Life in the library
Blogging from the 34rth and 5th. It's so exciting to be back in a library, I missed the stacks very much to put it succinctly. And just now, I got a bar code put on the back of my ID, it is 7:15PM - approximately 1 hour since I left work - and I am almost ready to sit down and read a section from Joseph Ben-David's
The Scientist's Role in Society. It is also a small revelation to be able to use the library from the perspective of a student. I can claim stupidity and ask the people behind the desk questions. The Graduate Center's library has the most beautiful elevator. I think that 'A Human Movement' and 'blog.tlib.org' will be changing in the coming months as I will probably use them in much different ways then the past. Psychedelic gazes will now be filtered through the fact that I have assigned readings, so my gas will be filled the asterisks of reading lists. I think blog.tlib.org will be turning into something of an online notebook/calendar/personal management system. While 'A Human Movmement' might be filled with wisps, guesses and apologies which no one has come to know so well.
I have a big reading list for my 'Social History of Science' class, and sadly - none of it is electronic which means that I have 3 choices:
1) Buy it
2) Photocopy it from the library
3) Read it in the library
I will probably be seeing a mix of these in the coming weeks... I wish the readings were online. Imagine how much smoother a class could go if the majority of the readings were scanned in and ready to be read from any location? Print, presto, PDF. I can't believe here it is 2005, and I am still thinking about this. It seems like a decade ago that I was sitting behind a reserve desk myself thinking about a future of scanned texts and remote reading for all in the name of education. The tasks of coming to the library, getting settled, finding the books, making photocopies, reading the 100 pages, taking notes, etc. etc. is probably going to take a good 9 hours a week, more when writing assignments are in order. I wish 2 of those hours did not consist of checking out books and photocopying them. I wonder how many floors this library has? I am on the second floor with the PR 500's, 'POETRY,' at my back. Oh those PR's!!
Anyway, I think I am about settled and ready to get quiet - I only have my reserve reading until 9:11PM, after that I start getting fined. On the bright side, I found one of the books for the class in the stacks which means I can take it out and photocopy necessary parts at work tomorrow. So much wasted paper! It's a tragedy, a true tragedy the wasted paper.
I think I might start thinking in terms of tragedies as a result of the tsunami in Louisiana. When is the next tragedy? What can be done to circumvent it? I think taking away all profits from insurance companies and big box stores and using it to invest in education, health insurance and larger salaries for American workers is the place to start -- should any future tragedy wished to be quelled prematurely those are steps to stopping it. And no extra funds for the cops, they are useless. There's the wisp...
