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.