Happy Thursday

Well, we're over the hump and heading towards the weekend. Today's payday, so I can pay my bills. Despite the return of the rain, I'm feeling pretty well--I finally broke down and turned on the climate control last night because the humidity was 94%--and slept really well as a result. Humidity trumps over temps for me any time, apparently. I still marvel at my childhood in sub-tropical Louisiana, where it never bothered me. Kids. :)

Last night I went over to O'Neil's pub with some people from work and sat out on the patio (and consequently didn't have to deal with cigarette smoke, although it wasn't that bad inside so early in the afternoon). Their pub fries and quesadillas are wonderful and half-price since it was happy hour. So now I have a place within walking distance to get fish and chips, etc. The inside of the bar is beautiful; they've put in windows with Celtic designs and a bar that was crafted in Ireland. I was going to try some Guinness, but I didn't think I could drink a whole pint by myself and they didn't have half pints. I'm not much of a beer fan, although I do like stout, so I thought it was worth a try, and I was the only person not driving anywhere afterwards. If they do ever push that ban on smoking in public places through here in Lexington, I may wind up living at O'Neil's. Such yummy food!

Some things on which to ruminate:

• Someone needs to explain to the New York Post that a temporary, seasonal library worker does not equal a librarian. I'm sure they were gleeful to portray a librarian as someone who would steal millions in rare books and possibly plant bombs as well. Okay, I know the Post is not the epitome of high media (not that the New York Times is faring so well these days, either). However, every other version I saw was much more balanced. Would they call a janitor who happened to work in a library a librarian?
  
• Most people don't realise that to get a job as a librarian in this country, you pretty much have to have master's degree from an ALA-accredited school in library/information science. Archivists can sometimes have history degrees + training. Paraprofessional workers in libraries are usually called library assistants. Then there are the hosts of pages, interns, students, etc. who may be working as shelvers or other temporary positions. Most of us with the MLS started out doing some of the former. I used to have work-study positions preparing newspapers for microfilming and shelving catalogue cards, and I interned at the Kentucky state archives before I went to library school. Since many people don't understand what librarians really do, there's a tendency for them to act like, "you need a degree to shelve books?" Don't ever ask a librarian that. Really--I'm not kidding--he or she may just go off, or at least leave you dangling with no way to finish that project. Check out Librarian Avengers if you want a better understanding of why it pays to be nice to librarians. That said, we sometimes get a little too defensive. I accidentally tripped over an oh-so-political debate regarding a group called Friends of Cuban Libraries. I've posted news releases from them before. Well, it seems that some people, mostly connected to the American Library Association, see this group as sort of a puppet of the CIA, attempting to subvert the rightful regime of Cuba. It seems that the founders include people who are anti-Castro and who can travel, unlike most Americans, back and forth to Cuba with seeming impunity. They insist that people operating "libraries" out of their homes cannot possibly be our colleagues. Others tout these "librarians" as people operating "alternative public libraries" out of their homes and who face jail and oppression for trying to give alternatives to state-run libraries. Amnesty International and several other activists come out defending the alternative libraries of Cuba. So, who's right? Well, all the parties I've mentioned have their own political agendas. But if you do a Google search on "Friends of Cuban Libraries" you'll get a whole slew of posts, and you can decide for yourself. It seems to me that if people are trying to provide freedom to read (rather than just another form of propaganda), then they should be applauded and supported, no matter how you define a "librarian". But since I'm not in a position to determine what these people are doing, that makes it harder. Still, I thought I might show what sort of controversy exists.
  
• When I checked on the Times' address for the link above, I found that David Brinkley has died. :( When I was growing up he and Walter Cronkite were synonymous with the news for me.