Hedgehog Librarian: Prickly, Nocturnal, InfoDiva

I've moved...

2010-05-31T21:11:00.001-05:00

Thanks for dropping by--I've recently moved to

http://hedgehoglibrarian.com/

Please join me there, as I'll no longer be updating this site. I moved feedburner feeds over automatically so if you were subscribed through feedburner you should be fine. If you've received this though, you will probably need to resubscribe.

Please Continue to Hold...

2010-05-22T11:37:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to get the blog switched over to a custom domain. Having some issues. We're working on it....

Your call is important to us....blah blah blah

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T14:10:00.000-05:00

Both the Incredibly Patient Mother and I have to work today, so any chat will have to wait until evening.

In fiction, the majority of mothers seem either to be absent or various caricatures: vague, evil, ridiculous, too busy. If you only looked at our literature you might assume that the mothers of all of our teens were alcoholic drug addicts who had abandoned their children with a) a father who doesn't love them b) a father who cares but is absent or c) no one leaving them to fend on their own while she pursues men, money, etc. It's not new--one need look only at Grimm's Fairytales or Shakespeare to see this is a long standing trend.

For what kind of drama would it be to have a good (alive) mother? Would you want to read a book where the character grew up knowing her mother loved her and always could depend that no matter what happened or what might have gone wrong, that she could go home? Would you want to read about a girl who faced betrayal from friends and other family members, but always had her mother's shoulder to cry on, even as that mother was facing similar betrayal? Would it be so exciting if the mother was always there--not in an intrusive helicopter kind of way--but in a supportive way such that everyone knew that you'd best not hurt that daughter? Would you want to read about a daughter who spread her wings and flew on her own, but kept her mom's cell number on speed dial--just in case she needed advice, an opinion, or an ear to rage about general frustrations of life?

Would it be exciting if this mother was a good woman, doing the best she could, raising her children without trying to define herself by finding a new man, designer shoes, or public office? If the mother was only a gifted cook, talented gardener, brilliant seamstress, excellent writer, and incredible listener--what a boring story that would be.

Fortunately for me, that's only real life.

Happy Mother's Day to my Incredibly-Patient-Mother.

Your Words Speak Loudest of All

2010-05-05T10:30:00.002-05:00

*hops onto the soapbox*

Self-promotion is a challenge. Do it well, and it can be quite to your benefit. Overdo it and it can blow up in your face in all sorts of interesting ways. Fail to do it or do it poorly and find others wondering why it is you have a job, what it is you do, why they'd want to work with you, whether or not you're worth keeping about, so on, so forth.

In this day and age of ubiquitous social networking, self-promotion is a little easier. If there is a challenge I've overcome, I can blog about it (usually). If there is a triumph, celebration often comes with pictures and online cartwheels. If there is a failure, hopefully that can be expressed with lessons learned. I can do these things relatively immediately and in my own words and at my own word count discretion. Certainly I'd love to put every triumph in one of the professional journals, but that is highly unlikely to happen and those have the delay of going to press and requiring a subscription--a potential barrier in our instant update world.

Tone, as it is with nearly all human interaction, can be everything. Certainly we don't always want to be in one camp or the other: the squeakingly hyper-happy cheerleaders or the ultra-emo-Eeyores,* we're human and feel a wide range of emotion. In the view of professional self-promotion though, a spoonful of moderation isn't evil. It's no secret I self-moderate here: my boss, my director, and my mother--as well as friends, professional contacts, coworkers, and potential future employers/employees-- read this. It doesn't mean I need to be untrue to myself, just aware of my audience. If someone writes me off because of their personal hatred of hedgehogs, that's out of my hands. If they write me off because I consistently present myself poorly in an online setting, that's something I need to be worrying about and actively changing.

For this I believe:

If all you ever tell me is how you are a continual failure, eventually I will believe it and it could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy, despite potential evidence to the contrary.

Your words have such an effect on your present and your future. If one is confronted day to day or following a web search/social network perusal with nothing but a perpetual woe-is-me-athon, your name becomes synonymous with a slightly depressed feeling, an eyeroll, and a quick search for the block, mute, hide, or delete key.

I don't always seek to surround myself with optimists. I have a sarcasm streak about a mile too wide for that. Yet I do look for people who are inspiring, truthful, and trudging onwards, even in the face of adversity. I'm happy to be there through the good times and the bad; it's when we end up miring in the pit of unending over-shared sorrows that I'm turned off, and I can't think I'm the only one who feels that way.

Don't make me heave a deep sigh whenever I see your name.

*Was I the only one who was a much bigger fan of Eeyore than of Piglet?

/end soap box

About those "Book Reviews"

2010-05-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

A recent article suggests that female book bloggers are Faking It--making nice with the reviews for whatever reason one would like to throw out there. I hope you're aware that's not the case here. It's true that I tend to only bother writing up blog reviews for books I've enjoyed--and LibraryThing Early Reviewers--but that's more a personal choice. If I'm not enjoying a book these days, I stop reading at 50 pages--I don't finish it and write up a snotty review. I don't get to read enough as it is, let alone want to read books I don't like. My library basket is overflowing, there are unread book piles all over the apartment and we won't talk about how long the Google Spreadsheet of "To Read" is. I also have a draft box full of posts I want to finish--why would I add "Books I Didn't Enjoy" to that pile? Y'all have enough other things to read in your inboxes and RSS feeds I trust. So while you may wish to discount these posts insofar as being formal book reviews, I hope you'll continue to enjoy insight to what I've been reading. I'm still using the Book Review tag so you can find all of the posts together. A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy has a much more thoughtful look at and response to the faking it article. As for me? This is my blog, if I choose to say nice things, that's my prerogative.

An "Up" date...

2010-05-04T15:15:00.002-05:00

Remember that this is a Year of Up

A brief check up:

Shape Up: Yah, I know, I'm on the twiglet side of things. That doesn't mean I'm as in shape as I'd like to be.

May 2010: I've been doing Zumba once a week. Enjoying it! Need to start doing it at home too, not just class. Also, ordered a pair of Shape-Ups (caught a Skechers sale) to see about making those strolls down the walking trail a bit more productive.

Clean Up: Get what I'm not using out of the house. It means less to dust around.

May 2010: I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff--a trunkload to Goodwill, many trips out to the dumpster, books to the FOTL. And....things fluffed up. *sigh* there's less stuff. Promise.

Move Up: There are professional opportunities out there that I need to be working on/towards. Now if I can just guess what the major trend of ALA Annual 2012 will be....

May 2010: I've got ideas. Need to work on some action steps.

Speak Up: Blogging, Writing, on Committees.

May 2010: Guest Blog at Writer's Beware!This may be being republished, I'm waiting on an email. I've gotten a few of the long thoughts out on the blog. May not change the world over night, but the thoughts have been expressed.

Use Up: Wool Stash anyone? I'm part of a "5K Stashdown" marathon on Ravelry. As I have eleven times that much, it's not a huge commitment. I might try for the side bet of knitting up an average of a mile of yarn a month (nearly 20K). If I can get to where it all fits in the tubs, that'd be a huge start. Also--the fabric stash, which is smaller and therefore doesn't get as much blog time. See my actual blog page for my knit meter.

I brought a bunch of yarn in for the Knit In swap; I gave a bunch to Our Lady of the Business Office. The stash allllllllllmost fits in the tubs it's supposed to. Except for some of that stuff I bought when I shouldn't have gone wool shopping.
I've cleaned out a fair chunk of the romance novel backlog. Not all of them--I still want to read the remaining 40 or so...but the others are either to the FOTL sale or off to the Opera Singer. There are only so many hours in the day to read.

Cheer Up: Enough with the snark, the griping, and the drama. So 2009. I can't say cynicism is fully retiring, this is me after all, but maybe not all sarcasm all the time.

Hmmm...this one still requiring some effort.

Save Up: Get the debt paid down and the savings account paid up. And more towards retirement (insert chuckle about a public librarian ever being able to retire *here*).

Making progress--it's a slow and steady thing.

How are you doing on your goals this year?

In Search of a Not-Pink Series...

2010-05-03T14:55:00.000-05:00

Little girls, little girls, everywhere I turn--they're being marginalized...

I'm just finishing my second session of my Wee Reads group, a partial separation 4-7 year old storytime. Last session, I pulled Jon Scieszka's Time Warp Trio for our chapterbook read-aloud. One does like to start with the ringers when building a program and that's one guaranteed to appeal to boys and girls alike.

The Ambassador Emeritus does include some female characters, but TWT is mostly stories about three boys. Realizing this as I started to prep for session two, I decided I needed to have a chapterbook with a girl as the main character.

My criteria:
1) Nothing "pink"--where the majority of titles are pink/sparkly/princess/fairy. This ruled out such current popular titles as Tiara Club, Rainbow Magic, Magic Puppy/Kitten, etc. I wanted something that wouldn't give me a toothache just to read it aloud.
2) No horses
3) Short enough that I can read it aloud in 5 weeks. So about an hour long--usually about 80 pages.
4) Female protagonist(s)

I walked the shelves. I talked to coworkers. I went back through my order lists.

And I came away with the disturbing knowledge that once you take the "pink" and horse books out of the equation, series with female protagonists do not seem to be being written for emerging readers. We have boys having adventures and boy/girl pairs. Apparently girls can't stand alone--even as animal characters--unless they are princesses or fairies.

Examples of series I could have chosen to meet my parameters?

With Boy Protagonist: Time Warp Trio, Roscoe Riley Rules, Encyclopedia Brown, Jigsaw Jones, Horrid Henry, Dinosaur Cove, Matt Christopher/Jake Maddox, Pirate School, Something Wickedly Weird, Hank Zipzer, Melvin Beederman, Dragon Slayer's Academy (could potentially be mixed...), Roland Wright: Future Knight.

Male Lead Animals: Elliot's Park, Bunnicula, Jack Russell Dog Detective

Mixed Pairs: Magic Tree House, Down Girl and Sit, A-Z Mysteries, Bailey School Kids, Keyholders to the Kingdom, My Weird School, All American Puppies, Calendar Mysteries, Capital Mysteries

There are a number of longer chapter books that fit the bill: Ramona, Franny K. Stein, Claudia Cristina Cortez, Rachel Yoder, Dyamonde Daniel, Sassy/Little Sister, Clementine, Ivy and Bean, Abigail Iris, Nikki and Deja, Sisters Grimm, Judy Moody, Katie Kazoo, Pippi Longstockings, Julia Gillian, Little House, Ruby Lu, Harriet the Spy

but most of those characters were 8-10, their stories almost always revolve around school dynamics, and the majority of those books were just too long. I seriously considered Ramona, but I can't read it aloud in under an hour. And before anyone asks, I abhor Junie. The lack of discipline and grammar irritates me to no end. Most of my storytime two year olds have better language skills and manners.

This was what I found that might have worked:

Cam Jansen. This meets my requirements but I can't get into that character for some reason. I think what bothers me is that she has to get a lot of detective help from the boys around (every 2nd or 3rd cover has a boy on it) and basically only solves the mysteries because she has a photographic memory she seems to spend all day "clicking." I just couldn't get enthused.

Meet the Kreeps. Female protagonist. Length was close. But an Adams Family set of characters when I have four year olds whose reading rules at home that I don't know? Nah.

American Girl. Not sparkly, mostly not horse (minus Felicity). But the name says it all.

I ended up reading a book called Dear Whiskers by Ann Whitehead Nadga. I wish I'd found something else. It was cute on initial, at-my-desk, read. Reading it aloud, all I could hear was classroom dynamics, mean girl/teacher's pet nonsense, and the whining of the main character to be let out of a task when the results aren't instantaneously gratifying. I've edited out a lot of the mean girl stuff on the fly and my kids don't seem to notice. So why did it need to be included?

It's disappointing and frustrating. Here we have girls ready to read and yet the selection of strong female characters is nonexistent until a third grade reading level--easy readers tend to be even heavier in the mixed male/female leads with a leaning on the side of male protagonists. And it will comes as no shock that little boys are not generally inclined to read anything about sparkly princesses/fairies/horses.

So what am I missing? Which series should I be buying? Where are the girl detectives and girls going on adventures and girls who aren't stuck in the mean girl cycle and page counts under 100?

I'll be reading up over the summer, trying to find something I like better for the fall. Judy Moody and Ruby Lu aren't off the list entirely, and I need to read the new Abigail Iris. We'll see.

Hogitat

2010-05-01T16:17:00.001-05:00

Well..that's one word for my apartment I suppose.

Better than hedgepigsty, right?

Anywho, found via JennieLaw, you too can buy a Hedgehog Home

Kids Knitting: Into the Sunshine...

2010-04-30T16:30:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was the last knitting session at LPL for my kids. Here's a picture from our Library Flickr account.

I started a child focused knitting group here nearly two and a half years ago for a number of reasons, my own knitting compulsion not being the least of them. It was a small group at first: four or five knitters. Things waxed and waned and when I regularly had six, we counted it a success.

Now, I consistently have a dozen to fifteen. Most of the knitters are home-schooled. Only one is in high school, the rest are late elementary through middle school. Though one boy has been valiantly with me from the beginning, it was primarily girls. This last session two more boys have consistently joined us, though others have flitted in and out.

Over time, things evolved, as they do in all classrooms. I started bringing in piles of books to recommend to them-- with most of the books heading directly towards the checkout afterwards. I led two sessions of advanced knitting techniques so that they were confident to pick up patterns on their own and tackle lace without fear. I held a contest and was stunned by their creativity. I taught them how to make needles and stitch markers, and why putting a piece of yarn in bleach can help you determine what it's made of--which is good when you've lost the ball band. I introduced them to Ravelry and we took a field trip far far away to the land of Upstairs Adult Non-Fiction so they could see where the adult knitting books were, as most of my knitters are far beyond the basic how-to-knit books they mass produce for kids, though the Scrapbooker (non-fiction selector) has added what more difficult material she could find.

And with the understanding of their parents that it was NOT A LIBRARY RELATED/CONDONED/SUPPORTED FUNCTION: I took a six of them to a yarn store. Seeing their eyes pop as they contemplated all the delicious options was priceless.

And they grew--both in skill as knitters and vertically as children are wont to do. From slowly suffering through the knit stitch, the first cast on, the first finished square to the projects currently in progress: two sweaters, three pairs of fingerless gloves, two scarves, three pairs of socks, a couple of bags, and I'm not sure what else... They've made Christmas and birthday gifts, knit for new babies and grandparents, but mostly for themselves. I've hopefully taught them it's not wrong to devote time to making something beautiful for yourself. They're more confident in their craft, even if they are still hoping that I'll fix all the mistakes and help them figure out what happened when it's all gone wrong.

I'm grateful for the trust of their parents. Children often express themselves more easily when adults aren't present and while I was always in the room, I was their Fearless Leader, so often I didn't count as they discussed school, siblings, and life. Parents were supportive as I suggested a social networking site for knitters and cases of new books for their kids to read and talked endlessly about yarn, knitting techniques, knitting books, knitting humor. They brought the kids in week after week after week and let me teach, coach, cajole, and shove.

I'm grateful to the kids for their enthusiasm and determination. I ripped out their knitting numerous times and said "Okay, do it again." I lured book review after opinion out of them, endlessly asking what they were reading. I challenged them to think beyond squares and garter stitch. And I learned more techniques than I can begin to count when--faced with a question or idea--I had to say "Sure, we'll start that next week." so that I could frantically run home and find instructions on how one did whatever "that" was.

So why end now? Because while it hasn't died a slow death, things have changed, parents do get tired, and I'd like to see what else we can offer elementary/middle school students. I'm ending with a group of now confident knitters and things have evolved to needing just a minute of my help--and then a lot of socializing while they knit. Certainly they're welcome to come to the library to do that, and I've told them that this ending doesn't mean they can't ask for help or book suggestions. I certainly hope they do continue to come and find me.

It also means my hobby can moreso retreat to being that, rather than a work obligation, which will be nice.

Why I Won't Use Your Website to Purchase Books From...

2010-04-21T11:46:00.000-05:00

I was recently pointed towards a distributor that was said to work with a number of small presses, with the suggestion that I might find some new and exciting things there that I was missing when I was ordering books.

I'm all for new resources, certainly I haven't figured out everything there is to know about collection development, and so I shuffled over and signed up for an account.

Issue Number 1: The signature on my work email includes the name of my library. Now, granted, there is both a La Crosse Public and a La Crosse County system, but it's very clearly specified in the email I sent requesting an account where I belong. So when I got my sign in confirmation and logged in to be welcomed as La Crosse County, I was a little thrown. As there was no where for me to fix this problem, I needed to contact Customer Service again.

Issue Number 2: There are two options of finding materials on this site: search through their "topical lists" which included selection by library shows (in case you wanted to see what they took to Florida), monthly themes (XYZ History, etc), and "New titles" or a Known Item search of the catalog, where you toss in a title/ISBN/etc to see if they have it.

Issue Number 3: I looked at the "what's new in Children's" which took me to 15 (at the time) pages of things to scroll through without any sorting options. Fiction, non fiction, picture books, grade levels I assume from birth through middle school. And it's a bizarre mix of things I'm seeing in the review catalogs, things I've never heard of, things from big presses, reprints...etc. And when I looked under what was new for YA, I got a Dinosaur non-fiction book that would be great for a fourth grader. Our definitions of YA must be different.

I emailed about the incorrect library system and I mentioned that I was having a really hard time finding any way to browse through the materials. I'd been told there wasn't a print catalog of new things, but there wasn't a good electronic one that grouped things well either. Generally speaking, I don't usually take an hour or eight to wade through 15 pages of materials that may or may not be remotely applicable when I'm looking for new books. I have so many catalogs and publishers materials that are pushed to me, I only go out and search when it's something I'm getting asked for a lot: e.g. more Star Wars books.

The email I got in return, while bright and chipper, caused a *facepalm* with a potential side of *headdesk*. I quote:

"Once you get the basic understanding of the advanced search, most people find our website very simple to use."

Hello huge barrier and condescension. I know, I'm a librarian, we're all about mastering the advanced search, demonstrating our GoogleFu, whipping through full text queries at the speed of a flying internet. I've also spent enough years mucking around with Access to set up a pretty decent SQL query when one is called for, so I grasp how to add parameters to my searches.

Their advanced search involves selecting options, one at a time, and then running a search. "Grade Level" = "Type in level here" (one at a time only please), Homosexual Content = yes/no, Height = enter parameter (in case I only want short books?). The "Intellect" option threw me---(umm...smart people only books?) but was for YA, Adult, child, etc..

Yes...I could enter all of these... and I tried a search for English/Fiction/K-8. Over 1200 results, which are only sorted by title. And I can't narrow the query from there, I'd need to back out to the Advanced Search page and hone again. I can't select more than one format at a time. etc...etc..

So, again, I don't think I'll be ordering from them. When I can't find a way to get to your materials in a way that works for me, the end user...

Library lessons to be learned from this kids?

Top 100 Chapter Books

2010-04-15T14:13:00.001-05:00

I participated in Betsy Bird's Top 100 Chapter books poll. She pulled a couple of my comments for Matilda, Ranger's Apprentice, and Boxcar Children. :)

Thanks to Tasha at Kids Lit for this idea!

Which ones have I read? Probably fewer than you'd think... See the bold below.

100. The Egypt Game - Snyder (1967)

99. The Indian in the Cupboard - Banks (1980) [Technically I remember the IPM reading this aloud]

98. Children of Green Knowe - Boston (1954)

97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo (2006)

96. The Witches - Dahl (1983)

95. Pippi Longstocking - Lindgren (1950

94. Swallows and Amazons - Ransome (1930)

93. Caddie Woodlawn - Brink (1935)

92. Ella Enchanted - Levine (1997)

91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Sachar (1978)

90. Sarah, Plain and Tall - MacLachlan (1985)

89. Ramona and Her Father - Cleary (1977)

88. The High King - Alexander (1968)

87. The View from Saturday - Konigsburg (1996)

86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Rowling (1999) [I had to check and see titles, I stopped at book 3]

85. On the Banks of Plum Creek - Wilder (1937)

84. The Little White Horse - Goudge (1946)

83. The Thief - Turner (1997)

82. The Book of Three - Alexander (1964)

81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Lin (2009)

80. The Graveyard Book - Gaiman (2008)

79. All-of-a-Kind-Family - Taylor (1951)

78. Johnny Tremain - Forbes (1943)

77. The City of Ember - DuPrau (2003)

76. Out of the Dust - Hesse (1997)

75. Love That Dog - Creech (2001)

74. The Borrowers - Norton (1953)

73. My Side of the Mountain - George (1959)

72. My Father's Dragon - Gannett (1948)

71. The Bad Beginning - Snicket (1999)

70. Betsy-Tacy - Lovelae (1940)

69. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Stewart ( 2007)

68. Walk Two Moons - Creech (1994)

67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - Coville (1991)

66. Henry Huggins - Cleary (1950)

65. Ballet Shoes - Stratfeild (1936)

64. A Long Way from Chicago - Peck (1998)

63. Gone-Away Lake - Enright (1957)

62. The Secret of the Old Clock - Keene (1959)

61. Stargirl - Spinelli (2000)

60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi (1990)

59. Inkheart - Funke (2003)

58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Aiken (1962)

57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Cleary (1981)

56. Number the Stars - Lowry (1989)

55. The Great Gilly Hopkins - Paterson (1978)

54. The BFG - Dahl (1982)

53. Wind in the Willows - Grahame (1908)

52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)

51. The Saturdays - Enright (1941)

50. Island of the Blue Dolphins - O'Dell (1960)

49. Frindle - Clements (1996)

48. The Penderwicks - Birdsall (2005)

47. Bud, Not Buddy - Curtis (1999)

46. Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls (1961) [Never cried...I think we lost too many dogs growing up]

45. The Golden Compass - Pullman (1995)

44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Blume (1972)

43. Ramona the Pest - Cleary (1968)

42. Little House on the Prairie - Wilder (1935)

41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Speare (1958)

40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum (1900)

39. When You Reach Me - Stead (2009)

38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling (2003)

37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Taylor (1976)

36. Are You there, God? It's Me, Margaret - Blume (1970)

35. HP and the Goblet of Fire - Rowling (2000)

34. The Watson's Go to Birmingham - Curtis (1995)

33. James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (1961)

32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - O'Brian (1971)

31. Half Magic - Eager (1954)

30. Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne (1926)

29. The Dark Is Rising - Cooper (1973)

28. A Little Princess - Burnett (1905)

27. Alice I and II - Carroll (1865/72)

26. Hatchet - Paulsen (1989)

25. Little Women - Alcott (1868/9)

24. HP and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling (2007)

23. Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder (1932)

22. The Tale of Despereaux - DiCamillo (2003)

21. The Lightening Thief - Riordan (2005)

20. Tuck Everlasting - Babbitt (1975)

19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl (1964)

18. Matilda - Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee - Spinelli (1990)

16. Harriet the Spy - Fitzhugh (1964)

15. Because of Winn-Dixie - DiCamillo (2000)

14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling (1999)

13. Bridge to Terabithia - Paterson (1977)

12. The Hobbit - Tolkien (1938)

11. The Westing Game - Raskin (1978)

10. The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster (1961)

9. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (1908)

8. The Secret Garden - Burnett (1911)

7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)

6. Holes - Sachar (1998)

5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - Koningsburg (1967)

4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Lewis (1950)

3. Harry Potter #1 - Rowling (1997)

2. A Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle (1962)

1. Charlotte's Web - White (1952)

38/100

Welcome Writer Beware Readers!

