A sad decline in standards

Before I joined the library as a member of staff, I had a beard and ponytail, from my time in the circus, playing a pirate in Treasure Island! Here you can see us doing a group apple juggling routine, with me on the left...
When I got the job in the library I still treated it as a 'performance' job, so shaved and cut my hair short, to try to look like a librarian.

After the first couple of years I managed to get a job backstage, in the computer maintenance team. At this point I was still pretty clean and tidy, waistcoats and all.

I even wore a tie most days, even though I didn't meet the public that much...
And although it was a serious job, we also got to play with things like webcams...

I kept up appearances because I helped run training courses for staff and so on...



And would spend any wet lunch hours in The Stacks. As you can see, my hair started to grow out in what I considered a kind of 'Archivist' look.
When we moved into the temporary library in John Street, our original 'public internet access' experiment solidified into a cybercafe, and somehow the techie look seemed to allow a ponytail, so long as it was tidy, etc.
In fact, according the Wim Wenders, in Wings of Desire, 'library angels' all have ponytails...
And the technology carried on changing, with our RFID tag and reader...
Somehow the combination of library work and computers got me into writing a novel in a month, just for the craich.
And then, getting a Print On Demand copy or two from Lulu - just for the hell of it!
By the time we had moved into our state-of-the-art library, and became the universal computer support guy, I had a beard, the hair, and a bad attitude to uniforms, compulsory second language and other limitations... As the politicians try to eliminate libraries completely...

What's your image of a 21st Century Librarian?

OK, OK, library assistant... (sigh)

The Darien Statements on the library and librarians

Down the right hand side you will see links to several members of the librarian blogosphere (as a non-professional library assistant I feel like a gate-crasher), which I browse at times.

I visited In The Library With the Lead Pipe to read a discussion of what librarians are for, etc - and a footnote to that article pointed to the Darien Statements, which cheered me up no end.

I offer a sample (as a teaser) but please click the above link to read the whole (brief) statement.

The Role of the Library

The Library:

• Provides the opportunity for personal enlightenment.
• Encourages the love of learning.
• Empowers people to fulfill their civic duty.
• Facilitates human connections.
• Preserves and provides materials.
• Expands capacity for creative expression.
• Inspires and perpetuates hope.

The Role of Librarians

Librarians:

• Are stewards of the Library.
• Connect people with accurate information.
• Assist people in the creation of their human and information networks.
• Select, organize and facilitate creation of content.
• Protect access to content and preserve freedom of information and expression.
• Anticipate, identify and meet the needs of the Library’s community.

Keith Richards - wannabe librarian

Keef strikes a blow for the stereotype of the librarian - apparently in his forthcoming autobiography he admits to a massive reading habit, and his attempts to sort the thousands of books in his house...


Keith Richards - It's Only Books and Shelves (from Times Online).

"When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser."
- Keith Richards

Be careful what you wish for... IMHO

Making libraries more accessible to all, by allowing the use of mobile phones, eating and drinking, no shushing, no need to be a member, etc seems like the current management style in many libraries (not just us) but it comes at a price.

We now have gangs of young people milling around, fighting, tearing each other's hair out, screaming, giggling, etc. Did the plan include losing the peaceful sanctuary of the old-fashioned library?

The parallel for me remains old churches. As a lifelong atheist I still enjoy the peace of churches and cathedrals (especially when travelling) as places to think, contemplate or meditate - although I could do without the images of torment that seem so popular in the West. I mention churches, however, precisely because even I (doomed heretic though I am) respect the atmosphere generated by years of respect for the space. I take off my hat, I don't do flash photography, etc.

If we sacrifice the 'atmosphere of respect for learning' that libraries traditionally have, then perhaps we drive away the previous users, in exchange for people who have no real use for what we offer.

If libraries no longer offer sanctuary and peace, where can a quiet person now go, when in town? The park, maybe?

Of course, being 'currently fashionable management style' means we may well reverse this approach somewhere in the future, but it could prove hard to reclaim the pleasant atmosphere of mutual respect after this foray into popularism.

Eating, drinking, running and screaming in the library - next thing you know they'll be allowing singing in church. Oh, wait...

This feels more like trying to attract people to church by having rock concerts.

Shush! and I'll tell you where the stereotypes come from...

I came across this book while browsing our shelves - you can borrow it (a good idea, as it could cost you £30-40 to buy a copy!

The notes on Amazon.com will fill you in on what it contains...

And since 1999 things have changed radically, of course, so perhaps some (if not all) future librarians may begin to look like a computer geek - someone who has mastered searching, researching, compiling, and all that. A permanent human wiki...

I guess this remains the transition period!

Berglas's Corollary to Parkinson's Law

I was leafing through my old copy of Systemantics recently, because it still amuses me, and I work with ‘’complex systems’ of course.

One that I came across online recently was Berglas’s Corollary to Parkinson’s Law.

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

According to Wikipedia, there are modern corollaries like:

Data expands to fill the space available for storage.

But Berglas’s Corollary amounts to:

No amount of computer automation will reduce the size of a bureaucracy

And whether you see these rueful laws (mostly invented by scientists) as pure jokes, or containing a grain of truth, you might want to compare them to real life.

When I joined the library service the department was part of Leisure, Libraries and Parks (LLP). We then changed to Leisure and Lifelong Learning (LLL), before becoming Culture, Leisure and Parks (CL&P).

Guess what? We now belong in Citizen Services (part of Housing and Neighbourhood Renewal).

Oh, and I haven’t worked for libraries as man and boy. I have only been here 13 years!

I don’t intend to single out our authority for this, and am aware that a certain amount of re-arranging of management hierarchies must prove necessary in different economic and political climates (quite apart from management fashions).

I only mention it because of the inevitable complications that arise from such reshuffles. Trashing a load of headed notepaper is not the only problem these days.

Because we use complex computer systems, containing folders and cross-references, files and documents with embedded links, etc., it means that all kinds of things can go wrong if one folder gets renamed. I find people whose email address still carries the LLL listing, files and lists that you need to search with LLP, etc. I guess the less said about the unfortunate acronym CLaP the better.

Berglas's Corollary or Why it is Important that Software Projects Fail

Conclusion

We have provided empirical proof of Berglas's Corollary, and clearly shown that software does not improve real productivity. Further, we have shown why it is essential that most software projects fail. No one need ever again be embarrassed by participation in a failed software project. Rather they should be proud to have spared society from yet another burden of complexity.

Some may misinterpret this article as satire. Surely it is not really desirable for software projects to fail. But the facts speak for themselves.

Parkinson's Law - Where all this started

Free Thinkers Accept the Mystery

Actually, I intended to use FreeThinker in the technical sense - of 'atheists' who don't like defining themselves with a negative term.

I don't think of 'God' as a default setting, which I have to deny. (a-theist).

My default setting remains an experience of a mysterious environment - which contains and includes me (a mysterious point of consciousness). I expect 'believers' to have to convince me that someone or something 'created' this mystery.

I don't have an answer, as I find equally acceptable the idea(s) that it always existed, doesn't exist, could be defined as 'my dream' (solipsism), etc.

Libraries remained my allies in holding out for a variety of explanations, when surrounded by a culture (if not a people) with a default setting of 'God'.

At least Cardiff Libraries provide copies of The Freethinker*

I just got an email alert about this piece from About.com:

Get Atheist Books in the Public Library
Get Public Libraries to Provide Atheist, Freethought, Secular Literature
by Austin Cline

"Why Are Public Libraries Important?

[...]Getting enough atheist, freethought, skeptical, secular, and humanist material in libraries is important because not everyone can obtain this material on their own. Some people don't have enough money to buy the books and magazines and few have enough money to buy all the books and magazines. Libraries can carry a broader array of material than bookstores as well as a deeper selection of older material - including material no longer in print. Where else will you find magazines and journals from several years ago?[...]"

*The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of irreligious cartoons in the 1882 Christmas edition, Foote was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 12 months hard labour. Despite this setback the magazine has remained in print ever since. You can read more here.

Images, Imagine, Imagination

Clearing up my hard drive, I came across a couple of random images.

The first comes from the blog of a friend who does artwork for all kinds of fields, from graphic novels to album covers, online and in paper form - Bobby Campbell (Penman for Hire).

I believe it was done for a friend, but he OK'd me publishing it here.


The other is part of a wonderful series by Arcimboldo, but this one I hadn't seen before - The Librarian (1556).

What Do You Want? Information!

Even a brief glance through this blog might convince people that I don't know what I am talking about.

I didn't take a degree in anything, let alone library and information studies.

I am enjoying the Effing Librarian, and the Annoyed Librarian's posts (see blog list on the right). And I refuse to make the word 'library' a taboo - in spite of all the image problems.

"We are librarians working in libraries, not audience development officers working in infotainment provision centers."
The Annoyed Librarian, posting at Library Journal.

The effing librarian's comment on the above article

I dropped out of school before A-Levels, back in 1964.  At the time I had no idea that much of my generation would drop out in disgust with the form of education we were offered, and its irrelevance to the world we expected to end up living in (and here we are!)  I didn't join in with college sit-ins, and trying to change the system, I just walked away, so if education curricula improved at all I can take no credit.

I won't bore you with how and why I ended up in show-biz, films and circus - but they all seem a long way from books, I know.  Ten years ago (turning 50) I took a job in a library, and I'm still here.  I had always been a user of libraries (more so, having dropped out of formal education) so have a certain zeal about providing such a service to maverick autodidacts (who always tend to show off their vocabulary, apparently - something to do with an inferiority complex).  OK, OK, the self-taught and lifelong learners.

