Sorry I've been absent. I have a cold and my parents are coming to town today....I've been busy.
I will leave you with this for the week. I had a call from someone yesterday who wanted a list of high fiber foods and an explanation of how eating fiber can help with digestion. He then preceded to tell me all about his eating habits and how certain foods make him constipated and other foods give him diarrhea. I couldn't stop him. Every time I tried to interrupt, he ignored me.
It was painful. And anyone who really knows me knows how much I hate poop talk. Gross.
(I have a big speech to give tomorrow. Think good thoughts for me)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The library card of the future?
I absolutely love this idea. Some airline companies are testing cell phone boarding passes. This means no more paper boarding passes and they scan the bar code directly from your phone. Brilliant. A phone is the one thing (besides a wallet) that most people have on them all the time. And they're using a well-encrypted format so it's expected the TSA will embrace the idea.
Why couldn't a library have cell phone cards? I love that OPL has key chain cards but everyone has key chain cards these days, from libraries to grocery stores. It makes my keys feel very cumbersome. But on my phone? Put OPL in my contacts and I'll have my card on me every time I need it.
It's a great idea...unless they put their pin number in with their barcode. That would be dumb.
Why couldn't a library have cell phone cards? I love that OPL has key chain cards but everyone has key chain cards these days, from libraries to grocery stores. It makes my keys feel very cumbersome. But on my phone? Put OPL in my contacts and I'll have my card on me every time I need it.
It's a great idea...unless they put their pin number in with their barcode. That would be dumb.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Midwest Crazies
I'm not sure what it is about this town. Perhaps it's a symptom of being taught to always put on a happy face.
But we get some crazy phone calls here. I mean, crazier than I've ever seen. Crazy people who call 20-30 times per day and demand the most asinine things.
For example, today I was a pimp. A man called (I later found out he's a regular caller) and wanted a toll-free number for a chat phone line. So he can talk to women. He didn't understand that none of them are truly free because businesses like to make money. When I couldn't find what he wanted he called me prejudiced. My reply was, "You think I'm prejudiced against people who call on the phone?" ha.
The other crazies:
A woman who knows all the staff by name and calls the information desk every morning to find out where people are working that day. Then she calls the staff person of her choice and asks for random things, like the phone number of a doctor in Los Angeles.
A woman who likes to tie up more than one phone line at a time. She'll ask a question but when we put her on hold she has a way to call on a second line and ask a different person the same question. She's very easily angered too.
A retired minister (or so he says) who kept me on the phone for 10 minutes preaching about Jesus and how the rapture is coming. Soon. Like maybe tomorrow.
A copy editor who calls with grammar questions 4-5 times a day. We all agree that she should know more than us. She's a copy editor.
A "writer" who asks opinion-based questions about her writing. Which do you like better, "I handed the cat some food" or "I gave some food to the cat"?
Of course, these are just the phone crazies. But they seem to have embraced the anonymity of the telephone and seem a bit more crazy than the people in the building.
I'm having a hell of a week as a prejudiced pimp.
But we get some crazy phone calls here. I mean, crazier than I've ever seen. Crazy people who call 20-30 times per day and demand the most asinine things.
For example, today I was a pimp. A man called (I later found out he's a regular caller) and wanted a toll-free number for a chat phone line. So he can talk to women. He didn't understand that none of them are truly free because businesses like to make money. When I couldn't find what he wanted he called me prejudiced. My reply was, "You think I'm prejudiced against people who call on the phone?" ha.
The other crazies:
A woman who knows all the staff by name and calls the information desk every morning to find out where people are working that day. Then she calls the staff person of her choice and asks for random things, like the phone number of a doctor in Los Angeles.
A woman who likes to tie up more than one phone line at a time. She'll ask a question but when we put her on hold she has a way to call on a second line and ask a different person the same question. She's very easily angered too.
A retired minister (or so he says) who kept me on the phone for 10 minutes preaching about Jesus and how the rapture is coming. Soon. Like maybe tomorrow.
A copy editor who calls with grammar questions 4-5 times a day. We all agree that she should know more than us. She's a copy editor.
A "writer" who asks opinion-based questions about her writing. Which do you like better, "I handed the cat some food" or "I gave some food to the cat"?
Of course, these are just the phone crazies. But they seem to have embraced the anonymity of the telephone and seem a bit more crazy than the people in the building.
