The Librarydude!

2010-02-25T17:17:00.002+11:00

We watched Ghostbusters the other day and saw the scariest scene ever in a movie.

This is it:

How long would it take to re-file all those 5 x 8 catalogue cards? The stuff nightmares are made of....

2010-01-18T11:29:00.002+11:00

Facebook

Anyone else notice that Facebook is becoming more of an online games site rather than the social networking site it was designed to be? I know the social networking bit is still there, with the chat system and so forth, but it seems to be swamped by all the games and invitations to join millions of different games.

(I admit I am hooked on Treasure Madness on Facebook, so this post is a bit hypocritical)

2010-01-10T18:16:00.002+11:00

This has got to be the best Elvis biography ever, if not the best biography itself. Borrow,buy or obtain a copy of this.

2009-12-18T21:54:00.002+11:00

First off. I passed my units for university ity for this semester. This means I have passed every core library unit for my degree. All that is left now is my electives, these being one library specialisation and a unit (because I have prior credits) of a NON - library unit. The LibraryLass (My wife) suggested something to do with Web Design because I am interested in that, like pottering around online and am a nerd.

Let you know when I work it out....

2009-12-02T10:34:00.002+11:00

The Librarydude is in a quandry. I've completed (I hope, still waiting for the results to be formaly posted) all my core Library Study units for university. Now I only have to do one unit of a non-library major, plus some elective units for the remaider of library quota. (After that is some work placement, but I may be able to get credit for previous experience)

I have decided to do Services and literature for young people, aka teenagers, for my library electives.

What do I do for my non library elective........ ?

2009-11-30T22:30:00.000+11:00

I am so far behind technologically. I have only just started messing around with RSS feeds. It's currently only on 2 Hours On Sunday but will appear here when I get the hang of it.

Of course as this blog is read by nobody but my Mum. (Hi Mum) and she doesn't subscribe to any feed aggregators, it is only something I'm fiddling about with to learn about. Of course, when the day comes that "The Librarydude!" and "2 Hours On Sunday" are required reading for everyone, well, then it might have some bigger practical use...

2009-11-16T00:18:00.000+11:00

Recommended Blog

Following on from my last post about the number of Blogs I had, My wife has started a blog over at Wordpress. It's not Library related, it has to do with a medical condition that The LibraryDude and his little LibraryBaby have.

Here's the link: http://sunnyreid.wordpress.com/

Please check it out.

2009-11-15T23:12:00.000+11:00

Cleaning up my pollution in the Blogosphere

I have, at last count, two blogs, two livejournals, and a Facebook page. I am cutting down on them, which is one of the reasons why this isn't updated as much anymore.

Congratulations!

You are reading a Winner in the Dave Keeps This Blog Lottery!

The Librarydude will remain, as well as my el-crappo review of el-crappo movies and TV page, 2 Hours On Sunday

My Livejournal, it seems, will be left as an archive to the guy I used to be.

I am now, the Facebook using Librarydude who writes 2 Hours On Sunday.

2009-09-25T21:53:00.000+10:00

Here's a book recommendation for you.

Weaving The Web: The Past, Present and Future of The World Wide Web by Its Inventor by Tim Berners-Lee.

Tim Berners-Lee is the man responsible for the innovation that you are using now. The World Wide Web. While he didn't invent the Internet, which some people are convinced is the same as the Web, he did bring together the ideas of hypertext and the internet to give a more linked entity. And all to mimic the workings of the human brain.

Berners-Lee relates the creation and his thoughts on the creation, or more the emergence of the Web in detail and gives his thoughts on the way it was picked up and utilised by the world. It is a great read, especially for communication students and librarians or any who are interested in the Web and its future.

2009-09-10T16:50:00.000+10:00

I've been fiddling about with my LibraryThing.

I'll rephrase that... I mean I've been having a look at LibraryThing again, as evidenced by the widget you see on the right hand column of this blog. I wasn't sure about LibraryThing before, and I signed up just to have a play around on the site, not expecting much.

I thought I'd give it a bit more of a go, if only to pretty up this blog page with something that looks kinda groovy.

2009-08-25T21:44:00.000+10:00

I feel good!

Why do I feel good? Because I am back working in a library. Admittedly it is volunteer work and at my kids' school library, but it's still library work.

I feel good. It's good to be back in the game!

2009-06-21T19:43:00.000+10:00

My final assignment for the semester is complete and sent, and I now have a few minutes to come back to this blog. Of course nobody reads this anymore, so I'm talking to myself again.

Anyway just have a minute and just wanted to get a post in.

Even if it, like the majority of the Internet, is pointless.

2008-12-09T16:10:00.000+11:00

As of now, The Librarydude's Summer Reading Program consists of one book, and a paperback novel at that. So here are some other titles that I hope to knock off by the end of Summer.

Round Ireland With A Fridge by Tony Hawks

Inspired by a strange sight he saw years ago, Tony Hawks (genius behind the hit 80s single Stutter Rap) makes a drunken bet that he can hitch-hike around the circunfrence of Ireland with a fridge. This book details his travels and the inhabitants who help (hinder?) his task.

Ok, anyone who has completed the HSC (Higher School Certificate) in Australia has probably already read this, but this is Australia's essential coming of age novel, and deserves repeated re-reading.

Set over one year in the life of Josie Alibrandi, this novel covers her struggle with being a second generation Italian, he reuniting with her Father, and her struggles at school. Because it's a coming of age novel, Josies love life is put through the wringer as well.

Apparantly this novel was one of the most stolen books from school libraries back in the nineties, and with good reason. It is my favourite Australian novel.

Well I haven't actually read this so I cannot give my synopsis to you. But I have enjoyed James Herbert's other work. Here, in place of my blurb, is the write up from amazon.com.

