“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
--Audre Lorde
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“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
--Audre Lorde
This has been going around everywhere, but I thought I'd share it here too: Woody Guthrie's 1942 resolutions. We made a big list of all of the good things from 2011 and I have a few goals for 2012, but I can't really top this.
I didn't meet my goal for increasing the overall number of books in 2011. I'd set it high, at 65. But I did read one more book than I had in the last two years--52 instead of 51--and this year was also a LARGE book year: the number of pages that goodreads tells me I read in 2011 vastly outnumbers any previous year in which I kept track.
Most of the books on the list that aren't novels are because of grad school. There were also a number of books I am still half way through (a lot of cyberculture and ebook-related things) that I suspect I'll finish in 2012, and two huge novels I just started (Moby Dick and 1Q84).
Anyhow, here's the list! Especially recommended books are starred as usual. Happy 2012!
The Borough is My Library: A Metropolitan Library Workers Zine, Issue 3, December 2011
It took me a little longer this year, but here are all of the details about The Borough is My Library/the Biblioball zine for 2011!!
Copies available on a sliding scale $4 – $7. All profits go to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. Get issues 1 & 2 online here. Issues available free of charge for zine libraries.
*If you would like to order a copy via the mail email alycia(at)brokenja(dot)ws for mailing address and further details, or to get a quote for additional shipping costs for international orders.
This year's issue features more about a few projects I've been working on and have been inspired by.
Contents include:
This issue also has an authentic cloth taped spine, LC call number classification, and found book pages.
I gave a short talk at the CUNY IT Conference on December 9 and thought I would share the slides I made here. There are more notes about the panel I was a part of at the Open Access @ CUNY blog (Prof. Jill Cirasella's presentation is especially useful for those interested in the practicalities of OA publishing). We had excellent conversations with other CUNY folks at the conference, and it was great to get a chance to talk OA with a wide array of CUNY colleagues.
Just a note that the Film Forum is screening Andrzej Zulawski’s POSSESSION, a Bleeding Light Film Group release, and Anthology Film Archives will be having a Anarchism on Film series later this month--if you happen to catch any of these, let me know what you think!
I'm delighted to yet again be a (small) part of the Desk Set Biblioball! Come out and support Literacy for Incarcerated Teens and pick up a copy of the soon-to-be-released The Borough is My Library: A Metropolitan Library Workers Zine, #3!
092 306.76 ǂb Q
110 2 Que(e)ry (Organization)
245 10 Que(e)ry V : ǂb open access / ǂc curated by the Que(e)ry Librarians.
260 New York, N.Y. : ǂb The Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher St.), ǂc Saturday, November 19, 2011.
300 1 dance party (9:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m.)
521 For queer librarians and those who love them ; everyone welcome (21+).
511 0 DJ MARC Records; DJ Sirlinda ; DJ Emoticon.
505 0 Queer Zines — Gay-A$$ Raffle — Nerdy Gogos — Queer-Lit Drinks.
536 $5-10 suggested donation, Benefiting the Queer Zine Archive Project.
650 0 Librarians, Queer ǂx Friends and associates ǂv Congresses.
710 2 Queer Zine Archive Project, ǂe dedicatee.
710 2 Desk Set (Organization), ǂe cohost.
856 42 ǂu http://queeryparty.tumblr.com/
No library can be safely stored when it has been removed from its librarians by force in the middle of the night.
No library is being safely stored when it is kept from its readers.
Just a short note here about the talk that I attended yesterday that the CUNY Digital Humanities Initiative put on featuring Ben Vershbow of NYPL Labs: This was one of the most inspiring library-related talks I've been to in a long time. Maybe it was due to the fact that at Pratt I spent a lot of time pulling out print Sanborn maps for architecture students and puzzling over their layout and metadata that I was utterly amazed by the Map Warper project, or that I had just last summer had a discussion with Jim Danky about how important it would be if libraries would collect menus that I love the public collaborative What's on the Menu transcription project. But I suspect that even without these personal experiences, I would have been wowed by what they're up to at NYPL. It's great that they are working to share special collections in such useful ways for New Yorkers and the world. Hooray!
You can keep up with NYPL Labs at their blog, and a recording of the talk has been posted at CUNY DHI (a group who also continually impresses me).
