It's late, I haven't written in awhile and I am coming out of a week of sluggishness. I have worked hard to rid myself of the habit of procrastination...so I've been battling the beast--why when I live in a state that has 4 distinct seasons--a place I have lived in most of my life--do I find every year is as difficult an adjustment to the change of season/time as the one before. I love Fall but hate the change from summer energy into winter slug.
I have been reading lately--goes with slug behavior so it makes sense. I am listening to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on CD---what an awesome example of how YA literature is not always poorly written or formulaic (sp?). I always love hearing a good story. I felt the same way about listening to Laurie Halse Anderson's story Speak or Alice Sebold's Lucky. These stories are so helpful to me---I remember being intense and sensitive and reflective as a teenager. Why as a thirtysomething do I often think of them only as silly and shallow??? I am also reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter which is equally engaging.
As for work, the library is sweltering again. Now we have moved from AC or the lack of it to heat and the lack of need for it. Am I being prepped for a life in the tropics???? Anyway, we are entrenched in term paper season, so I find myself moving between Reconstruction and the Holocaust, Mary Shelley and Emily Dickinson. Actually, I just find myself moving. All the time. Nonstop. Did I mention I am exhausted? I love research...it is like an addiction for me...so it is difficult sometimes to be helping students who haven't caught on to it yet or will never be interested in it. Luckily, I have been blessed with patience and optimism.
Tomorrow...and the day after I will be battling Halloween candy wrappers that will escape me...despite that my keen ears can hear the crack of a soda can opening or a wrapper crackling, an occupational hazard (is hazard the right word? I certainly don't want to be that nasty librarian who is cold and unfeeling.) I am tired, so this doesn't make sense I am sure...I will still have fun on the worst day at this job so I don't want it to sound totally negative.
I guess I just wanted to write a post to make sure I have more than one in October, to make sure too much time doesn't get by me, to make sure I can hold on to something as time flies by.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
BibMe, FixYa! and other contemplations
There's an irony to knowing that the AC gets fixed two days before a cold front passes through...but at least it's fixed!! Last week I was stumped by a TV that was stuck in Progressive Scan Mode, and today I fixed it in 2 seconds...it was great!!! I went to Google and typed in the problem and the brand of the TV. About 15 hits came up, and I ended up at FixYa!, which diagnosed the problem in a minute..not the TV, the DVD player. The fix? Take out the DVD and hold the Stop button for 5 seconds. Easy or what? Bring on the next problem...I am ready!
The AV issue is always problematic, and my favorite teacher response is"didn't they teach you this stuff in school?" Last I checked, library school doesn't have specific classes in how to program a DVD without the remote...mostly because noone returns the remote with the TV! It's a sensitive issue because, like nearly every school in the nation, when the district cut back from 2 to 1 librarian, the AV one got cut and technically it is not in my job description, but it needs to be maintained and protected. In my opinion, we need a clear plan for how to maintain our equipment--especially the LCD projectors that we have in the building. I am researching a solution with our tech guy to lock them down to the carts so that they don't walk. As they get smaller in size, they fit nicely into a backpack and can easily walk away.
I have to mention how happy I am that I found BibMe.org because yesterday it saved my life before grad school and my presentation on Libraries Serving Remote Users. I absolutely love how you can type in some of the information and then the site searches for the URL and finds the rest to fill in. What a time saver!! I was so wired last night after class from all of the fun stuff I am learning. The most interesting topics to me were the Handhelds, the Disaster Planning, and Wireless, and the EField Trips. I have been searching for Virtual Fieldtrips to recommend to my colleagues, and some of what was presented was pretty cool. It got me thinking and I am considering trying to put together some of my own from vacations that I have taken. Or at least consider how I photograph the future vacations I am planning on taking. The whole wireless thing mentioned WiMax, which is Sprint and Nextels merge to create the next step in wireless technology. To learn more about it go to Mobile-Tech-Today from CIO to read some articles on it. As for my topic, I am considering moving to the Cleveland area so I can be a part of CLEVNET, which is a library network that has huge remote offerings for its patrons. Check out the site:
http://dlc.clevnet.org/1E157477-78CB-4E7A-93F7-68443B4027E3/10/219/en/Default.htm . This library consortium offers e-books, audiobooks, videostreaming, and music downloads for remote users. WOW!!
