Sandy Children's Book Relief

If anyone like me is still looking for ways to help out victims of Hurricane Sandy, the organization Urban Librarians Unite is holding a book drive for children's books. Many public library collections were decimated. And since many NYC libraries are acting as community centers, and a safe haven for affected families, they could use help. Donating to the book fund is one way to get involved.

http://urbanlibrariansunite.org/2012/11/05/sandy-childrens-book-relief/

Hospital Stays are not my Cup of Tea

My partner J recently donated an organ to a family member for transplant, as a life saving measure. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with him in the hospital for the surgery and the hardest part of his recovery. Unfortunately, because the family member and hospital reside across the country from us, J needs to remain out of state for the next month or so for home based recovery.

I thank my lucky stars that J and his family member came through the surgery without a hitch. The nurse working in the OR kept their family and I updated every couple of hours as to the progress of the two patients. Everything went as planned.

J came out of surgery and slept much of the next 12 hours and was actually in good spirits the 12 hours after that. Then the anesthesia wore off, and despite intravenous pain medication, he was in a hellish amount of pain. Things were up and down for the next week. Sometimes, he would feel well enough to walk and eat a bit of "red" Jell-O. Other times, it was all I could do not to strangle the well-meaning staff for opening the door every 5 minutes to draw labs, take vital signs, and most infuriatingly of all, change the barely filled trash at 3AM.

This is how hospitals work. Everyone has their job to do and tasks to complete like any other job. But it is infuriating to see someone I love, who is in pain, only get a few moments of desperately needed sleep at a time because someone needs to check something off a To-Do list. Sometimes all I could do is hold his hand, kiss his forehead, and alternately lay siege to the nurse's station. Those were not my finest hours.

We had some angels with us. A few really caring staff members to help tend to the pain with dignity and compassion, and others to motivate (from gently prodding to full on reality checks). Those people are the one's that I really credit with the fact that J is now out of the hospital and recovering on his own. They got him to walk, and to eat, and told him that it was okay to relax in spite of it all.

To many of the doctors, though they did their jobs well, he just seemed to be an outcome. They pushed him too hard too fast and extended many of his hardships. So if any of our angels read this blog, however improbably, thank you. Thank you for being human and real and treating us the same. Thank you for the ice chips, the hot packs, the extra blankets and popsicles you did not have to give. Thank you for caring!

J is staying at his family's house and is now recovering nicely, a little bit closer to normal every day. His family, the transplant recipient, was released but following some setbacks was re-admitted to the hospital. His doctors believe they are minor/routine complications that are easily fixable. And he does seem to be improving with treatment. But the setbacks still wear on all our hearts, J's especially.

I am back at home now and several thousand miles from J. So I cannot be there to hold his hand through the hard times. Thank god for cell phones and video call apps. There is nothing to do now but for all of us to put one foot in front of the other and hope for the best. I cannot wait for J to come home safe.

To Knit the Fanboy Hat

I learned to knit in college. Neither of my grandmothers knit nor does anyone else in my family. My mother claims that my great-grandmother used to knit and crochet, and tried to teach her at one point but it didn't take. Unfortunately, great-gran died when I was a baby, so I was never able to reap her knowledge or even to find out if she really enjoyed it.

I am a self proclaimed nerd, geek, fan-girl, and gamer girl and I was lucky enough to find J who is all those things in male form. I was also lucky enough to find a kindred spirit in college who I could not only discuss my different scifi fandoms with, but who was willing to teach me to knit as well. I will always be greatful to her for this. She showed me the basic cast on/off, knit, and purl stitches and how I could make a really awesome Dr. Who scarf if it took my fancy.

Having been a frustrated painter for most of my angsty teen years, (fan art was hard to market in your teens without benefit of modern day Internet) I found that knitting satisfied my creative impulses. I could take it everywhere with me and it wasn't as messy as paint or bulky as a sketchbook. And past initial surprise at seeing such an "old-fashioned" activity, most people didn't ask me to explain myself past what item I was making.

As it seems to be with all my hobbies and artistic pursuits, I got away from knitting a while after I graduated college. I didn't pick it up again until I went to library school. That's when I discovered the knitter's haven, the yarn shop. My local shop had all kinds of soft and squeezy fibers to fall in love with and I developed a small stash.

