Lower East Side Librarian

chronically overextended

[sadmetadatakitty]

Sad Metadata Kitty is not so sure about the Open World Assumption… prefers Closed and Heated Model

[jennafreedman]

Is it okay to use this image in a slideshow for an ALCTS webinar on zine cataloging? Asking for Honor Moody, who doesn’t tumbl. 

[allmalepanels]

Congrats, you have an all male series of books on artists.

[cielrouge]

2016 YA Reads by Authors of Color

*more titles will be added once more covers are revealed*

American Ace by Marilyn Nelson - Connor’s grandmother leaves his dad a letter when she dies, and the letter’s confession shakes their tight-knit Italian-American family: The man who raised Dad is not his birth father.But the only clues to this birth father’s identity are a class ring and a pair of pilot’s wings. And so Connor takes it upon himself to investigate.

Black Disc by David Ramirez - On the surface, 17-year-old Susan King is a normal girl with normal problems - but Susan has a secret online life as a hacktivist, using the internet to bring down corrupt corporations around the world. Until the day a black disc appears from nowhere and begins to orbit the earth. That same day, Susan - and millions of people around the globe - receive an incoherent chain email, full of lunatic predictions claiming to foretell the end of the world. Susan, and everyone else, ignores the email. And then the predictions start coming true. But what can one girl do to stop the apocalypse?

Burn Baby Burn by Med Medina - Nora Lopez is 17 during the infamous New York summer of 1977, when the city is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam is on the loose. All Nora wants is to turn eighteen and be on her own. And while there is a cute new guy who started working with her at the deli, is dating even worth the risk when the killer likes picking off couples who stay out too late?  

Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman - Olivia and her twin brother Aidan are heading alone back to Earth following the virus that wiped out the rest of their crew, and their family, in its entirety. Nathan is part of a community heading in the opposite direction. But on their journey, Nathan’s ship is attacked and most of the community killed.Only a few survive.Their lives unexpectedly collided, Nathan and Olivia are instantly attracted to each other, deeply, head-over-heels – like nothing they have ever experienced.

Cinnamon Girl by Juan Felipe Herrera -  I want to see what is on the other side of the dust When the towers fall, New York City  is blanketed by dust. On the Lower East Side, Yolanda, the Cinnamon Girl, makes her manda, her promise, to gather as much of it as she can. Maybe returning the dust to Ground Zero can comfort all the voices. Maybe it can help Uncle DJ open his eyes again. As tragedies from her past mix in the air of an unthinkable present, Yolanda searches for hope. Maybe it’s buried somewhere in the silvery dust of Alphabet City.

Consider by Kristy Acevedo - As if Alexandra Lucas’ anxiety disorder isn’t enough, mysterious holograms suddenly appear from the sky, heralding the end of the world. They bring an ultimatum: heed the warning and step through a portal-like vertex to safety, or stay and be destroyed by a comet they say is on a collision course with earth. How’s that for senior year stress?The holograms, claiming to be humans from the future, bring the promise of safety. But without the ability to verify their story, Alex is forced to consider what is best for her friends, her family, and herself.To stay or to go. A decision must be made.

The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye - Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death. When Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for Vika, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love…or be killed himself. As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear … the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

The Darkest Hour by Caroline Tung Richmond - After the Nazis killed her brother on the North African front, 16-year-old Lucie Blaise volunteered at the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, DC, to do my part for the war effort. Only instead of a desk job at the OSS, Lucie is tapped to join the Clandestine Operations – a secret espionage and sabotage organization of girls, and employed to German-occupied France to gather intelligence and eliminate Nazi targets. Her current mission: Track down and interrogate a Nazi traitor about a weapon that threatens to wipe out all of Western Europe. 

Dove Exiled (Dove Chronicles #2) by Karen Bao - Phaet Theta fled the Moon and has been hiding on Earth with her friend Wes and his family. But Phaet’s past catches up with her when the Lunar Bases attack the community and reveal that Phaet is a fugitive. She’s torn between staying on Earth with Wes—whom she’s just discovered her feelings for—and stowing away on a Moon-bound ship to rescue her siblings.

Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia -  Reshma Kapoor is a college counselor’s dream, but if Reshma wants to get into Stanford, and into med school after that, she needs the hook to beat them all. What’s a habitual over-achiever to do? Land herself a literary agent, of course. Which is exactly what Reshma does. Her agent wants to represent Reshma, and with scoring a book deal, Reshma knows she’ll finally have the key to Stanford. But she’s convinced no one would want to read a novel about a study machine like her. Of course, even with a mastermind like Reshma in charge, things can’t always go as planned. And when the valedictorian spot begins to slip, she’ll have to decide just how far she’ll go for that satisfying ending. (Note: It’s pretty far.)

Even If The Sky Falls by Mia Garcia - Julie is desperate for a change. So she heads to New Orleans with her youth group to rebuild houses and pretend her life isn’t a total mess. In a moment of daring, she ditches her work and heads straight into the heart of Mid-Summer Mardi Gras, where she locks eyes with Miles, an utterly irresistible guy with a complicated story of his own. She jumps at the chance to see the real New Orleans, and in one surreal night, they fall in love. But their adventure takes an unexpected turn when an oncoming hurricane changes course. As the storm gains power and Julie is pulled back into chaos she finds pretending everything is fine is no longer an option.

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill - 17-year-old Britta Flannery is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. She spends her days tracking criminals alongside her father, the legendary bounty hunter for the King of Malam—that is, until her father is murdered. When Britta is caught poaching by the royal guard, instead of facing the noose she is offered a deal: her freedom in exchange for her father’s killer. However, it’s not so simple.The alleged killer is none other than Cohen McKay, her father’s former apprentice. The only friend she’s ever known. The boy she once loved who broke her heart.

Keep reading

[jennafreedman]

Adding to my library to-read list!

[lismicroaggressions]

Dear June Mazer Archive Facebook moderator

Hello there. I would first off like to express my sincere fandom and appreciation for your archive and of your Facebook posts. As a queer/lesbian Latina, I find your posts and sharing of digital resources on your Facebook account essential to my everyday social media digest of queer and lesbian visibility. Through your posts I often discover documentaries, printed material, and online resources about queer and lesbian herstories that I was not aware of before or resources I had no idea were freely accessible online. Furthermore, as a Los Angeles native I particularly love the materials you post about local lesbian social life. 

I am writing this message because yesterday you shared two images of your archive that you identified as ‘international’. After reading the images, I responded with a comment to your post: 

“Are you sure these are international? I see Los Angeles clearly printed in one of these images. Also the term ‘latina’ usually refers to female identified people living in the US”. 

I was looking for clarification on the erroneous assumption that Spanish language material comes from international origins. From the images you posted, I was able to discern that one flyer was promoting an event put on by a group called LAPIS at the Friendship Auditorium at 3201 Riverside Dr. Los Angeles; the other, an image of a magazine or journal, did not have a title, location or address, though it identified itself as a magazine for Latina lesbians. A cursory Google search led me to the magazine’s World Cat catalog record, which identifies esto no tiene nombre as a publication that ran from 1991-1994 and was based in Miami, Florida.

I find it troubling that my comment was not acknowledged or responded to, in fact, it was subsequently deleted and the post altered. The word ‘international’ was changed to ‘interesting’ and other images were added that may, in fact, be of international origin. As a practicing archivist that works to be as inclusive as possible of stories that have been historically marginalized and silenced by omission and erasure, I am disconcerted at your choices on how to deal with this situation. A simple comment like “whoops! yes, thank you for catching that!” would have sufficed. Instead of an acknowledgment of your error and an awareness of your presumed assumption, you chose to alter your post and silence me.

As a founding member of the LIS Microaggressions collective these types of situations are the reason collective members have come together to fight for the space to publicly acknowledge the ways LIS professionals that belong to marginalized groups are assumed and microaggressed. Your assumption that those resources in your archive are international is a microaggression about Spanish language materials and where they come from. Your choice to alter and silence instead of acknowledging or recognizing a simple error is a macroaggression located on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality that speaks deeper on power dynamics of authority between the archive and its users.

I write to you not to accuse you, but to look for dialogue in hopes that, in the future, you do not deter your users from engaging with you about your collections. Please consider giving your users the platform to be able to correct you about your own collections. After all, isn’t increasing engagement with our users what we are after as a profession? What’s the point of sharing our collections with our users if we are not open to dialogue with them and are not open to recognize our wrongs when they are made apparent through our users?

You can do better. And we, as a profession, can do better.

My best,

Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez Processing Archivist for Latin American Collections Princeton University

[jennafreedman]

We can’t ever move past racial microaggressions without acknowledging our mistakes and apologizing for them. 