I just found out today that the old Kardex files that I used to use at the Wisconsin Historical Society are being retired (and all the thousands of serial titles from the Newspapers and Periodicals department are now in MadCat). This system was used at the WHS for more than 40 years, just a few of which I got to spend with James Danky and Tina Enemuoh and a handful of student workers in room 225, typewriters clacking away, even as recently as 2006.
It's Open Access Week, and so far 2011 has impressed me. From Barbara Fister's reveal of what journals are costing her library (going against nondisclosure agreements), to Maura Smale's Open Access Pledge.
I'm joining Maura and Barbara and many other colleagues who are celebrating Open Access this week.
At Maura's recommendation, I signed the Open Access Pledge. I also think that Maura's new publishing pledge is fantastic. I would like to use it as my own from here on out:
What is Open Access? As someone who has struggled with variances in OA definitions, I believe that the Berlin Declaration captures OA in the clearest manner:
Open access contributions must satisfy two conditions:
The author(s) and right holder(s) of such contributions grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship (community standards, will continue to provide the mechanism for enforcement of proper attribution and responsible use of the published work, as they do now), as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
A complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in an appropriate standard electronic format is deposited (and thus published) in at least one online repository using suitable technical standards (such as the Open Archive definitions) that is supported and maintained by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, inter operability, and long-term archiving.
Open Access is more than the ability to view an article without paying for it,* or without your library having to pay for it. Open Access can be seen as a commitment to hacking copyright--in a way that provides more ways for everyone to use a creators' work (similar to the ways that free software licensing insures more freedom).
Please join us for CUNY's Open Access Week if you are able, or plan/discuss/pledge wherever you are!
I'll admit: it snuck up on me this year and I feel silly posting this late! Happy Sandy Berman Appreciation Month 2011 nonetheless!
Just a quick note that I've made a policy change here on this site: I'm now welcoming comments.*
When I first started this site/project/experiment I was a bit worried about sharing information on the interwebs, and although some of those same inclinations still stand, my desire to make this a (safe) place for conversation and dialog has trumped my worries about carving out my own area where I feel comfortable. I hope I can make this a place where others feel comfortable as well. So set up an account, or just say hello, and help me to make this a useful site for reflecting and learning.
Please help to support the work of the techies whose professional commitments to privacy are most closely aligned with what we librarians try to uphold (not keeping any data that isn't necessary to function, not working with the feds on surveillance): Riseup
Here's their call for contributions:
Riseup works tirelessly to create grassroots technology alternatives that address the communication needs of people and organizations working for social change. When you get a service from a corporation that doesn’t charge you, chances are that the money comes from extensive surveillance. Riseup, on the other hand, relies on donations by users like you who believe in supporting democratic alternatives.
For more information about Riseup, you can meet our members and check out our project areas. Riseup is a registered nonprofit under section 501(c)(4) of the US Internal Revenue Code.
Donations to riseup.net are not tax-deductible. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation (US), you can contribute to our sister organization, RiseupLabs.
Suggested contribution:
Individuals: We ask that individuals with email accounts or owners of lists give monthly or yearly. If you are broke, live in the global South, or live somewhere with a devalued currency, we don’t expect you to give. This means that those with money in the global North should contribute extra as an act of solidarity. If you are unsure how much to contribute, might we suggest $5-$15 a month? If you can do more, please do!
Groups: We rely on organizations with email accounts or lists to contribute. It is especially essential for organizations with big mailing lists to contribute, as such lists are costly for us to provide. As a rough guideline, we ask that organizations annually contribute at least 1% of their annual budget—this is a $100 a year donation for an organization is an annual budget of $10,000.
If you have a big list with over a hundred subscribers or with high traffic and lots of archives, increase the suggested donation amount several fold.
Please consider donating more if you can afford it. Any money left over after we have met our basic expenses gets folded back into providing service to more users. If you are making a large donation (thank you!), then please consider sending a check or money order through the mail—online payment systems take a cut of about 3%.
All financial decisions by the Riseup Collective are made using the consensus process by collective members.
*Or maybe that should be Animals being (Moby) Dicks?... Now somebody's gotta make a GIF...
"To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, through many there be who have tried it."*
(you couldn't tell our tale on a flea either--working on chapter XVIII)
Official reaching-the-limits day. Read things, can't remember what.
