Central Public Library in Ottawa

A news story in the paper today - Not closing the book on new library: Retiring chief librarian Barbara Clubb says the city needs a new central facility more than ever. Yes, it's true. It's very, very true. Our main branch should be a lot better than it currently is.

Also, shelves on wheels that can be moved for large gatherings: brilliant.

Also also: Happy Winterthing!

You Wouldn't Steal a Car

I'll skip the whole 'I am a terrible blogger' thing and just point out this delicious, delicious irony: those annoying anti-piracy adds at the beginning of movies have been caught using pirated music. I wriggle my fingers in glee.

Pantsuits, Pink and the Power of the Librarian

Alex Yarrow on the librarian stereotype:

The librarian stereotype, if you are not familiar with it, is the bun-wearing, bespectacled, sharp-edged shushing spinster, the woman Donna Reid’s character in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life would have been had she not married Jimmy Stewart’s George. There has been much backlash within my profession, most markedly in recent years, against this stereotype (see particularly The Hollywood Librarian and You Don’t Look Like a Librarian). While I applaud these efforts, I sometimes think there is a jagged edge of self hatred hiding in this discourse, mixed with generous portions each of anxiety and self-congratulation: we seek to distance ourselves so much from the stereotype that we go around boasting about how we love noise in the library, how we hate the smell of old books, and, goodness, we would never own a cat or wear glasses. See, look, we have tattoos. We like to make music videos.

Do read further! I still think it'll only help patrons find me if I continue to pull my hair back and wear my glasses. Really, it's the glasses. Also name tags might work...

CPD23 Thing 14: Citation Services

CPD23's Thing 14 is all about citation stuff, namely Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike. I had fully intended to try all these out and see what I liked about them, but I put it off a few times and now, finally, I admit I'm probably not going to get around to doing it soon so will post anyway.

I like the idea of these. Personally, I don't really mind writing up citations. One girl in my program (and I can't remember who) said she liked writing up her reference list; it was like a reward for finishing the job. Something like that. I'm pretty indifferent.

I do recall a partner on a project finding a citation website that she was very enthused about, though her enthusiasm faded when she discovered the citations it formatted weren't quite what she needed. And that, I suppose, is my issue with sites like this that attempt to simplify 'tedious' work: they make little mistakes. Citation rules change often enough that I'd be careful using gimmicky stuff. I rely on two sites: Research and Documentation Online, 5th Edition and, to a lesser extent or when I want to double-check something, Purdue OWL Writing Lab. They've served me well. I particularly like the format and examples at RDO5E. Some databases like EBSCO helpfully provide citations for their articles, which is also great.

Mysterious Paper Sculptures Appear In Libraries

There's been a rash of mysterious paper sculptures showing up in libraries and other such places in Scotland. They seem to be little gifts of love to places where books and literature live, quite fond of words. Cute, cool, anonymous, and very talented!

Bear Police

I'm probably not supposed to find this Penny Arcade strip funny, but I do. I so, so do.

"You probably remember Berenstain Bears quite well, assuming you endured a larval state and did not simply emerge from your father’s head, fully formed, like Athena. Well, they’re still making them: they’re still making most of those things. They’re still making Goofus and Gallant for Chrissakes, except now Goofus retreats into his hoodie with his iPod while Gallant helps his mom with Powerpoint. But these Bears, man! They’re still bearing it all the way up."

Maggie Goes On a Whatnow?

Oh, gosh. Just look at this.

The children’s book Maggie Goes on a Diet hasn’t even been released yet, but it’s already been deemed problematic by many, and rightly so. Even without reading the book, much can be gathered from both the title and the cover, which shows Maggie, the book’s 14-year-old protagonist, holding a dress while looking in the mirror at a slimmer version of herself.

The summary reads,
This book is about a 14-year-old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal-sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.

Maggie Goes on a Diet is getting some pretty bad press already, concerning both libraries and bookstores as well as health professionals.

Wow, that is some pretty nasty stuff. I think this subject could be approached differently; a book encouraging kids to make healthy changes to their lifestyle that result in weight loss is a good idea. It's kind of a good idea? Except not this way. This way rhymes and has the protagonist losing weight and gaining popularity and attention from boys. Whuh? Couldn't Maggie have friends when she's not skinny who are happy she's more comfortable playing when she's lost some weight but love her regardless? I can just see some parent giving this book to a kid and leading to some self-esteem issues and trauma.

Thing 13 - Google Docs, Wikis, and Dropbox

Google Docs: Google again! Praise Google. But be careful with Google because things you put in their systems are subject to their copyright which, last I heard, gives them rights to anything you shove in Google Docs. Some workplaces think Google Docs are awesome without realizing that they aren't copyright secure. So, as always, mind what you do with Google and cover your ass.

Wikis: I love these. Wikis are beautiful. It's like having knowledgeable monkeys at typewriters happily updating about things they love. Granted, it means Pasqualina is a fine Irish name, but these things happen.

Here is some advice about setting up a wiki: use templates and make rules about appearance. My experience with wikis has generally been through hobbies. While wikis allow multiple people to update, those people mostly have different ideas about what looks good on a page. They like to be different, so there will be different background colours, different fonts, thirty million pictures, unnecessary banners, and a whole host of other design 'features' that look like crap. Templates, templates, templates. It may seem draconian to limit the maximum pixel size and number of images allowed, but these things can and will be abused. Even if you're in love with the idea of multiple people editing a webwork of pages (like I am, I would marry it but I don't think it's interested in me), you want those pages to look the same. A wiki needs to be a unified whole even if it has a bunch of different writers. This means moderation and upkeep. The less control you keep over your wiki, the less professional it looks and the harder it is to navigate.

Dropbox: This one I don't know. The little video presentation in the CPD23 post is behaving oddly for me, so I'll just say this: this sounds like a great idea! I like the part where multiple copies aren't floating around. I'm not sure how it deals with various file formats/compatibility issues. Is there a limit to file size? Is this going to lead to music file sharing? What's the copyright like? I'm tempted to set one up now, but I have no idea what I'd put in it to share so I think I'll pass and try to remember this in the future.

What do you use your Dropbox for? Have you ever contributed to or maintained a wiki?

Thing 12 - Putting the Social Into Social Media

Oh. My. Gosh.

Over a month without updates, that is crazy. I did this daily. What?

Work started, and for the first couple of weeks I was adjusting to that. Generally, when I got home I just didn't want to update the blog. I would think about it guiltily sometimes, especially on weekends, but that was about it. I'm so lax! Whoa!

Anyway, I have some time now on beautiful, beautiful Labour Day, so I'll write up some posts and queue them up. Maybe.

Putting the Social Into Social Media: Are we still talking about this? Okay. Yes, social media and CPD23 has put me into light contact with people I would not have otherwise met, mostly British people. Which is cool, I like British people! How 'bout that wedding earlier this summer, eh? For people in my city, not so much. I'm a little more shy about poking my virtual head out with people I might actually work with, something I should probably get over but I do manage to meet some people at live events.

I don't really like the idea of adding people to follow just to add people to follow: it's a signal to noise ratio thing. I still find that being so new means I don't even know what questions to ask yet. As I get more experience in the workplace (I am looking forward to this year's fieldwork program), I know I'll have more to ask about.

Thing 11 - Mentoring

23 Things for Professional Development's eleventh 'thing' is mentoring. Since I'm a rookie and not out of school yet, I am going to focus on being a mentee.