I'm having a hell of a week as a prejudiced pimp.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Librarian fired after reporting porn incident
Every library I've worked in allows patrons to look at pornography, unless someone complains. A staff way around this is that staff complaints count too.
The exception to this is if we see someone viewing child pornography, in which case we are to call the police. It is not illegal to look at regular porn but child porn is illegal. It's a legal issue and not a content one. In a library, this makes all the difference in the world.
This is why I surprised to read that a librarian in California has been fired for calling the police after witnessing a man looking at child pornography. In my opinion, she did the right thing and I feel pretty sure that her job will be reinstated. Poorly handled by the library. Just because we are champions for free expression and access does not mean that our patrons can break the law. And really, is access to child porn the issue any public library wants to fight? Don't think so.
The exception to this is if we see someone viewing child pornography, in which case we are to call the police. It is not illegal to look at regular porn but child porn is illegal. It's a legal issue and not a content one. In a library, this makes all the difference in the world.
This is why I surprised to read that a librarian in California has been fired for calling the police after witnessing a man looking at child pornography. In my opinion, she did the right thing and I feel pretty sure that her job will be reinstated. Poorly handled by the library. Just because we are champions for free expression and access does not mean that our patrons can break the law. And really, is access to child porn the issue any public library wants to fight? Don't think so.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Garfield for adults
I'm not sure if my friend Carol reads this blog, but this is for her. She and I know how much kids love Garfield. I've never really understood why...I find the strips redundant and boring.
But this is just sad. Take Garfield out and Jon Arbuckle is a pathetic and lonely man.
But this is just sad. Take Garfield out and Jon Arbuckle is a pathetic and lonely man.
Homeless man overdoses in library
Wow. Anyone who works in a downtown urban library knows that lots of bad things here. Severe drug and alcohol problems, bathing in the bathrooms, sex in the buildings, abuse of staff. We all do our best to be kind and consistent and laugh about the worst of it.
But this is the first time I've heard of someone dying in the library. Horrible. The article and the comments have a lot of opinions about how we deal or don't deal with the homeless population but right now I just feel shocked and sad and scared that someday I will find a dead body.
But this is the first time I've heard of someone dying in the library. Horrible. The article and the comments have a lot of opinions about how we deal or don't deal with the homeless population but right now I just feel shocked and sad and scared that someday I will find a dead body.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Vote for the World Book spine
One of the my favorite reference sets is the World Book because they have incredibly creative spine images. Vote for the 2009 spine set! I know it's kind of geeky but there you have it.
Wall Street Journal article
There's an article in the WSJ today titled "Borders Tries About-Face on Shelves" and it's about the book store chain reducing it's inventory by 5-10% so books can be displayed face out. There's a picture of the new cook book section, with all the beautiful covers pointing out and I want to pick each one up and look at it.
What a great idea and a long time coming. Yes, there are issues. I would never advocate a library or bookstore reducing it's inventory but book covers are so inviting these days and they really entice people to pick them up. As I used to tell the kids, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" is dead. Book covers are art and enhance the experience of reading the book. It would behoove libraries to adopt this strategy with our displays.
Article text below.
Borders Tries About-Face on Shelves; Counting on Covers to Sell, Bookseller Changes Display While Cutting Titles Stocked
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Mar 12, 2008. pg. B. 1
Borders Group Inc. has decided you can sell a book by its cover.
In a radical move aimed at jump-starting sales, the nation's second- largest book retailer is sharply increasing the number of titles it displays on shelves with the covers face-out. Because that takes up more room than the traditional spine-out style, the new approach will require a typical Borders superstore to shrink its number of titles by 5% to 10%.
That makes the strategy a big gamble for Borders. Reducing inventory goes against the grain of booksellers' efforts over the past 25 years or so. Chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation's largest book retailer, became household names with superstores that stocked as many as 150,000 titles or more. The rise of Amazon.com Inc., which offers a vast selection online, made it even more important for stores to offer deep inventories.
"We always had face-out titles on the shelves and on tables, but they were used as punctuation and tended to focus on popular titles," says Anne Kubek, senior vice president of Borders U.S. stores. "Today we're showing the front of books even when we only have two or three copies."
The approach is evident at some other retailers, as well. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for instance, displays virtually all of its books face- out, a spokeswoman says.
