Insomniac Librarians Why sleep when there's field literature?

Part of the disease that infects Librarians is the desire to ferret out information, even if doing so might be quite silly and technically inefficient.

I crawled out from under my rock just long enough to be in the car with the boy. It just so happened that I heard a song that I liked over the radio. Thanks to my super cool Prius having the ability to tell me what the heck I was listening to I made a note to check into it later.

Progressive Technology Federal Systems, a large defence contractor doing business as PTFS (presumably since it sounds smaller that way) decided to sidle on in to the Koha scene about a couple of years ago. (Here's a link if you don't believe that they're a defence contractor. http://www.defense.gov/contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=4323 If you don't believe that they're large, Hoover them.)

At the time they came to town, folks thought "Great!" We welcome new folks. A new set of hands is a good thing.

This is a response to "Is the Association Ripe for Rebellion?" by Jim Rettig, in american libraries. Can't find it? Lemme google it for ye.

(fine, it's here: http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/01042011/association-ripe-...)

Before I start my rant, I want to be very clear that I personally think Jim Rettig is not part of the problem. However, I feel it necessary to dissect what he's stated. This should not be construed as a personal attack, since it isn't.

"I've had all I can stand. I can't stands no more!"

I feel the need to dissect the 2009 LITA National Forum in gory, gory, blow by blow detail.

So I wake up of a weekend to find a piece of trash in me inbox from James Rettig via Keith Fiels about what they consider political speech.

*************

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Keith Michael Fiels
Sent: Sep 5, 2008 3:49 PM
To: ALACOUN
Subject: [alacoun] Message from ALA President Jim Rettig

Dear Colleagues:

Awards, particularly the lifetime achievement flavour, seem to be loaded, risky business. This seems a particularly stinky year for those particularly sticky awards. The people that have the dubious honour of sitting these committees have my sympathy as well as my scorn. In a very inclusive field, why do we feel the need to have exclusive awards?

Like pornography, we tend to know who deserves one of those jobbies when we see them. Something resonates in us, and we think "Yeah, they deserve it."

I'd love to see the feelings set aside for substance.

This is a How Not To on website design:

http://prattsilssitesucks.wordpress.com/

It serves to spotlight how awful a lot of our stuff is, but more importantly, how one might improve things in future. I must say (and I really, really, hoped against hope I'd never have to) that I think the Pratt site trumps ALA's in terms of confusion.

Folks are in a tizzy from Orson Scott Card getting the Edwards award from YALSA.

They should be.

However, the whys of why they should be have been contorted.

I can't help but wonder how many people read things in their entirety or even carefully scan before they go commenting about them.

First, folks are seriously misconstruing the rules YALSA uses in determining the Edwards.

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/margaretaedwards/maepolicy/...

This is *not* an endorsement of someone's life.

Check it out, an up and coming Masters' student (or perhaps he's gradumatated by now) is in to ranting, too. I found his blog by accident.

http://threegee.wordpress.com/

Navigation can require a couple clicks hither and yon to actually yield watcha want.