I took another short break until I moved in with J, and we started having in-depth dialogues over the directing and writing merits of Joss Whedon. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and he loves Firefly. Any friend of a Browncoat know that there is a very famous cunning hat that one of the main characters receives from his knitter mother. It is absolutely ridiculous and too fun for words.

So for Christmas, I will be knitting this for J. I took J to my local yarn store that I had never been to before, and my face lit up at the knitter's table and candy colored skeins of fiber. I could see a light bulb go on in his brain as I asked him to squeeze the yarn I bought. The yarn did not interest him personally, but I feel like he now understands a bit more about me. Now if only he'd start wearing a black leather duster.

E-book Demos at the Library

I have recently joined my library's e-book team. I spend a few hours each week showing patrons how they can check out free e-books and downloadable audiobooks from Overdrive on the library's website. We set up a table with various e-readers and tablet computers, to show people how to download the books onto their different devices.

The library staff has just recently taken over this project (it was previously done through contractors) and I think it is really taking off. Admittedly, most of the patrons that come up to our table think that we are advertising the devices themselves.

"Are you giving these away?" and "How much are you selling them for?" are frequent questions. I even had one patron complain that he did not think we should be advertising e-readers in the library because "people should be here to read books." When I explained to him the function of the e-book table and that it does promote reading books, he seemed mollified.

I've found that I really sort of love the e-book table. I get to learn how to promote the library's e-book collections and I get to play around with the different devices myself. I especially enjoy encountering patrons who either have no idea that the library offers e-books and are impressed, or patrons who are aware and disapprove.

A lot of people still believe that the Internet will be the death of libraries. That readership of books will go down because "that information can be found online easier." Many people believe that library staff should be the guardians at the gate, holding back the harmful onslaught of technology and the damage they think it will do to literacy. This is turning out, as many librarians have been saying for years, not to be true. Libraries are adapting as they always have. We are incorporating technology to provide a wider range of access to materials.

I enjoy explaining that current studies, (and certainly our own circ statistics) are baring out the fact that e-books actually increase paper text circulation. When a patron sees a title that may have 15 or 16 holds on the print text to 1 or none on the ebook, they'll often checkout the ebook. Conversely, say they search the catalog for an ebook from an obscure author. They find that the library does not own the ebook but does have it in print. In these cases, they will often travel to the library to pick it up. Then they'll often stay to browse the shelves when they find out that the library also offers CDs, DVDs, and internet access.

Books and promoting literacy are still mainstays of the library. But now, we can reach a wider audience with ebooks and downloadable audiobooks.

Dumb days at the library

My last post was about how to get thrown out of the library. Today is one of those days as a library professional where I wonder mildly, embarassingly if I should be thrown out of the library.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful security team at my library. They spend, what I am sure are "thrilling" moments policing library infractions and making sure that everyone's rights and safety are upheld. Today I spotted a patron whom I distinctly remembered one of the security staff pointing out the week prior, as a banned patron. I went to the head of the security team to report the individual was in the building.

Now, here is where I promptly opened mouth and inserted foot, by completely forgetting the name of the security guard. Adding insult to injury, I referred to her as a "security person." I have been working at my library every weekend for almost a year now and I should know better. I apologized profusely to the head of security, who just laughed and told me I worry too much.

Then, of course the man I had seen did not turn out to be the banned patron at all. So I got to apologize again for wasting everyone's time. But I will tell you one thing, I won't be forgetting that security guard's name any time soon.

I had a brief period of confidence guiding a patron through his and my first inter-library loan request. He was quite appreciative that he would not have to pay inordinate amounts of money for a text book he simply wanted to check out.

But then, I completely mucked up our phone reference system on the main level, trying to make way for our telephone reference librarian to give me a break. Talk about walking away feeling like a toddler needing to put myself in time-out. Bad librarian...go to your corner!

I know everybody has those days where we feel like our heads are just not in the game. But how can my patrons expect quality service from me when I'm running around like a zombie with it's brain scooped out?!

How do you get kicked out of the library?

I was having a conversation a friend and the subject of public library access came up. Specifically, having access revoked. In my library, like most I know, access to library services is available to the whole community, not only those who have a library card. Patrons can use the computers with guest passes. They can read or use wifi, and of course consult the information desk in person or by phone.

A library card does provide a wider range of services such as materials check-out, longer time on public computers, subscription database access, and the ability to request holds on materials. So we heartily encourage patrons to get library cards. But it is not a club pass, and we do not check cards at the door. And when a patron's access is suspended or revoked, the only difference having a library card makes is how easy it is to contact and inform the patron. All patrons are held to the same public use policy.

