Category: Random Thoughts

It’s time for our biennial serial review. This one feels kind of like being kicked when down because we did a big review to sync up Carleton and St. Olaf last winter, and then we did a voluntary cut last spring when the stock market decided to have a bigger say than usual in our collection development projects.

I only have to review the serials that were originally requested by the library (as opposed to those requested by departments, of which there are many), and only those that fall within the areas I serve (so literature, languages, music, American Studies, and linguistics). And this time around we have to make cuts again. And this time around we’ve already cut the low-hanging fruit so pretty much everything we still subscribe to is stuff I’d like to continue to subscribe to. So last time around I came up with some criteria that really helped, and this time I’m having to come up with newer, less definitive criteria.

Today’s project was literary journals. We subscribe to several, six of which fall under my care, none of which I wanted to cut, some of which I have to cut. The two that we’ve had since the Beginning of Time I’m keeping, just on principle (well, and because they’re good). These are Contemporary Review and Granta. For the rest, I’m checking the catalogs of our peer institutions, reading reviews in Ulrich’s, paging through recent issues, reading their web sites, and generally mourning the fact that I even have to decide.

I’m also rankling a little at the current model for journal subscriptions that make paying for bundled packages so much easier than paying for individual subscriptions, but make backing out of bits and pieces of the bundle impossible. If I need to cut, I’m cutting the stuff we actually selected rather than the fluff that’s padding those bundles. What a pain.

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This is the book drama that just won’t die (or keeps on giving, depending on your perspective). Remember back when I got an email purporting to come from a non-existent Carleton student? And then the comments on that post got really interesting really fast? And remember when Steve Lawson shed a little light on the less savory aspects of those comments? And then remember when Steve later got unpleasant emails that were also copied to his boss and dean and college president?

Yesterday I got the following bogus email [see update below]:

—– Original Message —–
From: “Tamesis Books” <tamesisbooks@yahoo.com>
To: tamesisbooks@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 1:00:09 PM
Subject: New Title from Tamesis Books

Dear librarian,

Tamesis Books is pleased to announce the release of the book, El discurso colonial en textos novohispanos: espacio, cuerpo y poder by Sergio Rivera-Ayala. This study builds on recent work in discourse analysis and the critique of representation that is developing in such fields as anthropology, history, and transatlantic studies. Engaging with a wide variety of texts, such as Colón’s Diario, Vespucio’s Lettera, Sigüenza y Góngora’s Alboroto y motín, Cervantes de Salazar’s México en 1554, Balbuena’s Grandeza mexicana, and Clavijero’s Historia antigua de México, it traces the origins and uses of geopolitical knowledge from classical times to eighteenth-century colonial Mexico, and provides new perspectives on ethnicity, gender, European subjectivity, and the constructions of colonial geographies. This book goes beyond previous readings of the texts, by suggesting new directions for the analysis and interpretation of spatiality, corporeality and agency in colonial Spanish America.

Sergio Rivera-Ayala is Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside. We are attaching a sell sheet to purchase the book for your convenience. We think this book will be a great addition to your Spanish and Latin American collections.

Regards,

Tamesis Books

668 Mt. Hope Ave., Rochester, NY 14620 USA • 585-275-0419 (tel) • 585-271-8778 (fax)

boydell@boydellusa.net • tamesisbooks@yahoo.com • www.boydellandbrewer.com

The “@yahoo.com” part of that publisher’s email address seemed a little weird to me, particularly since the publisher’s web site listed different contact information, so I called Tamesis and received confirmation that this is not their email address. The Commissioning Editor wrote to me today saying that not only is this not their email address, but that they are not the source for selling this book. She apologized that I’m receiving this “propaganda,” and said that they may now have to seek legal advice since their name has been used in this way.

One more string of facts (which may or may not be related), and then I’ll indulge in some minor speculation.

Back in September, when I received the first pseudonymous comment on the original blog post, I emailed Sergio Rivera-Ayala at his UC-Riverside email address to alert him to the fact that odd things were happening in connection with his book. That first comment originated from an IP address in the Waterloo area. Less than four hours later, I received the second comment. This one had the same (vulgar) email address that’s visible only to me as the blog owner, but this one originated from a VPN network of UC-Riverside. By an odd coincidence, Sergio Rivera-Ayala is a visiting assistant professor at UC-Riverside and an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo. (Or rather, he was at that time a professor at UC-Riverside. His staff page at UC-Riverside has 404ed.)

So, the minor speculation? Well, I’ll leave speculation about sock-puppets and their puppeteers to you. Right now, I can only imagine that there’s a hope that if Tamesis gets inundated with requests for this book, that maybe they’ll consider a second printing.

UPDATE: I learned that I can find the originating IP addresses for emails sent to me. Have a look at what WhoIs turned up.

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It’s the last week of Fall Term here at Carleton. In fact, tomorrow is the last day of classes. Then we get two days of reading days followed by our infamous Saturday, Sunday, Monday exam schedule.

Some year it’ll cease to surprise me when I get blindsided by extra work this week. Students panic over their final assignments (like, literally hyperventilate at the reference desk or navigate the computer with shaky hands in my office). Interlibrary Loan isn’t really an option any more, so we have to work a lot harder to find workable evidence for some arguments. Freshmen, faced with their first “long” papers are having trouble negotiating topic size. Everyone’s just a little more stressed and impatient (including me). And it’s quite possible to work with one student for 45 minutes on three citations. (I know this because I just did.)

Meanwhile we’re also gearing up for Winter “Break” activities. Planning has ramped up for the December faculty development workshops here on campus, the copyright committee has a work-in scheduled, and all the other committees and working groups and task forces I’m on are looking forward to the amount of work they can accomplish during “break.”

At the same time, various holidays and special family days are coming up, all of which require preparation and planning.

Some year I’ll see this coming and prepare… somehow. Tonight, though, I’m going to forget all about everything and let my brain turn off for a few hours.

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