Lari's Bookshelf

There's a new 2012 calendar and it features information professionals or librarians. It's called Men of the Stacks  (FYI: some of the pics may be considered risqué) and it breaks the stereotype of what people typically consider a librarian to be: "We know what people think: Dewey, glasses, shushing, books, hairbuns, Party Girl and card catalogs.  Yes, we know what people think.  We know that the American library profession is approximately 80% White and 72% female; and we know that tens of thousands of librarians are expected to reach age 65 in the next 5 years.  We also know that this is not us." - MOS: The Calendar The thing that pleased me about this calendar, is that all of its proceeds are going to the It Gets Better Project , a movement designed to help struggling LGBTQ youth who are coming out in their communities. By the way, if you haven't seen George Takei's video contribution to a related organization, called The Trevor Project (which work...

Libraries are absolutely at the center of my life. Since I couldn't afford to go to college, I attended the library three or four days a week from the age of eighteen on, and graduated from the library when I was twenty-eight. - Ray Bradbury Even though my local Borders store closed a few months back , I have to admit, when I first heard Borders was closing all their stores, a little part of me was sad . OK, maybe a big part of me. I have lots of memories sitting in that store, browsing books and magazines, studying for an exam, etc. Of course, I realized I still had access to books, but nostalgia can suck big time. After I boohooed for a bit, I read this fantastic opinion piece inspired by Mitch Albom's hyper-emotional response to the the end of Borders' "magic." Then that thing, lurking around in my subconscious, came bursting to the surface: Borders kind of had it coming. Not only that, but it seemed that people were overly concerned about the demise of...

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.  -  Ben Franklin Unfortunately, the Patriot Act is not a thing of the past. It is arguably unconstitutional and riddled with controversial provisions . Despite campaign promises , President Obama extended the Patriot Act in May of this year  without any new civil liberties provisions or amendments. The seemingly valid attitude of "well, if I'm not doing anything illegal than why should I care" is a little naive. The fact is, once the government gets on 'in' on your personal information, and what your are choosing to read, whose to say this will cease in the future? Do people honestly think that one day terrorism will just end and we'll all get our rights to privately and freely access information unless the people speak out against it? And while authorities could technically get a warrant if they suspect suspicious activity, sometimes it's ...