Reading History Backwards – a blogger decides to read history, one year at a time, starting with the current year and working his way back by reading the one defining book of each year's major news event. This column covers the 1990's.
[Edit: compare and contrast the Top 25 list with another list of “Favourite Library Bloggers” – that subtle distinction creates a quite different list.]
Other bands and artists have hinted at this model but nobody on the level of Radiohead has gone this far. Their new album, “In Rainbows” will be released on October 10 using a “Pay What You Want” model for those who download it digitally.
Says one commentator on Reddit:
“I can't stand Radiohead's music, but I'm going to drop $15 on this
album just to provide incentive for the rest of the industry to adopt
this model. Even though I don't like their music itself, it's hard to
dispute that taking on a risk like this is a HUGE contribution to music
in general.”
In semi-related news, Amazon has started a new service called AmazonMP3 which is similar to iTunes except that they're selling DRM-free music. Their selection is pretty decent so far and although I haven't tried it yet, it's almost enough to make a guy start paying for music again!
Today marks the six month anniversary of me starting at Southeast Regional Library. It's hard to believe how time is flying – I think any job tends to go faster, the longer you're there and the more comfortable you get but this one, mixed with the new baby which also helps to make time pretty much meaningless, is really flying.
I had my six month performance review on Thursday and I didn't get fired so that's good! In all seriousness, they're pretty happy with me which is always nice to hear. Like anyone, I have my weaknesses and if you knew me at FIMS, I'm sure you can guess what a couple of those areas for improvement are!
It's amazing to think of how much I've learned in the last six months. Someday (maybe when I'm done this contract), I'm ruminate on this further.
One thing that's been in my head the last few weeks – my letter of offer mentioned that I would be spending 2-3 days on the road but the first few months saw me thinking “really?” But the last few weeks have more than made up for that – I've probably traveled 1500 km in the last two weeks alone.
What else? I was trying to think of a list to commemorate this special occasion and I was able to come up with two:
The Five Most Helpful Things I Learned In Library School That Actually Help in the “Real” World 1. How to Juggle Multiple Assignments and Tasks Successfully
2. Advocacy Class
3. Collection Development Class
4. I'm really glad I got at least a little exposure to library layout and design in the “Management of Special Libraries” class, especially since I ended up in a rural system with 48 branches that are in all shapes and sizes of buildings including everything from stand-alone buildings to one that's connected to the town laundromat! Since I started, three branches have undergone or are undergoing a move to new space so this training has come in very handy!
5. Who to ask to get the answers I need (and not to be afraid to ask people for those answers.)
Five Things I Wish I Had Learned 1. It's always hard to admit when you're wrong but I wish I'd taken more management classes and not poo-pooed the idea of “management theory” as strongly as I did (although if you were in 506 with me, you know why I was so resistant!)
2. On a related note, it would've been good to get more training about the different aspects of working in a unionized library environment – both pro and con.
3. How To Make Tough Decisions. This is probably something that comes with experience more than being taught but I wish, even in a theoretical framework, we did more scenarios about some of the tough decisions you'll face as a working librarian. For me, in six short months, this has covered everything from the possibility of branch closures to handling patron suspensions to staff discipline to navigating municipal politics and even bigger issues than any of the examples I listed.
4. This doesn't directly apply to me (right now) since I did end up finding work eventually. But recent conversations with a variety of classmates have illustrated just how tight the job market is for new grads. I don't think that would've changed my decision to take an 18-month contract over a full-time permanent position I was offered but I admit that I did buy into the “old boomer librarians will be retiring in droves” line and the knowledge that this isn't necessarily so does have me thinking about where I might end up next earlier than I thought I would.
5. Librarians don't sit in an office somewhere reading the latest bestsellers for eight hours a day and mulling over their potential significance to society. I really wish somebody had told me that!
I'd seen the one with the British cell phone salesman singing opera before and it's definitely worth checking out (although admittedly, the editing goes a long way to increasing the impact – the intro clip of the sad sack-looking guy, crowd reaction shots, judge reaction shots.)
In other news from people I used to know, Brandon Manitoba will be home to a new book and writer festival later this year and Corey Redekop's “Shelf Monkey” has been selected as the book that everybody in Brandon is being asked to read. How cool is that?
I mentioned in an earlier post that Bloglines isn't reading the RSS feed for this blog for some reason (and hasn't for some time apparently.)
I sent them a complaint and they basically said “we're working on it”. A couple readers also sent in complaints to Bloglines with no results. No other news but I wanted to update as a different reader recently mentioned she's having this problem too.
So it's a crappy solution but my best idea is that you should either start using a different RSS reader (I use NetVibes and Google Reader is quite popular too) or <gasp> remember to check this site manually. (How very 2002 of me! )
This is a wicked version of an awesome song (even the drunk guys singing in the audience don't ruin it – actually, they sort of add to the anthemic feel.)
And I never really caught the power of James Dean Bradfield's voice until hearing him do acoustic versions of some Manic songs. (Thanks intrawebs!)
An annual survey provides a snapshot of the world of library bloggers. I don't think I filled this out when the call for responses went out so here are my responses:
1. Male 2. 31-40 years old 3. Western Canada (survey methodology – she lists “Eastern, Western and Middle of” as choices for Canada. I know there are readers out there who will swear up and down I live in the middle of Canada but I personally consider myself a western Canadian.) 4. Live in small urban area (again, no definitions provided so it's up to the respondent's interpretation) 5. Have my MLIS 6. Don't have any other advanced degree 7. Received MLIS between 31-40 8. Work in a medium public library serving 40 000-99 000 (although this is misleading because this is the sum total of the population I serve. In reality, my largest branch is ~3000 people.) 9. Nothing they listed really fits what I do as my “job” as I do a whole range of things from collection development to building inspections to government advocacy. “Management” would probably be the best umbrella term for everything I do I guess. 10. Have been working less than one year 11. Yes, I am the direct supervisor of others.
My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are expecting their first child later this year. So tonight, they got a new digital camera as a baby gift from his parents. Here's a sample:
Reading History Backwards – a blogger decides to read history, one year at a time, starting with the current year and working his way back by reading the one defining book of each year's major news event. This column covers the 1990's. 
) 
