The meaning of life is...

Question of the Day - March 29 2008

10 minutes into the day and we have a wiener.

Patron: Where can I find stuff on this? (hands me a battered copy of Sci. Am. with a cover article on nanotechnology)
Me: Nanotechnology, 4th floor Science and Tech.
Patron: (looks around and leans in) When I was at Vancouver General last year, they injected me with nanytes.
Me: Better get that looked at then.

Question of the Day

Patron: I want to find someone to eBay some stuff for me.
Me: Uh, are you wondering how to use eBay to sell items? (we have an Intro to eBay class)
Patron: No. I don't know computers. I just want someone to sell my stuff on eBay and to split the profits with me. I heard that I can make a lot of money with eBay.

Sadly we don't have a bulletin board where people offer services such as this. All I could think was "I bet somewhere on Craigslist is an ad for someone who will sell your crap on eBay for you"

Code4Lib Journal

Issue two of the Code4Lib Journal is out now. Some interesting articles in this issue. Two that caught my eye:

Free and Open Source Options for Creating Database-Driven Subject Guides

Using Google Calendar to Manage Library Website Hours

Being a Librarian is Like... so Zen, Don't You Know?

Over at AttentionSpan, there's a link to a Yahoo!Education fluff piece about 8 low-stress careers. Included are preschool teacher, nursing assistant, and IT support. WTF?!? Though equally shocking in the AttentionSpan blurb is mention of librarian as an actual low-stress career. Yeah, right. There must be some other reason for the accelerated graying of hairs, the mean disposition, the loathing and unhappiness each and every shitty morning (or afternoon) before work. At least in Britain they know better. According to the BBC, librarians are some of the most unhappy worker-bees in that fair country. Beers and cheers to that!

Bow down and kiss my school ring you filthy paraprofessional

Rachel Singer Gordon has an interesting piece on what makes a "librarian."

Speaking as someone who holds both a Library Technician diploma and an MLIS, for myself the difference is entirely on the outside. I am treated differently because of the piece of paper (which I have actually lost), but I do not think my abilities have changed at all pre- and post-library school. Of course I have more experience now and more abilities, but I truly believe I could do the same work to the same degree even if I never set foot in those hallowed halls.

Book Bag Blog? Why?

In an obviously desperate attempt for attention - but perhaps more so a cry for help - the Unviersity College of Dublin's library has created a blog dedicated solely to posting pictures of its common-looking book bag in locations all over the world. As if anyone gives a toss where their rather plain looking book bag (mercifully produced under ideal labour conditions using organic cotton) has been or where it's going. Honestly, why don't librarians spend their time on improving library systems and the delivery of service to its users rather than these wasteful exercises in meaningless self-promotion? Show me a single university kid who cares about these book bags and I'll show you... well, a disingenuous librarian in the making,

The Worlds Mostest Modernist Library

The DOK Library in Delft, Netherlands. Jenny Levine over at Shifted Librarian has tour and review of it. Very Ikea-esque. Wonder how many alan keys it required to put together?

iMac pods? I wants!!

Opening Up a Magazine's Archives

Interesting article in the New York Times today about how Sports Illustrated is opening up the magazine's article archives to the public. Maybe Chris Anderson's "free" truly is the new business model? SI joins other publications like the Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly and of course, the New York Times in allowing anyone with internet access to read their articles.

That said, SI has a crappy search engine.

Underemployed Reviews

The first in a semi-regular (until I get a real job) feature where I review crappy movies or tv. The sort of stuff you would not normally watch unless you were underemployed or worked bizarre hours.


Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane (2007)
Yup, zombies on a plane. Basically someone saw Snakes On A Plane and thought they had a brilliant idea on their hands (Vampires On A Plane, Rabid Badgers On A Plane and so on). This thing is full of pretty much every cliche character there is: the regular-joe cop, the pilot on his last flight before retirement, the dumb jocks and their girlfriends who don't seem to like them, the smart assed criminal who will redeem himself with a final selfless act, the evil scientist, his less-evil assistant who has feelings of guilt &tc. Is screenplay writing so lucrative that even knocking off something as stupid as this gets you a pretty good paycheque?

Essentially the evil scientists create a new form of malaria that infects people. Once infected they then become semi zombies (bit confusing here) and when they die they come back as full-on brainz eatin' zombies.

Wouldn't say a total waste of time to watch this, definitely ok to have on while you are doing laundry or ironing shirts. I probably fast forwarded through about 1/3 of the movie and it took almost 30min before an actual zombie showed up.

My rating 2 out of 4.

Alex Youngberg - Library Journal Movers & Shakers 2008

Alex Youngberg, President CUPE local 391, is named one of the Library Journal's Movers & Shakers for 2008.

Gee, surprised I didn't hear much about this at VPL. Wonder why?

That said, VPL could barely be arsed to muster the strength to give Annette DeFaveri a single pat on the back when she was named a Mover & Shaker a few years back.

Your toilet, my name, our shame

According to this story in The New York Times, philanthropists have been sinking to new lows of self-aggrandizement in dedicating theatre staircases, closets, and terraces in their names. With nothing left to name, will urinals be next?

Hurry!! Huge Airline Ephemera Ebay Auction!!

Huge airline ephemera auction on eBay. Lovely examples of corporate design. Sad thing is if I was a bit nuttier, I probably would be bidding on this.

I got dibs on the Air Malta Airsickness bag.

$100 million to name a library

All it takes to name one of the most significant public library buildings in the world is $100 million. Can you say vain?

Steve Schwarzman's $100 Million Fig Leaf