Yaaaaaaaaaawn

I'm going to have to start writing blog posts during my lunch break or something, because lately I just don't seem to have the mental energy to even contemplate it once I get home after work, scrounge some food, and get the baby to bed.

Another thing I don't have the mental energy for is freaking out about cockroaches, which we find we have living in our bathroom. (Just the bathroom so far, so far as we know. But that's just where they've been seen, so who knows where they get off to when we're not looking.)

Once upon a time this might have had me all skin-crawlingly grossed out, but now I just kind of thought "what do you know, a cockroach." Who has the strength for more, in this sticky summer weather, and with how busy we all are? After a long day, I'd rather go sit on the couch than muster up a sense of horror at our squalid living conditions.

Squalor? Yeah, fine. The internet still works though, right?

I mean, I tried to squash it, in a cursory way, but it escaped behind the sink and I couldn't be bothered to run right out in the middle of the night to purchase some deadly, deadly toxic spray and take care of the situation.

Maybe later, cockroach.

In Babyland

It has come to our attention that a tragic post shortage has recently afflicted this blog. We have traced the problem to the recent arrival in my household of a small baby, leading to my spending basically all my time in new-babyland rather than internetland.

I have no idea what"s going on on the internet! I am too sleepy to care.

One day I will care again. Until that time, please be comforted by the knowledge that this baby is a redhead.

Another one for the Gingers!

Never You Mind, PubMed

Sometimes an RSS feed reader can throw you off. For example, I saw that this new NLM blog, ReferencePoint, had posted a Fact Sheet sheet on the difference between PubMed and Medline.

I took notice, because this is a question that I think causes some confusion among the non-librarians among our patrons where I work (that is to say, pretty much all of our patrons), and that I usually brush over with something eloquent along the lines of "we use them pretty much interchangeably, but basically Medline is the database of citations, and PubMed is the search interface we use to access it, the way the internet is, you know, the internet, and Google is a specific interface to help you access it."

If the person seems to care at all, I might say something about the other interfaces for Medline, such as Ovid or the one in Web of Knowledge, and how they're kind of like other search interfaces such as Yahoo or Bing, and how some people prefer one or another of them for various reasons, but they all serve basically the same function.

In any case, I was interested to see how the experts at NLM would, no doubt much more clearly and accurately, explain the difference.

But then when I clicked to read more, there was no post! Removed for editing, perhaps, or updating, or because it incorrectly identified PubMed as "an especially rancorous panda." Who can say? Only the first few sentences linger, a ghostly remnant in my Reader.

Perhaps it will be reposted in the future. In the meantime, feel free to just substitute what I said here if anyone asks you about this topic.

I mean, the bit about PubMed being an especially rancorous panda. That'll get people's attention.


Edited to add that the post NLM blog post did go live, and you can see it here if you like.

Unrelated Matters

The official Help Desk and web master was able to repair my broken 'L' key. I should have asked him to also paint on a new 'A,' because surely he has keyboard paint in his office somewhere.


On an unrelated matter, is it worth it to pay for copies of an issue of a journal that you wrote a column for? It's not one we get at work, so I can't just steal their copy.

I jest! I wouldn't steal from work. At least, not after I mentioned it on the internet for the world to see. Besides, I have all the pens and sticky notes I can use from loot at conferences.

Anyway, my thieving ways aside, the point is, I won't have a paper copy unless I pay for one, on account of they only send you the PDF. But it's just a review column, not an impressive research article or anything, so I'm honestly not sure how much I care.

I'd probably just stick a paper copy in a drawer somewhere and never look at it again, and it's not as if anyone I know who isn't a librarian cares about the many awesome features of the National Academies Press and their free ebooks.


On another matter unrelated to either of the above matters, there's a blog on my Google Reader that has apparently been attacked by malware, so every time I click on its link I get a terrifying red warning page advising me that my computer could be infected if I proceed.

