Censorship by the State

I am really upset right now, because I just heard that a fellow library student has been required to take down his blog by his employer at the NY State Library. I do not know exactly the details, but I am pretty sure that they were unjustified in their request. His blog represented over a year's worth of work, and was a good mix of library and personal news. Apparently, his supervisor told him that it was unprofessional, and without argument, he complied with her request to delete the entire blog. Although I might not always have agreed with what he had to say, I am fairly certain that there was nothing on there that was any kind of bad reflection on the State Library.

I understand that he respects his supervisor, and chose to delete the blog rather than argue with her, but I wish he had argued. I think they were wrong to ask him to take it down, and I am interested to know exactly why they think they can tell him to stop.

More Dr. Horrible!

In case you missed it this summer - check out this Joss Whedon and friends project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The three 15-minute episodes tell the story of a wanna-be super villain played by Neil Patrick Harris, his nemesis, Captain Hammer, Corporate Tool, played by Nathan Fillion of Firefly, and Penny, the do-gooder woman Dr. Horrible loves, played by Felicia Day. I have watched it too many times to count, and have been unable to get the songs out of my head for weeks.

Luckily, now, I don't have to play the songs in my head if I want to hear them - because tomorrow, yes, TOMORROW, the Soundtrack for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog will be available on I-Tunes! So don't forget to check it out!

Books, Part 3

I have been reading like crazy this summer. I think I may have read the most books this summer compared to any other summer. Except the first summer I commuted to NYC - that 2 hour train ride (one way) allowed ALOT of reading.

This summer, I read the entire Twilight Saga (we'll come back to that), Fluke by Christopher Moore (we'll come back to that, too), The Eight by Katherine Neville (ok, I'm going to come back to all of them), Four To Score by Janet Evanovich, Final Theory by Mark Alpert, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Fables (Books 1 and 2) by Bill Willingham, Magyk by Angie Sage, and The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman.

Let's go backwards. The Ruby in the Smoke, a YA novel was good. The first in a trilogy of books about Sally Lockheart, set in Victorian England, this little mystery was a quick and fun read. The language and imagery was vivid and intelligent.

Magyk is the first book in the Septimus Heap Series. Another YA novel, this time a fantasy about a family of wizards who must protect their adopted Princess sister from an evil wizard who has to kill the Princess in order to rule the kingdom. Another entertaining story in an elaborately described world with magical spells and fantastic creatures. The only shortcoming to this story is the reader's inability to avoid Harry Potter comparisons. (Note to self - that might be an interesting future blog topic).

Fables is a series of graphic novels in which charaters and creatures from any and all fairy tales have been kicked out of their homelands and forced to live among the mortal humans of NYC. These are really fun, and I will definitely be reading more of them.

Coraline was actually pretty disappointing. I have read and heard such great things about Neil Gaiman, but I just couldn't get into this story. It was creative, and not badly written, but just did nothing for me. The girl in the story, Coraline, reminded me of Roald Dahl's Matilda, except without any of the sweet qualtities that make you love her. Coraline was just a flat character, as boring as she was bored.

Final Theory was a suspense novel that can only be described as the DaVinci Code a la Einstein. The story kicks off with the villain torturing an old man to almost to death in an attempt to discover a secret that Einstein had hidden long ago - the Holy Grail of Physics, the Theory of Everything. The old man dies, but only after he passes the key to the secret thory to a former student of his own. The villain AND the FBI want to find this student, and will stop at nothing to find him and Einstein's Theory. They set off on a nationwide manhunt, while the student tries to piece together Einstein's Theory of Everything, in the hope that it will save him, his family, and the world.

Four to Score is another book in the Stephanie Plum series, and a particularly satisfying installment. This series definitely warrants its own blog post, and I'll come back to it eventually.

The Eight is a long complicated mystery/thriller. This was actually my second time reading this book, which is rare for me. A few friends thought we should try a bookclub this summer, and I was first to choose the book. I wanted to pick one I had already read, so I knew it was good - and I picked The Eight. The story revolves around a legendary chess set and an elaborate chess game in which the players moving around the board from France to NYC to Algeria and England.