Again, I will praise my college for providing me with excellent instructors who genuinely care about the success of their students. I can think of two in particular! If you are a student, I hope there is an instructor like this you can talk to. This is also a good reason to take your studies seriously and not slack off. If you're just going to class to get by, you will not be one of the people your instructors go to for special projects or opportunities. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is, particularly to younger students. Your professional life doesn't start when you take your first library position; it begins in school. Being a student provides you with opportunities you may not necessarily get once you graduate. It is important to work hard. CPD23's post says as much:

As a mentee, your role is not to accept the advice and assistance of a mentor passively, but to try to give back in terms of gratitude, professional sharing, and enthusiasm. You should be quite clear about your strengths and weaknesses and be honest about what sort of assistance you would like your mentor to provide. Such clarity and straightforwardness will lead to a much more productive and successful relationship.

Thing 10 - Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation

CPD23's tenth 'thing' is all about schoolin' and various pieces of paper you can get to prove you would make a good library worker. It's written from a UK standpoint, which means it is not so much of use to me.

Henceforth, here is some Canadian information:

There are two routes: you can study at school to get a Master's degree in Library and Information Science, more commonly known as an MLIS, or you can get a Library and Information Technician diploma. I went with the second route, as I was under the impression it would take less time and due to various vagaries of life, I wanted to get a move on.

I've heard a lot of conflicting reports about which is 'better', the degree or the diploma, and as far as I can tell it boils down to whether or not you want to be in management or not. That road is easier to take with an MLIS, but occasionally a tech will manage to rise through the ranks. An MLIS will probably net you more pay than a technician. On the other hand, if two people have the same skills and one can be hired for less money in these unstable times in the field, they're probably going to go with the technician.

As I understand it, there's some friction between the degree and diploma holders. One group might think the other doesn't know what it's doing or lacks the proper skills to fill a position. I'm not entirely clear, but I vaguely expect to be lightly sneered at by someone with an MLIS at some point in my career. My idea was that I could go and get a degree should I need one in the future. Money, possible debt, and time were factors in my decision. As I have mentioned before, my classes have been extremely useful in actual practice. I feel I am being trained very well.

The Canadian Library Association's Info Nation page is a good place to start looking for technician and Master's programs. You will notice there are more places to get a technician's diploma than there are to get a degree.

Thing 9 - Evernote

23 Things for Professional Development's ninth 'thing' is Evernote. From the looks of it, it seems like a combination of bookmark-type managing and note taking that can be accessed anywhere on the web. That sounds like a pretty good idea, though I think it would be hard to break out of the habit of bookmarking things.

I will admit things get a bit fuddled via bookmarks. Sometimes I'll tiredly bookmark a page, shove it into my 'library/articles' folder, and then forget what the heck it is when I'm scrabbling through the bookmarks in search of a post topic. And then I have to click through every single one and skim it to remember why it piqued my interest. Boo!

Evernote sounds useful and I'm installing it as I write this with the intent to play around with it. I would like to see if the clipping is good for, say, saving content that might later be taken down. Again, I would like to caution that you do make sure you save items of importance in multiple areas in the case of service failure.

Thing 8 - Google Calendar and Eggs in Baskets

It's a civic holiday today, and you know what that means! It means I go to my grandmother's and help move stuff around. It also means I can catch up on my neglected little blog.

Thing 8 for CPD23: Google Calendars! They seem pretty useful. I'll admit I've tried to use them now and again but they never stick. Google Calendars do remind me a little of the shared calendars I use at work now. I have to put any meetings or training seminars I'm going to into said shared calendar. It's not the most intuitive name to look up, either, but it'll do. It also flashes little warnings when meetings are coming up, which would probably be more useful if I was actually at my computer and not in a file room.

And now for a cautionary tale: do not put all your eggs in one basket, especially if that basket is Google.

You may have heard that Google+ has been deleting accounts. There are a few reasons, but some people are being locked out for not using their real name, or at least what Google thinks is their real name. This is not so good news for people with screen identities, but the greater problem is losing access to your entire Google account if you have been storing all your data there. DON'T DO THIS.

Keeping all your stuff in one online 'cloud' is an interesting idea. Access it from anywhere, blah blah blah, but always keep backups. Actually, make the cloud your backup. Think of all the things Google can manage: calendars, correspondence, contacts, documents. Now think about what would happen if you suddenly lost access to that data.

On July 15 2011 you turned off my entire Google account. You had absolutely no reason to do this, despite your automated message telling me your system “perceived a violation.” I did not violate any Terms of Service, either Google’s or account specific ToS, and your refusal to provide me with any proof otherwise makes me absolutely certain of this. And I would like to bring to your attention how much damage your carelessness has done.

My Google account was tied to nearly every product Google has developed, meaning that I lost everything in those accounts as well. I was also in the process of consolidating everything into my one Google account. (…)

While the long post the article quotes the paragraphs above from has been taken down, there are other examples of this happening.

I would like to introduce you to something. That black box to the left is an external hard drive. Anyone who's ever had a computer meltdown and lost their data can tell you how much that stinks. This external hard drive allows me to back up all the files I would very much mind losing. It is small, portable, and has a lot of space. This is where you put the kinds of things you don't want to lose.

To the right is something called a day planner. They are also small, portable, and come in a delightful array of styles and colours. You write down your appointments and notes in them. These are both very useful tools.

Please remember, if you hand all your data to Google (or any other one 'place'), you may rue the day.

Thing 7 - Face to Face Networks and Associations

I actually belong to a library association! I decided to be on the ball and joined one headed by one of my teachers during my second semester. It's already come in handy. I'm pretty sure I've already discussed it here, but I'm too lazy and sore right now to dig up links. I continually try to sell the idea to classmates mostly for the first reason on the CPD23 post's list: opportunities for networking. Mostly I'm trying to get them to join for the benefits, but I'll also admit I'm not precisely sad if they don't join, because I am mercenary in nature and like to get a leg up on potential competition while enjoying social aspects of associations.

CPD23's post gives other good reasons to join associations. Organizations and networks:

• Provide opportunities for training and professional development
• Provide structured professional development and qualifications
• Have formal publications
  

Do check out the CPD23 blog post. Of particular interest to me is Hack Library School, what with their emphasis on schoolin' and students.

Thing 6 - Online Networks

Thing 6, online networks, talks about Facebook and LinkedIn.

I can't say I use Facebook for networking or anything work-related yet. I really only joined to keep touch with a girl from my kung fu class who moved away; then people from high school found me, and then I friended a bunch of friends, and then I started school again and wound up joining a program-related group as well as adding new library program friends, which lead to me shifting from a very infrequent user to someone who pretty much logs in every day. I try to keep it all positive and professional enough that I wouldn't be embarrassed should someone from work want to friend me. (Google+ has an advantage here in that you can make lists, or 'circles' of friends and limit what each group sees. So while you can share a link with Chuck Norris jokes with your buddies, people you work with don't have to see it.)

I mostly save my library talk for this blog, limiting my fascination with pop culture and jokes. So, while I'm posting about a library offering a new program I think is a good idea on this blog, over on Facebook I'm posting things like this:



Community is really, really funny, and I wish my college experience was a little more like it. (And I've considered posting about it here on the basis that they are often in the college library, a tenuous link at best.) Anyway!

LinkedIn looks super useful, too, but I'm not joining it yet. I think I'll wait until I have a little more on my resume, or at least until I've graduated. A profile on LinkedIn would be so measly I doubt it'd be worth it. Of course, I could be wrong - do you have a LinkedIn profile? How's that working out for you?

File Monkey

I started my summer job this Monday; I haven't gotten used to not having all the free time in the world anymore. At the moment I'm an Information Management Consultant, which is a fancy way of saying I move paper around. Literally. I take piles of paper, sort them, and then distribute them in file folders in a file room. All day! The past two days I've been on my feet the entire day, so I'm pretty sore. My back hurts a little, too, and my legs are sore from bending and crouching and kneeling to access the bottom two shelves. Ow! Thank goodness I'm wearing sneakers. I think I might have to shift from casual sneakers to actual running shoes tomorrow, though.

