LibPunk

Wahey! Who’s that? Are you there? We are… sort of. Amy and I have donned our library suits (tweed with a pocket for our library cards, because you know… we read books!), and sat round for a good ol’ LibPunk Radio Chat! It’s been a while due to some technical problems, and then we got busy with stuff. You know… Amy rocked SXSWi and is taking over the world, I got my job back and started moving my library book by book. No fun.

We really need to start with a tip of the hat to Greg Schwartz and Uncontrolled Vocabulary. The URL may have changed, but it’s still in our hearts. We wouldn’t be here without you man. Amy will drink something classy in your honour.

We caught up on SOPA, PIPA, and RWA. We talked about how publishing and the music industry are screwing the producers and consumers, whilst making the middle men rich, and then we wondered what the post-OPAC world will be like, since Google Scholar is getting harder for lazy people to access. And then we wandered off to other places, like this soup I made for dinner.

Computers willing, we’ll be back next week. THANKS PEOPLE!

On this week’s LibPunk we mostly talked about Occupy Wall Street, other Occupies, and the Occupy Libraries in particular. Sources we discuss include:

• Iris Jastram’s “What does it mean to have a library?”
• Mita Williams’ “How could we build a digital People’s Library?
• The People’s Library and OWS from Al Jazeera
• Rachel Maddow and John Hodgman on OWS
• How Storifying Occupy Wall Street saved the news
• Instead of whining about the skills gap, use training to close it

I think that’s about it. We tried something new with the recording. It was a bit rough but I think it worked? Let us know what you think! We’ll start inviting people to join in when the kinks get worked out.

Cheers.

We’ve taken an extended hiatus but it’s coming to an end. We’ll record a new show and let it drop on November 17 like a needle on a record. A shoe on the floor. (Come up with your own metaphor.) What will we talk about? We’re open to suggestions. If you want to join in, let us know. We’re abandoning TalkShoe probably.

This post is here to keep us honest.

And he’s a rad song about returns:

In this week’s installment of LibPunk Radio we tried to get back into the swing of things. It was a bit rough. We talked about Rick Anderson’s new article, The Crisis In Research Librarianship. You should go read it, as it’s excellent and makes lots of intelligent points. Our take home is that the system is broke and we need to start doing things different – say no to shitty ILSs, say no to bad portals, just say no to shit. CARPE DIEM!

So, we’ve been quiet here. A lot of shit’s happened. Sarah is took a break (well is still taking a break), but is also starting a new job. Amy rocked the TEDxLibrarians (See here preso here.), and I lost my job. That’s a lot of stuff.

But, Amy and I will be doing the LibPunk Radio thing tomorrow, July 6 2011, and we want you to call in. The phone number is (724) 444-7444, and the call ID is 81240. We’ll be doing it a 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific. More details here!

We’re still talking about Harper Collins and such. I think It was a relatively good show. I must apologize who screaming 15 minutes in. I was surprised by an HC creeper in my apartment. I forget what we covered. Anyhow, join us next week!