Head Tale - Yet Another Librarian's Blog

Posting this discussion on an Internet web site is sort of antithetical to the purpose but anyhow, AskMetafilter recently had a thread about anti-technology “life hacks” - ways that technologically adept people may be rejecting high-tech in favour of other options.

The person who posted the question cited the Hipster PDA, basically a stack of index cards held together with a paper clip, as the sort of thing they were looking for.

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Some Quick Thoughts on the Decanal Candidates

by Jason on Fri 08 Dec 2006 05:25 PM EST

FIMS is in the final stages of selecting a new Dean (who will likely start mid-next year I think). I went to the open sessions for the three remaining decanal candidates over the past couple weeks. (Someone at the Honest Lawyer last night: "You're one of those people that actually care, right? You're not just here to buy a piece of paper like the rest of us?")

Here are the blurbs about each that the department sent out and my very quick thoughts...

David Finkelstein (Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh): Research Professor of Media and Print Culture; Professor and former Head, Department of Media and Communication; and former Acting Head (Associate Dean) of School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication.

Strength: Probably the best match on paper for the various departments that make up FIMS
Weakness: Seemed to have a (long) answer for every question he was asked in his session rather than admitting "I don't know" which each of the other candidates did at times.

Michele Hilmes (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Professor, Media and Cultural Studies, and former Associate Chair, Department of Communication Arts; Director, Wisconsin Centre for Film and Theater Research.

Strength: They all talked about it I liked how she phrased her vision of where she'd like to see this faculty go in the future the best with talk of practical matters such as the changing role of information in today's tech and media-centered society.
Weakness: Maybe seemed a bit too casual and I'm not sure but might've been the least experienced?

Tom Carmichael (The University of Western Ontario): Associate Professor, Department of English; Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Arts and Humanities; and former Acting Director, Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism.

Strength: Has been at Western for 17 years so he knows how this place runs, who the people are and the politics involved in both of those items.
Weakness: I found that he constantly used a lot of management-type buzzwords which put my own personal shield up. And as he admitted, faculties often look for a "shiny new Dean" from elsewhere when they go through a process like this and he definitely isn't that.

I'm looking at it from an MLIS student perspective so I don't really know exactly what faculty, staff or PhD students are looking for in comparison. But if it was my choice, I'd pick Michele Hilmes as the new FIMS Dean as she just felt the most "right" with what she was saying and how she carried herself.

On a slightly related topic, one or two students raised a concern with me about the lack of LIS background in any of the remaining candidates. I've talked to a few people about this (students and others) and surprisingly (?), many responded that it might be good for the LIS side if we *don't* have a Dean closely connected to our area. They thought that when the Dean is an LIS person, they can easily fall into a trap of overcompensating by not giving us *any* favourable treatment and that having a new Dean with experience in some other area might actually benefit us. Interesting theory anyhow...

On another slightly related note, Mike M. was at the last two sessions with me. After hearing the final candidate speak, Mike suggested that FIMS should also take this "opportunity for change" to come up with a new name. I've thought on it and would like to suggest "WHIZ - We Have Information Zazz!" as the new name for the faculty. Mike also felt people should stop saying "G-R-C" for the Grad Resource Centtre and instead, pronounce it "Gerk". Again, I agree wholeheartedly. I can just hear the January 2007 students now:

"WHIZ has an excellent gerk!"

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Oscar's First Snow Day

by Jason on Fri 08 Dec 2006 04:35 PM EST

UWO had a snow day today and were recommending that no one come to the campus unless necessary. So of course Shea and I decided to take a walk this afternoon to check things out.

This is the path behind our apartment leading to the University

Jason helps Shea relax (by pushing her into the snow?)

...then kindly offers a hand to help her out.

North (Pole) Campus Building

And a bonus picture that Shea took from our balcony at 5am this morning...

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Good Samaritan Library Student Freezes To Death, Wife in Mourning (But Happy To Take Over Blog Duties)

by Jason on Fri 08 Dec 2006 03:41 AM EST

"Shea" here again:

They found Jason frozen in a snow bank tonight along with his ever-present digital camera.

This was a photo he took just as he left the bar. The time stamp says 2:39am but I know this is a mistake as he told me he would be home around 8pm or so.

The snow delirium apparently became too much and he might've tried to stop at Ceep's patio for a pint, even though the patio was covered in three feet of snow.

This next photo appears to be a snow sherpa who was guiding Jason and whoever else was with him. But I suspect that snow sherpa and the rest of the crew he was with abandoned him (somewhere around Richmond and Oxford?) to make his way home against the oncoming traffic, the sidewalks being all but impassable.

The snow looks so deep and I can only imagine that my wonderful husband, being a good Saskatchewan boy, helped push out at least four cars on his way home. I'm sure he even helped push out one driven by drunken idiots (who promptly got stuck again!) And even though one car stopped to offer him a ride but then sped away when he approached, I just know this didn't shake his faith in humanity - just undergrads.

Hopefully Jason will thaw out tomorrow and I can go dig him out of whatever snow bank he's curled up in. But otherwise, I quite enjoyed being in charge of the blog for a change and can't wait to tell him how many comments my post got compared to his usual boring library school crap.

(NP: "First Snow of the Year" - Hawksley Workman.)

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