Happily Ever After

(cover art by Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon)

Two years ago I started working on a reprint anthology of stories that retold fairytales (and a few folktales). There was a wealth of material to chose among, and it was a lot of fun putting the book together. My efforts are coming to fruition this summer when you'll be able to pick up a copy of Happily Ever After. And you will want to pick up a copy as chances are at least one of your favorite authors has a story in the book:

Table of contents:

1. “The Seven Stage a Comeback” by Gregory Maguire
2. “And In Their Glad Rags” by Genevieve Valentine
3. “The Sawing Boys” by Howard Waldrop
4. “Bear It Away” by Michael Cadnum
5. “Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower” by Susanna Clarke
6. “The Black Fairy’s Curse” by Karen Joy Fowler
7. “My Life As A Bird” by Charles de Lint
8. “The Night Market” by Holly Black
9. “The Rose in Twelve Petals” by Theodora Goss
10. “The Red Path” by Jim C. Hines
11. “Blood and Water” by Alethea Kontis
12. “Hansel’s Eyes” by Garth Nix
13. “He Died That Day, In Thirty Years” by Wil McCarthy
14. “Snow In Summer” by Jane Yolen
15. “The Rose Garden” by Michelle West
16. “The Little Magic Shop” by Bruce Sterling
17. “Black Feather” by K. Tempest Bradford
18. “Fifi’s Tail” by Alan Rodgers
19. “The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link
20. “Ashputtle” by Peter Straub
21. “The Emperor’s New (And Improved) Clothes” by Leslie What
22. “Pinocchio’s Diary” by Robert J. Howe
23. “Little Red” by Wendy Wheeler
24. “The Troll Bridge” by Neil Gaiman
25. “The Price” by Patricia Briggs
26. “Ailoura” by Paul Di Filippo
27. “The Farmer’s Cat” by Jeff VanderMeer
28. “The Root of The Matter” by Gregory Frost
29. “Like a Red, Red Rose” by Susan Wade
30. “Chasing America” by Josh Rountree
31. “Stalking Beans” by Nancy Kress
32. “Big Hair” by Esther Friesner
33. “The Return of the Dark Children” by Robert Coover

You can read some more details from me about the book over on the Suvudu blog (thanks to Matt Stagg for that!) As the release date gets closer, we'll be talking about the book more and more. And not to turn aside from all things Velocipede, we'll bring in the fairytale inspired stories that I've published in EV over the years.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter: EV_Mag

I'm Not Breaking New Ground Here

 

(photo from iStockWizard)

Nor am I re-inventing the wheel, but when I went to Office Max last night to pick up some shipping supplies, I was struck by a few things as I walked up to the store:

• They have partnered with Sprint and are now selling phones/service with them
• They prominently displayed that they were a FedEx delivery location
• They have a print center where they can make everything from business cards to t-shirts
• Lots of ads for the Blackberry Playbook (as well as one in store which you could NOT interact with...grump)

I'm sure you see that list and think, "Well yeah, it's an office supply store, why wouldn't they offer those services?"

But that's exactly my point. Which of those items is really an office supply? Maybe the print center, but the rest of the things are not office supplies. Yes, they are things an office/business might need/use, but they are not pens, pencils, paper, ink toner (they can refill your empty cartridges for you!), chairs, desks, and so on.

At some point office supply stores become a place where you could get everything from pens and pencils to computers and printes or candy and plants. They offer as many services that can used by the general public than those that can be used by the business community. And many of them have nothing to do with the items you'd put in your desk so you can take notes at your next meeting.

It's all nearly ubiquitous now that when you think of an office supply store, you assume you can ship something from there, that you can print brochures, that you might be able to buy a mobile phone w/service from them, that you can buy technology at the store, and much much more.

That much much more is almost a mantra I hear from librarians about what the library is. Yes, it has books, but it's much much more. I'd like to be more like the office supply store. No, I don't necessarily want us to start selling mobile phone plans or shipping things for patrons (but let's talk about printing brochures or providing technology, or heck, combining the two and helping patrons make ebooks etc.).

