The impact on library workers, of the introduction of new Industrial Relations legislation in Australia, is yet to be assessed.

In an attempt to bring Australia into line with economic world leaders such as Bhutan and Chad, working conditions may soon rival modern Asian sweatshops. There are indications that a return to the 'good old days' of the Middle Ages - but without all the color and pageantry the rich guys enjoyed - may be on the cards.

The Warrior Librarian Innovation Committee may have inadvertently developed a solution for any Dracons fearing the Draconian laws. The Warrior Librarian 'co-pilot' was recently activated whilst the Warrior Librarian took some recent leave. Reports from co-workers stated that there didn't seem to be much variation in productivity from her desk, although others found the novelty of a quiet work environment did increase productivity in adjacent workstations.

So you CAN be in two places at once, which might help those who will need to double their wages once they fall to sub-subsistance levels ...

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: November 3, 2005. The Hindsight Institute today announced its first major contribution to the welfare of Planet Earth.

As high density housing was evacuated following the collapse of part of the construction of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel, default spokesperson for the Hindsight Institute, Amanda Credaro, was philosophical in attributing blame to shortsightedness in planning, a lack of Needs Analysis, and the omission of the mass media to engage the Institute for an indepth, but very reasonably priced analysis.

As a fully qualified geologist, Credaro said "... it's pretty obvious. You honeycomb the substructure with tunnels, it's going to weaken to the point of collapse." At the time of writing, the United Nations has yet to send any accolades (or cash) for this insightful analysis.

You can read this story again in the press release ...

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Jenny Bales, Teacher Librarian (LMS) at Summerdale Primary School, was recently named as the 2005 Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year.

In nominating Bales for the award, glowing descriptions of Jenny Bales included " ... the fascination and inspiration that she can illicit in children from a book or an author study, through presentation or challenge or gimmick, from a web site or web based discussion or literature circle or analysis or………… is the reason I commend Jennie Bales on being a Teacher librarian of exceptional quality."

Missing from the otherwise impressive list of accomplishments was Bales' (failed) attempt to silence the Warrior Librarian during a real-time online discussion back in 1999 ...

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The fairly smallish town of Parkes, NSW turned out in force to greet the Reading Bug in a feat described in the local paper as "one of the most ambitious and successful promotions yet staged by the Parkes Birth to Kindergarten committee".

The Bug, the symbol of the region's literacy program, was not reported as saying anything significant. Probably because of those costume suit things that people can't even see out of, let alone talk through. But then again, there's a number of library bodies that also don't seem to be able to see beyond the end of their noses, although they do often talk through their hats. And other places.

But that, as they say, is another story ...

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According to a report from (UK) The Times Online, only 44.1% of students passed English at the end of 11 years of compulsory schooling this year.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) seemed pleased to announce that this was "the biggest rise in pass rates" for a number of years. Apparently a new system of 'grading' has been used.

The DfES has threatened to issue a White Paper, but to date there has been no announcement of increased funding for school libraries. Maybe they could fill the barren shelves with government-generated documentation on why the libraries are so poorly supported ...

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Image infringement?

"A few years ago Linda Absher, who may be better known as The Lipstick Librarian, found that a number of 'individuals' were signing themselves in guestbooks and the like as "THE Lipstick Librarian".

There was some discussion on Linda's blog about how 'uncool' it was to basically up one's site ranking by using an established site name and/or identity.

But now it looks like there could be a major battle about to kick off, as (this, the ORIGINAL) Warrior Librarian prepares to take on a blogger who just months ago named her blog as "Warrior Librarian". Despite really polite (so far) requests to Cease and Desist, all that has appeared is a small 8 pt font notice saying not to confuse her 'website' = blogger autogenerated stories about stuff with "another one with a similar name". As if!

According to the In-house spider, WLW now has over 400 pages of content. And it's all original. Except maybe for a lot of the graphics, but I'd rather not mention that. It spawned its own companion book. (Which DOES have original graphics. And good ones.) Plus, WLW now has a line of merchandise that any day might become collectors' items. Not to mention that all code on this website is 'hand-cut code'. AND this site has been in more or less continuous operation for over 5 years, except when the ironing here at Warrior Librarian Central got out of hand and an issue or two got missed. Was the fact that this website is archived by the National Library of Australia due to its Cultural Significance (their term, not mine.)? Sheesh!

Although imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, for a member of the library community to refuse a request to respect the Intellectual Property Rights of a colleague is anathema to all we stand for. As they say in The Business, watch this space ..."

I have long known that it is part of God's plan for me to spend a little time with each of the most stupid people on Earth.

Bill Bryson; A walk in the woods

More quotes >>>

Many thanks to Mr (or Ms) Anon for contributing this graphic. The message is so well expressed, that we are prepared to forgive the small - although significant - grammatical error. Perhaps the penultimate line should be 'as', rather than 'for'?

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The good news is that for the last two weeks no more metadata has been generated by yours truly. The bad news is that the 10 working days were spent generating spreadsheets for reports ... yep, you guessed it - for statistics on metadata generated for the year to date.

Which reminds me of the Ashleigh Brilliant "It may not be important, but someone's got to do it" card.

At least the commute time was well spent. Bill Bryson (A walk in the woods), Ian Irvine (Terminator Gene), Morris Gleitzman (Girl Underground) and Dan Brown (Deception Point) all made excellent travelling companions ...

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