[zinepavilion]

http://goo.gl/forms/M63lhLlvey

[jennafreedman]

Hang out with zines to get the artificial taste of Orlando out of your mouth. And get a free pass to the ALA Annual conference. 

[wearepioneerspress]

Disaster at Papercut Zine Library! They need your help to recover from this weekend’s flood. Lend a hand to some good folks here.

When 55 degree torrential downpours followed a subzero weekend, pipes burst and flooded Papercut Zine Library, soaking and damaging boxes containing several hundred to a thousand zines, many decades-old and irreplaceable. After consulting the New England Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), Papercut librarians quickly moved the soggy zines into the pizza freezer at the landlord’s restaurant across the street, but the zines can’t stay there, so we have to move fast. The NEDCC told us the only way to save the zines is to get them professionally vacuum freeze dried, which, between boxing and shipping and treatment at the facility in Pennsylvania, carries a ~$2,000 price tag.

Read more at the link above.

[jennafreedman]

Zines gotta dry out. Help send 'me to rehab. I did.

[jennafreedman]

I got these for my birthday. I posted the photo to another social medium, but felt that @essential-industry & @kellymce needed to see them, too, so here they are on Tumblr. The one on the left is WWII era, and the other is from the 1990s. 

[jenlabarbera]

stubbornly keeping myself alive amid a grief-triggered breakdown

(Reviving this very inactive tumblr for LIS Mental Health Week.)

I’ve spent most of my life stubbornly keeping myself alive while dealing with the symptoms and struggles of PTSD - depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, various versions of disordered eating. I’ve come a long, long way from the 15-year-old that was diagnosed and then hospitalized, but in so many ways, I’m still that person. Most of those super destructive coping mechanisms have fallen away and I’ve settled into much healthier options to deal with my brain, but I still have to keep my bottle of Xanax on hand for surprise flares of anxiety, and I still occasionally have to call in sick because I just can’t bring myself to get dressed and go to work. (This happened a lot last year, when my depression & anxiety were compounded by severe impostor syndrome, Boston’s gray and sun-less severe winter, a lackluster support system, almost exclusively white workplaces/libraryland colleagues, and also that severe impostor syndrome bears repeating.) 

Keep reading

[kellymce-blog]

Working On It

I’m going to try to write a little thing each day this week, for LIS Mental Health Week. It seems right to start with a little story about myself.

I suffer from depression. It’s pretty common – NAMI estimates that 7% of adults in the US suffer at least one major depression in a year. Women are more likely than men to suffer from depression. (And yes, library workers are more likely to be women.) 

The first time I got treatment for depression was in high school. My parents did a sort of intervention, took me out of school one morning to get pancakes and talk about what was going on. I don’t actually remember what they had noticed, but they were worried about me. I went to a therapist, did a lot of worksheets, and eventually felt better. I will always be grateful that my parents were (and are) supportive of mental health treatment – more than once, I’ve quoted my mom to friends who are struggling, that “if you have access to free therapy, you should take it.” (Still totally true! Get it when you can!)

But, one of the things about depression is, one episode is likely to be followed by another. I’ve had a few over the years, and even when I’m doing fine, it’s in the back of my mind, that another one is probably coming. And yet, the funny thing is: depression numbs me out, so when it actually happens, it takes longer for me to notice than for the people around me. More than once, it has been a sweetie, or a friend, who gently asks what’s going on.

Mostly, my depression doesn’t interfere with my work – it has been a long time since I’ve had an episode that left me unable to get out of bed – but there is certainly an interplay. About a year and a half ago, I moved to take a new job. I looooove my work, and I am often amazed at what I get to do what I do daily. However, moving also took me away from a hard-won community of friends, a network that helped keep me together. When I took this job, I did something I’d said I would never do again: I moved to a place where I didn’t know anyone. Without that local support network, it was a slow slide back into depression. Some of my cues? I kept waking up exhausted, no matter how much sleep I got. Making dinner seemed insurmountable and I kept eating whatever required nothing more than boiling water. When people asked me what I did for fun in my new town, I just…stared at them and mumbled something about how I was…working on it.

And, even though my parents raised me to be open about mental health, even though my sweetie is training to be a therapist, even though I have made lots of zines about emotions – it was hard for me to admit that the depression was back. Even to myself. It always is, because it always feels like a bit of a failure. Stigma, eh?

