Tag Archives: USD

The terminally overcommitted

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Only recently have I begun to read the T. Scott blog. It’s well worth the time. A recent posting describes the author’s experience attending his first meeting of the board of the Medical Library Association. In particular I just about cracked up over the following statement he made:

“Volunteer organizations are strange creatures. They run off the drive and energy of the terminally overcommitted, so there are never really enough resources to bring to bear.”

This tickled my funny bone because I’ve been there, done that. The time I spent on the board of NASIG was incredibly worthwhile and I will be forever grateful for that experience. Yet I can say that T. Scott’s observations are spot on. I remember attending my first NASIG board meeting as a visitor (newly elected vice-president/president-elect) at the NASIG annual conference at the University of Michigan. Like T. Scott at the MLA board meeting, this was an illuminating experience.

I don’t care what anyone tells you, being president of NASIG is no less work than a full time job (or in some leadership capacity in whatever volunteer organization). It was incredibly stressful and required that a lot of time be devoted to the organization. As an aside, it’s interesting to note the similarities between NASIG and the Medical Library Association given the huge disparity in membership dues between the two volunteer organizations. NASIG charges $75 (and there are variations on dues depending on your status, e.g. students get a lower rate, and location, e.g. those who live in Canada or Mexico pay less in US dollars) whereas the Medical Library Association charges $165 for regular members. And NASIG used to charge $20-25 from its inception in 1985 ’til last year, when the dues were raised significantly for the first time.
Anyway, getting back to the workload issue for volunteer organizations… Given the fact that we all have “real” jobs, T. Scott writes:

“Frankly, it’s a wonder we get anything done at all.”

Still, it is worth it. My NASIG involvement has been incredibly important to my growth as a librarian. Friends I made 15 years ago remain friends to this day, and many new ones have been made along the way. I particularly agree with T. Scott’s closing statement in his post, and it holds true for most volunteer organizations that I know of:

“It is, after all, an association. A gathering of people committed to working together to achieve some things they can’t achieve on their own. Sometimes we’re successful, sometimes we fail. Always our reach exceeds our grasp. I like it that way.”

I like it that way, too.

Home delivery for libraries

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I was quite interested to read last night that a group of three nearby public libraries (Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Skokie Public Library and Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling) have decided to offer a new service to their users that gives them the option to check out library material via their websites and have the material delivered to the user’s home. Ah, but as Rick (Humphrey Bogart) says in the movie Casablanca to his ertswhile friend, Ugarte (played by Peter Lorre), “For a price, Ugarte, for a price.” I think this is a great idea and I would be interested in using the service as a user. However, I think the price (the article says it would be $4 per item checked out) is too high. Also, one of the participating public libraries stated that it would not encourage return by mail “because of the availability of 24 hr. drop boxes.” This, to me, is an example of where the library needs to think more clearly about the needs or wants of the user. In other words, I think this library is placing too much of a priority on what is convenient for it vs. what is convenient for the user. Think of the Netflix model. One of the main reasons for Netflix’s success, in my view, is the way that the whole delivery and return process is so easy.

So…a big thumbs up for these libraries that are willing to try something very new (and probably disruptive) in an attempt to better serve their users. Thumbs down, however, for the cost for the user to use this service, as well as for not finding a way (at least in one library’s case) to enable return of library materials by mail.

A stressful week

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This has been a stressful week. I have not felt up to writing blog entries for a while. On Wednesday when temperatures plummeted and we had some snow, we discovered that our furnace was broken. We were without heat until Thursday afternoon, when the repair man was able to replace the heat exchanger that had a crack in it. We made it through ok, but this incident helped us to remember to be thankful for things we often take for granted.

Cohen, Brinley, and Tristan have been struggling with chest colds for a couple of weeks now. ‘Course the cold temps didn’t help but they seem to be getting over it. After about 10 days of taking muscle relaxant and an anti-inflammatory (naproxen) to cope with the severe headaches I’ve been having, I was glad to report to my doctor that the medication had helped. This vindicated his diagnosis, that the headaches are caused by muscle tension. He said that many people who think they have migraines actually have headaches caused by muscle tension. The pain profile from muscle tension headaches is apparently indistinguishable from that of migraines. Anyway, my doctor prescribed physical therapy for 4-6 weeks and I had two sessions already. In addition to the therapy sessions I am supposed to do exercises three times a day. I think this treatment is helping.

On Tuesday a.m., Michele discovered that our dog, Maddie, had gotten ahold of an avocado pit and appeared to have eaten half of it. She noticed that Maddie had thrown up and decided to look up information about the situation on the Internet. She discovered that avocado pits are toxic to dogs, so we called a vet and asked for advice. The vet urged us to get her to the clinic as soon as possible. $160 later we thankfully found out that she was ok. It was a pretty stressful day for Michele since she had to go by herself with all three little kids, who were quite sick and crabby to boot.

