Author: bbaile14

Assistant Professor / Digital Projects Librarian for Johnson County Community College

This Book Is OVERDUE!

What’s more exciting than Titus Andronicus playing the Pitchfork Music Festival or the Bears acquiring Julius Peppers, or (I guess) the Chiefs trying to get Darren Sproles?

Not much: this is a cap-free year! But if you’re a librarian, any good book that makes us look awesome is worth promoting.

Enter This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians can Save Us All. First admission, I hate the term “cybrarian”. That being said, this book argues that even though you may think Google and the Internet are killing the notion of a useful librarian, editor Marilyn Johnson shows all of the cool stuff librarians are still doing. From digital archiving to, what the Amazon review calls “curators of a community legacy.”

So if you dig it, you could check out this book.  For a shortcut to what we’re doing, check out some of the library links here.

We Just Want You to Know…

… That this book exists.

Fashion Law: A Guide for Designers, Fashion Executives, and Attorneys. Edited by Guillermo C. Jimenez, Barbara Kolsun.

I’m beyond curious. Do people copyright or trademark buttons or ways of stitching? or fancy pleating? Check it out at JCCC. I can only imagine how crazy some of these things must be.

New Student Journal @ JCCC

I’m a big fan of our Institutional Repository, ScholarSpace.  A repository, set up to gather all of the publishings coming from our campus, has really exposed some of our works to the greater academic arena, but there’s been a glaring issue: there has been a horrible lack of student-created material. And certainly one of the most glaring issues has been my lack of advertising to get students more involved.

UNTIL NOW. I’m proud to announce that with the support and hard work of Patricia Decker, we’ve been able to launch the Johnson County Community College Honors Journal. Students who have completed their Honors contracts for courses at JCCC can now submit their final projects for inclusion in our entirely digital journal.  There are some great advantages to this journal being all digital:

  • Obviously it is more green
  • Digital publishing allows the article to be included in larger academic online communities
  • We can incorporate alternative projects, such as video, images, powerpoint presentations, or a combination of many of these

We’re very proud to be showcasing the work of our students, and hope to receive many more submissions in the coming semesters.  Thanks to everyone who helped get this off the ground, especially the contributing students:

  • Christina Turner
  • Courtney Masterson
  • William Sherrill
  • William Bettes
  • Belinda Peister

Seriously: without students willing to share their fantastic work, we wouldn’t be able to show the rest of the world what our students are capable of.  I hope this gets students (Honors or not!) interested in submitting their work. Thanks again!

This Snow is Ridiculous, Until it Saves Me from Deer

Last night, traffic was slowed to a whopping 30 mph on Metcalf near 123rd St. This was, somehow, a good thing, as the unruly mob of deer that pranced passed the front of my car would have most certainly become hood ornaments were I going full speed.

In a transition that is somehow not awkward, the Book of the Day is a new title that just came by my desk called Deer-Resistant Landscaping : Proven advice and strategies for outwitting deer and 20 other pesky mammals. Since the best advice I have is “hire Ted Nugent”, I’m guessing this landscaping business would be a much better technique than anything I have to recommend. Recommended for students looking into landscaping careers, and also to people who hate deer.

In summary: that golf course needs better landscaping, and the snow did something positive for a change. Tiny miracles.

Still looking for eBook Reader Users

So, we’re sitting on a Nook,  a Kindle, and a Sony eReader, and to help us move from here, we’re still looking to find user experiences. Anyone willing to share can contact me at bbaile14@jccc.edu, or contact us through facebook or @JCCCLib on Twitter.  We’ve had a few responses, but we can always use more.

Thanks a million!

A Book and a Story About Gender Reassignment

Today’s title is “You’ve Changed” : Sex Reassignment and Personal Identity, edited by Laurie Shrage. This collection of essays should be of interest for those involved in queer studies, gender studies, sexuality studies, or perhaps anyone who still has questions about why people proceed with this transition.

But if I may, I’d like to share a quick story with you.  One of the best sports writers to ever live was Christine Daniels. On my birthday in 2009 (which happened to be the day after Thanksgiving),  Christine Daniels took her own life after existing for 2 years. How is that possible? Christine Daniels was born Mike Penner.

Montrealgazette.com; Windycitymediagroup.com

After living as a male for 49 years, Christine finally went through the procedures to become the woman she had felt she always was.

In this incredibly moving eulogy Rick Reilly (of all people, right?) wrote in ESPN The Magazine, Reilly says he received a text message from her after her transition announcement in the LA Times (available here), saying “I’m finally glad […] you got to meet the real me.”

Reilly concludes his post with this:

I don’t know why he did it. Nobody knows. Maybe being Christine caused others too much pain. Maybe being Mike caused him too much. “Maybe trying and failing to be Christine Daniels,” says Kahrl, “killed Mike Penner.”

I’ll miss them both.

If you read Reilly’s article or have any interest in the topic of gender transitioning or want to understand why someone would or what they must have been going through before and during the change, I recommend “You’ve Changed”.

Going Bovine: As Nuts as the Author

If you enjoy the movies of David Lynch, the comedy of Tim and Eric, or the craziness of Chuck Palahnuk (the Fight Club author), then I highly recommend for you Going Bovine by Libba Bray.

A boy with a dysfunctional family gets Mad Cow Disease.  He tries to find a doctor to cure it and fix some wounds in his family life.  The problem? He’s tripping like crazy.  The Mad Cow disease has set him on a hallucinatory voyage of adventure, danger, and vikings.  Somehow, these are a few of the more tame aspects of the work.

For goodness sake, look at the author.

SERIOUSLY.

But don’t be mistaken: this book won the American Library Association Printz Award for Young Adult Fiction written last year.

The Weather is Gross: Research Reminder (UPDATE)

In case some of you are sticking around the library to work on assignments, we urge you to remember the following things on account of the nasty weather:

  • Almost all of our journals are available from home with your JCCC ID and login
  • We have LibGuides to assist you with your assignments
  • If you need to talk, you can always use chat reference (it’s on the right hand side of this page, too!)
  • Peruse our site for more resources, and don’t be afraid to ask us over Twitter (@JCCCLib), or you can always call us (913.469.3871)

SAFETY FIRST: Using JCCC’s Library is just as easy from home, and we don’t have a “Clothing Optional” policy in the real building.

UPDATE: We’re shutting this joint down: campus closes at 3:30 today (2/5/2010).  BE SAFE.

Get It? It’s a Play On Words!

Today’s book: Condom Nation : The U.S. Government’s Sex Education Campaign from World War I to the Internet

Condom Nation. HA!

So this book takes a gander at the last 90 years of sex education in America, and the opposition the government has faced from its own people. Be it religious groups, general anxiety towards the topic of sex, or other obstacles, Alexandra Lord attempts to document the U.S. Government’s long take at a progressive Sex Ed campaign.  While her argument is that Americans have thwarted their own government’s attempts, some critics have said Lord did not go far enough in examining why Americans can shy away from the topic.  While the author’s point of view is made clear from the beginning, it serves as an interesting account of one government’s 90-year efforts to educate its own people about the risks and responsibilities of sexual activity.