Goodbye Anne McCaffrey

Dragon flaming by Joshua ©

The reason that I saw a dragon in my son's painting is Anne McCaffrey. Or it would be the years I spent reading every dragon fantasy novel upon which I could lay hands after being stimulated by the Dragonriders of Pern. To be more precise it would probably be the influence of the particular artists that decorated the copies of the Dragonriders of Pern that were out when I began reading and buying them.

Tonight I heard that Anne McCaffrey has died.

Over the years I have read and reread so many of Anne McCaffrey's novels. Not just the dragonriders, but the brainships, the crystal singers, the Talents and the Catteni sequence. Her collaborations led me to other great writers. Her recommendation of a story would convince me to give it a try when the blurb had not.

This dragon keens.

photo: Anne McCaffrey Books ~ Explored by Theen Moy,
via Flickr with CC:by-nc-sa/2.0

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I own the original and digital photograph of Dragon Flaming by Joshua. All rights reserved.

moa

Moa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia via kwout

Image:Giant Haasts eagle attacking New Zealand moa.jpg - Wikimedia Commons via kwout

Proud of my state library - its history

Is valuing and preserving history and knowledge an essential characteristic of civilisation? If so, is the formation of free public libraries an integral development of a civilisation? I'm not sufficiently curious to research that at the moment. I became only slightly curious on that point when I began to wonder whether the fact that I personally highly value the philosophy of free public libraries is simply a consequence of being a product of my civilisation and culture. In which case, it would not be surprising that I connect with the objectives of the founders of the State Library of Victoria who built cultural institutions to provide access to useful knowledge to assist in the growth and development of our society. And it would also then only be natural for me to be grateful that Sir Redmond Barry envisioned a ' great emporium of learning and philosophy, of literature, science and art'

And yet, I've visited the State Library only three times: first as a secondary student when the museum was still located on the same site; secondly with my godfather who introduced my sons and I to the chess room; and thirdly thanks to my library technicians' course including a rapid but comprehensive tour including glimpses behind the scenes. Still, while I've never accessed the State Library of Victoria for my own research, my knowledge of my world includes awareness that knowledge gained by others in my society is valued, accumulated, collected, preserved and accessible should I ever need it. Just how much we make use of that knowledge in constructing our future is a bunch of different questions.

Reading the history of the State Library of Victoria online I was engrossed:

• I appreciated the foresight of the founders' criteria for building design that it should be capable of expansion (and since the tour which mentioned the leaking & service issues that have come with expansions, I wonder whether those experiences have contributed hindsight for architecture and building).
  
• I bless the government who wisely passed the Copyright Protection Act in 1869 (and later the Libraries Act 1988) 'requiring that a copy of every book, magazine, pamphlet and map published in Victoria should be lodged at the Library by the publisher' even if that meant providing 'everything' Victorian rather than just 'the best of everything' desired by Sir Redmond Barry.
  
• I wondered about the experiences of the people who perhaps struggled with the decisions and circumstances through which the library evolved over time:
  
• the travelling libraries scheme, 1859-1981
  
• the lending service, 1892-1971
  
• understandable diversion of resources to universities,
  
• changing focus to acquire Australiana since the 1950s,
  
• overturning original rules of exclusion to include items of popular culture and contemporary material (I was
  
• the onsite library training school, 1948-1970 (what was it like to train there? what were the assessments like?)
  
• building expansions and preservation to retain the 'order, class and magnitude suitable to the prospects of the country'
  
• sharing then not sharing location with the museum and art gallery,
• introducing automated cataloguing.
  

While I can't afford to buy Treasures of the State Library of Victoria, from which the text of the online history is taken, I certainly plan to read it next time I'm in.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to take the tour in person - to explore and experience the building so well restored and developed. While the online tour offers a little taste, on site was entrancing.

Acmeism & Algonquin Round Table

The Information Services Librarian strolled me through our online databases during training today. Scanning the Gale Literature Resource Centre I caught sight of "Acmeism" and "Algonquin round table" as Literary Movements or Time Periods. What on earth?

Google?

Ah... thank you Lindsay Malcolm and Martin Kich. Acmeism... check.

I believe pbs American Masters give a more enjoyable read about the Algonquin round table than Wikipedia, although it was nice to hear from the Algonquin Hotel themselves.

I shall always remember Mrs Potter, my Grade 3 teacher: "You will learn something new every day".

Edge: The World Question Center: What's your Law?

As this blog is mostly here for me, not you, I'm posting first how I arrived at What's your Law this morning... because I generally find anyone's path to a particular destination as or more interesting than the destination.

D.H. Lawrence mentioned in passing in Kangaroo that "The man by himself" was one of the names of Erasmus of Rotterdam, so I googled to remind myself (my only inkling of a recollection was something to do with Martin Luther) of this man of my family's geographical origins. Wikipedia was very helpful, and I followed a link to learn about Erasmus' Apophthegmatum opus , whereupon, curious to discover whether an apophthegm is some sort of pithy saying, I followed the apophthegm link which diverted to "adage". What's your Law was an external link from that "adage" Wikipedia entry.

I generally apply
Gardner's First Law: Don't ask how smart someone is; ask in what ways is he or she smart.

I figure O'Donnell's Law of Academic Administration:
If it feels good, don't do it.
extends beyond Academic Administration, based on the justification.

from Minsky's:
Minsky's First Law
Words should be your servants, not your masters.
Minsky's Second Law
Don't just do something. Stand there.

I went via his bio to remind myself what I had read in The Society of Mind and surfed a while through Listmania ... overload.

I'm getting back to work, but later I'll get back to reading what Daniel Gilbert (of Gilbert's Law: Happy people are those who do not pass up an opportunity to laugh at themselves or to make love with someone else. Unhappy people are those who get this backwards.) says about AFFECTIVE FORECASTING...OR...THE BIG WOMBASSA: WHAT YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO GET, AND WHAT YOU DON'T GET, WHEN YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT