Library 5:13 - April 4, 2002
Contents:
- The GATS and Libraries
- April is the cruelest month for poetry
- New stuff at NewBreed Librarian
- First Monday Vol. 7, No. 4 (April 2002)
- Librarybooksales.org
- New list for radical catalogers
- Fat librarians!
- Better than Baseball Cards
- SLJ.com goes daily
- UN Monterrey, Mexico Conference, Letter from Mexican Librarians
- Great Moments in the History of Technical Services
- Bunion
- Anarchist Bookfair
- Those Evil Libraries
- Advertisers Know: Librarians Sell
- Lida Verdesi, 1933-2002
- Said Ignatius Reilly to Myrna Minkoff...
- Words That End In "gry" and "dous"
Quote for the week:
In supporting the plan to have his office take over the State Library,
Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed wrote: "There's no question these
are difficult economic times, but the State Library has survived worse.
World War II, the Great Depression, the Boeing bust, and the recessions of
the early '80s and '90s all left Washington in financially dire straights.
We didn't close the library doors then and we shouldn't now. Since 1853,
the State Library has helped improve the quality of life in Washington. It
has given us an accurate account of history-good, bad, or indifferent-and
stopped us from reliving our mistakes. No one alive today can say with
certainty which aspects of history will be most important to future
generations. For them, we must fulfill our obligation and preserve our
legacy to the very best of our ability"
( http://www.secstate.wa.gov/office/library_03152002.aspx ).
Homepage of the week: Sharon Spence-Wilcox
http://www.seattlecentral.org/faculty/sspence/
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1. The GATS and Libraries
Possibly the most important and also most neglected issue presently facing
libraries is the likely effect of the General Agreement on Trade in
Services, which is being negotiated at WTO meetings. The gist of the
problem is that the "national treatment" outlined in the agreement could
penalize governments for subsidizing information services (that is,
funding libraries with public monies) if foreign corporations want to
compete in the same "marketplace" (e.g., provide fee-based digital
libraries via the web).
There is a greater awareness about this issue in Canada and in Europe than
in the United States. Much is being written on the issue that we in the
U.S. can learn from.
To help raise awareness about this issue I have compiled links to
these readings on a web page, The GATS and Public Libraries, at:
The list of readings there will expand as more work is done and more
information becomes available.
I strongly recommend to Library Juice readers that you educate yourself on
this issue and educate your politicians and ALA Councilors.
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2. April is the cruelest month for poetry
Against National Poetry Month As Such
by Charles Bernstein
Author of My Way: Speeches and Poems
April is the cruelest month for poetry.
As part of the spring ritual of National Poetry Month, poets are
symbolically dragged into the public square in order to be humiliated with
the claim that their product has not achieved sufficient market penetration
and must be revived by the Artificial Resuscitation Foundation (ARF) lest
the art form collapse from its own incompetence, irrelevance, and as a
result of the general disinterest among the broad masses of the American
People.
The motto of ARF's National Poetry Month is: "Poetry's not so bad, really."
National Poetry Month is sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, an
organization that uses its mainstream status to exclude from its
promotional activities much of the formally innovative and "otherstream"
poetries that form the inchoate heart of the art of poetry. The Academy's
activities on behalf of National Poetry Month tend to focus on the most
conventional of contemporary poetry; perhaps a more accurate name for the
project might be National Mainstream Poetry Month. Then perhaps we could
designate August as National Unpopular Poetry Month......
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/044106.html
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3. New stuff at NewBreed Librarian
We've got a new feature at NewBreed Librarian. This month you'll find:
FEATURE - Wendy Adamson
Sex in the City - What Happened at the Minneapolis Public Library.
INTERVIEW - Michele McGinnis
Michele McGinnis is very cool and the personal librarian to Kevin Kelly,
cofounding editor of Wired Magazine. This is her first job post grad and
here, she tells us how she lucked out on the job and why she couldn't
imagine a better deal.
PEOPLE
Linda Harris Mehr, director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences Library, shares an extraordinary evening of the concentrated
preparation that takes place every year at her library.
ASK SUSU
Paraprofessionals at the reference desk?
TECH TALK
Our Network Manager (University of Oregon Libraries) talks Terminal Servers.
