As you may have (but probably didn't) notice, I haven't written on here for many moons. That alone makes this a dead space, but I wanted to officially officialize it. Despite what you're reading now, this space is dead.
I'm still alive, though. In fact, I'm taking this opportunity to start afresh... with a new space (http://www.markmaceachern.com/). It represents a more concerted effort on my part to consolidate my online activities and create a silhouette of a web presence.
So - visit the new site. You have no choice!
Friday, April 03, 2009
Sunday, November 30, 2008
is traditional reference dead?
Dunno. But, I do know that I, as of last week, no longer perform traditional reference duties. That is not to say that I don't answer questions. On the contrary. As a liaison, I answer many questions. They just happen to arrive, after traveling through the email prefecture, directly in my inbox, bypassing that whole reference desk thing.
Background: A one-year history of reference in my library (personalized):
One year ago, librarians began to transition off the desk and library students temporarily began to take their place. As a brand-new librarian, I maintained reference responsibilities to, well, experientiate myself.
Definition digression:
Experientiate: v. To obtain experience doing something or a series of things.
Context digression:
Something or a series of things: Refer to, in this particular case, all reference-related duties, including, with the utmost emphasis, expert searches in health sciences databases.
End of digressions. Continuation of background:
Last week, as my experience-gathering ended, I also, in modern librarian fashion, transitioned off the desk. The students did likewise, ultimately leaving the reference desk to circulation staff. At the time that this background began, the reference desk was physically distinct from the circulation desk; that is, there were (and are) two desks. At some point during my experientiating, the two desks were merged into one, metaphorically. The old reference desk was repurposed, and for several months the circulation and reference staff, myself included, shared the one large desk.
Now, the circulation staff have sole custody of their desk again, but have the added value of reference as well. The students and other library staff now sit at desks behind the single-service point to serve as backup in case a reference question in the form of a human arrives and cannot be answered by circulation staff. I am in my cubicle.
Background complete.
As a liaison, I also get reference questions forwarded to me by staff and students. But, this seldom happens. The vast majority of the questions that I entertained during my year on the desk were directional. An anecdotally similar situation to others. The research questions tend(ed) to come to me directly - as I read email or as I decube myself and physically visit my departments. Which speaks volumes about the integrated nature of the liaison program (of which I am a part).
Liaison digression:
I have been able to make some good connections, but the bulk of my liaison work builds on the liaison work of previous librarians. Even if liaison programs are officially branded anew, they are (for the love of god) mere extensions of what librarians had been doing for years.
Digression complete.
Thus -
Consequently -
Therefore -
Hence -
With that said -
...I proclaim the transition of myself from the reference desk to my traveling cubicle to be both good and bad. It's good 'cause it leaves me with more time to do my liaison work and continue to develop relationships with faculty and students in various divisions, departments, schools, and colleges. And, it's bad 'cause I can no longer check the pulse of the nation from behind a large bureau.
Truth aside:
Since I didn't get much in the way of research questions while positioned at the reference desk in a seated fashion, I cannot boldly state that my finger was on the pulse of anything, let alone the nation.
Context digression:
Nation: Refers to, in this case, the Health System (of which I am a part).
Digression complete. Continuation of aside:
In fact, on average I would get 2-4 questions an hour. The load was not overwhelming. Raison d'être.
Aside complete.
It also provides staff with professional development opportunities.
Concluding statement:
An agreeable move.
Statement complete.
Background: A one-year history of reference in my library (personalized):
One year ago, librarians began to transition off the desk and library students temporarily began to take their place. As a brand-new librarian, I maintained reference responsibilities to, well, experientiate myself.
Definition digression:
Experientiate: v. To obtain experience doing something or a series of things.
Context digression:
Something or a series of things: Refer to, in this particular case, all reference-related duties, including, with the utmost emphasis, expert searches in health sciences databases.
End of digressions. Continuation of background:
Last week, as my experience-gathering ended, I also, in modern librarian fashion, transitioned off the desk. The students did likewise, ultimately leaving the reference desk to circulation staff. At the time that this background began, the reference desk was physically distinct from the circulation desk; that is, there were (and are) two desks. At some point during my experientiating, the two desks were merged into one, metaphorically. The old reference desk was repurposed, and for several months the circulation and reference staff, myself included, shared the one large desk.
Now, the circulation staff have sole custody of their desk again, but have the added value of reference as well. The students and other library staff now sit at desks behind the single-service point to serve as backup in case a reference question in the form of a human arrives and cannot be answered by circulation staff. I am in my cubicle.