No, what I want is for us to a better job of getting our services out there for people to see. Libraries have traditionally been averse to advertising. I think this stems, legitimately, from the fact that many of us are public employees and it feels weird (or wrong even) to advertise like we're selling cars or widgets. But we do offer a lot of services for our patrons, and we need start "selling" those to the people.

We probably can't afford television ads, but have you asked? What about an ad on a nearby mall kiosk? How about a checkout station at a local science fiction convention? Could your consortium afford a billboard off the highway? A ad during a baseball game on the big board? The local newspaper? Sponsor a program on NPR?

There are a lot of creative ways to advertise your services (one of my favorites is to place ads on the inside of pizza boxes) but they only help if you actually use them.

In Which I Live in a Hyperbolic Chamber

(photo by Jim LaPaz)

It's been just over two weeks, but I can say, with and without hyperbole, that I am in love with my job, that this is the best job I have ever had.

Oh, it's going to be a lot of hard work. As Assistant Director of the Waukesha Public Library, I am in charge of the direction the library takes where technology is concerned. There are other pieces to my job, but that's the big one. That includes keeping the equipment working and up-to-date, finding new technologies (hardware and software) and ways to implement them in the library, and many many other things.

That means doing a lot of reading and research, working with national groups like Library Renewal and EQUUAC (ALA's Presidential Task Force on Equitable Access to Electronic Content) as well as local groups like the WLA and WCFLS and the CAFE program.

I've spent two weeks meeting people and being in meetings. Listening. Talking. Learning. It will take six months to a year before I have a sense of what this job needs. There is so much to do and so much I want to do, I don't know when I'll find time for it all.

And I love it.

I've never been happier. I've never felt like I fit in a place so well from the start. No disrespect to the other great places and amazing people that I've worked with, but this is the first time I feel like I'm a part of something. This is the first job I've ever had where I wanted to have personal stuff at work.

For the first time since 1994, I'm not looking for work. This is where I want to be. I can make a difference here. I can learn a lot here.

This just feels right.

I Like to Watch: Sucker Punch

**Be well aware that spoilers abound ahead.**

I just got home from a midnight show of Sucker Punch and I wanted to get my thoughts down before I went to bed. Let's be straight and start off with the premise that I didn't go into the movie thinking I was seeing some great piece of art or some amazing storytelling.

This is a Zack Snyder film, and he makes very pretty, entertaining movies that don't always make logical sense or follow standard storytelling practices.

But sometimes I go to the movies to be entertained. What can I say?

If you've caught any of the trailers/commercials, you've likely been struck with the imagery of very made-up girls in fishnets, schoolgirl outfits or bustiers, and high heels shooting guns, flipping through the air, and basically kicking ass. All five of these girls (Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, and Abbie Cornish) are extremely attractive. I feel a little silly pointing out something so obvious, but the filmmakers spend so much time on close-ups that I think they were concerned that people wouldn't notice.

Towards the end of the film when I had one more extreme close-up of Emily Browning's face I thought, "Yes, she has very full lips and striking eyes...I get it!" There's barely a moment in the film where the women aren't wearing fishnets or thigh high stockings under tiny skirts or tap pants. It's obviously meant to be titallating, but it doesn't quite work. In one respect, it's overwhelming. There's too much titallation that you can't take it seriously. Add to that the fact that there's a whole lot of Lolita imagery, the young women in overly abbreviated schoolgirl outfits, and it just becomes uncomfortable. And there's the premise that takes any titallation and throws it out the window.

Let me explain.

Emily Browning, as Babydoll (a type of nightwear/lingerie), is locked away in a mental hospital by her step-father following the death of her mother. Babydoll gets slated for a lobotomy by the orderly Blue, who seems to run the place for his own sordid needs. While there, she meets the other four girls (Blondie, Rocket, Amber, and Sweet Pea to follow the order of the actresses' names above) and works to devise a plan to break them all out before Babydoll's time runs out.

And this is when things get weird. We shift from the dirty, slimy hospital to an upscale brothel. The girls change from mental patients to prostitutes. Blue goes from being an orderly to the brothel owner/pimp. Babydoll is slated for a special customer who's "going to pluck a cherry." The filmmakers have Babydoll retreat into her imagination. Except I can't see how going from being a mental patient to being a prostitute is an improvement for a young lady. And they're treated just as poorly in the brothel as they were in the hospital; they're just dressed better...well, more provocatively.

