Mistress of the Revolution

Love reading historical fiction? Want to have a chance at your very own copy instead of a library one? Consider trying Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors. I'm not offering the giveaway, but Booking Mama is, so check out her site and enter by April 4th if you're interested. She has a neat site that I discovered while working on homeschool book discussion group stuff. I hope you enjoy it as well.

New Moms Group

Awesome! There's an open house at the Dupont Branch for a new local chapter of the Holistic Moms Network on Saturday, May 10 at 1:30 PM. It's touted as a community for moms interested in natural health and mindful parenting. For more information contact Danielle Morales at mdmorales@msn.com . Maybe I'll see you there!

Hooray!

I forgot to say this before, gentle readers. Ian got me a Flickr pro account for Valentine's Day! How's THAT for some 2.0 love?! Now I just have to get all the photos that I want to get onto Flickr amassed so I can dump them on there. Or, at the very least, stay awake long enough to mess with it once the girls go to bed... Wish me luck there...

Some thoughts on lying

I just read an article today in New York Magazine about lying. It's really about a recent study regarding why children lie, but upon reflection afterwards I find myself thinking about my own lies, and those of my parents, my family, and my friends. It's a thought-provoking article that might be interesting at the very least to those who work with youth.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We bought a handful of valentines to send; but true to form, didn't send 'em. Hopefully this will do...

Make a postcard - it's easy!

I want to try this!

Not even my novice sewing skills are keeping me from wanting to try this! While I'm not ready for a whole messenger bag like the folks at Makezine.com, I have wanted to make some reusable bags for produce; and this seems like a viable and funky alternative.

Want to give it a shot? Here's a PDF with instructions.

Media literacy and the library

Our family just attended the "Buy Me That" media literacy workshop at the Grabill Branch this afternoon. Based on the PBS Kids Don't Buy It website, the program helped participants to challenge and question advertising, evaluate media, and even create their own. At the end of the program each child became a food-stylist-in-training and smeared peanut butter onto a saltine as artfully as possible to get it ready for a photo shoot.

It got me thinking: we teach our children a number of things as absolutes. Fire burns, strangers may mean danger, seatbelts are not optional accessories, etc. Other absolutes vary household by household.

This gets fuzzier for me the further we stray from health and safety, however. I have to admit that I recognized a number of sales pitches from my own time behind a Children's Desk.

• "Oh! Do you like that? You'd really love this... Here, would you like the whole trilogy?"
• "You completed that? Way to go! Take this branded freebie!"
• "This gray tub checks out like any other library item and helps keep lots more library materials organized in your vehicle and in your home."
• "Have it, it's free!"
  

I'm really torn about this, because I want kids-- people-- to love their library. I want to be able to "use my powers for good," and get kids to the informational and recreational stuff they want, and maybe even material they might like but didn't know about previously. That's part of why I participate in mock elections for Newbery, Caldecott, Geisel or Seibert awards-- to keep abreast of new good stuff and help connect users to the material they might enjoy.

I read marketing books as a hobby. Part of the allure for me is to know the enemy, so to speak. I think it's vitally important to protect my young children from rampant marketing until they're old enough to begin to decipher the code. It's part of the reason sites like Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood and Shaping Youth exist.

The other reason, however, is to incorporate marketing strategy into my own profession. I think Why We Buy, Punk Marketing, Brand Hijack, and many others have library applications; yet for me, Consuming Kids was actual bone-knowledge that my kids do not need this stuff. It's grown-up fare being aimed at kids too young to even speak. Talk about cradle-to-grave marketing!

Yet don't we want cradle-to-grave library users? Is it as OK to teach (advocate?) cradle-to-grave library use as it is to teach "fire will hurt you"? I don't have a position here. Soapbox not included. But the more I think about media literacy-- and I think about it a lot-- the more I wonder.

More coffee talk

Nothing like a little excitement to pump up the Google Analytics-- or the social engagements, for that matter. Now I have plans to go out to dinner and also for coffee. This doesn't begin to touch the phone calls or emails I've had about interesting topics like blogging, library transparency, internet privacy, and accountability.

Would it be interesting to share these in a forum like a blog? Yup. Do I see that happening anytime soon, though? Not necessarily. What would it take to create a library climate wherein staff felt safe and respected while presenting their views on such important topics? Is this a Learning 2.0 issue, or is the technology itself the real focus?

I'm sure I don't have the answers. I do know that technologies will come and go; but a safe, welcoming atmosphere where home numbers and personal accounts are not necessary would be a laudable goal. Because clearly I'm not the only one with this much to say.

It's a yarn thing

I went to the open house today at Sarah Jane's Yarn Shoppe* at North Anthony Shopping Center and saw a number of familiar faces. It was very cool-- even if I hadn't won a stunning pair of size 13 Lantern Moon rosewood straight knitting needles. The real bummer of the deal is that I'm not yet a competent knitter; but that's OK. I still have plenty of winter evenings to remedy that situation.

I think it would be cozy and tons of fun to have a knitting circle for new and established knitters. We've had stuff like this for patrons for quite some time-- I started Handmade Mondays at the Main Library years ago and I think a number of branches still get good numbers for their more current programs-- but I'd welcome a chance to talk to staff from other branches more often than I do now.

I've seen discussion of this on other 2.0 blogs. Are we ready to get serious about a craft circle, people? If so, where? When?

*Logo used with permission and gratitude of Sarah Jane's Yarn Shoppe.

Library staff as patrons: a conundrum? Talk amongst yourselves...

