Why university libraries are becoming closets

When I returned to work in the late 1970s at Ohio State University Libraries, one niggling problem was "closet libraries," which had been set up by various specialties and faculties to serve their specific needs. I guess they thought the library system was not flexible enough or knowledgeable enough to handle them.

A few disappeared. There is no longer an Agricultural Economics reading room, an Arnold Credit library, the one that served plant pathologists, or the journal collection for the veterinary medical faculty on the third floor of Sisson Hall, or other special collections (I'm more familiar with the ones west of the river). But they just popped up somewhere else. Increasingly, these collections are digital, and although they may meet in Thompson Library (recently renovated), they long ago by-passed the library.
Six digital media collections containing over 850,000 media assets that will reach over 20,000 students in 105 course sections annually.

History Multimedia Database (Humanities)
Arts & Sciences Media Manager (Humanities)
Charles Csuri Archive (Arts)
History of Art Visual Resources Library (Arts)
Huntington Archive (Arts)
Knowlton School of Architecture Digital Library (Engineering)
Related project: Praise Poetry Video Database (Humanities)

And this is just the group that has a defined mission statement (committed to cutting through the red tape, sharing resources and making things work on a grassroots level--I think they mean library) and collegial arrangements for staff, faculty and course credit. There are others.

Now it's the main library (Thompson) that has become the closet for books in special collections.

Social media for the MSM editors

"Editors from major newsrooms around the country, including CNN, 60 Minutes, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, will arrive on [the Ohio State University] campus next week for the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism's social media KipCamp. They will spend the week exploring how to leverage Facebook, tweet strategically, tell better visual stories and more." No mention in the blurb of conservative news sources, nor the dangers of blogging and microblogging. I hope they rush someone in to cover the Weiner type problems and the reasons the left defended him, and even now are saying it was just sex instead of a culture of cover ups and hypocrisy.

A list of the fellows from AP, NPR, CBS, WaPo, NBC and various environmentalist journalists, all on the warming bandwidth.

The dignity of work

This is a repeat from a blog I wrote in 2006 after working at the food pantry.

Did you know that the "working poor" families and the welfare families in this country have about the same income, but the working families by percentage of income are the most generous of any group? Yes, they donate a higher percentage of their incomes than do the wealthiest income group; and welfare families with about the same income give almost nothing to others. There is dignity in work and self-sufficency. Occasionally, something happens to people of limited means--maybe grandchildren have to be taken in, or a heating bill is outrageous, the support check doesn't come, or there's an illness, so they need a little boost from the food pantry.

Nearly all of Texas’ anti-abortion subcontractors are Christian groups

This is wrong. Morally and ethically and pragmatically. It weakens the churches and prevents them from proclaiming their message of salvation to people who are poor, suffering and vulnerable.

From 2006 to 2010, the state spent $11.7 million on its Texas Alternatives to Abortion Services Program, with nearly $7 million of that finding its way to 33 nonprofits (all but one with Christian affiliations) via the state’s primary contractor, the nonprofit Texas Pregnancy Care Network, according to public records obtained by the Texas Independent.
The Alternatives to Abortion Program — funded by state and federal money — was created in the 2005 legislative session for “the development and operation of a statewide program for females focused on pregnancy support services that promote childbirth,” according to the contract between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and TPCN.

Nearly all of Texas’ anti-abortion subcontractors are Christian groups | The Washington Independent

Whether it's pregnancy services, summer lunch programs, food pantries, tutoring and language services, housing programs, financial counseling or jobs programming, churches need to cut the siphon that leads to the federal and state governments' money tank. If we're not allowed to discuss Christian marriage with the recipient of counseling services, or tell Bible stories while the children eat lunch, then it's time to ask member Christians for more money and tell the feds to get out of your church.

More signs of late brain maturity--stress from debt

"Researchers [at Ohio State University] found that the more credit card and college loan debt held by young adults aged 18 to 27, the higher their self-esteem and the more they felt like they were in control of their lives. The effect was strongest among those in the lowest economic class.

Only the oldest of those studied – those aged 28 to 34 – began showing signs of stress about the money they owed." Rachel Dwyer

I suspect the researchers should have included in the study the amount of alcohol and drugs these 20-somethings ingested as teen-agers. That's a known factor for destroyed brain cells, or slowing their maturity.

But then, what's Congress' excuse?