So when my friend asked, "What do you have to do to get kicked out of the library?" I responded. "Oh so many things." But those things all have to do with lack of respect for others and for the library.

Basically, in order to have such wide ranging access suspended or revoked, you have to make yourself a public danger or nuisance. (Again, I am only making observations of my library.) Most offenses, like falling asleep in the library or being entirely too loud for extended periods of time, etc,will only get you warned or asked to leave for the day. If you are repeatedly or consistently asked to leave, the higher ups in the security staff and library administration may consider suspending your access. However, this is on a case by case basis, and they always try to be fair.

So my way of seeing it is, if you wouldn't do it in a grocery store, don't do it in the library.

The only people I have ever heard of having access revoked, either for a set period or permanently, are people who break the law while in the library. Patrons who get caught committing illegal acts such as harassment, assault, destruction of public property, stealing, or viewing illegal material on the computers, can expect to not visit the library for a long time to come. I personally find this policy to be more than fair.

Why am I going on this rant , you may ask? Because there are some very gray areas. For instance, what constitutes harassment? We have had a patron of late who calls every branch of the library nearly every day, sometimes multiple calls within a day, sometimes to multiple floors in the same branch. He asks for library staff to do over-the-phone job searches for him with very specific parameters. Often times the parameters he sets either return very few results or are simply not reasonable, often both. When he gets an answer he does not like, he asks to be transferred to another staff member or abruptly hangs up and calls back to get someone else. This has been happening for weeks.

Now, to this man's credit, he may be curt but he is never abusive. Aye, but there's the rub. He is a patron with questions, and as such all staff that he has contacted have tried to help him to the best of our ability. But he can eat up 45 minutes at a time with one staff member, get frustrated, hang up, then call back and do the same with another. So when is enough enough?

This is the question that is being kicked around at work lately. I can see it in a number of ways. He has never been abusive and has never broken any rules that I know of, but he can be extremely annoying. On the other hand, since he just calls in, he is only annoying library staff and therefore not a public nuisance. At this point, to the chagrin of some, he has done nothing worthy of suspending his access to phone reference. And since he is primarily using phone reference, there is no physical library to "kick him out" of. So we will just have to see how this one plays out. I am interested to see how it does.

3 More Cool New-to-Me Technologies

Alright since my last post was an extended personal rant, I'll keep this one short, sweet, and techie.

I've been acquainted with the following technologies recently that I deem cool and share worthy.

1. LogMeIn - Web-based Remote Desktop software. Work on your home computer from anywhere, not just computers setup for RDP, and it lets you set several layers of security for the connection. I've been using it for the past week and been highly impressed by it's versatility. I'm interested in trying the Wake-On-Lan functionality. Possibly useful in library settings for those "I knew I saved that link on my home PC" situations.

Note: I'm using Windows to connect Windows. Mac looks like it would also work but it does not mention Linux compatibility.

2. Topsy - Social networking search engine. Searched Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and more. I may be late on the bandwagon on this, I admit. However, it could be very useful for Reference interviews that require searching multiple social networking sites.

3.Kickstarter - Crowd Sourcing website for fan-funded independent films. My recent favorite film to contribute to was Gamers: The Hands of Fate. But this site is used to fund horror, fantasy, scifi, drama... and perhaps it's most noble use, documentaries.

Pretty please stop Getting sick/Cut on/Dying. For me?

PREAMBLE / APOLOGY

I'm sorry if this post has a self-pitying slant to it. Who am I kidding? It's a cathartic post, so it will be very self-pitying. But I'll be honest. I am a bit overwhelmed by events with my loved ones at the moment.

THE PAST
 
Thankfully, with the exception of some common American ailments, I myself am in relatively good health and spirits. To date this year, however, I have had an uncle and a grandfather die. Then, my grandmother was suddenly diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, then went into just as sudden a remission (Thank God, gods, the universe, whoever requires thanks for that.)

 THE NEAR FUTURE

Now, I'm faced with two people I love dearly undergoing major operations before the year is out. My partner J, has heroically consented to undergo a medical procedure that very likely will save the life of someone he loves. I have (more selfishly) consented to care for him pre-op and post-op for as long as I can. I want to make sure he is okay going in and coming out of this. The issue is that this operation must be done out-of-state, and one of us has to come home to pay the rent.

