Muns, Raleigh. "Library invests in million-plus information retrieval devices"
The Current (University of Missouri-St. Louis) November 14, 2005 (vol. 38, no. 1168), p. 4
First, a
quick follow-up on the ongoing controversy regarding the banning of
Martin Handford's Where's Waldo books. Turns out that the reason
this book became one of the top 100 banned books between 1990 and 2000
wasn't an urban legend after all. On the page with the beach scene in
the upper right-hand quadrant a boy is applying an ice cream cone to
the back of an unsuspecting sun bather. As she raises up in startlement,
sans bikini top, the problematic anatomy is clearly visible. I will
be testing the limits of the campus press by sending in a scanned shot
of the picture with this column for the editor's publication consideration. I must confess
to being a bit of a geek (no, not the kind that bites the heads off
of chickens) as entranced with new technologies as anyone. In that vein,
I have to share my recent discovery of a startling information technology
which can operate independent of Internet connections. Furthermore,
the energy consumption requirements of these devices
are less than that of a PDA or cell phone. They are created by extruding
cellulose mollecular constructs into thin plates which are milled to
mere microns of thickness. Next, the plates are assembled to create
a Portable Analog Sequential Information Storage and Retrieval Device
(PASISRD). Chemical pigment is applied to the surface area of each milled
extruded cellulose plate and requires only solar, or other artificial
light to create enough contrast to perceive the stored information. I was pleased
to find that UMSL has been investing in this technology since the inception
of the University. The Libraries currently own over one million such
devices and allow faculty staff and students to take them home for weeks
and even months at a time. I have found that many of the good folks
who come to the Reference Desk are only interested in online resources.
In their eagerness to embrace technological convenience they often overlook
the rich array of PASISRDs available to them. If you just
walk by our extensive PASISRD collection (they are on shelves on every
floor of every campus library) you can serendipitously discover fascinating
troves of portable information. The Thomas Jefferson Library even has
a New PASISRDs section right across from the Reference Desk. If you
like what you see, feel free to take the PASISRD to the Circulation
Desk where all you need is your UMSL ID in order to obtain temporary
custody. Or ask this Rogue PASISRDarian for his recommendations. Might
I suggest that erotic classic Where's Waldo? |
Email Address: muns@umsl.edu
WWW Home Page URL:http://www.umsl.edu/~muns