The Spring of the Unexpected Soft Patch

These are actual quotes written by degreed economists and journalists (and a few bloggers), who never seem to expect the outcome when a president who campaigned to fundamentally change our country and redistribute income from the wealthy to the poor through regulation and taxes actually succeeds in his plans. Why only the conservative talking heads like Fox's Beck and EIB‘s Limbaugh, some of whom don’t have a degree in anything, had full knowledge about the end results, I don’t know, but apparently they do read history and their parents talked about the Depression.

GM chief financial officer resigns unexpectedly. March 10, 2011

Obama's support among blacks slips unexpectedly, Hispanics too. April 7, 2011

Though economists are anxious about the unexpected slackening, they largely remain confident that the lull will prove just a soft patch and they still expect a strengthening jobs market to revive growth in the next quarters. April 15, 2011

Sales For Sarah Palin’s Second Book Spike Unexpectedly. April 17, 2011

Housing Starts in U.S. Unexpectedly Decrease to 523,000 Pace. May 17, 2011

Orders for long-lasting goods unexpectedly fell in February, raising concern over the sustainability of the rebound in U.S. business investment. March 24, 2011

Sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly declined, manufacturing in the Philadelphia region slowed and consumer confidence dropped, pointing to an economy that is struggling to regain momentum following the surge in energy costs. May 20, 2011

Consumer confidence unexpectedly decreased in May to the lowest level in six months as Americans grew concerned over the outlook for jobs and the economy. May 30, 2011

The economy will be in full-fledged recession by year end (although I can argue that the economy has remained in recession since 2008). The mainstream financial media are all calling the “unexpected” bad news as a “soft patch” in the economy. Tomorrow’s Non-Farm jobs report is going to be very weak. June 1, 2011

Denmark's economy unexpectedly went into recession, new figures showed yesterday. Denmark's economy contracted for a second quarter after consumers cut spending. Denmark now joins Portugal as the only European nations in a recession -- defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. June 2, 2011

Obama Eligibility Lawyer Unexpectedly Resigns: Mole Within Hawaii's Department of Health Alerted Corsi That No Long-Form Birth Certificate Existed Prior to February 24th. June 2, 2011

The jobless rate, unexpectedly, edged up to 9.1%, the second straight monthly gain and the highest this year. June 3, 2011

Oil Rebounds as API Shows Unexpectedly High Stock Draw. June 7, 2011

Read this carefully and explain

"This parking space is for expectant mothers and fathers with new born children."

Think about this "gender neutral" message for a moment. . . Does the huge luxury store that caters to my every whim for cheese or wine or meat want to earn points and create a customer-friendly image with politically correct, nonsexist nonsense which sounds like it was translated from a foreign language?

Why does an expectant father need a special parking place? Is he bloating or having charley horse pains in his hip as his waist expands so far he can't see his feet? Or this. If a woman has a new born in the car and drives to the Giant Eagle, is she even aware that she might be expecting another wee one? Or is the sign missing a comma, and really means the space is only for expectant mothers, or for fathers driving around with a new born in the car?  But that would mean mothers with a new born can't park there.

Also, think of the insensitivities this communicates to radical feminists (aka feminazis) who believe pregnant women are not even mothers, but simply carriers of a clump of parasitic cells that can be removed because it isn't a human yet.
 
Think about this and the last time you went to the store with young children.  Is it really more difficult to schlep a new born into the store than two toddlers and a sullen teen-ager who would rather not be seen with you? Which one really needs to be nearer the door?

Believe me, forty plus years ago I never took young children or babies to the grocery store, or to church, or to day care.  Saturday morning at Kroger's or Tarpy's was MY time, and I wasn't about to share it.

Huma Abedin is not a typical congressional wife

As more dribbles out about this drip and his swooning fan feminist supporters, it sounds like the wife settled. I guess he needed a cover to keep up what he was doing. Poor Hillary--she's been through it, and should be able to offer a shoulder to cry on.

"Former President Bill Clinton officiated at their July 2010 wedding. Their marriage drew extra attention since Abedin is Muslim and Weiner is Jewish."

Huma Abedin is not a typical congressional wife - CNN.com

Obama’s Jobless America

The Bush Obama recession is starting to look a whole lot like the Hoover FDR Depression. FDR extended Hoover's attempts to right the economy for a decade by diddling the federal government with a variety of socialist schemes, some of which we're still struggling with (like a poorly planned Social Security trust fund), or were resurrected during the Johnson years for the "war on poverty." When a foxhole is won against poverty, liberals just dig a a new hole in which to throw money.