So, that leaves me only financially and job wise being able to go with him for two weeks. One week pre-op and one week post-op. He has to remain out there for two months. We discussed this during his initial testing, got tentative dates, and agreed on a plan of action. I budgeted accordingly for the loss of income and discussed my absence with my employers.

Then the hospital moved up the date of the operation and lengthened the amount of time between pre-op meetings. So now, it looks like I will need to take off work sooner and for 3 weeks instead of 2, to be able to go to his pre-op meetings and care for him post-op. There goes the plan.

Let me be very clear. J's health, and the health of his loved one are my primary concern.

THE CATCH ABOUT THE NEAR FUTURE

I do not make the kind of money or have the kind of job where I can take 3 weeks off and not plan insanely ahead for it. J is overwhelmed though with all the understandable emotional implications of this operation, as well as his own financial and job concerns. So overwhelmed that we will have to wait until his nerves calm down to discuss logistics.

One part of me is okay with this. As I said, I want to support him as much as I can in this. Another anxiety prone part of me is having a panic attack thinking that I now have to find a way to come up with an additional week's lost income, explain to my employers that it is now 3 weeks they will be without me instead of 2, and dreading the idea that I might not have a job if that is the case.

Yet another very selfish part of me is worried because I have been working a long time toward getting a job in my degree field. There are rumors that some full-time positions will be coming available in the next month at my library...essentially dream jobs. J's operation means that I will theoretically have to pitch a 3 week absence, a month and a half after my hire date, to the supervisors who would be considering me for these positions. So to some up: Panic attack that I cannot discuss with my partner at the moment because he is having the same panic attack.

THE TOO NEAR FUTURE

But more immediate than all of this is the second loved one I referred to at the beginning of this very long post. My four-year-old niece is going under the knife tomorrow to correct a congenital heart defect. This tiny, brilliant little girl is undergoing major life saving surgery. And all I can think about at the moment is damage control.

My sister, my niece's mother, has a very contentious relationship with both her ex (read: baby-daddy) and our own mother. The first of which is currently creating problems just to spite her. The second of which has the potential to create problems because she has the best of intentions to help, and believes that this gives her license to make any changes she deems necessary. Even if they are against my sister's wishes. Now, all of this is really none of my business, except that I dearly love my sister and niece. So, the mother hen in me feels the need to help them in any way I can.

My sister's direction of my helping hand means that I cannot confront verbally (or physically...though my theoretical fantasies of it seem very fulfilling) her ex's stupidity. It also means that I may have to avoid or flat out lie to my mother about where and/or when my niece's surgery will take place. This breaks my heart because I also love my mother dearly, and I do not want to choose between my loyalty to her and my loyalty to my sister.

THE PRESENT

I'm going to take my niece and sister to the hospital very early tomorrow morning for the surgery. I'm scheduled to hang out with my mother later tonight, and keep my mouth shut. I also need to bottle up the J/job anxiety until it is appropriate to discuss with him. This post is intended as a way to quiet my brain and worries enough to do that. So again, I apologize for the personal pity party.

Mastering the art of Google Searching

GOOGLING HOW TO GOOGLE GOOGLE

I've been recently completed the Powersearching with Google course.  As an "information professional" I've spent long hours with various blessed souls teaching me in online searching. Online searching was mostly taught as an overall concept in library school. Many different search engines have the functionality of combining search terms in various ways and limiting search results.

The trick is finding out which words or characters the search engine uses to accomplish these tasks (i.e. limiters and operators). How can I find information on the architecture of  both Golden Gate Bridge and London Bridge? I want to search types of beetles, how can I stop getting results that involve John, Paul, George, and Ringo? The problem here being that every search engine does this slightly differently.

So I was totally excited when I found out that Google was providing online training on how to do all these fun things. The Power with Google training covered Google Search, Images, Videos, Translate, Maps and a number of their other tools. Since the Google tools are constantly evolving, a lot of the information was new since the section in my online searching class. So here is a brief run-down of the things I thought were really noteworthy.

VERY COOL STUFF

- Search by Image allows you to upload an image file and Search for similar images or web results based on your uploaded file

         ~ What the heck is that thing?

         ~ I know! That there is a...Well, that's a....What the heck is that thing?

- Color Limiting in Google Image Search

         ~ I want a picture if P!nk...in pink!