The people I work with are nice. The two women older than me are hilarious and fun and often make me laugh. Most of my co-workers pity me, but everyone has to start somewhere. That somewhere is often a room with no windows and cramped shelving! It turns out I've been receiving a good education; my information management class prepared me really well for this job, and I know a lot of terms that might've confused me otherwise as well as laws and policies regarding confidentiality, the life cycle of information, and why there comes a point when stuff needs to get deleted or chucked. I flick through papers with a little rubber thimble on my index finger and dream of the day Library and Archives Canada goes fully digital.

While the filing work isn't the most interesting, I do get to listen to my iPod and wear jeans, neither of which should be ever be taken for granted.

Library Facebook Pages

From David Lee King, good tips for humanizing your institution's Facebook pages. The key is apparently updates, updates, updates. And pictures.

Harry Potter and the Love of Reading

With the release of the very last Harry Potter movie, kids (and grown-ups) everywhere are feeling some big-time nostalgia for the series. That works out in the library's favour, as a number of libraries have been inspired to do some Harry Potter programming. And why not? Harry Potter was a big thing. It got a lot of kids reading; it got a lot of adults reading, too. I remember riding the express bus in the morning on the way to work with a bunch of executive types in suits and skirts and heels, some of them with their noses in one Harry Potter book or another. It was pretty cool to see.

I was in my late teens when the first Harry Potter book came out; I was never swept into the hype. I haven't seen all the movies. (I liked the last one I saw, Order of the Phoenix, because they did such a great job on the fight in the Ministry.) I'd like to at some point. There are a number of younger kids in my program, some fresh out of high school, and I think about how great it would've been to grow up with the books.

(I imagine there were some downsides, too. Much like when I was a little kid and New Kids on the Block were the best thing since sliced bread, it can be a little rough when you don't like the 'in' thing. Or maybe you hit that age where the 'in' thing is the very last thing you want to do, you iconoclastic rebel youth, you.)

It was something of a phenomena, which is fun to witness. In any case, people left wondering what to read next will be happy to learn there are lists of read-alikes. From that list, Ender's Game is an interesting choice - different genre, sci-fi, but still 'little boy grows up special, saves the world'. I didn't particularly like Lev Grossman's The Magicians - there was only one character I liked even a little. Closer to the Potter age group, I'd personally recommend Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock.

And now I'm feeling nostalgic for the Secret of the Unicorn Queen books and thinking about how much more fun reading can be when it's shared in a community. Man, nobody else read Secret of the Unicorn Queen books when I was little.

What books did you read as a kid? Did you ever read the Secret of the Unicorn Queen series? What was your experience with Harry Potter books like?

Followups: Keith and Orchid, Threatening Library Budget Postcards

Good news!

• Keith Richards did NOT kill an orchid in the New York Public Library. (News story: 'Keith Richards killed my orchid', as posted December 2010)
• A library was not closed and now a little girl doesn't have to follow through on vague threats. (Story from Screwy Decimal, as posted June 2011)

Let's all take a moment to feel good.

MOMENT OVER.

Given In to Google+

I was curious and I gave in. I have a Google+ account. I poked around a little and have very little idea of how to use it. From what I can tell, I can spam at least three different streams with blog posts. Kind of. In any case, I've been reading up on it. Voila: Tips on How to Use Google+ Plus with bonus Chrome extensions for Google+.

Paperbackups

From Geekosystem: Internet Archive To Store Paper Copy Of Every Published Book

Internet Archive, a non-profit organization assembled in the 1990’s to build an internet-based library of digital collections has seemingly flipped positions, announcing an ambitious plan to store paper copies of every book they are able to acquire. With more than 100 million published works out there, Internet Archive wants to save one copy of every book ever published in the world. However, the company realistically hopes to establish long-term storage for approximately one copy of up to 10 million print books.

I find this both hilarious and gratifying. They were apparently inspired when they discovered people destroyed books Internet Archive scanned. Also: bit rot! Flipped bits! Actual terms that can be quoted in papers!

Thing 5 - Reflective Practice

Reflective practice is 'reviewing the experiences we have, learning from them and applying what we have learnt'. It reminds me of field trip reports, which I have mostly bulled my way through as a student. This happened. This happened. I liked this. I learned this. Almost like a fill-in-the-blanks exercise, really.

It also reminds me of maybe a step beyond my note-taking practices. I point form the heck out of things I'm being told and sometimes write myself little questions at the bottom of the page, most of which still make sense days later. Something about formalizing this process makes me roll my eyes a little. I'm not quite sure why. I imagine it's probably handy when attending conferences, something I have still managed not to do.

So, reflecting on CPD23:

1. Blogging: check, have been doing that for years.
2. Other Blogs: found some new ones!
3. Personal Brand: formalized this further with the new CPD23 blog.
4. Current Awareness: already used RSS feeds/readers, trying Twitter again and still not liking it much, haven't done much of anything with PushNote.

One aspect of CPD23 I have appreciated has been the increased traffic to my blog. My old blog never got this many views. It helps that my frequent posting lands me on the CPD23 sidebar fairly often; I get a lot of referrals from that site. I have followers! That's nutty! But will people continue reading when CPD23 is done? I must charm everyone NOW.

The nudge toward commenting has also paid off. I feel a little more like a member of a community, though I have a long way to go. That was something I never felt as a lone blogger. I'm still not managing one comment a day, but it's still much better than never commenting at all.

I think CPD23 covers quite a few things I already do, but prompts me to put more effort into doing them.

So now what? Well, if anyone has recommendations for Twitter feeds to follow, I'm all ears. Eyes. Whatever.

Making Blog Posts People Will Actually Read

Another from Geeks Are Sexy: How to write posts that people will actually read by Sterling Camden. Some pretty basic stuff. In summary:

1. Post about things you care about.
2. Read up on them.
3. Catchy titles are good!
4. Challenge your readers/ask for feedback
5. Be funny.
6. Use examples.
7. Link your sources.
8. Add your own insights.
9. Choose conclusions wisely.
10. Don't go on too long.

I would tentatively add use pictures. Images make things stand out in my RSS feed reader and generally get my attention. I rarely use images. I keep meaning to use more, especially when I read other blogs and see the clever/funny images they've used. It's extra effort is the thing.

One thing I find about adding my own insight to topics is that I don't so much have insight to share yet. I mostly say, 'this is a great idea' and leave 'er there.

10 Reasons Geeks Should Blog

Last one for today, I promise! From Geeks are Sexy, 10 Reasons Why Geeks Should Blog.

If you are interested in library studies, there is a good chance you're a geek. Or at least if you're a student there's a good chance you're a geek, from what I can tell from my fellow classmates. And by 'geek' I don't necessarily mean video-game playing, t-shirt wearing, socially awkward Star Trek fans - I mean people who get really excited about atypical things, like puzzles or Elvis memorabilia or, say, books. Anyway, guest blogger Chris Garrett provides the following ten reasons, which apply to library bloggers, too:

1. Clout from search engines. Google your name, get your website right up there in the results.
2. Career – "Once you have a good archive of wisdom to share, it can be of great help for your career, for furthering your job opportunities or getting freelance work."
3. Education - Stay up to date with industry changes and news.
4. Opportunities – Getting your name more well-known and your thoughts spread brings a wealth of opportunities, from startup gigs, freelance work, to speaking engagements and book deals.
5. Gadgets – "It is not all business and careers. Many bloggers get sent free gadgets to review. In my case, the freebies tend to be books, but hey… it’s all good!"
6. Attention – If people listen to what you say, people will want you to say more.
7. Communication – Yay interpersonal skills!
8. Networking – Who you know! Maybe you're better online than you are in person, but it still helps.
   
