Hello Internets!

I’ve been asking Jason and Jen to let me write a post on The Dean Files since I learned how to read and write. Man, that reading was easy, but the typing is really difficult with my paws. Once again, my admiration for Keyboard Cat has grown by leaps and bounds.

Speaking of leaps and bounds, I surprised even myself when I make it onto the dining room table and back to my house in the living room before Jason or Jen notice. I love doing that. I also love playing with my bird simulator, trying to look out closed blinds and Classical 101.1 FM.

The past several mornings, I have been trying to help Jen and Jason wake up by licking their faces very persistently. I usually get up at about 4 AM, and I think they should get up too. Usually, though, they gently set me on the ground a couple of times and I let them be. I’ll say, though, that my new home sure beats the heck out of living outside. I get all the love I could ever want, really great food and refreshing, clean water.

The one thing I feel I am missing is my new litterbox. I let Jen and Jason know I wanted one of those cool Modkat boxes like I saw on YouTube. Being the awesome parents they are, they went ahead and ordered one for me - but they are not shipping until the end of summer. I shake my paw at your litterbox delays, ModKat!

Other than that, things are great. I will surely miss Jen and Jason while they are gone on their trip soon, but it will be nice to have some time to myself. Hopefully, my paw typing skill will improve and I can write more often. Until then -

Meow!

- Cosby Dean

My Photography System

This is a post I have intended to write for some time. I know some of you are curious as to what my photography “outfit” is like, and what my image process is like. So, here we go.

The camera I primarily use is a Hasselblad 205FCC. Hasselblad is a Swedish camera corporation, whose products are primarily handmade. My first camera was a Hasselblad, a 501c. The 205 differs from that 501 in two key ways - the shutter, and the internal meter. The shutter in my 205 is a focal plane shutter, and the shutter in the 501 was a leaf shutter. Like everything else, there are positives and negatives to these different types. As I said, the other key difference in the cameras is the light meter. The 501 had no meter, but the 205 had a highly precise spot meter. This is the biggest improvement for me - the ability to take photos relatively quickly with the internal meter - and the camera can be set to aperture priority as well - my preferred method of working. The downside to this is the rarity of cameras, lenses, and accessories compatible with the 200 series. I searched for a long time before finding a 205 in good condition at a reasonable price.

I also have three film backs for the 205. I have two E-24 and one E-12 back. The 24 backs use 220 film, producing 24 2.25 by 2.25 inch images on each roll. The 12 back produces the same image size, but uses 120 film, and makes 12 images per roll. I prefer 220 as I have to change the film less often - which is sometimes a difficult task, especially when you can’t sit down or have someone help you change the film! I shoot TriX 320 film for black and white, and I am still trying to decide on a color film. I have shot Kodak Portra 400 and Fujicolor 400 in the past - but I am experimenting with Fuji Provia and Velvia now.

As for lenses, I have two. The “normal” lens for the Hasselblad is the 80mm f 2.8 Carl Zeiss Planar. Let me tell you, these lenses are amazing - wonderful color, excellent resolving power, and limited distortion. I also have a 50mm f 2.8 Distagon. I love the 50, and the 80 too - but it is wonderful to have a great, fast wide angle lens. The only downside is the weight - the 50 probably weighs twice as much as the 80!

If I had an unlimited budget, what would I add? My first purchase would be a 903SWC - one of the great superwide cameras. I would also add the 110 f 2.0 Planar, and another 24 and 12 back.

As for digital, I have a Nikon D300 - and Jen primarily uses this. We have four lenses for the Nikon, but primarily use the 20, due to the smaller DX sensor size in the camera.

The film goes off to North Coast Photographic Services for processing and scanning. They do a great job, and are reasonably priced. The scanned images (or digital images from the D300) are imported into Apple Aperture, a photo editing and management program.

I hope that answers your questions, feel free to ask more in the comments!

- Jason Dean

About Texas

While I was in Syracuse, when people asked me where I was from, I replied, “Texas.” Many people wanted to know more about Texas, and I tried to give them a fair description - but I really did not do a good job. This has bothered me since returning to my native state, and I have been searching for a decent description of the state. I discovered this passage about Texas in a book I just finished, titled The Big Rich by Bryan Burrough.

It’s hard to tell people about Texas. It is. It’s hard to explain what it means to be a Texan. To anyone who grew up in the North, it probably means nothing. The idea of a state “identity,” or that a state’s citizens might adopt it as a part of their own self-image, seems a quaint, almost antebellum notion. Folks in Iowa don’t strut around introducing themselves as Iowans, at least none I know.

