Primer on US Government Contract Databases Published in Online Today

I'm excited to have my first article published in Online Searcher, a magazine for librarians and other information professionals. 

In the article, aptly titled in U.S. Government Contract Databases, Amy Affelt of Compass Lexecon and I write about how to find money from the federal government and what sequestration is likely to mean for funding sources. We focus on both free and subscription databases that businesses, entrepreneurs and the general public (and libraries serving them) can use to research contract awards and analyze the data to make intelligent choices for their businesses and become smarter taxpayers and citizens.

The article appears in the May-June 2013 issue of Online Searcher. An old-fashioned routing slip taped to each new issue makes this magazine required (or at least suggested!) reading for every reference librarian at the library where I work part-time. It may be the same at your library. 

Every issue, the publisher Information Today makes a few articles available for free online. This isn't one of them, so unfortunately I cannot share it widely. Articles from Online Searcher are available from Factiva* and other business and academic journal databases. 

* Disclosure: I work for Dow Jones & Company, which owns Factiva.

Architectural Personality, From the Sears Catalog, in Abundance in Somerville, NJ – With a Tangent to Atlantic City

I’m reading about some lovely Sears Modern homes from the early 20th century in Somerville, New Jersey*, in response to a research request from a patron at Clarence Dillon Public Library. The Milton Modern Home No. C210 (built ca. 1916-1919) is quite a charmer with its nine rooms, built for $1,619. Read about the Miltons in New York City and in New Jersey and Ohio, and in particular, the one at 493 East Main St., Somerville.

These Sears homes certainly have much more personality than some of the bi-level houses that Seth J. Bookey and I looked at before buying our lovely little home in northern Middlesex County. (Friends: Ask for our address.)

The fact that the homes were built in Somerville and there were seven Sears Modern Sales Centers in New Jersey certainly explains the relative abundance of the homes in Somerset County’s seat. I lived in Somerville for 11 years in a garden apartment from the 1940s that had some charm such as nice hardwood floors and high ceilings. However, I never noticed the much more architecturally significant Sears homes. Now it’s worth a drive through town again.

And … amid much questionable or slapdash architecture in my birthplace of Atlantic City, N.J.**, are or were four Sears Marina homes. (There are some other lovely homes in the World's Famous / Favorite Playground, too, in the southern part of the city [the Chelsea/Chelsea Heights areas, for example] and in some Inlet area housing from the 1990s/early 2000s.)

That should be an incentive for Seth and me to visit my family!

* The patron actually is looking for a Sears Modern home, possibly in Craftsman style, in northern Somerset County (Bedminster/Far Hills/Basking Ridge area), so any leads are appreciated.

** Yes, to the surprise of a colleague in New York City, people actually are from Atlantic City.

The Eric The Librarian Daily Launches

If you wandered to this blog you may have noticed that I've tweeted lately, but I haven't posted to the blog itself. I'm not yet recommitting to the blog, but I have started a new site via Paper.li called The Eric The Librarian Daily, ideally pointing you to relevant news on library technology and user experience, along with more general news from The New York Times and the photojournalism of Life magazine (which has kept surviving in one form or another since 1936). The content mix will change over time as I refine it.

Also check out my favorited* Paper.li sites, including John DiGilio's The Librariana Daily, which was the first one I followed, and another brand-new site, Ian Clark's The Infoism Daily. [* Yes, "favorited" seems to be an accepted word in this sphere, as opposed to "favored" or just "favorite."]

Promoting SLA's Business & Finance Division, and Oh Yeah, Me, Too

Kyle Naff, the Webmaster for the Business & Finance Division of SLA*, was kind enough to ask me about my career and my work with the division as Membership Chair. You can read the result of the interview here.

* Special Libraries Association

Loving Lucy: Centennial Celebrations

Lucy loving is breaking out all over! August 6 will be Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, and October 15 will be the 60th anniversary of the first airing of I Love Lucy.

