Tag der Mauerfall (Day the Wall Came Down)

I've written about this before (link). It's a day I'll never forget...

Election 2022

Dropped off my mail-in ballot at the County Clerk's Office.

Happy Birthday BBC!

It's the 100th anniversary of the British Broadcasting Corp. -- more widely known by its initials, BBC (link here). I first started listening to it during my years away from home -- i.e. in Paris, Rome and Berlin. The local broadcasting in any of those places wasn't in English so in the evening I'd switch over to the BBC via shortwave. By the time I made it home, it was broadcast here locally. It's something I listen to every evening! Happy B-day, BBC!

Midterm

It's mid-term at the library. We've got students working on their assignments, some in groups and some by themselves, sitting at work-stations on most of the floors. They come over to us at the reference desk. Often it's for help with the printers but also on how to track down books and articles for their research. We still wear masks - at least when we get too close - but boy does it seem like we're back to normal!

ALA's Letter to FBI

The letter to the FBI from ALA is titled 'Letter of Concern' -- the concern being 'over threats [of violence] that are being directed at public libraries and library workers'. ALA makes clear (at least for the moment) that:

"... there is no evidence at this time showing a direct connection between recent threats and opposition to library materials and programs."

'Opposition to library materials and programs'? For that go here... P.S. Have a look at their 'Intellectual Freedom' section (including the 'Fight Censorship' part).

Hoo Baby: Big Big Weekend!

 Quite a list of activities for the coming weekend:

• Friday, it's Chicago German-American Oktoberfest;
• Saturday, it's Lakeview East Festival of the Arts;
• Sunday, it's Printers Row Lit Fest;

And Monday (if I'm still kicking), it's opening day for the Hannover Messe USA...

Back at the RefDesk

First session of school year 22/23 ...

Illinois State Fair

On the way back home from the State Fair. Had a great time! Saw old friends, ate and (err) drank. First time in three years!!! Looking forward to next year...

Oh Come On CPS, You Can Do Better

 From yesterday's Chicago Sun-times:

In an Age of Misinformation, Why Are There So Few Librarians at Chicago Public Schools?
The nation’s third-largest public school system with 290,000 students in 513 district-operated, non-charter schools, CPS has only about 90 schools with full-time librarians.

Librarians -- whaddya need them for? The article goes over a few good examples including:

"Leslie Westerberg, one of those recently laid off, said librarians also help students with research projects and finding accurate information online."

Worth a read.

Trying Out the Workstation ...

Yup, works.

Google Now Links to Library Holdings

OCLC and Google Now Connect Web Searchers Directly to Library Collections
Google now links search results directly to records of print books in hundreds of libraries using WorldCat data
DUBLIN, Ohio, 13 April 2022—OCLC and Google are working together to link directly from books discovered through Google Search to print book records in the catalogs of hundreds of U.S. libraries. This feature is part of Google’s ongoing effort to connect people to their local libraries through Google Search. [Read more ...]

As OCLC explains: "Partner websites such as Google Books, Wikipedia, and Goodreads add 'find in a library' links to their pages that bring users to WorldCat.org where they can then click to library websites." [source]

Free Food at Mickey D's?

 

Sign Reads: 'Download our app to get free food.' (Clark just south of Diversey...)

ALA Stands With Ukrainian Library Community

 Interesting press release from the American Library Association:

CHICAGO — The American Library Association and its divisions support our Ukrainian colleagues and will work with the global library community to answer the appeal from the Ukrainian Library Association to provide accurate information as a means to support democracy and freedom of expression. [link to appeal]

ALA has adopted into its policies Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."

ALA continues to encourage our members to help raise public consciousness regarding the many ways in which disinformation and media manipulation are used to mislead public opinion in all spheres of life, and further encourages librarians to facilitate this awareness with collection development, library programming and public outreach that draws the public's attention to those alternative sources of information dedicated to countering and revealing the disinformation.

See complete release...

Chatting with Colleagues at the Research HelpDesk

 

Fun(ny) things you can do in this age of digital communication ...

First Shift of the Year (2022)!

 

First shift of the year at the RefDesk! I'll drink to that! :-)

Final Resting Place?

Okay, so where would you rather end up -- Chicago or Heaven? Obviously Chicago! I mean, you get the greatest caramel corn, the greatest deep-dish pizza, the greatest polish w/grilled onions and bbq rib-tips. It's just plain obvious!

 

Bye-Bye My Friend -- No More C&RL News (in Print)

 

Darn! They just announced on the ACRL listserv that December will be the last time College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News) will appear in print (link). Henceforth, you'll only be able to access it online.

Kind of a bummer. I mean, that plus ALA's more general, American Libraries, are just about the only two journals I still get in print. They're things I look forward to -- things I can toss in my backpack and maybe a day or two later, read while waiting for a bus or whatever. Oh well, no more.

P.S. I actually have an article or two in the thing.

P.P.S. Well, I guess I could start printing the thing out myself.

P.P.P. Update (10/20/2223): So I’ve taken the logical option: our friends at ALA put out a PDF version of both C&RL and C&RL News. I simply take those and print them out on my (very nice) HP OfficeJet Pro 902e printer. One heavy-duty staple on the top left corner of each print-out and voila!

Working from Home (When I'm Not)

 

Oy, was scheduled for ChatReference from home -- 'cept the internet connection really sucked (thanx AT&T). So I ran over to the Lincoln Pk campus, setting up shop on one of the tables in the SAC building.

At the Scanner

 

Tuesday evening (10/12) was really really nice. We had a good crowd and it almost seemed like we were back to -- err (rhymes w/'Formal') ...

Instructor contacted us via Chat asking if we had a scanner. I checked just to make sure it was working.

Facebook Took to Twitter

 So where do you go when your site is out-of-order? Why, you go to the site of your chief competitor(s) of course:

During the outage, the company [i.e. Facebook] took to Twitter to acknowledge the situation and apologize for the inconvenience. [source]