Lots of staffers have discussed Tuesday's post with me lately.

"What's up with the downloadable audiobooks survey?"

"In their non-work time, aren't staff patrons?"

"I've looked at that staff wiki. What ARE we supposed to do?"

"I agree with you, but I don't dare say so on the blog. I can't believe YOU do!"

Well, dear readers, sometimes I can't believe I do either. I still believe that blogs are an important way for institutions to learn, grow, share, and connect-- and Library Journal's recent article about transparency strengthens my resolve to discuss what I think is important for our system even if it's not always fun. Transparency is more than just a buzzword-- it's a viable goal.

These staff contacts are variations on a theme: what does make patrons who happen to also work for the library different than patrons proper? How does working at the library imply any sort of edge or stain?

The library has worked hard to make certain that there's no huge advantage to being a library employee. We pay our overdues and fines, we wait in line for the newest Grisham, and we park in the staff lot during work time. Even purchase requests are only sought by staff when there's a personal need-- not a professional interest in a particular area of a collection. Abuses of any of the above are dealt with quickly and seriously.

Therefore it is unclear to me, since we hope that no one is working more than 40 hours of any given week for our library, why the rest of our lives would not be considered "patron lives". And as patrons, wouldn't each individual have preferences we'd wish to consider? Like a plain old patron?

Our director did a self-proclaimed "180" when at first he said staff may never park in the new patron parking lot-- in their off-duty time. Staff are clearly patrons at least some of the time. I would welcome some civil discourse. . .

Beware the downloadable audiobooks survey on our homepage!

Are you excited about the revival of downloadable audiobooks? Especially now that I'm getting a Library Genius MP3 player, I know I am. Since we purchased the iPod last year, Fiona has learned how to keep earbud volume at a safe level for her delicate ears-- partially through this educational yet addictive game-- so I look forward to seeing younger juvenile titles she can enjoy.

A note of caution, however. Don't be like me and erroneously fill out the survey on the library homepage. It looks like it wants your opinion. It smells like it wants your opinion. It never outright says it doesn't want your opinion; but if you're staff, trust me. It doesn't.

Now I'm sure somewhere down the line our opinion will be gathered, but I was so excited about downloadable audiobooks that I asked a couple questions at the Main Library yesterday. In so doing I learned I should not have filled out that survey; and neither, dear reader, should you if you are a library staffer. Our time will come. . . but not yet.

HALP! I need 2 x 6's!

This is obviously not a reference question, but here's my deal: I recently read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and at least until I roll up my sleeves and find that I've failed, I feel the visceral need to attempt to live more locally and organically. Thus the new blog. Thus The Big Backyard Gardening Experiment.

I am an EXTREMELY novice gardener. I am also a SAHM (read: exceedingly cheap). This year I want to make some 4' square raised beds for my backyard so I can try some gardening with the family, and I need 2 x 6's for the job, but not even whole ones. I only need 4' leftover scraps. I am trying an experiment based on Mel Bartholomew's book All New Square Foot Gardening, and he suggests that I go begging at local construction sites. Free is good; being shot down, not so good.

Does this even sound like something I'd be able to GET at a construction site, people? And if so, would anyone be allowed to hand it over to me? We've built a lot of libraries lately-- I don't know construction but maybe some dear reader does. Is this type of freebie scavenging is even legit? Inquiring minds want to know before they haul their kids out for a field trip of disappointment. . .

A public service announcement for library staffers

In 2005 a coworker and I were selected for a year-long fellowship sponsored by the Lilly Endowment called The Journey. It was a year of continuing education, networking, and renewal with other movers and shakers in youth work from around the state; and it was one of the best things I've done professionally. I learned a great deal there, and it was there I first met the amazing Marra.

Among the many things we learned at these retreats, Journey fellows learned that when we work hard to serve others, we also need to take time to renew ourselves. If we don't take time to do this, our work suffers, and so do we. So, dear readers, I invite you to enjoy all the comforts that winter can provide. In addition, however, I also wish to provide a moment for quiet contemplation and relaxation so that you can continue your day feeling more refreshed.

This moment of tranquility brought to you by Y-O-U!

Hi, my name is Jen and I love kindie rock.

Hi, Jen!

OK, have you tried kindie rock, or are you just smiling and nodding like I'm completely nuts? I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it looks like I beat them to the punch, but I did not make this term up. It's the new wave of kids indie rock-- the iPod playlist for the under-10 set.

Right about now is when I would usually be rubbing it in that I was hand-selling Dan Zanes-- the darling of the genre-- years before he won a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Children's Recording. But he sold out and has been on Playhouse Disney for quite awhile now. So much for his, "Hey kids, throw away your TV!" philosophy. So giving him a hot link is all he's going to get here. Well, OK, and his own paragraph. Grumble.

Others on my must-hear list* include The Asylum Street Spankers, Devo 2.0, Enzo Garcia, Gustafer Yellowgold, The Jelly Dots, Justin Roberts (pictured above), Laurie Berkner, The Sippy Cups, They Might Be Giants, and Uncle Rock. Good places to purchase or see reviews for children's music that won't make you gnash your teeth include:

• CD Baby
• Greasy Kid Stuff
  
• The Pokey Pup
  
• Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
  
• Zooglobble

And, for a bit of news, according to Zooglobble, Barenaked Ladies is currently working on their first album for kids. It should be out in Spring of 2008. Woo hoo!


* I'm not promising that each of these are indie labels. I think you should listen to them anyhow.

