YSaC, Vol. 797: Girls just want to have GV1201 .M8
2010 September 22
Library Science Textbooks – $840
These texts were used for a graduate level course in Library Science from University of Idaho. Excellent resources.
Gorman, Concise AACR2, 2004 $ 40.00
Dittman, Learn Library of Congress, 2000 $12.00
Kaplan, Catalog It!, 2002 $8.00Buy one, two or all three!
Sarah sends this in, saying, “Now let’s see here … 40 + 12+ 8 = 840. Yeah, that sounds about right. That must be how the the library fine system works as well.”
In the Dewey system, 840 is French literature. Maybe they were making an obtuse reference to Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. I mean, really … what ISN’T an obtuse reference to Proust these days?
Or maybe she was just blinded by library science.
Thanks, Sarah!
Sparky’s parents must be so proud.
Sparky may not be able to mathematicize, but s/he could file the hell out of those books.
You buy them books, send them to school and all they want to do is eat the teacher.
Wait, what?
Isn’t that right, Kittyshark?
Yuck, teachers taste like chalk.
But if Sparky sells the books, how will (s)he appear smart and book lurned to friends who come over? What will sparky put on those big, gaping, empty shelves if not for these three books?
What, I ask you; what?
That vintage My Little Pony collection they’ve been saving for a special occasion?
I think they disappeared in that garage sale incident that sparky doesn’t talk about any more.
SJ — don’t forget your toe collection.
Or the fingernail collection.
I like to spread my fingernail collection out on the floor and roll around in it from time to time.
Taco, can I borrow that bag you were saving for your sister’s Christmas present? I’ll replace it the next time I fly, promise.
Mr. Winkey’s got nothing on my ability to be creepy.
Who said anything about creepy? “Extremely effective emetic” is the phrase that comes to mind for me.
Creepy and disgusting go hand in hand.
My first job was being a human ipecac*.
*This may not be true.
I thought you wrote enema. Silly me.
*squeaky eyeballs*
I’m assuming you made it to be president of that company but got fired because of a scandal with the bulimia prevention foundation?
Has LimeLolly been licking other people’s eyeballs now?
“Extremely effective emetic”
Since it was his first job, is he now an “Extremely effective emetic emeritus”?
It’s all a function of the Dewey Decimal system. Do we decimal, or don’t we? Sparky can never remember.
Man, when I’m feelin’ really extreme I slam back a can of Dew’y Decimal!
YEEEEAAAAH!
Slam the Dew’y!
*Eats a book*
How’d that book taste?
Knowledgey.
Books are brain food, right?
Hmmm, didn’t Juila Child write a cook book?
Mastering the art of French Literature?
I have that cookbook. Well, with the real title.
I too had that lovely tome.
Never made a single recipie from it before it grew legs and was “rehomed”
le Sigh
Maybe you can borrow one from the Library, Cap’n…
Nope, far easier to bring a rooster and a bottle of wine to someone who stll has their copy, should coq au vin be requisite.
I’ve enough other cookbooks to browse through, if needs must.
I bought it fairly recently, so I intend to actually use it. 😉
Door stop?
hasdfih20 9387u09yuahkndlkfja09s8dfyudsa2f18s7dfa87448321 =asdfkalsdjlkfnwiehfksndajjf kajsdfiaewjiknmf;isdhf;aosijf;o
I agree MiniEB, proving someone other than one’s self exists is very difficult.
*blinks* And now he’s posting without me knowing about it… Unless that was one of the comments he tried to type earlier, and then when it failed we assumed it was marked spam… Child! Stay away from Auntie’s computer when you’re not being watched!
My 5 yr old does that too. Says he’s checking his emails.
I feel sorry for hjhjhmnklopa@234.com, because they’ve got a lot of garbled emails being sent to them.
Who said that, MiniEB? Sartre?
I think it was Slartibartfast.
There were three attempts, all marked as spam. I thought this one seemed especially profound.
Ahhh, we suspected as much. I will just have to keep in mind that MiniEB needs translation :-p
Soft Patch:
A female tampon softly patching a woman’s butt cheeks together, via the sticky properties of ovulation, at night while she is sleeping on her back; this process is made possible by the vagina’s natural elasticity, as well as the uncontrollable relaxing and contracting while she sleeps, thus, causing the ‘tamp’ to slide out of the ‘vag’ (vadge), right into her crack.
OK, Candor, that’s seriously uncool, and I’m not even SJ.
Troll editing time! SiteMod, we await your skills.
Everyone else: remember, don’t feed teh trollz.
CM’s parents: come get your kid, pay attention to him, and get him the appropriate treatment. Clearly, this is failing to occur.
Hi Lola, just popped to by to say helloo to you. Still well? x
Sorry, Lola, I really need to remember about the whole troll starvation therapy.
I have to type that to remind my own self, EB – it’s soo, sooooo tempting.
Graham! Hi! *waves to England*
Please look about and stay a bit if you can. *passes flask**
*US flask, of alcoholic type, not UK flask of thermal type*
Who is Sparky?
I love you sparky, I love you, I love you, I love you.
love love love love love
Soft patch…that’s disturbing.
I don’t love you.
Well, let’s be fair, these were library sciences texts, not math texts.
But it does make me wonder … you think these books would be available at the library?
I’m sure the newer copyrighted versions of these books can be found there!
2000? Oh PUH-leeeaaase.
It just took a while for Sparky to get the hang of reading without moving his/her lips.
It’s basically a blank book anyway. All the ink is worn off from keeping track of the words with their fingers.
That much has changed in the library sciences in the last 10 years? Perhaps it’s a more dynamic field than I gave it credit for.
Librarians: So, what HAS changed on the library scene in the last 10 years. I’m suddenly curious for some library corey.
Don’t get Lola started! Hehe….
