habitually probing generalist

I started my day by packing up some beer glasses from the kitchen, but quickly ran out of packing paper.   So I headed out to the local storage to get some boxes with packing paper in them.  Seeing as how this storage area has a leak (discovered recently) and I was unable to use about a 1/4 of it (and had to buy and put a tarp over stuff near the back) I made another inquiry re when it would be fixed (8 days now). 

I pressed the point a bit and was given the area right next door.  So I headed home with the boxes and packing paper.  Then I loaded up all the book boxes in yesterday’s photos and headed back.  I moved everything out, placed the boards down to keep stuff off the floor, and moved everything in taking full advantage of all the space.  I put the tarp over the stuff in the back, just in case.

When I got home I took a shower and then headed to campus to get some already paid for lunch at HOG and order another book for book discussion group (Love and Garbage) [Another failed Open Worldcat search!  See below.]. 

While there I used my last two movie rentals and got Brokeback Mountain and Walk the Line.  When I got home I watched Brokeback Mountain.  I have to say that I wasn’t all that impressed.  It was pretty good, but it just didn’t ring any bells with me.  There are far better movies, IMHO, about the search for love.  Another small complaint I have is that I made sure that I picked a wide screen version but the one they gave me was not.  Seeing as I was highly interested in the cinematography I was a bit upset about that.

After the movie I decided to finish filling the box I started this morning.  Then I had to rinse off again.  I ate the leftovers from lunch and then headed to Crane Alley for $2 pints.  I deserved dinner from Crane Alley but am far too broke for that right now.  Which, of course, really sucks to no end seeing as I am moving to the other town soon.  I should be fully enjoying my last moments in the Alley, but don’t have the money to do so.  <sigh>

I read two articles out of Saving the User’s Time through Subject Access Innovation (Papers in Honor of Pauline Atherton Cochrane).  First, I read Donald King’s "Blazing New Trails: In Celebration of an Audacious Career."  Then, I read Raya Fidel’s "The User-Centered Approach: How We Got Here."  King’s article is basically a historical reflection of a portion of Dr. Cochrane’s career and, as such, can’t be argued with by me.  The Fidel article is good, but I have an issue with it.  She repeatedly makes comments on the user-centered approach along the lines of, "[I]t is likely that we can find patterns in seeking and searching behavior that are common to all users of a certain group. Once these behaviors are discovered, one can design a system that accomodates the behavior of users from that group" (84).

Yes.  But. 

There may well be patterns in user groups, and user groups are different from one another.  But.  User groups are not monolithic.  They do not all search the same!  Do all of us school trained librarians seek (or search) the same?  No!  [Speaking of which, I got my diploma in the mail today.]

We read an article by Fidel in one of my required courses [LIS501] and I think I read another in Collection Development.  I need to go back and see what I thought of them.  Anyway, I certainly mostly agree with the user-centered approach.  But.  I have big issues with an approach for each user group.  If each group is statistically defined down to one approach then we will be causing serious issues for many info searchers within each group.  Statistical norms have serious limitations in most any endeavor.

At this point, I switched to reading a few more chapters in The Joke by Kundera. [Sorry for the Amazon link, but Open Worldcat failed me miserably here!  Not sure what search algorithm is being used here, but this is a pitiful result.  And for once, Amazon gives the exact manifestation, much less the correct work, for a search on The Joke.]

Now it’s time to relax here at home.