Rob Mc

  • Do You Have a Library Disaster Story?

    As part of a research project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we are collecting first-hand accounts of information professionals’ responses to a range of community-wide disasters such as the recent Pacific Northwest ice storms and the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. These experiences will be used to develop case-based guidance material to…

  • Framing the Debate, Live & In Person

    I just hitched my Typepad account to FeedBurner. I have no idea what this means in terms of what readers (all 4 of them) will see  on the off chance they actually look at what’s here, and I somehow doubt that I have hordes of fans who are busily linking a number of RSS feed…

  • Queens Library Celebrates 100th Birthday

    "Queens‘ Biggest Cake" Marks the Occasion; Time Capsule to Be Buried QUEENS VILLAGE, NY, April 17, 2007–Library Director Thomas W. Galante, and a host of government and community well-wishers joined to cut Queens‘ Biggest Anniversary Cake in honor of Queens Library’s 100th anniversary of incorporation. The event was held at Antun’s in Queens Village. "Queens Library…

  • Kurt Vonnegut, RIP at 84

    "Hello babies.  Welcome to Earth.  It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  It’s round and wet and crowded.  At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here.  There’s only one rule that I know of, babies–‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’" —from "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." There’s…

  • What They Didn’t Teach Us in Library School

    If you’re not in the habit of reading Tomdispatch.com on a regular basis, this is definitely the time to start.  The reason being that Chip Ward has penned an excellent article for the site titled "What They Didn’t teach us In Library School: The Public Library as an Asylum for the Homeless."  Now as a…

  • Post 9/11 Archived Material Removed En Masse

    I think this fits in the "Not Good For Anybody" Department of government policies and procedures: AP: 1M Archived Pages Removed Post-9/11By Frank Bass and Randy Herschaft, Associated Press   More than 1 million pages of historical government documents — a stack taller than the U.S. Capitol — have been removed from public view since…

  • A Medically Disliterate Culture

    This bit from today’s Independence Journal caught my attention: I’m starting to refocus on developments in what seems like a battle over money between the pharmaceutical business and food supplements crowd.  What got me started was the recent headline on Reuters "Suspected steroid ring to stars busted".  The story centers on allegedly illegal sales of…

  • It Serves Us Right?

    I’m out for most of this week, but something that did catch my eye was an article the Matt Taibbi wrote for Rolling Stone (located by way of Alternet.org) on the subject of the White House’s 2008 budget proposal.  His main point is maybe it serves us right if we’re footing to bill for egregious…

  • Moyers: Why Fund Libraries? Why Fund Anything?

    If you’ve read this blog for longer than 10 minutes then you know that I’ll repost news of anything Bill Moyers does or says.  And this post is no different: on February 7, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation presented Bill and Judith Moyers the first Frank E. Taplin, Jr. Public Intellectual Award for "extraordinary…

  • Are Librarians Obselete? Nyet!

    This enormously spiffy article by Will Sherman has been making the rounds across Libraryland and I figured I’d sock it away for future reference.  He asks "Are Librarians Totally Obsolete?" and then answers it with a big fat "No!" All 33 points why we’re here to stay are highly recommended if you’re one of the…