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Corb Lund Band – London, ON

Corb Lund is a great country-rock/roots singer in
the tradition of Hank Williams and Steve Earle.  His web site has some audio and video samples (check out “Hurtin' Albertan” for “Time To Switch To Whiskey” for a couple of my own personal favourite songs.)

A bunch of his shows
out west are sold out but you can see him here in London in a less
crowded venue and for less than tickets on the prairies cost.  

Here's the details:



Sep 17, 06     London, ON     Cowboys Ranch     With guests Elliott Brood. 60
Wharncliffe Rd. N. Info line (519) 679-0101. Tickets $17.50 available
Speed City Records and at www.ticketmaster.ca 
(Didn't say on his web site but doors are likely at 8pm.)


Shea and I will likely pick up our tickets at Speed City Records
sometime this week.
Let me know if you're planning to attend!

Posted 12 September 2006 § Main Page § PopCulture ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged:

9/11 Five Years Later

Woke up at 8am today to watch the real-time video stream of CNN's coverage from five years ago that they're showing all day today. 

Here's my own real-time coverage, a chat I had that morning with the person who took over from me at the Sask Publishers Group (which is why she's “Jason” on the chat transcript.  I'm “Hamm” at my home computer).  I'd just been hired by the Writers Guild of Alberta in Calgary, had done a couple days of training but wasn't scheduled to go into the office that day.  Shea and I were woken by a phone call from Shea's mom telling us to turn on the TV.  From only hearing one side of the conversation, I honestly thought there had been some sort of nuclear attack in the US.  Re-reading this chat transcript, it's crazy to see the desperation, speculation and confusion that everyone felt in that day.  Quick guide: Brenda is the SPG boss, Lascha is the other employee, Eric works for the Sask Writers Guild across the hall, Judith and Caroline work for the Sask Library Association, also across the hall.  Oh, and sorry for the formatting and random line breaks – I tired to clean it up as best I could. 

—
Jason @    9/11/01  9:27 AM  Have you heard?
                                  the World Trade Center is gone…

Hamm       9/11/01  9:28 AM  yeah, shea's mom called and we're watching the news now…frightening, sad stuff.

Jason @    9/11/01  9:35 AM  really. I have family in Boston. I guess Randy (Lascha's Randy) is from Denver,
and he's got family out there too…I'm freaked out that George W is going to completely fly off the handle…
                                 
Hamm       9/11/01  9:37 AM  that's what shea and i are debating – what a f'ing idiot to have in charge at the time.  i
HOPE the US Gov't shows some sense and restraint before they go launching nukes at the first country that looks guilty.  the news has been good for reminding people that after oklahoma, everyone said “Iraq!  Middle East!  Foreign Terrorist!” and it turned out to be a  disgruntled American

Jason @    9/11/01  9:39 AM  I found a page on MSNBC (the only news report  I could get online) that quoted George W as saying “I will hunt down the folks that did
this…” Good point about Oklahoma…but I'm  not sure
that American Terrorists would co-ordinate such a huge attack…four crashes so far, and two lost…
                                 
Hamm       9/11/01  9:40 AM  the latest word is that the “Palestine Liberation Front” is claiming responsibility.

Jason @    9/11/01  9:40 AM  They've also bombed Camp David in Jerusalem.

Hamm       9/11/01  9:41 AM  how are you guys tracking this – radio?  Net?  (I'm having trouble getting through to all the major news sites)

Jason @    9/11/01  9:41 AM  Well, sort of…the Palestinians claimed responsibility and then took it back…but the fact that someone got Camp David is a pretty big checkmark on their side, I think.

Jason @    9/11/01  10:02 AM cnn is up again – they're on lite. http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/worldtrade.crsh/story.html
We're listening to cbc radio .

Jason @    9/11/01  10:02 AM you can get some streaming video, maybe audio from bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/video/now3.ram

Hamm       9/11/01  10:03 AM i'm actually at The Australian newspaper right now – it's fast loading and also has a
 slightly different perspective from most of the US/Canada coverage. 

Jason @    9/11/01  10:03 AM url?

