This was the year that was ... my reading list for 2018 #2018Books #2018inReview

Reading/Play List, 1985

From the time I completed undergrad, I kept a list of books with short reviews (and also plays seen). I originally did this on 3x5 cards and then migrated to notebooks and then on to word processed documents. Doing these "book reports" over the years helped me to think deeper about the material I was reading and to look back over time to the things I liked (at the time) and which, sometimes in retrospect, I can't believe I actually liked! For many years (too many ago now), I also was a regular reviewer of books for various publications (mostly art and biography for Library Journal -- you can find most of those review cited in Smithsonian Research Online and many of the actual reviews on Amazon since Amazon bought the rights to the reviews from LJ's publisher).

Weeding/Donating

I won't bore everyone with my notes on my readings for this past year, but here's the list. I did a lot of re-reading of things I'd completed before (Lord of the Rings, Dune, Iris Murdoch, Vladimir Nabokov, William Gibson, Hemingway, Orwell, Asimov) and some newer authors I've enjoyed (China Mieville, Kevin Kwan), and also a number of travel books for places I visited during the year. I also finally got around to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf and, I'll confess to starting the Harry Potter series (which I haven't read before! Two volumes down!). A bunch of information science and biodiversity reports and documents round out the year.

* * * * * 

So, here you are. This first list are the books, reports, and related that I read primarily for professional development. A lot of topic reports, annual reports, biodiversity bad news reports:

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And now, here's the whole list of items I read over the course of the year:

This was the year that was ... in 2018 Dodo Avatars! #Dodo #2018inReview

Many dodos this year!

This was the year that was ... my new music from 2018 #2018Music #2018inReview

Well, listened to a bunch of new music this year, but I think, looking back, that my Album of the Year (2018) is going to be Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues. Yes, yes, I know, Speaking in Tongues was released in 1983, but listening to it again over the past few months, it seems as relevant as ever. Here's my SiT lyrics mashup:

Speaking in Tongues Lyrics (2018 Mashup)

Ah
Watch out
You might get what you're after
* * *
I can't believe it
And people are strange
Our president's crazy
Did you hear what he said
* * *
Stop making sense, stop making sense...stop making sense, making sense
* * *
God help us!
Help us lose our minds
These slippery people
Help us understand
* * *
And I get wild, it's automatic
I can hardly move
* * *
How many people do you think I am
Pretend I am somebody else
You can pretend I'm and old millionaire
A millionaire washing his hands
* * *
Flying saucers, levitation
Yo! I could do that
Gettin' ready, for heavy duty
* * *
Towns that disappeared completely
Pull up the roots, pull up the roots
Miles and miles of endless highway
Pull up the roots, pull up the roots
* * *
I guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it, the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground, head in the sky
It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing

* * * * * 

But, if I have to look at just 2018 releases, here's my top 11 (in order of release):

1. David Byrne, American Utopia (9 March 2018)
2. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour (30 March 2018)
3. Ashley Monroe, Sparrow (20 April 2018)
4. Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer (27 April 2018)
5. Courtney Barnett, Tell Me How You Really Feel (18 May 2018)
6. Neko Case, Hell-On (8 June 2018)
7. Paul McCartney, Egypt Station (7 September 2018)
8. Billy Gibbons, Big Bad Blues, (21 September 2018)
9. Elvis Costello, Look Now (12 October 2018)
10. Bob Dylan, More Blood, More Tracks The Bootleg Series Vol 14 (Deluxe Edition) (2 November 2018)
11. Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel (2 November 2018)

Of those, David Byrne and Neko Case were my favorites of the year. 

Here's the complete list:

January

• Caitlyn Smith, Starfire (19 January 2018)
• Belle And Sebastian, How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 2) (19 January 2018)
• Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa, Black Coffee (26 January 2018)

February

• Belle And Sebastian, How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 3) (16 February 2018)
• Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet, Landfall (16 February 2018)

March

• Joan Baez, Whistle Down the Wind (2 March 2018)
• David Byrne, American Utopia (9 March 2018)
• Jimi Hendrix, Both Sides of the Sky (9 March 2018)
• Judas Priest, Firepower (9 March 2018)
• Sunflower Bean, Twentytwo and Blue (23 March 2018)
• Guided by Voices, Space Gun (23 March 2018)
• Neil Young and the Promise of the New, Paradox (23 March 2018)
• Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour (30 March 2018)

April

• John Prine, Tree of Forgiveness (13 April 2018)
• Ashley Monroe, Sparrow (20 April 2018)
• Neil Young, Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live (24 April 2018)
• Willie Nelson, Last Man Standing (27 April 2018)
• Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer (27 April 2018)
• Van Morrison and Joe DeFrancesco, You're Driving Me Crazy (27 April 2018)

May

• Arctic Monkeys, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino (11 May 2018)
• Courtney Barnett, Tell Me How You Really Feel (18 May 2018)
• Peach Kelli Pop, Gentle Leader (25 May 2018)