With the book market facing unmitigated gloom, Borders has little choice but to experiment. Competition from the Internet, videogames and other electronic devices has flattened growth in book sales in recent years. This year is expected to be particularly tough: There won't be a new Harry Potter title to lure people into stores, and the Olympic Games and presidential elections may also damp interest in reading.
Borders, whose sales at stores open at least 12 months rose 1.3% in the nine-month period ended Nov. 3, also faces internal pressures. It is carrying a heavy debt load and its stock price has been pummeled. Shares of Borders closed up 5.4% at $8.42 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, near the 52-week low of $8.11 and off significantly from the 52-week high of $24.15. It has begun a major restructuring aimed focusing on its U.S. superstores while cutting costs, including closing nearly half of its Waldenbooks outlets and selling off most international operations.
The new display strategy is the brainchild of CEO George Jones, who says he learned when he was a buyer at Dillard's Inc. early in his career that dresses sell better when the entire garment is shown rather than hung sleeve-out. So he recently decided to test sales of books shown with the cover visible at a newly built prototype store in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the company has its headquarters. Results were so encouraging after the first two weeks -- sales of individual titles were 9% higher than at similar Borders stores -- that all of the retailer's superstores have been told to adopt the new strategy.
"The concept store gave us the opportunity to start from scratch and do it exactly as we wanted to do," Mr. Jones says. As for what books to trim from inventory, he notes that the chain has many titles that sell only one copy per store in a year. "There are a ton of them out there," he says. Borders plans to launch its own Web site by May 3, giving the retailer the ability to offer online orders to shoppers who can't find what they want in a store. "We aren't cutting back on the promise of the superstore," adds Mr. Jones.
The retailer says customers throughout the country should be able to see the difference in displays within six weeks. While books shown face-out will still be in the overall minority, as many as three times the titles as in the past will be shelved with covers showing. Certain categories, such as books about food, cooking, travel, art and photography -- and children's books in particular -- lend themselves to the new approach, Ms. Kubek says.
Fiction book shelves will also feature more face-out titles, but fewer than other sections of the store. At its prototype store, Borders is also testing a special display that highlights covers of classics from Charles Dickens and Jack Kerouac, as well as movie tie- in titles such as Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." "It's a way to offer you something if you don't really know what you want," says Ms. Kubek.
Some think the move is overdue. Unlike modern supermarkets, booksellers haven't done enough to make books look attractive on the shelves, says John Deighton, editor of the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Breakfast cereals are not stocked end-of-box out," he says. "You want to your product to be as enticing as possible. It's a little bizarre that it's taken booksellers this long to realize that the point of self-service is to make the product as tempting as possible."
At the same time, Borders' willingness to reduce the number of titles it stocks reflects a growing view that store customers can be intimidated by too great a selection. "We can be overwhelmed or thrust into indecisiveness by the presence of a large number of temptations," Mr. Deighton adds. "People don't want choice, they want what they want. And what they want is sometimes constructed for them in the store by the attractiveness of what's on offer."
Borders says customers visiting its prototype store said their impression was that more books were available. Even so, its new strategy -- which at a typical superstore will mean a reduction of anywhere from 4,675 to 9,350 titles from the former total of around 93,500 -- could make Borders vulnerable to a marketing campaign from Barnes & Noble that promotes its own vast selection. The average 25,000 square-foot Barnes & Noble superstore stocks approximately 125,000 to 150,000 book titles, and the chain says it has no intention of cutting back.
The Borders push may affect small publishing houses, which can often place a debut novel in Borders because it has such a broad selection. Whether that will be more difficult in the future is unclear, says Alexander Chernev, associate professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Ill. "If Borders carries fewer titles, then they may prefer larger publishers that have more marketing push," he says.
Mr. Jones says Borders will continue to rely on a large number of publishers. "In the past, the books that were most likely to be shown face-out were the big titles," he says. "Now some of the smaller publishers will have face-out opportunities, which will mean increased exposure for their titles."
What a great idea and a long time coming. Yes, there are issues. I would never advocate a library or bookstore reducing it's inventory but book covers are so inviting these days and they really entice people to pick them up. As I used to tell the kids, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" is dead. Book covers are art and enhance the experience of reading the book. It would behoove libraries to adopt this strategy with our displays.
