I decided at long-last to finish ripping the final few CDs from my collection into my computer. After several passes at the collection the last few years, the only remaining titles left were the majority of my Live Phish collection. The main reason I put them off is because they're all multiple disc sets and therefore time consuming to rip.

The original set of twenty albums came in binder pages loaded into cardboard sleeves. As those sell, the repressings are in regular quad cases. I had noticed a couple of years ago that some of the binder pages had started to leave a little bit of goo on the discs. It was only one or two of the set and so I wiped it off and didn't think much of it. I pulled the full set off the shelf on Thursday, pulled the binder page out of the first sleeve to note that it was wrinkled. I opened it up and the plastic has begun to break down leaving a massive amount of goo on the discs, which when it has sat long enough, is eating through the discs and into the foil layer, making the discs unplayable.

After designing the new entry forms, I went to work updating the other database forms. Most of it was minor adjustments, like changing the entry form for the old Professor table to new Contact table. A bigger change was the staff assignment form. While it was possible to assign staff to a setup or a pickup when the class was entered into the schedule, it wasn’t always possible to know who would be available. Also, staffing changes over time and someone scheduled to handle a class for a whole semester may be out for a day or more during that semester. The assign setups form showed all of the setups and pickups scheduled for a specific day and allowed the staff assigned to each to be set or changed.

As a librarian with a website, I don't write about work or libraries very much. I spend a lot more time writing about everything else I do, not because I don't have Big Thoughts on librarianship or because I'm not doing a lot at work, but because most of the time what I do isn't all that interesting.

As a public services librarian in charge of an understaffed, underfunded (aren't they all?) technology department, I spend very little time working on what I would consider "librarian" projects and a lot of time keeping equipment running, training staff, being a manager and generally trying to keep things working.

One of the things I've been working on during final exams is the Audio-Visual Department scheduling system.

A few weeks ago, I posted It's Time We Reconsidered Our Relationship (With Vendors) in response to a number of issues relating to law resource vendors. My original draft was quite lengthy and I cut it down considerably. However, there is more to be said on the issue. In particular, I liked the responses of two law librarians in particular.

Hot on the the heels of AALL's refusal of Annual Meeting sponsorship money from West, a Thomson Reuters business due to their practice of refusing to submit pricing information to the AALL Price Index, there was another mini-scandal involving the removal of free printers from the Puerto Rican law schools. The students in Puerto Rico were using the printers "too much," so rather than institute some sort of quota system to control costs, they just pulled the printers out completely. Amid the hubbub, it was revealed that they also rather quietly pulled printers from some of the non-ABA accredited schools. Following a number of complaints, including some accusing the company of racism, West, a Thomson Reuters business, reinstated the printers at the Puerto Rican schools and made a statement to the effect that in the future, any limits to the printing program will be instituted across the board.

While I twittered a lot of the SEAALL meeting this year, the first day I took notes on paper. With a pen. Here's a quick and dirty summary. I didn't take very good notes as to who was saying what on some of the panels.

HeinOnline surveys (Roxanne Marmion, HeinOnline)

• HeinOnline bound volume survey:


• 24% of libraries surveyed have moved journals in HeinOnline to remote storage


• 43% have discarded journals in HeinOnline