I would like to think that it is librarians who turn patrons on or that the information we provide inflames people's passion for learning. But I know a more likely explanation is that the library itself raises the libido. The mix of public and private spaces inspires both esoteric and erotic thoughts. For some couples, the idea of having illicit ( Read more... )

University librarians poked me when I snored behind a stack of books. One librarian told me snoozing was strictly forbidden. She was kind enough to suggest that out in Washington Square Park there was no end of benches where I could stretch till the cops came. I thanked her and told her how I'd always admired librarians, not only for their mastery ( Read more... )

So, I've been reading "Don't Get Too Comfortable", a collection of essays by David Rakoff ala David Sedaris. The two have oft been favorably compared. In one story, he scathingly writes about his Parisian experience in the excessive world of haute couture. A particularly obnoxious fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld, made the mistake of snottily ( Read more... )

"It will be one big booty call for justice."

Former Canadian David Rakoff describing the night of the last presidential election when people still thought there was a chance that Kerry might win.

"In the field of its highest development, in the United States, the pursuit of wealth, stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become associated with purely mundane passions, which often actually give it the character of sport."

~ Weber, Max. 1904/1930. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Talcott ( Read more... )

Perhaps first coined by George Zipf in 1949, the phrase was later used by Library of Congress reference librarian Thomas Mann (1993) to describe poor information-seeking behavior when he said:
This principle states that most researchers (even 'serious' scholars) will tend to choose easily available information sources, even when they are ( Read more... )

Here is the Secret News:
All people are afraid
No one knows what they're doing.
Everything is getting worse.
Some people deserve to die.
Your money is worthless.
No one is properly dressed.
At least one of your children will disappoint you.
The system is rigged.
Your house will never be completely clean.
All teachers are incompetent. (except ecotopian)
( Read more... )

"Through a program of technological advancement as carefully reasoned as a seaside lemming vacation, many patrons who can't tell a Boolean operator from apple butter are now free to spool off hundreds of citations without librarian assistance -- until the printer runs out of paper."~ Cate T. Corcoran, "Are We Ready for the Library of the Future?", ( Read more... )

• I never met an American before, I don't think. I wasn’t at all sure he was one, either, until the others said something. You don't expect Americans to be delivering pizzas, do you? Well, I don't, but perhaps I'm just out of touch. I don't order pizzas very often, but every time I have, they've been delivered by someone who doesn't speak English. ( Read more... )

• By the time a child goes to school, adults start expecting them to be responsible for predicting the consequences: "You should have realized that..." and "Think before you do something like that!" aren't seriously said to babies and most preschoolers - or our pets. We don't seriously expect our dogs and cats to appraise a novel situation, like a ( Read more... )