9. Writing – A geek who can write is a more valuable geek.
10. Money

Okay, numbers five and ten are in the realm of fantasy. I like how the author says he mostly 'only' gets books, like that's not great.

That list just has a summary; it's worth reading the full article. Cheers!

Twitter Bots

In light of CPD23 Thing 4's push for tools such as Twitter: ROBOTS.

Are You Following a Bot?

Can one person controlling an identity, or a group of identities, really shape social architecture? Actually, yes. The Web Ecology Project’s analysis of 2009’s post-election protests in Iran revealed that only a handful of people accounted for most of the Twitter activity there. The attempt to steer large social groups toward a particular behavior or cause has long been the province of lobbyists, whose “astroturfing” seeks to camouflage their campaigns as genuine grassroots efforts, and company employees who pose on Internet message boards as unbiased consumers to tout their products. But social bots introduce new scale: they run off a server at practically no cost, and can reach thousands of people. The details that people reveal about their lives, in freely searchable tweets and blogs, offer bots a trove of personal information to work with. “The data coming off social networks allows for more-targeted social ‘hacks’ than ever before,” says Tim Hwang, the director emeritus of the Web Ecology Project. And these hacks use “not just your interests, but your behavior.”

(When I think of robots, I tend to think of awesome ones, like Optimus Prime. In Twitter's case, though, it's more like Wheelie, the Jar-Jar Binks of the old Transformers cartoon*. And isn't it sad when we aren't quite sure if we're talking to a bot?)

What does Jabberwacky have to say about this?

Scarlet: What do you think about libraries?
Jabberwacky: What has that got to do with the name Nicole?
Scarlet: There are probably people named Nicole working in libraries.
Jabberwacky: You aren't very good with these questions.
Scarlet: You aren't very good with these answers.
Jabberwacky: Cleverbot, why are you being so mean to me?
Scarlet: I'm leaving now.
Jabberwacky: Not until I say you can.
Scarlet: Watch me, Wheelie.
Jabberwacky: No. You're not going anywhere, lucas.

...and then I left.

* He was apparently better in the comic.

Libraries as Art Galleries

For studio artists of all kinds, finding opportunities to exhibit their work can sometimes seem like a lifelong quest. The popular and well-trafficked exhibit spaces in local libraries are one way that artists can catch a break and have their worked viewed by the public.

...From an article about an art display over in a Boston library.

I really like this idea. It appeals to me because it aids a sense of community in the library, adds visual appeal, and increases foot traffic. This idea works best in a library that's not essentially a dim concrete bunker, though. It's a little more difficult to search up images of the library I'm more used to on the internet; apparently nobody takes pictures in the bunkers. I think the library's space, its appearance and how jam-packed it is, has a lot to do with the success of programs like this.

Library Science Terms That Sound Dirty

From McSweeney's, Library Science Jargon That Sounds Dirty. I am pleased to report I know what most of these terms refer to, though clearly the second year in my program is necessary because I do not know all of them.

Favourites:

1. Technical service
2. Information package
3. Full entry

I do not know what the flip a Warwick framework is and am actually too lazy to Google it.

I am also sad I didn't keep a record of random strange Library of Congress headings we ran across while searching up answers for our classification class. They were classy. Someone always found something good in those, at least in my immediate area, and we would promptly share with others. Or at least the lovely young woman to my immediate right and the dude behind us.

Invisible and Mistakenly Visible Books

Two links today:

1. The Invisible Library, books that exist only in fiction. Apparently there are websites listing these books that inevitably get abandoned (the sites, not the imaginary non-existent books, though really quite a lot of the web is abandoned sites). One such site's curator is interested in expanding to titles of fake books, namely the ones found on awesome secret door bookshelves that for some reason require fake books instead of real ones, which I think is sort of a waste of shelf space, but whatever. The article's author, Laura Miller, asks which imaginary book you would choose from the Invisible Library should you be allowed one checkout. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would be pretty great, true, but I'll admit to being curious about Carax's The Shadow of the Wind.
2. George R. R. Martin's A Dance of Dragons was leaked early. 180 copies are floating out there somewhere, so beware of spoilers. The series has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity due to the miniseries featuring Sean Bean. If you could choose a book or series of books to be made into a television series or movie, which one would you choose?

Thing 4 - Current Awareness

Thing 4 for the 23 Things for Professional Development program is Current Awareness. It focuses on RSS Feeds, Twitter, and Pushnote.

RSS Feeds
At least I already have RSS feeds (mostly) covered. I use Google Reader to manage feeds from various sites I'm following. My Miss Scarlet Gmail address just follows CPD23 and library blogs and it's pretty handy. It's not so handy with sites that update very frequently (like LISNews), which tend to overwhelm the feed. You lose a little something without being able to see a blog's design, but the counter to this is having something very plain to read which doesn't advertise 'hey, look what I'm looking at right now!'

Here are the sites I'm currently tracking in Google Reader with the Miss Scarlet account:

• A Librarian learns about Web 2.0!
• All Comprehension is Temporary
• Boolean Berry: Adventures in Librarianship
• I Can Read Big Words Now: A Newly Qualified Librarian's CPD23 Blog
• Librarian in a Nutshell
• London library girl
• Notes from the Basement
• Nouveau Librarian
• Odd Librarian Out
• ook librarian
• Rachel's Smaller CPD23 Adventure
• Reflections and ponderings: a librarian's perspective
• Rhythm & Knowledge
• Sarah Said Library
• The Hobbit Hole
• Trails and Trials of a Trainee Librarian
• Wee Librarian
• Younggeekylibrarian's Blog

Some of you have not been posting!

Twitter
Oh, Twitter. I've tried to have Twitter accounts before - a personal one I made just to get into the Library of Congress without intention to actually post anything (I wound up replying to tweets from a friend about a wedding I couldn't attend, for which I appreciated the live updates even if I couldn't quite figure out why said friend was messing with his phone the whole time), and an account for the older version of this blog, Lagomorph Watson (don't worry, all the old posts are imported here, don't bother to go looking). I tried to use the latter to follow a site or two, but again, post quantity was crazy.

I am admittedly at a loss with regards to how to use Twitter in relation to this site. I suppose I could tweet new posts, which would be redundant if anyone was using feeds but useful if they were not. Do I tweet anything else? Is this where I can share things that aren't library-related? Doesn't quite seem so. In any case, I made a new one: lib_scarlet.

Having a personal brand that includes a colour scheme is useful here. While picking a template for my shiny new Twitter feed, I just had to look at ones with red. That narrows down selection!

Pushnote
I decided to link my Pushnote to my Twitter Account. Hopefully, by marrying these two services I'm not sure about, I'll get more use out of them, kind of like Voltron except without any awesome cartoon battles. I'm not linking to Facebook, which I am still keeping separate.

Now let's see how fast my inbox fills up and how long I actually keep Twitter and Pushnote.

Tales from the Library

Essentially a bookmark - Tales from the Library, a site dedicated to your wacky library stories. Your wacky anonymous library stories, even. There isn't so much there, so please contribute! I know some of you out there must have things to share. Things I need to know.

Milkshake & Fries

Do You Like Books? Do You Like Giraffes?

Do you like books? Do you like giraffes? Do you like giraffes with books? Do you like t-shirts on sale?

Sadly, I do not need any more clever t-shirts or I'd be all over this. All over it, up and down.

