Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

The always interesting Mr. Tennant has a new book–Managing the Digital Library. Amazon’s stock is almost gone, so you may need to seek it elsewhere (like directly from the publisher). But nevertheless, do seek it. Tennant’s books always shed new light on a subject…

I’m off for a 4 day hiatus from work and this magnificent blog. I’m teaching an all day class for InfoPeople in Chico, CA at the Chico Branch Library tomorrow, and then it’s off to hike my brains out in Lake Tahoe. Adios!

Mike from TechDirt points out an article in Business Journal that discusses a bill in the California Senate that would require employers to notify employees if their e-mails & computer activity are being monitored. Interestingly, the bill is opposed by the following organizations: the California Chamber of Commerce, California Manufacturers & Technology Association, American Staffing Association, California Manufacturers & Technology Association and the Motion Picture Association of America. Hmm. So, these organizations like to spy on employees without letting them know about it? Remind me not to work for them.

David Rothman has a short article on TeleRead has a about his frustrations with library’s databases. Rothman’s story, to me, is a good example of why more libraries need to move to meta-searches (AKA federated searches). Asking patrons to guess which article or subject area would be in which database is purely ridiculous when there exists a technology that will do this step for them.

A spoof of Fight Club, this Nerd Club ad is funny, in a self-deprecatory sort of way for those of us who classify ourselves in the “nerd” category. My only complaint–why aren’t there any nerd girls in the ad?

There’s a multi-question survey that, when you’re done, tells you when you’re apt to be the most tired during the day. Worked perfectly for me–at 2pm, each and every day, I just want to recline on a chaise lounge, sip some iced tea, and snooze for a while. Unfortunately, I am gainfully employed, so that is not an option. Check out the Knacker Factor to see your own cycles of tiredness.

I found this nifty link on SlashDot, if anyone’s curious. Slashdot rocks the casbah!

Mr. Noam Chomsky has a blog! And it has an RSS feed. From his post on the 12th about the occupation of Iraq:

Occupying armies have responsibilities, not rights. Their primary responsibility is to withdraw as quickly and expeditiously as possible, in a manner determined by the occupied population.

Thanks to Library Autononmous Zone for the link.

There are two services that offer drop boxes for large e-mail attachments. Dropload & YouSendIt. If you’re trying to send someone a large-ish attachment, and his or her e-mail system has attachment size limits which prevent your message from being delivered, try these. You just plop your file in the drop box and your chosen recipient is sent an e-mail with directions on how to download the file. The files are automatically swept off the server after a time (2 & 7 days respectively).

Thanks to J-Walk and his commenter Ace Davis for the links.

Trying to figure out what the blazes font someone is using? Try Identifont. Answer some questions about letter shapes and properties and you’ll get your font. Came in handy for me when I was trying to identify a font someone was using on a Flash site (can’t View Source for that, damn).