Head Tale - Yet Another Librarian's Blog

Federal Government Cuts Funding For Public Intenet Access

Jason — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:09:51 -0600

The Harper Conservatives are quietly cutting funding for any organization within 25 km of a public library that offers public Internet access via the long-standing Community Access Program. This could include community centres, senior centres, hospitals...and even including other public libraries in smaller communities if they're within 25 km of a library that has CAP computers in a larger centre.

This is terrible decision for so many reasons - especially given the small cost of providing Internet at these sites (a few grand per year). As you know, I worked for a rural system that had maybe half a dozen libraries within 25 km of Regina - not to mention how the majority of our smallest branches were within 25 km of a larger centre - villages near towns and whatnot.

If this change comes to pass, everyone in those smaller communities could end up losing the free public access the library provides to the community. Not everyone owns a computer and not everyone gets into Regina or the next largest community on a regular basis. And with more and more of our information mainly (or only) available online, this is a real danger of widening the already gaping chasm that is the digital divide between larger and smaller centres across Canada is very real.

A Couple Political Notes

Jason — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:01:07 -0600

Ryan Meili posted a brief message on his Facebook page saying that he will soon be making an announcement about which riding he'll be running in for the 2010 Provincial Election.

Presumably he'll be running in Saskatoon and that likely means one of the ridings currently held by members of the Saskatchewan Party (Sutherland, Greystone) or depending on whether any current Saskatoon-based NDP MLA's decide to retire or otherwise move on, perhaps one of those ridings will be a possibility as well.

Which leads to my second point. Kim Trew, longtime MLA for Regina - Coronation Park announced his retirement a few weeks ago and that's kicked off a nomination battle that currently has four announced nominees - Fred Kress, Tamara Harder, Jaime Garcia and Tory McGregor who is easily the most surprising entrant into the race.

As always, Accidental Deliberations is on the case with the latest news and insights so the only thing I'll add is that Coronation Park happens to be my home riding and though I haven't 100% made up my mind as to who I'll support, I'm definitely leaning towards one of the candidates. So there will be more on that in the days and weeks to come.

[Edit: Accidental Deliberations also highlights, via Louis Riel Trail, another pending announcement I missed - 2009 NDP Leadership Candidate, Yens Pedersen.]

Saturday Snap - The Unexpected Benefits of Working at the Library

Jason — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:15:33 -0600

Two recent events brought home a really cool benefit of working at the public library most probably don't think of - it's a great place to work if you have a child.

A couple weeks ago, Shea had to make an unplanned trip to the doctor (nothing serious but it couldn't wait either) so she called to see if I could watch Pace for half an hour. I said 'yes' so she dropped him off. Pace and I went to the Children's Library downstairs and borrowed some toys then went back up to my office, I closed the door and Pace managed to (mostly) keep himself entertained between the toys and the notepad I gave him to make me some art for my wall. (He does an excellent circle!) We also did a quick visit to the others in my Unit and it's nice to be in a workplace where people are happy to see a child - not always the case in my experience. When he wasn't able to entertain himself, he tried to help me with an e-mail I was sending and let's just say I'm happy there's an Undo function in most computer programs now. Oh, he also found daddy's "treat drawer" and there even happened to be some gummy worms in there! (My co-worker: "You're going to let him eat the whole bag?" If it keeps him happy right now, yep!!!)

Then last Wednesday, Pace's daycare was coming to Central for storytime (they'd come a few other times but I'd always been busy and never able to make it.) I was pretty busy this day too having been tapped to facilitate an internal forum we were holding to talk about some issues around materials handling. But our Facilitation Plan had been finalized first thing that morning so I figured there wasn't much else I could do and a storytime might even help distract me prior to the big event in the afternoon.

My plan was to sneak down and stand in the back of the room so he wouldn't see me at all but of course, I timed it poorly and arrived just as Pace's daycare was filing in. So he spied me immediately, grabbed my hand and there was no way I was getting away from him!

We went into the storyroom and the kids got seated in the front (he's the blondie in the photo below) but it's lucky I snapped this pic when I did because he soon after came and joined me where I was sitting against the wall.

He did really good for the first couple of stories (well, except for one fingerplay where the person doing the program told a story of an alligator eating monkeys in a tree. At the end, the instructor used her alligator puppet to ask the kids if they were monkeys and they all shrieked "no!" Except for Pace who blurts out, "I a monkey!" Not sure if he did this because his group at daycare are called the monkeys (honest). Or maybe we should stop calling him a monkey at home so much! ) The instructor later told me that she'd never had a kid say they *were* a monkey before in this program when the alligator turned its attention to the crowd. (That's my boy!)

By the final story, he was getting a bit restless and started asking "Where's mommy?" in a louder and louder voice. Oh shit, I thought. I ruined storytime and the daycare workers are going to be pissed at me too! I took him out and eventually got him settled then took him back in as they were watching a final short video. He was a bit tearful but quickly settled in with his worker (who I apologized profusely too if I got him all riled up for the rest of the day. I also apologized to the instructor for our disruption but she said it was okay - she'd been doing storytimes long enough that she'd seen everything and I shouldn't worry about it.)

One final peek at Pace then I was off to get the venue set-up for my facilitation session - any nervousness I had about doing something that I haven't had formal training in put into proper perspective by a very enjoyable visit with Pace during the daytime - a treat I rarely get.

Friday Fun Link - Visualiy Representing the Top 100 Sites on the Internet (March 12, 2010)

Jason — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:31:05 -0600

A pretty cool visual representation of the Top 100 Sites on the Internet.

(via MetaFilter)

And the Oscar for Most Wooden Performance In A Workplace Promotional Video Goes To...

Jason — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:48:33 -0600

When and Why Did Libraries Stop Being Silent?

Jason — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:56:01 -0600

The Books sub-Reddit on the Reddit web site gets asked a question about why libraries are no longer quiet. Interesting to read some of the responses from the book-lover types who hang out in this area even though there aren't too many unexpected revelations in the answers provided (except that some libraries - in the UK possibly? - rent DVD's rather than loaning them for free) and many reply in terms of their experiences with academic rather than public libraries.

[Edit: oh, one other revelation from near the end of the thread - Reddit has a sub-Reddit just for libraries. And...subscribe!]

Music Monday - "I got a letter from the government the other day/Opened it and read it/It said they were suckers/They wanted me for their army or whatever"

Jason — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:30:01 -0600

When I was in England in 1995, this song (and the album it appeared on) were consistently rated at or near the top of the "best of" lists for that year by the NME, Melody Maker and Q.

Has It Been A Week Already?

Jason — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:00:15 -0600

A detailed analysis of the four seconds leading up to Sidney Crosby's gold medal winning goal at the Olympics.

(via Reddit)

Saturday Snap - Getting Ready For Our New Flooring

Jason — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:16:32 -0600

Everybody pitches in!

Friday Fun Link - What Do Today's Parents Need To Know That Previous Ones Didn't? (March 7, 2010)

Jason — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:45:54 -0600

Seriously, I think I could start dedicating a day to an Ask MetaFilter Question o' the Day. (I did ask a category for MetaFilter recently so that's part way there already!)

This one was particularly relevant - what things does a new parent today have to know about/worry about that previous generations didn't?