Rumors: ATG NewsChannel Edition

On October 10, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Rumors

I suppose the event that has touched me the most this week was the death of Steve Jobs. I have always been a Mac fan. I remember the back page article on the Mac in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 1984, I think it was. I was typing (for the fourth time) a 600-page manuscript and my physics professor friend, Bob Dukes, told me I was crazy. I should buy a Mac. I didn’t like the MSDOS model. Took too much energy and I wanted to get this manuscript done. When I saw the Macintosh with its graphical user interface and mouse, I bought it immediately. I didn’t have the money but I had a credit card. And I still am buying Macs. They are the very best. All the obits, etc., about Steve Jobs led me to a clip of his Stanford University commencement speech in 2005 which I recommend to you all.

And speaking of Stanford, watch for the article by Mark Johnson, Anh Bul, and Helen Szigeti’s on next gen econtent. It’s coming up in the Charleston Conference (November 2011) issue of Against the Grain – E-Everything Putting it All Together. Audrey Powers has done her usually stellar job as guest editor. Coming soon in your mailbox or to your screen.

Speaking of the Charleston Conference, we have 1266 people registered already and there are still another four weeks to go! Shocking! Can’t wait to see everybody and here’s hoping that the weather in Charleston will be better than it is today – windy and rainy. At least the temp 75 degrees.

Speaking of people and Charleston, a couple of interesting books have crossed my desk recently by Charleston Conference attendees and speakers. First, Matthew Ismail’s Wallis Budge: Magic and Mummies in London and Cairo (Scotland: Hardinge Simpole, 2011). Budge worked at the British Museum for forty years and is known as the author of The Egyptian Book of the Dead (1895),The Gods of Egypt (1904) and An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary (1920). Matthew has done rigorous research which he admits kept him from playing sports with his two children, Sarah and Benjamin, and spending time with his wife, Jennifer. Matthew is now Director of Collection Development at Central Michigan University.

The second book that crossed my desk is actually an “unfinished copy” but such a current hot topic and has essays by many people who will be in Charleston at the Conference that I thought y’all should know about it! It’s Patron-Driven Acquisitions: History and Best Practices (part of the series Current Topics in Library and Information Practice), edited by David Swords (de Gruyter/Saur). Included are essays by Rick Lugg, Bob Nardini,Michael Levine-Clark, Kari Paulson, and Rex Steiner and Ron Berry. And the editorial director of the Walter de Gruyter series Current Topics in Library and Information Practice is none other than the incredibly fabulous Alice Keller! Hope to run into many of these people in Charleston!