2010-04-14T09:25:00.000-05:00

If you've clicked over from the Writer Beware Blog--Welcome!

If you're a regular reader--I've written a guest post about my book selection process for my public library at Writer Beware Blogs!

Hedgehogs in the News: Slimhogs!

2010-04-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

JennieLaw sent this on! (Thanks Jennie)

The pudgyhogs of before went on a diet. Now they can show off their new slim spring figures!

Diet success hedgehogs released into the wild

Egypt: Days -2 to 0

2010-04-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

I left La Crosse on Saturday morning and headed for New York. Got to see the Brunette and Husband. Attempted to locate new reading material for the Brunette before he left for his next work trip (he's picky). Met up with M on Sunday evening. Monday, M and I walked up and down Manhattan, trying on hats, futilely searching for interesting silver, and shunning the spring fashions that were just starting to make their appearance. I'd been able to leave my heavy coat in Queens and wore only a light fleece. In January!

After one more meal we headed to the airport. Security was pretty standard, nothing I hadn't expected. I'd now gone through two sets of airport security with knitting needles and no questions. For the curious, I was flying with KnitPicks Wooden 4" Double-Pointed Needles, or as I prefer to call them, oversized painted toothpicks. I cast on a project immediately after getting through security in La Crosse and through 4 airports no one even asked what I was making. I did, of course, have extras in my checked luggage.

We boarded and were happy to find that we had a set of three seats to ourselves. After a first round of airplane food, we read, listened to music, I did a minimal amount of knitting, we talked...the usual airplane time passing tricks. And we tried, pretty much unsuccessfully, to sleep. This was abnormal for me. I've been known to fall asleep before take off.

Arriving in Paris at something like 4 a.m. Eastern Time, 9 a.m local, we hustled down the concourse and on to our next gate. I was bleary and my brain wasn't registering what was said to me in English, let alone polite French, but eventually I gathered I needed to also shed my jacket (not just my shoes) and got my carry-on bag rummaged through again. We had coffee and muffins and eventually we shuttled out to our plane, where we boarded and waited for a couple of hours. No particular reason was given, so we all just hung out and eventually they said sit down we're leaving. It was a full flight this time and we were seated next to a man heading to work on the oil rigs.

We'd left New York in the dark Monday and arrived well after dark in Cairo on Tuesday, total travel time about 16 hours I think? Whatever time it was, I was wiped. We shuttled to the airport, got our passports stamped, and started the search for our luggage. I also flagged down the car service meeting us. Luggage in hand we were passed through a couple of people to our personal car.

We hurtled towards Cairo, the guide accompanying our driver chattering a mile a minute about what we were passing and offering to set up various tours for us, which we politely said we'd consider. We arrived relatively quickly on Zamalek, an island in the middle of the Nile River, which is the richest area of Cairo and where our hotel was located. Zamalek is a warren of one way streets, abrupt turns, and triple parked cars, as well as the home of most of the embassies, including the one for the US.

M and I stayed at the President Hotel, which, we were told, is primarily a Canadian/European travelers hotel. Our room was relatively spacious, with a desk and a "comfortable" chair besides the twin beds with bedside tables. There was a mini fridge that we didn't use, and a TV where we kept up on world happenings, mostly the earthquake in Haiti and the Senate race in the US. It was clean though slightly worn and we were very careful about using bottled water to wash our faces, brush our teeth etc. Our room had a view over the courtyard of the Chinese Embassy next door.

Now local, I phoned our tour guide arranger Mohammed, who joined us at our hotel to review the plans for the next four days. My one page of details and scribbled notes became the basis of all reminders and my travel journal. He also took us to buy water and sandwiches from one of the local delis. Fed and through showers, we adjourned to bed. Cairo continued it's noise, the noise pollution of car horns, sirens, etc, said to make the city 8x as loud as a city of equivalent size.

We would sleep through a light rain and awaken at 4:30 a.m. to the pre-dawn call to prayer.

In Which I Ramble About Content, Shiny Packages, and My Love of Books

2010-04-05T10:00:00.007-05:00

Many of my social networks seethed this week with conversation about Saturday's initial deliveries of iPads. Debates swarmed about the viability of buying one, whether or not it was worth it, how one could possibly get by without it, and of course the initial debates of what it might be used for in libraries and whether or not we should be investing in them. I know NCSU has some coming, I'm sure they aren't alone.

Though upon Apple's initial announcement I was mildly intrigued, increasingly I am less charmed. A lot of it falls into what others have said: we don't see a specific purpose for it. A laptop, I understand. A smart phone, I comprehend. An mp3 player, I'm permanently attached to when I'm traveling. That the majority of the utilities of these has been rolled into one for those using an iPhone, I grasp--particularly when hanging out with My-Friend-the-Laywer.

Part of it, too, for me is a little whiplash against consumerism. A lot of new and exciting tools and software have come at us in the past decade, the past five years even. Ten years ago I had a desktop computer. Now I have a digital camera, cell phone with full keypad and internet, two laptops (for my freelance stuff, they aren't really "mine"), a desktop computer, and an mp3 player. Do I really need one more thing that needs to be charged, updated, where did I put the special screen cover and personal bag as I'll need to carry it in something bigger than my purse?

I think one of the things that bothers me is that we're increasingly buying packages without content. And that is what troubles me most about the Ipad. I'm not entirely clear on what it comes preloaded with but from the sounds of it, it doesn't appear to be much. One can purchase any number of things to play and run on it, assuming of course that said things are sanctioned by Apple (at least until someone hacks it, which I anticipate to happen very soon if it hasn't already), but it still strikes me as a watered down laptop that doesn't have a full keyboard, on which I can't multitask or do anything requiring Flash and for which I would end up paying yet more monthly subscription fees to somebody.

I certainly have any number of purchased items for which their purpose is to work with other content that I purchase separately. My DVD player is an excellent example of this. It serves no purpose other than to play DVDs I pop into it. It doesn't record, transfer, any of those things. But it has a specific purpose in my life that I can identify and a boatload of content here at Chez Hedgehog to use with it, without further expense on my part.

I like purchasing content in final form. Owning a copy of that content. I have a suspicion that's part of the reason I own so many books. When I buy them, I've bought them, I've paid for the final format, it's mine and there I have it. I don't need a secondary device to access the content, certainly not a proprietary one. My DVDs will play on any of my computers as well as my DVD player. I can also lend them to a friend without losing my proprietary gadget.

I was home on Friday and I spent nearly the entire day away from "screens"--computer screens, television screens, even my phone. Of course, there was some email that needed to be answered and I did that, but otherwise it was an incredibly peaceful day of me and the cat and a thunderstorm. I did radical things like brew endless pots of tea and read books I already owned.

I'm usually in front of some sort of computer screen 8-10 hours a day. Work puts me in front of a screen a minimum of 6-8 hours a day. Add any time spent on freelance or personal stuff, on my phone texting, clicking the TV on to catch an episode of Good Eats or Bones, and my sporadic addiction to games like Peggle or BubbleTown and suddenly it's been 12 hours. And in a way all too familiar to those who do it too, I'm exhausted. I'm always multi-screen-tasking, even now I have six tabs open in Firefox. Being able to step away, to not feel plugged in to one of my own gadgets, was a pleasant change. I think that's one of the reasons I've felt so anti-ereader. I can certainly see a purpose and no doubt the next time I move someone will lecture me about how much lighter and easier it would be to move me were I to shed the 7 packed bookshelves. But I like the option to disconnect. I like having something that doesn't require charging. (*insert side comment about the fact that I knit and that doesn't require batteries either, nor "added content" once I've bought the yarn and needles*/end blogjack)

Ten years ago, I had one gadget that needed a subscription, plugged in, that I purchased a lot of content, etc. Now, I have at least six (eight if you add in the TV and DVD player). I think we're swinging back towards fewer devices, with the iPhone probably the best example of leading the way--combining web, phone, and music--which are the big three I think. And I'm skeptical of first generation just about anything....

But I don't think I'm alone in wanting to own the content I've purchased, wanting to focus my purchases on tools that are useful and not just objects that require more purchases and cash outlay, and a move from proprietary to cross platform. And if record circulation numbers at my library are any indication, I'm not the only one who still likes reading in book format.

Book Review: Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Eastland

2010-04-04T16:33:00.000-05:00

Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program in exchange for reviewing it on LibraryThing.

Eye of the Red Tsar
Sam Eastland

What if what we know about the Romanov's death was wrong? What if the government itself didn't know the truth? Who would they ask? Who could they trust? And if you found the most trusted and most feared adviser to the Tsar back from Siberia, what might he uncover?

The good:

Eastland creates and interesting premise of a top advisor/spy/investigator to the Tsar who, after the Revolution, was exiled to Siberia and is brought back to solve the mystery of what happened when the Romanovs disappeared. Told in a blend of flashbacks and present day, it gives a humanity to the Tsar and his family, a glimpse inside times just prior to the Revolution.

There's a decent level of intensity that keeps one going through the book--it was a surprisingly quick read. I got through it in an evening. I was slightly disappointed by the ending, though I could comprehend it.

The bad:

I had an ARC so I won't comment on the layout other than there were a lot of errors hopefully corrected before final print.

The history was imaginative. There was enough historically inaccurate that I was unsure how much to actually believe, and would err on the side of fiction rather than fact.

It could easily stand alone as a book, and I was disappointed to see that the author intends for it to be a series. A lot of what I enjoyed were the flashback sequences and I don't think those would successfully hold up through more books. We've explored them, we understand the main character's angst and what he's been through. Reliving them over in future books would be less effective.

Final Thoughts: If you're up for suspense and willing to set aside the blatant historical inaccuracies, it's an interesting read.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T12:36:00.000-05:00

Wishing you and your families a Happy and Blessed Easter!

Gypsy and I will be taking in the sunshine, ham and chocolate.

Egypt: The Pre-Show

2010-04-01T10:30:00.003-05:00

Ha...and you thought there would be pictures of my trip to Egypt. Yes yes, they are forthcoming. But to answer a few questions ahead of time:

M and I went to Egypt together in January. We went for the brilliant reason of "Because it is Tuesday." This is an excellent reason for just about anything, I suggest you make use of it.

We traveled with Air France Holidays. Our vacation package included round trip airfare from JFK through Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris to Cairo, ground transportation to and from our hotel in Cairo, and hotel accommodations. Through a friend of mine here in La Crosse, who used to go to Egypt every couple of years, and a professor in Minnesota, I obtained the phone number for a gentleman at Wings Tours. He and I communicated mostly via email, which was helpful considering the eight hour time difference. I gave him a wish list of things we wanted to do and he filled gaps with recommendations and arranged for a driver and personal tour guides for our days in Cairo. I cannot speak highly enough of our tour guide in Cairo or of our driver.

It was just the two of us, no big tour group, which I loved. We could set our own speed, ask a million questions, decide between us on meals without it being a production. I may never get on a tour bus ever again. :)

I know it's been a while getting this up. February kind of exploded in my face and suddenly it's April and I have the 4th Annual Knitting in Public Day next week. Bear with me.

Oh fine...here's a picture of a Pyramid:

Reaching Young Adults--More Ideas.

2010-03-30T17:38:00.000-05:00

At the recent Public Library Association conference in Portland Oregon, there was a session on reaching out to GenX/Y/Millenials.

PLA 2010 Conference: Reaching “Quarter-Life” Adults and Young Professionals

There are some very interesting ideas. I wonder if I can talk Madame Director into letting us show movies on our flat roof? Hmmmm...........

I Won I Won I Won

2010-03-23T14:59:00.000-05:00

So my ffeeps and close friends and coworkers have already been assaulted with this but I was one of the top three essayists for the LISNews Essay Contest! Hooray!

The comments have been interesting, mostly very supportive, for which I'm thrilled and grateful. I hope it inspires people to think outside of the box. I hope they'll reach out to working adults, not just in the age groups I mentioned, but as a whole. I'd love to see a resurgence and enthusiasm for adult programming that children's and teen librarians are constantly trying to achieve. And if your library is doing something awesome, I'd certainly welcome an email so I can share it with others--the library collective can certainly come up with more ideas than I alone can.

Book Review: Elvis and the Grateful Dead by Peggy Webb

2010-03-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program in exchange for reviewing it on LibraryThing.

Elvis and the Grateful Dead
A Southern Cousins Mystery
by Peggy Webb

An Elvis impersonator festival and contest should be full of sequins, crooners, good music and food--especially when it's being held in the King's hometown. But when someone starts picking off the impersonators, it's up to Callie Jones, her estranged mystery man ex-husband, and her basset hound Elvis (who IS the reincarnation of the King) to solve the mystery and keep cooking cousin Lovie out of the Jailhouse.

The good:
The story is told by both Callie and Elvis (the dog). Their voices are very distinct and amusing. Elvis spends a lot of time "singing" references, which can be a little distracting but I can imagine a friend of mine's basset hound doing this.

Well developed secondary characters. Though I never really felt for the Elvis's who were being killed, I could completely recognize some of the other town characters. Callie's Mom was delightfully outrageous and many will be able to identify a beloved Uncle who is ready to lend an ear, helping hand, and sage advice.

I didn't figure the mystery out until the end. That's always a challenge for me, because very often one sees it coming and then you have to decide whether or not to slog on through.

The bad:
Webb occasionally switches narration mid-chapter. That was a little confusing the first time as usually you got a fresh chapter.

Callie is obsessed with having children and a "good father" to go with that. Certainly that's a big part of her character but the dwelling on having babies and how her ex isn't good father material makes her less dynamic.

The confusing not-quite-ex-husband thing. Personally, I can't say I'd let my soon-to-be-ex wash my back (literally) if it was serious enough that we were divorcing. It's clear that he doesn't want the divorce, but Callie's a confused bundle of nerves. She vacillates from sleeping with her ex husband in Chapter 2 to a possible new love interest by the end of the book, which was a little overdone for me.

There's some definite male as heroic rescuer that gets a little old. The whole idea of always needing a big strong man to rescue one grated a bit.

Elvis' constant singing could certainly get old after a while if one isn't a fan of the King.

Slightly over-referenced book one of the series. I felt like I almost didn't need to read it because everything was rehashed in book two.

What I'd like to see more of:
The relationship between Callie and her mother. It reminded me a bit of Donna Andrews' style, which I adore, and I'd like to see more of that.

Overall?
A very cute addition to the cozy mystery section. Book one is going on the hold list at work. Share with your animal and cozy mystery lovers.

Book Review: Dusted to Death by Barbara Colley

2010-03-12T12:52:00.000-06:00

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program in exchange for reviewing it on LibraryThing.

Dusted to Death
Barbara Colley

The plot: Charlotte's been called in to keep an eye on the house of one of her more difficult clients while they shoot a movie there. Amid the drama queen leading lady, her intimidating bodyguard, an attractive older male actor and the chaos of filming in an older New Orleans home, there is a messy murder. Not only does it ruin a rug, it might ruin the movie.

Charlotte is a multi-faceted character, what with some romance with her next door neighbor, problems with her son, and the realities of not being a twenty something who spends all of her money on shoes, handbags, and fancy dates. Brought in to mind the movie set and make sure none of her client's "treasures" are destroyed, she gets an interesting look behind the scenes of film-making. She has a crush on the leading man, an older actor whose heartthrob status has lasted and his gentlemanly nature only wins him more brownie points.

The book focuses behind the scenes on not only the actors but the people whose names only fly past up on the credits: prop masters etc and the creepy paparazzi that orbit that world. It's nice to get a sense of their frenzy, frustration, and planning.

Though I could tell I'd dropped into the middle of the series and probably wasn't fully grasping the implications of all of the references, the book was able to stand by itself without a lot of filler backlog giving me history of books I hadn't and might not ever read. I really liked that. The romantic aspect was really obvious, but it didn't detract from the book. I got the sense that it would have been more well rounded had I read other books in the series.

The biggest issue I had with the book was the film's leading lady Angel's, whose "real life" presented some confusion insofar as her age and personality. She is supposed to be in the role of a young engenue, playing a younger girl, but the various descriptions given of her background seemed to add up to someone closer to 30. It seemed like too much had happened to her for her still to be playing a Catholic schoolgirl.That jarred me out of the story a bit. She also was fluxtuating a little too fast between being a sweet girl under pressure and being a royal Hollywood party girl diva. Her secret past required just a little too much abandoning of reality--particularly in this day and age where it's hard to keep ones past buried.

An enjoyable cozy mystery and, from the ending, one where I would be interested in going back and finding out some of the previous events leading up to it. Just as soon as I wade through my reading basket.

Web Animal

2010-03-08T17:27:00.000-06:00

Found via Jennie Law--who is back from New Zealand. Oh so jealous...

According to a Web Behavior Survey: I'm an ostrich

Fast-moving - We can tell from your results that you are a speedy surfer - one of the characteristics of the Web Ostrich, whose real-world counterpart has an impressive top speed of 45mph.

Sociable - The web is a social place. You take full advantage of this when you search for information by using social networks and other sites whose content is created by its users. Real-world ostriches are also highly social, even keeping eggs in each other’s nests to share the burden.

Specialised - The real-world ostrich is a true specialist, highly adapted to survive in hot, dusty African grasslands. You might not be at risk from lions when browsing the web, but you are still very focused. From your test we can tell you do best when you concentrate on one task at time, rather than several things at once.

Wimp Yourself!

2010-03-04T16:58:00.000-06:00

Madame Storyteller pointed me to this one.

Wimp Yourself for the Upcoming Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie!

Meanwhile, this wimp is off to Zumba. Going for a more slightly more toned hedgehog.

Book Review: Cart Before the Corpse by Carloyn McSparren

2010-03-02T09:15:00.000-06:00

**I received an e-book version of this book as part of my participation in LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.**

The Cart Before the Corpse
by Carolyn McSparren

Cart Before the Corpse is a cozy mystery, with Merry Abbott trying to figure out who killed the father who she was estranged from for the majority of her life. It comes as the first spin off of a collectively written series called the Mossy Creek Hometown Series. I've not read the latter, but they're floating around the system, so I might try to get through at least the first one.

Merry, a horse/carriage trainer and show manager who won't herself drive, learns at the end of a show that her father has been murdered. She drives down to where she had planned to meet her father on his new horse training farm in rural Georgia and, as the heir, must sort out who did it along with deciding whether or not to stay on the farm she now owns.

Overall the book was okay, not something I'd have picked up otherwise and not something I'm particularly interested in continuing to read. McSparren, in my opinion, was way too hung up on the idea of reconciliation between father and daughter. Merry felt a whole lot of guilt about picking up her life and moving on after repeatedly being abandoned be her father. It felt overly forced for her to spend nearly the entire book blaming herself for not reaching out earlier to a man who had rejected her. But that could just be my cynical opinion.

As the local law is never enough in these books, a GBI agent was brought in to provide the cop side of the story as well as being the potential love interest for Merry. The voice of the character was decent, though I didn't feel like we got enough of his story to really care about him. He seemed like a potentially interesting character.

Probably the best character was Peggy Caldwell, Merry's father's landlady and friend. She was well developed enough that it wouldn't surprise me to find that she's the character McSparren has already fleshed out in the Mossy Creek books. Her voice was very strong and she seemed like someone who would be fun to know.

Mixed voice narrative made it occasionally confusing but it was generally clear when I'd move away from the book and return.

If you're interested in carriage riding, it's a light fun read. I particularly struggled with trying to read it in e-book/on screen format (no, still no e-reader at Chez Hedgehog) and I can only hope someone did a final edit--as there were quite a number of errors in the text, particularly as the story progressed. I had trouble sticking with the narrative and really getting involved with the characters and overall, it wouldn't be a first recommendation.

Wee Reads: The Mid-Session Update...

2010-03-01T18:25:00.000-06:00

Checking back in as we've gotten through Week 4 of this first session of Wee Reads. Overall, I'd say it's going swimmingly--the kids keep coming, they're having a good time, and no one has melted down at the idea of separation. I lost one kid because he and dad weren't quite ready for a separation storytime, but they are attending a family storytime elsewhere. The other parents are right out the door, celebrating the idea of running across to the adult fiction section for a book by themselves.

For those playing the home edition (and yes, I'll have a Google Doc of Reading Recommendations when this is all over)

Week 2:

We started off with Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin. The "Diary" series are wonderful because there is a TON of biology and fun facts dangled before you without really beating you over the head with pedantics of "this is a fly, it has wings."

Once you start with the Diary of a Fly, one must then have Fly Guy! Tedd Arnold's books are delightfully gross and small children this very unusual pet.

We did more ribbon dancing and then into our chapter book, continuing with Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Sciezska. So far, they'd knocked down a knight.

Week 3:

I had to squeeze a bit more in this week because my "back up" book was due. I always try to keep at least one back up book in the room in case something goes wrong, falls though, isn't working, or turns into a 30 second read.

We started with Melanie Watt and Chester. This went okay...Chester is a bit more of a one-on-one I think...there is so much going between the characters and in the artwork. Perhaps it we'd had a bit more time to slow it down and talk it through...

Next was a classic Berenstain Bears. There are a lot of these in our easy readers: Inside Outside Upside Down and The Bear's Vacation. I'm not a big fan of how Papa Bear is portrayed in a lot of the books, so I opted for The Spooky Old Tree. It has just enough repetition and fun to carry through and it reads very quickly. And everyone knows what it feels like to get the shivers.

Then we read Egg Drop by Mini Grey. This, along with the Book that Eats People, has easily become a new favorite of mine. The subversive humor is just enough for this age group to get--they know where the story is going and are willing to play along. And the adults are chuckling through the end.

With parents sent onwards, we did Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes (by popular request). But I made them learn the second verse (blame the Blonde and Think Big): Ankles, elbows, feet and seat, feet and seat....

And then back to Knights of the Kitchen Table and King Arthur's court, complete with a scary Merlin.

Week 4:

This week turned out to be "return of favorites"--somehow I'd missed that they turned Little Bear into a television show. I can't say I'm thrilled about that.

We started with SkippyJon Jones and my horrific Spanish accent. Somehow I always end up with Speedy Gonzalez. I inevitably apologize to the parents for my bad Spanish. Singing, I'm fine...reading with an intentional Spanish accent--not so much.

We did Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes again, this time with a twist. I asked them, for the first round of it, to imagine themselves doing it while encased in jello. Then of course, we had to shake the jello off before we did the second round and I asked what flavor jello they had been encased in. There are more flavors in small children's heads than the company making the boxes is ever going to produce....

And another two chapters...we're making headway through the book.

This will go up during "Week 5"....catch you back here for more!

Banking Drama....

2010-02-17T21:12:00.000-06:00

It's been an evening of customer service experiences.

