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The Naive Librarian Award Goes To…

After an intense (?)
build-up, the Spirit of Librarianship Award goes to… (drum
roll)…me.  Without being too egotistical, I'm not too
surprised.  I heard I got more nominations than some people got
votes, I was the only one from first term nominated (and only the
second first-termer to win it) so I got lots of votes from classmates
while other nominees had to split votes between their cohorts. 
Plus a little bird told me the other day that I should definitely 
come to the “Destressor” so I had a pretty good idea how it might go
down.  But until they announced my name (as I sat with a mouthful
of samosa) I didn't know for sure of course. 

I have so many thoughts on this, let's see if I can get to them all…
– my personal compromise with my whole ambivalence about the award was
that I asked the committee if I could accept on “Behalf of the Class of
January 2006”.  (They said it wouldn't fit on the plaque.)
– I also wanted to accept it on behalf of the other nominees which I
think I sort of managed to say in the rambling speech I gave.  On
one hand, it's just a silly award.  On the other hand, it's pretty
important thing and it's too bad there have to be winners and er, not
winners for something like this. 
– I also tried to say that I thought the award was sort of a way of
identifiying people who thought being a librarian was more than getting
a piece of paper, more than getting a good paying job.  (I was
talking to someone after I heard I was going to be nominated and joked
that this award was for “The Most Naive Librarian” – someone who
believed in libraries on a very “kumbaya” level.) 
– Quinn's gone forth and organized a movie night featuring *The
Aristocrats* for Wednesday night at 5:30pm and I think everyone reading
this should attend if they can – it's a great film.  I managed to
give a little preview of the joke and a plug for the movie night during
my speech. 
– this has nothing to do with the Award but I managed to fill out two
extra anonymous entries for the Book Zine near the end of the Destressor but I think it will be easy
to recognize mine.  They're the ones with beer spilled on them.

It's 2am and I've just woken up for a power nap after drinking an
outrageous amount of beer at the Destressor.  I've got to polish
my 501 Annotated Bibliography now but when I get a chance, I think I'll
try to type up a “what I would've said if I'd put a little more thought
into it” Oscar-winning acceptance speech. 

Posted 11 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page § Photo ‡ Comments (4) °

Sometimes I Post Just To Say I've Posted That Day

[2007-03-20 – this page continues to be one of the most hit pages on my site for reasons I cannot figure – I assume it is the mention of either Darth Vader or Eminem.  But those terms have millions of other sites that should be ahead of mine in your searches.  So if you have hit this page, can you please leave a comment to tell me how you ended up here?  Thanks in advance!]

Broke the fast
and instead of going to the Westside Diner with David, Sabina, Ella for
breakfast as I have pretty much every week since getting here, we
decided to shake things up and go for Dim Sum (Translation: “Tiny
filling goodness”) 

David and Sabina are going to Alberta for the break so we asked them to
say 'hi' to Calgary for us.  They have a day to kill in Calgary
when they get there waiting for Sabina's brother who's arriving on a
later flight so we suggested spending the day on the patio at the Ship
& Anchor (one of the best patios I've ever been on).  But
they'll probably go the Badlands which is okay too, I guess. 

Went to school but none of my outstanding (in the sense of “yet to be
returned”, not “wow, that's an unbelievably exacting answer to a
hypothetical reference question!”) assignments were back yet.  Too
bad – I had some fun with my final reference question and am looking
forward to seeing how I did. 

Of course, my mark can go one of two ways since, instead of the usual
paint-by-numbers answer the RQ's have become for most of us, mine
became a surreal narrative of a patron, standing in my living room
berating me as Scots in kilts berate my classmates.  There's also
references to a grasshopper, a frog and Darth Vader.  Even if I
get a bad mark for doing that, I hope I managed to break the boredom
that marking those things must be.

Came home and watched a video Shea got from the library on Montreal (we're going for a week during break) then had a nap (I love
naps!) then had supper and now working on one of my two outstanding (in
the sense of “yet to be handed in”, not “wow, that's cracker-jack
wicked-ass writing!”)

