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awd › Comments
I'll show you mine if you show me yours. That being your library website statistics, of course: http://docs.google.com/present...
VAL D. Zone, awd, Jaclyn and 6 other people liked this
The first sentence made me think that this was going to be the best post ever.
- Andy Woodworth
Once again, I disappoint ;)
- mita
Really interesting stats! We are noticing similar trends at my library. We just started filtering our Analytics stats by IP range - we can see use within the library, outside the library but still on campus, and off campus. It's actually a very small percentage of use from within the library, yet that's where we focus most of our services.
- Jen
you gonna publish that, Jen? YOU SHOULD.
- D0r0th34
Hmmm. Never considered that, but might be an interesting angle. Thanks!
- Jen
Mita, that's a great presentation.
- D0r0th34
I agree with Dorothea on this: It's an excellent discussion, and I believe it's worth publishing.
- Walt Crawford
Jen, how are you doing the filtering? I'm still learning Analytics and I can only see methods to include or exclude IP traffic at the collection level and I don't want to exclude any data at this stage. Curious, I just checked that about 65% of our web traffic comes from the University's 'network' (as an Internet service provider)
- mita
We tried to split out on- vs off-campus and in- vs out of- library and weren't successful, so I'd be interested in hearing how you did it.
- DJF
Me too! We filter out our library staff/faculty IP addresses, but that's because it's the number ACRL wants. On another note: This is an _AWESOME_ presentation, full of goodness.
- Jason Griffey
do I sense a coauthorship in the process of happening? :) Jason, meet Jen; she is awesome. Jen, meet Jason; he is awesome.
- D0r0th34
great set of stats and analysis! Wondering re: subject guides (slides 30-32): what is difference b/t subject pgs & research guides?Isn't subject page itself a sort of guide and might be why users aren't then clicking on the formally labeled research guides? Plus, users scan pages left to right so links on right will almost always get less traffic.
- Dana Longley
At one point, a 'resource resource page' was just indexes while a 'subject research guide' was a traditional library guide, with lists of encyclopedias, indexes, websites, etc. But now many 'resource' pages have evolved to contain links to ebooks, dictionaries, course presentations etc. IMHO, they are combining into one thing. Location and language are admittedly important. I'm planning to do a stats round-up on our subject pages/guides early next year.
- mita
Like Jason, we started filtering stats after seeing that ACRL stats asked for it. Because of the way our Analytics are set-up, we had to have our campus IT guy write the filters, but they are just by IP. I'm on the road for the next few weeks, but will definitely want to talk to you all more about this.
- Jen
NTS pull mine down and show mita (and everyone else, too)
- awd
awesome!
- Stephanie_Thankful
Seth, Cagdas Seichter, Jeunelle Foster and 114 other people liked this
SANTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
- Morgan Haley
Awesome!
- Jeremy (cropmarks)
That Heat Miser is one vindictive guy.
- Spidra Webster
OOh the humanity!!!
- Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)
well this sucks
- VAL D. Zone
Now what will I tell my kid? :((
- AJ Batac
:(
- WorldofHiglet
MUAHHHAHAHAHA
- Bryan Lee
That's a scary Santa.
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
It WAS.
- Jeremy (cropmarks)
Nothing says Happy Holidays like thick plumes of acrid black smoke... NOT!
- Mark "DerBingle" J
epic
- Josh Haley
Burning Santa Man .. in 29 yrs of firefighting never seen a burning Santa ... a first for everything ,, incredible pics
- johnpiercy
I knew this would catch your eye. Must have gone really fast, yeah?
- Josh Haley
Kris Kindling
- Josh Haley
NOOOOOOOO!
- Miriella
*fails to suppress evil cackling laughter*
- Mo Kargas
Call me a Ho again will ya fatman *snaps fingers*
- Johnny Worthington
Shit , that would go instantly ,, looks like a inside job
- johnpiercy
We don't need no water let the motherf**ker burn.
- Mo Kargas
Woah.
- Rochelle
Elves' Revenge.
- Louis Gray
For some reason this reminds me of those extremist Hindus that burn giant Valentines cards every year...
- Chrimmus Tad
That'll learn ya.
- Danny Minick
Who killed Santa
- Donnovan
Krampas has had his REVENGE!
- Bluesun 2600
Oh God!
- ★ Soner Gönül
ایول !
- سیدیونس
Don't shoot me Santa Claus, I've been a clean living boy, I promise you, did every little thing you asked me to, I can't believe the things I'm going through...
- Otto
It's all part of the Santa reboot. Hollywood should now do a Santa Origins story, directed by Michael Bay of course.
- Jerry Perez
gittii giittii giitttii giiitti santa gitti :D
- €Lyaz
Saaantaa!!! Did it smell like cookies? lol
- John Tastad
makes getting down the chimney a lot easier.
- Morgan Haley
On Dasher! On Donner! On Cupi.....Oh SHIT! On Fire!!! On Fire!!!!
- Morgan Haley
I find this very funny.
- Yolanda
Every time I see this, I immediately go to 18% LOL.
- Akiva Moskovitz
والنسیا باید باشه ، اونا از این کارا میکنن .
- mairyland
Gonna bump this every day till Christmas folks. Hide it now while you can.
- Josh Haley
See? 18% LOL straight away.
- Akiva Moskovitz
18% more than where you were or 18% total?
- Josh Haley
bump
- Danny Minick
Oh damn.
- Derrick
♫ I saw mommy lighting Santa Claus ♪
- Andrew Smith
Mai vista una roba del genere.
- braciolanet
from BuddyFeed
Did anyone see a grinch?
- Jerry Perez
Goooooooood morning, America!
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
Uh oh. 17% LOL this time but that's probably because I'm a little tired this morning.
- Akiva Moskovitz
Me too. :(
- Josh Haley
Whoa!
- Roney Smith
OH NOOOOOOEEEEESSSSS
- Penguin It's Cold Outside
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
- Haggis (Sean Loyless)
hahahahahahahah
- Caroline
Top o' the mornin'!
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
Heck, yeah! 19% LOL.
- Akiva Moskovitz
:)
- Josh Haley
I still like this
- Jerry Perez
from iPod
he's making a list.
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
dear me santa should stop smoking eh
- eric
HO HO HOOOAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAH!
- Josh Haley
This santa's hot !!!
- Maryam
Que lastima! Hace mucho calor!
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
Last time Santa has mexican food before he goes out.
- Carlos Urrutia
Keep fighting the good fight! Bump, bump, bump!
- Jerry Perez
Ah yes, thank you.
- Josh Haley
D^8
- Chieze Okoye
Today's bump is sponsored by Smokey the Bear.
- Josh Haley
Stop, Drop, and Roll
- Aryn Corley
G'mornin!
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
12-09-09 Never Forget.
- Josh Haley
Don't show this to children. They'd cry.
- Richard A.
or laugh
- Josh Haley
hey, stay on the front page Santa.
- Jerry Perez
Guten tag!
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
10 more days to Christmas
- Josh Haley
Three till my Birthday, forget Christmas :-)
- Richard A.
Shooting for 20% LOL today
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
bu sene bizim hediye yine yalan oldu ;(
- Arapprensi
Well, that's one way to make a kid cry
- Jerry Perez
Yes. Yes it is.
- Josh Haley
Santer burns!!!!!
