New Year Resolutions 2010

I'm back in London and tomorrow I'm back at work. I spent the past week with friends. We went to north Yorkshire, which was shut due to the bad weather. S0, not a lot of sightseeing done, although we did look at Whitby Abbey over it's high stone wall and walk past the Newcastle Library.

The purpose of this post is to record my NY resolutions. Usually, I have a few of these because I believe in finding ways to improve my experience of life. But this year I haven't found anything that's achievable or realistic. Instead I have these:

1. Do more cataloguing

2. Teach world to sing

3. Become femme fatale

4. Read >50 books (for the LibraryThing Challenge)

5. Campaign for more vegetarian beer and cider in the pubs I visit

6. Try to remember to occasionally use the Twitter account set up many months ago

Cataloguing for Xmas

It’s been so long since my last post. This is partly because I have nothing interesting to say, archival or otherwise, and partly because I’ve been busy. Xmas is almost here and my plans for this week have gone awry. I wanted to be cataloguing and instead I’m checking digital files.

Why is there never time to catalogue?

For me, Xmas itself should be quiet and full of food, wine and TV. New Years will be louder. I’m travelling up north where I hope to visit ruined medieval monasteries, read many books and drink much. It's gonna be really cold.

NY resolution #1: do more cataloguing

Ain't technology amazing?

I have taken a toddling step closer towards the 21st Century. I have used bluetooth technology to move images from my phone into the computer. So, here they are. Images from around London taken over the past year:

Eric Ketelaar giving the 2nd Jenkinsonian Lecture

"authentic Japanese tapas" sign

the amazing Park Chan-wook talking at the London Korean Film Festival

Planned regional closures at the National Archives of Australia

When TNA announced budget problems earlier this year their coping strategy included limiting opening hours and having dirtier windows (as well as firing people – I don’t want to suggest bad things aren’t happening). The Australians, being on a much larger geographical scale, are responding to budget difficulties by planning to close 3 of their regional offices: Darwin, Adelaide and Hobart. The NAA’s Director-General, Ross Gibbs, put up a statement today on their webpages. In it, he notes that: “The decision to close the Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart offices was based on the knowledge that they could not endure any more budget cuts while still maintaining the high level of service that they are known for.”

This is kind of outrageous. How is no service at all better than one that includes, for example, fewer opening hours and more grime on the glass. It doesn't seem right, in a democratic society, to hinder people's access to government records.

Stories straight to your mobile

From an article in the Times on the possible demise of storytelling (put up by the American listserv – thanks guys) I discovered Keitai Shosetsu, novels written for, and sent to, the mobile phones of Japanese mobile phone owners, and the Centre for Future Storytelling.

These need further investigation.