August 06, 2009
Just One More Book
Neil Hollands in Book Group Buzz writes an interesting question.
If you could get one author, dead or alive, to write one more book, who would it be?
Shakespeare as a Hollywood action film writer?
Post-apocalypse Jane Austen?
How about Jules Verne in the 21st century?
Some of my favorite writers are still cranking out books; Richard Russo, John Irving.
Many authors are so tied to their time period that it's hard to imagine them writing in today's world yet it makes one consider just what makes those classics, well, classic. Is it the time period or is the universal message that permeates through barriers of time?
The work of Charles Dickens is so steeped in the drudge and grim of the Industrial Age it's hard to imagine his work set in any other period and yet these works must speak to the universal human condition of other periods for them to still touch readers.
Mark Twain is another author that seems to reflect a certain time period but doesn't his biting humor and easy memory of childhood stay with current readers? He'd have a lot to say about today's society and politics.
I'd love to hear what authors come to mind for others answering this question.
Posted by swortman at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2009
Google Maps and College Campuses?
Did you ever try to find Shapiro Undergraduate Library using a Google Maps link?
It's close, but it's the bus stop, not the library. I know, GIS is not perfect but now Google is working on taking the pedestrian photo view of major college campuses so that potential students can take virtual tours before coming for a campus visit. Now instead of the Google street view car, taking street view pictures they will be using a panoramic camera mounted on a bike to take pictures of college campuses, according to HigherEdMorning .
Beware of what you're doing, out there on the diag! It might be caught by the Google bike!
Posted by swortman at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2009
Are you a Library Shover and Maker?
Didn't make the cut as one of this year's Library Movers and Shakers? No problem. Make yourself a Library Shover and Maker winner.
Just go to Steve Lawson's blog and follow the directions he gives and you can post your own Shove and Maker profile and why you're a winner. Check out some of the winners already posted.
We're all winners!
Posted by swortman at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2009
How are Americans Doing Reading Literature?
Plenty of bloggers and news articles have been a-buzz about the National Endowment for the Arts recently released report “Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy.” Of the many articles I have read on the results of this report I enjoyed author Ann Patchett's article in the Wall Street Journal the most.
Entitled "The Triumph of the Readers: The Markets May be Down, but Fiction is on the Rise," Ms. Patchett uses the NEA report as an excuse to give testimony to her love of reading and the joys of the library. There are many wonderful parts of this article to quote but probably my favorite is when Patchett compares herself to rifle-toting Charlton Heston (see this video), saying, "I'm more of the Charlton Heston school: you'll get my paperback of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" away from me when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands." You go, girl!
Patchett also tries to stress that it doesn't matter "what you read. It's that you read." She claims bad books are a "gateway drug." At least they get you reading so that eventually you may try higher quality books and become hooked by their powerful ability to quickly take you into new worlds and new experiences.
Richard Katzev, in his blog Marks in the Margin is skeptical about the NEA reports definition of a literate reader. To qualify as having read literature during 2008 all one had to do was answer yes to the following question:
During the past 12 months, did you read any a) novels or short stores; b) poetry; or c) plays?
Katzev writes, "Does it make any sense to group together a reader of a single poem with a reader of Anna Karenina or Moby Dick or both of them and then some?" Sounds like he's trying to play culture police with this comment and I think he's totally missing the point of the survey. This same question has been asked on all four reports; 1982, 1992, 2002, and 2008. It is a statistic. It isn't a judgment call. You have to start somewhere. Perhaps he has been in the Ivory Tower of academia too long to understand that not all Americans are literature majors or even public policy researchers or psychology professors. Go easy on the little guys!
The main point the NEA report tries to make is that the reading of literature (based on the, albeit narrow definition defined by the question stated above) is up, especially among those between the ages of 18 and 24. Data has been compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau every few years since 1982 and there has been a steady decline in the number of literature reading Americans ever since, that is until this latest 2008 data, which has shown some encouraging rises in most age categories, among both men and women and among all racial categories polled. Any downward trends that occurred are so small as to be statistically insignificant. It's too early to guess if this increase in readers will continue into future surveys conducted. Statistics still have a way to go before they equal the percentage of Americans reading literature at the same rate as in when this study was started in 1982. With the rise of the Internet, types of reading have changed. We're not just reading books anymore. Public domain fiction is widespread over the Internet. Perhaps it will be harder and harder to compare reading statistics from 1982 to reading statistics of the future. Still this is a hopeful report and and makes me want to sit down by the fireplace and pick up one of the many novels around my house, waiting to be read. Read anything good lately?