Sleath - a picturesque village hidden away in a part of the Chiltern Hills seldom visited by outsiders. With its mediaeval church and traditional green and pond, it presents the perfect picture of English rural calm. But something is lurking in the shadows of the ancient buildings. The faces of the people hiding behind the twitching curtains of the idyllic cottages betray the fear that has gripped a community, fear of terrors beyond mortal control and imagination. Psychic investigator David Ash had more experience than most of facing what lies behind paranormal and supernatural phenomena. But even he is unprepared for what greets him when he is summoned to investigate reports of mass hauntings....

Well thats the lineup for now. If anyone wants to comment on any of these selections, feel free to comment here or email me at davidroyreid@hotmail.com.

2008-12-05T12:49:00.000+11:00

Because it is now Summer, and The Librarydude has completed all his study until at least february next year, I'm starting my own personal Summer Reading Program.

First book off the rank, William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist.

For those who have not read this (or seen the movie, which was a very good adaptation) here's the blurb from my copy of the novel.

"The terror began unobtrusively. Noises in Reagan's room, an odd smell, misplaced furniture, an icy chill. small annoyances for which chris MacNeil, Reagan's actress mother, easily found explanations. The changes in eleven-year-old Reagan were so gradual too, that Chris did not recognize for some time how much her daughters behaviour had altered. Even when she did, the medical tests which followed shed no light on Reagan's symptoms, which grew more severe and frightening. It was almost as if a different personality had invaded the child. Desperate, Chris turned from the doctors to Father Damien Karras, a Jesuit priest, who was trained as a psychiatrist and had a deep knowledge of such phenomena as satanism and possession. Was it possible that a demonic force was at large? If psychiatry couldn't help, might exorcism be the answer?"

2008-11-29T14:03:00.000+11:00

Essential reading for any librarian or library worker would have to be Library Journal, (or Australian Library Journal), but a more entertaining one, and just as full of library information is Unshelved. (for those who for some reason have not realised it, Unshelved appears on this page every day- just look at the top of this page for todays strip)

2008-11-09T17:09:00.000+11:00

Digital revolution comes to printed word

"A survey published in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair last month showed that 40 percent of book publishing professionals thought digital sales, regardless of the format, would surpass the ink-on-paper kind by 2018."

Hmm really? I like e-books, for some applications, I even have made moves into selling ebooks online, so I do appreciate them, but I cannot see them overtaking print within the next decade.

For out of print books, such as the collection at sites such as forgottenbooks.org and Project Gutenberg, the e-book format is a useful way to retain these works, but I cannot see the new book bestseller being bought mainly by download.

Let's see what happens in the next ten years...

2008-09-15T13:55:00.000+10:00

Interesting new site. The Open Library

http://www.openlibrary.org/

I'll have a good look at this later, I'm in the middle of writing an assignment and can't giove it a great workout yet. It does however, have online copies of some older, and rarer material. Could be worth a look.

Currently it is in beta stage.

2008-08-28T20:26:00.000+10:00

Quick Recommendation for a good novel.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

I found a replacement copy of this yesterday for $2 at a Salvation army store. (My original copy has fallen apart from overuse)

This is one book that I would be pleased to see my kids read (later on, no way are they reading it now). In fact, I was always glad to see kids reading Cormier's books, and The Chocolate War and I Am The Cheese in particular. Maybe it's because I can't stand books being removed or censored from school libraries, and seeing kids read them is a great stand for their right to choose. (which incidently, is the sub-theme of The Chocolate War). If you haven't read it, I urge you to.

Also check out Cormier's other books, especially I Am The Cheese and Beyond The Chocolate War.

2008-08-25T22:23:00.001+10:00

6 Year Old's Knitting Group Kicked Out Of Library

Really. Because they were not "literacy-based" a little girl's knitting group are now not allowed to meet in an Ontario library.

Full story here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/08/15/ot-knitting-080815.html

I applaud the little girl and her mother for standing up to this. This is just not right. Libraries are not just Literacy spaces, they are SOCIAL spaces.

2008-08-21T20:55:00.000+10:00

Children's Book Recommendation.

We raided the discard pile at our local library last week and found this gem.

Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar.

For those who haven't seen it, it is a great story for young children about a jar, that holds a sea, that holds and island that contains kingdoms, made up of villages, which contain houses, which have rooms that have cupbourds, and in the cupboards are boxws which contain..... jars! (It's very similar to the "As I Was Going To St Ives" riddle)

My five year old loves the "magic jar" aspect, and my seven year old is just learning multiplication, so she is getting into the "how many jars are there at the end" part of the book.

The second half of the book is a description of the mathematical process of factorials, showing exactly how to calculate how many jars are in the boxes at the end of the story. It turns out to be over three million.

I think the book is damn cool, and the cover is a great painting.

2008-08-15T17:42:00.000+10:00

Red Letter Day for he Librarydude today. we went to my local public library (where I don't work, but trying to get into) to sign up my 10 week old daughter for a library card.

We didn't end up borrowing a book, but we did buy a Paddington Bear book off the discard table for her.

I loved Paddington when I was a boy, still do actually, so LibraryDaddyDude is going to enjoy it too.

2008-08-05T22:02:00.000+10:00

Competition For Google?

Recently, well as recently as I can catch up, so maybe within the last year, a new search engine has cropped up.

Cuil

I've just started poking around on it, and tried out a search for "jerichospin". (For those unaware, Jerichospin is the username I use on Livejournal.)

The first page lists nine results. The first one is about "resistant depression", one is in Russian, and four are not relevant to me. I will give this a trial run, but first impressions don't look good.

Anyone use it? What do you think?

2008-08-04T21:31:00.000+10:00

It dawned on me today that I have four blogs. (plus one livejournal)

FOUR!

Why do I need four blogs? Or, more to the point, why do I continue updating the ones that are not read? Like, surprise, surprise. this one!

I suppose I just kept this going after learning the basics of blogging on Blogger all those years ago. (http://y2dave.blogspot.com is the start of my online ramblings). But why do i not update? Well, the truth is, I actually do, but not on a "blog" per se, but on my Livejournal.

