Friday, November 9, 2007

Things, Things, and More Things!

Okay, so I'm kind of doing these in my own sense of order, but I've done Things 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Thing 11: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jacquelynn (hyperlink didn't work)

I started adding my books and, lo and behold, it was filled with Sherlock Holmes! No surprise there ;)

Thing 12:

Powered by Rollyo
I don't know if I'll use this very much, but it's cool.

Thing 13: Checked out del.icio.us and had a little fun with it. Not something I see myself needing or wanting.

Thing 14: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/09/countertaserism.html

Okay, I found this blog on "Countertaserism" interesting and a little disturbing. Through the citizen's activist group to which I belong there is an NBC show about online predators being arrested by law enforcement, and I have to admit that the times when perverts are tasered by law enforcement for resisting arrest it's somewhat satisfying. Considering that a few seconds of being tasered is nothing compared to a lifetime of emotional pain for the child they've abused, I have no sympathy for them and would be disappointed if there is a way to keep from being tasered when warranted.

Also played with quotes (STILL having trouble with hyperlinks for some reason)
http://en.thinkexist.com/quotation/when_you_have_eliminated_the_impossible-whatever/220553.html

Thing 15: This paragraph from Rick Anderson's "Away From Icebergs" really resonated with me:
There was a time, not very long ago, when libraries exercised something close to monopoly power in the information marketplace. During the print era, if you wanted access to pricey indexes or a collection of scholarly journals, you had no choice but to make a trip to the library. It wasn’t a good system, but it worked. Sort of. That is to say, it worked moderately well for those privileged with access to a good library. In the post-print era, libraries no longer have the monopoly power that they had in the days before the Internet. We have to be a bit more humble in the current environment, and find new ways to bring our services to patrons rather than insisting that they come to us—whether physically or virtually. At a minimum, this means placing library services and content in the user’s preferred environment (i.e., the Web); even better, it means integrating our services into their daily patterns of work, study and play.

Gone are the days of the serious and intimidating librarian who held the power over knowledge and kept the library a dark and somber place. As one who has always had a hunger for knowledge it is so liberating to be able to access it on my own, and for libraries to be a part of that instead of dying a slow and painful death of obsolescence is such a thrill for me. I see a bright future for my children and grandchildren with libraries as a part of technology and not a stumbling block to it.

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