Occasionally I think about the purpose of this blog, and based on the last couple of posts, I'm pretty sure I know. One purpose of the AL is to let librarians vent in the comments, to provide a forum for open discussion and argument. This is of course one of the things that has always bothered my critics. For people who claim not to take anyone seriously who writes anonymously, some of my critics sure seem to get their knickers in a twist about this blog.
The twopointopians should of course be celebrating the AL, because they all love "user generated content," and there aren't many library blogs that have more user generated content than this one. It's possible that the AL has the highest comment to post ratio of any library blog, but I'm not going to bother examining any other library blogs to verify that statement. Even if it was true, I wouldn't really care, anyway.
It is somewhat ironic that the AL is such a twopointopian success story, because in general this is one of the more tedious areas of twopointopia. The problem is, most users don't have any worthwhile content to generate. Read some of the New York Times blogs and watch the comments quickly evolve into user generated idiocy. If it's a political piece, the user generated idiocy often starts with the first comment. I try to insulate myself from idiots in my everyday life, because it depresses me that so many fools are allowed to exercise power over me in the form of voting. The Times comments especially depress me, because even the stupid ones are probably written by the cream of the chaff. Only the brighter idiots read the Times, or at least that's my assumption. I don't even want to know what the ordinary idiots out in the world think.
All the twopointoh stuff makes it so easy for users to generate idiocy. Just think, back in the old days, one had to find a publisher willing to put up with your idiocy, but the twopointoh publishers depend upon it. Without a lot of user-generated idiocy, Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal, and the like would be barren wastelands. But now, there's an endless supply of idiocy to read! It's a very exciting time to be a librarian, as I'm sure you've heard from everyone applying for a library job in the past decade.
I hate to admit it, but there's even been some idiocy in the AL's comments lately, which is a darn shame. I won't tell you what it is; you'll just have to figure it out for yourselves. I'll give you a hint, though: there's a logical hole large enough for a whole herd of elephants to stampede through, and it has something to do with porn. As for those who respond to the idiocy, what can be said? There's a sucker born every minute, but some of us find it entertaining.
About Me
- AL
- The Annoyed Librarian is possibly the most successful, respected, and desirable librarian of her generation. She has no other interest than to bring her wit and wisdom to the huddled librarian masses yearning to breathe free. The Annoyed Librarian is a free spirit and you are lucky to have her.
102 comments:
You mean the Internet is not for porn like the song says? ;)
On a serious note, like you, I do find a lot of the user generated content, if you can call it that, idiocy. Depressing to think a lot of those idiots actually vote. But of course, in 2pointtopia land, that is to be celebrated and even cherished. No matter how many idiots post crap (there, I said it), to them, that is a good thing.
As for the idiocy in comments here, I guess it happens to the best. Once you get people to pay attention, the idiots simply have to flock. Hang in there. Maybe the few decent ones will balance out the idiots.
P.S. Geez, I did not realize your post about summertime and lazy days degenerated into porn debate until I looked at the comments. Talk about a downward spiral.
The AL clearly reads Gawker, which had a post today on commenting on newspapers' websites.
Spam.
Made you read it.
See the power of user-generated content? No matter how useless my words, my ego can be made stronger by knowing that the time I wasted writing this you wasted reading it.
I'm going back to my books.
Woah! lol,, talk about inciting some entertainment....
I'll give you a hint, though: there's a logical hole large enough for a whole herd of elephants to stampede through, and it has something to do with porn.
Ok,, well,, depending on how you see things,, that could be,,, umm,, anybody? Seeing as how the thread was totally (and for most appreciatively) hijacked nd turned to a porn discussion. lol.
Better not be me as I am always right........ unless I say otherwise.
It must be me.
I am never right.
I personally find it disturbing and creepy that the safelibraries guy is so obsessed with porn. All he ever seems to think about is sex. Makes you wonder.
I've thought about the idiocy in the comments, of late, too. I believe that is called trolling.
To add to your aristocratic world view, to fix this problem is to create more posts. The posts will divert the masses from the their own ideas of what is important. Because what they think is important is only important for the peasants.
One purpose of the AL is to let librarians vent in the comments, to provide a forum for open discussion and argument.
And no better way to accomplish this than to post boring or whiney posts that no one really cares to address. Obviously, the readership of late would rather talk about something of perceived importance.
Porn's always good for off-topic diatribes when the topic du jour is less than stimulating.
Guns in libraries is another one that has received far too little attention. Did you know reading Guns & Ammo in public libraries leads to drive-by shooting in library parking lots? I read this in gunsfreelibraries.com so it must be true.
I also understand that reading Wine Spectator in libraries can lead to alcoholism. I read that in martinifreelibraries.com so it must be true.
Trust me, these people know what they're talking about.
Of course, the porn problem is really easy to resolve. Clip this section and send it anonymously to your library director and copy all the board members.
Pretty much every state has laws in place against displaying lewd content in public, even if said content might be constitutionally protected (e.g. it's not child porn or otherwise adjudicated legally obscene).
Most of these statutes are themselves almost lewd to read, and they make specific references to nipples, butt cracks and otherwise unmentionable and very naughty body protuberances and depressions.
So... First, eliminate all content filters for adults. Then, put a deputy or officer in every library and enforce the laws against public display.
Scumbag pulls up nekkid lady on screen where people can see, nipples or buttocks protruding in a disturbingly attractive fashion (you know what I mean), and bust his arse. Problem solved.
Of course, no one has the guts to do that, even though it's the law. Let the ALA take that one on. No filtering, no problem.
Unfortunately, I don't have a solution to the problem of AL's content of late. But let's get our priorities straight. Death to porn, guns and martinis in the library. It's best for the chillun's after all.
Dear AL, When you are boiling over at the idiocy, remember that it speaks well of your character. After all, the esteemed writer Jonathan Swift once said, "When an intelligent, truthful man appears, he will be easily identified by the confederacy of dunces arrayed against him."
