Take a Seat

Tired of heading to the library for some research only to find there's no room? Take a gander at this potential solution:

This is what we do with state money.

We have fun with it.

Tonight I and four other library staff members participated in a concert at our college. We sang the Java Jive, which we have been snatching small amounts of time from our state overlords to practice over the past several weeks.

There was some struggle to come up with a name; we discussed ones like the Novel Lovers, Circulation in G, and Withdraw and Destroy (which was too metal for us). Eventually we settled on The Librettos (a libretto is the text of an opera and means "little book" in Italian . . . although I have to add that through Google I discovered the actual plural in Italian is "gli libretti." Yes, I'm a geek).

Although a libretto is probably too grandiose of an image for a bunch of librarians singing the jazzy Java Jive, it was all fun and we pulled it off surprisingly well.

The rest of the concert became progressively more and more amazing. It had Monteverdi, it had Brahms, it had us, it had a ginormous jazz band playing swinging songs, including a big band version of The Nutcracker Suite during which an alto saxophonist got up and passed out Jolly Ranchers to the audience from a Santa hat.

Before it all started I was a little resigned to be there since the original two practices had turned into five or six, and I felt like I was done. But, it turned out to be so much fun. There have probably been other singing librarians, but we had that audience snapping their fingers! Everyone did well. The evening put a smile on my face and helped me unwind after a stressful week (high workloads and term project and dentist, oh my!)

To anyone who would have wanted to be informed and/or invited, but wasn't, I do apologize. I thought it wasn't worth it to ask people to come to an hour and a half concert just to hear me sing for five minutes. My co-worker took a recording, so if you're interested in seeing it, let me know and I will see what I can do.

The only really bad news about the week is still pretty good--the library is having a book sale today and tomorrow. Your direct logical conclusion to this should be that I bought some books, and you're absolutely right. And tomorrow they're a dollar a bag . . . ! (Puts hand in mouth to stifle glee and runs away)

Love and peace! One more week gone by.

Book-sniffer . . .

. . . is apparently my new nickname.

It all started yesterday. Towards the end of the day I was knee-deep in processing work, which basically means I was putting stickers and tape on books over and over and over, until I build up a healthy thickness to the skin on my fingertips (good for playing the guitar!).

As I whisked the cover off of one new book and tossed it on the pile to be laminated, I noticed that the book released a hint of that fresh new-book-scent. Paper and vinyl.

And I lifted the book to my nose, and sniffed it. "This book smells good!" I exclaimed.

My supervisor and the systems librarian were well within earshot, and that started them on a five-minute laughing spree. "Is that the good stuff, Heather? Are you an addict?"

Fast-forward to today. I am commenting to my supervisor on how great it is to have this job, since after spending about $4,000 per month of other people's money on books, my own desire to buy books is curbed. "And," I add with a wicked grin, "of course I get to sniff all the new books when they come in."

This sets them off laughing again, and the nearby work study assistant is bewildered. While I'm trying to explain the conversation from Thursday, my supervisor chimes in with "Heather has a book fetish!"

Which of course is right when the media guy comes around the corner. He stares at me. My supervisor repeats what she said. Media guy says, "I . . . don't think I'm coming over there," shakes his head, and walks away.

When the joke has finally run its course and I've wiped the tears from my eyes, I walk by the work study on my way to see if there are any donuts left.

". . . book-sniffer!" she whispers.

I smile. Such is life in the library near the end of the week.

Halloween

Five years ago, I graduated from the community college where I now work.

Today, I am sitting at my desk in my graduation cap and gown, maroon and silver tassle bobbing at the corner of my field of vision. Why? Because today is Halloween.

It is interesting to make a silly, fun costume out of something that was once a symbol of the hard work on which I spent two years of my life. It reminds me that school isn't everything, that when we're all old, we will look back with some amusement on all that which we once took so seriously.

Things that were important will not seem as important when day is done and we stare across the expanses of our lives. There will be pride, joy, and grief; graduations, silly costumes, and things we regret.

But for now, I'm sitting in a library in my old graduation cap and gown, happy that there are good times to look ridiculous. To not worry what other people think: that is freeing.

Happy Halloween, everybody. Eat some candy, read some H. P. Lovecraft, and have fun.

Assignments

Some of you are probably wondering how taking an online class works. Well, it involves a lot of reading and a lot of posting to online discussion boards.

