Keeping libraries open: A creative approach | jacksonville.com

Keeping libraries open: A creative approach | jacksonville.com

The Myth of Browsing | American Libraries Magazine

The Myth of Browsing | American Libraries Magazine

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TightRope

Lately, I have been on the edge and this song pretty much describes my life right now. Either there is a light at the end of the tunnel or a train/locomotive. I feel like I am on a “tightrope”. As such, this song also describes the current situation with public libraries. Apparently, they are thinking of closing five public libraries in the Birmingham area. So hats off to Janelle Monae for coming up with a song that is kind of a neo-blues/pop song that may just bring tuxedos back into main street fashion. Yes I use to wear tux ties to church. What?

Do I Own a Facebook Account?

So I have compiled  some stats about and wanted to clear up a misinterpretation or two about my facebook account.

1. Out of 100 % of my friends on facebook, I see over half of them (face to face) every two months to three.
2. 60% of my friends on facebook are 26 or younger. I am in college and I normally hang out at coffee shops and academic libraries.
3.I often stay connected on Facebook even though my browser is does not have my page up.
4.Facebook is a tool for me to stay connected with friends. It is not a social networking service I normally use to hook up with women. I seriously just know a lot of women.
5.It would be a curious situation if all of my friends on Facebook got together in an auditorium and started asking me questions. I do like to talk. However, I would fear some of my friends talking to each other then asking me some tabloid type question.
6.I mainly use Facebook for social and classroom connections. In other words, I use it for class or to catch with friends whom I can't see do due to distance.
7. Almost all of my friends are book nuts. Which is cool!!!!!!!!
8. There are not as many librarians on my Facebook page as you would imagine.

Book Pirating

This post is a response to the article link below about iPads and pirating. So  read the article first.

Is iPad supercharging e-book piracy? (from The cnet Blog ) 

 

I only have a few gripes with this article. First, I just don't see the pirating of books being accelerated by the iPad or any other electronic reading device. Plenty of books have been illegally scanned  into electronic formats for years. Yes, even before Google started their whole scanning scheme. However, the advantages vs. the disadvantages of electronically viewed books does not add up. Electronic books require power and hardware/software to view. Also, the convenience of carrying a couple of thousand books in you purse or backpack does not a flight from New York to LA will take even longer?

Second, this article compares pirating books to pirating music. The pirating of music started out just as another way to share music from one electronically driven resource to another. We had records to tapes, Then tapes to CDs. Now CD's are giving away to mp3s and other software driven audio formats. All of these technologies require some type of power and hardware/software to use. Bottom line: with today's music culture, we are talking about ease of access, manipulation, and storage. Back to books. Yes, electronic readers make it easier to carry a horde of books around. And, given the format, you can share books with almost anyone with out even paying for it. However, there is a another resource that is legally free that holds probably 10 to 20 times the amount books that one of those electronic gadgets currently holds. Yes I am talking about your local library. I can just go down to the public library and check out a book. The only software required to view it is my mind.

Third, you can't sell back data to a bookstore for cash.  We all can't have a library that is the size of the Library of  Congress. So selling books is a logical choice versus, god forbid, throwing them away. Also I don't see an auctioneer at Sotheby's saying " Now showing the first edition of War and Peace, 20 MB in PDF for $2000 bucks." I do think that guidelines need to be set where authors are assured that they get a maximize amount for there works value as offered through various electronic vendors. It took years for the music industry to get apple to raise the price of some of their mp3 albums.So if authors are worried about the price of books being sold through amazon or apple, they should focus that issue with them.

Lastly, here are a few more things authors should focus on:

• Keeping Public Libraries open. Municipalities are closing Public Libraries like they are going out of style.
• Make sure academic libraries and public libraries (small and large) are adequately funded. Academic libraries are increasingly having to judge the value of their electronic and physical monograph counterparts.In short, one has to go because they either can't support the space of one or the cost of the other.
• Stop trying to turn this electronic reading trend into a nightmare and focus on the positive aspect of it. Just as a large portion of the population went crazy over the Y@K bug, spreading paranoia over pirating books just makes thing worse.
• Do more book tours in public and academic libraries as well as markets that your publisher normally would not recommend. Maybe, Alabama? Take a cue from Neil Gaiman "Of course, in Alabama the Tuscaloosa, but that is entirely irrelephant..."

