notes on a utopian information system

[subterrain]

I'm writing my paper on feminism/libraries/radical organizing [which is singlehandedly ruining my chances at finishing big bang, and also distracting me from the very important task of haggling for over-priced Beirut tickets for the July 9th show at the Phoenix in Toronto], and I found this passage from 1972 in Revolting Librarians:

We need to

Comments

[fourfreedoms]

I work in the library at school, albeit as...middle-management and I can honestly say not one of them sound half so erudite, mostly because they're too busy demanding their collections be over 80% capacity which we don't have room for, and thus ensuring that we can't be creative at all except in the ways in which we make signs for overflow carts. BAH.

Also, hi, where have you been, lady? I haven't seen hide nor hair of you in awhile.

[subterrain]

Ha, posting once every two weeks is about as prolific as I ever get, I'm afraid. :/

And omg, you don't work at the Beinecke, do you? Do they even let students look at their sacred objects? I didn't even have the balls to apply for their internships last year, I was so convinced some bright-eyed young American(s) would get them all. Anyway: rest assured that your system is probably no more draconian than anyone else's. A library is no place for creativity.

[fourfreedoms]

Ahahah, no, I work in Sterling and sometimes get shipped out to the classics library. Students don't work in Beinecke, we are not to be trusted, SO clearly you should've applied to the intership.

[subterrain]

But you guys have what, the second largest academic library in the country? God, I can't even imagine. O.O

It doesn't look like they're doing those internships again this year: I can't imagine it's because the money dried up, but if I were them I probably wouldn't want to sort through 5000 applications again.

[fourfreedoms]

And yes, I think Sterling has like 4.8 million volumes alone. It is fifteen floors, so not surprising. My mom wanted me to work at the Library at Stanford back home, but I was way overqualified.

We did lose $7 billion dollars on Wall Street and we've been looking at pretty huge Budget cuts, so it's very possible that's exactly what they're doing.