Heheh ... "cream of the chaff"
anon 12:46
Yes, [many] users are stupid. Some of 'em don't even know how to spell one of the most famous phrases of the 20th century.
Thank you 11:42 poster.
It only took one day for some edumcated libarean to find the mysteak.
youse guys iz gud.
Thank god I have you looking out for me.
Please people!
Can we keep the comments to 25 words or less. My attention span can't ......
ooooh shiny.
On the issue of user generated idiocy, I think the power and tragedy of the internet is that when you put a large enough group of people together it is easier to see the groupings. This means that it is easier to see the positive, useful things that people are capable of as there are more of them exerting collective effort, but it is also easier to see how many idiots and nutbags there are as they voice their idiotic or crazy views and the volume of them start to stand out, or at least the volume of them make it easier to come across them. The same thing applies to any preference, interest, ideology, etc, so the internet allows all albino aardvark fanciers to connect, just as it allows any other group, and thus you are alerted to their existence. It is just depressing when you are exposed to the sheer volume of idiots in the world :)
Re the whole degeneration of the blog that I keep hearing about:
I think that the main issue with this blog at the moment is one of a degeneration of the class of comments (less interesting, well reasoned, etc) combined with a few lacklustre posts (or at least, posts that failed to capture the interest of the readership in the way previous issues have). Anyway, I have generally enjoyed the AL, and still enjoy the posts to a degree, but I'm considering giving up on the comments, as the seem to be degenerating rather.
I think that the main issue with this blog at the moment is one of a degeneration of the class of comments (less interesting, well reasoned, etc)
Yes, as this comment demonstrates.
so's yer old man
I made the mistake of buying a copy of The Grauniad [sic: it's an English thing] last weekend. It's one of our more erudite and literate newspapers but I have to say that the quality of the commentary and feature articles was easily eclipsed by half the blogs and comments I read the same day.
Anon 9:11, has a point, if wordy. OK we get the ItSucks gaming, porn twopoint, threepoint and ALA lies about employability memes.
But how much more is there to be said? We can just keep arguing about the same old same old, but that's why AL complains about nothing new and has disconnected her former blog list.
Does AL have something new? I've heard all the porn/guns/gin/employment/lameLIScurriculum/crappyjobs musings I think I need. I haven't seen a truly new thought, or snappy rejoinder, in months.
What's actually and really, truly new, AL?
What's new? How about productive ways to deal with:
- agism in library hiring and promotion
- libraries in the 21st century - kids don't read, boomers will die off, immigrants will use the web rather than libraries
-running libraries like commercial, for-profit businesses
-libraries as daycare facilities
Safelibraries is ignoring the fact that people dump their kids in libraries because they are unable or unwilling to supervise them.
Just some suggestions.
The question is, what's new for AL?
There are other places to discuss the issues you mention. How does AL's blog not fall under the weeding criteria she/he set in the previous post?
None of the issues you mention are new in any way, unless you are new to the field.
1. Ageism is a good one.
2. You must live in a lame place, because kids around here read a lot.
3. Libraries and Cities in general are nothing like business or families and the finances should not be run as such.
4. The library as daycare thing is as old as the hills.
You know why librarians don't get things done in terms of progressing the field?
They sit around all day kvetching about how bad things are to other librarians.
We need to form an organization for librarians (not libraries ala ALA) that will set some professional standards and respect for the profession.
If we don't, well then we can blog and comment our lives away.
One small point about "user generated idiocy," all content in the history of mankind is user generated from cave drawings right on through your spelling out of 2.0.
I sure am glad I have you to judge the idiocy level of my content.
Can you provide a suggested reading list that avoids idiocy, particularly the user-generated variety?
Librarians
Passive-Aggressive since 1903.
1903? Why then?
Here's a possible catalyst for passive-aggressiveness in librarians starting in 1903:
"The Superintendent of Documents classification system was developed in the Library of the Government Printing Office between 1895 and 1903. It was first described in October 1903 by William Leander Post, then in charge of the Library, in the preface to List of Publications of the Agriculture Department 1862-1902, Department List No. 1, issued by the Superintendent of Documents in 1904."
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/explain.html
1903 is just a funnier year.
If I had said "Passive-Aggressive since 1912." it just wouldn't have had the same amount of yucks.
Face it some years are funnier than others.
Go look it up on Wikipedia and get back to me.
I just found your blog! I'm glad I'm not the only one annoyed...
Umm, AL, don't you think that the very fact that you have a "user-generated" blog will not shield you against stupid user comments?
Let's face it: the Internet has been blogged to death since 2000-something....
and users have become stoopider and stoopider ever since...
Oooh, is that an Oreo? Can I have one? mmmmmm.........
Anonymous 10:06
How about some practical solutions? I have yet to see any. Also, your area is unusual. Literacy rates for kids are pretty low in our neck of the woods. In addition, many major library systems are moving towards operating based on a for-profit model. Look at NYPL.
You may think ageism is good now but I suspect you will be screaming in about 10 years.
Librarians.
More anal retentive than accountants.
**sigh**
anon 10:10 PM (good thing there's only one of us) said: After all, the esteemed writer Jonathan Swift once said, "When an intelligent, truthful man appears, he will be easily identified by the confederacy of dunces arrayed against him."
actually:
“When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.”
—Jonathan Swift, “Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting”
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/623
yours for truth in quotation, citation, et cetera
Hey,
Chalk this one under Library Jobs that suck: I found this on the Faculty of Information Job Site at the University of Toronto (read the part about how to apply). I thought letters of recommendation were needed for grad school - not part time student jobs.
Research Analyst
Managing Creativity (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Job Type
Temporary Part-time (This is a Student Job)
Category
Museum
Description and Duties
I am an independent consultant conducting research for a new Museum scheduled to be opened in 2011 in Toronto. The research focuses on educational programs for both adults and youth that use the Museums collection to educate the public in an interesting and interactive way. The goal is to design exhibits and programs that are self-sustaining and encourage membership, sponsorship, and repeat visits by individuals and families living in and around Toronto and visitors to Toronto also.