 And that's it.

Making the grade, kicking ass and Jesus Hates Zombies

First and formost. I made all A's. Ok, I have not had the time to compose a new entry to this blog. However I was inspired to do so today. My inspiration came from the fact that a lot of my friends graduated from college recently. Congrats!!! Second, I heard about a potential protest that was going to occur at the near by veteran’s cemetery because some fundamentalist group was anti-gay, anti-war, and pretty much anti-anything that ran outside of their religious scope. Third, a book that I came across in one of the coffee shops I hang out at caught my attention. The name of the book or graphic novel is Jesus Hates Zombies. Normally, I find this type of fiction boring. However, the front cover at least got my attention.

 

This leads to a question. My question is why can’t they make a good film about Jesus? I am not talking about fundamentalist diatribes that bore people to tears. I am sorry but I went to go see Passion of the Christ and wanted a bloody streak afterwards. Yes I said it. And yes I am a Christian. Anyway, why can’t hollwood do a film that has nothing to do with scripture depiction and more about plain or action. I mean look at all the really cool films about angels.; City of Angels, Michael, The Heavenly Kid and so on. Just for sheer entertainment, make a motion picture character study on Jesus dealing with buying coffee and a Macbook. Ok, like he even needs one.  Or going to a funeral. Call the movie “ My daddy will see you in few”. What ? I mean some Christians go to church all serious about their faith and yet I have not heard one iota of a statement that god (himself) laughed his ass off because somebody let out an SBD (Silent But Deadly fart) in an elevator.  No one really has crossed the line in terms of almighty in a full motion picture. I can only think of one film that crosses the line Kevin Smith’s Dogma. But in the case of his films, he tries to  makes jokes about religion to point out his own views towards the religion. Lets get past the white haired dude in robes/ Morgan Freeman white suite and see a guy in a Serena Williams outfit walk up to someone and say “can we talk about the stupidity of people who close libraries ?”

 

Technology and Where it is taking us.

MMm well I am in library school and I am just a bit wary about my future. I attended a library forum today and the dean made a statement that stuck in my head: ” physical library collections will never grow like that once did.” That statement made me think about just how electronically oriented the modern day library has become.  He did reinforce the claim that research libraries will still be more than important to academic institutions. I don’t know anymore.  In my opinion jobs will j drastically change. I started out from a paraprofessional perspective as a copy cataloger. I would receive, on average, 500 books a day to verify and augment bibliographic records assigned to each monograph. Now the cataloging is being outsourced to vendors. Items come in with bibliographic records and even barcodes.  I think a lot of the cataloging (staff or professional is done for specific items and gift books).  Now one of my friends who use to be a librarian in main library has been moved to the school of social work.  Granted, I thought it was a natural progression since many colleges are requesting subject specific librarians. However, it makes me think about how technology may enhance the learning and information experience. But at the same time, it might put you literally out of job.  

I promise,  the next post, will be about the White Stripes Under the Northern White Lights

Stream Brad Mehldau's Highway Rider!!! | Nextbop

Stream Brad Mehldau's Highway Rider!!! | Nextbop

The Secret Shh!!!!!!

So, books are a still a large part of the librarian vocation. The question comes, how convincing can a book be? Can it take you down a road of happiness and wonder or torment? These question ran through my mind as I hiked with friends hoping to find an actually baby cemetery in Shelby County. The hike was not related to this story. lol Anyway, as you can imagine, a lot of my friends read books as their main source of entertainment. I guess if you work in a library at least one of your cohorts has to have cracked open a book for fun. Today’s hike reminded me of a story concerning a friend who I last heard was in Hollywood. Anyway, on one particular evening I was at a coffee shop in Tuscaloosa with a group of friends. One of my friends, Jason, is an intriguing character. He is intelligent. But sometimes.......... lets just say he loves to cut off his computer in order to have fun. lol Anyway, he came by the coffee shop one evening and started on a tirade about The Secret.