Del.icio.us

The grass is always greener on the other side, but I think I would've liked this a lot better while I was working, well, at the library as opposed to here at home. But I can see that Del.icio.us has some definite pluses, if only seeing how other people tag stuff. For me, it's more like t.ast.y, but it's still not half bad.

Twinkle, twinkle, little podcast!

OK, I finally figured this podcast thing out. One of the links on the instructions makes it a little tricky if you're not on an internal library computer, but in the end I got it. I think Peter has changed the instructions now. Turn up your speakers and listen!

Life after Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

OK, I don't read a lot of books for grownups. I read a lot of children's books for personal and professional reasons. I guess I also read parenting books like candy, and also enjoy a fair number of other nonfiction titles. But I generally do not sit down with adult titles. Once I went to part-time-on-call status, I joined a book group specifically to broaden my horizons a bit.

So, when it was my turn to select a book, what did I suggest? A nonfiction/memoir, of course. Our group just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I think I am a changed person. I look at my cupboards, my cookbooks, and even my lawn in an entirely different light. Ian fears for his Poptarts (though he needn't worry too much about that. Really! Ian, are you reading this?)

This book moved me, a nongardener, enough to consider digging up my backyard to see what would happen if I planted a garden with and for my family. An unschooler's paradise! Even while the snow drifts outside, the girls and I are looking at heaps of library books comparing Islamic gardens, English formal and cottage gardens, Japanese gardens, American gardens, rock gardens, and children's gardens. When the snow abates we'll measure and graph a bit.

We're ready to see our food through from seed in the basement to steamed veggie on the plate-- or at least withered plants ruined by weather, animal, or insect pests. We'll learn what nature has to teach us. The art, math, science, reading, and sequencing that's inherently connected will see us through.

I'm interested in seeing more local food options for our community. I'd like to see a wider local food variety at our farmer's markets and at our co-op and grocery stores. It's good for our merchants as well as our community's bellies! One way I can help achieve this is by starting a new locavore/green blog that's open to the public, so I have. (Want to be a contributor? Leave a comment here or there!) But I'd like to see the library put on a program this Spring to help patrons live more locally. Options are limitless, but panel discussions or workshops including some of these would be fun:

• Purdue extension for Master Gardener/Junior Master Gardener info
• Botanical Conservatory
  
• 4H/Cloverbuds/Minis
  
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) information
• urban composting
• urban gardening
• container gardening
• Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana (put on Barr Street Farmer's Market)
  
• beekeeper
• recycling information
• local heirloom seed savers
• local heirloom animal breeders
• local slow food convivium
  

It's a jolly holiday... for some people

A couple weeks ago I was following a PUBYAC thread in which a children's programmer was asking what other programmers do during their Santa storytimes when the invariable child who's too old to believe in Santa stands up and announces this conviction to the entire storytime group. For days various suggestions rolled in for ways to effectively deal with disbelievers. At some point I could take it no longer and I wrote in to the electronic list with the following post:

I have to say I am surprised at how many people still offer Santa or other holiday fare at regularly scheduled storytimes. It's not that I'm against Christmas or holiday-themed programming EVER (see my recent blog post at http://tinyurl.com/yt6yzm for more about that) it's just that clearly we don't live in a totally homogeneous society. And regularly scheduled storytimes, as opposed to specially scheduled programs, are for everybody. As well as you may think you know your population, it's still possible that someone does not "do Christmas" or some other holiday. For that matter, even kids who do celebrate the holiday may have outgrown certain aspects of it-- as some librarians may have discovered the hard way.

I'm not trying to stir up a firestorm (or perhaps I am), I myself "do Christmas"-- the Santa way and the Jesus way as well AT MY HOUSE. But that's wholly immaterial. What I program at the library is totally separate from myself as a person. Do people want holiday stuff? It differs from community to community, but in most places, heck yeah! Lots of kinds of holiday stuff! I still maintain that offering holiday material (usually only certain holidays) at a regularly scheduled storytime is ethnocentric at best, and doesn't offer all our patrons a chance to parent their children in a way they desire.

It could be argued that you've advertised that your storytime will be Christmas-themed, and nonbelievers can stay home. But if you read that last sentence closely, I don't think it's really the message that libraries wish to convey. Why would any patron who didn't celebrate Christmas-- for whatever reason-- feel comfortable sharing that perspective when the holiday has made its way into regularly scheduled programming in a public institution?

(end of post)

I received a handful of replies, ranging from "I'm glad you sent that," to "I've been doing this for fourteen years and nobody has ever complained to me about it." Still, the general consensus seemed to be that if libraries use a half hour storytime to read a handful of stories and sing a song or perform a fingerplay about more than one culture, than surely we're doing something good which allows us to present whichever holidays we prefer, whenever we wish.

It made me wonder, first of all, what are the prime objectives for storytime? And why would we want to use themes that exclude when there are SO MANY that do not? I'm not talking about not programming for holidays in general, I'm only talking about regularly scheduled programming for our regular patrons. I guarantee there are things that each of us do NOT know about our patrons' lives, and we should be very, very glad about that. Some of our patrons do not celebrate Christmas, and I do not believe it is up to us to foist it upon them.

