Tom Roper's Weblog

Once more on the differences between Gorman and the blog people

When I read some of those who've taken offence at Gorman's article, I do wonder a little. There's a man who seems to hate sherry drinkers, and I rather like manzanilla. Some call him elitist because he condemns errors of grammar and style and suggests that bloggers are incapable of developing and sustaining complex arguments themselves, or of following difficult texts written by others. It is fair to berate many blogs for those faults, but if Gorman were to return to the land of his birth and look at the daily newspapers, he would find just as much to excite and anger him, not only in the mass circulation papers but also in what I can no longer call the broadsheets.
The charge of elitism is spurious, besides, because if there is any profession less elitist than librarians. I should like to know what it is. Let's be clear: Gorman's error is that he writes off a form because of defects in the content of some versions.
It seems to me perfectly possible to run one's own blog and to read other blogs with pleasure and interest without sacrificing the ability to discriminate between the shoddy and the well-made or between falsehood and truth.
I was pleased to see that T Scott Plutchak has entered the lists and made these points far more clearly.

Michael Gorman on blogs

I've been following l'affaire Gorman with some interest and amusement. Gorman is right about the trivial and ephemeral nature of many blogs. He used that dangerous and often double-edged weapon, irony. But has anyone else spotted an apt remark on the comments page on his site at: Michael Gorman.
One Jessamyn West, of Rutland Free Library says: "Lovely website, have you considered a blog?" Collapse of stout librarian.

New Brighton library in Guardian

Jonathan Glancey on the new Brighton library in the Gurdian. He likes it; I look forward to seeing it at the CILIP Sussex Branch AGM on 4 April

New Leslie Morton obituary

As we prepare for Thursday and Friday's events to commemorate the life of Leslie Morton, the BMJ publishes an obituary to add to those already listed here.

RSS Research at Talis

Talis, who make the library management system used by both the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex, are doing some interesting work on RSS as a communication tool between libraries and users
Link: RSS Research at Talis.

Ranganathan

From walking paper: you may or may not get this. Of course, I was talking about Ranganathan at a dinner part only the other day, he said loftily.

Michael Bywater's Lost Worlds

Michael Bywater's Lost Worlds: What Have We Lost and Where Did It Go? is a splendid book, with the finest index I have seen for a long time. I am tempted to nominate it for this year's Wheatley Medal, CILIP's award, jointly with the Society of Indexes, for the best index.
Some examples:

Onan, the sin of

as cause of brain strain, 109
paradoxical effects on paternity, 74-75
patent device for committing in lap dancing clubs, 150

patients

empathy with, potentially dreadful for doctors, 117
good versus weak, 29

steam

the palpable virility of, 174
scented, 45
trains,  similarity to stockings,  234

 

ICML 9 have an RSS feed

 

ICML 9 - Commitment to Equity.
The International Congress on Medical Librarianship have an RSS feed at  http://www.icml9.org/public/scripts/php/newsFeed.php?lang=en

RSM presentation and resource list

Here's the presentation and resource list from last Thursday's show at the Royal Society of Medicine. My next visit there won't be until the end of February for the splendid Leslie Morton Memorial Conference

Download rsmblog20jan05.pdf

Download rsmreferences.pdf

Charting the future

I found this, from Resourceshelf, too late for me to listen to it before a meeting this afternoon for which it would have been very useful.

Cliff Lynch on Libraries and Library Systems in the New Information Landscape: "
Audio: Libraries and Library Systems in the New Information Landscape
A presentation (two MP3 files) by Cliff Lynch's at the LITA National Forum. Lynch talks about, preservation, personalization, education delivery and learning management systems, and consumer marketplace developments.'

(Via ResourceShelf.)

Things we have read in preparation:
OCLC's 2003 Environmental Scan
Future proofing the profession: final report of the CILIP Health Executive Advisory Group
and AAHSL's Charting the Future project