The Secret is a book written by Rhonda Byne. It is one of those motivational books that I was once  temped to read. Without going into the book's synopsis, Jason went on a verbal rampage about how he knew The Secret. This sounded like the normal Jason. He went on and on about this book and how it taught him to be a millionaire. Can you say infomercial? Is he a millionaire? No. But according to the book, he already was one. This is where it got crazy. He tried to explain The Secret from a religious standpoint. Some of my friends are atheist or they are religious but have issues with organized denominations. So you know how they might have responded. Anyway, Jason started talking about going to Georgia. His intent was to buy a lottery ticket. His words: "I am going to Georgia to buy a lottery ticket. I have already won the big lottery." He then went on to say that he won because of knowing the Secret. At this point, Jason had a glimmer in his eye like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. lol I almost expected him to start saying stuff like. "Yes, the Secret!!!!!! I know it!!! It's my precious." (evil calm voice) Now to jokingly appease him I pulled a quarter out of my pocket. I then said, "I just want 10 million dollars." He said "You already have it."This conversation went on for 5 hours until the coffee shop closed.

The next question is did he win? No.  Did I somehow get my 10 million dollars? Let’s see, I am in library school and I still drive to work instead of scandalously dressed women feeding me strawberries and singing Sexy Thing by Hot chocolate to me. I would say no. So, from this previous passage I have formulated a simple question. Is there a Secret? Maybe....... Can authors still write books that invigorate as much as books such as the Koran, The Christian Bible, The Torah, or The Devil’s Bible? That emphatic yes.

Auto-tune Bibliographic Instruction

Since being enrolled in library school, the subject of maintaining and increasing patronage in libraries has been a big issue. The discussions have been mainly centered around public librarianship, but they certainly are also directed towards academic libraries. So, what do we do?  The conventional antidotes to this situation have been to make the library more like a home and atheistically more pleasing for patrons.  But what about improvements in people skills? I mean librarians need to go far and beyond than the call of duty when it comes to just satisfying a patron. So what is the answer? Or what is an answer?

International known artist Faheem Rasheed Najm aka T-Pain, has made a method of sound mixing called  Auto-Tuning a feature part of music. Hence, he has brought such abridged hits as "I'm Sprung" and that classic dance floor hit "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)" classic millennium hits. So taking a cue from him, I am suggesting that librarians who have developed a lack of people skills compensate for that short coming by auto-tuning themselves.

Here is an example of how world leaders can have used auto tunning to communicate wider audience.

Supernatural

Santana - Supernatural (Legacy Edition)

For nearly 40 years, Santana (the band) has captivated legions of fans. With there Mexican infused rock, Santana lead by guitarist Carlos Santana has taken fans on culutrual and spitiural jounrers since the mid 60's. As with any music group that has last this long, reinvention of the wheel becomes necessary in order to appeal to a new generation.  With Santana, one of those period came in the late nineties. With the support of his Arista Clive Davis, the concept album Supernatural born. A blending of modern pop, rock and R&B mixed with Carlos Santana's fiery Mexican infused guitar rifts made for an album, that reivigorated a band muticulutal awareness and garnered the band 15 x platnum albums and  nine ggammy awards just within the continetal United States. So, how can you make an album that has ganreed such wide spread succeess even better. Technically, you can't. But for an avid or casual listener you can offer a special edition of an album that made 1999 a wondeful year to embrace the such a legendary band.

As with, most Legacy editions of albums, the second disc is the star of the show. Either there is fluff on the second CD. An example of such an album would be the Legacy Edition Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien. If you own some of Satriani's more recent live albums, then you are not missing anything.  However, if you buy the deluxe edition of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? Listeners are treated to a conert on the second disc that is arguable Gaye's banner moment concert wise. But back to the album at hand. Sanatana's legacy edition Supernatural is not on the same level  as Gaye's What's Going On. But, Carlos and his crew aim for that level of spiriality. Gems such as Ya Yo Me Cure focus more on the band itself and not the hybrid collaboration that made the inital release such a success. A shame that these and tracks like the tribute to Bob Marley Exodus/Get Up Stand Up; Exodus\ Get Up Stand Up did not get released earlier. However by itself, the second disc might not have garnered the level of success that the orginral release of supernatural did. In the end, this collection is well worth the buy. The 2nd disc is not a filler CD. It just happens to be further proof that Carlos Santana is Supernatural.

