The final word on the unicorn

There are some things that just have to be taken to their utmost extreme. We have seen what Aaron can do with the backing of a roll of spine label protectors. Well, he decided just to see how far this madness could go. Apparently, the full length of two student assistants. Here is the Super Unicorn, first in its unwrapped state and then unfurled to its mightly length. Unfortunately, this type of performance art is not long-lived. The SU put on its show with Aaron and Aliisa and then died a quiet (rather crumpled) death.

Sophomore girls set the record straight

That THEY are the official fifth period groupies, NOT the subbie boys. Here's the evidence:



Laura is getting ready for Halloween:

There's got to be more to this story

I've been crazy busy, but couldn't resist a look at some of the items on the new issue of American Libraries Direct. First, there's the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District in Alaska that is now banning access to all websites "unless the site ends in a .gov or .edu domain name, the site is a database whose content is licensed by the district, or the district has approved an educator's request that the site be unblocked." Wow. Double wow. Apparently, the kids have been bad. The third-most-visited URL in the district was gecko-proxy.com, which enables students to sidestep the software filter installed to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act. The Anchorage Daily News reported that MTV.com is particularly popular among the high school students. Over a 37-day period, the district tracked some 14,862 hits to that site.

Parent Richard Leo observed that such heavy restrictions "will deprive students of an essential research skill: the ability to distinguish between useful information and bunk." Teacher Kathy Ernst is quoted as saying "There's got to be accountability. If there's a tool that's being misused we don't take away the tool from everyone; we make sure there is adequate training and supervision." Hear, hear!

On a sweeter note, a six-year-old boy was selected as Volunteer of the Year by the Allegheny County Library Association. He was concerned that starting first grade would cut into his volunteer time at the library. Awwwwwwww.

Ah, free period

Nothing like it.


(Where do you suppose the girls went?)

Interesting tidbits from library land

This week's edition of American Libraries Direct has a link to a 1987 college video project which has found its way to YouTube. Librarian Betty Glover, of the Charles Trumbull Hayden Library at Arizona State University, leads her staff through a strenuous library-style workout. Hey, I had the Jane Fonda excercise tape. But I never got to get in shape doing the card catalog pull, the book truck push, and the phone book stack. Guess I should make up for lost time.

On a (slightly) more serious note, the new issue of Knowledge Quest has an article by Gail Dickinson on a topic that becomes a burning issue every February in school libraries around the country. So tell me, what should one do with the swimsuit issue?

It's official!

This morning the MacArthur Foundation held a press conference to announce the launch of its five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative "to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life." From the project's website, you can link to a webcast of the press conference and to the project blog, "where visitors can engage with initiative grantees about their work."

This project is big. Really big. All kinds of organizations and institutions are involved. Even though I've been consumed with my little part in it for the past several months, I had to dig a bit to find the description of our work. It will be fun to watch the news percolate out. CNET has posted a story, but that's to be expected. I want to see it hit my hometown newspaper.

Who knew?

This advertising insert came with our local newspaper a few days ago:



The Illinois Pork Producers Association is trying to make the point that the tax revenue they generate enhances libraries, parks, and other public works projects.

The flip side of this insert is an ad for a hamburger chain. Do cows also build better libraries?

When good student workers go...

Not bad, but crazy?
Because of our massive recataloging project, lots and lots of new spine labels (sporting the new call numbers) are required. And every new spine label is fastened to its book with a transparent spine label protector. So, in this Before picture, you'll see the roll 'o spine label protectors:



This After pic shows what Aaron does with the detritus, once all the spine label protectors have been applied and only the backing sheet is left:


He calls it the Super Unicorn. I dunno, should we keep him on?

The makeover continues!

What, ho, is that an empty computer table behind Robert and Julia? Why, yes, I do believe it is!



Ms. Kovacs, our very own Campus Surplus Queen, scrounged it for us in anticipation of the arrival of two additional workstations. We will be up to six University Library fed computers (plus Melvil, who runs off the school server mothership). That's a pretty good percentage increase in access to computers, and will go a long way when classes come in. Not a bad haul for Friday the 13th.