About a week later, on the first day of Hanukkah, I watched a holiday display go up in the Great Hall of the Main Library. In a sense, it doesn't matter whether I think this is a good idea or not. Here's what's really important to me: as an institution, is there an ongoing discussion about how welcome people feel in our buildings and with our staff? Regardless of the ultimate answer reached, is library neutrality a question that's regularly discussed? Because within library neutrality there's much food for thought:

Can we actually have a totally objective, non-political, non-religious, non-biased human institution? Is that what the community really wants from the library? What sort of displays are offensive? Yellow ribbons? Flags? Bunnies? Fir trees? Christmas presents and creches? Halloween costumes? Are restrictions as offensive as inclusions in a public institution?

We want to be welcoming to all and inclusive, yes – but does this mean totally going without holidays? The patrons we want to include celebrate holidays-- it's just that everybody doesn't celebrate the same ones. We may have isolated Christmas because it has religious origins, or because it is commercialized or because we perceive it as belonging to a mainstream culture. But all holidays have meanings in a cultural context, many are directly related to a specific religion, and many that began as religious have been commercialized. Many carry exclusionary baggage limiting their celebration to a specific group – Muslims, Catholics, Jews, African-Americans, et cetera.

If we include any holidays, why exclude any one specifically? What does that say about that holiday and the people who celebrate it? But covering a wide enough swath of holidays seems more like a job description. If we serve the entire community, do we serve whom we perceive as the majority population as well as the minority ones?

Do we expect only people from a certain culture to come to events about holidays in their culture? Will only Asian children come to the Lunar New Year program? If we expect the majority (white, Christian) population to come to programs about minority (Black, Hispanic) people to learn about their interesting ways, do we expect the reverse to also be true? Do children just learn how different those other people are? Do these programs really promote understanding and acceptance? If we only showcase "ethnic" holidays, doesn't that imply that they are merely interesting cultural artifacts for people of that ethnicity? If we don't speak the language and we aren't part of the culture can we still program for the culture so the kids will feel included? Can a white librarian have a Day of the Dead program? If we celebrate holidays as cultural rather than religious events, how do we pick the cultures? Should they only be the cultures represented in your community?

If we exclude all holidays, do we still allow staff to wear religious symbols? OK, allowing religious expression is a law, but do we let people wear anti- or pro-war symbols? Can staff wear snowmen sweaters or wreath pins? Are bunnies an exclusively Christian symbol? Who decided that? And if we didn't do Halloween, could we truly do Harry Potter?

If it were a religious holiday and we celebrated the non-religious aspect, would we be insulting a religion? Do we appear arrogant to kids who celebrate Christmas when we say, "We don't celebrate your holiday because everyone else does." Isn't this like saying, "We don't have books that everyone wants to read because everyone has those books"? If the library is part of the community, should we decorate it like banks and the city hall and the surrounding neighborhood? Should we look like our community, or be a respite from the media-driven holiday-overdrive of it?

Holidays, like seasons, are what pass our days and make the landscape of our human lives a little more festive. Let's face it: everybody loves a holiday. But decorations are not just feel-good wall brightener. They are a statement. What, exactly, does the library wish to say?

Web 2.0 awards

Senator Ted Stevens' "series of tubes" certainly has yielded some amazing stuff, hasn't it? I don't know that these are Things that Libraryland will want to cover in another 2.0 blitz, but I can tell you that I found them interesting:

Be Green Now: Five years ago I might've thought a carbon footprint had something to do with Bigfoot. Either children or social consciousness has made me more aware, however, and I am slowly but surely trying to make my footprint smaller. This site helps me tally my carbon footprint, gives suggestions as to how to reduce it, and keeps track of my progress.



Etsy: As you may have noticed from my links on the right, I am already a huge fan of Etsy. It is a fabulous place to browse-- and if you're really lucky, purchase-- handmade loveliness of all stripes. Viva la internet. Of course, it's a great way to sell too, if you're crafty.



Guess the Google: I played this game a long time ago and was pleasantly surprised to be reunited with it on this list. It is based on work from the creator's original project, Montage-a-Google, which uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Guess-the-google reverses this process by picking the keywords for you. The player must then guess what keyword made up the image - it's surprisingly addictive.



Lulu: Just upload your manuscript, photos or digital files, use their formatting tools to get everything set up just the way you want, from size to binding to cover art, and... well, that's it. You're the proud parent of a brand new digital creation, ready to publish and cherish.

Lulu offers free book publishing services. No set-up fees. Set your own price, Lulu prints and ships each item as it's ordered, and you collect 80% of the creator revenue on every sale.

Then your book is, if you choose, automatically listed for sale on the Lulu Marketplace - a booming ecommerce destination that attracts more than 900,000 unique visitors every week. Lulu's #1 ranking among self-publishing websites ensures that your work will show up at the top of the search results in places like Google and Yahoo. You can also get your own ISBN, so you can make your masterpiece available in retail stores, libraries and schools around the world - online and off. Becky, are you ready to write that nonfiction book with me?

Thing #17. Check.

It's MySpace, don't wear it out

I had a MySpace account before, but found it to be so horrifyingly clunky, slow, and irritating that I let it languish long enough to forget which email account I used for it, much less the password. I had to start over for Learning 2.0.

This time I've had a mite more fun with it. I still think MySpace has all the same problems it has always had, BUT a number of children's recording artists do have a presence on MySpace, so now I "befriend" them to keep up with what they're up to. While still relatively friendless by all common standards, I feel like I have a number of people to check in on when I do manage to sign into MySpace every now and again. Oh Justin Roberts, why aren't you on MySpace?!

But if you want to reach me quickly, dear readers, MySpace is definitely NOT the way to go. I still maintain that as social networking sites go, Facebook is much, much more friendly. At any rate, mark Thing 14 off my list. Check.

my Thing update

I haven't been writing down which Things I've done, and I've been enjoying this blog for far more than Just Things. So this is just an update as to which Things I've done thus far. Geez, I'd better get going!

1. 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners
2. Setup Your Own Blog
3. Post A Comment on ACPL Blogs
4. Setup an RSS Reader
5. The World of Google
6. Flickr
7. All Consuming
8. Instant Messaging
9. Using an MP3 Player
13. LibraryThing
15. Wikis
16. Twitter

Family wiki: the new American message center

Ian and I have been experimenting with using a family wiki for the past year (with varying degrees of success) to keep our home life running more smoothly. Our wiki keeps track of all the scraps of information that might be kept in disparate places in a clean, editable package. Here's just a sample of the stuff that can be found on our wiki:

• shared family calendar
• common menu choices
• desired home improvement projects
• contractor history for various home emergencies with phone numbers
• ideas for what to do with the garage sale money
  
• gift lists (we should add birthdays too- my memory is bad)
• address/phone database

We find the wiki to be easily customizable for whatever we need, and easy to reach from work, home, or wherever. Quick. Simple. Useful. Two thumbs up.

It's a bird... It's a plane... It's LibraryThing!

This may be an unseemly confession, but with every passing year, I am less connected to most of my books. I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a week or so ago, and when I felt overcome with the urge to own it, I actually surprised myself. I thought the need to buy books had gradually dissipated with my professional proximity to them. My average running total of library materials for myself and the kids usually hovers around 150 or so.

So with the wealth of our library literally at my fingertips, it's not terribly tempting to keep my own copies salted away unless I consult them regularly or the kids have bonded with them. I enjoyed LibraryThing's simplicity of signup, and also options for cataloging and posting for my list. I think Stephen Abram is right when he says that both amazon.com and libraries could learn a thing or two from LibraryThing.

That being said, however, at this point in my life I'm still in more inclined to weed my books again than to catalog them.

Merry Christmas to me, or why this SAHM didn't need an iPod

I was ever so excited to get my iPod Shuffle last year for Christmas. I opened up my iTunes account, dumped copious amounts of kindie rock into the iPod, and in general I checked out all its majesty. But about the only time I could really use it was when Ian was with the girls and I was out shoveling the walk. Otherwise, it's an efficient method for blocking out the adorable antics of two wonderful little girls. Eyeww.

In my imaginings, I had thought it would be perfect when I stepped outside to work out, but in reality working out means pushing a stroller-- or a grocery cart-- much of the time. Don't get me wrong, I think iPods and other technologies like it are very important, I just don't make time for them at this particular juncture of my life. If I had a half hour to spare, and nobody at all who needed me, I might take a nap-- or play this maddeningly addictive game with the adorable dancing earbuds!

All Consuming

I looked at it, I set it up, I found it to be a little circuitous. Had I known about it long enough ago, it might've been amusing to keep track of the stuff I read long-term. Now, not so much. I may keep track of the girls' stuff that way and see if I stay interested. I'm also trying it on a locavore/green blog to which I contribute. It's not clear to me that a lot of us can use one account as reader's advisory, but maybe. I'm not giving up on it yet, but I wasn't dazzled. Not by a long shot.

Google World

I hardly remember what I did BG (before Google)-- I love Google as much as the next gal. I've had a Gmail account for a long time, and use it for various things. Like many people, I have various accounts for various things-- a shared account for family stuff, a personal account for stuff only I could possibly care about, a spam account, etc. In fact, I was happily using librarianinblack long before I knew about, ahem, THE Librarian in Black. She happily blogged about the day her moniker was transferred to her. Who could've ever thought Google and "small world" could fit in the same sentence?

Automaton

Buy handmade

If you find yourself looking for gifts now or in the future, consider checking out this site which encourages buying handmade items. It has a pledge you can take which means you'll buy handmade items for people, and request that they do the same for you. Besides avoiding lead in toys, buying handmade supports creative crafters and looks oh-so-chic. Support craftivism!

Mmmmmmm... lip dubs

I was messing around with Twitter and found someone in our fair city who was talking about posting more stuff to Vimeo, so I popped over to look at it. (Well, it was that or sweep the floor-- what would you do?)

The real plus appears to multiple privacy settings so users can decide who will (and won't) see their vids. I don't know if I'd ever find myself using it-- we're comfortable with our public family blog Talk About it More-- but this lip dub of a bunch of cousins who got together over the holiday was kind of cute.


Lip Dub : Lollipop from Cameron Christopher on Vimeo.

Bookmarklet goodness

Librarychicken reminds me how to do this every now and then, and this time I'm going to write it down so I can refer back when I forget, because it is that awesome. So sayeth librarychicken:

"On http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/acpl2.html at the bottom there are links for both Firefox search plugins and bookmarklets. You highlight words on ANY Web page and it will search our catalog for that. You can do it with keywords, subject terms, and titles/authors (though it actually performs everything as a keyword search). I hope you like - spread the word!"

This is better than chai, friends, and that's saying something.

It's 10:00, do you know when Diwali is?

OK, it's almost December and perfect strangers everywhere from the gym to the grocery store are talking about the upcoming holiday season. But dear readers, this is no made-up story-- I have friends who don't celebrate Christmas-- just like many other people in our community.

