My father, Max Rosenstein, died on October 30.  Our frequent father-daughter trips to the bookmobile when I was a child had a strong influence on my decision to become a librarian.

When neither my parents or my siblings understood the title of this blog, I used a family story to illustrate disambiguate.  I’d like to share that story now.

When I was growing up, only 8 Rosensteins were listed in the local phone book.  Ironically, two of the families, both with first initial M, lived on the same street, which was only a few blocks long.  One day a new car was delivered to our house.  I wanted to keep it, but it was quite apparent to us that the car was for the other M. Rosenstein on our street.  In order to disambiguate the Rosensteins, the driver would have needed the full first name or the correct house number.

Before I started this blog, I read Blogging for dummies.  One of the recommended decisions was how personal the blog should be.  I had decided that for the most part I would not get personal, but I had to mention the passing of my father.

George M. Eberhart, Editor, American Libraries Direct, has sent an email blast to library bloggers asking us to announce the following:

1. Our weekly e-newsletter, American Libraries Direct, is now available to anyone who wants to sign up for it, not just ALA members. The sign-up form, as well as the FAQ, is at http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/aldirect/aldirect.cfm .

 

2. American Libraries has launched its own blog, AL Inside Scoop, http://www.al.ala.org/insidescoop/ . Editor-in-chief Leonard Kniffel offers an insider’s view of goings-on at ALA headquarters and what hot topics ALA staffers are talking about in the hallways. Associate Editor Greg Landgraf offers his perspective from “the lower floors” of what many see as the ALA ivory tower.

 

3. Login is no longer required to view the current issue of the American Libraries print magazine online (in PDF format), or to view the archives, which date back to the January 2003 issue. Go directly to http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/alonlineebrary/alonlineebrary.cfm . First-time viewers will need to install the ebrary reader to view issues. To download, go to http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ala/Download . Firefox 3 users installing the reader for the first time will need a workaround, http://www.ebrary.com/kb/users/ff3install.jsp , to make the ebrary reader work with their browser.

 I feel honored to be included in the blast.

I am Lois Reibach, a professional cataloger.  I started this blog in order to give focus to my professional reading.  I have been interested in authority control throughout my career, and I am excited to see the new uses of authority data.  The blog title comes from the Wikipedia article on authority control.  The sidebar will probably be in perpetual beta, but if I wait until it is perfect then the reports coming out of ALA will no longer be current.  I did not go to Anaheim, but will point out reports of meetings within the focus of this blog.