Ink Paper Words' Profile

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Pacific Northwest, United States
In elementary school, I desperately wanted my mother to order books for me from those flyers Scholastic hands out to kids. She refused, citing the "perfectly good library down the street." I exacted revenge by becoming a card-carrying ALA accredited reference librarian. Ha! Take that!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Cool Fish Library

Salmon Fry
Today I toured a library with certainly the most comprehensive library relating to steelhead, salmon and trout on the west coast, and probably in the entire country, StreamNet Library operated by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

This is a fascinating collection of both older hard copy items which are in the process of being digitized and electronic resources. Although the collection is non-circulating, it is completely open to the public. It isn't necessary to call Regional Librarian Lenora Oftedahl first, but it might be good idea, as she might have ideas about other materials that are in the less-accessible storage as staff continues to settle in to their new digs at 700 NE Multnomah, near Lloyd Center in Portland.

Funding for the StreamNet Library is provided by the Bonneville Power Administration, which is only fair, since it was their dams on the Columbia River that endangered native fishes and threatened Native cultures and communities.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Pagination Playhouse

My husband Daniele, despite all his inherent wonderfulosity, is, frankly, a terrible teacher. (Or, in current Eduspeak, my learning style and his teaching style conflict). Some time back, he demo'd Scribus, an open source equavalent to Adobe InDesign pagination software. Daniele's method of instructions is essentially "Here! Watch me do something fabulous!" I was always impressed but when left to my own devices, at a loss to know what to do with a blank screen and blinking cursor.

I sought out and worked through a few tutorials on the web, but it wasn't enough and the info wasn't sticking in my head. Then last week, it occurred to me to copy the front page of my local paper, or at least use it as a template and take off with my own pseudo-publication.

This method turns out to be the perfect learning method for me. I  seek how to do perform a task as I need
it. Things go wrong and I have to do it over and over until it's right. Yes, I know I'm rather OCD in this regard. It's what makes me one bitchin' editor. At any rate, my sample project is completed and the sense of revelation I have is no less than when AOL Help Desk supervisor Sean Astin showed me in 1997 that I could right-click on any web page to steal ...er, view code.


Volume 1, Number 1 of The Daily Dribbler. Bon Appetit!







Thursday, July 25, 2013

Beloved Readers

Yes, all 2 of you...

After much sneering at and condemnation of the #Twitternado, I finally succumbed. After considering my thoughts so profound that 140 characters could never suffice to express them, I discover the medium actually suits me to a T. Hence, what appears to be abandonment of this and my other blog, Hakuna Fritatta.


Nancy Pearl, Librarian Action Figure
Those of you jonesing for my missing pearls of wisdom can find them at my Twitter feed and new Wordpress blog. I'll be getting more into library and intellectual freedom issues again now that I've re-hitched with ALA and get their journal and several library listservs. BTW, ALA Midwinter in Seattle was awesome. So nice to be amongst my own kind again.