Whenever one of those "100 Books You Must Read" lists come out, I'm always a bit ashamed that, even as a former English major, I find that I've barely read any of them.
But now, finally, a list where I have read, well, about the same proportion as any other "Top 100 Books" list.
100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library
The MetaFilter thread links to an earlier thread about the reading choice differences between men and women.
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Wednesday, May 14
Tuesday, May 13
Which Makes Me Think...
by
Jason
on Tue 13 May 2008 11:01 PM CST
I drove nearly four hours round-trip today to do a five minute presentation at a tea in honour of a branch assistant who's been with our region for fifteen years...
...which makes me think that rural librarianship has some unique requirements you won't find in any other type of library... ...which makes me think that rural librarianship also has some unique rewards including the joy of homebaked cookies and dainties, a fly on the wall perspective for two hours conversation covering all manner of small town comings and goings plus the inevitable "Saskatchewan One Degree of Separation" moment of finding out that one person attending the tea has a daughter who signed a document for you in her role as a Justice of the Peace in your hometown and the former librarian who is also attending has a son who is married to a friend of yours from University... ...which makes me think that the afternoon tea is the small town female equivalent of the more male dominated "coffee row" which I've also sat in on in a couple different communities while traveling as part of this job... ...which makes me think of how, when we were traveling to a series of meeting in branches near my hometown and after hearing me talk about my experiences growing up in the area, my boss commented "I don't know why you want to work in Regina. You belong in a rural library."... ...which also makes me think about how many people have said (some variation of) "we'll miss you - you understand rural libraries" as my contract begins coming to a close... ...which makes me think that sentiment is properly better captured as "you understand the rural mindset" (trust me - I've barely begun to get a handle on rural libraries!)... ...which makes me think of the fact that we have a special line in our acquisitions budget to buy copies of one book for every branch in our region (rather than the more usual practice of buying one copy that rotates through the region one branch at a time) and how this year, I bought a book called "Our Towns" which features historical information and background about hundreds of towns across Saskatchewan... ...which makes me think about how this book was being discussed on talk radio today and I got the tidbit that "coffee row" is a phrase that originated in Saskatchewan and another tidbit that, at its peak in the late 1800's, my hometown of Indian Head had the most elevators of any community in Saskatchewan (12), a fact I never knew... ...which makes me think that this book was a pretty good pick for a "branch perm" as we call them whereas the books I picked last year on "The History of Patents", "The History of Inventions", "A Child's Guide to the Night Sky" and "A Health Guide for Those Over 50" weren't maybe as good of picks (long story!)... ...which (also) makes me think how those picks led to one of many screw-ups I've had over the past year when I asked that the books be catalogued as "reference" materials when in fact, the proper designation was "branch permanents" which means people could actually, you know, take them out... ...which makes me think that as excited as I am about whatever may come next, I will truly and honestly miss working in a rural library system, with all of its quirks and challenges and small magical moments such as the care taken to design a perfectly arranged tray of goodies...  Monday, May 12
"The End of Copyright" - An Essay
by
Jason
on Mon 12 May 2008 08:15 PM CST
Quite often, I'll do a post on a topic then come across further information at a later date that would expand and improve the post.