- Mathew™ one of a kind
they crossed the streams!!
- Terry O'Fee
Burn..burn you jolly bastard ! *mad laughter*
- Mo Kargas
8 more days
- Josh Haley
I see Santa was someone's flame for a little while...
- awd
wow
- netpiano
Hiya kids!
- Josh Haley
Last shopping weekend before Christmas, folks!
- Josh Haley
NO ONE! is more of a bah~humbug than me!!! LOL ask my friends, what ones i have left after the past month of moaning .... :s
- Tatty Gibson
Howdy Ho Ho Ho
- Josh Haley
from iPhone
OwOwOw
- Terris Linenbach
This is becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy for me. My Christmas is turning more and more into something like this scene.
- Josh Haley
Santa Visited Hell And Kissed The Carpet. Ho Ho Ho
- Jeunelle Foster
oh no Josh
- VAL D. Zone
Did the Martians get their revenge? Anybody see that flick?
- Jerry Perez
Short version: major (read: expensive/unaffordable at the time) car trouble right before a family trip. Plan B enacted.
- Josh Haley
Tim Keneipp, Catherine Pellegrino, Junebug (aka Sarah Jill) and 2 other people liked this
Per Iris: the special topic to be offered more than once, "Corporate Espionage". (Yes, this was a real class offered while she was in grad school, but she didn't take it.)
- Katie
Library Couture For The Up-And-Coming Professional: Special Topic: Argyle, Bow Ties, and Buns - Oh My!
- Katy S
sssshhh! the love that dare not speak its name: lesbrarians. and dublin core for dummies.
- tara
How to Fail 101
- Meg v. Meg v. 1.0.0.1
Meetings: Alternatives and Coping Strategies
- ÉllbeeÇee
Stylish Scripts for FriendFeed
- laura x
When, Why, and How to Just Shut the Hell Up. (note that I would take this course, not teach it).
- s t e v e
There Is No "I" In "Lbraran."
- s t e v e
Tara, can I audit the lesbrarians course? I mean, I'll do the work, but I don't need the credit.
- cecily
cecily, i don't know who's teaching it next semester, but i'm sure you can. i think it's offered online too.
- tara
Meetings: Surviving Them, Running Them, and Scheduling Them as Infrequently as Possible
- laura x
I'm seeing a whole meeting certificate program developing.
- ÉllbeeÇee
Care and Feeding of Library Cats. Or maybe Library Catalogs. Or both.
- Jaclyn
Tech Support 101: Turn It Off and Back On
- Jàson Puçkett
Whack-A-Vendor
- D0r0th34
Tech Support 102: Plug in the Cables and Try Again
- Laura Lou Who
Tech Support 103: Smack it and threaten to toss it out the window
- Sir Shuping
Tech Support 104: Unjamming papers, printers, and computers
- Sir Shuping
Special Topic: The History, Care, and Feeding of Staplers
- Laura Lou Who
Special Topics For Academic Libraries: Academic Faculty: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
- Katy S
Special Topics in Management: Toilet Maintenance
- Abigail
Advanced Photocopier Maintenance
- Laura Lou Who
Dealing with crazy patrons 101
- Sir Shuping
Learning to say NO: to coworkers and patrons
- Sir Shuping
Using Animals For Fame and Fortune: The Example of Dewey the Library Cat
- Katy S
Practical Lab: Creating Fear in Your Patrons or 10 Ways to effectively intimidate highly irritating people you deal with every day.
- Tim Keneipp
Passive Aggressiveness: Learn it, Love it, Live it.
- ÉllbeeÇee
Avoiding Internal Committees 101: the head duck
- ÉllbeeÇee
Avoiding Internal Committees 102: The out of office reply
- ÉllbeeÇee
dealing with last minute papers 101
- Sir Shuping
Listserv etiquette: Subscribing and Unsubscribing
- ÉllbeeÇee
Using the Cod: Library Ethics in a Reed Elsevier World
- laura x
The power of the bow-tie: choosing and appropriately using
- Sir Shuping
I'd rather take the lesbrarians course face to face. nudge-nudge, wink-wink.
- cecily
Job Hunting 101: How Not to Be a Douchebag
- Katie
Email Lists 101 (crosslisted with Job Hunting 101) - How Not to Be a Douchebag
- Archangel ωαřмaiden
I think we need to get a special room at ALA and have some poster sessions with these topics. LOL
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
Self-esteem 101 (for faculty-status librarians): We are worthy, we are worthy, aren't we?...
- Jen
Do or Do Not, and Try Everything: Project Management for Success
- awd
Learning to Learn. Extending the shelf-life of your degree beyond 6 months
- Kathryn says love n peace
Information Consulting: How to tell your client, "No"
- Eric Sizemore
Tech Fads for noobs & nubs
- Andy Woodworth
just thought of a new one: tweezers and duct tape 101: the multipurpose tools
- Sir Shuping
Plumbing 101: Why the Plunger Will be Your New BFF
- Katie
Alert from OCLC: "OCLC just discovered that new records currently being added to WorldCat are not searchable. OCLC is working to resolve the problem and further updates will be provided as information becomes available."
RESOLVED
- JSNFLMNG
Good. um.... what is OLCC ?
- Mike Nencetti
Online Computer Library Center http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- JSNFLMNG
Ok, so WorldCat is a catalog, not some feline. I get it.
- Mike Nencetti
Well, WorldCat does play the Cello sometimes
- awd
My #alamw2010 schedule is holding steady...
only four major multi-bookings of "must attend" events so far?!
- awd
Mine is not looking too bad. Just 3 double-bookings at this point, and a very odd gap with nothing in it after the LITA Town Meeting on Monday. Dare I try to get home a day early?
- Peter Murray
is anybody going to the ALCTS Friday Symposium thing? they are trying to make me out a "cutting-edge thinker," which makes me larf.
- D0r0th34
Dorothea -- Wasn't planning on it. My Friday is full of figuring out what OCLC is up to in the morning and hearing the "Automation Update" in the afternoon.
- Peter Murray
...but plans can change. :-)
- Peter Murray
Peter, please make sure to report back on the status of the library automation projects you hear about. It's always interesting to hear about how other libraries are managing the conversion to computer based systems.
- DJF
it's an extra-$$$ thing, Peter, so don't pay unless you really really wanna be there. I'm just curious.
- D0r0th34
Are we excited yet? The very first Upper Midwest Library Society of the World Meetup is TOMORROW in beautiful La Crosse, Wisconsin!! The Chez Raccoon Kitchen is cranking out delicious culinary delights full force and I am ready to hit the road tomorrow morning. Shall we review some of the details?
Junebug (aka Sarah Jill), ethan meccage and Galadriel C. liked this
If you still want to sign up: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewfor....
- marthalib
If you have signed up: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...
- marthalib
Schedule: Library Hopping on Saturday afternoon! Meet at 2:00 pm at UWL (to carpool) to Viterbo (2:30-3:30) with Jen or local lib as tour guide; La Crosse Public Library (4-5:00)/Abs as tour guide; UW-La Crosse (5:15-6:30)/Jen/Gal as tour guide. 6:30--descend upon Rochelle for yummy dinner.