There's a very disturbing undercurrent of abuse and rape in this movie. I wasn't quite sure if these retreats into an imaginary world were meant to represent moments where the characters were being abused. From the very beginning of the film these young girls represent nothing more than an object for men to use to slake their lust.

When Babydoll is made to dance at the brothel, she slips even further into another imaginary world. This is the world that we see in the trailers/commercials where the girls are kicking ass and blowing shit up. While I think it's very cool for girls/women to be empowered on film and have them fight and kick ass and be tough in all the ways that men are tough in movies, there's still the beginning premise of abuse and rape that makes these battles less empowering and more futile struggle against a male-dominated world. Worse yet, in the kick-ass world, the girls always start their battle after receiving advice from a man.

So the girls can't even empower themselves, they need a man to do it for them.

It seems like the movie wants to feminist, or at least pro-women, but there's so much brutal context and subcontext that it just feels like a sham. I wish it worked better in this respect. I would like to have an action movie that is pro-women and shows women being strong and kicking butt. The whole fact that the action sequences occur in Babydoll's mind while she's dancing erotically is another component that undermines what's good about the movie. In fact, her dancing is so evocative that it's used as a tool to distract men while the girls work on their plan. Babydoll doesn't represent a girl with power, she's tits and ass, not even the sum of her parts.

At the same time I can't believe that the movie was made as a satire/parody meant to thumb its nose at the sexual imagery that we're bombarded with every day on tv, in magazines, online, and everywhere else in between. Part of me wants to say that the film was entertaining to watch, but I feel like then I'm giving some sort of approval to the degredation and abuse that the young women receive in this film. And to me, that belittles the countless girls and women out there who have had to suffer abuse of one sort or another. I would rather have a whole film set in the imaginary battle world and not have any of the real world parts or brothel parts of the film.

I doubt that I'll change anyone's mind about seeing this movie. But I know that it was difficult for me to watch the film and enjoy it given its premise. I feel that using rape/abuse is a lazy way to try and drum up sympathy for a character, and often it's not treated properly to show how traumatic these events can be for the victim. It disturbs me that in this instance, that rape/abuse is then turned into sexual titallation and that these girls are clearly objectified--yes, she's kicking ass and defeating a giant man of iron, but does she have to do it in such a short skirt and heels?

The More Things Change

(image from Flickr user carianoff)

Early on this year I made two declarations (you could call them resolutions if you want) that were, if I'm honest with myself, more in jest than in seriousness. But, as events turned out, things happened in my favor.

The first was that I wasn't going to shave until the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. They had barely made the playoffs, so I assumed that the post-season would be short for them. I've never had much of a beard, so this was going to be my break at growing something good. This was not a popular decision in my house (neither was the next one) as both my wife and my daughter (she's almost five) hate the scratchy beard face. Well, the joke's on them; the Packers won the Super Bowl so I can retain my irregular shaving pattern.

The second was that I wasn't going to cut my hair until I got a new job. Again, even if my wife or daughter supported the idea (they didn't, and our son at two really hasn't offered an opinion to date) I don't think I could deal with long hair. But, just like the first declaration, the conditional in my statement came to pass so I got a haircut this past weekend.

Oh, right. That implies that I have a new job. This past week I accepted the position of assistant director at the Waukesha Public Library. I grew up in nearby Brookfield, WI, so I'm quite familiar with Waukesha. My parents and sister live in Oconomowoc, which is less than a half-hour away by car. My wife's family will be less than two hours away on the other side of the state. It will be great to be closer to family.

The job itself is great, too. Above me is the deputy director then the director. The deputy director oversees technical services, reference, and children's services. I'll oversee circulation, building management, and technology. I think the job will be challenging, but in a good way. My technology background will be really useful here. I don't start until almost the end of March, so until then I can only speculate about what the job will be like.

I'm excited, though. Very excited.

A Day in the Life

It doesn't matter that I'm more than a week late for this, does it?

