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	<title>the strange librarian &#187; activist</title>
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		<title>epiphany. minimalist style.</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2011/09/epiphany-minimalist-style/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2011/09/epiphany-minimalist-style/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 22:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eco]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[local]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minimalist]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/?p=1039</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After class today i had lunch at Ikea which is just down the road (how can you go wrong with roasted chicken and mashed potato lunch for only $1.99?) and before heading home i decided to wander through the showrooms to get some blood flowing. If you&#8217;ve never been to an Ikea before, i highly recommend [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovietuk/664680541"><img class="alignleft" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; border-width: 0px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1031/664680541_7842e8f5ea_m.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="162" /></a>After class today i had lunch at Ikea which is just down the road (how can you go wrong with roasted chicken and mashed potato lunch for only $1.99?) and before heading home i decided to wander through the showrooms to get some blood flowing. If you&#8217;ve never been to an Ikea before, i highly recommend it &#8211; it&#8217;s quite an experience (and, if i may, quite the people watching spot- say, from one of their comfy bedroom setups).</p>
<p>While walking through, you can usually find me snapping photos of design ideas for changing the house *yet again* and eventually, before I end up at the exit, I&#8217;ll have had the sudden &#8220;need&#8221; to purchase a small, usually cheap, organizational apparatus or *yet another* sheet set or kitchen item to make my house (and life) finally click. Today, however, i was already more than halfway through the showroom before i realized &#8211; not only had i absolutely no desire to buy anything, i suddenly saw the big picture and the whole key to the perfectly organized house and life.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>You don&#8217;t need organizational tools, bins or schemas to help you organize if you just have less stuff.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I mean, my &#8220;epiphany&#8221; might be your &#8220;duh&#8221; moment, but this definitely was an &#8220;ah-ha&#8221; moment for me when the last few years suddenly just came together. Here&#8217;s how i think i finally ended up here:</p>
<p>I&#8217;m pretty sure it all started with high fructose corn syrup. Hang with me for a sec, this will all make sense soon. However I got on the HFCS kick, about 3-4 years ago i decided to take a stand against the rampant use of HFCS in <em>everything</em> and start reading labels and only buying things with sugar in them. Let me just tell you how annoyed i was to find HFCS in my cough medicine and my beloved childhood brand of apple sauce. Starting out, everything in my fridge with HFCS in it, got an X on it  and when it ran out, i&#8217;d look for an HFCS-free alternative- and let me tell you, that was not easy. Today, however, companies have gotten the memo and you can find plenty of &#8220;throwback,&#8221; &#8220;classic&#8221; or similarly branded items with sugar, like they used to have.</p>
<p>After that came the rest of my diet&#8230; I had read <a href="http://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/">Michael Pollan&#8217;s </a><em><a href="http://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/">In Defense of Food</a> </em>and it opened my eyes (again) to the eating local and more consciously concept that somehow, over the years, had gotten lost in my life. Around the same time, a friend of mine invited me to a screening of <a href="http://www.freshthemovie.com/">FRESH</a> at a nearby church where local growers, raisers, and makers of food were set up and my whole life changed. I learned about <a href="http://www.localharvest.org/csa/">CSA&#8217;s</a> and since that very moment we&#8217;ve been completely ignoring the existence of the middle of the grocery store (if not the grocery store all together), buying meat only from happy grass fed cows* or happy roaming chickens, making sure our milk and eggs are from said happy animals and buying what we can at local farm stands and markets for the fruits and veggies. I&#8217;m still working on a source of cheese, yogurt, and other similar dairy products that meets my now serious requirements (but i&#8217;m pretty sure within the year i&#8217;ll be making them myself).</p>
<p>Somewhere along the line of the HFCS crusade, the last straw was that i could only find canned mushrooms that were grown in PA (40 miles north), shipped to China for processing and then shipped back for canning. And so began my moratorium on anything made in China. It had the added benefit of making me think i could do my part for the &#8221;carbon crisis, continuing the local idea, and voting with my dollar as far as international trade regulations were concerned (hello lead paint). It didn&#8217;t take long to realize that everything we buy is made there and gave me a mental image of a land full of factories, instead of the beautiful China my aunt speaks of from the  70s. Regardless,it is possible to find things made elsewhere (or god forbid in the USA). You may have to look a little harder, pay a little more or simply go without, but i think it&#8217;s worth it.</p>
<p>Similarly, i started to bug my normally receptive parents about their use of paper plates and cups over their regular dishes, and their need for paper napkins and paper towels instead of reusable cloth ones (which we&#8217;d been using for a few years now). because of the environmental issue (one word: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E#Themes">WALL-E</a>). I&#8217;m happy to report that I finally won that battle a few weeks ago. My next goal with them is to switch them to biodegradable trash bags.</p>
<p>About two years ago, when we moved to our current place, we learned the county had a very aggressive recycling program that accepted essentially <em>everything </em>(seriously not kidding) without it needing to be rinsed, cleaned, or sorted AT ALL. I&#8217;ve always recycled but now we were tossing out a huge bin of recycling and only a tiny half-filled bag of trash each week. If we composted (it&#8217;s coming, i can tell), we&#8217;d have no trash at all.</p>
<p>So all this is going on in the food and environmental sphere of my life, and over in sphere B, i&#8217;m still fighting the seemingly never-ending battle with my <em>stuff</em>. It needs to be organized, cleaned, picked up, and purged CONSTANTLY and it seems that every spare moment i have (not many) includes a to do list that has &#8220;organize X&#8221; or &#8220;clean up Y&#8221; right at the top. But even when i did that, it never looked or felt like I had made a dent.</p>