June

• Roger Daltrey, As Long As I Have You (1 June 2018)
• Neko Case, Hell-On (8 June 2018)
• Lykki Li, so sad so sexy (8 June 2018)

August

• Alice Cooper, A Paranormal Evening at the Olympia (18 August 2018)

September

• Paul McCartney, Egypt Station (7 September 2018)
• Paul Simon, In the Blue Light (7 September 2018)
• Billy Gibbons, Big Bad Blues, (21 September 2018)
• Jack White, Kneeling at the Anthem DC (21 September 2018)         
• Cher, Dancing Queen (28 September 2018)

October

• Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born (5 October 2018)
• Elvis Costello, Look Now (12 October 2018)
• Yoko Ono, Warzone (19 October 2018)
• Ace Frehley, Spaceman (19 October 2018)
• Greta Van Fleet, Anthem of the Peaceful Armies (19 October 2018)

November

• Bob Dylan, More Blood, More Tracks The Bootleg Series Vol 14 (Deluxe Edition) (2 November 2018)
• Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel (2 November 2018)
• The Smashing Pumpkins, Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1: No Past. No Future. No Sun (16 November 2018)
• Neil Young, Songs for Judy (30 November 2018)

 December

• Van Morrison, The Prophet Speaks (7 December 2018)
• Bruce Springsteen, No Nukes '79 (27 December 2018)

Botany 2018: The Future of Digital Projects for Research & Teaching in Botany

BHL Program Director Martin Kalfatovic was an invited to participate in a symposium, hosted by JSTOR Global Plants, at Botany 2018 in Rochester, MN.

The symposium addressed questions such as: what existing digital projects in botany have been successful and how did they become so; what areas of need should future projects explore; how do we define success for digital projects; how do digital projects directed at students differ from those aimed at the researcher; how can we use digital projects to reach new students and interested lay people; and how are new digital projects funded and supported for the long term.

The panel will include speakers from a range of backgrounds -- including both academics and librarians, as well as people working for organizations developing these digital initiatives—creating a conversation that will bring together multiple viewpoints. Panelists include:

Jason Przybylski

• Jason Przybylski, Senior Licensing Editor / JSTOR
• Deirdre Ryan, Director, Primary Sources & JSTOR Forum  
• Barbara Thiers, Director of Science, New York Botanical Garden
• Martin Kalfatovic, Associate Director, Smithsonian Libraries and Program Director, The Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Elspeth Haston, Deputy Herbarium Curator, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
• Adrian S. Wisnicki, Assistant Professor and Center for Digital Research in the Humanities Faculty Fellow, University of Nebraska-Lincoln & Director, Livingstone Online
• Hilary Callahan, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Biology, Barnard College

The Future of Digital Projects for Research & Teaching in Botany:

Abstract
Botany was early to recognize the potential impacts on the field of digitization and digital projects, from scanning herbarium specimens so scholars from around the world could easily access them to recovering lost archives to developing access to copious amounts of data on plant life and biodiversity more broadly. As digitization of physical materials has become more widespread and digital capabilities have increased, the expectations for digital projects in botany have similarly advanced. It is no longer enough to simply scan an item and make it available as a PDF on a website. Researchers and students now are looking for innovative digital projects that use the digital medium to present objects in new ways or bring together materials in ways that weren't possible in an analog environment, all of which allows for new avenues to pursue in research and teaching. This symposium will bring together presenters working on digital projects in botany to examine the current state of the field and its future directions. The panel will include speakers from a range of backgrounds - including both academics and librarians, as well as people working for organizations developing these digital initiatives - creating a conversation that will bring together multiple viewpoints. The symposium will address questions such as: what existing projects have been successful and how did they become so; what areas of need should future projects explore; how do we define success for digital projects; how do digital projects directed at students differ from those aimed at the researcher; how can we use digital projects to reach new students and interested lay people; and how are new digital projects funded and supported for the long term. By the end of the symposium, we will aim to have identified trends in the field and areas that need further development, hopefully providing the necessary grounding for future digital developments.

The BHL presentation, "The Biodiversity Heritage Library: Empowering Discovery through Free Access to Biodiversity Knowledge" is available online.

From the abstract: The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) has no bricks, no mortar, but rather stands as a vast online collection of biodiversity knowledge compiled from the collections of natural history and botanical libraries the world over. These collections--comprised of scientific journals, books, and archival collections--provide information critical to the study of life on our planet. Replete with species descriptions and occurrence data, ecosystem profiles, behavioral observations, and climatic records, these collections inform current research and provide historical information on species abundance, habitat alteration, and human exploration. In many cases, these publications are only physically available in one or two locations throughout the world.

Funding for the symposium was provided by the Botanical Society of America.

From the poster sessions:

Some flora and fauna:

Vanessa atalanta (Red Admiral)

Basidiomycota