I've had issues with my current bank, which have made me yell, use a lot of vulgar language, and at one point I ended up in the branch manager's office after sending her a pointed email about how poorly I'd been treated by her staff. Things have, unfortunately, not gotten much better.

Current bank
1) The website is often out of date.
2) One can only reach the bank by phoning during business hours. There is an email account but then one gets to receive a return phone call while I'm at work. My coworkers are sick of listening to me talk to my bank.

3) Very little can be handled online.
4) They shut off everyone's card due to a data breach but didn't bother to tell any of the card holders for 16 hours--and didn't put any notification on their website or voicemail about this. (Guess who surprised a bunch of story time parents the next morning with the news that their bank cards wouldn't work?) Over 24 hours later some people STILL hadn't been notified.

5) Don't allow for pin changes on location--you have to get an entirely new debit card to change the pin. I found this out 24 hours before I left for New York--while planning to take only the new debit card.

6) Didn't have a drive through ATM--in Wisconsin--until about six months ago. You had to park illegally in an all-reserved-spots-parking and get out of the car. In January. In Wisconsin.

7) No walk in ATM at the bank, despite being on Main Street where we have a lot of foot traffic during the summer.

8) No ATM at all at the remote branch, which is closer to Chez Hedgehog.
9) Remember I went to Egypt? (yah I know I owe you pictures) I called them in advance and was assured by the receptionist (I don't know her name but I recognize the voice at this point) that she would mark my account so they wouldn't shut the card off on me while M and I were abroad. On the trip home and while I was in NY praying the wind would let up long enough that I could fly back to CHI/LSE--they called about odd account activity. There was no record on my account that I was going to be traveling to Egypt despite my advance phone call. While I appreciated the verification and rattled off exactly how many debits had been made, when, and the approximate amount with some wiggle room for exchange rates, the obvious fall down on that one was HUGE. "Who did you talk to?" the caller asked. "Whoever answers the phone." was my not extremely chipper answer.

10) Tonight--for no apparent reason--they're holding double my rent payment hostage. The money is there, it's just "not available." I only got one receipt from my landlord through their electronic bill payment system and it's automatic, so that shouldn't have gone through twice. I've used that system for two years. So tomorrow morning I get to call to find out what exactly is going on this time.

I've had plans to go to a different financial institution, one recommended highly by a coworker. It's a credit union, they pay interest on their standard checking accounts, and she's been really pleased with them. Only, they keep banking hours and I hate leaving the house on Saturday. As I kvetched about this online, one friend suggested I start the account opening process online.

It had never occurred to me that I could do that. Certainly at my current bank this wasn't an option, I couldn't assign a designated inheritor upon my death without an Act of Congress (insert political party joke *here* if you so choose). But at my new choice of financial institution...I could.

I filled out all the standard questionnaires, forms, verification of who I was, etc--online. I read electronic versions of all of the usual documents. I assigned a designated inheritor in case the cat steps on my windpipe one too many times. It was polite, it was easy, and it took about ten minutes--including setting up an electronic transfer from my current bank to start initial funding.

From their website:

1) I can FIND the number to call and report if my card is lost--24/7.
2) There's a secure way to communicate with them online.
3) They listed on the application forms what countries they don't allow debit/credit card usage at present (Burma, for example).
4) There is a drive up ATM on my way home and a satellite branch where I do most of my grocery shopping.
5) I'll get interest on my not very high balance checking account just for banking with them and using online banking.
6) Automatic savings account set up for me, which I've missed having. I "can" do it all on the spreadsheet I keep--and will continue to do so--but being able to move money to a savings account that isn't my ING account is nice. (The ING is great--but it takes 3 business days to move funds around.)

7) Far more transparent.

I've avoided doing this also because of all of the places I'll need to change routing numbers: work, freelance client, student loans, other online bill paying stuff, retirement savings account. But changing routing numbers has got to be easier than the excess of frustration I feel about every three months when my current bank screws up again.

Everything for my new bank account is in process, as confirmed by an automatic but still very clear and polite email that I got upon clicking "Finish." I expect tomorrow I'll get an email or perhaps a phone call. Initial set up probably should have a live human-to-human contact at some point, I'm okay with that.

*sigh* I could tie all this back to libraries, online fine payment and card registration, policy transparency etc, but I've done my taxes and signed up for a new bank account--so take away what lessons you will for yourself.

Also--anybody want to come tell me what's wrong with my printer? The black ink is being screwy despite changing out the ink cartridge.

This is a Song for My Generation

2010-02-15T13:35:00.000-06:00

Over the past couple of years, I've commented about the focus on teens and a lack of library service to young adults--which by my definition is people over 18.

Following the discussions I had with people at ALA last summer, I kept editing and working on a draft about what kind of programs to offer, what focuses I saw missing, and this general issue of a lack of outreach to a big part of our tax base.

This morning I had the chance to express my feelings on a broader level. I entered the LISNews Essay Competition with the following: Don't Forget About Us.

I wrote that essay for myself, for the Blonde and the Brunette, for AudioGirl, My Friend the Lawyer, LibraryChic, Sibling-the-Elder and Younger, and the other friends who look at me like I'm crazy when I suggest that they use their local public library. It's sad when my friends will call me--two time zones away--rather than reach out to their local resources. Not that I don't appreciate the validation that they think I'll be able to find the impossible, but they have free resources closer to home.

How Did I Not Know About This?

2010-02-12T11:01:00.000-06:00

I am continually amazed how many resources libraries have that at times elude even the librarians. For example, today Our Lady of the Business Office came to show me something she'd found spotlighted on our website:

Ebsco's Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center (link goes to a listing of what all it has--sorry, local access only)

It covers visual art, collecting, games, photography, outdoors, needle craft, textiles, models...all kinds of stuff.

And it's mostly full text patterns. Okay, how many of you just perked up? Be honest.

I can't wait to show this to my knitting kids and the Tuesday night library knitting group. And, you know, everyone else on the planet.

Free Access to Cool Stuff -- Welcome to the Public Library

Hedgehogs in the News: Heavy Hogs....

2010-02-09T21:25:00.001-06:00

Awww....

Third story like this we've seen in the last year. In Scotland, they've put 10 hedgepigs on diets

Heavy hedgehogs join 'fat club'

This one has a video of the pudgsters...

Thanks to TimK for the heads up!

How to Win Friends and Make Sure Everyone Knows You at Work

2010-02-08T09:47:00.000-06:00

At three jobs I've made a small but substantial investment in chocolate and hard candy. At the financial firm it was in a small jar on top of my desk, most recently here it's in a desk drawer--as small children are likely to walk in and I'd rather they not help themselves.

Everyone who works in the building, we proved during a staff scavenger hunt last September, knows where "Abigail's Chocolate Drawer" is and knows they are welcome to come get a piece during a bad day, when in need of a break or reward, etc.

I do this for multiple reasons.

1) I like chocolate. It means I have a steady supply. Having it always available takes the binging out of it and I'm more likely to just have "a" bite sized piece of chocolate rather than snarfing down a king-sized Snickers.

2) Other people like chocolate. How easy is it to make someone's day better with a little square of chocolate? I also usually have some kind of hard candy in there for the non-chocolate-noshers.

3) It provides a positive reason for people to stop by and see me. As I said, everyone in my building knows where the chocolate is and it's a good reason to head back to the children's area (we are kind of off in our own little corner). Madame Director makes ventures, Madame Storyteller always knows where her favorite type of bite-size candy bar is, Our Lady of the Business Office has been seen.

4) It means access to chocolate without the temptation of it being in their desk drawer. I can go several days without breaking into the chocolate stash. Others have said if they kept the chocolate by them it'd be gone. But since it's not officially "their chocolate" they can limit themselves to an occasional piece.

And this for maybe an occasional $15 investment we get peace, sanity, goodwill, and chocolate.

I get and certainly accept bags of Dove, Hershey's minibars, etc etc....pretty much anything but Hershey's Kisses, which no one but the teens seem to like. (Though I'm not above bribing tweens and teens for good behavior.)

Rumor Has It There's a Desk Here....

2010-02-05T17:45:00.001-06:00

I keep promising myself that I'll "find my desk." And then I go and put another 30 books on hold for my Wee Reads group.

So far, for next week, we have all boat load of Fly Guy books and Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Fly plus other Cronin books I have Berenstain Bear easy readers, other long picture books,

There is also a pile of chapter books for my knitters and a pile of ARCs that Madame Storyteller brought back from Mid-Winter that I'm trying to find time to look through and debate on ordering.

I'll find my desk....somewhere around spring break when Wee Reads ends. At least, that's the rumor.

Book Review: Leaving the Bellweathers

2010-02-04T15:59:00.000-06:00

**Reviewed from a library copy**

Leaving the Bellweathers
by Kristin Clark Venuti

Meet Benway, the long suffering butler to the Bellweather family. Bound by an ancestral oath of service (200 years no less), he's spent his entire professional career keeping up with an inventing father, a mother who loves to repaint rooms, and their five children--who rescue dangerous animals, stand up for anyone who is opp, and create imaginative "art."

Benway introduces each chapter with a journal entry as he counts down the days until he'll be free to go Far Far Away from the family to enjoy peace and quiet. He's examining cottages, planning a garden, searching for a replacement and getting ready for his tell-all book about the (which will finance said retirement) to debut. Only, life is never quiet at the Bellweather Lighthouse and chaotic adventures that SOMEONE must clean up after riot around his ears. Only when the children begin to realize that perhaps their much overworked but beloved butler might leave do they consider a change--only with the Bellweather children, change is never what one would consider quiet and normal.

Venuti's debut appealed to me from the moment I started seeing reviews and the book lives up to the high praise bestowed upon it. Benway has a strong, clearly defined and refined voice and one empathizes with the deep sighs he utters only when out of the sight of his clients. She includes perspectives from the children of the family as well, bringing depth and providing motivation and the clear thought process of children and teens with a mission--rather than just singularly focuses holy terrors.

It's a fairly quick read, middle-elementary level but certainly enjoyable by most ages.

Wee Reads: Week One

2010-02-02T09:30:00.002-06:00

One of the things I've had parents ask for was something for children who are emerging readers. As I see it, it is not enough to hit the pre-literacy, we really need library programs and services to capture those kids who are just tackling reading on their own. English isn't an easy language to learn or to read. It's a mix of rules and exceptions, phonics and sight words, sounding it out and "why do you pronounce it that way?"

So this spring, with Madame Storyteller's blessing, I put out the idea of an older kid's evening storytime. I planned for 12 kids and hoped to at least half fill it. The response was gratifying--we closed out the "waiting list" at 16 (NO MORE, I announced). The children are between 4-7, with the majority 6-7. Little siblings, though not completely forbidden, are really strongly discouraged.

For three weeks the youth services aides tackled creating picture boxes for me. I'd picked up 20 8x8x8 boxes a few months ago and I raided the never ending stash of donated National Geographic Magazines. I told the aides I wanted the boxes covered with pictures on all sides.They did a beautiful job.

There are 20 different brightly covered boxes.

Starting 15 minutes before storytime (now that I've told them about it) and through the first five minutes of "actual storytime"...I invited the kids to grab a box and tell their grown ups a story about the pictures they saw. The kids engaged very quickly with it, as did the parents. I think over time it will go even more smoothly as they come up with wild and crazy stories based on tree frogs, pyramids, buildings, and wild cats.

We did a hello song. Always a good way to draw focus.

Then, I got to read them a book I'd never be able to read to my 3 year olds (Wednesday starts my regular Pre-school storytime too):

The Book That Eats People
by John Perry

It's a lot longer than my usual pre-school books, but this crew can handle it. And while the dark and sinister is giggle worthy, rather than nightmarish. It's a phenomenal read aloud.

Then I pointed out a whole slew of Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie books that I'd brought in for the kids to grab. Often parents are looking for "the good easy readers" and I have the chance here to highlight authors and bring in some classics.

For tonight's selection, I read:

I Will Surprise My Friend!
by Mo Willems

I don't think I could ever live up to the reading I've seen the author do of Pigs Make Me Sneeze but the kids, fortunately, are not judging my reading against his.

And this is a separation storytime, which most of the parents have been pretty excited about ("Ten minutes to go look at adult books all by myself? Really? Sign me up!!"). So after those two books I shooed the parents out of the room. We only had a little anxiety about staying in the room with a book that eats people. I put my chair on top of it so it wouldn't eat anyone. (We counted 3 times to make sure the book hadn't eaten anyone.)

During this ten minutes I'm going to do a short activity and then read to the kids from a chapter book. I'm staying away from crafts and snacks, though not entirely ruling either out either. This week's activity was ribbon dancing (ribbons taped to straws) and we started Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka. I only had time to get through one chapter, but that's okay. What was important was that they listened--clustered around and nearly right on top of me.

We finished by scooping up carpet squares and grabbing Mo Willems books and then our Read to Rover program followed hard on the heels of the storytime. Several of the kids headed out to the children's area to wait their turn to read aloud to a dog, and I saw one boy painstakingly reading aloud an Elephant and Piggie book.

Can't wait to see how next week goes!

Day in the Life of the Hedgehog Librarian: Saturday

2010-02-01T10:19:00.003-06:00

This is my third weekend this month, wrangled around from holiday swaps, usual weekend, and trying not to use all of my vacation time in January. It'll mean 8 hours on the desk today--four of which midday I'll have help from one of our part-time desk staff.

9:00 Back on desk. Check the calendar for any programs I've forgotten: there's an X-Box Tournament today for 13 and older. Our younger gamers (11-12) will be crabby about that but we're partnering with local gaming store and there will be adult, guessing they put the age limits in place.

10:15 Remind myself that patrons may be reacting not to me personally but to something in their environment over which I have no control. I was friendly and polite, that's all I can do.

10:23 Grandparent looking for shape books. Point out Green labels on picture book denoting "concept books." (Shapes, ABC, Numbers, etc). Shoot email to Madame Storyteller, are we going to move those to a collected area?

10:30 Plans for this spring (maybe spring break ish?): go through the entire chapter book collection and figure out what series we own. Our Lady of Cataloging told me there's no way to do this via Horizon and I'm still figuring out what all we have, what is a series I need to check on. I did a lot of work with the weeding last year so that cleaned out a bunch of the "we only have book 3" but I want a better sense so I can keep up with new releases.

11:00 Chat with Dr. Knitter Mom who I know mostly online. Hear details of her sock club involvement. Drool accordingly. Share Unique Sheep Website. Part time person joins me for desk. Get to hold Patron Age 7 months.

12:00 Consult with Circulation re this afternoon's tournament. Apparently people drove in for this from a couple of hours away, are already waiting to queue to get onto team list (limited to 16 teams I think?). Make call to TS Dude to determine what time he'll be in to wrangle, confirm no early sign up.

12:17 Books to expand reading of a boy who likes graphic novels. Suggest Something Wickedly Weird, Horrid Henry, Batman/Superman "chapter books", and Dav Pilkey. Working through the Baker and Taylor catalog with list of "popular series" and building a series list of ones I know we have. Checking to see if there are any new titles I need to put on order.

Lunch--Quite a lot of gamers congregating, which makes sense for a tournament with no entry fee. No early sign up means they are standing in the center of the main floor lingering. When was the last time we had a big cluster of 20-something young men congregating in our library excitedly? Hmmmmm

1:47 Thinking about going to watch the horde descend to the basement at two--as the Garden Club tries to come upstairs.

1:55 Chat with parent about AWE Stations again. Early literacy games, touch screens, plug and play.... WONDERFUL things.

2:00 The gamers have descended to the basement. Peace reigns once more on the main level. I'm back to the series lists.

2:40 Remembering with coworker how to add a row to a table on new website--need to update reading lists for Newbery and Caldecott. Search staff wiki for log-in instructions for coworker to new site.Can't find it, so email to Web designer.

3:25 Patrons Age 7 and 5 (with mom) are here to pick up their display. We have a huge circular window with shelves ("the porthole") where we have kids display collections one month at a time. Littlest Pet Shop is on the way out--snowglobes should be arriving tomorrow. There is a full two year waiting list for this, it's popular.

3:45 Patron Age 6 comes by to tell me he's not coming to storytime Monday but will be in the next week. Homeschooling Mom and I discuss audiobooks for family to listen to at lunchtime. Current choice is Beverly Cleary's Mouse and the Motorcycle. Patron looking for plays and how to use self-check.

3:52 Winx movie? Putting holds on Psychic Academy graphic novels.

4:16 Check book drop--we do this 3-4 times a day to verify that it went back down after the Circ Aides clear it. We have an ancient bookdrop that sinks slowly to ground level. The noise it makes when it's below zero is hard to describe.

4:45 Wish patrons wouldn't repeatedly rush in 15-5 minutes before we close to frantically grab things. The kids are instantly stressed, can't take the time to browse and it triggers a lot of frustration for them--which means the library visit is rarely a happy one.

4:54 One more hold on a Fairy Chronicles book. Patron Age 12 needs to use the phone for a ride home.

Try again on Sunday for 1-5 on Desk....

Day in the Life of the Hedgehog Librarian: Last Thursday

2010-01-30T09:59:00.000-06:00

I'm coming to this party a little late but I'm going to try and keep track today. Times are approximate

Thursday

9 a.m. Desk time for four hours. Log into Horizon, Intranet, Meebo, Email, Google Reader. First patron is in just after doors open, dad looking for Clifford videos.

9:30 C brings down holds from Tech Services. All of them are "mine" (chapter books): a new Tiara Club book (too insipid for words), Powerless by Matthew Cody (great cover, superhero kids losing their powers), and one of the Mother Daughter Book Club Books (sigh).

9:45 : Questions about books on shadows and electricity. Patron decides Margaret Brown's book Shadow is too scary for the three year olds she'll be reading to.

10:05 Chinese New Year books. Chinese New Year is Valentines Day this year. We have a few picture books and a couple of non fiction books but not enough for a display. Current displays are Hugs and Kisses and Dental Health.

10:08 Deaf patron looking for coloring books. We don't have those in our collection.

10:23 Plot to become next Ron Roy/Vivian French. Same story over and over and over....and the kids can't get enough of them.

10:30 Phonics books with short vowel sounds...wade through shelf of phonics. Lots of different varieties, but only one set that really has separate vowel sounds that will work. Checking my own holds--I'd set everything to suspended while I was in Egypt. Now things are back on and coming in droves. With teen books that I'm getting from other places and other things I'm just interested in seeing at "some point" I'm setting suspension dates on for a week or two out so that I'm not totally overwhelmed. So far five things in for me to pick up and four more on their way between work and personal cards. The pile of children's books on my desk that I want to skim and decide if to order or recommend is getting high.

10:45 Adding D's DVD orders to the system. She selects from the journals, I do the data entry. This is, I'm told, because I type really fast. Only the teen librarian and I do our own data entry on orders. I'm too much of a control freak and shuffle lists around too much not to do it for myself. Check with one of our Ladies of Cataloging regarding when the acquisitions module will stop defaulting to 2009 codes. It takes just an extra second to change it to the 2010 code but those seconds add up and room for error is high when I'm going through a big list. Apparently software won't let us change defaults until old budgets are closed. But they're just about finished upstairs. Inflexible proprietary software....*sigh*....

11:02 Fraggle Rock the complete animated series is out on DVD. Also, how do you have Season 1.3?

11:21 Started the day with 60 emails in my inbox. Would like to cut that number in half at minimum.

11:30 Sign up for National History Day Judging Training. Not sure if I can actually do the judging sessions, have to consult with day planner and actual dates/times. Teen Librarian and several Ref Libs do this, so desk coverage needs to be determined before I sign up. Still, at least training would be good.

12:30 Finding books on divorce for Patron Age Tween's mom. Never a favorite.

12:45 Children's lit course from uni streams in. This professor always pulls all of our versions of Cinderella for one of her sections. We have about 30 from the various cultures.

1-ish Suck down a Soup-at-Hand. I really want a 1/4 lb of sliced Boars Head turkey and a few slices of American. But as I can't find Boars Head in this state, going for straight calories.

1:30-3 ish Go through missing materials withdrawn in November and December. A lot of the Goosebumps books are gone. I weeded a bunch though so wondering if we're overlapping somehow. I've finally replaced the really ratty originals with the new shiny repubs but I think Stine might be waning a little. Start through a pile of ARCs that Madame Storyteller brought back from Midwinter. Actually got caught in one, which means I've *gasp* read at work and found one I really am looking forward to recommending this fall--not due out til mid-July. Baffling at the number of books/series Kathryn Lasky has going at the moment (3 series: spiders, wolves, mermaids and 1 historical novel).

4:15 Visit with Knitter Patron Age 11. Decide on spring project for her. Discuss challenges of knitting with right hand in a cast.

til 5: Attempt to dig through more of my desk, trade journals, emails, etc.

Please Leave a Message After the Tone: Hedgehog on Holiday

2010-01-18T09:00:00.005-06:00

Thank you for visiting the Hedgehog Librarian. I will be offline until 1/26/10: visiting Egypt with M, riding a camel, and exploring the new layers of airport security.

Please leave a message after the tone:

A#

Questionable Titles....

2010-01-12T11:34:00.005-06:00

As I browse through the children's collection, I occasionally wonder what publishers were thinking when they picked titles.

These two caught my eye:

As opposed to, say, crocheting because it bores you to tears, or because that was mom's idea of a punishment, etc etc. You mean this isn't supposed to be an activity that makes you miserable? (No comments from the peanut gallery on how badly I crochet.)

And then there's this....

Now, yes, I understand that Mimosa is subgrouping of herbs and shrubbery. Let's be honest though--show of hands--how many of you thought about the breakfast beverage of OJ and Champagne rather than a member of the legume family? Especially when you pair it with the word "River."

*sigh*.....

Because Of Course You Need More Hedgehog

2010-01-10T11:58:00.000-06:00

I'm breaking my personal knitting out of this blog. I have some goals and projects I would like to blog at length about but didn't want to assault all of you with it. Of course, if you read my posts via Friendfeed and Twitter, I'm going to be pulling that blog in so you'll just see more knitting posts.

The new blog is brilliantly named: Hedgehog Knitting.

Holiday in T-6 and Counting.....

2010-01-09T11:34:00.001-06:00

I'm leaving for NYC/Egypt in six days!!

M and I have been discussing vague travel plans for two or three years and finally, with the help of Air France Holidays*, we're headed off to Egypt.

I have a long weekend in New York on the way out, which is never a hardship. And then--camels, 70 degree temperatures, a totally different cultural experience and a new continent for me!

So far:

I got my visa, which is a full page in my otherwise unstamped passport. Obviously it's been too many years since I traveled out of the country.
I have arranged for a cat sitter in residence. O met Gypsy last night and it was a smashing success. Gypsy might want to go home with her at the end of it...
The Incredibly-Patient-Mother hemmed a pair of jeans so I can wear them with flats for hiking about pyramids and such. All of my other jeans are hemmed to two inch heels, so this was an important consideration.
The Brunette has agreed to keep my winter coat and some heavier clothes at his house so I don't have to worry about hauling a down coat there and back.
We've arranged for a tour guide/driver while we're there, working off recommendations of a professor in MN who is a native Egyptian and regularly takes student groups.
Wound up five skeins of yarn and bought new 4" knitting needles to take with me. They're TINY, it looks like I'm knitting with colorful toothpicks.

