LibraryTechtonics

I’ve seen a lot of posts all over the place about the Library Patrons of Texas making efforts to have items removed from the collection, in the midst of various complaints and challenges several libraries are receiving about online and print content accessable by kids. LACK has a good followup post on the situation.

“They are your children. It is your tax dollars. It is your library. You are entitled to know.” is the slogan at the top of their home page. While this is true, it’s not just the children who get to use the library, it’s not just parent tax dollars funding the library, and not all parents feel the way this group does. I may be preaching to the choir here, but the fact remains that by trying to pursue the selfish “I want [my] kids to be safe” strategy, they deny access to others who don’t agree with them.

I’d like to see other taxpayers, with or without children, publicly weigh in on this. As a library patron and taxpayer without children, I think censoring content for the sake of the children puts my rights at risk. Maybe there’s just too much apathy, maybe non-complaintants think it’ll blow over. While I understand why parents want to protect their children, the censoring of content in libraries because parents don’t want the content accessible to their children, and the notion that the librarian is the babysitter and the surrogate, stand-in parent who is responsible for the moral fiber of a child is a disturbing, growing trend that’s getting out of hand. I mean, librarians are smart and cool, and having an influence on a child’s thinking is neat in it’s own right, but *parents* should be parenting their children, and parents are ultimately responsible for their children.

Jessamyn’s not the only one who wants this job:

Third Space, Information Grounds, and a new superhero – the Mybrarian
[c/o Librarian.net 28 jul '04]

So very, very hot.

The notion of the mobile librarian, taking information services to the information needs is not new, and I really think it’s the future of librarianship. This is what librarians should be striving for, the rule, not the exception.

Projects like Harvard’s Roving Librarian are a head start in this direction (I should check to see if they’re really still doing this). I wrote an issue brief for my management class last on moving library services to branch and kiosk locations, and how it not only meets the needs of the patron, but pushes traffic to the library proper.

In order to take our profession to the next level, each librarian needs to be somewhat of a contained technology as well as information center. Technology knowledge and training is key. However, so is the passion and skill for outreach. Anyone who comes into librarianship thinking they can hide behind books is crazy. I mean, librarianship is still in a place where librarians can do this, but it won’t stay there for long with likes of Jessamyn West, Steven Cohen, TechnoBiblio, and me around.

I thought a recent Professional Reading Shelf recommendation on Resourceshelf prompted me to ILL request Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet by Marylaine Block, but it turns out Gary Price’s writeup is from last year, so I’m not sure where I saw it.

In any case, the book looks like a good read, and exactly what librarians should be reading right now. I’ll keep you posted on what I think.

Looking for a portal of all things Japanese? I always am . check it:

J Guide: Stanford Guide to Japan Information Resources
[c/o Resourceshelf 22 jul '04]

Anyone who knows me well knows I love all things Japanese, and most/some things generally asian. Laid out like Yahoo, nice and image-sparse, the J Guide is part of the Virual Library for Japan, and is hosted and maintained by Stanford University.

Categories are very logically laid out, and each link notes how many hits it has received, as well as when it was listed. I even saw a bunch of links listed yesterday and the day before, which indicates the site is updated somewhat regularly. The listings also helpfully note page languages, so that if a page has a Japanese version, or only a Japanese version, you know before you go there. There aren’t tons of links in each category, which is nice, because they’ve pared it down to the useful and essential, without making it a mish mash garage sale of resources that you need to pick through. Every link is somehow useful without having to wade through useless links.

There’s even a Reference section that provides overall information on Japan, how to find overall information, and how to find *libraries* in Japan. So very cool.

I finished reading Good Omens on Friday, and was quite pleased with the ending. The last time I read anything with such a huge buildup to the end was reading Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age years ago, and, well, Neal Stephenson is not so much with ending his stories well at all, so I was happy that Neil and Terry didn’t leave me in the same lurch.

As noted in a review by Rebecca Swain, my problem with the book is the “almost exaggeratedly English” writing. I could tell the difference between when Neil’s story voice and Terry’s story voice, and I kept wanting Terry to be quiet. I’ve often been asked why I’m not a Terry Pratchett fan, given my attraction to Neil Gaiman and Neal Stephenson, and I think the multiple commas in a sentence to say something simple puts a finer point on it. It’s cute in a more AV context, like on TV, or in a recording, but on paper, it breeds impatience in me. Yes, I realise that the Pratchett fans out there might come to get me for this, and to them I say I’ll really just agree to disagree.

Overall, I did like the story very much. My SO is intrigued to read it after hearing me giggle like an idiot for 2 weeks, but refuses to until he gets a chance to read the Book of Revelation in the Bible. (Timeline of Revelations hard to follow? Or, are you just a process geek? Check out the flowchart.) I don’t think it’s necessary, but that’s just me. I guess a quick skim and outline of Revelations, or even someting more Cliff’s Notes-style, and a Saturday afternoon screening of The Omen would really suffice, either before or after. A reader might have a real belly laugh of some of the jokes with the background, but even without, I still think it’ll still solicit a giggle from the uninitiated.

The book itself, however, isn’t really *religious*. It uses a religious context as a backdrop for irreverent humor (or, so might say some of the easily aggravated devout christians of the world, I’m sure). If you’re looking for a broader scope of the apolcolypse historically and religiously, the PBS site on their “Apocolypse” special is pretty keen.

So yeah, if you like the idea of the struggle between good and evil as a partnership between and angel and a devil to keep the 11-year old Antichrist from destroying the world, read this book. It’s funny.

Speaking of Death, destruction, and my growing fascination with Neil Gaiman, I am pleased to mention that New Line has picked up “Death: The High Cost of Living” to create a feature film, which Gaiman will direct. This pleases me a great deal. I think the story will adapt nicely to the screen. What I don’t know is whether it’ll be live action or animated. Either way, I think it’ll be spiffy.