<p>I constantly felt overwhelmed. My home office was a dumping ground and it was a constant battle of moving piles from open spot A to open spot B in order to move something else just to have space to do stuff. Instead of spending time on projects, work, or just doing nothing, i spent time trying to get a hold of the &#8220;stuff monster.&#8221; We live in plenty of room for two people, but i felt like i was being crowded out.</p>
<p>In an attempts to at least curb the incoming stuff, last Christmas I put serious limits on the gift giving. Gifts is what my dad does. It fills him with joy to buy things that he thinks you will enjoy &#8211; and even more joy when he sees you open it on Christmas morning. In fact, until last year when I started imposing those limits on Christmas<em> </em> (just call me Scrooge), Christmas morning gift giving was an almost all-day affair, each of the three of us taking turns opening one item at a time. But all that stuff takes up space and i was at my mental limit. Dad did okay last year &#8211; he tried, he really did- but it was painful and I still ended up with stuff because no one knew how to change the tradition of an all-day gift opening fest when there seemed to be nothing to fill the space with. The boy and I were creative with our own Christmas, however, wrapping games we already owned and playing them after they were unwrapped. This year, i&#8217;ve put a COMPLETE MORATORIUM on <em>stuff </em>at Christmas at home. One gift each, if you must at all; high premium on experiences over things; homemade items are good. Things made of plastic, in China, or something that won&#8217;t last forever are verboten.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re wondering if my stuff problem extends to the bedroom, it does. The bedroom closet, that is (sheesh, people). A tshirt and jeans girl (&amp; no shoes if i can help it), i never understood or was taught the concept of an outfit. What Not To Wear intrigued me, but always left me mostly baffled when it came time to apply the theory. Mostly solo clothes shopping was basically hell for me, and i continued to buy pieces, instead of seeing the whole picture (which is funny because i&#8217;m really good at seeing the whole picture everywhere else in my life and work). This all leaves me with a closet bursting at the seams with things that maybe kinda go together, but not really. And regardless of the things i owned, I still basically wore the same few things. Enter <a href="http://kendieveryday.blogspot.com/">Kendi Everyday</a>. I&#8217;ve had Kendi in my rss reader for maybe a year now but only recently have really started to pay attention to her 30 in 30 project &#8211; 30 items to make 30 outfits in 30 days. Basically &#8211; forcing yourself to see your clothes in a different way, and make them do new things for you. I had the unique ability to wear a skirt and have it still look like my normal tee and jeans uniform- no extra finishing pieces, no accessories, nothing special &#8211; slap it on and you&#8217;re on your way. But in the last month or so i&#8217;ve seen more new combinations in my closet than i have <em>ever</em>. For example, I had no concept of just how different a whole outfit can look just by tucking in a shirt. Bless you, Kendi. (Outfit Mentor status also goes to my friend <a href="http://agathaasch.com/">A</a> whom i very much miss shopping with (especially now that i know what i&#8217;m doing.)</p>
<p>So where does this leave us? Well, enter two of the final pieces of the puzzle: 1) my complete abhorrence for my current commute and my intense desire to work closer to where i live / live closer to where i work at some point in the not-so-distant future and 2) my reading of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Nearby-marriage-preserving-bartering/dp/158008558X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1297636560&amp;sr=8-2">The Feast Nearby</a> (also, a <a href="http://thefeastnearby.com/">blog</a>). Dreams of living locally, biking around town, knowing my neighbors and canning my own chutneys and whatnot (because with all this local veggie buying, winter is going to suck), everything consolidated for me.</p>
<p>Somehow a life that was never about stuff, turned into one of not just stuff, but complacency and a disconnect from nature as i tried to find my way in the world. I bought into the completely ridiculous idea that if i dressed a certain way, bought into this new productivity practice, or purchased a new <em>thing</em>, something would click and it&#8217;d all be okay. But letting go (of expectations, material things, and completely bullshit ideas of the kind of person you have to be to do x, y, or z)&#8230; making careful and conscious choices about my life (and the stuff in it)&#8230; and following the bliss &#8211; naysayers be damned &#8211; is my true path now. And i can&#8217;t tell you how glad i am that i&#8217;ve found it, even if it seems to have taken forever.</p>
<p>So the journey has been long, but the destination isn&#8217;t yet here. I&#8217;ve been selling our stuff on ebay like mad, we&#8217;ve ditched our TV service (with the added benefit of confusing and annoying The Company and saving a lot of $), I&#8217;ve relearned the word &#8220;no&#8221; and we continue making good choices for ourselves &#8211; happy cows, sustainable building materials and being creative with what we&#8217;ve got and making what we don&#8217;t (if we must).</p>
<p>All this to say, with less stuff, you really can do (and be) more.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<p>* I can tell you with absolute certainty that there is a difference i can <em>feel</em> between meat from a happy cow versus an unhappy one (think the difference between open field and feed lot). i feel better after the meal, it&#8217;s easier to digest, and tastes completely different (read: better). My mom was skeptical but let me buy them a pound of &#8220;happy cow&#8221; (as it&#8217;s now come to be known in our houses, though i&#8217;d imagine that if the meat is in my procession at some point the cow was no longer happy). They kept it frozen for a while but finally cooked with it. Mom was astounded- she didn&#8217;t feel a heaviness and sloth that she usually does after eating beef and she noticed the difference later too as it didn&#8217;t make her stomach do flips during digestion. WIN!