Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Okay, so we are all aware of the Economic Stimulus Package meant to deliver the US of A from its current state of economic peril. The formal name of the pending bill is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and libraries could potentially benefit greatly from it. Sadly, they could also get shafted. ALA’s District Dispatch has put out a call for all those who work, utilize, or love libraries to contact their legislators and let them know WITHIN THE NEXT 36 TO 48 HOURS how crucial it is for libraries to be included in and receive funding from this bill.
If you live in Oregon, you can contact your legislators via this generic form. I’m sure there are a slew of interns who will review your submission and promptly route it to the correct place. Feel free to copy, tweak, and paste the message I hastily copied, tweaked, and pasted from the District Dispatch post.
*****************
Hello.
I am a [librarian, bibliophile, cheerleader for libraries, etc.] living in [Anytown, OR], and am writing you in hopes that you PLEASE, PLEASE include important library provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In particular is it crucial that you:
- Restore education construction funds eliminated from the Senate version of the ARRA. The House version of the ARRA would provide $14 billion for K-12 construction and $6 billion for higher education construction and specifically mention libraries as an allowable use of funds. The K-12 construction funds would create 300,000 jobs.
- Restore the money cut from the State Stabilization Fund in the Senate bill to $79 billion to and restore the Governors ability to use a portion of the funds at his or her discretion.
- Maintain the $8 billion for ‘Broadband Technology Opportunities Program’ for robust broadband to all of America including “fiber to the libraries for the 21st century.”
- Make no less than $200 million available for competitive grants for expanding public computer center capacity, including community colleges and public libraries.
- Uphold the open access of networks and not include provisions allowing intrusive network management techniques.
Libraries are a key source of free internet access to look for jobs and so much more. Our libraries provide essential services that stimulate our local economies. Please help to ensure libraries receive the much needed funding the ARRA can provide.
Thank you.
[You know who you are!]
Due to inclement weather, conflicting holiday schedules, nastoid colds, and a host of other possibly dubious excuses Interlibrary Lush was put on hold for the month of December. But it is back in full force for 2009! So read this here flyer and join us, won’t you?
[This month's flyer features Lana organizing and shelving books for Bitch Magazine's new lending library. Details about their recently created library coming soon...]
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Next month myself and a few other very awesome librarians from the Portland Rad [so rad, on so many levels] Ref Collective will be taking part in the ‘So You Want to become a Librarian’ panel hosted by the Independent Publishing Resource Center. We will discuss the librarian’s journey, beginning with our own stories as once innocent, starry-eyed Lib Sci students thrust into the sobering world of unemployment, particularly in Portland, and how we learned to cope and eventually emerge triumphant. So don’t worry! I promise the panel will have a happy ending.
Blurb + Deets:
Wed Feb 4, 7pm
How To Become A Librarian (at IPRC)
Cost: Free
Do you love getting lost in a maze of book stacks? Are you passionate about community outreach, intellectual freedom, and the dissemination of information? Do you meticulously organize your personal library and what’s more – enjoy it? If so, you may want to consider the field of library science! Join four local librarians as they discuss librarianship in every shape and form – from what it means to be a librarian in the new millennium [and in Portland] to choosing the right school and landing employment afterwards. Q&A session to follow – all are welcome!
I made this sweet bit of art to celebrate the coming release of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim #5, Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe on February 5th! I will quake with anticipation until this day arrives.
And if you would like to make your own art that includes someone else’s art, the Scott Pilgrim cubecraft is available here.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Cookies, danishes, sweetbreads, brownies, fudge, coffeecakes, and most other sugary, chocolately, cake-like goods were a constant in my old library’s break room. Most were brought in by staff but oftentimes you would find a half empty cookie tin with a crumb-covered note written by a patron thanking the library staff or a particular employee for treating them well or being helpful. Little did we know that these weren’t just tasty treats laid out before us but little sugar-laden ethical quandaries; gooey goodies that begged the question, “Which moral path will YOU take?”
And just in case you didn’t realize this either, no worries, the Louisiana state Board of Ethics has asked and answered such questions for you. Apparently, it has been decided that staff members at St. Tammy’s Parish Libary in New Orleans that accept homemade or inexpensive gifts at the holidays [or at any time] are basically accepting bribes, whether either party knows it or not. And as heard on the recent NPR story, “Janice Butler, the director of the St. Tammany Parish Library, says she has been told that even accepting a Coca-Cola will lead to prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
So these are baked goods or small, inexpensive trinkets, they are not travel packages to Cabo. Instead of seeing these gifts as ways for patrons to curry favor with library staff [to what? get their names placed higher on holds lists or waive fines or make sure the patron has an 'in' at the next Tiny Tots Storytime? Are these really reasons for prosecution?] why not see them as satisfied patrons thanking library staff for a job well done? Or for fostering a sense of community [as is part of a library's mission!] to the point that patrons feel comfortable giving these sort of gifts as they would with a neighbor, friend, or family member?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
It was recently brought to my attention that I do not post information on the monthly librarian meetup I host, Interlibrary Lush, on this website. And since I seem to post about it everywhere else there really is no reason for this. So below is the flyer for the November Interlibrary Lush. Oh, and I would like to give a tip of the hat and nod and wink and nudge to my hero and former Italian 101 classmate, Claire-ian the Librarian, who hosts the Dewey Decimal Drinks happy hour in St. Louis. If you are a librarian and live in St. Louis you probably already know about it, if you don’t just GO. DRINK. DISCUSS Bunny Suicides and Second Life’s Information Island.
[Image snapped on the sly while wandering the aisles of Kinokuniya Booktore in search of the latest ku:nel]
OPB’s Think Out Loud recently [re?]aired The Rise of the Graphic Novel. During the show they discuss the difference between comics and the graphic novel, which, IMHO, there really isn’t one. One of the guests echoed my sentiments when he said, “graphic novels are just comics with spines.” And that is book spine, of course. Manga and comics in libraries also come into play, and there is some great commentary from Alison Bedchel, James Lucas Jones, head editor at Portland based Oni Press [publishers of Scott Pilgrim], and many local Portland comics artists and fans.
Give it a listen here.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tonight is also the Dark Horse talk at PSU. Should I skip it in favor of the unconfirmed test screening of Watchmen? Hmmm….what to do? I’ll report back with my decision.
EDIT: Dark Horse it is. I figure if I went to the theater there is a chance I will not get a ticket, that the screening may not even be happening, and besides, I can always see the movie at a later time. The DH talk is a one-time event plus there may be free food so.
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #13 aka ‘The Librarian’ has sold for $902,500 at a Christie’s auction! Wowza. The photographs from Sherman’s Film Stills series are largely inspired by B-movies, film noir, and films from the 50s and 60s.
Here is Sherman in the library, looking deceptively wholesome, I think. She looks very young [Sherman was 23 when this was shot, old enough to have just finished her MLS degree] and there is a ‘Library Lolita’ feel to this photograph. Oh yes, I love fueling the bookworm-by-day-bad-girl-by-night librarian stereotype.
I think this would be a great idea for an exhibit at a library or, EVEN BETTER, as an alternative way of displaying staff and committee photos on library walls! Shot in black and white, those being photographed would create [or recreate] some library-centric scene from the past. Since black and white film would be used, scenes from 1960s and earlier would be best. Ooh! Now how do I get management to share MY VISION.