[corey]Check out the link on the sidebar to Awful Library Books. There’s an almost daily discussion in the comments about the changes (and some awesomely bad books too). [/corey]
*hums*
“Library school dropout …”
Good grief – I’m admittedly sucktastic at math but whoever this is is even worse than I am at it! At least I can add properly.
Per the currency of the books on offer – there may have been some cataloging changes in the last 10 years, but this is one of the topics that is slower to change (information formatting? fuhgedaboudit – my research percentages went from about 65% books/35% electronic to about 50% books/50% electronic to the current 20%books/80% electronic) so they may be all right. I don’t do cataloguing and haven’t since I took the class, so I can’t say for sure. I still have my copy of “Legal Research Illustrated” that I pull out once in a great while for obscure definitions, but even that usage is rare.
I’m not sure what else to say right now – I’ll be over here in the corner, cringing from professional contact embarrassment and deploying my flask. Oh – and watching this video on repeat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbDdgWiaS0
Ms. Lola, is there any chance that you could get me a copy of the SwimSuit Edition of “Legal Research Illustrated”?
… and I’ve gotten my Parker Posey fix for the day. It’s a good day.
Wait, the next video was “Naughty Alaskan Librarian”. And it had a picture of Sarah Palin. Librarian pron involving Sarah Palin? Why have I not heard about this?
SARAH PALIN IS NOT A LIBRARIAN, REPEAT, SARAH (almost typed “Sars,” heh) PALIN IS NOT A LIBRARIAN!
I don’t care what kind of librarian jokes you make, just please don’t associate my profession with her, since her idea of “information management” appears to be having someone else write her Twitter. That Laura Bush was a Stepford librarian is bad enough.
/political rant
*retreats back to corner with refilled flask*
J-Dog, OCLC tells me there is no publication of that description, so I can’t even get an interlibrary loan copy for you. Perhaps there are electronic resources that might, er, meet your needs?
Apparently Laura Bush was a coke dealer, as well. Talk about filing the hell out of stuff!
Sorry I accidentally suggested any connection whatsoever between you and She Who Must Not Be Named. Would you like me to sing a few soothing verses of “Penises Are All Around You” until you feel better?
So…um…Lola….is Sarah Palin a Librarian?
Word is she’s not a Politician or Governor anymore either. I bet Gingrich and Rove unfriended her on fb.
Mudsy: *Lolabrainsplode*
Andie: Being reminded of four million [euphemism of choice here] is much nicer for my brain to deal with … sing away!
Luckily, I armed the flask. Here ya go.
Thanks, Mudsy.
*hyperventilates*
[book update corey] 7 collective years in higher education has showed me that there doesn’t have to be THAT many changes for them to make a “new” edition and charge you more money for it. I therefore suspect there are newer editions and Sparky here couldn’t get a price he wanted on Amazon’s resale site, so he went for Craigslist, hoping for some fellow Sparkies who wouldn’t notice how old the books are. [/corey]
Here, I have this pretty decorated jorts bag you can breath into…
Usually all they do for engineering texts is change which variable you solve for in the chapter problems. Seriously, we compared the 4 most recent editions for our intro to electronic circuitry books, and the ONLY difference was the solve for variables. Talk about ballsy.
Is there a wonder so many students have such disregard for those poor publishing companies that are losing money to the used book dealers. Poor babies.
I would just like to add that Sarah Palin is not a [ CHRISTINA TRAITS 1-ELEBENTY] either. So please don’t associate her with me.
Ok, so to categorize correctly, we had:
Not.A.Lion
Not.A.Lionel
and we have added
Not.A.Librarian
Is that it? Or did I miss any?
Not.A.Palin
Are.A.Tanning then?
One of few noticeable changes in IM (Information Management) I’ve seen in the last two decades is that the electronic product appears to be aimed at dimmer and ever dimmer parties.
Which may reflect the depressing number of people who have any idea just how important IM is in our electronic lives. Given the sparkiness of the PHB, it should not be so great a surprise that said PHB would employ equally dim bulbs to run the software they so reluctantly acquire.
Yet, in my SOHO work, the number one service call I get is information recovery/retrieval. Gee, just how long a business period are you willing to lose any data for? Yet, no one is proactive it seems. The few that are rarely have made any analysis on whether the selected IM periodicity matches the business periodicity in any way.
“Gee, we make a back up every week!”
How many days’ loss of revenue can you afford?
“Uh, (consults audits & accounting) “Maybe three days?”
Does that suggest that every seven days is too long?
“But, we back up every week!”
*facepalm*
Oops, dropped [matt-ish corey][/orey]
I feel your pain there, Capn.
“Ok, the server records indicate that the last archive you guys did was 3 weeks ago. You do know you’re supposed to push all patient data to the server at least once a day, preferably after you finish the case, right?”
“But it’s such a pain. We decided that it’s easier to do it once a month.”
“Ok. If you want to explain to a month worth of patients that you have to redo their images because backing them up is inconvienent for you, that’s your buisness I guess. I’m also sure the compliance comission will accept that excuse for being non-complient with federal patient image archiving laws.”
“So we should be doing the archiving every day?”
“Yes, that was what I was getting at.”
And also you should be wearing more pieces of flair.
To the specific point, Andie, they are not even up to the required minimum 15 pieces.
Ok, they think they are in that less-specified, required-for-good-evaluations quantity range, but that likely goes back to poor supervisor skills. The latter so rampant as to be assumed to be endemic.
It’s the Doo Doo Decimal System.
I prefer the Do Me Decimal system.
I thought you were a Do Me Pam ham in a can man.
No, I just use her…
WARNING: Please do not incinerate can!
But with decimals, it’s possible you would receive fractal “Do Me”s. Not even a whole one at a time…
Edit: Hey look! An avatar! I feel so accomplished..*
*This may not be true…
That’s OK, I can finish in a fraction of the time…
What?
