no cure for curiosity.

May 24

Archive Watch: Building a National Cooperative for Archival Standards -

infoneer-pulse:

The nation’s archives contain multitudes of documents that detail the lives and experiences of individuals, families, and groups. Archivists don’t lack for material to manage. What they could use is a consistent, broadly used standard for so-called authority control—a way to reliably, thoroughly describe archival holdings and contexts so that they’re discoverable by anyone who might want to use them.

A fairly new archival-authority standard, released in 2010, could change that. It has the less-than-euphonious name of Encoded Archival Context-Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families, or EAC-CPF. And it’s helped inspire a push to create a cooperative national infrastructure to regularize and connect archival records.

A group of archivists and other interested parties gathered at the National Archives here on Monday and Tuesday to talk about what a National Archival Authorities Cooperative, or NAAC, would look like, and how to get there from here.

» via The Chronicle of Higher Education (Subscription may be required for some content)

May 23

[video]

[video]

gunstreet: The Twilight Zone episode 08, “Time Enough At Last”

gunstreet:

The Twilight Zone episode 08, “Time Enough At Last”

(via fuckyeahbookarts)

“

Don’t pay too much!

I know a couple of librarians who paid to go to private institutions or otherwise very expensive schools to get their MLIS. I would advise you not to do this. The MLIS that you receive is pretty much the same no matter where you go and the big difference is the debt you have when you’re done. You probably won’t get paid more if you go to a prestigious school and the starting salaries for librarians are pretty sad. However, you might come out feeling well trained or that you got a good education, but most librarians I talk to and many of the ones that paid for those expensive schools said that they learned more in their first week on the job then their entire academic career. I would suggest (as sad as it is) to select your library program on price.

” — P.C. Sweeney, Advice for Choosing a MLIS Program (via thepinakes)

May 13

In E-Reader Age of Writer’s Cramp, a Book a Year Is Slacking -

infoneer-pulse:

For years, it was a schedule as predictable as a calendar: novelists who specialized in mysteries, thrillers and romance would write one book a year, output that was considered not only sufficient, but productive.

But the e-book age has accelerated the metabolism of book publishing. Authors are now pulling the literary equivalent of a double shift, churning out short stories, novellas or even an extra full-length book each year.

They are trying to satisfy impatient readers who have become used to downloading any e-book they want at the touch of a button, and the publishers who are nudging them toward greater productivity in the belief that the more their authors’ names are out in public, the bigger stars they will become.

“It used to be that once a year was a big deal,” said Lisa Scottoline, a best-selling author of thrillers. “You could saturate the market. But today the culture is a great big hungry maw, and you have to feed it.”

» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)

Links & Resources.

librariesandlemonade:

Feminism

Racism, Race, & Culture

Sizeism & Body Positivity

GSM (Gender & Sexuality Minorities)

Ableism

Privilege

Reproductive Health

Classism

Misc/Other

Good list.

450 Free Audio Books from Open Culture -

(Source: thelifeguardlibrarian)

May 08

Disastrous Plan for Philadelphia's Library For The Blind -

morerobots:

A few days ago, I answered an ask about what my goal as a librarian was. This is it. This is exactly the kind of thing I hope to prevent in my career as a librarian.

There doesn’t seem to be a reason for this move. The article states the commonwealth won’t even make or save money off of this. It is a library that was created specifically for the purpose of providing accommodating materials for the blind and visually impaired. What a great purpose! But now they are destroying and diminishing the collection.

Libraries like this are the kind of thing that we need.

“

I had the good fortune of working with Maurice when he created our most recent December ‘Best Books’ cover. It wasn’t until late in the process that I actually worked directly with him. When we spoke for the first time, he immediately cut down any notion that I should treat him any differently because he was “Maurice Sendak.” He wanted to know how I liked the illustration. In fact, in a voice mail, he told me that if I didn’t like the illustration he was going to commit Hara-kiri.
Although said as a joke, he really did want to know if he did an acceptable job. “People think I sleep on nails” he later told me.

We spoke a few times, and the bulk of the conversations had nothing to do with the assignment. Instead we spoke on a wide range of topics. I enjoyed these conversations immensely. It’s well known that Maurice was brilliant, and opinionated, and blunt, but I found out that he was also kind and extremely down-to-earth.

When I sent him copies of the December issue, I included a note and said “I hope your appearance on our cover helps you in building your career.” Another phone call came a few days later. Apparently he liked that I didn’t treat him differently just because he was Maurice Sendak.
—Mark Tuchman, art director, School Library Journal

” —

(via schoollibraryjournal)

I’m sorry everybody but Mark Tuchman is the bomb.com: “I included a note and said  ’I hope your appearance on our cover helps you in building your career.’” 

I hope your appearance on our cover helps you in building your career.

(via libraryjournal)

(via libraryjournal)