Imagine for a moment going through a December day in our town without the common bond of Christmas. Those lights, the gooey treats, the sparkly window displays of bright, shiny goods, the jaunty music being piped in overhead-- none of it is for you. Imagine going to your local library for a moment's respite from the holly-jolliness of it all only to sit beneath a North Pole bulletin board and look down to find your child coloring a reindeer.

I have never been a believer in holiday programming in public libraries. While I do believe these programs can inform, educate, entertain, and culturally enrich our community, I believe that there are already plenty of other free local outlets for that type of activity, and I could never begin to cover the scope of holidays that are celebrated by our area's population. To try to do so would be ludicrous. There are plenty of other ways to get people into our library, highlight our collection, and pique my interest as a programmer.

I am, however, a staunch advocate of cultural programs. The one I've immersed myself most fully in is our Day of the Dead program-- one that still elicits smiles, grimaces, or stony silence from many staffers. While this is, in actuality, a Mexican holiday, it is programmed from a cultural perspective and every year I study more to try to make our celebration more authentic and educational. Well over 500 people were in attendance in this, its fifth year of observance at the Main Library. This Friday I'll visit an exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. It promises to be awesome!

I can get so worn down when the staff or the public put up a wall and don't want to understand about Day of the Dead. They sometimes have preconceived notions which they feel entitled to keep beyond any logical reason. It is this sense of entitlement to Christmas and other mainstream Christian (even secularized Christian) holidays which I think keeps us from being thoroughly sensitive to the needs, and even the lives, of others who are not exactly like us. Having friends who don't celebrate the same holidays as me helps me remember that, but it doesn't necessarily help me with sensitivity or professionalism. It's up to me to work on it.

But as I prepared to write this post I had to admit that my own logic was biting me in the ass. If anyone's culture should be able to be represented at a public library, that means anyone's. Most of the mainstream population in our area does celebrate Christmas in some way-- either "Santa Christmas" or "Jesus Christmas" as I used to inquire as part of my reference interview on the way to the holiday materials at Children's Services. Since the personal creativity of the programmer is held mainly inviolable at our institution (and that's a good thing), any tasteful program should be met with favor.

It would be interesting, though, for people to leave comments about any cultural programming they've done over the last five years or so. I look forward to reading them!

Secret shopping the library, sort of

As you probably know, I still work at the library in a part-time-on-call status. I spend most of my time at home with two darling daughters now, though, so the greater part of my time at the library is spent as a patron these days. I think the blog might be a good place to try to get a discussion going about this in-house kind of topic-- or at least offer some food for thought for anyone who's still reading.

I believe myself to be in a sort of "secret-shopper" mode at our library. I wouldn't think this, except that since leaving full-time status, staffers have made comments either directly to me or within my earshot about my parenting methods, my politics (because of my clothing) and my choice of library materials. Not people I know well-- I could have (perhaps) understood that. It bears mentioning that friends in my playgroup have come to me with similar issues, leaving me to try to "explain them away".

I am not bringing this up on the blog for any sort of redress-- when I felt it necessary I already took it up with department manager/s in question-- but I'm as concerned about the library's public image as the next guy (or gal). If these gaffes are happening to me and to my peer group, then how widespread is the issue?

Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide, Wild World

My kids are loving this CD/DVD set and so, quite frankly, am I. Keeping this fact to myself to keep the rest of you from placing a hold on it would be greedy. I put a purchase request in for it awhile back-- just long enough ago for it to have felt like a pleasant surprise when it arrived.

Now, if you know our family very well, right now you are saying, "I thought your kids didn't watch TV, you big... TV WATCHERS!" And it's true. We do try to live by the AAP recommendation that kids under two eschew TV as much as possible. And beyond that, we also limit the amount and type of media that our five-year old consumes until she is old enough to be able to deconstruct the media messages which bombard today's youth. I mean, really-- I get sucked in by marketing sometimes, and I think the fact that it's used so relentlessly on kids is merciless! But we do watch a small, selective amount of programming with our kids from time to time.

The DVD portion of Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide, Wild World, which has been aptly described by the New York Times as "Dr. Seuss meets 'Yellow Submarine'", is actually a string of animated music videos that explain how Gustafer Yellowgold came to Earth from the Sun and lives here now with sundry strange friends. When we watch it together, it gives us a great springboard for discussion (or dance), and Fiona calls the separate songs chapters, so it's very easy to turn off at virtually any point when we need to move on. What's more, the lyrics are below each frame in the Weston Woods-esque animation. It's quite a lot of fun.

Holy cow! In linking for this post, I've just noticed that the new Gustafer Yellowgold album, Have You Never Been Yellow?, just won the Fids and Kamily Awards this year! I think I feel a materials request coming on...

Accidental angel or outreach librarian?

I've been selected to be someone's stand-in godmother because the real deal is in another country and can't come home for quite some time. So yesterday I found myself standing in the middle of the Christian bookstore in my hometown looking for that perfect gift that said, "I am honored to be your stand-in godmother but am not trying to hog the spotlight from your actual one, sweetie."

While I debated my options, another woman nearby hailed a sales clerk. "Ma'am, I need your help," she began. "Next month I am supposed to read to a class of five-year olds. I want to read a story about Christmas, but it has to be secular-- it's in a school, you know-- but I want it to have a message. My presentation is supposed to be twenty minutes long. Do have any suggestions for me?"

The salesperson began rifling through the display, asking questions and assessing book length and number of words on the page. I was surreptitiously watching her selections and wincing. But after all, how many secular choices would one expect to find at a Christian bookstore? She loaded the woman up and invited her to sit down with the picks to read and assess them at her leisure.