- marthalib
Parking @ UW-L: Turn off of La Crosse Ave., on to East Ave. (http://tiny.cc/uWdW9). Next, look for Commuter Parking Lot C3 on your *right* - park free on weekends (http://tiny.cc/ebff3). Here's a campus parking map: http://www.uwlax.edu/parking.... Once parked, head west (building w/ black windows will be on left, brick building will be on right). Murphy Library just off the far west end of the parking lot - entrance image: http://tinyurl.com/yhwbcj6.
- marthalib
Rochelle's location and contact information: 335 S. 22nd St. La Crosse. Home phone: 608.782.2052
- marthalib
the phone number for my primitive, featureless cell phone: 612-388-5477.
- marthalib
We still need to figure out where to gather on Sunday morning. I'm thinking a coffee shop with food, perhaps someplace not too eggy? Ideas?
- marthalib
Thanks to the La Crosse peeps for hosting us and making the local arrangements. I'm looking forward to meeting you.
- marthalib
Woot.
- s t e v e
*cries* I wish I could be there.
- cecily
*busily typing all the info into Syrabub*
- D0r0th34
I'm letting Mister sleep late so he rest up for the estrogen wave that's about to come crashing into our house. The F:M ratio will be approximately 5:1. ;-P
- Rochelle Rochelle
5:1 sounds about right. Usually, it's closer to 4:1, but today skews a little more toward publibs.
- Julian
I'm bringin' Apples to Apples.
- D0r0th34
Mister is actually pretty excited to meet folks. This gathering will be right up there with attending Sandy Berman's retirement celebration in New Orleans about 10 years ago. He felt right at home with all the catalogers.
- Rochelle Rochelle
gosh, are there any catalogers coming? I do metadata, is that close enough?
- D0r0th34
Holy cow, you went to Sandy Berman's retirement celebration? In New Orleans? I bet that was a great time.
- marthalib
Oh, yes. He's also a geek, so, if anyone wants to talk tech, the man cave will be open for business (it's also the warmest room in the house).
- Rochelle Rochelle
I got invited by my good GSLIS IL pal, KR Roberto. Mister came along for the ride because he'd never been to New Orleans. That was also the year I heard Andrei Codrescu speak--as a result of that, a friendship was born. That was a great conference.
- Rochelle Rochelle
For the record, Rochelle, that famous (notorious?) conference in New Orleans was "only" in 2006! I did not get to Sandy's party, but was at the Codrescu-Gorman event. It was my "swan song" on the ALA Exec Board. Little did I know that 2+ years later I would be living here. All y'all should come to ALA Annual summer after next for a reprise! (2011)
- Michael Golrick
No no no--this was 1999. AC use to be an ALA conference regular until his duke-out w/Gorman.
- Rochelle Rochelle
from fftogo
ah, Gorman... such a contributor to the profession, that man... and so very very welcoming.
- D0r0th34
oooh, do tell, Rochelle. or tell us tonight :)
- marthalib
the codrescu-gorman event was midwinter 2006 here in san antonio http://www.libraryjournal.com/article...
- Luke Rosenberger
Hope you guys and gals have a great time today. Will be thinking of you all, and wishing I was there.
- Joe
Drinking from my Cod mug and thinking of you all!
- laura x
I misread and thought that we all were Uppidy not "upper".
- Jill Hurst-Wahl
Yup, the Uppidy Midwest, just south of the base of the Uppidy Peninsula :)
- awd
Here's the photo from ALA illustrating the Gorman/Codrescu president's program. http://images.google.com/imgres...
- Rochelle Rochelle
It was a good time. Thanks to everyone who came to La Crosse! It was great to meet you all!
- Tim Keneipp
Thanks to Galadriel et al. for the hospitality and Rochelle for the food and all of you just for being there! :-)
- Betsy (bentley) Vera
Laura Lou Who liked this
Not too backward an autocrat, eh?
- awd
Ahem. Watch the deeds, not the words, with Dui the Loon. He was anything but a feminist icon.
- D0r0th34
Yeah - In addition to the sexual harassment charges against him and his subsequent banishment from power within ALA, he blatantly advocated for women as librarians because they could be payed less than men with similar levels of education. Then there was the antisemitism....
- Katy S
Hey, guys. The Cosmic Car Gods are not wanting me to get to the LSW shindig. I'm really sorry, but I won't be able to make it. Have fun and tell me all about it, okay?
Nooo!
- s t e v e
Unlike :( Oh no; I'm so, so sorry and I'll have to have a stern conversation with the Cosmic Car Gods. I'll be sure and have a toast in your honor...
- Galadriel C.
I'll tell the story when I'm able to make it sound funny. (It really is funny, but I'm too disappointed to feel the funny right now.)
- D0r0th34
Poopy.
- laura x
:(
- Julian
Nooooooooo. We'll have to plan a Madison meet-up next. Really disappointed. :(
- Jen
Not that I could have made it anyway, 12/12 is a hyper-social day this year for me (LSW in WI, b'day party in MA, wine tasting in Chambersburg PA, cookie Swap at my house, sleepover for Ms13 last night, standing invite at grandparents 2 weekends before christmas in NY) If I'm living in the future, where the heck is my personal transporter so I can get to all these places I want to be?!
- awd
Awwww! BUMMER!! Gypsy and I were looking forward to having you! ---consider yourself invited anytime the car gods are cooperating.
- Abigail
Aw, dangit!
- Rochelle Rochelle
First I have heard of this -- http://libraryradish.wordpress.com/2009...
nah that's gotta be fake
- Sir Shuping
Really?
- Joe
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!
- jambina
Hmm. A blog named for a vegetable as a news source. Let's see if there's a parallel somewhere... (I've been avoiding posting any reaction to an association's office, paid for by its members, putting out a press release calling a 61/39% vote by those members "failure"--let's just say if that happened in ALA, Fiels would be out looking for a new job.)
- Walt Crawford
And, for a few of us who look at lists, I fondly remember another rock-solid LibraryRadish report: http://libraryradish.wordpress.com/2008...
- Walt Crawford
That was so good I had to leave an "anonymous" response... :)
- awd
copycats.
- Kendra <3 Three Lions
heh :)
- awd
hee hee hee hee
- Archangel ωαřмaiden
Oh, that IS good. But I like the one Walt links to as well. *snerk*
- Catherine Pellegrino
Whoever does LibraryRadish is a good writer and has managed to maintain complete anonymity. Not very many posts, but nicely done...
- Walt Crawford
is noone going to ding me for calling myself "annonymous ALA councilor" with my profile pic right next to the comment, linked to my page? :)
- awd
i was going to but i'm on a conference call
- Kendra <3 Three Lions
ding!
- Joe
it's time for day 2 of Graffiti Your Library -- head for the basement stairs in the periodicals area and pick up a can!
Stephen Francoeur, Josh Hadro, awd and 10 other people liked this
this is going better than I dared hope. Rock on, students.
- Jenica
our stairwells to the basement weren't supposed to be public use, but 20 years ago we put stacks down there... so the stairwells terrify people, and suck. We're inviting students to spraypaint them as part of our Finals Week Stressbusting activities, to make them friendlier. And it's going pretty well!
- Jenica
http://www.flickr.com/photos... Before
- Jenica
You are the best University Librarian evar.
- DJF
I try. :P I figured that if it turned out badly, we'd slap a coat of white over the top and it'd still be better than when we started...