Jason @    9/11/01  10:04 AM The Americans still can't find two planes…
                                 
Hamm       9/11/01  10:04 AM www.theaustralian.news.com.au

Hamm       9/11/01  10:06 AM i heard one was missing – two now.  jesus. they're focussing on NY and a bit of pentagon. heard anything about the pittsburg  one?  I
heard it was en route from newark to san fran,  maybe possibly just a coincidence crash  (unlikely), maybe a pilot grounded the plane  when he realised what was happening. 

Jason @    9/11/01  10:07 AM From CBC, one reporter said something about the Pittsburgh airplane being *shot down* because it wouldn't land.
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  10:07 AM from CNN:
United Airlines Flight 93 airliner headed from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed near Somerset, Pennsylvania — police said initial reports indicated no survivors. It was not known if this was connected to the attacks. United also said it was “deeply concerned” about Flight l75 from Boston to Los Angeles
                               
Jason @    9/11/01  10:08 AM The two planes that are missing – one is en route to Los Angeles, and there is some concern that George W Bush's hometown is targeted, too.They're evacuating Parliament Hill and 23
 Sussex, although I can't imagine why on earth anyone would target Jean Chretien.

Hamm       9/11/01  10:09 AM the people on TV just keep comparing it to movies, “it's like independence day” etc.
it's so unreal.  have you seen any streaming video of the actual scene?  billowing clouds of smoke across NY, they're constantly repeating the two buildings with holes in
them, a plane hitting one of them, the one tower collapsing.  unreal. surreal.

Jason @    9/11/01  10:10 AM nope – can't actually get any streaming video…just audio. Surreal doesn't even begin to cover it. “It is now believed a fourth hijacked plane is headinhg towards Washington and that fighter jets have been scrambled.” from your Australian site – interesting.

Hamm       9/11/01  10:12 AM thanks for the laugh about jean – i needed that.  shea's mom warned us not to go downtown  today.  i don't think cowtown is a target but why take chances – i mean, we've got the high
est US population in Canada…

Hamm       9/11/01  10:13 AM are you guys all huddled in my office around the radio?  what's the word on the other side – eric sent a dispatch that he was aware of what's going on but judith just sent me a job posting for the sla web site as if nothing's happened.  does she know?

Jason @    9/11/01  10:20 AM Caroline knows, don't know about Judith.  Haven't talked to the other guys yet.  We have been huddled in the office; I absconded with Lascha's radio b/c i couldn't find streaming audio/video.
Brenda is convinced it's an inside job… As for Cowtown being a target, I don't think that any terrorists know that there are any cities in Canada other than Toronto, so you're probably safe.  Besides, the Americans who live in Calgary are probably too literate to target.  You and Shea should be fine.

Hamm       9/11/01  10:21 AM yeah…i think so.  all the flights are being rerouted to TO.  I hope they can handle the influx of people. 

Jason @    9/11/01  10:22 AM Plane went down in Chicago, but nobody's talking about it.  I'm guessing that LA is next, like Lascha says. Saskatoon airports are preparing to take on overflow traffic….

Hamm       9/11/01  10:36 AM here's one for you:
                                  http://www.haaretzdaily.com/

Jason @    9/11/01  10:36 AM <sigh>
freaky Nostradamus people are quoting “a bird of fire will strike the new city and cause the last great war” great.

Jason @    9/11/01  10:39 AM Here are som streaming reports. Not much but could be something…
http://www.ananova.com/video/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/video/now3.ram
http://www.sky.com/skynews/home
http://www.times.com/

Jason @    9/11/01  10:40 AM I can't pull up the haartez page…it quits loading halfway through…probably too much
traffic…

Hamm       9/11/01  10:41 AM it actually doesn't have much different info on the main story but there's a bit about
Palestinians celebrating the attack on the US that I haven't heard/seen much about yet.

Hamm       9/11/01  10:42 AM While Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the attacks which levelled the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New  York City and struck the Pentagon in Washington, hundreds of Palestinians distributed sweets in Nablus.
“I feel I am in a dream. I never believed that one day the United States would come to pay a price for its support to Israel,” said Mustafa, a 24-year-old Palestinian gunman.
Several dozen Palestinian youths gathered in East Jerusalem to celebrate as well, honking out wedding tunes on their car horns.  “We are so happy that America was hit. America is against us in supporting Israel,” Suleiman, one of the demonstrators, said.  In Nablus, motorists honked their horns and gunmen fired into the air from assault rifles
to cheer on the attacks which unfolded in the space of a few hours.