</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/01/todo-2009/' rel='bookmark' title='ToDo: 2009'>ToDo: 2009</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/03/book-lending-netflix-style/' rel='bookmark' title='Book lending; Netflix style'>Book lending; Netflix style</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>after a decade, moves to end (and save) an important library service</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2011/04/after-a-decade-moves-to-end-and-save-an-important-library-service/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2011/04/after-a-decade-moves-to-end-and-save-an-important-library-service/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:08:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[libraries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new jersey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political moves]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QandANJ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[virtual reference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VR]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/?p=991</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this month the New Jersey State Librarian announced that QandANJ.org was to be sunsetted June 30th. Until I read Pete Bromberg&#8217;s eloquent and biting post I was having trouble finding the words to discuss what was happening in my beloved home state. Please take a moment to read what he has to say. Building [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/qandanj.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-992" title="QandANJ.org" src="http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/qandanj.jpg" alt="QandANJ logo" width="200" height="158" /></a>Earlier this month <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&amp;pid=explorer&amp;chrome=true&amp;srcid=0BypA5JPqO5JANWI1YWZmMDMtOWU4ZC00Y2IwLTlmNmItMWE4ZTc1NDA1MDVi&amp;hl=en">the New Jersey State Librarian announced</a> that <a href="http://www.qandanj.org">QandANJ.org</a> was to be sunsetted June 30th.</p>
<p>Until I read Pete Bromberg&#8217;s eloquent and biting post I was having trouble finding the words to discuss what was happening in my beloved home state. <a href="http://blog.peterbromberg.com/2011/04/qandanj-my-three-and-half-cents.html">Please take a moment to read what he has to say.</a></p>
<p>Building on what Pete said, here are my own 2¢:</p>
<p>QandANJ, and other services around the world like it, are tremendously valuable for the libraries who provide it, librarians who staff it and customers and students who use it. QandANJ provides reliable information access to customers, understanding that questions don&#8217;t have business hours. In a time of decreased library hours and staffing, QandANJ ensures that people get what they need even when their library can&#8217;t. QandANJ provides opportunities for staff to increase their technology, interpersonal and customer service skills in an online environment &#8211; one that is only going to be more important and ever-increasing in the coming years/decades. Not to mention the staggeringly awesome benefit to citizenss, QandANJ provides the same benefits as <a href="http://www.askusnow.info">my own service</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>provides a positive return on small investment of staff hours for e.g. small institutions provide a few hours of staff time in return for 24/7 access;</li>
<li>reaches new users and bring them into library services;</li>
<li>supports customer preferences for online engagement;</li>
<li>gives visibility for other library services through service provider referrals;</li>
<li>increases usage of online databases: enhanced access to experts facilitates student and lifelong learner use of online databases;</li>
<li>provides consistent service across K-12 and post-secondary sector and addressing the needs of the lifelong learner;</li>
<li>creates collaborative partnerships within and across sectors e.g. multi-sector bundle, resource sharing, building the shared services of our library community;</li>
<li>encourages innovation within a supported environment; centralized coordination and training means libraries don&#8217;t have to provide administrative or technical support;</li>
<li>offers professional development for service providers: a collaborative environment facilitates sharing of expertise;</li>
<li>serves as risk avoidance in the event of a disaster, QandANJ provides a way for libraries to maintain access to reference service if library service is compromised</li>
</ul>
<p>I might even argue that because of the way NJ municipalities are set up, QandANJ provides much-needed cohesion of services throughout the state.</p>
<p>You only have to look at librarian and customer comments to see the immense value this service has to both the citizens of New Jersey but to the world. In the last 10 years QandANJ has been a model for other services around the globe. <a href="http://www.askusnow.info">Maryland AskUsNow!,</a> launched in 2003, took cues from and brainstormed with the leadership of QandANJ and enjoys continued success because of the intellectual partnership between QandANJ and other state- and province-wide services around the world.</p>
<p>Deciding to end such a valuable, respected, and needed service in the library world today without good reason should be punishable by banishment from the library community.</p>
<p>QandANJ (as well as all vr services, including my own) will always and forever have my support as a library user, library staffer, and citizen of this universe.</p>
<p>Check out the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171081902947115">Save QandANJ event on facebook</a>, the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/QandANJorg/9004176187">QandANJ facebook page</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/QandANJComments">read customer comments on twitter</a> and <a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE5VMXFCdkVDYUF1c0xYUzlvS2wyQXc6MQ">add your supportive voice here</a>.</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/07/xtreme-customer-service-or-ttwwadi-must-die/' rel='bookmark' title='Xtreme Customer Service or TTWWADI must die.'>Xtreme Customer Service or TTWWADI must die.</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/04/international-virtual-reference-service/' rel='bookmark' title='(inter)national virtual reference service?'>(inter)national virtual reference service?</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>the future of the library</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2010/08/the-future-of-the-library/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2010/08/the-future-of-the-library/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:59:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[libraries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tech]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/?p=792</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There has been a lot of talk lately about the future of libraries and what our fate holds for us. In fact- there was just an entire conference on it (RefRen10: Inventing the Future). Ebooks have caused the most recent identity crisis for us (and for barnes and noble and publishers, etc) but this is not [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There has been a lot of talk lately about the future of libraries and what our fate holds for us. In fact- there was just an entire conference on it (<a href="http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/">RefRen10: Inventing the Future</a>). Ebooks have caused the most recent identity crisis for us (and for barnes and noble and publishers, etc) but this is not a new story for this particular profession. Although i have not been in libraryland this long, this is probably the same conversation that people were having when someone tried to get a telephone at the reference desk oh those many years ago &#8211; and now it&#8217;s business as usual.</p>
