.

This past weekend, Jen and I went over to IKEA in Frisco to browse and pick up a couple of things. Before I describe what it is we bought, I want to tell you that nothing else gives me tired-head faster than a trip to IKEA when it is busy. Folks shopping in there generally do not know what they want, so they mosey along with no concern for others or time in general. I suppose that’s what annoys me most about those folks - is their complete lack of concern for other people.

Well, I just wanted to say that, now let’s move on.

For the past several weeks, Cosby has been keeping Jen and I up almost all night every night as he tries to see out our bedroom windows, or maybe he just wanted us to be awake. Either way, he was really keeping us up at night, and Jen suggested that we raise the blinds up all the way, and replace our curtains with something a bit better, allowing us privacy but letting Cosby get in the windows so he could see out. So, we shopped for, and found some lovely and inexpensive curtains. I can report that thus far, this plan has worked wonderfully, and Jen and I have had two much-improved nights of sleep.

When going through the pet area in IKEA, we found what I can only describe as a treehouse for cats. We saw the item previously, but went armed with measurements to make sure it would fit. We found that it did, and that it was on sale, so we bought it. However, we failed to make sure it would fit in our car! With some “doing” it did fit, but only just.

After some assembly and such, I am happy to tell you that Cosby loves his new treehouse. He likes to observe from the top level, and sleep on the second level, where we have made a little bed for him. Here’s a video of him in it so you can see for yourself.





http://www.flickr.com/photos/eloquentlight/4614161260/