Jason @    9/11/01  10:42 AM well, that's not surprising.  I think they still have parties celebrating the attack on Pearl Harbour…everyone knows there's no love lost btwn Palestinians and America.

Hamm       9/11/01  10:44 AM there's a former American Airlines pilot on Newsworld right now going through  the
procedure for a highjacking. can't help but visualize a bunch of future terrorists madly scribbling “Oh, code 7077 gets sent to the tower in an emergency.  thanks for the tip,
bud!”

Jason @    9/11/01  10:46 AM no doubt. That's like all the little kids watching hungrily all of the movies about “how to be a junkie in 10 easy steps”. Lascha and I were talking about how this sounds like something that was planted 25
years ago…planned for decades…to be an apparent “inside job”…

Hamm       9/11/01  10:49 AM shea just said this is exactly what they thought was going to happen on Dec. 31/99 –
chaos, shutdown, terrorism, anarchy

Jason @    9/11/01  10:51 AM I figured it would be sometime in 2000.  My biggest fear is a) what the hell was in those bombs that exploded?  There are so many organisations with biological weapons…
b) how far are we from the nuclear fallout zone?

Hamm       9/11/01  10:52 AM the cdc team has been scrambled in atlanta too.  that's what no one knows – is this a singular “statement” or just the beginning of something bigger, worse.  God, I spent the 80's in fear of nuclear war, i thought that was over (or dormant at least)

Jason @    9/11/01  10:55 AM I spent the 80's in fear of nuclear war too…my mother used to shake her head and
tell me “nobody would be stupid enough to destroy the entire world”, and I would always think, “the Americans are….” I have always lived in fear of war of any kind…my grandfather liberated Bergen Belsen in WWII, so it's a topic pretty close to my conscience.And considering what's *at* the CDC, they'd better be using the “new steel” as their structural elements…why don't they just set all of that stuff on fire, I wonder?  all of their research is documented…they should just destroy the stuff that will kill
us…like the ebola thing…
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  11:02 AM all airports in the country have been shut down…that is so freaky.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:02 AM …and why is it that when something this unreal happens, I start talking like i did in
the 80s? makes me want to talk to some of the people
who were around for Pearl Harbour…

Hamm       9/11/01  11:05 AM the difference of course, is in the instantaneous nature of communication.  that's
why i'm not completely responsive to all your im's – i'm surfing 50 TV channels going, phone calls from relatives and friends, e-mail conversations, ICQ partners – all trying to make some sense and continually updating my info… 
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  11:06 AM yup. puts a bit of a kaibosh on propaganda…one would hope.
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  11:13 AM Pres. Bush is making a statement: met with reporters in Louisiana “US has taken all appropriate security measures…US will hunt down and punish all those responsible for this incident…Military is called out”  CBC – he's talking now.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:17 AM “This is going to have a nasty snowball effect if they don't calm down” – Lascha

Hamm       9/11/01  11:17 AM i hope there i
s a SERIOUS backlash against that idiot.  not just “oh, look how dumb our leader is”.  and there should be a serious reassessment of American values and priorities.  But are Americans capable of such self-criticism?  I mean, bush didn't cause this and it's been a long time coming.  but
what a guy to have in charge at a time like this.  a texan who takes pride in killing more of his citizens than any other state by a LONG shot.  jesus!

Hamm       9/11/01  11:18 AM “a stunning failure of intelligence at the highest level” is brokaw's latest pertient
observation.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:23 AM <snicker>
I think he was referring to the CIA, and didn't realise exactly what he meant. The plane from Boston to LA has crashed, but they haven't identified the location, they say. You know, I don't think they *will* criticise Bush.  Americans are such blind followers that I'm sure more of them than not will do the whole “He done good when those <insert racist
title here> attacked us…”…sort of like how Americans take all the credit for winning WWII after they sat out for most of it until Pearl  Harbour bombing.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:43 AM Washinton Post is up…

Hamm       9/11/01  11:44 AM any new word? i'm hitting the numb stage and it's all just blending into one giant lump of info

Jason @    9/11/01  11:45 AM <sigh> i'm getting there, too…right now, there are concerns about biological attachments to the bombs and stuff…mostly just conjecture and trying to save people's lives.  Last i heard there was an unconfirmed crash in Chicago.Nobody would talk about it.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:46 AM I found this quote somehow amusing:”We heard what sounded like a missile, then we heard a loud boom,” said Tom Seibert, 33, of Woodbridge, Va., a network engineer at the Pentagon. “We just hit the dirt. We dived instinctively.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:47 AM He goes on to say: “We were sitting there and watching this thing in New York, and I said,  ‘you know, the next best target would be us.And five minutes later, boom.'
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  11:48 AM At this point, I'm just getting paranoid about where we go from here.