Usually, I just go back and add the information to the original post, even though I know the odds of anyone seeing it are slim. But in this case, as a supplement to my recent post about the end of copyright (cleverly disguised as a post about a cheesy 1970's action TV show), here's a good essay about the end of copyright. I think we are witnessing the beginning of the end of a major era in world history. It may take fifty years, it may take a hundred, but the age of copyright is drawing to a close. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s inevitable. And I say this as the author of two books and over 75 columns like this one, all copyrighted. This especially ties into the point that someone recently conveyed me about how people struggle to hold onto something hardest when they know it's already over (paging Hillary Clinton!  )Right now, the music and movie industries are howling and beating their breasts and doing their best to go after anybody who violates their copyrights on a large scale. The fury with which they’re doing it is a measure of their desperation. The Sony rootkit debacle is a perfect example: in an effort to prevent piracy, they secretly installed dangerous spyware into people’s PCs, which itself may have been a criminal act. This was about the dumbest public-relations move since Take-Two lied about the Hot Coffee content, and as with Take-Two, it will cost them vastly more than they could hope to gain from it. Did they really think nobody would find out? Sunday, May 11
Jessamyn West's Endnote Presentation from the SLA-MLA Conference
by
Jason
on Sun 11 May 2008 08:45 PM CST
Jessamyn passed along word that she's got both the speaking notes and the slides from her presentation at the recent Sask Library Association-Manitoba Library Association joint conference online (good thing she has the speaking notes up - she uses that minimalistic "one photo, one caption" style for her presentations so you might not get much out of just the slides.)
I have to say it's been interesting to ask people what they thought of her presentation over the last couple weeks. I'm a bit naive but every time I ask, I expect the person to be similarly enamoured and, like me, think "yeah. Yeah! That's it. That's what it's all about. Whoo-hooo!" (or something along those lines anyhew.  )Instead, I've heard from a few people who were underwhelmed or even disappointed by the presentation. I hate to generalize but so far, this division has broken down completely along generational lines - older librarians I ask who weren't very impressed found the presentation meandering, off-point, etc. etc. Younger and/or newer librarians found the presentation engaging, exciting and inspirational. This isn't just about a conference closing presentation though. Instead, it embodies a generational divide that is causing a lot of tension within our profession in general. On one side, you (tend to) have younger, technology-focused, cutting-edge, "just do it" new librarians. On the other, you have more hierarchy-based, old-school, cautious "voice of experience" librarians. (I hasten to add that there are older boomer librarians updating their Facebook profiles from their Blackberries and their are curmudgeonly new, young librarians who think Web 2.0 was the sub-title of the second Spiderman movie. I also admit to having had more than one sleepness night in the past year wondering if I'll acquire some or all of the traits I currently find so frustrating as I move forward in my library career? And whether this is necessarily such a bad thing?) Anyhow, in my mind, Jessamyn's presentation did not suck ("was not sub-optimal" to use her suggested terminology substitution for the word that we X'ers do tend to over-use way too often!) but it apparently did not always reach the people that it should have either. Saturday, May 10
Emergency! (TV Show, not a call for help)
by
Jason
on Sat 10 May 2008 10:19 PM CST
Sometimes it's the stupidest things that make you realise how amazing and cool and awesome the Internet truly is.
Yesterday, we saw a fire truck leaving its station while we were out and about and, for the first time in about, oh, twenty-five years, I thought about a TV show I loved as a kid - Emergency! I went on YouTube and of course, the opening credits for the show were there as well as a few related clips and scenes. I can't wait for that inevitable day when ALL creative content like this, including full programs, is out there, ready for us to access. As someone told me recently, when you're at the end of an era, that's when the people who will suffer most from the change hold on the tightest. Translation: goodbye current copyright laws, hello future! Friday, May 9
Friday Fun Link - TimeTube: YouTube Timelines Mashup (May 9, 2008)
by
Jason
on Fri 09 May 2008 09:46 PM CST
TimeTube is a site that creates a timeline of YouTube videos based on any keyword you enter and sorted based on the date they were added. You can also
view the results in a couple other modes - "list view", "flipbook" and
"map view" for videos that have been tagged with a location.
