I’m heading off to Readercon for the weekend, the best convention by far on the East coast. If anyone happens to be in the greater Boston area this weekend and has some free time I highly recommend it. This convention has the best ratio of pros to attendees of any con I know of, and [...]
One of my main goals as a contributor to the open shelves classification project seems to be succeeding. I like the idea of having a classification system that ignores format completely, making it possible for individual libraries to treat their collections however they wish (ex. put dvd in front of the call #) and creating [...]
The conversation revolving around the Open Shelves Classification project has been going for less than a week and it’s already become the best discussion on the cataloging I’ve experienced since I was in school. But I must say my favorite piece of the conversation was when Tim Spalding brought up why he decided to start [...]
Well the Senate has finally decided that the American people are not even entitled to the illusion of privacy anymore. I know this was the expected result but it still kills me that our government would so overwhelmingly throw out the 4th amendment and show this level of disrespect for the judiciary.
So, how exactly does [...]
I just have to point out the discussion that has begun over in the librarything forums. Head honcho Tim Spalding has proposed the creation of a new ground up designed classification system to be created by the users of librarything. The forum was just created two days ago and there are already 145 members.
I have [...]
The Fitchburg public library is going through one of the toughest budget crisises in recent memory. The city is suffering a nearly $5 million defecit this year, and the Mayor is unconvinced that the library is a core service for the city. Thus this year’s budget negotiations may result in as much as a %75 [...]
So my grandparents are visiting currently and the very first conversation we had regarded libraries. They come from Broward County, which has the 9th largest library system in the country according to their publicity, and thus have had a few somewhat unrealistic expectations for the libraries out here. Their main concern is programming, namely that [...]
I saw this street sign while attending the 4th of July Parade in Pittsfield today and I just had to share.
Have a happy 4th.
Wired has a nice article up on the controversy surrounding Wikileaks, a site for posting classified information. This site perfectly illustrates some of the ethical dillemas inherant in a profession that deals entirely with the distribution of information. Wikileaks has done some incredible things, releasing information on conditions in Guantanamo and actually affecting the results [...]
A few more links today on why gaming in libraries is important.
First up is a sizable video (via Librarian In Black) on gaming in libraries that lays out the case of games very very well, and has some nice interviews with people like Jenny Levine and Michael Stephens to boot.
And secondly, the annual report of [...]