Now I know some of you will decry Livejournal, saying it's not good for blogs, its only about chatting with your mates, etc. well, yeah! That's the point. Livejournal is a social meeting point, Blogger, at least to me, is a cyber-soapbox.

Livejournal feels more social. The communities aspect of it is great, and the ease of looking at all your "friends" posts is an asset.

Of course, having said that, once I learn how to do funky and interesting things with Blogger, I'll probably come running back here. :)

Not making too much sense tonight. Having a drinky or two. See you next time when my mind will be full of Theory X and Y and Z (as I'm reading for my management of libraries unit at uni)

2008-07-24T14:06:00.000+10:00

Well, that was quick. See last post for details on Rentoid.

This morning my lovely wife was offered the opportunity to do some blogging/promotion for the company.

See her new blog for details. It's over on Wordpress at http://orangegirl2800.wordpress.com/

I should be back with Library related stuff soon. Meantime, bookmark my wife's page, as it will have heaps of cool stuff on it within a very short time.

2008-07-23T20:00:00.000+10:00

Not so much a library related thing this post, but a great social networking service.

Rentoid.

Like Ebay, but for renting stuff rather than selling. The Rentoid team appeared on A Current Affair last night, which is where my wife found out about it, and later told me about it. Link to the ACA interview is at http://www.youtube.com/user/rentoid.

So why have I made a post about a service for getting stuff? Because, the way Rentoid works, it creates social connections between users, bringing people together. Much like a public library should.

So go check it out. While it is Australian based, it is planning to, if it hasn't already, go global.

(And another reason why Rentoid is worth promoting? One of the owners thinks my wife is "quite a catch!" (as he said in a live webcast last night). So there is a brain and good taste at the top!

2008-06-27T09:18:00.000+10:00

Because I haven't updated lately, a lot of you may not be aware of what is happening to me lately. I am no longer at the Records company, as my wife and I had a horrific pregnancy, which involved me leaving work to care for her. You will be pleased to know that our daughter Charlotte was born on the 5th June!

So now I am looking for work again. As I'm in a small country city it is extremely hard to find library work, so I'm supplimenting that by volunteering at the local Christian Lending Library. This not only gets me back in the swing of library work, (and gets the book-rust off me), but helps me relax for a couple of hours.

I miss library work!

So that's what I'm up to. Next week, hopefully, my study material will arrive and I'll be thrown into the wonderful world of Managing Libraries. Between times I'm trying to catchup on reading library blogs again, especially Open Stacks.

When I'm back into study and thinking 24/7 about the profession, I may have more relevant things to impart. Until then, find a good book and curl up and enjoy.

2008-06-18T21:40:00.000+10:00

*dusts off the blogger dashboard and finds The Librarydude blog underneath*

Hi again. The Librarydude here again after a tremendous break from updating, and even library work. Why? Well Mrs Librarydude has been pregnant and I have had to take time off to help her through.

And on the 5th June 2008 our daughter was born. So I am now trying to score work, and heading back to study all while learning the ins and outs of parenthood.

In about 3 weeks or so I will recieve material for my next Librarianship degree unit, Management in Libraries, and so I may return to this blog with some library related insights.

But until then, just remember, I am not yet dead.

2007-11-02T16:37:00.001+11:00

Well for all my millions of readers, (Hi Frank!) :) ) I thought it was about time I posted here again. I have not gotten back into the public library services, but have instead secured a position (for at least the next twelve months) as a sentencer for a records management company.

What's a sentencer?

That's exactly what I thought when I turned up for my first day about three weeks ago. Basically, what I do is take the boxes of records sent to us by our clients, examine them (the boxes that is, not the clients), and classify what the documents are using a handy guide, or five. When I have a good idea what the item is, I can reference it in the guide, which tells me how long it must legally be retained. Examining the date of the record and this new piece of information, I can determine if it must be stored here, destroyed or archived at the State Archives. I also do a heap of data entry to a database.

So the Librarydude is still here, and while I have no study, (until next February), I am going to try and update more often on library/records management issues.

And learn how to make Blogger blogs look pretty...

2007-07-24T18:31:00.000+10:00

Well, the Librarydude is now a Librarylessdude. I no longer am employed by any library, at least for now. However, I am still studying my Batchelor of Science in Librarianship, and have returned to blogger for the simple fact that my first assignment is to be submitted via blogger and not as a word document.

I think thats kinda cool...

2007-03-22T05:32:00.001+11:00

It’s my last day at my current library. So lets get this bit out of the way now.

Hooooooooooraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

Hopefully in a month or so (whenever the position is offered), I’ll be working at the public library in my new town. But that is still to come. Hopefully, judging from the sporadic updates of this journal, I won’t be the blog maintainer!

More to come when I (a) have time to type and (b) more happens.

2007-03-21T19:13:00.002+11:00

I found this bit in an article about book burning entitled “Harry Potter and The Ministry Of Fire”
…outside the U.S., book burning is still in fashion. In May of this year, protesters in the Philippines and Italy burned copies of The Da Vinci Code to coincide with the release of the film version. In a tragicomic note, the Philippine Daily Inquirer pointed out that due to the high cost of the book, protesters likely only burned three copies of it, adding photocopies to make the pyre higher. In Ceccano, Italy, only one copy of the book was burned, even as protesters hurled tomatoes at the burners.
Standing for their beliefs AND mindful of the budget?

2007-03-21T19:13:00.001+11:00

2007-03-13T19:11:00.001+11:00

This is whats happening at my library at the moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNETPFbS3vg
More to come on the whole future of the Librarydude…..