They have some samples of how this works best - things like major news stories that develop over time. For example, you can see a timeline of Barack Obama videos from when he first came to national prominence on through the Democratic primary right up until his most recent speech. It's not just for news stories - trying pretty much any keyword can provide interesting results. I've tried "Saskatchewan" and "Library 2.0" so far although, for these types of searches, it's probably just as easy to look at YouTube's "Sort by Date Added" feature. One other major shortcoming of the site, evidenced by the lack of links for my sample timelines above - you can't link directly to a TimeTube that you've created. Still, a very cool mash-up that has a lot of potential, especially as YouTube continues to gain content about all manner of subjects over time. (via Reddit) [2008-05-11 - TechCrunch has a good summary of the site's good and bad points as well.] Thursday, May 8
Wikipedia Goes To...Print?
by
Jason
on Thu 08 May 2008 10:23 PM CST
Seems counter-intuitive but apparently a Slice of the German Wikipedia is to Be Captured on
Paper.
(via Sandra M.) Wednesday, May 7
Canada Is Today's Frontier Upon Which The War of File-Sharing Legality Is Being Waged
by
Jason
on Wed 07 May 2008 07:11 AM CST
I have to admit that I've been cheating on MetaFilter. Once a site that I had to spend quality time with on a daily basis, it had slipped and been replaced in my affection by Reddit, a sexy little site which has a lot more technology news, a lot more politics, a lot more humour, all in a "what will it have today?" format that makes for quick and easy browsing. (Put another way: MetaFilter = The New Yorker, Reddit = People).
So anyhow, my recent visit with Jessamyn inspired me to try to make at least a little bit of time to get back to checking MetaFilter on a more regular basis. My decision was quickly rewarded when I came across the following post which I've copied verbatim from MetaFilter. "With the possible exception of Sweden, Canada is today's frontier upon which the war of file-sharing legality is waged, with the greatest number of file-sharers per capita, and a steady increase in the number of persons who partake (according to the OECD). Historically, the CRIA's own piracy campaign (2004) was given birth only one year after the RIAA began suing individuals (2003) for participating in peer-to-peer file distribution. Unlike the RIAA, the CRIA was shot down by the courts, establishing a sort of precedent in favour of the end-user which has been upheld ever since, and indeed even reinforced. However, we may be seeing the beginning of the end as QuebecTorrent now fights the good fight to prevent a legal precedent outlawing Canadian BitTorrent trackers." (via MetaFilter) Tuesday, May 6
Obama vs. McCain - It Begins...Again
by
Jason
on Tue 06 May 2008 08:31 PM CST
Tonight's primaries aren't completely settled and as I write this, Indiana still has to be called. But barring a major backroom deal with both committed and uncommitted super-delegates, Michigan and Florida recounts or incriminating photos of Barack Obama with Osama Bin Laden come to light, the Democratic party nomination has been Obama's for the last two months or so.
So with the Presidential race looking like it will be John McCain versus Barack Obama in the fall, it's interesting to note that this isn't the first time the two men have squared off. The following exchange provides a glimpse behind the power politics of Washington and the character of each man: Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain Exchange Letters on Ethics Reform | U.S. Senator Barack Obama Monday, May 5
I'm So Proud - My First Official Copyright Violation Notice (a single tear rolls down my cheek)
by
Jason
on Mon 05 May 2008 07:49 PM CST
The funniest part is that I've got nothing but positive comments about my Pace montage on YouTube and I probably encouraged one or two people to seek out (and maybe even buy!) this old country tune. Dear YouTube Member:
Well, I can't complain too much - Universal Music Group is progressive enough that they let the video stay up at least. Of course, if ads start showing up on something that is at least 50% my content, I think I might have to upload another video named "Tippy Toeing by Loreta Lyn" with a whole other set of photos behind it. --- UMG has claimed some or all audio content in your video Pace Owen in "Tippy Toeing" by Loretta Lynn. This claim was made as part of the YouTube Content Identification program. Your video is still live because UMG has authorized the use of this content on YouTube. As long as UMG has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video's page. Claim Details:
UMG claimed this content as a part of the YouTube Content Identification program. YouTube allows partners to review YouTube videos for content to which they own the rights. Partners may use our automated video / audio matching system to identify their content, or they may manually review videos. Sincerely, Copyright © 2008 YouTube, Inc. |
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