- Site: vs Insite: limiters

         ~ site: ToBe.com OR  insite: not to be

-"Easter egg" of calculating numbers based on jokes

         ~ "the answer to life the universe and everything" plus "the loneliest number" = 43

REASONABLY COOL STUFF: I.E GOOGLE BEING COOL

- Google Translate vs Translate Foreign Language pages

         ~ Do you want to translate a phrase in another language or search webpages in 

            other languages?

- Discussion of Credibility in Google Search results

         ~ Google knows their search results are a popularity contest...and they are Google 

            enough to admit it!

- Searching as an Iterative process

- Teaching details first and theory afterwards 

- Discussion of importance of not taking Google search results at face value

- Discussion of how to verify information of one Google tool with information from another Google tool

         ~ Found "Call me Ishmael"quote  in Google Search. Check Google Books to 

            find out who to call Ishmael

- Use of phrase "sanity check" Hehehehehe...they assume I'm sane.

- Advice to "identify your sources" No Joke!

NOT SO COOL STUFF 

- "Occasional Misconceptions" CYA moment at the end of Lesson 5
        ~ Google would like to take this moment to say No, you cannot buy your way to the top of
           Google Search results...you naughty naughty corporation!
- Regional access to search features presented too late for use within activities
        ~ Trainee: I'm Canadian and cannot the search features you describe in Lesson 2
        ~ Google: Lesson 4- Search Features ...including Regional Access

- Spellcheck
        ~ Google, you are a wise, charitable, and humanitarian company. So, for the love of 
           FSM, please Spellcheck your Text Versions!

-  Better integration with Google Drive or Google Bookmarks for saving training materials
        ~ I had to do all of this manually in Drive and Google Bookmarks. 
        ~ Lesson 4.5 was not even made a savable file. Nor were the Activities
       
FINAL REVIEW

Overall, I really enjoyed this training! I think the Lessons were well organized to be of reasonable length, well thought out, and with the previously mentioned exception in reasonably good order. The video presenters were well spoken. And the text versions still made sense for when I needed to use them because I had no access to audio on my computer.

I learned how to use the searching concepts that I already knew within Google by learning their operators and limiters. I learned different search features within different Google tools, and the best way to combine them for best results. I learned about tools and features that I had not known existed. Built in measurement conversion anyone?

I really appreciated the whole of Lesson 5's discussion on Credibility of  verification of sources. People searching Google all too often take the first few results as gospel. Lesson 5 was very realistic about how Google's algorithms try to make their results relevant to the searcher, but the results they return are not always credible or authoritative. I think it was very cool of them to own up to this and to show people how to use their tools and features to better verify search results. I would go the extra step of trying to verify results with a source outside of Google, but that may just be me.

My one big criticism is that the training platforms that Google used for the class could have been better integrated with some of their other tools to make it more accessible to Registrants. I wish they had made the training videos into shared URLS for Google Bookmarks. Another way to do it would be to make the Text Versions shared documents in Google Docs so Registrants could upload them to Google Drive. Preferably, I would have like to have seen both. I can understand Google wanting to protect their training content. But registration was free and I would like to keep the files to refer back to later.

Also not everybody heard about the training by the Registration deadline. So it might be beneficial for Google to either re-open registration periodically, or make the training materials more shareable between Google accounts and Google account holders.

FINAL THOUGHT

Is it bad that I'm leaning toward buying an Android phone just because of this teaching tool? Ooh the search immersion!

Old McDonald had a library

Lack of blog posts is a sad reminder that The Heart of Gold Librarian is in her nesting stages.

MOSTLY MOVED

J and I finally have most of the boxes unpacked. He has set up the entertainment center, office, and equipment room to his liking, and I have setup the kitchen and bookcases to mine. Since he works in video production and occasionally works from home, these are all vital areas.

My cookbooks are all lined up in order of frequency of use. All the dishes, pots, pans, and small appliances are nestled away in the appropriate cabinets. The fridge is froggy. I have yet to fully tackle the pantry. But there is not a cardboard box in site. We did a lot of dining out during the move due to convenience and exhaustion, so I was excited to finally start cooking meals. The Fourth of July brought us a burn/fireworks ban, so J gleefully charred meats on the grill instead. We had an Independence Day / housewarming shindig, and all guests were pleased with the spread.

FARMER'S MARKET FUN

We have a wonderful farmer's market that runs on Saturday mornings within walking distance from our apartment complex. So I've been picking up farm fresh meat and produce for us to grill. I actually sat down and budgeted this week, and was able to pick up some nice cuts of beef and chicken to grill out. I'm also experimenting with offal and game bird eggs. I have informed J that he is not obligated to sample any of these experiments, to which he looked appropriately supportive and relieved.