2007-02-08T20:10:00.000+11:00

I am not sure what to think. I am not sure what to say about this.
My library is going through a restructuring, a re-thinking if you will. All well and good. Any organisation that doesn’t reassess its structure and organisation is going to have troubles. However the two major proposed changes, (there are more, not counting possible staff razoring) that have been put forward are these.
1- Out of the eight remaining branches, designate half of them, the ones near major metropolitan areas, as “Tier 1″ libraries and continue offering fuller service. All others, in mostly outlying and/or residential zones., are now “Tier 2″ libraries. This is OK so far, apart from the fact that the tier 2 libraries, and these are PUBLIC LIBRARIES we are talking about, will now have no reference services at all anymore, only what the decision makers have called “leisure services”. After being questioned if this means no more Reader’s Advisory services (which, of course is a type of reference service), there was no answer.
2 - The collection will be redistributed according to the area. (I don’t know what this means either) . I think this means that if there is a demand for knitting books in the south, that all the knitting books will belong to that area’s library, (but won’t have patrons directed to them because there won’t be Reference services in the branch).
I’m sure they think this will work, but I don’t see how. I feel like it is more customer service out the window, we are no longer a library service, just becoming a bookstore that loans. Where is the information service of the library? I can’t answer that- that’s a reference question….

2007-01-24T20:09:00.001+11:00

Been a little while hasn’t it? There are a few problems regarding work at the moment which I cannot go into at the moment, when the time is right there will be details.
Until then, here is one of the Ultimate Reader’s advisor tools. The Book-A-Minute!

2007-01-01T20:09:00.001+11:00

I hope everybody had a great Christmas/New Year season. Mine was pretty good, aside from our town being hit by storms and flooding our backyard, and having problems with the electrics in the house, because the storm soaked though our roof. Electrician will be called ASAP but until he can check it out and give us the OK, we are relying on candlelight. This is kinda romantic for myself and my fiancee, but the kids get a little scared with the lack of light.
Work wise, things have been quiet. I have had a break from library-work from the 24th December until tomorrow. Then its back in full swing to the grind of the public library. I’m thinking about moving on to something more stable though. Our library service has gone through a lot of upheaval in the last year, and it is no longer an enjoyable place to work. I was planning to hang in there until things improved, but I see it is currently on such a downward spiral that it is not going to happen soon, or at all.
Hence, I am looking for library work in another, ideally Fedrally funded agency. This will help me financially much more than the public library does.
It is just not worth struggling in a job I no longer enjoy. Hopefully I can grab something full time at a better place soon.

2006-11-22T20:06:00.001+11:00

I came across this book in my library today. Dealing With Difficult People In The Library by Mark Willis. Works like this are essential for those lucky ones who work in a library, especially a public library. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, I enjoy providing the service I do, and I get incredible amounts of satisfaction seeing a customer walk away happy that they have what they came for. What I do not like at all, however are the “difficult” people, (or as one of my previous collegues called them, “The Lunar affected” because the number of incidents increased around full moons. (Maybe there’s a study in that)), who are obnoxious, greedy, impolite, demanding and self-centred among other traits.
Willis’ work will help me with this…

2006-11-21T20:05:00.001+11:00

Our library service is trying to bring back the Reader’s Advisor aspect of public librarianship. Not a bad thing is it? So as an aid to me, here’s a couple of RA related links that may come in useful. I want to credit Rebecca Blood of What’s In Rebecca’s Pocket? for leading me to these links.
For locating books set in specific locations, try out Bibliotravel. Here you can enter the name of a city, and you’ll retrieve a list of books set in that particular location. I tried it with my home city of Canberra (Australia) but only got one result
Debbie’s Idea (and a fine one it is), can assist with finding the first book of an author for a person to read. It also lists the ones that are not recommended for the first time reader to the author.
What Should I Read Next is useful for finding, uh, what you should read next.
Some of these may end up on my sidebar, some may not. I suppose it all depends on how useful I eventually find them, and whenever I get around to customising this blog some more.
Our library service is trying to bring back the Reader’s Advisor aspect of public librarianship. Not a bad thing is it? So as an aid to me, here’s a couple of RA related links that may come in useful. I want to credit Rebecca Blood of What’s In Rebecca’s Pocket? for leading me to these links.

For locating books set in specific locations, try out Bibliotravel. Here you can enter the name of a city, and you’ll retrieve a list of books set in that particular location. I tried it with my home city of Canberra (Australia) but only got one result

Debbie’s Idea (and a fine one it is), can assist with finding the first book of an author for a person to read. It also lists the ones that are not recommended for the first time reader to the author.

What Should I Read Next is useful for finding, uh, what you should read next.

Some of these may end up on my sidebar, some may not. I suppose it all depends on how useful I eventually find them, and whenever I get around to customising this blog some more.

2006-11-19T20:02:00.000+11:00

Google, I have just seen, (although I’m way behind, as this has been available since September) have progressed with their provision of out of copyright texts and have enabled the access of some of these titles via their Google Book Search service. The idea of this is a good one, and assuming Google do not break their self-set boundary of not breaking copyright, it will be a very useful service.
I will say here, that I have not yet performed many searches on Google Books, and so I cannot vouch for its ease of use or effectiveness, although I will when I have a free moment.
The original announcement of this service can be found on Googleblog, at this entry. While Googleblog can seem like one long advertisment (and it is) it does have occasional interesting news. Though trawling through it every day can be a chore…

2006-11-19T19:50:00.000+11:00

Farewell Blogger!

I (at least for the time being) have grown weary of Blogger and the amount of time it takes to do anything pretty, or more sophisticated than basic italics and bolding in text. I just do not have the patience for learning HTML, looking up BloggerHacks to find out how to add anything sophisticated and hoping that any change to my template doesn't screw everything up. While this might make be an unsophisticated non-programmer type, I only wanted somewhere I can write my stuff and have my own little web presence.

But do not despair, noble citizens! The LibraryDude has not disappeared, but has moved over to Wordpress at:

http://librarydude.wordpress.com

See you there...

2006-11-18T10:02:00.000+11:00

I'm thinking of leaving Blogger. I'm not very happy with the limited amount of stuff I can do here, so I'm thinking of heading on over to Wordpress.com. There I can have pretty pictures and a more logical setup, and not have to worry about HTML as much.

I'll investigate this.

2006-11-17T15:50:00.000+11:00

Here's your Patriot Act, here's your f***ing abuse of power.