- Jenica
http://www.flickr.com/photos... The ad. (I'm planning to blog all of this tomorrow)
- Jenica
What DJF said. You seriously rock, Jenica. You rock HARD.
- josh neff, geek at large
That. Is. Awesome. Also, what DJF said.
- Catherine Pellegrino
love it!
- βℜ∀ñÐi
this is the coolest thing ever! you rock, Jenica and your students rock. can i come work for you?
- Christa
Apparently SUNY GEneseo does something similar with whiteboards? (from NGC4LIB today) Not quite this radical but Cyril Oberlander, SUNY Geneseo, another speaker at NE ASIS&T this week told how they had put white boards in the stair wells. He'd write questions each day and leave markers for students to comment. This actually sparked comments on the comments so a "conversation" would...
more...
- awd
Cyril is great -- he's doing amazing stuff with the IDS Project, and GIST is going to change the acquisitions world, I suspect. Next time the SUNY Directors meet I'll pick his brain on this, too. Thanks, Aaron!
- Jenica
<threadjack>what is this GIST, please?</threadjack>
- D0r0th34
This is so cool, Jenica!
- Laura H.
Dorothea: http://toolkit.idsproject.org/doku..., http://idsproject.org/Tools... API-laden materials request tool linked to ILLIAD to integrate acquisitions and ILL into more of a unified "resource delivery" model.
- Jenica
thank you! *happily bookmarks these for class*
- D0r0th34
I think there are some stairwells at Evergreen State College that are similarly painted, or at least there were several years ago. Brutalism cries out for graffiti, IMHO.
- Elaine Nelson
<threadjacking myself> Dorothea, also consider following Kate Pitcher -- http://twitter.com/kepitcher -- she's the CD librarian at Geneseo, and works closely with Cyril on the CD side of resource sharing.
- Jenica
will do, Jenica, thanks again! Elaine, I am pondering all the Brutalist edifices on this campus... and spraypaint... and thinking there may not be enough spraypaint in the WORLD, honestly.
- D0r0th34
Awesome. Love the whiteboard idea, too.
- Bill Hooker
On the subject of whiteboards/graffiti/etc, here's a brilliant version of this from my alma mater: http://www.oberlin.edu/library...
- Catherine Pellegrino
Love love love this idea! and am totally stealing Cyril's idea too!!!
- RudĩϐЯaЯïan
Any interest in creating a set of grass-roots-driven awards for librarylanders? Inspired by the categories at Edublogs: http://edublogawards.com/ We could come up w/categories, have open nominations, real-time vote results? Thoughts, pros, cons?
Jeff Scott, marlene, Junebug (aka Sarah Jill) and 5 other people liked this
Great idea!
- Sarah Houghton-Jan
yupyupyup
- jambina
sure, why not? a little visibility is a good thing
- D0r0th34
I like it. LSW projects tend to be egalitarian, and awards tend to be popularity contests, but I think if we did this right it would be fun and get exposure for a lot of different people doing different stuff. I'm especially interested in lots of niche categories.
- s t e v e
So, like Shovers and Makers, except not self-nominated? Big thumbs-up here.
- Catherine Pellegrino
S t e v e would win the "Follows LSW FF room" category, hands down :)
- awd
Why not? Heck, I'll offer the services of America's third or fourth largest-circulation monthly library periodical to publicize the results. With snark kept to a reasonable minimum.
- Walt Crawford
Which one is that? :)
- awd
OK, I was making that up, but I'd bet it's correct (actually, since neither AL nor LJ nor, I believe, C&RL News appears monthly, it might be conservative).
- Walt Crawford
How Do You Explain Computer Concepts to Non-Tech Types? - Computers - Lifehacker - http://lifehacker.com/5423260...
Jeff Scott, Jimminy Fuller and Joe Silence is not Santa liked this
"He used the library analogy: The hard drive size was compared to the amount of shelving for books. The CPU speed was the librarian's quickness on his/her feet (this was a full service library), and the RAM was the size of the table at which one sat. Larger table meant more books could be opened simultaneously. When the table had been covered with books, each time a new book was to be opened, one from the table would have to be closed (pagefile). The last part seemed superfluous in this scenario, but the overall description, with a few stated benchmarks and questions about the grandchild's habits, seemed a much better than average sales transaction."
- Sir Shuping
from Bookmarklet
thought this was an interesting comparison and way to explain how a computer works
- Sir Shuping
I've used library shelf space to compare to various kinds of removable storage media (floppies, CDs, DVDs, etc.) - this is interesting!
- Webgoddess
I've compared the internet to cable TV before. Computer=TV, ISP=cable, browser=network, webpages=shows.
- Rochelle Rochelle
"The internet is a large set of tubes..." or something like that...
- awd
Galadriel C., Cindi Trainor, Jàson Puçkett and 9 other people liked this
I love you, Steve.
- josh neff, geek at large
it is less taxing to just snipe defensively all the time, imho
- marthalib
I'd vote for that name, Josh.
- s t e v e
I suggest the Sheriff's clubhouse!
- Sir Shuping
International Association of Pipefitters International.
- Joe
Insane Information Professional Posse
- s t e v e
'Loving Steve is easy cos he's a carping nerdboy/ and everything that I do/ is based on carping too... la la la la la'
- Pete
Carping Professionals of Information
- s t e v e
Professional Information Sycophants
- marthalib
We Don't Need No Steeenking Badges
- Pete
Association of Specialized Searching PROfessionals, or ASSPro
- josh neff, geek at large
The Association for Library Automatons
- Sir Shuping
The Legion of Information Professionals
- josh neff, geek at large
so Josh, our helpline would be called LIP Service?
- Pete
American Dodgeball Association of America.
- Joe
Legion of Library Superhero types that fight zombies with knowledge and lolcats
- Sir Shuping
Boogie Data Productions, featuring Knowledge Rule Systems-One
- Pete
@Pete: YES, THAT
- josh neff, geek at large
Superior Ultimate Coalition of Knowledge Architects
- s t e v e
Steve, maybe change that last to Associates?
- lris' ghost
I'm picturing Michael Gorman shouting 'I'm gonna git you SUCKA'
- Pete
Librarians! Fuck Yeah!
- josh neff, geek at large
Dammit Iris, why are you so afraid of the A word! We are all Architects, can't we be proud of it!?
- s t e v e
Dial L for Librarian!
- josh neff, geek at large
I have just been informed that we are not, in fact, architects. Carry on.
- s t e v e
Books and Shit
- Pete
but...but i build stuff! that makes me an architect right?
- Sir Shuping
Loving LIP Service.
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
I cannot believe you people. Reprehensible!
- laura x
the Librarian Society: we know shit and can take you down
- Sir Shuping
Revolting Librarians
- s t e v e
Librarians Unlocking Blocked Education
- Pete
Slick, Pete.
- s t e v e
English people- we're surprisingly filthy minded. All that repression ya know.
- Pete
Berlin Dada
- josh neff, geek at large
Josh -yes! Or C'eci c'est ne pas un LSW
- Pete
Snarking Library and Information Professionals
- marthalib
Recursion. Deja Who.
- Pete
Ranganathan's Angels
- s t e v e
Steve- surely that should be Prologemena to a Future Ranganathan's Angels, volume 1; Postulates of a professional organisation
- Pete
Hmmm. I was going for either a 70s TV vibe or a biker gang vibe, neither of which are reinforced by your suggestion.