Bombdude, your chick with the big knockers has been showing up since yesterday.
Ham, as long as you don’t get mixed up in the wrong crowd and get an Irregular Fractal “Do Me”… That might be a bit awkward…
kelli, I figured, but not before I left for the evening. And it’s “Chick with nice knockers”, but has been confused with “Chick with brass knockers” before. I didn’t think they were especially large, except in scale comparison to the chick.
Of course, come to think of it, I guess that is how they are always compared…
Hmmm…
And here I thought it was a chicken knockwurst sandwich.
A chicken in-between two knockwurstii.
I think I see what happened here.
8+40 = 840
And just to make it a good deal, sparky will toss in the third book for free. Yes a $12 value, yours to keep for free!
Also, 8*12*40 = 3840. So if you cut off $3,000 because they’re used, it’s really a great price!
I think I’ve got it.
12*40 = 480
8*40 = 320
320 + 480 = 800
800 + 40 = 840
So there you go. The math checks out.
I think expecting the poster to have done that is giving sparky too much credit. 8)
Math appears to have paid the bill and checked out long, long ago on Craigslist.
Something tells me the number 420 was involved here. (Or maybe 215.)
420 > 17 > 9 > 4
In german:
420 > 18 > 8 > 4
In Polish:
8 > 14 = 4 > 420
In Unblubalong:
420>40=840
Take the concise AACR2
Add the Gorman
Divide by pi times the square root of cellars
Multiply the Dittman 2000 by the nose hair of Gabe Kaplan
Subtract the sum total of Idaho potatoes
And multiply by the combined intelligence of Congress
….and you get…zero…huh? Oh wait, I see where I went wrong…
:Removes step involving Congressional intelligence and replaces it with the number of hairs on Cousin It:
….and the answer is…….$42…
Proving, yet again, that the answer is always 42.
And that it is never Lupus.
I think “Idaho” may have something to do with it.
Are you insinuating that the University of Idaho is an oxymoron?
I’m interested to note that they have a library school as I don’t remember one being there when I was looking for programs – I lived not far from there and would have noticed it, even if I didn’t want to go there (and I certainly didn’t).
[tuber corey]For the record, it’s in the northern Pandhandle region of the state, not the southern, potato-growing section. Potato jokes may not really apply here.*[/tuber corey]
*However, have at the redneck, meth-head, rural-mountain-stereotype jokes all you want, because they would apply to the townies.
And don’t forget the white supremacists!
J-Dog, the Southern Poverty Law Center (I love those people and need to send them more money) sued them and were able to shut down one of the supremacist compounds, so they aren’t quite as thick on the ground there as previously.
They did indeed shut down the Aryan Nations headquarters but they, and their ilk are still very active in Northern Idaho. And they’ve been shopping for land for a new headquarters here in Oregon.
They were going to move to the Washington coast but the gal that was going to sell them the land got so much grief from everyone she “decided” to not sell it t them…
Shutting them down does no good, they just move.
Sending them a napalm telegram would be more effective…
I hear there’s an empty building about 2 blocks away from Ground Zero in NY, NY that they could move in to. No controversy there.
Hey, I attended that university, and I was quite accomplished there. Using the stairs in The Tower (dormitory) I would run to the top floor(10th),versus the elevator and win.(56 seconds) Never got a degree for that though, but that’s higher learning for you.
Who da Ho???
If the Idaho Association of Librarians sees this, they are going to revoke his library card. There are some books one never sells.
Sparky probably turned out to be a horrible librarian. Not much use for library reference books when you’re the assistant manager at Jiffy Lube.
To be fair, I believe s/he got a B- in
How Do We Love Saying “Shhhh”? Let Us Count The Ways 101.
(Librarian quiet ot)Librarians (and library workers)are some of the loudest people I know. My sister (the one I like) manages a library in Illinois and has very little volume control. My Western Civ. teacher was head librarian of the community college’s east campus and was often asked by other instructors to turn the volume down on whatever media he was playing (even when he was not using any media). The children’s librarian at the Main public library can be heard doing storytime throughout the entire first floor. The university librarians private chitchat echoes through the halls. I’m not sure what my point was or if I even had one besides “librarians are loud.” (/ot)
Not only are my librarian friends some of the loudest people I know, but librarians + alcohol = scaring the children (but in a good way).
I have mostly stopped reading all my web comics, due to some other addiction which I can’t recall right now, but this is right in line with our topic today.
http://www.unshelved.com/2010-9-20
And check out the Pimp My Book-cart contest!
To be fair, that’s what happens when you type “8 – 40” or some such – craigslist ignores all the spaces and extra characters and such.
It makes me wonder how much extra people have made over the years from getting lucky and getting an offer…
In my experience, getting an offer usually precedes getting lucky.
What?
Penis…yeah, just cuz….
Pen is what? I don’t get it? What is the pen?! You’re leaving me hanging CJ.
No, that’s Chad who is leaving you hanging on your penis.
Which side?
The pen is a lie.
The penis is a lie.
Usually…
Only the size.
And the calling you tomorrow
And the “I won’t…”
Gotta go…
It makes me wonder how much extra people have made over the years from getting lucky and getting an offer…
Personally, I wonder how many extra people were made over the years from getting an offer and getting lucky. Or unlucky by getting lucky.
You forgot your corey tags, hun.
Taco, is Accident related to Attila? Or is Hun a common last name like Smith?
Taco just noticed that Accident was typing with a German accent and decided to acknowledge it.
I always assume there is a genetic connection to Atilla. It’s the only reason I’m still alive today*.
*Probably not true.
Taco is a zomb
*Om nom nom nom nom*
Quick, get the flashlights!
