messing with blogger display

I've had a lot of fun today playing around with the way that some blogs can now display in alternative ways - quite often depending on the mood I'm in. Whilst I do prefer the more linear arrangement I'm also quite attached to the highly visual 'magazine' style...

I admit that my own blog is pretty staid but that's okay, I like seeing what I can do to other ones too.
What does your blog look like?

more RedBubble discoveries

Today I learned how to promote my RedBubble creations using a blog widget - this may seem like a fairly small fry achievement but I have to admit, my sense of accomplishment is high. :)

AFP's kickstarter project

Amanda Palmer is an incredibly creative person whom I admire greatly - her latest project (funded by Kickstarter - ie, by you and me) is an amazing collaboration of musicians, artists, and writers.


It is my privilege to have supported this.

The future of our history

image courtesy of State records NSW

A quick little tweet I spotted this morning grabbed my attention so forcefully it spurred me into immediate action...


I dashed over to the Stop the cuts to State Records NSW funding Petition | GoPetition filled in my details, added a rather pertinent comment, and became signer #276.


I tweeted the thing that had got me started, shared the petition on my facebook page, then found myself dashing over here to blog about it.


Obviously I feel quite strongly about this...


State Records NSW is the NSW Government's archives and records management authority. All the available historical records pertaining to NSW (and by default Australia) first settlement is archived by this agency. 
Over time a large portion of these records have been copied onto microform and made available through NSW Public Libraries. More recently a digitisation project has sought to make them readily available to the broader public. For copies of those records not digitised or available at a Public Library a Reading Room at The Rocks, Sydney was available during normal business hours for access. The bulk of material has been stored off-site in the Western Sydney Records Centre, which can also be accessed by the public. Bookings are essential. The Government has recently announced a cut-back in funds, as a result the Reading Room at The Rocks will be closed from 1st July 2012.


To quote from the petition...


      State Records is one of NSW's key cultural institutions and an invaluable research facility for any historian's investigations into aspects of the functioning of the state, from colonial and convict history, through all the permeations of the state's role in people's lives.
      While the history Council acknowledges the challenges faced by State Government to be fiscally responsible, the budget cuts imposed on State records NSW has a severe impact on the accessibility of records and services.
      The cuts will downgrade the archives, undermining its position as a key cultural insitution, limiting access for key user groups, and hampering the organisation's role to inform and support state government, especially  in its ongoing role in the state's Digital Archives as well as guiding digitisation of records across NSW government.




And that it why I signed this position.


State Records NSW is the holder of NSW's (and by therefore Australia's) document and image history, from our earliest beginnings to our present day. 


This is our history, our heritage, our culture, our identity. This is our future. Value it, do not ignore it.

Discovering Westerns

Last week I found myself at a loose end as far as reading material went (odd situation given I work in a library) and for want of something different grabbed a handful of western fiction titles and decided to work my way through them.

'Why not?' I thought. 'I read Mills and Boon romances on occasion so why not some paperback westerns? I don't mind watching the odd western movie so I'll give this lot a go.'

I will admit at this point that "Wanderer of the Wasteland" by Zane Grey is one of my favourite stories set in the early settler period of the US. Its descriptions and characterisation are captivating and truly beautiful as a piece of writing. The story is swiftly yet carefully told leaving the reader in no doubt as to what is driving our wandering pilgrim on his path. This is a western in its purest form.

What I picked off the shelf was a little different. Okay the setting was certainly the frontier period of the US, the primary characters were men (or boys) on horses, carrying guns. There were battles against Indians, battles against fearsome creatures from the Louisiana bayou, battles against no-good outlaws with murder on their minds, battles to survive desert conditions in the search for gold. There were no battles for the love interest as women simply fell over themselves to get at their man, one title even had some quite explicit sex scenes that left me blushing and laughing at the same time with its descriptions of the male anatomy... I'll say no more.

Some authors certainly handle this genre better than others, I admit to being disappointed in the Max Brand title I read but given his proliferation and popularity am hopeful he has written some good stuff. I quite enjoyed Bill Brooks and Marcus Galloway. Bradford Scott was okay, not a bad storyteller. And Jon Sharpe certainly rolled the story along, conveying the unseen threats of the environment quite well.