The West Affect

With in this year, I have seen changes in my workplace as well as the rest of the world. I felt my observations of this lecture warranted revisiting. So, it is with that theme I revisit a lecture I attended some two years ago during my first semester in SLIS.

Two years ago, I attended a lecturer series held on campus as a special event. The Speaker, Dr. Cornel West, is the best selling author of Race Matters and the Director of African American Studies at Princeton University. However, Dr. West, is also known for his achievements in the post Civil Rights era and for his intense political round table debate. Dr. West himself brought about a message with the topic of change and how to accomplish it. So it was on October 16, 2009 that I attended this lecture hoping to find some correlation between his social/political views and librarianship as a whole.

Convening at Morgan Auditorium on the campus of The University of Alabama, Dr. West presented a lecture that centralized itself around the theme “ We must learn how to die”. Dr. West also related this to a re-birth, to be reborn into a new human being. He was referring to humanity allowing hatred, racism and bigotry to die with the connotation that a new positive culture would arise. To achieve this, Dr. West often mentioned the word Paideia. Paidea is a Greek word that he explained was a process of “deep education”. A more modern interpretation of the word as Dr. West explained would be a process of critical thinking. We, as human beings, must be critical of ourselves with regards to our thoughts, what we learn, and actions we take based on our acquired knowledge. So how do all these energetic ideas relate to librarianship?

They relate to librarianship because librarians have to take into account all measure of critical thinking in regards to the patrons they serve and the scheme of service in which they provide to patrons. A librarian cannot approach a mentally challenged person with the same frame of mind as a college student or professor. Each client requires different modes of understanding.

Expanding upon the condition of various types of patrons, Dr. West made a statement during his lecture that while extreme in its relation to librarianship, still has connotations for the profession, “The condition of truth is to allow the suffering to speak.” In relation to librarianship, librarians must listen to patrons in order to find out how they can best serve the masses. Now Dr. West was not speaking to those with solely with in the realm of librarianship. However, attendees of this lecture were all there for one purpose: to gain knowledge. This is certainly a hallmark upon which librarians strive to provide.

At the end of the lecture, audience members took the first steps to being reborn. They asked questions. No, they did not ask Dr. West how he felt about being in the Matrix Movies. They asked him critical questions. They practiced Paideia. They asked critical questions in order to gain knowledge. Hence, this is what librarians are challenged to do in defense of the profession. They must disregard old ideas in an ever-changing market in order to serve an ever changing populous.

Books Against The Machine

So, for some of my previous entries, I have been giving odes to how I reached this point in my academic career and the people who influenced that decision. Now it's time to get down to business. Technology!!!!!  I have already briefly commented on the iPad and what are the potential and disadvantages to it's arrival. But, what about the technology that started this whole electronic readers phenomenon? I am, of course, talking about the Kindle.

 

This hardware/software combo was initially viewed by many as another PDA or Apple Newton built specifically to just read books. However, the kindle has turned into a powder cake  that has brought with it fans and critics alike. Taken various polls from my friends on Facebook who are librarians, library school students, or just avid book lovers, here is a list of pros and cons to the kindle.

Pros: The software can be installed on a mobile phone (iPhone), free books (free is 90% of the time good), You can carry thousands of these books with you on the go. The books that you buy for the kindle application tend to be much cheaper than there paper counterparts. Next, books are more durable than electronic readers. God forbid, you become irate because your dog at an entire bottle of petroleum jelly and starts sliding across the kitchen floor. That did happen to a friend of mine. Anyway, I doubt a kindle would survive a total smack down to the floor. A regular book would take a licking and keep on ticking.

Con: Unlike comics books and graphic novels, kindle books are files that can't be passed down from generation to generation. The cost. Even though you only pay a one time fee for the device, $200 for a device that does not even have a book on it yet is pretty steep. Electricity. a Kindle is a electronic device. Therefore, it requires charging at some point. A real monograph does not. Lastly, technology wears out. Things break. So will a kindle. With proper care a book can last next to a life time.

 

So what is my view on the Kindle? I think it is a nifty device. but a waste. Just as the PDA gave away to the Smartphone, the Kindle will give away to net books and devices such as the Apple iPad. Most individuals want more bang for their buck. I want to read my books, surf the internet and listen/ watch the multiple gigs of music/movies I own.  Will the traditional book go away? No!!!!!!! In my view, the aforementioned cons are enough to make that statement clear. However, that does not mean I am a furiously against this technology.

