Thank You!

Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away-shocking, right? November has flown by. I can't believe how quickly time has been moving.

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is time for all of us to think about what we are grateful for this year. There is a wonderful post up on Felt & Wire about thank you notes, and I'd encourage you to go read it. The author asks us to consider sending a thank you note to someone for something unexpected. I love writing thank you notes and am planning to do this. Maybe one of you will be a recipient!

Here are some of my favorite thank you cards:

Rifle Paper Co.

HelloLucky

Paper Source

Christmas is coming.

It seems like the US can't get started on Christmas soon enough. In early October the stores were already setting up holiday displays. Now that Halloween has passed, all efforts at restraint seem to have disappeared. At the library we're just as guilty. We've got a holiday fiction display up. And believe you me, things are flying off the shelf. It's nuts.

It has even gotten to me. I'm already mentally planning a cookie exchange, making lists of gifts for my loved ones, and thinking of how to decorate the apartment. Since this is my first Christmas living alone and so far from friends and family, I've got a lot of freedom. I also have a cat that likes to bat at anything hanging...

I'm going to be replacing the beautiful glass ornaments that usually adorn my tiny tree with homemade ones. I'm planning on documenting the entire process up here, so check back for updates. Please feel free to send ideas too!

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!

Hope

Lately there have been lots of new stories about gay children and young adults killing themselves after years of bullying due to their sexual orientation. I have lots to say about this issue, but it boils down to this:
1) This is not new. The media just decided to start talking about it.
2) I will never understand people who hate others because of who they love.
3) This whole situation is frustrating and I feel like there is nothing I can do.

You've probably seen this, but I figured the more exposure it gets, the better. Dan Savage, of Savage Love fame, started a Youtube channel called It Gets Better. It is supposed to show young LGBTQ people that life gets better after you grow up, get out of high school, and have the opportunity to move away from the people who hurt you.

Please check it out. Send it to people. Send it to teenagers you know, gay or straight. You never know who it will help.

It Gets Better.

Neglect

Oh I've neglected it again! In July I was all, "I won't abandon you again, my dear blog!" and then look what happens. Two months later and I'm MIA. Sorry blog. I still care for you.

Themes of neglect in our online lives seems to have become a recurring theme in my life. Here in my personal online life, I've neglected the blog. In my professional life, I decided to make an official Twitter account for the library, only to find that someone else on staff had done so--and then posted twice, on the same day, in May. Never posted again.

So, I tracked down the creator, found the password, and now our little zombie Twitter is up and eating brains with the best of them. (Don't you love Halloween and all the monster jokes that come with it?!)

Technologies like Facebook, Twitter, or many other social media tools are so easy to use that many people sign up and promptly forget about them. That, or they sign up and then they can't figure out how to effectively use it and abandon it. There are lots of reasons for this, but one seems to be the age old problem: peer pressure. Group think.

Everyone else is doing it.

At WiLSWorld, every single presenter made the same point, in one way or another: don't adopt a technology that doesn't serve your patrons. Don't adopt something because it is "cool." Don't do something because some other library that you admire does it.

DO adopt tools that will effectively serve various parts of your population. Our Facebook and Twitter presence means nothing to those patrons who come in every single day. They don't need a reminder about the booksale. But it does serve our patrons who come in once a month, and then only to pick up their holds.

Remembering to use technology effectively,and to keep it current can be hard. I love technology, I love social media, I love the interwebs, but even I find it hard. Like anything else, it takes discipline! I've started spending the first 20-30 minutes of my workday scheduling Tweets and checking up on followers, @ responses, etc. What about you? How do you keep on top of the social media world?

School Design & Social Change

Felt & Wire is seriously hitting it out of the park this week. Check out this amazing project that pairs students with college and professional design mentors and helps them use design to change their school and address social issues.

My high school experience was pretty great. I wasn't cool, but I had such amazing friends that I thought we were cool. It didn't matter if we were popular, because we were so clearly the most awesome group of people around. (I am sure many people felt this way, but for real, Tosa East class of '04, my friends were the best.) What made us feel that way was that there was always room for a new friend, always room for us to be whoever we wanted to be, and always room for us to screw up or have emotional breakdowns or date the wrong person or totally humiliate ourselves. That kind of breathing room is rare in high school. Do I think design can change that? Eh. Do I think empowering teens to change their environment, with any given toolset, can? Yes. Yes. Yes.