Background complete.
As a liaison, I also get reference questions forwarded to me by staff and students. But, this seldom happens. The vast majority of the questions that I entertained during my year on the desk were directional. An anecdotally similar situation to others. The research questions tend(ed) to come to me directly - as I read email or as I decube myself and physically visit my departments. Which speaks volumes about the integrated nature of the liaison program (of which I am a part).
Liaison digression:
I have been able to make some good connections, but the bulk of my liaison work builds on the liaison work of previous librarians. Even if liaison programs are officially branded anew, they are (for the love of god) mere extensions of what librarians had been doing for years.
Digression complete.
Thus -
Consequently -
Therefore -
Hence -
With that said -
...I proclaim the transition of myself from the reference desk to my traveling cubicle to be both good and bad. It's good 'cause it leaves me with more time to do my liaison work and continue to develop relationships with faculty and students in various divisions, departments, schools, and colleges. And, it's bad 'cause I can no longer check the pulse of the nation from behind a large bureau.
Truth aside:
Since I didn't get much in the way of research questions while positioned at the reference desk in a seated fashion, I cannot boldly state that my finger was on the pulse of anything, let alone the nation.
Context digression:
Nation: Refers to, in this case, the Health System (of which I am a part).
Digression complete. Continuation of aside:
In fact, on average I would get 2-4 questions an hour. The load was not overwhelming. Raison d'être.
Aside complete.
It also provides staff with professional development opportunities.
Concluding statement:
An agreeable move.
Statement complete.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
EBMifying my way to Dartmouth
In a mere two and a bit days, I will be planing to Dartmouth College to attend Supporting Clinical Care: An Institute in Evidence-Based Practice for Medical Librarians. It's a 2.5 day course and is intended to provide librarians with the skills to support evidence-based practice. I'm excited about it, because supporting and teaching EBM is what I do, and I've no doubt that this course will go long way in making me do what I do a lot better. I'm also fortunate that my library is very supportive of such professional development opportunities, and is willing to back their support with some currency. So, all's good in Arborland.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
interesting PubMed mapping
As I was preparing for a presentation a few moments ago, I came across this article in PubMed:
MEDLINE as a source of just-in-time answers to clinical question
Now, I know - after spending many hours on the reference desk and talking to many faculty members and students - that many PubMed users use the main PubMed search box to search for specific citations (neglecting - and I can't say that I'm surprised - the Single Citation Matcher). But, if you copy and paste that title into PubMed, you'll get - interestingly enough - 0 results.
Now, why would you get 0 results when you search for the exact title of an article that you already know is in PubMed? Well, a quick glance at the details tab reveals that there's some interesting mapping going on here:
Perhaps, it's not too interesting, but mapping 'as a' to the author field is, I must say, rather amusing. Of course, the article comes up if you don't include the 'as a' in the search or if you surround it with quotation marks (but who would do such a thing?).
So, don't search for 'as a' unless you're actually trying to do this:
And, that's that.
MEDLINE as a source of just-in-time answers to clinical question
Now, I know - after spending many hours on the reference desk and talking to many faculty members and students - that many PubMed users use the main PubMed search box to search for specific citations (neglecting - and I can't say that I'm surprised - the Single Citation Matcher). But, if you copy and paste that title into PubMed, you'll get - interestingly enough - 0 results.
Now, why would you get 0 results when you search for the exact title of an article that you already know is in PubMed? Well, a quick glance at the details tab reveals that there's some interesting mapping going on here:
Perhaps, it's not too interesting, but mapping 'as a' to the author field is, I must say, rather amusing. Of course, the article comes up if you don't include the 'as a' in the search or if you surround it with quotation marks (but who would do such a thing?).So, don't search for 'as a' unless you're actually trying to do this:
And, that's that.
Monday, June 02, 2008
conference #2
A little over or under two weeks ago, I went to my first MLA conference (and second conference overall this year). I was involved in a presentation and a poster session. I saw an armless and headless Aphrodite of Knidos - a Roman copy, of course - not at the conference hotel, but at the Art Institute of Chicago, which, for a number of undergraduate reasons, definitely made and unmade my day. In other rooms, a Magritte painting jumped out at me like a train through a fireplace, and some tiny Goya sketches caught my left and right eye as well. I also went on a ferris wheel ride for the first time in my non-1980s life, and, yikes, remind me never to do that again. Did I mention I went to a conference?
