Celebrating Ada Lovelace

I lose some lady geek cred points here for not being up on this, hence coming to the Ada Lovelace Day party a day late. Sigh. Next year, I promise, although choosing just one tech-savvy woman to write about is going to be a major, major challenge!

(Who was Ada? Well, go forth and find out! Awesome lady, awesome skills, and way ahead of her time.)

I'm a Shover and Maker!

Thank you, thank you, to the Library Society of the World and the First Annual Shovers and Makers Awards. I'm honored and humbled. (Well, ok, one out of two ain't bad.) I would like to recommend you visit the main award site and read about my co-awardees - we're an amazing bunch of people!

Oh, good grief.

Found via the ever-fabulous Lipstick Librarian: "Check out a demo of an iPhone application that tells people around you to shut up when you deem them too noisy. Want to guess the name of the app?"

Heaven Forbid We Pay Them Their Worth

Ok, be warned, this one brings out the snark in me. On March 7th over on "The Daily Beast", Barbara Goldsmith has written a pointed article titled "Jennifer Aniston's $50K Hairstyle vs. Librarian Pensions." Go read it now (I'll wait), and if you're not annoyed afterward, well, you should be. These folks worked hard for decades in high-level positions in one of the most expensive cities in the nation, and now they're being harassed for their retirement? For shame! (Be sure to read through the comments, too - an interesting discussion went on there, too.)

"All this leads to the greater question of why teachers, librarians, scholars, and such—the very people who hold our present and future education and self-worth in their hands—are so undervalued?" Yes! Why is it the folks who hold the keys to the kingdom IMHO - the teachers and the librarians - are the ones who get kicked, cut, slammed, and shoved aside? ARRGH!

(Yes, this is a sore spot for me. It always has been.)

Internet Librarian Call for Speakers

I know I'm late out of the gate, but you still have ten days to submit a proposal to Internet Librarian for the 2009 conference, "Net Initiatives For Tough Times: Digital Publishing, Preservation & Practices." You know you want to!

What do you wish everyone knew about librarians?

Check out the winning essay and runners-up of the "What I Wish Everyone Knew About Librarians" contest from Smart Poodle Publishing. There's some interesting and thought-provoking things in here; I'm glad they made them available to read.

"We call it Book."

Penny Arcade for the win once more!

Nancy Pearl scores again!

Over on Cleveland.com, book editor Karen Long has a short interview with the one and only Nancy Pearl, who was in Cleveland moderating a panel of "Young Literary Lions". Of course, the Librarian Action Figure comes up!

Librarians + Rock Band = Trouble

Coolest librarians EVER in trouble for playing Rock Band
"Imagine, if you will, that you have entered a library. Imagine further that a librarian approaches and, upon meeting you, asks, "Would you like to play Rock Band?" Would you think that this librarian was A) the greatest librarian in the history of librarians or B) wasting taxpayer money?" Sadly, some Nebraska folks chose B...

Find out what happened - and watch the incriminating video - over at Joystiq.