It's all at <http://www.newbreedlibrarian.org/current/>.
Juanita
P.S. I've been working on a Tom Waits library display for about three weeks
now, collecting various artifacts and TW paraphernalia. It's finally up in
MUSIC and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that nobody breaks in the
glass case and steals the Bushmill.
J u a n i t a B e n e d i c t o
University of Oregon * Librarian
http://www.newbreedlibrarian.org
& darkwing.uoregon.edu//~juanitab
5 4 1 . 3 4 6 . 1 9 3 2
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4. First Monday Vol. 7, No. 4 (April 2002)
The April 2002 issue of First Monday (volume 7, number 4) is now
available at http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/
-------
Table of Contents
Volume 7, Number 4 - April 1st 2002
Uncloaking Terrorist Networks
by Valdis E. Krebs
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/krebs/
"This paper looks at mapping covert networks using data available from news
sources on the World Wide Web. Specifically, we examine the network
surrounding the tragic events of September 11th 2001. Through public data
we are able to map a portion of the network centered on the 19 dead
hijackers. This map gives us some insight into the terrorist organization,
yet it is incomplete. Suggestions for further work and research are
offered."
Second-Level Digital Divide: Differences in People's Online Skills
by Eszter Hargittai
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/hargittai/
"Much of the existing literature on the digital divide - the differences
between the "haves" and "have nots" regarding access to the Internet -
limits its scope to a binary classification of technology use by only
considering whether someone does or does not use the Internet. To remedy
this shortcoming, in this paper I look at the differences in people's
online skills. In order to measure online ability, I assigned search tasks
to a random sample of Internet users from a suburban county in the United
States. My findings suggest that people search for content in a myriad of
ways and there is considerable difference in whether individuals are able
to find various types of content on the Web and a large variance in how
long it takes to complete online tasks. Age is negatively associated with
one's level of Internet skill, experience with the technology is positively
related to online skill, and differences in gender do little to explain the
variance in the ability of different people to find content online."
Crisis Communication and the Internet: Risk and Trust in a Global Media
by Hans-Juergen Bucher
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/bucher/
"Risk is one of the main features of modern societies. With the Internet a
new media has appeared, which on the one hand has increased the risk
associated with information: free accessibility, interactivity, globality,
and connectivity of personal, economical, political and media communication
have all led to a loss of journalistic control over the information market.
On the other hand Internet-based communication has increased opportunities
to secure information in a manner that has not been available up to now. In
terms of crisis communication this leads to the question: does the Internet
increase or decrease the risk of a communication breakdown? It has been
demonstrated that trust is one of the features in complex modern societies
which compensates for risk. So does the Internet increase trust in global
crisis communication? The questions concerning the interrelation of risk,
trust and crisis communication are seen in a much broader context: does
Internet communication force a structural transformation of the public
sphere?"
Independent Media Centers: Cyber-Subversion and the Alternative Press
by Gene Hyde
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/hyde/
"While criticism of corporate media has been growing, Independent Media
Centers have actively covered alternative viewpoints, and have successfully
used the Web to broadcast news. Using information technologies in a fashion
unforeseen by the corporate world, the rapidly growing number of
Independent Media Centers are providing an outlet for scores of disaffected
and disenfranchised groups by reporting differing versions of the news than
the mainstream press. Activists, journalists, and academics have all
commented on this movement. Writing in the journal Dissent, sociologist
Jackie Smith notes that Indymedia's 'ongoing critical commentary on local
and global events" is in the forefront of a larger "dialectic between cyber
subversion and the growing concentration of power that shape the politics
of the new millennium.'"
The Impact of Democratic Deficits on Electronic Media in Rural Development
by Robin Van Koert
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/koert/
"In this paper I will present the main results and conclusions of the
research, which indicate that, despite the unique and acknowledged
de-centralizing features of the Internet, governments continue to be
capable of controlling information flows, either through political or
economic restrictions on the use of ICT, or electronic media. Although this
may not be a revolutionary finding, it is a conclusion which serves as a
reminder that the way technology eventually contributes to rural
development by and large is still determined by the nature of the
socio-political and economic context of a given nation-state."