And just when you are about to go nuts from doing that, there is the writing. I now have two assignments left for my Intro class, and one for my Young Adults class. One from each of those categories is due mid-December at the end of the semester.

The remaining one is due in a week. 2500 words on an issue selected from a list. Ten sources. I have selected "Information Ethics" as my issue.

I would like to write "if someone is informationally unethical, punch him or her in the face," but I don't think that would fly. And it wouldn't be very informative, anyway, not to mention ethical. Instead, I will write 2500 words about "Libraries, Privacy and the U.S. Government," because that is the issue for which the library where I work has the most books.

And we all know that in the world of college research papers, the one who finds the most books semi-related to a given topic wins.

The other assignment I just completed allowed me to write about a book that I like, then record myself pretending to be an old lady. That was much more fun. But then, I suppose that if everything were fun, we wouldn't know what fun was because we would have nothing to compare it to. Isn't that funny?

Odd Book Out

Okay, so once a week has turned into once a whenever-I-see-something-weird.

And now I unveil this amusing title:
Big Black Boring Rock: Essays on Northwest Geology by Stephen P. Reidel

And there ye have it.

Prisoners

An article on why being a prison librarian is not so scary after all: So You Want To Become a Prison Librarian?

When I was on my desperate job hunt last spring before I knew which school I would be going to, I noticed an ad for a library assistant in the King County jail. It paid over $18/hr, just for an assistant position.

I suppose they have to pay more to get people in there. Even my own reaction to the idea of working in a prison library was at first fear. Would inmates ever get violent in the library? Would they create uncomfortable situations for the librarian . . . sexual comments, threatening comments, etc.?

The reality according to that article, and a woman in one of my online classes, seems to be that prisoners in libraries are quite well-behaved. If they don't stay that way, then they can lose their library privileges, for one thing. For another--I bet there are some prisoners who aren't well-behaved enough to have library privileges in the first place.

For the ones who do use the library, some for the first time in their lives, the recent Standardized Chapel Library Project came as a brutal kick in the face. The project is an effort by the Bureau of Prisons to keep books off of prison library shelves that could incite radical religious views. However, rather than pulling only books with radical points of view, the Bureau made a list of approved books and pulled all religious books that were not on it.

In prisons, libraries are places for people to heal. They are places where prisoners can learn new trades, be exposed to new ideas, even find healing in faith. For the Bureau to do this is not only counter-intuitive, it directly goes against the mission of a "correctional facility" . . . to correct. To help those who want it.

I am glad that there has been such an outcry from all people against this that the Standardized Chapel Library Project has been halted and books will be returned to the shelves. For although these men and women are in prison, it was a wise man who once said:

"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31.5-32

Library Goat

I had a dream about the library last night--the library where I work decided to sell goats.

Only . . . none of the goats were selling.

It was winter, and one day the library got snowed in. I walked to work only to find out that somehow, the snowbound state had apparently made goats more popular.

We sold one goat . . . for 56 million dollars.

Librarians and Fashion: Mortal Enemies?

Staff smock it to Ryan

Recently I saw this article linked through one of the library email subscriptions I get at work.

It made me look around at the library a bit and notice that most librarians in my range of vision were definitely fashion flops. Having always hated fashion myself, I was comforted by this and secure once more in the knowledge that I've chosen the right profession.

However, I have to acknowledge at the same time that--let's face it--fashion gets people places. We have to dress up a little if we're to put a good face on our organization. No, we don't want to look like we're going to a formal dance and alienate our patrons that way, but we don't want to look like a sofa either.

Apparently Paula Ryan did not mean to stereotype librarians, and meant only to offer her services as a fashion consultant for work clothing--help give people a little more confidence.

Although I feel good and have more confidence when I know I look good, what I will say for myself and other librarians is that there are other things we value more than this. Our main confidence does not lie in the fact that we look great in that shirt, but in our provision of something valuable to society. And while I would rather look like a well-dressed knockout than a shapeless man-thing, settling for something in between is sometimes necessary if I also want to get enough sleep and have breakfast in the morning.

Also: some (coughmostcough) people don't have the money to buy lots of nice clothes that fit just right.