LGBT Pride and Libraries

From Boolean Berry, one of the CPD23 bloggers - LGBT pride and libraries:

Libraries were my refuge from the world when I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be in it, let alone my place. The books were microscopes and telescopes that let me look inwards as well as out. The walls and stacks felt safe, the staff accepting. All that mattered was that we cared about what was inside the library, what it meant and what it stood for. But as I said, I was lucky. Plenty of kids aren’t: libraries aren’t just a refuge from the world for them, they’re a refuge from abuse. They’re not just somewhere for them to expand their reading, they’re the only somewhere they can access LGBT resources without being found out by people who would try to correct them or harm them. They’re somewhere where anyone should be able to freely educate themselves about the struggles people have overcome and still face, where places and times like The Stonewall Inn in 1969 can live on perpetually on a bookshelf or at an e-resource. So please, tell me that libraries are decrepit, archaic and not fit for purpose when even now there are scores of people, lost and disenfranchised, who need them just as much as they always have, even if they don’t know it yet.

Go read the full blog post, it's wonderful. This is what I've tried to say a few times, only phrased about a million times better. Also, Happy Canada Day!

Boo...ks are Cool

Well... baby steps, right?

Librarified Minecraft

Hey look, I found a new blog to follow, Librarified! (At least go look at the design, it's lovely and very distinctive and fun.) Read about an awesome Minecraft competition at her library. There's even a review policy, which implies the author, Gretchen Kolderup, actually has enough people giving her books for free that she needs a policy about it. I guess I gotta do more book reviews! Or I suppose I should start by reading more reviews to figure out how to write good ones.

Which library bloggers do you aspire to be like? Which ones inspire you? This could be your comment of the day!

Central Archives and Library Opening

This is what I did yesterday! Well, I was there. I didn't actually do much except get woozy near the end of the speeches and scuttle away to duck into a side room where a nice man gave me water. There were a lot of people, it was hot! You cannot see me almost pass out in this overly wide video, but I am there in the background when the City Archivist, Paul Henry, is speaking. Look for me near the edge of the crowd to the right, speaking with three other women (you can also see the back of Alex from Only connect's blonde head - she finagled an invite for me, a mere student! I shook hands with many, many important people). Sadly, I am not wearing red (I am the brunette with a ponytail/glasses behind Paul Henry's ear).



I got to go on a little tour, eat sandwiches, drop some kind of cream cheese on my shoe, mingle with library folk (always the nicest folk around), and see Jim Watson. It was a delightful opportunity to get my face out there. These sorts of events are handy, not only for field-related chit-chat. When you run into people you met there, you have an excuse to go up to them at other functions and chat some more. (This sometimes leads to offers of tours of other library-related sites, which are very cool.)

The facility is quite pretty. The writing on the glass you can see in the video is from Samuel Champlain and Colonel By (I'm not sure on the last one, my event papers are elsewhere at the moment). The toolbox on stilts you can see in the beginning is actually a little house with alphabet letters cut out of it. There are shelves and shelves of new materials in there. It was like being a kid in a candy store with no money. Must. Not. Touch. The bay with the bins and conveyor belt is especially impressive. There are lots of windows all around. It looks like a beautiful place to work.

Thing 3 - Personal Brand

Time for Thing 3!

Thing 3 is all about 'maintaining a consistent image' and 'portraying an accurate reflection of who you are'. You are prompted to 'consider your core values and how you can convey those messages to those who meet you in person and those who find you online'. Things to consider include the following:

1. Name - Is it a nickname? Is it consistent across various platforms? If it's not your real name, try using something easy to pronounce.
2. Photograph - Do you want to be recognized when you meet face to face? Probably. Consider using a recent photo of yourself instead of a cartoon or other image.
3. Professional/personal identity - Do you want to merge the two or will you keep them separate?
4. Visual brand - do you have a clear visual identity? This could be the colours you use, a style of imagery, or anything that makes you stand out/be unique. It should also be consistent across platforms.

My answers bleed into each other, so have a big block of text:

I don't like attaching my real name to things online, where it can be around forever and ever. This is perhaps a product of being on the internet since I was fourteen. Never give personal info! Ever! Sometimes I toy with the idea of using my real name, but I can always go public later. And if you really really want to find me, you probably could. In which case you might be a stalker, which is not good. But at least I made you work for it!

Miss Scarlet was my favourite character in Clue. I always thought she was pretty and mysterious (let's face it, she's kind of a babe). Red is one of my favourite colours. Red is bold and memorable. I decided to start wearing red to any function with library folks I'd want to network with - a red cardigan or a bright red necklace. I thought that people might associate me with the colour; that girl in red seems familiar... That sort of idea. (I haven't worn red for the last clutch of library-related outings, for which I am sad. This means I am constantly peering into store windows looking for red things. Red things on sale, to be specific.) I wanted red to be a visual brand. The latest copy of my resume has a red sidebar. I changed my old blog's colour scheme to red and white, and from there stepped to transitioning between the old blog (Lagomorph Watson) and this new one, also red. I don't really expect anyone to pick up on the clothing choices, but I'm hoping it's working on a subconscious level. Is that silly?

As for images, I don't have a personal one at the moment. I'm sticking with the Clue theme for now, with a scan of Miss Scarlet's character card for my profile image and the black outline of a woman with a gun on my sidebar. I have some ideas for incorporating my real picture in, but I'll admit I'm shy about that sort of thing and I'll have to push myself.

I'm still trying to figure out professional versus personal. Mostly I try to be professional but hopefully amusing, and every so often I throw that out the window and put up a comic or link to a silly story. Okay, more than every so often. I try to think of what a potential employer might think if they happened across my blog; because I'm so new - I'm a student, not even out there very much yet - that I don't want to be off-putting until I've got some experience to back me up. On the other hand, I want my blog to reflect my personality. I do not care if it reflects what I had for lunch or how I feel about my dog. I don't even have a dog.

As for visual style, I like to keep things clean and simple, hence the basic colour scheme and use of white space. I'm more concerned with my blog being readable than pretty, and I want it to look like something you can leave on your screen if your boss is walking by. The lady with the gun might not work that way, but she's thematic.

In short: red, red, red, red.

Street Librarian in Portland

A very cool idea! Laura Moulton operates a project called Street Books, a mobile library that provides books for the homeless. It's bike-powered and uses cards for cataloguing.

Reading the comments attached to the article is... interesting. Quite a few are negative, some so negative that I'm not sure if they're sarcastic or not:

Portland - there's nothing we won't do to get more homeless people around here.

If we give homeless people books, what incentive will they have to get jobs and buy books like decent citizens? We should deprive these people of as much as possible, because to do otherwise just encourages them to go on existing. Maybe if we all try just a little harder to make their life more of a living hell, they'll go away and we won't have to (not) deal with them.

I see you are catering to the drug infested homeless camp to your left in the photo. might as well, clean and safe picks up their garbage every morning, Saturday Market scrubs up there poop and piss, drug dealers make deliverys to them as well as the Ned Flanders style Christans who bring them sandwiches and coffee. The only time they leave is to go to the liquor store up the block. God forbid they would have to go to the library to get a book on there own.

I... don't think they're trying to be sarcastic. Just when the comment thread was getting depressing, though, this comment showed up:

Sure, it's free to take books out of the county library, but you have to have an address to sign up for a library card.

Homelessness isn't the piece of cake some commenters seem to think it is. Think of an endless camping trip, only there's no toilet, there are no showers, you could be rousted and chased away from your campsite at any moment, and you have to deal with disdainful stares and comments from many of the people you encounter. You need an address to apply for most jobs, not to mention that you'll need to get yourself cleaned up before you can interview. You have no secure, safe place for your belongings so you have to carry everything with you at all times and chances are high that you could be a victim of theft or violent crime. Then there's the question of how you're going to eat.

I know too many people who were sure homelessness could never happen to them until it did. If you have a home in Portland to go to at the end of the day, you are LUCKY. Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of taking that luck for granted and scorning the folks who weren't so fortunate, you could do something to share your good fortune with people who need a little help?