Hamm       9/11/01  11:48 AM unbelievable.  what's sort of similar from a premonition sense (not really) is that okay, a
terrorist attack hits the world trade center then all these rescue personnel go there and THEY get killed in the second attack twenty minutes later.  terrible.

Jason @    9/11/01  11:50 AM The CTV television station has issued orders to lock its doors and step up seecurity…who the hell would try to attack !!!CTV!!!???
I KNOW. That's what's really getting me now…they're talking abou the 250 firefighters who were in the WTC trying to fix things when it collapsed/got hit again.  I can't imagine…I  just can't imagine what kind of people could
do that.
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  11:51 AM <snicker>
I got this from a newsgroup…echoes of what Brenda said earlier: 'I keep pointing out to my co-workers that the last time we “jumped on the towel heads”, it turned out that the
terrorists were from the mid west, not the mid east.'
                                 
Hamm       9/11/01  11:52 AM which newsgroup?

Jason @    9/11/01  11:54 AM -urm- it's a webring for gamer geeks…but they've got surprisingly good
coverage/opinions…http://townhall.webrpg.com/index.phtml

Hamm       9/11/01  11:56 AM apparently the latest is that one passenger locked himself in a bathroom and managed to reach the ground with his cell phone (I didn't
know they could do that – anyhow…) and he just kept saying they'd been highjacked and it wasn't a hoax.  not sure what flight he was on…

Jason @    9/11/01  11:57 AM oh THAT's creepy. really disturbing.
                                 
Jason @    9/11/01  12:00 PM Jean Chretien is speaking on CBC…

Hamm       9/11/01  12:02 PM i can't imagine what that would be like on those planes.  i doubt we'll ever know the
details but it's probably something like 2-4 people somehow take the plane, kill the pilots then one, trained to fly, directs it to their target while the others keep the passengers subdued. 

Hamm       9/11/01  12:02 PM got it.

Jason @    9/11/01  12:02 PM I don't think anybody needs to be trained to fly; have you ever played those airplane video games? the same simulators that Air Force trainees
use?

Hamm       9/11/01  12:03 PM yeah, the person would probably have SOME familiarity beyond video games.  but i know what you're saying.

Jason @    9/11/01  12:04 PM how much familiarity does one need to drive an airplane into the WTC??

Hamm       9/11/01  12:05 PM i doubt i'd know what to do if you stuck me in the cockpit of a 767 – even with my video game training.

Hamm       9/11/01  12:17 PM one guy managed to get his people out of the second tower's 103th floor amazingly:

<snip long story called “How It Happened” that I pasted from the AP that I found on canoe.ca>
                                                                               
Jason @    9/11/01  1:25 PM  I love the canoe site…i used to have a canoe.ca email address somewhere…i've found
they do good work..

Hamm       9/11/01  1:27 PM  another, more literate and thoughtful site that is good for coverage of what's happened so far is www.salon.com

Jason @    9/11/01  2:12 PM  How the hell did you work in this building? It's so flipping cold I can barely type with
any accuracy…sure am glad that backspace key is handy.

Hamm       9/11/01  2:13 PM  yeah, it sucks.  we complain and complain and bring in temp taker thingies and get heaters installed and still, my hands would sometimes
freeze to the keyboard if i didn't type fast enough! (grin)
off to register Shea's car for AB license.  then i'll decide if i'm going to do mine or risk not changing the plates for the next year.  wish us luck! 

Posted 11 September 2006 § Internet § Main Page § Saskatchewan ‡ Comments (4) °

"Dont' Worry – I'm At The Library"

In addition to giving out free water, a free keychain with a combination compass, pen light and whistle, free candy necklaces and free frisbees, Weldon Library had a pretty cool idea to help promote the library for their Frosh Week display – producing on-the-spot postcards at their display just outside their front entrance. 