I think there is room for both this marvelous device and regular books. However, the romantic in me will not be buying a Kindle anytime soon. I love the smell of good old fashion paper (new or recycled).

Carmichael Library Home, Tutolage and......evil laugh

For the past year I have been fighting the good fight in terms of working on a Master of Library and Information Studies. But where did this indescribably desire come from? Let me explain this in a narrative.

A battle between desires and abilities is how I have reached this point in regard to my education. Growing up, and throughout my collegiate career, I chased a dream of becoming a mathematician. While following this path, I obtained a refined knowledge and outlook on my professional career. Instead, I decided to pursue a degree in history because of my interest in research and the revisionist factors involved in the discipline. During the completion of the degree is when my curiosity of library studies germinated. A young starlet librarian named Kathy approached me about working in reference department of Carmichael Library, given the fact that I was there all of the time. I said sure, not knowing where this curious, but glorious journey would take me. Carmichael Library is located at the University of Monetavallo in Montevallo, Al.

Working in the reference under Kathy as a student aide, I thrived in the research arena. In the classroom, I was learning to critique historical information. In the library, however, I began to understand how intricate and fascinating the organization and cross-referencing of historical data can be. At the same time, a unique fellowship of librarians and Library paraprofessionals were observing a young chap fascinated with shoes. They hoped he would one day take his place among there ranks as a professional librarian. These include Rosemary Arneson, Barbara Belisle, Debra Collins, Jason Cooper, Amanda Melcher, Mary Seagle, Pauline Williams(retired), Audrey Powers (Currently at The University of South Florida) and, last but not least, Patsy Sears. Now, there were a host of other librarians from various institutions that were influential in this process as well. So, please do not feel left out. I am just focusing on current and former Montevallo librarians for this post.  Anyway, all of these wonderful human beings  inspired me to want to become a Librarian. Their devotion to the profession should be seen as example of how a librarian should be. So, I leave this post with a unique song that in it's own way describes the varied staff of Carmichael Library.

Cheers!!!

The Mays's Effect

So the evening after work began with my professor reminiscing over Janet Jackson’s Control. I was thinking to myself if she tries to bring back the whole Nasty Boy era where guys were doing pirouettes to impress a girl in videos, I am dropping this class. I thought she was going to go down the isles singing Nasty Boy. 

I refuse to allow that era to come back. Now, if she started singing like Joss Stone and rapping like Snoop Dog in the same class period, then I would pay a days salary to see that. Anyway, Dr. Mays mentioning of that Janet Jackson classic invigorated me to post a video of myself. A large majority of my friends have seen this video already. Back-story: About two years ago when I was applying for grad school, I was pretty stressed out. I did not do well on my initial taking of the entrance exam.  So as a favor, a  wonderful friend of mine named Gina paid half of my fare to come out to California and visit her. But……… 24 hours before I was suppose to take off for CA, I decided pull some of my old dance skills out for a video.

I opened my mouth and gave an oath to a friend that I would be in a video for his one-man group Early Modern Europe. Well the time came to make good on my promise. I have to admit, I was the bomb!! I missed my calling as a back up dancer for Paula Abdul. Who knows, I might have swooped her off of her feet and married her.  As such, here is a video myself putting some young Thunder Cat in his place in terms of dancing.

 

Gaiman and Entering the Forbidden South

For the past 10 years, I have often wondered why so many awesome entertainment tours and events have passed over the state of Alabama. Of course, I have a simple answer to that question. Inhabitants of Alabama are stupid. Their IQs are barely 70 at best. Also, once they reach a certain age, thinking becomes a high-class luxury yielded only to the rich, college educated, or financial power players. Ok, this is just an uneven, biased, belligerent, satiric statement. These preconceived notions that Alabama is a state full of uneducated hicks is a reality to foreigners to the state. However, those views only represent a miniscule section of the state’s populous. The state of Alabama has a host of individual forward thinkers that have not stepped one foot into a classroom. They read, write and have thoughts that are defiantly not inherent to Bama. Wow, really ?!!! As such, I bring all this up in the mist of a recent author’s visit to Alabama. Neil Gaiman, acclaimed author of graphic novels and books The Sandman, Coraline, and American Gods visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama last Thursday to a packed house at the Bama Theater. This was his first foray into Alabama and a surprising one at that. 