Book Reviews
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/reviews/
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5. Librarybooksales.org
http://www.librarybooksales.org/
"The purpose of this web site is twofold: The primary
goal is to match quality books, which have been
donated to public libraries, with readers around the
world. Secondarily, this site provides a central meeting
place for 'Friends of the Library' and other affiliated
library groups." Money spent on books in this online
book sale goes directly to the library selling them.
Searchable, or browse available books by author.
From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/
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6. New list for radical catalogers
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 14:19:57 -0600
From: Katia Roberto <kroberto[at]lib.siu.edu>
To: librarians[at]tao.ca
Cc: plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu, srrtac-l[at]ala.org, gay-libn[at]usc.edu
Reply to: kroberto[at]lib.siu.edu
Due to a perceived need, I've started a list devoted to discussions of
cataloging from a radical perspective. (Discussing the meaning of the
phrase "radical cataloging" is a perfectly appropriate list topic.) Unlike
many lists devoted to library work that don't allow political discussion,
this one welcomes it.
To join, send email to <majordomo[at]dangpow.com> and put "subscribe radcat"
in the message body.
If you'd like more information, please contact me privately.
thanks,
Katia
Katia Roberto
Special Collections Cataloger (618) 453-3269 Southern Illinois University Carbondale kroberto[at]lib.siu.edu Carbondale, IL 62901-6632 http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~kroberto
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7. Fat librarians!
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 12:31:24 -0800 (PST)
From: slang queen <katia[at]dangpow.com>
To: Jennifer Brock <mad_librarian[at]hotmail.com>
Cc: libraryunderground[at]topica.com
Reply to: katia[at]dangpow.com
All information about my lovely and terribly low-traffic list can be found
at <http://lists.tblc.org/mailman/listinfo/fatlibrarians>. You don't have
to be fat to join, though it helps.
Katia
"I was a kooky kid going through my piccata period - a wedge of lemon and
a smart answer for everything." - Sophia Petrillo
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8. Better than Baseball Cards
To All Public Librarians:
I am a graduate student in the Libraryand Information Science
program at San Jose State University (out of Cal State Fullerton). Right
now I am putting together an exhibit of library cards from public
libraries throughout the U.S. You can guess what this means-- I'd like
you to send me one of your cards, if possible. Of course, it won't ever
be used, just attached to a board along with the others. Let me know if
there is any cost involved, and I'll be happy to reimburse you.
Thanks again for your time, and I look forward to graduating and
joining you in the profession.
Michael McGrorty
P.O. Box 6517
Altadena, Ca 91001
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9. SLJ.com goes daily
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 20:26:06 -0800 (PST)
From: "St. Lifer, Evan (Cahners -NYC)" <stlifer[at]lj.cahners.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: stlifer[at]lj.cahners.com
School Library Journal has taken its website daily. SLJ.com's
( www.schoollibraryjournal.com or www.slj.com ) daily content offerings
include news and several "reviews of the week." The site now offers a
selected book of the week, A/V of the week and selected web sites of the
week, as well as other special features. However, SLJ.com will still offer
as a resource selected portions of the archived news, columns, and features
from the magazine.
The latest and most exciting special feature is ArtSpeak, a section of
SLJ.com devoted to a visual discussion of mediums and techniquest used in
picture-book art. ArtSpeak explores art mediums, offers visual examples of
fine-quality picture books, and provides sample discussions of the specific
art in these books so that reviewers might increase their familiarity with
the language of art.
Please send me a line if you have any questions or recommendations for the
new slj.com. Thanks.
Evan St. Lifer
Editor
School Library Journal
245 W. 17th St. NY, NY 10011
212-463-6817; (fax) 212-463-6689
estlifer[at]cahners.com
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10. UN Monterrey, Mexico Conference, Letter from Mexican Librarians
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 23:11:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Zapopan "Martín" Muela Meza <zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com>
To: (library lists)
Ver versión en español abajo:
___________________________
Dear librarians,
As you may know, the UN International Conference of
Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico has
just ended (see: http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/).
A group of Mexican librarians tried to participate
bringing our requests through the mass media and the
corresponding institutions.
Here we share them with you.