Saved by the bell

I learned this morning from the Young Adult Library Services Association blog that because the Senate and the House are not in session until after the election, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) will die a natural death. We're not out of the woods just yet. Something like DOPA always stands a chance of being resurrected again, possibly as soon as the next session which starts in January. We shall have to be vigilant.

In the meantime, here's something that should really concern those members of the House of Representatives who voted for DOPA. You never know about those radical librarians.

More display fun

Because we loooove Halloween. And because we really, really wanted to use the Zombie Speller I wrote about in September. It's a cool application of Flickr's photo sharing service.



I am personally very fond of the H because of the way the Zombie's head emerges from his middle.

And many thanks to Laura for sharing these creepy eyes to go with our creepy bats and creepy books:

White hat social networking

I'm two-timing this blog again, this time posting to the Young Adult Library Services Association blog. During October, a small group of us are posting examples of positive uses of social networking software. We are doing this to highlight what might be lost if the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) passes. So I was pleased yesterday to be able to post a shout-out to our student newspaper, The Gargoyle, which is using blogging software to publish its online edition.

Today I am totally distracted by a new post from Beth reporting on a panel discussion she attended called My Space? Your Space? Whose Space? The teens and librarians who spoke shared their various reasons for having personal MySpace pages and library-sponsored MySpace pages, their quests for friends, their privacy concerns, their thoughts about banning MySpace in schools and libraries (and their tips for getting around filters!). Beth concludes: "...kids are always going to be one step ahead of us. Banning it [MySpace] isn't the answer; educating is." Amen to that.

FaerieChat Session 92.141.86

Joy gave me permission to post this alternative take on a scene from a certain Shakespeare play (can you tell which one?). I see some Wylde Q. Chicken potential here.

hErMiA429: lol lysander where did u go?
Ly54nd3r: 2 follow my luv
hErMiA429: !?! >.< u luv somethin more than me??? what?
Ly54nd3r: rofl helena duh
hErMiA429: =P im so confuzed
< helengrl111 has entered the chat >
helengrl111: =( why r u messin w/ me??? i thought we were friends!!11one i hate u
hErMiA429: wha? ur messin w/ me!
helengrl111: nuh-uh! u told ur bf 2 pretend 2 liek me + demetrius too!!
hErMiA429: im still confuzed...wtf?
helengrl111: whateva, u lie
Ly54nd3r: dont pay attention 2 her, helena, shes liek totally a n00b
t3h_demetrius: yeah a n00b
Ly54nd3r: go away demetrius helena's mine
t3h_demetrius: lol roflmao im gonna pwn j00
t3h_demetrius: bsides u liek taht hermia, go follow her around lol XD
Ly54nd3r: hermia u ugly biatch, go home st00p1d
hErMiA429: omg but i <3 u why r u so rude now??
Ly54nd3r: im kickin u off my friendz list cuz u so short n ugly
hErMiA429: r u j/k?
helengrl111: yah n u r too
Ly54nd3r: demetrius cmon i challenge u 2 sum WOW
Ly54nd3r: haha n00b
t3h_demetrius: no my gnomez0r will pwn ur char
< Ly54nd3r and t3h_demetrius have left the chat >
helengrl111: i dont 2 talk w/ u so im leaving
hErMiA429: no dont leave me!!!!
helengrl111: too bad i dont care
< helengrl111 has left the chat >
hErMiA429: ...
< hErMiA429 has left the chat>
[HiddenAccount] Puck: roflmao

Why the Internet was invented

So we could fritter away our lives looking at sites like these.

Courtesy LISNews, I found out about CNet's gallery of pictures that lie. Some are relatively harmless, some are funny, some are downright evil, and at least one never was doctored but was rumored to be.

From the Librarian in Black, I learned about the Warning Sign Generator (don't try this one at home) and the Fortune Cookie Message Generator (haven't you always wanted one of these?)