"I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night," a grinning Xinos says Wednesday, as he invites me for a nearly two-hour interview in his Mercedes-Benz in the gated Oak Brook community where he lives. "This is the real world and the lesson, you folks who brought your kids here, is if you want something, pay for it." [more inside]
posted by ignignokt on Oct 8, 2009 - 114 comments

Miss Information. The desperate life of a tormented library clerk.
posted by The Card Cheat on Aug 6, 2009 - 24 comments

This site deserves to rank with this site and this one. [more inside]
posted by bad grammar on Jul 8, 2009 - 18 comments

What the Hashtag?! is a Twitter wiki (a twiki?) that explains most of those inscrutable acronyms and helps users find the sweetest tweets on any given topic. If you set up the TwitterBot, you can investigate hashtags on the fly. For other topics, though, you may wish to tweet your local librarian.
posted by GrammarMoses on Mar 14, 2009 - 46 comments

YouTubeFilter: The Monty Python Channel: "No more of those crap quality videos you've been posting. We're giving you the real thing - HQ videos delivered straight from our vault." l a feast of vids 70 Signs of Intelligent Life at YouTube ( Smart Video Collections) l Book TV on YouTube l Computer History Museum on YT l 100 Awesome Youtube Vids for Librarians l Top 5 Most Inspirational Videos on YouTube l Top 10 Amazing Animal Videos l Top 10 YouTube Hacks l a couple of good YT member collections: TEDTalksDirector's YT vids and Basic Computer HowTo by Help Me Rick on YT l Amazing YouTube Video Tools Collection l Is YouTube the Next Google?
posted by nickyskye on Nov 19, 2008 - 23 comments

Uncle Bobby's Wedding: A librarian's rebuttal to a book removal/relocation request involving a children's title dealing with gay marriage. Via MyLiBlog.
posted by rollbiz on Jul 30, 2008 - 86 comments

Steve Cisler - first Internet librarian died on May 15th. "Steve was a unique intellectual populist. I believe his driving force was to put the power of computing resources, and the ability to communicate with same, into the hands of all who could benefit" Librarians, techies, activists and the unconnected alike will miss him terribly. This tribute from Ted Byfield went out to the nettime mailing list. A more official obit from the Mercury News "Steve Knew A Lot About A Lot". If you knew Steve you can post memories of him here or here. [cite for thread title]
posted by jessamyn on May 29, 2008 - 5 comments

An associate professor and former librarian is collecting education copyright infringement cases in a database. [more inside]
posted by starman on Mar 27, 2008 - 15 comments

"Dear Miss Breed..." the letters begin. Clara Estelle Breed was the children's librarian at the San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. When her young Japanese American patrons and their families were forced into relocation camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942, Miss Breed became their penpal and their lifeline, sending them books and supplies, assisting with various requests, and "serving as a reminder of the possibility for decency and justice in a troubled world." [more inside]
posted by amyms on Dec 1, 2007 - 10 comments

March of the librarians: "Twice a year, tens of thousands of librarians make a trek across the United States to a meeting of the ALA. How they know to congregate in the same spot, no one knows. They come to learn, to network, to collect free stuff, and possibly to mate." (YouTube)
posted by Orb on Aug 28, 2007 - 30 comments

Jess does Ubuntu! I know nothing about Ubuntu, but Metafilter's own jessamyn has inspired me to try this on my old PC before I donate it to a friend. (via)
posted by ObscureReferenceMan on May 8, 2007 - 75 comments

Librarians vs. Nuns in a caged death match! (video) (Did I say "caged death match"? I meant "Spelling Bee".)
posted by 445supermag on Mar 10, 2006 - 10 comments

Rules For the Library - Satirical relief for those who suffer or have suffered under an oppressive, Orwellian library atmosphere:

1) There will be absolutely no reading of any kind in the library.
...
2) No breathing in the library.
...
3) No walking or moving in the library.
...
posted by nervestaple on Apr 26, 2005 - 69 comments

Hugh McIntyre has died. The retired librarian was the bass player for The Nihilist Spasm Band, widely considered the first noise band. Started in 1965, the band operated way underground for most of their career, but achieved no small notoriety in the 90s, ran their own noise festival for a few years, had a great documentary made about them, and jammed with REM (!) about a month ago. My favourite memory of Hugh would be watching him time noise improvs with his stopwatch to make sure they weren't too long. RIP big man.
posted by stinkycheese on Dec 9, 2004 - 7 comments

Georges Bataille. Librarian, surrealist, archivist, writer of works on subjects ranging from economics to the erotic. Father of the notion of transgression as a positive force. Frequently name checked and sometimes very confusing. And at this festive time of year, we may also remember his ideas on the gift.
posted by stinkycheese on Dec 7, 2004 - 6 comments

Toronto librarian accused of being wanted Panther More info [1] [2][3][4]
posted by srboisvert on Jul 29, 2004 - 21 comments

With Amazing Push-Button Shushing Action the librarian action figure is coming this fall. Not surprisingly, some people aren't too keen on it.
posted by mr_crash_davis on Sep 7, 2003 - 23 comments

Help celebrate National Underappreciated Librarian Month Nominate your favorite librarian for The New York Times 2003 Librarian Awards. "The New York Times has long been committed to fostering literacy and building awareness of issues important to society. We are proud to support and honor public librarians across the nation, who do so much to nurture a better-informed society.
The awards honor those librarian[s] who consistently demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism, knowledge and public service in the execution of their duties."
Read the Eligibility and Rules download the Nomination Form and nominate Someone today!
posted by Blake on May 14, 2003 - 7 comments

Ask A Librarian. The Library of Congress's answer to Google Answers.
posted by skwm on Oct 20, 2002 - 9 comments

Check Out This Librarian There's more to being a librarian than just stamping books and telling people to Shush. The Washington Post has a little Q&A with Jim Gates who has been librarian at the Hall of Fame Library for seven years.
Just in case you think all librarians are little old ladies, you might want to check out This Ad for Mack's Earplugs, it features a lovely librarian, who is also a World Champion Masters Triathelete. Of course, our own Jessamyn has been saying this kind of thing for years now.
After all, The Web Didn't Kill Libraries. It's the New Draw.
Now shush!
posted by Blake on Aug 4, 2002 - 27 comments

The Burning of the Books Maybe it's only some primitive communications on paper, but still it's a shame.
posted by phartizan on Mar 9, 2002 - 16 comments

"The NewsInsider - Daily source for under-reported news and analysis" is even better than its name! Hit "global links" for country-by-country listings of news agencies, alternative press outlets, policy-related publications, and selected newspapers. Conservatives, your official .gov World News Connection is "down for maintenance." What gives? For news in all formats, including broadcasts and webcasts, hit Gary Price's List of Lists, the unofficial front page for the web. Top portals for subject-related info and in-depth fact checking are SLA Toronto and the Librarian's Index to the Internet.
posted by sheauga on Feb 2, 2002 - 7 comments