I guess it's time to review the new Leonard Cohen CD, Dear Heather. The first thing I should say is that I am happy that there is another album and I am happy that I didn't have to wait five years for it to come out. I like this album, but not as much as his others.

Dear Heather has made me appreciate Ten New Songs, an album I had mixed feelings about. I think Ten New Songs is a better album than Dear Heather, mostly because I fear that some of the songs on the new one verge on Adult Contemporary. The production on the last two records is the problem: there really isn't any. But, Leonard Cohen at his weakest is light years ahead of most other artists. It's a treat simply to hear his voice and listen to the words. I hope we get to hear more from him in the years to come. This can't be the last album.

I have had a day of research. Some carefully-chosen music aided me in my chore. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion really helped me to get up the energy for reading several articles. Later, I resorted to The League of Gentlemen when my energy started to wane. There is just something so cool about Inductive Resonance (the live version , from Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx).

The other day, I spoke with someone who thought that I signed out books all day. She honestly believed that librarians spend their days checking out books. I have to say that I have always been bugged by the librarian stereotype and the general lack of knowledge about what it is that we do. Maybe we need to market more. The trouble is that there is a broad range of tasks that we do. Maybe we need new names. But, I have been an Information Specialist, and that was even worse. Public librarians and school librarians do vastly different things from Academic librarians (like me). But, we all have at least one Masters degree. That is not a very well-known fact. Maybe no one cares?

Tags: Leonard Cohen, Librarians