The research to be conducted can be broken down into 4 major areas: 1) Understand the behavior of Toronto Museum-going public and compile a list of events going on throughout the year that can be leveraged for partnerships with this Museum. 2) Compile information on programs offered by major Museums in Toronto 3) Compile information on associations, schools/board of education, etc... that the Museum can offer joint programs with or draw from members and individuals to attend its programs All of the above information is to be documented electronically and organized concisely in order to be used in a resulting research paper.
Qualifications
Museum studies student preferred
An interest in Art, Art History, and specifically Islamic Art is preferred
Excellent written and communication skills as well as fluency in English
Experience or education in Art History, Museum studies, or Information Studies
Superior technical attention to detail and strong computer skills
Superior analytical and organization skills
Extremely motivated self starter who takes initiative to get tasks completed accurately and on time with very little direction and supervision; also someone who can think outside the box and determine next steps required to follow a path right to the end when doing research
Naturally inquisitive and resourceful person who can take their detailed analytical work and apply it to real life situations
Compensation
Compensation To be discussed: estimate is for a temporary contract position during the month of August of 10 hours per week. Person must have their own computer with internet access and also be available during business hours 2-3 days a week during the engagement.
Additional Information
Managing Creativity is a sole proprietorship and small consulting firm specializing in research on educational programs for Museums, among other things.
Apply by Email:
rosemunjee@yahoo.com
Application Deadline
July 23, 2008
How to Apply
Please send your CV/Resume to rosemunjee@yahoo.com, along with a copy of your most recent 2 transcripts for full year studies and 2 reference letters - one from a former employer and one from a professor. In addition please include a brief 1 page maximum cover letter indicating your interest in the position and why you feel you would be the best candidate.
Date Posted
Friday, 18 July 2008
If the job sucks, don't apply.
Duh
Sorry, AL, the agenda is no longer yours, and your blog has been hijacked. You couldn't move on to other topics if you wanted. This blog is for whining about porn, gaming, non-retired librarians, jobs that suck, and other topics that have been beaten to death. Every time you introduce something new, it seems to come back to these. I suggest you consider this blog's sustainability. if you're interested in perpetuating these threads, by all means, carry on. If you want to move on, it will take a different venue, I think.
The AL is only angry at the regressives because, well, librarianship is one of the few places where the right wing and the Christianists don't hold sway. I generally feel out of place everywhere else in this country because of the conservative pedigree of the populace.
"librarianship is one of the few places where the right wing and the Christianists don't hold sway. "
You can tell.
Go ask most reference librarians a pointed question and be prepared to get the marxist line.
It used to be librarians were like journalists, objective, but these days they feel the need to put their own spin on things.
Sad.
ou may think ageism is good now but I suspect you will be screaming in about 10 years.
I meant the topic is good, not the concept. Geeesh! And how do know my age?
I meant How do YOU know my age? So please no comments about my typos.
ageism is a good thing
soon as we can cull out the losers under 30, the better the profession will be
What is the "Marxist line"? Is anyone to the left of Barry Goldwater a Marxist? I'm not clear on your terminology.
I always laugh when someone says the French are "socialists." No, they are capitalists who believe the market must be regulated and watched closely so ordinary people (you know, non-billionaires) aren't preyed upon by unscrupulous business interests. Too bad we've forgotten to do that here in the US of A.
Although, as near I understand, this is a dead blog, my vent about user generated idiocy has little to do with blogs, but rather tags. I have yet to encounter a library that allows tags that isn't riddled with idiot headings like "non-fiction," "favorite book," and other nondistinguishing identifiers that help no one and clutter the tag cloud..
re: I have yet to encounter a library that allows tags that isn't riddled with idiot headings like "non-fiction," "favorite book," and other nondistinguishing identifiers that help no one and clutter the tag cloud<<
No single library has enough critical mass to make a local tag cloud meaningful.
For one approach that actually does have traction, take a look at the integration of the Danbury public library with LibraryThing's database. Which does have critical mass.
The problem with anti-twopointopians is they really don't understand what they're complaining about. Then they implement really idiotic ideas like local tagging almost as if to prove it's idiotic. And it is. And then they complain about how it didn't work.
There are people who get this stuff. Not a lot of them frequent this blog, it seems.
And, by the way, that's why this blog is quickly and silently decaying in the backwaters of library blogs.
Whine? Here. Move forward? Not here.
Ha. I think the comments here add to the amusement, and that's why I read this blog: for the AMUSEMENT VALUE. If you take this stuff seriously, you are missing the point(s).
And I'd rather stay anonymous, too; I do use Gmail, so I assume I have a "Google identity" but my address has showed up on too many publicly archived listservs.
And I view the ability to vent occasionally as a good thing. The only problem is keeping it "occasional." Arrgh, summer reading....I could vent about that for two months.
re: I think the comments here add to the amusement, and that's why I read this blog: for the AMUSEMENT VALUE<<
How many porn-in-the-library or jobs-that-suck diatribes with the same-old-same-old tired arguments put forward and argued to near physical exhaustion by the same-old-same-old pundits can you ingest and still find them amusing?
This kind of stuff was mildly amusing a year or two ago, only by virtue of the novelty of it all. It's no longer novel. Time to move on.
Alea iacta est. Libraries will never be again what they once were, nor should they be.
It is true that what libraries used to do is amusing in the context of what the discipline needs to do moving forward to survive.
But I'm guessing that's not what you're getting at.
We'll see if AL decides to continue to humor you with worn cliches and tired discussions.
This martini in my hand reminds me of AL. Cheers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyl9wltqQZ4&feature=related
Listen to Mitchell and Webb re: "Your Comments"
Oh the whining. Lordy! "Nobody's posting anything new...AL's not entertaining enough...old issues..." Good grief! Now wonder I chose this other job vs. putting that MLS to use. I just don't think I could stand the "professional" contemporaries. (Except you AL of course...(huge sucking sound)).
