Taking Inventory

You probably thought that title was some pun, but it is not. I am actually going to talk about doing inventory.

Libraries, like retail stores, do inventory. When I first started at my current job, one of my first projects was doing inventory on the 400s. (400s is the language section for non librarians). And while it didn't push me intellectually or anything, it definitely helped me become familiar with my collection. I think this is the greatest benefit of inventory, besides making sure that the books are still there. (Although you'd be surprised how many books in the 400s were mysteriously missing. Almost all of them were "Intro to Spanish" books and were clearly stolen.)

So at the start of a new year, due to staffing changes in our department, we all got new collection areas. I kept my 400s and 800s and added the 000s, 100s, and 200s. A few weeks ago I started taking inventory of my new sections. They were all weeded recently, so I will likely not be weeding at all this year. (Well, maybe the 800s...but yikes. I can't even think about doing that yet.) So far I'm learning a lot about the collection: what sections are really robust, which ones are kind of thin, and which sections are highly used. And, quite literally, I'm getting a feel for the books. I get such pleasure out of handling the books and seeing them as individual creatures just waiting to be checked out. Each one is so full of information; it is kind of like a little mystery ready to be discovered. Now, this isn't some elegy for the printed book. But there is something pretty magical about seeing so many books, so much human thought contained in one little area, and realizing that these things are all here, for us, to explore as we will. That kind of spontaneous browsing is important to our creativity and curious minds.

There is also value, I think, in looking at each collection because you see how clearly there are little pockets of interest. Here's the Wiccan stuff, here's the books on speaking to ghosts, here is the large and ambitious section about happiness. I can't help but wondering about who checked out the missing books. Is the person with one of the Sylvia Browne books trying to tell her old dog how much she loved him? Did someone take out the book on anger management in a fit or was it for someone that hurt them? Did the person taking out the old Hegel know what they were getting into?

Inventory gives me time to actually meet the collection, to interact with it more slowly and deeply than I normally do. I'm grateful for this chance to immerse myself in the quieter side of public librarianship. Plus books, even the old ones, smell a lot better than most patrons.

heat makes people crazy

It hit the 50s today in Wisconsin. This is apparently enough to drive people a little nuts, because the library was out of control today. You know how they say that the first really hot weekend of the summer murder rates go up? Well, apparently a nice day in January makes the public get demanding, cranky, and plain old strange. (And yes, I mean more demanding, cranky, and strange than some of them normally are!)

It was a long day at work today. All of us were having a rough day. And yet even at the end of this day from hell, I honestly can say I would not have wanted to be working anywhere else. I got to make some book displays, I talked to a lot of different people, and I managed to talk one older lady through downloading and using an app on her iPad over the phone. The sound of accomplishment in her voice when it worked properly was worth every second. I put several people on the waiting list for computer classes; while it is a bummer that they are full already, at least we know we're filling a real need. (I teach intro to computer classes to the public.) Plus I got to give people books! What could be better?

Public libraries = the best.

Young Professional

This happened awhile ago, but I decided to share it with you all. I was featured as the Fond du Lac Reporter's Young Professional of the Week on Sunday, April 3.

It was kind of terrifying to realize that I would be in the paper, mostly because I knew patrons would see it. That said, it was also a huge honor to be recognized after only living and working in Fond du Lac for 10 months. The people at the Reporter were really nice and I got to have my picture taken in a studio and everything.

So far, only one patron has talked to me about it, and he was really cool! He was really pumped about me wanting to hike the Inca Trail and asked how I got interested in that. He is planning to hike the Appalachian Trail, and is starting to train now that the weather is a bit better. Since he is retired and in good physical condition, he figured he might as well try. How cool!

Weather

Some people are really affected by the weather. I know several people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and it is a very real, very serious disorder. For all of those living in the northern hemisphere, there seems to be some level of SAD in our lives. However, I think each season, not just winter, brings with it certain feelings and moods. Autumn is here, which is my favorite season. The crisp air and cooler temperatures allow me to break out my fall clothes, but they also inspire me to spend more time on crafts, cooking, and reading "serious" books. I lamented awhile back that I couldn't concentrate on non-fiction; that has mostly gone away now that temps are in the 50s.