So I naturally hurry away, but since I can't click on the blog title in Reader, I can't just unsubscribe, and I also can't mark its posts as 'read,' so it just sits there in bold telling me it has unread posts and I can do nothing!

It's kind of annoying. There used to be a way in Reader to edit feeds without displaying posts, but I can't figure it out since they've redesigned it and removed or hidden the Manage Subscriptions link.

And just now I searched Reader Help and it's been placed under Reader Settings, so that solved that problem.

See, I just needed to actually bother to try to find an answer, instead of merely noting my annoyance at the problem! Let that be a lesson to all of you.

Blog! Do It!

The Krafty Librarian has more info on blogging for the Official MLA 2012 blog. You can apply for various assignments, cleverly named for the conference's baseball theme.

I should steal this idea for the MLA 2013 blog. I'm going to be the Blog Coordinator next year, so I've got to keep my eyes open for interesting things to do with it.

Probably using every post to subtly praise my own awesomeness would be bad form? Or is it OK if it's really subtle?

Something to think about.

Anyway, if you'll be at MLA'12, you should totally apply to blog. You get AHIP points, if you're into that kind of thing (I haven't gotten around to joining, myself, but I know many people are members), and in several of the positions you get the use of a wireless card, which you can use throughout the conference, not merely when blogging officially.

Blog it Up, Everyone!

MLA'12 is looking for conference bloggers! You should apply!

I won't be applying this year myself, on account of an exciting alternate plan I have to take some leave from work and keep a wary eye on an infant human.

Also possibly play some video games.

Nevertheless, having blogged for MLA in the past, I can testify that it is a lively and enriching experience, and that red carpets will be rolled out for you everywhere and you will be showered with goodies and special favors. Like vendor pens! And candy!

Wait, I think the red carpet might have been just my vivid imagination. A vivid imagination is highly desirable in a conference blogger, you know.

I'll be reading, so make sure you keep things both informative and entertaining.

Not Gettin' It Done

I suppose I might as well be doing NaBloPoMo as well, right? Let's undertake every challenge that comes along, why not?

I am so not getting caught up on the novel right now, but...but...tomorrow! Possibly! If I can think of anything that could be happening.

Maybe a pack of wild dogs! That'd add drama.

You know, it's not ideas that are hard. It's ideas that aren't terrible that are hard.

On the Ball Again

In unrelated (to pretty much anything) news, I finally caught up on the 500+ unread blog posts in my feed reader.

I have not been reading blogs as much lately, because I've been putting most of my spare time into playing Mass Effect 2. I think I'm making the right call.

My enemies aren't going to turn into corpses and loot themselves, after all.

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Prepare For Another Word Onslaught, MLA!

Exciting news for possibly someone! Once again, I will be an official blogger at the Medical Library Association annual meeting in May.

This year, rather than just have everyone write about whatever events they happen to be attending (resulting in some events not being covered, and some being covered by multiple bloggers), they're going to have us assigned to cover specific things. This should ensure a good variety of event coverage, and limit the number of people, several of them me, describing the plenary sessions in mind-numbing detail.

I will be writing in the role of Section Correspondent this year, and let me tell you, it's gonna be swell.

I will be focusing especially on the Dental and Technical Services Sections, since I am the liaison to the dental school and the head of technical services where I work, giving these sections a special place in my heart.

Still, I have love to spare for all the sections, and if I see one of the others doing something cool, I'll be sure to make a note of it*. Particularly if none of the other Section Bloggers are in evidence.

I foresee lots of underhanded attempts to scoop one another. Who will break the big story of the Chiropractic Libraries Section's latest spinal shenanigans?

OK, actually I just foresee underhanded attempts by me to scoop everyone else. I don't know any of the others, so I can't in fairness paint them all with the same sordid brush I use for myself.

But there are 23 sections, and only six of us, so there will probably be plenty of news to go around.