[corey] I don’t think “the Hun” was actually his last name. More of a “group association” type of thing.[/corey]
Maybe TM thought Accident seemed like the nomadic, pastoral, yet bloodthirsty type… the German accent probably did help give it away Andie.
“Not to mention maps and such as!”
-Miss Teen South Carolina
I don’t know about you but I can never re-fold my such ases, and fitting them back into the glovebox? Fuhgedaboudit!
Oh..I can re-fold them. Just never correctly.
Gotta focus on the vertical crack in the middle. That’s the key.
I always thought that was the keyhole…
What?
Sparky is trying to recruit for the Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor.
Play Vexations 840 times Erik Satie will appear and say, “I told you so!”
Anagram Fun!
Library Science Textbooks
Boobs Carry Sex, Ten Ilk Cite.
(For once, I agree with those ilk)
Star Trek Bicycle Box Noise (Babby Kirk gets what he wanted for Xmas)
Bionic Beatles Rocker Styx (Robot fab four cover 70’s hair band)
Hey, y’know. Everyone needs a hobby. (Or Hobbies, General, as the case may be.)
Kalvin and Hobbies?
There’s a stuffed Not.A.Lion?
I’m just going with the assumption that 840 is another weed reference.
Half of 840 is 420…
A double dose of ‘meds’ must be needed to understand Library Science or at least to make it more entertaining.
*edit: Christina beat me to the punch – it’s hell being at work*
Yeah, she beat me too. It’s hell being in the Pacific time zone.
Ergo: it’s double hell being at work in the Pacific Time Zone. If we add an “Oh” to double hell, then Not.A.Lionel will sing to us about dancing on the ceiling.
It's worse being in the Arizona time zone. Technically, we're in the Mountain timezone, but we don't observe Daylight Savings Time. So, about half the year, we're Pacific Time and the other half, we're Mountain which means I have to remember when DST starts and ends since I have to figure out the time difference when calling friends and family in the Central and Eastern time zones.
Yes, but I’ll give you both props for wording it better than I did. 215 props, to be exact.
Well, today, we can blame the Equinox (1325 EDT today); and the full moon tonight.
Equinox? But I hardly know ‘er!
…
I don’t get it.
I thought that was Tissue.
Bless you.
I KNEW it was a full moon! Crazy clients all day long!!!
Unless you work as a librarian, apparently :-p
Oh yeah… career change!
Woah, dude! There are a lot of books in this room!
Hey, do you think when all the people leave the books read each other? I mean it makes sense right? How else would books have so much knowledge in them?
Well, we “newgrass” fans know:
¹From “When in Rome“, Why Should The Fire Die?, Nickle Creek, (comp Chris Thile), 2005.
Should read “Nickel” not “Nickle”, but the Ajax editor asserts I do not have permission to edit, even with 04:12 remaining.
I’ve been “shushed”!
Oh great! Footnotes!!!!
On a day celebrating information management and library science, and you did not anticipate at least foot notes?
Footnotes are useless if you can’t see your feet.
This person is just an expert at Catmath, of course. See, he/she learned it at their college.
I failed CatMath. I couldn’t carry the elephant.
Well, you were doing African cat math if you would stick with the more common house cat math the most you would have to carry is a bag of litter…
And in European CatMath, you have to carry the coconut.
Ooh, Mudslicker! Look who doesn’t suck today!
…and I owe it all to Yahweh and Meds….
😉
…and the Regal Catholic Zoo…..
I am just thrilled you got the box, Mudsy! Of course, I would have loved it if all the responding similar comments had been included, but I am not as wise as She Who Must Have Bees Upon Her.
So what bothers me even more than the weird math, and even more than the crappy picture quality, is the lack of an Oxford comma in the last line. I might need professional help.
See y’all Sunday!
You’re in the right place! Not because we can offer help, but because it seems likely that many of us do, too!
I was helping Mr. Brazil with his US History homework the other day, and, of course, as a grammar aficionado, I was helping him with his grammar as well. It’s actually pretty good on its own (better than some stuff from some native speakers) but of course it’s not like mine. He knew to use the Oxford comma though, even though they don’t have a similar comma in Portuguese. He said he was taught to use it in his TOEFL class. I ended up explaining to him that there’s a whole debate about that comma (in fact I was taught NOT to use it in elementary school), but I prefer it.
Well, having been taught in six different school districts, and that, more than thirty years ago, I cannot honestly state how I was taught.
Other than both of my parents taught me to use an Oxford comma.
And, that’s what has stuck with me ever since.
How do we know this comma went to Oxford? I think it might have gone to East Idaho Community College and is just fronting.
Heck, for all we know, it may have just paid the 200 obos and gotten one of those online diplomas…
I’ll give you one AR:
Better?
I work with someone who believes that the Oxford comma should be used before “or” but not before “and.” I’ve told him this is deeply eccentric but he doesn’t seem to care.
That’s picky Oxford snobbery.
I didn’t realize that comma had a name. I learn new stuff every day in the Snark Lounge.
I name all my commas. This one , is George. He’s my favorite.
Have you ,learned ,the Craigslist ,comma?
Does that make you a commoner?
christina you are totally wrong not everyone on craigslist uses commas in fact some people dont use punctuation at all how can you justify lumping everyone on craigslist INTO one category but then again this is also a good example of facebook commas
(*hyperventilates into a decorated jort bag* Holy cow, that was hard to type. I need some punctuation therapy, stat!)
…a commonomoner.
!:;”‘?.,/
Whew! I think I’ll make it…
I didn’t realize it had it’s own name either, and who is this “Oxford” character anyway, to decide where my commas go? Was it like discovering a heavenly body, where they name it after you?
No, I’m a comma de-nom-inator
But that would mean that you took away names from your commas!
