Heard this news story on NPR this morning:

Loud Debate Rages Over NY Library's Quiet Stacks

In a nutshell, they're planning a huge renovation to the NY Public Library on 42nd street (you know, the one with those infamous lions). It includes:

* Getting rid of 7 floors of (publicly inaccessible) stacks and moving the collection off-site (some nearby, some in New Jersey, all accessible within 24 hours they say).
* Sell two buildings (Mid-Manhattan and Science, Industry and Business Libraries) and consolidate all 3 collections.
* The goal is an influx of about $350 million for the renovations, new librarians and curators, and to be able to stay open later.

Of course, there are those who are up in arms. Their concerns include:

* They should focus on the library's branches first.
* Researchers may be inconvenienced.
* Actually being able to get the books in 24 hours.
* Don't make any big changes until we see where e-books go.

Good points, and worthy of discussion, I think. It sounds like the folks at NYPL are learning a lesson in both how to approach transparency and how to handle their PR. I personally hope they're successful in their efforts.

However, this line got me irked:

"The 42nd Street library is one of the world's great research libraries," Sherman told WNYC's Leonard Lopate in March. "And the Central Library Plan is basically a plan to turn it into a giant Internet cafe."

Oh, yes, that's EXACTLY the plan. Obviously.

Also, this:

Charles Peterson, editor of the literary magazine N+1, says a transitional era — when relatively new devices like the iPad and Kindle are reshaping how people read and use books — calls for a more transitional plan.

When HASN'T technology been changing? If we waited 10-20 years to "see where things go" don't you think there won't be an entirely *new* technology being developed by then? And then what - we wait another 10-20 years to see where *that* goes?

The week with Q's brother and his fiance visiting has been going quite well.

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I've been wanting to catch up with some day to day updates, so here's a recap of our July 4th weekend:

( Last week - homework & illnessCollapse )

( Thursday - travelling & NYCCollapse )

( Friday - shopping, fireworks & a casinoCollapse )

( Saturday - dolls, shopping & a movieCollapse )

( Sunday - heading homeCollapse )

There's been some shakeups at the hospital where Q works, so they put him on the night shift for a few days. Before he went into work on Monday he went and picked up the cats, and for all our talk of them getting along so well, the owner said she almost put them in seperate cages because Prince was being very aggressive towards Posh. I think it was just that he was wigged out being in a strange environment, but it's food for thought for the next time we go away.

Meanwhile I went back to work as well, and next week is our big new student orientation week, so we've been uber busy getting ready. My new boss also started on Monday, but I haven't spent a lot of time with him yet.

I've been spending my evenings this week just playing catch-up and doing chores around the house. Pennsic is only 2 weeks away - gah! I have much to do - more sewing, packing, etc. I'm driving up for the full two weeks, but because of Q's work situation he's only able to get away for four days the first week, but last night we found a cheap airfare to get him up and back so he can make the most of it. Mom wants us to come visit soon, but I don't think it's going to be likely with all this going on.

So that's the last couple of weekends in a nutshell. :)

Had a lovely weekend in Philly going to Wizard World and seeing Mom.

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Alas, no pictures from the weekend as I'd forgotten my camera, but it was fun nonetheless. We may go up again over July 4 weekend as I get an extra day for some reason, but it depends on what someone wants to do for his birthday. :)

Q was working days yesterday and today, so it was nice to spend time after work having dinner together. Tomorrow I have to go to a class for work in the morning, so we're doing lunch in Waldorf. This weekend I'm hoping to get some more stuff done around the house, because we're busy the next two weekends (next weekend is Capital Pride and minotaurs is coming into town for CON.TXT, to which he bought me a membership, and the following weekend troystar will be in DC and Q is going to a wedding in Albany).

Oh, yeah, and there's some kind of anniversary coming up, too. 5 years of pain and misery I mean, "joy" and "happiness". ;)

(Oh, and I can't resist posting Q's quote of the weekend: "Fandom smells funny." At times, so very, very true...)

The NYC Comic-Con was quite fun. We left after lunch on Friday, drove to the train station, hopped on the bus, and got to NYC in very good time. It left us off right near everything we needed to be near, and the cost was right, so I'd definitely recommend it and would do it again (although next time I think we'll try one of the other carriers instead of Greyhound). Had a fight with Expedia over the hotel room, but ended up with a refund for one night, so it worked out.

Saturday we hit the con, and I am excited to report that I have a new boyfriend:

( Isn't he cute?Collapse )

All my pictures are uploaded onto my Fotki album if you want to take a look at the other folks we ran into.

Saturday night we went to the reunion concert of Kids in the Hall, who were of course hilarious. They brought back some of everyone's favorite characters, including Gavin, Cathy and Kathie, the Chicken Lady, the Headcrusher, and, of course, Buddy Cole, who waxed poetic about Jesus being gay. (I also did not know that Buddy Cole had a blog, although it looks like it's not being updated anymore.) Afterwards we stopped at Junior's for cheesecake.

Sunday we went back to the con for another once-through of the floor (not as big as San Diego, of course, but still very impressive), and hit the "Gays in Comics" panel before leaving back to the bus and heading home. We stopped at Applebee's for dinner and were home by 10:00 to find two somewhat miffed kitties who were reluctantly happy to see us, I'm sure.

Quincy picked up a couple of comics, a few more figures, and two Wonder Woman dolls at a pretty good deal. I got three games - Zombie Fluxx, Kill Doctor Lucky (the board game version), and a card game whose name escapes me at the moment, but it involves making horrible things happen to your own character in order to win Gloom (thank you, jsciv!). Derek's big purchase was the wooden sword, we bought a Wonder Woman doll for Bobbi, and I picked up a couple of gifts for folks as well.

So, a busy weekend with lots of walking and travelling and spending too much money, but all in all it was a lot of fun and worth the trip. Quincy wants to go to the Wizard con in Philadelphia in May, and minotaurs already bought me a membership to a slash con in DC in June, and then we'll see. Whee! :)

Anybody ever take one of the express buses from DC to NYC before? We're heading up for Comic Con next month and I keep hearing about it being a good deal, so I figured I'd ask. :)