Women in pants

As told in Women in Pants: Manly Maidens, Cowgirls, and Other Renegades by Catherine Smith and Cynthia Greig (391.20973 Sm533w), women in rural communities in northern New York State frequently participated in all-women mock weddings around the turn of the century as a type of social entertainment:



This book is more than just a fascinating history of women wearing pants - it covers all sorts of stereotype-busting behaviors of Victorian and Edwardian ladies. Well worth a browse.

Heavy bones

I should have put this one out for spring break -- the new all-issues-in-one-volume Bone by Jeff Smith (GN SMI):



Quote from graphic novel critic Joey Manley: "These character-driven little bits, scattered throughout the book, are enough to carry a nearly 1400-page book all by themselves, despite the clunkiness of its larger storyline." For more, see the Boneville home page.

News/Blog Aggregator for Dummies

That's what I'm tempted to call Bloglines, which describes itself as "the most comprehensive, integrated service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing news feeds, blogs, and rich Web content." The way this works (GREATLY simplified) is that when someone sets up an RSS feed on their website, new content is syndicated or "fed" to aggregators. Users (i.e., you and me) install aggregator software or use a web client like Bloglines and subscribe to the feeds we are interested in following. We don't have to keep checking those individual websites or blogs to see if there is anything new. Bloglines makes this especially easy since there's no software to install and you can use it from any web-connected computer. I just check my personal account to find out what's new on Slashdot, Free Range Librarian, Wired News, KlezmerShack, and a bunch of other folks I'm interested in following (even Gargoyles Loose in the Library!).

So now you know how I spent my spring break. But I wonder - will sydication ever catch on with the LiveJournal/Xanga crowd?

Spring break reading

We've had a steady stream of people in, stocking up on books for spring break reading. I'm pleased to see that most of the books on the "Blog Books" display have gone out. If students aren't actually reading this blog, at least they seem to agree with my book choices. We've got a few new titles in (at least, new for us). Think if I put them out now they'll be gone by the end of the day? One is Zodiac, by Neal Stephenson (PB STE), the other is Palestine, by Joe Sacco (GN SAC):



Happy vacation, everyone! See you on the 28th -

Shameless self-promotion

And how could I not? My book is out! My advance copy was waiting in the mailbox when I got home. How cool is that?



Here are some random things I found particularly exciting/curious/fun:

- There's an entry in the index under "wacko."
- There's an index! That I didn't have to create.
- On the cover photo (taken by me..), they didn't photoshop out the background clutter like I thought they would. It's all there - the copy machine, the cardboard recycling box, the torn window shade, etc. But heck, it is what it is. My lovely library.
- Eight, count 'em, eight Library of Congress Subject Headings!

Besides ordering it from ALA, it's available from Amazon and from Barnes and Noble. (Though it's more righteous to order it from ALA, which is nonprofit and does Good Works).

Life doesn't get any better than this, let me tell you.

Clustering with clusty.com

I've been reacquainting myself with Vivisimo's web searching product, Clusty. Its claim to fame is the clustering feature on the left side of the screen, which organizes search results into folders containing similar items. Except for the lame name, Clusty is a pretty cool resource. Besides the clustering feature, users can select search tab categories, adding such tabs as blogs, gov, and even eBay. I find it amusing that one of the default tabs is gossip, which searches such highly touted publications as the National Enquirer. What this means is that you can use Clusty as your search engine for individual resources, whether the Enquirer or eBay.

I tested Clusty with a search on "gormangate," the latest controversy to erupt in tumultuous Library Land. Michael Gorman, the President-Elect of the American Library Association, has been getting a lot of flak lately for a piece he published criticizing bloggers and blogging. The web search results are quite amusing, as are the blog search results. But the gossip category produces zip, instead suggesting: View the latest gossip from several leading tabloids. Yes, in bold, in red.

New book fun

It seems like we've been getting a lot of new books in lately. Thought I'd share a few especially interesting titles.

Rainbow Boys (PB SAN), by Alex Sanchez, is one we didn't get in time for the display from our Recommended Reads list on books with lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender characters or themes.



We've had a lot of calls lately for Yann Martel's Life of Pi (PB MAR).



And now we have the sequel to The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde. Lost in a Good Book (PB FFO) tells the continuing tales of Special Operatuve Thursday Next, as she leaps through the pages of Dickens, Kafka, and Austen. The blurb from the New York Times calls it "Harry Potter just for adults...effortlessly readable and unashamedly escapist."

Learning to blog, it's about time

I'm writing this entry from a blogging workshop being conducted by Jenny Levine, the Shifted Librarian. Jenny has single-handedly dragged a lot of us into the 21st, no, the 20th century, so I wasn't about to miss this opportunity. The room is filled with a lot of silent grownups, currently typing away intently.

Ah, we just had a little discussion about the commenting problem. Most libraries have to turn it off, for obvious reasons.

OK, I'd better pay attention now.

Teen prodigy authors

We now have two books in the library written by authors in their teens. Christopher Paolini began writing Eragorn (813 P196e) when he was fifteen. Now nineteen, he's already working on the second book of this fantasy trilogy. Unfortunately, our copy is presently on reserve in the Education and Social Sciences Library, most likely an assigned reading for some future teacher. I should have such assigned reading...

But you can get your hands on new arrival The Prophecy of the Stones (823 B869p), written by Flavia Bujor when she was twelve, published when she was thirteen. The reviews are not all glowing, but readers don't seem to care.

Let's see, at twelve I was...I was... well, let's just say I was NOT writing a book that would have an initial print run of 65,000 copies in the United States.

They don't make bachelor girls like they used to

Here's the cover of Bachelor Girl: The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century (305.489652 Is72b), by Betsy Israel:



It's part of a display Corinne put up in celebration of National Women's History Month. A lot of folks have joined this bandwagon, from the Department of Defense to the National Park Service. But are we there yet? Consider the angst of Bridget Jones and the women of Sex in the City. Good thing the Feminist Majority Foundation is here to provide an antidote.

Librarian happiness

The Book Chat seems to be perking up a bit. Of course, it helps when I allow class time for it -

Iraq and the Kurds

Although it was published in 1991, Kiss the Dust by Elizabeth Laird (PB LAI) is extremely relevant today. It tells the story of 12-year-old Tara whose Kurdish family must flee the northern Iraq city of Sulaimaniya. They journey first to the mountains, where Tara encounters village life and different expectations for girls. School is no longer an option. Instead, she must work alongside the other women, cleaning and cooking. Eventually, her family is not even safe in the mountains. They travel the dangerous route to Iran, where they find a hostile reception and are forced to live in refugee camps. By the end of the book, Tara is no longer the child she once was.