The Accidental Bloggist

they say that winter roses are the rarest variety; they can take the cold and come back.  Yet, in some way, they must be the most vulnerable.  It’s that one bitter cold snap, that last killing freeze before spring arrives, that one last thing  when the vines are exposed 

it lays them dormant forever.

This is the music to which I am listening while I grind out yet another assignment.   This one is on HTML.   HAHA.  I wrote that in actual code before the pretty GUIs made it easy for ya’ll.   Here’s to all the strong people that the world makes fragile.   We can do this.

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/

realizing that I am putting this “out there” without formal copyright, I am including my paper for Information Literacy here.   It is dated, so quote me, cite me and we’re cool, ok?

yes, Doc, it is also a bit biting and bitter, from the bottom of my teeny little darkened heart 

reserved

this space reserved for future use (library 2.0 – the more we talk, the more we fail to listen)

Tulsa Historical Museum has a librarian!   and a very nice one at that.   the class field trip had been cancelled, but I did not get the message so I show up…  the people there seemed very glad to have a visitor and insisted that I stay and have a look at their beautiful building.   me and my onesie got a very personal tour of the facility.  

I’ve always enjoyed Historical Societies in smaller towns.   they’re usually in some old building either downtown or in a renovated house donated to the community.    crammed with all sort of odds and ends, they are just hilarious for the most part, but not what I would call ”formal” in their collecting strategy and displaying techniques.   well, not here.   Tulsa’s is not like any I’ve ever seen in a community this size – and largely due to the librarian Joshua who is just the most awesome person.    talk about your Library success story – he’s really an inspiration.

The building sits by the Rose Garden and it is beautiful – and most of it is very new.    it’s built in the same style as Philbrook which is close by.   I got to go down into the work area and see where the librarian does his thing.    very cool indeed.   he is working to digitize more of their collecitons, but is also very involved with physical acquisitions, collection management, and research.   this is the website which he oversees as well:

http://www.tulsahistory.org/

one thing that really caught my eye, though, was a pile of current newspaper clippings sitting on a worktable in one of the back rooms.   Joshua keeps a verticle file.    a real one.    I thought those died with the buggy whip business, but young, hip Joshua keeps up with all the local clippings and sorts them into verticle files.   He was was very proud to show me his system of organization and he mentioned how he likes to research those for people requesting information about local history.   we talked about the preservation issues of high-tech collections and the ever growing sentiment that all that virtual “stuff” is not going to replace the durability of physical archives.  people may think “it’s all online, we don’t have to worry” but it’s not and we do.    I so dig that!

I also spent a lot of time asking about the photographic collection stored in the basement.  the “Beryl Ford” boxes contain thousands of negatives that were scanned by Tulsa City County Library and made available online here:

http://www.tulsalibrary.org/BFC/index.htm

the physical part of the collection is archived at the Historical Society.  anyone veiwing the digital collection through the library website (which has the server capacity to store such a huge amount of data) can contact Joshua about getting a copy of the image from the negatives.   as the archivist, he maintains the integrity of the collection – as he put it “I wouldn’t want these to be made into mass decorations for some resturant or anything, but people with a genuine interest in Tulsa history can obtain prints from the original for a small fee.”   The collection was loosely grouped by topic before being scanned and catalogued with simple, indeterminate accession numbers – no LC or Dewey system – so they could be filed and retrieved using the image from the internet.   as the digital collection went into the OPAC, it is sorted alphabetically by title, so all the pictures with ”main street” as the first word are sort of clumped together.   the downside of such an organization strategy is that a “wooden oil rig” is listed next to a “wooden scooter.”   it can seem a bit random for browsing purposes.  The full record from the OPAC looks like a pared-down version of Dublin Core.   the “note” field has a brief description such as “Looking south at 1st and Utica on May 21, 1955″ that one might be able to use a key word search to find a particular image.   Obviously, when creating 23,072 bib records, getting the job done requires extremely brief records.  

Joshua did not have a lot of information on how the project was accomplished, so for my DC project I need to contact the folks at TCCL for a “tour” – I would be interested to know what process they used to scan the negatives.   Joshua did say that there were very few actual photographs in the collection so there was no effort made to match up negatives with print images.

in the sixteenth century, a quiet, studious monk by the name of Martin Luther rocked the foundations of Christendom.   In pointing out the futility of buying indulgences for the remission of sins (and the greed behind selling them), he forever changed the way Christians looked at their relationship with God and Church.

It was the end of the world as we knew it.