Last night as I was going to the bus to start my commute home from work, I felt in my coat pocket and realized that I had lost my monthly train and bus pass (an expensive loss). I had to run back to my office to get enough money for the train and bus fares and in the meantime, missed the connecting bus. Unfortunately by the time I got to the Metra station, all trains outbound from Chicago were running up to 45 minutes late due to signal problems. I left work shortly after 5p and didn’t get home ’til after 7p.

E-Archiving tools the next big thing? [Updated]

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Some recent developments and announcements make me think that e-archiving solutions may be the next big thing in the world of information technology and libraries. Certainly, things are heating up in this area. Several weeks ago the National Archives of the U.S. announced a contract with Lockheed Martin to develop a tool known as the Electronic Records Archive (ERA). More recently, the Library of Congress gave $3 million to support development of an e-archive solution named Portico, being developed by a non-profit organization called Ithaka Harbors, Inc., which appears to be a spinoff of JSTOR and the Mellon Foundation. Just today, Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. and Sun Microsystems announced a partnership to develop their own e-archiving solution(s). (Full disclosure: Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. is my employer.)

New iTunes includes video download

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I was excited by the news today that a new video iPod is now available from Apple. I can dream of some day being able to own one of them. I still like the one I’ve got (a 4 Gb iPod Mini), but I’d like to have the battery life and storage capacity in the latest version.

Another part of today’s big news from Apple was the release of iTunes 6.0. This is a major update to the software. The main new feature is the ability to download video. In particular, you can download all of this season’s episodes of ABC’s hit drama, Lost, or some other Disney-owned shows, as well as some short movies from Pixar.

I’ve never seen a whole episode of Lost and it is one of the only shows on TV that I think might be worth watching, so I was intrigued by the possibility of downloading the season premier episode for $1.99, with no commercials. (I think that is a great price, btw, for 40+ minutes of video — remember, with no commercials to disrupt it). So I gave it a whirl. I just finished watching it on my PowerBook G4 using the new iTunes and thoroughly enjoyed it even though the resolution wasn’t that great. I hope this whole concept put forth by Apple today succeeds and that there will be more interesting content made available for download for a reasonable price in the near future. So far, I like what I see. Now, I wonder if I can get away with putting that 60 Gb video iPod on my Christmas list…

Back online again

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It is great to have high speed Internet again after being without it for over a week. We are settling in nicely here in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. We all really like this location and we are enjoying the many conveniences such as tons of places to shop for groceries and other things. As an example of the benefits to living close to everything, Monday night, after a long wait, Comcast service people came to install cable TV and Internet access. I had bought a cable modem when we had cable Internet installed in our house in Indiana 3 1/2 years ago, and I assumed I could use that same modem here. Unfortunately, Comcast doesn’t support it and told me I had to buy a new one. I zipped down the road to Best Buy and found a nice Motorola cable modem for $75 (by the way, that’s less than half the cost of the modem I purchased from the cable company in Indiana when we moved there). The entire trip took only 15 minutes.

Another nicety? There is a Starbucks less than a block away. (Funny though, I have yet to go there.) I badly need a haircut, but the nice thing is that there are two barber shops within a stone’s throw of our house.

It’s 2005 and I resolve to be more positive

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OK, so it is now 2005. Ho hum. One of my unspoken resolutions of the new year is to be more positive ;-) In that spirit, here are some nice, happy, positive things to write about:

One of the positive things that’s happened lately comes out of a big negative. We were told a few weeks ago that our van, a Honda Odyssey, needed a new catalytic converter. The price to fix it? A cool $1,200! (Why so expensive? We were told that it is because Honda’s catalytic converter contains precious metals like platinum.) We don’t have $120 extra to spend on anything, let alone $1,200, so this was a very big setback for us. The dealer told us that although the catalytic converter wasn’t clogged, it was very close to being clogged and we shouldn’t travel anywhere. We had to cancel our plans to visit family during the holidays because of this. At the dealer’s suggestion, we contacted American Honda to ask if they could help us out at all with the cost. I was very skeptical about this possibility, frankly. I called Honda last week and they promised to investigate the situation and give us a call back with their decision early this week. Lo and behold, we got a call on Tuesday from them, saying that they had decided to waive the entire cost of the catalytic converter!!! All we would have to pay would be the labor cost of installing it. I couldn’t believe it. Would an American car manufacturer do a thing like that? I wish I could say, YES, but I greatly doubt it. I have been a huge Honda fan for years since buying my first Honda in the mid 90s, an Accord, and I am more “sold” on Honda than ever before because of this. Anyway, I took the van in to the dealer yesterday and they installed the new part and all I had to pay was $76 for the labor. Good deal!