Article text below.
Borders Tries About-Face on Shelves; Counting on Covers to Sell, Bookseller Changes Display While Cutting Titles Stocked
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Mar 12, 2008. pg. B. 1
Borders Group Inc. has decided you can sell a book by its cover.
In a radical move aimed at jump-starting sales, the nation's second- largest book retailer is sharply increasing the number of titles it displays on shelves with the covers face-out. Because that takes up more room than the traditional spine-out style, the new approach will require a typical Borders superstore to shrink its number of titles by 5% to 10%.
That makes the strategy a big gamble for Borders. Reducing inventory goes against the grain of booksellers' efforts over the past 25 years or so. Chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation's largest book retailer, became household names with superstores that stocked as many as 150,000 titles or more. The rise of Amazon.com Inc., which offers a vast selection online, made it even more important for stores to offer deep inventories.
"We always had face-out titles on the shelves and on tables, but they were used as punctuation and tended to focus on popular titles," says Anne Kubek, senior vice president of Borders U.S. stores. "Today we're showing the front of books even when we only have two or three copies."
The approach is evident at some other retailers, as well. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for instance, displays virtually all of its books face- out, a spokeswoman says.
With the book market facing unmitigated gloom, Borders has little choice but to experiment. Competition from the Internet, videogames and other electronic devices has flattened growth in book sales in recent years. This year is expected to be particularly tough: There won't be a new Harry Potter title to lure people into stores, and the Olympic Games and presidential elections may also damp interest in reading.
Borders, whose sales at stores open at least 12 months rose 1.3% in the nine-month period ended Nov. 3, also faces internal pressures. It is carrying a heavy debt load and its stock price has been pummeled. Shares of Borders closed up 5.4% at $8.42 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, near the 52-week low of $8.11 and off significantly from the 52-week high of $24.15. It has begun a major restructuring aimed focusing on its U.S. superstores while cutting costs, including closing nearly half of its Waldenbooks outlets and selling off most international operations.
The new display strategy is the brainchild of CEO George Jones, who says he learned when he was a buyer at Dillard's Inc. early in his career that dresses sell better when the entire garment is shown rather than hung sleeve-out. So he recently decided to test sales of books shown with the cover visible at a newly built prototype store in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the company has its headquarters. Results were so encouraging after the first two weeks -- sales of individual titles were 9% higher than at similar Borders stores -- that all of the retailer's superstores have been told to adopt the new strategy.
"The concept store gave us the opportunity to start from scratch and do it exactly as we wanted to do," Mr. Jones says. As for what books to trim from inventory, he notes that the chain has many titles that sell only one copy per store in a year. "There are a ton of them out there," he says. Borders plans to launch its own Web site by May 3, giving the retailer the ability to offer online orders to shoppers who can't find what they want in a store. "We aren't cutting back on the promise of the superstore," adds Mr. Jones.
The retailer says customers throughout the country should be able to see the difference in displays within six weeks. While books shown face-out will still be in the overall minority, as many as three times the titles as in the past will be shelved with covers showing. Certain categories, such as books about food, cooking, travel, art and photography -- and children's books in particular -- lend themselves to the new approach, Ms. Kubek says.
Fiction book shelves will also feature more face-out titles, but fewer than other sections of the store. At its prototype store, Borders is also testing a special display that highlights covers of classics from Charles Dickens and Jack Kerouac, as well as movie tie- in titles such as Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." "It's a way to offer you something if you don't really know what you want," says Ms. Kubek.
Some think the move is overdue. Unlike modern supermarkets, booksellers haven't done enough to make books look attractive on the shelves, says John Deighton, editor of the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Breakfast cereals are not stocked end-of-box out," he says. "You want to your product to be as enticing as possible. It's a little bizarre that it's taken booksellers this long to realize that the point of self-service is to make the product as tempting as possible."
At the same time, Borders' willingness to reduce the number of titles it stocks reflects a growing view that store customers can be intimidated by too great a selection. "We can be overwhelmed or thrust into indecisiveness by the presence of a large number of temptations," Mr. Deighton adds. "People don't want choice, they want what they want. And what they want is sometimes constructed for them in the store by the attractiveness of what's on offer."