(Do you ever get the sense I post just for the sake of postings without having anything to say?  Yeah, me too…)

NP: “Shake That” – Eminem.  Shea asked me to download this song,
not having heard it before.  I play it, she likes it but doesn't
remember asking me to download it and simultaneously, we both realise
why it sounds so familiar – it's the song voted most likely to be
pumping in our next door neighbour's apartment at 3 a.m.  Kinda
funny actually – even when I'm cool and hip and back in school, I'm
three months behind all the trends.  (Oh well, better than three years I guess.) 

Posted 10 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

One Week and Two Assignments Left

I'm doing an
annotated bibliography on the corporatization of public libraries for
501 (sort of a recurring theme with my work here so far) and then I
have to do a Request for Proposals for 505.  Then I'm done my
first semester of library school.  How crazy is that?  Next
week is going to be busy…

Monday
– Final 503 class, should get back a bunch of assignments including my
final Reference Question and marks for our final group
presentation.  Then Destressor at Grad Club where they present the Spirit of Librarianship Award.
Tuesday
– M&D arrive in the afternoon for a 12 day visit.  In the
evening, I have my final 501 class where I'll hand in my annotated
bibliography.
Wednesday
– will probably do a bunch of running around with M&D, shopping and
local sightseeing/orientation then in the evening, we're hoping to have
the first of what might become monthly library-themed film
nights.  Quinn's taken the lead on this project but is trying to
get me into an usher outfit.  Unlikely!
Thursday
– we have our final Lunch Bucket Speaker of the semester at noon. 
It'll be a panel discussion called “Here in The Real World: Life Before
(And After) MLIS” featuring three first-term students speaking about
their experiences in the program versus what they found working in
libraries.  Then I have my final class of semester is 505 at which
time I'll hopefully have my Request for Proposals ready to hand in
(though I can hand it in next week if I need the extra time – very
generous of the instructor to make this option available for the class
knowing how busy we'd all be at the end of term.)  Then I might
just have a beer at the Grad Club to celebrate. 

Then I'll relive high school by coming home drunk and having my parents look at me disapprovingly.  Ah, good times…
 



Posted 09 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page § Photo ‡ Comments (1) °

Quote of the Day (if the day was Tuesday)

There were a
bunch of what appeared to be commonly mis-spelled words written on the
board when we went to 501 on Tuesday night.  Our professor glanced
at them, sees one that's “regorgitate” and quips “Isn't that what
happens when you re-elect George Bush?”

Posted 07 April 2006 § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

The Bionic Librarian

Some days I feel like the Bionic Librarian. 
I keep my digital camera in my left jacket pocket (Quinn called me a
shutterbug today – I think I've taken 300 photos in the short time I've
had the camera and I'm always pulling it out at any gathering we have),
I have a jump drive swinging from my neck, I have a Sony Discman in my
right front pocket (no I-Pod or I-Pod Shuffle yet but it's getting
closer – perhaps as a reward for finishing this semester?), my laptop
is often in my backpack (although not every day – only if I know I'll
need it at school.) 

Of course, I still don't own a cell phone and basically refuse to have
one.  So maybe I'm not quite Lee Majors yet (even though there was
nothing more I wanted to be when I was 10 years old).


Posted 07 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (0) °

How To Be The Best Professor, Heck, The Best Teacher Ever

My Grade Two
teacher is my favourite teacher of all-time.  Her buying the class
doughnuts on a monthly basis has a lot to do with it.  But I think
we've got a new champ. 

