EricTheLibrarian.com: Eric at Random

Love Wins Out

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 18:31:00 +0000

I'm happily married to Seth J. Bookey, now in 50 states.

'Thinking Outside the Box' as an Information Professional

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 16:42:00 +0000

I was honored to speak at a recent SLA (Special Libraries Association) meeting called “Thinking Outside the Box: Exploring Alternate Careers.” I spoke about the importance of being a writer, curator, and teacher as you pursue your career as a librarian or information professional. I also told the audience that librarians add value to their work and develop career satisfaction by analyzing and helping patrons make context of the information they present, rather than just handing over that information. On a practical level, I've been fortunate to develop my career in a few directions. This is important for the obvious reason that careers and companies change constantly.

I also recommend contributing to a professional or nonprofit association early in your career and throughout your career. The meeting co-sponsors, the SLA's New Jersey and New Jersey - Greater Princeton/Trenton Chapters, are good choices for info pros in the Garden State.

The other four speakers on the panel (Margaret Bennett, Joan Keegan, Amy Silvers, and Joanna Wojciechowski) presented interesting and inspiring messages about how they developed and redeveloped their careers. Read more about the event in Barbara Burton's blog entry.

A Few 'Tipples' on In-Depth Business Research

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 18:55:00 +0000

I've written an article for the site FreePint.com listing a few important (and free) online resources in the compliance and regulatory field. The list focuses on "due diligence" or comprehensive background research of U.S. public companies, and it's geared toward researchers who may not have a business background. The list starts with two resources that report and summarize on issues related to bribery and corruption involving specific companies.

The article is part of the My Favourite Tipples series published by the UK-based FreePint, a website for corporate librarians and information professionals.

Suburban 1960s New Jersey Remembered Through the Eyes of an Elementary School Student

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 21:15:00 +0000

Todd Klein, an artist who specializes in lettering for comic books, has written a personal history of life in small-town suburban New Jersey in the 1960s, centered on his experiences at Bedminster Township School in northwestern Somerset County. Klein attended the school from grades 3 through 8 in 1960 through 1965. His blog posts (parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) tell the history of the school, and by extension, the community and his life and relationships with friends, family, fellow students, teachers and school administrators. The Bedminster Township School traditionally has taught students in kindergarten through eighth grade, or K-8; it now also teaches pre-K.

Klein provides a history of the school buildings of Bedminster and surrounding areas that had been built by 1867, through the "new building" which opened in 1959 consolidating three elementary schools in the township. (A student essay from 1962 listed Bedminster’s K-8 population as 278.) The school population later fell then rose again in the 1980s, and in 1993 a new Bedminster Township School opened; it now has about 600 students. Factors in the 1980s growth of Bedminster, Klein writes, included: relaxed zoning laws that allowed massive housing developments and AT&T's expansion into Bedminster. Klein reports on the current status and preservation of various historical schools and other structures in Bedminster. He also provides some background on the development of the area from the 1700s to 2010, including the changes wrought by the 1890 development of a railway line, to the “plowing through” of two interstate highways into Bedminster 90 years later.

Klein chronicles lifelong friendships and the teachers and other personalities who influenced the lives of him and his fellow students. The blog posts touch on Klein’s own intellectual and artistic development, encouraged by the school’s support of a student newspaper and musical and theatrical performances. Along the way he mentions various popular songs and TV shows, and events that would have molded any American student at the time, such as the nascent U.S. space program, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Beatles invasion.

Among the acknowledgments, Klein kindly mentions that he conducted much of his research at the Clarence Dillon Public Library, where I work as a part-time reference librarian.

Claire Ann Douglas Schwarz, 1949-2014

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 05:14:00 +0000

My mother was so strong, so full of joy and love and pride of her family. She cared for everybody she met and even those she had just read about. She left us much too soon. Friends and family are welcome to post memories at http://www.forevermissed.com/claire-ann-schwarz.