Postcards from the Edge (of the Reference Desk)

From Screwy Decimal System: Postcards from the Edge (of The Reference Desk). A series of postcards written by a 10-year-old for a postcard campaign in NYC protesting library budget cuts. They involve heads on platters and vague threats. (Don't worry, the one she finally wrote to send in was threat-free.)

Lisa Simpson and the Bookmobile

Reverend Lovejoy: “Oh hello Lisa! Can you recommend any books for my mobile?”
Lisa: “Ooh absolutely! Well you know, anything by Jane Austen.”
Reverend Lovejoy: “Jane Austen. Thanks Lisa, I’ll get right on it!”

(Reverend Lovejoy drives away and reveals his Book Burning Mobile.)



I snuck this one from The Lisa Simpson Book Club over on tumblr.

10 Funny Teen Books

Having mentioned the discussion regarding a Wall Street Journal article about the darkness of teen literature a couple of times, I was happy to run across Don Calame's Top 10 Funny Teen Boy Books.

When I'm on tour I'm regularly asked for the titles of funny books that might appeal to teenage boys. It's not an easy question to answer because, while there are a plethora of dark, supernatural, dystopian, vampire-werewolf-zombie-angel romance novels lining the shelves of the teen sections in shops and libraries, when it comes to humour - and boy humour in particular - the pickings tend to be slim.

Still, there are some very funny teen boy books out there (that will also appeal to girls, by the way). The best ones I've read so far appear on the list below. I've rounded out the list with a few books that aren't specifically YA, but I'm of the opinion that a good read is a good read no matter where someone decides it should be shelved.

I never had a problem identifying with male protagonists in books.

CPD23 Thing 2: Other Blogs

I've been poking around and adding other blogs to my Google Reader. There's a long list of participants, so it's hard to choose blogs to peek at! I've been going by blog names I like, mostly. Here are a few I've looked at:

• Lauren's Library Blog
• London Library Girl
• Nouveau Librarian
• Odd Librarian Out
• ook librarian
• Rachel's Smaller CPD23 Adventure
• Sarah Said Library

I'm still looking for others. Odd Librarian Out has a good idea - try to post one comment a day. That might help my comment shyness!

Hey, are there other students out there doing CPD23? Leave me a comment! Leave me a comment even if you're not a student.

23 Things for Professional Development

23 Things for Professional Development is a program for librarians (though I imagine you could apply tenets to other sorts of blogs as well). I am starting a day or so late. They really explain it best on the site:

So what is '23 Things' anyway?
23 Things is a self-directed course aimed at introducing you to a range of tools that could help your personal and professional development as a librarian, information professional or something else. Each week, we'll write about one or more tool from our list of 23 things and invite you to try it out and/or reflect on how it could help your professional development. Some of the tasks will be practical Things for you to try out straight away, and some of them will be less immediate: ideas to try in the future, or things you can start working towards now and realise in due course or when opportunity arises!

They have a list of Things to do. Thing 1 is to make a blog. I've done that already! I've had a blog on and off for maybe fifteen years or so. I am ahead of the game already. Or I guess I've caught up.

Thing 2: To start off your cpd23 blogging write a post about why you're taking part in the course. You could talk about where your career is now and where you'd like it to go, what you're hoping to learn from cpd23, which of the Things you're most (or least) looking forward to, how you feel about being a new blogger or how you'd like to improve your blogging, or anything else that relates to why you're doing this!

Right now I'm a student in a two-year library technician program. I've completed my first year. I started this blog in September 2009, when I was taking an Introduction to Library Studies night course. I thought it would help keep me up to date on various library-related things, which would in turn make me look so smart. I try to be professional without being dry as toast. I try to post daily, but that doesn't always happen. Which leads to another reason I'm taking part in 23 Things: post content.

Some days I don't find much I want to post about, or anything at all. By following this program, I will have at least twenty-three post topics. I haven't even read ahead, I don't know what this program involves save blogging and I think Twitter factors in somewhere.

Oh no, there's already a Scarlett Librarian. I should come up with something else.

Making Presentations That Don't Suck (Again)

I just like to post these sorts of things as a sort of bookmark, I suppose. How to make presentations that don't suck! I'm a little disappointed about the hot dog, though.

Internet Site Censorship in France

Sarkozy's latest plan for "civilizing" the Internet: a Great Firewall of France that government agencies to add URLs to without judicial oversight or public scrutiny on the basis of broad, nebulous criteria.

Well, that's pretty troubling.

Field Notes on Science and Nature

Field Notes on Science and Nature would quite possibly be my ultimate coffee table book. And regular reading, too, but look at those pictures.

Tension Scroll Bookshelf

I would like one of these Scroll Bookshelves, please. Bonus: hidden compartments!

Read More

Just a cute tattoo. Certainly a good sentiment! Also, that girl's hair really brings out her eyes. I've thought about getting a tattoo but have never been able to think of something so important/meaningful I'd want it on me forever.

Job Shadow

I got to job shadow at a public library today! My day included:

• Stamping things
• Folding pamphlets
• Talking to schoolkids about a summer reading club
• Eating pizza and cookies
• Riding around on the bookmobile

I had crazy amounts of fun. Maybe it's sad, but I like stamping stuff with a real inkpad and folding pamphlets. It's tangible stuff you can finish. Look, accomplishment! Right there! Plus I suspect I have always harboured a desire to stamp things in an official manner. I imagine doing either of these things for very extended periods of time would be less fun, but there's enough to do that you could break it up enough to be good with it.

Seeing the kids was pretty fun. They really do say the damnedest things. And it's great to see them enthusiastic, especially about reading. They seemed to enjoy my modeling swimming trunks for a guessing game, and I'm a sucker for getting a few giggles.

Supposedly library staff do not have pizza every day for lunch but I secretly suspect they do. That must be why they're all so funny and nice.

The bookmobile is a monstrous vehicle crammed full of books. Good books! The people who use it really really use it. The third seat in the back provides a bumpy ride. Sadly, the incinerating toilet does not make a FWOOSH sound when you press the button, but that was the day's only disappointment.

My feet hurt! Sneakers next time.

Working at a public library has a lot going for it, and I am very, very tempted.

The Library of Congress Twitter Project Continues

Remember that thing where the Library of Congress decided to archive twitter? They're still at it. While I've warmed up to Twitter since I posted about it last year, part of me still wonders if this is a worthwhile project. Just a small part of me. I'm more on board with Twitter being a reflection of society today (or at least society with ready access to computers).

Also to do with archiving internet junk: The Paleozoic Internet!

A Game of Spoilers

Also from the New York Magazine blog!

Game of Thrones Recap: A Newbie and a Superfan Debate That Huge Thing That Happened.

Game of Thrones (which sounds better than the official title of the series, The Song of Ice and Fire) has been adapted to an HBO show. It's doing rather well, with most of it being pretty spot-on, summarizing what needs summarizing and adding things in order to cut out vast swaths of pages. And if it's confusing, that's okay: the books are confusing, too, and I swear you're getting a simplified version with the show.

The part where Game of Thrones gets good is A Huge Thing That Happens that turns the genre standard on its ear and lets you know you don't know how this particular story goes. It's Huge. Absolutely HUGE, and until last Saturday everyone who'd already read the books were squirming in their seats, waiting for the newbies to the series to finally see that Huge Thing which makes most followers of the books such devoted fans. And it's been awesome to sit back and watch people toss out their theories while knowing what's going to happen.

The best comparison I can come up with is the big reveal at the end of The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader revealed he was Luke's father. I didn't see the trilogy until I was about fourteen or fifteen - Lucas had just rereleased VHS tapes with the original movie. My brother had gotten them for Christmas, so that afternoon we were holed up in the basement, spellbound. He'd seen the movies way back in the day. I knew what was going to happen, but I still loved every second.

