100 best novels

Late last week a post on NZLibs contained a link to Time magazine’s 100 best English language novels from 1923 (the year that Time Magazine began) to the present, as chosen by Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo.  Between them they agreed on 80 of the titles and the rest they hammered out.  What might have made the list a few years ago didn’t make the grade this time around.   A book read at different times of your life can evoke different emotions and responses, depending on your current experiences.  I’ve noted this myself when I’ve gone back to re-read a book I thoroughly enjoyed, only to find it didn’t really touch a nerve the second time.  I think Alberto Manguel mentioned this in his book “The Library at Night” which I recently read (and enjoyed).

But back to the list.  I have to admit to never having heard of many of them.  Of the 100, I’ve read nine and attempted to read another two.  How many does your library have?  How many have you read?  Would you agree that they belong on a list of the 100 best?  Of the nine I read I really only enjoyed three of them.  Which in the list would you highly recommend and perhaps I could have another go?

Any list of the 100 best is subjective, especially when chosen by two individuals.  What novels would you like to see included in a “best 100″ list (and especially of New Zealand authors)?

 

Let’s Get This Party Started!

Before I get too far into this one, I will solemnly swear not to talk about conference for a long time. It’s just that there’s one more thing that has been praying on my mind, which I would like to rant on.

As you know I am involved with LIANZA, being the current regional chair for the Ikaora region.  I enjoy my role, and when not dwelling on whether that next great bit of technology will be useful to the library, my thoughts recently have turned to what advantages membership brings, and what role the organisation has within the profession. Actually if anyone can come up with a short blurb about why joining is a good idea, let me know. I am not the greatest salesman, and often have trouble when asked that question, as I get tongue tied answering.

So what’s that got to do with conference? Apart from the obvious?

LIANZA has an important role to play within the profession, and I think that conference should be a central part of that.  Mostly it is, but where I think we failed at the conference is in promoting ourselves, and in showing leadership at conference. Sure LIANZA is splashed all over conference as it’s the LIANZA conference after all, but how many people actually pay any attention to that or really link it to the organisation? This year I felt that despite the prominent branding the presence of LIANZA was lacking. Next year is the 100^th anniversary of the founding of LIANZA and the first conference. I think we need to step up and provide not only stronger leadership, but also a stronger presence.

The first thing that needs to happen, is for the AGM to be transformed from a mere set piece AGM, that been relegated to the dead zone of last thing on Tuesday, to the centrepiece of the conference. The AGM should be, I think must be, the first item on the agenda. Monday morning should have the welcome, and then move into the AGM.

As part of the AGM there should be at least two standing agenda items beyond the legal necessities. First the LIANZA awards should be presented at the AGM. They too are relegated to last thing, and while attendance is higher than at the AGM, it’s not what it should be.  The awards are a time to celebrate our own, and they are a central element of LIANZA. They should be prominent and tied more firmly to LIANZA.

Also there should be a keynote speech from the incoming President Elect. This is an opportunity for the incoming leadership to give a vision of what they wish to achieve over the next two years.

The second thing to happen beyond the AGM, is for the current President to give a full Keynote address, first thing on Wednesday morning. This year, and in previous years, any presidential addresses have been last thing, at the closing of the conference, and have often been curtailed for time.

The understandable sidelining of LIANZA from its own conference must end.

The next conference is a celebration of a hundred years of professional librarianship in New Zealand, and a hundred years of a professional organisation for librarians. Let us seize the moment to drag the organisation back into the centre stage and to inspire the next generation of librarians!  

 

From the past…

We’re trialling the Times Literary Supplement Archive (1902-2005) at the moment and I thought I’d have a bit of a play and see what I could find.

I searched for “librarian” on a whim limiting to articles. (I didn’t do that initially and got thousands of situations vacant for librarians. Out of interest, in 1976 the salary range for a “chartered librarian” was £3,000 – 6,000.)

Anyway, I came across a few little gems:

Libraries and Bibliography
Article by Thursfield, James Richard, Sir
The Times Literary Supplement.
August 8, 1902.  Page 235.

‘“The true University of these days,” said Carlyle, “is a collection of books.” For all who take knowledge seriously and pursue it strenuously the library has superseded the professor.’

Hmm, people often think that the Internet has superseded libraries!

And there was a bit of a discussion raging in the paper on the purpose of a free library:

The Function of Free Libraries
Letter by Johnson, Austin H.
The Times Literary Supplement.
November 1, 1917.  Page 529.

‘…the true function of a free library, which is to cater for the ordinary reader (with limited means) in his leisure, not to help any specialist, and certainly not to assist the man in his business or profession.’

I wonder what those public librarians among us think of that?

 

The library blogger…

From “A Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette“:

Folk hero, Becoming a

Start a library blog. Librarians love to read about other librarians. Write a good one, and you might just end up being a folk hero.

Blogger, Never admitting to being a

Bloggers should remain anonymous. Use a pseudonym. And for god’s sake, never list it on your c.v. or resume.