Monday, March 10, 2008
role reversal and a library school standard
Unusual things sometimes happen at work. Take today, for example. I was hunched over the reference desk, scribbling and muttering away, marking assignments, when a certain patron approached the desk and said, half apologetically and half something else, "Excuse me, sir."
I, in all my trained RUSA politeness, instantly stopped being productive, looked up, smiled ridiculously and bellowed "Hello!"
"Can you give me a hand with the scanner?"
Normally, when a library user asks me to help them with the scanner, I say something meaningless and positive like, "sure thing, boss," or, "I'll give it a try," but in my heart of hearts, in my ganglion of ganglia, I know, oh, I know, that there's no chance in hell that I'll get that scanner to scan.
So, today, when this customer asked me their question, I said as [adverbly] as possible, "A hand? Yes."
And, back we go to 2006, to library school, to a certain library school assignment, an assignment that demanded that we, mere library school students, clandestinely infiltrate various library compounds and bombard the poor, defenseless front line workers with variations of the same reference question. "Engage the bastards in a reference interview," our superiors would (more or less) say. And, we, those well-trained libites, would go on our way and attack the first reference librarian we came across. "I like this author," we'd say. "Can you suggest some other books I might like?"
Well, fast forward two years, to a different city, a different country, and a different library with a different library school in close proximity. And, there you'll find me, a footnote in some standard library school assignment, helping some library school student with a scanner.
Fortunately, we were able to resolve the scanner issue, and I was able to maintain a level of approachability throughout the affair.
How about that for unusual?
I apologize. None of this is true. Well, that's not entirely true, either. I was marking assignments on the reference desk today, and I was - more than likely - hunched over and mumbling to myself while doing so, and, indeed, I did help someone with a scanner, but I certainly didn't say, "A hand? Yes." That's just downright ridiculous.
I, in all my trained RUSA politeness, instantly stopped being productive, looked up, smiled ridiculously and bellowed "Hello!"
"Can you give me a hand with the scanner?"
Normally, when a library user asks me to help them with the scanner, I say something meaningless and positive like, "sure thing, boss," or, "I'll give it a try," but in my heart of hearts, in my ganglion of ganglia, I know, oh, I know, that there's no chance in hell that I'll get that scanner to scan.
So, today, when this customer asked me their question, I said as [adverbly] as possible, "A hand? Yes."
And, back we go to 2006, to library school, to a certain library school assignment, an assignment that demanded that we, mere library school students, clandestinely infiltrate various library compounds and bombard the poor, defenseless front line workers with variations of the same reference question. "Engage the bastards in a reference interview," our superiors would (more or less) say. And, we, those well-trained libites, would go on our way and attack the first reference librarian we came across. "I like this author," we'd say. "Can you suggest some other books I might like?"
Well, fast forward two years, to a different city, a different country, and a different library with a different library school in close proximity. And, there you'll find me, a footnote in some standard library school assignment, helping some library school student with a scanner.
Fortunately, we were able to resolve the scanner issue, and I was able to maintain a level of approachability throughout the affair.
How about that for unusual?
I apologize. None of this is true. Well, that's not entirely true, either. I was marking assignments on the reference desk today, and I was - more than likely - hunched over and mumbling to myself while doing so, and, indeed, I did help someone with a scanner, but I certainly didn't say, "A hand? Yes." That's just downright ridiculous.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
federated search engines
Yesterday, while navigating through the interweb prefecture, I came across two aesthetically out-dated guidance mechanisms that somehow managd to - in spite of their unappealing unappealingness - discombobulate the ol' neural pathways. Remember, I am not an electron or some other subatomic particle, so I cannot be - in my law-abiding, one-dimensional universe - in two places at one time.
Or, so I thought.
Am I still typing?
Well, to make a long story short, PolyCola and SearchBoth, the two guidance mechanisms of which I speak, allow one to simultaneously search multiple search engines. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but need I remind you that in the interweb prefecture, it is no longer 1998. One can atomically split searches.
The split displays are a'ight. They both look the same and they both allow for easy results comparison (especially between Google and Yahoo!). So, they are both the same.
Or, so I thought.
Am I still typing?
Well, to make a long story short, PolyCola and SearchBoth, the two guidance mechanisms of which I speak, allow one to simultaneously search multiple search engines. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but need I remind you that in the interweb prefecture, it is no longer 1998. One can atomically split searches.
The split displays are a'ight. They both look the same and they both allow for easy results comparison (especially between Google and Yahoo!). So, they are both the same.