Posted by swortman at 01:13 PM | Comments (1)
August 25, 2008
Politics, Information and Stupidity
Now that we are finished with both the Democratic and Republican Conventions we can get down to the serious process of finding out where our presidential candidates stand on the major issues and base our votes according to what is best for our country, right? Read Rick Shenkman's book Just How Stupid Are We? and you may have to think again about this idea.
According to Shenkman there are 5 basic types of stupidity that can be identified in the American public:
1. Sheer ignorance
2. Bone-headedness
3. Wooden-headedness
4. Shortsightedness
5. Negligence
Ignorance needs no explanation. There have been many studies and polls, cited by Shenkman which demonstrate just how much Americans are able to retain or answer about their government, world situations, public policy, our leaders and their positions on issues.
Bone-headedness and wooden-headedness would seem to be the same issue but according to Shenkman bone-headedness is all about our susceptibility to manipulation by politicians, whether it be through the use of stereotyping or biases in speeches and ads or if it's appealing to our fears, our hopes, or our patriotism by targeting our emotions. Wooden-headedness, on the other hand is simply the stubborn way we American people can hold on to certain beliefs, regardless of the facts.
Shortsightedness comes into play when the American public switches gears on a long term goal because the short term goal, or policy, or bill being passed, etc. looks much more attractive. Sure I want a balanced federal budget but my retirement savings are being stretched and I certainly don't want my taxes to go up so a tax cut sounds good right about now.
The final type of stupidity defined by Shenkman, negligence is an interesting thing to consider for those of us involved in providing information. The negligent voter is the voter who either doesn't take the time or doesn't know how to find reliable sources of government and political information. Negligent stupidity means a person can't figure out what constitutes a reliable source of information or doesn't have the ability to challenge information found on candidates and issues.
We have access to more information than ever before and we can get to this information faster and easier than any time in history but are we using it?. The level of education for Americans is much higher than any other time in this country's history, yet the American public is no better educated when it comes to politics and government, Shenkman wrote in a recent Washington Post article. Groups like to blame each other. Liberals think Conservatives are dumb and vice versa but in reality voters on each side are about equal in intelligence.
Shenkman, founder of History News Network believes public schools should stress civics and require that students be tested on it, the same as they are currently tested on reading and math skills.
Take advantage of the library this election year. Don't be stupid. Try using the Government Document Center election site. Challenge what the candidates are saying by going to factcheck.org and read, read, READ!
Posted by swortman at 05:17 PM | Comments (1)
July 23, 2008
Gannett News Service Public Library Systems Database
According to American Libraries Direct 7/23/08 the Ann Arbor District Library ranks 15th in public libraries with the highest circulation statistics for 2006. Pretty impressive, considering the populations served by the top 14 libraries average around 22,000 whereas Ann Arbor District serves a population of 155,611 people. Our local public library averaged 34.3 items circulated per person.
Just a note:
Take the demographics data on the individual community reports with a grain of salt. Medium income for Ann Arbor is listed at $60,579 but so is Dexter, Chelsea, South Lyon, Whitmore Lake, Saline and Ypsilanti. Come on! If it's a county-wide average why not say so?
Posted by swortman at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2008
POPLINE and the Politics of Reproductive Health Research
USAID, sponsor of POPLINE, "the world's largest database on reproductive health" has riled the library world this week. It appears that a savvy librarian discovered the database was recently changed so that searches on the term "abortion" were not recognized and brought back zero hits. Dr. Michael J. Klag, Dean of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which administers POPLINE stated:[USAID] found two items in the database related to abortion that did not fit POPLINE criteria. The agency then made an inquiry to POPLINE administrators. Following this inquiry, the POPLINE administrators at the Center for Communication Programs made the decision to restrict abortion as a search term.There is no explanation of the criteria for items to be included in POPLINE. We can only guess, since USAID says on their web site they are an "independent federal government agency that receives guidance from the Secretary of State." It's sad but true that librarians and researchers have to be the watchdogs of information. This is an excellent example for student researchers on the hazards of information products, what is and, more importantly what is not included. To his credit, Dean Klag announced on Friday the controversial word has been reinstated in the database but significant damage has been done to the credibility of the Bloomberg School of Public Health because of this incident
Posted by swortman at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
50 Reasons Not to Change
From Librarian in Black by way of Biocultural Science and Management.