<p>The focus, for whatever reason, seems to always be on the &#8220;technology&#8221; (usually perceived as disruptive) and how it&#8217;s going to put us out of business or put a lot of us out of jobs or some such other nonsense. Books- for instance, are perceived as our primary business- not just by the customers (usually non-users) but also (unfortunately) by those who work in libraries (time for you to retire yet?). When i was in library school i remember discussions about libraries versus booksellers. It was always &#8220;versus&#8221; and i never understood why since we&#8217;re not really in the same business.</p>
<p>And now, as people are freaking out about ebooks, i ask the same question- why?</p>
<p>It seems we forget that our business is not defined by our <em>things</em> &#8211; the modes in which our information is delivered- physical book, ebook, database, audio cd, computer, etc- our <em>technology</em> if you will. The library is NOT an information warehouse and calling it such removes the element that actually IS our business &#8211; the people. Calling us &#8220;information gatekeepers&#8221; also does us a disservice &#8211; enforcing that stereotype that we are better than you and only <em>we</em> can dole out the world&#8217;s knowledge on a need-to-know basis and only if you&#8217;re worthy. Um, no.</p>
<p>Libraries are in the people business and i&#8217;d like to invite everyone who is in the profession on a front lines service desk who does not agree with me to do some soul searching and perhaps find another calling. Libraries are in the people business- connecting people to people (staff to customers and customers to their communities) and people to things (information, skills, knowledge, etc); usually people to the things they need to become better people. When libraries define themselves through their community, suddenly the technology doesn&#8217;t matter. And it shouldn&#8217;t. Technology is simply a way of getting things done, of solving problems. Sure, I&#8217;ll be the first to sign up for something flashy and new just because it is such but that doesn&#8217;t mean i&#8217;m going to implement it on a system-wide basis simply because it&#8217;s &#8220;the new thing.&#8221; In fact i&#8217;m very much against technology for technology&#8217;s sake in this context. With something new and interesting, I&#8217;m going to file it away and hope i recall it later when i&#8217;m faced with a challenge it might help solve. <a href="http://www.wordle.net/">Wordle</a>, for instance- was fun to play with in the beginning but what the hell can i use a word cloud for? Not much&#8230; until it came time to write the final grant report and i needed a visual way of representing the year&#8217;s worth of customer comments. Bingo.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s a simple example but i&#8217;m hoping you get my drift. If we define ourselves by the needs of the people in our community, and the relationships we build with them, suddenly we&#8217;ve just given ourselves the flexibility to ebb and flow with whatever the world throws at us. Suddenly &#8220;omg mobile&#8221; doesn&#8217;t seem so scary.</p>
<p>See, we have to be limber. Not just people and libraries, but everyone. Businesses that can&#8217;t move with the waves of life suffer. Take Western Union- <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2005-07-05-famous-quotes_x.htm">the president of the company in 1876 said</a>, &#8221;this &#8216;telephone&#8217; has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.&#8221; Missed opportunity there. And i bet he&#8217;d pass out if he could look around the world today.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re very good, in libraries, at letting others decide what we should be doing &#8211; waiting for others to define who we are and what business we&#8217;re in. The great thing about the future that people tend to forget is that WE CAN INVENT IT! The Future is not something that happens to us; we are something that happens to the future. Feel free to quote me on that.</p>
<p>Seriously though, if libraries defined their identities and purposes by their specific community&#8217;s needs and stopped worrying about what other people were doing (not in that informed, always-looking kind of way but the &#8220;i don&#8217;t know what to do, oh lets do what they&#8217;re doing&#8221; kind of way), libraries would be more embraced into their community as a whole, start to chip away at the stereotype (the stuffy one, not the sexpot one.. though that annoys me too), and be more relevant to their worlds and more flexible as technology shifts (as it tends to do).</p>
<p>It&#8217;s our communities that binds us together. Sure, everyone has a hugely different demographic and community base but regardless of who their community is, libraries should be building relationships with those people, asking them what they need in life, and then providing it (either directly or as a referral or partnership).</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll go back to my mobile example from a bit ago- Sure, mobile is the thing we need to be in right now- its not going away. the xx billion text messages sent daily is a sign that something&#8217;s up. But if your small town library serves a community of aging ESL, perhaps texting and mobile isn&#8217;t really a bandwagon you should be jumping on right yet. But if you have conversations with them &#8211; keep them up to date with the world just as you try to be as a professional (you ARE, right?) and it piques their interest &#8211; ask them what they want to do. Maybe they&#8217;ll surprise you and already all have iphones and they want to try this new augmented reality thing. Or maybe you&#8217;ll delight them when they finally learn how to retrieve a text message from their granddaughter. You never know unless you ask.</p>
<p>The moral of the story is this- Stop freaking out about technology. Play with it, learn it, talk to people about it, but don&#8217;t let it cause an identify crisis. Be flexible. Build relationships with your community. Ask them what they need (and then give it to them).</p>
<p>So- now that i&#8217;ve said all that&#8230; what do YOU think the future of libraries is? I want to hear what you have to say- comment or trackback. :-)</p>