 

Only CCs is Tasting Like These: Currency, Creativity, Connectivity, Collegiality and Commonality

Life is certainly interesting at the moment for me. I have started up-skilling my web skills by doing the Certificate in Web Design through the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, so whilst studying I may miss a post here or there. Or I may not, as I really love this blogging thing. The editor-in-chief and myself are looking at picking up our house like turtles and moving it out to the acreage we have planted a few fruit trees on.  There’s no broadband out there except for the satellite wireless stuff. Not sure I could handle going back to dialup so decisions will need to be made. 

Professionally I am digging the Kete thing, and can’t wait to get our one up and running. There are plans and plans, and I need to nail the boss to her chair for an hour and get a programme up and running. One of the parts which has got me curious to explore more is the Creative Commons licences associated with the Kete. Up until now I hadn’t had much to do with, or a reason to think about them, but with the Kete using them heavily I have had to get my head around them. I quite like them. I think they strike a great balance for those who wish to put their creative output out there.

In a bit of a segue, using the CC licence is LibWorld: Library Blogging Worldwide Edited by Christian Hauschke, Sarah Lohre, & Nadine Ullmann. By the terms of the licence I can download, share or even adapt, as long as I do so non-commercially and properly attribute. You can still purchase a hardcopy if you like. This is cool for the amount of work that has obviously gone into the work.

I downloaded this to read the chapter on New Zealand library blogs, written by Simon Chamberlain. What struck me was the danger in attempting to write and publish something on a topic as transient and developing like blogging. At the time of writing library blogging in New Zealand was fairly limited, so Simon had to bulk out his chapter with non library blogs. A number of the blogs mentioned have obviously folded with no content added in a while, and Simon’s own blog seems to be inactive. That being said it was an interesting read, I just think trying to write a book and then publish it was using the wrong format. Maybe somebody could develop the ITSig Wiki list of New Zealand blogs. It’s a great resource, that could do with some descriptive elements, and is missing a number of kiwi blogs. I would, but all my time looks booked for the next six months. . .  

 

Postmodernism is dead! All hail, Digimodernism!

Twitterfiction is the latest thing apparently. It consists of writing stories within the 140 character constraints of Twitter. Neil Gaiman who recently won a Hugo award for his latest children’s’ book, “The Graveyard Book” (about ghosts who adopt a toddler, orphaned after his family are brutally killed, and raise him in the graveyard….) is someone who offers these extremely short stories. Apparently it is part of an experiment with the BBC. You can join Neil at @neilhimself

So is Twitterfiction an example of digimodernism? What is digimodernism? Is it a new form of fiction? Or is it just a new way or medium of expression?

Apparently Alan Kirby, a specialist in 20^th century literature and culture, is defining digimodernism as “an exploration of cultural shifts in the aftermath of postmodernism”. He has written a book entitled, Digimodernism: How New Technologies Dismantle the Postmodern and Reconfigure Our Culture. (Continuum, 2009).

I’ve just got my hands on a copy of this book, it hasn’t even been processed yet! One of the perks of librarianship, I guess. In it, Kirby states that digimodernism is a complete break from postmodernism which arose from modernism. Digimodernism is a conceptually autonomous cultural dominant (paraphrasing here).

So what is it? Well, digimodernism is about creating new forms of text, and new relationships between authors and readers. The dominant features include ‘onwardness’ or the growing and incomplete nature of the text, it has a beginning but possibly no end; ‘haphazardness’ describes the possibility of “multiple directions” of the text meaning that it can go off in unknown directions; ‘evanescence’ in short the digimodern text “does not endure” it is difficult if not impossible to preserve or archive; the ‘reformulation and intermediation of textual roles’ which is the “radical redefinition of textual functional titles: reader, author,” etc; ‘anonymous, multiple and social authorship’; ‘electronic-digitality’ which basically means “it’s the textuality that derives from digitization” (pp52-53).

Some of these traits can probably be seen in Twitterfiction, although Kirby doesn’t mention this specifically. In the Gaiman example above, readers can tweat back or comment immediately on the ‘work’ if one can call it that. Readers can become authors themselves by adding to it, like one of those old parlour games.

So why do I mention it here? If cultural forms of text and communication are changing in such a radical way, as we know they are – we can see it all around us – what are the implications for the future of libraries and librarians? If authors are for example “multiple and anonymous” how do we catalogue that? How do we capture a digimodernist text and preserve it? Should we be doing that? Can we do it?

P.S. Neil Gaiman’s twitterfiction tweat?

“Sam was brushing her hair when the girl in the mirror put down the hairbrush, smiled and said, ‘We don’t love you anymore”

 

The postcard that roared

I just heard on the news – cabinet has returned a brief for local government which includes libraries as a core service.

Can we take credit?

You bet we can.

 

The ebook reader

A quick post reporting back on my view of the Eco Reader which I had an opportunity to look at last week.  First there was a reminder that it’s called an ebook reader not an ebook – the ebook being the content not the hardware.  I knew that but I’m human and like to shorten things.