On a different topic, in the comments of my recent post about some of the reasons I'm not a fan of LPL, I also talked about how they have self-serve holds and that they print out date due slips with the patron's name rather than their library card number – both of which have major privacy implications. 

I mentioned that Shea had found the date due slip of a UWO librarian in a book she has out right now.  Now, I opened up a book I borrowed from LPL for my “Shaping of News & Information Through Technology” class to find the date due slip of a person who took the class two years ago – and who turned out to be former Spirit of Librarianship Award winner) – Guida da Silva!  Crazy coincidence, eh? 

Speaking of privacy implications, this isn't huge either but if you go on the “Stalker Pages” on the FIMS Intranet, it's a pretty easy hack to modify the address in the URL to see students who have gone through the program going back to 1998, most with photos and a still-existing record of which classes they took.  (To do this: view the main page for everybody in the program then change the year element to whichever year you want to see.  The pulldown menus for each class will work for that year as well.)  For example, using this technique, I was able to confirm that Guida did indeed take that class two years ago. And hey, I just realised I should be able to get the very-flattering DMV-style photos for a couple people who aren't yet pictured on the Spirit of Librarianship page as well.

Posted 10 September 2006 § Internet § LibrarySchool § Main Page § Photo ‡ Comments (4) °

States I've Visited (American ones, not altered ones)

I'm over at the school having worked on a couple of my first assignments for most of the night after walking Shea to work at 7pm.  Now I'm just surfing around aimlessly because Shea's at work and if I go home, er, I'd probably just be doing the same thing. 

Here's something fun I came across linked from the de.licio.us bookmarks of the woman who is teaching social software this semester.  It's a site that allows you create a map of the states you've visited.  I was surprised at how many I had hit – 18/50 (though admittedly, many were pass-thru visits during a family trip to Disney World.)



The designer's original site was “Visited Countries” but I don't need a web interface to help me with that – Canada, United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, France, Holland, Japan, South Korea.  (At least I need two hands to count them.)

What else?  A few of us went into the other 504 class this morning but the ten minutes I asked for wasn't enough time (we had longer yesterday because the prof had to leave the room early.)  If they do “First Friday Q&A” in the future, I think they should always ask the professor for half an hour just to make sure there's time to cover everything.  And if our Student Council FAQ comes together, that will really help as well.  Plus I think every single question today was on co-op so I didn't get a chance to impart the three most vital pieces of wisdom in this program:
1. You should try to do as many of the readings as possible but that's all but impossible and nobody actually does. 
2. Something that's so important I'm completely blanking on it (anybody who was on the Grad Club patio who remembers, e-mail me!  And no, an alterted state achieved at the Grad Club wasn't the reason I've forgotten.  I only had two beers and left by 2pm.  I'm a lot older than I was back in January when my cohort did our own First Friday gathering – on the second Friday – and I sat there from noon until 6pm to “hold the table”.)
3. A plug for this blog.

Oh yeah, now I remember.  The second vital piece of information is that you should set-up a Yahoo Group for your cohort.  I think I did manage to mention that during the Q&A because I remember somebody suggesting that Facebook would be a good way to do this as well.  I can't remember who said it but if you (or anybody else out there is on Facebook), feel free to add me.  Since you need a University e-mail to join, all of the people I'd like to add aren't eligible and I feel much sadness at my relatively low number of friends.    I've tried a few social networking sites and Facebook is probably my favourite so far.  (Anybody got an Orkut invitation they can send my way so I can compare that one?)

Totally unrelated anecdote but thinking about the undergrads on Facebook reminds me of this funny story.  Shea and I walked over to UCC to watch “You, Me and Dupree” the other night (it was funnier than I'd heard plus a sub-plot about a sex-crazed librarian got me lots of elbows to the ribs from Shea) and seeing all the frosh kids out celebrating, I was like “How old are these kids?  Eighteen?  I'm old enough to be their dad!” and Shea was like: “Yeah, as if you were having sex at fifteen!”  (Sometimes she's the funniest person in this relationship, that's for sure.)