So you take their names away…
Edit: [sigh] EB beat me to the snark…
[comma corey] The Oxford comma is also known as the serial comma (no, not vintage serial) or the Harvard comma (apparently, only at Harvard). [/corey]
I just love logic in a realm of make believe.
What? No Yale comma?
Well I take away their common name “comma” before I give them their tribal name such as Ken, George, and Eliot.
I will never let a little thing like having the opposite meaning of my original intent stop me from making a terrible pun.
*giggle*
The Commanomicon?
The comma tribe is fairly docile, it’s the exclamation point tribe you need to look out for!
Klaatu barada nikto
“And lo, Gort sounded the recall, and the Earth was saved from imminent destruction by zomb commas”
Redjac! Redjac! Redjac!
Well, it was really an Army of Darkness reference…
“Ummm, Klaatu…errr…verada….necktie?”
“Did thou sayeth the words?”
“Ummm, Mostly”
It was, but the words in Army of Darkness are actually from The Day the Earth Stood Still, so both of you are technically correct. Judges Ruling = no one has to be impaled by the brain poking stick on this round. Well done.
P.S. Love me some Ash. Good Ash, Bad Ash, I’m the one with the gun.
Sorry. I’m not up on the Army of Darkness lingo. Merely my Star Trekkian Jack the Ripper.
Andie, yes I know but it’s all about the context…Meej said “The Commanomicon” which I took to be in reference to the Necronomicon used in the Army of Darkness…(I know it’s originally from Lovecraft’s books)
A “Yale comma” would be named, Eli, naturally.
(And not after Astro, either.)
Mooooooooom! EB’s throwin Matts at me! And she’s not wearin’ her tags!
[matt]**glares at Cap’n**
Even in real life, I am to be called Eli under no circumstances. I get the same way about it as Bridgete does when you call her a Br*dge†.[/matt]
† I may have just P.O.ed both Bridgete and Taco.
With the cross thing as a footnote indicator, it looks a little like you just forgot the last E. And, you know, starred the I.
Anyway, you’re forgiven for this one, only because you were solely using the forbidden nickname as an example. 😉
Astro, it was my precise and specific intent to communicate that the sole linkage, for any resaon, to “Eli” was strictly related to the Yalie predeliction to naming everything about them after Eli Yale, the person duped into starting the college (and under many false pretenses).
vdfsdvsgdbc’l.p[oi’,.k;kpkhjhuymkjhj
Translation: Noooot really sure. I think he’s trying to explain why the weird math means that the missing comma was actually intentional. Either that or he likes bananas.
I’ll have to have mini taco translate for me. But I’d bet it has something to do with trying to bite my large toe.
In the mean time… MUG TYPING!
jm8hn8t5dc9o wsqayws y3eoo0o jm8iihn63egb
Isn’t Mug typing what’s on that placard you hold when you get a mug shot?
Mug Typing is what mugtolologists do with new mugs they find in the wild.
Didn’t Snoop Dog make a movie about that?
“Mugs gone wild”
I KNEW MiniEB was going to begin posting soon. I see heis not a Canadian. The top of his head is attached to the bottom.
MiniEB = not.a.Canadian
I would HOPE that he’s not.a.Canananadian, since I’m from NY and MrEB is from Indiana… :-p
Yeah, but them Canadians is sneaky.
Especially that Terrence and Phillip
(Or, Daryl, Derrel, and Darrel)
I don’t mean to cut down any of you Library Scientists out there because I’m pretty ignorant about the subject, myself, but really? Library Science? It’s a science? That there are post-grad courses for? That people willingly spend thousands of dollars and years of their life in college to study? I mean, Really?! How much is there to know about cataloging?
And everyone knows how librarians rake in the dough these days. Especially if you have your PhD in Library Science.
You might want to start running so you’ll have a head start when Lola gets here.
Uh… Rhonda? Here’s an asbestos Snuggie. You’re gonna need it.
“Yes” to the 7th power.
I suspect Rhonda is invested with honors into Library Science, but is employed in some other capacity (hopefully not in base employ in the food services, lest another PhD in Anthro be out a job . . .)
Rhonda,
It’s not all book stamping and shushing (those are often clerks, who do. not. have. library. degrees). In fact, most of what we learn and employ in our position is what you don’t see us doing, or what doesn’t look like anything in particular to people who don’t know better/aren’t making a point to see what we’re doing. (But if it’s so easy, why don’t you just come and do my job? Since you don’t have the degree, you don’t get the pay I get, however. I’m in the private sector, and we may do slightly better than you might think.)
Sorry to get a bit ranty here, but let’s see … what DO we study? Hm, in order for cataloguing to make sense, we have to know how we do it correctly, or, to quote the link I posted earlier, “We’ll just put them [the books] any damn place we choose!” That’s just one of many things we study.
As an example, and to keep myself from foaming at the mouth further, I’m going to cut and paste the program descriptions from my institute of matriculation. Please note that in addition to this, many of us such as myself get a dual masters or have one already. Please also note that those with PhDs in info science deal heavily with computerization and knowledge management.
The Master of Science in Information Science is a program designed to serve two major purposes:
To prepare students for employment in corporate and public sector organizations where the generation, management, and use of information is the dominant or an essential aspect of the organization;
To equip students with the knowledge and skills required for entry into a doctoral program in information science.
Graduates of the program are expected to:
Demonstrate a sense of professional identity by applying the concepts and principles of the information sciences and related disciplines.
Know the history and evolving roles of the information professional in the changing global society.
Create, select, acquire, organize, manage, preserve, retrieve, evaluate, and disseminate information using relevant theories and practices.
Assess information needs of diverse and underserved populations and provide resources and instruction to meet those needs.
Recognize the crucial role of users in the design and implementation of information systems.
