Non-Fiction and Self-Publishing

While reading Publisher's Weekly, I came across an article analyzing the spending habits of people who purchase self-pub books. It mentioned that NF is primarily purchased by men as they prefer more academic and professional topics. Interesting but no great surprise. What I did spark my interest was trying to figure out how to know if these NF titles can be relied upon to present good information. Do these authors have their respective associations read them and provide feedback? Do they have editors to help them correct grammar and focus on the topic at hand? How do we know the authors aren't just making it all up? How do we, as librarians, figure what is reliable and what is not? I mean I attempted to read 50 Shades of Grey and could not get pass the halting, awkward writing. There is someone who desperately needed editor...

Government denying mermaids!

No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found!
I still believe...

For those who still believe in the ridiculous,
Check out the CDC's Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse plan

I love that the U.S. Government has been getting a sense of humour lately! It is great PR and reminds people that the government does have information online. Even if they have to use ridiculous ploys to reach people.
I just love it!

J.K. Rowling's New Book

First, I would like to state that I had NO idea that she was writing an adult novel. Second, I like the cover despite the NYT's less than enthusiastic review of it...

To download, or not to download, that is the question

There has been an interesting development in the past 10+  years regarding music ownership. Most people are downloading music illegally to the detriment of the artist. The download for free mentality is best represented by Emily White here. While her post provided great insight into this era, I found the response by David Lowery incredibly enlightening.

Personally, I love the fact that my husband will buy a CD when he truly believes it to be great. He believes that it is important to support the artists. However, most of the time we download from iTunes which provides about $.10 to the artist.

Any thoughts?

Such Sad News!

Maurice Sendak passed today! He was such a great children's author that had wide spread appeal for children as his characters were not always well-behaved making, at least me, feel better!

The Librarian Pub Crawl

It has been a LONG time since I have posted anything. I would like to apologize for that but I have been BUSY at work with the impending move and at home with the renovations. However, this post must be done and provides insight into my state of mind:) http://librarianpubcrawl.com/ Of course, I will be in Edmonton, Alberta for my grandpa's 90th so I'm hoping that some of you could attend and let me know if you found a few good bars in the process.

Information Literacy

I wish I could be as articulate as so many of my fellow librarians. Instead I simply forward on the best articles I read like this one on Information Literacy by Andy Burkhardt. In particular, I agreed with the idea that we are not trying to create super researchers but simply trying to help people become 'sophisticated consumers and creators of information'.

FBI Files

This could make for some interesting reading.
1. The CIA's Role in the Study of UFO's, 1947-1990
2. Watergate: the Nixon Grand Jury Records
3. Bay of Pigs: Military Evaluation of the CIA Para-Military Plan, Cuba
4. Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction: Senate Report 109-331
5. John Nash letters to NSA

The End of an Era

"After 244 years, Encyclopaedia Britannica stops the presses" This announcement made me sad. I understand that people are turning less and less to the print version of reference books than ever before, but I really love the idea of being able to visualize all of that knowledge in one place. It just made the grand scheme of life a lot less overwhelming.

A New Crush?

Jon Hamm isn't really my type but that may change after reading this! I love what he has to say about useless celebrities and female ideals. A shout out goes to Daniel Craig (who is exactly my type) and Jonah Hill as well....

Beautiful!

A beautiful silent but powerful film for anyone who loves reading and books! I actually welled up at the end. It is a truly lovely story. I hope you enjoy.

Reminder to Librarians!

Thank you to Andy Burkhardt for this post about Human-Centered Librarianship. I thought this was a really well written post that helps remind us that our goal is, was and will always be to help the patron.

Follow the Money!

Follow the Money is another great website with information that is of interest to many! It is sponsored by the National Institute on Money in State Politic, which is a non-profit and non-partisan organization, and brought to my attention via another listserv.

Great Healthcare Resource

Sometimes being on a listserv can be really annoying but most of the time I find they are an amazing resource! I was just introduced to The Health and Medical Care Archive by the University of Michigan and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Check it out here!

What is My Property Tax Rate?

This was my best reference question of the day. Actually the real question was "I have a bet that Lake Co. has a higher property tax rate than Cook". Initially, I thought it would be a very quick search in the respective  County Tax Assessors web page. I could NOT have been more wrong! I searched the entire web site for both counties, performed a Google search and nada. By this time, nothing was going to keep me from finding this information and settling the patron's bet plus I really wanted to know now...

I decided to look up my own property bill to see the breakdown. Of course, Cook Co. doesn't have detailed tax bills available electronically. Really, come on Cook get with it! However, they do provide a tiny image of the bill that does not enlarge well. I squinted and magnified the page and pieced together bits of info like the Volume #, Tax Code #, and Township #. I 'Googled' tax rate for tax code with the # which lead me to this list. Then I returned to the Lake Co. site and used a random address in the area and found the rate within the detailed tax bill.

And the WINNER (or loser) is......  Cook Co. has the highest property tax rate*.

*Based on my property in the City of Chicago (Cook Co.) and a random property in Deerfield (Lake Co.)

Not Really the First Post

I am in the process of importing my blog from another publishing platform and I'm having technical difficulties... Hopefully I can get that corrected soon. In the meantime, I will continue on my merry little way on this blog!

Patrons can be a Great Resource!

The library I work at has a Facebook page to which I post on occasion. In an effort to engage with the patrons, I asked if anyone had any great resources they would like to share. This actually elicited a few responses (happy, happy, joy, joy). Most of the suggestions I was already aware of but ONE I had never heard of... Wolfram Alpha! This is a super cool search engine that finds facts and concrete answers much like Siri. It is quite a fun resource and I am so glad one of our patrons suggested it. For further information in a much more eloquent article check out the NYT article here.

Google has a sense of humour!

Did you know Google does tricks? Well, neither did I until my coworker accidentally hit enter too early on a search and the screen twirled! It was COOL... So, as nosy reference librarians do, we wanted to how that happened and discovered Google does tricks. It is known as a barrel roll and to get it to work for you type "do a barrel roll" and hit enter. Or try "Google Gravity" and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky. Not only did I not know these tricks existed but that they are called Easter Eggs! I love them:) I now have a ninja on my Google Reader.