nichole's auxiliary storage

Barn Burning*

This morning I was waiting for a city bus that was already 15 minutes late when a cab pulled up and the driver beckoned me over. "Are you waiting for a bus? Cause there aren't any today. The bus barn burned down." Huh.

Can't find any evidence to the contrary, but can't find any details either. The bus hotline lady just barely told me service was cancelled for an emergency before she hung up, but the guy at the deli counter said they'd planned to stop service and give the drivers the weekend off. (Not likely.)

The Metro web site's got nothin', nor does local news. Here we go. Nobody hurt, but 200 dirty buses need to be washed. The firefighters were there at 4:20 a.m. Huh x2.

At a bored, loose end now. Would have been working at the jail if all had gone to plan. Wish I'd stayed in bed.

*(Nothing to do with the band from RI.)

C832ho

Oh, it was ever so much fun to append "ho" to this book's Cutter number.

Ask God

Via MeFi, more competition in the info business: Ask God, "the World's First Phoneternet Company." (If this is real, who pays for this crap?)

All of out Angels are college graduates.

Well, all-righty then! Maybe I can work for them, since this whole library thing sure ain't working out.

So I called their 800 number, and a charming, Welsh-accented (?) voice asked me to leave a message for the Angels at the corporate offices of Ask God. But I chickened out.

Next project

Sold out and bought an iPod shuffle. One benefit of holding out as (relatively) long as I did is that Donna Druchunas has already written a pattern for a crocheted cozy. Inevitable.

Although, I'm tempted to use medical tape to just affix the shuffle to my forearm. Or head. "See this? This means Do Not Disturb!" Since massive Koss headphones are too subtle for some.

Addendum: Finally got to try package tracking via Bloglines, and it's awesome.

Tim Biskup?

When we got burgled, the crooks took an ancient Apple PowerBook, circa 1993 vintage. No great loss, as I only used the old "boat anchor" to do library school assignments in front of the TV.

Now, via Bill, I finally really look at some Tim Biskup works and I swear one of the paper inserts you could use to decorate the top of the PowerBook was an illustration of his, or a very close approximation thereof. Dammit.

Cake topper

This one was just as lovely as the classic, and far easier to chew.

update: belated credit to Aggie's Cakes & Pastries in Milwaukee.

Guards Say Conditions Are Ripe for Prison Riot

On the heels of the scuffle at the local jail, this story has me wondering whether such alarmist publicity is a wise move on corrections' part. Regardless, overcrowding is real. Adding more guards would be treating the symptoms - crucial in the short term, but no kind of solution in the long run.

Dogs of Wisconsin Libraries

It's a digital library of librarians' dogs. Love the metadata choices: view dogs by owners' type of library and area of specialization; by dog breed and size; by location; etc. etc.

Catch-up

This morning I was at WiLS Peer Council, which is always fun. The talk was "Transforming Catalogers (and Others) into Digital Library Specialists." The discussion of the culture change was most interesting. How did they do it? They're in Oregon. They just did it.

I was the only one taking notes on a laptop, but that's OK because someone noticed and tipped hopelessly-oblivious-me off to smalldog.com as a good source for Apple stuff.

Not least, it is fun to see more familiar faces than people expect me to. Gives the impression I'm going somewhere, and lately, that illusion is a rare source of comfort. (Please forgive the grumpy. Just marked one year as a librarian-in-waiting.)

Mel and Floyd audio portal

Dane 101 has begun pulling together extant Mel and Floyd audio, and spreading the word when new shows are posted. Great job!

Government's role in librarian supply

In all the talk about librarian pay equity, diversity, and librarian shortages or the lack thereof, the role state and municipal governments play is rarely, if ever, mentioned. Why?

Isn't it the case that the majority of ALA-accredited library schools are partly funded by states through public universities? Many (most?) librarians are employed by public institutions - public libraries, public universities, public schools. Even allowing for regional differences, one would think the large role governments play in both the supply and demand of librarians would be worth analyzing.

This is just the very germ of a Monday-morning, pre-caffeinated thought. I'm not the one to develop it further, but I'd love to see someone tackle it. (Maybe Michael already wrote about it and I missed that post.)

Wool blanket

Now that their wedding's a warm memory, the presents are all open and the secret project's out, I can post some pictures of the blanket I made for two dear friends.

The wool is from Ela Orchard in Rochester, WI. I used a crocheted shell stitch to get a wave effect. I'd love to do another one like it in more shades of blue.

(What passes for) fun with MARC

Socks: a cataloging adventure; and, the (in)famous OCLC apple cake, via Thom.
 

Calculawikitriviapedia

Wow, little UCDP makes good, with a mention in Wikipedia. (We'll see if it's still there tomorrow. Here's proof.)

Credit where it's due, the three dozen or so regular contributors are what keeps the place hopping, and JM tends it dutifully. It brings us both a substantial bit of bloggy joy. A college friend recently told us he sent his middle school math class there to earn extra credit - and we didn't even know he'd been frequenting the place.

And to think, it all started with George Starbuck.

Vermicompost

Kayla writes about her worm bin and the worms that live there. Breezbrak!

I had a bin until about a year ago, when it got infested with fruit flies so badly that I ditched the whole thing. (Shame, beacuse it was all I wrote about in my very first ujournal. Those were the days!) I miss having the "compost tea" to dilute and water the plants with.

Now I wish instead of "delete" my blog interface had a "compost" button. But that's dangerously close to "compose post." Life on the edge and what have you.

