habitually probing generalist

Carnival of the Infosciences #9

Photo courtesy of Martin Kenny under a Creative Commons NonCommerical-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Circus Rigging

A gentle reminder… from Christina at Christina’s LIS Rant. Christina reminds us of the rigging that is needed to make any online community work, including a Carnival.

In which I describe legitimate peripheral participation, give reasons this type of participant gives for not actively participating, and urge LIS folks to step up.

Photo courtesy of Todd Klassy under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Banned Books Week

Boldly Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Banned Books Week from Angel at The Gypsy Librarian on the “easy” way of the censor. Ringmaster’s pick.

But I suggest that free readers face another challenge. It is a challenge that is much greater than any the censor could implement. It is the challenge the reader may face when he or she opens a new book. It is the challenge of new ideas. It is the challenge of learning new things. It is the challenge of making meaning of the world. It is the challenge that a book (or other media) might persuade us to see the world differently. We may find our deeply held beliefs and values challenged and confronted.

Books and National Renewal from Michael at Library Dust. Recommended by Angel.

That explanation—the consequent dialog between Germany and herself—bears significance with regard to current discussions of censorship because of what it reveals about the
mechanisms of intellectual repression and the role of reflection in the process of rehabilitation.

Photo courtesy of Todd Klassy under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

On becoming a librarian

Questions about becoming a librarian (Part 1) and Questions about becoming a librarian (Part 2) by Ivan Chew at Rambling Librarian :: Incidental Thoughts of a Singapore Liblogarian. Ringmaster’s pick.

Letters to a not-so-young wanna-be Librarian from Meredith of Information Wants To Be Free. Ringmaster’s pick.

I’m sure this gentleman is not the only person who is reconsidering a career in libraries in light of the terrible employment prospects, so I thought I’d publish what I wrote to him in the hopes that it might help someone else who is facing a difficult decision:

Photo courtesy of Todd Klassy under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Assorted midway entertainments

Magic Grid from Joy at Wanderings of a student librarian. Joy gives us a technique for learning a new reference collection.

So you want to run for ALA council… from Heidi Dolamore at quiddle which I found via Rochelle at Tinfoil + Raccoon. Ringmaster’s pick.

The tagging process from Johnt of Library clips. Ringmaster’s pick.

So it comes down to the purpose of, why are you saving this item?…or the purpose of your collection.

Are you building a directory type tag set for browsing content or are you
labelling things for quick findability regardless of its relationship to other labels.

Missing from OPAC: User Needs from Lori at Mentat. Ringmaster’s pick.

But at what point is it the responsibility of the information professionals to demand that the vendors actually design an OPAC for users. An OPAC that doesn’t presume that our users are information professionals.

Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town at PomeRantz. Ringmaster’s pick. Reading Doctorow from a Palm on the bus, asks:

I, for one, would like to see some actual data on the effect of the existence of electronic versions on the sale of physical media; the impact that different market factors have on sales. A study that isn’t sponsored by the RIAA or MPAA. A study with controls: compare print works with free electronic versions, to print works that sell electronic versions for as much or more or less than the print. Compare the sales of works under copyright to the sales of works out of copyright, such as titles held by Project Gutenberg. Compare the sales of first and subsequent printings.

Danah Boyd – Blogging Out Loud from Karen at Library Web Chic. Ringmaster’s pick.

This session had a ton of good information in it. The first thing that was interesting about the session is getting the point of view of librarians from a non-librarian. Unfortunately, non-librarians view point of us still isn’t good. Our actions have continued to make us seen as the gatekeeper hoarding knowledge. Additionally, the “on high academic mentality” of librarians hasn’t enhanced our reputation either. … We act like we are the keepers of all information and the only people with the right to judge the quality and value of information and that is just wrong. We don’t know
it all and we need to partner and build relationships with a variety of organization to foster better information access for all.

One to keep an eye out for. Travis of Travis Ennis’ Weblog asked Why do we blog? MLS/MIS Student bloggers that is. It should be out in a day or two. I know Joy, Laura and I made submissions, and I certainly hope many others do too.

Photo courtesy of ishrona under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

LITA Annual Conference

Lots of good conference blogging going on over at the LITA Blog as they are having their annual conference this week/end. Ringmaster’s pick.

Previous Carnivals of the Infosciences:

Carnival #1 8 Aug 2005 Open Stacks
Carnival #2 15 Aug 2005 Open Stacks
Carnival #3 22 Aug 2005 Wanderings of a student librarian
Carnival #4 30 Aug 2005 lis.dom
Carnival #5 5 Sep 2005 Christina’s LIS Rant
Carnival #6 11 Sep 2005 …the thoughts are broken… [Now Off the Mark]
Carnival #7 19 Sep 2005 Mikes Musing’s
Carnival #8 25 Sep 2005 The Industrial Librarian

Submission and Hosting guidelines
Hosting Schedule

Next week’s Carnival will be hosted by Jane at A Wandering Eyre. Please send submissions to Jane at wanderingeyre [at] yahoo [dot] com. [My bad, and my apologies to Jane. The email address was there all along. I am so blind sometimes.]
See ya’ll on the next midway!