National Library - impressing support performance
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In my childhood, I was fascinated by a couple of short stories in the weekend supplement of Norway's biggest newspaper ("Aftenposten"), and wanted to read them again. So I sent a request to the 'Ask a librarian' service at the Norwegian library. I could tell the author, 'probably in the early 70s, but could be the late 60s', an approximate title of one of the stories, a rough outline of the other. That was all I could give as clues. The National Library managed to find those two stories, as well as three others by the same author from the same time period in the same weekend supplement, and gave me exact references, with information about how to access the texts. I am really happy about that; that is what librarians are for. The impressing part: The reply from the librarian was time stamped 52 minutes after the time stamp on my request!
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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In my childhood, I was fascinated by a couple of short stories in the weekend supplement of Norway's biggest newspaper ("Aftenposten"), and wanted to read them again. So I sent a request to the 'Ask a librarian' service at the Norwegian library. I could tell the author, 'probably in the early 70s, but could be the late 60s', an approximate title of one of the stories, a rough outline of the other. That was all I could give as clues. The National Library managed to find those two stories, as well as three others by the same author from the same time period in the same weekend supplement, and gave me exact references, with information about how to access the texts. I am really happy about that; that is what librarians are for. The impressing part: The reply from the librarian was time stamped 52 minutes after the time stamp on my request!
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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In my childhood, I was fascinated by a couple of short stories in the weekend supplement of Norway's biggest newspaper ("Aftenposten"), and wanted to read them again. So I sent a request to the 'Ask a librarian' service at the Norwegian library. I could tell the author, 'probably in the early 70s, but could be the late 60s', an approximate title of one of the stories, a rough outline of the other. That was all I could give as clues. The National Library managed to find those two stories, as well as three others by the same author from the same time period in the same weekend supplement, and gave me exact references, with information about how to access the texts. I am really happy about that; that is what librarians are for. The impressing part: The reply from the librarian was time stamped 52 minutes after the time stamp on my request!
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
Librarian is an under valued profession.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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Librarian is an under valued profession.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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Librarian is an under valued profession.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
My first job where I was paid an hourly wage was working for our county library. I shelved books, sorted disorderly shelves, checked books out for patrons, and so on. This was before library operations were computerized. Yes, I'm that old :-O.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
My first job where I was paid an hourly wage was working for our county library. I shelved books, sorted disorderly shelves, checked books out for patrons, and so on. This was before library operations were computerized. Yes, I'm that old :-O.
Software Zen:
delete this;Our county library is an amazing place. Besides books they have classes in arcane subjects not readily provided by university such gardening tools, a maker lab with all sorts of tools for milling, 3D printing, etc. The people who work there are both paid and volunteer. I can retire all my old books, manuals, etc. there as well.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger
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My first job where I was paid an hourly wage was working for our county library. I shelved books, sorted disorderly shelves, checked books out for patrons, and so on. This was before library operations were computerized. Yes, I'm that old :-O.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gee - that is exactly like me! I learned a lot from it. One thing was skimming: When shelving books, I saw far too many that I'd like to read, so twice a week (I worked two nights a week a the library), I brought 10-12 books with me home. Of course I didn't have time to read them all thoroughly, but I didn't want to just bring them back. So I learned to at least go rapidly through all those I couldn't read every word of, to pick up the main points, see which answers it could provide the day I needed it. I'd say that was very valuable learning! Actually, I considered switching from software development to becoming a librarian at the technical university; I was offered a paid learning position that would lead to a degree. It would reduce my yearly income by about 10,000 Euros, which was quite significant in the late 1980s, and I had just become a daddy, so I turned the offer down. Some times I regret that I did. I don't think that library was computerized until it was caught in a fire, burning to ashes all the books on the shelves, including the two or three incunables the head librarian once showed me in the back room. She did not allow me to hold them; she wore white cotton gloves herself when handling them. But they were lost in the fire. The only good thing is that while the old library was really old and backwards, the new one that was build was really appealing, with practical solutions and lots of modern facilities that would have been difficult or impossible to install in the old building.
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
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Our county library is an amazing place. Besides books they have classes in arcane subjects not readily provided by university such gardening tools, a maker lab with all sorts of tools for milling, 3D printing, etc. The people who work there are both paid and volunteer. I can retire all my old books, manuals, etc. there as well.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger
Our libraries will be the future monasteries, when the dark times come again.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Gee - that is exactly like me! I learned a lot from it. One thing was skimming: When shelving books, I saw far too many that I'd like to read, so twice a week (I worked two nights a week a the library), I brought 10-12 books with me home. Of course I didn't have time to read them all thoroughly, but I didn't want to just bring them back. So I learned to at least go rapidly through all those I couldn't read every word of, to pick up the main points, see which answers it could provide the day I needed it. I'd say that was very valuable learning! Actually, I considered switching from software development to becoming a librarian at the technical university; I was offered a paid learning position that would lead to a degree. It would reduce my yearly income by about 10,000 Euros, which was quite significant in the late 1980s, and I had just become a daddy, so I turned the offer down. Some times I regret that I did. I don't think that library was computerized until it was caught in a fire, burning to ashes all the books on the shelves, including the two or three incunables the head librarian once showed me in the back room. She did not allow me to hold them; she wore white cotton gloves herself when handling them. But they were lost in the fire. The only good thing is that while the old library was really old and backwards, the new one that was build was really appealing, with practical solutions and lots of modern facilities that would have been difficult or impossible to install in the old building.
Religious freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make five.
trønderen wrote:
The only good thing is that while the old library was really old and backwards, the new one that was build was really appealing
In 1977, the middle of my tenure, a new building was constructed and all of our inventory was moved. That building is now being renovated and expanded, a little over 40 years later. The original building was a Carnegie library[^] constructed by philanthopist Andrew Carnegie. It still stands and is in relatively good condition. It has been used for several businesses and even a private residence at one point. At the moment it is empty, waiting for someone with resources and inventive ideas to bring it back to life.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Our libraries will be the future monasteries, when the dark times come again.
Software Zen:
delete this;