Mmmm... Power...

I have happened upon a windfall of technological power at work. I've been given the green light to rehaul the library web site, and one of the IT bigwigs bestowed upon me the coveted administrative permissions for all of our public access terminals! Woo!

I am drunk with glee.

Or I would be if I weren't so damn busy... Damn karmic backlash...

Put away your hankies!

Michael Moore says, "Put away your hankies!"

The New York Times > Fashion & Style > When Gender Isn't a Given

When Gender Isn't a Given, leave the baby alone.

flooding

how exciting. the delaware is flooding. we walked into town this morning to get breakfast at the local cafe only to discover that the streets are all blocked off and the special ops units are out. perplexed, we turned back. when we got home we turned on the news. it seems that the delaware is about three feet away from hitting the bottom of the new hope/lambertville bridge and at least one street in lambertville has been evacuated. sheesh. apparently the water level is going to continue rising until between 3 and 6pm today. luckily i think we'll be alright because we're a decent distance away from the river. we're actually only half a block from the canal, but we're far enough upstream that even if the delaware does start to leak into it i doubt it will go so far as to creep up our street.

at any rate that might explain why the firehouse started going nuts this morning... i really hate living directly next door to a firehouse...

unbelievable

i wish i could say that i was just being paranoid when i was worried that someone was going to do something to the books i ordered. sadly this morning i discovered that the last time i wore a dress is missing. it's no longer on the new books shelf, which is not unusual because those books can be checked out, but it's also not checked out and it's not on the shelf in the stacks where it should be.

i'm hoping this is just a simple confusion and we'll find it tucked into the self-help books or something equally ironic and disturbing...

:(

Wordpress

wordPress is probably what we're going to be using to set up the blog at the library. in preparation i have been vigorously blogging. it's all about work. i'm not just wasting time here, people, this is serious business.

Welcome to The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

Welcome to The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

i'm definitely attending this festival again. i went two years ago with a friend, and it was well worth the drive.

i like this one better

me 

zb!

zb 

Portrait Illustration Maker

Portrait Illustration Maker

This is the coolest thing ever. I used it to make the pic below. Stolen from amelia.

me!

me.jpg 

web site evaluation

i'm doing some background research so i can put together a hand out and a presentation on web site evaluation. below are a few of the really good sites i've found on the topic.

Evaluating Web Resources (Widener)
Hoax? You decide (UCLA)
Evalutech
WWW Cyberguide Ratings For Content Evaluation

the flip side

on the other hand, there is no guarantee that i will even end up with a permanent job here and if i don't apply for something else i'll be out of luck in january.

argh.

career moves...or not

i was reading a recent issue of library journal that featured an article about the class of '88 and what they're up to in librarianship these days, and it just reminded me that i have a dilemma. i saw an amazing job posting almost two months ago and i was fully intending to apply as soon as possible and i haven't applied yet. now i'm having second thoughts. my position right now is temporary, but they're trying to make it permanent and they'd like to keep me here. i've been stressed and miserable for a while, but now i'm thinking maybe that was more because of other issues than work. but this other job is The Perfect Job. but the thought of picking up and moving several states away is nauseating. lj said the class of '88 was split into two groups: "loyalists" and "changers". i am not from the class of '88, but my personality is definitely a changer. right now, though, i would kill for some stability. of course, talk to me again in six months and if i haven't gotten a new job i'll probably be whining about how i should have gotten the hell out of here...

it's all part of my grand scheme

today the last time i wore a dress by daphne scholinski came in. i ordered it recently in an attempt to fill some of the holes in our collection. it's interesting how things get overlooked when nobody has a vested interested in making sure they aren't... but i guess that's what i'm here for!

i really shouldn't laugh, but...

Yahoo! News - Coroner Discussing Gun Safety Shoots Self

Do you use your left or right hemisphere more?


Your Brain Usage Profile:
Auditory : 40%
Visual : 60%
Left : 61%
Right : 38%

You are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and show a preference for visual learning, although not extreme in either characteristic. You probably tend to do most things in moderation, but not always.

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and structured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to "catch up" with yourself.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor. You can "size up" situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to "lose touch" with the immediacy of the problem.

Your logical and methodical nature hamper you in this regard though in the long run it may work to your advantage since you "learn from experience" and can go through the process more rapidly on subsequent occasions.

You remain predominantly functional in your orientation and practical. Abstraction and theory are secondary to application. In keeping with this, you focus on details until they manifest themselves in a unique pattern and only then work with the "larger whole."

With regards to your career choices, you have a mentality that would be good as a scientist, coach, athlete, design consultant, or an engineering technician. You can "see where you want to go" and even be able to "tell yourself," but find that you are "fighting yourself" at the darndest times.

oh, and welcome to the new URL!

(i'm really hopped up on caffeine right now, so please forgive the ebullience. whoo $.25 word.)

today is the maiden voyage of my new blogroll!

i really need this t-shirt.

i was thinking too much today, so i cleaned instead. now i'm depressed because as soon as i clean one thing i spot something else that's filthy.

Neutrality, Objectivity and the Political Center

"A discussion on the topic of "web site evaluation" from a bibliographic instruction listserv a couple of years ago made me think about the common confusion between neutrality, objectivity, and the political center. Neutrality, in our professional ethics, means being unbiased in our work and separating it from our personal viewpoints. Objectivity, whether we say we believe in it or not, is something we expect in factual information, and evaluate various resources based on our perception of its degree of presence or absence in them. The political center is that balance point in society on individual issues or in political identities, where the mainstream feels that "both sides of the issue" have been properly considered, policies are at their least controversial, and competing power interests are at an equilibrium. This essay will attempt to elucidate the confusion that exists between neutrality, objectivity, and the political center and show its relevance to our discourse about reference service, book selection, bibliographic instruction, and our professional role as librarians."