Well, that's all for now. I realize that noone reads this blog--but I am okay with it; it has really become okay that I am only writing for myself and sometimes I write about stuff, read it later and realize I had forgotten about ideas or projects. I do get weirded out sometimes that I talk to people like they're really out there reading though. Anyway, I am exhausted...I just realized a bit ago that my son used the metal can opener as a hammer---vague recollections of noise while I was cooking dinner--and now my hardwood stairs and stair railing are dinged up--hence, this didn't go over well with my husband tonight. Maybe I can find a fix at FixYa! I'll have to Google it. If not, as my daughter says to her kindergarten teacher, "Tomorrow is another day!" Yes, and in my case, it will be another day doing a job I totally love.
The AV issue is always problematic, and my favorite teacher response is"didn't they teach you this stuff in school?" Last I checked, library school doesn't have specific classes in how to program a DVD without the remote...mostly because noone returns the remote with the TV! It's a sensitive issue because, like nearly every school in the nation, when the district cut back from 2 to 1 librarian, the AV one got cut and technically it is not in my job description, but it needs to be maintained and protected. In my opinion, we need a clear plan for how to maintain our equipment--especially the LCD projectors that we have in the building. I am researching a solution with our tech guy to lock them down to the carts so that they don't walk. As they get smaller in size, they fit nicely into a backpack and can easily walk away.
I have to mention how happy I am that I found BibMe.org because yesterday it saved my life before grad school and my presentation on Libraries Serving Remote Users. I absolutely love how you can type in some of the information and then the site searches for the URL and finds the rest to fill in. What a time saver!! I was so wired last night after class from all of the fun stuff I am learning. The most interesting topics to me were the Handhelds, the Disaster Planning, and Wireless, and the EField Trips. I have been searching for Virtual Fieldtrips to recommend to my colleagues, and some of what was presented was pretty cool. It got me thinking and I am considering trying to put together some of my own from vacations that I have taken. Or at least consider how I photograph the future vacations I am planning on taking. The whole wireless thing mentioned WiMax, which is Sprint and Nextels merge to create the next step in wireless technology. To learn more about it go to Mobile-Tech-Today from CIO to read some articles on it. As for my topic, I am considering moving to the Cleveland area so I can be a part of CLEVNET, which is a library network that has huge remote offerings for its patrons. Check out the site:
http://dlc.clevnet.org/1E157477-78CB-4E7A-93F7-68443B4027E3/10/219/en/Default.htm . This library consortium offers e-books, audiobooks, videostreaming, and music downloads for remote users. WOW!!
Well, that's all for now. I realize that noone reads this blog--but I am okay with it; it has really become okay that I am only writing for myself and sometimes I write about stuff, read it later and realize I had forgotten about ideas or projects. I do get weirded out sometimes that I talk to people like they're really out there reading though. Anyway, I am exhausted...I just realized a bit ago that my son used the metal can opener as a hammer---vague recollections of noise while I was cooking dinner--and now my hardwood stairs and stair railing are dinged up--hence, this didn't go over well with my husband tonight. Maybe I can find a fix at FixYa! I'll have to Google it. If not, as my daughter says to her kindergarten teacher, "Tomorrow is another day!" Yes, and in my case, it will be another day doing a job I totally love.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Where'd I Put My Sense of Humor?
This week we have had HSPA make up testing in the library so I have been able to catch up on my professional reading and do some planning for library programs. We are still battling the heat---this is our 3rd or 4th week without AC and I am starting to feel the effects. I try to find the humor in it---Dante could use this place for research on the sequel to The Inferno (yes, I know he is dead), etc., but I am starting to lose my mind a bit. It would be different if the windows opened. I am getting a lot of comments about "back in the day when there was no AC...yes, I remember those days since I never in nine years taught in a classroom that had air conditioning and I taught one year in the tropics--give me some windows that open and I am quite capable of perserverance!
On a positive note, both the HSPA and the heat have gotten me out of the space and into other classrooms for some 9th grade history orientations. I mostly cover database use and some of the features of printing and citing from the databases. I also cover what sites are best--gov, edu, org and sites that still have human editing like directories and Librarian's Index to the Internet and Internet Public Library, which are two of my favorite sites.
I did find a citation builder this year that I like besides www.citationmachine.net . It's called BibMe! at www.bibme.org . If you choose Manual Entry Mode, I think it is clearer and more aesthetically pleasing to use than Citation Machine. Sorry, David Warlick :(
The magazines have all been organized and the routing schedule has been established. This year we have over 15 teachers involved in our magazine routing service, and over 12 different magazines being routed. In the spring I asked for suggestions and got some very good ones from the staff. I particularly like Discover, Inc, and Cuisine-at-Home. I was disappointed by FamilyFun, which I thought would be great for staff who have families since it is from Disney. It's not bad, but it is not as good as I thought it would be.