Borders says customers visiting its prototype store said their impression was that more books were available. Even so, its new strategy -- which at a typical superstore will mean a reduction of anywhere from 4,675 to 9,350 titles from the former total of around 93,500 -- could make Borders vulnerable to a marketing campaign from Barnes & Noble that promotes its own vast selection. The average 25,000 square-foot Barnes & Noble superstore stocks approximately 125,000 to 150,000 book titles, and the chain says it has no intention of cutting back.
The Borders push may affect small publishing houses, which can often place a debut novel in Borders because it has such a broad selection. Whether that will be more difficult in the future is unclear, says Alexander Chernev, associate professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Ill. "If Borders carries fewer titles, then they may prefer larger publishers that have more marketing push," he says.
Mr. Jones says Borders will continue to rely on a large number of publishers. "In the past, the books that were most likely to be shown face-out were the big titles," he says. "Now some of the smaller publishers will have face-out opportunities, which will mean increased exposure for their titles."
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Stuff I'm Working On
I realized that I haven't posted anything about the things I am working on at my new job. I am busy! I have never had a job where there have been so many opportunities, from trainings to an embracing of my suggestions.
Here's a list of my current projects:
*Tonight I meet with a local science fiction/fantasy group that is putting on a convention this summer. I found the group randomly, wrote a proposal to try and connect (or even co-sponsor the event) and was given the green light without question.
*I'm giving a speech to the group Leadership Omaha about the value of libraries and community.
*I'm working with two other staff people on a a training for non-profits in may. We have two two-hour long sessions about good search strategies.
*I'm going to the ALA convention! in Anaheim! This is especially thrilling to me because i have wanted to go for years and years but I've never had the opportunity.
*I'm heading up a major biography project. I don't think it's a testament to my skills...I just don't think anyone else wanted to take it on. We're moving every biography that is not cataloged as a biography into the biography section. In other words, every book about a musician, sports star, athlete, etc has to be pulled and moved over. We have to go through the entire scope of Dewey. The problem is when we disagree about whether a book is a bio or not. Ask yourself, is Eat, Pray, Love a biography or a travel book? Or, what about Between a Rock and a Hard Place? We're having some fun, spirited discussions.
*I wrote a proposal for a Creativity Festival that is taking place this summer. I proposed that we offer a participatory storytelling session, with the local storytelling group working hard to get people up on stage to tell their personal stories. Unfortunately, I will be at ALA during the festival and have turned it over to some other people.
*I'm working the desk every day and still trying to learn. Omaha Public Library doesn't have desk schedules like I'm used to so this week and last week I've had one morning off desk and the rest of the week is on. It's hard for me to sit that long, especially since I'm used to a schedule where every hour is scheduled.
As you can see, I've been here a month and I am packed full of stuff to do. Most of it I have volunteered for because I cannot handle just working the desk. But I am absolutely thrilled to be working at a library where I feel appreciated and like there are opportunities. It's very exciting and I really feel like I made the right decision.
Here's a list of my current projects:
*Tonight I meet with a local science fiction/fantasy group that is putting on a convention this summer. I found the group randomly, wrote a proposal to try and connect (or even co-sponsor the event) and was given the green light without question.
*I'm giving a speech to the group Leadership Omaha about the value of libraries and community.
*I'm working with two other staff people on a a training for non-profits in may. We have two two-hour long sessions about good search strategies.
*I'm going to the ALA convention! in Anaheim! This is especially thrilling to me because i have wanted to go for years and years but I've never had the opportunity.
*I'm heading up a major biography project. I don't think it's a testament to my skills...I just don't think anyone else wanted to take it on. We're moving every biography that is not cataloged as a biography into the biography section. In other words, every book about a musician, sports star, athlete, etc has to be pulled and moved over. We have to go through the entire scope of Dewey. The problem is when we disagree about whether a book is a bio or not. Ask yourself, is Eat, Pray, Love a biography or a travel book? Or, what about Between a Rock and a Hard Place? We're having some fun, spirited discussions.
*I wrote a proposal for a Creativity Festival that is taking place this summer. I proposed that we offer a participatory storytelling session, with the local storytelling group working hard to get people up on stage to tell their personal stories. Unfortunately, I will be at ALA during the festival and have turned it over to some other people.
*I'm working the desk every day and still trying to learn. Omaha Public Library doesn't have desk schedules like I'm used to so this week and last week I've had one morning off desk and the rest of the week is on. It's hard for me to sit that long, especially since I'm used to a schedule where every hour is scheduled.
As you can see, I've been here a month and I am packed full of stuff to do. Most of it I have volunteered for because I cannot handle just working the desk. But I am absolutely thrilled to be working at a library where I feel appreciated and like there are opportunities. It's very exciting and I really feel like I made the right decision.
Monday, March 10, 2008
are librarians like the secret service?
Ok, bear with me on this one.
I just finished reading Without Fail by Lee Child. Part of the Jack Reacher books, I recommend them to people who want to read well-written thrillers (something that's not as easy to find as it should be). No need to go into the whole plot but the story revolves around an attempted assassination of the Vice-President-elect and the Secret Service attempts to keep him safe. Besides being a good and fast-moving thriller, the book made me think about the Secret Service and what is required of them. Imagine having to protect an elected official that you don't agree with. It must be incredibly difficult to imagine sacrificing your life for someone who (for example) wants to pass a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. What motivates a Secret Service agent to take a bullet for a politician they know to be corrupt? I can only imagine that they believe in something greater than that particular person; something along the lines of patriotism and honor and a sense of purpose.
And what motivates a librarian to go to work day after day, especially those of us who work in downtown urban libraries or branches with very tough populations? I think it's a variation on the same theme. I believe very strongly in the right to access information and equality of that information. My role as a public servant is to take the good with the bad, even if the bad manifests itself in fights, abuse, drug use and a generally tough work environment. Striving to treat everyone equally and with respect is not an easy thing. It is much easier to ignore or judge or justify why we should give up on our tough populations.
But we don't give up because Intellectual Freedom is "the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored." This is not achieved in a vacuum. Library staff reinforces and affirms this every day, through their dedication to finding information, how they treat individual patrons and the environment that they create.
We didn't become librarians for the money or status. We became librarians because we strongly believe in Intellectual Freedom. New technology is wonderful and I'm as excited as anyone to try it all out but it's most important that we remember why we do what we do and what motivates us to go into a tough environment every day. A Secret Service agent protects because of a love of country and a commitment to protection of our highest elected officials. A librarian has something to protect, as well: a right to information, no matter who you are, how you smell, your education, how you look or what you believe.
It's a beautiful thing.
I just finished reading Without Fail by Lee Child. Part of the Jack Reacher books, I recommend them to people who want to read well-written thrillers (something that's not as easy to find as it should be). No need to go into the whole plot but the story revolves around an attempted assassination of the Vice-President-elect and the Secret Service attempts to keep him safe. Besides being a good and fast-moving thriller, the book made me think about the Secret Service and what is required of them. Imagine having to protect an elected official that you don't agree with. It must be incredibly difficult to imagine sacrificing your life for someone who (for example) wants to pass a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. What motivates a Secret Service agent to take a bullet for a politician they know to be corrupt? I can only imagine that they believe in something greater than that particular person; something along the lines of patriotism and honor and a sense of purpose.
And what motivates a librarian to go to work day after day, especially those of us who work in downtown urban libraries or branches with very tough populations? I think it's a variation on the same theme. I believe very strongly in the right to access information and equality of that information. My role as a public servant is to take the good with the bad, even if the bad manifests itself in fights, abuse, drug use and a generally tough work environment. Striving to treat everyone equally and with respect is not an easy thing. It is much easier to ignore or judge or justify why we should give up on our tough populations.
But we don't give up because Intellectual Freedom is "the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored." This is not achieved in a vacuum. Library staff reinforces and affirms this every day, through their dedication to finding information, how they treat individual patrons and the environment that they create.
We didn't become librarians for the money or status. We became librarians because we strongly believe in Intellectual Freedom. New technology is wonderful and I'm as excited as anyone to try it all out but it's most important that we remember why we do what we do and what motivates us to go into a tough environment every day. A Secret Service agent protects because of a love of country and a commitment to protection of our highest elected officials. A librarian has something to protect, as well: a right to information, no matter who you are, how you smell, your education, how you look or what you believe.
It's a beautiful thing.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Stuff White People Like
The funniest blog I've seen in a long time. Do not read unless you can laugh at yourself. Or at white people.
