Symposiums, Symposiums, Symposiums!
Last year I was asked to convene the ALIA WA Symposium 2016. I agreed, because, hey you’ve got to try these things out at least once. I also wanted to use the opportunity to try something different and ‘be the change I want to see’ (Rundle, 2014) . Fast forward a good twelve months and the event seemed to be a success, with only minor technical glitches. A good committee, help from the ALIA groups, and a lot of hard work helped bring this experiment to life. While I intend to write a paper about
My Year in Read-view - Comics, Part Two
Since last year my single issue comic purchases has changed. I used to read quite a few X-men titles and mostly physical copies. Now the majority I read are digital and mostly from indie publishers. I've continued to read most of the stories from last year's list, with many of them finishing up in recent months. Rather than repeat myself I'll just add the new series that I've picked up, but last year's list is still valid and well worth reading! Current Comics * Mystery Girl -
My Year in Read-view - Comics, Part One
While I thought about doing #blogjune again this year, I was reminded of how I struggled to post everyday. While I enjoyed it I think I'll take this June to post a few thought out blogs. Where better to start than looking at my reading lists from the last 12 months. I've split it up over three posts, the first looking at collected volumes of comics, the second single on-going issues, and the third looking at books in general. Below is a condensed list of collected volumes of comics I've read s
What If... Stargate SG-1 had a librarian?
Like Uatu I watch our universe and many alternative realities , and like the Watcher before me, I have decided to recount to you a tale of one of these worlds. Recently I have been peering into the reality that is Stargate SG-1 . By 'peering' I of course mean binge watching every episode back-to-back. Late one night I started thinking about dream jobs and I wondered 'does Stargate Command (SGC) have a librarian?' If they did what would they do? What would the JDF look like for that? David La
Covert Censorship, Overt Libraries
“Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.” ― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta The Censorship is Coming From Inside the Library! When I took over as Branch Librarian for an established public library at the beginning of 2015 I knew there would be challenges. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you’ll most likely be familiar with my love of comics so it comes as no surprise that I’m very defensive of the medium. A month or two into my new job I discovered
Let My Comics Go!
Comics for life, yo In case you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a comic nerd. Every public library I’ve worked in I’ve made it my personal goal to leave the comic or ‘graphic novel’ (they’re comics people, be proud!) section better than I found it. Starting with something as little as begging the collections librarian to take me shopping, to arguing to have an adult comic section, I’ve always pushed for comics in libraries. For years I’ve been looking at ways to improve the way we organise and displ
Blog June - Day Fifteen
Discfriends Tom Waits – Blood Money You know that old abandoned carnival at the very end of your street? The one that if rumours are to believed closed down after those people went missing on the ghost train. If you go there on a dark, winter’s night and follow the faint smell of whiskey and cigars you’ll find a small bar set up in the remains of the fun house. Inside you’ll find a man singing a low dirge, backed by a dark carnival band. This is what Blood Money sounds like, this is what Blo
Blog June - Day Eleven
Early last year I decided to get back into buying single issues of comics collecting many lines. I’ve since then paired back my reading, culling all five X-Men titles I was collecting (really got sick of cross overs) and since have started purchasing more indie and alternative titles. The following list are all the lines I currently collect on a regular basis (italics denotes physical copy). When you collect a lot of issues the order in which you read them is important (to me anyway). What I u
Blog June - Day Ten
This year I’ve started to track what I’ve been reading and so far I’ve read 46 books. Now the majority of those are graphic novels but they still count! I have a terrible habit of borrowing all the new comics I purchase for the library (to help reader’s advisory of course!), plus purchase many for myself both digital and physical. Tomorrow I’ll discuss my current ongoing reading but here I’m going to list my favourite collected volumes I’ve finished this year. Some are recent publications but ma
DIY Arcade Cabinet
It took a weekend of swearing but it’s alive! A while ago I got the wonderful idea to run an adults event teaching library clients how to turn a Raspberry Pi into a retro arcade cabinet. The event went quite well as I had the funds to give clients their own Pi to take home (they’re not that expensive and I limited to 10 Pis). Limited Pis meant encouraging groups so I ended up with families coming along, couples, friends and even one group of four gentlemen who wanted to try their hand at pro