It's the final working day of the year. The library is in a festive mood despite the inundation of problem book trolleys from the stock check. We spent the last bit of staff allocation on Secret Recipe cheesecake (one slice for each person) and I've got the 70s music of the soundtrack from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on the radio inside the library office.

Goodbye 2005, welcome 2006...

Stock check at our library this week.

Amazigh (Berber) language script revived/being used in schools, with native tongue instruction.

Moroccans learn to write Berber
By Martha Dixon BBC News, Morocco

And earlier, a report on Nature study on accuracy of Wikipedia science entries. Must take a look at the original article. Like the Guardian report, criticisms were mainly for style of writing and omissions. The Nature study compared Wikipedia with Britannica.

Wikipedia survives research test

Is it really his or her life?

A hoax...

Based on an Untrue Story
By PAT H. BROESKE
Published: November 27, 2005, NYTimes
On Clifford Irving, a writer who published a hoax autobiography of Howard Hughes. Now a movie is being made about him (Irving) and he's not too impressed with its (the movie's) veracity...

And an obituary:

Margaret Osmond, 98; librarian who lived flamboyantly
By Gloria Negri
November 29, 2005, Boston Globe [Referral from librarian.net]
A public librarian who knew her patrons and her books

-----------------------------------
In other news, a real good haul from Jessamyn West (librarian.net) today (including the link above)

A kid who is collecting library cards - how cool is that? Unfortunately our library doesn't have any so I can't send him one from us. And I want to keep my own few AADL and Christchurch City Libraries one.... but maybe I can get him one from the Singapore National Library...

The other find was another librarian blog - That Rabbit Girl. A Chicago librarian who writes great columns (at least, the beginnings and skimmings look interesting). She has a column called "Ask the Librarian" in a Web publication called Gaper Blocks.

The old 1993 manifesto is also interesting. I was attracted to this one:
9. The media image of the librarian is a travesty. The real situation is ten times worse.

Of course, the premier (in both senses) manifesto for reference service librarians is the one by Samuel Green back in 1874 or something like that...