nichole's auxiliary storage

Huber hiding places

If you've been following the news coverage of the debate over where to cite a new Dane County work-release jail (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, for starters), this post from a madison.com blogger will be in context. He points out an unintended side effect of a Huber center, where smoking is banned:

 

The deputies could obviously see the inmates, pausing to stash partial packs of cigs before entering the Huber facility. The deputies let it slide. The bank across the street from the Huber entrance, has some evergreen bushes in front. There were always a couple dozen packs of cigs in those bushes. Every tree branch, rock, and piece of debris on the ground was somebody's special stash.

I saw this firsthand when I used to take the bus from the stop outside Huber. The most ingenious hiding place I ever saw was inside the tall, yellow, plastic sheathing around the metal cord that anchors the streetlight in place. Guys would wrap their Newports in a sandwich bag and slip them in there, or retrieve a smoke while they waited on the bus stop.

Now, I don't know what I'm talking about, of course. But if electronic monitoring is out and they must build a new place, how about Research Park? It's as close to the middle of nowhere that you're going to get and still have bus access. It's far from schools and housing, right by the UW's biggest psychiatric clinic, and not too far from their Gateway Recovery substance abuse center. But again, I don't know what I'm talking about, ain't nobody gon listen to me anyways.

Domestic-arts magazine organizing tip

From a Wisconsin State Journal profile of a local food enthusiast:

"I also love Martha Stewart and have every magazine for the past 15 years," Hirchert said, explaining that she groups them by month so she can find issues and recipes appropriate for each season.

What an ingenious way to organize a seasonally-specific, but not necessarily time-sensitive, collection.

Twinkie sushi

...is more fun to make than eat, but is pretty tasty, in fact.

Find the good stuff fast

Hurrah! In Macworld, February 2007, p. 71, "Use your local library" is listed as a way to "find the good stuff fast." Library databases are right up there with search tips for Amazon, Ask.com, Archive.org, and scads of Google hints.

"Asking Non-Users Why They Don't Use the Library"

From LISNews: Asking Non-Users Why They Don't Use the Library.

From the Newtown (CT) Bee, C.H. Booth Library is looking for opinions about the library from an unlikely source: the people who do not use it.

 

Yes! We need more of this. Libraries need to look outside themselves and the people that already love them. This has implications for service, funding, and advocacy, and can't be ignored.

The library's methodology sounds a little sketchy, though - is there a statistician in the house?

The seven-question survey, which is totally anonymous, can be picked up at the main desk [...] or call the library ...

Any user research is better than none, but non-user research is best. If it's done well, that is.