Toots for wdenton@cosocial.ca account

Written by William Denton on 2025-01-21 at 22:07

I've seen reports like this from other Ontario academic librarians, but today I came out of a meeting with our budget news: $2.1 million cut to operating expenses (mostly salaries and benefits) taking library down to $17.1 m in F2026, with possibility of cuts up to 28% for the next two years. So, possible 50% reduction in operating budget over three years.

Doug Ford has really hosed higher education in Ontario.

[#]OnPSE #YorkUniversity

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-15 at 17:44

Any recommendations on codes of conduct for online membership meetings, regarding chat? Especially in a non-corporate world (I'm in an academic and union context). Some combination of meeting management, Bourinot's or Robert's, technical management, etc.

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-15 at 01:03

Seems like it didn't, so I made "How to install Zotero 7 on Windows," a six minute video that shows how to download and install it and set up connectors in Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Complete details:

https://www.miskatonic.org/2025/01/14/zotero-windows/

It's a bit rough, but I want it next week, not perfect.

[#]zotero

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-13 at 17:00

Terry Pratchett. Forever one of the good ones. Always rereadable: for the jokes, the satire, the heartbreak, the wisdom, for Discworld, and for the burning righteous anger at exploitation and discrimination.

[#]GnuTerryPratchet

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-09 at 22:44

Librarians, how about comparing opening and ref desk hours for libraries, then and now? I'll start with the science library at #YorkUniversity in Toronto, which just had more hours lopped off.

2009:

Open Mo–Th 0800–2300; Fr 0800–2000; Sa 1000–1800; Su 1200–2000

Ref Mo–Th 0900–2000; Fr 0900–2000; Sa 10–1800; Su 1200–1700

2024:

Open Mo–Th 0900–2100; Fr 0900–1700; Sa–Su closed

Ref none

[#]LibraryLife #Librarians

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-09 at 17:24

Phew, it's back for me.

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-09 at 16:22

Disappointing to see 50 minutes go by without a status update about the Proton outage, or anything posted here.

https://status.proton.me/

[#]proton #protonmail

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-08 at 03:32

One performance is by @GregNieuws ... I don't think I know of any of the other artists being on here.

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-08 at 03:25

I made a list of fifty-two recordings of Terry Riley's "In C" (1964) that I know are available on Bandcamp. Additions welcome if you know of any I've missed, or that get added in the future.

https://www.miskatonic.org/inc/

[#]TerryRiley #InC #bandcamp

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-07 at 21:12

Suggestion: In Canada, when a parliament or legislature is prorogued, everyone affected use it as a sort of non-denominational time of observation. Start or stop doing something you want to start or stop. On a diet? Prorogue it and have an ice cream cone. Don't want to go to parties? "Sorry, gatherings are prorogued until 24 March." Curious about ponchos? "I prorogued my outerwear."

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Written by William Denton on 2025-01-04 at 19:48

I'm listening again to The Great Eastern, "Newfoundland's cultural magazine," the radio masterpiece from the late 90s. To make it easier to get the shows I made an RSS feed you can pop into your podcast program.

This is outstanding comedy and satire done with a completely straight face.

https://www.miskatonic.org/2025/01/04/great-eastern/

(And @djfiander won a "What's That Noise from Newfoundland?" contest!)

[#]TheGreatEastern

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Written by William Denton on 2024-12-12 at 21:07

Is there a set of short videos showing how to install Zotero 7 and make sure it works, for Windows and Macs, on all big browsers? I see some old videos on YouTube and library guides, but I'm hoping for something current that shows: download, install, add connector, make sure it's visible in the location bar, run Zotero, say yes as needed, back to browser, add a page, there you go, all in about two minutes. Does that exist?

[#]Zotero #libraries

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Written by William Denton on 2024-12-11 at 03:31

Mozilla says the new Firefox senior vice president has "also served as Chief Product Officer at Better."

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/new-executives/

[#]Mozilla #W1A

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Written by William Denton on 2024-12-07 at 23:54

The Master Plan, Michael Healey's new play that's on at Soulpepper in Toronto right now, is excellent. Highly recommended. Three hours of great docudrama about the Google/Sidewalk Labs debacle, based on Josh O'Kane's book Sideways. Energetic, informative, effective sound/video design, good lessons about the project and Toronto. Really good play.

https://www.soulpepper.ca/performances/the-master-plan

[#]Toronto

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Written by William Denton on 2024-12-04 at 18:13

@dbs What's the Laurentian word on the Auditor's General's special report? Have you had a chance to go through it?

https://auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en24/2-01FU_Laurentian_en24.pdf

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Written by William Denton on 2024-12-03 at 18:31

Judy LaMarsh probably known only to Canadians over 60. Good Wikipedia article. Born 1924, army service, translated Japanese, lawyer, MP at 35, health minister on pension plan and medicare. Caught on mic saying "don't let that bastard win it" of Pierre Trudeau at nominating convention. Left politics, back to law, defended Brunswick Four (lesbians arrested for singing "I Enjoy Being a Dyke" & roughed up by cops). Died of cancer at 55.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_LaMarsh

[#]CanPoli

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Written by William Denton on 2024-11-29 at 19:36

Here's a sad statement from the Council of Ontario Universities, fearfully emphasizing how "efficient" all university operations are, and politely asking the province to "[work] together to address these financial challenges" ... the ones caused by two levels of government, and especially Ontario starving higher ed of money it desperately needs.

https://ontariosuniversities.ca/news/cou-efficiency-update-ontario-universities-continue-to-find-greater-efficiencies/

[#]OnPoli

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Written by William Denton on 2024-11-27 at 19:59

I just found some laptop stickers that @zotero sent me to give away to students. Are you still making these, Zotero?

[#]Zotero

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Written by William Denton on 2024-11-22 at 16:18

I bought a variety of cool stickers and buttons from @Anneheathen and will be giving some to union-librarian colleagues. There are dozens available: if you like books and libraries and dislike interfering bigots, you'll find something you want.

https://www.miskatonic.org/2024/11/21/annearchy/

[#]librarians #anarchism #LibraryUnions

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Written by William Denton on 2024-11-19 at 21:35

Good #WomenInStem Wikipedia editing session at #YorkUniversity today. Good turnout and a record number of edits made, I think.

Student wandered by, mildly curious. I said she could have a cookie, which led to her asking what was up; pretty soon three librarians were saying how they could help with her data viz needs and improve research visibility for her PhD work.

Classic librarian helpfulness, but also: working with students in any way matters in unexpected ways.

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