- s t e v e
Pete +one billionty
- marthalib
Vital Information Broker Ensemble. (If you belong to that, you'll probably want to also join Pete's Librarians Unlocking Blocked Education.)
- s t e v e
Let me know when it's time for the divisive sniping.
- Rochelle Rochelle
Ah steve. Well, perhaps Easy Ranganathan's? Jefferson Library?
- Pete
A colleague says "SLA Classic"
- Joe
LSW Zero
- josh neff, geek at large
LSW Blue
- DJF
{Your Brand Here}
- Pete
Crystal LSW
- s t e v e
KRV
- Pete
Justice League! Justice League!
- Jàson Puçkett
I'd suggest a scrolling vertical banner in the authority record made up of Mandarin and Cantonese pictograms with occasional hieroglyphs , but I think neither MARC nor RDA can't handle that, yet...
- awd
Cooperative/Union of Nefarious Twats. why bother including the word librarian?
- tara
I'll be starting a division for reference librarians: Library Information Service Professionals (LISP). And I will be the first one to join LISP's roundtable for the zaftig: INFOrmation Services Professionals--Extra Wide. INFOSpew.
- Rochelle Rochelle
Luckily I just swallowed my coffee before I read Rochelle's entry.
- s t e v e
So, we had an almost-spew. My work is done here, today.
- Rochelle Rochelle
I <3 Rochelle!
- josh neff, geek at large
Kendra <3 Three Lions, Sir Shuping and laura x liked this
Oops, someone got the floor
- awd
My favorite info request in my jail history: A guy holds out a piece of paper asking me if I can find contact information for the people listed. The paper with the names? A court order telling him he is not allowed to contact them.
Lo, ♫Geek in the 410♫, s t e v e and 9 other people liked this
lol
- DO ANYBODY NO MONIQUE
Give them this address -- 1060 West Addison Street, Chicago, IL 60613
- Joe
Worked for Elwood.
- DJF
I love you, Sir.
- awd
Unshelved comic strip archive - http://www.unshelved.com/archive...
Jennifer McDaniel, Laura Norvig, Jimminy Fuller and 9 other people liked this
Cute :)
- H0llywoodWh0re
Hey, look - it's Derrick!
- cecily
Heh heh...
- Derrick
cecily that's what i was thinking when i saw it! :)
- Sir Shuping
*fist bump* to the boths of yous. :)
- Derrick
Dang, I was gonna tag Derrick... glad I checked the comments 1st :)
- awd
Your help, please? Have any favorite sites/resources on Resource Description and Access?
Do you mean RDA? :) no faves (no un-faves, either)
- awd
http://www.frbr.org/ is quite good on RDA and of course FRBR
- Pete
Found out today that our office overhead lights will now be attached to motion sensors. I hope they've taken into account how little I move, some days. On a related note, does anyone have a perpetual motion machine they could give me?
Jim Is Not Smart, Chieze Okoye, Call me Bronco and 2 other people liked this
Heh, this happens to some of my co-workers. They have to get up every once in a while and jump around, waving their hands.
- marthalib
See that's the kind of thing I'd be easily amused by... I'd try to see how quickly I could make the lights turn off.
- Matt Lorfeld
Guilty.
- Derrick
bring pippin to work with you, he'll move the times that you don't :)
- Sir Shuping
That'll probably end up being a good thing ergonomically. Folks have to get up every once in a while...
- Spidra Webster
just develop a nervous twitch. doing so has worked for me!
- Morgan Haley
strangely, the lights never turn out on me
- marthalib
perpetual motion device: small fan.
- D0r0th34
Keep an umbrella in the office and open it when necessary. :)
- Katy S
I prescribe energetic typing. Get your shoulder into it.
- s t e v e
The lights in the lab where I'll be teaching are on motion sensors. It took all I had not to giggle at the instructor who was showing me how to turn them on.
- cecily
Tangent: The best office light system I've ever seen was at the Google Atlanta office. We had lots of windows so the lighting came on and turned off based on how much sunlight was coming into the space. Highly efficient.
- EricaJoy
The questoin is: does the energy trickle for the motion sensor offset the potential energy savings from when people forget to switch off the light? (also, I often end up in the dark in my motion-sensor-lit office - I got a fan to keep the motion going and provide some white-noise, does that energy use offset any potential savings? oh & I forgot to turn off the fan last night, so I had the motion-sensor, the lights and a fan sucking up the power. Penny-wise, pound-foolish is what I say
- awd
I also agree with the ergonomics observation -- it's a great reason to remember to get up and stretch a bit during the day!
- Jenica
I once took a final exam in a room with motion-sensor lights. Every 20 minutes the prof had to get up and jump around to turn the lights back on (we were too busy scribbling in our blue books). It was hilarious.
- Catherine Pellegrino
None of this is making me like the new plan more.
- lris' ghost
That's kind of the point, lris. ;)
- Catherine Pellegrino
I hate you all.
- lris' ghost
You need to watch the episode of Better of Ted dealing with this. The lights wouldn't recognize people of color. It was very funny.
- Alan Simpson
I should go to my boss: "I know I look white, and I know I'm 3/4 European descent, but the 1/4 that's not is REALLY MAD that the lights turn off. DISCRIMINATION!"
- lris' ghost
obviously, this is all a ploy to get you to do interpretive dance in your office. perhaps something with scarves.
- marthalib
How often do you really need the overhead lights? I have a small lamp on my desk that works fine for most paper-based projects. Then again, I had the facilities folks remove the bulbs from the florescents right above my desk (too much glare) so it's darkish anyway. When the rest of the lights turn off from lack of movement, there isn't much difference.
- Kirsten
Iris, we still need to go to Ikea to buy lamps
- marthalib
Yes! We'll have to do that soon. And also introduce you to the "pickled things galore" isle at United Noodle.
- lris' ghost
"does anyone have a perpetual motion machine they could give me?" On this website, we OBEY THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS. 8^P
- Chieze Okoye
so, no interpretive dance? :(
- marthalib
Is there a Nancy Pearl Bobble-Head you could use?
- Abigail
*hunts for box big enough to hold waif*
- MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS
The worst is the bathroom lights that are on motion sensors. Stupid idea.
- Jeremy (cropmarks)
Brainstorm: Title for a readers' advisory blog for library staff. GO!
Junebug (aka Sarah Jill) and Holly Rae liked this
The Quick and the Read.
- Kirsten
Psst, Read This: Pass It On
- awd
How to Talk About Books You Have Not Read
- s t e v e
What the Hell is Mitford?
- josh neff, geek at large
On Beyond Zebra
- josh neff, geek at large
Don't Judge
- josh neff, geek at large
Better Off Read
- Laura Lou Who
Better Read Than Dead
- josh neff, geek at large
Books not Crooks
- tab thinks you're awesome
Pride and Prejudice and RA
- Kirsten
What You Always Wanted to Know About Genre Fiction But Were Afraid to Ask
- Kirsten
Shelf Reading
- josh neff, geek at large
wait? this blog is for staff to read?
- DJF
Caveat Lecteur has already been taken -)
- Mr. Gunn
"Twilight is Not the Only Book in Existence"
- Miriella
PUT THAT BOOK *DOWN* !NOW! (how does one shout above ALL CAPS when one is ALL CAPPING?)
