The Typical Librarian (a Friendless Old Hag?)

My good friend Remigio recently forwarded me a comic that depicts the typical librarian in a slightly negative light:

http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/nov-19-2007

This satirical commentary on our current political climate, where debate continues as to whether the use of torture will strengthen our national security, compares steep overdue fines meted out by librarians to the cruelest form of physical punishment.

Since we librarians generally have a sense of humor, I'm not going to argue with this representation.

But one "friendless old hag" to another, is this -

- the face of a sadistic state-sanctioned torturer?

Most likely. Steer clear of this one if you see her in your local library. Safety first, friend. Safety first.

METADATER: a long explanation for a short joke

Caution: This post contains a hearty portion of information nerdiness/ geekiness/ dorkiness. I will try to "overexplain" some things a little for the benefit of our average reader (returning readers will notice that "overexplanation" is something I do on the regular, for real).

So, feel free to skip ahead if you already know a thing or two about metadata. Or don't, if you want to see me try to explain it.

Context: What the heck is metadata, anyway? According to wikipedia and SI, metadata is "data about data." Metadata helps us make sense of information by providing us with context. It allows us to better communicate and organize information and thus retrieve information more efficiently.

Titles and formatting are examples of metadata often used to describe text. For instance, the metadata I apply to READ THIS NOW! tells you a lot more than a less invasive "read this now" would have. The metadata (bold, caps and exclamation point) I use to describe the data (three words which represent your imperative) helps me communicate my meaning, draws your attention and hopefully inspires you to continue reading. It also allows me to classify what I say as important, rather than just plain old words like the stuff around it.

Recently, when I asked a fellow information professional if he had any thoughts on metadata, he asked, "Can you be more specific?" I said no. He said, "It's a ... good thing?" Metadata. It's a good thing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata

Aaaaanyway...

What's the deal with METADATER? Last semester, I was writing a literature review on Metadata Standards and Interoperability for the Digital Libraries course that Emily and I took together. While this may sound vaguely impressive, I can assure you that I had almost no idea what I was talking about, but I sort of guessed at a string of plausible words and ended up sounding mildly coherent. Professor, if you're reading this... sorry dude. Thanks for the passing grade.

So Emily and I were both typing like mad in the office trying to get these overly technical lit reviews done and submitted on time, and I typoed "metadater" and I sort of cackled and said "METADATER!" in this incredibly nerdy affected voice and we both died a little in a good way. We wrote the term on the office white board and it lasted for a while.

Since then, we've realized what METADATER is really all about. We've learned the true reason I discovered the concept in the first place.

METADATER is an online dating site for information professionals. Or it should be. It doesn't actually exist. But it could.

After all, http://metadater.com/ was recently "registered\purchased." And who knows what it'll be when it finally goes live.

I'll give you a few moments to think about the ramifications.

Seriously?
Yes.

Well... seriously bad/good joke. I mean, word play and information science? It doesn't get any better/worse. I warned you it was nerdy.

Need a good LOL read?

I'm going to get really agitated if one more person remarks to me, "Do you really have to go to graduate school to be a librarian? I just thought you needed to know the Dewey Decimal System...hmmm...." (The best response I've ever gotten to the "what are you doing with your life?" question was, cracking up laughing, "no really, what do you want to do when you are done with college?") Though I think that graduate level education is appropriate for librarians, I think that most of the things that we encounter in libraries are experiences that our Web 2.0 education cannot fully prepare us for.

Scott Douglas' Quiet, Please is memoir of his experience as a public librarian. Douglas humorously describes the current issues in libraries, and the experiences that library school doesn't prepare us for. Basically, the book is a collection of humorous accounts of grumpy-pants co-workers, the importance of community, issues surrounding Myspace and porn in the library, food in the library, and my favorite, problem patrons. No one can resist a good problem patron story. Librarians live for them. They spice up our days.

Douglas' memoir is a fun read that I think all information professionals can relate to in one way or another. Let's be honest, it's a total jungle out there in Library Land, and you probably need some summer reading that will remind you that you can survive it. Read on and on.

Extraterrestrial Life: A Quick Lit Review

Yesterday at the reference desk, I had one of my most interesting research questions of the summer. A student was creating a bibliography for her class and chose extraterrestrial life as her topic. She needed a couple more sources, and I was more than happy to fire up my Proquest-searching skills for the occasion. Here is a sampling of what we uncovered (cited in APA format, with some added bolding to really make things pop).

Dartnell, L. (2008). Hairy Blobs found in an acidic hell. New Scientist, 198(2569), 15.

• This article addresses recent research that shows life (in this case, hairy blobs) could survive in similar conditions to the Martian oceans (an acidic hell).

