I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the reasons I took this job over another one that a) paid better and b) was a permanent full-time position was because Southeast Regional Library is the rural system I grew up with and which still oversees my hometown branch.
What I didn't know when I took the job that one of the big assignments I would be given would take me to (and through) Indian Head on a regular basis (probably half a dozen trips to the area so far in the six months I've been working.) That's where I was tonight and that's where I'll be again tomorrow night.
It's a lot of miles on the road but nice to be covering familiar terrain.
(And if I can figure out how to get the pictures off the camera phone I was issued, I'll post pictures of the rollover I came across tonight. Nobody was in the vehicle by the time I got there and there was no indication that anybody had been injured either luckily.)
“Google has officially
launched the missing piece in Google’s online office suite: Presently,
a presentation product that competes directly with Microsoft PowerPoint.” (via TechCrunch)
I had an appointment with a specialist last week and during the course of it, he asked me about a procedure I'd had over ten years ago. Being so long ago, I couldn't remember some of the important details such as what the exact sequence of events leading to me having this procedure was or who were some of the doctors who'd seen me when the issue was discovered.
(I hasten to add, this isn't anything serious or life-threatening. Just a specialist doing a good job of being thorough and ensuring that nothing's changed significantly in the intervening years.)
Anyhow, that got me thinking about a question I've often asked myself in the past, when I've gone to my doctor here or especially when I moved provinces and had to see new doctors – namely, why don't we have a national online database of our health records?
I know, I know – security would be a HUGE issue as would the cost to set it up initially. But in a world where we do something as sensitive as our banking online, is it much of a leap to have our complete medical history available? (Okay, I admit – if someone gets into your bank account, they probably can't do a lot of mischief and after you set-up a new credit card and account, I assume you're good to go. But if a hacker gets in and finds out you have a heart condition or mental health issues or AIDS, that's something a phone call won't change.)
Still, I can't help but think that the advantages of a system like this would greatly outweigh the potential negatives, especially once it was up and running and the initial resistance (which is inevitable) was overcome. If it was highly secure (like bank security times a million) with double-locks – maybe everytime you went to the doctor/dentist/optometrist or whoever, both you and they had to log-in to record the session? Or only doctors you authorize could browse your record?
Pros – easy transfer of patient information as they move between both doctors and geographic locations – provides a comprehensive history in one place – part of your medical history isn't in one office, another part somewhere else and yet another part – would allow remote access by specialists and others without the need for expensive and time-consuming photocopying/faxing – highly accurate statistics could be pulled anonymously for various diseases, populations, age groups, regions and so on. – data would be more secure in the sense that a patient's records would be stored off-site (and likely backed up constantly somewhere else.) This could be a cost-saving for doctors who no longer need to store massive amounts of information in their offices.
Cons – security of the information would be a massive concern. A project like this might even attract hackers eager to test their skills. – the system would have to be incredibly robust to be able to record the range of info that a doctor can quickly record with pen and paper – not just written notes but sketches, diagrams, etc. – the cost, especially of setting up such a system would be huge as would ongoing maintenance/upgrading. Does every doctor's office have to buy a special computer? Hire new staff to do the entry? – health is a provincial responsibility but this would have to be a federal initiative to be successful. Not sure on how the politics of the Canada Health Act work but it would mean every provincial health minister would have to sign-on.
I don't know – it's a massive idea but so was the idea of universal health care in the first place. And that turned out pretty good!
Okay, from the useless celebrity gossip world (of which we are all guilty adherents, I'm sure), the car crash that was Britney Spears' “performance” at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this week is grabbing a lot of attention.
If I had a bit more time, I'd do this mash-up properly but for now, you can enjoy a fairly funny juxtaposition – an MP3 of a Travis cover of the song that launched Brit's career against a video of the VMA meltdown.
For this to work properly, 1. click “play” on the video below and pause at 45 seconds, muting the sound in the YouTube player (note: it is very likely the clip be removed from YouTube soon since all other earlier versions of the same clip have been so if you're going to try this, don't wait.)
2. open this link in a new tab and let it play past the introductory remarks, clicking back to the YouTube tab before the singing starts.
3. click play on the YouTube video so the video clip and the performance of the song start at roughly the same time.
I think this has been active for awhile but has just officially launched. It's a comprehensive, cross-Canada library job board sponsored by The Partnership, which is a coalition of provincial library associations who work together on a variety of joint projects. The job board allows you to search for postings, or, if you're an employer, post them.
You can sign up to receive jobs as they're posted but this doesn't make up for the site's most glaring weakness – the lack of an RSS feed which is all but inexcusable in this day and age.
Still, when I was looking for work earlier this year, I was monitoring about four different job boards (and that's when I was just looking for positions in Saskatchewan!) including the Sask Library Association's, the CLA's, the Foothills Library Association and the Regina Public Library Careers page. So having a central spot where (hopefully) all positions that are available will be posted is a great step forward.
CKUA is one of Canada's oldest, coolest and best independent radio stations. And they're currently looking for a librarian. If you're into music of all kinds and/or interested in media librarianship, I can't think of a better job in all of Canada.
