Word Blur

Is Dewey Decimal future friendly?

Pro: Tomes and Talismans (Giving Battlestar Galactica a run for its money)

Con: Arizona library drops classification

The Kneebone Mushroom Reference Library

Now that's a library!

My Expertise (Libraries, lazing)

What I've actually been reading is College Students' Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources -- and I'm aware enough, proud even, of the depths of my dorkitude that I don't mind telling you it's surprisingly good stuff, but something tells me that's not quite what the three people reading this are looking for.  I was so tired last night that I was seeing little movies (squat reindeers and big trippy globs of snow) on the back of my eyelids when I lay down to help my two-year old go to bed, but somehow I only managed to get about four hours of sleep all night.  So you'll have to forgive me if today's recommendation lacks a certain vigor.  Anyway, now that I'm back at work more or less full-time, Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America looks appealing.  From the Boldtype review:

"If the American Dream is to do what we want, when we want, how we want, it is also, should we choose, to reject even that. And do nothing at all."

Book Hustler

I just discovered BiblioOdyssey, which collects lush digital images from rare books and manuscripts.  It's pornography for book fetishists.  Thanks to Fearless Future for the heads up.

Books Are For Use

You can now start to access The Five Laws of Library Science digitally. By Ranganathan, the God, the guru, the genius of library science. 

The prose is beautiful. It almost reads like something by Peter Schumann.

Here’s a quote from the first chapter (and the section on library hours):

In no country where the concept, ‘BOOKS ARE FOR USE’, has taken root in the Public Mind, will any library be allowed to close till the majority of humanity go to bed and so cannot use it. Nor can it be kept closed after they rise from bed. Now will any library be allowed to close on any day of the year—not even on Sundays, even in Christian Countries.

Isn’t that simply gorgeous? And wouldn’t it be great if that were true? BOOKS ARE FOR USE is Ranganathan’s slogan and rallying cry.

Thanks to librarian.net for the heads up.

Library Thing

I like it here.

Hurricane Stuff

I was in New Orleans at the end of last month, leaving about a week before Katrina struck. I actually had planned to write an entry about two meals I had there (at Herbesainte and Bon Ton), both of which competed for the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life. The recipe for one of my deserts (brown butter banana tart) is bizarrely reprinted in this month’s issue of Bon Appetit, which covers the nation’s top five restaurant cities. However, writing restaurant reviews about a city where people are still struggling to find food and water almost two weeks after the disaster makes me feel almost as clueless as Barbara Bush. 

All I can say is that I have never felt more without country in all my life. I am ashamed of our government and ashamed of myself for not spending every breath I have working against the unforgivable social and economic injustice that, to my mind, literally caused the death of thousands of people and contributed to the untold pain and suffering of tens of thousands more. Sound dramatic?  What I have seen these past two weeks is that so many people are essentially big-hearted, huge-hearted in fact, but we can’t seem to move beyond our own complacency to do the big work of ending racism, poverty, and violence against women. How did we get here?

Those of us who work in higher education have heard lots of stories about the displaced students at Tulane and LSU and there are lots of efforts underway to help them re-enroll at colleges and universities around the country. Without underplaying the situation of those campus communities at all, Inside Higher Ed offers a good article about how (suprise!) community college students are getting seriously screwed over.

You also might “enjoy” this timeline.

Finally, a few ways to donate to the relief and reconstruction effort that you might not have heard about yet, starting with the library-centric:

The Geaux Library Project will attempt to meet the information needs at hurricane evacuee shelters around Louisiana and beyond. Using computers and networking equipment donated to the Red Cross and others by large commercial and local IT companies, they’ll be setting up small computer labs at Red Cross shelters and staffing them with librarians and other trained volunteers. They need librarians (on or off site) and all kinds of other stuff.