In the age of the internet, you can get spoiled for just about anything. There's simply too much to keep under wraps: casting calls, scripts, reviews, reports. Writers sometimes put out fake copies of scripts for big finales just to throw people off the trail. It's always out there, being tempting. Sometimes you get tempted and go looking, and other times a random comment on someone's blog or journal just surprises you and you find out who killed Lilly Kane before you can see the damn episode not that I'm bitter or anything. While it would've been better not to know, I think, it was still interesting to watch the last few episodes.

And that's why I reread books, really. Because the second time around you can catch lots of little details you didn't the first time, and if you're the type of person to get emotionally invested in a story, you still get hit hard. (I required Kleenex at the end of episode nine of Game of Thrones. I admit it.) Getting spoiled isn't super awesome, but it's not the end of the world. It makes me sad when people refuse to watch The Usual Suspects just because they know the twist. It's the journey to get there, people!

(Awesome shirt designed by Olly Moss from the Threadless site. I have this t-shirt and I love it.)

Ode to a Four-Letter Word

From the New York Magazine site: Ode to a Four-Letter Word. Starts with F, rhymes with duck.

That word—which appears, like a crude jack-in-the-box, in the last line of every stanza—is why the book works, both creatively and commercially. Yet this popularity was not a foregone conclusion. Like sex, alcohol, nudity, and drugs, swearing sets off the great American seesaw of schoolmarmish horror and schoolyardish glee, and it can be hard to predict whether a writer who curses will wind up exalted or excoriated.

That just seemed like such an apt description. Anyway, food for thought regarding the use of language and the appropriateness of a good cuss word now and again. Words are meant to express concepts, yes?

Captain James T. Librarian

I really just want to go to bed. Behold:



The creepy smile at 0:15 amuses me. Also, Kirk would've been a terrible librarian.

"You can! Find... that book... in section... six! Hundred!"
Hitting on all the lady library patrons.
Throwing styrofoam rocks around.

MADNESS.

Throwing Books Out

There's a pile of books in my bedroom. They are mostly books my mother has already read: we both like thrillers and mysteries. She reads a lot faster than I do (mostly because I got hooked on computers and the internet at age fourteen and now only take time to read actual books before I go to bed, but I swear I used to go through them really fast), so this pile of books is ever-growing. It is a backlog. There are many. They are legion.

On my bookshelf, meticulously custom-built by a very handy neighbour to be so shallow as to only hold paperbacks, there are books I have read more than once. I cleaned out a big batch the last time I rearranged my bedroom to only contain multiple read books, but now there are clingers. There are books adding up, getting wedged onto the shelves. I'm really not sure I'll read The Magicians again, but it's on the shelf, stacked on top of two volumes of the Harry Potter series (have read multiple times, will probably read again). Next to that, Library of the Dead is sandwiched between On Stranger Tides* (will definitely read again) and the short story collection Fragile Things (should read again, don't recall what's in it). I don't think I'll bother reading Library of the Dead again, but it's there, cluttering up the works. I do not want to get rid of it. I do not want to get rid of any of the books. I do not want to donate them. I want to horde them forever.

Not all books, mind you. I finished one called Sizzle that I disliked so much I've been stalling on adding it to the 'books read' sidebar over to the right there. I could drop that sucker into a recycling bin, no problem. But MOST books... they linger.

I am reminded I must weed by a post by someone named Tom O'Hare in Brutish & Short, found while I rummaged about the interwebs for something to post about.

I realize that I use this weekly space to talk about my personal life too much, and I frankly don’t care. Because today, before I disclose the most wonderful things you missed on the blog this week, I would like to discuss books. And I would particularly like to discuss the newfound joy I feel when I throw books the fuck away.

I can't help it, I enjoy a foul-mouthed discussion. It's funny, read it over, think about the books on your shelf (or piled next to your dresser) and remember:

...Books are just words written on paper. They’re not fundamentally different from blogs or newspapers, except for the fact that both of those media lend themselves quite a bit more easily to the process of a) consumption and b) immediate disregard. In other words, you buy a book and you’re expected to keep it. Even after it’s gotten all of the use it’s ever going to get, you’re expected to keep it. Display it. Put it on your bookshelves and watch the gawkers gawk. Even if 90+% of those books will never be touched again, we feel a compulsion to hold onto them. To forefront them. To amass them, even though nobody will ever read them again.

* On Stranger Tides has nothing to do with the Pirates of the Caribbean movie that recently came out. Or, I suppose, very little to do with said movie. They bought the license essentially because the book and the movie shared two plot points: Blackbeard and the fountain of youth, and I guess they were trying to cover their asses or something. But anyway, read On Stranger Tides, because it is a wonderful book and I quite like Tim Powers.

The Girl With the Bad Cover of The Immigrant Song

I have a problem with Hollywood's remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie:




WHY DID YOU MESS WITH THE IMMIGRANT SONG? Karen O, I expected better from you. Insert commentary on Hollywood remaking movies it doesn't need to remake subtitles book adaptations blah blah blah here. Don't mess with Zeppelin.

Diane Duane on Darkness in Teen Literature

From the sounds of it, this whole Wall Street Journal 'teen literature is too dark' thing is really getting talked about, at least in some circles. To the point where people are getting sick of it!

Anyway, Diane Duane (a YA author) has this to say on the subject:

What I found while doing one-to-one therapy with adolescent patients is that to successfully start working through their problems, what they initially needed more than anything else was confirmation and acknowledgement from those around them that the problems existed in the first place – that they weren’t unique or alone in their situation, that other people knew about it and that it was real. Books dealing with the problem in question were and are often a useful tool to help that acknowledgement get started, and even (in some cases) in getting a patient past their own denial that they had any such difficulty at all.

When I was practicing, such books were often painfully dry and didactic, and I wish there’d been more young adult fiction available on such subjects… for fiction (especially when done well) tends to lecture less than nonfiction and is more likely to be successfully internalized because you’re hearing, not a dry recitation of fact, but someone’s voice. Young adult novels that deal honestly with such issues unquestionably have value for teens groping their way toward understanding of how to tackle their problems. They invite them into the dialogue: they make the troubled teen part of the solution. And at the very least, they let their readers know that they’re not alone. There are times when that knowledge is enough to mean the difference between life and death. Here, without any doubt whatever, YA really does save.

What a gigantic quote. She has a lot more to say, too, if you care to follow the link. Again (I feel like I say this every time the subject comes up), the sense of feeling alone is a big problem for kids, or even for grown-ups, and having a book that makes someone feel less alone is often helpful.

Super Databases

Oh my gosh this is exciting: EBSCO and H.W. Wilson will be combined into 'super databases'. Among other features, it will include results for 'use for' and 'see also' terms of keywords, presumably removing a step for the user. I will miss access to the school's databases.

Search Engine and Navel-Gazing

I tried really hard to come up with a post yesterday so I wouldn't break my streak. I combed through a bunch of bookmarks and everything and came up with zilch, but today - today, my friends, I will post twice. I will remain on the wagon.

(I recently read a piece on Walt Crawford's blog about not posting due to obligation, but when you have something to say, and it made me think a little about the goal of this blog, to find something library-related each day. Is that useless? I don't think so. I can't claim my blog is terribly deep; most of my content is picked from other blogs. But really, no one has to read it. It's a useful resource for me. It's incentive to keep up to date on things going on in the library world, even if I don't have anything really meaningful to say about them. And I may not post about them, but I do read the material. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm not posting for an audience so much as for myself. If you'd like to come along for the ride, you're more than welcome. Comment if you like!)

Right. Where was I? Oh. Look, a comic!

From Speed Bump.

Wall Street Journal Young Adult Literature Faceoff

Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote an article about how dark young adult (YA) fiction is for the Wall Street Journal. It has some pretty loaded language about censorship/banning:

In the book trade, this is known as "banning." In the parenting trade, however, we call this "judgment" or "taste."