Formulate, interpret, and implement information policy, and promote ethical standards in the production, management, and use of information.
Understand the importance of information access issues, including privacy, equity, intellectual property, and intellectual freedom.
Conduct and apply interdisciplinary research to develop, maintain, and assess information services and systems.
Understand, implement, and use appropriate technologies in the delivery of information content and services.
Apply management principles to the creation, administration, and promotion of information organizations and systems.
Understand the information environment and build collaborative relationships to strengthen information services and literacy.
Graduates who move directly into the profession gain employment in libraries, information and records centers, archives, governmental agencies, school districts, or private sector environments. Typical employers include corporations, hospitals, academic institutions, human service organizations, law offices, and legislatures.
There are five areas of concentration in the curriculum:
Archives/Records Administration – to prepare students who wish to pursue a career in archives, or as paper or electronic records managers.
Library and Information Services – to prepare students for professional positions in academic, special, or public libraries.
Library and Information Services/ School Library Media Specialist – to prepare students seeking certification to work in public school libraries throughout [state].
Information Management and Policy – to prepare students pursuing careers as information managers in corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
Information Systems and Technology – to prepare students for professional employment as systems and technology experts in a wide range of government, library, corporate and nonprofit organizations.
Have I answered your question?
Excuse me while I go and attempt to cease frothing at the mouth now.
Too long, didn’t add to the card catalog.
*hands you the BIG flask*
OMG, Lola, that was hot. Especially how your bosom heaved while you were typing it. Rhonda, you got served.
*stands and applauds*
As the sister of a library manager, a possible future librarian, and the mother of a future librarian, I applaud you Lola. I really think you deserve a standing ovation, but I’m eating lunch and I had to wait 20 minutes to get this table.
Thank you everyone for your appreciation – not only for what I said, but for *getting it* with regard to the importance of well-trained and experienced librarians. People who don’t get it are the reason that when municipal or academic budgets need to be cut, the library is often the first thing looked at (despite the demonstration that when the economy is bad, people use the library even more) and considered disposable. We live in the information age/society, but if you can’t manage and handle it so that all that is available is narrowed to what is actually useful to you, then you need someone with librarian skills – regardless of your setting.
And to anyone who still doesn’t get it or thinks they can do it themselves “because everything’s on the internet, and it’s free and we don’t need books any more and no one reads” (note: people like you provide job security for us, because your ignorance when you need something specific and don’t know where to start illustrates exactly why we’re needed): **** you.
(Now I feel even better.)
/rant
We do get you, Lola, and I have never been more sad that I can’t give you millions of adores.
Well done, Lola.
**golf clap**
*Joins in the standing ovation*
Also, also joins (only not wearing a polo shirt, cleats, or a sweaty glove).
I, too, give you the clap, Lola.
Wait, what?
*wonders if there is an antipodean vernacular meaning of “the clap” (Clap, The, for TM’s file cabinets) which differs¹ from the “new world” version*
____________________________________
¹In the was that the use of “pecker”* in the UK differs, for instance.
*Upper (or both) lips, in the sense of “peck” as a kiss.
Not vernacular so much as venereal. *shudder*
Good thing my job has health insurance, Jen. 8)
Bravo! Well done, madam!
Yeah, because cataloguing is all librarians do. They never have to answer bizarre questions from patrons. They never have to justify buying two copies of Thelma Ate the Octopus for their juvenile collection. They never have to try and balance their measly budgets while trying to maintain as many services as possible. They never have to try and help people use the services that the library provides. Oh, and storytime is just some old spinster reading straight out of any old book that is lying around and needs absolutely no planning or knowledge of children.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, kelli. Those are just a few day-to-day applications of the nyriad things we learn in the academic setting.
No wonder you need a flask. I started drinking just reading that!
*passes flask to LL*
Amen, bretheren.
Gee, just how many employee records are required? How many duplicates? Which ones must be in hard copy, and for how long. Where are the records to be stored? On what media will they be stored? What provisions for legacy data retreival must be kept, and maintained (anyone try to connect a 4mm Colorado tape drive to Win7 lately)?
Oh, and what do we do if the power is off? For an hour? For a day? For a week or teo? For forever? What if there is a flood? Or, a tornado? Or the building next door falls on this one?
Amazingly, there are people who are not merely studied in these sorts of questions, but are experienced in having the answers.
You want fries wid’at?
Ok, totally deserved that 🙂 But like I said, I really had (and still don’t fully get) all a library manager does that would require more than 4 years of education (or even more than 2).
Since it’s late and my brain can’t totally parse everything you pasted, Lola, I’m going to respond to Kelli’s answer.
I know you need to always be reading and keeping up with what books are out there (like Thelma Ate the Octopus), but that is an ongoing thing, not something you take a class on. And while I understand not every document in the universe has been digitalized (and it does truly boggle my mind how anyone could find information in a library and not just by using the Internet), I’m sure there is a very standard way that everything is organized, and once you learn that system… which, again, I don’t see how that could take more than 2 years… you’re good to go. And with a little time and experience in your new work environment, anyone with the skills and passion for that line of work could surely handle the job without needing a higher degree?
Kelli, your answer reminds me of many, many jobs out there, that do not require any special education. Answering bizarre questions from patrons, balancing measly budgets while maintaining services, and helping people use the services their business does provide – I did those very things in the first job I had out of high school, and still do them at the job I have now (although now I do have a degree, but those aren’t the things I learned in school).
I’m not trying to flare tempers or step on your toes.. I totally get that there is a complexity to finding information in a library. I just really want to understand what exactly you do in a typical day that someone who has not studied for a shorter amount of time can’t do.
Ok, I’ll put that snuggie back on, now.
