Re: Little Triumphs

Every now and then you have a little moment that reminds you why you are proud to be a cataloger.
Cataloging is an arcane science.  I like to think of it as a kind of cryptography–you analyze the object in hand and then “code it up” so that people can find it when they do a [...]

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Re: Intellectual Conversation @ Your Library

“Snot doctors”. –Bob, my co-worker, proposing his name for eye, ear, nose and throat specialists.
“Wouldn’t they be called  ‘boogermen’?”–me
Librarians, engaged in edifying conversation, at your library–not (or snot as the case may be) ….

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Re: Geeks Rule

Resolved today at this morning’s committee meeting:

We need minions and should hire some immediately ’cause doing the work ourselves is a definite drawback to most of our projects.
We each definitely need a personal toady who can stroke our ego and lip off to people we don’t like.  Think Iago, the mouthy parrot from Disney’s “Aladdin”.
Steampunk [...]

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Re: Owl-sha

Boreal Owl in Box
Originally uploaded by dr.Ozda
While myself and several of my colleagues were stuck in a two and a half hour Safety training, my co-worker, dr. Ozda, was snapping pictures of this boreal owl in its nesting box whilst precariously perched on top of a ladder on top of a doghouse. Had there been [...]

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Re: Mine, All Mine!

At long last, ultimate power has fallen to me! True, it has only taken fourteen long years of faithful service and the temporary absence of most other higher ranking employees with signature authority, but finally I have been named the acting department head. For the next two days. (Never has the term “power vacuum” been [...]

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Re: Book reviews

During my recent sojourn to far Numenor, I had a long layover in the Gondor airport and, as a result, came up with two new books which I’d like to recommend to you.
The first is Neil Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book”. This book just won the Newbury Award for Young Adult fiction and, may I say, [...]

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Re: Door Stop Wars

*Insert Imperial March theme music here*
The University of Arnor, thanks to its penny-wise, pound-foolish fiscal policy, contracts out its custodial services to the lowest possible bidder.  The end result, apart from spotty cleaning, is that we are occasionally treated to bizarre episodes like the following ….
*Insert Star Wars Opening fanfare here*
Last week, in a library [...]

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Re: Punk This Library

“What”, asks Sara Brumfield of the blog Steampunk Home, “could be more steampunk than a library?”
Well, yeah, I thought, maybe Sherlock Holmes’s library–a fireplace, a lot of leatherbound books, and some comfortable armchairs–but the modern library? No way. If pressed to describe the decor of my office deep in the bowels of the University of [...]

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Re: Young Hormones

What is it about the library that makes it irresistable to young people in heat?
Today, while trekking across the Periodicals floor on my way to lunch, I came across a young couple lying full length on one of the couches, making out. He was on top with one leg between hers and she was firmly [...]

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Re: Can’t Touch That

One of the tattoos profiled on Contrariwise. Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss, Harry Potter, Tolkien, and Kurt Vonnegut all seem to be very popular.
The following exchanged amused me to no end. One of the librarians to the Arnorian Library Association listserv posted a link and a short description of Contrariwise, a website devoted to literary tattoos–tattoos that [...]

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