Proof? 
– give a kick-ass introductory class and an even better wrap-up class that draws tears from many in the class
– use PowerPoint so effectively that a so-called tech guy (ahem) takes
a couple weeks to realise he's even looking at PowerPoint slides
instead of some unique, no-projector required type of overhead
transpencies due to their black text on white background minimalism and
lack of stupid caveman graphics (a technique that will inspire his own
PowerPoint presentations from this point onwards.)
– make
your students realise they're part of something bigger than themselves,
bigger than their jobs, because of their choice to become librarians
– draw on your vast real world experience for practical examples
– know your material inside and out
– show the full range of your reading (without being showy)
– be funny with quips, ad-libs, stories and self-deprecating stories
– explain the material in a logical, well-paced, engaging manner
– be a firm, demanding marker but provide extremely constructive
criticism.  (One classmate put it to me like this: “When I do
poorly on one of her assignments, I want to apologise for disappointing
her.”)
– inspire your students so much that they spend hours coordinating a homemade group gift
– inspire your students so much that many of them sign up for your
advanced cataloguing even though you assure them that it will not be fun.


Thanks Elisabeth! 


PS – thanks to all who read this blog and especially those who leave
comments.  I'm in a time crunch pretty much all the time these
days so I'm not responding.  But I do read and appreciate your
thoughts.

PPS – I've also got a few e-mails since posting my Alberta user fees
article.  I do plan to respond to everyone but it may take me some
time to get to it (one week of classes left, two major assignments left
to do = Jason is a very busy guy!)  I do want to clarify a couple
things though – I have lived in Alberta (2001-2004) where I did
work in the arts community so I am very familiar with the dynamic arts
community that exists in the province, mainly Calgary and Edmonton but
in other places as well.  I was also part of the Amnesty
International Observer Team for the G8 that was held at Kananaskis so
I'm also aware of the activism that does exist in the province. 

I don't think I portrayed Albertans as “cowboys” or “rednecks” anywhere
in my paper – the “cow cliche” thing that runs through it and provides
the sub-heads stuck around even after I changed my title from “The
Two-Headed Buffalo” because I liked it and honestly thought of it as an
homage to my Western roots (what is The Calgary Stamede anyhow except
the biggest two week long celebration of Western Heritage in
Canada?) 

The only time I use the word “redneck” in my paper is to refute this stereotype by showing that Alberta does have  progressive ideas – especially The Alberta Library Card in the context of my paper. 

“Despite it’s “redneck” reputation,
Alberta is home to some extremely progressive organizations and ideas.
For example, the Alberta Library card is unique in Canada allowing
anyone to borrow books at nearly any public, academic or special
library in the province.”

I know a lot of Albertans are extremely sensitive about their
reputation, especially outside their province, but I am originally from
Saskatchewan, I have family in Alberta and visited there at least once
a year every year of my life plus, as mentioned, the three years I
lived there.  I love Alberta.  I love its energy, its youth,
its beauty.  I just think the extremely conservative nature of the
province in general is unfortunate because it keeps the province from
being probably the best place on earth to live.  Seriously. 

Posted 06 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page § Photo ‡ Comments (0) °

Amazing Numbers (Clocks, Marks, Fines)

Got this from Jillian “Cenobyte” Bell. 


Think about this …




On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.




That won't ever happen again.




Thank you…You may now return to your (normal?) life.

She wrote
that she thought I was probably the only person she knew who would
appreciate this piece of trivia.  Knowing the geeks & gamers
she hangs out with (many of them being my friends as well) this
surprises me but there you go. 

I can't remember but perhaps her and I had the “Favourite Time on the
Clock” discussion once?  I've long held that my favourite time of
day is 11:11pm.  Don't know why but it is.  Shea's is 12:12am
which is cool too.  What's yours, cyberworld? 

Speaking of Jill, she posted a comment in the thread on my essay on
user fees in Alberta saying “I consider my overdue fines as my user
fees” and that's a great way to put it.  I'm similar – I don't
mind paying the odd fine because I know I can afford it and also that
even for the retail cost of one hardcover book I read, I won't pay that
much in overdue fines in a year. 