Stuff White People Like
Stuff White People Like
Thursday, March 6, 2008
A fun morning post
How do I deal with working with the public? Bitching, complaining and laughing. It really is the best way to get out the frustration and move on.
That said, here are some of the speech patterns that people use that drive me crazy.
1. Using 'at' at the end of a sentence. Example: "Where you at?"
2. Improper use of the word 'literally'. Example: "My head literally exploded when I heard the news." Um, no it didn't.
3. Throwing up in your own mouth. Where did this one come from? Example: "When I heard the news, I threw up a little in my mouth." It's just gross and I really don't want to hear about your bodily functions.
I know there are many, many more but that's all I can think of right now. Please add your own in the comments!
That said, here are some of the speech patterns that people use that drive me crazy.
1. Using 'at' at the end of a sentence. Example: "Where you at?"
2. Improper use of the word 'literally'. Example: "My head literally exploded when I heard the news." Um, no it didn't.
3. Throwing up in your own mouth. Where did this one come from? Example: "When I heard the news, I threw up a little in my mouth." It's just gross and I really don't want to hear about your bodily functions.
I know there are many, many more but that's all I can think of right now. Please add your own in the comments!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
A librarian wedding
I know this is geeky, but I love it. Makes me want to steal it and have my own wedding.
Library themed wedding invitations.
I especially love that the call number used (365.49) is not love but "penal and related institutions." (I can't take credit for noticing this, it's in the comments)
Library themed wedding invitations.
I especially love that the call number used (365.49) is not love but "penal and related institutions." (I can't take credit for noticing this, it's in the comments)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Bad customer service
Hey, I have a good idea. Let's arrest people for having overdue fines at the library.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15466146/detail.html
And then we'll wonder why everyone buys their books at Barnes & Noble.
In other news, a man just verbally sexually harassed a young woman here. It took four officers to drag his drunk self downstairs and I had to calm her down in the back workroom.
Just another day at a downtown urban library.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15466146/detail.html
And then we'll wonder why everyone buys their books at Barnes & Noble.
In other news, a man just verbally sexually harassed a young woman here. It took four officers to drag his drunk self downstairs and I had to calm her down in the back workroom.
Just another day at a downtown urban library.
Who is Library 2.0 for?
Marketing guru, Seth Godin, posted this on his site:
"Should you make stuff aimed at people who usually buy your product?
or Should you make stuff aimed at people who rarely do?
The DaVinci Code became the bestselling book of the decade because it got bought by people who don't buy books. On the other hand, plenty of successful authors (like Dave Eggers) only write books for people who buy lots of books.
The advantage of mass is that it's big. The advantage of the devoted is that they are paying attention and have a desire to spend.
Most times, it's not obvious which one to pick. But you need to pick."
Although this is about commerce, it made me think about Library 2.0. If a library has rss, tag cloud, blog, vlog and all the rest, who is using all of it? It seems to me that it is the Dave Eggers people and not the DaVinci Code people. Nothing wrong with that but it might help keep things in perspective. Maybe it's ok to market to niche groups and know that the specialized things will not get much use.
"Should you make stuff aimed at people who usually buy your product?
or Should you make stuff aimed at people who rarely do?
The DaVinci Code became the bestselling book of the decade because it got bought by people who don't buy books. On the other hand, plenty of successful authors (like Dave Eggers) only write books for people who buy lots of books.
The advantage of mass is that it's big. The advantage of the devoted is that they are paying attention and have a desire to spend.
Most times, it's not obvious which one to pick. But you need to pick."
Although this is about commerce, it made me think about Library 2.0. If a library has rss, tag cloud, blog, vlog and all the rest, who is using all of it? It seems to me that it is the Dave Eggers people and not the DaVinci Code people. Nothing wrong with that but it might help keep things in perspective. Maybe it's ok to market to niche groups and know that the specialized things will not get much use.
Library 2.0
In my transition from one side of the country to the middle, I fell woefully behind on reading library blogs. Most of them (sorry to say) I find to be boring, all about technology and totally lacking in conversation about actually working the reference desk. One of my favorites, though, is Information Wants to Be Free. Meredith Farkas is insightful and articulate and I love her entry about Library 2.0. I've always found Library 2.0 not grounded fully in reality, or at least not taking our patron's desires into account. See my entry about MyLibraryDV from last year.