But for me, as a preference, westerns just don't cut it. This is not to say I will never read another western ever again - certainly I will. I am intrigued by this genre and how as library staff we make assumptions about its content and its scope... and its audience. Western fiction is a quick little jaunt through a world where strong men with guns who might have dubious backgrounds but strong moral fibre strut their stuff against bands of ignorant bullies. If only life were so very simple. This is not to say that men over 60 are its only audience, no western fiction shows some serious staying power with a far broader appeal than we give it credit for. Okay, so it's not my particular cup of tea but then again it doesn't have to be. I wouldn't put it past having quite a substantial female audience too.

My conclusion... I feel I haver served a penance reading these novels but am grateful I took the opportunity to do so. From a readers advisory perspective I now have a broader appreciation with which to help other readers find the experience they are looking for. From a personal perspective... I'll stick to watching those movies. 

Taking the time

I am a self-confessed speed-reader. I can't help myself, I become so immersed in the story and the characters that I simply can't wait to find out what happens and so keep reading along as fast as I can in order to get there... I admit this is very helpful when studying or ploughing through umpteen documents looking for keywords of interest etc before moving on to the next paper. However I have often been criticised for taking this same approach to relaxation reading. On the one hand I feel quite chuffed at my capacity to simply inhale the content of books so quickly, I'm also quite impressed by own ability to read 3 or more books simultaneously... it comes in handy.
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Recently, though, I've noticed that a couple of books have simply taken me months to get through (rather than days), and this has not been because I haven't enjoyed them. Au contraire, I most certainly have. The reasons behind it taking me so long though have caused me to consider a little more closely the way I read...
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The 2 books in question are The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge. The first is book 2 in the Kingkiller Chronicle fantasy series and the second is a Hugo Award winning science fiction novel. 

I'd actually begun reading The Wiseman's Fear right back at the beginning of February, whereas I didn't pick up Rainbow's End until later in that same month. I was keen to get into The Wise Man's Fear as I'd enjoyed The Name of the Wind (book 1 in the series). Reading Rainbow's End came about as it was mentioned by more than one person at #VALA2012 and #libcampoz12. 

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Given it's not unusual for me to have a couple of books of variant genres on the go at the same time I was surprised that I found it so difficult to get into Rainbow's End. I must have read that first chapter about three times before finally I settled in and started moving along with the story. I realised I had to stop and adjust my reading style to suit the book I was reading, whilst still being flexible enough to continue reading the other books I had on the go, including The Wise Man's Fear.

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For a while there I actually put both books aside and read nothing. I seemed unable to consider picking up a book, any book, and read. After a few weeks of picking up the occasional paperback whilst I ate lunch at work I found myself keenly anticipating reading more deeply. I had my reading mojo back!

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I then started reading everything else I had on the go (other than Rainbow's End and The Wise Man's Fear) - I caught up on Labyrinth and Downpour from Kat Richardson's Greywalker series, started reading my way through Gabrielle Lord's Conspiracy 365 series (I'm up to October),  read Nicole Alexander's The Bark Cutters and A Changing Land (before handing them on to my daughter), finished off a handful of Mills & Boon Regency romances, and kept track of all my reading via Goodreads.

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I felt reinvigorated. It's a great feeling.

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Oddly enough it was after finishing off a late night session of back-to-back Regency romances that I picked up Rainbow's End. Throughout my hiatus I had been thinking about the two storylines that I wasn't reading, wondering what was happening with the characters, considering what I had learned about them so far. I am innately curious and I found my curiosity providing much of the impetus for the return of my reading mojo.

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And so I read. I poured over the pages of Rainbow's End and when I read that last paragraph (twice, just to make sure I had actually reached the end of the story and there was no more left to learn) I closed the book and thoughtfully put it aside. I sat there a while and considered why I had started reading it in the first place and realised along the way I had become so caught up in the characters that I had forgotten that. I looked back on how I felt about the descriptions of this futuristic library and its simultaneous destruction and digital retention and realised that this world it described is not so strange. The sheer possibility of this world is staggering. Target achieved.

