On a clear day...

I took this photo last year about this time -- I was flying to Boston and it was one of those amazing, clear, autumn days you see in the northeast. It shows most of New York City, particularly Queens, where I was born and where I was raised.

To me this is a photo of my early years and of my family. When I look at it I see the house I grew up in, the schools I attended and the places I worked. I can almost pick out the streets where my family lives today. With my finger I can trace the roads and streets I travel on when I go to visit.

Here is a closer view of "home" from Google Maps:


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RSS feeds

Well that was fun! I think I figured it out -- here is a link to my public feeds: http://www.bloglines.com/public/nora-quinlan
What ever that means! Am I obsessed with news and pending disasters or what!

What surprised me about this exercise is that many sites I do visit do not have RSS feeds -- World Health Organization, RBMS, etc. Hmm -- are we ahead of the curve or what!

From a hand press to this -- what a life.

Professional Genealogy

I have been thinking a great deal about genealogy lately what with the new collection from the Genealogical Society of Broward County and the new genealogy databases. We all understand family genealogy but have you ever considered your professional genealogy? Artists, musicians, and academics keep track of it -- and so should we as librarians. I like to think that I am descended from a very prominent library "family."

I can trace this family tree from my employment at the University of Kansas (1978-1983) -- there I worked for Alexandra Mason (Sandy). Sandy was the head of Special Collections for almost forty years as well as the Spencer Librarian at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at KU. Sandy was a true librarian and is considered by many to be a leader in the rare books world. Sandy taught me a great deal about rare books and special collections but also about being a librarian. Service as one's number one priority, an understanding of the "big" picture, working as an equal of faculty and university administration on a common mission to enrich the student experience. Most importantly, the value of teaching and passing on to others a love of the history of the book and access to information.

Sandy started at the University of Kansas in the 1950's working under then library director Robert Vosper. Bob Vosper was from UCLA and went back to become University Librarian at UCLA as well a to teach at the UCLA library school. Vosper was president of ALA from 1965-66.
While at KU, Vosper worked with others, including Sandy, to build and develop the library's collections, including the development of a special collections. For a discussion of what this evolved into see: http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/25th/special_collections.html

Vosper had trained under Lawrence Clark Powell, the noted librarian and writer, who also had been the University Librarian at UCLA. For a wonderful tribute to Powell see: http://www.library.ucla.edu/special/scweb/lcpindex.htm

To follow in the footsteps of these great librarians has been a learning and growing experience for me -- sometimes a challenge, but always an inspiration.

Seattle, Jan 07

Seattle, Jan 07-08
Originally uploaded by noraquinlan

Yes! Another library! Click on the picture for the full Flickr effect!

ALA in Seattle, Jan 07

Seattle, Jan 07-10
Originally uploaded by noraquinlan

ALA has given me many opportunities to check out libraries! While in Seattle for ALA Midwinter I added two. Click on the picture for the full Flickr effect!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Printing Presses I Have Known

Hole and Corner Press, KU, 1981

I was 22 years old when I started my library degree at the School of Library Service at Columbia University in 1975. Somehow I had managed to obtain a full scholarship which to this day I am grateful for because otherwise I could not have been able to go to library school. The library school was located on an upper floor of the Butler Library. When you took the elevator up you got off in front of the room housing the Book Arts Press.

What was the first thing I saw on my first day at school? A big printing press! Boy -- did I want to learn more about that! But I was not in the rare books concentration -- I just wanted to be a reference librarian -- so not for me to play with. Still I hung around, ingratiated myself into the good graces of the keeper of the press and within the year I was learning how to set type in a composing stick, lock up a form on a press with furniture and quoins, mount a tympan and mask the frisket, run proofs and print a job. Very fun.

While working at KU, I was the proprietor of the Hole and Corner Press and taught classes on the history of the book. And while at CU I expanded what became the Eaves Press and taught a printing class through Continuing Education.

So what does this have to do with TLC 2.0? Plenty -- From printing press to blog I continue to learn and use ways to transmit information easily and inexpensively. Just in different media.