Prisoner: Where am I?

Number Two: In The Village.
Prisoner: What do you want?
Number Two: Information.
Prisoner: Which side are you on?
Number Two: That would be telling. We want information, information, information...
Prisoner: You won't get it.
Number Two: By hook or by crook we will.
Prisoner: Who are you?
Number Two: The new Number Two.
Prisoner: Who is Number One?
Number Two: You are Number Six.
Prisoner: I am not a number. I am a free man.
Number Two: Ha, ha, ha, ha....

Librarian Stereotypes

Having mentioned the misguided image that many non-users have of modern libraries, I realised that it seemed connected to the stereotype of the librarian – which most people still seem to have in their head as a spinster of indeterminate age, wearing glasses, hair up in a bun, and loudly going SHUSH! with the prune-face of an unhappy school teacher.

Books, Glasses, and A Shushing Action Figure.

The action figure you see is of Nancy Pearl

OK, OK, maybe you don’t have that image in your head, but most people appear to, including film makers, authors, and others, who manifest and perpetuate stereotypes.

the librarian stereotype and the movies

quotations about librarians

Online librarians have tackled this question frequently, but generally the UK seems to have less online presence than the USA and OZ, etc. Things have started to change. You can find a few links below, which might give you an idea or two…

Librarian Stereotype Survey: Highlights
Rejecting The Stereotypical Librarian Image

The belly-dancing librarian offers further links to people breaking the stereotype

Macho Librarians with Guns

(oh yes, did I forget to mention some librarians do have a sense of humour?)

The Laughing Librarian

Exploiting "Sexy Librarian" Stereotype For Giggles and Personal Gain

And the radicals...

Library Underground

BUY THE T-SHIRT (and other cool stuff)

Library Underground's shop

Warrior Librarian's shop

You Don’t Look Like a Librarian

You can get that wonderful Ambigram on a T-Shirt, from this Cafe Press link:   Librarism 


CREATIVE OUTPUT
And some of the cyber-librarians experiment with mash-ups and other innovations...

Dave Pattern’s creative display of the biblioblogosphere

Go look at this, why not?     Hot Stuff i

And although some librarians may still wrinkle their noses at Wikipedia as a source of certain kinds of information (and I agree it may prove flawed in some ways) I don't know of any other Encyclopedia you could refer to for an odd subject like this.

Librarians in Popular Culture - according to Wiki

Librarians: We're Not What You Think (short essay)

We're not what you think (collection of images)

Cardiff Library Services

I remain astounded at the image so many people have of libraries. From strangers I meet at parties, to people who work for other Council departments - I mostly get the shush! picture, and the resistance from school-haters that it's all books and seriousness, etc...

The commonest reason given for not using libraries usually involves taking a book out years ago, letting it go overdue, assuming massive fines have built up (actually, there's a maximum of £10 for a book if you return it) and never daring to return.

Apart from the fact that users can now renew (extend the loan period of) books and other items

• at any branch in person
• by phone
• online

this does seem a silly reason to give up using a local facility completely. 

You can still visit, you know, and use the facilities, even if you don't want to borrow stuff.

With an easily obtained (one form of ID) and totally free library card you can

• Borrow not just books, but music and language CDs, DVDs (recent films, classics, foreign language), Graphic Novels, etc
• Use the internet for free in any of 20 places in Cardiff - and soon you will even be able to use your own laptop through Wi-Fi access in the Central Library
• Check availability, and book internet sessions up to 8 days in advance - from anywhere on the Web
• Access your library account: - see what items you have out, extend the loan period to avoid fines, and place reservations on popular items, which will then get held for you, etc
• Anyone (even non-members) can Search the library catalogue 24/7, and members can reserve items for collection later
• Get access to the library's subscriptions, e.g. the geneaological site Ancestry.com will normally charge you for every search - within the library Ancestry searching is free.   Other digital subscriptions include the complete Oxford Dictionary, Encyclopedia Brittanica, The Times Digitial Archive, Which? magazine, British Standards, local papers, and many more.
• Even better, many of those resources can be searched (by library members) from home. All you need is a library card number and PIN.  See the e-Reference collection
• The Local Studies department is digitalizing a lot of its stock, so (through the Catalogue) you can search old photos, maps and other fascinating material - useful for school projects, as a supplement to family history, etc. Try it!  You don't even have to be a member to search these online...
• We have a large database of local clubs and societies (is yours listed?)
• And on, and on...

And virtually all of this (remember) is free.  OK, you pay a small charge to borrow a DVD, but you get it for a week, not overnight as with (say) Blockbusters.  You also pay a small charge for music, or talking books, unless registered blind.

Cardiff Libraries online.  (includes addresses, maps, opening hours, etc)

A Hipper Crowd of Shushers  (NY Times article about the new generation of library workers)