March 18th, 2010 Brian Herzog
A couple years ago, Encyclopedia Britannica was on an anti-Wikipedia kick, fearing, I think, that this would be the fate of print encyclopedias:
I’m happy (and not surprised) to report this didn’t happen. I believe the same will prove true with the notion of ebooks making print books obsolete. This is a big world, and things have a way of finding their own niche. Radio lives on despite television (and movies and computers), pencils live on despite pens, candles live on despite electricity, bicycles live on despite cars, etc.
Many of the books I own are older than I am, and I’m sure they’ll still be around (and in use) after I’m gone.
via
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February 4th, 2010 Brian Herzog
I’m pretty unsophisticated when it comes to video games, but I do occasionally play escape games when I’m looking for a way to occupy some time. I enjoy them because they require logic and problem solving, but are also just fun.
I saw one recently I thought I’d share: in “Library Labyrinth,” you’re locked in the library with a serial killer, and you need to find objects and solve puzzles to survive him and get out of the library. Good times, I know, but I also liked that winning this game involved using Twitter (in the game - you don’t need an account yourself). Clever, and it also shows (again) how ubiquitous Twitter has become.
Give it a try, and if you get stuck, a helpful tips from previous players is also available.
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January 14th, 2010 Brian Herzog
This is bizarre: a little while ago I dreamed about telling an a adult patron he was being too loud in the library, because he was playing Marco Polo with his kids to entertain them. He yelled back, asking me what I expected him to do.
I went to the reference desk to review our games policy (this is a dream remember, so it made perfect sense at the time). It didn’t mention specific games, so I sat down with my director and came up with a list of games that he could and couldn’t play in the library:
Approved Games:
I Spy
Hide and Seek
Cards
Board Games
Puzzles
Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?
Thumb Wrestling
Sandman
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Unapproved Games:
Marco Polo
Tag
Red Rover
Red Light, Green light
Duck Duck Goose
King of the Mountain
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I remembered the dream when I woke up, so quickly wrote down the games I could recall. How sad that I dream about things like this.
However, it also reminds me of Library Mini Golf, which I think is a great idea. I also still like the idea of having tournaments for any number of video games (which, oddly, didn’t make my dream list).
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January 5th, 2010 Brian Herzog
Around now is when everyone is either reviewing the past year, or making their predictions or promises for the upcoming year. To vary that theme a little bit, I created a Library Finds flickr group and uploaded stuff collected by me and my staff in the library since I started working there.
What I’ve uploaded so far is just a fraction of what we’ve found. Mostly it is left-behind note paper, and it always amazes me what someone chose to write down, and then either left or forgot. Some of the most common things are:
- call number and book/movie titles
- quick math (but not so quick as to be easily worked out in your head)
- urls (especially craigslist posts)
- artwork and doodles
- personal messages or notes to other people
- signs warning people to stay away from their computer
- lots of things obviously written by middle-school boys
I’m not uploading anything that seemed personally-identifiable: peoples’ first and last names, phone numbers, email addresses, account login and passwords - and there were a frighteningly large number of these.
If you like Found objects, here are some related links. Also please add anything you find in your library to the flickr group - I’ll keep adding more whenever I can.
I hope you enjoyed 2009, and that your 2010 is even better.
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December 17th, 2009 Brian Herzog
A few odds and ends for my annual “I’ll be in Ohio for a week” post:
Books with Deckle Edges
Over the last five or six months, it seems Amazon has gone crazy marking books [DECKLE EDGE]. I actually like that type of pages, but it would in no way influence my purchase decision - so does that bit of information really deserve such prominent billing?
It’s kind of like how my library includes “Pb” (for paperback) at the end of some of our call numbers, i.e. 822.33/Haml/Pb. In theory it’s suppose to help locate the book, because it tells you to look for a paperback, but it usually only confuses patrons because we don’t put the “Pb” part on the call tag.
So, my question is the same: is that information actually necessary?
News Stories About Long-Overdue Books
There seems to have been a spate of stories recently (and this year in general) about long-overdue library books finally being returned. I wonder if there really has been an increase in this occurrence If so, why? And why does the public care? I guess it’s a little interesting what someone checked out 99 years ago, and that it survived this long, and that the quaint little library fine would have been x-hundred dollars, but the library has graciously waived it.
I wonder what would happen if this happened in my library - I think, nothing. Sure, we’d talk about it, but probably just give it a barcode and put it back on the shelf - or to the book sale. I don’t think we’d call the newspaper. Besides, my library doesn’t charge overdue fines, so ours would lack the gracious ending.
And with all the attention these people get, do you think anyone right now is deliberately deciding not return a book so they can get their fifteen minutes 50 years from now? It occurred to me that the only reason people know these books were checked out 99 years ago is because the checkout date is stamped in the book. 99 years from now, there will be no more of these human interest stories, because ILS systems don’t last that long, and when you switch from one to the other, chances are you lose a lot of historical data like this. Makes you realize that older technologies are actually better at data retention.
Do Nothing But Read Day
I read on LISNews about Do Nothing But Read Day - and happily noted that it (Sunday, Dec. 20th) was the same day I would be on a 17 hour train trip from Boston to Ohio. It doesn’t sound like I meet all the requirements, but I’m going to participate in spirit anyway (and tag them on LibraryThing).
I’ve never taken a cross-country train trip before, and I’m kind of looking forward to it. It’s even got a cool name: the Lake Shore Limited. Amtrak offers free wireless, but my emphasis will be on books: printed books, audio books and video books (a.k.a. movies).
I hope you enjoy your holiday season, and I’ll be back in a week or so.
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