Erasmus, the apologist for the other side, did not so much overcome Luther’s arguments - rather he pointed out the effect such conclusions would have on the body of the faithful.   if salvation is a matter of justification by faith alone, then no one need “do” anything.   as in go to church at all.   and if no one needs go, no one needs tithe.  The Church was a little more blunt.   Lions and tigers and bears, and shut up Martin or we’ll kill you.  Yet, there he stood because he could do no other.

Rome went nuts.   First they tried to censure the renegade.   That didn’t work.  Much to their horror, his teachings gained ground.   Quick!  Counter-Reformation!   Adapt or Die!    we hate them, they hate us, we’re right, they’re wrong.   war, revolution, pestilence, plague, pox, and posturing.   It’s like every day was an election year.  

centuries of bitter rivalry later…  lo and behold, both Catholic and Protestant churces survive.   One did not replace the other.   it turned out not to be so much a matter of “either/or” as “different strokes.”    apparently there are enough people in the world (over a billion Catholics and some 71 million Lutherans alone) to support both. 

Computers and the internet appeared in the late 20th century.    tentative at first – saying “uhmm, I think there’s a better way to handle card catalogs…”  Schism!  then everything must be going digital!   Library meltdown!!!!  The demise of print is at hand!  We will be justified by electronics alone!   Bring out your dead!   We’ll throw those unbelievers on a pyre of their burning useless books!   teach them to think the library can survive As It Is.   It’s Us against Them.  librarians sure as hell better pick one side or the other and the right one too, because it’s going to get real toasty if you’re on the wrong side of this battle.   

Luther’s arguments were later taken to their logical conclusion by Calvin – if it’s “faith” alone, actions intended to impress or appease God, are useless “works” - sure blew open that can of Worms.   can’t I pray for my children like Augustine’s mother, or was that just wasted breath?   How about works of charity for the least of my brothers and sisters in the name of “you did it for Me?”   not according Calvin.   Heaven is not a work-release program.   you’re saved or not.   nothing you can “do.”  Erasmus hinted at the obvious difficulty such a premise presents to a priest – or to any person of faith.  Ora et Labora.  Luther spluttered a bit in his later writings, but ultimately had no compromise that could embrace human participation in personal salvation.   Prayer, worship, acts of charity, confession of sins: taking Luther’s cue, Calvin said all is vanity and religiousity.    God has already chosen who will win the eternal lottery.   nothing a person can do to change any of it.   doctrine of total depravity.   so there’s no point in any of it really…. even living it out is sort of a waste of God’s time.   eeewwww.   Calvin’s was a stark and cold interpretation that still leaves too bitter a taste in the mouths of many believers (along with the grape juice in little cups they use instead of a good shot of red Merlot).   

obviously Mater Church didn’t die.    turned out there are many mansions after all.  

yes, it’s the end of the library world as we know it.   we can’t just close our eyes and build towers of paper to block out the piercing electronic light.   but we don’t have to offer the requiem for print as a constant theme song either.  in fact, Erasmus might point out how ultimately nihilistic it is for a librarian to do so.

First, this link to the tool produced by the Grandaddy of all consortia libraria:  OCLC.   they have digital library products and services – at what I would imagine is a pretty hefty fee - but they are at the heart of every other library function and why not.   no really.   why not.  anyway, as such, their DC software would get my nod since one never knows when other products are going to die and take everything with them.   http://www.oclc.org/us/en/services/collection/default.htm

Reference #2:  an article by Edmund Balnaves that addresses some of the issues (and validates my uncertainties if my suggestion # 1 is not followed).   products with strong histories of functionality and continued tech support are fundamental when creating organizational strategy:  http://llc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/20/4/399?ijkey=O6OAxJKjGAx8aTh&keytype=ref

#3 - in the spirit of seeing both sides, this article neatly answers my first question and makes me think anybody can do this.   the flow charts are amazing.   I feel more reassured that Dublin Core would seem to be the metadata of choice for all this, no matter what platform, right?   I still would not want to trust my whole library’s IR to my ability to do this myself.   http://www.wrlc.org/dcpc/dcmspaper/

#4 -  omg a PowerPoint!!   love those bulleted lists and flow chart.   Tom Ceresini of Palinet makes life easy…   or not.    http://www.palinet.org/media/2007conferencepresentations/2007DigitalCollectionManagementSystems.pdf

#5 = this next article may be dated, but this is about the speed at which most real libraries keep up with the technology – in fact, this is downright progressive if not futuristic compared to local instititions I’ve worked in lately.   Librarians!   put on your sci-fi goggles and peek into the future.   or not… http://www.stsci.edu/stsci/meetings/lisa3/grothkopfu1.html

