ALA’s new president Carol Brey-Casciano responds to NEA’s “Reading at Risk” article. Basically instead of ending with a “The NEA needs your support more than ever” note, it ends with “Libraries need your support more than ever” note. While I’m skeptical that simply funding libraries more will alleviate this problem, it certainly couldn’t hurt, could it?
Month: July 2004
why people don’t read… Dr. Seuss?
Slate chimes in with its own muddled analysis on why people aren’t reading and finds as an unlikely blame-target: Dr. Seuss? It’s an interesting article with the Seuss connection being drawn more for linkability and compelling headlines than actual malice. The argument being that the sort of superego narrative characters like The Cat in the Hat make even making a mess a quick tidy affair, and that our imaginary lives and our “literary” choices aren’t always compelled by such tidiness.
Devoted readers are hoping for a chance to discover, in the narrated lives of other selves, what it’s like to be an individual confronting the unpredictable. Maybe it’s time to stop spreading fears about “reading at risk,” and try generating more excitement about reading at your own risk. How? I wish I could say you could look it up, but you can’t.
important rules to remember: no fighting, no biting
More fun from my alma mater: There is No Biting in Librarianship [as much as we might wish there could be sometimes] [thanks all]
hi – 16jul
Hi. Just a pointer, the DNC blog is over here, but I do have a library related anecdote to tell about the DNC that is really about librarians. The DNC is in the Fleet Center. They tell us that the Fleet Center will have wireless. While I am sure they have the best wireless intentions, all good librarians have back-up plans. My plan was to find the nearest BPL branch which has free wireless for people with BPL library cards, of which I am one. I go to BPL.org, note their spiffy MassAnswers logo and decide to communicate my favorite [and cheapest] way, online.
Please note the text, once you click through, says “Once you submit a question at the right side of this screen, it will be picked up by a Massachusetts Librarian from one of the MassAnswers participating libraries. If all are busy, or if it is off-hours for Massachusetts, a librarian from one of our nationwide cooperating libraries will pick up.” I figured any librarian in the BPL system could answer my question quickly. My question was “Which is the nearest BPL branch to the Fleet Center?” My librarian was in Maryland. I wonder how often you actually get a librarian from Boston, or even Massachusetts? I had to make two connection attempts to stay connected. On my second connection, I was typing but the nice woman at 24/7ref couldn’t, for some reason, read what I wrote. We swapped a lot of messages that went like this
her: Here is the page which lists BPLs branches. If you click the link closest to Fleet Center you will see their contact information. Your best be is to contact them directly to ask about wireless access. Does that resolve your question?
me: No. I don’t know where the Fleet Center is. Can you help me?
her: It appears that you may have disconnected.
me: I’m right here!
etc etc. This took up 20 minutes of my lunch break and at the end, I still had no idea what the answer was. I called the BPL main reference line and the woman who picked up the phone said “Oh, that’s the West End Branch, do you need their number?” Total time, less than a minute, plus no disconnects. I generally try not to take up a librarian’s time when I’m capable of looking up the answer in an equivalent amount of time myself. However, this latest exercise has taught me a thing or two about knowing things versus knowing how to find them.
big shoes to fill — california gets a new state librarian
CLA president Susan Hildreth has been selected by Governor Schwartzenegger to be the new state librarian of California. Guess she’s not going to Tuscon after all.