Library Juice 3:30

Library Juice 3:30 - August 9, 2000 Contents: 1. Stupid Librarian Tricks 2. Library Journal article on XML in libraries 3. LISNews piece on the Gates Library Foundation 4. Slashdot article on Library Censorship 5. First Monday article on internet porn in the library 6. Mother Jones on Filtering 7. COPA Hearing Held August 3-4, 2000 8. Intolerant Librarian 9. Google Advanced Search 10. Berkeley Professor Builds an Ultra-Fast Web Portal for the Government 11. ALA Editions book available for free online 12. LC21: A Digital Strategy For the Library of Congress 13. Publishing Grant for Librarians 14. More on Nicholson Baker article 15. NY Times digital preservation article 16. Funding Status of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program 17. Exploding Dictionary 18. St. Lawrence the Librarian 19. Worst Analogies Quote for the week: "...My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid. Close to everything a human being needed to know was somewhere at the library." - Jenna Boller, in Loan Bauer, _Rules of the Road_ (New York: G. Putnam, 1997) Home page of the week: Lydia Ievins http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~ievins/personal.shtml ____________________________________________________________________________top 1. Stupid Librarian Tricks compiled by Erica Olsen http://www.msu.edu/~olseneri/tricks.html Little stories about clueless patrons, most funny, some sad. Sometimes the librarians telling the stories don't realize that they are rather clueless themselves. ____________________________________________________________________________top 2. Library Journal article on XML in libraries "XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is fast gaining favor as the universal format for data and document exchange -- in effect becoming the lingua franca of the Information Age. Currently, "library information" is at a particular disadvantage on the rapidly evolving World Wide Web. Why? Despite libraries'explorations of web catalogs, scanning projects, digital data repositories, and creation of web pages galore, there remains a digital divide. The core of libraries' data troves are stored in proprietary formats of integrated library systems (ILS) and in the complex and arcane MARC formats -- both restricted chiefly to the province of technical services and systems librarians. Even they are hard-pressed to extract and integrate this wealth of data with resources from outside this rarefied environment. Segregation of library information underlies many difficulties: producing standard bibliographic citations from MARC data, automatically creating new materials lists (including new web resources) on a particular topic, exchanging data with our vendors, and even migrating from one ILS to another." More of this longish, excellent article: http://www.ljdigital.com/xml.asp ____________________________________________________________________________top 3. LISNews piece on the Gates Library Foundation and some criticism it has been receiving of late: http://www.lisnews.com/article.php3?sid=20000802130126 ____________________________________________________________________________top 4. Slashdot article on Library Censorship Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 19:57:54 -0700 (PDT) From: "Don Wood" <dwood[at]ala.org> To: publib <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu> Subject: Checking Out Library Censorship Jon Katz Checking Out Library Censorship http://slashdot.org/articles/00/08/04/047224.shtml "If you're looking for a political issue that will advance freedom, support the growth and innovation of technology, support younger geeks (and adults) who depend on libraries for access to the Net and Web, and also strike a blow against the Luddites who dominate Congress and media, there's a great cause for you: your local library needs some help. Enlightened educators and librarians are seeking help in blocking imminent federal legislation that would require the installation of filtering software on all school and library computers connected to the Net." _________________________ Don Wood Program Officer/Communications American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 312-280-4225 800-545-2433, ext. 4225 Fax: 312-280-4227 dwood[at]ala.org http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/index.html ____________________________________________________________________________top 5. First Monday article on internet porn in the library CyberPorn: The Controversy By Joyce H-S Li http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_8/li/index.html "This article examines the conflict that cyberporn raises between the mission of libraries, the rights of library patrons, and the law. In the first part of this essay, the terms "pornography", "obscenity", and "child pornography" are defined, followed by an exploration of the issues surrounding the availability of cyberporn on public accessible computers in libraries. The views of librarians on cyberporn are examined as well as legal and feminist perspectives." ____________________________________________________________________________top 6. Mother Jones on Filtering Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 11:35:00 -0400 To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org> From: Carol <radred[at]ix.netcom.com> Subject: [SRRTAC-L:5037] Mother Jones on Filtering at Boston & San Diego PLs As reported in the July/August 2000 issue of Mother Jones (p.22) Boston Public Library's CyberPatrol filter blocks the ("most telling") web sites of Mother Jones, Planned Parenthood, the MIT Student Association for Freedom of Expression, and ("most embarrassing") Creature's Comfort Pet Care Service. San Diego PL's SurfWatch blocks ("most telling") the Official "Ally McBeal" website, gun maker Remington, and the Official Pokemon website, and ("most embarrassing") FILTERING FACTS. [I'd hazard a guess that many right-eous citizens of SD - such as those who conduct vigilante patrols on the border, are royally...annoyed by the Remington block - if they are library users.] The sins of Cybersitter and I-Gear, used in schools in RI and VA, are also profiled in this brief article in chart form. The magazine is on the newsstands now; it won't be available online for a couple of months. ____________________________________________________________________________top 7. COPA Hearing Held August 3-4, 2000 The following testimonies can be found at http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/copatestimony.html#august Testimony - By Judith F. Krug, director, American Library Association/Office for Intellectual Freedom Testimony - By Bennett Haselton, founder, Peacefire Choosing to Avoid the Not-so-good Cyberstreets - By Nancy Willard, director, Responsible Netizon Legal Issues Related to the Use of Filtering Software in Schools - By Nancy Willard, director, Responsible Netizon District Internet Policy and Regulations - By Nancy Willard, director, Responsible Netizon _________________________ Don Wood Program Officer/Communications American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/index.html .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. >>> "David Biek" <dbiek[at]tpl.lib.wa.us> - 8/4/00 12:54 PM >>> (also posted to ALA member forum) This is a highly selective, and unrepresentative, group of testimonies. Complete testimony from the three sets of hearings may be found at: http://www.copacommission.org/meetings/ My own testimony was delivered on July 21. David Biek Manager, Main Library Tacoma Public Library 1102 Tacoma Ave S Tacoma, WA 98402 253-591-5693 dbiek[at]tpl.lib.wa.us ____________________________________________________________________________top 8. Intolerant Librarian Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 16:39:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Intolerant librarian <intlibrarian[at]yahoo.com> Subject: more intolerance To: (suppressed) The new Intolerant Librarian is out. http://www.virtue.nu/intlibrarian We are now two writers strong. Thats a 50% growth from last time so invest now. And if you've got nothing better to do at the reference desk or wherever, write an article and send it here. Thank you for your intolerance. ____________________________________________________________________________top 9. Google Advanced Search http://www.google.com/advanced_search.html For those who don't know, Google now has an "advanced search." The first line has a word-or-phrase toggle; the second line if for terms to exclude from the search; the third line is an include/ exclude toggle that applies to sites or top-level-domains; and the last line lets you limit your search to one of twelve languages. A second form on the advanced search page lets you find pages that link to or are "similar" to a certain page. There are also links to Google's specialized searches for Linux, BSD, Apple/Macintosh, the US Government, and select universities. I just used the "advanced search" to help a student who wanted to find information on serial killers for a paper. I limited her search to the .edu top-level domain, and the results were pretty good. I wouldn't know how to do that in the standard, one-line search box (though specifying words or phrases can be done there, as can excluding terms). I find it nice to have these options laid out in a multi-field form. I will use Google's advanced search regularly. -Rory ____________________________________________________________________________top 10. Berkeley Professor Builds an Ultra-Fast Web Portal for the Government by Florence Olsen for the Chronicle of Higher Education A University of California computer-science professor has embarked on a three-month project to build a database of all the federal government's World Wide Web pages. The new portal, called FirstGov, will be a gift to the government from Eric A. Brewer, an associate professor of computer science at the university's Berkeley campus. Mr. Brewer is also a co-founder and chief technology officer of the Inktomi Corporation, in Foster City, Calif. Government officials said Mr. Brewer first proposed the portal idea to President Clinton when he met the president in late January. Last month, in his first Webcast, President Clinton announced that FirstGov would be "a single point of entry to one of the largest, perhaps the most useful collections of Web pages in the entire world." More: http://chronicle.com/free/2000/07/2000072801t.htm ____________________________________________________________________________top 11. ALA EDITIONS BOOK AVAILABLE FOR FREE ONLINE Chicago...July 24, 2000...ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE INTERNET: MAKING ELECTRONIC RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO ALL is now just that---accessible to all! ALA Editions, the publishing imprint of the American Library Association, is offering the entire text (with HTML coding) of this best-selling book by Barbara Mates--on the subject of making electronic resources accessible to all users--FREE on its web site at http://www.ala.org/editions/openstacks. For libraries that must proactively and deliberately plan for the accessibility of electronic resources, this free online version clearly lays out how to do just that, become ADA compliant, publicize efforts and welcome a new community of users to the library. Mates, head of the Cleveland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, covers all of the need-to-know technologies including HTML coding for accessibility, screen readers, voice recognition systems and hearing assistance devices. For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/editions/openstacks or go directly to the online version of ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE INTERNET at http://www.ala.org/editions/openstacks/insidethecovers/mates/mates_toc.html ____________________________________________________________________________top 12. LC21: A Digital Strategy For the Library of Congress http://www.nap.edu/books/0309071445/html/ This report, commissioned by the National Research Council and made available by the National Academy Press (last mentioned in the February 6, 1999 _Scout Report_) takes a hard look at the impact of digital information on the Library of Congress's traditional mission (and by implication, the mission of all US libraries) to collect, preserve, and make accessible the intellectual work of the American people. Even though the American Memory Website created by the Library of Congress is hugely successful and a national model for digitizing historical collections, the report points out that the problem of collecting and preserving materials that are "born digital" is far more urgent. New digital information is being created at a rapid pace, and much of it is more ephemeral than the paper-based materials now become digital at American Memory. The report not only outlines the problem clearly, but makes recommendations for action. For example, the report urges the Library to immediately define policies for collecting Websites created in the US, and to form a high-level planning group to develop digital preservation strategies. LC21 is fascinating reading for all crystal ball gazers concerned with the future of libraries. [DS] > From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2000. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ____________________________________________________________________________top 13. Publishing Grant for Librarians The Women's National Book Association/Ann Heidbreder Eastman Grant is available for librarians interested in learning about the relationship between the library and publishing professions. The WNBA offers a grant of up to $750 for a librarian to take a course or participate in an institute devoted to aspects of publishing as a profession or to provide reimbursement for such study completed within the past year. Eligibility: Librarians holding an MLS or its equivalent and having at least two years of post master's work experience in a library may apply. The primary qualification will be the likelihood of career benefit to the person taking the course. Deadline: September 30, 2000 For More Information: Guidelines are available at http://www.ala.org/work/pubs/eastman.html or contact Grant Administrator American Library Association 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 Fax: 312-944-8741 ecotton[at]ala.org ____________________________________________________________________________top 14. More on Nicholson Baker article Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 13:31:44 -0400 To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org> From: Mark Rosenzweig <iskra[at]earthlink.net> Subject: [SRRTAC-L:5027] A different proposal re Nick Baker I am forwarding the below letter to help inform the discussion of Nicholson Baker on the Concil listserv (see below: Cummins, Woolls). I suggest rather than sending him to some workshop, that we invite him as keynote speaker for the upcoming Annual ALA conference and leave ample time for librarians to "educate" him from the floor. Mark Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 22:26:52 -0800 To: iskra[at]earthlink.net From: gbrechin[at]uclink4.berkeley.edu (Gray Brechin) Subject: Nick Baker's article Dear Mr. Rosenzweig: A friend at the SFPL forwarded me the exchange concerning Nick Baker's recent article, and I wanted to thank you very much for your remarks. I know that there are some librarians (or rather, "information managers" such as Ken Dowlin) who detest Baker and consider him a meddlesome Luddite. I spoke just before Baker did to a packed audience in the new SF Main shortly after it opened; I had never met him before that night, but was astonished by what he had to say. The care and courage with which he built and presented his case against the swindle of the taxpayers and destruction of knowledge represented by that building was on a par