Tuesday, November 27, 2007

This Blog's Reading Level: Genius?

I was reading Von's post and started clicking on the links until I got to the Blog Readability Test page. It was so easy, I just had to type in this blog's URL and the site began to check for readability.

And to my great, if not pleasant surprise, was the following rating result :

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Come on! This is utterly unbelievable! Amusing, yes, but I wonder how the site works. Surely even non-geniuses can understand my posts or could they? :-D Then again, if you happen to be reading my posts and can understand them, then that makes you a genius. Isn't that great!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Two years and counting

One of the last things I did for the library profession before leaving for Australia last year was to finish the module on Information Technology I co-wrote with Dr. Wilhelmina Gatmaitan as part of a grant the National Committee on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) gave the Philippine Association of Teachers of Library Science (PATLS) to develop teaching materials for library science students.

The project which began in early 2005 took us module writers more than a year to complete and I'm so relieved to know that finally the modules are awaiting copyright registration. Last Saturday, the 17th of November, PATLS held a forum to present the highlights of the modules to students and teachers of Library and Information Science.

Having written the module two years ago (three of us module writers has since left the country two of whom are now based in the US of A) my only concern is that even before students actually get to use the material, it already needs to be updated especially the one I worked on. Nevertheless, I can't wait til it gets published and get myself a copy for posterity. And oh, we won't be getting royalties for the sale of the modules. We waived our rights to NCCA when we agreed to take on the project.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Out!

Question: Does a library user have a right to order another library user to step out of the library?

Last Monday, while I was at the self-check out counter at our public library, I saw a tall man in his late 40s approach a library staff at the counter complaining about a boy who was around my son's age. I took notice of the boy the man was referring to because he caught my attention earlier while I was browsing through the DVD shelf. The boy was fooling around with a friend who was on the computer. I heard the library staff tell the man that she will look into the matter as she was still attending to the queue in front of her. Her answer seemed to satisfy the man as he went back to his computer.
But after a few seconds I heard this very strong but subdued voice say "Out!" and when I turned to the direction of the voice I saw the man glaring at the boy who was several feet away from him and pointing towards the door. He repeated his order in the same tone of voice three times with the boy not comprehending what was happening. The boy just stood still looking left and right as if calling for help. The scene was definitely unnerving. I didn't see what happened next because I had to gather my two sons together just in case. My librarian instinct told me to approach the man and try to calm him down but my pragmatic self told me that wasn't my turf.
As we were ready to leave the library, I overheard the library staff the man earlier spoke to and a colleague tell the boy to just stay away from the man. I was quite surprised to hear this because that was not how I would have handled the matter. I would have told off the man, too, for his behavior. But as I said it wasn't my turf. Furthermore, no one has the right to kick out a library patron just because he/she is annoying. There is such a thing as diplomacy.