And yet, it is also a relief to acknowledge it and step towards treatment. It isn’t about fixing something that is broken in me, it is about helping me and my brain figure out a way to do well in this world. Therapy, of different kinds, have worked for me over the years, but it also means exercising regularly; it means finding a network of friends; it means being purposeful in what I take on. As a librarian, it means stepping away from perfectionism; it means recognizing that public service – as much as I love it – can take a lot out of me. It means recognizing that I don’t have to do everything all at once, and reminding myself that I am here for the long haul.

I keep thinking about what Maria Accardi wrote this morning about mistaking depression for burnout, and how dangerous it is to assume that distress is some kind of normal. I have a lot of thoughts about the cultural construction of mental illness – and about mental illness as a defensive response to a messed-up world – but I’ll save those for another time. What I want to say is, if I’m bringing my whole self to work, that means that sometimes I’m bringing my depression, too.

[jennafreedman]

“As a librarian, it means stepping away from perfectionism; it means recognizing that public service – as much as I love it – can take a lot out of me.” resonates for me especially.

[muspeccoll]

Mizzou students have a history of standing up for justice and creating lasting change.  In October 1986, students built shanties of wood, cardboard, and sheet metal in front of Jesse Hall to evoke the living conditions of black South Africans under apartheid.  The students camped in these structures to protest the University’s $100+ million investment in South African businesses.  Despite cold weather and numerous clashes with police and counter-protesters, “Shantytown,” as it came to be called, stood for the next 14 months.  Public demonstrations ceased when the Board of Curators finally voted to fully divest of all funds in South Africa in December 1987.  #ConcernedStudent1950 and #MizzouHungerStrike are a new chapter in this legacy of student activism.

Find out more about the Shantytown movement through the collections at MU Libraries. Student protests are recorded in the digitized Savitar yearbook, student newspapers and publications in Special Collections, clipping files at the University Archives, and records at the State Historical Society.  We’ll preserve records of the current protests in the same way.

MU Libraries provide equal access to diverse viewpoints. We honor and preserve history and culture, and through access to knowledge we empower social change. It’s what we stand for.

[jennafreedman]

Yay Mizzou library special collections & archives!

[austinzinefest]

Hi all, We’re writing tonight to say that we’ve decided to indefinitely postpone this year’s Austin Zine Fest in light of recent events and conversations. While we’re disappointed, we know that this is the right decision for all involved. We can’t express enough how sorry we are about this. But it’s the best decision for our participants, Austin Zine Fest as an organization, and the zine community at large. Everyone will be refunded their tabling fee. Please let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you right now or moving forward. We’re confident that 2016 will be filled with many events, big and small, that bring together Texas’s zinesters for a celebration of print culture. As always, we welcome your feedback, ideas, and questions.

[esmahony]

I’m disappointed that the event has been canceled, because Bis Thornton and I were slated to table, but also for larger reasons.

For those who do not know, the events and conversations alluded to here are discussions that took place on the Austin Zine Fest Facebook page over the past several days.

AZF was scheduled to be held at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, which is nestled in the heart of the historically black neighborhood of east Austin. A local artist who is black questioned whether any of the artists tabling at the curated show were black, in light of the mission of the event space and the cultural and historical context of the neighborhood. The AZF runners did not answer this question, or the question of whether the show’s curation process took into account the importance of highlighting work that addresses themes of blackness, racism, gentrification, or other topics relevant to the history and purpose of the George Washington Carver Museum. The AZF runners re-opened applications for a limited number of additional tables, but did not explicitly solicit applications from black artists. Meanwhile, several black artists stated that they would be tabling independently of AZF near the George Washington Carver Museum on the day of the show, while other artists dropped out of the show in solidarity. This evening (November 10), the AZF runners canceled the event, which had been scheduled for this Saturday (November 14). Artists who had already committed to table were not consulted in this decision and were not made aware of the discussions taking place and the questions being raised unless they happened to be keeping tabs on the AZF Facebook event.

The AZF runners could have handled this situation more productively. What actions might have been more constructive? Perhaps some combination of the following:

Invite all black artists who planned to table outside of the event space to table within the event space.

Reach out to artists slated to table and ask whether any white artists would give up their assigned tables to create space for black artists.

Reach out to local organizations that promote diverse artists or that are run by and for black artists, like Diverse Arts or Pro Arts Collective, to explicitly solicit applications from black artists.

