The Miss Rumphius Project

nerdylikearockstar: thehannahmachine: Loudoun mother files ADA...

Sat, 18 May 2013 22:34:48 -0400

thehannahmachine:

Loudoun mother files ADA complaint over library incident

“While Aase was trying to calm down her daughter, she said, an employee of Rust Library demanded that Aase remove her daughter from the building. Then, Aase said, the employee threatened to do so herself. After that, she threatened to call police.

What could have been a passing tantrum has now become a fight over the rights of the disabled, a fight that Aase, well versed in such matters, has vowed to continue. She has filed two complaints under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) — one with Loudoun County and one with the U.S. Department of Justice.”

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the purpose of MLS and MLIS degrees, and I really believe there needs to be just a basic competency class because of situations like this. Thoughts?

This is an incredibly unfortunate situation, to put it mildly, but as to the relation between incidents like this and an MLS/MLIS? I’ve heard colleagues say that they wish their programs had addressed things like this, but more often I’ve heard it said that it needs to be learned on the job. And everyone in the library, no matter their qualifications or positions, needs to be trained to deal with the public which includes children, the elderly, and the disabled, and situations that may pose challenges to the typical library response, but deserve as much respect and consideration as everyone else.

Photo

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:13:12 -0400

we—happy—few: Love my school

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:35:37 -0400

we—happy—few:

Love my school

Urgo if you are killing my alma mater so help me I will etc etc...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:05:16 -0400

I got an email from my undergrad’s president, sent to all the alums. It took two reads for me to get what was actually saying—he was dancing around the point a bit. In short: enrollment for fall is way down, they’re still accepting late applications and they’re asking for recruitment help. My reaction was: dafuqqq?

Two reasons for this reaction:

A) This past semester you didn’t accept my little cousin, who is a straight A student. She’s going to Juniata now, on a full scholarship, and that’s working for her, but we were both fairly upset about it, you douchcanoes.

B) St. Mary’s always had super high enrollment. It was an extremely popular and academically prestigious school. We had issues with over-enrollment every year. SMCM would accept a certain number of students, assuming a certain percentage would choose to go elsewhere. This percentage was always wrong, even though it was adjusted every year. Too many students would choose St. Mary’s, and then we’d have to house them all. I remember two students in single rooms (I was in one of those frosh year), three students in doubles, and study rooms converted into quads. As the semester wore on, some kids inevitably couldn’t hack the academic workload and failed out or quit, and the housing situation would stabilize itself.

What I’m saying is, St. Mary’s has always been in high demand. We’ve always had more students who wanted to go there than we could handle, and that number has always been rising. What happened?

More to the point, what are you asking for tuition? It’s always been high, especially for out of state students. Is that what’s driving people away? Or is it something else?

I am over fond of SMCM. I know that. I’m worried about the future of the school. I discovered a strange thing today: no one wants an alum email that isn’t asking for money.

Urgo, the place was fine when I left it three years ago. What did you do to my school?

Must figure out what happened during alum weekend.

destroyed-and-abandoned: A roller coaster that was plunged into...

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:34:04 -0400

destroyed-and-abandoned:

A roller coaster that was plunged into the Atlantic Ocean after Superstorm Sandy ripped through the Jersey Shore last October and became a symbol of the devastation was being demolished Tuesday afternoon.

The partially submerged Jet Star coaster was once a popular destination at Casino Pier, an amusement park in Seaside Heights, N.J. But when Sandy ravaged the Jersey shoreline, destroying parts of the pier, the coaster tumbled into the ocean.

"Ask any archivist — or most anyone for that matter — what the importance of historical materials..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:54:14 -0400

“Ask any archivist — or most anyone for that matter — what the importance of historical materials held by archives is and they will likely tell you that it is so large it is immeasurable, assuming that that is true and flattering. True, yes, to a degree, but definitely not flattering. In fact, that is one of the big problems with archives — that their value or impact is not directly measurable. We try to measure, and, despite the strength of the adverbs we use (very, extremely, critically, etc.), the measurement is soft because it lacks numbers.”

- How Do Archives Measure Up - Joshua Ranger
http://www.avpreserve.com/blog/how-do-archives-measure-up/

percabeth-winchester: tardismyoldgirl: colinostahpit: adrianes...