Claire Ann (Douglas) Schwarz passed away Wednesday, January 29, 2014, at age 64. Born in Flushing, New York, she grew up in Long Beach, New York, and Brigantine, New Jersey. She lived and raised her family in Brigantine and most recently lived in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Claire was a graduate of Atlantic Community College and the Harris School of Business, where she earned a medical assistant certificate. Earlier in her career, she worked as a substitute teacher at the elementary and high school levels, and for several casinos as a pit clerk and slot attendant.

Claire was predeceased by her parents, Bernard Douglas and Elizabeth (Stiebel) Douglas. She is survived by her husband, Edward; her son Eric and his spouse Seth Bookey of South Plainfield, New Jersey; her son Frankie of Brigantine; and her friend Joseph McCourt of Atlantic City. She took great pride in her sons, who were the light of her life. She gained joy from caring for her birds, Charlie and Sam.

Claire had an amazing spirit and brought a smile and sense of optimism to all who knew her. She will be terribly missed by her family and friends.

Claire’s Life Celebration was held Tuesday, February 4, 2014, from 10 to 11 am at the Keates-Plum Funeral Home, 3112 Brigantine Ave, Brigantine, with a funeral service following. She is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Mays Landing, New Jersey.

(The first photo in this post was taken on Christmas 2013. Many more photos are included in Claire's online memorial.)

Reasons to Be Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 04:48:00 +0000

On Thanksgiving 2013, I’m thankful for:

The love and support of my partner, Seth J. Bookey.
The tools, skill and opportunities that allow Seth and me to nurture and take care of each other.
The house that Seth and I share.
Our health and well-being.
The company of people who believe in me and the impact that we can have on the world.
My network of friends and family, whether we talk often or rely on social media and email.
Smart, friendly and supportive colleagues in my professional communities.
The opportunities to enjoy and create art and to build communities.
The chance to live in a diverse society where differences are appreciated and valued.
The chance to celebrate the holidays and everyday life with a mixture of faith, humanism, and occasional outlandishness.
A significant amount of freedom and safety that much of the world cannot take for granted.
The opportunity to live at a time when we can joyously celebrate light and pause to give thanks, in one rare magical confluence of holidays.

I hope that I demonstrate my gratitude throughout the year.

Primer on US Government Contract Databases Published in Online Searcher

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:26:00 +0000

I'm excited to have my first article published in Online Searcher, a magazine for librarians and other information professionals.

In the article, aptly titled in U.S. Government Contract Databases, Amy Affelt of Compass Lexecon and I write about how to find money from the federal government and what sequestration is likely to mean for funding sources. We focus on both free and subscription databases that businesses, entrepreneurs and the general public (and libraries serving them) can use to research contract awards and analyze the data to make intelligent choices for their businesses and become smarter taxpayers and citizens.

The article appears in the May-June 2013 issue of Online Searcher. An old-fashioned routing slip taped to each new issue makes this magazine required (or at least suggested!) reading for every reference librarian at the library where I work part-time. It may be the same at your library.

Every issue, the publisher Information Today makes a few articles available for free online. This isn't one of them, so unfortunately I cannot share it widely. Articles from Online Searcher are available from Factiva* and other business and academic journal databases.

* Disclosure: I work for Dow Jones & Company, which owns Factiva.

Architectural Personality, From the Sears Catalog, in Abundance in Somerville, NJ – With a Tangent to Atlantic City

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:54:00 +0000

I’m reading about some lovely Sears Modern homes from the early 20th century in Somerville, New Jersey*, in response to a research request from a patron at Clarence Dillon Public Library. The Milton Modern Home No. C210 (built ca. 1916-1919) is quite a charmer with its nine rooms, built for $1,619. Read about the Miltons in New York City and in New Jersey and Ohio, and in particular, the one at 493 East Main St., Somerville.

These Sears homes certainly have much more personality than some of the bi-level houses that Seth J. Bookey and I looked at before buying our lovely little home in northern Middlesex County. (Friends: Ask for our address.)

The fact that the homes were built in Somerville and there were seven Sears Modern Sales Centers in New Jersey certainly explains the relative abundance of the homes in Somerset County’s seat. I lived in Somerville for 11 years in a garden apartment from the 1940s that had some charm such as nice hardwood floors and high ceilings. However, I never noticed the much more architecturally significant Sears homes. Now it’s worth a drive through town again.