Here's a calendar of upcoming events and celebrations. I’ll be in New York City for the Paley Center screenings, and I hope to get to D.C. for the Library of Congress exhibition. Unfortunately, I won't be in
Jamestown (Lucy’s birthplace) for its centennial Lucy Fest.

• Jamestown, N.Y., Aug. 3-7, 2011: Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy Lucy Fest. Lucy's birthplace celebrates her 100th birthday, returning to a festival format that started in 1991. The headliners are Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone. "Be a Lucy" by dressing as Lucy Ricardo for a Guinness World
  Record event, and attend a recreation of Lucy radio shows. There will also big a parade, baseball game and other family-friendly events. For the full schedule and more information see http://www.lucycomedyfest.com/. The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Center, 2 W. Third St., Jamestown, NY 14701. Phone 716-484-0800. Email info@lucy-desi.com.
  
  Also see the articles Love Lucy? and Celebrating the world's most famous redhead, from The Morning Call of Allentown, Penn.
• Los Angeles (Hollywood), Calif., Aug. 3 through Nov. 30, 2011: The Hollywood Museum presents Lucille Ball at 100 and I Love Lucy at 60, showcasing memorabilia saluting the careers and romance of Hollywood's most famous lovebirds. On Aug. 4, the museum and CBS DVD Paramount Home Entertainment are paying tribute to Lucy in a gala reception.
• Washington, D.C., Aug. 4, 2011, through Jan. 28, 2012: I Love Lucy: An American Legend, exhibit at the Library of Congress. Free and open to the public, I Love Lucy: An American Legend explores the show’s history through the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz family scrapbooks as well as photographs, scripts, printed and manuscript music and other documents from the library. Location: Library of Congress James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. 20540. Phone 202-707-2905. Email pao@loc.gov.
• New York, N.Y., Aug. 5 through Sept. 3, 2011: We Love Lucy: Screenings at the Paley Center. The Paley Center Celebrates Lucille Ball’s Centennial: A look at Ball’s unparalleled work in the medium of television. Compilation screenings: “A Variety of Lucy” and “Lucy Rarities.” Location: Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), 25 W. 52nd St., New York, NY 10019. Contact information is online.
• New York, N.Y., Sept. 28 through Oct. 30, 2011: The Paley Center Celebrates I Love Lucy’s 60th Anniversary. Compilation screenings: “Classic Lucy and Desi” and “Eventful Lucy Moments.” Location and contact information under previous Paley Center listing.
• Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 2011, Lucie Arnaz at the Library of Congress. (That’s all the information available now at LucieArnaz.com.)
  
  
  Shout-outs (just because) to Lucy fans:
  • Everything Lucy
  • Greg in Hollywood’s I Love Lucy Friday
  • Michael Stern (Lucy’s #1 Fan)
  • The Weekly Charlow

Remembering Shirley Bookey, 1926-2011

My partner Seth's mother, Shirley Bookey, passed away Friday. I knew her for several years before her stroke in 2008, as she welcomed me into her home in Great Neck for frequent visits. Now that I live in the same home I see and feel her influence every day. She was always kind to me, and she continued to be as she lived her final years. Her senses of creativity and justice live on in her sons, Seth and Sandy. I am grateful to have known her.



Read Seth's tribute: Remembering Shirley Bookey, 1926-2011.

(I'll pass along to Seth any pertinent messages; my email address is here.)

Promoting Libraries at Breakfast

I was surprised to see, on the back of a cereal box, a full-panel promotion for libraries, including exhortations to use the library for:

• Reference services
• Business services
• Internet access
• Books-by-mail
• Interlibrary loan
• Literacy services

There's a lot of copy promoting the use of the library for kids with a boy (or a girl with a pageboy haircut) behind books and two hip teen girls in front of some stacks. "Consider the library next time you are looking for a place to hang out." (Should we hang out at the abandoned factory? No, let's try the library instead, since ShopRite says so.)

Anyway, the cereal box was a nice surprise for a library fan/librarian like me.

See a bigger (PDF) copy of the box in Google Docs.