Rhonda,
I’m not saying you can’t do those things without the education … I have one coworker who doesn’t have the degree and who has mad research skillz – but that’s not something everyone is willing to do or capable of, and, notably, she had a much bigger learning curve, for one, than I did (she’s been working for more than 10 years and there are things she still doesn’t do, that I do). At the end of the year and a half that I needed for my classes (this is not something that goes on for years and years), with related work experience, I was a lot further along in the professional experience and knowledge process than she would have been in the same amount of time, for one. The grad-level nature of most MIS/MLS degrees is frequently needed because while you can learn skills and theory, if you don’t have the general background that a person gets in a four-year degree (or, should get, anyway) it means you bring less breadth and depth to even general reference work. Would you want to go to a reference desk, anywhere, and have someone who didn’t know where things were, didn’t understand where it fit into whatever taxonomy fit the situation, and who was just learning? Or would you want to go to a reference desk where the person might be a newly-minted librarian with 1. reference classes imparting a knowledge of systemic research and sources 2. catalogue knowledge 3. enough undergrad educational background that if you’re in a specialized environment, they’re going to know more about the background of interest (and in many law school libraries, a JD is also de rigueur – so you need an undergrad degree as well as the ML/IS and JD)? Sure, you can learn all of these things on the job, and especially in the past many have and done so well, but so that there is a professional standard for places to hire and evaluate people, an educational system was established, as were standards for accreditation of these institutions (as with many professions, really). I don’t make the rules, but today they require the master’s degree in this field. Comparatively, I have a MA in English, too; while I could have read the texts and sourced theory and discussion about them, and become conversant and informed on the topic in my own time (which I have sort of continued to do, w/r/t my thesis topic), it was more expedient to learn the same things from people who knew more about it than I did, frankly.
Additionally, specific research such as what I do is not something you master in a couple of years, and I suspect that is not particular to my job. I have a brilliant coworker who has her ML/IS and JD and who has been on the job 13 years and who tells me she never stops learning. New sources, new questions for research, new research methods, new media – you have to learn and remember new sources constantly. It’s far from static, whether in a corporate library, a private archive, or a public library reference department.
I appreciate that you’re not trolling, here, and because I run into unpleasantly-communicated ignorance about my profession on a regular basis, I have a tendency to get my back up anytime I am asked how hard it really is. As you have not been snarky and have come back to confirm that you are actually quite interested in knowing, I think the short answer (it’s late enough here that I’m starting to suspect my lucidity is slipping, and/or that I’m repeating myself, so I hope this is making sense) to your question is: yes, everything we do can be learned on the job. **But** in most cases, it will take A LOT longer to get up to speed doing it as your daily job compared to the time spent in the classroom (and at the hands-on learning required of most info sci programs). Learning theory and basic “why”s behind doing things often means you understand the concept/process/reason for a situation before you encounter it. Seriously, though – if you have the time and can find an inclined librarian (actual, credentialled) who is willing to discuss it in person, tell them you are genuinely curious about why library school is necessary. Most of us love to talk shop.
Not that Lola needs any additional support to her position, she is more than capable in that regard; but, I feel compelled to add to this discussion.
One problem the field has is the word “library” which throws many askew, and sadly so. Which is why “Information Management” and “Information Science” are becoming more-used terms.
One reason for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees is to allow a sufficient base of knowledge from which to specialize. Which can seem quite daft, as you, Rhonda, eloquently pointed out.
However, if one is to understand the creation of information and the sustatining information in archival form, one needs to know many things. Like the dye used to “burn” a one-time CDR or DVDR is vegetable-based. Which means it has a limited shelf life, both before and after use.
A person needs to have the right backgrounds in chemistry and physics and the like to appreciate the rest of the issues. Like why some paper ought to be acid-resistant. Or, whether the ink used in printing is permanent or not (even to whether a neutral wax us used in copier or laserjet toner vice a heat-set dye).
Right to the nature of magnetic and electro-optical storage, and how either are affected by electromagnatism, whether explict in a reading device, or accidental, as in lightning strike or static build-up.
Little things like knowing that nitrocelulose filmstock has to be climate controlled not merely for information storage, but for the fact that it ‘sweats’ nitroglycerine when too warm, creating an ugly fire risk.
Armed with those basic skills, the person in IS/IM can then take up graduate study in just what information “is.” If you see a handprint of paint upon a rock, what is it? Is it a paleograph? A signature? A kid’s turkey print for Thanksgiving?
More depth? Ok, context is everything, yes? Well, how much data is required for “context”? The answer cannot be “everything,” there’s no way to store everything. Yet, whenever data is lost, it’s typically lost forever. 8-track cassettes came up yesterday in conversation. Ok, no great loss to the art world that there are probably no “carts” with Earl Schibe car-painting radio ads. Except that those ads are part of a time, the fabric of radio history. Radio ad spots are still called “carts” even though the cartidges are as obsolete as a 76rpm turntable at a radio station.
So is streaming computer data onto skinny magnetic tape, too; but that is still done. There is a good deal of peer-reviewed arguments on the not just the “why” but the “what are you thinking!?” aspects of that.
Ok, sure, a person with some University experience in Computer Science can tell you of the travails and impracticalities of streaming modern computer information onto small magnetic tape cartridges. (Which are now just replaced with paperback-book sized HDD today.) What they cannot tell you is what information is truly valuable and why.
The why matters.
Ok, what you two said does make sense. I guess what I need to take into perspective is that while not everyone who works in a library needs a master’s degree, we still need SOME people with a thorough understanding to guide us through the vast amount of information out there. Consider me enlightened 🙂
Nicely put, Rhonda. You can take the asbestos Snuggie off now. Flask?
*passes flask to Rhonda*
Welcome!
Wow, that is so much that I never thought of…. I love all the random stuff I learn here! ♥ you guys! 🙂
“The Commanomicon”
I hear lots of geeks go to this every year dressed as their favorite punctuation.
