Link: http://acrlog.org/2009/11/07/impact-factors-adjusted-for-reality/

Part of my attachment to my current position as a no-one in the college of liberal arts is because I get to observe firsthand the interaction of the departments and their information requirements and usage. I have been remiss in inter-twining the library administration view because I have no reasonable access as I did during grad-school. The view that I have is the student and admin view and faculty chatter. I try to think about what I experience in terms of libraries. A lot of defining going on in my noggin.

I love repositories and want nothing more than to actually work with them. But I am SOL right now circumstantially. That said, my active librarian filter, work setting, and general desires have intersected before in just the way that this blog post describes. Tenured library faculty, scholarship, bloatedness, administration, WTF. This of course from someone with a box of abstracts that I would love to write papers for, but very few papers of note and no papers in my field except graduate work...so this is all in my very humble opinion.

Link: http://www.bookweb.org/advocacy/local.html

I have had my fair shake at magic, but none quite so glorious as being able to work with Bob at Bookpeople, Moscow ID when I first landed in Idaho. I learned a lot about local first and local firstness because of Bookpeople (and Bob at the micro movie house too!).

This also sealed my fate as a lover of bookish things forever.

The secret history of imperial green jade.
Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark

I tag this item as HISTORY but the writers are journalists. And it is evident that they are journalists first, historians second. Well, it is obvious to me because I have read a lot of history books and papers and listened to historians argue and speak. That said, the book is a gem and is about a gem too.

While learning about jade and its significance throughout an historical window is wonderful in itself, the real prize in this text is how the authors managed to gain entrance into some areas of the world where devils would fear to go. Burma is no postcard, and its regime of powers and slaves is the stuff of world-wide anger and apathy. These two manage to get inside and let us have a far away look while hunting for the stone of heaven.

If you like rocks, gems, journalism, asia, art, and/or journalism - this one will serve you up some fine evening reading.