- awd
awesome shit i think you would enjoy reading.
- tara
yeah, but I'm not using it any more -- you're welcome to it if you want it
- D0r0th34
oh tara, if ONLY. :)
- holly
yeah, i didn't think it would fly...
- tara
"Oh No You Di'in't": books I saw you reading in the staff lounge that you should feel totally ashamed about.
- cecily
right person, right book
- Katie
Every Book Its Reader
- s t e v e
"Hey You! Don't Read That, Read This!"
- cecily
Book Sex
- awd
to update you all, since I know you were dying to know what we chose, the big winner was s t e v e with "Every Book Its Reader" big thanks, Mr. Lawson! :)
- holly
Woo!
- s t e v e
It's 3F in Chicago... that's more than a little too cold for me... realizing how much I've been spoiled by the weather here.
Whoa, that's right on the edge of long-pants weather in Denver...
- awd
I wear long pants in the summer time... but I think that's just because I'm weird.
- Heidi Blanton
Please to write me a song about how I am on the reference desk until 8:00 pm tonight. Thank you.
Laura Lou Who liked this
Me too... (except until 9:30p,)
- awd
a song? um... Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, A tale of a fateful research day That started from this wintery evening Aboard this tiny desk The mate was a mighty reference librarian, brave and sure! Many souls set out aboard, only with the mighty reference librarian to lead them on their 4 hour research journey.
- Sir Shuping
You can commission a song like that from http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/
- mita
"we don't have an accounting system for failure" - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
But we ought to have "an accounting system for failure
- awd
Email from instructor for BSN program at university in town. She wants to know how graduates can "apply evidence to their practices" after they no longer have access to campus databases. Most are rural nurses and don't have access to any libraries, really. And I'm pretty sure that alumni status does not include database access. Any ideas, aside...
Katie liked this
Any ideas aside from ILL and backchannel ILL?
- Rochelle Rochelle
PubMed Central?
- D0r0th34
Free and full-text?
- Rochelle Rochelle
Statewide-consortium-licensed databases, accessed through their public library? Ours doesn't include CINAHL, but does include Academic Search Premier with a certain portion of full-text. Failing that, what Dorothea said.
- Catherine Pellegrino
PMC is full-text, yes. Don't confuse it with PubMed, which is pointer-only.
- D0r0th34
by "rural nurse," do you mean working at a hospital, or not? Do smaller, rural hospitals have database access? (Our hospitals have CINAHL, etc. but they can hardly be described as "rural.")
- Catherine Pellegrino
what Catherine said; Mass. & Conn. both offer Gale's Expanded Academic to all with a library card. Also, do any nearby public libraries offer cinahl / full-text?
- Stephanie_Thankful
Loansome Doc is an option, but it's a pay for product. You could point them towards Medscape Nursing, though I can't speak for the value these days. Still, it tends to be mostly core funded so less pharma. David Rothman and pfanderson probably have some good ideas...
- Abigail
Instructor said that most of these nurses will be working in hospitals that do not have libraries or database access. Our state consortium doesn't offer what this instructor was looking for--CINAHL and Medline Plus. There is an Ebsco nursing db. We're the resource library, Stephanie, and we do not offer professional level health DBs.
- Rochelle Rochelle
I'll defer to the medlibs here, but ASP contains indexing for 80 journals with "nursing" in the title (not sure how many are fulltext). More and more I'm finding that the big aggregators can be reasonable substitutes for the "official" databases for a discipline, at least from a satisficing perspective. It can be hard to convince faculty of that, though.
- Catherine Pellegrino
Don't forget Guidelines.gov for practice guidelines.
- marthalib
If they are working for rural hospitals in Western WI on they affiliated with Mayo or Gundersen? When I interned at a medical library in college, we had a access to a lot of information that Mayo had because the hospital was affiliated with Mayo. This was nine years ago tho...
- Becky Rech
MedlinePlus is free, by the way. It is aimed at the lay person, but has good, credible information for anyone. The health topics pages linked to selected citations in PubMed. People often confuse MedlinePlus with MEDLINE, which is the citations database. MEDLINE and PubMed include the same citations.
- marthalib
Also, some limited information from the Cochrane Library is available for free.
- marthalib
URL to MedlinePlus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline....
- marthalib
By the way, we have run into this same problem in Minnesota as well. The Health Sciences Libraries at the University of Minnesota (my FPOW) looked into what it would take to license either CINAHL or MD Consult with full text for the state in partnership with MINITEX, but they couldn't wrangle sufficient funding.
- marthalib
THat would be my next question Becky. Gundersen, which has a great library, does not offer e-resource access outside the library. I was doing some research for the Fire Chief and Gundersen was going to charge $10 for copying and snail mailing articles. I went backchannel instead. Not sure about Mayo. You guys are all swell, btw. ;-)
- Rochelle Rochelle
I will check with the state Ref & Loan staff, too.
- Rochelle Rochelle
The two NN/LM resource libraries in Wisconsin are UW-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin, so you might contact them. You might also contact the Southwestern Wisconsin Area Health Education Center to see if they can help: http://www.ahec.wisc.edu/souther.... Some AHECs around the country to provide access to library resources, including databases and full text articles. The model program is North Carolina: http://www.med.unc.edu/ahec....
- marthalib
Rochelle, just sent you email at your gmail address. Listen to everything Martha says, for she is right and full of innate butt-kickery.
- David Rothman (☤)
Not so sure about that ahec site, since I can't find references to anything more current than 2006, but will poke around. Again, thanks all! Lots of dead links, too.
- Rochelle Rochelle
We created a page of free resources for alumni/staff leaving Duke. http://www.mclibrary.duke.edu/tools... And yes check out AHEC libraries, Loansome Doc, and some association memberships come with some kind of info access (Like the APTA provides an online portal for info).
- βℜ∀ñÐi
Brandi, that guide totally rocks! David, you sweet talker, what else did you recommend? Now I'm curious :)
- marthalib
That is fabulous, Brandi!
- Rochelle Rochelle
Yay! Happy Monday to all!
- βℜ∀ñÐi
What is this "backchanel ILL" thing? :)
- awd
I love librarians. :-)
- Stephanie_Thankful
Talked with a friend of Marie's via email today. He's enrolled in SJSU's MLIS program, but he also sent me a flyer for a new hybrid program between Cal State University, Northridge and University of North Texas.
holly, Junebug (aka Sarah Jill) and a creature was stirring liked this
A 2 Meg PDF?! Really?! Oy vey.
- awd
My only concern with that is that it seems to lockstep you into that the courses offered through this specific program, with no electives. (I've only glanced at the flyer, not read it in depth, so I could be wrong.) But it's another option to consider - and the end result is an ALA accredited MLS.
- ÉllbeeÇee
ElbeeCee, I've only briefly looked at it, but I think the battle is still on between UCLA and SJSU for me right now. Never say never, though.
- Derrick
I keep thinking about this as an eventual blog post, but I wanted to toss it out to the LSW for some feedback. Are books the proverbial 'third rail' of library collection management? Specifically, if there any discussion about removing parts or (like the Cushing Academy) a whole collection, it's seen as being blasphemous to the profession?
