BBC NEWS | Business | Apple Macs: Objects of devotion — This is quite an interesting article, worth reading whether you are an Apple devotee or not. The author really hits on something, that Macs may indeed be better than their Wintel counterparts, but a lot of “it” is just a sociological phenomenon. Yeah, I now count myself an Apple devotee and yeah, I often have to stop myself from trying to rub it in to my Wintel colleagues, especially at a university whose IT department is focused solely on Windows and nothing else. I rant about ignorance and lack of experience, and I think I have a point because like one of the comments toward the bottom of the above-mentioned article, I work in both worlds and have done so for many years. Most of the non-Apple people I know, and many of the Apple people I know, have had no real experience living in the other world. Anyway, I’m not sure if my thoughts are leading anywhere except to state that this article resonated with me. I can see the positives, as well as the negatives, of Apple’s “cult of the Mac.”
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Unhealthy libraries
Reply
I recently read about an article added to my friend Priscilla’s website, LISCareer.com. (Btw, this site offers an excellent collection of useful articles to read, although the one article I contributed doesn’t count.) This particular article is entitled “In Search of an Emotionally Healthy Library” and is written by Nancy Cunningham. It hit home to me because frankly, I’m all too familiar with the characteristics of emotionally unhealthy libraries as outlined by the author. I wonder what it is about libraries that makes them a place where this kind of stuff persists? By the way, I have also worked for a library vendor and that experience thoroughly disabused me of the notion that the pervasive nonsense of academic libraries didn’t prevail in a for-profit environment. In some ways, the vendor environment was far worse. Anyway, this is a good article, very direct and thought-provoking.
Readerware
A couple of years ago, I happened to read about a software program called Readerware that was created to enable users to catalog their home collections of books, CDs, videos, and DVDs. Being the library geek that I am, and with my background in cataloging, my interest was immediately piqued. I downloaded a 30-day trial version back then and was quite impressed with Readerware’s auto-catalog feature, by which it goes out to predefined sites such as Amazon, Powell’s, the British Library, the Library of Congress, and other sites, and automatically harvests metadata about the item you wish to catalog, using a list of UPC and/or ISBN numbers that you’ve scanned into the system in a batch. Metadata can include (but is not limited to) author, title, publication information, value, and even, when available, cover images. You can pick and choose which sites you wish for Readerware to search, and in what order. You can also specify that it merge data from disparate sites into one record. Furthermore, instead of or in addition to doing batch searching, you can even drag and drop from a webpage containing information about an item into Readerware and it will auto-catalog that item on the fly. E.g. you can use Alibris or IMDB to find a record for something you own, drag the URL over to Readerware, and it’ll automatically parse the descriptive data and create a catalog record. One of the better aspects of the system’s capabilities is that in addition to the auto-catalog feature, it also allows you to periodically auto-update everything, e.g. to keep up with changing values for items you own. The cost for the Readerware bundle (there are three separate versions, one each for books, CDs, and videos/DVDs) is $75. I think that’s a real bargain.
Last week I was finally able to purchase a copy of the software and use it “for real.” Along with the software, I also received a free USB version of the :Cue:Cat barcode reader to enable me to quickly scan in the ISBN and/or UPC information needed to do the auto-cataloging. My wife and my eldest son, Keegan, rolled their eyes as I excitedly worked my way through our collections. I could tell they were thinking, “Oh great, there goes Mr. Library Geek again, wasting time on something technology related!” When I stopped scanning things in for a bit and had only one more bookshelf to do, I decided out of curiosity to review some of the prices of some of our books, just for fun, to see how much they might be worth. I was astonished to find one or two were valued at over $100 or more. When I showed this to Michele, suddenly her tune changed and she said, “What are you waiting for?! Get the rest of those books scanned!!!!” Keegan got very excited when I told him that one of the books that was valued the most was one of his game books! So we’re now singin’ a different tune ’round here. <grin>
Anyway, I think this is great software and highly recommend it to anyone! I’m inspired now to see if I can dabble in buying and selling books on the side. My plan is not to make much money, but instead, to make just enough of a profit selling other books to enable me to collect the books I really want. I see a whole new hobby opening up for me (like I really have time for that)…
The Sun Is Shining on the Other Side
Another book I’ve been reading lately (actually, this is the second time I’ve read it) is The Sun Is Shining on the Other Side by Margaret Jensen. I think my brother gave it to me originally. It is a series of stories and memories by the author of her childhood, growing up as the eldest child of Norwegian immigrants to the United States. The faith of her parents, especially her mother, is incredible, and it shines through every page. This is one of the most encouraging and wholesome (in the best sense of the word) books I have ever read.
The Lobster Chronicles
I just finished reading a thoughtful, sometimes droll, book called The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island written by Linda Greenlaw of The Perfect Storm fame. Since I have a special fondness for Maine, where this book is written (and is the home of the author), it was an entertaining read. As I read it while lying in bed, every once in a while I’d laugh or chuckle. Michele would then roll over and, in annoyance, tell me “Go to sleep!” This is one of the many joys of married life 
We were there in Maine for our family vacation last year and had a great time. I wish we could go back this year but we simply can’t afford it. My favorite area is the Harpswells. I’d love to own a summer house there! Tristan has once again spiked a bit of a fever and last night was a fairly restless one. Hopefully he’ll feel better today. Sometimes this happens when he is teething, other times we don’t know what causes it. Keegan, I think, is hoping to spend more time on his new skateboard today. His grandma bought it for him when we were at her house this past weekend. Yes, his grandma loves to spoil him rotten! Next door, a new access road is being built to the elementary school. Every morning now for the last few weeks, we’ve been woken up by extremely loud and heavy machinery starting up. It’s so loud that quite often, our entire house shakes. Then there are the gravel trucks rumbling to and fro in front of our house. They are filling in part of the parking lot at our church to enable new classroom space to be built. I’ll be glad when all of this construction work is done.