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:37:50 -0400

percabeth-winchester:

tardismyoldgirl:

colinostahpit:

adrianestpierre:

Gaston really is the most terrifying Disney villain because he could be anyone in the world.

^ this

he could be the French Romney…..

THE FRENCH ROMNEY

Spent the day lying on the beach with my little cousin.

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:36:00 -0400

It doesn’t get any better.

P.S. From what we saw, Sandy recovery in Ocean Grove and Asbury Park is going well. The boardwalk is completely repaired in Asbury Park. It’s almost completely repaired in Ocean Grove, except the fishing pier, which is on hold while they gather funds. (The OG boardwalk is owned by a non-profit, so they don’t get any state aid.) Tent city in OG is shockingly completely intact. In between OG and AP, the old casino and carousel building is in rough shape—erm, rougher than usual—but they’re working on it.The roof of the Great Auditorium in OG is under repair; Convention Hall in AP is gorgeous and immaculate. The Stone Pony in AP is rocking on. The dunes in OG got wiped out, so they made a temporary bluff by stacking every Christmas tree in town, and running a fence through them. Bizarre looking, but effective.

Audio

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:20:33 -0400

"Deep in the snow, in the middle of a windswept moorland, a small band of traveling librarians sat..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:40:38 -0400

“

Deep in the snow, in the middle of a windswept moorland, a small band of traveling librarians sat around their cooling stove and wondered what to burn next.

Tiffany had never been able to find out much about the librarians. They were a bit like the wandering priests and teachers who went even into the smallest, loneliest villages to deliver those things—prayers, medicine, facts—that people could do without for weeks at a time but sometimes needed a lot of all at once. The librarians would loan you a book for a penny, although they often would take food or good secondhand clothes. If you gave them a book, you got ten free loans.

Sometimes you’d see two of three of their wagons parked in some clearing and could smell the glues they boiled up to repair the oldest books. Some of the books they loaned were so old that the printing had been worn gray by the pressure of people’s eyeballs reading it.

The librarians were mysterious. It was said they could tell what book you needed just by looking at you, and they could take your voice away with a word.

”

- Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith (via fragmentsshoredagainstmyruin)

thewritershelpers: uberwench: skokielibrary: teen-stuff-at-the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:20:37 -0400

thewritershelpers:

uberwench:

skokielibrary:

teen-stuff-at-the-library:

A Great Guide on How to Cite Social Media Using Both MLA and APA styles

You’ll probably find this useful at some point.

Man, where was this chart when I was in library school?

Reblogging because EVERYONE (ESPECIALLY COLLEGE STUDENTS) needs this in their life. -H

Well and good. But how do we cite tumblr?

Contemplating solo road tripping ALA.

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:47:00 -0400

I’m all registered and everything. Rooming with yellowdecorations (yay!). Paying for plane tickets would render me officially broke as f&%k.

It’s only twelve hours from northern New Jersey to Chicago. Might be fun.

"Here is the thing, okay? Coming into a feminist conversation with, “Have you considered that..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:42:02 -0400

“

Here is the thing, okay? Coming into a feminist conversation with, “Have you considered that sometimes women acquire free drinks at bars?” is like walking into graduate school during Philosophy finals and saying, “Have you considered that the color blue that I see may not be the color blue that you see?”

Imagine you are the guy who just walked into that Philosophy class and laid that shit down. Imagine the class full of students who have worked very hard and committed themselves and sacrificed to be here, students who have spent several years of their lives learning about this subject. Imagine now their feelings when you go to the head of the classroom with a smirk on your face and demand the professor give you an A for effort. Imagine now that they think you are a douchebag asshole, because they do, and because you are. You are a douchebag asshole because you are obviously so self-centered, arrogant, and completely ignorant of the world around you, that you thought you could walk into a high-level course with no background and no work and say something profoundly simplistic and totally unrelated and also everybody should congratulate you for having done this thing, so brave, so provocative.
[….]
You are not asking us a real question. You are simply illustrating, for all to see, your own ignorance. You are saying, “I have not considered the implications of the question I have just asked. I have not taken the time nor effort nor commitment to sit down and ask myself this question. Instead, I have come into your philosophy classroom/office/feminist blog and shat out my question with a smirk, because I believe that my two seconds of thought are worth more than your long-term analysis, because I believe I am worth more.”

