Feb

9

The Librarian In Winter.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

February 9, 2010 | 2 Comments

The year I started this blog it snowed enough that the grounds of Vanderbilt University were covered. I wrote a post about it exactly three years ago today, although, unfortunately, the pictures that I linked to have now been removed. Since we just got another layer of snow I took some pictures of my own [...]

Jan

27

Goodbye, Beaver.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

January 27, 2010 | 2 Comments

It’s apocryphal, but supposedly Albert Einstein once said that the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. I’m sure harnessing the power of hydrogen will bring about some great advances but if we could ever harness the power of stupidity our potential would be limitless.
Coming right on the heels of the [...]

Nov

20

The League Of Extraordinary Librarians.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Because public libraries cater to both adults and children they have to walk a fine line between access and censorship, purchasing certain materials that aren’t appropriate for all ages but also restricting access to them. And if there’s a question about whether something should be available to any patrons regardless of age or whether it [...]

Nov

11

An Uninformed Case.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

November 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Since one of the responsibilities of librarians is assisting patrons with research, they’re supposed to be trained to use research materials–everything from print bibliographies to electronic databases. That’s part of what makes Professor Bert Chapman’s “case against homosexuality” so surprising. Chapman is a librarian at Purdue University, and yet in writing his “case” he seems [...]

Oct

8

Raising The Barcode.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

October 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment

If you used Google on October 7th, 2009, you may have noticed their usual logo was replaced with this one:

It’s the latest in a long line of “alterations” to the Google logo, used to mark special events such as Gandhi’s birthday, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Cricket World Cup.
This particular one celebrated the invention of [...]

Sep

29

The Banned Played On.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

September 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The American Library Association celebrates Banned Books Week every year in late September. This year Banned Books Week is officially taking place from September 26th through October 3rd, which, by my count, is eight days. And why not add an extra day to that week? Banning books is an important subject. Personally I’m all for [...]

Aug

14

What Would You Forget?

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

August 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

A librarian friend recently sent me an article called The First Time. It’s by a librarian who noticed a kid holding Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. She asked him if he’d read it before. He hadn’t. She asked him if anyone had told him how it ended. No one had. She goes on,
At that [...]

Aug

4

Time Is Still On Their Side.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

August 4, 2009 | 3 Comments

Back when I first started this blog I wrote a defense of printed books. Even now with electronic resources becoming increasingly valuable (or increasingly overpriced, depending on how you look at it), I think the same principles still apply. While devices like the Kindle may be appealing to some, the problems associated with them mean [...]

Jul

30

Sticker Shock.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

July 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Warning: extreme librarian content ahead.
An article titled The Dark Side of Online Journals by Lisa Richmond in the June issue of Z Magazine does an excellent job of summing up a major concern for academic libraries everywhere. Electronic journals pose a serious threat. While for some the threat was assumed to be that electronic publications [...]

Jul

24

Accept No Substitutes.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

July 24, 2009 | 2 Comments

Sometimes publishers play dirty tricks. For instance if a particular publication ceases and customers have already paid for the coming year, the publisher won’t necessarily refund the customers’ money. Instead they’ll just substitute an alternate publication, something they think will fit the customer’s interest just as well as the old magazine. It’s something libraries have [...]

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