# 6 – Copyright.   my favorite topic and I love this site, although I’ve not made my way through it all.  I warn you, take a piece of thread into it, because it goes for miles under the surface.   Georgia Harper is a Texas woman who sets out some legal issues with a delightful touch of pepper sauce.   Intellegent, witty, and USEFUL.   why do we have copyright?   why should we care?   Georgia, tell it!  http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/image.htm

# 7 -  since I have a forthcoming post on the “death of print,” I want to include this link to a speech presented by Dan Okrent, editor of Time magazine.  I will be taking the opposite view, not that it matters in the face of pretty much every other comment I’ve read lately on the topic.  but, given the content, I hope ya’ll appreciate the irony of an oral message, transcribed through conventions of print medium, and published in a digital journal.  in terms of Homer and linear B, what does this really say….  http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0002/okrent.htm

# 8 – digital bookmoblie?    open source gone native, leave it to those radical militant librarians to take it to the next level: http://www.digitalbookmobile.com/  

# 9 -  so now that there is electronic bookmobile, wouldn’t it be nice if there were just a list of digital books floating around out there in the datasphere?    some kind of locator - that flows over the boundaries of Gutenberg and Google.   yes, confirmed DCists, behold!   http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

and for #10 – there are several Sudoko sites, but this one keeps archives and provides a forum for enthusists.   there is even a puzzle-solver that you can set up to solve step-by-step if you are stuck and want a teeny little boost (which I would call “cheating” if I hadn’t used it once or twice).   the daily puzzles can be printed or completed electronically and submitted for competition.   go on.   have yourself a little fun…  http://www.sudoku.org.uk/

I know this may not be DC proper, but big news – our economy is tanking.   it was forecast decades ago.  Greenspan, God of Thunder, alluded to this with his “exuberance” remark.   the Dow has been inflated for decades.   yet so many people continued to put their money in it – thinking to build “wealth.”   now, the frothy economic parfait is flatter than a saltine cracker.   everyone is thinking buy-out.   it’s ok, Daddy Bush is at our back.   feel better?

Where were federal regulators over the last 15 years?   that’s when government needed to step in.   Clinton is as culpable as Bush (aka Goofy) in this regard.   it’s too late to “buy out.”   we let it float - we have to let it fall.    this is a necessary correction.   thus sayeth the saltine cracker.  

please, in your deliberations, don’t forget to look at the problem behind sub prime in the mortgage industry.    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were symptoms of a much bigger disease.  the cancer – or one cancer anyway – is HUD.   it eventually buys all the bad paper with our money, so mortgage lenders never have to eat their mistakes.   they sell the troubled loans to HUD before they collapse and avoid the catastrophe - the lenders can’t lose.   they never could.   their ledgers were clean of the negative balance, but they’ve been losing money all along.   our money.   

If HUD is cancer, developers and realtors are the cigarettes: they hook buyers for more than they can pay, knowing that commissions will be larger if they sell more house.   they make the deals with lenders who also get a slab of American pie.   like day-traders, they’re in, they’re out.   and HUD winds up paying.  which is we the people thank you so much please pass the KY.   the buyer, who was loaned a quarter-mil for their dream house while making 30K a year, loses everything.  and despairs.   not the agents or lenders.   they move on to the next kill.

as goes housing, goes the American economy.    now, unless we want to nationalize banking, we cannot bail out the desperadoes.   we can put them in jail, or vote them out, but as the Phantom said: 

Past the point of no return, the final threshold -
the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn …
We’ve passed the point of no return …

the bail-out won’t work.  It would be better if Congress leaves it alone to see if it corrects.   at least they won’t be signaling panic and making things worse.   the economy is on crack – we can feed the habit or put it in rehab.

Doc, sorry.    personus interuptus.   I will go create a bunch of links to President Carter and 21% inflation in order to redeem myself.    that is, after I create a class lecture for tomorrow that will cover what we missed today because I was put off-track by business majors who did not study their alpha-contract paradigms and talked fancy to me.

while we’re on the subject of information metadata and digital collections, is anyone else annoyed by the self-tagging megalomanic idiots out there, may they rot pt pt, who want big statistics for their websites or blogs, so they false-tag their inane babbling.   all I want is ready-reference type stuff.   what approximate date did such and such happen – and what I get is 4 quantitrillion pages that have nothing to do with my question at all.   if I were just in a REAL library… !

“scholar” sites are too complicated, “public” sites too full of the great unwashed.    we need an all-encompasing plan.   the organizational strategy to life itself.   oh Aristotle, where art thou?