”

- Fugivitus: A few things to consider when you find a feminist blog (via absolutely-spiffing)

If the Founding Fathers Had Tumblr Blogs

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:20:18 -0400

publius-esquire:

George Washington: Would use a simple template and dedicate his blog mostly to his farm work; what crops are doing well and what grows best in what soil, and where to get the best beer in the country. It’s not a terribly active blog. Accidentally became tumblr famous. He’s also annoyed because the only asks he gets are political ones, and he’d rather keep his blog politics-free. Why can’t they just leave him alone?

John Adams: Shares a blog with his wife Abigail, and together they have the most quality blog of the group. History, politics, law, anything considered high on a liberal arts education, it’s on this blog. The Adamses also have very strong opinions on their contemporaries and are not afraid to talk about their grievances in public. They have a small but very dedicated follower base. John gets upset when his posts don’t get a lot of notes, and while occasionally go into a fit about how unappreciated he is. Does not use the “Read More” option, so expect a lot of scrolling. Good luck finding the next-page button.

Thomas Jefferson: Beautifully formatted, TJ is a hipster of sorts who enjoys blogging about nature, science, and the general beauty of the world. Expect gorgeous pictures, the most up-to-date discoveries on biology, and opinions on topics ranging from religion to the state of modern education. Things got weird when he constantly reported his follower count. He’s very easy to get along with, as he mostly tells people what they want to hear, but has a tendency to stick his nose in other people’s cultures and give unwanted opinions. Like Washington, he prefers not to clog his blog with politics. He has Madison for that.

Alexander Hamilton: Hamilton believes he’s right about everything and it’s your privilege to know that. He doesn’t shy away from politics, but shines in it. He purposefully tracks tags so he can find a opinion he thinks is wrong and then call them out in public so he can shame them. Expect many charts and figures on economics and trade, as well as very long opinions on government and human nature. He also has a lot of sockpuppet accounts that exist to reblog and praise his first one.

James Madison: Exists to counterpoint everything Hamilton posts. Madison originally didn’t even want a blog, but Jefferson convinced him someone had to call him out, and since the Sage didn’t want that kind of tension on his blog, roped in his friend to take care of it. Occasionally he does break off and make his own original posts, his own opinions on government and human nature, but now Hamilton is prepared to point out everything he considers wrong about those.

Benjamin Franklin: You want some politics? Expect satirical cartoons. You want stuffy science? Expect news on how many times Franklin shocked his subjects with static electricity to prove a point. You want culture? Expect fart jokes. He gives tips on money, health, sex, beer, and in general how to live the good life. Warning: has autoplay. Occasionally turns into social justice when someone says they don’t take him seriously. Franklin does have the tendency to post selfies that cross the line into tmi, but he’s never heard any complaints from his followers. NSFW.

Thomas Paine had a blog but was permanently banned for trolling. He blames Patrick Henry.

5, 6, 11!

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:27:00 -0400

5. One of our favorite library trustees is an elderly woman who must be 112 or so. We call her Madam. She’s the greatest person. Every time she comes to visit—with her butler/driver/boytoy?—we give her a full tour of the library, including everything that has changed since she last visited, and she oohs and aahs and gives us candy from her purse and tells us about travelling the world.

One day, about a year ago, I was covering circ. We got a phone call from driver/butler/boytoy. “Is Madame there? She has absconded with the car.” (She hasn’t had her license in a decade or so.) “She isn’t. I’ll call if she arrives.” Five minutes later, there she was. I called back and her grandson came with the driver to collect her and the Bentley. (I’m not sure how she made it down the hill if she couldn’t possibly see over the dashboard.)

On her way out she scolded me for telling on her when she, “just wanted the latest Nora Roberts. They can’t keep me from my romances.” But she gave me a handful of hard candy before she left.