But if you grew up in Texas, as I did, it becomes a part of you, as if you’re a member of a club. It’s a product of the state’s enduring, and to my mind, endearing, parochialism, a genetic tie to the days when Texas was a standalone nation borne of its own fight for independence, which produced its own set of national myths. Ohio doesn’t have an Alamo. I’m not sure Ohioans, as wonderful as they are, have a distinct culture. As a child I was always vaguely ashamed I wasn’t born in Texas. I’ll never forget the day a boy in my fifth-grade class actually called me a carpetbagger. How on earth would he even know what that was?

I thought that was somewhat insightful into the identities of many Texans. Although, to be fair, I am a native Texan, though I am not one who has a bumper sticker to prove it.

- Jason Dean

Syracuse Rare Books

My seven days in Syracuse were very busy and productive, so much so that I am only now getting around to providing you, good reader, with the highlights from the trip.

For me, the highlight of all the class experiences was the rare books presentation. Dr. Lavender took us through the history of the book by showing us actual examples of the changing nature of books over time.

We started off with a small cuneiform tablet from Nineveh, approximately four thousand years old. Next was the development of paper - he showed us a piece of papyrus from the reign of Cleopatra, about two thousand years ago. Next were handmade manuscripts from the middle ages. I found these manuscripts to be most impressive. You might have seen illuminated manuscripts online, but those images do not portray the three-dimensionality of the images on the actual page. After nearly six hundred years, the script and accompanying images have an amazing amount of color and contrast.

We moved on to the intersection of the middle ages and the renaissance. The book example of this was a printed book on medical botany - one that included Unicorns. We also saw Galileo’s book, the first movable book (Arien’s Cosmography), as well as a book from Elizabeth I’s library.

As a student of library science, I loved seeing where we “came from.” For me, it helps to put the “what’s next” in context, and will help me to make better choices as a librarian.

- Jason Dean

In Appreciation of Catalogers

This article was shared with me by the director of the Amon Carter Museum Library, and I very much enjoyed it - so I will pass it on to you. Enjoy!

Jason Dean

http://www.criminallawlibraryblog.com/2009/07/in_appreciation_of_library_cat.html

Excerpt:
“… we need to realize that although much of their work is behind the scenes and invisible to most of us, catalogers continue to play an important, critical role in enabling us to find the information essential to our going about our daily lives both at work and at home. Although search services are often useful, even vital, they are no substitute online catalogs when searching for bibliographic materials housed in libraries, groups of libraries or similar organizations.”

Dr. Ranganathan’s Five Laws

Earlier this week, I mentioned Rangantathan’s Five Laws of Library Science. Today, I am going to post these five laws, let you gnaw on them, and let me know what you think about them - their overall accuracy, and their validity in a digital age. I want to hear from you all in the comments!

1. Books are for use.
2. For every reader, his or her book.
3. For every book, its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. A library is a growing organism.

- Jason Dean

Censorship

Are you ready for another dip into the pool of the ethics of librarianship? Come on in, the water is fine.

Today’s post is about the key role librarians play in fighting censorship.

Since I have been referencing the code of ethics of the American Library Association, I feel as I should quote from it now:

We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor
library resources.

Like the other ethics statements of the ALA, this one is broad, and is meant to be a general guideline for librarians. I think one can look at this statement in two areas: traditional and electronic items in the library’s collection.

The traditional battleground for this fight has been books with what individuals deemed “objectionable content.” This includes classics such as Catcher in the Rye, and Ulysses. Librarians are expected, and actively do, fight against censorship of any item in their collection. Sometimes, these efforts are successful, and other times they are not. Much of what librarians must do in situations where items in the library collection are challenged is juggle disparate and competing interests. I’ll go more into this juggling in a moment, but allow me to acknowledge a very controversial topic that fits nicely under this censorship heading: internet filters.

Filtering of internet resources is a very controversial topic in the overall concept of censorship. According to the quote I gave you above, librarians should fight against this filtering. It’s not as simple as that, though. There are many issues at play.

The first issue that comes to mind is funding. Federal, state, and local technology funding is tied to the use of internet filters, and many libraries would be unable to provide free internet access without this finding assistance.

The second issue that occurs to me is that librarians do not practice their profession in a void: they are also members of the community in which they work, as well as individuals. Each of these identities brings with it a different set of ethics. One’s personal set of ethics might conflict (and they commonly do on internet filtering) with the code of ethics of librarians. Nevertheless, in the library, you are expected to adhere to that code of ethics. That’s why those ethics are very broadly defined, and why I hesitate to say that all librarians do exactly what is stated in the ethics code all the time.

However, in general first amendment rights have no greater friends than librarians. And, to me, I like that.

Jason Dean