Following on from the previous entry, heres a few more links in relation to the “Taser incident” in which UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad was “tasered” by Officers after not providing ID. Those who clicked on the YouTube link in my previous post (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CdNgoC0cE) will have seen Mostafa being tasered while handcuffed and being “asked” to stand up. Like it is possible to stand up while being shocked with electricity.

So the crime of not producing ID results in being electrocuted. But only if you have a foreign sounding name? And don’t look “American” enough? If his name was Bob Smith, white male from New York, would this have happened?

Now that I think of it, it probably would. The “officers” there seemed like they were too drunk on their own power at the time. And security and police are never racist or prejudiced are they?

But to the links:

The Official Police Report (.pdf format) - http://www.ucpd.ucla.edu/ucpd/zippdf/2006/Taser%2011-15-06.pdf

NBC article - http://www.nbc11.com/news/10328455/detail.html

The UCLA Response - http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=7513

Apologies for this not being so much a library based post, but this burns me that this sort of thing could happen.

Originally found out about this over at Library Mofo. Check the site out, but be warned that there is a bit of foul language at times.

2006-11-17T09:24:00.000+11:00

Safety?

Libraries are seen to be safe places right? That may be the perception, but its not always right. Have a look at this article, and (if you can) the video below.

Article: http://dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=38958

Video (via YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CdNgoC0cE

That's scary that something like this can happen...

2006-11-16T23:04:00.000+11:00

Collection Development Develops

Every few days at our library there appears a small consignment of new items for the collection. I will state now that I work in an actual public library branch, and not in collection development, so my experience with new material is limited to what is sent to my branch, which currently is one on nine (soon to be one of only eight- but that's another topic).

Anyway, the box of new items arrives today, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a little gem in with all the new novels and non fiction. A copy of the 2006 WWE Judgement Day wrestling Pay Per View.

Now we are a public library, and like many other public libraries we hold a lot, (some would say too much) of entertainment DVDs - movies, TV series and the like. And yet it was a complete (and really pleasant) surprise to see wrestling in the new arrivals.

I remember a few years ago, I had to fight to get copies of Mick Foley's Biography Have A Nice Day: A Tale Of Blood And Sweatsocks into the collection, having been told it was "too frivolous" for a non-fiction work. I successfully argued for that one, and copies of his second work of biography and his two novels. But even I was surprised to see actual wrestling dvds arrive. The biographies have some academic value, I argued, and are worthy of a place in the collection. The DVDs I wouldn't have been able to make such a claim for, and if it were solely my decision, I wouldn't have bought too many either. (For the library that is, I have about a hundred of WWF, WCW and ECW videos and DVDs in my personal collection at home).

It's a good feeling, knowing that the collection development of my library service is finally starting to get with the times.

The LibraryDude!

* after typing this post, The LibraryDude went and watched said DVD with his fiancee*

2006-11-10T12:16:00.000+11:00

Literature Map

I was shown this site in training yestreday. (The training was to improve our Reader's Advisor part of our service)

Literature Map

The whole idea is that you type in an author and you get a visual "map" of related authors in a nice pattern around it. (Try it and you'll see what I mean). However, I'm not sure of how reliable it is. According to this site, the closest related authors to Monty Python are Robert Burns, and Karl Marx...

Monty Python is listed as a related author to James Herbert too. Is this just a couple of isolated incidents? Is Literature map reliable? I was going to add it to my list of links on the side but I'm not so sure now.

Anyway, see you again next time.

Edit: 5 minutes later. : The map has settled a bit and Monty python and Robert Burns have a sizable gap between them now. That's a lot better than before, though its a bit troubling that for accurate results you need to wait a few minutes. That's not an option when doing RA at the branches.

2006-11-08T21:13:00.000+11:00

"Where's My Library?"

One month to go until the unveiling of our new library.

Still no pictures however, my camera has been low on power ever since I put my rechargable batteries somewhere "safe". (ie I haven't been able to find them) However, for those who are interested, an architect's view drawing can be seen above. It's not the best way to show the new library as the library is not really visible at all in this picture. See the round white building on the right? That's not it... thats a theatre. The grey bricky building to the extreme right? That's not it either... that's an art gallery. But see those two drawn figures on the right under the flags/banners? Just behind them is a building with huge glass windows.

See it?

That's it.

Hope to see some of you there when we open on the 8th December.

2006-11-05T14:38:00.000+11:00

Another link to an article (actually a show) about the Living Library Project, which is rapidly becoming an obsession of mine on this blog.

But I do think its a great idea.

infospeak.com

mp3 format of Living Library episode

2006-11-04T22:12:00.000+11:00

A Living New Library

A couple of notes regarding my last post about the Living Library program. According to the Enough Rope website, the Lismore Public Library in NSW launched its own Living Library Project yesterday. More details when they come to hand.

Also, the project was mentioned to one of our managers who thought it was a great idea, and one that would be successful in our own library service. The practicalities of getting it up and running, considering the current state of the service (which I will not go into at this time), are another matter.

On another topic. I spent an hour yesterday filling beanbags with beanbag beans. I love setting up the new library. And this one has heaps of space for our Young Adults (YA) section, which I see as a god thing. Too many times the YA sections in libraries are stuck in corners or wherever they fit, and often do not have the space they deserve. This one for our new city library (which opens December 8th) is much better! If I can sneak a camera there, I'll get some photos...

Just over a month to go.

2006-11-02T15:14:00.000+11:00

"Your Lesbian is three weeks overdue, sir"

Remember when libraries were just books and serials? And then we moved into holding larger collections of recorded music, films and digital information and other "non-traditional library" items.

But what about libraries lending people? The library at Malmo in Sweden lends out people for 45 minute sessions. The person "lent" out is a volunteer and can be asked any question from the borrower. The person (otherwise known as the Living Book) does not have to answer all questions and can decide what they wish to say and how far they want to go.

At the moment the Living Books include an Imam, Muslim Women, a Lesbian and Gypsy women. All of these can be "borrowed".

