Sometimes a mug is just a mug

I have two blue travel mugs, both conference giveaways. One is from the NLM and the other is from the CHN.
The NLM mug stinks. I hate to say it, but it has never sealed tightly. It leaks soffee subtly down one’s front while you’re sitting in a meeting trying to be professional.
The CHN mug, on [...]

Canadian info policy current events: copyright consultation in particular

Wow, there is so much stuff going on with the Canadian federal govt right now, it’s dizzying.  I wonder why this is all taking place in summertime?  Anyone know?
First of all, I don’t have time at the moment to write a long post about it, but Michael Geist has a nice summary of the CRTC’s [...]

My favouritest comment yet!

Hey, on one of my old posts here I got a new comment the other day in which I was called a “Marxist psychopath feminist”!
That’s almost as good as radical militant librarian.
I feel oddly honoured.
-Greyson

Canadian Net Neutrality Consultation

For people who found this page while looking for info on April’s CRTC  “traffic shaping” consultation, go here.
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The CRTC’s “traffic management” (throttling) consultation is accepting comments from interested individuals right now.
This is the “Net Neutrality” consultation we’ve been waiting for. Many of us have asked the CRTC to hold this public consultation and it is [...]

Anti-ethnic penguin update

I have received a reply to my query about the “anti-ethnic” allegations against “And Tango Makes Three” (for background see previous post on the topic).
The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom was kind enough to explain to me that the OIF compiles their reports based on both newspaper reports of book challenges and the forms people [...]

From Educator to Organizer?

On his Embedded Librarian blog, David Shumaker recently mused about the difference between working as partners with our faculty/clients/users/populations/patrons and working to serve them. Shumaker is a former corporate librarian who now researches embedded librarianship, and his brief thoughts on moving from a one-way relationship of service to client (the “information waitress” model of librarianship) [...]

On saying “no” (or at least “no, but”)

Like so many of you, I have taken on too much. *sigh*
Like many librarians, I’m a pleaser.  I want to say “yes.” Oh, I may buck at authority structures, but really, I want to make the world a better place and everyone’s day brighter. (Obviously, unlike some bloggers, I have never been accused of being [...]

Sucked into teacher-librarian advocacy, part I

I’m feeling terrible bad-blogger guilt at the close of this autumn, for not having posted as much as I intended.  Oh, if only you could see the many drafts I have written, but haven’t had the time to polish enough to feel confident putting out there for the world!  Typical blogger’s lament, I know.  I’m [...]

Making sense of DRM

Here’s a confession: I don’t really ‘get’ DRM. I mean, I can describe what it is, talk about related legislation, and discuss its impacts on intellectual property law and practice, but I don’t really know the extent to which it’s present in my life.
I’m one of those people who total non-techies think is a real [...]

Border guards & free speech – In which I side with the homophobes?

On my bus the other day I overheard a couple chatting about last month’s incident in which USAmerican fundamentalist Christian protesters from the Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) in Kansas were turned away at the Canadian border, and it got me thinking.
I’m no fan of the congregation, or its founder Fred Phelps.  They invite you [...]