Lilac "things" for music - Helsinki Bus Station, Snopes, Confused of Calcutta

Last week I went to a librarians conference -  Lilac   and found out  many "things" that struck me as relevant to music as resources and ways of thinking about information.I thought I would blog about three of those "things"

"Thing one" was catching up with my reading on the train to Manchester and finally getting around to  Oliver Burkeman's weekly column - "this column will change your life". This particular essay was about the Helsinki bus station theory - a perseverence lesson for all creative people - including musicians. In essence the theory goes, don't keep trying to create from scratch even if the feedback isn't great, persevere and make it better - new and original isn't always the best in a world that "fetishises originality". Helsinki  bus station theory says "stay on the bus". This probably applies as a life lesson for so many things, from practice - rehearse and make it better, to writing - keep practicing your writing, it's the only way to improve . Read the full column here

"Thing two" I discovered was via our keynote speaker JP Rangaswami.who was talking about the role of librarians in teaching people about what being accurate means, and that using our skills as information providers, librarians have a key role in helping people to understand the worth and value of information and  transmitting that knowledge to our audience.

In that capacity I thought I would mention a website that JP had highlighted, Snopes.com which sets out to debunk urban myths. For example I've always believed Mamma Cass choked to death on a ham sandwich but Snopes has debunked that one for me, as in fact she died from a heart attack.

There are all sorts of categories on Snopes that you can check out  from music to scams to computers and movies etc. Follow them @snopes

"Thing three" that I found useful was JP Rangaswami's  library and information theory. JP said that Stories are the DNA to carry information ; society is bound by stories; we (society) are the future of storytelling. The library is a place where stories are generated and created –  Libraries and librarians are better than the internet  Relationships and learning are part of the stories – we need to make our own stories. I tried these soundbites out on some music students but I don't think they were impressed. Find out more about JP at his very readable Confused of Calcutta blog  - I particularly liked this entry. JP also has a TED broadcast "information is food" which I've included.

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