But honestly, why is it that AL is supposed to provide everyone else some entertainment? This is AL's blog to post or do whatever AL chooses. AL is NOT the Entertainment Committee.
Why don't the whiners come up with some entertaining and "new" thoughts themselves? I'll tell you why - they don't know how. The entire entertainment industry is full of re-makes from movies to music and nobody knows how to think for themselves. Since 1980, we have created a generation (or two) of people who are not encouraged to think, dream, or imagine. Most of the books that come out now are crap. Hollywood movie sales are down so low (excpet Batman but that was because everyone wanted to see the dead guy). And our school systems don't encourage students to use their brains. Students are treated like Unix computers: garbage in/garbage out...reiterate what you learned to show you learned it. But did you create? No.
That's where I think libraries ought to stand out. Libraries should ban anything that doesn't promote creativity. No video games, no iPods, no Guitar Hero (gasp!), and yes, no porn - although that does promote creativity I must admit. But then libraries would be even more boring than they are now. A never ending cycle of boredom.
The problem is that we give youth "things" to keep them busy vs. them coming with their own things to do to keep themselves busy. My parents weren't the Entertainment Committee either, but with the onset of entertainment technology (iPods, video games, DVD players in headrests, etc.) today's parents feel some kind of crazed need to keep their children entertained that doesn't involve the parent themselves. When, in fact, that's all that the kids really want. Someone to engage them - not entertain them.
If I had my own library, I would put in a kitchen in it. The kitchen would be walled off with stacks of books on food and cooking. It would be a kitchen that looks like what I had in HomeEc class in Junior High. (HomeEc - short for Home Economics which taught cooking, sewing, cleaning, and other nonsensical skills that the feminist "educators" took out of our schools.) A half dozen stove tops, a fridge, a couple of sinks, etc. And I would hold cooking classes. There is nothing better for creativity than to cook. Libraries as a babysitter? No way! How about a library as a Life Skills Creativity Center? If those kids will be there anyway, why not show them something they can use out of life vs. giving them a video game that will do absolutely no good at all? Oh but wait - that would mean that twopointopians would have to have those skills themselves first. AND they'd have to work, and have real people skills. It probably wouldn't work in 2.0 libraries but it would work in mine.
Maybe I'll put that MLS to use afterall...
webbygirl,
You singlehandedly condemned Other commenters for whining on this blog while at the same time you have just written one of the longest whines on this blog. Good going.
anon 11:42 AM
Yes, [many] users are stupid. Some of 'em don't even know how to spell one of the most famous phrases of the 20th century.
It doesn't help that Web Software routinely censors out the four letter word before the "You." No wonder we don't know how to spell ****.
Anonymous 11:27 AM
ageism is a good thing
soon as we can cull out the losers under 30, the better the profession will be
Ahem, there's a Wise saying: Keep your friends close, and your Enemies closer. Imagine what happens when those idiots you culled out discover the world outside of lIbraries, that wonderful world of Corporate Business Models. When those idiots return to the field with 10 years of business management under their belt and become the library director at your favorite Socialistis mental institution of Choice, you only have yourself to blame when they convert it over to a Capitalist Business Model. Best get them a nice little desk in the corner, where they can do something stupid and mundane...and pays them just enough to keep coming back, but not enough to spread their wings! Promise them jsut enough incentive to keep going, but never give it to them - read "Good as Gold" [Joseph Hellar] for more ideas on how to pin an idiot!
Kat!
Webbygrl:
No video games, no iPods, no Guitar Hero (gasp!), and yes, no porn - although that does promote creativity I must admit.
Porn is necessary to Sap out the only Creative Instinct left in the idiots. Really, if they weren't sititng around stuck on hooking up with models in their fantasy worlds, they would be out on the streets finding real girls and perpetuating their idiocy by making more idiots. Give them their porn and keep them unable to contribute to the gene pool!!!
Webbygrl:
How about a library as a Life Skills Creativity Center?
The only thing more dangerous then an idiot is an Educated idiot...I shudder to imagine the food these people would go an invent, followed by the lawsuits they will conjure up when they burn themselves and their house using the Broiler because all they ever used before that was the microwave oven!
Kat!
WebbyGrl:
Why don't the whiners come up with some entertaining and "new" thoughts themselves? I'll tell you why - they don't know how.
The problem is as old as humanity. The truth of the matter is, it is extremely Hard to come up with something new that hasn't been done even if you live in a vaccum. If you have a thought, chances are, somewhere else someone has already had it. Ever wonder how every good movie Idea you conjure up actually appears on the Silverscreen roughly two years after you have the thought? It's eerie to see oneself on the screen, I admit, and never ever having written a single part of it down. Originality is very Hard to do - and even Harder to Maintain. So if this blog has lost that originalty the readership craves, its not the AL's Fault. It's the Nature of the Beast.
Anonymous 9:26 PM
And, by the way, that's why this blog is quickly and silently decaying in the backwaters of library blogs.
Whine? Here. Move forward? Not here.
This Blog is Not Dying. Novels Don't Die, they End. And this novel is simply experiencing the same great problem all literary devices fall victim to: the Conclusion. And the readers here have been as engrossed with this Novel as Harry Potter fans were with Book 2 or Book 3. Our character has created themselves, filled out the skeleton, and perhaps even experienced that great Personal Development that seems to be so important in Literature. And once the main character has experienced that great Understanding, we all know that the worst is coming up next: the end of the Novel. But we don't want it to end. We LOVE this Novel. But the wine comes in barrels because a reformed, enlightened main character is simply not all that interesting after a while. I mean, hey, how many Dead people did Jesus Ressurect before the Disciples said "Hey man, this trick is getting old, how about some Wine now?" Truth be told, this blog will probably end with the Crucifiction of the AL at the hands of the Readership for simply Not being Original anymore. Natually, that conclusion itself is not Original, and the readership would then whine on about how Passe the AL Novel turned out to be, and reject altogether in the literary Canon.
