Y'all have probably already seen the NYT article on "hip librarians." A librarian on the editorial staff of Touchstone isn't impressed. "Serious library users have the same opinion of hip librarians as serious church users have of hip priests and ministers." Lots of good discussion in the combox on the nature of librarianship in the IT age.

An academic monograph on Kate Bush and Hounds of Love.

I decided against the China job. My initial idea was to go there only long enough to snare a Chinese wife with the lure of American citizenship, but given my track record so far I'm not at all confident I could get a job on my return. My latest idea is to try to get into high school librarianship. Although I'm not sure exactly what that involves (aside from hunting vampires), I would like the summers off.