the pod bay door

:: Randy Cohen writes perhaps my favorite column, The Ethicist (ID and PW: podbay), for the NYTimes Magazine. He is the author of The Good, The Bad & The Difference: How to Tell Right From Wrong in Everyday Situations. In the Sept 7, 2003, issue of the NYTimes Magazine, he responded to a question from a high school student regarding the use of online resources at a university attended by her brother, by using his password to gain access. I work at a university with a large number of online resources, and wonder how often this happens, since we are unable to patrol who actually is using passwords when off campus. Here is the question and Cohen’s response:
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:: Well, I am proud, actually, but lately, my profession is doing what it can to make itself look, er, stoopid. First comes the librarian action figure, in which the action involves telling you to, basically, shut up. (Other superhero action figures save the world – our action figure tells you to stop talking.) Now comes word that OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center, is suing The Library Hotel in NYC for using the Dewey Decimal System as its theme. The Library Hotel divides each of its floors according to the DDC, meaning that each floor and room on that floor is dedicated to a specific subject in the classification.

OCLC owns the rights to the DDC, is concerned that people visiting the web site might think the hotel is connected with the owner of the classification system. From the hotel’s website:

Most library users know the general structure of Melvil Dewey’s decimal classification. First published in 1876, the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) divides knowledge into ten main classes, with further subdivisions. More than 200,000 libraries in 135 countries use the DDC to organize their book collections. Its simple and logical framework is based on the principle of decimal fractions as class marks, which are expandable to make further subdivisions.

The Library Hotel in New York City is the first hotel ever to offer its guest over 6,000 volumes organized throughout the hotel by the DDC. Each of the 10 guestrooms floors honors one of the 10 categories of the DDC and each of the 60 rooms is uniquely adorned with a collection of books and art exploring a distinctive topic within the category or floor it belongs to.

OCLC must see this explanation as a threat to the integrity of the DDC. Sheesh. Apparently OCLC is willing to settle with the hotel’s owners, according to its lawyers. I hope this happens quickly, so that OCLC can go back to its own business and end this nonsense. Interesting that there is no mention of this lawsuit on OCLC’s web site. I wonder why suing the Library Hotel is important to OCLC, but not important enough to merit one of OCLC’s press releases. (Thanks, Derryl.)

:: The stereotypical image of my profession has been reinforced with the debut of a doll wearing sensible shoes, a long, dull dress, and a cardigan sweater, and a moveable arm that “shushes” you. In July, Nancy Pearl, the librarian after whom the doll is based, advised the rest of us in the profession that how we would react to it would be based on how secure we are in our own work:

Pearl predicts that the shushing motion, triggered by a button on the doll’s back, will determine “which librarians have a sense of humor.” She likes to believe that today’s librarians are secure enough in their work that they won’t take offense at the old cliché.

Well, there ya’ be! Count me as one of those lib’arians who thinks the doll is, well, stoopid. I guess after 25 years of shushing, I’m still insecure. I want my mommy! Perhaps the most annoying thing is the idea that if you don’t think the doll is funny, or, as Pearl puts it, “…a lovely idea and a lovely tribute to my chosen profession“, then as a librarian, you don’t have a sense of humour. What a crock of hooey.

A better model might have been the Librarian Avenger. Look it up, baby!
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Do you own a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)? I don’t, but have been thinking about it for some time. Yet technology seems to move faster than one can keep up in the 21st century. Ephraim Schwartz, editor at large at Infoworld writes that General Motors believes the time may be approaching for you to get rid of your PDA.

General Motors announced last week that it will partner with wireless carrier Nextel to use Nextel’s Motorola cell phones with data capabilities to market a field-force management application to its commercial truck fleet customers. The announcement casts a shadow over the future of handheld devices in the business marketplace.

By selecting a cellular phone, GM in essence said no to Palm, HP, and Microsoft.

IT departments should consider the reasoning behind GM’s decision before recommending a handheld solution of their own.

The technology includes GPS, Java, and push-to-talk, and in tandem with ease of use, it becomes hard to chose a handheld over a handset. Cell phones are also considerably cheaper than PDAs.

Can someone slow technology down for just a few minutes, please? (From: Roland Piquepaille’s Technology Trends)

:: From the Boston Globe comes this report on the Iraq National Library: ” Contrary to widespread belief, the antique books of Iraq’s National Library were not stolen by thieves last month but were removed for safe keeping by self-appointed guardians of Iraq’s cultural heritage.” (Thanks, Derryl.)

In my previous entry, I lamented cynically about the chances of the Province increasing funding to libraries in Alberta. I learned this morning, via a colleague, that this in fact is happening. At the recent Alberta Library Conference, the Minister of Community Development noted that this funding increase was just the start. This is good news, and is encouraging to know the government is seeing value in its investment in local libraries and library systems in Alberta.