Teen Read Week is October 14-21 this year and the theme is LOL at your library. When I went searching through our catalog to find humor books, I realized we are seriously deficient in the most obvious of choices provided by ALA --which led me to think about the last time I laughed out loud. Suffice it to say that, except for the occassional giggle, I am a bit devoid of humor in my life. Time to watch some Jack Black--maybe School of Rock???? Yes, it is a favorite. Please send some suggestions as I can't even remember what is funny anymore!! Except for my own kids--though even they haven't been making me laugh hard enough to make my stomach hurt. I welcome any suggestions--for reads or flicks that might bring some much needed laughter to my life :) I actually did find other web sites that had great humor booklists for teens, making me realize that humor is kind of an individual thing. Here are some links to some I found: http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/teen/booklists/teenhumornew.htm and http://www.scld.org/teens_booklist.asp and http://teens.denverlibrary.org/find/genre/humor.html .
Right now, we have a student worker for one block a day who is helping me with a weeding project. We have so many old videos that haven't circulated in a long time--some are old high school events that I definitely want out of the catalog. Hopefully after this long project is done, I will be able to resubmit my collection to Follett and see if we are moving closer to a collection age within 10 years of 2007. I took on weeding the 300s but had to stop because of the heat and other things of greater urgency.
One thing we are talking about doing here is creating a place in Outlook to schedule our computer labs. If that works then we will look into scheduling equipment as well. I think it will be a great way to utilize existing programs to make our job easier and more efficient. Of course, it has to go through the technology dept...so we will see.
In an effort to hold true to my promise to myself, I also sent the library's web page url to www.school-libraries.net , the site founded by Peter Milbury. I included this blog separately in the personal interest pages. Still not exactly sure how much my job and my opinions can diverge. Hopefully it will help me check out some sites and put names to faces when I go to the conference (NJASL) in November.
On a positive note, both the HSPA and the heat have gotten me out of the space and into other classrooms for some 9th grade history orientations. I mostly cover database use and some of the features of printing and citing from the databases. I also cover what sites are best--gov, edu, org and sites that still have human editing like directories and Librarian's Index to the Internet and Internet Public Library, which are two of my favorite sites.
I did find a citation builder this year that I like besides www.citationmachine.net . It's called BibMe! at www.bibme.org . If you choose Manual Entry Mode, I think it is clearer and more aesthetically pleasing to use than Citation Machine. Sorry, David Warlick :(
The magazines have all been organized and the routing schedule has been established. This year we have over 15 teachers involved in our magazine routing service, and over 12 different magazines being routed. In the spring I asked for suggestions and got some very good ones from the staff. I particularly like Discover, Inc, and Cuisine-at-Home. I was disappointed by FamilyFun, which I thought would be great for staff who have families since it is from Disney. It's not bad, but it is not as good as I thought it would be.
Teen Read Week is October 14-21 this year and the theme is LOL at your library. When I went searching through our catalog to find humor books, I realized we are seriously deficient in the most obvious of choices provided by ALA --which led me to think about the last time I laughed out loud. Suffice it to say that, except for the occassional giggle, I am a bit devoid of humor in my life. Time to watch some Jack Black--maybe School of Rock???? Yes, it is a favorite. Please send some suggestions as I can't even remember what is funny anymore!! Except for my own kids--though even they haven't been making me laugh hard enough to make my stomach hurt. I welcome any suggestions--for reads or flicks that might bring some much needed laughter to my life :) I actually did find other web sites that had great humor booklists for teens, making me realize that humor is kind of an individual thing. Here are some links to some I found: http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/teen/booklists/teenhumornew.htm and http://www.scld.org/teens_booklist.asp and http://teens.denverlibrary.org/find/genre/humor.html .
Right now, we have a student worker for one block a day who is helping me with a weeding project. We have so many old videos that haven't circulated in a long time--some are old high school events that I definitely want out of the catalog. Hopefully after this long project is done, I will be able to resubmit my collection to Follett and see if we are moving closer to a collection age within 10 years of 2007. I took on weeding the 300s but had to stop because of the heat and other things of greater urgency.
One thing we are talking about doing here is creating a place in Outlook to schedule our computer labs. If that works then we will look into scheduling equipment as well. I think it will be a great way to utilize existing programs to make our job easier and more efficient. Of course, it has to go through the technology dept...so we will see.
In an effort to hold true to my promise to myself, I also sent the library's web page url to www.school-libraries.net , the site founded by Peter Milbury. I included this blog separately in the personal interest pages. Still not exactly sure how much my job and my opinions can diverge. Hopefully it will help me check out some sites and put names to faces when I go to the conference (NJASL) in November.
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