Day in the Life

Access Librarian/Assistant Professor
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Academic/Health Library

This winter has been cold; cold like the winters from my childhood where we braved the elements in order to play king of the hill or some other inane thing out on the playground. You never feel warm, and everything feels sluggish, dirty, and gray. Your car takes longer to warm up, your coffee isn't quite hot enough, you never see the sun, and there's just pile upon pile of dirty gray snow everywhere.

Like so many of us, the first thing I do is put away my lunch and fill up my water bottle. Then I fire up my computer so I can check email and see what crises arose overnight. We're open until 11:00p, so I'll often find email from staff about things that went on the night before.

Staring at me balefully is an unread message from MLA co-contributor that's a week old. I was supposed to send in permission forms so that they could use the annotated bibliography that I wrote about chiropractic for the upcoming MLA Guide to Health Sciences Information Resources. I fill out the forms and fax them over to the proper person. Then it's on to my "everyday" work (in quotes as with most librarians, there is not typical or standard day-to-day, everyday tasks).

I try to place book on hold through the OPAC. It was something I knew we were getting that I thought I would like to read, however, it's not available in the system yet. But, while I'm thinking about holds, I modify hold settings in system so that they expire after 365 days. We don't have that many hold records sitting out there right now, but trying to think ahead.

I have an email about checkout in the clinic not accruing fines. First things first, I check the student's account and it's set up correctly. So next I check item the record and at first glance it seems set up correctly. Then I run history logs, but nothing looks amiss. So, I re-check the student. I recently changed user profile codes and there have been a handful of students who we missed and have no profile and that makes all sorts of things go awry. So, I re-check book and notice that it's set up wrong. It's using the wrong item type so the circulation map can't give the patron the correct checkout length. I run report to see how many books are like this and I find four so I quick fix them.

Today is one of my reference shifts but I'm working from my desk (in view of reference desk) as the reference desk computer can't run ILS software. I file approximately half the emails in my inbox that have been responded to or do not need response.

Inbox = 18 items

I've signed up for a few new list serves and now that I'm getting some activity on them, I create/edit some inbox rules. I send out an email to see how changing placement of book barcode is working for staff. I then meet w/technical services to discuss a few ILS problems, primarily that the title keyword search not working.

Not knowing how much time this is going to eat, I dive into investigating ILS indexing (it takes a lot of time). I worked with IS to determine best time to shut down 3rd floor computer lab for software updates. I do some reading up on the national digital library. I also research articles on RFID, computer networking, and ILS management.

I get distracted by a recent Amazon purchase arriving w/the mail. Since I'm not actively working on anything, I take lunch. While eating lunch, I cleaned up my personal library blog (where you're reading this).

I talk to the night crew to see how tasks were going and I assign some new tasks to night staff. I call IS to come get stuck ID out of photocopier card reader (this becomes a huge nightmare, but I won't know for six more days).

And I spend more time investigating ILS indexing (did I mention that this took a lot of time?). I decide I've done what I can, so I send the question off to sys admin list serv.

Inbox = 12 items

IS arrives and they work on the card reader. They have to take it away and get a replacement. At this point I need to wrap things up and head out to part-time job.

I rush across town; my important task to pick up pizza for library's dinner (Harris Pizza for anyone w/local knowledge) and I get to library breakroom with plenty of time for everyone to eat dinner.

At the public library I learn about new policy for wifi users. There is a click-through screen of library's official computer use policy, but it's not working very well: some computers/devices can't bring up the page and therefore can't agree to policy and therefore can't get online (the click-through process has since been removed).

Then it's on to the normal reference desk stuff: I help patron search for John Sandford audio books; I look for "2010 or newer" travel guides for Florida or Orlando; I sign some people up for Adult Winter Reading Program; I discuss ebook lending via Twitter; I talk about MLS school standards and expectations on Friend Feed; and I follow along to the State of the Union discussion via Twitter among other things. But mostly, I answer lots of questions about tax forms (we don't have the instruction booklet for the 1040).

