Zombies and Libraries

It doesn't get any better than this ...heh heh

Library of the Living Dead  Too bad they are using the dewey system - this could be a fun thing to promote Library Services.  Those of us who worked with the Record Collection in the Education Library will appreciate the clever use of an obsolete medium to stave off a zombie attack.

Social Media, politics,

Good advice strikes again

Sara Evans advises - If you want privacy - don't tweet.

Quantum the Invisible NSL Library Cat agrees and has stated many times : the best thing about my life is being invisible.

This week's book & this morning's news item

Sunday afternoon we were out and about and Murray suggested dropping by McNally Robinson.  Near the entrance, a vaguely familiar looking man* was pitching a book and politely asked us if he could tell us about it. I glanced at the cover and title "South Asian Adventures with the Active Poor" and knew it was the kind of thing we like to read, admire etc. So we chatted.  It was about his family working - with women and children in Bangladesh to set up schools for the poorest neighbourhoods. Star Phoenx Story

Profits from the book support the charity (wow just like Happy Leopard Chapbooks)  We bought copies.
It's a great read - you can go buy your own copy here If you liked Three Cups of Tea, you will like this one too.

*Gem Munro was a columnist in Saskatoon at one time - wrote some great stuff about Riversdale - that's why he looked familiar.

Reading a book set in Bangladesh made me very conscious of how luxurious my lifestyle is and how different from the people in the book. Like how many shelves of books are there in my house ?  I just take being able to read them for granted. ... and then there are those little expensive devices - which leads to the news item:

Tech addiction symptoms rife among students
This story on CBC caught my attention this morning - I know there is a connection between consumerism, and sweat shops, the poverty of Bangladesh and the affluenza of Saskatoon.  I just wonder who the real victims are?

a 24th thing

Last year when I was appointed to the campus EAP board I was curious about how the service has changed since it have been contracted to Human Solutions  One aspect of their services is a website chock full of resources from articles and newsletters on specific topics to a personal health assesment tool that lets you track and store information on a secure site for yourself and your family  to mulimedia e-courses on things like taking control of stress or retirement planning.  Given the computer savvy nature of this workplace I was shocked at the low utilization stats on this resource.

Then I found out why.

I tried registering on the site and did not get my confirmation and password email.  I waited.  I waited some more.  I called their 1-800 number where a helpful person suggested I try clicking on the 're-send my password' button and then checking my spam report.  Still no sign of it.  Though I did report the possibility that people registering using a U of S email account might have their confirmation going into the spam file to the Board and HR person in charge.

It has taken a while, but finally this registration/password notification bug is fixed. (it was getting eliminated at our end as unwanted spam and not even clearing into the "suspected spam" report that we receive - someone in IT had to "whitelist" the sender)

So even though this online resource is not part of the 23 things, it is part of your compensation as a U of S employee and has a variety of topics covered from parenting skills to pre-retirement planning. I think this is a subtle and convenient medium for delivering advice and information on sensitive issues. 

By the way, in the process of exploring the site and testing the registration process I did manage to register very easily using a gmail account, as did a couple of colleagues who helped me test it with their campus, as well as Shaw and hotmail accounts - so you can use a personal email to register if you prefer. BUT now the campus email works too.