It's all fine and good to be excited about new technology and even to try it out for yourself, but we have to think very carefully about how we choose to spend our time and money. A library MySpace page may be free but if it's not being updated how does that look? And who cares if no one is looking at it anyway? As I've said for years, I would love to see libraries spend more money marketing our basic services. Our professionals behind the desk, our very expensive databases, etc.
I've never had a patron ask me a question about flicker or MySpace or del.icio.us. And as I sit here looking at all the tough, emotionally challenged patrons sitting in front of me, I'd love some social worker training.
It's all fine and good to be excited about new technology and even to try it out for yourself, but we have to think very carefully about how we choose to spend our time and money. A library MySpace page may be free but if it's not being updated how does that look? And who cares if no one is looking at it anyway? As I've said for years, I would love to see libraries spend more money marketing our basic services. Our professionals behind the desk, our very expensive databases, etc.
I've never had a patron ask me a question about flicker or MySpace or del.icio.us. And as I sit here looking at all the tough, emotionally challenged patrons sitting in front of me, I'd love some social worker training.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Is OPL cool too?
My bloglines picked up this post about Multnomah County Library.
http://rachelkj.livejournal.com/162360.html
I would love to have someone post about Omaha Public Library this way. I don't think we're as revered by the young, hip folks in town the way they are in Portland. I'm aiming to change all that. MCL does a very good job purchasing music and movies. I'm not a music person but Ry is and I know he usually finds what he wants.
http://rachelkj.livejournal.com/162360.html
I would love to have someone post about Omaha Public Library this way. I don't think we're as revered by the young, hip folks in town the way they are in Portland. I'm aiming to change all that. MCL does a very good job purchasing music and movies. I'm not a music person but Ry is and I know he usually finds what he wants.
Things That Do Not Suck
Nice to see Wired Magazine thinks libraries don't suck.
Why Things Suck: Things That Don't Suck
By Paul Boutin 01.18.08 6:00 PM
Things that don't suck: TV screens in the back of airplane seats. Twice-baked potatoes. Dryer sheets. DVRs. The set design on Mad Men. Farmers' markets. Tap water. Touchscreens. Scissors. Pocketknives. Thumb drives. Kites. Strike-anywhere matches. Doorstops. Run-flat tires. Netflix. Noise-canceling headphones. Casual carpool. Guitar Hero. Salt-and-vinegar potato chips. Bicycles. Kevlar. Velcro. Carbon composite. Dradis. Flip-flops. The first half hour of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Seat belts. Zippo lighters. Spartan Laser. Heated seats. Public libraries. Remote control. Ice cream.
Why Things Suck: Things That Don't Suck
By Paul Boutin 01.18.08 6:00 PM
Things that don't suck: TV screens in the back of airplane seats. Twice-baked potatoes. Dryer sheets. DVRs. The set design on Mad Men. Farmers' markets. Tap water. Touchscreens. Scissors. Pocketknives. Thumb drives. Kites. Strike-anywhere matches. Doorstops. Run-flat tires. Netflix. Noise-canceling headphones. Casual carpool. Guitar Hero. Salt-and-vinegar potato chips. Bicycles. Kevlar. Velcro. Carbon composite. Dradis. Flip-flops. The first half hour of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Seat belts. Zippo lighters. Spartan Laser. Heated seats. Public libraries. Remote control. Ice cream.
Overheard at the Omaha Community Theater yesterday
"I don't like having childless adult women in my classes because they are too selfish. Women are wired to be nurturers and they can't achieve that level without having children"
OK, a paraphrase but you get the idea. And I had to sit next to that woman and stew through the entire play. I couldn't believe she said it at all but it's even more surprising that she would say it while sitting next to me. Clearly, I was there by myself. Did she even wonder if I am childless or just selfish for leaving my kid at home.
Oh, and this was said after she said that Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) and Oprah are both selfish and self-indulgent because they don't have children.
Way to be supportive of other women's choices, sweetie.
OK, a paraphrase but you get the idea. And I had to sit next to that woman and stew through the entire play. I couldn't believe she said it at all but it's even more surprising that she would say it while sitting next to me. Clearly, I was there by myself. Did she even wonder if I am childless or just selfish for leaving my kid at home.
Oh, and this was said after she said that Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) and Oprah are both selfish and self-indulgent because they don't have children.
Way to be supportive of other women's choices, sweetie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)