Best wishes,
Zapopan Martín Muela Meza, MLS
Fulbright Scholar
Nuevo Leon Public Library System Director
Zuazua 655 Sur, Monterrey, Nuevo León, 64000 México
Tel: (81) 8342-0576, Fax: (81) 8340-3993
zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com
http://www.nl.gob.mx/creb/biblos.htm
------------------------
Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
March 20, 2002
Major international newspapers, magazines, bulletins
Dear Editor,
The ones who sign below, Mexican librarians, thank you
beforehand for the space you can allow us to freely
publish this communicate.
We come to your newspaper or magazine because our
country is host of the International Conference of
Financing for Development organized by the United
Nations along with the International Monetary Fund,
the World Bank and the World Commerce Organization,
and because we believe that the Mexican libraries and
specially the public libraries need a fair investment
of financial resources that empower their development
in benefit of a society with access to information
resources and knowledge with equality for all, as the
basis towards a more democratic and economical
developed country.
In general only the consequences of the economical
inequality are attacked, as the extreme poverty,
illiteracy, insecurity, and lack of interest for
reading, and so forth with corrective measures,
although the causes are scarcely considered. We
believe these causes lay in the abysmal divides
between information rich and information poor, between
those who can have access to information and knowledge
and those who have not, by means of formal and
informal systems of education, information and
culture.
A better educated people is likewise more self
sufficient and committed with the economical growth of
their country. Nevertheless, despite the important
social responsibility of the public libraries, they
lack of an adequate infrastructure and the sufficient
resources to meet their mission, that should be
provided by the State, or national, or international
organisms under a General Plan for a National
Information Development.
This plan may consider these points:
1. Hiring of profesional human resources with
bachelor, or master or doctoral degrees in Library
Science and training of the ones already on duty, and
assuring them decent wages.
2. Support for the leverage and improvement of the
already existing Library and Information Science
schools, as well as the creation of new ones in the
rest of the states of the country.
3. Adequate extensions and conversions of current
facilities and construction of new ones for public
libraries so their functions can be better
accomplished.
4. Supply of sufficient and adequate furniture, and
computer equipment that allow public libraries to
serve patrons with a wider variety of information
resources.
5. Collection development according to the regional
and local needs.
6. Introduction of Information Communication
Technologies, specifically computer networks to share
information resources and have a wider reach of
patrons.
Support in the creation of councils for public
libraries as an alternative for their maintenance and
growth.
Sincerely,
Lic. Robert Endean, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, endean[at]servidor.unam.mx
Lic. Fernando Flores García, Universidad Autónoma de
Nuevo León, fflores[at]ccr.dsi.uanl.mx
Lic. Oscar Maya Corzo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma
de México, offidhius[at]netscape.net
Mtro. Zapopan Martín Muela Meza, MLS State University
of New York at Buffalo, zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com
Lic. Ramón Suárez, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo,
rsuarez[at]taurus1.chapingo.mx
Lic. José Antonio Torres Reyes, Universidad Autónoma
de Nuevo León, joantreyes[at]hotmail.com
C.c. Angel Escudero De Paz, UN Director for México,
Cuba and Domican Republic, infounic[at]un.org.mx
C.c. Jorge G. Castañeda, Mexican Exterior Relations
Minister, precisa[at]presidencia.gob.mx
_______________________
Versión en español:
Estimados colegas,
Como ustedes saben acaba de terminar la cumbre de la
ONU en Monterrey (http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/).
Un grupo de bibliotecarios mexicanos tratamos de
participar haciendo llegar nuestras propuestas a
traves de los medios de comunicacion y las
instituciones correspondientes.
Aqui las compartimos con ustedes.
Saludos cordiales,
Mtro. Zapopan Martín Muela Meza, MLS
Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León -- SE / DVS
Coordinador de la Red Estatal de Bibliotecas Públicas
Zuazua 655 Sur, Monterrey, Nuevo León, 64000 México
Tel: (81) 8342-0576, Fax: (81) 8340-3993
zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com
http://www.nl.gob.mx/creb/biblos.htm
---------
Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
Marzo 20, 2002
Principales diarios y revistas de México
Estimado Editor,
Los abajo firmantes, bibliotecarios mexicanos,
agradecemos de antemano el espacio que nos pueda
dedicar para dar a conocer la información que se
describe.
