This week I enjoyed the growing excitement around the Democratic Convention. I’m not a super-politico, although I have worked on several campaigns (and built a few websites for candidates in the late 90s, when no one was quite sure why they wanted to be on the web, but a few understood that they needed to be on the web – my museum experience came in handy here). In 2004 my girlfriend and I worked as neighborhood organizers for MoveOn.org, which was fun but I’m not sure that it had much impact. Our neighborhood was already bluer than blue and most of the people we met going door-to-door were already on our side. At least it made it fun (and probably the first time I’d met some of my neighbors).

The other night ABC spotlighted a “doctoral student who put aside his dissertation to campaign for Obama.” Whoa…that’s commitment dude, but frankly at this point I share too much of Jenny’s cynicism to lay down my pen. Maybe it’s the fallout from having seen political sausage being made. I’m not a very good evangelist. I have my opinions and my views, but I really don’t like calling you at dinner time to harass you about yours. I hated going door to door even more than call banks. Leave me alone and I’ll stuff some envelopes for you.

Even so, just sitting back and not doing anything also bothers me. This year I’ve decided to do something a little different that still allows me to participate in the excitement this year (without abandoning my dissertation for Obama). I’ve signed up to be an Election Judge. A few hours of classes and one very long day on November 4. I think I’ll make a good judge — I’m not afraid of all those electronics, good under pressure, know the alphabet backwards and forwards. I’ll be interested to see what the whole process is like, what kind of training we get, and what happens on election day. I think the only part of this I may not like is denying people the opportunity to vote because of some stupid rule. I’m particularly interested in what sort of discretion is exercised in those cases.

Now I just have to wait and see if I”m selected.

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Update:I’ve been tagged as an Alternate Judge on Election day. Still not quite sure what that means, but I’ll find out when I attend Election Judge training at the end of the week. I think it means I’ll be a floater to fill in where they need someone. In any case, don’t expect to see me on Nov. 4 – unless you’re voting!

Steve Lawson at Colorado College wrote a little Word-Press plugin to remind us of Ranganathan’s 5 Laws.  Add Hello, Ranganathan to your WordPress blog to randomly display the 5 Laws above your admin screens.

via theorywatch

via Joystick101

for all of you who are bored at the reference desk, or the help desk.

The Carnegie Mellon library system has released (in beta) two games meant to get at using the library system. The first game, Within Range, is not the most interesting but it asks students to re-shelve books based on LoC subjects and the Dewey Decimal System. Useful for helping them find books in the brick and mortar library but not riveting gaming. The second game, I’ll Get It, is a much like Diner Dash (only in a library). You have to look up the patron’s topic and choose from 2 books or 2 internet sources what you will bring back to the patron based upon their research question. This one is a bit more interesting especially since it goes in waves and gets more harried as time passes.

How effective is this? Can we teach students how to use a virtual library and expect them to extrapolate that out to the real world? Or will they simply google the topic and go from there?

or a Guide to Museum Manners for Incorrigible Pirates and the Like.

ZOMG! I book that combines my love of museums AND pirates…watch out Storytelling Guild!!!

The Terrible Captain Jack Visits the Museum, or A Guide to Museum Manners for Incorrigible Pirates and the Like, is the museum’s first major children’s book. As the title suggests, it is a whimsical yet straightforward manual for children on how to behave when visiting a museum. Written and illustrated by the museum’s first director of education, Diane Matyas, young readers join Captain Jack on his first visit to a museum, where he is advised by the ship’s monkey Steve to “keep his bloomin’ fingers off the paintings and the walls” and reminded that “museum voices are quiet ones, but ask lots of questions.”

If you’re a longtime reader, you know that last year I moved into the former Battle Creek Sanitarium.  It was long ago split into apartments and mine takes up half of the first floor.   The main living area is split by a set of pocket doors that have been stuck in place….from what I can tell for a long long time.   Other than putting a curtain across the opening there was no way to shut off the bedroom from the living room.

While there’s some information out on the Interwebz, most of it wasn’t helpful.   Bust a hole in the plaster to get the door out! (I don’t think my landlord would appreciate that).   So this is for everyone who might be living in an older house with stuck pocket doors.

My doors are the type that rolls along an over head track.*  Note the braces that connect the track to the wall.  They’ll be helpful later.  My doors were stuck because the rear rollers had jumped the track.  Here, the front rollers are pictured, the rear rolles had conveniently let the track slip between the roller and the support that connects it to the door.   I wasn’t able to get enough leverage off the front wheels to get the rear wheels back on track.  So here’s how I finally got my doors back.

1. Remove any small trim around the door frame to give you more access to track and rollers.
2. Using a small wedge I took most of the weight off the rollers.
3.   Get a 1″ x 1/4″ piece of steel bar from the hardware store.  Mine was about 36″ long, but they come in different sizes.
4. Slip the bar over one of the braces that holds the track to the wall.   If you can, slip it under the nut holding the roller in place.  (mine was about the same width as the steel bar, perfect!)
5. Lifting up, maneuver the wheel back onto the track.
6. This should be enough to get the door moving, but since the house had settled some since the last time the door saw the light of day it took some pulling.
7. When the door is almost out of the pocket you may need to sweep your steel bar along the back of the door.  Many pocket doors have a little spinner at the back that keeps the door from coming too far out of the pocket.  Push it out of the way to get the door all the way out.
8. The roller connects to the door with a threaded bolt that uses two nuts to sandwich the door bracket.  To move the door up (or down) you have to move both nuts.  Loosen one, then tighten the second one.   If your doors are like mine this might require liberal application of WD-40.   Using your wedge to take the weight off also makes adjustments easier.
9. Make sure the door stays level by adjusting both front and rear rollers, otherwise it won’t spoon nicely with its mate when closed.
10. Ta da!   Pocket doors!

 

*  If you have a different kind of door, consider paying a visit to your local architectural salvage store.  They might have something that matches your doors, and out of the pocket it’s easier to figure out how they work.

Via Artsplace

Teh internetz stole another mai ideaz.

I iz read’n 2 much LOL today. Tnx bb.

I has 2 much skool’n. Can I has break now?

LOLMuzeum anyone?

Best I could do on short notice…not lots of “in gallery” pix in my photos.

‘Nough said.

~Topic

Mark is writing about music for catalogers and a few days ago I downloaded Inkscape to give it a whirl. The two things collided to bring you the following: parody:

Inkscape is OK, another fairly clunky X11-based interface. Need to play with it more when I’ve got my art tablet connected. It’s a little difficult to draw with a touchpad.

Hmmm…songs about museums. Anyone have a place to start? Hey! Music-librarian people, is there some-kinda subject index to songs? Here’s a start from TMBG:

The Edison Museum, not open to the public
Its haunted towers rise into the clouds above it
Folks drive in from out of town
To gaze in amazement when they see it

Edison Museum, From This Might be a Wiki