blog.mignault.net

Wrighting the rong

While reading a Kevin Kelly post about an HG Wells novel that actually was credited in real scientific work, I saw this graphic:

And thought “Cool! A link to the book in the Internet Archive!” Alas, I was wrong. Not only was the image not linked to the IA copy – the image wasn’t linked to anything – the link later in the post was your standard Amazon Associate link. Disappointing. So I’ll right that wrong here:

Go forth and read freely.

Technorati Tags: archive.org, ia, libraries, oca, openlibrary

No signing bonus.

Posted 9/22/2006: Chief Librarian, Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Are you interested in putting your library science education and experience to work in one of today’s most challenging, interesting and rewarding environments? Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions is recruiting for a Chief Librarian to manage the Detainee Library, under the direction of the Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Do you think they’ll actually get anyone for this job?

Desperate cry for help

Please, someone stop me from installing Kubuntu on my unbacked-up, unpartitioned Windows box on the Friday before a long holiday weekend. Man, is it tempting.

Update: Well, I managed to control myself, but I am thinking of doing so this week.

Web bugs out of ALA now

I received an email yesterday from ACRL’s president that a membership survey would be sent out today. What I didn’t expect, and certainly didn’t appreciate, was the little surprise in the email. Gmail had blocked the image, and I clicked display image, expecting it to be a logo or some such decoration. Imagine my surprise when the image placeholder simply disappeared. Suspecting the worst, I looked at the source, and there was an image tag for a spacer gif, its href festooned with its very own little tracking id param. That’s just wrong, and is the very kind of invasion of privacy we should be fighting in the profession. I’m less inclined to answer the survey now; as a recent new member, this doesn’t bode well for ALA in general.

Career change

For the first time in my life, I am working as a librarian. I have taken a job as the Systems Librarian at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. This is a good place for me; it allows me to keep  on the geek tip while moving away from the insanity of the corporate world. It’s been a very long journey to this point. I finished my MLS at Simmons about 12 years ago, while I was working as a paraprofessional in the John Hay Library at Brown University. But when I moved to NYC, I couldn’t find a job in academic librarianship (yes, job scarcity is not just a 2.0 phenomenon) and thus I worked as a software developer for 10 years.

I’m really very happy to be here. The Garden is a beautiful place, and I think it offers some really unique opportunities for the library. I’m just familiarizing myself with the systems here so far; I’m going to be working on streamlining and improving workflow for some of those, and also on longer-range plans for things like an IR and some digitization projects.
Actually, it’s not really the first MLS job I’ve ever had; for the past few months I had been working part time in my local public library. But this will be my first full-time professional position. Wish me luck.