 

As Gaiman recounts,

“And all I know is, the first batch of tickets for my reading in Alabama were gone in 120 seconds. (Literally. We thought the website had crashed.) The few leftovers, released later in the week, went at the same speed. A 1078 seat theater sold out in minutes, and they could have filled it twice or three times over. People had driven 4 hours to get there and more. Everybody there seemed hungry for words and stories and literature” (Gaiman, 2010). 

This reaction is not surprising to me. Publishers typically stereotype the south because their motivation is the bottom line: money. These preconceived notions that people in Alabama do not read or listen only to country music are ludicrous. Granted, it does not help the situation when the scene of individuals who truly have natural, variable, methodical intellects are over shadowed by age-old stereotypes of ignorance and limited education. It just flat out makes me mad. From this whole experience I felt invigorated knowing that people fought hard to get past publicists’/agents’ assumptions about an area in order to show such geographical elitists that they are totally wrong.

Gaiman, Neil. "Of course, in Alabama the Tuscaloosa, but that is entirely irrelephant...".

    . Retrieved from http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/02/of-course-in-alabama-tuscaloosa-but.html

 

 

The Man in The Machine: Pat Metheny's Orchestrion

One of the main features of jazz that has attracted me to this genre of music is the use of  improvisation; creating a spontaneous musical idea based on internal and external stimuli. An example of such an occurrence is the gathering of multiple human musicians. Emotions react to emotions, drummers react to SBDs (Silent But Deadly......). The human psyche is an unpredictable feature that makes improvisation so inviting. With that being said, what happens when your musicians are all robots that think in binary code. Normally, when someone says that they are talking about just a computer program reacting to calculated random response. However, I am talking about computers responding to a human being's emotions using the rudimentary tenants of improvisation. This is sort of what acclaimed jazz guitarist Pat Metheny tries to acomplish with his lastest album, Orchestrion. Taking his cues from the types of machines that are the title and subject of his album, Orchestrions are machines that play music and are designed to sound like bands or orchestras. They are normally operated by one person and utilize foot pedals or more commonly, sheet music to produce sound.

 

As such, what about the freaking album? A collaboration between man and machine typically yields preconceptions of a piece of work that is calculated and artificial.  However, with Orchestrion, Metheny uses the idea of Orchestrions and combines them with 20th century solenoid technology to bring about an album that is remarkably more organic than any of his previous solo works.

 

The machines play the music that he has written. However, there response is not precise. His one-man orchestra includes a bass, pianos, marimbas, guitar-bots and blow bottles all working on software programs and solenoid switches controlled by Metheny's musical response via guitar picking and pedals.  The opening title track is the usual affair that all Metheny fans have been use to, but with less drawn out solos. This was one theme that Metheny focused upon too much on his last group album, The Way UP.  The response from the robots was much like Metheny playing with himself. So what does this have to do with Librarianship? What?!!!!! What indeed.  Librarians are in a occupational flux where they can no longer depend on there co-workers for help. They have to use their own creativity more so than ever to facilitate patrons to learn and find information. New technologies, such as standardized and advanced blogging are ways in which 21st century librarians are communicating with the masses from long distances. Ok, enough with the library moment. The consensus of the Pat Metheny album, Orchestrion is that it is Great!!  He accomplished his goal. Conclusively, this album shows me that new horizons from Jazz still exist beyond the realm of acoustic musicianship.

http://www.patmetheny.com/ 

 

Oldie But Goodie

We all have experienced that fulfilling moment were we received an acceptance letter from SLIS (School of Library and Information Studies) or a comparable library graduate studies program. My experience was pretty much no exceptions. It was memorable in several ways. So, I thought it would be fitting to revisit that moment before going forward with this blog. Yes, my next entries will focused more on current music and library trends.