Acudimos a su "Periódico ó Revista" en vista de que
nuestro país es sede de La Conferencia Internacional
sobre Financiación para el Desarrollo"
organizado por las Naciones Unidas, junto con el Fondo
Monetario
Internacional, el Banco Mundial y la Organización
Mundial de Comercio,
y porque creemos que el sector constituido por las
bibliotecas de
México, y especialmente las bibliotecas públicas,
necesita una inyección justa de recursos financieros
que potencien su desarrollo en beneficio de una
sociedad con acceso a la información y el conocimiento
en igualdad de circunstancias para todos, como una
base fundamental para nuestra reforma hacia un país
más democrático y desarrollado.
Generalmente se atacan las consecuencias de la
desigualdad económica,
como la pobreza extrema, el analfabetismo, la
inseguridad, el desinterés por la
lectura, etc., con medidas correctivas, aunque
escasamente se atienden las causas que creemos radican
en la brecha abismal que existe entre quienes pueden y
no tener acceso a la información y el conocimiento, a
través de sistemas formales e informales de educación,
información y culturales.
Un pueblo más educado es asimismo más autosuficiente y
comprometido con el crecimiento económico de su país.
Sin embargo, a pesar de la importante responsabilidad
social que les corresponde, las bibliotecas públicas
adolecen de infraestructura y los recursos suficientes
para cumplir con su misión, que deberían ser
financiados por el Estado o por organismos
internacionales en el marco de un Plan Rector de
Desarrollo Nacional de Información, que contemple los
siguientes rubros:
- Contratación de recursos humanos profesionales en
Bibliotecología, y profesionalización o capacitación
de los ya existentes, que cuenten con una remuneración
decorosa.. - Apoyo para el fortalecimiento de las escuelas de
bibliotecología, documentación y ciencias de la
información que ya existen en el país, así como para
la creación de nuevas escuelas en los Estados. - Ampliación, adecuación o construcción de edificios
adecuados para las funciones de las bibliotecas
públicas. - Dotación de mobiliario adecuado y suficiente, así
como equipo de cómputo que permita la apertura a otras
opciones de información y conocimiento. - Desarrollo de colecciones de documentos acordes a
las necesidades
regionales y locales. - Implementación de infraestructura de
telecomunicaciones, concretamente
redes de teleinformática, para compartir los recursos
informativos. - Apoyo para la creación de consorcios de bibliotecas
públicas como una alternativa para su mantenimiento y
desarrollo.
Atentamente,
Lic. Robert Endean, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, endean[at]servidor.unam.mx
Lic. Fernando Flores García, Universidad Autónoma de
Nuevo León, fflores[at]ccr.dsi.uanl.mx
Lic. Oscar Maya Corzo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma
de México, offidhius[at]netscape.net
Mtro. Zapopan Martín Muela Meza, MLS State University
of New York at Buffalo, zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com
Lic. Ramón Suárez, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo,
rsuarez[at]taurus1.chapingo.mx
Lic. José Antonio Torres Reyes, Universidad Autónoma
de Nuevo León, joantreyes[at]hotmail.com
c.c.p. Angel Escudero De Paz Director de de la ONU
para Mexico, Cuba y Rep. Dominicana,
infounic[at]un.org.mx
c.c.p. Jorge G. Castañeda. Secretario de Relaciones
Exteriores, precisa[at]presidencia.gob.mx
=====
Mtro. Zapopan Martín Muela Meza, MLS
Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León -- SE / DVS
Coordinador de la Red Estatal de Bibliotecas Públicas
Zuazua 655 Sur, Monterrey, Nuevo León, 64000 México
Tel: (81) 8342-0576, Fax: (81) 8340-3993
zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com
http://www.nl.gob.mx/creb/biblos.htm
________________________________________________________________________top
11. Great Moments in the History of Technical Services
RE: LU: KF: heh heh
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 00:31:22 +0000
From: bikechic[at]waymark.net
To: libraryunderground[at]topica.com
GREAT MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF TECHNICAL SERVICES
http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~techsvcs/tssb/tshist.htm
This is probably one of those classic sites that all catalogers learn
about in their first semester-but I just stumbled across it the other
morning and it opened my eyes, I'll tell you:
(The little icon of St. Minutia using a sword to split a hair makes a
visit worthwhile, really)
4362 B.C.
First evidence (from Scythia, modern day Crimea) of a four-wheeled book
cart. Within two generations this design was adopted throughout Europe and
Asia, replacing the more maneuverable, but much less stable two-wheeled
book cart.