Everyone should have a copy of this!
click to see original
Please note that this image has a copyright, for non-commercial distribution with attribution.
Posted by swortman at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2008
Find out what it's like being a librarian in a war zone
Read this article from the Christian Science Monitor about Saad Eskander, director of the Iraq National Library and Archive in Baghdad.
Posted by swortman at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
Speed Traps and Social Networking
Here's a novel idea for social networking, the Speed Trap Exchange. Sponsored by the National Motorist Association, this is a list of speed traps, organized by state and then by cities which people have submitted and yes, Ann Arbor is on the list. Many of the Ann Arbor entries are duplicates but enough disgruntled motorists seem to have been stopped near Huron Parkway and Washtenaw that you'd better be careful the next time you're in that area!
Posted by swortman at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2007
Finding Your Lost Dog Using a Social Network
Here's a practical way of using social networking. Last year my dog, Rosie decided to casually walk out the our yard. She's not one of these sprinter dogs who constantly needs to be leashed, otherwise they're off in a flash. She's smarter than that. She will stay in the yard while I'm gardening or reading for a while, maybe even for hours and it's only when I start to forget that she's there that she wanders farther and farther away until I look up and she's gone. Once she's out of eye contact she's on the lam.
Well, last year this happened one afternoon so I jumped in my car and drove around, calling for her but to no avail. I gave up searching because she always comes back once she's hungry or bored but it got later and later. I called my daughter in Ypsi and told her about it, concerned that the dog might have been hit by a car or picked up by someone, because she is after all an attractive dog. Finally I gave up and went to bed that night minus my pet.
My daughter called the next day and told me she thought she found the dog, "In Ypsi?", I asked.
"Well, not exactly."
The night the dog had gone missing my daughter posted a notice on the local metropolitan Detroit community of the blog Live Journal with a picture of the dog and the general area where she was last seen. Someone in that community answered her, saying she had seen the dog around Buhr pool the day before and had heard that one of the lifeguards took the dog home and was going to bring her back to Buhr that morning and try to find the owner.
I called the pool office, went over there an hour later and my dog and I were reunited. Happy ending, all thanks to the Internet and social networking.
Posted by swortman at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)
August 02, 2007
What are People Saying About Us?
Overheard on the diag yesterday:
Guy on Roller Blades to Young Couple:
"Hey, can you guys tell me where the Undergraduate Library is?"
Young couple looks at each other for 3 beats...
Young guy of couple finally says:
"Eh, the library is right there."
He points to the Graduate Library.
Maybe it's a habit from working at the IC desk but I can't resist as I'm walking by, on my way to lunch so I finally yell over to them, "The Undergraduate Library is right next door to that library."
These may be new students but I doubt it. This is yet another reality check that for those that work in a library. We may think we are essential and that students couldn't live without us but to many students, as a place at least we are barely on the radar screen.
I was heartened on my walk back from North U. that same day, though to overhear the word library in another passing conversation from a student who sounded as if he was familiar with the concept of the library, might be able to identify a campus library on a map and actually used it.
These two examples of the word "library" used in conversation, happening within a few minutes of each other struck me as interesting. You might try keeping your ears open this semester to find out how other students are talking about us. It could be an enlightening exercise.
Posted by swortman at 08:06 AM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2007
The "Summer of Love" 1967
Attention Baby Boomers and dare I say, Pre-Boomers: where you around for the Summer of Love? As a tribute to the 40th anniversary of that summer MSNBC offers a quiz to see how well you remember that year. Quizzes are always fun so I thought I'd add a link to it here so you could test your recall. We boomers are not getting any younger, you know and the memory may be the first thing to go so think young and take the quiz. Warning, I only got one wrong!
The Net Generation is welcome to take the quiz too. We'll see how well you were paying attention in your history classes!
Have fun and, oh yeah, peace and love.
Posted by swortman at 08:21 AM | Comments (2)