explodedlibrary bunker

mostly bare links about linking

One reason why I link to things is because it helps me find it again in the future. For me, it works much much better than bookmarking.

Here are some things I came across while working on the revisiting linking rights post.

Tech Law Advisor, My deep-link run-in with the L.A. Times (18 October 2002)
Links & Law
Bechtold: The Link Controversy Page

I cite myself sometimes too. I don't do it because I'm trying to increase my PageRank (and could it? because to be honest, I don't even want to know how such things work, other than that I've instructed search engines to stay away from this blog) or because I think my opinions are so important. It just goes back to the issue of finding things more easily. It's helpful for me to see what I've written so I can improve upon it or prevent me from repeating myself. Some of tonight's post was shamelessly stolen from the rant in the first link - albeit with some refining. The second link just contains a slightly concealed pathway for the curious.

anti-linking policies are anti-web and absurd (12 November 2002)
movie promotional blogging templates + digression on illegal art (19 April 2004)

there are no certainties in job seeking

Extended version of this post, cut from the end.

In any given job search, the perception of whether or not there is a general librarian shortage is fundamentally irrelevant. It all comes down to which individuals apply for a position, and which one comes across as the best fit. I've been on the other side of hiring for library assistant positions and have seen four different outcomes.

1. Strong applicant pool which resulted in a good hire.
2. Weak applicant pool which resulted in a good hire. The other finalists were very unsuitable, but that didn't matter because the person we hired was excellent.
3. Weak applicant pool which resulted in a not so good hire.
4. Strong applicant pool which resulted in a not so good hire. Combination of the successful candidate being very skilled at interviewing and a possible mistake by the selection committee.

Even if there were shortage conditions and the pool of applicants wasn't as numerous as an employer would like, it only takes one better qualified candidate to beat you. And as Meredith mentions, it can be difficult to really know why that happens. In one instance, somebody had the best qualifications on paper and who also came across well in the interview didn't get the position because s/he seemed very similar to somebody who hadn't worked out before (the one mentioned in number 4). Was this decision made for the wrong reason? The person we ended up hiring was a great asset to the library.

I guess the point of all this is to illustrate how there are no certainties in the process - librarian shortage or not. Not only is the librarian shortage erroneous (at best, premature), but it would be irrelevant to most job seekers as well.

stream of consciousness entry

the aftermath of katrina, has been truly awful, has affected and disturbed me even more than the tsunami, simply because the way that race and class and politics have made things so worse. Salon has bad good coverage, as does New Orleans resident, Ernie the Attorney (he's not there right now, will he return?)

why do people blog and not blog? lots of things could be happening when i'm not blogging - maybe work has been been too draining and busy and i dont' have time for anything else, maybe my social is busier, maybe i'm feeling down maybe i'm feeling really good (it's ok if these different possibilities contradict), maybe i'm having computer issues, maybe i'm not updating this blog but i'm using up on my writing energies in my livejournal or in other email correspondence
never because i feel that there's nothing to say or that it's all been talked about before,

I'm going to Hawaii in less than a week, I doubt i'll be maintaining this blog from there. I could, my hotel has a pretty good computer room for guests, but I choose not to, it's good to have a total break from this stuff once in a while

this is potentially big news in the aussie blogosphere, the idea that australian blogs and commentors might be regulated by laws governing political speech. this is would worth a big entry, but this mention is all i can do right now

what else? somebody who's commented in this blog has the distinction of being sued over comments which have appeared in his blog

got a new mac mini & am very happy with it, i have access to the new version of safari with rss feeds but prefer opera 8 - thanks to sarah houghton and scott rosenberg for pointing out the rego code giveaway, it was just what i was needing!

for those who hadn't seen it already, there was a hilarious onion piece on google the other day. it gives a good twist on the fallacy that the only information worth knowing is that which can be found in google.