They were still poring over the bookshelf when I could stand it no longer and inserted myself into the conversation. "You say you're reading to five year olds? I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. I'm a Children's Librarian. If you're reading to kids that age you don't have to read one story aloud for that entire period of time. In fact, I advise against it-- especially if you're a guest and unaccustomed to the group." I went on to quickly explain how movement, songs and fingerplays can both break up and enhance a storytime. Both women blinked in surprise. The clerk stopped paging through a wordy wonder to digest my presence.

The customer proceeded to ask me if I had any Christmas "message" books to recommend. "Oh, I wish I had internet access so I could get to the library catalog," I said. "I've been up to my elbows in Thanksgiving materials lately. I don't know the holdings of the library here, but there would certainly be plenty of options for you there as well as staff to help you narrow down which books have the stories you actually want and need. Public libraries have both religious and secular choices for all ages. For free!" As soon as it came out of my mouth I realized that as true as it was, it probably didn't sound very pro-bookstore.

The salesperson gave the book in her hand to the customer and said very graciously to her, "Well, there are are angels all around us. One finds you right when you most need one. Yours just did!" and then she went back to scanning the shelf. Feeling like I may have already said more than enough, I melted back into the baptismal gifts.

Later, as I headed to the register to check out, the customer spotted me again and sidled up beside me with a large pile of books in her arm. "Oh! How'd you do?" I asked. As it turned out she couldn't find a single title that seemed secular enough for public school. I helped her reshelve them.

Over the course of our conversation she indicated that she didn't have a library card and didn't seem terribly inclined to go get one. But out of the blue she placed me from my days as Outreach Librarian and bookmobile driver at the extended care facility where she works. This amazed me beyond belief as I haven't worked (or lived)in my hometown for around five years now. I left the store with her reference question and business card.

While I think I blew some aspects of that encounter, there is a woman in the world who has a higher opinion of libraries and librarians than she did previously. It is conceivable that she'll even opt for a library card once I present her with some viable options, although the immediacy and permanency of a bookstore seem to be her current mode of operation.

Public libraries are not serving this woman inside or outside their brick-and-mortar walls, but she lacks some of the typical barriers. She is:

• volunteering for a school (time)
  
• purchasing books (expendable income)
  
• communicating with me via email (technical skills)
  

It is possible that Outreach has done what library buildings and library technology couldn't do for that woman-- given her answers right where she is.

Facebook: networking I never expected!

OK, I have yet to delve into MySpace. I already have an account languishing "out there" somewhere, and I can't remember which email account I used to set it up, much less what my password is, so I'm letting that perk in the back of my brain for awhile to see if it'll come to the surface before I simply scrap it and start over.

I DO, however, have something to share regarding Facebook! I was at an evening library function-- the meeting where interested parties rank Newbery titles according to our own tastes and criteria-- when the topic of Facebook came up in terms of "must try".

Of course I went home and set up an account post-haste. I really enjoyed it in a way that I hadn't yet gotten into MySpace yet. Thus far I have found it to be more streamlined, less cluttered (though there ARE plenty of extras for it) and more user-friendly. And I used it pretty regularly until I got my wisdom teeth pulled; at which point my whole life sort of crumbled into a messy puddle which I'm still trying to mop up.

Anyway, part of my Facebook profile indicates my enjoyment of children's music, librarianship, and zerberts. Those things are all true, and they're not things I worry too much about virtually anybody knowing about me, so they're posted there. I was, however, stunned to get a friend request from a Robert Burke Warren.

"OK, who the *&!@* is Robert Burke Warren?" I asked myself as I checked him out. Turns out he's Uncle Rock, children's singer and songwriter from New York. He found, via Facebook, that I enjoy children's music, and wrote me personally to introduce me to his work. He also noted that I'm a children's librarian, and let me know that he does concerts. He offered to send me a CD for myself as well as one for my library. (So heads up, CHI, that's on the way to you).

Now THIS is networking! I already knew about Uncle Rock from reviews I'd read elsewhere. I first head about him when I discovered the song "Picnic in the Graveyard" on YouTube while preparing for our library Day of the Dead program years ago. But this... this was the other way around. Uncle Rock discovered ME! Facebook, and other social networking sites like it, truly do have the potential to bring people together in new and useful ways. (And also gives people across the globe a chance to play Scrabulous together as well, I'll admit it).

Make a list, check it twice

As much as I hate to jump onto the "talking about the gift-giving craze before I select a turkey" bandwagon, I feel compelled to share the fact that the TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment) Toy Action Guide is available and ready for free distribution! Get it while it's hot!

According to the Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood, "the Toy Action Guide is an invaluable resource - particularly at this time of year - for parents, teachers, or anyone concerned about the commercialization of children's play. It contains information on how to select toys that promote positive play and reduce the influence of harmful toys on children. There is a list of TRUCE's 2007-2008 recommendations for "Toys for Healthy & Creative Play." You will also find a list of "Toys and Toy Trends to Avoid," such as toys that lead children to spend more time with TV or other media, and/or let the screen take control of their play.

"The guide also includes tips for making toys more environmentally friendly; resources for anyone with concerns about the toy recalls; and suggestions for "Shoe Box Gifts," an alternative gift idea that promotes play around themes with common objects often found around the house."

The old saw says that it's not easy being green, but there's no need to feel Grinchy with the TRUCE Toy Action Guide at hand! I love the shoe box gift suggestions, and think I'm going to have to make one as a new sibling gift long before Turkey Day arrives.