Afterall, the Character experienced that great Epiphany of life, and then...went nowhere with that epiphany. How...Depressing. I feel so...Disappointed! How COULD THEY!!!!
What can you do except remember and reread the parts you enjoyed and move on?
[hey AL...What's in Store for Book Two? Or Are we on Book Three??]
KAT!
"You singlehandedly condemned Other commenters for whining on this blog while at the same time you have just written one of the longest whines on this blog. Good going" Anon 12:44
Whine? Perhaps. But at least I provided a SUGGESTION of another thought - another way to improve. When employees come to me with a whine, I ask them for a suggestion. I get the "deer in the headlights look". They would rather whine than come up with an alternative that may work. At least I came up with an alternative vs. just bashing someone for posting. Good going.
Can we talk about people hooking up at ALA again? (Am I allowed to use the term "hooking up"?)
"re: I think the comments here add to the amusement, and that's why I read this blog: for the AMUSEMENT VALUE<<
How many porn-in-the-library or jobs-that-suck diatribes with the same-old-same-old tired arguments put forward and argued to near physical exhaustion by the same-old-same-old pundits can you ingest and still find them amusing?
This kind of stuff was mildly amusing a year or two ago, only by virtue of the novelty of it all. It's no longer novel. Time to move on.
Alea iacta est. Libraries will never be again what they once were, nor should they be.
It is true that what libraries used to do is amusing in the context of what the discipline needs to do moving forward to survive."
The subjects covered in this blog would be considered "sinful heresy"
by the folks at ALA, or in parts of academe[L.S.] who have been talking about a "shortage " of librarians for at least three decades in order to keep away from their true calling; sales of used cars or aluminium siding.
Keep sticking it to them, as it will all be nothing but the mindless blather of the flacks at ALA.
The subjects covered in this blog would be considered "sinful heresy"
by the folks at ALA, or in parts of academe[L.S.] who have been talking about a "shortage " of librarians for at least three decades in order to keep away from their true calling; sales of used cars or aluminium siding.
A bit overwrought, don't you think?
Hey, anonymous 8:35, one of the things they actually do teach you in library schools these days is how to use HTML tags. Granted, that only takes a couple of hours and any third grader these days can do it, but there it is. Your post is mostly quotes from other posts, and no one can tell what you are actually trying to say. I think it is very little, but without some cues, it's hard to tell.
Anonymous 9:38 PM said...
Hey, anonymous 8:35, one of the things they actually do teach you in library schools these days is how to use HTML tags. Granted, that only takes a couple of hours and any third grader these days can do it, but there it is. Your post is mostly quotes from other posts, and no one can tell what you are actually trying to say. I think it is very little, but without some cues, it's hard to tell.
I cannot believe you just used that first statement in the manner that you did...Unbelieveable, Incredible, Supifying.
You realize what you just told this person that you cannot keep up with the conversation, and that their own discussion is worthless because they didn't use Tags to make their post all sparkly...and the worse part is, your went and said Masters Schools actually teach you how to put nuts and bolts together...
I wish I could Laugh at your post, but instead I cry, becasue many courses of study include at least one lecture on how to do basic HTML.
Learning HTML is not a Master's School Course of Study!!! NO WONDER THE LIBRARIAN PROFESSION GETS LAUGHED AT IN THE REAL WORLD!!!!!
STOP the Remedial Education Classes in the Masters Program and send these people who need Remedial Education where they belong!
KAT!
We probably have someone from ALA's D.C. office here, commenting
anonymously, on the state of things? Hey, gotta pay the bills somehow, and there's more ways to prostitute yourself than one ;-)
Reading the comments on this blog are at least as much fun as watching John McCain and the apple sauce cans ....
Or tramping across beautiful downtown Anaheim on a hot day....
You realize what you just told this person that you cannot keep up with the conversation, and that their own discussion is worthless because they didn't use Tags to make their post all sparkly...and the worse part is, your went and said Masters Schools actually teach you how to put nuts and bolts together...
I'm almost certain I understood what I was saying, and yeah, that was pretty much exactly the point. If you can't properly attribute someone else's words in a communication and can't use some simple bold and italic html tags to respond to a blog post, you've pretty much flunked library school 101. If I had my druthers, you wouldn't even be admitted.
I did note that third graders can do this and that it takes about 2 hours to bring qualified and competent graduate students up to speed. That's two hours, not two credit hours. It's embarrassing to think that library schools even need to contemplate this, but anon 8:35's posting does offer incontrovertible proof that it is necessary.
Even (especially!) AL has complained about how LIS students should know how to do this.
If you really feel the need to cry, carry on. Yikes.
If there is anyone from ALA on here, is it true that you folks are getting Miley Cyrus, aka "Hannah Montana", for next year's National Library Week poster, with something like "Take a Book To Bed..." as the caption?
Hey 11:52!
It's a Blog, silly!
The perfect medium for the apathetic!
It's a Blog, silly! The perfect medium for the apathetic!
Oh, so close! Just one letter off. Figure out which letter!
You expect someone who's been drinking gin to really care about the finer points of HTML? We must have someone from ALA here.
To quote the phrase of the 21st century..."**** you."
Maybe they'll outsource the HTML here? Then you can get a REAL job that sucks, paid in relation to the Rupee.
--------------------------------
An un-American feel aids expanding US Web firms
NEW YORK (AP) - AOL splashes images of Bollywood celebrities on its new home page for India. MySpace accepts sign-ups from mobile phones in Japan. Google departs from its customarily spartan home page and peppers its Korean site with colorful, animated icons.
As major U.S. Internet companies stake their ground abroad in anticipation of the next billion people coming online - and the advertising revenue they might generate - the flags they are planting aren't the Stars and Stripes.
Companies are trying to expand globally without seeming to, designing market-specific services with customized features that reflect differences in connection speeds, payment options and attitudes toward sex or violence.
