Now, thanks to Corey, a blog with comments! Tell me every little thing.

Today's crop of reference questions has included:

• Where can I find books on the history of the electron microscope?
• Where can I find books on yoga?
• Where can I find articles discussing why people want to be in romantic relationships?
• Where can I find anything about the Bristol Bay (AK) salmon fishing industry?
• Who on campus is doing research on welfare reform?
• How can I find out whether the racial makeup of PAC-1o teams is proportionate to the racial makeup of the institution or the region the team is from?
• Reported by a colleague: How many copies of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code have been printed in the United States?

My favorite reference question of yesterday was: How is "fish" spelled in Yiddish? Answer: "fish."

An interesting observation about politics and the media here; it's a thought I'd sort of had before, but which I hadn't been able to articulate very well.

Apparently the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which was advertised at a pre-pub price of $9,900, is full of mistakes.

Bush and Kerry talk intellectual property, copyright, and open access. Well, maybe "talk" isn't the right word. "Opine," maybe.

Sue Protheroe, about whom I have never before heard a thing in my life, is a great teacher. If you Google her, you also find out she's a runner who does a 6:52 pace on a 10K. Go, Sue! I used to live in Iowa, and I can tell you honestly, they need more like you there.

This blog continues to take shape as I write it, although now that it accepts comments I think it may start to feel more relevant to my work and life. Writing without comments enabled is writing into the void. Chatter adds value.

That said, I'm going to be busy for the next few weeks, preparing to teach next term, so we'll see how often I get in here.