<p>[<a href="http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/Screen-shot-2010-08-17-at-9.52.10-PM.png">oh, and for giggles, here's this post in wordle (for no good reason other than i felt like it)</a>]</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/06/foresight-2020-scenario-planning-learning-to-think-in-the-future-tense/' rel='bookmark' title='Foresight 2020- Scenario Planning: Learning to Think in the Future Tense'>Foresight 2020- Scenario Planning: Learning to Think in the Future Tense</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/06/you-are-the-future-of-libraries-no-pressure-or-be-the-conversation-people/' rel='bookmark' title='You are the Future of Libraries, no pressure (or Be the conversation people)'>You are the Future of Libraries, no pressure (or Be the conversation people)</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Rally around real Health Care Reform</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/10/rally-around-real-health-care-reform/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/10/rally-around-real-health-care-reform/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:17:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/?p=476</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night I caught Keith Olbermann&#8217;s program-length Special Comment on Health care. If you haven&#8217;t yet seen it, I&#8217;ve embedded the video for you below. You can also read the transcript @MSNBC.com. It baffles me why, as a country, we let politics get in the way of making the lives of our citizens better. Why [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last night I caught Keith Olbermann&#8217;s program-length Special Comment on Health care. If you haven&#8217;t yet seen it, I&#8217;ve embedded the video for you below. You can also <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33213245/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/">read the transcript @MSNBC.com</a>.</p>
<p>It baffles me why, as a country, we let politics get in the way of making the lives of our citizens better. Why we allow politics (and religion) to stand in the way of proper sex education and health care and transportation systems and better nutrition&#8230; and how we&#8217;re supposed to be this technologically advanced, free-thinking liberal country and yet we have tons of people out of work, homeless, starving, and generally uncared for. Clearly we don&#8217;t seem to worry that we&#8217;re only as strong as our weakest link.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been privileged in my life to never have to worry about health care. My parents always had insurance and whenever i got sick (which was a fair amount as a kid), i was always able to see a doctor and afford whatever prescription was going to make me better. I&#8217;ve heard of insurance companies <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/06/domestic.violence.insurance/index.html?eref=rss_politics">refusing to cover battered women</a>, i&#8217;ve seen prescription lists that include Viagra and other male enhancement drugs that also do not include birth control. I have friends that &#8220;got all their appts in&#8221; before losing their jobs. But yesterday i learned that someone i work closely with doesn&#8217;t have health insurance. She&#8217;s part time and her husband is self-employed and they can&#8217;t afford it on their own. Suddenly it occurred to me how carelessly i&#8217;ve been assuming that having health coverage is a standard part of life&#8230; because for me, it always has been. </p>
<p>Regardless of the fact that these are two intelligent, smart, educated people with good jobs, even the guy down the street without a job or permanent residency should be able to afford health care. Our country is failing our citizens. Somewhere along the line people got greedy and shit hit the fan. The housing market collapsed. Businesses closed and people lost their jobs. Companies thought they could get away with murder. The insurance industry is no exception. </p>
<p>What would my life be like if i never had access to health insurance. Well for one thing i might not be alive today. Or if i was, either myself or my parents would be very much in debt. And Keith is right, if the desire to extend my life and not die causes me to lower my quality of life because i&#8217;m in debt, then someone is failing me. In this case, the insurance companies for being greedy and the American politicians for being the same.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no excuse why there should be people living on our land who are suffering because they do not have access to quality, affordable (or free) healthcare. The United States is the only industrialized country on the planet without Universal Health Care. WTF is keeping us from getting on the &#8220;we care for our people too&#8221; bandwagon?</p>
<p>&#8230; check out Keith&#8217;s Special Comment below, in 5 parts.</p>
<p><center>========</center><br />
<strong>Keith Olbermann&#8217;s Special Comment: Health care Reform: Saving American lives</strong><br />
Part One</p>
<div><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/33217219#33217219" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">News about the Economy</a></p>
</div>
<p>Part Two</p>
<div><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/33217296#33217296" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">News about the Economy</a></p>
</div>
<p>Part Three</p>
<div><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/33217346#33217346" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">News about the Economy</a></p>
</div>
<p>Part Four</p>
<div><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/33217446#33217446" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">News about the Economy</a></p>
</div>
<p>Part Five</p>
<div><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/33217592#33217592" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">News about the Economy</a></p>
</div>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/10/a-special-comment-from-keith-olbermann/' rel='bookmark' title='A Special Comment from Keith Olbermann'>A Special Comment from Keith Olbermann</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/11/a-question-of-love/' rel='bookmark' title='A Question of Love'>A Question of Love</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>i have seen the future, and it&#8217;s a mess</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/09/i-have-seen-the-future-and-its-a-mess/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/09/i-have-seen-the-future-and-its-a-mess/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:38:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[observations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/?p=463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[last Sunday, a bunch of us went to the VirginFreeFest at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Even though i&#8217;ve been living close to the venue for almost half a year, it was the first time i had actually gotten to see a concert there. The festival was awesome (and not just the fact that it was free). [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 170px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonwu/3879892255/"><img style="margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 4px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3535/3879892255_8bb44ce6a7_m.jpg" alt="" width="160" height="240" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">photo © brandonwu</p></div>
