Ballad in Plain E

It’s always neat to learn about the personalities behind the books we spend half our lives filing updates into, shelving, and reshelving. I was fascinated by this Lancaster House interview with Innis Christie, who is an original author of Employment Law in Canada, and the winner of the 2008 U of T Bora Laskin Award.

Christie had some really interesting points on his practice and his career in law, mediation, and arbitration, but it was his comments on off-topic things that really struck me. For instance:

On the upcoming US elections:

“I think that this Sarah Palin thing is just appalling. I think it’s just absolutely appalling that she would appeal to a large part of the electorate. Because she’s unqualified, because she’s a believer in what I think to be absurd things, and because she has no sense of her own limitations. I don’t condemn the woman for that, but I condemn an electorate that is so ignorant that they think that the ideal person to run the government is somebody who is like them.”

On advice he gave his children:

“My youngest, when he had come back from an academic year in France and was looking for a job in Nova Scotia, said to me that he had read that there were very few jobs and people were having a great deal of trouble getting them. I said to him, and it wasn’t the first time I said it, or the last time, as he reminds me, I said “You’re not a statistic”. … He got a job. Has ever since. A good one. My children are more than just mere statistics. They’re individuals and they don’t have to be governed by the times and tides. They can take control.”

And on advice to students who want to follow in his footsteps:

“I don’t know. I guess, don’t try to outsmart anybody, just do your work, and call it like you see it.”

Seems like a guy who’s not just legal-smart but life-smart, too. I like the line about not being a statistic. It’s a good way to look at things.

Check out the language of this job ad!

Amazing to see a non-library (actually, any organization, for that matter) advertise using our language. OK, maybe there are a few too many cliches, but overall, the description paints a very clear picture of the right candidate. The desired characteristics are ones that most of us can identify with (and feel proud of), instead of the bland, generic ones that are found too often in library job ads. I especially love the line about the tweezer and scalpel!

“Our ideal candidate is a rare breed – a recent graduate with an education in both Business and Library Science, or coming from a business library environment, coupled with deep knowledge of commercial databases and with razor-sharp Internet and online research skills. You are the classic “devil is in the details” kind of person who thrives on hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack, using emerging technologies as your tweezer and scalpel. You are the contrarian “road less travelled” kind of thinker with a talent for peeling away the layers and digging ever deeper, in the search for nuggets of gold where others only see coal. You are the original “007”, probably wanting to be a spy or secret agent somewhere along the way, now having honed your craft in knowing what electronic tools to use, when to apply them, where to look, and how long it will take to successfully complete the hunt. Relentless doesn’t begin to describe your degree of persistence in searching for the seemingly impossible.”

Mega props to Karen at Library Technician Dialog. Her persistence paid off big-time for all of us in Manitoba who deal with this particular legal information vendor. See ya, arbitrarily-added PST!

Via Library Link of the Day…

Most of the people in this article sound like complete idiots. (Or at least their clients sound like idiots.) I’ll be the first to acknowledge that books can be a lovely visual aspect of a room, but come on. Sure, I haven’t read every book that’s stored in my bookcases, but at least I didn’t choose them based on colour or binding material (though there’s a time and place for everything).

“Because libraries are public rooms, oftentimes the books are purely decorative and don’t say as much about the family who lives there. The books that people really read, like paperback novels and how-to guides, often are kept out of sight elsewhere in the home.”

If this is true, that’s awfully sad. I’ve always thought that people’s bookshelves are a wonderful glimpse into their personalities. A stack of Calvin & Hobbes says just as much (if not more) than a row of leather-bound classics. And anyway, if you’re the kind of person who likes paperbacks and how-to books, why would you be embarrassed of it? My Dummies guides live comfortably alongside chick-lit and Can Lit hardcovers, and I like to think that en masse, they’re a good representation of who I am. I personally wouldn’t want to impress someone who would actually be impressed by row upon row of leather-bound classics.

Of these so-called libraries, an interior designer notes that “most of his wealthy clients want one, even if they do most of their reading online.” Okay, so maybe I’m a purist. I will concede the libraries don’t mean just “books” anymore. And I know we’re never supposed to do or say anything to discourage anyone from reading. But if a library’s not a library, why not just call it what it is? Whatever happened to “living room” or “den”? Maybe it’s just semantics, but I think this is ridiculous. A library without books? (Or maybe what I really mean is, “A library without books that actually get read?”)

The people in the last couple paragraphs have their priorities straight. I agree wholeheartedly with author Jay McInerney, who says, “If you’re not reading what’s on your bookshelves, you should find something else to decorate with.” After all, like Anne Fadiman, I am a carnal lover of books; I believe they are meant to be loved, to be dogeared, to be taken off the shelf and read.

P.S. Thanks, Oprah, for letting me take a tour of your “book-filled haven in California where no one ever says, Shhhh!”

I note from this month’s WestlaweCarswell eBulletin that Words & Phrases has finally been rolled out. According to the bulletin:

Words & Phrases is now available on LawSource!

 

Words & Phrases provides you with fresh strategies for finding the law online. If you need to find how the courts have interpreted or applied a word or a phrase, you will be able to simply enter the word or phrase in a template to see excerpts of decisions where the judge interprets the term.

 

With over 30,000 entries, covering 60,000 Canadian judicial interpretations, Words & Phrases will be by far the most comprehensive service of its kind in Canada.

Not sure if this is Sanagan’s plus the old hardcover Words & Phrases rolled into one, or all that and then some… either way, it’s good news and an excellent enhancement to LawSource.

…but I like how he thinks.

On the bright side: Election Party on Oct 14th!

Legal web guru (and, okay, my boss) Steve Matthews just published a really good article on law firm SEO over at Slaw.

Even if you’re not particularly interested in SEO, this is a great introduction to the concepts of natural/organic vs. paid search. It’s useful for anyone who wants to know what kind of effort is required to improve a website’s visibility and ranking within search engines. The section on building assets vs. renting space is especially thoughtful, I think.