The stakes are high as the United States faces a weakening economy and a slowing of online ad growth.
And the opportunities are large. People in two populous countries, India and China, are just getting online. The research firm IDC projects worldwide Internet ad spending at nearly $107 billion in 2011, compared with $65 billion this year.
But getting it right will be tough. American companies that merely translate their U.S.-focused sites into other languages risk losing to homegrown businesses that can better respond to cultural nuances.
Google Inc. (GOOG) (GOOG) discovered that in South Korea and China, where it initially held its minimalist approach, only to see local rivals thrive by acknowledging their users' preference for sites rich with entertainment and visual complexity.
"A lot of times, the U.S. companies, because they were successful in the U.S., they tend to repeat their current business models," said Tian X. Hou, a Pali Research analyst who follows China. "Most of the time, that doesn't work."
Cho Ko-un, 29, a graduate student sitting in a cybercafe in Seoul, South Korea, finds Google good for English and academic research, but local portals like Naver and Daum better for Korean-language information. Naver, for instance, has forums for users to answer one another's questions, which proved helpful when Koreans couldn't find a site in their native tongue.
"I feel amazed and surprised when the exact question I am trying to ask ... the proper answer on that is already uploaded," said Kim Seung-ho, a 32-year-old government employee.
Tom Anderson, co-founder of MySpace, said dominance in one market means nothing as the company expands to nearly 30 other countries and regions. He said local incumbents have a key advantage because "it's difficult to get people to change their behavior."
MySpace is nonetheless trying.
In South Korea, MySpace offers an exclusive "minilog" feature for youths to jot down everyday thoughts and feelings. In mobile-heavy Japan, people can sign up for an account directly from a phone; elsewhere, you need a desktop computer. MySpace tweaked its Chinese site to generate new windows with every click, in deference to local user preferences.
The News Corp. (NWS) (NWS)-owned company also is exploring low-bandwidth versions - perhaps with fewer graphics or less audio - for India and Latin America, where connection speeds tend to be slower.
AOL, meanwhile, has launched about two dozen international sites over the past 18 months. As the one-time Internet access powerhouse transforms itself into an advertising business, executives decided to push into several emerging markets that they knew wouldn't pay off for another few years.
"Our goal is to plant the flag, to be present, said Maneesh Dhir, AOL's India-based international chief. "Then you work to grow that business."
In each market, AOL partners with local content providers.
The Indian portal, for instance, is heavy on Bollywood films, covering their stars as fiercely as American sites follow Lindsay Lohan. Instead of baseball, the Indian portal covers cricket, with schedules, team profiles and an online fantasy game.
AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (TWX) (TWX), also customized its popular AIM instant-messaging service for India and other markets with heavy usage of text messaging on cell phones. Messages sent over AIM are automatically converted into phone texts, and vice versa.
And AOL's channel for men is far edgier in Australia than in Asia or the United States, at one point featuring a photo gallery of a New Zealand rugby game with full frontal nudity.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has more than 80 people worldwide tasked with making sure its products and services do not stereotype, offend local sensibilities or prove irrelevant in a particular culture. Microsoft's instant-messaging product, for example, varies icons and emoticons to reflect flowers, animals and characters popular in each market.
Google has had a different challenge.
With a dearth of Arabic Web sites, Google had to find a way to persuade Arabic speakers that the Web is worth exploring. So it developed a system for automatically translating an Arabic user's search terms into English, checking its English index for matches and translating relevant Web sites back into Arabic for Mideast markets.
To take on China and Korea, where it trails rivals, the normally sparse Google site for those countries now displays icons that jump as users move the mouse. In China, Google also took the much-criticized step of filtering its results to avoid revealing search results blocked by the government.
But Baidu is still the Chinese search leader, thanks to its willingness to add music video and other entertainment features.
"I do think local companies have an edge over international companies because local companies start with Chinese services, whereas international companies have to follow their overarching goal and can't easily adapt to Chinese needs," said Zhu Shuang, 27, who works at a Shanghai wireless technology company, mInfo Ltd.
Like other U.S. companies, Google is finding it cannot afford to ignore emerging markets. This year, Google started getting more than half its revenue abroad.
Analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence said many companies have stepped up international ambitions "to insulate themselves as much as possible" from the weakening U.S. economy.
E-retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and auctioneer eBay Inc. (EBAY) were among the pioneers in expanding abroad, gaining dominance elsewhere over the past decade by buying local companies that knew the markets already, said Anette Schaefer, a Europe-based director at the Yankee Group.
Pali's Hou said Microsoft's MSN also has made inroads in China, thanks to its highly local staff in touch with Chinese affinity for entertainment news.
But expansion hasn't always been smooth. Though strong elsewhere, eBay failed to gain traction in Japan and pulled out in 2002. Among its missteps: It insisted on credit cards in a largely cash-based society. EBay is now re-entering Japan by teaming up with auction leader Yahoo Japan Corp., which itself is Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)'s joint venture with a leading Japanese company, Softbank Corp.
Other companies simply translated their sites, and one site that no longer exists displayed products available only in the United States, making the site feel foreign to locals, said Matthias Caesar, German-based board member for the Globalization and Localization Association, whose members provide language and other consulting services.
U.S. companies do have key advantages. They have technical know-how, financial muscle and global reach. MySpace and Facebook, for example, let friends communicate worldwide, even if each logs on from a locally customized home page.
And oddly, a few U.S. companies have found their social networks more popular abroad, including Google's Orkut in Brazil, AOL's Bebo in Britain and Friendster in the Philippines.
But U.S. companies are often hampered by global codes of conduct.
Take nudity. Many Mideast cultures are averse to displaying women's skin, while Europeans are far more tolerant of public nudity than Americans. A U.S. company trying to impose its standards for user-submitted content elsewhere risks complaints of banning too much or too little, yet it wants uniform policies because the Internet crosses borders.