<p>last Sunday, a bunch of us went to the <a href="http://virginmobilefestival.com">VirginFreeFest</a> at <a href="http://www.merriweathermusic.com/">Merriweather Post Pavilion</a>. Even though i&#8217;ve been living close to the venue for almost half a year, it was the first time i had actually gotten to see a concert there. The festival was awesome (and not just the fact that it was free). there was awesome music in three different tents, roaming performers, great food, free giveaways, prizes, bumper cars, a skate park, and more. Except for some wandering i spent most of the day on a blanket under a tree enjoying the acts on the main stage.</p>
<p>from reading the website before the event i knew that they were promoting green and eco-friendly things, like water fill up stations so you could bring your own bottle to refill all day long, lots of recycling containers, composting, and more:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Virgin Mobile FreeFest aims to be as clean as we can possibly be! Last year we were able to divert tons of trash away from landfills by introducing composting, recycling, and biodegradable food service items. We also cleaned up our act by running the Festival on B99 biodiesel fuel. This year, we am to do the same thing and more&#8230; We are making best efforts to eliminate trash. That&#8217;s right, we&#8217;re not going to be handing you trash and we hope that you will help us by not bringing any in&#8230;  You used it, Now let us help you put it back. Bring us your empty bottles and we&#8217;ll recycle them for you, and for the good of the planet.</p></blockquote>
<p>and yet somehow, as the day went on, you started to notice that the trash cans were empty and the grass was full. plastic beer cups, plates, food, the reusable aluminum Budweiser containers crushed by the weight of passing feet. the sound of plastic being crushed or kicked by people as they walked around. never once did i see someone pick up trash instead of kicking it out of their way. by the end of the night you saw more trash on the ground than grass.</p>
<p>i started to hear the mother of a friend in my head. &#8220;don&#8217;t,&#8221; she says, leaning in to her son who&#8217;s cleaning up crumbs on the table at a restaurant. &#8220;there are people who do that.&#8221; my generation grew up with the assumption is that there are always going to be people who clean up after you. it started with your mother, tireless in picking up your room and clearing the dinner dishes instead of making you do it (this was not my mother, that&#8217;s for sure). and then in college you&#8217;re tricked by some better-than-thou prick into thinking that by not cleaning up after yourself you&#8217;re &#8220;creating jobs.&#8221; what bullshit. with only slightly more energy than dropping your trash on the ground you could have walked the few yards in any direction to a trash can or recycling bin.</p>
<p>and someone must have started it. people wouldn&#8217;t have been so likely to drop their trash where they stood if they hadn&#8217;t already seen it on the ground. it&#8217;s like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixing_Broken_Windows">broken window theory</a> saying that as soon as one broken window doesn&#8217;t get fixed, the community starts to decline, crime rising. It doesn&#8217;t take much for the landslide to happen once people stop caring, but it takes even less to make sure the window gets fixed, ensuring the unspoken rule that &#8220;we care about this community. you will keep things clean.&#8221; but it only takes one to start things in the other direction and before you even realize it, you&#8217;re living in shambles.</p>
<p>it&#8217;s like my issue with dishes. sure, i have a dish fairy who does them all now (we split it, i do the laundry) but when i had a place to myself, if i didn&#8217;t wash the dish immediately, it would start to pile up and the less i wanted to deal with it. it&#8217;s easy when there&#8217;s one. it&#8217;s harder to get started when there&#8217;s 20.</p>
<p>and that&#8217;s the way i&#8217;d assume all the clean up /break down staff felt when people cleared out of Merriweather that night. we left a little earlier than the last second because we had people who had to travel a few hours to get home, and we had work early in the morning. had i not had work early in the morning, or even though i did, i should have stayed and volunteered to clean up. or maybe smack around a few of the selfish contributors.</p>
<p>trash gets to me normally, i&#8217;m the girl you see taking a walk around the neighborhood, picking up the random soda can or month old soggy paper that she sees laying around. but this really bugged me. the concert attendees were significantly skewed to the young teens + my generation folks, with only a few older music lovers and the always-a-hippie hippies. what i saw laying before me was the future of our planet. my brain evoked visions of a planet dead from reckless abundance, resources dried up and trash left everywhere&#8230; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E">WALL-E</a> style. if this is how our young people treat the planet, what&#8217;s going to happen to it? I thought that it was our generation that was going to &#8220;save the world.&#8221; but right now it seems like a myth every generation tells themselves. kinda like the &#8220;our kids will be different&#8221; myth every scared parent-to-be holds on to.</p>
<p>when complaining about all this to the bf, he mentions that &#8220;all music festivals might be like this. we don&#8217;t know if this is out of the ordinary for them.&#8221; but it doesn&#8217;t make things better. people are slobs and there is never an excuse for that.</p>
<p>so i will continue to be careful and cognizant of what i acquire, continue to dispose of things properly recycling and reusing as much as possible, and continue to pick up trash when i see it carelessly left on the ground by someone else. and i will continue to remind others of those 3 Rs we were taught as kids that have somehow taken a back burner to life&#8217;s ever increasing (unrealistic and imaginary) demand for more &#8220;stuff&#8221; and &#8220;me! me! me!.&#8221; Recycle. Reduce. Reuse.</p>