Libraries have a huge opportunity with these seasonal shifts in mood and tone. Why not tailor programming to them? Most libraries have dedicated summer programs but leave the other three seasons to be a grab bag of programs, activities, and book clubs. Our library has been trying to keep a theme going and discussed the idea of seasonal programs that mimic (on a much smaller scale) the summer reading programs. So far, I think it is going well. It is nice to have a focus. "Limits" or guidelines can force people to get creative!

Our fall program is centering around health and wellness. Our big test is this weekend, with our one big event-the health and wellness fair! A lot of local health professionals (alternative and mainstream) and other "wellness' type people are going to be setting up tables, giving talks, providing information, and even providing flu & pneumonia shots!

This health fair actually arose from a chat I had with a nurse while getting my venomous spider bite taken care of this summer. It has been exciting to see the program come to life. After the carefree feeling of summer, fall seems like a good time to step back and assess the ways we're taking care of ourselves, our family, and our friends. Are we really doing everything we can to lead a happy, full, healthy and fulfilling life?

I know there are lots of things that I wish I did differently. Maybe fall and the more reflective mood will help me, and lots of other library patrons, accomplish them!

Not Casual

Hello from Boston!

I've been in Boston for the past few days, visiting George and seeing the sights. I've never been to Boston before, so this was an exciting trip. I got to see a lot of historic stuff. Today we went to Harvard Square for Oktoberfest and to see Harvard by day (we ate dinner in Harvard Square a few nights ago. Very delish.) While we were there I saw the Widener Library! You had to have a Harvard ID to get in, so I wasn't able to stop in and see Matthew Battles (hey LIS 450!). It was pretty cool. History is everywhere in Boston, as well as lots of literary goodness. My guide book says that Boston is America's most literary town. I'm going to say, after three days, that is 100% accurate.

I will post a pic later, but yay libraries! Yay traveling and seeing other libraries!

Satellites

Satellite locations have been on my mind recently. Once upon a time, my library had two bookmobiles which motored about the city and county, distributing books like largesse. It was all very picturesque and rose colored (because I've never been in any way involved) but then budgets got tight and circulation dropped and people started to point out that we are a city library, not a county library, and those trips far out into the countryside to deliver some Nora Roberts were maaaaaybe stretching the budget a bit far.

And so we parked one of the bookmobiles in an outlying community, that had no library of its own but was a heavily used bookmobile stop. It was outrageously successful. For one reason or another, the other bookmobile got parked at a grocery store in town for awhile and was also very popular. Then it went back to puttering about the Wisconsin countryside, being all cute and whatnot. Then budgets got even tighter, circulation dropped more, etc etc. So as of Labor Day, the second bookmobile is going back to the grocery store and will be parked. We're calling them "satellite locations" instead of "non-mobile bookmobiles" and so far a lot of people (in town) are very happy. People in the country...well, not so much but their taxes don't fund us. Sorry buddies.

Anyways, the idea of a location run primarily by volunteers, with a librarian out every once and while to spruce it up and direct those volunteers, is quite interesting to me. It doesn't offer all the other services we associate with libraries--reference, reader's advisory, programming, storytime, computers--but it gets back to basics: books. They are so popular! Then I saw this BBC story about a library in a pub! Gosh, I wish we had that here. I think there is a lot in common between Yorkshire and central-Wisconsin. Really! Anyways, watch it. I especially like that the man who runs this pub library acknowledges that volunteers and bestsellers alone do not make a library! You need the real library services. OR, as he really points out--people need their government to make things happen.

So remember that as we head into primary season here folks. Government isn't always evil, and they do provide some services (like libraries!) that are quite helpful.

photo source-- shout out to my sheffield ladies!

What is a Public Library?

One of my coworkers sent this cute parody around today.



I have to say that I am a little confused about how other libraries are "checking out" iPads and Kindles. I know we have are considering it, but have also had some concerns about how many books could be on a Kindle...I heard one person say we would have a Kindle with one book on it. (No clue how we would determine that title.) Then if someone was looking for that book, they would have an option of getting it in a regular book, audiobook, large print, or Kindle. That doesn't seem all too practical, but I guess they've run into some legal issues with loading hundreds of titles onto a Kindle and then sharing it with the public. I'm hazy on details (obvi) but if I ever find out I'll let you know.