And … amid much questionable or slapdash architecture in my birthplace of Atlantic City, N.J.**, are or were four Sears Marina homes. (There are some other lovely homes in the World's Famous / Favorite Playground, too, in the southern part of the city [the Chelsea/Chelsea Heights areas, for example] and in some Inlet area housing from the 1990s/early 2000s.)

That should be an incentive for Seth and me to visit my family!

* The patron actually is looking for a Sears Modern home, possibly in Craftsman style, in northern Somerset County (Bedminster/Far Hills/Basking Ridge area), so any leads are appreciated.

** Yes, to the surprise of a colleague in New York City, people actually are from Atlantic City.

The Eric The Librarian Daily Launches

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 13:55:00 +0000

If you wandered to this blog you may have noticed that I've tweeted lately, but I haven't posted to the blog itself. I'm not yet recommitting to the blog, but I have started a new site via Paper.li called The Eric The Librarian Daily, ideally pointing you to relevant news on library technology and user experience, along with more general news from The New York Times and the photojournalism of Life magazine (which has kept surviving in one form or another since 1936). The content mix will change over time as I refine it.

Also check out my favorited* Paper.li sites, including John DiGilio's The Librariana Daily, which was the first one I followed, and another brand-new site, Ian Clark's The Infoism Daily. [* Yes, "favorited" seems to be an accepted word in this sphere, as opposed to "favored" or just "favorite."]

Promoting SLA's Business & Finance Division, and Oh Yeah, Me, Too

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Kyle Naff, the Webmaster for the Business & Finance Division of SLA*, was kind enough to ask me about my career and my work with the division as Membership Chair. You can read the result of the interview here.

* Special Libraries Association

Loving Lucy: Centennial Celebrations

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:15:00 +0000

Lucy loving is breaking out all over! August 6 will be Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, and October 15 will be the 60th anniversary of the first airing of I Love Lucy.

Here's a calendar of upcoming events and celebrations. I’ll be in New York City for the Paley Center screenings, and I hope to get to D.C. for the Library of Congress exhibition. Unfortunately, I won't be in
Jamestown (Lucy’s birthplace) for its centennial Lucy Fest.

Jamestown, N.Y., Aug. 3-7, 2011: Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy Lucy Fest. Lucy's birthplace celebrates her 100th birthday, returning to a festival format that started in 1991. The headliners are Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone. "Be a Lucy" by dressing as Lucy Ricardo for a Guinness World
Record event, and attend a recreation of Lucy radio shows. There will also big a parade, baseball game and other family-friendly events. For the full schedule and more information see http://www.lucycomedyfest.com/. The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Center, 2 W. Third St., Jamestown, NY 14701. Phone 716-484-0800. Email info@lucy-desi.com.

Also see the articles Love Lucy? and Celebrating the world's most famous redhead, from The Morning Call of Allentown, Penn.
Los Angeles (Hollywood), Calif., Aug. 3 through Nov. 30, 2011: The Hollywood Museum presents Lucille Ball at 100 and I Love Lucy at 60, showcasing memorabilia saluting the careers and romance of Hollywood's most famous lovebirds. On Aug. 4, the museum and CBS DVD Paramount Home Entertainment are paying tribute to Lucy in a gala reception.
Washington, D.C., Aug. 4, 2011, through Jan. 28, 2012: I Love Lucy: An American Legend, exhibit at the Library of Congress. Free and open to the public, I Love Lucy: An American Legend explores the show’s history through the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz family scrapbooks as well as photographs, scripts, printed and manuscript music and other documents from the library. Location: Library of Congress James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. 20540. Phone 202-707-2905. Email pao@loc.gov.
New York, N.Y., Aug. 5 through Sept. 3, 2011: We Love Lucy: Screenings at the Paley Center. The Paley Center Celebrates Lucille Ball’s Centennial: A look at Ball’s unparalleled work in the medium of television. Compilation screenings: “A Variety of Lucy” and “Lucy Rarities.” Location: Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), 25 W. 52nd St., New York, NY 10019. Contact information is online.
New York, N.Y., Sept. 28 through Oct. 30, 2011: The Paley Center Celebrates I Love Lucy’s 60th Anniversary. Compilation screenings: “Classic Lucy and Desi” and “Eventful Lucy Moments.” Location and contact information under previous Paley Center listing.
Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 2011, Lucie Arnaz at the Library of Congress. (That’s all the information available now at LucieArnaz.com.)