A full transcript and downloadable mp3 copy of the interview from the Enough Rope program from which I learned about this can be found here.

2006-10-30T20:31:00.000+11:00

Not too much library related news this time, but a link to a entertaining, (and well discussed by everyone before Librarydude found out about it and jumped on the bandwagon), seach engine.

www.msdewey.com

(broadband, or superduper connections only)

If this is what search engines will be like in the future, we'll all be entertained, but less informed. The engine is not all that great, but the 18-30 year old male demographic is well catered for....

2006-10-27T12:12:00.000+10:00

Our library is finally getting technologically up to date. We are going to impliment the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system within the next year or so. A description of RFID can be found here http://www.ala.org/ala/pla/plapubs/technotes/rfidtechnology.htm.

I wasn't sure what to expect it to look like, but after researching it today, (I only found out about the implimentation yesterday), I realised I have already seen similar technology, (at an ALIA conference a few years back) and was impressed by it. It will, at least, stop me from having to hand-scan stacks of material both going in and coming out.

It seems that RFID has a lot of features that are useful for our library service. It only remains to be seen what the drawbacks and problems are. More about RFID closer to the implimentation date, or whenever new issues crop up about it.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Librarydude.

2006-10-26T19:32:00.000+10:00

It seem that my library is returning back to a view that we used to have, namely promoting public libraries more as a place to facilitate reading, rather than, as has been the case in the last few years, solely for the purpose of obtaining information. While this is obviously an important role for libraries to perform, it seems that the entertainment and relaxtion aspect of public libraries (ie being able to borrow a book to enjoy) has been pushed aside in an effort to make us more "important" than just lending books.

Wow that was a big sentence.

The training that I had today, which I admit I thought was not going to be useful and a waste of time, the Rewarding Reading program, is designed to enable us to assist library clients when they come to the library to find a book to enjoy. I work in a public library, so this is quite a common occurance. The Rewarding Reading program will help me develop my skills to act as a guide for customers to select books for their enjoyment.

One of the most important things that somebody can possess today is having a high level of literacy. Literacy these days has been expanded to mean able to read and comprehend the written word and the ability to locate and assesss the relevance and accuracy of the work. This is also true for fiction, and it is this skill that I am being trained to help people develop.

I shall see you next time,
Your books are due in three weeks.

2006-10-25T20:24:00.000+10:00

Over one year since I updated here. Could this be because there have been no issues in Library Science occurring in my life or in the world in the previous 12 months? No actually. It's because I forgot the password to access this Blog. For some reason the password just popped into my head this afternoon. So here I am back and ready to blog.

For those who don't know me, and if there is someone who still reads this after my one year absence, I am a library technician in Canberra, Australia. I am currently trying to completing my degree in Librarianship at Charles Sturt University. I am attached to my lovely lady, bunnicakes (name withheld to protect the innocent) and father to two wonderful girls (from Hell). Between all this I am trying to study via distance education which stresses me quite a bit. You may get to read the writings of a stressed Librarydude later... Stressed Librarydude may appear next September when I make an honest woman out of Bunnicakes, and we are married.

Not so much in the way of Library ramblings this time. I'm deep into an assignment about setting up a fictional library, while at the same time my current employer is undergoing a restructure/rethink/rightsizing. Nice piece of timing... Anyway, part of the reason I thought of this blog again was that Blogger is an ideal place to learn and practice HTML, the mastery of which has been on my New Years Resolutions lists for the past three years at least.

Nice to be back, and hers a blog that is a fun, but non-library related read (and most of you would know about it anyway): Riverbend-Girl Blog From Iraq. Rather interesting reading, and a good companion blog to Salam Pax's.

See you at the Circ Desk.

2005-06-13T17:28:00.000+10:00

I do not like censorship, I doubt any librarian or library worker would be in favour of censoring materials. I try not to withhold material from our collection because I happen not to agree with it or because I personally do not like it.

However...

I am a bit unsure of the decision of our library having a copy of the French film Romance, in its collection. This is not because I have a problem with the film itself (although I do think it is slightly overrated), but because of the fact that this film, described as a serious portrait of a young woman who embarks on a harrowing sexual and psychological odyssey because her self-absorbed boyfriend refuses to make love to her, has been rated R by the Office Of Film And Literature Classification. This is what I have a problem with. An R rating on a film in Australia means it cannot be loaned or supplied to anyone under 18 years of age. (I believe that in South Australia, it is also illegal to allow a minor to view the film). Why would we have material that we cannot supply to a portion of our clients? And not only our "Junior" clients, but many of our "Adults" will be affected by this, due to the fact that a client is classed as an "adult" in our policy when they are 16 years or older.

If it were not illegal to supply material to minors, I would have no problem with this. I would of course advise parents and guardians about the film, though I'm not sure how I'd delicately warn them of the realistic fellatio and anal sex scenes, but I'd feel better about it than now, where I have to legally withold material from a certain group.

I am legally obliged to censor.

2005-04-01T11:29:00.000+10:00

Looks like the dream of the complete Index of the world's print collections is becomeing closer to reality. The Google Print Project has the lofty idea of compiling a complete source of print material, (Full text and abstracts, depending on copyright).

Rather like the dream of the Super-Library I entertained in my head while at University. I just hope that the digitising of this material is of good quality, but maybe thats me being cynical, pessimistic and picky. (Or maybe because I've just read Double Fold:Libraries and The Assult On Paper by Nicholas Baker, which deals with that problem relating to newspaper scanning and microfilming)

I'm in favour of this project from a distribution and access to information standpoint, but I would like there to remain print copies of all the processed material. it would be too easy for some librarian somewhere to solve their shelf space issues by discarding hard copies of material that has been made available as full text on Google Print. I might be old fashioned, but the complete discarding of material in this fashion grates with me.