I was chatting with a friend who works as a librarian at a high school.

Me: "While I understand censorship is not fundamentally bad, man, what an asshole way to phrase it."

My friend: "See, there's no objection by anybody to a parent making decisions about what their individual kids read. It's when they try to say what ALL kids should read that the asshole comes out."

The comments section of the article is a pretty interesting read, too, including this bit that just makes me wince:

"Young Adult" fiction is hack-work, ground out to a publisher's guidelines. Read, and give, real literature. It doesn't come in categories. For a 13 year old: Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities", with character development, good and evil, moral complexity, sentiment and love... There is lot's more, a library-full. Supernatural? The Turn of the Screw. Horror? Poe. She is the right age for Anne Frank's Diary (not some pathetic Judy Blume imitation).

A good rule of thumb: Nothing less than 100 years old (I broke that rule with Anne Frank). Classics are classics because they have passed the test of time. There are more recent works of merit, but you have to separate them from mounds of trash.

Why would teenagers want to read about people their own age experiencing lives they can relate to? CRAZY TALK. It's like forcing everyone to wear hiking boots. Yes, they're very practical and sturdy, but you're not always hiking and sometimes you want a shoe you can dance in. You may not need the shoes, but you enjoy them.

I can't believe I just used shoes as an example. SHOES. I feel like I need to go do kung fu and weld now to make up for it*. Ugh. But first, a response to the Wall Street Journal article: Positive Messages in YA. Also worth reading, Should Young Adult Books Explore Difficult Issues? from Christopher Farley at Speakeasy:

...Books such as “The Catcher in the Rye” which seemed radical in some ways for their times now just seem honest and traditional. Books that some critics once considered pathological or antisocial or worse are now commonly considered classics, such as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Chocolate War,” “Flowers for Algernon,” “1984,” and “The Lorax.”

Contemporary books such as Walter Dean Myers’ “Monster” (which deals with murder and imprisonment), Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” (religion and revolution), Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Speak” (rape and depression), and the works of M.T. Anderson (racism, consumerism, and too many other things to list) may reap similar acclaim from future readers.

The worst pathological books will fade away with childhood. The best will live on and become permanent parts of the landscape of adolescence. I’m now going to let my son watch all the news he wants (within reason) and to read YA fiction to his heart’s content (as long as my wife agrees too). I’ll just be there to talk it over with him.

* I'm crossing my fingers that I can sub in my welding courses for my general elective. I'd rather have the free time to work on other things, and if the purpose of GenEd courses is to be well rounded, how do you get more well-rounded than a welding librarian? I don't know, if I was in a post-apocalyptic situation I'd want the person who could weld in my bunker, not the one that took the wine-tasting course. But that's just me, I like to justify things by how useful they would be in an apocalypse or zombie outbreak. Best incentive for exercising I've ever found.

Gaga the Librarian

I was trying to think of what to say about Lady Gaga's statement that she is like a librarian of glam, but thankfully The Annoyed Librarian did the work for me, making a list of the top 5 reasons Lady Gaga is not a librarian. Here is the first:

1) She can’t possibly be a librarian because she doesn’t have an ALA-accredited MLS. How dare she make such a claim! We all slogged through tedious courses with lots of group work for an entire year to make that claim, and she thinks she can can make it without that? People without MLSs saying they’re librarians are like people who aren’t God saying they’ve written the “bible” on something. It’s just not right.

Seth Godin On The Future of the Library

A link for personal reference: Seth Godin's blog post on the future of the library. I have a feeling I might quote it for a school project someday. It has some very good points, succinctly written.

The library is no longer a warehouse for dead books. Just in time for the information economy, the library ought to be the local nerve center for information. (Please don't say I'm anti-book! I think through my actions and career choices, I've demonstrated my pro-book chops. I'm not saying I want paper to go away, I'm merely describing what's inevitably occurring). We all love the vision of the underprivileged kid bootstrapping himself out of poverty with books, but now (most of the time), the insight and leverage is going to come from being fast and smart with online resources, not from hiding in the stacks.

The next library is a house for the librarian with the guts to invite kids in to teach them how to get better grades while doing less grunt work. And to teach them how to use a soldering iron or take apart something with no user serviceable parts inside. And even to challenge them to teach classes on their passions, merely because it's fun. This librarian takes responsibility/blame for any kid who manages to graduate from school without being a first-rate data shark.

That is Exactly How Books Work

As seen on Closed Stacks:

Though it's sort of weird that the file name categorizes it as a demotivational poster, when it's anything but.

Lesbrarians, Censorship, and Equality

An article at Bitch Magazine that I thought was wonderful: Revenge of the Feminerd: Libraries, Lesbrarians, Censorship, and Equality. A good general post about some of the issues surrounding the profession and gays; I especially liked the bit about cataloguing:

Even today, “male nurses” and “women engineers” exist as subject headings. This is obviously problematic and an example of how classification systems sometimes lag way behind the times. The words we use are powerful, and the words that are used to define and locate people are often problematic and offensive.

Sandy Berman is a radical cataloger who was responsible for introducing subject headings like: two-spirit people (to replace berdache), intersexuality (to replace hermaphrodite), and transgender people. He also advocated for subject headings were less archaic: toilet (instead of water closet) and light bulb (electric light, incandescent). Until last year if you were looking for a book on how to make an Indian curry, the correct subject heading was Cookery--Indic.

Subject headings that Berman suggested that haven’t been adopted include: anal fisting, drag queens, feminist zines, erotic graphic novels, butch femme (lesbianism) and genderqueers.

Gender and sexuality often get mixed up by catalogers. I reckon this is partly because for many people these concepts are not different and partly because good subject headings don’t exist. The subject heading of "lesbian--identity" isn’t really appropriate for the new book Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme, but currently there isn’t a better option. Catalogers need to create one.

This is an especially conspicuous blind spot, because I have searched the Library of Congress Subject Heading books (five very thick, heavy volumes) and there is some strangely specific stuff in there. I wish I had written some of them down. It was not unusual for us to find something odd and immediately share it with others in our immediate vicinity. Huge oversight, glaring omission, things we need to change, pronto.

Buttersafe: How Not to Use a Thesaurus

Oh, Buttersafe. You so crazy.

Smelling Books, Part 47

From the folks over at Green Apple Books, another note about my old semi-nemesis, "old book smell":

"Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin. When made into paper and stored for years, it breaks down and smells good. Which is how divine providence has arranged for secondhand bookstores to smell like good quality vanilla absolute, subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us."

- From Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez's Perfumes: the guide.

Go check out the rest of the blog, too. It is a source of good things. Alex, you might enjoy Dog Ear. I really want to get my hands on Press Here, a kid's book that sounds pretty ingenious.

Partying at the Library

Three local libraries are experimenting with something new this summer: birthday parties for kids.

Price: $20 per kid, includes dynamic story time, one hour in one of the private rooms, a craft - four available themes: Digging for Dinos, Fun with Furry Friends, Under the Sea and Everything Princess.

How that compares to other paid party options:

• Cosmic Adventures - $24.99 per kid for the standard 8-kid package, includes food and cake
• Movie Theatre - $17 per kid assuming 8 kids, movie, snacks, party room for 1 hour (no cake)
• Ray's Reptiles - $23.33 per person (that applies to adults as well), 45 minutes in zoo with feeding demonstrations, 45 minutes in party room - pizza, cake, drinks, zoo themed loot bags for the kids, 1 Ray's Reptiles t-shirt for the birthday kid for the all inclusive birthday deal

Pretty decent and competitive, but competitive enough? I'm really curious as to how well this works out.

Maybe you want links to the other party options. You aren't getting them! I have to support the library above all else! You can use Google.