It's All About Me

(me at my desk)

This is not a place with a lot of activity. And while I'm hoping to change that, I'm not going to make all sorts o declarations of intentions and resolutions and whatnot. If I can do it, I'll post here more than twice a year (that seems doable, right). But I won't get bent out of shape if I don't.

Mostly this has been a blog about libraries. That will continue to be the case. But what is changing is that this will be where I talk about personal things, too. I used to do that over at my other blog, but that's transitioning as a magazine-only place, and I don't feel right putting out bits and pieces of my personal life there.

There will be crossover for sure; it's all part of my life and it is all about me (I am kind of a big deal, you know). So, for the few that are here, be forewarned about talk of kids and cooking and other things.

Survey

For a committee I'm on, I'm testing out using Zoomerang to make surveys. I'd appreciate people taking this survey so I can see how it works for them.

Collection Development

 (image from Flickr user library mistress)

One of the things I feel I really got shafted on in library school was collection development. Now, I liked my professor quite a bit, and I believe he knows a lot about collection development, but I also feel like I left the class without any sense of how to DO collection development.

Most of the time, I've lucked out, and I've been asked to do collection development in an area where I have personal interest/knowledge. In these cases it's easy to know what's coming out, what the hot topics/authors are, etc. But when faced with areas I have less expertise about?

Then I'm left mumbling, um reviews, amazon, uh, magic?

I can do things like environmental scanning, i.e., seeing what's missing in a community. And yes, that's a great skill to have. But once I've determined that there's a large group of bird watches in my area, how do I figure what books to add to the collection for them?

Just as important, I've never developed a system I like for tracking my collection development. My first attempt was a raggedy notebook with every title I was interested in written in it. You can imagine the nightmare after a few months (much less years) of trying to find anything in it.

I'm currently using a folder filled with notepad files. But I'm only tracking what's to come, and what I've ordered. I'm not tracking what's come in the library. How do you track stuff? What do you chose to track?

I wish library school had provided me with a better sense of how to answer these concerns. I'd love to hear from people what they do, and if they've had similar experiences to me.*

Because of SPAM, comments are moderated. Be patient, I'll get them posted as I can.

* To be honest (and forthright) I've thought about proposing a collection development book around these themes, so if you're interested, let me know. And if you don't want to be a part, but still want to address my questions, just say so.

Libraries in Crisis

It's like there's a theme...

via blogwithoutalibrary

Huffington Post on Library Woes

Art Brodsky's article is titled "Our Public Library Lifeline Is Fraying. We'll Be Sorry When it Snaps" and I couldn't agree more. And yes, I'm very biased towards this as I have an eminent stake in the future of libraries.

Five years ago I was at a crossroads. I had left publishing, a career I loved, to work as a computer programmer. This decision was purely financial. In 2000, my wife as a high school teacher made almost double what I made as an editor. We would never have a home, or a family, or savings, or all sorts of things if I continued working in publishing. Needless to say, but I made good money as a programmer.

But I hated it.

Many people like programming. There are many who even have a passion for it. I'm not one of them. I needed to get out. This put me at my crossroad.

Moving to a different programming job wouldn't be sufficient. It wasn't the work, it was the career. It and I did not match. Going back to publishing was an option, but there was the financial concern. So, I needed to find a career where I could have passion AND make a decent wage. I chose librarianship.

I love books. I love reading. Yes, a library is more than that, but I don't know if you can dislike books and make it as a librarian. More than liking books, I had worked on books. I knew that side of the business which is something many (if not most) librarians don't have. I also had a background in programming, which in these days, is a great benefit to have as a librarian as more and more things become electronic/digital/online/etc. these days. Plus, the pay was pretty good.

Don't laugh. My first job as a full-time librarian earned almost double what my last job as an editor did. Whether that says more for the dire state of publishing salaries or the implied lucrativeness of being a librarian, I don't know. Regardless, once the decision was made, it was time to go back to school, earn my Master's in Library Science (no matter what my alma mater thinks about the word 'library'), and move onto a new career.

I didn't come to libraries by accident. I didn't come to libraries because I had previous experience working in one (in fact, that lack of experience may be a benefit for me in the long run). I didn't come to libraries because I went to library school straight out of college. I chose to be a librarian. It's who I am. No matter what accolades I may earn (that's not me in the photo), I will always think of myself as a librarian first, everything else second.