Morning Bell: Obama’s Jobless America | The Foundry

May Jobs Report Is Troubling as Unemployment Rate Increases | The Heritage Foundation

The day the elephants came to town

Plus some other wonderful photographs from Joe's portfolio.

Now for today's project--painting the garage

Instead of buying off the shelf storage units for the garage, we had some new shelves and a tall closet built to hang out with the former kitchen cabinets. The bottom two shelves are stationery, the others can be moved. The cabinets won't be painted on the inside, so they are already jammed. I think we could have purchased gold plated cheaper, but oh well, the price you pay for living with an architect. We also have beautiful new hardware that doesn't match the hinges. Hate that. Here's Paul Miller and a few scenes from today's project--which will probably last 3 days. The last photo is stuff that needs to go either to a shredder, a technology dump, or back on the shelves. I wonder what people do who have a clutter problem? We're actually rather tidy people.

Paul is doing a lot of careful prep work--that's the key to a good paint job whether interior or exterior. Clean, sand, fill holes, etc.

Our new sidewalk

A home is not an investment. It is a money pit only slightly more practical than a boat. And you do have to live somewhere. Here's one of our recent adventures with our money pit which we bought in 2001--completed last week. We have a different one going on today. . .

This was our sidewalk--some sort of stone or slate with a variety of crumbling mortar. We repaired it in 2005, but it continued to crumble, shed, and disintegrate.

So here it is all chopped up, but oh, look at that, underneath part of it was the original concrete sidewalk, still in perfect condition, except for a few nicks and bumps from the ear splitting jackhammer. Oh well, too late, we'd already started. After he'd already started, he knocked on the door and said, do you really need this first step--I could just slope it a little (because obviously the new walk was going to be higher than the old, and the step up wouldn't be standard height. So we OK'd that, and now we're all set for wheelchairs.

This is the new concrete walk, installed over the old concrete walk, which we didn't know was still there. It has color, a pressed stone pattern, and joint cracks added. We also discovered upon removing the old slate, that there was a good size planting area next to the garage. We went around and looked at our neighbors, and they did indeed have that. But it just makes it harder to get in and out of the car, so we didn't reinstall that. Now, because it is the new sidewalk is so high, we'll have to have some new landscaping. But, you can't take it with you . . . so we're helping the local economy.

Ohio State to graduate nearly 10,000 on June 12

John Boehner, the 53rd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will deliver the commencement address during Ohio State's spring commencement on Sunday (6/12) in Ohio Stadium. A record 9,655 students will earn degrees. The graduates, who are among the brightest in the university's history, enter the stadium at noon.

From his website: Boehner, 61, is the 2nd oldest of 12 brothers and sisters and grew up in Cincinnati. He represents the Ohio 8th district. "Before he ever made his first run for elected office – a spot on his neighborhood homeowners’ association – John ran a small business in the plastics and packaging industry. His experience in the private sector – meeting a payroll, paying taxes, dealing with government red tape – prepared him well to be a reformer in the public sector."

The One state solution--in only 4 minutes--

There now, that was easy, wasn't it?

Now here's a shocker

Liberals, Democrats, Grad Students, Easterners More Likely to be Atheists.

Gallup: Liberals, Democrats, Grad Students, Easterners More Likely to be Atheists | CNSnews.com

Remember when the Republican gay Congressman was forced to resign?

There's a different standard for NY Congressmen who digitally diddle young women.

Obama inspired ship, Funded By Obama’s Pals, Sets Off to Join Jew-Hating Leftist-Islamist Gaza Flotilla II

Remember the Audacity of Hope--Obama's book--the title inspired by Rev. Wright's sermon? Rashid Khalidi, director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, is at it again.

OBAMA INSPIRED SHIP, Funded By Obama’s Pals, Sets Off to Join Jew-Hating Leftist-Islamist Gaza Flotilla II | The Gateway Pundit
Voice Of The Copts - Obama Inspired Ship to Join IHH Gaza Flotilla

Herbert Goldhor, 1917-2011

Professor Goldhor interviewed me when I applied for the Graduate School of Library Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana. I don't remember much of the conversation, except his asking me, "Have you ever worked in a library," and when I told him about the 3 libraries--Mt. Morris Public, Manchester College, and University of Illinois, he smiled with relief.
Many people think libraries sound good until they actually experience them.