with Zola's J'ACCUSE. Had anything that Baker said that night been unsubstantiated, Dowlin or others responsible would have been fully justified suing him for libel. Instead, the library administration attempted to pressure the NEW YORKER into not running his account of what happened in SF, and when that failed, to preemptively wreck his reputation. I am the scholar whom Baker mentions towards the end of his article; I helped him to arrange the rescue of the SF CHRONICLE by the California State Library and the Wells Fargo Foundation. Because I used many period newspaper illustrations for my recent book, IMPERIAL SAN FRANCISCO: URBAN POWER, EARTHLY RUIN, I have experienced personally the tragedy of which Baker writes and am grateful that he has brought it to wide attention. I started researching that book in the mid-80s. It required scanning miles of microfilm looking for the images now in a section on the media called "The Thought Shapers." Anyone who has had to work extensively with microfilm, particularly in underfunded, high-use libraries such as U.C. Berkeley, will testify to the hatefulness of that medium and the balkiness of the readers which are so often out of order or jammed. Somewhere along the way, I found that many of the images that I was looking at from early in the century had been printed in color. I discovered Bill Blackbeard whose house in western SF was crammed to the ceiling with bound and unbound volumes of US newspapers. Bill showed me how beautiful the originals were, how graphic designers of the time such as Maynard Dixon had been heavily influenced by European movements such as Art Nouveau and the Viennese Secession. It was Bill who showed me that the excuse offered by librarians that the paper was so brittle that it would self-destruct, and that they therefore were simply hastening the inevitable, was a canard. He told me he had saved many of these volumes by dumpster diving. I found it difficult to believe that such destruction had taken place, but when I tried to find the originals in libraries, I found they were gone (if I could get a straight answer at all.) Only Gary Kurutz at the CA State Library seemed to appreciate what was being lost and to try to save what little was left. I sensed embarrassment elsewhere at what had so quietly been done. I'm afraid that except for what Blackbeard and Baker have managed to save, it is largely too late; the best newspaper in SF at the turn of the century was the SF CALL. Unless someone has stored it in their attic, no run of this paper exists any longer, and even fragments of it are extremely rare. If I wanted to reproduce graphics from this or any other early paper, and Gary or Bill did not have it, I would be forced to take a xerox off of microfilm, scan the image, and do my best to digitally clean the dirt specks and scratches using Photoshop. The result was a poor substitute for taking a photograph from the original; there was, of course, no chance of reproducing color from B&W microfilm. Certainly, originals should not be heavily used. As Mr. Casey correctly observes, microfilm offers the possibility of wide dissemination of information (as long as the film remains intact) and saves wear and tear on fragile originals. As Baker observed, the originals usually had to be unbound before they could be filmed. But that was no reason to get rid of ALL of the originals in all libraries. Bill Blackbeard had bound perfectly good bound voulumes which libraries threw out as soon as they got microfilm from Bell & Howell. And why ANYONE ever thought that microfilm was so perfect a medium of reproduction and retrieval that it rendered the originals superfluous I have no idea. Very soon, it will be possible to reproduce those papers, in color, on CD ROM or more advanced media. Scanning them then will be far easier and more pleasant...except that most of those papers no longer exist for that purpose, so we are stuck with the primitive tech of microfilm. Gary Kurutz has a few volumes of the CALL and CHRONICLE loaned or given him by Bill Blackbeard. They bear the stamp of the San Francisco Public Library, which had discarded them. Their bookplates bear the library's motto: Vita Sine Libris, Mors Est. It's a good thing that so few can read Latin these days, since those words pasted to the pathetic shards of our patrimony are enough to make one weep. Sincerely, Gray Brechin Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Scholar U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. From: Nann Blaine Hilyard <nhilyard[at]lvdl.org> To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org> Subject: [ALACOUN:4984] The Baker Article Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 14:13:03 -0500 I finished reading Nicholson Baker's article this morning. I am not really upset by it. I think it is unfortunate that libraries have divested themselves of bound volumes of newspapers. More than that, I think it's unfortunate that libraries have HAD to do so (whether because of genuine lack of space, or because microfilming was the niftiest new thing to come down the pike and everyone else was doing it). I don't like using microfilm, either, and I appreciate the need for scholars to have the complete text of the complete run of whatever it is they are researching. I also thought it was