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I found this article in the NY Times’ Book Review section yesterday, and while self-publishing has had an inarguably democratizing effect on the world of literature and research over the past decade, I personally think it’s had the side-effect of dropping the average worth of the content of those subjects just abit (mor than a bit in some cases.) Having said that, (and probably sounding like an eletist to at least a few people), I think it’s something worth knowing about.
Enjoy!
I subscribe to the technical service librarians listserv that Margaret Mauer runs off of Ohio’s Kent State U. servers, and while I rarely post, it’s always interesting to see what librarians halfway across the country (well, okay a third of the way, but that’s kind of wordy) are doing differently from those of us in NYC. Today’s Great Tidbit was posted by Ian Fairclough from the Marion, OH Public Library this morning.
Read it, print it out, share it with your coworkers . . . this one’s a keeper.
In Praise of Library Personnel by George G. Morgan
Welcome to the April 2005 issue of the Academy Library Newsletter. The newsletter is published quarterly to keep you updated on our products and services, changes the library collection and available resources, and other bits of interesting news.
We’d like to particularly draw your attention to the piece titled "New Publication Policy for NIH-Funded Research" as this may impact many of you who work on NIH-funded grant projects.
A Public Service Announcement
First of all, click here to print Form 4868, which is the extension to file for 2004.
I met Joanne from the Regional Medical Library group on line for coffee this morning; we’re both dressed in black to remember the victims of April 15 2005. Today is kind of weird—on the one hand it’s Friday (Yaaaaaaaaay!) but on the other hand it’s also Tax Day (Uuuuuuuggghhh!), so equal parts of joy and horror loom large for most of the country.
At any rate, I was told that if you have some time tonight on the way home from work and are so inclined (and most especially if you have sent in your forms some time ago, like before you read this) you can talk a stroll past Madison Square Garden along 34th Street and take a gander at the poor bastards who are willing to stand in line for hours waiting to get their forms, signed, sealed, and mailed before midnight. Apparently it’s a big event (Joanne called it “a hoot”) . . . people swap war stories, hand out candy, and generally make whatever merry they can under the circumstances. Heck, apparently you can see people filling the damn forms out while on line.
The bastard in me hears this and has a bit of a schadenfreude moment that I got my forms and estimated payments sent in a week ago, but the humanitarian says, “You know, you really should have a bit of compassion for these guys.”
Well, okay. I have compassion. A bit.
Carol Vogel at the Times breaks it to art collectors everywhere: if you have $100 million burning a hole in your pocket, here’s you chance to difersify.
"The New York Public Library has decided to sell 19 works of art from its collection – including "Kindred Spirits," a widely admired landscape by the Hudson River School painter Asher B. Durand, and two seminal portraits of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart – so that it can better compete in acquisitions of important books and collections."
Found this article on Tomdispatch.com this afternoon . . .
"In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the USA Patriot Act, the following exchange took place between former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, now Attorney General, and Senator Arlen Specter (R., PA):
GONZALES: Mr. Chairman, let me, kind of, reassure the committee and the American people that the department has no interest in rummaging through the library records or the medical records of Americans.
That is not something that we have an interest in.
SPECTER: Does that mean you’d agree to excluding them?
GONZALES: We do have an interest, however, in records that may help us capture terrorists. And there may be an occasion where having the tools of 215 to access this kind of information may be very helpful to the department in dealing with the terrorist threat.
The fact that this authority has not been used for these kinds of records means that the department, in my judgment, has acted judiciously. It should not be held against us that we’ve exercised, in my judgment, restraint.
It’s comparable to a police officer who carries a gun for 15 years and never draws it. Does that mean that for the next five years he should not have that weapon, because he’s never used it?
SPECTER: Attorney General Gonzales, I don’t think your analogy is apt, but if you want to retain those records, as your position I understand. And let me move on. "
When Germs Travel: Epidemics and Immigrants in the 20th Century
The John K. Lattimer Lecture
Howard Markel, MD, PhD
Thursday, April 21, 6:00 PM
Reception, 5:30PM
This is not the sort of thing one wants to see in the paper first thing in the morning, but it’s not the she sort of thing librarians can afford not to notice either. Anyway, here’s a link to the article and the text is behind the "Continue Reading" link.
I’ve been away for a few days, but I’m back now.
I fell in love with FactCheck.org during the 2004 presidential race—it’s one of the few research sites that really does try to cut through the BS on bothsides of the aisle–and they’ve kept their work up since then, which I think is an amazing service to those of us who aren’t in the middle of national politics. You can sign up to have their bulletins posted directly to your email account.
Today’s article is worth a look: "A $5-million TV ad campaign by People for the American Way portrays the Senate filibuster as a noble tool of American democracy. The ad uses footage from Frank Capra’s classic 1939 movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" – a famous scene in which the hero, played by James Stewart, engages in a 23-hour filibuster to prevent his expulsion from the US Senate on trumped-up corruption charges.
Real-life filibusters are another matter, however. They can be used for good or evil. In fact, segregationist Southern senators used filibusters to preserve the poll tax and block civil rights and anti-lynching legislation for generations. Among the real-life practitioners were the late Senators Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi."