Poetry Break

(From Garbage: A Poem by A.R. Ammons, pt. 7. It reminds me of a certain catalog I know.)

... I punched

out Garbage at the library and four titles
swept the screen, only one, Garbage Feed,

seemed worth going on to; and that was about
feeding swine right: so I punched Garbage Disposal

and the screen came blank--nothing! all those
titles, row on row, of western goodies, mostly

worse than junk, but not a word on Disposal: I
should have looked, I suppose, under Waste Disposal

but, who cares, I already got the point: I
know garbage is being "disposed" of--but what

I wanted I had gotten, a clear space and pure
freedom to dump whatever, and this means most

of the catalog must go, so much that what is
left will need no computer to be kept track of:

har:...

UGLi Field Trip

On Friday the staff of the UGLi piled in maize and blue mini vans and traveled to the new Border's. I'm directionally challenged so I couldn't tell you where it is, but it is in Ann Arbor somewhere. Anyway, the store is a test case for their new "concept stores." Basically, the store is just a really big, really technologically advanced bookstore with lots of flashy stuff.

From the moment I walked in, I felt like I was in a computer store, and got overwhelmed. The store manager who gave us a tour must have read my mind when he said, "this space used to be a CompUSA." The store did have some neat shelving and seating, and some clever organizational ideas. But, the big screen t.v.s on the walls made me feel like I was in Best Buy. The store has a technology area that includes a space where customers can make their own CD mixes and download e-books. The thing that really got me was "the Long Pen," which is this teleconferencing device where you can meet an author and they can sign your book. You can see the author over the screen, they can see you, and then you put your book under the machine and the author signs their name on their thinkpad. The "Long Pen" then signs your book, stroke for stroke. It was weird. I have wonderfully awkward memories of meeting authors and basically tripping over myself (not to brag but I ran into David Sedaris in Paris and it was visibly shocking for me). It's refreshingly human to not be able to just turn off a camera and hide sometimes. Plus, if robots start signing our books for us, where will it end? It's so sci-fi.

In the discussion that followed the tour, many of the librarians declared they were uncomfortable with the store. I whole heartedly agreed.

You can see more photos on the UGLi flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uglib/

Highlights of March 19, 2008

Read closely resume tip #2 from Career Services:

2. Use the spell checker feature on your computer and ask SI Career Services staff and at least on friend to review your resume for typos or grammatical errors.

Oh, the hilarity of an ironic typo.

One reason why I'm sticking to public services

DIFFERENCES between, CHANGES within:

Guidelines on When to Create a New Record

["The document helps guide the cataloger in determining whether the item in hand can be cataloged with existing copy or requires a new bibliographic record. General guidelines are followed by specific guidelines for manifestation-level records for single-part monographs, multipart monographs, integrating resources, and serials. The text describes what constitutes a major difference between manifestations, requiring the creation of an original record, as well as detailing major changes within a serial manifestation that would lead to the creation of a new record. In addition, guidance is also provided to identify minor changes that would not require a new bibliographic record, but might necessitate updating an existing record."
from http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=collectiondevb]

Eyes glazing over? Me too. I applaud the work of catalogers everywhere, but I think I'll officially add this to the list of professions I could never do (I actually wrote it down once... doctor, horticulturist, flight attendant, sex worker, and now... cataloger). I think catalogers do really important work, but if I had to use this 38-page PDF on a regular basis... I think I might go over to the dark side (where the future's so dark, I gotta wear night-vision goggles).

Incidentally, when I got curious to see how exactly one does decide whether to make a new bibliographic record for an item and I tried to download the advertised PDF, I got instead a word document entitled "STARTING A LIBRARY SUPPORT STAFF ORGANIZATION." Amazing. Even the ALA concedes that anyone who tries to read "Differences within, Changes between" is going to need some professional help.