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12-21-04: it's happening again

OK, so I already did this back in April, but if it was fun once, it must be even more fun the second time, right?

  1. Grab the nearest book.
  2. Open the book to page 123.
  3. Find the fifth sentence.
  4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
  5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

"The number of children, whether included linearly or as a spline, was insignificant." The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History, 1880-1990 by Dora L. Costa

[this time via Thought Balloons]

Oh, and a very happy first day of winter to you all!

12-17-04: fines, fines, everywhere I go

Ohio News Network reports that more libraries are turning to collection agencies to collection overdue fines and items (Libraries turn to collection agencies for overdue books). I'm glad at least to hear that the libraries mentioned in this article are concerned with being nice to their delinquent patrons while satisfying their commitment to taxpayers to keep costs down and materials available. And I hope they listen to Ron Wukeson's suggestion:

Ron Wukeson, 48, who lives next to a Dayton Metro branch, said he has no problem with libraries turning to collection agencies, as long as they first give patrons a chance to make good on their own.
"Libraries are such a wonderful bargain in the first place," said Wukeson, whose library fines have never totaled more than $1. "I don't think that should be abused."

The thing that ticked me off about Blockbuster was that they turned my fees over to a collection agency without ever giving me a chance to settle in person, locally, without paying an extra collection agency fee. [via Library Link of the Day]

12-15-04: no more late fees

Blockbuster announced that it is putting an end to late fees on video rentals (Blockbuster plans end to late fees on rentals, Centre Daily Times, 12/15/04). Hooray, right?

Well, I, for one, still won't rent movies from Blockbuster. I'd never been particularly fond of the chain - mainly because I find the selection boring - but I don't think they are replacing the late fees with anything better. Now, instead of a late fee, they're just going to charge you the price of the item. Of course, you can get it refunded when you finally bring back the movie (minus a "restocking fee"), but I still don't like it. Maybe I'm not your typical consumer, but I don't have a problem with paying for an extra rental when I keep a movie too long. I figure it's only fair that if I keep the movie for 10 days instead of 5, I pay for 10.

The other reason I don't go to Blockbuster is that when I did have late fees, which I didn't mind paying, they sent the fees to a collection agency. A whopping $16, for movies which I had returned, and this only weeks after the fees were incurred. I just hadn't been back to Blockbuster to rent a movie (because of the aforementioned lack of selection) so I hadn't paid the fee yet.

And why am I posting about this, you might ask? Well, I'm sure libraries can take something from this. Blockbuster, like libraries, is feeling threatened by online resources (in this case, Netflix) and big stores (Best Buy and Wal-Mart). So it changes the way it does business to try to get customers back. But I don't think it's taking the right tactic.

Why do I go to the library instead of looking online or going to Barnes & Noble? Because I want something that is out-of-print or hard-to-find. Or because I want to see if I like something, and would rather borrow it than shell out $25 or so to buy it. Because I can go to the library and get something now, rather than waiting to have it shipped to my house. Because I can browse a varied selection.

Bottom line: libraries (and video rental chains) have to offer something either different or better than their competition if they want to stay in demand. Will getting rid of icky fee collection tactics help bring disenfranchised customers back? Maybe. Will offering what the people want bring them in? Very likely.

Now I'm off to Hollywood Video to peruse their growing selection of foreign movies. Or perhaps the old sci-fi movies lingering in VHS. Or maybe a low-budget direct-to-video piece of trash. And I'm hoping that Blockbuster doesn't buy up Hollywood Video. The lack of a good independent video outlet in this town is bad enough, but to have all video outlets controlled by Blockbuster would be even worse.

On the bright side, I'd probably save a bunch in late fees. Because I wouldn't rent nearly as many movies.

12-10-04: more blogging in the classroom

Today I found another resource on using blogs in teaching, Weblogs in the Classroom, a presentation by Amanda Etches-Johnson at McMaster.

12-2-04: blogging in the classroom

This post is for my father, who asked me for information about using blogs in college courses.

Scott Carlson, "Weblogs Come to the Classroom," The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 23, 2003. (Available online to subscribers.)

The University of Minnesota Libraries has made blogs available to students, faculty, and staff through UThink: Blogs at the University Libraries. Ways to Use Blogs provides some examples of courses using blogs.

Since my dad specifically asked about Blogger, I did a Google search to look for examples of courses using Blogger:

That's all I have for now. I'm certainly no expert on blogging, but I'll post more on this as I run across items of interest. I'm especially keen on examples of university libraries taking the initiative to make blogs available on their campuses.

12-1-04: blogging

A little while ago, someone emailed me to ask how I set this blog up. So I thought I'd post my reply, in case anyone else wants to know.

The diy librarian site resides on a Penn State server designated for personal web pages. I set it up here because it's free, and I initially wasn't sure how much I wanted to invest in this site. Eventually, I hope to move the site to server space where I will be allowed to use my own domain name. I've been doing this for about a year and a half now, and I've decided it's worth the time and money to maintain.

I hand code everything using the UNIX vi text editor, including the RSS feed. I do this partially because installing blogging software on a Penn State server seemed like it was going to be a hassle, and partly because, well, that would be the DIY thing to do, wouldn't it?

I've found my coding gets faster and faster the more I do it, and I've learned all kinds of copying tricks in vi that make it even faster. Plus, I pride myself on my typing skills and this helps me keep them up. My original plan was to migrate to blogging software at some point, but now I'm not sure I'll do that. Sure, it would make posting easier, but part of me thinks the work involved in posting (writing the entry on the monthly archive page, copying it onto the main index page, and converting it to RSS; uploading the pages to the web server; and then checking the HTML pages and validating the RSS feed) is a good thing. It makes me think, "Is this really worth posting? Am I adding anything new or just rehashing something that's already made the blogosphere rounds? Do I really want to say this in public? Am I being offensive or invading someone's privacy?"

I've learned a lot from other web sites during this process. Here are a few I rely heavily on: