Inside Edition takes on the library

Lisa M. submitted this clip from Inside Edition about the director's salary at the New York City Public Library. Both a written article and the clip from the show are at this URL. What do you think about tabloid TV's take on library salaries?

http://www.insideedition.com/news/5157/inside-edition-investigates-monster-salaries.aspx

Thanks Lisa!

More crazy furniture!

To follow up on an older post, here are some neat bookshelves I found.

#1 reminds me of the sleeping pods in 2001: A Space Odyssey
#6 is akin to the movable shelves VA Hospitals used to use to bring reading material to bed-ridden patients, only much nicer! (don't ask me how I know about these things, some things are best left unknown...)
#18 a round sofa-bookcase!! Chic!

Which are your favorites?

Cat and librarians. Libraries and cats. Dewey the wonder cat. And now, and amazing interactive map of cats and libraries from around the world, both currently purring with us or chasing squirrels in the great Heaviside Layer.


(image by adamscarroll)

BEHOLD! The Power of the Archivist!

Diablo III has a new character, The Archivist. And it's about time librarian kick-assery was acknowledged by the video game industry. Now if I can just harness the shushing power, the library would be a much nicer place to work. But I wonder who will clean up the mess...

There's an encyclopedia for everything...

For one of my DFW projects last quarter, I did research about encyclopedias that have been published recently. And let me tell you, there are A LOT. The encyclopedia business is booming, apparently. And there are some pretty odd encyclopedias out there. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Superbowl: An Encyclopedia (KCLS owns it)
• Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History (UW-Tacoma has a copy)
• The Business of Wine: An Encyclopedia
• Extinct Animals : An Encyclopedia of Species That Have Disappeared During Human History
• Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting (Available now at Suzzallo!)
• For Appearance' Sake: The Historical Encyclopedia of Good Looks, Beauty, and Grooming (In the Suzzallo Reference section)
• Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships: A Global Exploration of Our Connections with Animals (a four volume set!)

If you could make up your own encyclopedia, what topic would you choose? I'd be interested in reading an encyclopedia of sushi. And what do you know, it already exists. And SPL has it! It's specifically about sushi rolls. I think I'd like something a little more comprehensive. Or maybe I'll just go eat some sushi. I think I like that option best...

Lexicons in literature

I am currently reading "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson's writing is, well, it is *not* concise as can be seen by this 935 page volume. It is, however, extremely clear and well-written. The way he uses words amazes me. He creates his own vocabulary to describe the futuristic world where this novel takes place. For example, he uses the word "saunt" to mean a person that is a combination of a saint and a savant. The context gives absolute clarity to the term while you are reading - and makes me wonder why we don't have many of these words in our parlance already.

So my question is, why would one include a lexicon in a book when crystal clear definitions for the terms have already been given? Stephenson's lexicon is interspersed throughout the story. Some are at chapter breaks and some right in the middle of a scene (for lack of a better word). I personally find this to be quite irritating. I am compelled to read the definitions because I am afraid that I will miss something vital to the story if I do not, and yet I rarely learn something that he has not already revealed through his diction. I would be tempted to see them included as footnotes - but know that I would still stop to read them in the same manner. For me, it would be best to put them at the end in a glossary that I could read if I wanted to, or if I had a question about the meaning of a term. With all that said, however, it is a really well-written book and has some interesting ideas for archivists and philosophers - as well as musicians, mathemeticians, scientists... Just read the book.

Another interesting question, or thought really, is also raised in my mind as I read this book. Has Stephenson created a new genre with his latest creation? This work is what he styles as speculative fiction, as opposed to science fiction. It definitely contains some science, and it is fiction - yet it is more than that. To hear what Stephenson himself has to say about this potentially emerging genre, click here.