6. My favorite library is absolutely the library at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, my alma mater. It’s just because I spent sooo much time there! There’s a gorgeous view of St. John’s Pond, and the St. Mary’s River. There’s also a swing set around back when you need a study break. I worked there. I studied there. I slept there. I made out with random people there. I drank there. I snuck in after hours. I snuck books out. I miss it terribly.

11. Usually, I use google for clarification. What’s the next book in this series? Is it out yet? Who’s the author? I’ve never used google to answer a research questions, but that’s probably because I do children’s reference. We have books on howler monkeys, hydroelectric energy, pinewood derby car designs, and civil rights sit ins. If we don’t, we can get it for you from another BCCLS library. It’s been three years, and I haven’t had to rely on google yet.

13. Inquiring minds man.

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:39:00 -0400

When I work reference I’m in children’s, so half the battle is communication, and translating mumbles and lisps. That said, a couple weeks ago one kid asked for The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever. I’m so glad that book exists.

Ask a Librarian!

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:22:06 -0400

1. Do you have a go-to book recommendation?
2. Favorite reference question?
3. Least favorite reference question?
4. Ever been to an ALA conference?
5. Strangest patron encounter?
6. Favorite library?
7. Dream job?
8. Did you go to library school?
9. Most valuable advice you received about librarianship?
10. Least valuable advice you received about librarianship?
11. How often do you use Google to answer a question?
12. How does it make you feel when you use Google to answer a question?
13. Strangest book title you've had to look up?
14. Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress classification?
15. Favorite call number range?
16. Favorite fictional librarian?
17. Favorite real-life librarian?
18. Favorite banned book?
19. Thoughts on the sexy librarian stereotype?
20. Thoughts on the matronly librarian stereotype?
21. Thoughts on the females-only librarian stereotype?
22. First library job you ever had?
23. Thoughts on Forbes magazine's recent assessment that an MLS was one of the "worst" graduate degrees to have?
24. What made you want to be a librarian?
25. What's your favorite part of the job?
26. What's your least favorite part of the job?
27. Does your library use Union Catalogs?
28. Does your library still have a physical card catalog?
29. Thoughts on ebooks?
30. Ever seen Party Girl?
31. Do you like cataloging?
32. Ever been published?
33. Public, academic, or special libraries?
34. Thoughts on internet filtering?
35. Do you currently have any library fines?
36. Age you got your first library card?
37. Self-checkout or circulation desk?
38. Thoughts on RFID?
39. Ever been to Library of Congress?
40. Any areas of librarianship you're particularly interested in?

"He thought her beautiful, believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which,..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:08:36 -0400

““He thought her beautiful, believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which, ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink.””

- Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (published May 14, 1925)

Today’s a good day to correct with red ink or buy flowers yourself… or re-visit an old classic like Mrs. Dalloway. Or if you’d like to learn more about the inimitable author, visit the Library’s Berg Collection, which is a lovely spot to learn a great deal about English and American Literature. In any event, have a perfectly Dalloway day!

(via nypl)

ghostdunk: typette: I remember posting somewhere once in a...

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:14:00 -0400

ghostdunk:

typette:

I remember posting somewhere once in a thread about why girls aren’t exploited in animation anymore where some guy said, “all the disney girls are drawn to be generally attractive, but I don’t think there are any eye-candy men… or are there? Are there any Disney men that lots of girls like?” and I mentioned Roger. Tons of girls replied agreeing with me and the original guy was like “wait, Roger? from 101 Dalmatians? What’s attractive about him, he’s tall and lanky and has a big nose, he isn’t muscley at all! Wouldn’t you all prefer Gaston or something? Or do you girls think his big nose is indicative of something else?” and I was like “no, you idiot, he’s a silly, goofy guy who likes animals and can play a bunch of instruments, that’s why he’s attractive. What’s the matter with you? Gaston, seriously?”

This is why we need more girls in animation. And more guys like Roger apparently.

my favorite disney art style

I’ve been in love with Rodger since I was, like, five. And I still go for tall, lanky, goofy guys who play instruments. Coincidence? I think not.

1:30PM

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:10:14 -0400

cbsundance:

Half hour left in my shift, and I’ve completely lost control of the volume/noise in my department. There’s some guy dancing at one of our computer terminals, and there is a pack of rogue children running around.

The witching hour is upon us.