It's all zooglobble to me... and I absolutely love it

Have you read the blog Zooglobble? Well, have you? I don't think it's enough to leave it in my blogroll. I have to put the actual words right here to give you a chance to consider some thoughts by Stephan Shepard, married father of two from Phoenix, Arizona and consumer of vast amounts of children's music. His reviews, along with the Fids and Kamily Awards that he's a part of (creator of?) help me know what music to put on hold or request at the library for my own DDs. This post, entitled "More Joy", is from November 6th of this month:

In case you haven't checked out Offsprung's forums, cheekily called The Playground, it might be worth a little time. For example, this thread (noted by loyal reader Katy) unearthed a video on YouTube for "My Children, Be Joyful," by the Canadian band Rock Plaza Central. (Well, if "unearthed" is the verb for a video featured on YouTube's front page and with nearly 300,000 views.)

The video takes entirely unrelated footage from the Canadian television show Nanalan, which, I gotta say, looks suspiciously like a little show called Jack's Big Music Show. Or vice versa. Anyway, the song builds up to a frenzy (la la la's, violins, and, like, a dozen horns) and the frenetic puppets somehow fit perfectly. And, yeah, it's joyful.

Not bad for a song from an album (Are We Not Horses, released in the States this year) that is "all about robotic horses. Robotic horses who think they are real horses. For real. Caught in a battle between good and evil. Between angels and humans. And after eradicating the world of the angels, wondering if they fought for the right side." Yeah, that might not be so much for the kids. Or maybe. I don't know. I kinda want to find out, though.

By the way, if you want to get the track for free, head on over to the band's Myspace page to download it and three others.

What songs are bringing you and your family more joy?

Instant messaging revisited

Goodness, I don't need to roleplay an IM reference transaction with someone to do my 2.0 homework. I DO these transactions regularly-- real ones-- with librarychicken!

Imagine the scene: Fiona, who is currently totally jazzed about Scaredy Squirrel books, draws a huge, complicated map using paper and markers that features our own backyard squirrel, Truck Legs. Like our literary friend Scaredy, Fiona employs the use of a map with lots of circuitous arrows.

She shows it to me. Bursting into laughter, I exclaim, "Easy, John Madden!" Of course, then Fiona needs to know who John Madden is and what he has to do with her lovely squirrel route. I try to explain, then sit down and the computer to attempt to find an illustration.

At our house, sitting is an open nursing invitation, so suddenly I'm typing one-handed. I check the little Messenger icon in the lower right of my screen; and sure enough, our library's IM reference is on-duty.

Yessssssssss! Not only does Fiona get to see one of these drawings in action, I even learn that the device Madden used is called a telestrator.

So, just in case the library needs a shot in the arm for this service, just knowing how to do reference does not necessarily make it easy to do at all times and places, and I am very, very pleased with the the service I have received since going to part-time-on-call. IM reference rocks! (As does librarychicken, of course).

More about Flickr

So, to be truly able to say I did all my homework, I should share with you that I have indeed set up a Flickr account, and our library is now one of my contacts so I can follow the new photos loaded there. I browsed new/popular tags, commented on photos, uploaded my own photos to my own new account, and blogged about it. End result? I really hope someone will give me a Flickr pro account for Christmas. I've been good!

Now I'm almost sorry I have the Flickr bug, because it allows me to share more photos than our baby book blog, Talk About it More, does. Far away relatives (that's all of them) can follow Fiona and Nora's growth more closely. But in order to do it right, I'd have to go back and Photoshop all the photos I might want to share to have a ghost of a chance of being able to fit even a fraction of them into my free monthly quota. (Part-time-on-call does have drawbacks).

Also, I have only been including photos of our daughters, ourselves, and people whom I have asked persmission or know to be comfortable with Flickr technology, and I'm even more vague when tagging. (We did find other sisters named Fiona and Nora through the wonder of Flickr tagging--whoa!) Am I morphing into a worrywart? Will I someday own 200 cats?

The Golden Compass

Has anyone else been re/reading The Golden Compass to be prepared for the December 7th movie release, or even just the controversy surrounding it? Does anyone else think the related snopes.com article doesn't seem especially neutral or balanced? I use that site for neutral, reliable debunking in a reference context from time to time. I am not wondering about the debunking in this case, just the overall neutrality of the piece.

I linked the book title above to Commonsense Media's book review, but since it's not in theaters yet, there's no movie review available there yet. I notice the Commonsense book review doesn't mention anti-Christian themes.

Want to know more? Fortunately, our library has (or has ordered) a number of interesting books about Pullman's series, as well as the series proper.

• Dark Matter : Shedding Light on Philip Pullman's Trilogy His Dark Materials
• Killing the Imposter God: Philip Pullman's Spiritual Imagination in His Dark Materials
• Navigating the Golden Compass: Religion, Science, and Daemonology in His Dark Materials
• The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

Twitter this

I've talked to a lot of people who are lukewarm about Twitter. It remains to be seen, once I use it for awhile, whether or not I'll like it much, I suppose. But it was actually pretty easy for me to remain open-minded about Twitter despite so many people being a-twitter with bad buzz because I heard an NPR segment this May that briefly described the technology, and described some more colorful ways of using it. For instance, Twitter holds enough characters for Twitter haiku!

Also, I just noticed on one of my favorite websites, Parent Hacks, that some beleaguered parents are using Twitter in lieu of blogs-- or even baby books-- to document the milestones and minutiae of babyhood. You can Twitter one-handed!