Tonight: Davy & Peter Rothbart, the FOUND Magazine guys, speak at the Firehouse Theater.

And in honor of the program, two found items on computer-side scrap paper:

Id psy101
pas Freud


ZACH
3:1-7

Things I Observed in Pittsburgh

• Man-clogs are very popular there.
• Flip-flops are as ubiquitous as here. Some people think they are okay apparel for a wedding.
  
• Major league cities take their major league teams seriously, and so citizens talk sports way more than in my minor league town.
• Some people don't get that others' faiths are important to said others and distinct from that of said Some People.
  

Also Note: Mitch has posted wedding pix that a couple of us took using her camera this weekend.

On the Muzak at Ukrop's: "Come Dancing" (Kinks).

One of my early history geeking-out moments was in the periodicals stacks of the library at Mount Holyoke: the neatly-bound complete run of The New Yorker took my breath away. So much good writing! So much history to glean from the ads! So much to consider in terms of what was included and what was not!

Now, it seems, I can have the intellectual experience and content in digital form. But what of the tactile experience? I wonder if old magazines are as wonderful without the smell of old paper? (Thanks to PF - who also takes my breath away - for the link.)

In other news, Mitch's wedding is this weekend!

Very interesting article on Katrina and social psychological issues such as misperceived risk, hindsight bias, and blaming the victim -- here (University of Richmond).

Haiku, anyone?

Scrap Poetry 2

LAMAR213
1 517 3


FOR RUNeSCAPe

Also:
Happy 4th Birthday NP! No official celebration . . . just the destruction of the jigsaw puzzles rack, some running around by a four-year-old, a J paperback book scavenger hunt, a good question a about hiking books, an odd question about a book on tools, and a fav clueless computer user.

LibraryThing | Catalog your books online -- interesting site, from Steph S. Barrie was glad to see the use of Z39.50 tagging.

One of the most important books I ever read was a collection of John McPhee pieces called The Control of Nature. The New Yorker has posted "Atchafalaya," here. It's about why building levees just invites trouble later on.

Poetry

Often, the scrap paper abandoned by patrons leans to the poetic. One scrap is at home, awaiting posting; here's today's [as found with capitals, etc.]:

shape change
BiRDARAIVG
starbolt
sonic Boom
TeLEKINESIS

Random compliment, from picking up the Library Answer Line, while at TU yesterday: "Thank you, you're really on the ball."

In library school, we explored the reference interview. We read about understanding gaps to be bridged and phases of inquiry. We practiced using open-ended questions and statements such as, "Tell me more about what you mean by 19th century mountain lions." We addressed the fact that people with questions don't always know what the question is, themselves, as when a school paper topic is too broad or vague. But I do not remember practicing how to deal with people who, perhaps, are trying to be evasive, as the woman with the movie in this Libraries for Dummies post. Or people who are just not very articulate, whether for lack of education, shyness, or mental disability. Yesterday, we had a patron treat at least two of us to a long, complicated tirade -- complete with digressions into the family situation -- that seemed to boil down to this: Someone in the household put book x on hold; the message that it was at NP didn't get passed along; is it back on the regular shelf now so I can check it out? Why yes, yes it is. Only, of course, the online catalog said "on shelf," but really, it was on a cart in back waiting to be shelved.