Shout-outs (just because) to Lucy fans:

Remembering Shirley Bookey, 1926-2011

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:08:00 +0000

My partner Seth's mother, Shirley Bookey, passed away Friday. I knew her for several years before her stroke in 2008, as she welcomed me into her home in Great Neck for frequent visits. Now that I live in the same home I see and feel her influence every day. She was always kind to me, and she continued to be as she lived her final years. Her senses of creativity and justice live on in her sons, Seth and Sandy. I am grateful to have known her.

Read Seth's tribute: Remembering Shirley Bookey, 1926-2011.

(I'll pass along to Seth any pertinent messages; my email address is here.)

Promoting Libraries at Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:26:00 +0000

I was surprised to see, on the back of a cereal box, a full-panel promotion for libraries, including exhortations to use the library for:

Reference services
Business services
Internet access
Books-by-mail
Interlibrary loan
Literacy services

There's a lot of copy promoting the use of the library for kids with a boy (or a girl with a pageboy haircut) behind books and two hip teen girls in front of some stacks. "Consider the library next time you are looking for a place to hang out." (Should we hang out at the abandoned factory? No, let's try the library instead, since ShopRite says so.)

Anyway, the cereal box was a nice surprise for a library fan/librarian like me.

See a bigger (PDF) copy of the box in Google Docs.

The meaning of value-added research, from some top info pros

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:08:00 +0000

The students in our Principles of Searching class are studying the effective presentation of search results this week, as they prepare their final term reports for their clients. So it was timely that one of my favorite info pros (Mary Ellen Bates, via her Librarian of Fortune blog) reminded me that we should strive to provide insight, not just information, and that Colorado is home to some of the best independent researchers around.

These include Bates Information Services, Phelps Research (Marcy Phelps) and the team from Access/Information (Wanda McDavid, Judy Goater and Marcy Dunning).

In addition to their own consulting services, all offer free newsletters with tips on effective searching and presentation skills. The April 2010 Access/Information newsletter provides "a great summary of what 'value added research' means," Bates writes.

Here are links to the newsletters offered by these great Centennial State info pros:

Nearsighted No Longer

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:44:00 +0000

Yesterday's laser eye surgery was a success, and I now have 20/20 vision without glasses. My eyes are still dry and red (I have to take extra care for the next week), and I'll need to keep wearing sunglasses as usual. It's a big adjustment after 25+ years of wearing glasses all the time.

My new profile photo on Blogger, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., was taken in March by Nat Clymer for my part-time job at Rutgers' School of Communication and Information. If I appear a little nearsighted in the picture, it's because I was.

Seth has been there the whole way to support me. Thanks, Honey!

Betty Turock Kicks Off ALA Scholarship Fund-Raising With $100K Donation

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:51:00 +0000

Betty Turock, past president of the American Library Association and a professor and dean emerita at Rutgers, has donated $100,000 to provide scholarships to MLS candidates from traditionally underrepresented groups. She made the donation as a challenge toward a $1 million goal.

For more information please see the news article.

For more about Betty please see her Friends of Rutgers School of Communication and Information entry and a 2001 ALA news release about a scholarship in her name funded by her family.

Erik the Librarian Mysteries on YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:11:00 +0000

Ego-surfing led me to the Erik the Librarian channel on YouTube (also on Blip.tv). There is a slight physical resemblance between the actor Erik Charles Neilson and me (and we share first and middle names, too, with just one letter's difference!). I just hope I'm a little less insane than the character.

Erik the Librarian is a 60Frames original series, but you'll notice that the 60Frames site is down. The OfficeTally blog tells us that Brent Forrester from NBC-TV's The Office writes and directs Erik the Librarian. And the lovely and talented Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor on The Office) plays a patron who suffers through Erik's rants.