Jeff Scott and Buffy Hamilton liked this
On one hand, we have librarians who like the mantra, "We are more than just books", but refuse to consider a collection without books.
- Andy Woodworth
heh. I'm about to teach a coll-dev course in which I mention books as little as I can responsibly manage. ;)
- D0r0th34
I think it's fair to say that printed books are the third rail of library management. There is certainly a lot of railing from librarians and patrons alike. The use of books seems to vary widely depending on audience, and people have attachments to books that are multifaceted (some more intellectual, many more emotional). Anything that aims to radically change the local equilibrium is bound to be shocking to someone.
- s t e v e
What kind of library? For a public library, at this point, absolutely (blasphemous, that is). For humanities academic libraries, ditto. For (some) science libraries or special libraries? Not so much: Getting rid of most or all books might, in some cases, be responsible librarianship. But I'm not a librarian, and I'm thought to be an incorrigible bookist, so apply appropriate skepticism. (Cushing? I won't even go there.)
- Walt Crawford
When we had to do some budget triage last spring I was amazed that our chemists (mostly young, mostly new to our college) decided to cut journals rather than their book/dvd allocation. The previous chemists (mostly old) had rarely bought a book, and the new ones are appalled at the crappy state of our book collection. As for railing, it has been happening a lot lately. Maybe it comes in waves.
- barbara fister
Yes. The kind of library matters a lot. And Dorothea, I'm beginning to think that I learned most of what I know about public library collection development in my readers advisory class.
- laura x
well, the first thing Imma gonna tell my students is "I am an academic librarian. This class is about academic libraries. It will touch on matters public-libraryish only in passing. If that's not what you're looking for, by all means drop."
- D0r0th34
Yeah, I wish my CD class had included such a statement--because mine was aimed almost exclusively at academic libraries. Is there a more balanced or public library relevant course available to them?
- laura x
Well, this is a "topics in..." course rather than the core coll-dev course, so I'm assuming yes. That's also why I think I can get away with these shenanigans, of course. :)
- D0r0th34
Gotcha. Shenanigan away.
- laura x
Our Faculty Senate recently had a discussion about the campus budget short-fall in which the idea of cutting the library's book budget was mentioned as one possibility. And yes, they were specific about the book part.
- Kirsten
Again I think it depends on the type of library. As to it being a third rail, yes, it really is. In my library, I've seen our book circulation go up over the past year. But I'd venture to say this isn't a common occurrence for most academic libraries. I'm at a community college where we're getting an increasing number of dual enrollment students (high school/college credit) and I think...
more...
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
We have the distinction of being an academic library that has never had any printed books (college was chartered that way), although we do have a decent amount of eBooks. But eBooks will never be able to fully replace print books in my opinion (students use local libs when needed) - they are just another mode of communicating monograph information & have a long way to go until they are...
more...
- Dana Longley
I will agree that the type of library certainly counts. If you are a special library that collects, let's say, Winnebagos, print resources are not going to be a priority. Even in corporate or science special collections, I would surmise that books might be discarded in favor of contemporary information sources such as databases and journals. In the public library where I work, I get odd...
more...
- Andy Woodworth
Andy, I agree, and IME it plays out in another arena too: *any* move to put resources (either collection budget or staff) behind *anything* electronic is seen by some as a traitorous dagger in the back of books. much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensues.
- D0r0th34
We're also moving some things to circulating. What will remain of the reference collection is being put in with our circulating collection and will be available for overnight checkout. I don't see our students making the distinction between reference and circulating collections and think it's silly to make them do so anymore. Unfortunately for us right now, eBooks aren't a viable option...
more...
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
Again speaking as an outsider: I'd think reference collections would be mostly exempt from third-rail status; many of the books were books only because that was the only way to bind bunches of facts together, and now there are better (electronic) ways. (Dorothea: Really? Doesn't your electronic-resources budget, including journal access, already exceed your print acquisitions budget, probably by a considerable factor?)
- Walt Crawford
(Yes. But that's okay because it's JOURNALS, not BOOKS, you see.)
- D0r0th34
Andy I would say it is a third rail for public libraries. When you weed anything librarians and patrons react very strongly. However, most would agree that moving reference to circulating collection and pushing databases is what every library should be doing. The next creep that will freak out libraries is taking that discussion to the non-fiction collection where circulation isn't as good as fiction.
- Jeff Scott
from iPod
What's more important? The Ideas or The Container holding the Ideas?
- awd
I have to give a 10-minute presentation on information literacy today. I wish I knew what information literacy is.
MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS, Pete, ivanandersson and 5 other people liked this
literacy has something to do with reading...
- Mike Chelen
*makes notes*
- lris' ghost
Isn't literacy what you put in the middle of a BLT?
- Rochelle Rochelle
Information is what you find in Wikipedia and by Googling, isn' it?
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
Books, literacy and technology? (Iris: If you ever figure out what information literacy is, explain it to me.)
- Walt Crawford
How I explain it is extremely dependent on context, but I will often distill the ACRL Standards into ordinary English. (New Common Craft video: "The ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education In Plain English"!)
- Catherine Pellegrino
How to discern between different sources of information, and how to tell on which one is relevant to which people, and in what context. That's the way I'd interpret it.
- Richard A.
Knowing Which Sources to Use When for What. 8 words, reducto ad nauseam?
- awd
How to find, evaulate, and use information in an ethical and legal manner.
- Stephen Francoeur
Woah, Stephen. The title of my talk (which is now going to happen tomorrow rather than today) is "Finding, Evaluating, and Ethically Using Information."
- lris' ghost
I was going to comment, but thought I'd blog it instead: http://stevelawson.name/seealso...
- s t e v e
And then I commented on the blog. :-)
- lris' ghost
I'm thinking literacy s'bout books, n my books all haz pictures in em. I'd hold up the book and show pictures
- Eric Sizemore
Find. Use. Record.
- Pete
I like that, Pete.
- Laura Lou Who
It seems to me to make a nice acronym ;) And to sum up the whole process.
- Pete
How about this as a tweak of Pete's: Find Evaluate Employ Record (FEER!)
- Dana Longley
You could also change "Employ" to "Act" or "Actualize."
- s t e v e
Is there a reason for Rest-Stops any more? I've driven pretty much every highway on this side of the Mississippi, and I've never seen a situation where a Rest-Stop made more sense than just driving to the next exit or Oasis (on toll-ways). Why are we wasting state budgets on building and maintaining these things, when you'll find a McDonalds or..
Kol Tregaskes, Morton Fox, Alex Scoble and 3 other people liked this
..gas station toilet much nicer a mile up or down the road? Furthermore, if you go to those areas, you're more likely to spend money, putting commerce into the economy, than the tax sinks that are rest areas.
- Matthew DeVries
I use them all the time. I think they're easier to get in and out of than a gas station or fast food place which aren't always right by the interstate. Plus, open 24 hours.
- Sarah G.
As someone who has had kids, yes we need rest stops; at least the basic with a bathroom and a trash can. Mother's don't require fancy rest stops but we do need them. There is only one between Denver and Sterling, Colorado.
- Judy Jones
But rest-stop bathrooms are always beyond nasty in terms of upkeep, at least the men's rooms are. There's always these strange holes poked/cut in the sides of the stalls that are then filled with toilet paper (for passing drugs?). Graffti, bad lighting. Outdated maps under lexan with the pictures of three governors ago.