Friday, February 15, 2008
a divided crowd at conference #1
So, hears this: a couple weeks ago I visited the Homeland. More specifically, I visited T____. Not as an Ontarian resident, mind you, but as a tourist, a conferencing tourist, an OLA Super Conferencing super tourist. While supering, I ran into, as one tends to do at conferences and super conferences, a few familiars, and in between meetings with familiars I attended a few sessions and leisurely strolled through an expo and ate lunch in a giant phallic structure and conceived of ways to populate this non-existent space with conference-related jabberings, but these conceptions, like all my other conceptions, conference-related or not, came to nothing, so you, poor Reader, are unfortunately left with this dull and long-winded post (not to mention, this dull and long-winded run-on sentence).
No more run-on sentences. I promise.
Most sessions good. Andrew Keen's stood out. Many people in attendance. Half the crowd cheered. Other half booed. Well, I didn't actually hear booing. But, four people in front of me were shaking their heads rather strongly. And mumbling to themselves. Keen's session brought to light the great 2.0 divide among librarians. At least, it did so for me. Here's an excellent overview of how it all went down. From blogwithoutalibrary. Ethan Zuckerman, who gave an earlier session, has also chimed in on Keen's session.
Would have liked to see this session by the author of Confessions of a Science Librarian. Author includes slides.
That b'all I got.
No more run-on sentences. I promise.
Most sessions good. Andrew Keen's stood out. Many people in attendance. Half the crowd cheered. Other half booed. Well, I didn't actually hear booing. But, four people in front of me were shaking their heads rather strongly. And mumbling to themselves. Keen's session brought to light the great 2.0 divide among librarians. At least, it did so for me. Here's an excellent overview of how it all went down. From blogwithoutalibrary. Ethan Zuckerman, who gave an earlier session, has also chimed in on Keen's session.
Would have liked to see this session by the author of Confessions of a Science Librarian. Author includes slides.
That b'all I got.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
a reference question
In a certain time and place and at a certain reference desk, a certain someone asked me to help them find drugs, not real drugs, but a listing of drugs that would potentially hit the market, a certain market, in a couple of years. If I were a librarian stereotype, I would've proclaimed - off the top of my head, without a second thought, somewhat pretentiously - "Yes! NDA Pipeline, the FDA website, and PHRMA's New Medicines Database are, madam and/or sir, the first three places you should check."
But, no, I am not that librarian. I cannot answer drug-related reference questions in my sleep. Yet, I was able to determine that my library's subscription to the Pipeline is non-existent and that in this case the FDA website is not very helpful. Ultimately, I had to run the question through my colleagues and a listserv composed of pharmacy librarians to find out that, in a Pipeline-less library, PHRMA's database may be the best source of in-development drug information.
But, no, I am not that librarian. I cannot answer drug-related reference questions in my sleep. Yet, I was able to determine that my library's subscription to the Pipeline is non-existent and that in this case the FDA website is not very helpful. Ultimately, I had to run the question through my colleagues and a listserv composed of pharmacy librarians to find out that, in a Pipeline-less library, PHRMA's database may be the best source of in-development drug information.
Friday, January 04, 2008
let us begin again and this time for reals
Never fear, citizens of the internets. I have not forgotten my place in this here land. I've merely neglected it. Starved it. Let it go to waste. It's criminal, hear, criminal. But, please bear with me. I have news to disseminate.
In the year+ that I've been blogging (albeit infrequently), I've used this space for a course on social software, the Learning 2.0 @ Mac program, and a bunch of relatively random nonsense. In other words, I've used it when necessary and when I've felt the urge to kill some time.
But, that was then. And, we've passed then. When? Now.
Now, I'm a Professionalle. An official, certified (and certifiable) professional. A librarian.
This means that I must represent myself in a certain way. A professional way.
So, hear this! From this day forward, I, your purely professional interlocutor, shall write only... well, let's say, mainly... shall write mainly about my activities and experiences as a new librarian -- new to librarianship, liaison librarianship, and health sciences librarianship. New to the States. New to essentially everything.
In other words, I shall write professional nonsense.
For reals.
In the year+ that I've been blogging (albeit infrequently), I've used this space for a course on social software, the Learning 2.0 @ Mac program, and a bunch of relatively random nonsense. In other words, I've used it when necessary and when I've felt the urge to kill some time.
But, that was then. And, we've passed then. When? Now.
Now, I'm a Professionalle. An official, certified (and certifiable) professional. A librarian.
This means that I must represent myself in a certain way. A professional way.
