May 2012
7 posts
The lord works in mysterious ways.
shitmystudentswrite:
I firmly believe that the crucifixion is not something you can do to yourself simply because you do not have enough hands.
“What men mean when they talk about their “crazy” ex-girlfriend is often that she...”
– Lady, You Really Aren’t “Crazy” (via crookedindifference)
April 2012
12 posts
6 tags
The Complexity of Simplicity
My senior year of college I did a capstone project in poetry and creative nonfiction that forced me to read as much as I wrote, really focusing in on what I thought was important in both my own work and the work of others.
I revisited my thoughts on the topic when I took a class on children’s literature in grad school.
What I love about poetry is the same thing I love about...
“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for...”
– Neil Degrasse Tyson, in an AMA on reddit, responding to a young man who asked how to find motivation in life. (via fishingboatproceeds)
““The issue that we’re struggling with quite a bit is something I’ve kind of...”
– Valve Tries To Charge People Based On How Likable They Are: Trolls Pay Full Price
It needs some work to prevent abuse, but I love this idea.
(via wilwheaton)
I must admit that this is a great idea I’m not sure it’s possible to implement. However, I’m pretty sure that there are...
"Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for...
After a Wedding
Brain dwelling on ideas of events that tie us more firmly to those we love, like vibrations spreading out until everything resonates like some great evocative chord. Trying to catch some of that feeling until words can catch up to thought and sensation.
3 tags
The Hunger Games is not a love triangle (and why... →
Nail on the head. I loved the confusion in the book about how Katniss feels, because that’s realistic in terms of her character.
She’s struggling, honestly struggling, to survive. She’ll deal with how she feels about everything and everyone later, if she’s not dead by then.
Other thing I loved? Peeta and Gale getting (not liking, but understanding) that she has the...
3 tags
True Fact
Academics make some of the ugliest/most terrifying/most pointless Powerpoints on the face of the earth.
Why are people so convinced that 20-something slides with plain font and word art is somehow a better alternative than a couple well-formatted pages? Or just a couple pages in default font that I can send to my Kindle and spend less time burning out my vision on my laptop screen?
6 tags
How to Date by Captain Awkward →
Dating is full of rejection. Because people are different. There is no magic formula for making people like/love you.
Easiest way to get a date with someone? Ask them out.
Easiest/least creepy way to find out if someone wants you to kiss him/her? Ask if you can.
Communication is the key to relationships, so why wouldn’t you want to start by using your words and being open about what you...
March 2012
21 posts
“Presses and libraries work on different revenue models. While publishers are...”
– NYU’s Monica McCormick in a wonderful discussion about the relationship between the university press, university library, and scholarly publications.
“Are You a Press or Are You a Library? An Interview with NYU’s Monica McCormick” from The Chronicle
(via thelifeguardlibrarian)
“At least officially, the R rating for “Bully” is a response to some frank...”
– Why the MPAA doesn’t want your kid to see “Bully” - Movies - Salon.com (via librariesandlemonade)
John Green on "Why Libraries Are Different From... →
fishingboatproceeds:
Yesterday on twitter, I expressed annoyance with the hundreds of people who send me emails or tumblr messages or whatever to let me know that they illegally downloaded one of my books, as if they expect me to reply with my hearty congratulations that they are technologically sophisticated enough to use google or whatever. (I dislike it when people pirate my books. I know...
WIKIPEDIA →
thelifeguardlibrarian:
Wikipedia and libraries. NO. No. Wikipedia and librarians. This, to me, has to be the more important issue. Wikipedia is here, it’s staying, it’s fabulous. I use it as often as I need to—just as I use books, or any other gimme-that-information-now tool.
Just as we cringe as students copy and paste any old “fact” from Wikipedia into their “research” paper, so do we hate to...
Libraries and Lemonade: Wikipedia & Libraries →
Frankly, it feels really weak to me, especially:
The hint that wikipedia “caused” EB to stop printing, and that wikipedia is some how worse than EB (studies have shown they have roughly the same number of errors in similar articles, plus wikipedia is constantly updated without needing users to invest over a thousand dollars for new versions).
Using textbooks (as opposed to primary sources) as...
Wikipedia & Libraries
libraryjournal:
Via: Open-Site.org
What do you think of this infographic?
The numbers don’t really seem to hold up to scrutiny for me. Ignoring the idea that the only factor influencing the Britannica’s move to online only was the growth of Wikipedia (which other comments have touched on), I find the information about libraries extremely suspect.
I can’t access the full...
What Kind of Tech User are You? →
From the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
I’m a
Digital Collaborator
If you are a Digital Collaborator, you use information technology to work with and share your creations with others. You are enthusiastic about how ICTs help you connect with others and confident in your ability to manage digital devices and information. For you, the digital commons can be a camp, a lab, or a...
Why We Have to Go Back to a 40-Hour Work Week to... →
Great article about productivity, the cost of working more, and the overall effect on our society.
“Though it’s not said out loud, the subtext is that library work is women’s work...”
– Barbara Fister, “Encoded: Gender, Technology, and Libraries”
(Inside HigherEd, h/t infoneer-pulse)
$2 Billion for $1 Billion of Books: the Arithmetic... →
This is essentially why my eyes tend to cross and go slightly angry whenever I get asked about ebooks and libraries. We hold a book sale every year to sell off the paper copies that are extras, no longer relevant, or just unsuitable for an academic library. Some years this sale has added up to extra money worth about 1/5 our normal purchasing budget (which says scary things about our collections...
“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not...”
– - Kurt Vonnegut (via bardsandsages)
Reblog every time.
(via libraryadvocates)
February 2012
10 posts
Google-Trained Minds Can't Deal with Terrible... →
librarious:
infoneer-pulse:
College and university librarians are concerned about students’ search skills, and no wonder:
At Illinois Wesleyan University, “The majority of students — of all levels — exhibited significant difficulties that ranged across nearly every aspect of the search process,” according to researchers there. They tended to overuse Google and misuse scholarly databases....
Woman in Comedy: A really scary thing happened to...
gabydunn:
Part of me thinks it’s too soon to be writing about this because I don’t think I’ve completely processed how I feel, but I also think maybe this has happened to other women and I should talk about it in as raw a way as possible. I’m still really embarrassed and ashamed and garbled up inside, but maybe this can start a helpful discussion in terms of women and comedy.
Last night, I was...
“And let’s be honest, any deal where libraries are giving publishers money for...”
– Annoyed Librarian on libraries and ebooks and patrons and ebooks and what are we going to do about this because I’m really hoping we gain some ground in the right direction very, very soon. (via thelifeguardlibrarian)
3 tags
4 tags
Random House's New Library Policy
I’m conflicted when reading an article from The Digital Shift discussing Random House’s decision to recommit to library ebook lending…while raising prices on said ebooks for wholesalers who sell to libraries.
I’m glad they’ve decided to keep their entire selection open for library purchase without limitations, unlike the other Big 6 publishers who are either avoiding...