<p>though at the very least, don&#8217;t be a slob.</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/01/symptoms-of-a-very-broken-world/' rel='bookmark' title='symptoms of a very broken world'>symptoms of a very broken world</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2010/01/thoughts-on-charity/' rel='bookmark' title='thoughts on charity'>thoughts on charity</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>saving the world: one plastic cup at a time</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/01/saving-the-world-one-new-years-at-a-time/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/01/saving-the-world-one-new-years-at-a-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:57:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eco-friendly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[garbage bags]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plastic cups]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/?p=244</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I noticed last night that all the restaurants and bars we patronized (or attempted to) were using plastic cups for beverages and plastic champagne flutes for the evening&#8217;s toast. Having never run a restaurant before i&#8217;m totally guessing as to the reason but i&#8217;d assume it&#8217;s because of the high level of potential drunk glass [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I noticed last night that all the restaurants and bars we patronized (<a href="http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/?p=243">or attempted to</a>) were using plastic cups for beverages and plastic champagne flutes for the evening&#8217;s toast. </p>
<p>Having never run a restaurant before i&#8217;m totally guessing as to the reason but i&#8217;d assume it&#8217;s because of the high level of potential drunk glass breakage on the eve of a large celebration, or because with the large number of customers it might be easier to just buy cups instead of running out of glassware. </p>
<p>Totally makes sense&#8230; but did they make a conscious choice with the disposable cups they were purchasing? Or did everyone, around the world, on their time for the new day, simply contribute to the world&#8217;s growing trash problem? </p>
<p>I don&#8217;t have answers. And this year i can&#8217;t say i was part of the solution, myself using at least 3 plastic cups throughout the night (i got real glass a few times, with the note that they weren&#8217;t supposed to). </p>
<p>This was on my radar since i&#8217;ve been trying to cut back on what i throw out. I&#8217;ve even been trying to find a more eco-friendly alternative to my garbage bags and will be trying out <a href="http://www.biobagusa.com/catering.htm">BioBags</a> soon.</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/08/go-into-details-on-your-own-time-not-the-customers/' rel='bookmark' title='Go into details on your own time, not the customers.'>Go into details on your own time, not the customers.</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/12/the_world_glows_as_we_all_reflect/' rel='bookmark' title='the world glows as we all reflect (or Happy New Year!)'>the world glows as we all reflect (or Happy New Year!)</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Democracy in Action</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/11/democracy-in-action/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/11/democracy-in-action/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:11:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/?p=235</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning I did my civic duty, right, and privilege and voted. It doesn&#8217;t matter who i voted for (but guessing by my icons and avatars for the last few weeks you probably can figure it out), the point is that i voted. That I stood up and said, &#8220;HEY! My voice counts!&#8221; What&#8217;s even [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a title="photo sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/strangeworksonline/3002387869/"><img style="border: solid 2px #000000;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/3002387869_cb5a78131c_m.jpg" alt="" /></a></div>
<p>This morning I did my civic duty, right, and privilege and voted. It doesn&#8217;t matter who i voted for (but guessing by my icons and avatars for the last few weeks you probably can figure it out), the point is that i voted. That I stood up and said, &#8220;HEY! My voice counts!&#8221;</p>
<p>What&#8217;s even better about this democracy is that my family, friends, colleagues and i can discuss what we like and don&#8217;t like about candidates, the process, and the system without fear of persecution.</p>
<p>For instance, my mother and I have been having very enthusiastic conversations/debates about the each of the major party candidates and their positions.</p>
<p>Eventually, as she was still undecided as of yesterday afternoon, i asked her to trust me. If she was still unsure when she was about to press a  button, i asked her to trust my choice. I don&#8217;t know if she did, or will, but she will be voting.</p>
<p>While you take your chance to vote today, remember this: The simple act of voting is more powerful than you could imagine.</p>
<p>And if you&#8217;re having a hard time making a choice, listen to what i told my mom yesterday, &#8220;the world is a different place than it was even 5 years ago. and we can&#8217;t make choices based on how the world WAS. we have to make choices based on how the world IS and WILL BE. We can&#8217;t KNOW how the world will be, but we can make good, educated guesses and plan for all possibilities.&#8221;</p>
<p>Regardless of who you cast your vote for, please vote. And get your friends to, too. :-)</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<br />
Update: Months later, in a conversation with my parents i found out that my mother did indeed come over to the light. Yay mom!</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/04/why-last-minute-is-still-my-friend/' rel='bookmark' title='why last-minute is still my friend'>why last-minute is still my friend</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/03/lunch-breaks/' rel='bookmark' title='lunch breaks'>lunch breaks</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Vote tomorrow, November 4th!</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/11/vote-tomorrow-november-4th/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/11/vote-tomorrow-november-4th/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:03:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobilizethevote.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vote]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/?p=234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Voting is more than a right, it is a responsibility. Don&#8217;t know where your polling place is? Enter you address on this google map and it&#8217;ll show you! Need other information for voting in your state? Check out vote411.org possibly related posts:OCLC&#8217;s World Map 23 things: week 3, thing 6 (photo mashups)]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Voting is more than a right, it is a responsibility.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mYnfhFlS6U8&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mYnfhFlS6U8&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>Don&#8217;t know where your polling place is? <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/mapplets/elections/2008/us-voter-info/us-voter-info.xml">Enter you address on this google map and it&#8217;ll show you!</a></p>
