Head Tale

I may have mentioned before that the person I'm replacing at work is a member of ALA and, since he had his subscription to their e-mail newsletter, “American Libraries Direct”, coming to his work e-mail address, it's been forwarded to me for the past year. 

I don't get to look at every issue but have been very impressed with the ones I have read.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's one of my favourite e-newsletters that I've ever subscribed to happened to have land in my in-box – a nice mix of topics, a section specifically for library-related technology news, a very intuitive layout, nice use of photos. 

I'm trying to minimize the number of association memberships I buy (currently, only CLA and Sask Library Association) but might have to consider an ALA membership just to get this newsletter when I move on.  (Hmm, how does this auto forward feature work in Outlook again? )

I glanced through a couple of the most recent issues and here are some things I came across (as well as a few other articles/stories/posts I have come across that make a good fit for a “housecleaning” post like this one)…


“10 Great Libraries” – chosen by Nancy Pearl of Librarian Action Hero figure fame. 


“20 Things To Watch” (PDF) – Stephen Abram in prognosticator mode.  (On that note, I still have a $75 CLA gift certificate from getting runner-up in their student essay contest last year.  I have to use it by the end of this month and Stephen Abram's book is one thing I'm looking at.  Any other suggestions?) 

“Amazon's Cookie Tax” – does Amazon charge different prices based on the previous buying history attached to your membership?  MetaFilter discussion covers

“From Static to Dynamic” – a science library makes the long overdue move from static HTML pages to a dynamic CMS.  Here's the blow-by-blow of the process, the hurdles and the outcome. 

“Visting the Most Modern Library in the World” – the Shifted Librarian visits a library in Holland someone jokingly calls “an IKEAbrary” in the comments (and they mean it in a good way.)

“You Call It Being A Professional, We Call It Being An Asshat”
– a fairly opinionated discussion (no, really?  With a title like
that?) about the librarian vs. paraprofessional issue and what to call
each other (apparently “asshat”.)