"Volunteer Gene" Causes Trouble

A while back, as yet another "opportunity to contribute" presented itself, I asked Erica Reynolds over at the Johnson County Library "Why do we volunteer for this stuff?"

Her reply was classic--something along the lines of: "It's the volunteer gene--once it served some necessary purpose but now it just causes problems."

I know a lot of people who have problems with rampant volunteer genes. These aren't the good people who volunteer their time for good causes--although they may also have some variant of the gene. No, I'm concerned about those who just can't seem to say no to requests for speakers, participants, authors, committee members, etc., etc.

That rampant volunteer gene can be the source of great personal and professional satisfaction and pride, or it can choke the life out of its happy host.

Fortunately, there's a simple cure: learn to say no. Easier said than done, I know. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, I've got a "task force" report to finish, a poster to create, an article to write, and a research project to get moving on. Do as I say, not as I do. :P

WDT

WAY Funnier than a Pew Internet Life Press Release

This very funny (if a little racy) story from the BBC really highlights the fact that a majority of people do not know or care about blogs or blogging. The same thing seems to be true in the US, as a Pew Report from May indicated that 9% of Americans have a blog and 25% read blogs.

So, if you're reading this, CONGRATS! You are in the top quartile of techno-forward folks in the US, and ahead of 9 out of 10 Brits.

Feel the Love

I've been at the MCMLA Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, and it was a really excellent time. The meeting had everything: beautiful location, wonderful people, and great conversations.

I can extensively trash talk MLA, but the chapter is a wonderful thing, and I understand that without the umbrella organization, the chapters would not be as vital as they are. So, MLA, thanks for this one amazingly wonderful thing.

What makes MCMLA a special event is not the location and not the speakers, but the participants themselves. This group includes major academic medical library directors, hospital librarians in blazers and sensible shoes, movin' and shakin' outreach librarians, library science students, and every other stripe and type of librarian you might hope to find.

The tie that binds them together is a committment to library services and a forward-facing optimism that medical librarians are and will continue to be important as long as we work hard and stay relevant. I'm often a hard, hard cynic, and it is refreshing to drink of this optimism for a few days.

WDT

My Taxpayer Dollars at Work

I admit that even though I've been on the guvmint dole for years, I sometimes question the real value of some government services.

Please don't send letter bombs, but even things like DOCLINE sometimes perplex me--why are the taxpayers paying for a separate ILL system for health sciences libraries? Why can't we (medical libraries and the base that supports us)fork out our $$ to OCLC like every other library in existence? Aren't there rules about government competing with private enterprise? And, please don't tell me that if we got rid of DOCLINE, we'd have to get rid of PubMed, too, because there's a viable public interest in maintaining PubMed. DOCLINE seems to be a holdover from a former age.

Ahh, but I digress from my intended topic.

While trying to determine the nutrient value of a baked potato, I wandered across the My Food Pyramid Tracker. Now, this is a nifty little tool! Enter a little personal information, what you've eaten, and your exercise, and get evaluations and recommendations six ways from Sunday. Since I'm under a mandate from my physican to get my cholesterol and blood pressure down (or she'll medicate me--at the age of 30--"Holy cow!" is all I can say to that), this seems like a fantastic little tool. It's an especially neat use of the data that the USDA already collects.

After a few minutes, though, I realized the planning and programming time that must have gone into this. How much is the My Food Pyramid Tracker costing the American public?

My next thought, though, was of the societal costs of diabetes, and I imagine that whatever the costs of the My Food Pyramid Tracker, it's TINY in comparison. If you've got the money and can pay for Weight Watchers or the WebMD online weight loss or other fee-based services, then you can access these kinds of resources. Why shouldn't they be available to everyone? Isn't there a vaible public interest in that, too?

Of course, we could get into all kinds of questions about the digital divide and the actual usefulness of online government information for the audiences intended to benefit from it. Those are important questions to ask, and it is a place where libraries, especially public libraries, can really make a tangible difference through computer access.

I also envision some kind of collaborative program between a hospital library and their diabetes care department. What an intriguing way to put this resource--and our tax dollars--to work, right where it matters.

BTW--for today, the food intake's pretty good. But it's only lunchtime, so who knows?

Copyright or Copywrong?

So, I've got my new toy and I am REALLY happy with it. As the Best Buy boys said, it is easy to use. And, as I thought, it's too small, but that's OK for now. I COULD load up a bigger player with hundreds of hours of material, but I'd never get through it all. It's better that I keep my playlist small.

The device's "killer app" for me is playing audiobooks, but I'm a poor librarian and just can't afford Audible's prices. I tried downloading one of the machine-read audiobooks from Gutenberg but couldn't get into the flow of the text with the synthesized voice.