I guess that's about it.  Time to brave the skunk trail that leads from the University to our building.  (I could always walk out to Richmond St. and home but what fun would that be?  Er, watch that bravado come back to bite my butt and I'll show up to school on Monday smelling of skunk oil and tomato juice!)

Posted 09 September 2006 § Humour § Internet § LibrarySchool § List § Main Page § Photo § Randomness § Travel ‡ Comments (2) °

Friday Fun Link – Google Accessible Search (Sept 8, 2006)

Google Accessible Search
is “an early Google Labs product designed to identify and prioritize
search results that are more easily usable by blind and visually
impaired users. Regular Google search helps you find a set of documents
that is most relevant to your tasks. Accessible Search goes one step
further by helping you find the most accessible pages in that result
set.”

Posted 08 September 2006 § FridayFunLink § Internet § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

Library Streams and Privacy Schemes

Kerry, Linda and I went into the 504 section today for what we're calling “First Friday Q&A” – something we did informally last semester but are now doing under the banner of the student council.  The idea is to give students a chance to ask any and all questions they might have after they've had a week of classes as well as some time to absorb all the info that was thrown at them during Orientation (and to get answers that are from the POV of a fellow student rather than the “official” answers that come from the department.) 

After an intiial silence, the class opened up and we were there for forty minutes answering questions related to classes, co-op, adminstrative policies and more.  Later, the three of us realised that many of these questions are the same ones that we asked upper-level students in January and the same ones that the new students asked us when we did our First Friday session in May.  So we've decided to try and compile an FAQ and post it on the student council web site (and I'll likely post it here too for the usual reason) once it's complete.  We're doing a second session for the other section of 504 tomorrow morning then everybody – new and upper level students as well as profs and staff – have been invited to the Grad Club for a more informal visit and to celebrate the end of the first week of classes. 

One of the questions asked today was whether it was useful (or even possible) to follow the streams that are outlined on the FIMS web site suggesting classes to take if you want to be a public, academic, special or government librarian.  We told them that it's probably not possible since not every recommended class will be offered in a way that will fit their schedules over the coming semesters.  But this also made me realise that, even though I'm extremely interested in working in public libraries, how valuable it has been to at least get a taste of the other main areas of librarianship – namely via my “Collection Development in Academic Libraries” course last semester and now the “Management of Special Libraries” course I'm taking this semester (we only had our first session tonight but based on what I heard from students who took it last semester, it'll be great.  “It's everything 506 – Management should've been” is how one person described it.) 

What else?  I've been thinking about the issue of privacy on this blog, well, pretty much since I started it.  I've tried to be sensitive for the most part to the fact that I'll be writing about classmates (and occasionally posting pictures as well) and I don't want to post anything the person wouldn't want to see written about themselves.  I haven't been very consistent (especially in the early days) but I also try not to mention classmates by their full name anymore – only their first name and although it's never happened, I'm more than willing to edit/remove any entry that a person had a problem with.  Nothing specific happened to make me bring this up now although I did recently have a conversation with a classmate where they (half-jokingly…I hope!) began by saying “Don't post this on your blog!” 

A couple links I've come across recently that may be of interest:
– my mentee's very funny rant about Frosh Week
– Toronto is the first major city in Canada to have citywide WIFI available, provided by Toronto Hydro Telecom and free for the first six months (er, “citywide” being the downtown core for the time being).

Posted 08 September 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

10 Reasons I'm Not A Fan of The Public Library System in a Medium-Sized Southwestern Ontario Community

I mentioned in my last post that I might do a list of some reasons why a certain library system isn't one of my favourites.  Jen's comment that she didn't mind this system inspired me to do that list now.  So here's my list of some reasons why I'm not a fan of LPL:

1. They hired an MBA as their “Chief Executive Officer”.  I'm not against MBA-types running libraries (and think that, when they also have an MLIS, are often ideal for libraries).  Otherwise, call me old-fashioned but I still believe the person who runs a library should have some knowledge of and connection to libraries.

2.  They've got sponsors for most sections of their library and again, I'm not completely opposed as I know the realities of library funding.  But everytime I go to the top of the escalator to the second floor and see the giant sign announcing “The General Motors Business Resource Centre”, I cringe.  (On the other hand, bequests from families and non-profit organizations like the London Lions and the Friends of the London Library to sponsor certain sections seems a lot less…harmful?  Conflicted?  Problematic?)

