It’s official: as of June 22, I will be leaving my post as the Digital Resources Librarian at the Academy to morph into the Technical Service Librarian at the Metropolitan College of New York. The move will involve more money, better hours (or more convenient hours, since my schedule must jibe with their vendors’, who…
I’ve been away for a bit and it’s been amazingly busy at the Academy library, but in response to stuff like this and bits like this , I feel that I must respond by posting links to the full text of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence (in that order). I chose…
Washington, DC — Despite promises to consult with Congress before proceeding with dismantlement of its library system, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered its libraries to “disperse or dispose of their…contents,” according to agency directives released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The move to eliminate physical collections comes as EPA’s own…
Looking for a real challenge? Try being the Director/Head Honcho/Guy in Charge of the Iraqi National Library. This is not a job for the faint hearted. In lighter news that’s closer to home (for me, that is) the Academy has won honors for our website. In the words of our communications director: "The Academy’s website…
I know that this has almost nothing whatsoever to do with libraries, books, or anything else I generally deal with, but boy, it’s the coolest news story I’ve seen all week: New ‘Super-Earth’ Found in Space It’s orbiting a red dwarf star (Gliese 581) just about 20 light-years from us, it’s about half again the…
The Ladies Home Journal from December 1900, which contained a fascinating article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”. For the complete story, click here. Two personal favorites: Prediction #4: There Will Be No Street Cars in Our Large Cities. All hurry traffic will be below or high above…
First of all, a major round of congratulations to FactCheck.org which has been nominated for a 2007 Webby Award (in two categories)! [APPLAUSE] They’ve made it to the finals, in fact, and the RS wishes them luck in nabbing that sucker. For what my opinion is worth (exactly what you have paid for it), I’ve…
But be assured that I only want you for your mind. More importantly, I want you for your knowledge of and expertise with digital cameras, face-up copiers, flatbed scanners and digital data formats. The project we’re talking about is funded by a grant from the New York Metropolitan Library Council and deals with original printed…
Two great book titles today, one of which is an actual non-fiction tome and the other is . . . not. Here’s a fast quiz, choose one: "Teen-Aged Dope Slaves and Reform School Girls""College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-Eds, Then and Now" If you chose the first one as being the comic book, (ahem,…
Behind this link is an amazing story of tech support in Medieval times. As you watch, consider whether all our fancy newfangled text storage systems are actually better than the books, or merely more complicated. (Y’all already know what I think–that there is no more reliable or easier to use system than a bound sheaf…