interesting to find out how those "get the front page of the day you were born!" outfits operate. (Slow news time/advertising sales at the New Yorker -- they gave the front page company a full-page photo.) There is a larger lesson that I hope my colleagues in ARL and similar institutions are heeding: don't throw out the old in favor of the new until you're sure that the new will work the way it should for the length of time you want it to perform (which for the kinds of things like newspapers means forever). That goes for microfilming, digitizing, binding, storing in the stacks. I remember a story on NPR wherein they reported that the archival quality video and audiotapes used by broadcasters are deteriorating at a much faster rate than anyone anticipated. Not only do we have imperfect preservation of the print record, we also have imperfect preservation of the sound record. Baker's article ended with his account of the newspaper archive he has begun. More power to him! It will be interesting to know how he plans to share the wealth of that archive with scholars. Bookedge photocopiers? Reference service? Posted hours of operation? Continuing collection development? (Should someone tell him about the Milwaukee Public Library's sale of bound volumes of Patent Office records? That's "The" Patent Office (=British). MPL couldn't find anyone to take the mile-long collection so they offered some to patrons for $1 each and also put older ones up for auction on eBay. Response has been very good.) Nann Blaine Hilyard Lake Villa District Library in northern Illinois ....where our storage problem this afternoon is ice cream!! We gave out 600 tickets for the end-of-summer-reading-program-picnic but only 300 people attended.....Peter Graham and Jim Neal, I'll bet an overflowing freezer has not been among your concerns lately. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. From: "Karen G. Schneider" <kgs[at]bluehighways.com> To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org> Subject: [ALACOUN:4986] Baker Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 15:36:54 -0400 Organization: Generally Good I read the Baker article today, and felt that he has some good points, but as he has done in the past, he distracts the reader by finger-pointing rather than stepping back to ask, why did this happen? It happened because libraries are underfunded. He could have gathered his points and put them under a much larger philosophical umbrella. He was caught up in--shall we say... the fine print. Karen G. Schneider kgs[at]bluehighways.com Assistant Director, Shenendehowa Public Library, NY http://www.shenpublib.org .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. From: "GraceAnne A. DeCandido" <ladyhawk[at]well.com> To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org> Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 15:10:26 -0400 Subject: [ALACOUN:5002] the Mail at the New Yorker I draw your attention to The Mail, page 5 of the current New Yorker magazine of August 14, 2000. Councilor Rosenzweig's letter, in approval of Nicholson Baker's "Deadline" article of July 24, is published, as is a letter from librarian Constance Holberg (with a clear opposing view), and from scholar Arthur Schlesinger (harumphing on the discomforts of microfilm). While I am in deep disagreement with Councilor Rosenzweig on this issue, I applaud his publication. GraceAnne A. DeCandido Blue Roses Consulting ~ Writing ~ Editorial ~ Web Content ~ New York City ~ ladyhawk[at]well.com http://www.well.com/user/ladyhawk/gadhome.html What's Ladyhawk reading now? http://www.well.com/user/ladyhawk/books.html All shall be well / and all shall be well and all manner of things / shall be well. Julian of Norwich ____________________________________________________________________________top 15. NY Times digital preservation article From: "Karen G. Schneider" <kgs[at]bluehighways.com> To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org> Subject: [ALACOUN:4995] NY Times Circuits section and preservation Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 09:12:54 -0400 The Times had an excellent article on the Library of Congress and digital preservation issues this Thursday in the Circuits section. If you're registered for the Times, you can still read it: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/circuits/articles/27libr.html Karen G. Schneider kgs[at]bluehighways.com Assistant Director of Technology Shenendehowa Public Library, Clifton Park, NY http://www.shenpublib.org ____________________________________________________________________________top 16. Funding Status of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program From: "Bernadine Abbott Hoduski" <ber[at]initco.net> To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org> Subject: [ALACOUN:4988] Funding Status of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 16:49:38 -0600 Hi Council Members, I am forwarding a good report on the status of the appropriations for depository libraries. Please send this on to other lists. Thank all of you for your ongoing support for this program. This compromise of some 27 million is better than a disaster of $11 million but still bad news for a multi format depository library program. It will mean cuts in paper versions of documents, not hiring new staff with technology expertise, fewer publications cataloged and lots of other cuts. GPO asked for 7 million more than they are getting for this program. This is 2 million less than they got last year. Those who supported the increase from 11 million need to be thanked so they continue to support this compromise on the floor of the House and Senate. It will not be voted on for another month. The study on the transfer of Supt Doc to LC has been given to GAO instead of CRS/LC. CRS in previous studies has concluded that this is not a good idea and I assume that the Congress realized that and decided that they might get a report more to their liking from GAO. The library world needs to be closely involved in this study as well as the one by NCLIS. It seems as if the policy makers would rather study while our program burns to the ground or am I thinking of the wrong century. Bernadine Abbott Hoduski, GODORT Councilor -----Original Message----- From: Rick McKinney <Rick.McKinney[at]frb.gov> To: GOVDOC-L[at]LISTS.PSU.EDU <GOVDOC-L[at]LISTS.PSU.EDU> Date: Friday, July 28, 2000 3:20 PM Subject: FYI: Funding Status of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program > >I note that House and Senate conferees have filed a conference report (H. >Rept.. 106-796, July 27, 2000) on H.R. 4516, Legislative Branch >Appropriations for FY 2001 and I understand that $27.9 million has been >appropriated for the Superintendent of Documents function which covers the >Federal Depository Library Program. This is about $2 million less than >what that function received in FY2000 and about $7 million less than what >was requested. The text of the conference report and its joint explanatory >statement with the nitty-gritty details will be published (I believe) in >Part II of the Congressional Record of Thursday, July 27, 2000 (not yet >available). > >Surprisingly, however, the conference report also includes the Treasury >Department, Postal and General appropriation (H.R. 4871 and S. 2900) which >had earlier passed the House, but not the Senate. Thus Democrats claimed >that the Republicans were pulling a fast one and the debate in the House on >the rule to consider the conference report was contentious and the rule was >only narrowly agreed by a vote of 214 to 210 . The report itself is yet to >be voted on by either the House or the Senate. In any case the House and >Senate have now adjourned until September 5 (Senate) and September 6 >(House) at which time they can take up the matter. It should be noted that >joint conference reports can not be readily amended. If parts are not >agreeable to the majority of members then the whole text could be sent back >to conference with special instructions and a new conference report could >be issued. > >Those with views on the subject still have time to make those views known >to their representatives in Congress, but my guess is that the $27.9 >million figure (a compromise between the House and Senate figures) is not >likely to change for FY 2001. > >For House debate on the rule to consider the conference report; see >http://www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_record&docid=cr27j y00-71 (may add .pdf) >and the vote at >http://www.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_record&docid=cr27j y00-74 (may add .pdf) > >Rick McKinney >Assistant Law Librarian >Federal Reserve Board Law Library >Depository No. 0094-C >Washington, D.C. 20551 rick.mckinney[at]frb.gov > ____________________________________________________________________________top 17. Exploding Dictionary Chris Knight, the author/inventor states: "The basic idea was to take a set of publicly available dictionaries, index them into a SQL database, and then cross-reference them to near death. :) As a researcher, this should be a very useful resource. Hypertext is the researcher's dream come true, allowing for instant jumps to related or unknown material. The information is provided twice. First it is displayed 'clean', then below it is displayed with each individual word hyperlinked. I hope that you find this material useful. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write me at projects[at]ghostwheel.com." This dictionary, or "meta-" dictionary, is fun. Indeed, every word in a definition is hyperlinked, including the funny abbreviations concerning a word's derivation. To be honest, this seems more useful for word-surfing than research, but that's okay. There appear to be four dictionaries included, though I may have missed some: _Webster's Revised Unabridged (1913)_, _WordNet_, The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing_, and _Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary_. The Webster's and WordNet have the majority of the entries. The nice thing about this resource is the surprises it contains, lying in the illustrations of word usage. Looking up "library" tells you, "they had brandy in the library." I did notice some strange behavior when I looked up some of the shorter words. The page for the word "a" gave me definitions of a number of seemingly random, unrelated, longer words. All-in-all, a fun-to-use reminder of how wonderful dictionaries are. http://projects.ghostwheel.com/dictionary?define=library Thanks to Blake at http://lisnews.com for the heads-up. ____________________________________________________________________________top 18. St. Lawrence the Librarian Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 12:05:51 EDT From: "r. lee hadden" <rhadden[at]igsrglib01.er.usgs.gov> Reply-To: rhadden[at]usgs.gov To: librefed[at]lms.kent.edu, collib-l[at]acs.wooster.edu, sts-l[at]listserv.utk.edu Subject: St. Lawrence the Librarian- August 10th A little bit of library lore for the slow days of August. In the Christian church, St. Lawrence is one of several patron saints of libraries, the other most well known saints being St. Jerome (September 30) and St. Catherine (November 25). The information below is taken from a series of bulletin boards I put up a number of years ago on Heavenly patrons of libraries: Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo or Saint Laurence) A patron saint of libraries and librarians is Saint Lawrence the Librarian. He is a third century saint and martyr (died 258 AD) who had responsibility for the written archives and records of the early Christian church. St Lawrence was one of seven famous deacons of the early church. The other six deacons along with Pope St. Sixtus II (Xystus II) were captured by the Emperor Valerian on August 6, 258, and martyred. They were buried together in the cemetery of Callistus. The oppression of the Christian church was very severe, and many Christians fled Rome or died. As librarian and archivist, Lawrence was thought to have a list of all the members of the early church, and the locations of all the mythical hidden hoards of gold belonging to the Vatican. Captured by the soldiers of the Emperor Valerian a few days later, on August 8, 258 AD, he was told to produce all the wealth of the church. He was given only two days to bring all the treasures to the imperial palace. Particularly desired were the names of all the Christians who were also Roman nobles, since they could be ransomed for gold by the emperor, or executed and their wealth confiscated by the emperor for the state. Lawrence gathered up the all the diseased, orphaned or crippled Christians on the appointed day, brought them to the palace, and told the startled emperor that "These are the treasures of the church!" According to tradition, for his presumed impudence, Lawrence was then slowly roasted on a grill on the site of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Rome, in the hope that he would publicly renounce his religion and reveal the names of the wealthy Christians. He is often represented holding a gridiron to memorialize this grisly manner of martyrdom. Although St. Lawrence was most certainly beheaded and not roasted, the traditions of his being cooked are somewhat stronger than actual fact. As a result, St Lawrence is also considered a patron saint for cooks. There is also the popular story that he was so willing to embrace Christ in heaven, that he did not mind the pain from the fire of his martyrdom, and indeed, he found the strength to tell his executioners "Turn me over. I am done on this side." The courage and dignity of St Lawrence and many of these other early Christians in facing their death did much to gain respect for their religion in Rome, and after the death of St Lawrence, there was widespread conversion to Christianity. His feast day is August 10th, and is usually celebrated by librarians and archivists (in honor of his traditional method of death) with cold cuts. The annual Perseid meteor shower, one of the best known of the annually occuring meteor showers, and which occurs near his feast day in August, are sometimes called "The Tears of St. Lawrence" in Italy. A reliquary with the head of Saint Lawrence is held in the Vatican Library. There are a number of other heavenly patrons of libraries in other religions and cultures as well. Thoth is a patron of libraries from the Ancient Egyptians, Ganesh is a Hindu patron, and Kabi:Kaj is an Arabic one. If you want more information about them, contact me. R. Lee Hadden rhadden[at]usgs.gov ____________________________________________________________________________top 19. Worst Analogies (found in High School papers) He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\\aaakk/ch[at]ung but gets T:\\flw.quidaaakk/ch[at]ung by mistake. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease. Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man." Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. ____________________________________________________________________________top L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://libr.org/Juice/ | | Library Juice is supported by a voluntary subscription | fee of $10 per year, variable based on ability and | desire to pay. You may send a check payable in US funds | to Rory Litwin, at PO Box 720511, San Jose, CA 95172 | | Original material and added value in Library Juice | is copyright-free; beyond that the publisher makes | no guarantees. Library Juice is a free weekly | publication edited and published by Rory Litwin. | Original senders are credited wherever possible; | opinions are theirs. If you are the author of some | email in Library Juice which you want removed from | the web, please write to me and I will remove it. | | Your comments and suggestions are welcome. | | Rory[at]libr.org This page was created by SimpleText2Html 1.0.3 on 8-Aug-100. ug-100.