LOUISIANA STATE LIBRARY ISSUES URGENT CALL FOR COMPUTERS, PRINTERS

"To all-we are in desperate need of computers/printers. We are being inundated with evacuees needing to file FEMA applications, unemployment, search for loved ones, etc. and are coming into our public libraries to use the computers. Our libraries have greatly extended their hours to accommodate the people but they need additional computers and printers. If you can please put the word out that if anyone wants to help immediately, this is our greatest need."

Equipment Specs:
* Pentium 3
* Windows 2000, prefer XP
* Laser printers if you can still get toner for them

Send equipment to:
State Library of Louisiana
701 North 4th Street
Baton Rouge, La. 70802-5232

If you are able to assist them, please let Rebecca Hamilton know via email at rhamilton@crt.state.la.us .

The Nation’s Katha Pollitt has a great list of grassroots charities that need your help.

The National Network for Abortion Funds is establishing a special emergency fund for Hurricane Katrina survivors. With basic survival their top priority, lots of women will be delaying reproductive health care and seeking extremely costly later-term abortions. 

To make a donation to help with this effort, tax-deductible donations for abortion care for hurricane victims can be sent to NNAF at the following address. Please earmark gifts: Hurricane Victims Abortion Fund.

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NNAF
42 Seaverns Avenue

Boston, MA 02130

Donations can also be made online by clicking on the "donate now" button. Please specify that donations are for hurricane victims. Donors can also call the NNAF office for more information at: 617-524-6040.

Finally, if you are a Buffy/Angel fan who wants to support the Red Cross’s efforts and prove that yes, that prophecy is about Spike, not Angel, and that Spike is the ultimate champion/helper of the helpless,  then I suggest you check out James Marsters Hurricane Relief.

Bernie Sanders is not dating Jemima Khan

Last night I read a really depressing Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi from a few weeks back called “Four Amendments and a Funeral” that followed my Congressman Bernie Sanders’ successes at getting a number of bills passed, including a few that attempted to revise sections of the PATRIOT Act in the interest of libraries and booksellers, only to see most of his efforts die in committee. An excruitiating look at the quagmire that is Congress.  The funeral, in case your wondering, is for democracy.

The Invisible Library

Books that only exist in other books, cataloged:
http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/ILMaindesk.htm

Shame Legally Mandated in Florida!

Courtesy of the Library Link of the Day comes a story about homophobia in Florida:
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/21/Tampabay/Ban_brings_new_energy.shtml

It seems a library book display for Gay and Lesbian Pride Month at a regional library led the Hillsborough County Commission to pass a measure requiring local government to:

abstain from acknowledging, promoting or participating in gay pride recognition and events.

Actually, the aforementioned article talks about how the ban has reinvigorated the gay community's activism, so it doesn't only make you want to bang your head against the wall, but you still may consider revoking your citizenship (remember: Canada -- good smoked meats, ask for extra fat).  And why does this type of nonsense so often start in a library?  Why are books so threatening to people?  I can't even figure out how to make this funny.

Slow Food Coming

I went to my library yesterday and checked out a huge stack of books.  Isn't it wonderful how you can do that at libraries?  So gratifying.  It never ceases to amaze me.  Last night and this afternoon I've been reading A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider.  It won a lot of awards.  It has a whole chapter on "flavor essences" or "flavor catalysts."  I can't remember which got its own chapter, or really what the differences between the two are.  The pictures are gorgeous (pretty food!) and there are a bunch of recipes that aren't really recipes at all, but suggestions about how to improvise various types of dishes adding from groupings of like-minded ingredients.  Today I was inspired to attend the Big Bad Burlington Farmer's Market and I couldn't believe how huge and mouth-watering it was -- artisans sheep & goat cheeses, organic meats, fresh vegetables, new strawberries (alas they ran out).  When you read a cookbook like that you think it should be ever so simple to cook wonderful meals every night (it's really just about fresh ingredients, right?) when the reality is that I have just finished (ok, almost finished) scraping a whole bunch of rotten produce out of the back of my fridge.  Now I have to catalyze my flavors.  I'm thinking warm bean salad on wilted greens with broccoli, roasted tomatoes, and goat cheese.