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I can't tell you about The Wise Man's Fear - I haven't finished it yet. It currently has the single pleasure of joining me for breakfast each morning (one sure way to ensure I actually stop long enough to eat something substantial before the day begins in earnest). 

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I am certainly profoundly grateful that I learned to slow down a little and give each book its own time. I am thoroughly enjoying taking each precious moment with these books so that they don't become a blur, but a profound experience. I have learned to take my speed-reading skills and commitment and apply it to spearing each word on the page and giving it due consideration.

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What more can I say? I love reading. :)

Halo4

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I will be the first to admit that every one in my immediate family are Halo fans - big Halo fans. So learning the release date of Halo4  is a huge event in our calendar (06/11/2012).
What is it about this single game that can instigate a series of rivalries between family members as to who gets to play it first?  (Trust me guys, it will be me - I've had the darn game on pre-order for the last 6 months!!)
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Every element of the Halo franchise is an experience. It is this experience which brings you back time and again; playing and replaying; again and again and again.
I've spoken about Halo before, it combines elements of  role-play, first-person-shooter, epic scenery, haunting soundtrack, and a story-line with massive appeal (so massive that Greg Bear has since taken on the task of writing the Halo: Forerunner saga).
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The Halo series follows Master Chief in his epic battle against (and later with) the Covenant in, on, and around a massive space structure known as a 'halo' ('cause it's round ...). It also combines a couple of spin-off elements: Halo Wars (a real-time strategy game set prior to Halo1), Halo3 ODST (featuring the UNSC's Orbital Drop Shock Troopers), Halo Legends (a dvd featuring 7 stories form the heart of the Halo universe), and Halo: Reach (set directly prior to the events of Halo1). In 2011 a 10th anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved (Halo1) was released making great use of new technologies for enhanced graphics and user experience.
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I really enjoy the Halo experience, but for me that experience steps outside the game itself into all the other experiential elements - eg, the books. Being able to read the surrounding stories when I'm not playing allows me to continue the experience and often hightens that experience because now my game-play benefits from a  whole range of back-story elements that other family members do not have (mainly 'cause I read a lot faster than them).
Given we'd already played the Halo series through  (at least twice) I finally got hold of a walk-thru which is now very well-thumbed as my family go back again and again and actually take the time to look for those extra elements they missed the first time. Their enjoyment (and experience) is enhanced as a result. It has also strengthened the cooperative play elements of the game (which is always good for siblings who would otherwise be seeking to wipe each other out) - working together they use the walk-thru with one spotting while the other reads and the third plays. They take turns. They cooperate. They learn.
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And then there's the Halo Encyclopaedia... yep, it's brilliant.  To quote from the publisher..."This is a must-have guide to the Halo universe. Humanity teeters on the brink of extinction, as hostile forces and ancient mysteries threaten to snuff out our first fiery foray into the universe. Take a trip into the world of Halo and discover everything you ever wanted to know about the characters, weapons, vehicles, equipment and locations from Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. From the Colonial Administration Authority to the UNSC, you'll find an overview of Halo's human history and structure and gain insight into key organizations. Discover all about the Covenant - its history and religion - as well as the Forerunners, Flood and much more. It's what Halo fans have been waiting for." — Dorling Kindersley

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Enough said really...

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Libraries could learn a lot from Halo - imagine walking into your local library and having the same experience* you get from immersing yourself in the Halo universe... I know my family would simply keep coming back for more. It's worth thinking about.

*By 'experience' I mean the rewards of the experience, the way a person 'feels' about that place and about what they have just done - not so much about the first-person-shooter and role-play elements or game-play itself (just so no one misunderstands me).

Read the latest GameInformer #29 for a more detailed synopsis of Halo4.

blog updates

It's been a while, but the Reference & Information Services, RISG-New Technologies, and Readers Advisory blogs have returned with a fresh face-lift & some new content.
With recent posts on cutting edge technologies in libraries, Storify, and e-readers and the national year of reading there is lots of information to share and learn from.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else there is in store from the RISG & RA crowds this year!

My year in tweets as a word cloud

http://yearinstatus.com/s/?1ocjmj99