- Matthew DeVries
When you are driving something long and difficult to maneuver there are many times a gas-station or restaurant are nigh impossible to access.
- MVB (Grinch of FF)
MVB - Truck Stops, and there you'll find a free giant ass squeegee to clean the monster sized windows.
- Matthew DeVries
I'm pro-rest-stop. They're not all that bad. In washington they're really quite nice actually. And many western states have way too far in between locations that can support any type of business.
- SAM
You are pushing the cost onto the businesses. They then restrict access.
- R1CC1
"There's always these strange holes poked/cut in the sides of the stalls..." *dead* If it wasn't for rest stops, where would closeted men go for sexual rendevous?
- Derrick
I'd much rather go to a rest-stop than the gross fast food or gas station toilets.
- Admiral Anika
Derrick - Minnesota Airports?
- Matthew DeVries
Rest Stops have saved my ass many a night on seriously long drives. Pull over, nap for 15-20 minutes, get back on the road. A lot better than the alternatives.
- Akiva Moskovitz
Rest stops were one of the first things to go in California, I think. All the ones I've driven past seem to be closed indefinitely.
- Victor Ganata
Driving across Iowa, I'm glad for them. And in IL. And all sorts of places. Most of the time they're cleaner than any fast food or gas station bathroom. I also like it when they have outdoor spaces with picnic tables. And since I travel with dogs, it's nice to have a bit more than a strip of gas for potty breaks. :)
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
I can never sleep at rest stops, too quiet and secluded and too far from help. Someone could jack you up while you sleep. At a truck stop, constant traffic of people and security cameras galore make sleeping much safer.
- Matthew DeVries
Matthew just made me spew coffee out my nose.
- Sparky
Matthew, children cannot always wait for the next gas station. Also, if you are tired, it is NOT a good idea to keep driving til you find somewhere nicer.
- Mellissa Claus
Rest stops in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are fairly nice and usually clean - I use them every time I make the drive from SoCal to Dallas.
- Kurt Starnes
Melissa, so you'd stop at that last exit then.
- Matthew DeVries
http://media.weathersealed.com/maps... East of the Mississippi, there is no need for a rest stop.
- Matthew DeVries
AZ is closing theirs.
- R1CC1
You'd also be forcing business through the doors of those establishments. You could take the rest-stop upkeep and building budgets and hire 100 bathroom/restaurant inspectors with 1/10th of that to keep them sanitary and accessible, and roll the other 90% into bridges and schools.
- Matthew DeVries
I'm thinking maybe Australian highways are a lot differe to American ones. Here you can drive hundreds of kilometres on the same one without there being any 'exits'. Sometimes your only option is a rest-stop, a grotty service station, or a tree.
- Mellissa Claus
The problem with "forcing the business" into those establishments: it will cost them money, unless they require that you buy something. The toll Oasis' upkeep are supported by the toll money, so it doesn't place a burden on the businesses if people don't buy anything.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Yeah, west of the Mississippi, exits with businesses are spread farther apart. Driving 120 miles to the nearest exit while your bladder is full is not fun.
- Victor Ganata
If only a small fraction of the people buy something, that more than offsets what they'd be forced to invest in infrastructure to meet mandated standards for having a business withing 1/2 mile of the highway. Rest Stops were born out of a time when there were large distances between exits and it was realistic that you could drive for an hour or more without seeing an exit. If you look at the map I posted up there, in the Eastern US, that just doesn't happen.
- Matthew DeVries
Along the NJ Turnpike, rest stops are a necessity for drivers because of the toll structure. You pay less in tolls to stay on the highway than to take an exit and drive around.
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
Because they're free and not trying to sell you stuff?
- cecily
Truckers have time limits as to the time they can drive and often need a place 'now' rather than down a few exits.
- Andrew Leyden
With very few exceptions, the facilities in the rest stops I've used have been well maintained and in working order. I much prefer a rest area to an exit (and will pass a plethora of exits for all except emergency stops) as the rest areas are consistently in better condition (and don't smell like fast food) and don't tempt me to spend guilt money (buying something so I can use the...
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- awd
If you have pets rest stops are a real win. And in the west at least there are stretches where there aren't adequate services so a rest stop is much appreciated.
- Todd Hoff
Cecily nailed it...
- Johnny Worthington
My family takes a cooler with sandwiches on family vacations when driving. We would stop at rest areas for a half hour for lunch. I don't think you can find a park right off of most exits. Fast food joints frown at you bringing your own food, and I refuse to eat sitting outside a gas station. For people traveling on a budget, rest areas provide a cheap and guilt-free method to save money and get out of the car for a few minutes.
- Amanda
Aaron & Cecily have covered everything I have to say about this. Also, after having to pay to use the restroom at a truck stop in Slovakia, I am glad we have publicly funded, clean rest stops, regularly spaced where there are no other options. Frankly, I'm rather irritated by the closures here in Virginia.
- ǎňňǎ
Rest stops are useful on closed toll systems. You'd pay more if you leave the highway and then reenter. Also, some rest stops have geocaches. :)
- Morton Fox
They do make for a good litmus test. If I drive by one and think "I probably should have stopped" I either pullover and switch with someone or get a room.
- J. Abdul-Qahhar
LISSA BLOG: Mildly Attractive Men of SLIS Calendar Now Available To Order! - http://students.libsci.sc.edu/lissa...
Rasmus Lauridsen, anjelina, Iván Abrego and 11 other people liked this
"Another year, another calendar to choose for your wall. Would you like some puppies in a basket? Perhaps a gallery of assorted fruits with faces drawn on them? Well, forget about them! The mildly attractive gentlemen attending (the University of South Carolina) have assembled for your viewing pleasure throughout 2010, arranging themselves in iconic poses from the history of film."
- cecily
from Bookmarklet
*starts to do pushups*
- Derrick
I love the title.
- s t e v e
D look at the guy in the second photo. He's not exactly svelte.
- cecily
Which makes me happy. I'd order it if I wasn't so broke.
- cecily
Like *I* could do pushups anyway. *strikes a pose*
- Derrick
I'm still waiting for the Men of FriendFeed calendar :oD
- Mellissa Claus
Didn't someone start one a while back? I wonder what happened to it.
- cecily
I like the title.
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
*ordering now*
- Junebug (aka Sarah Jill)
I'm kind of glad my library school didn't do this.
- Jenny Reiswig
hmmm...
- Jim Norris
Wow... nope, nothing else. Just... Wow... :)
- awd
Why is that, Jenny?
- cecily
We're doing an LSW one for 2011, right?
- Jàson Puçkett
So it looks as if MPOW will be moving to LibGuides instead of having to come up with our own custom solution that was built on ExpressionEngine. I'm happy about this, but of course, when I suggested LibGuides at the beginning of our working group to investigate research guides, everyone pooh-poohed it. Tiny win for me. Yay.
suelibrarian, Junebug (aka Sarah Jill), marthalib and 9 other people liked this
It's a win. I've learned to share an idea, never mention it again, argue poorly against it when it comes up again, and watch the implementation :)
- awd
HUGE win. Yay!
- marthalib
Aaron, I think you might be on to something. That approach would surely do wonders for my blood pressure and stress levels.
- cecily
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