What other positive things can I start the new year with? Well, let’s see…I finally managed to clean out our garage. If you had ever seen how messy it was, you would be amazed at this incredible feat ;-) We can now park our van in the garage, which makes things much easier for everyone, especially in inclement weather.

Another positive thing is that after cleaning out the garage, we finally got around to unpacking a lot of our decorative items like family photos, knickknacks, paintings, and such. This, almost three years after we moved to Indiana. It was like having Christmas all over again as we rediscovered so many of the things that we hadn’t seen in years, many of the things that hold special meaning like framed photos from our wedding, as well as many of the wedding gifts that we received. The downside is that we have to figure out where on earth we are going to find space for some of the knickknacks in this house. Maybe Michele and I will finally feel at home here when we find places for all of these personal belongings and see them displayed around us.

One of the many nice presents I received for Christmas was something I had wanted for a long time: an AirPort Express base station with AirTunes. Talk about cool! I’m using it to extend the range of our AirPort Extreme base station, and I also set it up to play music on our stereo system in the living room via iTunes. I copied all of our CDs onto the PowerBook — about 1,200 songs in total — and we can now listen to all of our music or whatever combination of songs that we want, from the equivalent of a gigantic jukebox. How cool is that?

Another Christmas gift was the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I have already watched it and am generally pleased with the extra stuff in there. Now I have to figure out what I am going to say about it for my invited presentation at the upcoming C.S. Lewis Society meeting!

Finally, the most positive thing I can write about is that I am blessed in so many ways, with a wonderful wife, and four great children. Yes, there are some sacrifices and some trials here and there, but I still find it amazing that God has given me so many good things. Over and over again, He does what I think is impossible. In the midst of this world’s troubles — especially thinking about and grieving over the terrible devastation in Southeast Asia right now — I am so thankful that Jesus Christ took my sins upon Him and bore them on the cross, paying my debt for sin. I struggle all the time with accepting and enjoying what I do not deserve, and God knows I surely don’t deserve such an incredible gift. But this is exactly what He loves to do: to rescue and bless and be in relationship with those who don’t deserve it. Amazing grace!

PowerBookResQ

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After trying several times to figure out what is wrong with our PowerBook and not getting it to work, I couldn’t stand it any longer…I had to know the worst. So today I’m shipping it off to a service called PowerBookResQ to have it diagnosed. They basically ship you a special box via DHL, you pack the PowerBook in the box, then call DHL to come pick it up, and PowerBookResQ promises a diagnosis within 72 hrs. All for $49. They can repair it but if you choose to not have them repair it, they will ship it back to you at no additional cost. I hope to know what needs to be fixed by early next week. Here’s hoping (ha ha) that it is something simple and cheap.

[Update: Just got a call yesterday (10/01/2004) from PowerBookResQ and was told the worst possible news: The entire logic board needs to be replaced at a cost of $899. Groan.]

New library (finally) for Champaign, Illinois

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When I was a kid growing up in east central Illinois, Champaign-Urbana was “the big city” (actually, they are two separate cities). Ever since I can remember, my mother would took us to the public libraries in both cities (Urbana Free Library, and the Champaign Public Library). The current buildings for both libraries have been in desperate need of upgrades and expansions for decades. The current facility for Champaign was built in 1978. I can remember the previous building for the Champaign Public Library particularly for its insulated glass floors in the stacks. I thought they were pretty cool as a kid. (The building is still in use, but not as a library.) When the new facility opened in ’78 with a Bauhaus style design, we thought it was amazing and futuristic, “cool.” We used it all the time to check out books, magazines, and Super 8 mm. movies. (Yeah, this was in the days of 8 track stereo tapes and before VCRs were in widespread use. In other words, ancient history.) Both libraries were key in developing my love for books and libraries as I was growing up.Unfortunately, the “new” facility for Champaign quickly became outdated and worn out. I was really pleased when I read recently that a new, $29 million facility was approved and that construction will begin soon. I can’t wait to see the design and to read more about it. My family, who live in the area, still use that library quite a bit.Urbana is also nearing completion of an even more desperately needed expansion to its old facility. I’ve driven past it a few times when visiting family and like what I see.Long may library expansion continue, for these, and other, public libraries!

I’ve been duped

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Well, I thought I was off to a good start with this new hobby of mine, buying and selling books. I was wrong. I got really excited when I picked up a very clean 1st ed. of James Michener’s novel, The Caribbean, the other day. Checking on various Internet book sites such as Alibris, ABEBooks, and elsewhere, led me to believe that I had made a good buy for it at $8. Trouble was, I didn’t notice a personal inscription from some previous owner. When I brought the book into two different used bookstores today, neither of them wanted more than $6 for it. I’ve been duped! Now I’m thinking, maybe I shouldn’t think I know very much just yet about these things; maybe I am not going to do as well as I had hoped with this hobby…Sigh.