Think of the Zombies!!

This video was produced as a marketing campaign for a small library. After talking about marketing for part of this weekend's fast-track, I found it to be a fun and lighthearted take on the issue of library closings due to budgetary cuts. I think people are more likely to give you money if you make them laugh than if you try to guilt-trip them, especially if you are looking for money from community members. I hope this library raises a boat-load of cash and is able to continue contributing to the zombie food supply. Let's not always take ourselves so seriously.



Image courtesy kevindooley 8/2009

Ebooks from online libraries

Internet Archives and Open Library.org begin lending ebooks, some still in copyright to patrons. The Wall Street Journal explains the process in the article "Librarians Have Novel Idea" by Geoffrey Fowler and a companion webcast. Check out both at this link http://bit.ly/9JmPWc
Or follow these links to Internet Archive and Open Library
Image by jblyberg 4/9/10

Study makes the case for library's

This article from the Huffington Post discusses a study which makes a great case for the continued relevance and use of today's public libraries. It also gives a sense of direction to those same libraries.
Opportunity and Access (article)

Opportunity for All (study)
"The U.S. IMPACT Study
A research initiative examining the
impact of free access to computers and
the Internet in public libraries."

Boy meets Boy

Gay Themed Teen Lit
Gay stories are important for both LGBT kids and straight kids alike. One way librarians can raise the profile of LGBT teen books is to feature it in their library, front and center, on National Day of Silence. This is a teen-led day of activism in which high-school and college students silence their voices to demonstrate the culture of silence forced upon LGBT kids, through intimidation, violence, or simply a lack of support (this includes seeing themselves represented in literature).
Last year, at our high school of 685 students, 300 students participated in the Day of Silence. It was quite an event. For three weeks prior to Day of Silence, I displayed every book in the library we owned with gay themes, characters, or authors and they circulated as well as our new books. If we choose to put the literature out there for people, many will read it regardless of their orientation. The book Boy Meets Boy was a big hit during the 2009-2010 school year primarily through word of mouth, and because I would recommend it to the kids when they came in. It's one of my daughter's favorite books.

New library shelves and circ desk

Thanks to Falmouth High School library for their donation of hand-me-down shelves and circ desk to Cape Tech! We are grateful for the upgrade on our end. We've been making do with some pretty substandard equipment and no likelihood of new purchases in the near future. It will give our library a much needed facelift. It arrives on Tuesady and then we will spend the last week of school and the first few weeks of the next school year setting up and getting the books switched. Big job!

Great Library YouTube Video

Why I love a public library

Right now, I am working in a high school library, but my first love and the place to which I hope one day to return is the public library. Most people have their first library experience in a public library. They show up as little kids for story time or for the kindergarten tour. What draws me to the public library is its accessibility and its diversity. You can find a range of reading/audio/video/etc. material for all reading levels, interests, fiction and non-fiction. You will be able to access scholarly journals and the latest in horror fiction in the same building. It's a democratic cross-section of its community. When you walk through the doors, the world is waiting for you, quite literally. You won't find everything on a particular topic like you might in a specialized library or even an academic library, but you won't ever go home empty-handed. Also, in a public library lasting relationships develop between the patrons and the librarians. You watch them grow up, you learn their reading interests, you help them get through their projects and teach them how to email their grandchildren or create their first facebook account. The public library is the place that keeps their information as safely and sacredly as it does Hegel's or Piaget's. It notes their comings and goings, passing, births, and accomplishments. From the bulletin board inside the front door posting flyers for local poetry readings and knitting groups to the overloaded book cart in the back hallway, I love a public library.

I don't really get the whole blogging thing . . .

Blogging seems odd to me. Of course, I don't journal or write in a diary either. There's a similar component to the two activities at times. However, I've seen a few blogs that are simply posts of news and journal articles, or grant opportunities, and find those more my speed. The blogs that chat endlessly about a particular person's life or preferences (just like this one so far), are bothersome. Too often, they turn into rants or examination of the minutia of someone's day. What's the point of reading that? It's great that there is a space for people who want to blog that way, but I don't want to read them.

Where there's smoke. . .

Oh boy. I guess it's a bad sign to feel overwhelmed in the first week of classes. I can see the info tech class is going to challenge me. I'm excited about that, but also nervous. It is so simple to get behind if you hit a spot that just refuses to be understood. I know nothing about the things listed in the syllabus and can't evaluate if what we learn informs the next thing we learn. Is it possible to not understand one assignment but still move forward to the next? I can tell you that my weekend is filled with reading for the two classes. Nothing but reading :)

On a non-Pitt related note . . . we had a fire today at the school where I work, nothing serious. While we stood in the parkinglot waiting for the fire department to do their job, and trying to wrangle teenagers into good behavior, I noticed a bunch of kids holding library books. Our students aren't permitted to carry backpacks. They carry all their binders and school books in their arms during the day. When the fire bell went off, these kids left everything else behind on their desks, binders, books, homework, term papers . . .but they brought their library books. It wasn't just the quiet, nerdy, bookish kids either. Some of the kids were in the more popular groups and others in the scary-kid crowd (black sweatshirts, edgy demeanor). Maybe they thought we might be outside for a long time and they needed something to do, but I doubt it. All of them were socializing, squealing, gossiping, and acting silly, not reading. They just brought the books and were holding them. Why? Are they really good books? Was it instinct? Are they connected to those books in a way they aren't connected to the other things they cart around all day?
I told one of the boys (scary-kid crowd type, but a really nice boy) that in the future we should have all the kids grab a book on their way out the front door. They pass the library, and we could save 688 books, 200 more if faculty and staff joined in, from burning to the ground in a future emergency.