So, Paula Ryan--if you have any fashion tips that take less than five minutes and cost less than ten dollars, lay 'em on me. Otherwise, I will quietly don my decent slacks and my ill-fitting blouse, braid my wet hair, have a good breakfast and head off to work, thank you kindly.

Odd Book Out

From time to time at the library, one comes across a title that deserves the status of . . . "huh?!"

Once a week or so I'd like to share some such title with all of you. So for this week, behold! I present to you:

Step-By-Step Brain Tanning The Sioux Way by Larry Belitz

Note: Since stumbling across this title, I've discovered that brain tanning is: "a natural method of tanning hides. After the hide has been fleshed, scraped, and abraded, a slightly cooked mixture of brains and fat from animals is rubbed into the hide."

And now you know everything you ever wanted about brain tanning.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow...

While working full time in library tech. services this semester, I am taking two classes online through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee--Introduction to Library and Information Science, and Library Materials For Young Adults.

To keep sane, I know already that I must practice discipline in how I balance work, school, my relationships, and my own health while working toward this degree. Still, it will be an amazing ride. If I doubted my desire to become a librarian, all such thoughts are dissolved like salt in hot water, especially after reading this article for my YA materials class:

Lessons and Lives: Why Young Adult Literature Matters

Parts of this article had me in tears. This sums up what I lived for as a child and a young adult . . . not just books, but stories. Stories that tackle hard truth, stories that manage to at once lift you into joy-filled castles in the sky and drop you onto concrete from the tops of skyscrapers. Stories of love and hope and pain, skillfully sewn with strands of creativity, pounded together with the nails of imagination.

What better vocation than to infuse the lives of future generations with such narratives? To my mind and heart, there is none, other than perhaps to write those stories myself.

What is a Librarian?

To some, this question may have an obvious answer. Most people have an image of what a librarian is already firmly implanted in their heads.

It could be that old woman, her gray hair pulled back into a severe bun. Yes, you can see her. She has horn-rimmed glasses and wears a sweater with a long skirt, under which shuffle two loafer-clad feet. She loathes fun; one bony finger lifted to her lips will "shh!" anyone into submission.

It could be that man in your high school library. He won't let you print anything. Nondescript and boring, he barely talks. If he's there to help, then why are you afraid to ask him? If he hates students, then why is he working at a school?

Maybe it could even be that shy, bookish woman whom every man hopes is secretly dying to dance on a table wearing nothing but a smile. (Just for reference: I did know a belly dancing librarian once; she wore a lot more than a smile).

Most people who imagine these kinds of characters when they hear "librarian" would be shocked to find that librarians and other information professionals come from all backgrounds, all countries, all faiths, all ages, and in all shapes and sizes. In fact, the only things I've found most of the ones I've met to hold in common are warmth, intelligence, and a certain eccentricity that goes along with a love for learning.

In fact, that brings to mind one thing that librarians are: they are people who love to learn, and who love to help others learn. Contrary to popular belief, however, librarians do not know everything. They merely have access to (almost) everything.

During my short time working in various libraries, I have come to view a librarian as a conduit. A librarian does not contain the knowledge of the world (in this day and age, that is becoming increasingly impossible), but rather serves as a key to unlock the gateway to this knowledge, a dam to hold back and manage the information deluge, if you will. And with the amount of information available today, one must have a steady heart, not to mention a strong back to manage it.

A librarian is someone who works hard at tasks that may seem boring to the general populace. While the work can be repetitive, I have never been able to put it on the level of "boring." Librarians get to handle, or at least work around, materials that range in subject from mythology to gun control, from Omega-3 fatty acids to the dynamics of a spinning frisbee and everything in between. It's hard to be bored in a library unless one really tries.

Most of all, a librarian is of necessity a servant. Whether it is to the public, to academia, to a company, a church, a law firm or a hospital, librarians are there to organize someone else's information and then help others find it. Librarians are there to make sure that all information resources one could possibly need are at one's fingertips.

Librarians are a motley crew who don't quite belong anywhere else but a library. They are people of few or many words, male or female, young or old. They are black, white, brown, pinkish, and sometimes green (but we are not sure of this). They are passionate, with souls of ink and fire. Some of them don't wear glasses.

But I do. And I'm not really a librarian yet, but it will happen. Just a few years, and I too will be able to enjoy the title and join the ranks of some of the nicest, funniest, most interesting people I have ever known.

Here's to the journey.