So, what did I do? I turned to my local public library and checked out a book on CD. I took it home, popped it into the PC, and a few minutes later had a complete book in MP3 form. Fantastico! I went for a walk and was having such a good time I didn't want to stop.

However, this fun and easy excercise in new-millenium media enjoyment has run me right up against the limits of copyright law. Technically, making a copy of the audiobook is illegal. Of course, I intend to delete it when I'm done, only listen to it once, etc., etc., and so I don't think the MP3 police are going to come get me, but engaging in the activity has brought to life some of the same kinds of issues that surround music downloads (requires Quicktime to view).

Should I be paying for this? Why should I pay for something I can get in another format from the library? I'm using the material as it was intended: I am a single user listening for my own enjoyment. Only the device is different. Should I have to drop $20 a title at Audible just because my library doesn't have a way to circ MP3s?

There's a big difference between my single use of an audiobook and the theft that is open-file sharing, but I've developed some empathy for downloaders. Instead of locking down the content, can't the content developers develop some other revenue models? Publishers of all sorts are crying that the sky is falling instead of seeing this vast sea of digipeople as a market. There's got to be a way to make it work that doesn't turn book nerds like me and hip kiddos into criminals.

Impulse = 1, Self-control = 0

So, I didn't buy a Nano, but I did go out and buy myself a digital music player last night. Bill took Trixie with him to flag rehearsal (which she LOVED, by the way--that girl is crazy about her daddy's band), and I had a little time to myself. "Self," I said, "just stop by Best Buy and take a look around. You won't buy anything!"

Yeah, right. Less than 20 minutes later, I left with a Sandisk 256MB Digital Audio Player.

Mike, if you're reading this, stop laughing at me. Really, stop.

I know that 256MB is small (only between four and eight hours of audio). I know I paid too much by purchasing from Best Buy. I know, 'cuz the two adorable little teenagers at Best Buy told me so, that "this is a great player if you need something that's easy to use," which literally translates into, "it's the least cool thing we sell, but you probably can't handle anything really cool." I know that I should have done my research before I went out.

But I also know that I wanted to record audio, which eliminates the iPod from contention (in true Apple style, it requires a $42 add-on to record into your iPod). As I mentioned in my Nano post, I'm not really that choosy about my music, so a built-in FM receiver, which this player has, was appealing. And truly, four to eight hours of audio will be enough for me. I can load it up once or twice a week, and that will carry me through any mobile audio moments I might have.

One thing I can say: this little baby IS easy to use. I had a music clip on the player in about 30 seconds, and a Gutenberg audiobook on a few moments later. There aren't a lot of buttons, and their purpose is clear.

Overall, I'm really pleased with my little purchase. I've wanted a digital audio player for a long time, and sometimes you just have to give yourself a gift (and not give yourself too much grief about it).

WDT

Mine, mine, mine!

I've been trying to resist the urge to buy an iPod or another MP3 player, even though they just keep getting smaller and cooler.

But now, there's the iPod Nano, and I want it. Want, like Pigeon wants his hot dog.

I'm sure I'll talk myself out of it, though; I am a completely non-choosy music listener and am generally happy with the radio or whatever Yahoo! is streaming at my desk, so I can't justify it in terms of musical snobbery. I'm trying to tell myself that I'll download podcasts and audiobooks which will provide motivation to get out and walk, but I am a terrible liar, even to myself.

Frankly, what I ought to do is save about 50% and buy a used iPod off of someone who forks out for a Nano. But where's the fun in that?

WDT

Let's Not Argue About Compassion

I've been out of the blogging loop for a couple of days, and I just don't have it in me to continue my MLA-related rant right now. I promise, I'll come back to it, and I might even be able to be calm and rational for having let it sit.

The question I want to pose today is one highlighted on LITA-L and elsewhere, I assume, because it's a pretty obvious question (I apologize for not being able to link to the post itself, but the archives of LITA-L are closed).

If you are donating time, money, or supplies to the hurricane relief effort, is it OK to support just one aspect of that effort (i.e., libraries)? Should your money go to the Red Cross or Salvation Army to help save and rebuild lives right this minute, or is it ethical to target your assistance to a narrow and possibly tangential cause?

I think in the best of all worlds, you do both. Chip in to the immediate relief fund(s), and then do what you can in your area of interest. If you can't do both, I hope you don't spend too much time worrying about what's right, and I hope no one criticizes the decision you make (like the person who commented on LITA-L that we should be focusing on survivors and not thinking about libraries right now).

Millions will respond to the calls from the Red Cross; far fewer will respond to the calls for donations to rebuild and restock libraries, particularly in a few months when the crisis has passed and "donor fatigue" has set in. Do what feels right to you, but do something, and let's not argue about compassion.