Elizabeth Skene

Today has been full of fun & inspriational things from libraries & archives.

First is the “Librarians Do Gaga” video.
A clever take on Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface”, some students at the University of Washington iSchool created a parody called “Catalog.”

Secondly, I was listening to an episode of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on the bus ride home today [it's amazing how those familiar NPR voices can make me feel better] & their Bluff the Listener section was about libraries. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, each of the three panelists tells a story relating to the topic, but only is true & a contestant who has called in has to guess the right answer.

This is the introduction to the March 15 show: “These are tough times for libraries, what with the e-readers, the video games and our brains turning to soft, gray pudding. But some libraries are not going to go quietly. This week, we read about a library that decided to do what it must do to stick around.”

You can listen to the episode or read the transcript here – see if you can guess the true story [I did!].

Lastly, Rebecca, over at Derangement & Description, has sent out the call for a response. She already has lyrics for an archivist  ‘Pokerface’ and is looking for volunteers to create the video. She’s already created a wonderful parody of “Gangster’s Paradise” called “Archives Paradise.” Check out the clever lyrics & the wonderful rapping at her blog.

So many reasons to be excited about the profession I’m going into!!

I started writing this post on Thursday & it’s already Saturday! This has been a long & busy week!

The best day of this week was Wednesday, minus the part where I took our cat back to the vet & she’s still not better. We have another check up in three weeks. It’s a little frightening how expensive the vet can be…. But after that! Joel & I went out for dinner at Beezy’s Cafe – an amazing cafe right downtown Ypsilanti that has some of the simplest & best food I’ve ever had. After that we headed into Ann Arbor, picked up some espresso at Comet Coffee & went to the Power Center on campus. We watched an absolutely amazing performance of Checkov’s Uncle Vanya, performed by the Malay Drama Theater of St. Petersburg. It’s playing all weekend & I recommend going if you can.

Earlier this week we got a package from a good friend in Bulgaria. He sent us a bunch of martenitsi (мартеници) to celebrate & encourage the coming of spring. Traditionally, these red & white bracelets are exchanged on March 1st, the holiday of Baba Marta (баба марта). The bracelets are worn until a blooming tree or stork is seen & then usually tied to the branch of a fruit tree to bring good luck and health.

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Klearchos Kapoutsis.

Right now I’m at the main branch of the Ypsilanti District Library – I needed to get out of the house, concentrate & do some work. A library & some Debussy always seem to get me motivated. Additionally, the second floor is open, full of natural light & has a beautiful view of the woods:

I’d love to be exploring those woods right now instead of doing homework!

Here’s a gratuitous photo of myself hugging my dog this morning. [He's the best!]

My passport came today!!! Only 33 days!

Sorry for the infrequent & substance-less posts  lately. In about 4 weeks time, the semester will the over & I’ll be in Egypt where I’ll have lots of interesting things to say & pictures to show. Until then, I apologize for the decrease in quality posts. [I still love you all].

How is it Friday already?
I’ve been having weird dreams & grinding my teeth in my sleep. Ug.
Yesterday I had to take my cat to the vet – a shot & lots of $$$ later, she should be better soon.
I thought life would slow down a bit after spring break BUT I WAS WRONG.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services are hold a wiki-based discussion “to help invent the future of museums and libraries through your participation in UpNext: The Future of Museums and Libraries Wiki.” The discussion runs from March 3rd to May 16th with a variety of museum & library professionals across the US covering important & relevant topics.

Michigan Radio ran this interesting piece last night about Detroit’s school system – a coalition of community organizations want to fire the school board & take over. Their goal is to “boost the city’s high school graduation rate from 58 percent to 90 percent by the year 2020.” I don’t know enough about the situation to have an opinion, but I’m happy to see people feeling empowered enough to work towards change.

As trite as it may sound, that’s a great example of the American can-do spirit – something I never really considered or took seriously before living in Bulgaria. The sense of defeat and resignation in the post-Soviet country is pervasive and often times frustrating for optimistic & idealist Americans such as myself. So I can’t help but feel an ounce of pride for those struggling against some pretty big barriers to make life better in Detroit.

The warm weather has been absolutely wonderful this week. Unfortunately it’s supposed to rain all weekend, but if there’s a few warm & sunny hours, I’m definitely getting out the hammock for some quality reading time. Sunny mornings with coffee & a book in the hammock is by far one of my favorite things in the world.