<p>Need other information for voting in your state? <a href="http://www.vote411.org/bystate.php">Check out vote411.org</a></p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/12/oclcs-world-map/' rel='bookmark' title='OCLC&#8217;s World Map'>OCLC&#8217;s World Map</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/09/23-things-week-3-thing-6-photo-mashups/' rel='bookmark' title='23 things: week 3, thing 6 (photo mashups)'>23 things: week 3, thing 6 (photo mashups)</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>blatent self promotion&#8230; but for a good cause.</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/09/blatent-self-promotion-but-for-a-good-cause/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/09/blatent-self-promotion-but-for-a-good-cause/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:59:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/?p=223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Again this year I will be joining the masses in Philadelphia on October 19th to participate in the AIDS Walk. Why a walk? Well, all the cool kids do it to raise money for good causes, of course! Here&#8217;s the deal: Over 600,000 Americans have died from AIDS since 1981 when the first case was [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="border: 0; float: right;" src="http://www.aidsfundphilly.org/graphics/walklogo.jpg" alt="AIDS Walk Philly logo" width="75" height="188" />Again this year I will be joining the masses in Philadelphia on October 19th to participate in the AIDS Walk.</p>
<p>Why a walk? Well, <a href="http://charitymile.com/index.php?do=/public/causes/">all the cool kids</a> do it to raise money for good causes, of course!</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the deal: Over 600,000 Americans have died from AIDS since 1981 when the first case was diagnosed.  And AIDS isn&#8217;t over.  People are still getting HIV/AIDS.  In fact, this year, over 1.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., the highest number ever recorded. The world is losing too many people to this disease.</p>
<p>For more facts about HIV/AIDS check out one of these sites:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/">CDC Fact Sheet</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.until.org/statistics.shtml?gclid=CNWQ-rOIz5UCFQtZHgodgyDyig">Until There&#8217;s a Cure: Vital Facts</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.aidshealth.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=1122&amp;Itemid=381">AIDS Healthcare Foundation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.aids.gov/basic/index.html">AIDS.gov</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Help me raise $300 for the AIDS Fund by going to <a href="http://www.aidswalkphilly.org/walk/participant.php?id=130897">my donation website</a>.<br />
You can also make a general donation to the <a href=" http://www.phillyaidswalk.com/donate/individual.php">Philly AIDS Fund</a> or the <a href="http://www.aidsfund.org/naf/">National AIDS Fund</a>. All donations are 100% tax deductible.</p>
<p>Thanks! :-)</p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/07/37-sites-to-know-and-try/' rel='bookmark' title='37 sites to know and try'>37 sites to know and try</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/09/self-realization-books-and-the-librarian/' rel='bookmark' title='self realization: books and the librarian'>self realization: books and the librarian</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Govt funded health database sets &#8220;abortion&#8221; as Stop Word</title>
		<link>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/04/govt-funded-health-database-sets-abortion-as-stop-word/</link>
		<comments>http://strangelibrarian.org/2008/04/govt-funded-health-database-sets-abortion-as-stop-word/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:45:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[censorship]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://strangelibrarian.org/blog/?p=174</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Should a database of articles on family planning make &#8220;abortion&#8221; a stop word? Johns Hopkins apparently thinks so. Try this- go to POPLine and search on &#8220;abortion&#8221;. Can&#8217;t do it, can you? Nope! Thanks to Colleen for tipping me off to this. Check out Women&#8217;s Health News and theexperiment.org for more info. Their reasoning? As [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Should a database of articles on family planning make &#8220;abortion&#8221; a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_words">stop word</a>?<a href="http://www.jhuccp.org/"><br />
Johns Hopkins</a> apparently thinks so.</p>
<p>Try this- go to <a href="http://db.jhuccp.org/ics-wpd/popweb/">POPLine</a> and search on &#8220;abortion&#8221;.</p>
<p>Can&#8217;t do it, can you? Nope!</p>
<p>Thanks to <a href="http://twitter.com/warmaiden/statuses/782307152">Colleen </a>for tipping me off to this.<br />
Check out <a href="http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/why-is-a-government-funded-reproductive-health-database-blocking-users-from-searching-for-abortion-articles/">Women&#8217;s Health News</a> and <a href="http://www.theexperiment.org/?p=2275">theexperiment.org</a> for more info.</p>
<p>Their reasoning?</p>
<blockquote><p>As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now.</p></blockquote>
<p>Talk about a crap line!</p>
<p>Rant time:</p>
<p>When you deny access to information, people won&#8217;t STOP looking for the information- they&#8217;ll just try to get it any way they can. And that might mean getting it from less-than-credible or complete-bs sources! Then these people are running around the world, misinformed, and getting into even more trouble!</p>
<p>No one would put &#8220;cancer&#8221; as a stop word, would they? I think not. So why is this any different!? News flash: IT&#8217;S NOT!<br />
Just like people thinking giving kids condoms promotes sex, taking away access to information doesn&#8217;t make the information need go away- it just makes the information gained less good!</p>
<p>Just like i believe prostitution should be legal (and more easily controlled), and kids should get condoms (safer sex, not more sex&#8230; and less pregnant kiddies), <strong>NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO LIMIT A HUMAN BEING&#8217;S ACCESS TO INFORMATION! </strong>ESPECIALLY NOT HEALTH ISSUES!</p>
<p>It&#8217;s 2008 people- <strong>WAKE UP!</strong></p>


<p>possibly related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2009/10/rally-around-real-health-care-reform/' rel='bookmark' title='Rally around real Health Care Reform'>Rally around real Health Care Reform</a></li>
<li><a href='http://strangelibrarian.org/2007/04/a-word-on-geico-commercials/' rel='bookmark' title='a word on Geico commercials'>a word on Geico commercials</a></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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