I've heard stories of people who don't pay their overdue fines and I
just don't agree with that at all.  I mean, it's one thing if it's
$0.50 but some people let them get up to tens, even hundreds of
dollars.  It'd be interesting to do a study of librarians to see
if they're the worst offenders?  I (unintentionally) ended up
paying a $10 fine for 20 overdue books at Wheldon the other day. 
(I'd misread the date due slip and how good of a librarian will I be if
I can't even do that right?)  (Tangent: Gives new meaning to the
phrase “Do the due”.  Rimshot!)  But anyhow, as soon as I
knew I had an overdue fine, I immediately returned the books and paid
the fine.  I couldn't stand the feeling of guilt if I had an
unpaid fine, especially for that much money. 

Yeah, so what else is new in numbers?  Got an 86% on my “Tits of
the Buffalo” (er, I think I called it something else but that's close
enough) essay and I've had higher marks in this program but I'm pretty
proud of that one because it's something I care passionately about and
I put a hell of a lot of work into the paper (even as I also agree with
people like Quinn & Sabina who point out that it didn't have a lot
of critical analysis.  But as Sam said in his comments “An
excellent piece of historical research” and that's good enough for
me!)  The funniest part is that when Sam handed it to me upside
down, I read “68%” and was like “oh crap, he wasn't kidding about that
title – he really hated it!”  He still suggests I change the title
if I ever submit it anywhere else but coming from the guy who gave us a
reading entitled “I Want To Find Out How To Freebase Cocaine”, I don't
know quite what he's saying. 

Er, welcome to anyone from 501 who's reading this blog for the first
time.  I gave it a plug when I got up the present the paper as a
good place to read the whole thing (scroll down a bit if that's why
you're here.) 

Classmate of the Day: Gotta give this one to Mike, Emilie and Derek.  I wish I'd shared the Skittles with you but maybe next time. 

Posted 05 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Long Day…

Had a long day
today – discussed an assignment with my 503 instructor (“discussed”
might not be the best word to use but I'm trying to be polite), met
with the Acting Associate Dean to discuss an upcoming speaker in our
speaker series and also to get approval to do an Individual Study
project as one of my summer courses (yay me!), rehearsed our 503
presentation with my group members a couple times, trudged up to the
Business Library to get some books for the show & tell portion of
our presentation (we presented on “Business & Current Events
Sources” – exciting stuff!), did the presentation which went fairly
well I think. 

The group before us were the first group to go without the crutch of a
Powerpoint presentation and I can't tell you how awesome that is in my
opinion.  This whole program, hell 99% of University programs and
workplaces teach us to rely on PowerPoint way
too much in my opinion.  I'm still looking for an opportunity to
do a PowerPoint presentation on “Why PowerPoint Sucks”.  Maybe in
506 – Management next semester.  Our group did use PowerPoint (I
briefly tried to convince them not to but not too hard – I like it as a
crutch too!  Where else can you put stupid caveman graphics and
get a cheap laugh?  Or dazzling swirling effects on your
text?  Or the luminous colour combination of yellow text on white
background?) and our presentation went fairly well. 

Our group activity – a  Jeopardy game at the end – was a hit and
the instructor even gave us permission to go long even though she's
usually pretty strict about keeping groups to their 30 minute time
limit.  Took the books back to the Business Library, go for a beer
(and a great visit) with one of my presentation teammates who I don't
know really well.  Walk home, try to nap but can't fall
asleep.  Go back to school to drop off some overdue books (Jill, I
agree with your comment that “I consider my library fines as a
voluntary kind of user fees”) then go downtown to pick up some LPL
holds.  Go for supper at the infamous Poacher's Arms (it's the
first place I really went drinking with David, Mike and Melissa in I
think week two of the program on a Sunday afternoon immediately after
we'd gone for brunch!) then bus home and now am just trying to catch
up, as always, with the non-stop barrage of e-mail I get every day (I
bring a lot of it on myself – firing off missives all over the place to
everybody I know.) 