"Creating a national company is like rocket science," said John Strand of Strand Consulting in Denmark. "But creating an international company is like proton physics."
---
In closing; "How's your Mandarin Chinese?.......NEXT!"
Uh, 12:31, you do know the a href tag do you not? You might also review fair use. And, you might consider whether or not you are saving the reader's time (it's one of those library school things).
To quote the phrase of the 21st century..."**** you."
This might have been more effective had you identified the party to whom your concern was directed.
I suppose as a generic exhortation, it's probably appropriate.
===================================
Anonymous 12:05 said...
It's a Blog, silly! The perfect medium for the apathetic!
Oh, so close! Just one letter off. Figure out which letter!
===================================
Anonymous 12:12 AM said...
To quote the phrase of the 21st century..."**** you."
===================================
Is that better, Pollyanne?
Someone from ALA on here, swilling gin, no doubt. It's just a BLOG.
A NOVEL IDEA
Thinking about a plot that's a cross of these assorted AL blogs, crossed with the plot of the film, "All About Eve" and set at an ALA annual conference. Would have some great scenes with martini swilling librarians.
WARNING: THREAD HIJACK!
Just to illustrate how bad a job the ALA D.C. Branch does it's job,
what could American's libraries do with the same money? [or was the money better wasted by graft in Iraq?]
---------------------------
Audit finds millions wasted in Iraq reconstruction contract
Published Date: July 28, 2008
WASHINGTON: Millions of dollars were likely wasted on a 900 million dollar army contract to build courthouses, prisons, police and other security facilities in Iraq, an audit to be released Monday has found. The audit by the congressionally appointed Special Inspector General for Iraq, Stuart Bowen, found that the contractor, Parsons Delaware Inc, completed only about a third of 53 planned construction projects. "Although the failure to complete some of the work is understandable because of its complex nat
ure and the unstable security environment in Iraq, millions of dollars in waste are likely associated with incomplete, terminated and abandoned projects under this contract," the audit report said.
The contract was one of a dozen design-build construction contracts awarded by the army in 2004 to restore Iraq's infrastructure in broad areas such as security and justice, water, oil, electricity and transportation. Parsons was supposed to build police and civil defense training areas, two prisons, two courthouses, fire stations, and border control facilities. The report said more than 142 million dollars, or nearly 43 percent of the funds disbursed so far, "were spent on projects that were either termin
ated or cancelled, although a number of the projects were subsequently completed.
Repeated construction delays prompted the government to cancel the construction of two partially built prisons, one at An Nasariyah and the other at Kahn Bani Sa'ad, the audit said. The An Nasiriyah prison was later completed by another contractor, but the facility at Kahn Bani Sa'ad was turned over half finished to the Iraqi government which has no plans to use it, the audit said. It said about 40 million dollars has been spent on the Kahn Bani Sa'ad prison. "At this point the entire amount disbursed for
this project may ultimately be wasted because the government of Iraq currently has no plans for completing or using this facility," the audit said. The audit said there were "significant weaknesses" in the government's oversight of the contract, which created "an environment that was conducive to waste and inefficiency."
Dear AL;
Look up ANNOYED LIBRARIAN on the new search engine Cuil.com and give us your sage opinion. This ought to be good for something fresh to comment about ;-)
Look up ANNOYED LIBRARIAN on the new search engine Cuil.com and give us your sage opinion.
My opinion, sage or not, is that this search engine needs a lot of work. We'll see what happens but as far as working, right now it really doesn't. I can't imagine using it for anything in its present state.
Come. Your glass is empty. Fill and forget
Yeah, yeah. Virtual martinis. Gee, I can feel the buzz. Woo hoo.
No more librarians serving us our life in little glasses!
We drink life straight from the fountain...
That is pouring like an Avalanche…
Coming down the mountain!!!!
Sorry, Couldn’t resist!
I will have nightmares tonight about that movie "Idiocracy" with Luke Wilson in it. The future America. Bright as ever.
Cuil is highly repetitive, and the talk about something close to $40 Million in "venture capital" going into it make me think of the Drew Carey Show episodes where Drew and others are working for some internet start-up during the dot com bubble. These folks will either clean it up or it will become a monument to twopointopia, sort of like the abandoned Iraqi prison that cost a like amount of money. It's interesting to see the comments about AL in this digital hall of mirrors. Sort of has a "fun-house" effect if you look at several pages repeating the same articles off different, and sometimes incongruous, websites. There was a photo of someone on one page, but I wonder if it's of AL. It was too busy when I looked and the site had gotten "too hot" to handle other queries. I wonder if one of the sites said "Buy Annoyed Librarian here!" or not? If so, I wonder at AL's reaction to being sold alongside lawnmowers, tires, and the best deal on a "low interest home loan", or life insurance?
This is my favorite off Cuil.com;
analysts at several firms were heard to be very positive about Annoyed Librarian and its recent performance. Its share price rose from B$91,015.46 to B$131,972.41. Much of the hype was said to originate from twenty-threes whose Europa (artefact) was said to be involved.
twenty-threes : http://blogshares.com/user.php?id=21655
PRID# 2683703 / Posted: 19:16 28 Jun 2008
--------------
Over to the side of this fantasy stock exchange, in a sidebar, they're selling junk penny stocks.
tunes.com - best careers
Annoyed Librarian: Best Careers of 2008You may have heard by now that Librarian made the U.S. News list of &Best 2008.& The summary of Librarian begins where you would expect it to: . Top Jobs 2006 | Fast CompanyFinding your dream job can be a real nightmare. Career counselors suggest following your passion, and...
blog.kp.ruzz.tunes.com/search/best%...
When is the Annoyed Librarian going to start getting venture capital?
$40 million will buy a lot of high quality martoonies.
VOIGHT: My concerns for America
Obama sowing socialist seeds in young people
Monday, July 28, 2008
Actor Jon Voight. Associated Press.
