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Happy Birthday, Abby! As if everything beautiful I had ever experienced in my life was simply a prelude to you. We love you madly.

Merry Christmas, James

A sad way to start our Christmas morning. Truly the Godfather of Soul and the Master of Funk. When I bought my first James Brown album the man working the counter of the record store rang a special funk bell that chimed throughout the store. "Gotta ring the funk bell," he told me.

ATLANTA -- James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.

Christmas Wrapping

I’m envious of the Amazon gifts that arrived the other day. They’re so perfectly wrapped- so taut and crisp. And inspiring. I want to wrap like that. But I wrap like a 5 year old. My folds start convincingly enough only to lose their delicate symmetry when I bring them together. Tape is amply employed but this seems only to make matters worse. The end result looks rumpled and hungover.

We’re off to Naperville to spend Christmas with Cathy’s family. 48 people coming over tomorrow and more then a third of them under the age of 7 with at least two of them younger then Abby. Here’s a picture of the peanut decked out in Santa garb picked out my her Grammy Lou and looking typically impish. Merry Christmas!

Libraries Are Doing It For Themselves

This past semester I was happy to read about an exciting, nascent movement afoot in the library world called Library 2.0. There isn’t a succinct definition for it (it’s been called a “collective of ideas”) but as Michael Stephens, who writes about Library 2.0 issues on his blog, TametheWeb, nicely put it:

Library 2.0 simply means making your library’s space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and collaborative photo sites. The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives…to make the library a destination and not an afterthought.

So, given the caveat that Library 2.0 is a nebulous term and that I only first came to know about it in September, I've come to understand it as a set of tools, most of them revolving around social technologies, that bring libraries into a much needed alignment with the kinds of Web applications and services most of its patrons are already using and benefiting from everyday. Of course, those advocating for Library 2.0 the most are always quick to jump in and say that it’s about more then just technology, that it’s an attitude or readjustment in the library world, one that’s attempting to move the profession away from stagnant traditionalist ways of thinking and toward fresh new ideas. That relevancy thing-- it's something that creeps up in all my classes, right after we discuss how libraries are in crisis.

One of the impediments to integrating these new attitudes according to Library 2.0 advocates, especially at the technological level, are library vendors, those companies who provide stuff like the databases and on-line subscription services. John Blyberg, probably my favorite of the small, committed band of Library 2.0 apostles, wrote that these vendors “literally determine what we can and cannot do with our systems.” Vendors and their services are, according to Blyberg, too slow, too patronizing and too prohibitive. They don’t make it easy for libraries to get into the guts of their systems, screw around with them and adopt them to their current needs. Instead, too many libraries sit around waiting and hoping that the vendors will eventually respond.

That being said, some libraries, frustrated by the limitations and high costs of commercial vendors, are taking matters into their own hands.

About three years ago, the Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) looked for a new integrated library system (ILS) to serve its large consortial group of libraries across the state and found its needs frustrated by the commercial ILS market. This September 5, it debuted a new library system and catalog. Evergreen was developed by a small in-house team using open source technologies, at significantly lower cost than the commercial options that were available. This strategy has proven dramatically more flexible in meeting the needs of GPLS, and the new system has been welcomed by librarians and patrons alike.

But best of all, this:

Among Evergreen’s characteristics is spell-checking of search terms with suggested alternates, much like Google’s suggestions when you misspell a word.

Catalog spell-checking, where have you been all my life?

(Thanks to Joe for the link to the Library Journal article.)

Cassa Dei Bambini

My siblings and I were all products of Montessori schooling. At least for a year or two before beginning kindergarten. I don’t remember much about my own Montessori experience other then performing “I’m a Little Teapot” (I particularly recall the joy of singing and pantomiming “tip me over and pour me out!”) and “Frere Jacques” with great verve. I was reminded of all this tonight when a guest in my library management class told us that she believed the way she learns was hardwired by her own early childhood Montessori experience. The Montessori method has been around for a while though I know little about it other then the basics that it eschews the more traditional measurements of achievement in favor of allowing children to explore and learn individually at their own speed. The teachers are there, I suppose, to watch, learn and accommodate each child’s separate learning/exploring path. Right? Oh, I wish I had more time to read. Surely modern educators have studied the Montessori method and come up with some interesting findings concerning its validity, no?

The semester is almost over. One more assignment due next Wednesday that will have me under its cloud most of this weekend. After that we can concentrate on ‘o tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. This will probably include Baileys on the rocks. It definitely will. Oh, yes. It’s been a very busy time for both Cathy and I over the last few months and we’re both looking forward to slowing things down and enjoying Abby’s last couple weeks of nought.