Reach out to artists tabling and ask whether artists would donate a portion of all profits to the George Washington Carver Museum, to a non-profit member of the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce, or to another organization that promotes black artistry and/or nurtures members of the black community in Austin.

Actively solicit feedback from black artists on solutions to highlight and center work by and about black artists and writers for this year’s AZF and for future shows going forward.

I respect the ability of the AZF runners to cancel or indefinitely postpone this year’s show, but I don’t agree with it. Deciding to cancel the show at this late hour inconveniences artists who have already invested time, money, and energy into preparing for AZF. This vague and non-specific cancellation notice doesn’t acknowledge mistakes or look for solutions to create an intentionally more diverse space; it just shuts down the conversation until next year.

I’m sincerely disappointed not to see the work of all artists who were scheduled to table and of all artists who should have had a chance to table, and I hope to see diverse voices represented at future events in Austin.

[jennafreedman]

Wretched zine fest news. Organizers have to do better.

PS The NYC Feminist Zine Fest tabling application is still open (closes Sunday, but we’re likely to extend). The organizing crew has POC and trans people on it, and we manage to bring a diverse pool of zine makers together. Tables are free.

[zinecats]

Sam being really helpful when I was out to putting together and issue of Perfect Day Zine….

[jennafreedman]

@perfectdayzine Sam is the cover cat of the Zine Librarians Code of Ethics zine!

http://zinelibraries.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/EthicsZine.pdf

[barnardlibrary]

Assessing the quality of an academic publisher: a quick guide

So you’re starting a research paper: you’re settled in one of our super comfy bean-bag chairs, you’ve got your topic, and you’re knee-deep in CLIO. Suddenly, you stumble upon what seems like the perfect source for your thesis—but it’s from some random publishing company you’ve never heard of before. So how do you assess the quality of an academic publisher? For periodicals, we have access to Ulrich’s periodicals directory, which you can search to determine if a journal is peer-reviewed (they call it “refereed”), and you can often limit to peer-reviewed journals only in databases like ProQuest and Ebsco, But for books it can be a little more difficult to ascertain. Here are some techniques to help you as you select your sources:

Is it from a university press? If so, you’re probably good (but do the following steps just to make sure, particularly if you have any questions). You can limit your search in CLIO to university presses by doing an advanced search with a “publisher” search for university press (with no quotes) along with whatever keyword or subject search you’re doing.

Are there any red flags? If it’s not from a university press, do a quick google search to see if there are any red flags (e.g. “Leading conservative publisher” or comments that it’s a vanity press).

Are there reviews? What do they say? Look up reviews of the book as well as reviews of other books that the publisher has put out in an appropriate subject database (you can typically limit your results to “reviews” only).

Is it scholarly? Once you have the book, do the things you would do to make sure that an article is scholarly: check to see that there are adequate footnotes and a reference list, check on who the author is (scholar? journalist? politician?), etc.

If you’re still not sure, you can always ask your personal librarian or your professor. And keep in mind that reputable presses can still put out garbage books (and vice versa).

Text by Martha Tenney, digital archivist Illustration by Suze Myers, library communications assistant

[jennafreedman]

She had me at Ulrich's!

[lolmythesis]

Guess what, France has a history of assuming religious minorities are terrorists.

History, McMaster University

“Loyalist Huguenotism: New Understanding of Early Huguenot Politics”

[jennafreedman]

Dear @lolmythesis, I’m sorry I haven’t been paying attention to you. You’re funny.

[lolmythesis]

Volunteers think that volunteering is good.

Anthropology, Brown University

[leonwynn]

[jennafreedman]

This is exactly how I looked when my parents brought my sister home.

[allmalepanels]

For the 2nd year in a row, the New Jersey Library Association, an organization that represents a profession that is comprised primarily of women (80% or more), is smart enough to seek guidance exclusively from white cis men.

2015

To enhance these opportunities and foster new relationships, we encourage our colleagues from outside of New Jersey to attend our annual Conference. Featured keynote speakers this year will be public innovator Rich Harwoodand librarian/technologist Jason Griffey, plus a president’s program with WCBS radio personality Joe Connolly, a “Librarians on the Edge of Fashion” show, and much, much more! See our schedule for a full listing of program sessions and special events.

[jennafreedman]

I can’t tell you how much I love being told how to do librarianship by male non librarians at library conferences. Thanks, NJLA!