Spring, 3193 B.C.
First serial title attested: "Publications of the Royal Sumerian Academy."
Late summer, 3193 B.C.
First serial title change attested: to "Royal Sumerian Academy
Publications."
537 B.C.
The National Library of Babylon, finally switching to papyrus, ceases
maintaining its clay tablet shelflist, but is unable to discard it for
nostalgic reasons. 2 years later, under seige by the Persians, the city
finds a new use for the old tablets and manages to inflict severe losses on
the beseiging army by pelting them from the ramparts with large quantities
of shelflist tablets.
295 B.C.
Roman General Laudamus Principalis, struggling with the problem of too
many soldiers and not enough uniorms & weapons to go round, introduces a
battle selection method called 'Slotare'. Each time a soldier is credited
with killing an opponent in battle, the date of the battle is sewn into the
lining of his underwear. Annual undergarment checks are carried out, and
any soldier who has not registered a successful 'hit' in the last three
years is deselected from the Legion, has 'Withdrawn' sewn into his
underwear, and is made available to the citizens of Rome for purchase.
[contributed by A. Jackson (University of Dundee)]
43 B.C.
First attested use of an ISBN (for the special collector's edition of
Caesar's Gallic Wars with an introduction by Marc Anthony):
IXIVVIIXVIIIVIIIVIVII.
427 A.D.
The Library at Alexandria decides to contract out its annual weeding
project; Vandal hordes are the lowest bidder.
June 21, 762 A.D.
Death of St. Minutia. The birth date of St. Minutia is unknown. The only
reliable chronicle has an unlucky lacuna: "Sa. Minutia in [.......an]no
domini nata est", where only the last two missing letters can be
supplied with any certainty. Vitae of the saint written later naively
abbreviate the "...no domini" as 'n.d.', and this is the form
traditionally cited for her birth. Minutia is said to have been born in the
former Roman province of Nova Panonia (part of the present day Czech
Republic), in the village of Sineloco (modern day Odnikud). Her time and
place of birth, therefore, are usually given as "s.l., n.p., n.d."
Happily, a generous amount of hagiographical material on St. Minutia has
survived, perhaps the most popular of which is a collection of her homilies
and sayings, including the motto most closely associated with her: "Non
pilus tam tenuis ut secari non possit."* She appears to have had some
interest in ecclesiastical architecture; one early vita has references to a
church which was built using plans drawn up by Minutia herself. The actual
building has not survived, but there is a fragment from a contemporary
description: "On either side of the main entry, St. Minutia caused
innumerable added entries to be placed, such that people marvelled at the
great multitude of doors, and rebuked the Saint for the labor wasted in
putting them there. 'No labor has been wasted', she answered them
patiently, 'for by these means no one will be barred from my church
through a lack of access.'" Another account explains that her plans were an
improvement on earlier designs which had called for a single entry at
the east end, near the tabernacle; the inconvenience of relying on this
so-called Corporate entry was immediately recognized and rectified by the
saint.
She was, not surprisingly, an influential member of her convent. There
are a number of references to her reorganization of its agricultural
property: she is said to have divided the land into holdings devoted to
permanent crops (fixed fields) and holdings given over to crop rotation
(variable fields). The variable fields were further divided into smaller
parcels (subfields) assigned individually to peasants attached to the
convent. *translation: There is no hair too fine to be split.
1066 A.D.
William the Conqueror defeats his cousin Harold at the Battle of
Hastings and imposes the Anglo-Norman Cataloging Rules, 2nd ed. (ANCR2) on
his new subjects. 10 years later he commissions the first
systematic catalog of selected realia (the Domesday Boke).
August 5, 1782
Birthdate of the Werke brothers, Gesammelte ("Gus"), Sämtliche ("Sam"),
and Ausgewählte ("Wally"). In addition to being prolific authors, the
brothers were devoted to their military careers and were seldom seen
out of uniform.