This is one of the more personal and charming obituaries I've read--perhaps written by him (many people do) or a family member. Nice story about a second chance at love.

CHAMPAIGN – Herbert Goldhor, 94, died on Tuesday (March 29, 2011) at home in Seattle, Wash., where he had lived since 2004 after having spent most of his adult life in Champaign.

A memorial service will be held in Seattle for family and close friends later this spring.

Dr. Goldhor was born on Feb. 8, 1917, in Newark, N.J., the fourth child of Adolph and Dora Balshan Goldhor. In May 1948, he married Dr. Eleanor Cheydleur and they had four children (Jonathan, Richard, Beth and Barbara) and later 11 grandchildren, all of whom are still living.

After Eleanor died in 1988, Herbert rediscovered his childhood sweetheart, Ruth H. Schwartz from New Jersey, and married her. They enjoyed 15 wonderful years together living abroad in various different countries including England, France, Denmark, Canada and New Zealand until Ruth died in 2004.

Dr. Goldhor's career as a librarian began in 1943 when he received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago's Graduate Library School. After serving in Europe during World War II, he joined the Library School faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he remained for six years (1946-1951).

In 1952, he moved to Indiana to become the chief librarian of the Evansville and Vanderburgh County Public Library, a job that he thoroughly enjoyed for 10 years.

Dr. Goldhor then returned to the twin cities to direct the Library School at the UI from 1962-1978, during which time he also taught graduate courses and published numerous articles and two books. In 1975 he became director of the school's Library Research Center, a position he held until his retirement in 1987.

Throughout his career, he believed strongly that public libraries, access to information and ideas, and continued learning were essential to a democratic society.

Dr. Goldhor enjoyed health and strength for most of his 94 years. When he was 84 years old, he and his wife Ruth hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, spent the night at Phantom Ranch, and hiked out the next day. To train for this endeavor, they walked up and down the stairs of the Century 21 building in Champaign. Dr. Goldhor was still working out at the local gym up to a few weeks before his death.

He had a positive, open attitude towards life and was interested in learning and experiencing new things. He had a great sense of humor including the saying in later years, "I am always quite relieved when I read the obituaries in the paper to NOT find my name there!" Well, now his name is here ... Yes, Herbert Goldhor's life on earth has ended and he will be greatly missed. However, his love for books and his positive influence at both the personal and professional level will live on, and in this way his name will be remembered fondly by many.

Memorials may be made to the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois (www.lis.illinois.edu/giving) or to the American Friends Services Committee (afsc.org).

Gay teens have riskier behavior

A CDC report released today and carried through AP to many major newspapers is sure to create a flurry of new grant money and programs to 1) create guilt in the non-gay population because the stigma must be their fault, 2) excuse sexual behavior teens know they shouldn't be doing, and 3) pay the salaries of researchers and social workers for many future studies.

Students who report being gay, lesbian or bisexual and students who report having sexual contact only with persons of the same sex or both sexes are more likely than heterosexual students and students who report having sexual contact only with the opposite sex to engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual risk behaviors, suicidal behaviors, and violence, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This report should be a wake-up call for families, schools and communities that we need to do a much better job of supporting these young people. Any effort to promote adolescent health and safety must take into account the additional stressors these youth experience because of their sexual orientation, such as stigma, discrimination, and victimization," said Howell Wechsler, Ed.D, M.P.H, director of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH). "We are very concerned that these students face such dramatic disparities for so many different health risks."

CDC Media Relations - Press Release: June 6, 2011

The problem with this whole victim excuse is that many straight teens also engage in risky sexual behavior--maybe a lower percentage, but in numbers far higher. How successful have government health programs been in reducing or eliminating that, and is their reason also stigma, victimization and discrimination?

I would have said it differently, but here it is. . .

"It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the threat of tax increases and increased regulatory burdens have produced something in the nature of a hiring strike."

Yes, Michael Baron, you sound like you are blaming the American business community for Obama's failures.

Eventually, though, he does get around to cheap political rhetoric, ignoring his own budget commission, his incessant campaign mode, launching war against Paul Ryan, and cronyism with banks and lobbyists.

Barone did miss Libya and his anti-semitism, however. Well, maybe next time.