Happy Friday!

I’m thankful for our fireplace – today is one of those cloudy, damp days where the chills seeps in. There’s nothing like a fire to warm me up [& to get rid of that pile of junk mail & cardboard!]

Joel shared this quote with me the other day & I really like it:

“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.” -Gilbert Highet

I’ve posted before about the Let’s Save Michigan campaign, a fantastic local organizations. Together with the DIA, they are hosting a poster contest and finalists were announced today. There are 60 posters & you can vote for multiple posters, but only  once a day for each poster. All of the entries are inspiring & wonderful, but these are my favorites:

Today and Sunday I spent some time at local thrift stores. As I get ready to head to DC next week to work at the National Library of Medicine, it’s become clear that the “business casual” part of my wardrobe is sorely lacking. Luckily, people in Ann Arbor give away really nice clothes and I was able to pick up some great pants & shirts. Also, I’ve been on the lookout for clothing that would be good to take with me to Egypt this summer. It’s a very conservative country, so I’ll be wearing a lot of long skirts, loose tops and keeping my shoulders to myself. [65 days!!!!]

I enjoyed this article from the Boston Globe titled, In the Digital Age, Librarians are Pioneers, a review of Marilyn Johnson’s book This Book Is Overdue. Not only does the book show librarians to be the daring & innovative crew that they are, but she calls archivists the “unsung heros of the library.” Additionally, we are “magicians that deftly distinguish between detritus and artifact, capturing history before it disappears because of a broken link or outdated software.” A wonderful statement [even if it might be up for debate in my appraisal of archives class]!!

Oh!! I just got an email that the University of Michigan is hosting their own TED conference next year. How exciting – I’ll definitely be there!! That is, if I’m selected – attendance is through application & invitation only.

This Flickr group, Looking Into the Past, is a creative way to use photos. By aligning an old photo within it’s modern day setting, the passage of time is clearly visible. I’d love to do this around Ypsilanti! Here are some of my favorites:

Now: homework!

This morning I joined LibraryThing’s 50 Book Challenge. I’m going to do my hardest to read 50 books in 2010. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but being in grad school changes my workload & free time, so I think it will be an adequate challenge. I’m stealing Alisha’s idea to create a twitter account – I’ll update it each time I finish a book, with a [very short] review of it. You can follow me at 50booksin2010.

One of the first books I’ll be reading is Archives Power, a book I mentioned in an earlier post. I got the courage up today to post a short introduction in their welcome post [I'm number 61, down at the bottom].

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Librarian & Information Science News posted a list that I really like:

5 Universal Truths That All Librarians Can Agree Upon Right Now

1.) Perception of information is changing
2.) Literacy is changing
3.) Libraries are now part of greater information chorus
4.) Communication is our friend
5.) The underlying philosophies of the library have not changed

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This past semester, the members of a group that I was apart of took the Meyers-Briggs test – an assessment of your personality traits, temperaments and dispositions. I got INFJ as a result, but after taking this test [which is more of a choose-your-own-type sort of assessment], I think I’m an ISFJ. My choice was reinforced when I saw that a correlating Enneatype is perfectionist [which is so true for me].

It isn’t really important, but I recommend taking the tests – sometimes having taking an objective look at yourself can bring insight & inspire change. My husband & I always compare our answers & critique/affirm the results. Plus, it’s pretty fun to see what you get!

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I start classes again tomorrow! My discussion section for the morning was cancelled since the lecture hasn’t met yet & then I have class 4pm – 7pm, then nothing until Monday. Have I mentioned how crazy I was to schedule 3 three-hour classes on Mondays!? I’ll be in class from 8:30 until 8pm, with two 1 1/2 hour breaks – it’ll be intense but my only other classes will be on Thursdays, leaving me time for work & study. I cleaned out my backpack today & I’m ready to take on another semester!

Also, I started an account at flavors.me. It’s a social media aggreator, so by going to my page & clicking on the links, you can see what I’ve tweeted, pictures I’ve posted, blog entires, music I’ve listened to, etc. Check out my page. It seems like an interesting idea, but I’m not sure if it’s useful, or just another web application to keep track of.

Now,
off to coffee with friends!