Hey all!  Just wondering whether any of you have tried any of the cloud computing/syncing software that allows the user to store files on an external server, and then sync those files on multiple machines and retrieve them on mobile devices.  I am looking at SugarSync, but interested in hearing any stories about others. I recently got an iPod Touch and I am trying to push the limits and see what I can do… I have been making Skype voice calls from wifi hotspots, accessing various libraries remotely, and all that good stuff. Onward and upward!

I don’t know if this is the best forum for books reviews (or if it should be an ongoing opportunity to critique good or bad reading), but I would like to mention a good book.

One Minute to Midnight is perhaps the best resource regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis.  I think we owe a great amount of gratitude to the level-headedness of those courageous individuals handling perhaps the most dangerous time in human existence.

The book tells, in much greater detail, just how close we were to nuclear war (obviously not winnable).  The work offers new information about the Soviet plans to blow up the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the threat of Soviet cruise missiles (yes they had those back then too), and the downing of a U.S. U-2 aircraft over Cuba.

The books reads like a novel/thriller with remarkable prose.  The “countdown” format starts from the beginning of the crisis, October 15, 1962 thru Kennedy’s speech to the nation on 10/22/62, till Black Saturday 10/27/62 when a “cascade” of events took place, minute-by-minute – all with the potential for catastrophe.

If anything, the book reveals human nature at its best and worst.  For those interested in serious history, it is strongly recommended.  It is also timely as it was published this past summer.

Where else, my friends, but at the public library.  I was able to vote – electronically I might add, and check out a book.  I don’t know about any else, but it took me all of about 30 minutes for the entire process.  The lines were long, but the voting procedure was smooth.

I would assume that most of you here are glad that the whole thing is over, and if your candidate won, or not, it was an election that is going to change this country – for that matter the world!!!!

Let’s hope that Obama will be “good” to our libraries and to our country – from all indications it appears that he will.  I still am laboring at finding a job, but I am getting closer.  Congrats! to all who have found their positions.

I know not much is posted here, but I will continue to let this be my “venting” and personal library experience outlet – you know, everyone must have one.

I am really happy to hear that Greg got an interesting job!  How is everyone else doing on the job front?

I have had a few interviews and have actually had to turn down a couple of positions because they had no benefits.  There is a total hiring freeze at Denver Public Library due to the decrease in tax revenues, so I am continuing to clerk there, but no librarian positions are opening up.

I am looking for medical, special, and college library positions too, but things are tight here because there is a library school nearby – so lots of grads milling around competing for a small number of positions.

I am still volunteering with the state virtual reference consortium, which I enjoy, and I have started to look for other side projects that could be fun and provide some experience points.

I would love to hear how you all are doing in your job search process!

I have been so busy that I forgot to post here. I have a full-time job (started first week of September) at Redstone Scientific Information Center here at Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville). I am supposed to be training to be Reference, but in the last 6 weeks our cataloger and systems librarian left, so I am also cataloging and am about to learn systems. (And since it’s an Army library, systems is about 10% ILS & library hardware, 90% compliance-with-regs.) On the plus side, I am getting experience in just about every area of the library except acquisitions.

Perhaps I shouldn’t say that our blog needs a jump start; quite frankly I think that people are just too busy at this particular time of the year.

Oh well, this newly minted librarian is active and in pursuit of gainful employment.  I do have several warm irons in the fire; just gotta get the fire stoked up!

I believe Nurse Ratched’s blog says it all about the anger that I, and a multitude of the American populace are sharing now.  Although it seems there will be a bail-out (to the tune of two Iraq wars) of the banks, it really gets me mad about those responsible for these transgressions in the first place.  I would have hoped that the people managing money at these “investment” houses would carry not only the minimum amount of education, but also the proper measure of common sense and ethics.

From the top down, there should be massive accountability – anything less would be cheating the American taxpayer who will have to pay for all of this.  Perhaps the guillotine is to severe, but I would settle for a good tar and feathering of those who have even marginal culpability.

Apparently Google isn’t simple enough. A new startup, Boost eLearning, has created training modules for getting the most out of Google. Which leads me to realize that librarianship was the wrong field to go into. Venture capital is where the money’s at. (shakes head)

There was a bit of blog discussion in the spring 2008 Metadata course about this case of a man who sued Cornell University because a 1983 article in the school paper (about him having been charged with burglary) suddenly became widely available when the archives were digitized and posted online. 

I can understand his concern: a youthful misdeed which had been mostly forgotten and which, one hopes, is not representative of his character today, is now going to be freely visible to anyone doing an internet search on his name. People contemplating doing business with him, dating him, accepting his friend requests on Facebook—all will be able to read about this decades-old episode. Yeah, that’s a drag.

It’s not that you necessarily would lie about it and deny embarrassing stuff from your past, but you don’t want them popping up on the first page of your Google results, right? If someone wants to know the dumb stuff I did in college, they should have to go to that college and poke through the archives in person, and I hope they get paper cuts and dust in their noses while they do it. That’s journalism, damn it! (I’m merely throwing this in for dramatic effect: I personally never did anything dumb in college.)

Nevertheless, though sympathetic to this guy’s point, I think we really can’t have people suppressing the availability of otherwise public information because it’s embarrassing to them. Sorry. 

So I was pleased to read in the latest American Libraries that the lawsuit has been dismissed. According to the story, however, the ruling “did not address the question of whether making older information available online constitutes republication.” (The suit contended that making the article digitally available constituted republication of the information in it, and that the University was therefore responsible for what was presented.)

The aggrieved man also still has another suit pending which “claims that by submitting the original report and evidence of his arrest in open court, Cornell once again republished the information.” Again, I understand not wanting certain things to be public, but dude, it’s in the historical record. This stuff happened. Reports were produced that were publicly available. I think that means people can look at them, even 25 years later.

But I am in no sense a legal expert, so I could be wrong. Anyway, it was interesting to read the follow-up on that case.

I am an admitted X-files fan and have recently seen the new movie X-Files 2 – I Want to Believe.

The movie was very good, particularly if you are an X-phile. As a now (almost) degreed MLIS person, I was very distressed at Dr. Scully’s irresponsible Web search techniques; I thought she would be more prudent and professional (she actually is, but that isn’t the point).

The good doctor used a very hackneyed and ubiquitous search engine for one of her “pursuits” of the truth. If you plan to see the movie, there is no need to expand. I am sure it was a “sweetheart” advertising deal for the much hackneyed and quite ubiquitous search engine. PubMed would have given her probably much better results

Let’s hope that Fox Mulder doesn’t resort to this search engine blasphemy in any future movies – his research is much too important as well.

There’s a new wordpress application out for the iphone, and you’re witnessing it in action. This is definitely not the easiest way to type out a lengthy post, but as an established fangirl, I’m loving it! For those that are curious, it supports multiple blogs, offline use, images from the phone’s library and is free in the app store. Any questions about the new phone or apps, let me know!