It looks like there's just the four Erik episodes, uploaded about a year ago.

— Eric Charles Schwarz
(another Eric the Librarian but no relation to Erik)

85 Reasons to be Thankful for Librarians (via Zen College Life)

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:24:00 +0000

(Twitter: @staceygreenwell) I'm not sure who Jonathan is, or which college he's at, but I'm thankful that he's posted 85 Reasons to be Thankful for Librarians.

Of course, not every reason applies to every library, but some do because they focus on the skills librarians (or information professionals) bring to the table, no matter what the setting. Here are three of my favorites from Jonathan's list:

32. Libraries have much better quality control than the vast majority of websites.
49. Unlike the internet, libraries are careful that the information they contain is checked for usefulness before being included.
85. Regardless of what form a library takes, a librarian will always be ready to guide you to the information you need.

P.S. Thanks, for alerting me, Stacey!

Details on New CD: Latin Roots by Lucie Arnaz

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Lucie Arnaz's new CD, Latin Roots, is scheduled for release Feb. 9, 2010, on the LML Music label. From Talkin' Broadway: You can preorder the CD via CD Universe (where you can see the cover art and a track listing) or via Amazon.com.

Please also see my post about Lucie's Jan. 9, 2010, performance and discussion at New York's 92nd Street Y, Babalu: The American Songbook Goes Latin.

An Appreciation for (Musical) Archives ... and a New Lucie Arnaz CD Coming Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Lucie Arnaz and her musical director, Ron Abel, spent three days at the Library of Congress, researching material for her upcoming participation in the Lyric and Lyricists series at New York's 92nd Street Y (Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010).

In interviews with the San Francisco Sentinel and the Bay Area Reporter, Lucie talks about the work of Edward Maffei, a San Francisco archivist and discographer who had preserved music from the Desi Arnaz Orchestra on cassette tape, and Lucie and Ron's recent visit to her parents' archive at the Library of Congress, where they reviewed Desi Arnaz's orchestrations.

Also exciting: Lucie is preparing to release a new CD, Latin Roots, on the LML Music label!

P.S. Thanks to the Everything Lucy blog for alerting me to Lucie's interview with the SF Sentinel.

Introducing NJ/NY Librarians to SLA's GLBT Issues Caucus

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:33:00 +0000

The posting of presentations from the great Oct. 14 conference, Serving New Jersey's GLBT Community, gives me the excuse to post on the event, albeit a month later. The conference gave me a chance to meet and reconnect with some wonderful New Jersey (and New York) librarians who are keenly interested in serving GLBT people with the best resources available, along with understanding and respect for all. For more details, please see my post on the SLA's GLitter BiTs blog.

Philadelphia Library System Pairs Branches to Remain Open Six Days a Week

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:03:00 +0000

The Free Library of Philadelphia didn't in fact have to close up shop. Almost a month ago, on Sept. 17, the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a measure that allowed the library to remain open. The library's "closing page" was changed to a "thank you for your support page."

In fact, the library system was able to keep Monday through Saturday service by pairing nearby libraries, which started Oct. 5.

For Public Libraries, Great News in New York and Horrible in Philadelphia

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Some branches of the New York Public Library are expanding hours from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., starting today.

But in Philadelphia, almost the whole system could shut down, at least temporarily, starting Oct. 2. It's interesting that in Philly, patrons will still be able to use the library's Web site and databases. Will the powers that be see electronic access as "good enough"? I doubt it, but it's good that the Free Library is keeping some services available during the possible shutdown anyway. It's interesting that the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at 919 Walnut St. will remain open weekdays from 9-5. Here's why.

He Once Lit Up a Kid's Life

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Seen on the streets of Somerville: A poor little lamp bear was left out with the trash on the curb, along with some toys! I resisted the urge to adopt him!

Interview Essay Featured on GLitter BiTs blog

noreply@blogger.com (Eric C. Schwarz) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Gregory Horvitz was kind enough to feature me as part of the "member interviews" on the SLA's GLBT Issues blog, GLitter BiTs. If you haven't read Mary Ellen Bates' interview already, you might find that even more interesting!