Have you ever been given a riddle of some sort, and it proves usolvable, and when you finally discover the answer, you realize the only reason you could not solve it was for its deceptive simplicity? This often occurs with me, and last Saturday, it did so again: I was in my first "Intro to Archives" class and during the introduction we were asked to discuss why we were interested in Library Science and Archives. I didn't give it a lot of thought, as my interest seemed fairly evident: I like books, librarians are often fascinating people, I am a generalist at heart, etc.; however, riding BART back home, just standing there trying to keep my balance without touching what-I-always-consider-gross-hand-rails, my mind had a chance to settle down a bit and offer up what I think may be the real answer: comic books.
Since I was seven, I have collected comic books without pause. I have sorted them, protected them with protective sleeves and back-boards, organized them in long white comic book boxes, and have figured my way through countless cross-overs, alternate universes, identity switcheroos, and the ever-ephermeral creative teams for any given title. I have very much enjoyed the organizational principle so vital to my collecting. It is this very simple, but long-lived, passion that, I think, ultimately fueled the engine carrying me to Library Science.
And, it appears, I am not the only one. Check out BadLibrarianship. Tres fantastique.
2 comments:
Heh,
Sometimes, in over-caffeinated organizing bouts, the level of complication gets ridiculous (sub-folders to the nth degree...), but nonetheless, I prefer an over-organized desktop to others.
Although, now that I think a little on it, my habits remind me a little of the slash and burn technique of early agriculturists. That is, I allow the desktop to become more "fecund" one might say (that is not very organized) and then I "burn" it all down! (file and label and archive and destroy)--ah--yes, such a satisfying process--now if only I could apply that to my apartment...
the gold mean, the spiral of decay, is a deep well worming through my computers bottomless intertwined tangle of files and folders. There are parts of this machine that are organized.. but they are more like treehouses in the old growth forest of my MAC hard-drive.
No wonder it doesn't work worth a damn.
But, good thing, I am a pretty adept tree-climber.
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