Want proof? Here're some hairy blobs:

http://io9.com/5013254/hairy-blobs-discovered-in-acidic-lake-could-have-evolved-on-mars

Pendick, D. (2008). Earth through alien eyes. Astronomy, 36(5), 23.

• This article discusses whether aliens with our current level of technology would be able to find Earth from lightyears away. The answer is yes, they could.
  
• My favorite quote is from scientist Sara Seager, who discusses her research published recently in The Astrophysical Journal: "Maybe somebody's looking at us right now, finding out . . . the length of our day."
  
• Quite possibly, aliens are discovering the length of Earth's days as I write this blog entry. What an extraordinary thought!
  

Sheehan, D.P. (2008). On the eighth day, God created extraterrestrials: Vatican says life on other planets possible. McClatchy-Tribune Business News (wire feed), May 14 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2008, from Proquest Research Library.

• This newspaper article was originally published in The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa. I've never heard of this paper, but now I wish I read it every day.
  
• In an interview in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes (the Vatican's top astronomer, according to the article) says rejecting the the idea of alien life outright would be "putting limits on God's creative freedom." Extraterrestrial life is apparently a "thorny" theological issue in Christianity, but the Vatican has made its position clear.
  
• In addition to Vatican experts, this article includes views on the topic from a UFO researcher:

  Besides, he added, aliens themselves may be creatures of faith. In a few of the many thousands of reports of alien abduction, abductees said they could speak with their captors. "Where people could ask questions, one of the questions they asked was, 'Is there a God?' or 'Do you believe in God?' " Bassett said. "Without fail, the ETs would say 'Yes.' "

In Wired's report of this story, they captured this related image of a saint and an alien meeting in a small chapel:

http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/06/alien_religion?currentPage=all

All in all, a productive day at the reference desk!

Emily and Katie's Super Classy Office Warming Reception!

A photo montage.

There were stories of problem patrons.

There was lots of leaning.

Of course there were jokes!

There was super classy food.

It was a delight.

Why I am becoming a librarian

Today Katie and I were having a discussion about why we are becoming librarians. Katie suggested that we both make pie charts of why we are choosing this profession. I sort of ran with it, and then Katie helped me make this sweet pie chart.What are your nerdy motivations for your profession? Dear reader, assure me I am not the only nerd out there.

LIBRARY ORIENTATION: the coolest gig in town

One of our summer projects is running Library Orientation sessions for incoming freshmen (class of '12... makes me feel real ancient). The UGLibrarians have come up with a pretty sweet instructional style for these half-hour sessions.

Let us set the scene...

THE STUFF - 7 tables full of library resources (mostly books, but some newer technologies are also represented).
THE PEOPLE - overwhelmed and/or cocky 17 and 18 year olds, 50-ish per session, in groups of 6-10 per table.
THE ACTIVITY - a worksheet, the students try to figure out the themes of their tables (not that hard), say what the stuff can be used for, then present their findings to the entire session.
THE SPACE - the Grad Gallery, decked out in the finest signs and banners.
US - Emily H, who hates hamsters; Katie D-T, who has enjoyed Delerium Tremens (a belgian brew) but never had the DTs.
OUR LOVELY ASSISTANTS - one rotating UGLi Babe (that's a librarian, to the uninitiated).

Now that we have laid our stage, please allow us to entertain you with a story or three...

1. One of our fellow librarians, Renoir, has an excellent presentation style. Not unlike an improvisational jazz musician, Renoir riffs on the things the students say (i.e. he uses the openings the youngsters provide to regale us all with stories of the library which swell and reach new heights and show off his oratorial prowess).

Our favorite Renoir story came up in multiple orientation sessions. One day, a student asked, "Is there a limit to the number of books we can check out?" Smiling slightly, Renoir responded "I'm glad you asked," and proceeded seemlessly into this wonderful story.

Several years back, some student groups banded together to protest against another club. They were nerdy and creative and they decided to center their direct action on the library system. On one fateful day, these students rented U-Haul trucks and parked them outside the library. They brought armful after armful after book truck of library books to the circulation desk, hoping to stun the library -- and the university -- in its tracks. The students were successful. Every library staffer had to stop what they were doing and spend their entire day checking out books and loading books into U-Hauls. The librarians complained to their supervisors, and the complaints made their way up to University Administration. The student groups, through a clever knowledge of library policies, eventually emerged victorious.

2. One of our more adolescent incoming students shared with some 70-odd entering Wolverines a picture of a penis he and his tablemates found in a graphic novel. Emily, noticing that each novel at the table was open to its most explicit content, made a quick recovery, acknowledging the penis and addressing the major Graphic Novels Table talking points, thus saving orientation.


3. Katie ended a solid session with a solid quote by pop princess Shakira. The musical theater students she was orientating were impressed, and began to sing the song. Quote: "So, librarians are available whenever, wherever ... we're meant to be together.... yeah, I just ended with a Shakira quote."