I have to say that I wasn’t impressed.  I did like the fact that it’s not the same technology as LCD and so is not hard on the eyes.  The actual technology used is very clever but too technical to go into here.   The first text I looked at had a small font but you can enlarge it.  The second was much clearer.  It was not an intuitive device to use.  You really need to read the manual before using an ebook reader and, ironically, the manual is in good old paper book format.

“Turning pages” took a long time – the next page took a few seconds to load and a few fast readers commented on this slowness.  The device then seemed to lock itself so that nothing happened regardless of which buttons you pressed.  The battery however, does last a substantial amount of time because it’s not being used on LCD.  Any light on the ebook reader is natural light reflected off it.

I still think the greatest advantage of an ebook reader would be for textbooks but they’re not readily available yet.  It’s a market that would take off if the cost of the e-textbook is reasonable.  Display of large graphs and illustrations would be an issue.  Would you have to enlarge and scroll around it?

There are still issues surrounding DRM, access, supply and availability.  The ebook reader has a long way to go in my opinion.  Now if they could combine the digital camera, mobile phone, netbook and ebook reader in one, then it might take off.  At the moment it’s too expensive for what it offers.

 

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All The Way!

It’s only two months til Christmas… Panic!

Well, maybe don’t panic. But doesn’t the Christmas session seem to get earlier and earlier? Already the festive decorations are on sale, and adverts for schemes to make Christmas easier to pay are becoming more common on the television. Though it seems a bit late.

In public libraryland, coming across my desk for cataloguing are the first of the Christmas themed books, and we are starting the build-up for that dreaded behemoth, The Summer Reading Programme (we are one of the libraries that received funding from the Eastern and Central Community Trust to run the ECREAD’N programme). Soon we will receive our shirts and that feared time of year, the summer holidays, will be upon us.  

You may have guessed that I am not overly keen about this. Now don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that having free Internet in the library brings the school kids in and that the summer reading programme helps promote reading to children, and infuses them with, hopefully, a joy in the written word. Well maybe an enthusiasm for giveaways.

It’s just it gets a bit wearing constantly monitoring behaviour you shouldn’t have to, coupled with having to do a string of report-ins, means that by the end of summer, all those little jobs have been delayed, and one is just plain tired. [End of moan]

Seriously though, I do wonder at times if the programme has become a victim of it’s own success. It seems too large, with many librarians loosing the objective of encouraging children to read to a competitive desire to have skiting rights over how many kids have enrolled, and how many have completed. I do wonder how much the children get from the programme as they are rushed conveyer  like through the machine that the programme has become.

But anyway it’s 59 Days till Christmas… Panic!

 

Baby blitzkrieg, or the problems of engaging

We recently had a flamewar of sorts on our listserv of record. A very adult, professional one, but one that had a number of the hallmarks of flamewars found everywhere – adult, professional flaming, adult professional grandstanding and adult, professional calls for reason and peace.

Actually that last component of the discussion would have been adult and reasonable in any other setting. Here it had the same effect that calls for calm have in any other internet disagreement – to fan the flames.

Overall nobody was greatly harmed, but few, if any, had their reputations enhanced by it.

My reading? It’s a good thing. As a profession we’re wanting to get hip, but a lot of us have been approaching this internet thing with the casual flair of a Japanese ceremony. Its beautiful and done perfectly, but its not often risk taking. Sharing the opportunity to get a bit hinky together and find that while few, if any, got their reputations enhanced nobody’s got greatly harmed… well it gave us an opportunity to really experience the intertubes as it is for the people who are growing up with it.

What is that experience? Its complex, and its simple. Everybody’s trying to establish and maintain an identity, and then grow a reputation for that identity. The establishment and maintenance comes through the passing on of memes/facebook quizzes/etc. (do you know which Disney Princess you are yet? Me neither.) Simple. I’ve seen entire conversations take place using others’ words, concepts and images.

Or was that in the academic world?

I keed, I keed.

Growing the rep requires risk taking. Not just passing on the meme, but reinventing it, subverting it or even making a new one. If it isn’t finessed right, the meme passers target you – and you are hit with a deluge of images such as the following:

My friend google tells me that’s there are 2.3 million images for the search terms “epic fail”. Because I care its one of the nice ones. Our hypothetical internaut is likely to be hit with images medical, scatological, pornographical, and sports derived.

Yeah, go figure that last one. I guess it takes all sorts.

What happens next? One wipes the egg off one’s face, and one moves on – to another community, to another identity or to a different role in the current community.

As library organisations engage by joining and creating their own online communities they are going to run into a well known law (warning: this law contains swearwords) of the internet. Some of the people will be accessing our content with the intention, conscious or otherwise, of creating flamewars. Whether we engage through the medium of an impersonal corporate identity or more personally only determines the tactics taken of these people.

If we want to up our reps… let’s take a few risks.

But keep a towel handy, just in case.

Here’s something to soothe.