*Invite me to your Section Event now! I will provide glowing testimonials in exchange for chocolate! While underhandedly scooping the other bloggers! (Some might consider this to be an abuse of the awesome power inherent in the Official Blogger role, but I prefer to think that it isn't.)
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Mulishly Clinging to Old Tech

I had missed the news that RSS is dying, but was soothed from the potential panic it would have caused by this handy roundup at Stephen's Lighthouse, which has links to three posts explaining that rumors of its demise may be somewhat exaggerated.

The takeaway seems to be that it probably isn't dying, it's just not an exciting hot technology and not that many people use it or care about it. Boooor-ing.

Those who do use it, however, seem to find it valuable, so it will probably keep existing.

Whew! As one who does use it, I can tell you right now that I would wither and die without it. OK, so I mean my blog-reading would wither and die without it.

I'm reading 200+ blogs, all of which I enjoy and learn from in various ways, but almost none of which I would be keeping up with if I had to visit each site individually to check for new content.

I just don't have that kind of time!

Why, just this very day a post appeared on a long-silent blog that I moderately enjoyed. I would have given up checking for updates and left that blog for dead long ago, but thanks to RSS, I instantly knew the author was back. There was this little "thanks to anyone who's still reading me!" note, and I thought, "don't thank me, thank...the knife!"

Wait, that's The Simpsons. And it was about a knife. I mean "thank...the RSS!"

You know, it's just easy.

I suppose if you don't care about following 200 blogs, it won't be as important to you, and that's fair. I'm not about to tell anyone they need to be reading 200 blogs.

But at this point in my life, I am, so I don't care if RSS is cool or not, I'm stickin' to it.

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Keeping Up

Someone I know was working hard (and successfully) over the holiday break to finish reading 50 books for the year.

Fifty seems like a good, round number, doesn't it? Inspired to look back, I find that I myself read 53 books in 2010, or just barely more than one per week. I must give credit to goodreads for encouraging me to keep track of them all, since otherwise I would certainly have no idea of the number.

I must also give credit to a kindly co-worker, who frequently lends me books to read (especially YA fiction), and, of course, to the South End branch of the Boston Public Library, where I checked out many of the others.

It's been a group effort. Hooray for all of us!

I also watched I don't know how many movies (at least one a week) and TV shows (ditto), read probably 25 or so issues of various magazines, played four video games, and read many thousands of blog posts (to hazard a guess based on my subscribed feeds and a tentative average for number of times each posts weekly, maybe 25,000?). Also there were the online news stories, the daily free paper on the train, and the backs of some cereal boxes.

I'm trying to consume my fair share of media here.

Although I do notice I'm not keeping up with podcasts. I just haven't gotten into them, despite regularly intending to.

My consumption of web video, while not non-existent, is also rather puny. Usually I just can't be bothered to wait 10 seconds for a clip to load.

I demand that my media be instantly available!--or I'm off to grab a book.

My attention span is a harsh environment.


Edited 1/1/11 to add that Jessamyn at librarian.net has a much more detailed list of books read last year, including such interesting information as the percentage of books by male/female authors, the percentage of fiction/non-fiction, and the percentage she liked/disliked/was ambivalent about.

Now that's informative!

Inspired once again, I went back to count my own books, and find that I read almost equally male and female authors (25 and 28 titles, respectively), and slightly more fiction than non-fiction (31 and 22, respectively).

In case anyone wants to plot this on a nice four-way table, of the 22 non-fiction titles, 14 were by women and 8 by men, while of the 31 fiction titles, 14 were by women and 17 by men. Given this distribution, I can only conclude that I prefer to have facts presented to me by female writers, and to enjoy tall tales by male writers.

I mean, I have to conclude something, right?

Another year's worth of data may shed new light on this question.

I did not feel up to quantifying the degree to which I liked or did not like each of these books (there are so many levels of enthusiasm to consider!), so I'm leaving that number out.
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Not Having Any Important Thoughts

You know how when you're really hot and sweaty and have 863 unread blog posts in your feed reader, you start to feel overwhelmed by the vast quantities of valuable information and insight waiting to be absorbed, and you go play a video game instead?

Maybe it's just me. I'm totally getting close to putting the heir to the empire on his rightful throne, though, so you know I'm doing good work. Seriously, one of these days.

Then I'll catch up on what's happening in the online world.

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Last Call for Notes on MLA'10!

I would be remiss in my duties as an Official Conference Blogger for MLA'10 if I did not strongly urge you to fill out the short survey on the Official Conference Blog, linked here.

It's designed to measure the success of said blog and help determine what could be improved for future meetings.

If you read the MLA'10 blog, go fill it out! Do it now!

Even if you didn't read the blog, you should probably fill out the survey just to make sure there are enough comments praising my awesomeness and explaining how I should be showered with jewel-encrusted wireless cards.

The word needs to get out.

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Off the Road Again

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

I had a swell time at the Medical Library Association annual meeting in DC, and did my best to blog up a storm over on the MLA '10 Official Blog, where a whole pile (seriously, at one point they knocked us all down and put us in a pile in the corner for a group photo*) of intrepid bloggers were reporting on the programs, meetings and parties that went on pretty much nonstop.

It was great fun. I attended some excellent programs and met some lovely people and caught up with some awesome people I already knew. Great, but also tiring, so I'm pretty much OK with being back in my regular old life.


*OK, OK, this never happened, but it would have been funny. At least for the people who weren't on the bottom of the pile.

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Divided Attention

I've commented before that I rarely just watch a show or a movie on TV anymore--I'm always on the computer as well. (Watching TV shows on the computer is more engrossing than on actual TV, because you can't also be doing a lot of unrelated stuff on said computer.)

Often, this isn't really a problem, because you can follow your average action flick while also checking out the awesome stuff that's invariably out there on the internet, but tonight we watched The Story of Marie and Julien, and I think I would have gotten more out of it if I hadn't also been catching up on my blog reading. You can only be distracted to a certain degree while watching a movie with subtitles, but still...

Maybe movie theaters will survive as a place of enforced concentration on the experience of the film.

Of course, to do that they'll have to start enforcing the cell phone bans and such.

Another alternative is to just watch more movies on the computer.

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Blog Platforms

I'm just looking at the MLA '10 meeting blog...checkin' out the decor, scoping the exits, etc. If I show up to the conference blog in the same outfit as someone else, you know I'm going to want to make a quick getaway.

Why hello, WordPress! I remember you.

My memory has gotten a bit hazy on some of your little ways, after having been hooked up with Blogger for the past while or so, but I'm sure we'll get along fine. You user-friendliness is legendary, after all.

There's already lots of good information available on the meeting, and I'm sure the awesome Official Bloggers will provide plenty of lively commentary once things get underway (and of course I may be wearing other peoples' outfits, which would be amusing), so put it on your feed readers!

I mean, if you have any interest in medical library meetings. I think some of my legions of followers are just here for the wine and killer robots (but don't fret, there may be wine at the meeting!), but if you're into medical library stuff, like health-related databases and MeSH and patient info and scads of fascinating journals about horrible illnesses, this will totally be the blog for you.

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Bloggy Goodness Awaits

My legions of devoted followers, I bring exciting news: I have been selected to be an official blogger for Medical Library Association annual meeting in DC next month. Woohoo!

I did this last time I was at MLA, in Chicago in 2008, and I, at least, thought it was a lot of fun.

I vow to bring to this important task the same somber mien with which I approach all important things I do: ever alert for killer robots and free food, taking notes at near-obsessive levels, and with a highly critical eye for health and technology tie-ins in any movies that may be shown. (I don't see any on the event calendar, but one never knows.)

