Librarians and light bulbs

How many academic librarians does it take to change a light bulb?
Just five. One changes the light bulb while the other four form a committee and write a letter of protest to the Dean, because after all, changing light bulbs IS NOT professional work!

How many catalogers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Just one, but they have to wait to see how LC does it first.

How many cataloguers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Only one provided it is in AACR2. How many reference librarians does it take to change a light-bulb?
(with a perky smile) "Well, I don't know right off-hand, but I know where we can look it up!"

How many reference librarians does it take to change a lightbulb?
None if it has a LCSH heading.

How many library system managers does it take to change a lightbulb?
All of them as the manual was lost in the last move (or flood).

How many library managers does it take to change a lightbulb?
At least one committee and a light bulb strategy focus meeting and plan.

How many library technicians does it take to change a lightbulb?
Seven. One to follow approved procedure, and six to review the procedure. (8 if you count the librarian they all report to)

Better than fines?

"For him that stealeth a book from this library, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck by palsy & all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, & let there be no surcease for his agony until he sink to dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment let the flames of hell consume him for ever & aye."
Attributed to the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona

The White Heat of Technology in 1904 according to Edward Elgar

The more things change the more they are the same

I recently had the good fortune to visit the Elgar Birthplace Museum just outside Worcester. The Museum is a small but fitting tribute to one of England’s great modern composers. The following text is taken from a manuscript on display amongst the exhibits. It is astonishingly pertinent and deserves to be much more widely known as a telling description of the fact that technological impacts on life have been going on for decades and not just since the invention of social media.

“The present generation takes the inventions of the last few years calmly and allows the most revolutionary mechanical appliances to enter into their lives without surprise and without emotion.

The gramophone is one of these marvels. It was necessary last week that I should ‘know’ a certain new composition; it is of course necessary theoretically that I should hear all new compositions – in time; but this occasion was peremptory. Being in the twentieth century and within reach of His Master’s Voice, the procedure was remarkably simple.

The telephone brought me mysterious discs within ten minutes; ten minutes later I had heard the composition played by an orchestra of the first rank under a no less noteworthy conductor.

My thoughts go back to days when the desire to know was just as keen, but the means of gaining knowledge were few and difficult. In 1877 – 8 – 9, London was scantily supplied with orchestral concerts: the provinces were in a worse plight.

The Crystal Palace concerts under the direction of August Manns  were undoubtedly the best and many new works were produced and compositions of established repute were played which I wanted to know.

I say ‘know’ and not hear; it is possible to be either or both; scores were not easily obtainable; if they had been procurable a reading would have satisfied my immediate wants. “

The document on display is the first page of a typed lecture (?) which has been heavily edited by hand in ink. It is entitled “H.M.V.”  What appears above is the final text as edited by Elgar himself. It would be interesting to uncover any other early documented examples of the role of technology in facilitating knowledge transfer.

Derek Law