Ethics and Morality Quiz

"Blog of the Nation," the newly launched blog of my favorite NPR program, "Talk of the Nation," is requesting your participation in an Ethics and Morality Quiz being sponsored by the show and The Arizona Daily Star.

The survey, which takes less than five minutes complete and is anonymous, is meant to "gauge where you stand on issues that might be considered in the grey area of the moral continuum." I completed it earlier this evening and there were some questions where I definitely had to think for a moment about how I would handle such a situation if I found myself part of it.

Survey results will be discussed during the second hour of the show's Thursday, April 12th broadcast, which will air from Tucson, Arizona.

Tampa Tribune cutting 70 positions

The Tampa Tribune is the latest newspaper to make job cuts, announcing today that 70 positions will either be eliminated or outsourced. "Our decision to part with valued employees was difficult, and we very much appreciate the contributions of all those who will be affected by today’s announcement,” said Denise Palmer, the Tribune's president and publisher.

Other changes include an increased emphasis on local content in both the printed newspaper and online through TBO.com.

Mental Health Day

I was off work today and had what I will term a badly needed "mental health" day. I slept in until 11:30 and then did nothing but listen to NPR and read. I had a made a rule that today was truly a break and that I was not going to deal with local SLA things or anything of a professional nature. It felt good being able to do that.

This is the first time in a few weeks where I've felt like things were slowing down a bit and I got a chance to breath. I've posted about this before, so I'll just say it again. I have been so much busier than I ever was when I was in graduate school.

Since the day is almost over, I'm going to break my earlier rule a bit and tout a program I'm planning for the central Ohio chapter of the Special Libraries Association that seems timely (no pun intended) for me of late.

"Time Management for Special Librarians" will be presented by Judith Siess at OCLC next Thursday, April 19th at 6 p.m. After the presentation, a group of us will have dinner in Dublin. Additional details are available on the chapter's Web site. Hope to see you there!

Public libraries and the homeless

NPR's "Talk of the Nation" devoted a segment today to public libraries and how they are often used as a shelter and gathering place for the local homeless population. The segment featured Chip Ward, the former assistant director of the Salt Lake City Public Library, who discussed the
op-ed piece he wrote which appeared yesterday in the Los Angeles Times.