1883-4
Cattlemen at the Bar and Drum Ranch, outside Lone Stack, South Dakota,
develop the 'barcode' brand as a way to keep track of individual animals
in the herd.
1920
Henry Ford, seeing his monopolistic grip on the US car industry loosened
by the advent of new companies and models, decides to introduce a 'unified
driving system'. This involves a front end which can be bolted onto the
dashboard of any vehicle, making the driving experience identical from
vehicle to vehicle, and removing the need for separate standards of
instrumentation and control. The project, which was doomed to failure, was
given the Code No. Z39.50.
[contributed by A. Jackson (University of Dundee)]
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12. Bunion
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 20:17:08 -0800 (PST)
From: "AJ Barnett" <hof_1991[at]hotmail.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: hof_1991[at]hotmail.com
Issues 1 and 2 of the Bunion, a library related humor e-text are available
on the One Librarian web site
< http://www.geocities.com/onelibrarian.geo/ >
One Librarian is my personal site, the home to the Librarian's Lao-Tzu and
in no way connected with my place of employment.
Andy Barnett work e-mail: abarnett[at]scls.lib.wi.us
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13. Anarchist Bookfair
Last weekend I decided to be adventurous, so I drove down to San Francisco
and hobnobbed with the exotic anarchists and the SF Bay Area Anarchist
Bookfair. Here is a perfect photographic representation of the sexy event:
Lots more pictures are up on the web now, courtesy of Howard Besser, with
whom I chilled:
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard/Anarchism/A-Bookfaire02/
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14. Those Evil Libraries
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 16:55:57 +0000
From: bikechic[at]waymark.net
To: libraryunderground[at]topica.com
Reply to: bikechic[at]waymark.net
Your dose of parody for this morning:
http://i-want-a-website.com/about-linux/articles/feb02/book-copying.shtml
"How can authors and publishers hope to make ends meet when the country
is rapidly filling with evil libraries that distribute our products for
free to the general public?" asked the chairman of the BPAA during his
keynote address.
"That blasted Andrew Carnegie is spending all kinds of his own
ill-gotten money to open libraries in cities nationwide. He calls it
charity. I call it anti-competitive business practices hoping to
bankrupt the entire publishing industry. We must fight these
anti-profit, pro-copying librarians and put an end to this scourge!"
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15. Advertisers Know: Librarians Sell
Jessamyn has done the library community a service here by posting a scanned
image of this ad from Bust magazine, which has a sexy new take on the
unsexy/sexy image of the librarian:
http://jessamyn.info/pix/unwind.jpg
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16. Lida Verdesi, 1933-2002
Please take a moment to consider this librarian's passing.
CHESTNUT RIDGE
Community activist dies at 67
Longtime Rockland resident worked for peace and harmony
John Kryger
The Journal News
March 23, 2002
Lida Verdesi, a long-time worker for peace and harmony, died Thursday
in her home at the Fellowship Community in Chestnut Ridge.
She was 67.
Verdesi was an active volunteer with the Fellowship of Reconciliation
in Upper Nyack since 1982, and had been deeply involved in Spring
Valley when she lived there.
Verdesi had several connections to the village besides her home. She
was employed at the Finkelstein Memorial Library as the adult services
program coordinator from 1977 to 1991.
She attended church across the street from the library at St. Paul's
Episcopal Church on South Madison Avenue, where she chaired the
parish's peace and justice community.
She had volunteered at the Martin Luther King Reading Center and had
been a paraprofessional teacher of conversational English for
non-English-speaking students in the East Ramapo Central School
District in the late 1960s. She also served as a substitute librarian
for the district.
She represented the village as a Democratic committeewoman for about
10 years.
"She was very active in peace work. It was like a mission in her life,
and people that knew her were spiritually transformed," said Vivian
Harving, a close friend who met her through the library.
"She was a Rockland connector who brought people together," Harving
said.
Erica Grodin succeeded Verdesi at the library and had fond memories of
her.
"She was my mentor and was the program coordinator for adult
programming when I started in 1980," Grodin said. "She was a tough act
to follow.
