Andy Priestner

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3536318.html

It's a book that is definitely a labour of love, but a love that is not blind and doesn't flinch from pointing out the show's occasional weaknesses.

Priestner takes us through the creation process, including the nuts and bolts of filming (though I wish he'd been a bit more specific about the Brussels locations) but also the backgrounds of actors, writers and directors, and an examination of influences on the show, and also its shadow cast into the future (including a despairing section on Allo! Allo!). There's a heart-breaking account where he gets the cast together years later to reminisce about their days on the show, and then discovers that the precious video he made of their conversation was taped over to record a family barbecue. (We've just been going through the video tapes in the attic ourselves, which tugs at the heartstrings a bit.) If you're thinking of revisiting Secret Army, now that it's easier to do so than ever, I recommend that you have Andy Priestner by your side.… (mais)

Instructive for pointing out that the source for insights into how to how to think about libraries is not always from the viewpoint of the managers (i.e., the librarians), but from that of those who actually use the library: the patrons.

After that, this book is primarily about different methods that can be used to obtain that information. Most of these are some form of ethnographic techniques borrowed for the social sciences, like anthropology. As a first effort, this is fine. The discussion, however, never ventures deeper than capturing surface observable behaviors and conscious motivations. Unlike the disciplines from which these methods have been taken, they are not employed to discover hidden connections. The danger with such skimming sampling is that the library will resolve to give the users what they want, but not necessarily what they need (e.g., given their stated purposes for being in the library, are they pursuing the best course to achieve those ends? They may say they want a cafe, but that may exactly what they *don't* need.)… (mais)