That's why I think this article is great. Of course, being on the Huffington Post means that only a certain group of people will see it. And it's also written because this is National Library Week. On any other week I doubt that Mr. Brodsky--no matter his love and devotion to libraries--would write this. Even if he did, would Huffington Post run it on a different week? Probably not.

One of the big reasons is the prevailing mentality that everything is online. Even pro-library people (and librarians) have this opinion that everything is online. Brodsky writes (emphasis mine):

But it would be a mistake to say that the Internet replaces libraries. It doesn't. It's an adjunct. More than one budget officer has said that people don't need libraries because they can go online. First, many people can't go online due to their economic circumstances. Second, librarians help to guide research. A simple online search will not always achieve desired results, as anyone who does this well knows. And libraries still have those quaint old things called books, many of which aren't online. The printed medium still has a lot of attraction for many, from the youngest readers whose parents check out armloads of picture books, to the serious readers and researchers who realize there is more to find than what's online.

Just as important, just because you can go online and use Google, doesn't mean you can actually write a good search query, or interpret your search results with any alacrity. That's where we come in. Sure, I still get people calling for phone numbers and hours of businesses, but more often the reference questions are more complicated and require someone with some searching skill and tenacity to find the answer.

I'll close the same way the article does (again, emphasis mine):

No less an authority than Keith Richards put it best in his forthcoming autobiography: "When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser."

Salem Press Blog Awards

Salem Press is sponsoring an award for library blogs. I heard about this through receiving a nomination e-mail over the weekend. Now, while I am flattered, doubly so since the nomination has to come from a reader, I've withdrawn myself from consideration as I don't feel my work lives up to the standard set by other library blogs.

There are some who feel there are too many awards, and others who feel this is a disingenuous attempt from Salem Press to gather marketing data. Regardless, it's not something for which I feel I qualify. For one, my blog which updates regularly is about science fiction and my magazine Electric Velocipede. This blog, has upated (including this post you're reading) seven times in the past THREE YEARS. Not exactly setting the library blog world on fire, eh?

Still, I'm flattered that someone felt what I've written worth nominating, and for that, I thank you.

Steampunk!

Recently I wrote an article on steampunk for Library Journal's Booksmack online column/e-mail newsletter (yes, that's my ugly mug on the LJ site). My editor told me that it was their most accessed page on the entire Library Journal website the weekend it went up. It was also mentioned by Tor.com and listed in the American Libraries newsletter from ALA.

Go me!

PS - I'm hoping that I can update this site a bit more as I'm trying to take control of my passion for librarianship and remember why I got into the field in the first place.

What Will You Do?

What happens if you find yourself in a field you love, but working in places that don't let you do the things you love about the field? It might not be the institution's fault; what you love to do might not be relevant for its constituency. The things you love to do just might not be needed where you work.

What do you do about this?

In a related note, Seth Godin posted recently about the future of libraries. He says:

They can't survive as community-funded repositories for books that individuals don't want to own (or for reference books we can't afford to own.) More librarians are telling me (unhappily) that the number one thing they deliver to their patrons is free DVD rentals. That's not a long-term strategy, nor is it particularly an uplifting use of our tax dollars.

Here's my proposal: train people to take intellectual initiative.

Once again, the net turns things upside down. The information is free now. No need to pool tax money to buy reference books. What we need to spend the money on are leaders, sherpas and teachers who will push everyone from kids to seniors to get very aggressive in finding and using information and in connecting with and leading others.

This is why I got into the field. Perhaps some day I'll work somewhere they'll let me do it.

So...

What are your plans for keeping patron interest when the economy comes back?

Passion Quilt Meme: There is Only One You

I've seen this lots of places, but it was Lauren's post that actually motivated me to do something. I've been thinking about this for a while. I don't really instruct students. Not in an extended format. So I thought about what was the best lesson I've ever learned; what would I want my daughter to carry with her into the future.

I doubt my parents realized the impact it would have on me, but from a young age, they stressed to me how every person is unique. My father especially. I really took this to heart. It's shaped who I am today.