Two years ago, I got accepted into SLIS (School of Library and Information Studiesl) back in the summer of 2008. My initial planned reaction was to run down the street butt naked screaming "!@#$%, I am going to be a Librarian".  But I digress. I simply looked to the heavens, smiled and then showed the letter to my family. Then later that day, I went to see some friends and hopefully find a few goodies at a yard sale. Well, most of the good stuff was gone. However, my friend who had the yard sale gave me a few video games, a copy of Apocalypse Now and a freaking Darth Vader helmet!!!

 

(!!!!Nerd!!!! )

You have no idea how bad I wanted to wear that thing out and drive down the street with it on. lol Nerd!!!!!!!! 

As such, later that night, I went to a coffee shop to hang out with few friends. Well, while there, a guy and a girl were on a 1st date. Nothing strange right? Ok, first of all, they sit down and he immediately starts going off on this tangent about how beautiful she was. Nothing wrong with that. But... he kept going on and on about it. He even asked the guys sitting around them if she was beautiful. All one guy could do was give him the Happy Days/ two thumbs up response.lol 

       

I sympathized with his nervousness because on my last date, I did the exact same thing up to this point. Let me stress; up to this point.  Anyway, he then starts going off on a rant about how awesome Alabama is. Nothing wrong with that. But his logic behind it was defiantly questionable. It pretty much murdered his chances of a furture date with this women. He said Alabama was awesome in that you pay lower property taxes and people are just nice. The property tax part is a sore issue because the potential revenue could go towards education. However, that is another story.

Then he started talking about education in general. He said if you go to school in Miami, which is where he formally resided, you would either speak Spanish or Black.

 

Yes, you read correctly. Black. I mean he went on and on as if all African Americans use a political incorrect form of English refereed to as Jive.lol I found his argument on language funny for obvious reasons. However, what almost made me bust a gut were the looks on all of my friends faces.  My friends around me who were all Caucasian, had a mystified look on their faces as if to say " Do you not see a black man sitting right in front of you?!!!!" I was just sitting there trying not to burst. lol I guess as a black man, I should have been offended. However, what happen next made his ignorant diatribe totally worth sitting through.  He got up and went inside to get something to drink. When he was safely inside, the girl was rolling her eyes speaking out loud " He is not the one, He is not the ONE!!!!" Anyway, after returning 6 minutes later, the girl got up and went to the bathroom. lol(evil laugh) Yea, you know what happened next. Two hours later and five minutes before close, he wondered where she was. I almost wanted to appease him and say "she was riding the toilet". But again, I digress, I just said she is somewhere inside. I was saying this as her car passed right by.lol This was my day was awesome. It showed me that librarians are needed to help the ignorant men learn how to find a book: Dating for Dummies. And last but not least, I am going to be a librarian. Yay!!!!!

A New Way of Reading or The Grail of Electronic Reading Devices ?

So, for the past two months I have been hearing all of my friends rave on about how they want to buy a Kindle and the number of books they can download with it. Maybe it’s just me, but nothing beats a good book made out of old fashion parchment and a spine. I want the texture of a good book every once in a while. I don’t want to recharge my book. I love the romanticism of a huge library of books behind me. A thousand books in the palm of your hand seems so superficial. The iPad is another one of these deices that expands on the Kindle idea, but with a hefty dose of expanded usability.

Steve Jobs or St. Steve has come up with a device that may possible lighten up the book bags of students and music lovers alike. I am more of an avid music lover more than book. Yes, that is a sin. However, when one collects over 800 CDs and about (cough!! cough!! ) gigs of music, you can’t help but sympathize with my dilemma. So the ipad may be in my future if the they increase the hard-drive size to 100 gb and add a USB port.

The Ambeince of Reading

For the past few years, I have been fascinated with the interior design of libraries. I think this fascination came from viewing the movie City of Angels. Not only was it the first DVD I ever bought of a movie. But, it was the first movie that really gave me a Rose Colored glass view of what a type of library I would like to work in. Each time I watched a scene from the film featuring the San Francisco Main Library, I felt the need to call upon the spirit Mathematicians and Ancient Greek philosophers.  As large as that library was depicted in the film, the idea of stories leaping out at books just flashed through my mind. 

With that being said, there truly is something to the aesthetics of a library. Granted, not all universities or municipalities can afford the money to build such a grandiose library. However, finding the right mixture of budgets and creativism can entice users of the local library to be repeat patrons.