If you’ve ever wondered if dmoz and Google were somehow in cahoots, this article will provide some enlightenment: Google and Dmoz - Are They in Love?

As the article clarifies, getting listed in dmoz is a fairly reliable way to appear in a variety of search engine indexes. So bring it on people.

If I understand Pat Delaney’s post correctly, the future of the great blogging experiment at MLK, Jr. Middle School is in jeopardy. This would be a real disappointment as it’s the broadest endeavor I’ve seen at any academic level (perhaps with the exception of Harvard’s effort). To see evidence of the collaboration between the library and the rest of the school, take a look at the mlk Digital Library Agenda. Education needs more of this interconnectivity, not less. Hopefully, someone sees the light before it’s too late.

That’s right, I’m back in Madison, IN and can now be called - of all things - a Master of Science (in LIS, of course). It’s nice to be home. Now that my new cable modem is operational, I can turn to getting the Movable Type version of Open Stacks properly hosted. The last “personal web server” approach could have been considered a violation of my ISP agreement. I’ve been in contact with Blake over at LISHost about getting some affordable librarian-friendly server space. So expect that to happen soon.

In other non-news, I’ll probably begin looking at short-term non-LIS employment in the coming weeks. 5 months and three weeks until the loan payments begin.

I’ll be breaking down and packing up my computer tomorrow, which means that you should expect a) infrequent updates to the Blogger incarnation of Open Stacks for a few weeks and b) my Movable Type version of this blog to be down until I have a new ISP set up. Thanks for your patience as I relocate and begin to pursue the job hunt full-time. For now, please stay tuned to the Blogger-based Movable Type version of this blog to be down until I have a new ISP set up. Thanks for your patience as I relocate and begin to pursue the job hunt full-time. For now, please stay tuned to the Blogger-based Open Stacks for new posts.

A post over at Slashdot talks about electronic voting as negative in its lack of a paper trail. This got me to wondering about the long-term maintenance of paper ballots. How long do we keep the actual ballots, particularly for bigger national elections? Are they archived or discarded after some statute of limitations runs out on challenging the results?

In looking for an answer, I found this viewable PDF archive of “the ballots from Leon County, Florida that had no machine readable marks in the [2000] Presidential Race.” The so-called undervotes. More to come as I find it. Anyone know anything about the fate of presidential ballots?

Someone on one of the GSLIS bulletin boards kindly posted a link to the the new nexgenlib-l group over at Topica. From the list info: “This list is open to the next generation of librarians - those of us who are under 30, of any gender, political persuasion, race, etc., and our friends (those who welcome us into the profession).” There are definitely some over-30 individuals on the list, so all those young-at-heart are encouraged to join in what are proving to be very active discussions.

I was checking in on Michael over at Libraryman and found a post about National Unappreciated Librarian Month. When’s National Unemployed Librarian Month, I wonder.

Michael posits a correlation between the “celebration” and this article. I suspect he’s wrong though, as the article doesn’t even mention librarians. Instead, it attributes higher library traffic to the availability of Internet access for those on the wrong side of the digital divide. Now of course the foresight of librarians is at least partially to thank for this, but there is no such acknowledgement. Nor is there any suggestion that the true greatness of the library is the librarians who help people find their way through this ever-growing electronic information network that we are providing access to. While almost everything this article says is accurate, there is no love whatsoever for the role of the librarian.

The most contentious point may actually be a quote from CLA president Wendy Newman: “Everyone wants to be a good parent and one of the things they see as an act of positive parenting is taking their children to the library.” Yeah, if positive means taking their children and leaving them for six hours under the supervision of the librarians until just before closing time. That’s good parenting, all right.

And the article concludes: “Libraries are cool again.” Apparently, librarians still aren’t.

It looks like a new facility is being built in my part of the world. Let’s hope they left a little in their budget for personnel expansion.

I am pleased to announce the submission of my last paper as a graduate student at GSLIS: a stunningly persuasive Questionpoint implementation plan. Turning in a paper is less climactic than walking out of an exam, but still quite satisfying. Overall, these two semesters have been a wild ride, but I’m ready to do something a little more meaningful with my energy. Any takers?