"Jail overcrowding leads to disturbance"

The local NBC affiliate ran this story of a "pushing match" over a card game at the PSB that resulted in a deputy's sprained ankle. County Executive Falk and jail administrator Captain Plumer seem to disagree about whether jail staffing levels have increased over the last 10 years.

Catacombs lunch: through Wednesday, May 11

So says the nice person who gave me my lunch today, which was red & white bean salad with radishes, ginger, and garlic, and roasted sunchokes. I had a hard time with the alien texture of the sunchokes, but this is only the second time I've tried them. Eight or 10 is the charm according to Jeffrey Steingarten's (old but fun) article on how to eat anything.

While I'm at it: crochet a poncho like the one Martha wore home. Via.

Semmel

The German "Semmel," or roll, is, in my mind, the perfect bread. A pat of cold, fresh butter und eine Tasse Kaffee ... mmm ... </fugue>

The word itself makes a good name for very cute pets (more - a powerful antidote to the dreariness of  retrocataloging dusty tracts, which can be a drag).

Thank you, Google Images, for distracting me in my hour of low blood sugar.

Lazyweb: readers' advisory

My brother wants stuff to read while he's deployed. He wrote that he's reading about a book a week, "but since I never read that much before now I really don’t even know my own taste."

He mentions liking Dan Brown and Robert Ludlum, but also says he tends to like everything he reads. (Oh the power!) He likes the Onion (but who doesn't?) and grew up on Jack London, et al. I've got some ideas, but if anyone knows some sure-fire winners for a 19-year-old guy, please share.

Do you have enough to do?

This is another post from the dusty Draft pile. I shared this story with Laurabelle a while back, but the pitfalls of finding my way as a new librarian in limbo are gnawing at me, as are related stories like this one about "young bosses." So here goes nothing.

NextGen Librarian is a label I adopt reluctantly. (I don't really like how it refers to one cohort of people based solely relative to another cohort - the moniker won't age well.) But parts of No Fear: How to Build Bridges With Next Generation Librarians by Shelly McCoy do sound familiar:

2. Do not assume that the [NextGen librarian] is volunteering for projects because they have nothing else to do.

When I was a reference assistant, I once stupidly got all up in a reference librarian's face while we were both on desk. A patron had walked up and said her pastor had recommended she read the Tanakh. The patron didn't know what it was. The librarian showed no sign that she knew, either, but hemmed and hawed at the OPAC trying to find a copy.

After 10 minutes of watching this from my end of the reference desk (the "information" end, i.e., I was permitted only to smile and answer directional questions), I went back to the stacks and got some religious encyclopedia or other and asked the librarian if a definition of "Tanakh" would help.

Oh, the evil eye I got. She sent the patron to the stacks with a Dewey number and then asked me to her office, where she lectured me on never, ever interrupting her when she was with a patron, and asked if I had enough to do.

I'm sure she remembers it differently, but I can't ask because she retired shortly thereafter, and I'm still terrified of running into her. The effect of the incident was that of walloping a puppy with a newspaper, though I went to library school anyway.

To this day I still open my big dumb mouth enough to embarass myself in front of "real" librarians on a regular basis, but I'm learning.

Reader poll

Dear readers, would any of you find category-specific RSS feeds of this blog (via del.icio.us) useful? If you like the jail/library stuff but couldn't care less about the domestic stuff, or vice versa, let me know and I'll think on it more.

*Whoops, forgot to mention that feed readers might miss¹ the new-ish sidebar content, "accumulation of random facts" (link log), "stuck songs" (weekly favorites from mp3 blogs) etc., but I could also tag these links accordingly.

¹In the sense of "don't see" more than "feel the acute and shattering absence of."

You ain't that sick

Overheard, a guard escorting an inmate to the infirmary: "When you out? A week? Why you wasting our time? You ain't that sick."

Maybe because it can be easier to see a doctor in a jail than at a clinic.

Co-op groceries and customer service

So Willy St. Co-op says no to a second store on Monroe St. (more at Cap Times and Dane101) At first I was hoping they would stay in the running, but now it doesn't matter so much.

A few weeks ago I was the camel who got the proverbial straw when I went there to pick up coffee for work (they have the best selection of fair-trade organic in town, and reasonably priced). I grabbed a bag of organic chocolate chips on sale, and got a lecture from the checkout clerk about how organic brands were bunk and chocolate was bad for the planet anyway.

I don't need any help unsuspending my disbelief in that area, bud, especially not while I'm forking over a chunk of your living wage, is what I wanted to say. Instead I emailed a manager later to ask what their policy on such clerk commentary is, and haven't heard back.

Sure, customers at natural foods stores are nuts, but this was too far, on top of other visits where I've gotten the stink-eye for buying meat, or been (accidentally) overcharged. What is it about co-ops that leads to bad customer service?

In the end, it must be me, right? I am the common denominator, after all - unless others have seen the same pattern? Maybe I look too yuppie in my secondhand oxford shirt.

In the meantime I'm disinclined to go out of my way for Willy St. anymore. They don't have a corner on their market, after all. Besides, if I never read another nasty comment card from a more-local-than-thou customer foaming about how it's morally bankrupt to ever drive to the grocery store, it'll be too soon.

/rant

Ariadne Issue 43: Trust in Global Virtual Teams

Ariadne 43, the new issue of the quarterly UK library science newsletter, is out. Trust in Global Virtual Teams was surprisingly pertinent to my experience of communication working in Jail Library Group, where most communication takes place on the email list and meetings are rare. Trust, power ("not significant in the case of university students"), and the importance of shared goals are briefly examined.