I went as an ellipsis once, but everyone I approached would sort of trail off and stop talking…
Made me feel very unwelcome.*
*This may not be true.
I always go as an exclamation mark. It’s the best way to draw attention away from hips that may be a bit wider than most.
I went as a period but those darn maxi-pads are hard to see through…
Bad dog! You drop that out of your mouth right now and you stay out of the bathroom garbage!
*Runs out the doggy door, over to the cute single male neighbors house and drops it in his hot tub*
That’s it, I’m having you sprinkled.
I’m planning to go as either a semicolon or a tilde.
I’mma totally rocking the interrobang look.
Speaking of old library books, this made me giggle so hard there are tears in the corner of my eye. Particularly the excerpt… It sounds like something out of the comments here.
“Correct! ejaculated Dr John, emphatically”
Wow… Just wow…
I’m always emphatic when I…
Gotta go.
You shouldn’t do that to your doctor…
So, that’s what he did before becoming a NOLA pianist!
I used the word “ejaculates” in a Writing/English 102 paper. My professor still uses it as an example in her class (sans my name, thankfully).
Professor Penthouse?
It was actually a woman professor. She did wear some low cut blouses, but I don’t think she had any connection to Penthouse.
“Irregular relations?”
So, if you eat Activia, it’s OK ?
I’d rather no “go” there…
Is anyone else wondering if Sparky needs to sing the ABCs while shelving books to make sure that they are in the right order?
Nah, it’s as easy as 1,2,3!
It’s as easy as 1, 11, C!
Saw a t-shirt with part of the ILM logo with
“= 1051?”
Upon it.
I thought it was easy as 1, 10, 11!
Simple as Do, Re, Mi!
Dunno. The Hastings store closest to me seemed to have hired two different dyslexics of varying degrees of literacy.
Tough to wander the CDs when they are both alphabetical left-to-right, top-to-bottom, and also right-to-left, bottom-to-top. Or, wandering over to the Wolrd Section and finding “Ladysmith Black Mombassa” filed under “L”, “B”, and “M” simultaneously.
This reminds me of Grampdaddy’s experience at one of the local music stores back in NY (House of Guitars for those that know it) where he inquired about the soundtrack for “The Phantom of the Opera”. The worker took him right to it. Filed, of course, under “F”.
*cries silently*
There, there, Lola.
“I feel them with my fingers,
I feel them with my toes…
Penises are all around you
When I feel them they grow…”
In one of my several previous careers, I worked in production management at a TV cable network and often had to track down hotel bills incurred by guests on our shows. Our accounting department alphabetized the Mayflower Hotel under “T.” For “The.”
That’s…. Special…. All of these examples are Special… *twitch twitch*
Actual quote from my supervisor when I worked at the archives during their re-archiving project in college:
“Ok, here’s the deal. Your job is to go through every file in these 30 cabinets and remove the word “the” from the folder headings that have them and update the catalogue. It’s confusing the undergrads and we’re sick of having to explain it to them.”
That was two soul killing semesters of work right there. Especially since I’d have undergrads wander down to the archives looking under T for “the [rest of title].” My supervisor didn’t look so stupid after a the first few dozen times I had to explain why “the” is ignored.
I file under THE… Theater, Theme, Thermal, The End.
One fascinating aspect of living in a conjoined city is that we often have two of what other towns the same size would have one of.
So, the other, better, Hastings has been my preferred location.
I would browse many sections of the store, including Humor. One day, I could not find any Scott Adams at all. Confused, I went to find a person in a green apron. Turns out, all of Adams’ stuff was filed under “D” for Dilbert, half for those vaguely-literate Sparky consumers, the other half for the more sparky-like employees.
When I contacted Mr Adams, he was amused. Only slightly shocked. Half pleased that even the half-simple could find his works to purchase.
Oddly, Mr Ahern’s Foxtrot was not in “F” and Calvin was securely in “C” . . .
One of ourlocal Half Price Books files alphabetically by title. Their reasoning: Most people don’t know who wrote the book they are looking for and our employees don’t have time to look it up for them.
*And woo-hoo! I’ve been to House of Guitars, they sold records back in the early nineties.
*deep breath*
As a last [library corey], on the subject of cataloging and therefore book arrangement, there are some public institutions which have switched their holdings from Dewey to … something else. I’m not sure what it is called, but it is organized more like the offerings in bookstores. Because I understand cataloguing at a level unfamiliar to most patrons, this seems confusing to me whereas cataloguing does not … but not, apparently, to the patrons: the places that have done it have increased circulation figures to reinforce the concept that this is a good idea. I don’t think it will catch on in academia and specialized research institutions any time soon, but if it means more people use public collections then I can’t find anything wrong with that. [/Dewey corey]
Oh, and on the subject of Melville Dewey: kind of a nut at times. Wanted to simplify spelling in English, was an early proponent of metrics (which are fine, but they still aren’t popular in this country), and had a rep for being handsy around women. Yes, I learned this in library school.
Today is moving at about half the speed of smell…. Come on, guys, entertain me for the next 25 minutes! :-p
25 minutes!
Next!
RUTABAGAS!
Now laugh, damnit.
*does a silly dance with rutabagas and marmalade*
*does 15 minute tap dance tribute to the semicolon*
*Does a 20 minute sit down in tribute to the colon…*
What?
My wife is finishing work on her e-portfolio for her Master of Library and Information Sciences degree.
1) I am sitting this one out.
2) I am tempted to show her this post, but resisting so that she doesn’t see the “She Blinded Me With Library Science” t-shirt I am ordering her.
Bianchi, your wife is getting her MLIS? You’re even cooler than I thought!
So, Mudsy, Punchity Punch Punch!
Good Night, My Own Private Idaho!