Whenever I've felt doubtful about myself, I think, there's NO ONE else on the planet like you. There is no one else who puts ideas together, places one foot in front of the other, chews food, in the same manner that I do. So even when I question what I'm doing, what I'm thinking, I take solace in the fact I am unique and no one can take that away from me.

Here's the magic of this. I am not confined in thinking that I need to be like everyone else, think like everyone else, or act like everyone else. I can't be. We're all unique. And being unique means that none of us are alike. You couldn't follow the crowd if you wanted to.

So how is this helpful? Why would you want to tell this to students? For me, it removed my inhibitions, it removed my fear of failure. No matter how awful things might feel in the moment, you can know deep down that you bring something to any situation you get into because you are unique. You might whiff on today's project, but tomorrow's project might be that big home run. You can achieve some truly amazing things if you aren't afraid to make a few mistakes (or even a lot of mistakes).

The library world sometimes feels very safe. Very tried and true. This has been frustrating for me coming into this field. Sometimes you can butt your head up against so many obstacles just trying to get the simplest things done. And other times the things you sweated the most sail through without problems.

Just always remember, "There is only one you."

Original photo by Irina Souiki

Let's Start a Fire

You may have noticed that the URL for this blog is 'books to burn.' When I created this blog, I wasn't sure what that meant. I just liked the way it rolled off the tongue. I liked how it was a little controversial. But I liked how it didn't mean anything and still carried a lot of imagery.

You see, fire is a powerful thing. It was something that separated us from the rest of the animals on this planet. It provides warmth and security, yet it still carries a destructive, terrifying power. What else can both comfort and destroy?

It also makes me think of two of my favorite cities: Chicago and New York. While there are a lot of ways in which the two cities are different, but there's one way in which they will always be separated in my mind.

For those of you who have been there, what happens in New York City on garbage day? All the garbage is piled up on the curbs as New York has no alleyways. One garbage day, you have to wade through trash to get to where you're going. For such an amazing, exciting city, it stinks--literally--to have to walk through garbage.

You know what happens in Chicago on garbage day? All the trash is behind the buildings and out of sight. The public doesn't have to see it nor do they have to walk through it.

Do you know why Chicago is able to put its trash in the alleys behind the buildings?

Because in 1871 Chicago burned to the ground and they were able to rebuild the city with a better plan so that people didn't have to walk through garbage.

There are days when I'd like to start a fire to burn everything to the ground so we could start over with a new plan and not have to walk through garbage any more.

I'm just saying.

Hey, We're Still Alive Over Here!

It's been a while since I've posted here. I've been busy with two library jobs, trying to get the next issue of the zine ready, and preparing for the World Fantasy Convention that this hasn't been my top priority. There's been a lot of stuff going on that I have thoughts on. Of course, at this point the time has passed for me to make relevant posts about it (the whole librarian as a calling thing is dead in the water now...), but today I read something from one of my favorite blogs, The Annoyed Librarian, that has prompted me to write.

Now, the AL (as she calls herself) tends to annoy/anger me as I read her posts, but I think I need that. Just like how Library Revolution makes me mad some times, the AL writes some things that get my hackles up. She calls things as they are. And I think librarians need someone to stand up and call their bullshit "bullshit" now and again. (I don't believe she'd curse, that's my own failing)

From today (she's discussing outsourcing library services):

This debate is similar to all the guff about how we have to bend over and grab our ankles to make libraries "relevant" to people. Libraries are relevant or they're not. The people care, or they don't. If people don't want what libraries provide, then libraries will go away, but that's more of a problem for the librarians than it is for the people. What if all "information" was available for free online, search engines had perfected search, "information literacy" was universal, and computers and Internet access were available to all? If that happens, public libraries will probably be unnecessary for the most part. Is that a problem for the people, or for the librarians? Even now it's true for many people. Access to information is cheap. We talk about the "digital divide," but I wonder how many people on the other side of the digital divide can afford televisions and cable.

and:

If librarians were interested only in user satisfaction, they wouldn't complain about library outsourcing in such a knee-jerk manner. Librarians are interested in librarians, except, of course, when they're not.

