Insomniac Librarians Why sleep when there's field literature?

So, I've been thinking for a while that Second Life is a silly thing for us to be engaged in as a profession. I just shake my head at it, despite being a rabid gamer, and think "Sheesh, why have a virtual ALA office when the real one hasn't made this life a eutopia yet."

I realise that we've got hard issues as a profession. I know we'll never solve everything. I also know that charity has been and will continue to be done through Second Life.

But it just struck such a dischord in me.

And now, SRRT (though not yet officially) is callin' foul, where foul deserves to be called.

I must sound the same after a while, which is why I'm not terribly partial to blogs. On the other hand, stilling myself to write a proper scholarly article is a bit much for me at the moment.

Therefore, unrefined bs is better than no bs, but not as good as scholarly, or refined, bs.

Sooooo, I'm kicking around looking at Stuff today. The subject of the PLA core services and roles for public libraries comes up.

So I think "Self! I haven't read the new one yet, I bet I should."

Clickety click, over to the PLA website.

And then I beat a hasty retreat to Google, since you can't actually use the PLA website to find what you want. (It wasn't like that a couple years ago, I swear. I guess ALA cooties must have hopped the wall.)

Anyhow, Google turns up some preliminary planning results.

Soooooo. I can't help but wonder at this point. Do I look like a cataloguer?

I know that as the last of a dying breed of generalists I can pass for a few things, but a *cataloguer*? Really? Did all of the heavy duty folks phone out of work?

I assure you, come to my house, see the mess, and be disabused of the notion that I can put order to chaos. I _like_ Chaos Theory and Complexity. (Which I ought post about sometime.) If you squint hard enough, maybe I'll blur into an Indexer. Indexers are to cataloguing what sociologists are to psychologists.

My colleague and buddy-pal Brooke posted an interesting and thought-provoking blog entry HERE which I thought of commenting there, but once Mojo gets started she ends up digressing and co-opting and muddying things and poking people behind their backs and looking all innocent when they turn around.

This is not a rant, nor drivel, nor vanity. I suppose I ought put more effort into it and make it into a proper article or something, but as a somewhat anonymous librarian says "Effort begins with eh."

We work in an awesome Field.

None of this should work.

We do it anyway.

Good stuff happens, bad stuff happens less.

We do work in an awesome field. I know this is chipper, and it's early, but bear with me a bit. Have some coffee or something, grumble your mandatory grumble about the current administration of the US and keep reading.

I know I'm far from mellow, and I know that I do more than my share of ranting, so I'm well aware that this is a grand example of pot and kettle. (Scarily, I am more mellow than I was before.) I also realise its fallacious. I don't care, I've had it.

On the other hand, I *am* the black sheep of this fine profession, so I must protect my turf. So in the fine tradition of Al Franken, here we go.

Don Saklad and Robert Kent, throw down. I demand satisfaction. I call shenanigans.

I can't sleep again. Shocker!

Tonight's lack of sleep brought to you by a combination of, are you sitting down?, Classics + Caffeine + far too much one on one conversation about field leaders. That's right, someone had to go and humour me. Two someones, so it's double the trouble. + Free refills. Never a good thing.

This is a picture taken through the window of a portion of the photovoltaic arrays on the mansarde roof of the North Adams Public Library.

The original work is of course better, but I couldn't resist playing about and punning around.