So, hear this! From this day forward, I, your purely professional interlocutor, shall write only... well, let's say, mainly... shall write mainly about my activities and experiences as a new librarian -- new to librarianship, liaison librarianship, and health sciences librarianship. New to the States. New to essentially everything.
In other words, I shall write professional nonsense.
For reals.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
it's like Rear Window but the crime's spamicide, not homicide
So, there I was, sitting at my desk, minding my own business by meddling in the digital lives of others, when through the magical lens of my computer screen I spotted a scandal of scandalical and Flatlandical proportions. For, you see, it appears that Shelfari operatives, including one Schaufferwaffer, were systematically conducting deceptive two-dimensional activities on an unsuspecting and emotionally vulnerable population of two-dimensional (book-loving and blog-writing) socialites. The Shelfarian operatives were, in a word, leaving ingeniously heartfelt comments on blog posts that happened to contain the not-so-secret code word 'Shelfari'. While the meaning of the code word has yet to be determined, the effects of the deceptive activities on the victims were certainly tremendous. Fortunately, Detective Fox LibraryThing was able to, in an X-Filesian manner, vindicate the helpless by unraveling the mystery of Schaufferwaffer and exposing that two-dimensional monster for what he truly was: a loyal three-dimensional intern.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
what would Wikipedia's impact factor be?
Having thrown aside reason and the 'real' definition of 'impact factor', I can safely say that Wikipedia's impact factor would be very high. I mean, my blog is a high-quality journal, so this entry alone contributes to the impactorness of everyone's favourite high impact encyclopedia. Seriously, Alexa and ISI should partner on something here...
But, to quench your thirst for numbers, I shall use a trusty random number generator to predict, nay, assign an impactor numeral to Wikipedia:
But, to quench your thirst for numbers, I shall use a trusty random number generator to predict, nay, assign an impactor numeral to Wikipedia:
77693159
Thursday, October 25, 2007
a very strange association
Today, I, in an act of professional professionalism, of ultimate liebarianism, of purely informed informationalism, spent some time leafing through the 2002 version of the Encyclopedia of Associations. Now, I know, not every liebarian can be as informationally informationed as yours truly, but, really, that's to be expected. I mean, would I be writing this if I wasn't a superior inforarian with a book cart of libmation to share? No, I would not. So, lets get down to that thing we informationals do so well, that is, share.
--Pause. Watching baseball. Ground ball. Inning over. Pause over--
Yes, as I was saying, I'm a stellar inflationist, and as a stellar intaserist, I was leafing through the Encyclopedia of Associations. As I was leafing through the Encyclopedia of Associations, I came across the Library Cat Society, and according to the 2002 edition of the Encyclopedia of Associations, the Library Cat Society has a newsletter, a lending library, 100+ members, and an interesting obsession with cats. I'd join if I had $6 a year to spare, but all those other library associations take my money...
--Pause. Watching baseball. Ground ball. Inning over. Pause over--
Yes, as I was saying, I'm a stellar inflationist, and as a stellar intaserist, I was leafing through the Encyclopedia of Associations. As I was leafing through the Encyclopedia of Associations, I came across the Library Cat Society, and according to the 2002 edition of the Encyclopedia of Associations, the Library Cat Society has a newsletter, a lending library, 100+ members, and an interesting obsession with cats. I'd join if I had $6 a year to spare, but all those other library associations take my money...
Friday, August 03, 2007
put students on the reference desk
I recently came across an interesting thing: An academic library in an institution with a library school staffs the reference desk with library school students. While the students are at the desk gaining some valuable library experience (that will no doubt help them find a job at some point down the long, winding, labyrinthine road), the librarians are spending more time liaising with faculty and other relevant members of the academic community. It seems like a win-win situation to me, and I doubt that the non-library people using the reference desk would notice much difference in the quality of the service.
When I was staffing the research help desk at McMaster, I was a student, and I felt - after a bit of time and training - quite comfortable answering questions. More importantly, I soon felt that I could answer the vast majority of questions competently (though, I admit, I never did 'master' the gov pubs, but one can't answer everything, ya?). And, do note, that before my co-op, I was a library school student with absolutely no library experience and a very limited understanding of how libraries operated. So, if I, an inexperienced something-or-other, could answer questions effectively, then there's no question that other students could do so as well (not-to-mention, library technicians and other library staff). The non-librarians at McMaster were quite capable of doing so.