Since I don't make the kind of salary that enables me to buy all organic foods or to buy all my meats directly from the people raising the animals, it takes a bit of budgeting to buy any significant amount of food there. I do not consider myself a food snob. I will proudly eat Ramen noodles out of a cup if it is the most convenient or only thing in the pantry. I have even been known to do a little "Top Ramen dance" while the microwave is going.

Nor do I consider anyone that shops at a farmer's market to be said food snob. I have discovered what many of my farmer's market comrades have. Some of this stuff tastes really, really good. Better than equivalent meats and produce at the corner grocery store or megamart. Hence the price hike. And I hear tell eating locally is better for the waistline and allergies, both of which I have a problem with. So, I'm starting to do some meal planning and J is running the grill pretty much daily, to see if we can make eating locally work for us.

BOOK BOUNDARIES

I have most of my non-cookbooks set up in shelves in a workable way now. However, as always happens with me, I have too many books and too little shelf space. So, I have stacks of books lining the wall on my side of the bedroom. I'm looking forward to building more wooden shelves soon. But in the meantime, I have been researching creative book shelving options. I especially liked the stairs/shelves and the bookshelves made from books.

LIBRARY STUFF

In an update on my Library Tech post. It seems that unglue.it has successfully sponsored its first first unglued book. Good for them! I may only access the book to see the interface, but it seems like things are looking up for crowd-sourced e-books. It makes me smile.

Well enough of my distractable ramblings until the next time. Ford, you're turning into a penguin...Stop it!

News from the other side

The Library starship Heart of Gold has set down in it's new port of call and it is good.

With the exception of a few boxes and small items still left in my trunk, I've finished moving. The aforementioned moving party/book sale of greatness/birthday madness/medical fun has now ended and I can finally breathe a bit. It being the end of the month, and a moving month at that, my checkbook cannot say the same. But c'est la vie.

It seems like forever since I've worked at my library. I only get one day a week there, working at the reference desk. But it is always the highlight of my work week. Today I helped patrons with computer problems and quandaries accessing the library's Special Collection room.

My favorite part was trying to find a book for a patron about the Lincoln County War that is not all about Billie the Kid. She originally approached the Information desk requesting the location of a biography of Billie the Kid, because sadly our library does not seem to own the only book I could find on the war itself. Our Biographies are shelved as an item type rather than within Dewey. So, all the call numbers start with B and then the name of the subject of the biography (i.e. B Newton, Sir Isaac or B Mercury, Freddy). The patron did not know this. But the interesting part was that this biography was listed under B Billy the Kid, prompting a discussion of both taxonomy and aliases.

It turns out that the patron is a voracious reader, but like many of us she had little in the way of resources for Suggested Reading. I offered to show her some book lists, but she had already seen most of them. NoveList was new to her though. So I had a fun time showing her, and her father the Read-Alikes section and Sort By options. They were both thrilled. But a stern discussion over home internet access ensued. I offered them passes for the library computers, but it seemed to be the principle of the thing.

I was also able to introduce her to both LibraryThing and Goodreads. I told her that for her purposes these services could act like Facebook for book lovers. She asked if the members of the sites were snooty. She was nervous they would make fun of her for her taste in books. I told her that, while there are snooty people everywhere, the sites work to link readers with similar tastes in literature. They provide book suggestions based on what members are reading and what other members reading the same books also like, among other services. So, snootiness should be kept to a minimum. I really liked this patron. It was one of those interactions that makes up for every patron complaining about too little time on the computers, or wanting others to be quiet.

Local Promotion in the Library

I've been seeing some really interesting things around the blogosphere lately about how public libraries promote local artists. My favorite example of this was this post on librarian.net regarding Iowa City Public Library's Local Music Project. This seems to me like an awesome idea for promoting local musicians and I will be suggesting it to the higher-ups at my library. There has been a renewed push for programs that foster community ties. And what better way for the library to show it's support for the arts and the public than to connect the two through public music licensing?

I minored in film production and film studies in college and I'm personally acquainted with a lot of local film makers in my city. Note: this is a "Toot their horn, not my own" comment. I know that sounds dirty... but go with me on this one. I also work at the Central branch of a good-sized public library system, and Central has a special collection dedicated to city-county history. Ah, the plot thickens.

