Saturday, January 23, 2010

Not Fish, Food, and Fish

After writing a big ol' paper on sushi last semester, I know more than I ever thought I would about sushi. However, that does not mean that I am a fan of the American sushi (or, Sushi American Style) which Dean & DeLuca has now started selling. If I wanted a BLT, I would get a BLT. You have my permission to buy whatever you want, but my humble opinion (which I am always more than happy to share) is that it don't work no good for me.

Ze French are known for a lot of things. I believe I heard something about them being into cooking. (Tell me if I'm wrong about that.) Anywho, superstar Alain Ducasse says that he believes that French women are not passing down their cooking skills to their daughters any longer. This is making the art of French cooking slowly disappear.

In Library News . . .

Two blog posts that were published mere days apart were so similar it was freaky. I have no idea of the posts were influenced by each other or there were talks. Who knows? They are both really insightful and both mention fish! I've been reading In the Library with the Lead Pipe since the beginning, so I'm a fan. This post talks about how a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace which mentions fish in water led Sara Seely to comparing fish-in-water with librarians.

So along comes a post in my Google feed thing about librarians and fish, but it comes from Norway. Librarian 1.5 is a blog written by librarian Thomas Brevik of the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy. His librarian-as-fish inspiration comes from an article on information literacy from the Norwegian Science Library blog. (Note: The post is in Norwegian and English, so you might need a translator.) Anywho, Thomas' posts are in English so you should check it out.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Differences of opinion regarding commenting, communication, and free speech ensues after Library Journal's John Berry responds to a post by David Rothman.

The original vlog by Rothman is Rothman discussing his opinions on the Annoyed Librarian and Library Journal's relationship with the AL as their employer.

Berry says Rothman's statements are hypocritical.

Rothman vlogs an explanation and calls out Berry as "full of crap".

It's exciting stuff and makes me proud to be a librarian!

My personal opinion on the Annoyed Librarian is that I don't care what she/it/him says so much as the recent fact that now Library Journal gave her/it/him a paid gig. I support free speech and I am known to talk like a truck driver, but I at least try not to do it publicly, online, on a professional publication's website. (There is also the tiny, minuscule issue I have with LJ for not accepting my Talk Back submission, but hey, they have the right to post what they want, right?)

In other news, I apparently work in one of the few libraries in NYC not to have a temperature clause in our union contract. I'm fine with that.

Are copyright laws equivalent to book burning?