3.  In the main branch, except for the Rogers Media Studies section (there's that beautiful corporate synergy again!) and the coffee shop, the entire ground floor is dedicated to children's and teen services.  This means adults looking for materials invariably have to go to the second (or third) floor before they'll find something of interest which doesn't seem very user-friendly in terms of design.  [2006-09-26 edit to add: When you get to the other floors, there's no real “flow” the sections – they seem scattered about in “chunks” rather than naturally leading from one to another like I think a proper library should do.]

4. Related to the last point, this also means that there is no help desk, other than the one for teenagers and one for children, on the main floor either.  This is actually sort of what inspired me to write a brief jab about my dislike for this systerm in my last entry.  I was there yesterday and found a book in the OPAC that should've been in the Rogers Media Studies collection (along with the other similar books I was picking up.)  It wasn't so I asked at circulation if they knew if it could be with the 300's upstairs.  Circulation said they couldn't answer questions like that and sent me to the Teen Help Desk.  No one was there but there was a sign directing you to the Children's Help Desk.  The person on that desk told me that “maybe the book is in transit?” even though the OPAC clearly stated that it was in library and I don't think many libraries use the gift of prophecy when tracking books.  I finally went up to the second floor to the (other) section for 300-level type books and found what I was looking for. 

5.  You aren't allowed to borrow back issues of magazines from the downtown branch (though you can from the other branches.)  [2006-09-26 edit to add: the magazine are also located all over the library by the related section instead of in one central magazine area.]

6.  They often place DVD's on the shelves with the books rather than giving them their own section (is this called “collocation“?) which I think is a more intuitive way to organize non-book items of any type (CD's, graphic novels, computer software, etc.)  I'm also not a big fan of the big cumbersome DVD security sleeves that they use.  Oh, and their DVD collection is pretty lacking as well.  I mean, I don't expect to get the latest Tom Cruise movie at the library but I do think most public libraries can fill a niche by loaning out art films, foreign films, classics, documentaries, etc. 

7. Their web site looks out-dated and isn't very well designed.  They use Millennium for their OPAC but I much prefer Dynix that's in use in Regina and Calgary.  I haven't used their Internet terminals much but in the few times that I did, I found them to be lacking as well – only Internet Explorer, having to manually book your time at the help desk rather than an automated system, no access to the CD-ROM or a USB drive. 

8. They close all branches on Mondays (and Sundays over the summer.)  I've never understood this – I think that if libraries have to be closed for budget reasons, why close on a Sunday which I assume would be a popular day for people to visit the library?  (I'm not being graded on this rant so have no stats to back this up.)

9. They only allow patrons to take out a maximum of 40 items.  More and more public libraries are going to this limit but I find it very restricting – say I take out ten books for personal reading, ten books for school projects, ten magazines and ten CD's or DVD's, I'm at my limit.  Maybe I should just not take out so many (because admittedly, I don't come close to reading every book I take out) but I like to have almost a “mini-library” at home to choose from when I start a new book.  This isn't an issue for me (yet!) but parents with young children can easily hit the 40 limit taking out picture books as well. 

10.  The first thing you see when you walk into the downtown branch is a security guard with the circulation desk fairly far removed from the main doors.  I know this is pretty common, especially at downtown branches in major cities.  But I always find the security guard at this library to be more…intimidating isn't the word because they're basically rent-a-cops…but more, hmmm, not sure how to phrase it.  How about this: the way they position their guard right beside the security gate away from all other staff makes you feel guilty before proven innocent.  (Seeing how they react when the buzzer goes off because a book hasn't been demagnetized reinforces this impression as well
.)

To be fair, here's some things I like about this system:
1. I love their outdoor reading garden.



2. I like their coffee shop and the fact that it's a locally owned company.

3. I think it's awesome that the chair of their board was willing to come out and MC our Freedom to Read Week event last February.  There aren't as strong of connections between the library and our library school as I expected when I arrived here.  But that was pretty cool of him!

4.  For the most part, I've found that the waits for popular books aren't as long as they've been at other libraries I've belonged to. 

