An Imperfect Librarian - Elizabeth Murphy [11]
I lick my fingers, run them through my hair and think: write – buy comb on my priority list. “Hello,” I say to the clerk. “I’m Carl Brunet, Head of Digital Library Systems here at the library. Part of my job involves analyzing and interpreting library user data, such as what people put on request slips. Could I glance at that slip?”
“You’re that Bibliosomething dude I read about in the Campus Voice.”
The reporter got it all wrong. As part of the explanation about my project, I’d said that if he lived in London he’d be caught on public surveillance cameras about three hundred times per day. My point was that we need to come to terms with the fact that we live in an information society. He shook my hand after the interview. “Good luck,” he said. I thought the article would be positive publicity for the library. Not so. The headline read: Big Brother at the King E.
“It’s Bibliomining, actually. What about the slip? Could I have a moment with it?”
“I guess,” he says. “If it’s part of your work, then it’s OK.” He hands me the request slip, a strip of paper and pencil.
I check over my shoulder. She’s still in her carrel.
Name: Dr. Norah Myrick
Faculty/Department: History
Office: A4005
Tel. no.: 737-2335
ID.: Faculty: 900034258
Manuscript title: H. Mainwaring papers
Format: Folder of loose pages (Approx. 50)
Original publication date: 1622
Library user number: 007440982
Date/Time out: 04/15/2000 15:50
Time returned:
He watches me as if he’s trying to learn how to do it. I slide the slip away from him. He follows along after me. “What’s the name of that group again? What’s the expression they have? It was in the newspaper.”
I was on my way to work one morning. A young woman, probably no more than a first or second year student, asked me if I wanted a pen. She was giving them away outside the entrance. I took two. One had the slogan: Privacy not prying. The other said: Keep your nose out of my book. That was how the People for Privacy launched their campaign.
I pose the pencil and the card on the counter. “I’m not sure. Thank you.” I smile then walk away. I have one last glance before I leave. She’s in her usual spot in the corner. I walk past the notice board on my way to the exit. Our digital camera (without flash) is available for use. We scan maps on demand. Consider making a donation to the Newfoundlandia fund. Sign Now. I follow an arrow that points to a petition.
Did you know an attorney in the southern U.S.A.
demanded that a library turn over the borrowing
histories of its patrons? The attorney was trying to
solve a case of child abandonment. He wanted the
names of every person who had borrowed books on
childbirth.
Could this happen at King Edward University
Library? The People for Privacy believe it could.
Sign our petition to demand protection of your
right to privacy in the library and everywhere.
New members & donations welcome.
Email us: fhickey@king.nl.ca
If I had a pen, I’d sign Big Brother. Instead, I head back to my office, uncrumple the scrap of paper from my pocket then type Norah Myrick into my project portal. The portal gives me carte blanche access to every major administrative database on campus. I start with circulation. She has 1534 books on loan, mostly on the philosophy of history and historiography. That’s nothing. Faculty and graduate students are entitled to unlimited borrowing for unlimited periods. The Human Resources’ database shows her age as forty-six; residence, Cliffhead, NL; status, untenured Assistant Professor, History Department. I Google her.
Town Council of Peat Bog Cove
Request by Norah Myrick approved for construction
of a third hexagonal structure at Cliffhead.
The scoremyprofessors.com web site shows three entries:
> tested us on words to the Ode to Newfoundland.
Hello? Anybody there?
> rubber-booted tree-hugger with a Nfld flag draped