OP-ED
We, as parents, are well aware of the importance of our teachers who teach and program our children. We also know how important it is for our children to play with good-thinking children growing up.
Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset.
The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.
The Democrats have targeted young people, knowing how easy it is to bring forth whatever is needed to program their minds. I know this process well. I was caught up in the hysteria during the Vietnam era, which was brought about through Marxist propaganda underlying the so-called peace movement. The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away.
Those same leaders who were in the streets in the '60s are very powerful today in their work to bring down the Iraq war and to attack our president, and they have found their way into our schools. William Ayers is a good example of that.
Thank God, today, we have a strong generation of young soldiers who know exactly who they are and what they must do to protect our freedom and our democracy. And we have the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, who has brought hope and stability to Iraq and prevented the terrorists from establishing a base in that country. Our soldiers are lifting us to an example of patriotism at a time when we've almost forgotten who we are and what is at stake.
If Mr. Obama had his way, he would have pulled our troops from Iraq years ago and initiated an unprecedented bloodbath, turning over that country to the barbarianism of our enemies. With what he has openly stated about his plans for our military, and his lack of understanding about the true nature of our enemies, there's not a cell in my body that can accept the idea that Mr. Obama can keep us safe from the terrorists around the world, and from Iran, which is making great strides toward getting the atomic bomb. And while a misleading portrait of Mr. Obama is being perpetrated by a media controlled by the Democrats, the Obama camp has sent out people to attack the greatness of Sen. John McCain, whose suffering and courage in a Hanoi prison camp is an American legend.
Gen. Wesley Clark, who himself has shame upon him, having been relieved of his command, has done their bidding and become a lying fool in his need to demean a fellow soldier and a true hero.
This is a perilous time, and more than ever, the world needs a united and strong America. If, God forbid, we live to see Mr. Obama president, we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way.
Jon Voight is an Academy Award-winning actor who is well-known for his humanitarian work.
One-off pure unadulterated spam. The AL blog is truly dead. I hope s/he can get something for the URL.
I would think the AL has already gotten something out of the URL.
Singlehandedly? this entity has pulled off the Number one read Library Blog in the world. Or the county. Or at least, it's very highly ranked by readership volume.
I wonder if www.alexa.com can shed some insight into this matter?
Drat...no data...but there was this much:
Overview| Rank: 1,059,059|Linking In: 25|Related Links
But anyhow, that is a noteable achievement by itself. Just how many blogs fester away while this one...reaches the top and now prepares the descent towards posterity? To be ranked nearly at the bottom of a million websites, and with only 188k in material...that's not too bad...that's not too bad!
Turn out the lights
The party’s over
They say that
All good things must end
Call it tonight
The party’s over
And tomorrow starts
The same old thing again
I hear you 100%. I've spent the past several years learning server side data architecture so I could(and have as of recently) build a community website of my own.
The catch is : I AM HANDING OUT USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY ONLY!!!!!
no random idiots. If anything comes out idiotic(and it will) I can warn the person with integrity(- I'll probably be the first culprit so I can eventually feel remorse for my idiotic behavior on my own website).
I am NOT enthusiastic on twopointoh. I was a web person before twopointoh. There is no such thing.
When rock music went mainstream decades ago, did someone step up and call it : music 2.0? No. There is no such thing as web 2.0. and now library 2.0? Please.
The catch is : I AM HANDING OUT USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY ONLY!!!!!
no random idiots.
So, your family and friends are not random, they are pointed and on-topic idiots?
Now that is a 2.0 idea.
Twopointopians. User generated idiocy. Honey, you don't know the half of it. I'm a pissed off, middle-aged librarian at a community college library. I can tell you that our average student here in Grade Thirteen is barely literate. They need library instruction to teach them some freakin' LIFE SKILLS, damnit: How to be informed citizens, informed consumers, informed taxpayers and voters, something PRACTICAL, for God's sake. The last thing these kids need is to learn more time wasters like MySpace and Second Life. This generation is going to hell in a bucket. No canoe, no paddle. It's been one of those days, can you tell? Shot of whiskey, and leave the bottle.
So, your family and friends are not random, they are pointed and on-topic idiots?
Now that is a 2.0 idea.
in all honestly most of my family is not web savvy and apparently they prefer to keep it that way.
There are alot of internet people that know the nature of insulting(flaming) thru the web, arguing thru the web, an anology to the special olympics? 2.0 idea indeed. A pitfall i.m.o.
So let me add : every single person in my family is a genius. and all my friends are genius. And obviously, not random. With this declaration I am proudly exercising the POWER of wiki2.0 web nettics(lying anonymously). Read me Roar : Duh.
I prefer real life and real people when interaction is necessary. The web and the technology is made to be a supplemental thing, not a primary thing. I remain 2.0 skeptical.
Anyone remember the star trek episode : Court Marshall? Hey when there's no more books around we can learn by tv or internet.
RE amusement value: if I find it unamusing, I skip it. That's why I don't get listserv digests-I can delete the stuff with topics I don't need/want to read.
Creativity: My library branch is offering a role-playing game, and it is being played by kids from 8 to teen. Old-fashioned roleplaying - pen and pencil, and using your imagination to respond to the scenario. The response has been encouraging, most of these kids have followed the game for several months.
And the need for life skills: I hear ya, I see these loser kids practically every day. You can't fault the schools, because they are stuck with Teaching To The Test. It is NOT their job to teach the kids how to wipe their noses, that is the parent's job. Yeah, the same idiot parents I see doing Junior's research for them because they are "too busy" with sports or other extracurricular to do their own homework. So they don't know how to look anything up -- and I suspect Mommy is writing their paper for them, too.
Use the delete key!!!
You have the power to decide what will be on your blog! You do not have to put up with nonsense. Period!
You should put a disclaimer on your site that let's people know you will not tolerate certain behaviors and follow through on it.
As for other sites you don't have to read all the comments, only the ones that interest you. Don't forget there are a lot of sites worth looking at out there. Try something a little less commercial or less known.
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