Speaking of e-mail, David Jackson gets the ripe honour of being Classmate of the Day
(I need a term for when I give it to people who aren't actually my
classmates but are in the program with me.  Actually who cares, if
you read this and know someone's not a direct classmate, you'll know
what I mean.  And if not, it doesn't matter anyhow.)  So
yeah, Dave gets it for being the only person I know who regularly reads
this blog so far (Jill, you still checking in or did I bore you
yet?  Jenn?  Mom???), who regularly posts comments as well as
for the hilarious but deadly earnest e-mail he sent me at 9am this
morning, written to the tune of “Looking For Love In All The Wrong
Places”.

(By the way David, I saw Greg at the Poacher's Arms tonight as we were
leaving and Shea had to physically restrain me from turning around and
going back in!) 

Next time…

Posted 04 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged:

The Yearbook Entry

One of the first
things our class did when we started was set-up a Yahoo! listserv
so all us first termer's would have a way to easily communicate with
each other without having to use official class lists (which aren't
necessarily meant for that purpose anyhow.)  So far the listserv
has facilitated discussion of assignments, parties, missing classmates, ride shares, class gatherings,
games nights and so much more. 

One of the first messages sent was a “Roll Call” list of questions
which was a way to get to know each other.  I'm going off about
the lack of technology focus in an “Information” faculty again but why
wouldn't our “Stalker Pages” (ie. the class pages that list our
names, UWO e-mail addresses, a mailbox number in the grad lounge, and
our photos) not have this type of info for everyone (with the option
for how much or how little people wanted to list of course.)

Here are my answers for Roll Call I:
Name: Jason Hammond

Birthplace: Indian Head, Saskatchewan

Birthday: July 18, 1973

Age: 32

Most Recent Home (Before London): Regina, SK

Other Places You've Lived For Extended Periods of Time: Calgary, York, England

Address In London: #804-1231 Richmond St.

Phone Number: 435-1948 

Other Degree(s): BA - English (U of Regina - 1996)

Previous Jobs: Program Officer, Sask Publishers Group; 
Program Officer, Writers Guild of Alberta

Why Library School? (short version):  I love books, libraries and the role that public libraries play in the community.

Favourite Book: Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Last Book Read (Be honest!): Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out (a Christmas present from my wife)

Three Things You Suspect You Know More About (or Can Do) Better Than Anyone In Our Class: 
1. The Beatles 
2. Prairie Publishers & Writers 
3. How To Hold A Table In A Bar for Four Hours (I've done it more than once already if you can believe it.  Actually, maybe that's not so hard to believe.)

One Thing That Would Surprise Your Classmates If They Knew It About You:
I've been married three times...to the same woman.

We recently had "Roll Call II" to bookend (getit?) the semester.  Here's my answers for it:

Type of Library You'd Like To Work In:  Public 

Any Specific Areas of Interest In Libraries:  Technology, 
Corporatization, Social Issues & Libraries

Favourite Library You've Ever Visited:  The new Crowfoot Crossing Branch in Calgary - beautiful.  See: 
http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/library/crowfoot_library.htm

Your Favourite Class:  501

Your Least Favourite Class: 503 (thought it would be one of my favourites coming in which makes it extra disappointing.)  But there's always gotta be one, right?

Your Hardest Class: 504 

Classes You're Planning To Take Next Semester:  Management, Managing Internet Information, Collection Development, Children's Lit and one yet to be decided
(all subject to change of course)

One Important Thing You've Learned (School-Related):  Cataloguing doesn't have to be boring and/or You can be productive in a class even if you're not paying attention to the lecture.

One Important Thing You've Learned (Not School-Related):  You can learn more in two hours at the Grad Club than in two months in library school.

Your Most Memorable Moment From The Semester:  Mike's "haircut"

If You Could Change One Thing About the MLIS Program:   I guess my biggest personal bugaboo is 505 (computers) and how out-of-date it seems to me.
Posted 03 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page § Meme ‡ Comments (0) °

Profound Statement of the Day (if you squint really hard)

Talking to someone about the Spirit of Librarianship nomination and they observed:

“You are the only person stupid enough to actually want to 
work in a public library that is smart enough to know what that 
means.”

Posted 02 April 2006 § LibrarySchool § Main Page ‡ Comments (1) °