The true Gadflies RE: [Publib] The Hydrox: the new PUBLIB mascot?

Tue Sep 2 10:12:32 EDT 2008

I have a copy!  And, actually, WE aren't the gadflies.  See below.   Note the date - long before the advent of the blogosphere, Facebook, etc.

Nann

***************************

LJ, 2/1/97, p. 6
>From JNB III:
"Monday morning began with Karen Schneider.....[Her post] brought virtual cheers from that gallery of net luminaries like Mary Jane Anderson. Other Monday posting to my favorite listservs included a couple from Nann Blaine Hilyard and others wishing they could muzzle Bill Hale and Don Saklad.  Hale is THE GADFLY (emphasis added) who, daily, double posts repetitive messages attacking Ken Dowlin and the New Main library at San Francisco. Saklad, another GADFLY (emphasis added) regularly targets Boston Public.

"It amuses me that Schneider, Hilyard, and Anderson, despite their obvious annoyance with Hale and Saklad, each post as much or more stuff. They are the regulars of several listservs, along with Carolyn Caywood, Leila Shapiro, and Sue Kamm, and that communicator on all things, Jim Casey. Most of their stuff is opinion, plus some of what has always been librarianship's favorite and most useful sharing, what old Ralph Shaw called 'how we do it good' stories.....I often wonder if the listserv regulars have some psychic need to get all that stuff off their chests, or if they really believe everyone needs to read it! Whatever the answer, I would heartily endorse more self-editing, but I am dead set against muzzling or 'padded rooms' to quash any of this....The listservs carry the kind of wide-open debate that they should.  I don't think the listserv regulars want to muzzle anyone, but I think their constant barrage must intimidate the less-well-known librarian who has less experience in public debate."

He ends, "So all we need to do is think a bit more before we post. That would help make participating worth the time of those we want to tell or convince.  That would help welcome the gadflies, so that even if they are debated, they won't be ridiculed or isolated into refraining from that debate. That might even keep us from scaring off the lurkers or boring them and ourselves into nonparticipation by dumping our every half-baked notion into cyberspace. Most important, that would help make this very previous and powerful new tool for free expression much more effective."

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Sue Kamm
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2008 8:56 PM
To: Judith Turner; Publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] The Hydrox: the new PUBLIB mascot?

Blame it on John N. Berry, III.  A number of years ago, he took several of us to task - the late Mary Jane Anderson, Carolyn Caywood, Jim Casey, and loveable moi, among others - for posting so much.  (That editorial inspired me to run for Council, so blame everything I've proposed or voted for on him <g>  He dubbed us gadflies, hence the suggestion for mascot.

Your friendly neighborhood CyberGoddess and ALA Councilor at Large,
Sue Kamm
Email: suekamm[at]mindspring.com
Inglewood/Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Dodgers Truest of the Blue, 2000
Visit my blog: http://suekamm.blogspot.com
"High fly ball hit into right field ... she is gone! In a year that seems so improbable, the impossible has happened!" - Vin Scully, calling Kirk Gibson's walk-off home run, Game 1, 1998 World Series

----- Original Message -----
From: Judith Turner<mailto:turnermalibmba at yahoo.com>
To: Publib at webjunction.org<mailto:Publib at webjunction.org>
Sent: 8/31/2008 1:51:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Publib] The Hydrox: the new PUBLIB mascot?

I'll second Grace Anne's suggestion of the dandelion as a logo or mascot (?) - (if OSU can have a buckeye for a mascot, I guess it doesn't have to be a member of the Animal Kingdom.)

As a lifelong fan of Oreos, I said good riddance when Hydrox disappeared -- one less product to confuse the eye/hand.  If you want a cookie worth dying for - try Mallomars which are almost improssible to find in this part of the world.  I also like the idea of a hard outer shell/softie inside (and marshmallows will give way a bit but then spring back.)  I imagine their are lots of cookie preferences on this list but is sweet the image we'd like to project?

As far as gadflies go -- zoologically speaking, there are 2 creatures with this common name so if one was wanted for a pin or other place to feature the image, which is it supposed to  be?  Would anyone outside publib have a clue why people were walking around with horseflies (the better kno wn of the gadflies) on their lapels?  A mascot or logo can serve one of 2 purposes: 1) to identify a person (or group of people) to each other without alerting outsiders (ancient Christians and their fish drawings, or two people who don't know each other making a rendezvous ); 2) to visually identify an entity at a glance (corporate logos and journal mastheads among other devices.)

IMO, particularly as compared to many other lists, publibbers hardly fit the dictionary definition of gadflies.  First off, preaching to the choir hardly qualifies as gadfly activiting.  Added to that there are only a handfull of people on this list occasionally willing to be non-conformist in their viewpoint but as soon as the discussion approaches a simmer, people jump in to cool things down and send the discussion onto other, more neutral or humorous pathways.  Nothing wrong with that - it's just how we tend to operate - but it doesn't fit the gadfly image at all.

I've no idea what the reasons behind the garlic are although I've been seeing lots of references to garlic and artichokes on Archives List where the non-attendees are celebrating the annual meeting of SAA with the annual virtual picnic. Can someone explain the significance of garlic?

TIA (and have a Happy Labor Day!)

Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI

--- On Sat, 8/30/08, Karen G. Schneider <kgs at esilibrary.com> wrote:
Some of you may or may not know that PUBLIB has two proposed mascots...

but we never really went "final" on them:

http://lists.webjunction.org/publib/#mascot

Perhaps we should consider updating our image with a new mascot... the

Hydrox

 cookie?

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