2005-03-22T17:13:00.000+11:00

Who is the 21st century's equivilent of Melvil Dewey? Pretty soon, in fact most probably now, will be needed a classification scheme that will be able to organise, systemise, and importantly, search the multitude of Blogs, Weblogs, net communities and journals online at the moment. Have you ever been able to find (that is easily find) and information contained in a weblog? Unless the information is contained on a web page somewhere, a web page that is organised that is, you really don't have much of a chance of accurately finding anything on there.

I realise that most weblogs, journals etc are just opinions, ravings, links to funny stuff etc, but there are pearls hidden among the swine. (That is a saying, I'm not calling bloggers swine) There is no current way to search these site effectively.

I suppose I'll have to wait until Google expands so far that it covers the entire realm of cyberspace. I know there are subject guides and lists, but even if you show up on them, there is no reason to assume that your page will be bombared with hits. This page, The Librarydude!, is listed on at least four "Library-related Blogs" lists, including Open Stacks (which I really should read more) but nobody visits it.

And it's a pity that you need to know advanced Boolean Techniques to find anything via Google.

2005-03-18T14:49:00.000+11:00

Well its been too damn long since I updated here, probably because I haven't had time, or anything really library-related to say.

I have recently (as readers of my Livejournal will know) got a new position at my library in the Call Centre. As we are not an extremely busy library, this gives me a lot, ( A LOT) of time where I can look at stuff on the net that interests me. I found copies of Christianity Today scanned on a website, and read a few articles from that. These were scanned in .pdf format, which is quite good for getting detail and retaining the layout of the original article but absolutely hopeless for being easy to read (without of course, printing the files off and then collating them)

I understand that Google are planning to keep electronic versions of text materials such as these. I hope they do, but also somewhere, there is kept a physical copy of the item. I simply do not trust electronic versions that much.

For all those people who are waiting and predicting that all libraries will soon (soon meaning in the next 20 - 30 years) be all electronic resources, I say thee nay! Maybe I'm showing my age here, but I cannot ever see the death of printed material, and thus libraries will always have printed material, even if electronic format takes off.

There, thats the negative aspect out of the way. there is also a positive to this. Distribution Of Information. Quickly, cleanly, reliably (mostly) and cheaply. I would never had read any of the CT articles had they not been available online. Ease of access is a big selling point, and any site, database etc that covers a lot of material, and can easily give you access to that is a good thing.

But I still enjoy holding the thing I'm reading in my hands. Books have got it good. They can be easily transported around(as opposed to being easily sent, theres a difference) and they get dusty. There's nothing as good as a dusty shelf of books!

I've raved enough. And nobody reads this anyway.

2004-09-18T11:44:00.001+10:00

Graphic Novels as Literature

Our lovely local Library (which has been kind enough to employ me), has recently embarked on a great Graphic Novel buying spree. After all the comments, surveys, suggestions and purchase request forms filled out (some by me), our accuisitions section has decided that Graphic Novels (or what they call Graphic Novels, but which are really mostly Trade Paperbacks) are a useful and regularly borrowed type of material.

For more info on Graphic Novels/Trade Paperbacks check out Graphic Novels 101

I have always considered comics as a form of literature, and have never understood the impression that some people have of them. For those who blindly say "Oh It's all for kids!", let them read Preacher, Watchmen, Maus and even recent Marvel and DC titles such as Amazing Spider-Man and Green Lantern. (The Hate Crimes story arc in Green Lantern a while back was a very very good piece of writing)

A couple of good sites for Comic reviews and releases are No Flying, No Tights and The Comics Get Serious

2004-09-18T07:25:00.000+10:00

To go with my last entry and DDC. I found this link to a short article entitled Why Dewey's Decimal System Is Prejudiced.

For those who don't mind a more in depth and complex article, look at Mapping Beyond Dewey's Boundaries

2004-09-18T07:12:00.000+10:00

I am back! And I'm going to make the following bold statement:

I am going to learn how to use The Library Of Congress Classification System. (Bold Statement. Geddit???)

Anyway I've never really understood LC. Having grown up with the logically arranged Dewey Decimal system, I much prefer Dewey. But in my quest to actually know what I'm doing at work, learning LC seems like a good thing to do.

I'm also planning to learn how to write in HTML correctly. Because all the net publishing I have done to this point has been through Blogger and LiveJournal, I have never really needed to know too many HTML tags to publish stuff. A collegue of mine has a webpage that he wrote from scratch using HTML. I'd like to know how to do that. Can't be too hard can it?
More later....

2004-09-17T22:37:00.000+10:00

Ok then. I have returned to Blogger. I originally started this blog a while back (almost a year to be exact) to chronicle my Library related work, comments and ideas. Didn't do very well did I? I navigated over to Livejournal, where my personal journal is. Unfortunately, I can't use the Librarydude as a name over there so I will resume writing in this Blog instead of creating a new work related Livejournal.

One reason I remain with Blogger, (after the fact that it now has a comment facility) is that The Librarydude has been listed as a site on many Library related Blogs, lists and Journals. (I'm thinking of The Rabid Librarian, and Open Stacks in particular)

2004-09-17T18:53:00.000+10:00

Hmm Been a while. Maybe I'll return to this old haunt of mine......

2004-01-08T19:18:00.000+11:00

I just figured out the problem with working in a team. You either like the people in the team or you don't. If you don't then that causes problems and if you do that can cause some problems. How about that for a cryptic statement?

I'm glad I like my team.

Librarydude (thinking this post should have been posted on Y2Dave's blog)

2003-12-27T13:35:00.000+11:00

Been a slow hour so I've been adding a few links to some Library and reference related places. And of course, where would I be without The Friends of The ACT Public Library?
Check out new links here on the right ----------------->

2003-12-27T13:07:00.000+11:00

It's sooooooo slooooooowwwww! I don't think people have realised we are open today. Either that or they are no longer in the city, or all down at the plaza. I've been stuck on this "help"desk for an hour and a half so far today and I have another hour to go. At the end of this my brain is going to be in no condition to help anyone..........

2003-12-22T18:42:00.000+11:00

What a library we work at! Not only are we scanning in the whole collection to correct errors in the catalogue, but we are doing it backwards! Starting at dewey 999 and going to 000. Yeah It's a scanning countdown!