Now, forgive me for the awful phrase that follows, 'The bottom line' is that you don't need a master's degree to answer questions, and if you have a collection of library students hanging around, reading and memorizing the RUSA guidelines, then you might as well give them the opportunity to sit at the desk and gain some practical experience. The MLIS program at FIMS has a co-op, so students have the opportunity to get into libraries, but not everyone is able to take advantage of it (and with 3 cohorts coming in this fall, it may be proportionally more difficult to get a co-op position). So, wouldn't it be worthwhile for everyone if Western Libraries took advantage of that massive surplus of library students wandering around campus? The GRC provides students with reference opportunities. I'm told that Taylor does as well. And, Weldon does hire co-op students, but, even so, I'm sure the libraries could provide more opportunities for students.
Besides, getting librarians off of the desk (at least in academic libraries) can be a good thing.
When I was staffing the research help desk at McMaster, I was a student, and I felt - after a bit of time and training - quite comfortable answering questions. More importantly, I soon felt that I could answer the vast majority of questions competently (though, I admit, I never did 'master' the gov pubs, but one can't answer everything, ya?). And, do note, that before my co-op, I was a library school student with absolutely no library experience and a very limited understanding of how libraries operated. So, if I, an inexperienced something-or-other, could answer questions effectively, then there's no question that other students could do so as well (not-to-mention, library technicians and other library staff). The non-librarians at McMaster were quite capable of doing so.
Now, forgive me for the awful phrase that follows, 'The bottom line' is that you don't need a master's degree to answer questions, and if you have a collection of library students hanging around, reading and memorizing the RUSA guidelines, then you might as well give them the opportunity to sit at the desk and gain some practical experience. The MLIS program at FIMS has a co-op, so students have the opportunity to get into libraries, but not everyone is able to take advantage of it (and with 3 cohorts coming in this fall, it may be proportionally more difficult to get a co-op position). So, wouldn't it be worthwhile for everyone if Western Libraries took advantage of that massive surplus of library students wandering around campus? The GRC provides students with reference opportunities. I'm told that Taylor does as well. And, Weldon does hire co-op students, but, even so, I'm sure the libraries could provide more opportunities for students.
Besides, getting librarians off of the desk (at least in academic libraries) can be a good thing.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
a week of travel means a week of catching up but it also means a week of travel
Well, Reader, I, your humble interlocutor, did a lot of traveling last week. On 22 July, my partner and I were passengers in some giant cylindrical tube that - through some machinations that were well beyond my comprehension - managed to land safely in Montreal, transport us to another tube, and manage to land safely again in Saint John, NB. While in Saint John, I saw very little, for I was only in town for one day and sight-seeing just wasn't in the cards, but even in spite of the authoritarian cards, my eyes nevertheless did manage to send some scenic images to my brain for interpretation. It's a strange town, Saint John - an industry town, but very scenic. Lobsters were also well-represented in print and television advertisements. Unfortunately for them, their individual celebrity is often fated to be short-lived, for I'm told that they're quite delectable...
We left Saint John in another cylindrical tube very early on 24 July, and after landing in Montreal again, and transporting ourselves to another tube again, and landing safely in Hamilton, we rented a land-dwelling transportation device - a car - and drove to a city in a foreign land. The city, Ann Arbor, is also quite beautiful, but for very different reasons. It's a lively university town, with an amazing downtown core. We arrived in Ann Arbor very late on the 24th, and stayed until the 28th, for, you see, we have some relations in the city. I managed to see some of the University of Michigan campus and some of its libraries, all of which were very impressive, and I also managed to place my unworthy foot in the one and only Ann Arbor District Library (truth be told, it's not really the one and only, but, well, oh well).
Now, I'm back in Hamilton. I wasn't able to do much work last week, so now I'll have to work semi-devotedly to finish my final assignments before the end of term.
We left Saint John in another cylindrical tube very early on 24 July, and after landing in Montreal again, and transporting ourselves to another tube again, and landing safely in Hamilton, we rented a land-dwelling transportation device - a car - and drove to a city in a foreign land. The city, Ann Arbor, is also quite beautiful, but for very different reasons. It's a lively university town, with an amazing downtown core. We arrived in Ann Arbor very late on the 24th, and stayed until the 28th, for, you see, we have some relations in the city. I managed to see some of the University of Michigan campus and some of its libraries, all of which were very impressive, and I also managed to place my unworthy foot in the one and only Ann Arbor District Library (truth be told, it's not really the one and only, but, well, oh well).
Now, I'm back in Hamilton. I wasn't able to do much work last week, so now I'll have to work semi-devotedly to finish my final assignments before the end of term.