They accept books and films from artists who either are local, or published/filmed locally. I'm trying to get several of my friends to donate DVDs and print copies of their work to the library. I'm attempting to find out from the selectors, if they donate to the special collection, if it would enable them to donate to the circulating collection. Thus, they would hopefully be able to do some promotion through the library. I have visions of themed displays of local movies and books dancing through my head. But, that involves a little bit of coordination, so we'll see how things shake out. Local horror movies, anyone?

3 Cool New-to-Me Library Technologies

I've been trolling the library blogs lately, in an attempt to make my Google Reader account into something other than a way to pass time in between tech support calls. I now have the better part of 100 subscriptions, most of which are job search feeds, and library blogs.

This endeavor has yielded the following results that made me curious to really excited.

1) Mousercise - A tool for teaching basic mouse skills. Excellent for introductory computer classes taught in libraries. (Found on: librarian.net) Rating ~ Wicked useful...and surprisingly fun.

2) Evernote - A personal content management tool. It allows you to collect articles, clips, photos, etc. for later reference or use. (Found on: Librarian by Day) Rating ~ I just downloaded it. More reviews to come.

3) unglue.it - A Crowd funding campaign site with a mission of crowd-sourcing funds to reimburse publishers and authors in an effort to provide free public licenses to E-books. (Found on: No Shelf Required)
Rating ~ Intriguing, and a wonderful idea. But it's new, so I look forward to watching its development.

I love bedlam in June... how about you?

Okay, I may have overextended myself this month...just a little.

My birthday is coming up, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it coincides with my city's annual LGBT pride festival/parade. Here I am thinking "Awesome! I've been out-of-town at Library School for two years. I haven't been able to go. Now it's on my birthday." Sweet! So I started making plans to go, which immediately conflicted with my partner J's grand plan to surprise me with an extravagant theme park vacation.

Number 1, I love J. So I felt bad that I had to turn him down. Because, hey, it is an awesome gesture! But I have not been able to go to this event that I love in years. Number 2, I am incredibly cheap. So the idea of anybody spending that kind of money to take me on a getaway, romantic or not, practically makes me break-out in hives.

And while he is the most supportive, wonderful man you will ever meet, J is also a straight man in the mid-west. So his perspective on the LGBT community is, in Obama-esque terms, evolving. I invited him to come, but told him I understood if he did not want to. He made work plans that will net him a good paycheck, but leave him out of most of the day's festivities. We compromised and he took the day before off so we can do romantic things, like go to a drive-in movie, and eat at my favorite Indian restaurant that is too spicy for his taste.

I also offered to work the booth that my library has setup at the pride festival. Mixing 2 things that I love. This will leave the friend that I offered a ride to, who has never attended before, alone with either my mother or friends that I'm meeting there for about 2 hours. But they are all adults, so let them figure it out, right?

Because J is the most wonderful man you will ever meet, I naturally decided to move in with him. This will be just a week after my birthday. So, a little over a week from today. I have not packed a thing. My sister is in the same boat. though. So I don't feel so bad. She is moving on my birthday, while my moving day falls on hers. Then, J's sister will be moving the week after. Fun with moving vans all month.

There is also a library booksale and a secondhand bookstore clearance extravaganza at the State Fairgrounds to look forward to. My moving month pocketbook tells me I should not even walk through the doors for either event. But my book lust is so rampant, that I am budgeting money and boxes for both.

Top that off with my quest to expand the hours I work at the library (shrinking my hours at my "pays the bills" job), and I'm losing hope of ever completing my summer reading list. I also have a minor medical proceedure scheduled somewhere in the middle that I am trying not to think about. But, c'est la vie. Life is too hectic for regrets right now.

Introduction ...of sorts.

I will be up front in saying that my past attempts at blogging have been...less than successful. I started an online diary once, but I was never very good at writing in my own physical diary. Another time, I tried to start one of those "Hey look at all the people writing blogs. I should write a blog!" blogs. And of course, those never workout well.

Those were a while ago. So, I figure I should give it another shot. I've got to get back on the horse, right? This time, I hope to treat it as a writing exercise peppered with some interesting library tidbits, and occasional life events interspersed. We'll see how that works.

I am trying to make an effort at a web presence. But I warn anybody with the urge to read this thing, that my web presence is probably a lot like my in-person presence...goofy with a partial chance of "oh look...a chicken." So..good then...you've been warned.