2003-12-10T17:09:00.000+11:00

Satan is coming. Have you been Good?

This was what our Santa message would have looked like if we used spellcheck when we typed it. That'd go over well with the kiddies.

Trivia: Both Santa and Satan are known as "Old Nick" and they both wear red.

2003-12-08T19:37:00.000+11:00

I swear someone up above is teasing me today. I've had to serve no less than five attractive Irish women today. For anyone who knows me, you'll know the effect an Irish accent has on me when spoken by a lovely Oirish lass.

2003-12-08T15:01:00.000+11:00

I just had an interesting research question. A young lady wanted to find out "The True Story" of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I felt really smart when I could just tell her it was all created by hooper and henkel for the movie.
(If you see the original film, The narration by john Larraqette states the events happened at the time the film was filmed. There's a hint)

The fact I know these things is either really good for a Librarian or just plain scary.

2003-12-06T16:00:00.000+11:00

I have had such a busy week here. We have had a visiting author, a politician holding a meeting and a Storytelling workshop. I am so knackered (Aussie expression) from moving tables and chairs and PA systems (collegues will laugh at that) around.

Thank God one of our workmates sent a humourous Email around with a Hippo singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with a Dog upstaging him. It's important to be able to have a laugh.

Cheers from The Librarydude!

(A-wim-a-way A-wim-a-way A wim-a-way)

2003-11-28T12:26:00.000+11:00

There was a young boy at my library today, who was borrowing a heap of books on Medieval England. When I was processing his loans I asked him if he had an assignment or essay to do on that topic. He said "No. I just wanted to learn about it"

That really made me feel good.

2003-11-23T11:35:00.000+11:00

I keep feeling that I'm old fashioned. I enjoy the Internet, and think it's a marvellous tool for resaerch, entertainment and spreading old jokes, but I'm not sure that I trust anything it contains. It is so easy to post on it, have things listed on search engines, and to have your site be easily found. This page (LibraryDude!) was listed on Google 2 days after it was created. 2 Days!! I've found links to this site on other library sites (Thanks for doing that guys! I appreciate it) , but this gives the impression that this page is important, and credible. It isn't. It contains my opinions, and my thoughts. Nobody checks anything I post, there is probably NO info on here that is worth two halves of a brass razoo, and this is typical of most of the Internet.

I realise that there are very credible sources on the net, databses and so on. But the typical student (usually High-School student) will never go to those first. In my experience Google or Yahoo! search engines are the first port of call.

God! I promised I'd be less critical last time didn't I? Maybe I'm getting old. That must be it. turning 28 is getting to me.

2003-11-22T16:53:00.000+11:00

There aren't enough of these sites on the Internet. A funny literary site.

2003-11-21T15:29:00.000+11:00

I'm at the circulation desk, it is raining so hard that people are not coming into my library, so I've been "researching" stuff on the Internet. I know that these people can definitely not exist, but here's a Cranky Librarian

2003-11-19T18:27:00.000+11:00

For all the public librarians out there, here is Today's Tip.

If you have books that are not moving off the shelves, load them onto a shelving trolley and try to shelve them. You will instantly be surrounded by people wanting to borrow these items.

I used to tell this as a joke at work, but it has never failed to happen.

2003-11-17T18:23:00.000+11:00

Greg at Open Stacks, has listed me on his LIS Blogsource page, so I thought I'd return the favour by adding a link to Open Stacks here. A good read it is too. Check out the research paper on Weblogs. (Planet Blog)

2003-11-17T13:48:00.000+11:00

I find it amazing how many people (usually High School students) go straight to the Internet to look for information, and rely on that as their sole source. Having only one source is bad enough, but can you really trust anything on the Internet? 99.99% of the content would be crap and the rest is intentional misinformation. (Except of course, for this page :) )

Does anyone think to use an encyclopedia these days?

2003-11-13T12:44:00.000+11:00

I must have missed the lecture when I was studying librarianship that told us that when we work in a Public Library, we must accept verbal abuse from everyone. I had a collegue today almost in tears from such a customer. This is not right, and not productive. If only we had some power against people like that, we'd be in much better shape.

Sorry. Didn't make this blog so I could whinge. Try to make my next post really insightful and library-related.

2003-11-12T13:49:00.000+11:00

At the moment we have a display about a pretty hot political topic in our library, (treatment of refugees and asylum seekers). I'm surprised this has been allowed to return, as we had some rather violent reactions to this display last year. (Pieces of it were thrown at staff). Even with a fairly prominent disclaimer stating that These are NOT the views of the Library Service, we still get people making comments to us, (and usually negative ones). I'm not sure if this would be censorship, (something I'm completely against) but wouldn't it be better to not have displays that are political hot potatos. It seems the Library staff are the main target for peoples anger about this topic. We are not paid to be verbal punching bags. How do other libraries cope with this type of problem?

2003-11-09T15:09:00.000+11:00

Thought I'd add the link for The Rabid Librarian. This is a nice site with tons of links to library sites. I haven't checked them all out yet, and some seem rather frivolous, but there are some good ones there as well.

2003-11-09T11:15:00.000+11:00

I noticed on my first post that I refered to myself as a Library Technician, even though I have no official qualifications whatsoever. Anyway, I do the job of a Library Technician (here in Australia) so I think I deserve that title. Next year I will be able to gain some proper library qualifications. (and be recognised by ALIA)

2003-11-08T19:00:00.000+11:00

Ah. Hello everyone.
This blog is going to contain all the library related go's and woes in an average (average????) Library Technician's day. Not that I'll update this every day, mostly when library stuff happens. Anyway most of my comments and weird stuff can be found on my main Blog. Y2dave.blogspot.com This page, however should be devoid of the weirdness and other stuff found there. There shouldn't be a quote of the day here. If you want a laugh, go see Y2Dave. If you want serious thoughts, by all means stay here. Or why not visit both?