jstor:

When ordering whiteboards, remember:

” = inches

’ = feet

Might I suggest a large whiteboard structure?

believermag:

(John Cage meets Sun Ra, 1986) 

buongiorno:

mlarson:

Yesssss!

new facebook profile picture. 

Relevant to many of my interests.

(via recordarchive)

laura-in-libraryland:

From a fellow Laura with a similarly named blog- Laura in the Library

Hey bookish folks: any suggestions on how to pack books for a move?

I’ll be driving a moving truck with them later this month, not mailing boxes media rate. Most are academic paperbacks, so I’m not worried about scuffing them, just about breaking the spine or warping them horrifically.

Is it best to lay them down flat, like geological layers? Or is it better to have the bottom-most layer be all spines, like a bookshelf laying supine?

Thanks!

Michael Rosenblum (down the comment thread)

So in a way this whole ordeal sort of begs the all important question: how do we effectively demonstrate the library’s value to demographics that do not necessarily need the library, i.e. rich white dudes? This case is even more complicated, as he seems to be a wealthy white man with a truly skewed view of poverty and access. I’m not sure we care whether or not this person ever steps foot in a library (I certainly do not), but I don’t think it serves us to alienate those folks with cash and a national audience.

(via thelifeguardlibrarian)

I’d counter with: badly told to whom?  The outcry to Rosenblum’s article indicates that plenty of people are aware of the importance of libraries.  It’s simply that these are not the people who can get their spurious, badly-researched articles published by the Huffington Post.

So, how do we get these folks on our side?  How do we show them that the the library serves the information needs of its entire community, including the people who are “rich enough to live on W. 53rd Street”? 

I’ve noticed that Rosenblum’s original point was, “Hey, I’ve got Google; what do I need a library for?”  It sounds like we need to meet people like Rosenblum where they are— at Google, on the Web, via people’s web browsers.  Maybe find a way to embed our collections and services into search engines, work with them instead of alongside them.  

Consider: Wouldn’t it be neat to Google the title of a book, or an author, and see something like “These titles available at [your local library]”?  Or, upon hitting a paywall that your library subscribes to, seeing something like “This content is available for free to [your local library] patrons; please enter your username and library card number.”

(via text-block)

It’s a small thing, but I always link to WorldCat when discussing a book. Perhaps I’d choose affiliate links if I had to pay the costs of hosting a blog on the order of BoingBoing, but for the rest of us, I think this is a good way to facilitate library use.

[An aside: for me, the most staggering example of Rosenblum’s “thought” is when he writes, “If people come to the library to use the Internet, why not have the library come to them over the same medium? Just thinking out loud.”

After being given statistics showing that many people come to the library because they don’t have internet access at home, he still suggests bringing a library to them online as a “solution.” He seems fundamentally unable to conceive/concede the fact that he’s not representative of the entire population, and that his ability to not use the library isn’t shared by all.

It’s not a branding problem, it’s a humility problem.]

(via laura-in-libraryland)

afrofuturistaffair:

Great news.

stfuconservatives:

A new app allows you to scan a product in the supermarket aisle and learn who exactly is behind that box of cereal. More impressively, you can join user-created campaigns to boycott groups of companies who may have lobbied against a cause you believe in.

I couldn’t scream SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY fast enough at this. And it’s free! Due to all the traffic, the app is down right now - the developer says he’s getting more than 10 new users every second. Download it! Vote with your wallet!

I love it when people help make this thing into an information phone!

(via gordblossom)

askingfortroublekawaii:

How to make a quick zine and finish the Zine Challenge!

View Post

One-shot zines are great!

The best handout I’ve ever made was one of these, on Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library for a class on postmodernism in literature.

(via libralthinking)

(via in-the-underground)