We were playing chess at the co-op picnic this weekend, when I got the chance to do a nice rant to locally-famous Green party presidential candidate Paul Glover on the subject of librarianship, digital preservation, and last-ditch measures for funding our local library. Millages seem to be kind of a Michigan thing. Perhaps a bake sale is in order? Brownies, only $500 each! Anybody up for mom's million-dollar cheesecake? Only a million dollars!

Hey, big news! Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian is now online in a nice temporary format. In other news, this blog has been discovered by people at work, so now I have to be extra careful not to mention how frightening I find the breakroom.

Here's an interesting factoid about libraries and the people who work in them: Many of us have absolutely no contact with patrons or customers or whatever you call them. Mmm hmm. It's true. Most of the straight-up academic librarians around here can be found hidden in back rooms, far from the maddeningly crowded cybercafe, trying to wrap their poor heads around grant applications and articles on digital preservation. Which, among other things, means I get to wear Birkenstocks to work.

So I've been working like a whirlwind on the new Librarian Avengers site, reorganizing ancient file structures, erasing huge unused bandwith-sucking images, and look! A shiny new 404 message! How appropriate!

Oh that wacky American Library Association convention. Imagine, if you will, 50 billion librarians wandering around downtown Toronto. Yes, it looked like that.

I did a bit of shopping on Sunday afternoon, and had the honor of being informed by a salesgirl that a librarian had appeared on TLC's A Makeover Story and had been brought to that very store. "See" she implied, "it's not too late for you!"

On a similar "weird public image of librarianship" line, I had more trouble with the ALA vendors than usual. Since I'm no longer a student, I had to contend with eager sales representatives trying to sell me their wares. I found myself regularly explaining that SOME librarians don't actually work with books, deal with the public, or care much about the latest installment in the Harry Potter series. Once I made the mistake of mentioning the words "digital preservation research" and was treated to a sales pitch for a music journal.

I did get a chance to see a copy of Revolting Librarians Redux this weekend, and I would like to encourage everyone to buy the heck out of it. Among other things, the book contains a poem that I hadn't read since I submitted it. I was pleased to see that it didn't suck quite as badly as I had feared.

News Flash: A woman just walked by my window practicing sign language to herself. People often walk by my office and don't realize they are being observed. Unfortunately, this works both ways, and I've often been caught chewing my fingernails by a casual passerby.

The library has been empty and echoing today since so many of the staff have boarded the bus for ALA. I will be leaving tomorrow morning for the land of free tote bags and low-key cultural revolution. I say fie on SARS, and will support lovely Toronto in her hour of need. If anyone wants to catch a quick dance, I'll be at the Social Responsibilities Round Table Boogie Down event Sunday night, whoopin' it up with the Cuban librarians.

We're back! Yes, the site has been down for a month. Yes, I noticed. Yes, it is my fault. Although if you would prefer to blame the Bush Administration, Global Warming, or James Billington, you have my permission.