Fluke, Or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings, was a weird story. I kind of like Christopher Moore, and he could be the subject of his own post, probably after I read Lust Lizards of Melancholy Cove, which is coming up soon in the queue. I'll save more in depth discussion of this book for then. For now, let's just say Moore has a great imagination and a gift for character development.

The Twilight Saga. Ahhh... the Twilight Saga. This could definitely be an independent post, and I might still do that. The series was so much fun. I couldn't read the books fast enough. Then I realized that if I kept reading so fast, they would be over too soon, so I forced myself to slow down and savor them. Like many readers, I thought the last book in the series, Breaking Dawn, was way out there, but I still enjoyed it. Sure the characters (or author) made some choices that I wouldn't have, but it was still fun. Actually, I think its kind of funny - some fans were so enamored by the fantastic story of a love triangle among a teenage girl, a vampire, and a werewolf, but then were so outraged over the unrealistic turn the story took in the final book? Because the story was so grounded in realism right from the start? I really enjoyed these books - Edward Cullen was definitely the most swoon-worthy character I have read about in a long time, maybe ever. I'm a little embarassed to admit it, but I kind of can't wait for the movie to come out. I hope its good.

My apologies.

Wow! It has been far too long since the last post on this blog, and I promise I'll do better from now on. Things got pretty busy at the end of last semester, and then even busier when the semester ended. I'm hoping that this fall semester will be a little less busy. Although, we'll see about that, since I'm attempting to finish my Master's by December.

Should librarians respect the privacy of child porn users?

This California librarian lost her job because she didn't; instead she reported to the police a patron who was using the library internet to look at child pornography. In this case, there was clear illegal action going on, and it doesn't sound like there was any policy requiring her to protect the patron's privacy. It seems she was fired because her supervisor had told her only to make a note on the patron's account and ask him to stop; calling the police was beyond her job description.

In one of my classes we recently had a discussion about a similar case where a woman was fired from her insurance company job after reporting an unusually high number of accident claims for a child to a child abuse hotline.

The insurance company case spurs some great discussion - because you have to balance the potential danger to a child with protecting private information. Insurance companies have access to a ton of information about you, and what if they were to allow their employees to ignore the security policies and start calling the police everytime they suspect something fishy? But how can you fault a woman who is just trying to protect a child? This is why entities that deal with people and information must have strict policies regarding treatment of private information.

But what about that librarian in CA... she wasn't the steward of any private information - she was just reporting what she saw in a public place. Should it matter that she worked there? Are there other factors that I am missing? Something just seems wrong.

UPDATE: Apperently I was missing something, like there is always more to the story!

Hudson River Valley Heritage

For my job lately, I have been doing alot of searching for online digital collections by New York Libraries. One of the best sites was developed by the Southeastern Library Resources Council and is Hudson River Valley Heritage. Its a great example of digital searchable archives, and there's lots of neat things. My favorites are the old postcards and maps. I looked for an old map of the area where I grew up, amd my town isn't even on it! Some of the surrounding towns are, and even some of the really old streets are labeled. It's kind of neat to imagine what the town might have looked so long ago, maybe just a couple of dirt roads some farms? Or more likely just woods...

Books, Part 2

When I came across The Gunseller, by Hugh Laurie, I decided to give it a try, since I like Hugh Laurie. House, M.D. is one of my favorite shows, and I have laughed at some Jeeves and Wooster. I did not expect too much, and was pleasantly surprised with the first half of the novel - it was readable, witty and interesting. Unfortunately, the plot took a few twists and then lept forward with little explanation, and I was left behind not understanding what happened. I kept reading, hoping this was a style choice and the explanation would come, but it didn't. The motivation behind the choices the main character made is left for the reader to determine, but I don't think we know enough about the character to make those determinations. It's almost like the 2 halves of the book are 2 diiferent stories, both enjoyable on their own, but only loosely tied together.