Still to do:

Pack some clothes.
Load the mp3 player
Get a larger memory SD card
Figure out what to take to read. I'm thinking about my hard cover of Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Yes, it's heavy but I'll be able to lay it out flat on the tray table and knit while I'm reading. Also I'll pack some paperback romances that can be left behind.

It's unclear how much web time I'll have once we get there. I expect to mostly be off the grid for five or six days. My cell phone won't work and I'm not packing my laptop. So the pictures and trip updates will probably have to wait.

We're not sure if we'll get to go through full body scanners on the trip home. It's the one thing I'm concerned about as we're headed home because we won't have a long layover in Paris.

*The prices are amazing!

Photo Break Friday

2010-01-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

Since you suffered through my nearly 1700 word diatribe, I figured you'd bear with me for a couple of completely non-library related images.

Over Christmas, Gypsy got to watch "Cat TV" at the Incredibly-Patient-Mother's house. There were a ton of birds hanging out in the backyard and three very healthy and acrobatic squirrels. I'm told this is the "skinny" one. Squirrel sandwich anyone?

On the way home she met AudioGirl's Dinah. They spent the night hissing at each other.

But Gypsy has settled in nicely since we got home (she was happy to be back here). She found which chair gets the most sunlight for her battery recharging naps.

She's located a wonderful supply of "celery" (that's what it sounds like she's eating).

She's figured out if she gets in between me and the monitor that I HAVE to pay attention to her. (Yes, my desk is a disaster)

And she continues to be stunningly beautiful.

I'm having "Cat Warming" tomorrow night so she can meet some of my LPL coworkers. And I've arranged for the RefQueen's daughter to cat sit for my next long trip.

15 Things About Me and Books

2010-01-06T13:20:00.000-06:00

The venerable Steve Lawson and Warmaiden got me thinking about this...

1. I learned to read at four and was almost instantly a voracious reader. Sending me to my room was rarely an effective punishment because I'd go and read.

2. The only books I ever remember my mother telling me no about were the Fabio-covered bodice rippers when I was thirteen or fourteen. Running into parents who are a lot more restrictive always throws me, though I try not to judge.

3. The Incredibly-Patient-Mother's rule about how many library books was that I had to be able to carry them, by myself, out to the car. I learned a young age how to stack up books quite highly, set my chin on the top to balance, and carefully teeter out to the car. I'm sure it was quite a sight.

4. One high school English teacher told me, at age 15, that I was "too young to appreciate Jane Austen." As a result, I didn't read them until after college. Austen is one of my favorite authors. I've never fully forgiven her for that.

5. Over the past year or two I've finally started getting rid of my college texts. Admitting that perhaps I no longer am interested in the Norton anthologies was incredibly painful. Now if I could just admit to myself some things about the beginning library science books....

6. I started listening to audiobooks in junior high or high school, long before the current trendiness. Primarily I listened to Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series and Clancy's The Hunt for Red October (Recorded Books/Frank Muller version). I listened to these at bedtime, which meant a fair amount of rewinding in the morning to figure out where I'd fallen asleep. George Guidall's voice still makes me sleepy.

7. Out of desperation one semester, I slogged through Jane Eyre over a couple of weeks because it was the only thing I had in my dorm room that wasn't course related. I was surprised how much I enjoyed grabbing a chapter here and there.

8. I read historical and paranormal romance novels. I send regular shipments of Regency Romances (150-200 pages, no sex) to an opera singer in Chicago. It gives her new reading material and justifies me in my buying of them.

9. I really enjoy medieval and renaissance history: Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks, and the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. I just put in an ILL for an audio version of Canterbury Tales that I started in high school but never finished.

10. There are certain books I'd just rather own in paperback, mostly series mystery books: Cat Who (Braun), Meg Lanslow-Birds (Andrews), Mrs. Jeffries (Brightwell).

11. I spent several months and a ridiculous amount of money on ebay collecting a complete set of the M.A.S.H books by Richard Hooker/William Butterworth.

12. Used book stores and library book sales are a little piece of heaven for me.

13. I committed what I'm now told is a library cardinal sin. I went into library science because I like books. Moreso because I like information and organization of information, but also books.

14. I have had no formal training in children's literature.

15. It came as a great shock to me to find out that I apparently read very fast, or perhaps just a lot. Reading over 100 books a year is easily par--and that doesn't include picture books, though I will include longer children's chapter books on the spreadsheet I keep.

There's Got to Be More to Youth Services....

2010-01-04T10:30:00.004-06:00

Madame Storyteller and I were recently in a discussion about continuing education, particularly as it related to youth services. This was part of a larger discussion with coworkers and someone from our system about what is needed and can be provided in terms of local continuing ed. It allowed/caused me to raise a point that I see as a major issue in youth services.

Essentially the professional literature, classes, continuing education, and conference presentations we're seeing can be boiled down to three categories:

1) Preschool Storytime and Early Literacy
2) Summer Reading Program (See link for Madame Storyteller's wisdom on this)
3) Teens and Gaming

I'm not trying to devalue any of these. They are all important aspects of what we're doing, service we're providing, youth we're reaching.

But it also means there are huge gaping holes that are going by the wayside. Broad sweeping statement, no? Let me point out some issues I'm seeing--keeping in mind that these are not one-size-fits-all at your public library.

What I'd like to see addressed by continuing ed, conference sessions, etc.:

1) Our public library "children's" websites are primarily for adults.

Adult librarians are writing for adult parents with the assumption that that's who will be visiting the website. They will but parents can navigate through something intended for kids. If we used that logic, we wouldn't decorate our children's spaces in bright colors, with low shelves and seats, child friendly signage, and puzzles.
Kids are incredibly perceptive and recognize something intended for them isn't really written for them or is written in that condescending cutesy "look at me writing for kids" tone. They'll see, they'll leave, and won't come back.

2) We aren't programming for emerging readers.

I know, they're all in daycare, preschool, K4--but I have had multiple parents ask me for something to keep those early readers going. When I asked one of the professional lists I'm on if anyone else was doing emerging literacy (as opposed to pre or early) storytimes, I was met with a resounding "not here." I felt like the little red hen...
We make an enormous push for pre-literacy and early literacy and then we drop off at that pinnacle moment when the child is finally starting to read. *headdesk*

3) There is a gap of about ten years between leaving storytime and becoming a teen--hundreds of educational milestones, thousands of great books--and we're missing out on it.

But the elementary students have school media specialists: I hear the cry. I'm not disparaging those working in schools: not the work they do, not the value of their work, not the difficulty of it in this economy and the current test-prep focused educational mindset. I'm disparaging public librarians who are resting on the laurels earned by SMS hard work. And let's be realistic: increasingly children don't have a SMS to turn to at school.
How much time are those school media specialists still allowed with the kids and what do they have to get through in that time? One of my regular moms is a middle school English teacher and she was telling me about working with her SMS to get the kids to create indexes to meet a state standard. The year I was at a public elementary school with a library we spent perhaps 20 minutes a week there. In junior high and high school I was allowed in the library on special research visits only. The libraries were closed at lunch and before and after school. The only extended period I spent in a school library was during a six week session my senior year that I was excused from a class for an independent study. In that six weeks, I can count on one hand (possibly on one or two fingers) the number of times the librarian did anything other than ignore me.
Private schools may or may not have a school media specialist or even a library. They eliminated the one in an "elite" Massachusetts school last year.
There are an increasing number of students, I think, being home-schooled or attending an online school.
Kids need exposure to books and resources outside of a classroom/school setting. Forcing their only association with reading and information seeking to be school work makes it a non-fun activity immediately.
Public librarians have a lot more programming freedom, depending on budget. I know everyone is strapped for cash, but generally public libraries aren't restricted by curriculum too.

4) Teen librarians are being expected to pick up the slack where youth services are failing in outreach and keeping young readers engaged.

There. I said it. I think there is a failure on the part of many working in youth services, presenting at conferences, teaching new librarians, and leading continuing education to focus on actively recruiting, working with, and reaching out to elementary students. Contrastingly there is a strong expectation that teen librarians will "get the teens back in the library." Rather than giving our teen librarians a solid base to start from, we're requiring them to try to appeal to tweens and teens mostly ignored since they left preschool storytime.

What I think we need?

1) Children's library websites written for kids ages 6-12. As much as possible, we should get feedback from those kids as to if the site is helpful and where we can, we should let them be a part of it. We, the adults writing the site, need to remember the different voice and vocabulary we use with kids, certainly not talking down to them but changing the tone from how we might speak to their parents. Let's convene a panel and talk about what kind of language works best on a truly kid-focused website or a have an afternoon writing workshop on blogging for kids.

2) Even if we're not seeing the rate of return that we get for the two year old storytime, it's no reason to slack on helping early readers. If not regular programming, occasional. If not active programming, passive. Would it be that hard to introduce word cards into the room and encourage parents to work with their kids on sight words while they are at the library? Could we gather and figure out how to grow storytimes where the kids talk back in complete sentences?

3) Let's increase the focus on elementary students at our conferences. Let's have sessions on helping parents see how important continued library visits are as their children become increasingly overscheduled. Let us convene panels on the best non-fiction series that are coming out or where to find foreign language materials. Who will lead the forums on how best to explode things in your library without your maintenance crew or director having a coronary (**ahem** Madame Storyteller and Our Lady of Programming, I'm looking at you /**ahem**)? Rather than talk about summer reading, let's have sessions on year round reading; how to overcome the September-back-to-school slump; best books for homeschoolers; and how to pair with your school media specialist and elementary school teachers rather than to be independent of him/her.*

4) Our professional magazine covers can be devoted to something other than teens and gaming in libraries. Really.

5) You already know I think a ge parameters are not evil. And I know this isn't always an option. I worked at CPL and had to deal with the 9 year old who had to babysit her 6 year old twin cousins and 3 year old brother; I did "storytime" for 75 children between the ages of 1 and 7 and all of the older siblings who tagged along. But let's find, create, and share programs that we can't scale down or force to become "family" programs where the elementary students are relegated to helping the toddlers. Something other than book groups.

6) Adult Services needs to step up too. Families as a whole need to see the value in libraries. If the parents don't see reason/need/value, it's hard to get them to come or to bring their children. They need to see how libraries can help them grow too. But that could be a whole different blog post.

Doing it Right

I was recently pleased to see that ALSC seems somewhat aware of this issue. I got their winter online courses and the majority are focused on elementary age children. So I'm not the only one thinking this. And there are many librarians who are stepping up, reaching out, and scoffing at my list. Are you presenting, teaching, and writing?

Wow...you made it this far. Okay. So prove me wrong, would you? Email me your fabulous children's websites, your amazing articles, and your programming lists that show tons of focus on elementary students and emerging readers. I know Abby has some strong kids reading groups--who else is out there? Let me shine the spotlight (okay, fine, the flashlight) on what you're doing so others see.

And kill the summer library program panels.

*Alright, pipe dream. But hey--wouldn't it be nice if we could get to those elementary teachers BEFORE they assign everyone to read the same two books?

Book Review: Oh. My. Gods.

2010-01-03T17:22:00.000-06:00

Oh. My. Gods.
by Tera Lynn Childs

One of my coworkers has this on hold so I had to sit down and plow through it last night lest I wrack up more overdue fines. I'd been meaning to read this for somet ime, it's come home with me at least twice, been consigned to the library basket, and wistfully waited for me.

Short version of the plot: Just before her senior year of high school, Phoebe's widowed mother remarries after a shockingly short courtship and hauls her to her new husbands home on a small Greek island. Stepdad is the headmaster of a small exclusive school where everyone is descended from the Greek Gods. So now instead of just the usual trials and tribulations of high school, she's facing senior year with the major disadvantage of simply being a normal human.

The book is a nice piece of escape fantasy and has the added advantage of turning things that sound like a dream come true on their head. Moving halfway around the world to a beautiful Greek island? NOOOOOOO Being surrounded by incredibly gorgeous descendants of Gods? BAD Having the super hot guy paired with you as your running partner? extra horrible

The plot is light and fluffy and slightly predictable. The evil stepsister was a nice, classic fairytale touch. What I found most believable were Phoebe's interactions with her mother. Still mourning her father, ripped with almost no notice from everything she's grown up with, she's angry, hurt, and frustrated. Lashing out at her mother is a perfectly understandable and normal response. Phoebe's irritation at her therapist mother's attempts to "therapy" her through these major changes is incredibly realistic and is the best dialog in the book. While the other relationships in the text seem a little too convenient or contrived or happy ending--I think most girls could identify the well-scripted mother daughter relationship.

And the final revenge on the stepsister wasn't bad either...

A Year of "Up"

2010-01-02T15:02:00.000-06:00

Last year was full of challenges, triumphs, sorrows and joys. And, thankfully, it's over. I'm so ready for a new year...

I am bad at making specific resolutions--biting my nails didn't really end until I got braces, giving up caffeine would probably be dangerous to those around me, going on Atkins would mean I didn't exist anymore*. I managed to keep my 2008 resolution--I didn't move in either 2008 or 2009, but the flip side of that is that I came to the end of the year and felt bogged down by my stuff because I hadn't experienced the joy of packing/shifting/loading/hauling/traipsing/unpacking for 26 months.

This year my resolution, my goal, is a word: Up. Last year was cynicism and snark, drama, depression and a lot of down. I'd like to reverse that trend and head towards a year of upward progression. Up is a good word, generally, and I can use it with a lot of verbs.

Shape Up: Yah, I know, I'm on the twiglet side of things. That doesn't mean I'm as in shape as I'd like to be.

Clean Up: Get what I'm not using out of the house. It means less to dust around.

Move Up: There are professional opportunities out there that I need to be working on/towards. Now if I can just guess what the major trend of ALA Annual 2012 will be....

Speak Up: Blogging, Writing, on Committees.

Use Up: Wool Stash anyone? I'm part of a "5K Stashdown" marathon on Ravelry. As I have eleven times that much, it's not a huge commitment**. I might try for the side bet of knitting up an average of a mile of yarn a month (nearly 20K). If I can get to where it all fits in the tubs, that'd be a huge start***. Also--the fabric stash, which is smaller and therefore doesn't get as much blog time. See my actual blog page for my knit meter.

Cheer Up: Enough with the snark, the griping, and the drama. So 2009. I can't say cynicism is fully retiring, this is me after all, but maybe not all sarcasm all the time.

Save Up: Get the debt paid down and the savings account paid up. And more towards retirement (insert chuckle about a public librarian ever being able to retire *here*).

How might you be "up" for 2010?

*I could live on Cheerios and good bread with appropriate jams and peanut butter.
**And apparently I'm on the lower end of the stashdowners...still no reason not to slack though.
***It might keep certain fur people out of the stash.

Winding Down....

2009-12-29T20:30:00.001-06:00

2009 was a difficult year and I certainly do not find myself alone in being thankfully ready to put it to bed. Many of us had a lot of emotional or financial challenges, often both, and it has felt as though we've been slogging through, only to realize that while we were trudging/plodding/lifting/shoving/wedging, somebody ran off with the next month or three.

A little reflection before I go onwards:

Goals for 2009:
1) Use things -- I have tea, yarn, books...so many things that are here waiting for me. When they start feeling like clutter rather than things I enjoy, it's time to use up or get rid of rather than hold on indefinitely.

I've gotten rid of a fair amount but of late I've noticed the weeding bug has kicked in again and I want to clean out more. This is healthy, I think. If I don't love it, what's the point really? I see another trunkload to Goodwill in the near future.

2) Knit for myself. I talk a lot about knitting but almost always it's for other people. Call it selfish but I want some warm woolly things for me.

I made myself a cowl and fingerless mitts, both of which I wear all the time. A warm hat got added to the collection and a pair of green socks. And there is a super-bulky weight afghan that's about half way. Now that holiday knitting is nearly done I can get back to that.

3) Write for more than just my blog audience. I need a better collection of rejection emails and letters and possibly some acceptances too.

I'm working on poster session suggestions that are due by....Thursday. Note to self--finish those on Wednesday.

4) Scrapbook old papers. Not the incredibly matted, decorated, and beribboned, just the "here's a paper, here's something from junior high" with some notes on the side about why I kept it.

I haven't scrapbooked but I DID do a massive clean out. I went through literally cases of papers, notebooks and things from college. It was reliving those 3.5 years at an incredibly fast rate. I'm not sure I'd fully recommend it, the emotional roller coaster was so insane that I didn't notice that my cell phone wasn't working for four days. My suggestion--invite people over who are going to need to sleep in that space where all those boxes are. Either that or call the Incredibly-Patient-Mother. She's quite good with the cleaning/organizing thing and she doesn't have the emotional connection to your stuff like you do.

5) Survive braces....until April 2011

Somehow we had some miscommunication. I was under the impression that the whole process would be 30 months, including the nearly six months of wearing a bite plate. They had me in bands for 30 months. We just took new molds and my ortho continues to be upbeat about it. I'm looking at another sixteen months rather ruefully.

6) Get my books into LibraryThing.

Hmm...maybe I'll do this over New Years Eve/Day. It'd be one way to start the new year besides the whole freelance work I need to get caught up on.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T21:52:00.001-06:00

From Gypsy and I

We're at the Incredibly Patient Mother's until next week.

Catch you then!

Thanks for the Audios....

2009-12-18T13:00:00.000-06:00

It's painfully clear we're a week out from Christmas at the library: all the books are in (except the Christmas books, we still have a fair number but they're starting to look picked over) and the audio books and videos are flying out the door.

People have already begun to travel and parents are valiantly trolling the books on cd, trying to find something that will a) not drive them crazy and b) keep the older children engaged while c) still be appropriate for the three year old. I'm trying to hover with intent a little more by those shelves than usual. There's the various differences in families: age of the youngest child, fantasy v. non-fantasy, series v. non-series...but those are the general parameters.

Audiobooks have greatly increased in popularity, which I think is fantastic. I listened to George Guidall every night in high school, to the point that it was an instant sleep-inducer for the Incredibly-Patient-Mother for a few years thereafter. And yes, I order the kids/teens audiobooks and it's nice to see my collections circulate. Keep in mind I'm trying not to whine about the fact that the fabulous new chapter books that are coming down from tech services are languishing....

With the acceptance that audiobooks are not just something for people with poor vision and the wonderful quality and variety we're seeing of performers and titles, it makes sense that there are some followings of narrators. Among the most recognizable of these is Jim Dale.

Two years ago, if I mentioned the name Jim Dale, someone usually swooned in my presence. No matter the subject previous, I would then be treated to a glowing review of how wonderful he was, how fabulous the HP books were on audio, and how their entire family had listened to those books together. Anything he'd read flew out the door as families coming to the end of book 7 sought something else to appease their ears.

Today I came past my display of new audio books and noticed, not for the first time, that our copy of The Return to the Hundred Acre Woods by David Benedictus is still sitting there. Despite the allure of the sequel to a popular classic and being brought to life by no less than the venerable Jim Dale and being displayed face out on the top shelf of the display area (where other things are going quite nicely)...it's there, wistfully waiting to be popped into someone's "car bag" and taken along.

Wonder if that will change in the next couple of full court press "we need something for the drive to Grandma's" days...

Hedgehogs in the News: Another Pudgy Hog

2009-12-14T12:44:00.003-06:00

Albino hedgehog put on weight-loss regime

Cute "fluffy" hedgehog...I can think of worse things than getting to go swimming every day

Thanks M!

Snowfall and Gypsy

2009-12-11T10:52:00.000-06:00

Wisconsin has it in for me. I moved up here just over two years ago and we promptly had the worst winter the state had seen in twenty years. Last winter was one of the coldest ones--with an actual temperature one morning of -24F. I don't want to even fathom what the windchill was. All I know is that my valiant car refused to even try and start.

And, in case you've missed news for the past few days, we had a blizzard here on Tuesday night, promptly followed by bone chilling temperatures. I went from casual winter gear to the hard core duck fluff coat, chunky weight hat and mittens I got from a ski shop overnight.

Here's the view early Wednesday, following 11" of small ice crystals down and while it was still snowing.

The snow has been cleared from the roads, though yesterday morning's drive to work was quite exciting when I had the audacity to make a right turn. *insert grateful for the fact I got new tires a few weeks ago here* Friday's commute actually saw pavement and rumor has it we'll be up to nearly freezing this weekend!

In the midst of all of this cold, I brought home a new bundle of joy. I started considering adoption about five minutes after I moved up here and realized I'd be spending the winter having a conversation with a very healthy spider plant or two. The plants have thrived but they aren't much for talking back and they are really lousy at snuggling.

Meet Gypsy. She's between one and two years old. She's from the Coulee Region Humane Society. So far she likes to be draped over my shoulder, enjoys belly rubs, and is going to need a substantial clawing/climbing tower. She attempted to jump the height of a five shelf bookshelf last night. She didn't make it but that didn't slow her down. Who wants to come over and help me trim her claws?

We still have to go the vet and have all of the usual shots and things and spend a few days getting used to each other. She spent all of last night racing around the apartment, enjoying the fact that she wasn't in her kennel cage. Today she's in the bathroom as I realized I'm going to have to further cat proof the apartment. She doesn't seem especially interested in the yarn stash--yet.

I will make a strong attempt to not turn into a blogger whose only content is to post cute photos of my cat. If I limit myself to once a week, will I be forgiven?

Book Review: Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich

2009-12-06T19:50:00.000-06:00

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America
Barbara Ehrenreich

I stumbled across a review of this somewhere in the piles of journals I read and it caught my attention enough to place a hold on it. It's taken a while to get through it, but certainly it's an interesting read.

Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, starts with her focus on how "positive attitudes" have been pressed on cancer patients like herself. Finding herself severely criticized when she wasn't relentlessly cheerful about getting and surviving breast cancer, she took a look around to see how else upbeat enthusiasm had become the norm in society.

She continues on, wading through motivational speakers, how "positive" has permeated the corporate world, become a multi-billion dollar business, taken over in mega-churches, and how a belief in ever positive, ever rising economy also saw us into a humongous recession.

It's a lot to go through in just over two hundred pages and a whole lot of end notes.

The book struck a serious chord, one that was almost slightly alarming as I read it: "be happy" is everywhere. I've mentioned before and I've run across many other bloggers who are absolutely afraid to mention sorrow, grief, frustration, anger, or irritation on their blogs--lest it be perceived as a weakness. We're downright fearful that being honest, realistic, and occasionally unhappy will ruin our careers, shame us in front of peers and readers, and make our site counts plummet. I was shaken out of the text a couple of times with how often I feel like I've had the idea of a positive outlook drummed into me. Not that Ehrenreich is promoting endless misery or perpetual cynicism, but instead not applying an overlay of perky cheerleader all the time.*

Ehrenreich ends with a short chapter on "post-positive thinking." I wish she'd spent a little more time there because her points, while not especially radical, are thoughtful. She points out that we look for students who are not "happy thinkers" but "critical thinkers" and physicians who hope and certainly strive for the best outcome but are realistic enough to help you plan for the worst.

I found the book incredibly refreshing. I spent years on the subway, staring at the ads for the various motivational speakers and internally wondering why it was that if all the attendees/readers were following their rules and guides why they weren't all rich and leaving me for dust. I saw the piles of "business motivation" books my then boyfriend was reading and recoiled from them, though personally at the time I just saw them as annoying fads more than anything. This is one of the first suggestions I've seen that perhaps being a giggly cheerleader isn't the only answer.

I probably don't have the best reputation for being cheerful, there's a bit too much sarcasm that sneaks in to allow me to make anyone's list of "perky" people. And I enjoy being cheerful and happy; but it was nice to read a book where one didn't feel horrible for acknowledging and possessing other emotions as well.

Highly recommended read.

*Eerily, as I was writing this, I remembered a guy I met while traveling in Greece. He worked on a cruise ship and I never once saw the guy look anything but "super-happy" (jazz hands) for three days. At the end of the cruise I asked how he managed to maintain it and got some vague answer about love of his job. I wandered off, wondering if he was heavily medicated.

Hedgehogs In the News: Fell Skiing in Switzerland

2009-11-25T20:01:00.001-06:00

This hedgehog has some interesting casts going on...

Thanks to DJF on Friendfeed for the heads up!!

Kids' Knitting Group: Beyond the Basics

2009-11-24T19:22:00.000-06:00

Kids Knitting for the fall ends next week and it's been gone well. New thing implemented this fall: a six week, half hour Advanced Knitting Techniques. I finish the second round next Tuesday and overall I'd say it's been quite a success. I have patterns selected that I'd use again to teach the basics and I've got some ideas on what to change and do better should I tackle this again.

The regular kids group is chugging right along. They bring projects, ideas, and enthusiasm. I show up with yarn, how to knowledge and piles of books for them to read. We average between 10 and 12 kids per week, not a shabby number.

The advanced tech was about growing the kids who were moving beyond the basics. I taught I-cord, different types of increases and decreases, cables, lace, and we went over (in detail) gauge and reading a pattern. The general goal was to make them more confident and self-sufficient. Up to this point, most of them had good basic skills. They could do one type of increase, maybe two. They might pick out a pattern but they weren't confident about reading it and the concept of pairing yarn to pattern wasn't quite kicking in.

Now--they're doing better. Several of them have moved on to more difficult patterns, coming to me only to read parts of it aloud together. At least three have/are tackled/ing clothing and all of them are learning. I want them to be able to go out and do without me. I'm here to help, certainly, but I don't want them to feel like they can't if I'm not available to get them going.

I set up pretty strict parameters to do AKT. It had to be kids I'd worked with for at least a few months--I needed to know their level. They, along with a parent, had to come in and talk to me about what we'd be learning, my expectations of them showing up and doing homework, etc. I wanted commitment and I've gotten it. I also had to call one kid out of the rug in front of a parent when homework wasn't done--but while I came down pretty hard, it was done with the intention of reminding expectations that were previously agreed to by the child and parent.

Watching the kids blossom is incredibly rewarding. They have the skills, they use the skills and twenty years from now, I'm confident that some of them may still be knitting (and probably kicking my tush in the "difficulty" levels). I packed three of them in the car on Friday for the Ewetopia Fiber Shop open house. (Different three from last year) As always, watching their eyes when they see just how much cool stuff is in a really good yarn shop is amusing and exciting. The possibilities and potential leap off the shelf at you--and it's in ways I can't even imagine.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2009-11-23T16:21:00.003-06:00

I was one of two featured interviewees for Dana's class project on Tween Programming. I'm in the Q&A section.

Allow Me the Age Parameters

2009-11-23T10:39:00.000-06:00

One of the bullet points in the job description is programming. I figure out activities and crafts, stories and games, literacy tools and educational aspects that can all be blended so that it's not just a half hour or hour of uncontrolled insanity. Sometimes programs dissolve into that but we usually do start with a plan and, when possible, there's still method to the madness.

One of the important part of planning is knowing what age group I'm working with and being able to plan accordingly. Such it is that when programs are advertised with an age group, that's the age group I want, that's the age group I expect, that's the developmental level I'm looking to walk in the door. Children grow and change incredibly fast, as anyone around them can tell you. When I worked strictly with infants and toddlers, three year olds were huge kids to me. They could talk in complete sentences and were mostly potty-trained!! Now working babies through teens, I'm stunned at times how young some of the teens seem (really, you're 14?) or how old some of the eight year olds are. I do still think that a child who is actively walking doesn't count as a baby anymore, but that's my choice of brackets.

And there are mixed ages and groupings that work, but there are times we expect something best suited for an older child. This is something I've run into with teaching children to knit. Most children have the manual dexterity and understanding to learn how to knit about the same time they learn to read and write. For some children, this is age four, for others it's closer to six. When you're working one on one with a child, you can choose based on the skill of the child. When I have a group, I really prefer eight and up, though I'll stretch it to seven. This gives me the opportunity to have children who have all achieved that manual dexterity and who will be able to read a knitting pattern, even if they need help translating some of the meaning or symbols.

Often, it's adults convinced of their child's high level of maturity who throw a spines-out hedgehog into the mix with programming age parameters. Their child is old enough, mature enough, with enough manual dexterity, whatever it is they think they need to say to get around the age barrier so that their child is granted whatever treat or program the parent has promised. [I've also seen this in reverse where parents thought their ten year old should be allowed to thunder over equipment built to support a two year old--it works both ways.]

Sometimes this is not unlike watching parents attempt to convince carnival ride attendants that their 3'8" child is really 4' so they can go on a ride not safe for shorter children.

Granted, I don't expect to cause whiplash in the programs, but perhaps I'm suggesting books to the kids or reading a select chapter. Most six year olds are not going to be ready for the battle scenes in Brian Jacques' books and or the opening pages to this year's Newbery winner--Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book. Similarly, most ten year olds are really moving beyond books about a precocious kindergartner who has little grammar and less discipline.

When I set an age parameter on a program I'm trying to create a productive atmosphere for learning, communicating, and interacting. When the rules "just have to be bent" because a younger child wants to participate, we're teaching the child that those rules don't apply to them, that they don't have to wait, or grow into something or be aware that they are too old for other things. Quite often older children don't get anything special and are required to share it all with younger children, which isn't fair to anyone: not the older kids for whom the program was meant, the younger kids who aren't ready for the older books, or the programmer who is now having to focus unfairly on the younger kids needing extra help or completely rework the program on the fly. Librarians are good at programming off the cuff and at a moment's notice--but the point is that we've planned in advance here.

And truly, how many ten and eleven year olds do you know who want to hang out with six year olds all the time?

Knowing something will be a special treat when they're older, or taller, is not a horrible thing. Following the rules about something like age now just might set a precedent for down the road when it's driving, curfew, or dating. But in the meantime, please don't make me or any other program planner the bad guy. I can't control your child's age or height--but then, I'm not the one who promised them they could ride the ultra-looping-roller-coaster or go to the program that's for the big kids [or preschoolers] only.

Care and Pruning of Chapter Books

2009-11-14T10:25:00.006-06:00

I took on the care and feeding of the children's chapter book collection in the fall of 2008. This collection, spanning three buildings, is about 8000 books and hadn't seen much weeding in several years.

I would be handing off the branch collections at the turn of the year to the newly hired assistant branch manager, and before I did so I wanted to make sure some pruning took place. Print outs from the tech services department in hand, I spent several afternoons wading through the collections at the LPL North and South branches. Some series were pulled en masse and others we debated keeping despite a decrease in circulation (e.g. Brian Jacques). Extra copies of Harry Potter books went into storage-one really only needs three or four copies of book seven during the off season between films. And I started lists of things that needed to be replaced or purchased at both locations. We have heavy plastic weeding bins and I filled up a number of them at both locations.

Then I started at Main. As my work was done sporadically as I had a free afternoon here or there, deep weeding took the better part of a year. I saw and touched nearly every single book in the collection. If it was on the shelf, I looked at it, checked it off my list, made a decision on condition, and either replaced it on the shelf, put it in a pile with a note to check the series or be replaced, or it went into a weeding bin. If it wasn't on the shelf, I needed to know why. Was it missing? Was it checked out? I learned quickly that my work card only allowed 100 holds as I started placing holds on the materials checked out. The staff hold shelf was constantly crammed with books with my name on them. The "missing/lost" lists still haven't recovered. I discarded an average of four-five weeding bins per range of shelves (we have 4 units containing chapter books-- 8 ranges of 16 shelves each). I'm still working on a solid grasp of series and suggested reading lists but I've certainly made a start.

My goal was not to bar access to great literature. It wasn't to limit reading options or discard beloved children's classics. I don't get some kind of strange pleasure out of getting rid of a book your child read once ten years ago and loved. And yes, I got the occasional horrified look as I'd grab a series that was yellowed and crumbling and fling them collectively into a bin bound for the Friends of the Library Book sale (e.g. Magic Attic). Whether it was horror at the condition of the books or horror that I was weeding varied.

But it was time for housekeeping. All collections, whether they are your home stash of elephants or the library juvenile fiction books, need pruning. The shelves here were stuffed to the point one was afraid to take something out--you'd never get it back on the shelf. This hindered browsing and meant I had no space to turn anything cover out. We all pick up things based on the cover. There were series that weren't complete or had long outlasted their time. Yes, the Mary-Kate and Ashley books still occasionally checked out but not nearly often enough, in my opinion, to keep all four series now that both girls have dropped out of college.

And books with ratty, dated, beat up covers have a limited appeal, particularly the children. The majority of the kids I know come in looking for something shiny, bright and applicable to them. If they are greeted with yellowing pages, early 80s clothing and hair cover art, and "library edition" stickers --kids will leave thinking that the vast majority of the books aren't interesting to them. And they won't want to come back.

I replaced a lot of classics, generally with newer versions that I thought would circulate better. We might have had a copy of the book but if it looked old or boring or a little too well loved, it was time to wade through for something newer. The book doesn't do anyone any good sitting on a shelf collecting dust. There's a reason they have been reissuing Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters with covers that look remarkably like the Twilight books. And I'm a big fan of the new Beverly Cleary/Judy Blume covers.

That we would replace a book when, technically, we had a perfectly readable copy has surprised some patrons. It has been perceived, I suppose, as a waste of money. But I would argue that the Matt Christopher books are circulating much better now and boys are reading them. Or that the Blume and Cleary books are far more likely to be in the hands of a child--and purchasing those classics in a format that helps kids to enjoy them is, in my mind, an excellent use of money.

As I've weeded, there has been a lot of adding/replacing. Books in our collection get a lot of love and life out of them and bindings crumble, covers fray, pages get ripped out and some get lost or stolen. It's the nature of a public library. The 2009 year alone I added nearly 1000 books to the collection, between replacements, filling out series, and newly published titles. Our "new" shelf has been fully loaded all year with cool options and that makes for a very pleased hedgehog.

The weeding and ordering and wading through reviews has well been worth it in terms of happy kids and increased usage. Over the summer months I saw a 16% increase from 2008 to 2009. That number has flattened out a little now that everyone is back in school (October we were only up 10%), but the books displayed face out keep needing to be refilled and the new books are circulating quite nicely from their display area. So, as I pause to indulge in a little self-congratulations, I'm doing something right. In this case, a focus on quality rather than quantity has revitalized the collection. And lest you think I "got rid of everything"--there are currently 4759 books in the chapter book section. By no means are the shelves bare.

Amusingly, I had one patron tell me that as long as I was buying new copies of Newbery books, things would be fine. She was pretty surprised when I responded that while yes, I bought current Newbery winners and replaced ones still relevant to our collection , it wasn't my current plan to find obscure early awards winners that circulate only to the rare person wanting to read "all the Newberys" (why we have interlibrary loan) or the last college student of the third section of the children's lit course who has to read one. Besides, Daisy Meadows has another set of Rainbow Magic Fairies books due out soon....

And One Important Thing More:

2009-11-11T17:30:00.002-06:00

Today is Veteran's Day....

Both of my friends who are actively serving are stateside at present, for which I'm incredibly grateful. When I was growing up, today was a day we honored wars long past memory. Now, I'm helping people honor friends and family members currently engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To the Master Sergeant and 2nd Lieutenant and everyone else serving in the armed forces, to those who have served at home and abroad:

Thank you

A Few Brief Thoughts

2009-11-11T17:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Week to Sibling-the-Younger. I'm told he didn't want a big fuss but it's still pretty cool that he shares a D.O.B with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Take a moment with me to be incredibly amazed by and jealous of Laurie Halse Anderson's writing cabin. When I grow up and write many many wonderful books that inspire kids, teens and parents and win tons of awards etc, I want one just like it. Only, maybe with a little more yarn.

Should you be a member of the library profession, particularly if you are job seeking, it behooves you to not condescendingly talk about public and/or children's librarians as though we were a lower life form. Just a suggestion.

I've read most of the new Winnie the Pooh. It was okay but I don't think Pooh should ever be referred to as having fingers. He has paws....

We're having our signature fund raiser at the library on Friday: we've picked out books we'd like to add to the collection, you come, choose the ones you like, pay for them and we add them into our collection with name plate identifying you as the giver. It's called Give-a-Gift. I've got a whole shelf of stuff upstairs that I hope meets with enthused donors. Plus there will be snacks, wine, and I have a reason to wear 4 inch strappy heels in November. See you there?

Hedghogs in the News: Baldly

2009-11-08T14:39:00.001-06:00

From My Friend the Lawyer:

Bald hedgehog is found abandoned

Poor hoglet--without prickles or family....

NaNoWriMo

2009-11-05T10:15:00.000-06:00

I was under the impression that NaNoWriMo was relatively widespread but I keep running into people who haven't heard of it, so thought I might share it here.

National Novel Writing Month: a competition to write 50,000 words/175 of a new novel (not one you've been working on for years) in the month of November. You start on November 1 and scribble furiously until the 30th, not taking time (at the moment) for revision.

It's a good kick start, an excellent prompt, and hopefully gets a lot of people to the writing board. I participated last year, though I didn't "win" (get to 50K).

It's evolved and a lot of other people have taken up the idea. There's NaNoBloMo (Post something on your blog every day for 30 days), NaNoSweMo (Knit a sweater in a month), etc etc. The essence seems to be: pick a challenge, a big challenge. Here are 30 days. Make yourself accountable to other people. Go.

It was my intent to participate this year. Somewhere in my apartment is a vague square piece of paper with the notes for the book I was thinking of working on.

I can't find it and by the time I realized it was November, it was the 2nd.

So I made a different goal. It's a personal one, so, despite my joy of sharing with y'all, it won't be going on the blog. I have another 25 days. And then holiday knitting will be taking over the rest of my life until 12/26.

Rube Goldberg Software

2009-11-03T18:09:00.000-06:00

I am among the privileged, so I'm told. I have a Google Wave account. No, I don't have invites yet so please don't leave me a comment or send me an email asking for one. EJ was my benefactor and no, he doesn't have any invites to share either. Here's what Google Wave is/does...

I've gone in and tried to play around a little. I can see some uses for group work, but it's still in preview and the clunk factor, at the moment, is outweighing the cool factor. That's my opinion for now. I'm sure that will change and we'll all glide in there and have a good time in the future.

But today was amusing. On LITA-L a proliferation of emails were sent with hopeful requests for invites. Invites are apparently being far more carefully guarded and reluctantly tokened out by Google than Gmail was--at least, in my memory*. When today, the requests started coming that people stop sending invite requests to the list (it was creating a lot of noise), something needed to be done.

Enter me with an editable spreadsheet. Have I mentioned how much of a fan of these I'm becoming? Shared Google Spreadsheets has made committee work so much easier and I can pass out book lists and all sorts of things--making them editable, view only, all sorts of convenient things. I named a spreadsheet, grabbed a link, and told people to add themselves.

At present we have 70 people on the list. That was in the first three hours. The hope is that when people are granted invites they will pull people from the list and bring them into the fold. And then that LITA people receiving invites will remove themselves or edit that they've already received an invite. Any way around it, at this point, I've gotten far less emails this afternoon.

A large (but controlled) group of people are using a shared spreadsheet to communicate with each other about gaining an opportunity to join a shared space to communicate with a large (but at this point controlled) group of people.

Email list to a shared spreadsheet to invites (via email) to join Wave.....

Rube Goldberg anyone?

*Is that the new uphill both ways in snow? I had to WAIT to get a gmail account?

Cleaning Out the Closet Programs

2009-10-28T17:30:00.000-05:00

Most (not all) children's rooms have a back closet stuffed with supplies. There's a little of this and that left over from all kinds of programs before. Some glitter, paper in weird colors, tissue paper, two dozen 5 mm dowel rods, enough glitter glue to decorate a building, that kind of stuff just piles up if you don't drag it out occasionally

I've been trying, this year, to figure out some programs that allow me to use up leftovers without having to purchase a lot of additional things. I haven't made it anywhere near through our backlog yet (especially of tissue paper, we may NEVER run out) but I'm working on it.

This summer, our theme was "Be Creative." This translated to a focus on art, music and dance for the summer, with some theater and gardening thrown in for good measure. I opted to focus on "colors" because it was vague enough to let me pull out a bunch of cheerful crafts without getting too bogged down.

Supplies Needed:

Tissue Paper
Pipe Cleaners
"Stuff to decorate" (can be just about anything but make sure it's light)
Butcher paper
Glue/Glue Sticks (I prefer glue)
Markers
Scissors
Styrofoam Cups
Masking Tape
Paint Brushes (little ones, preferably old ones that you can then throw away)

Craft One: Tissue paper butterflies

Precut the butterflies out, if possible, and provide decorations (markers, stickers, etc) and pipe cleaners.
Ask the kids to choose a pipe cleaner middle and decorate the wings. These look lovely hung up in windows.

Craft Two: Tissue paper flowers

Precut rectangles of tissue paper (about 4x8 inches) and have them stacked up. Pick up four or five layers, bind the center with a pipe cleaner. Cut the petals in decorative shapes, fluff them apart. Add decorations as desired. (These also wrap nicely into headpieces as the base is then all pipe cleaners.)

Craft Three: Mural
Have a general idea sketched out on some butcher paper and ask the kids to help you fill it in with all the decorations you would like: markers, tissue paper, feathers, anything that won't fall off when you hang it up. And by general idea I mean abstract shapes--not a farm scene. For whatever reason though, kids liked making "clothes" out of the tissue paper.

Craft Four: Instruments

Ahead of time, put beans, beads, any small thing you have in the back that you can stand the site of any more 9and will rattle) into styrofoam cups. Tape two cups open ends together (now it's a shaker!) Use tissue paper (told you we had a lot) cut in small squares and lots of glue and layer the tissue paper all over the cups. Should get a stained glass effect.

Tomorrow I'm doing another "what's in the back room" program with fairies as the theme.

Supplies:
Colored paper
Glue
Dowel Rods (leftovers from another program, straws or popsicle sticks work too)
All the glitter glue in Wisconsin
Leftover tissue paper squares and flowers (I don't know where the precut flowers came from
Flat "angel" cut outs (from my mom's cleaning out) (wings plus a skirt cut out = fairy to me!)
Markers
ribbon
Magnet pieces

Craft one: Wands
If I could guarantee 10 year olds, I'd make them cut out their own wand shapes. Since I can't, I used the die cutter and colored paper and tada--52 stars (none of them yellow). Glue two stars together with dowel rod in the middle and you have a wand. The fairies tomorrow can decorate, add ribbon, write their fairy name on it...all sorts of things.

Craft two: Headdresses
See Tissue paper flowers above, adding in ribbon and a base circlet of pipe cleaners. I'm actually not doing this one tomorrow, I decided two crafts was enough

Craft Three: Make your own fairy magnet
We had the magnets and ornaments, so the girls will get to design their own flower fairy friend. Once they are done decorating, we'll write their fairy name on the back (I'm using this Fairy Name Generator) and add a magnet so it can go on the fridge.

Wish me luck and not bringing any of this stuff back with me!

Book Review: NERDS by Michael Buckley

2009-10-26T17:25:00.000-05:00

N.E.R.D.S
by Michael Buckley

Buckley's pretty well known for his charming Sisters Grimm series, which brings to life the rather frightening reality that fairy tale characters live in a small town in upstate New York. So it was with high anticipation that I grabbed NERDS off the shelf.

Meet Jackson Jones, your typical super-popular star athlete at the middle school. Kids want to be like him or at least in his circle of friends, even adults emulate him. Charm and style and amazing skill at football should see him through fifth grade trials, tribulations, and time spent picking on geeks and nerds, right?

That is--until a fatal dental appointment--where Jackson learns he has an unusual number of teeth and is slapped into braces and headgear. Highly magnetized headgear. Instantly gone is his popularity

But then he begins to notice something about the classmates he picked on before. When he follows them, he stumbles upon a secret world of spies, missions, and a very unusual Lunch Lady.

Inadvertently joining the team, Jackson has to prove himself to teammates who hate him, deal with super special braces, and try not to flunk out of fifth grade--oh, and save the world from a supreme evil doer and his hired assassin (who is also in fifth grade).

Buckley provides a very realistic hero in the stereotypical popular boy who has fallen from grace. Jackson sees himself as a good kid and is startled to realize he is a bully. A little self-realization and sadness and growth comes but not one of those sudden 180 turn arounds. At random the reader does have to provide retina scans and pass other security clearances...with a typical does of tween humor.

First in a series, this is another one to keep high on the ordering list and make sure it's face out on the shelves. The guy taking my order at the sub shop the other day grabbed it off the counter for a quick perusal--so I think we can safely say the cover appeals to all ages.

Hedgehogs in the News: 5 Star Rating

2009-10-20T14:32:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Jennie, who tweeted me this too adorable story!!

Hoglets born in hotel reception

Mama Hedgehog had good taste!

Where's the Literacy???

2009-10-16T16:20:00.001-05:00

At work, we have a number of professional subscriptions, including to Book Links. Skimming through the latest issue (Oct 2009) I came across an article about Family Literacy that floored me.

One of the suggestions was a Family Literacy Night at the Library. I was excited at the prospect of getting some new ideas to add to my storytime, where the parents are continually hearing me harp about early literacy techniques, methods and reasoning.

I was stunned when I read the "schedule for the evening" , for after the introduction, the first activity suggested was watching a fifteen minute movie.

I have nothing against movies in general. I don't have anything against developing a good picture book into a good short film*. We show features length movies occasionally at the public library where I work during the summer, on no school days, at most perhaps 8-10 per year (probably fewer) and very occasionally use them in our storytimes.

But your first action on a literacy night is to show a movie???? This just seems incredibly counter-intuitive to me. What about literacy games? Story boxes? Doing a short skit with two staff members and some puppets or stuffed animals modeling reading as a family. If a "gentle call to family reading" is desired, why not actually read a book together?

The rest of the evening is a story-teller or librarian doing a read-aloud, passing out a "goody bag of resources" and time for questions. In my experience, once I've turned on a film, that's it. The kids' brains are gone and they aren't interested at the end of the movie in a live person doing something. This is precisely why the day after getting my braces, I read two stories before I turned on a book-based film in my storytime. At the very least, wouldn't you wait until the end when attention spans are lost or going?

Of an hour of the proposed program, twenty minutes is spent in some manner of reading, though most of the story-tellers I know tend not to actually use books or use them scantly, which doesn't model good reading together. So it is quite possible to do an entire evening without ever actually opening a book. How does this promote family literacy?

I recognize there are many kinds of literacy, particularly when one delves into the myriad segments of information literacy. But when working with younger children we tend to err on the side of the physical reading of books. There are so many games, activities, and take home ideas that are available that you can develop while the parents are actually there with their children. And if they've come, they are there to get some early literacy and family literacy ideas.

Why would you waste fifteen precious minutes on a video?

* I particularly am looking forward to seeing Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Meet the Parents: Regency Romance Series

2009-10-14T13:35:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to another round of the Regency series:
* Starting off
* Meet the man
* Pretty Lady
*Who Do I Read 1

Since someone had to give birth to these paragons of virtue, troubled souls, wicked but utterly reformable rakes, and innocent but oh so wise maidens (and occasionally widows), we must as matter of course have parents.

Mothers:

Now then, in all the really good novels, they kill off the mother. Perhaps it's a throwback to the classic fairytales or perhaps it's just the reality that childred, especially girls, with mothers often have relationships with those mothers and don't tend to be quite so prone to running away, having strange romances, etc etc. So please, do consider abolishing the mother before you start the first page.

Mother often died early, perhaps even in childbirth. This is not necessarily unrealistic, many women did die at that time from giving birth. And all of their children apparently promptly grew up to star in Regency Romances. If the mother dies, it allows one to make her a sainted creature, fondly remembered and loved and without any flaws a woman who had to survive the teenage years of her child.

But sometimes you need the mother to live.

If it's the girl's mother:

If she survives the father (killing him off, also popular) often she's useless and all burden of supporting the family, being an active character etc falls upon the daughter about whom the story is written. Mother is often relegated to having trunks of beautifully made clothing that can be remade for the daughter to wear when snaring the noble who'll be her husband by the end of the book. Said noble then gets mother and other siblings as new dependents.

Other mother daughter options to consider:
* Mother ignores daughter in favor of another child: either a boy or a much more beautiful sister
* Mother is the grasping mushroom type trying to buy her daughter a title she doesn't want
* Mother is running around with all sorts of inappropriate men, which embarrasses virginal daughter

It's very very helpful is the girl's mother was disowned by her gentry/noble family for marrying the girl's father, reconciliations between grandchildren/grandparents are very popular.

And, occasionally, mother is a pretty regular normal decent parent with a pretty normal relationship with her daughter.

If it's the guy's mother:
* She was the only one who loved him but died early because his father was cruel to her
* She abandoned him at a young age to run off with her lover
* She had him with her lover but he's been acknowledged/raised as the heir
* She is vitriolic and plans to rule his house forever and has to be thrown out.

Those are the extremes. Usually the guys have much better mothers and much better and more realistic relationships with their mothers, the moms mostly having the role of complaining about them not being married and providing grandchildren.

Fathers:

Fathers are more likely to be alive for the girls. If they have died, they've left massive of debts behind so their daughters are impoverished (the charming gamester dad or poor cleric dad) or they've left them as heiresses with bad guardians.

For your heroine, her Father

* raised her like the son he never had but hates her for being female and/or for behaving like a boy.
* ignored her, hated her for being female.
* is the vague professorial type who educated her too well for men.
* has remarried and the woman he's married is awful for variety of reasons

For your hero, his father
* hates him for surviving his older brothers, or being wife's ill-begotten child, or being born at all (take your pick)
* loves him and thinks his being a rake is perfectly marvelous
* is dead and was horribly mean, causing the hero never to want children or get married.
* is dead and was wonderful, in which case he only gets mentioned in passing.

Occasionally both parents are still alive and do seem to have a good relationship with their child. More often these are his parents and then they are either wonderful people who have a lovely marriage or they are cold, harsh aristocrats who sneer upon anyone except a frigid girl like themselves and who hate each other.

(At least I'm giving you a variety of options...cut them all up, draw them out of a hat, and go.)

Ah but we can't forget remarriages, now can we.

Stepmothers:

These poor women are, ninety percent of the time, bad mean evil women. They resent daughters and sons of first marriages, they are grasping, money grubbers.

Generally it is the heroine's father who has remarried. Those women, often younger than sainted dead mother would be, always want to marry off the daughter as fast as possible in hopes the daughter won't require any more money from their fathers. If the father has remarried the stepmother wants the son/heir to die so her children can inherit or some other random and strange thing.

Such it is, it comes as a pleasant surprise when there is a healthy relationship between stepmother and hero/ine. The best example I can give is Julia Quinn's book The Viscount Who Loved Me.

Stepfathers:

Stepfathers are rare. Sometimes the mother has remarried before she goes off to sainted death and now the stepfather is selling the heroine off to the highest bidder or one of his old cronies. Sometimes the mother is still alive and this same situation is happening. Rarely do they just portion off the daughter and let her marry some nice man.

But then, that wouldn't make a good story now would it.

Siblings and other relatives on the way soon!

Academic Disconnect: Whither Public Professors?

2009-10-05T10:14:00.002-05:00

A strange fact about my graduate library education recently struck me: none of the professors I had were public librarians.

The tenured professors were from academic or school media. The majority were from academic libraries, though from what memory serves at least one of them had pretty much only ever taught library science and theory without ever having actually done the everyday work of applying the theories she'd helped to create.

I took a variety of classes over those 4 semesters, several with adjuncts. The closest I came to a public librarian was Gary Wasdin*, but he was on the research division side and the Director of the Office of Staff Development at NYPL. While I was in class with him, he was the Director of the Library at New School and I see he's gone on to the Uni of Alabama. This is not to say I begrudge Gary what he's done and is doing, and certainly I learned a whole lot from him by virtue of the fact he was actually IN the library field doing library things...I'm just pointing out how far even that was.

The MLS has a lot of theory and general preparation from the profession as a whole, at least, it's supposed to, along with potentially allowing specialization in a certain kind of library. But in retrospect, my head is reeling that none of those people I worked most closely with to prepare myself had any experience with the work that I actually do everyday. While I'll be the first to argue that the basic skills do translate across all kinds of libraries: budgeting, collection development, outreach, marketing, management...there are things that one learns really only by having worked in the public library. For example, it's one of the only types of libraries that sees patrons from every single age bracket. Most others have a slightly narrower audience than birth to death and all education levels.

Public libraries are a large enough group that they have their own association, conferences, tracks at bigger conferences, and are in the headlines everyday. We're a site for self-education, continuing education, the foundations of children's information literacy before they hit those school media specialists. But these librarians do not seem to be the ones getting to the classrooms. I wonder why this is? Do they not want to teach, seeing it as a part of academia and an academic's job? Are they shot down by LIS programs because they aren't academics? Is it not conducive because grad classes are in the evenings and that's busy time for most public libraries? Has this changed drastically in the past five years and now public librarians are everywhere?

With the increased desire for specialization I wonder if future graduates will have any opportunity to move beyond the divison/library-type where their first job lies. But if they aren't prepared for public libraries, and aren't working with public librarians, how will they be ready for those first jobs?

I wonder if a LIS school would consider me experienced enough to start teaching....

*btw...if that somehow manages to get Gary's attention: Hi! Greetings from one of your former St. John's students. I had you for intro and summer management. Skinny light brunette with waist length hair.

Who Do You Love? Part 1: Regency Romance Series

2009-10-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

A commenter asked for some reading recommendations. If you're just getting into historical fiction and regencies, it can be a bit daunting to face the romance section in your local library or bookstore and try to pick out the ones that are interesting and amusing over those that might be to prurient or insipid or "Please tell me that isn't REALLY Fabio on the cover...."

My author suggestions will mostly come from the longer types of romances, those running about 350 pages. This is not to imply that there are not many valuable authors in 180-220 page category, but I read those by the pound. I don't tend to grab a particular author (with one notable exception), I grab a publisher and put everything the library has on hold, ten books at a time.

Those publishers are:

Signet Regency
Zebra Regency
Fawcett (Coventry Romances or Crest or something other of that nature)

They aren't the only ones but those are the most prominent amongst the 40 or so I just had a quick look at in the living room. You'll get to where you recognize the cover formatting, more than anything else.

I don't read the Harlequin Historicals. I have read a few and they were decent, but there seemed to be a focus on getting a sex scene into what was a relatively short story. When 1-5 pages has to be sacrificed to the obligatory "then they went to bed together" with all of the accompanying euphemisms, it annoys me.

So, onto those author suggestions.

Georgette Heyer: Heyer gave us Regency Romance and so no list should begin without her name. She's known for her historical descriptions, her inclusion of detail, and her fine style. Her books tend to read like the shorter Regencies but be of the length of the longer ones. I've only read a couple of hers but more are definitely on my list. These are ones, I'm told, that have convinced skeptical male readers that there might be more to these books than petticoats, balls, and "purple patches."

Julia Quinn: Quinn is my absolute favorite and I back that with my checkbook, having bought every single one of her titles, a couple of them more than once when my copies went missing. She is witty, her characters have depth, and she tends to break out of the oh-so-typical formulas that I am gently mocking. She spins new twists with a wonderfully ironic sense of humor. I recommend starting with The Duke and I and reading through the Bridgerton series. Those are, in my humble opinion, her best work.

Eloisa James: James is a tenured Shakespeare professor and a NYT best-selling author of romance. It somehow was a surprise to me, when I heard her speak, for her to point out that she writes about marriage. Not about engagements and happy endings that stop at a march down the aisle, but what happens five, ten, fifteen years later, when things have gone awry from misunderstanding, people growing and changing, miscommunications, etc. Her books are well-researched and rich in detail. Jemma is her most vibrant character, but certainly not the only one with whom one can or wants to identify. I would say start with either Duchess in Love or An Affair Before Christmas.

Celeste Bradley: Bradley was recommended to me by a dear friend in Chicago. Upon discovering that the other read historical romance, she and I went through author names until we found ones we'd not heard before. Bradley writes strong heroines, active women, and for that I grab everything with her name on it eagerly. Her books are also humorous, often I chuckle aloud at a description or turn of phrase. Witty dialogue, fun characters, and she tends to write in groups of three or four, which make for a pleasant, but not overwhelming cluster of books to take on for a trip, weekend, or however long. Best to start though with The Pretender. I read the books out of order, but it's helpful to get them in sequence.

Michelle Martin: Here is the exception to the short-Regency author rule. Martin wrote The Hampshire Hoyden, a book known between the Incredibly-Patient-Mother and Sibling-the-Elder and I for having made all three of us cry for laughing so hard. It's out of print, so you'll need to look for a used copy and they aren't the easiest to come by. I have one and no, you may not borrow it. Her others are amusing but not as good, in my opinion.

I have another half dozen authors to suggest, but I'll leave you with these for the interim.

**Note: Some people like to know in advance, all but the Heyer books (and Martin's) have sex scenes in them and some of those are pre-marital. None of them tend to put dialogue in those scenes that "can't be missed or you'll never understand the rest of the book." As a result, once I've read how an author does the scene once, I usually can skip right over them in the rest of the books. They are there but they aren't obnoxious. And with rare exceptions, all of their books meet the no-sex-in-the-first-100-pages rule.

Book Review: White Witch by Janet Graber

2009-10-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

The White Witch
Janet Graber

There just aren't enough good plague books for kids. Fortunately, Graber steps up to the plate, addressing a devastating point in history and confronting the belief system of the time.

In a small English village, Gwen has a reputation of being a witch because of her pale coloring and ability to commune with animals. While she doesn't seem to be albino, she has light hair and skin and the village people both respect and fear her.

Her father, a trader, brings news of the plague from London and warns the villagers that they must not allow the refugees fleeing the city to come down the river and dock with them. Believing that God will protect them and choosing to believe the illness a sign of retribution for sinfulness, they choose to ignore his warning.

Gwen's father knows they will blame her for the illness. He hides her in a secret room in the church, formerly used to hide riches, and leaves the village, promising to return. Time passes and refugees, rats, and ultimately the plague arrive. Gwen watches as people flee or die, with deaths outpacing the rate the bodies can be buried.

Silence falls on the village, and then one of the villagers returns from hiding in the woods, a young woman who knows where Gwen is hiding.

Gwen risks getting the plague herself to help her friend, even when she knows it means losing the boy she loves to that friend. But those aren't the only villagers around, and now Gwen faces a witchcraft trial.

While not making inappropriately light of the death and the superstitions that surrounded healing and people who were different, Graber presents an interesting glimpse of a time not often addressed in children's literature. A thoughtful read.

On the Flip Side

2009-10-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not dead, just buried. Freelance work seriously picked up and then I went home for six days. Now I've returned and started to make sense of the disaster zone also known as my desk at work, and have hope that the living room floor will be reclaimed within the next 72 hours. And so I get back to my writing, yours obediently.

I had the chance, early in the month, to attend Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. It was a bit of a drive but the day was lovely and I was on a mission. At the Jefferson Fairgrounds I found two large buildings full of vendors with all manner of woolly goodness. That I succumbed only to some beautiful pale seafoam green alpaca, some tweedy alpaca, two skeins of coarser but delicious Icelandic wool and a couple of bars of soap should be applauded. Apparently I'm now collecting bars of great handmade soap, but at least it gets used and cleanliness/godliness and all that.

Also I met some sheep. There were a lot of sheep that looked like ones that I imagine in my head when I think of those wool-providing creatures. Then there were the ones as pictured here, who looked a lot more like goats that someone stuffed into a woolly pillow. Doesn't that look like a fluffy Alpine to you?

The majority of the sheep were friendly and happy to discover whether or not I tasted like a salt lick. Fingers are always an acceptable nibbling treat.

I finished my first ever pair of socks! It came about entirely as a coping method one day, when I had so much running about in my brain that I quite literally could not do anything else. I sat and knit just plain stitches, one after the other, around in a very small circle. 52 stitches per row. Who knows how many rows because I didn't count. Just one more needle, one more row. My brain ran on at insane miles per hour and my physical self worked stitch after stitch.

Now:

They haven't been blocked yet. The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Eidos in Alcibiades using the numbers/pattern from the Tsock Tsarina's Tsock 101 Kit for those of the knitterly persuasion playing along.

And then it was back to Queens for two days of Indian summer and the first chills of fall. I stayed with the Brunette and Husband and new roommate. The Actor convinced me that singing for Rock Band, in public, was somehow acceptable. I made my way through Evanescence and No Doubt before it was decided that my rock repertoire was rather limited. (I knew this, they didn't believe me. When Rock Band comes out with the 24 Italian Songs and Arias for Medium-High Voice version, call me.)

The Blonde, Brunette, Husband and I went apple picking upstate, in/near Warwick, NY. It's a combination apple picking, rose garden (small but great colors), winery, and homemade donuts place. We stood for over 40 minutes waiting in line for fresh donuts and agreed that it was a form of unusual punishment to wait and be able to see and smell hot donuts but not buy nor taste lest our tongues be burnt. But warm apple cider donuts and great wine, as well as quite abundant apples, made it well worth the trip. (The two bottles of wine survived the plane trip home!!!)

Me in the obligatory "put your head in the cutout" --as required by the Blonde.

Finally, I headed into the City to meet up with My-Friend-the-Lawyer (who these days is more like My-Friend-the-Student, but he's almost done with that) and eat amazing Lebanese food at Naya. The desserts were incredible.

So that's where I've been.

Baby Heffalump Pictures....

2009-09-14T12:43:00.002-05:00

For cuteness overload, Utah has a new baby elephant.

September 11: Year 8

2009-09-11T08:46:00.001-05:00

It's gotten easier, now that time has passed. The immediacy isn't quite so upon us.

And I say this as a young woman who broke down in tears in front of Carmen Agra Deedy when she shared with me the beautiful picture book she wrote about the gift of cows made to America by the Maasai tribe in Africa. That was only six weeks ago.

As my grandparents remember Pearl Harbor, and my parents the day Kennedy was shot: I remember 9/11/01.

I know where I was when the first plane hit (Renaissance Women in Italy History course). I know who the first person I reached on the phone was (Master Sergeant). I can remember shutting off the television because my roommate Cindy and I were so numb from repetition that there were no tears left. I can remember the name of someone who should have been at work that day and wasn't.

I can remember, a year later, tears streaming unashamedly down my face as I was a part of the Rolling Requiem. I remember feeling as though I'd just dropped 100 feet when the NJ Transit train pulled into the daylight--and I realized that I was riding around inside the basement of the towers.

Today, as I imagine it will be for the rest of my life, I will remember.

Yarn Giveaway: Winner

2009-09-02T11:22:00.002-05:00

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to LFPL over the last month.

Steve has extended his fundraising (with a matching donor offer) to the end of the week, if you're still inclined.

But I promised I'd draw a name today.

I put everyone's name x number of times on a spreadsheet, based on the number they told me they'd donated. I then used random.org to get a truly random number.

The winner is: Ivy.

Ivy, I'll be emailing you for your address to mail the yarn. Thank you everyone for your generosity!!

Pretty Lady: Regency Romance Series

2009-08-31T17:20:00.001-05:00

It's another dose of the regency series:
* Starting off
* Meet the man

The Heroine

Alongside such a strong hero, it's very possible for the woman of a Regency Romance to be overwhelmed. Still, it takes a lot to wrangle these guys into a marriage and so most of these girls need a spine. It's when they're really insipid that one needs an even larger leap of romantic faith. Really? A dynamic worldly 35 year old and an waifish 18 year old virgin...uh huh. But let's lay the ground rules of our leading ladies:

Your heroine is beautiful but not always the most beautiful woman in the room (except, of course, eventually to the hero). She's unusual, different, unique. The reigning beauties may look pale, washed out, dull in comparison, etc next to her. That's one take, another is that she's very attractive but in the shadows, waiting for some man to discover her and shine the limelight upon her. Blond is the most preferred hair color, though any myriad version of that shade will do (Golden, honey, white blond, etc). But even with this pale hair color, make sure her eyebrows and lashes are naturally much darker. Red hair also shows up with alarming regularity. Strawberry blond is the best of both worlds. If her hair has to be brown it must be chestnut and only on rare occasions where someone had a gypsy ancestor does black hair show up. Her face, if you're following the Barbara Cartland tradition, is heart-shaped. Eyes are large and luminous (belladonna applications anyone?), pools of color to be fallen into. Again, brown eyes not so much, we really prefer a crisp green or blue or, randomly, violet. I've never met anyone with purple eyes, but apparently they were all over the place in the Regency.

Height is either unusually tiny, where she doesn't come up to his shoulder, or she's unusually tall and is the same height or taller than most of the men. ***If I seem to use "unusual" overmuch, it's because some authors do.*** But then, with all those taller-than-everyone-else-men, it helps to have a girl who measures vertically up to them. Figures are at most full. She might have an impressive bosom but earthy figures are left to older women or those of a less moral nature. Often she's not incredibly endowed but has a wonderful figure, slim and healthy, that doesn't really ever need a corset. So ideally we're going for curvy but slim. Got that?

Your heroine generally gets one of two personalities: the self-sufficient feisty girl or the delicate flower who needs someone to build her a backbone. The first is getting to be far more popular, probably because too many readers were getting sick of these wistful waifs who couldn't say boo to their husbands. Backbone, willingness to work hard and possibly break a few rules, and generally having spunk is a good thing. Still, she should at all times also be incredibly well mannered, kind to small children, animals, and old servants, and beloved by all but the inconvenient family members who mistreat her. (More on those relatives in later posts.)

Whatever it is she's done or doing, she's doing or has done it well. Whether that be singing (golden songbird), dancing (no stomping on toes here), drawing or painting, raising her eight siblings after both parents died, speaking Latin, preserving her virtue, or dealing with some sort of weaponry, she's awfully good at it. Occasionally, you find the rare girl who admits an inability to sing/play well, when others around her are virtuosos, but more likely while she might not play perfectly, she plays with so much more emotion that everyone has to stop and take notice.

Your heroine really should be from a good family. It is slightly less imperative that she be born aristocracy than it is with the guys, but not by much. She still needs to come from a good family: gentry and aristocracy preferable, if her family is merchant, then she should have been raised and educated as a lady so she'll at least fit in neatly. Even if she has been demoted Cinderella style to servitude, she was brought up well and that always shines through when it needs to.

Yes, many of them have a Cinderella complex. Either personality, or evil family, or whatever....she's waiting for Prince Charming to take her away from her life of servitude and shower her with wealth, security, children, and the greatest opportunity of her life: being his wife. She's amazingly self-effacing in all this too. Yes, I know, options for women were rather more limited than they are now, but seriously.

What's her view on marriage? She wants to be married a fair portion of the time, though not always to the hero. She has idealized the boy next door (who, if he's not the hero, is totally unacceptable). You could go with the idea that she doesn't want to marry so she can take care of siblings, relatives, etc etc. There's the rare gem of a heroine who doesn't want to lose herself in marriage, worried she'll lose herself, but the hero always sweeps past this. Oh, and yes, occasionally she's a widow. But with the exception of one of the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn (and it's a lovely book), I can't come up with very many where it was a happy marriage. Usually the first husband was a profligate and subjugated her personality, was manic-depressive, left debts, and may have abused her. And if that doesn't make one just want to RUSH right into a second marriage :-p

So there's your lady. Go forth and make a lady, countess, or other title of her.

Next up? Meet the in-laws.

Who's Your Hero: Regency Romance Series

2009-08-27T11:22:00.008-05:00

If you're just joining us,
*Starting Off

Every good regency needs a hero. The brooding type tends to be popular. Occasionally one sees the perky one but lethargy and brooding tend to rule the day.

Things to remember about your hero:

He is always handsome and most of the time he's a brunette. I'm not sure why this is particularly appealing, but it seems the vast majority have gorgeous dark locks to be played with. There are a few blonds in the mix. Red hair is an extreme rarity. Make sure he's tall, usually taller than everyone else and has piercing eyes. I don't go for the angelic type, but apparently some do, for there are many who get described as angelic. Though, more often than not, it's a dark angel.

He's from a good family. With exceptions that I can count on one hand and have fingers left over, he's from the aristocracy. He doesn't have to be titled, there are those occasional spare brothers floating around, but most likely he's got at least one or two titles. Some families seemed to have enough for everyone so no boy had to be a mere mister. Those rare exceptions probably have some kind of gentry in the past, even if he is a *gasp* merchant or *the horror* estate manager.

Your hero must be an exceptional rider, driver, dancer and fighter. He alone can handle the horses no one else can and is never thrown. He's always exceedingly kind to them and they never lose shoes. He beats regularly the times others have set on various road races. Within the ballroom he never ever steps on a ladies feet and always in charge when dancing. (Would that all modern men could lead with such panache and confidence!) And no matter what he's handed: pistol, sword, or knife, or if he's just using bare fists, he is one of the undefeated at them. Along that fisticuff line, he has a "punishing" hook and usually trains with Gentleman Jackson himself. It's a nice way to let the hero go blow off some steam, bond with other men, or attribute why he's so amazing at everything he does.