Does anyone else know how other libraries are handling the Kindle/iPad situation?

photo source

Technology Fail

Today at my library of employment*, there was an unexplained (at least to me) power surge that killed our network. We couldn't get online, we couldn't open the "behind the scenes" catalog system, we couldn't open the OPAC. This happened at about 8:58. We open at 9:00.

People were not happy.

Patrons were unhappy because they couldn't use the internet or figure out where a book was in the non-fiction stacks. Staff was not happy because we couldn't get any work done or provide many of our services to our patrons. Everyone was unhappy because it was pouring rain out and there was no internet to distract them from the gloom (or tell us how long it would be pouring. Answer: all freaking day.)

Anyways, this was a huge technology fail. The nets didn't get back up til a little after noon. Lots of things got pushed back. Lots of people didn't get the computer time they needed. It was a really annoying problem.

One man came up to the desk and asked my colleague if the old card catalog was still around. When we told him we no longer had the old card catalog, his face fell. It made me wish that the non-fiction collection was easier to browse (but more on that later...)

I'm not saying we should keep card catalogs for the few times the OPAC is unavailable. I'm not. But, it was a day when we had to do without technology, pretty much all together, for about 3 hours. It was a tough 3 hours. It reinforced, however, that the modern library is not just a book depository, but a hub for the internet and electronic resources. Take those away from us and the library becomes much less relevant for a large segment of the population.

One good thing: I managed to remember what Dewey section education stuff is in and help a patron find a book on homework strategies. That was exciting.

Having technology taken away from us was hard and alerted us to just how much we need it to do our jobs. It also worries me that I am so dependent on it. There are many situations where someone could need urgent information and I have no clue where to find it without the catalog or the internet. I hope that as I become more familiar with our collection, this problem will somewhat diminish. Until then, let's hope there are no more power surges.

*Even though about 3 people read this, and they all know me in "real life" and where I work, I'm keeping that off the internet in case someone I don't know ever
finds this blog.

Photo source

GEEKING OUT OVER GEEK.

I MADE THE SITE.

Check me out!!

Remember when I wrote about Geek the Library? Cause I did it yesterday? Well, I made the site.

I feel famous.

I'm a geek. Are you?

My internet still hasn't been hooked up, so I'm jacking some nets from an unsuspecting neighbor. This will have to be quick!

Basically, I love libraries. Obviously, I work in one. BUT. They are so much more than a workplace for me. They are also these amazing buildings full of ideas and creativity and fun new people, places, and things to learn about from books, movies, and music...

This awesome website, Geek the Library, is well worth checking out. I submitted my story...No clue if it will ever show up. If it does I'll report back!

Support your local library! Geek something!

Beautiful L!brary Book

Look at this! I want to read and/or devour this!





Check out The L!brary Initiative. It is a book detailing how The Library Initiative paired New York City public schools, philanthropists (The Robin Hood Foundation), and designers, architects, etc to create beautiful, engaging, intellectually stimulating environments for children to read and explore. It basically is everything I believe should be a part of ALL library design. I want to read this so badly.



I mean, who doesn't want to go to the school library when it looks like that?

Thanks to librarian.net for pointing me towards this.

Photo source: Pentagram

Edible Book

To combine libraries and handmade things for the first time on the blog, I thought I would bring you something happening at my very own school-- the UW Edible Book Festival. I was not able to attend (I was busy making dinner for some very special friends who just got engaged!) but there was a lot of buzz about it in SLIS (School of Library and Information Studies).

The idea is to create something out of edible objects that resembles a book or relates to the experience of reading. This kind of project can appeal to a lot of different folks: artists, kids, teachers, bibliophiles, chefs, or someone who's bored and has a lot of extra spaghetti sitting around. Until I got to SLIS, I had never heard of an edible book--and judging from the emails sent around, they were having a hard time getting people to participate. To me this is an example of poor library marketing. (We'll get into that later...)

Opportunities to make libraries centers of creativity and community are why I got into librarianship in the first place. Hopefully, the Edible Book Festival will continue to thrive and expand, in turn bringing new faces and ideas into our libraries.

For more information and pics of previous festivals, go over here.