In the meantime, I will continue to boil water for at least one minute, since the metro Boston area still lacks drinkable tap water. People were very unhappy about the lack of coffee today. It seems that the coffee makers in places like Dunkin' Donuts are automated and hooked up to the pipes, so they don't have the option to boil the water before making coffee. As a result...no coffee.

I don't usually drink coffee, but I did miss my morning tea. It's just more trouble than it's worth to try to heat tea water in the microwave.

Seeing people carrying their stores of bottled water around reminds me of how I lived in the country in Arizona for a while when I was little, and people used to carry water around there, although in big sturdy containers instead of little bottles.

The advantage of the current situation is, at least the water is OK to wash in. Life would be less pretty if we couldn't take showers.

Oh my yes.

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NLM: So With It

From the NLM Announces listserv, I learn that NLM can now be followed and fanned on both Twitter and Facebook.

I'm naturally all over that. I shall frolic in the 21st century with the nation's medical library! It's bound to be super nifty.

I see also that this evening's episode of House is about a sick blogger who may be sharing too much with her legions of followers, thus jeopardizing her relationship with her real-life partner. 

Drama! 

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Updates on Blog Death

Nicholas Carr at Rough Type nicely sums up how utterly uncool it has become to admit that you have a blog, now that only old fogeys do it.

You punk kids stay off my servers, that's all I have to say.

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What We've Got Here Is...Communication

I was reading my January Library Journal of an evening, and I became inclined to ruminate a while upon the idea of professionalism.

More importantly, there's an argument going on here, and I want in!

John N. Berry says in his editorial, Don't Muzzle Librarians,

It is utter hypocrisy to label any communication—anonymous, ad hominem, or otherwise—as “unprofessional” in a profession for which the primary core value is freedom of expression.

Really? Any communication? Of any kind? In any context? That's a broad, broad statement.

And you know what that kind of broad statement gives us? License! License, good people, for extremes of behavior!

The following immediately occurred to me:

• So if I start peppering my interactions with med students at the reference desk with random obscenities, that's professional communication?
• Or, say, what if I decide to start opining about faculty members' choice of research topics with comments like "You're writing about that? You're a total quack, you know that, right?"
• I might also just derail every conversation about book purchases by talking incessantly about my own awesomeness and/or how hard my life is: this is totally professional?
• And what if I make a habit of telling the library's users, and some of my favored colleagues, that others of my colleagues are incompetent layabouts (which is not only irrelevant to most users, it's a dirty lie)? Still good?

My boss is going to love this.

I mean, yeah, I get that in a very important way, it's the work of the profession to respect, preserve, and promote access to all kinds of communication. As Mr. Berry continues,

We are justifiably proud of the record of librarians as fervent and effective defenders of free expression. Librarians have upheld and collected obscenity, anarchy, dissent, and certainly every kind of personal attack. This is not “unprofessional,” it is our professional duty.

True, true. I'm all over the freedom of expression. Love it! Defend it! But is it the work of the profession--and thus, professional behavior--to also engage in all kinds of communication?

Not necessarily, I would argue.

Further, this editorial comes after David Rothman apparently said that the Annoyed Librarian blog was "unpleasant" and "unprofessional."

There's nothing detailed in the piece beyond those two words, so I'm not really sure where the 'muzzling' of the title comes in. Perhaps David Rothman has the awesome power to make other bloggers quail and stop typing merely through disliking them. And, I guess, telling other people that he dislikes them.

Which must still be completely professional to do, since it's communication, but is bad because he used the forbidden word "unprofessional." I guess.

I'm also pretty sure the Annoyed Librarian has said worse about someone at some point. Probably many people at many points. That's kind of the AL's thing, if I remember from when I used to read it.

These points, as well as others, are entertainingly covered in this video response from Mr. Rothman. Others have addressed this issue as well: see Agnostic, Maybe for more good points.

I really just wanted to chime in when I recognized the license for extremes of behavior. (I'm telling you, this 'license' theme is a winner for me. I'll make something of it yet.)

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