The hero has quite the active night life, but amazingly shows no sign of the dissipation. He drinks, gambles, smokes and carouses with the demi-monde until wee hours. He sleeps until noon and is quite often hauled out of bed with a thick head. (Assuming of course that alcohol affects him, there are a number of heroes who seem to be able to imbibe vast quantities without every having a bad morning afterwards.) But none of these cause pudginess, gout, diabetes, red noses, and amazingly, despite having biblically known quite a number of women, none of these men have contracted sexually transmitted diseases.

Speaking of the time he's spent with the demi-monde: your hero has a past with the ladies. He's had any number of mistresses (often a "really big number of them" that shocks nice ladies). These ladies are always acknowledged courtesans, dancers, and widows. It's amazing how he finds all these women with loose morals, the ladies of the evening never seem to have any problems with the fact they've turned to the oldest of professions. If the hero finds the heroine in a brothel, he must of course spirit her out of there post-haste because she's a nice girl who would never do that. If he finds anyone else, apparently she's excited about her profession and the chance to entertain him. There were an amazing number of lusty bar wenches. There are also an amazing number of wives who cheat on their husbands, though of course the hero and heroine never would cheat on each other. A surprising number of these adulterous wives are happy to set up their lovers with girls who turn out to be the wife of his chaste and monogamous dreams. Who knew?

War heroes are convenient to have around, so consider making your hero a former (in his past) or recent (just coming home from the wars now) soldier. If he fought in the war, he was mentioned in the dispatches, so everyone knows what a hero he was and how he sacrificed himself for others. Despite the sacrifice, he usually comes home in one piece, despite the French soldiers and horrible surgeons best and worst efforts. Often, regret and reflection is alluded too, along with nightmares. I appreciate this, actually, it makes the men more human to realize that they fought and took lives and had friends lose their lives. Much more realistic than shoving it down with a "doing one's duty" and being perfectly able to resume civilian life.

The hero generally has one of two approaches to marriage: he has to for purposes of having an heir, saving his fortune, meeting a parental requirement, winning a bet, etc OR he's completely against it, plans never to marry, thinks all women are beneath him (insert double entendre here), so on and so forth. It seems to be one or the other, rarely is he just casually interested in women (Austen's Captain Wentworth in Persuasion is a rare example where he's open to the idea of marriage without it being forced upon him.)

We've met our hero, now on to our leading lady.

Wool: You Know You Want It (Donate to the LFPL)

2009-08-26T12:51:00.004-05:00

We're down to the last week of Steve's goal of gathering 5K for Louisville Free Public Library. Which means, we're down to the last week of the enter to win really awesome wool and/or me knitting it into something for you!

Here's the kick off post .

Here's how to play the game (one more time):

1) Donate to LFPL either by mailing them a check or contributing via Paypal to the Library Society of the World fund. He's already sent one check when we hit the half way point and it has been received.

The Library Foundation
Attn: Flood
301 York St.
Louisville, KY 40203
(502) 574-1709

2) Email me/Facebook me/Direct Message me on Twitter or Friendfeed or Plurk and let me know either a) you donated (for one chance) or b) how much you donated for one chance per $5 donated. My email is on the blog homepage if anyone needs it.

I'll be doing the drawing on September 2, 2009, results to be posted shortly thereafter.

Come on...it's Malabrigo. And it's going to a good cause!! Help Steve Lawson and the LSW make the five thousand dollar goal!!

How to Write a Regency Romance: A Tongue in Cheek Series

2009-08-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

It's become too serious of late, so it's time for some frivolity. This will be a multi-part blog series over the next few weeks.

I now offer you, based on my years and years experience reading historical romance novels, suggestions on how to write one.* I'll mostly be focusing on so-called "regency romances." Many of these suggestions, though, play over nicely into modern/paranormal/etc etc etc. I make these points not to insult the authors, whose books I read, suggest, buy, pass to friends, etc.; nay, friends, I come only to amuse.

Let us begin.

We'll start with something easy--the Top Five Things You Should Mention in your Regency Romance (RR). This way you can plan to build your story around them.

Tea : Everyone drinks it, everyone offers it, there's always a fresh pot around somewhere.
Almacks: The ton revolved around it, who was invited, who was going, who wasn't going, which rake showed up there, who was banned, and the Patronesses.
Ankles: Apparently they were the height of sexy, since bosoms were exposed by evening wear. Make sure there are nicely turned ones. (Turned, not sprained)
Napoleon and the war: Half pay officers, wounded soldiers returning, soldiers dying, someone leaving to war, getting a commission, the escape from Elba, heros. TONS of possibilities here.
Cravats: No nice man is without them. They're used to promote the hero, bind wounds, point out the silliness of brothers, and so on and so forth.

Next we'll be exploring your hero.

*Please note, these suggestions are not intended as practical advice. I have neither written nor published a regency romance, though the Incredibly-Patient-Mother has suggested that perhaps I should.

Hedgehogs in the News: Joke

2009-08-24T09:34:00.002-05:00

My-Friend-the-Lawyer spotted this early this morning and sent it on. We both agree it's not the funniest joke we've ever heard.

Hedgehog joke wins comedy prize.

Happy Monday all...

Mid-Week Brain Break

2009-08-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

I'm blaming MLx from Friendfeed for this one.

Pop Words.

I will not apologize for spreading the addiction.

Making Soggy Memories

2009-08-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

When I was very young, it was extremely normal for family gatherings to occur regularly. We got together for holidays, birthdays, any excuse to gather for a meal was a good one. I am one of eleven cousins on that side of the family, and these events brought together any number of us to swing on Grandma's front porch, play rounds of Euchre, swim in the lake, ice skate on that same lake, sing and tell stories. I'm the youngest of the girls and the oldest of the boys is still renowned for making everyone at the kids table laugh. And even as adults, we of the "kid" generation still often end up at a "kid" table, while our parents and grandmother are together and now, all of their children are grouped.

Cousins, as all children do, grow up and we split out across the country. And across the world. At one point there were cousins both in Germany and Japan, and while at the moment we're all back in the general midwest region, I doubt that will last a lifetime and it's still a stretch to get together.

So when the opportunity arose to spend a weekend across the state with two cousins and their families, it was time to pack up and look for directions.

Incidentally, Highway 21 is a long drive across the state. Lovely and peaceful, but one definitely slips into a state of "I can't remember anything I've seen in the past thirty minutes, where am I?"

It was incredibly normal, after somewhere around six years (there are three more children since last time I saw this set of cousins), to step back into the familiarity of cousins. Some life stories, some family news, plans for the next year, adventures taken, all shared in a kitchen, or over food. There was an adult table and a kid table, and though it shouldn't have surprised me, it was strange to sit down with my cousins and know WE were the adults. But a long history of shared times immediately filled the gap of a half dozen years apart.

And then, there was the water balloon fight. I wasn't sure it was going to be warm enough, but a half hour or so of playing catcher for three boys batting a foam ball warmed me up enough. I was also reminded that I am not particularly blessed with a throwing arm.

I was, of course, the novel target. One can hit one's dad, aunt, uncle or siblings with a squirt gun or water balloon anytime. Cousin Abigail? Not so much. I did put two parameters in place--no balloons directly in my face, please, and when I had the camera, I had technological device immunity. But I certainly ended up drenched and, despite eventually being armed only with a watering can, I managed to inflict my share of sogginess. The boys complained it wasn't fair, me with a watering can, I argued that I only had arms reach to dump water on them, while they were planning distract and conquer tactics and lobbying balloons at me from some yards away. They play baseball and there was some decent pitching going on, trust me.

Arguing over the hose---note the child in the background who is ENTIRELY off the ground. Apparently S is capable of hovering and no one warned me about that trait in the extended family.

A mad dash after catching his aunt with a squirt gun.

Getting the adults with the hose.

A pair of soaked cousins. Trust me, I'd just wrung out my shirt.

Book Review: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

2009-08-15T15:22:00.001-05:00

Sworn to Silence
Linda Castillo

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. Early Reviewers get copies of books from publishers in exchange for reading and providing an honest review on LibraryThing.

Castillo presents a thriller mystery when a serial killer re-appears after an absence of sixteen years to start murdering young women in a small town with a large Amish community.

Kate Burkholder has returned to her childhood hometown as the chief of police, bringing a history of growing up Amish and larger city police experience. When a serial killer returns and begins to escalate after an absence of sixteen years, Burkholder is caught between attempting to do her job and trying to deal with her own past. For, we learn, she believes she killed the Slaughterhouse Killer as a young woman, an act that caused her to leave the Amish community and become an outsider to her immediate family. Now, with a burnt out former rogue state officer sent to help out, she has to juggle local politicians, other law enforcement departments, and the unknown of whether the killer is back or if she has a new problem to deal with.

Castillo does an admirable job of setting up a town with believable politics, history and personality. I particularly liked the night dispatcher, whose obsession with current crime scene television shows is treated with a gentle humor and teasing of readers who are similarly interested. Her scenic descriptions are distinct enough to give a clear image, though she makes the ones involving the victims sparse enough to keep the stomach from churning. She provides interesting insight into the Amish community and their behavior towards Kate, showing believe instances where love for family takes precendence over cultural rules.

Tomasetti, the rogue cop in state agency sent to help, was stereotypical--rugged, good looking, has a tragic background. They never send the happily married average looking guy. And of course there was the seeming obligatory romantic angle. I was a little disappointed that two people had to fall into bed together. Yes, traumatic situation and all sparking romance and celebration of life, but it didn't add anything for me.

Overall, it was well done. I probably should have figured out the killer a little earlier, but I didn't mind that I hadn't. And it was nice to see more realistic time lines (something will take 2-3 days to get, etc). Thrillers aren't a genre I read often, but I recommend Sworn to Silence for someone who likes to watch Bones, CSI, Criminal, etc.

And it's apparently going to be part of a series, about which I feel ambivalent.

Cross posted to my account on LibraryThing.

Book Review: Forest of Hands and Teeth

2009-08-13T20:04:00.000-05:00

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Carrie Ryan

It will come as no surprise that this is a zombie book. And it put me in mind, a bit, of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village."

Small enclosed town, threat of the Unconsecrated in the forest, and a girl who dreams of freedom. A girl has three options upon coming of age: get married, stay with your family, or join the mysterious "Sisterhood" who are the governing force. Mary, orphaned and rejected by her older brother, is caught between marrying a best friend she doesn't love, suffering from unrequited love of her best friend's little brother, and not wanting to believe in God or the Sisterhood.

Yawn.

When the zombies, sorry, Unconsecrated attack, Mary, her betrothed, her brother and his wife, and her love interest and HIS betrothed and a child retreat into a path that takes them out of the village. Only, they seem to have never learned of Roman numerals and the paths lead them mostly to death and dead ends.

I couldn't empathize with Mary as she waffled between the boy she was betrothed to (who was in love with her but also her best friend) and the boy she "loved" (though he was also waffling between the two girls). The history of the Sisterhood and the development of the village was never explained, and by the end I just didn't care.

The ending sets up, of course, for a sequel, but I think I'll pass.

Half-Way Reminder

2009-08-13T15:31:00.002-05:00

We're halfway through the time for the LFPL Malabrigo Giveaway! A reminder that if you've donated to LFPL, please send me an email to be entered either for Malabrigo Yarn or me making you something out of Malabrigo. I will also suggest that you probably have someone in your family who would REALLY enjoy getting something handmade and woolly as a holiday gift. Details here.

Steve Lawson posted on Thursday that he's nearly to the $3000 of his $5000 goal! Hooray! They've updated their losses to nearly five million dollars and while insurance will hopefully be taking care of a lot of that, we all know that insurance will probably take a while and may not cover everything.

And in the interim over the weekend, I expect to be surrounded by 2 first cousins, 2 cousin-in-laws, and 5 1st cousins once removed having a water balloon fight. Pictures to follow, water balloon fight and weather permitting.

Why Did Going to Conference Matter?

2009-08-12T08:30:00.001-05:00

I inflicted upon you long details of my racketing around Chicago, meeting people, shaking hands, eating, causing trouble.

So what? Why does it matter?

Unlike my first trip to ALA, a self-funded trip where I worked in publishing and knew only a former grad school cohort, this time I went in knowing people. And while last year's day trip to PLA was pretty cool, this time I could breathe and take in the entire conference.

I communicate with librarians across the globe in a sometimes ridiculous number of ways: Listservs (9 that I can think of), Friendfeed, Plurk, Blogs, Linked In, ALA Connect, Meebo, Facebook, Email, and Phone. Eighteen (at least) different ways. And each has its place, its time and its uses.

But there is something to be said for putting a bunch of people in the same room to actually talk about things. So much happens online that a lot goes to the periphery. We're aware of it but perhaps not as focused as we'd like to be. Then, in a fifteen minute presentation, it's brought to the foreground, allowing us to ask questions, find out the details, share troubles and actually start to make plans.

It lets us be inspired. I sat in the back of a room crammed full of school media specialists, children's and teen librarians, and other people who have enjoyed the works of Anderson, Sitomer, and Woodson, and we were captivated. They believed in us. Anderson pointed out how much mail she receives from kids, many of whom were introduced to her work by librarians. She gave us relevance. Well known award winning authors spoke in praise of us and the work we do. It was humbling.

It shows us what is passe. Though I wish we were living a closer to Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson) kind of world, Second Life ain't it for me.

It helps us make contacts. I had a rollicking conversation during lunch at Unconference with a librarian in South Carolina--about funding, politicians, developing our careers. I was aware of most of the people who were coming to dinner on Saturday, but I met people I didn't know or saw only here and there on other people's comments. I would return to introduce Sibling-the-Elder via email to the Business Librarian at Champaign Public so they could discuss business resources.

I walked the exhibits, partially to grab snacks, but to affirm to myself that what they were pushing the hardest--I was aware of. I skipped a few booths--one can only look at some many ILS's before is blue in the face and I'm not on the committee selecting the new one anyway--but I got to talk to some vendors face to face, on my terms. I got to see what books are coming and know that, yes, I think I'm ordering the stuff that's going to be big. Circulation rates for my chapter books collection is up, which I'm gloating about all over the place, but it's good to know what's coming. (I kept hitting booths going "I have that, that, that, that's on order, that, that, that...)

It reminds us that we are scholars and researchers and teachers of each other and ourselves, not just the people ordering the latest in horse-themed books and Disney releases. We participate in committees to recognize what others are doing, shine light on what is working, and hopefully, come away with ideas.

It gives us a chance to step back from everyday and look at what's around us. When immersed in what we're doing every day, it's often hard to pause, think about being a librarian as a profession (tho not necessarily a calling) on a grander scale. What do these new tools mean, is there something a public library can grab from an academic and vice versa. There certainly is segregation, snobbery, condescension, and creative assumptions--and that can be worse in person than when we're hanging out on our lists and social networks at home, surrounded by our own kind. But this time around, people seemed slightly less inclined to write me off instantly for being a children's librarian at a public library. I found people who could see the value in what I do and how I fit into the profession.

And I got to share my Moo cards around, grab some books to review, and spend a weekend in Chicago.

Book Review: Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede

2009-08-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

Thirteenth Child
Patricia Wrede

Lan is the 7th son of a 7th son. Of course, he's also the 14th child in the family. And his twin, Eff, is the unlucky 13th child. In an alternative history of the United States, where steam dragons exist, magic is used for everyday chores, and Lewis and Clark never made it back, Eff is growing up with the knowledge that she is cursed and expected to become evil.

Wrede provides an interesting premise, an alternate United States where magic, but she's done this before, with the letter series she did with Carol Stevenson. And the setting, though with much potential, was lacking. I wanted to know more about the amazing creatures that were supposedly beyond the barriers and the lack of information about a steamdragon, why it was called that, what it actually looked like, etc was annoying. It felt jumbled mixing mythical creatures plus those extinct in our present day.

Eff's family relocates from their hometown to a Western post so her father can become a teacher of a magic university. All of the children learn magic at school, though mostly only a Avrupan (European) style of spell casting. An unorthodox day school teacher also introduces Eff and a few other kids to Asian and Aphrikan (African) styles. Her older sister runs off to marry into a group who believe magic is a crutch, but is shown to still be using basic spells, so there's not much of a sense of life in that community without magic.

Though I felt like I captured Wrede's intention, overall I was disappointed. Things split off in too many directions: animals, characters, and nothing felt fully developed. Years of time passed quickly and, while more realistic than total self realization in a week at the beach, the whole thing felt awkward.

It was, at best, okay.

Not a Book Review

2009-08-10T16:04:00.002-05:00

I picked up Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200 by Lisa Lillien. I thought it would have some fun quick recipes.

I paged through it and started to be a little alarmed. So I went back to the beginning. And there were the "staple ingredients"--the majority of which I don't consider to be actual food products. Noodle Substitute and Margarine Spray are not ever going to be staples in my diet.

I'm not hugely in love with food, but I do like to eat actual food. This one is going onwards to the next person on the holds list.

Louisville Free Public Library and a Giveaway

2009-08-05T14:05:00.003-05:00

Louisville Free Public saw an excessive amount of rain yesterday---over six inches in three hours, and the Main Library was hit with flash flooding of water and sewage that knocked out their computer systems, their book mobiles, the processing area holding all the incoming books, and at least 40 new computers that were slated to go to community branches. We followed along yesterday as Greg Schwartz posted tweets and pics. Early estimated damage is at least a million dollars and that's a low estimate.

They're in today, pumping out water and seeing the damage, and there's a lot of work to do.

But at least we can help.

A disaster recovery fund has been established; donations (by check) can be mailed to:
The Library Foundation
Attn: Flood Recovery
301 York Street
Louisville, KY 40203

Steve Lawson, one of my Library Society of the World Fellows, has set up an online way to donate. He's set up a Paypal account and is collecting money that will be donated to the library under the LSW heading. Please check out his post and (eta), yes, I trust him that the money will get to LFPL.

The Giveaway Part:

To thank you for your generosity to LFPL:

If you're a knitter, you've probably heard of Malabrigo. It's amazingly soft wool yarn out of Uruguay, some of the most luscious stuff to knit and wear.

I'm offering three skeins of Black Forest Malabrigo, which is a rich dark grey/brown with slight green undertones. These have been kept in my apt which is non-smoking and pet free. I'll pack these up and send them off to you for your knitting or other crafting pleasure.

But, Abigail, you say, I don't knit. Yes, I know there are a few of you who don't and while I'd be happy to teach you, I can understand how it's not everyone's craft. So I'll make this offer instead--I'll knit that yarn into a hat and scarf set for you. Or mittens and cowl (cowl can also mean really short scarf that buttons around your neck and doesn't mess up your hair). Or some other reasonable three skeins of Malabrigo project. The Blonde can attest to Malabrigo fingerless mitts being warm and yummy.

How to enter:

1) Donate money to the cause, either via mail or through Steve's link.

2) Email me at my gmail address (see blog homepage) to let me know how much you donated. For every five dollars you donate, I'll put your name onto the spreadsheet once. So $20 is 4 chances etc. etc. Though I'll alert Steve that I'm posting this, he is not responsible for telling me if you donated. YOU MUST EMAIL ME to be entered. **ETA: If you would like to be in the raffle but don't feel like sharing how much you donated, you can just send me an "I donated" email. I'll put you on the raffle once for that**

3) Tell other people, pass this on.

4) On Sept 2, I will use a random number generator to select a recipient and will contact them about preference for yarn or knitted thing.

A Gentle Reminder

Please don't send Louisville Free Public books. They have a lot of cleaning and discarding to do and need to figure out what has been lost. They do have an Amazon wish list, which I imagine will grow as they determine what it is that has been destroyed. WHEN they are ready, please order from there. Greg Schwartz will keep us all up to speed.

I Miss Barbie.....

2009-08-04T10:44:00.000-05:00

There are days when the ultra-pink, super frilly, princess fairy-ness of it all gets to be too much. Today might be one of them, but we'll set aside the flower pet tiara princess fairy with winged horses portion to focus on a standard.

Barbie.

I grew up with Barbie dolls, and had hours of dress up and make believe with them with Sibling-the-Elder. I still have a number of my Barbie dolls, though they don't get quite the playing time they did twenty years ago. My favorite was Betty, probably named after Rosemary Clooney's character in White Christmas because they both had shoulder length blond hair. A discriminating four year old, that was me.

Betty was an astronaut. She had a purple lame spacesuit and tall white heeled boots. She was going to go to the moon.

Though many times Barbie and her friends were off to parties, or riding around on the horse, or being dressed, redressed, and hair done a million ways, she had all kinds of jobs. She could do anything, be anyone. I loved it. You could be beautiful, talented, and you could wear high heels on the moon.

I think we've lost some of that.

Patron Age Almost 4 came in and grabbed some Barbie books this morning, in addition to her usual pile of whichever picture books appeal to her today. She loves Barbie, much the way I did at her age. But she has Barbie in Fairytopia and Barbie and the Diamond Castle. These movies and movie-tie-in books and games, it's all either about Barbie as Fairy or Barbie as Princess. Where's Barbie as Astronaut or Barbie as Secretary of State?? Barbie could still travel, still meet interesting people, still save the world in under 30 minutes, and you could throw in some sparkly Martains with wings for good measure.

I don't have an issue with pink, most of the time. I don't take issue to princess and fairies, usually.

But I wish they'd do something with those movies that didn't only relegate Barbie to an incredibly pink princess or fairy. Barbie's had so many jobs over the years, why are we restricting her to only those imaginary ones? There aren't that many unmarried princes running about Europe (Harry and William aside) and while I'd love to believe in a Dish Fairy, the closest I get to come is the dishwasher.

I'm going to go find Betty.... Might as well shoot for the moon, right?

Of Yarn and Photography

2009-08-03T11:00:00.001-05:00

I took a furlough day the other day (ours are voluntary, this year at least, and only one day makes the damage to the paycheck manageable) and Sibling-the-Elder and I went to a yarn festival.

I was less than thrilled by the festival. I'd signed up for email notifications, arranged a hotel, all sorts of things. Upon arriving at the location of the festival I was told, in stringent tones, there was a $10 entry fee and they only accepted cash at the gate. (Please note--the entry fee was never mentioned in the emails, I went back and looked.) Okay, fine, point me to an ATM. There was one inside but they weren't going to let me go in because people were cheats and liars and didn't come back to pay the entry fee. Yes, that's really what I was told. Nothing like being accused of being a cheat upon arrival. Finally, it was determined that another worker could walk me to/from the ATM. Considering that all I was getting for my really high entry fee was a walk through the vendors, I was disgruntled.

Once we achieved the vendors, who were sprawled out across a huge building in a seeming haphazard manner, I looked, but didn't buy. Can you believe I was actually not in a mood to buy yarn? I was nearly shaken out of it when we reached a vendor selling Blue Moon Fiber Arts Yarns. BMFA is on the west coast and I've never been in a shop that carried it. (The Master Sergeant and I have discussed a west coast trip for fishing and BMFA reasons.) Tina, the BMFA color-mistress, came up with a cool process of infusing black and white with hints of color and I wanted some of those yarns. Only, the vendor was complaining that they'd had inadequate time to set up and refused to let me in the booth to those yarns. Four hours to set up the day before, and it was nearly noon when I got to the booth. Disgruntled was deteriorating into peevish.

Ultimately I bought one skein of yarn, some beautiful green wool from New Zealand. And truly, most of the vendors were lovely, but I felt really turned off overall.

When we adjourned to the outside, there was good Polish food!! Despite my braces having been freshly tightened, Sibling-the-Elder and I packed away blini, potato pancakes, sausage and applesauce and loads of sour cream.

And then we adjourned to out front of the community college--to take pictures.

Sibling-the-Elder is quite a photographer and it had been nearly ten years since she'd last done a full shoot of me. Usually being in different states, if not continents, tends to do that. Here are a few of the pictures, we took over 400 and edited heavily. The yarn is the one skein I acquired that day.

Writing 15 Minutes A Day

2009-08-02T13:32:00.002-05:00

I'm taking Laurie Halse Anderson's challenge to write 15 minutes a day during the month of August. Call it ramping up for NaNoWriMo. I missed yesterdays kick off--having gone from work and creating website content here all day to home and seeing whether or not I could make up for another week of insomnia filled nights by falling into bed at a rather early hour. I suppose I do have to sleep occasionally.

But here I go, back to my pen and paper. Though I compose often and at length on screen, I really do enjoy longhand.

New Addiction: Hamster Launch

2009-07-31T14:55:00.000-05:00

I have piles of things on my to do list. I have the new Donna Andrews to read. I have Season 3 of Bones to watch. I have a paper to get a rough draft finished and to my coauthor. I'm working all weekend.

And I so just want to spend the rest of the day and weekend playing

Hamster Launch 2

This addictive game brought to my attention courtesy of AudioGirl's boyfriend, who keeps appearing here often enough, he might have to get his own blog name.

But Wait? There was Monday!!

2009-07-31T10:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I didn't leave the ALA Conference Sunday afternoon and come flying back the La Crosse, I did see some of my friends from Chicago.

Sunday night, I hung out with the Brunette's brother. He and I have an amazing ability to miss each other's phone calls. It's kind of uncanny. He'd leave a message, I wouldn't get it until three hours later and too late to meet up. I'd let him know of plans, he'd call back the next day or sometime in the following week. Repeat for the entire 14 months I lived in Chicago.

But here, we managed to coordinate not only phone calls, but locations! Who knew? We wandered over to West Fest and then to Old Town, trading stories at ridiculous speeds. Yes, I even took a picture to prove the occasion actually happened. Well, I didn't take it, but I handed off the camera for appropriate snapping of pictures.

Monday, AudioGirl and I set off for breakfast and then her local branch. To our mutual surprise and dismay, her library won't allow you to place holds on materials if you have a fine on your card. Nor will they allow online payments so that if you want to place a hold and have a fine, you could discharge it from home. No, you have to go to the branch to pay. Her suggestion: "Make me pay when I pick up the book, hold THAT book hostage, at least you know I want it and will come for it!"*

Despite being a large and relatively new building, walking into AudioGirl's branch felt like running a gauntlet. Yes, I know putting a desk where you walk in directs people to staff but it felt unwelcoming--this HUGE expanse of desk and nowhere to go but down a corridor past it into the computer area and be judged if we were worthy of using the materials. I suppose it was relatively similar at my old branch but at least there one could see books and seating area. Here it was all computer desks and it felt cramped.

I failed in the "are you worthy to enter" category. I had a covered cup of iced tea with me. I hadn't slurped it at high speed because we weren't actually using the library, we were never going past the gauntlet. But I got asked to leave with it anyway while AudioGirl paid a 60 cent fine and forgot to place the hold. We finally did put it on hold back at her house.

The drink thing both amused and saddened me. I understand it, truly I do. It's an urban library, and there can certainly be a lot of food and drink issues. Our policy at my current POW is no "meals" and we do try to keep food to the "toddler snack" variety, which seems to go over with our patrons. What this means for me is that I don't have to be the drink police and saying no. And to be honest, the last two big spills I'm aware of--both were staff members, both were in staff work areas, and one of them was me. I was just glad it was on a part of the floor that was linoleum, I was drinking a latte.

Following the library, AudioGirl and adjourned to a used bookstore for new-to-us knitting books and then to a large city park to bask in sunshine and soak up a lovely summer day with a friend. It was amusing to see from the bookstore markings how short a time good knitting books last. Both of the books we purchased had come into the store less than two weeks before and while they had shelves upon shelves of cookbooks, there was only one wee half shelf of knitting books. I finally replaced my copy of Stitch and Bitch, my other copy having gone to live with the Brunette.

Tuesday morning was breakfast and then back to La Crosse. The day was overcast, which actually helped. Driving back during the day puts me directly in the sun's path and I didn't really need my left arm to get completely burnt. I've done that once already, it's not fun. I pulled into La Crosse just after 4 p.m. and was on desk by five.

*Note: Have since spoken to Madame Director about online payments and how it might be possible without the money disappearing into city coffers. We're getting credit/debit payments, which is a significant start.

ALA: Sunday

2009-07-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

Bedecked with french-braided pigtails (what I do with my hair when it's wet), it was off to the LITA Program Planning Committee Meeting. I felt undressed, being one of a few in the room without my laptop, but as I was headed to the exhibits, I hadn't been able to justify the weight of bringing it along. I did have to turn off notifications on my phone temporarily--Griffey was tweeting from the other end of the table and it kept setting my phone off. Oops.

We had a good, productive, short meeting about timelines, deadlines, and ideas for programs. The initial program suggestion form had already gone out, now we had to discuss timelines to get things done. Though I knew deadlines were awfully early, my head was spinning to realize they really thought we'd have all programs submitted by the end of this year's conference. I'm still planning things for fall programming at my library, let alone programs for an annual conference NEXT year.

Back to the conference center, because the Incredibly-Patient-Mother was coming up for an exhibit day! Yippee!!

This was an afternoon planned to simply stroll amongst the vendors, partake of food type offerings, grab a couple Advanced Readers Copies of fall books, identify things that I wanted to order, and make trouble.

Yes, I’m a problematic little hedgehog. I had very strong words for Overdrive, most of them not very polite. I still need to sit down and write a full out letter to the president of Overdrive, because the “oh, we’ve never heard anything like that before” and lame excuses for your "front line promotional team" told with wide eyes just doesn’t cut it. Other librarians have told me of similar problems, don't lie to me.

The audiobook vendors were gently put off again, no, I don’t use standing orders, yes, feel free to email me things. I don’t do face to face meetings with vendors outside of conferences and I don’t like phone calls either. Send me an email, if I have questions, I’ll get back to you.

I talked with the lady who acquired Tum-Tum and Nutmeg by Emily Bearn for the American market and celebrated with her how wonderful it was. I told her my primary market for it was 10 year old home-schoolers. She hadn't considered the home-schooling kids. :)

I got a few Advanced Reader Copies. I had no hopes of weaseling my way into another copy of Catching Fire, but I did get a copy of Kristin Cashore's newest "Fire". If you haven't read my Graceling review, see link. I haven't gotten to it yet, but it's high on the "read now" pile.

I was pretty impressed with most of the vendors. They engaged me in conversation, not immediately my mother. I wondered, as I can pass for well under my normal age in pigtails, if I'd be written off as one of the teens running around the conference. I grabbed some catalogs, ate a few cookies, got some insight on new foreign language stuff coming from Recorded Books (actually kinda interested in that), and met Carman Agra Deedy. I know her from her beautiful cockroach story and The Library Dragon, done so well and with such beautiful illustrations. She had a new book with her, 14 Cows for America. It's a post-9/11 story and between the beautiful words and the artwork, I was a mess by the time I finished reading it. Deedy graciously gave the teary-eyed me a copy and signed it for me--along with some posters that I'm going inflict upon my office mates because they are cool!!!

The Incredibly-Patient-Mother and I lasted until the vendors closed at five and then she drove me home, taking pity on her daughter who would have otherwise had to carry four bags of stuff back on Blue Line Shuttle Buses (Blue Line was still down).

The exhibits were the last task for me. I spun from there out into the summer sun of Chicago, ready for a street fair, fun and adventure.

And with my brain overflowing....

LSW Meet Up (ALA Saturday Part 2)

2009-07-29T10:15:00.001-05:00

Saturday night was the time I was most excited for when I was making plans for ALA, for it was then I would get to have dinner with 25 of my nearest and dearest Library Society of the World cohorts. Steve was bringing copies of the zine, to which I had contributed, and by dint of being willing to nag, re-shove it up the LSW list on FF, and make a reservation for 30 (they wanted a credit card number), I'd kind of ended up in charge.

I arrived at Giordano's just after six p.m. and met up with Stevi, who is a branch manager at CPL. She had the new Julia Quinn, I the new Eloisa James. There was much to discuss. People started trickling in, with me doing my meercat impression peering around for people and all of us asking random passersby "Are you here for the LSW Meet up?" We adjourned to the table to find more people already waiting on us!

Giordano's did a tremendous job, our waitress was awesome and here was a chance to relax, kick back, and talk smack about libraries. Yah....uberdork. Sorry.

We had one colossal beverage spill, I'm still not quite sure how it happened. A bumped elbow into a jarred knee against a table, I think... The poor girl it landed on apparently had already spilled coffee on her other pair of pants. But we survived. And we had quite a good time.

Anyway.

Afterwards, and it was a long fun and raucous meal, with people dropping by and tweeting in greetings, we adjourned to the Billy Goat Tavern for the Facebook Librarian's Meet up...or LSW Meet up continued.

Finally, I headed back up to ground level and hopped in a cab. Back to the west side and planning another early morning for Day 3.

ALA: Saturday Part 1

2009-07-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

I had every intention of making it to an eight a.m. session on Saturday. But when the alarm went off at 5:45, Dinah came in to snuggle, and who am I to turn down a small furry cat? So I made it down to the conference center around 9 a.m. I had surprisingly good bus karma, vaguely remembering where the Milwaukee bus went and where I needed to get off now that the Blue Line was down . After only being verbally assaulted by one loud guy who felt the need to share his opinion of the new Supreme Court Justice nominee and how I was evil because I'd stopped for coffee, I hopped on the conference bus and headed downtown.

Sibling-the-Elder was up for the day in the exhibits and I tracked her down for a hug and hello. To my surprise, I saw Rachel Singer Gordon passing by and took the chance to introduce myself to the woman who has been trouncing me soundly at Scramble. Not bad for catching people on the fly!!

Then it was off to the AASL President's session. The room was already full when I got there, so I was in the next to last row with my coffee and donut. (There was a LOT of coffee and baked goods that weekend.) The presentation, once the official stuff was waded through, was "Literacy Leadership and Librarian Flair, engaging 21st -Century Readers with Three Award Winning Young Adult and Children's Authors." And I have to admit, I went because I wanted to see Laurie Halse Anderson in person. See the woman sitting in the middle with the red scarf?? That's her. That's as far as my camera would zoom in, sorry.

Anderson, Alan Sitomer, and Jacqueline Woodson spoke about inspiring students to read, as Sitomer said, in spite of school. In spite of the piles of textbooks we weigh them down with, in spite of the required reading, in spite of the multitude of other stimuli around them, kids continue to read, they continue to be engaged with books, they enjoy and want to read. Anderson was dynamic, capturing a huge audience, and Sitomer was no less so. My brain disengaged slightly with Woodson.

I might also have been distracted by the fact that our Branch Princess scored an advanced reader copy of Catching Fire, the Hunger Games sequel! I immediately tweeted it out so coworkers could put their names on the "I want to read it!!" We have six consortium wide copies on order so far (four here) and 32 holds. It's going to be big.

Then it was a cruise around the exhibits and lunch with Sibling-the-Elder. She likes to powerwalk the exhibits and, as it wasn't really my exhibit day, I was fine with that. The food left a lot to be desired, though there was a lot of it. The "slice" of pizza I got could have fed three people. We had a nice chat about which vendors we liked working with, who we were definitely trying to avoid, and her thoughts on the Evergreen migration that she and most of Indiana have undergone. She's a big fan.

I popped into a 2.0 session briefly, but I left after the focus appeared to be Second Life, which I haven't opened in months. I hear brief mentions of it being used here and there, but I don't think Second Life has taken off the way it was originally intended. I always got frustrated with a lack of anyone to talk to--no matter what time I was on Info Island.

Back to the exhibits then and the very nice people at HarperCollins gave me a copy of Eloisa James' newer than newest book! (The new book just came out in July, the one I got won't be on shelves til September) And she was there to SIGN it!! There might have been some hopping up and down. As I waited through perhaps three or four people I turned to watch the line for the person signing across the aisle.

I did not wait in Neil's line. As much as I would have enjoyed to, the line was a couple of hours long and I had a romance novel program to get to. My final program for the day was "Love is in the Air: Romance Writers Discuss Their Work."

We needed a bigger room. People were sitting on the floor. Debbie Macomber, Eloisa James, Laura Caldwell, and Cathie Linz talked about romance as a genre, their approaches, and what is coming next for them. It was refreshing to sit in a room and know we all read romances, we all enjoyed them, and there was method to the madness. The women were well spoken, well written, well received by their audience. Though of the four, James is really the only one I read with regularity, I could easily see myself picking up the work of the other four and enjoying it.

And then, with only one frantic call to EJ as I tried to figure out where exactly Franklin Street was in relation to the Palmer House Hilton, it was off to the LSW Meet up. But that's another post.

Hedgehogs in the Garden

2009-07-27T18:16:00.003-05:00

We interrupt this ALA review broadcast to bring you a hedgepig. Courtesy of Sibling-the-Elder

ALA 2009: Thursday and Friday

2009-07-27T12:15:00.002-05:00

Finally, it's time for an ALA Recap. This might take a couple of posts, so I don't completely overwhelm you--but won't you come along for the review and ride?

Thursday, after a rousing day at work and an emergency appt at the orthodontist to stop one of the wires from slicing up my mouth, I headed out of LPL at 1 p.m. It was home to finish packing, take a meeting with New York, and clean several pounds of strawberries that were languishing in the refrigerator. I didn’t do the greatest cleaning job, nor freezing. The 4-H judges would have been stunned to see my flinging of the strawberries into Tupperware without flat freezing first. Sorry. I decided it was more important to get the berries frozen rather than meet Alton Brown's standards of acceptably frozen fruit. They'll still go well with champagne, pancakes, and smoothies.

I drove down, and it was a perfect day for the drive. I'd not been on a long drive on my own for some time and the sky, road and temperature were perfect. It was incredibly cathartic to relax back in my seat, turn up loud summer anthems, and try to keep the speedometer in an acceptable range. I pulled in to AudioGirl's a little later than planned and spent far more time than usual finding parking. We agreed that I had bad parking karma. AudioGirl, her boyfriend, and I went for tapas and sangria and to discuss what young adults (not teens, people in their 20s) would use a library for and what types of programs would bring them into public libraries.

Friday morning brought an early start, I had to get across town and down to the Chicago Hilton (not the Palmer) for Unconference by 9 a.m. Armed with Starbucks, I hopped on the Blue Line. Have I mentioned how much I desperately miss regular public transportation? Once downtown I walked to Michigan, but the humidity was to a level that I found unacceptable--so it was onto the bus. And I spotted my first conference go-er (well, maybe not my first but my first painfully obvious one). If the purple hair hadn't given it away, the yellow lanyard with name badge did.

When I finally figured out how to get downstairs at the Hilton, I walked into a busy room--of friends. There were about 80 of us in the room, and I knew a surprisingly large number of them. It was an unusual and amazing experience, one that I'd repeat over the weekend, of "meeting" people I already knew. Introductions weren't really necessary and we went immediately from "Yes, of course I know who you are" to continuing conversations from days, weeks, and months before. The "longest-known-never-met" award went to Brian Gray, who I've known for the better part of five years.

And then, armed with coffee and muffin, we settled in for Unconference. Organized by Michelle Boule and Meredith Farkas, we charged into two sets of 15 minute presentations, interspersed with discussion sessions. It wasn't quite what some would consider a "true" Unconference, in that we had chosen the presentations and discussion sessions in advance, but as most of us were traveling quite a distance, this preperatory planning was understandable and the ladies, despite both having newborns, did a magnificent job.

I won't go into a detailed schedule of the presentations, you can find that here, including a number of the slide decks used. Matt Hamilton, I think, won the most awesome slide deck award of the day.

Things that really stood out for me:

* Jason Griffey pointed out that 2.3 sms messages were sent last year. And not all of them were teenagers saying "OMGWTFBBQ!" Cell phones, cell service, and texting is here and infiltrating our world. Some countries have more cell phones than people. If our local coffee shops can send us texts with offers for the week (though we wish they'd just send out the soup or donut list), why not libraries?

* Rachel Vacek talked about using mobile applications as a way to reach out to your users. Many of them are already using some kind of mobile app, how can you meet them? She mentioned asking your users to create an app for you--I wonder if we could get one of the local uni computer science profs interested in that as a practical application project? Hmmmmm.

The presentations moved quickly--only fifteen minutes was allowed, including a question period. It was the goal to get us thinking and we did. Questions flew fast and furious and there were obvious times we could have stopped and talked for hours--but our time keepers kept us going, which helped us keep things going without getting bogged down or into arguments.

We had discussion periods. I talked with several librarians about how we're using social networks to reach our patrons and no one really had best practices. We discussed making sure it's a Library presence rather than a specific librarian's presence, how to pull users back to your site, concerns about patron privacy if they ask a reference question on a social networking site that's going to retain that information, and how often to update the Twitter feed. I did feel that the word "widget" was overused in some cases, but that could be a personal hang up.

I had my discussion topic picked!! Granted, I mostly talked to people in passing about the subject, but there is definitely interest in how to get people back into libraries after they graduate from high school or college and how to continue to be relevant to our TAX BASE. More on that in another blog post.

By the end of the day my brain was full and I was wiped. Brimming with ideas and new/old friends and conversation, a small cluster of us swept out to walk to the Palmer for the LITA Happy Hour. And in some kind of odd musical theater way, we kept adding to the cluster. I think we left the Hilton with four people and arrived at the other Hilton with about ten. Here I got to "meet" Tombrarian, Iris, Dorothea, Walt, the girl who works with my former cohort Patrick at Yale (sorry, I can't find your Moo card!!). Another round of "yes, I already know you!!"

Then it was back to AudioGirl's, where we succumbed to humidity, long days and the ready availability of good snacks already at her house.

(Photo of Aaron, Iris and Tom at LITA Happy Hour)

Blogiversary: Year 3

2009-07-23T12:20:00.000-05:00

Happy Blog Day to Me...Happy Blog Day to Me

I'm actually still in the same geographic state I was last year. For a while it did seem I'd have moved every anniversary of the blog. Of course, the people with whom I exchange Christmas cards know to expect mine early and send mine late, just in case. When you change addresses at least once a year for over a decade....

State of the Blog:

Everything is in "Draft"

There are definitely things I want to say and think should be said. I just have to write it into something more coherent than my brain after three shots of espresso.

So I'm still here, pouring out my mind. Thanks for coming along on the ride.

Clinical Reader: A Example of Social Media Fail

2009-07-21T15:56:00.002-05:00

I'm passing this on not so much because it has an effect on my immediate library but it shows how people are using new social media tools and how companies can badly screw up.

The short version: A new "medical" website Clinical Reader claimed to have endorsement from NLM and had some nice graphics. Problem 1) National Library of Medicine doesn't endorse commercial ventures and Problem 2) Misused copyrighted images. A medical blogger called them out on it--politely, but firmly. Clinical Reader, via Twitter, threatened Nikki with legal action. And that's just where the drama started.

It's interesting to review, even if only to be aware of the drama-llama grandstanding, they really didn't do that, did they? Nothing new to the libs who've been following but for others who might now have caught the drama:

The blog post that started it all:
http://eagledawg.blogspot.com/2009/07/clinical-reader-starry-ethics-fail.html

Two really good summaries of the insanity (the latter one is LONG but worth wading through):
http://pegasuslibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/07/clinical-reader-train-wreck-just-keeps.html
http://dltj.org/article/clinical-reader-background/

Nikki's open letter to Clinical Reader:
http://eagledawg.blogspot.com/2009/07/open-letter-to-clinical-reader.html

In Defense of What I Read

2009-07-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

I read romance novels.

This potentially embarrassing statement, which comes as little shock to anyone who has known me for more than six months, ever seen my bookshelves, or watched me check stuff out at work, puts me in a category that is about as stereotyped as my current profession.

Let's see if I remember it right. I read romances therefore I

a) have unrealistic expectations about relationships
b) am waiting for my rich sheik to show up
c) am sexually repressed
d) have some odd fascination with sex scenes that are full of euphemisms
e) can't find anyone willing to date poor pathetic little me
f) hate men
g) don't ever read anything else (yes, AudioGirl's boyfriend once said this to me when I was carrying around a copy of Everything is Miscellaneous)
h) spend my days dreaming about getting married and taken away from it all

To add insult to injury of the wounds of those "forced" to notice that yes, I have a 350 page paperback with a woman in a pretty dress or a half-dressed man on the front, I read historical/regency romances and paranormal, so obviously

i) I have huge issues with dealing with the real world
j) I'm waiting for a vampire to come and take me away from it all. Or werewolf, we won't be too picky.

*clearing of throat*

Now, I won't pretend that romance is not a lovely, brief escape from the every day. If it weren't, I'm not sure I'd read it as much as I do and/or have in the past. But, as AudioGirl and I have discussed, it's my television. Other than Bones, which I'm only watching one season at a time (I'm almost up for a glut of Season 3), my television watching is pretty much restricted to the occasional Alton Brown, What Not to Wear, Iron Chef and Clean House. Assuming that under all the dust there is still a television. These tales, mostly about relationships, capture me, take me away, and let me imagine a world where dukes or nice vampires trip down the street at every turn. (Seriously, where DO they find all these titled men?)

Romance has been described as a red-headed stepchild, something to be embarrased about, I've even called it a guilty pleasure. But I would consider it certainly nothing to be more upset about than an obsession with a television show. Same premise, right? Situation that needs to be handled and tied up, preferably in a punish bad guys, reward good guys way within a set period of time. TV can handle crimes, romances, friendships, and everything else in approximately 22 or 40 minute chunks, why assume books can do anything less in 100-350 pages?

And it's interesting to see how romance--the most widely read genre in the world and the one area of publishing that seems to really be thriving and growing even in the current economy--is starting to get recognition. I was pleased to see an article featuring two authors I really enjoy: Eloisa James and Julia Quinn, both of whom are Ivy-League educated women as well as on the New York Times Best Sellers lists for their witty, funny and thoughtful novels.

I had the pleasure of hearing James speak at ALA. I think I'd really enjoy to have her as a professor (her "other life" as a tenured professor at Fordham). She has an interesting sense of humor and, as she described, she writes about couples who will end up in an ultimately healthy respectful relationship. Yes, there are problems, but, like sitcoms, they're solved by the end of the book.

So I'll keep on with my "sitcoms" which, nicely, don't come with commercials, and need not be dvr'd.