Friday July 28, 2006

  (10:14 pm) Do You Want To Fix DOPA? Trying Growing Up

     Jessamyn has a run down of the various weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth concerning the issue of DOPA, she also has a link to the bill. I commented on her prior post, I'd like to reply to a lot of those comments but its hard enough not swearing as it is.

     First of all everyone is automatically painting it in the worst light possible saying it will apply to something as harmless as Open World Cat (and Walt accuses the GOP of fear mongering, the only people who twists laws like this are the ACLU). The bill says "commercial social networking websites and chat rooms" which, to me, means sites specifically setup for those functions, such as MySpace. Simply because a site has social networking functions doesn't make it a commercial social networking website. Its a question of purpose, a complex idea I know but try and wrap your head around it. Second of all, the same Supreme Court ruling is going to apply to this as did the CIPA ruling. Adults get to have the blocks turned off.

     Now supposedly we are an educated group of professionals. Supposedly we are capable of rational discourse and clear thinking. Is DOPA necessary legislation? No. But if you go forward and say that there should be no blocks or barriers to anything for anyone, regardless of age, then you are as much the drooling imbecile that you claim these politicians to be. Grow up. Libraries are not entitlements, and they will be run in the way that society as a whole thinks is best, not liberal librarians or conservative ones for that matter. We don't get to interfere with people's lives, we're there to serve.

Tuesday July 25, 2006

  (10:18 pm) Silly Children

     2 curious things happened within the past couple weeks. Meredith Wolfwater at Information Wants To Be Free wrote a post breaking down the 'Skills of the 21st Century Librarian' (hat tip Michael Golrick). The premise centering around technology and ability to adapt. Also, a bit of a row broke out about a supposed 'glass wall' between techie boy librarians and techie girl librarians. There don't seem to be as many girl leaders as boy leaders. I came across it here, again here, then here and here and here and here. Read them when you have time, there are links within links and Conservator had an interesting take on that last one.

     I'm not a techie by choice but by chance. The job was open and I needed it. I don't regret it at all but I will not be spending my life as a systems librarian. The times I say Eureka! will not always keep up with the times I say much less pleasant things. You see, the skills list is very important but while adaptability can be taught it can't be embraced forever. Some people have it naturally, most don't and rely on personal energy to keep up. Human willpower is not forever and there is less in general the more its doled out towards other things. That's neither good or bad, just Life.

     Now about this 'glass wall' (its in one of those 'here's'). What I find ironic about the whole thing is that the primary response seems to be "what are the men going to do to fix it?" What exceptions are they going to make for women who don't have the time to go to conferences because of children or other obligations? How are men going to reach out and recruit women? How can men play nicer?

     Its a liberal profession so I'm sure there are plenty of men to acquiesce to such demands. My own response is simply "Grow up." It can be hard enough to be a mere techie but if you want to be one of the elite then the same rules apply to being an elite at anything. You devote the time and energy necessary to be exactly that, there is a lot less doling out of energy, and there is no waiting for invitations - you find where you know you need to be and you knock firmly on the door until they let you in. That's neither good or bad, just Life.

Sunday July 23, 2006

  (09:11 pm) re: Vacation

     I'm back. It was a great vacation but everything now hurts. I wasn't completely technology free. I'll talk more about that later. And I am further convinced that cell phones are evil. Israel hovered in the background, makes you appreciate what you have a lot more.

     I'm still catching up on stuff I've missed while away. Conservator has a rather chilling post. Annoyed is truly a gift to the profession. Rory and Jessamyn seem to be trying to whitewash ALA's political activities, even in Wikipedia. Hello? CIPA? Patriot Act? SPECTRUM? John Doe gets a ticker tape parade and Cuban librarians get crickets. Ah well... back to work.