Ref Tech Rob

The annual list of the United States' most literate cities is out and Cincinnati is 11th . It's unfortunate that we couldn't make LiveScience's prestigious top ten , but we'll take #11.

Just a note to anyone who has tried to comment on this blog (or any other Blogger blog) in the past few weeks. I read on the December 13th post of Blogger Buzz that their new OpenID beta caused some difficulties for anyone who tried to comment without a Google ID. It looks like it's cleared up, now.

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has teamed up with the Library of Congress to interview veterans and to record facts, photos and videos about their experiences. PLCH is responsible for training of interviewers, arranging the interviews, recording them, and processing related artifacts. The library has posted some of their results here . After the processing is completed, duplicate records are sent to the Library of Congress where you can find selected recordings .

I've decided that I would like to post more personal musings than what I'm posting here. So I've started a new blog where I will post things that are more relevant to my everyday life. Otherwise, I will continue to post library reference stuff on this blog.

Well, nobody showed up for the demonstration, but that's okay--another patron asked for an impromptu demonstration of advanced Google search techniques. It went well. I showed him a number of shortcuts that he didn't know were available, so, one program, one attendee. Perfect balance! Afterwards, I prepared a notebook to keep the handouts so our staff could refer to them, too. Then I created a stealth blog , in order to keep a number of the documents readily available to anyone who may want to see them again. Finally, I created a display of the books and handouts that went with the program in a prominent location, with a sign that reminded the patrons about what they were missing. Next time, I hope to include photos.

The fact that I'm blogging during the demonstration is not necessarily a good thing--there is no audience. Tuesday nights are usually dead around here, but I'd hoped for one or two people. Hopefully things will be better when these demonstrations appear in February's program calendar.

I'm preparing for one of our branch's technology demonstrations. Tonight, the focus will be blogs! I'll start with a brief overview of what a blog is and then I'll show the audience some of the more popular blogs that I know of. We'll talk about some of the more distinctive characteristics of a blog as we look at the examples. I'll finish up by showing them how to create a blog and find a feed reader. This is part of a continuing effort to familiarize our patrons with new technology that can enhance their library experience. We are also committed to providing basic computer instruction in group and one-on-one sessions.

Well, I was able to get the motorized snake from Lowe's on Saturday morning. After forking over $45, I managed to get the monstrosity home, where my wife and I were able to wrestle it out of the van without impaling myself on the conveniently pre-attached blade. (My wife made a joke here about cut rate vasectomies--not funny.) Anyhow, I managed to get the thing going, relying on some helpful advice from Brian E., a friend of mine and apartment owner/handyman, and I got the drain "cleared" in only 3 hours! I got cleaned up and made it to work (3 hours late), where we had an interesting day and a nice holiday luncheon/farewell party (one staff member is leaving)/baby shower (another staff member). It was good to see former and current co-workers and I regaled one and all with tales of my "rooting" expertise. Then it all came crashing down. Last night, after running the second laundry load of the day, I walked into the laundry room to see undulating waves of sewage...

I had big high-tech plans for today: a few new blog posts, writing an online book review, adding some tutorial documentation to my online presence, doing some editing of our system's reference manual wiki.... Instead, it appears that I will be snaking out the main drain line of our house. Normally (isn't that a funny word in this scenario?) we would borrow our friends electric drain snake, but that one's out of commission, so we decided to rent one. However, the local hardware store decided they weren't going to rent tools anymore--I found out at 6 this morning when I showed up, bleary-eyed, looking for their rental department. So, instead of Home Depot, I decided to try Lowe's tool rental department, but those slackers don't get going until 8 o'clock. So here I sit, blogging about sewer lines with a cup of tea in my hand, waiting for Lowe's to open their doors so I can spend my morning snaking out a drain. Once I'm done with that, I get to go to wor...