15 things--Vonnegut Part Deux

"15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will"

A.V Club, April 23, 2007
by Scott Gordon, Josh Modell, Noel Murray, Sean O'Neal, Tasha Robinson, Kyle Ryan

Enjoy:

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/15_things_kurt_vonnegut_said

Miss Kurt Vonnegut? Me too.

I had the good fortune of discovering this article today, written several years ago by the late great Kurt Vonnegut. Needless to say, his words reminded me of just how perceptive, bold and amazing he was (and not just because he flatters the librarian). His courageous voice will be sorely missed.

"So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."

Read the whole article here:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/i_love_you_madame_librarian/)

This NYTimes ode to/review of Vonnegut by film critic A.O. Scott says it all...

"His liberalism grows out of some principles that can only be called conservative, like the belief in community and extended family that has become one of the big themes of his later work. He remains unimpressed by technology or the other trappings of progress, and he remains one of America's leading critics of evolution - not of the theory, mind you, but of the practice, which has left us far too clever and vain for our own good. "

http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/books/review/09scott.html?ex=1181966400&en=e91e818fa1ee464a&ei=5070

Book of the Week: A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut


Though I haven't read this one yet--I hope to very soon! Composed of very brief essays, many of them previously published in the on-line journal "In These Times," Vonnegut displays his biting wit, and unabashed criticism of the state of the American government and society in general.

Read more reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/081297736X/ref=dp_proddesc_0/103-2849106-7334257?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books


RIP Kurt Vonnegut!

It has been too long!

I apologize to all of my readers (the few of you) for having taken such a long break from posting! I vow to never again neglect my blog for longer than 1 week!

My new favorite web-site...

http://scout.wisc.edu/index.php

Tired of your web-surfing routine? Does your hand automatically gravitate to the same web-sites day after day after day (New York Times, Salon, CNN, Perez Hilton). Wanna find something new and unique? Well, stop browsing on auto-pilot! Inject some life into your surfing mojo! Check out the Scout Report!

The Wall Street Journal sums it up nicely...

"Most of us visit the same old Web sites day after day; Here's how to get out of your rut. If you're like most people, it's probably not very many. Time is limited, the Web is vast -- and the handful of Web sites you visit regularly seem just fine. But know this: Your lack of Web adventure means you're missing out on a wealth of information, knowledge and whimsy online. And to find it, you must have to know whom to ask. One of the best is the Internet Scout Report (Scout.cs.Wisc.edu), a project of the computer-sciences department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Since 1994, the report has published a weekly listing of sites of interest to researchers and educators in the U.S."

To "researchers" and "educators," I would add anyone with some curiosity and a desire to expand their web horizons! Set up newsletter style, issues come out every week with recommendations under the categories: general interest, education and research, and in the news. You can keyword search the archives or browse the back issues!

Here are some cool sites I'm glad I know about but never would have found on my own: (Thanks Scout Report!)

http://www.soundjunction.org/

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Special-Programs/SP-287Spring-2006/CourseHome/index.htm

http://www.presentersuniversity.com/

Here's to happier surfing Big Kahuna!

Why do we need librarians? or Why a librarian: Part deux

We have the internet. Google is in the process of scanning every book they can get their hands on. People in Japan are reading books on their cell-phones. And why are libraries relevant?

33 good reasons here...

http://www.degreetutor.com/library/adult-continued-education/librarians-neededrary/adult-continued-education/librarians-needed

Video Du Jour:

A long, long, long, long time ago, books were the new technology. A friend sent me this awesome Norwegian video about medieval "tech support"...

http://www.devilducky.com/media/57946

Book of the Week: What is the What?
by Dave Eggers

If you are at all interested in/concerned about the Sudan conflict or the plight of refugees anywhere, this book offers an incredibly personal, heartbreaking and inspirational story based on the life of one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan. Visit Valentino Achak Deng's website here...

http://www.valentinoachakdeng.com

Check out the New York Times review of What is the What?...

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E0D61531F937A15751C1A9609C8B63&n=Top%2fFeatures%2fBooks%2fBook%20Reviews

Why a librarian?

#1. I believe passionately that reading has the power to change lives.
#2. I believe passionately in life long learning.
#3. I believe passionately in intellectual freedom.
#4. Libraries provide equal access to EVERYONE.
#5. The web is endlessly cool--but it needs some orga-ni-zation.
#6. Privacy, y'all.
#7. Not to feed horrible stereotypes, but...I'm kind of a bookworm, I like wearing my hair in a bun, and I have three cats.
#8. Batgirl was a librarian.
#9. I love acronyms, and the library world is full of em'
#10. Because librarians are just plain awesome. See another librarian blogger's explanation here... http://librarianavengers.org

Bookworm

The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, nations perish, civilizations grow old and die out, and after an era new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the heart of men centuries dead.
- Clarence Day

Some people think that the book is on its way out--destined for a place in the technology graveyard. I argue that books are the greatest technology ever invented. They are compact, they smell good, you can drop them, throw them, get them wet. Books don't crash or get viruses, and they don't become outdated two months after you buy them.

Don't get me wrong, I love where technology is going! And some book formats do function better on-line (e.g encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.) But, really now. Can you imagine a world without books?

I recently watched the movie version of Farenheit 451. Scary. Very scary.

Back in December, Forbes.com dedicated a lot of space to my dear old friend and my all-time favorite technology, the book. Read about book burning, publishing, writers and more:

http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/books-publishing-internet-tech-media_cx_mm_mn_books06_1201book_land.html

Website of the Day: Library Thing

"LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth."

Check out my catalog and then make your own!

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=honeygun76

Later Taters!

Plagiarists Beware! Even the Dead Ones!

What do Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville and Laurence Sterne have in common? Yes, they were all authors! Good job! You're brilliant!

Did you know they were also plagiarists?

My mother, a brave middle-school language arts teacher, detects and fights plagiarism among her young poets with a simple Google search. Paul Collins, in an article for Slate, points out that with a tool like Google Book Search "even artists not living in the on-line age are in trouble."

Read it!

http://www.slate.com/id/2153313/

Website of the Day: The Internet Public Library
Looking for quick and reliable facts? Looking for credible websites on a given topic? The Internet Public Library is a great place to start research on a plethora of topics! You can also ask librarians questions via e-mail. According to the FAQ page, the IPL is:

• the first public library of and for the Internet community
  
• an experiment, trying to discover and promote the most effective roles and contributions of librarians to the Internet and vice versa
  
• a group of highly talented, creative, strong-willed people, working hard

What's not to like about that? Check it out:

http://www.ipl.org/

Ta Ta for now!