Good Evening

Marcel Proust 1900.

Good Evening.

Today was another very busy day. I put in my requests for conferences with my boss and am negotiating with him and the director about them. I will have to see exactly how it goes.

I spent some more time weeding the social science section. I contacted the system office to get a circulation list to check for items with low circulation to speed up the process. I am hoping I will get it soon.

I also had a meeting with reference staff and the library director discussing collection development and weeding. We are going to rearrange the layout of the library soon. It should be an interesting challenge.

I also spent a bunch more time ordering from the Baker & Taylor Paperclips catalog. I finished doing it today. I've gone through a years worth of mass market paperback titles and selected the ones which I think we should have. This covers fantasy, fiction, historical fiction, horror, mystery, religious fiction, romance, street lit (urban fiction), suspense, and a few nonfiction titles. There were also some computer titles as well.

This morning I read some of Copyediting & Proofreading for Dummies on the train. The book gives descriptions of the job duties of a copyeditor and a proofreader. It also explains the process and gives examples of copyediting and proofreading. There is a complete listing of all the major proofreaders marks with examples of how they are used. I am finding this very helpful in understanding how to make a document presentable to an editor. The book recommends, Woe Is I, a book on grammar which I have put on hold.

The book had a few interesting things which I had not seen before. There was a section with four different stylesheets from editors which was interesting to look at. The stylesheets set down rules on grammar and design for a particular publisher. I have seen proofreading tests, but not stylesheets.

The book also covers an interesting phenomenon. Most books are edited and proofread completely electronically. Manuscripts are forwarded back and forth by email between the editor, publisher, and author. A lot of proofreaders work from home. Reducing the amount of paper used in making books reduces costs and saves time. Yet, the physical book itself is still mostly a printed object.

Occassionally, you come across an interesting tidbit of information. Google has a define: command which allows you to look up information like a dictionary. I don't use dictionaries that often, unless I am looking up words for someone else. Then I tend to use The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam Websters 11th Edition. The last dictionary I used was http://www.dictionary.com

A few style manuals are suggested. I have the Chicago Manual of Style at home. It is currently in storage in the attic. I tried to read it from front to back, but found it was very boring and hard to read. It was something which you would use as a reference not something to read for entertainment. In contrast, I have Words Into Type, a now long out of print style manual which I found quite enjoyable to read.

Good Afternoon

c1918

Good Afternoon

I am sitting here wondering why I am writing anything at all. As one of my colleagues said, why did you come in yesterday, you are off tomorrow. I felt I had to in order to make things proper. Logic is not one of my strong points sometimes. I am off today, because I am working on Saturday.

Anyways, I am going to Bridges Out of Poverty Part 2 tomorrow at The Hudson River Museum. The train ride is rather pleasant. You ride past a large lake which is rather picturesque. I went to Bridges Out of Poverty Part 1 over a year ago, somehow, now I will be able to claim I will have gone to both sessions. I hardly remember the first session. Anyways, that belies the major purpose of these workshops which is to drink coffee and talk to your colleagues.

Right now, I am about half way through Reading The OED. I am up to the letter M. The book of course is in alphabetical order. Ammon Shea has a website conveniently listed on the back flap of the dust jacket along with his photograph. http://www.ammonshea.com/

On another work related thought, I have found http://www.zoomii.com/ to still be quite useful. Many of the things I am ordering now simply will never have reviews. Intellectuals rarely review books on lathes, concrete, computers, or career books. They are not filled with words to be analyzed. They are practical, something which few intellectuals are. I guess this might be one of the reasons I am currently reading Reading the OED.

Often, the only way to know which books to order is to visit bookstores and libraries and look at what they have. This means physically examining, handling, and reading portions of the books. After a while, you grow to enjoy this, especially if you are as obsessive as I am.

Right now, I think I am going to take a break and boil some water for more tea.

After reading Ammon Shea's book, I find him to be a true Vocabularian (n.) one who pays too much attention to words. (P.134) Reading The OED. The book is still simmering in my brain. I'll probably write a review of it while I'm on the train to the Bridges Out of Poverty Workshop.

Sometimes while you are going through checking for people who have linked to your page, you find the oddest things. I have a new idea to add to the Super Librarian concept, the Jedi Librarian. Maybe I should get out my lightsaber. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_librarian May the farce be with you.

The Professor and the Madman-- Simon Winchester-- Review

The Professor and the Madman A Tale of Murder, Insanity, And The Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester is a fascinating historical anecdote. This book is story of Professor Murray, one of the chief editors of the Oxford English Dictionary and his relationship with one Dr. William Chester Minor an american physician, gentleman, and madman. Dr. Minor was locked up in the Broadmoor asylum for the criminally insane in England during Victorian times.

Professor Murray initally requested volunteers to find sentences for examples of different words in the english language. Of special interest were examples from 16th and 17th century english literature. The central idea of the Oxford English Dictionary was to create a complete dictionary that would support the spread of the english language to all the corners of the world as well as christian moral values. This is an interesting idea because it speaks about the urge to use education as a tool of colonialism.

When Dr. Minor began sending suggested sentences for the dictionary he was locked up as being criminally insane. He had shot a brewery worker with a pistol because he had mistakenly thought him to be an irishman who had attempted to burglarize his house. Dr. Minor, a Yale educated American army physician was suffering from delusions that Irish men were trying to sneak through the floorboards and stuff poison biscuits in his mouth. It soon became apparent in his trials that he was a lunatic.

Dr. Minor was locked up in Broadmoor asylum where he was given privileges as a learned man. He had two cells adjacent to each other which he filled with fine and rare books. He even paid to have a servant from this civil war pension. Earlier he had been deemed unfit to be a surgeon because of his mental problems and pensioned off by the United States army. Apparently the Battle of the Wilderness and his being ordered to brand a deserter had made him unhinged. There is some truly incredible descriptions of Dr. Minor's behavior. Some of it is very darkly humorous.

He found the request for volunteers for the dictionary and decided to become a volunteer. The requirements were exacting. Despite this, Dr. Minor ultimately sent over 12,000 examples of words to Professor Murray. Initially, Professor Murray thought he was a gentleman of leisure that ran the asylum. It is fascinating to read how Dr. Minor attempts to redeem himself. He even tries to make amends with the widow of the dead man.

The description of the visits between Dr. Minor and Professor Murray are very interesting. It is hard to imagine coming into a cell where the floor has been coated with zinc to prevent people coming up through the floorboards, and a bowl of water has been placed next to the door to prevent evil spirits from wandering in.

When it was found out that Dr. Minor had become a lexicographer in an insane asylum, it was turned into a series of sensational stories that appearend in the newspapers of the day. Dr. Murray wasn't aware of Dr. Minor's position until seven years of sending him slips had passed.

The two became friends and Professor Murray would visit the asylum to discuss words with the mad physician.

This book is an astonishingly eccentric and entertaining book, filled with unusual details about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. It is about two extremely eccentric and learned men. Dr. Minor's insanity is both tragic, poignant, and at times darkly humorous. The freindship between him and Professor Murray is astonishing to read about. This is a unique book filled with thoughts about history, scholarship, and madness.