5. I like that many of their staff are my colleagues in library school and all are pretty cool people! 

Posted 07 September 2006 § List § Main Page § Photo ‡ Comments (18) °

Randomness (Happy Labour Day aka "What I Learned On My Summer Vacation")

Another recurring feature on this blog is that I've done a few “random thoughts” posts connected to various holidays over the past few months.  I didn't do one on Monday so here's a belated Happy Labour Day to you and some good old fashioned randomness…

What I Learned On My Summer Vacation
Short of a trip to Woolworth's to buy a Star Wars lunch bucket, this return to school felt more like a “real” return to school than either of my last semesters.  Knowing that many high schools were returning to their classrooms today and seeing all of the fresh-faced undergrads running around campus added to this feeling. 

What I Learned About Fresh-Faced Undergrads
They're not exactly fresh-faced.  More like “purple-faced“.  Christina, who has a co-op on campus so has been over there during the break warned me, “It's like being on an American campus – all these kids in matching t-shirts and painted faces marching and chanting.”  (A few of us were standing around today at NCB talking about this and we decided that one commonality between all library students is our lack of enthusiam for such activities.)  Unfortunately, I have not one but two classes up by the UCC this semester so I'm going to have to wade through the undergrads on a much more regular basis than when I can cocoon in the NCB.

What I Learned About Student Council
Had our first meeting today and I think we've got an awesome group of people.  Hopefully we can get lots of exciting work done over the next semester that will help not only current students but those who may come later. 

What I Learned About Car Rentals
We've rented a few cars through the year and have had a different model everytime.  Our latest was the Ford Fusion which Shea and I both completely fell in love with, so much as to the point that this could very likely be the next type of car we buy when we're in the market for one in a year or two. 

What I Learned About London Public Library
It's easily one of my least favourite libraries I've used in my entire life.  There's many reasons for this that I won't get into now (note to self: future list alert!) but I'm hoping I get to explore this further in my public libraries class somehow.  (For instance, I'd like to do a paper on “The Perfect Public Library” this semester if I can fit it in.  Any comments on what makes a great public library for you would be appreciated!)  (Oh, and if I end up applying for a job there in four months, these comments are of course null and void and I *love* LPL! )

Okay, that's about it.  I also had one other recurring feature in this blog where I'd often name a “Classmate/Colleague of the Day”, a highly coveted award (?) given to acknowledge classmates who helped me out or made me laugh or did something cool or basically anything else that catches my attention.  I haven't given it out for awhile because the only classmate I had contact with over the break was myself (er, that sounds dirtier than I meant it to) but I'll bring it back now. 

Classmate of the Day is Lindsay Holdsworth who did a kick-ass job chairing her first Student Council meeting.  Sometimes I think about how fun it would be to have all of my favourite classmates end up at the same library working in our favourite areas (I'd be in charge of collections development) and Lindsay is one of those people that I'd love to work with.  

Posted 06 September 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page § Randomness ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

How News Travels In A Small Town

My wife and I recently played a practical joke on my mother-in-law, Joan.  If you haven't read about it, go read that first.  Don't worry…I'll wait.

Okay, got it?  Here's the update: a couple days after we pulled the prank, Joan got a phone call from a family friend who, disguising his voice, said “This is Roger at the, uhm, library.  Your book on how to have multiple orgasms is in.”

The latest is that Joan was at work the other day and a janitor teased her, “Hey Joan, I wanna join your book club.  It sounds like a good one!” 

Although we knew that stories traveled quickly in a small town, we didn't realise that our little prank would make the rounds like this.  We're a bit nervous seeing what we've created and knowing that “payback will be a bitch” as Joan claimed when she called to tell us about her original encounter at the library to pick up a book we'd put on hold for her (which turned out to be “The Joy of Sex”).  She once pranked someone else by signing them up for square dance lessons but this revenge will be much much worse I would imagine! (I'll probably end up enrolled in one of those “dance like a stipper” classes or something.  Yikes!)

Posted 04 September 2006 § Humour § Main Page § Saskatchewan ‡ Comments (0) °

Viewer's Choice

Brigette Gall, who is from Shea's hometown (Creelman, SK, population: 85), has been put on the long shortlist for the Viewer's Choice Gemini Award for “Best Lifestyle Host” for her work on “Me, My House and I”.  Please click on this link to automatically vote for her and help her make the Top 5 who will be announced later this month.

Posted 04 September 2006 § Main Page § Saskatchewan ‡ Comments (0) °