"Lida always saw the good in everybody and everything. She was very
big on conflict resolution. She believed in bringing people together
and working things out. She always saw the bright side on everything
and everybody. She will be missed by many people throughout the
county. "
Verdesi was born Lida Cranmer in Cleveland on Sept 3, 1933. She also
lived in Washington, D.C., as a child, before the family moved to
Yonkers.
She was a 1951 graduate of Roosevelt High School in Yonkers and then
went on to Drew University in Madison, N.J., where she received her
bachelor of arts degree in sociology, cum laude.
After college, she married the Rev. Ariel Verdesi, pastor at the First
Presbyterian Church in Congers. They had two children and divorced in
1973 but maintained a friendly relationship.
She returned to college and earned a master's degree in library
science from Columbia University in 1971.
"I've known her for almost 20 years, and she volunteered for 25 years
at the Fellowship of Reconciliation," said Joyce Bressler, director of
the Jewish Peace Fellowship and the assistant bookkeeper for the FOR.
"She worked in a number of areas, including the fellowship magazine.
She was a vital part of this organization. She was the primary
organizer of the local FOR chapter countywide in the 1980s.
Verdesi's home in Spring Valley was known as Sunshine House. There,
she shared her home with numerous people who were in transition in
their lives in a cooperative living experience.
She worked to create a library at the Dr. Robert L. Yeager Health
Center in Ramapo.
In 1984, she was the winner of the Rockland County Women's Network
annual Celebration of Women award.
Verdesi is survived by her daughter, Lora Mattiaccio; son, Paul; and
six grandchildren.
There will be a memorial service at 8:30 p.m. tonight at the
Fellowship Community's Hilltop House in Chestnut Ridge.
A service will be held at 3 p.m. April 14 at the FOR, 52 N. Broadway,
Upper Nyack.
Reach John Kryger at jkryger[at]thejournalnews.com or 845-578-2461
Copyright The Journal News. Reprinted with permission.
Thanks to Steve Johnson for alerting me to this. -Rory
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17. Said Ignatius Reilly to Myrna Minkoff...
Is it quote-worthy?
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 23:16:19
From: "Kevin Guest" <luckyguest[at]hotmail.com>
To: Rory[at]libr.org
Hi Rory,
I've been getting Library Juice for about a year and a half now and since I
am a library school student (at The University of British Columbia) I have
convinced myself I can not afford to send you money yet. Plus, being in
Canada US$10 is equal to my monthly food ration. Anyway, I enjoy getting
your publication even though I am blissfully ignorant to many of the nuances
of American politics that are discussed. I like your quotes of the week and
came across something funny that you may find suitable to include someday.
You probably already have it on a t-shirt or something, but if not it's from
John Kennedy Toole's 'A confederacy of dunces' (p.194). It doesn't have
anything to do with Danny Glover, Osama, or pretzels (or does it?), but
seeing as I will be a full-fledged librarian in a couple of months in a
province where jobs are being slashed like the prices at Wal-Mart, I thought
this could be something to look forward to:
(Part of a letter from Ignatius Reilly to his 'beloved' Myrna Minkoff
regarding her upcoming lecture at the Bronx 'Y' entitled Sex in Politics:
Erotic Liberty as a Weapon Against Reactionaries)
On the dark night of that dubious lecture, the sole member of your audience
will probably be some desperately lonely old male librarian who saw a light
in the window of the lecture hall and hopefully came in to escape the cold
and the horrors of his personal hell. There in the hall, his stooped figure
sitting alone before the podium, your nasal voice echoing among the empty
chairs and hammering boredom, confusion, and sexual reference deeper and
deeper into the poor wretch's bald skull, confounded to the point of
hysteria, he will doubtfully exhibit himself, waving his crabbed organ like
a club in despair against the grim sound that drones on and on over his
head.
***
Actually, it's probably a bit vulgar to throw out there but this has been a
great opportunity to procrastinate.
So, in the words of my country's old darling, Leonard Cohen, "It's closing
time."
Kevin Guest
MLIS Candidate
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18. Words That End In "gry" and "dous"
http://www.salon.com/weekly/verb960624.html
An article that discusses a common puzzle of words:
what are the words that end in "gry" (50+ listed) and
"dous" (30+ listed). By Richard Lederer at
Salon.com.
From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/
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L I B R A R Y J U I C E
| http://libr.org/Juice/
|
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