I mean, how great is that? But I want you to go back and think about this statement again:

Libraries are relevant or they're not.

Yes, there are things you can do to make the library more prominent in the community, there are things you can do to enhance the user experience (my library now has downloadable movies, sweet!), but there's little you can do to make the library more relevant.

There's only so much control you have over what someone else thinks is relevant. At one point in my life guitars and music shops were the only relevant thing. At another point it was skateboarding. I think most people who know me now would laugh a little to hear those two statements. More pertinent to this discussion, even though I work in a library now, and would feel comfortable to say that librarianship is a calling for me, from when I left high school to when I started my MLIS coursework (a span of 1989 - 2004) I entered a library fewer than ten times. The library was not relevant to me.

These days, I could not live without the library. If for nothing more than the fact that I no longer buy hundreds of books a year. And again, for that alone I love being part of a big consortium. There are few books that I am looking for that I cannot get through the consortium. I am not able to use much of the library's programming. This is equal parts my lack of time and the lack of convenience of getting to the library. But is the library relevant to me? As an employee, of course. As a patron...I don't know. If I wasn't in the library a few times a month (I'm part-time at the public gig) I don't know how much I'd use it. Certainly not the branch I work at; there are two closer to me.

I do think that libraries should do a better job of marketing their services to their community. And perhaps they need to hire someone to do that for them. I'm not convinced that librarians know what their community wants, or where their community goes/is, to be able to market properly. Will better marketing make libraries relevant? That's up to the patron. Not to us.

ALA Website Broken?

UPDATE: Working now, at 10:50 AM CST. Weird.

As of 10:30 AM CST, I get this message when I click on the Events & Conferences link in the main navigation bar at ALA:

ERROR
The requested URL could not be retrieved
While trying to retrieve the URL: http://www.ala.org/error/HTTP_FORBIDDEN.cfm
The following error was encountered:
Read Error
The system returned: (104) Connection reset by peer
An error condition occurred while reading data from the network. Please retry your request.
Your cache administrator is webmaster.

When I try to click on the Midwinter icon that's on the right-hand side of the site I get this:

The page you requested is not on our new Web site at this Web address: /errordocs/300.cfm. The American Library Association has redesigned and reorganized its Web site. Try these steps to find this resource:
Search our site.The resource you are looking for may have a new URL (Web address).

If you are unable to find a specific piece of content, please contact library@ala.org for assistance. We will get back to you within one week. Alternately, you can browse the site archive at http://archive.ala.org/, which includes the entirety of the site as it existed prior to April of 2003. Please note that content in our archive may be outdated or functioning incorrectly.
Thank you for visiting ALA's new Web site!

So, anyone else having this problem? I've e-mailed ALA, but since I've never done that before, I don't have any idea how responsive they are.

Am I the only one having trouble? I'm using IE7 to view the page. I've deleted the cache on this machine (I'm on a chared computer at the reference desk; I've never gone to ALA from this machine before today) to try and see if there was something stored in memory, burt that hasn't fixed anything.

I Work With the Web, Not On It

This is me. (And my daughter [she's using me as a chalkboard]) Unlike so many others, I don't work on the Web.

I work with the Web.

I live and work in Davenport, IA. Both libraries I work at are behind the times in adding technology to their libraries. I work at a college without a proxy server so we have to hand out user name/password sheets to students and hope they don't lose them. I work at a public library that doesn't see the need to learn social software. In both cases I believe we are doing a disservice to our patrons/users. I also run a small publishing company that would not exist without the Web.

I use the Web everyday in my work: in addition to the ubiquitous e-mail and IM for communication, I use the Web through databases to assist students in finding articles for class; I've posted photos on Flickr of library events; I've used LibraryThing to create online reader's advisories; I attend webinars to learn more about database features and ILS features; I have a website for my magazine; I also have FaceBook, MySpace, Blogspot (since 2001), Twitter, and etc. accounts which I use to promote my publishing/librarianship and reach a wider audience; I sell magazines, etc. online so that people can read what I publish; I belong to Google Groups so I can have discussions with people who don't live anywhere near me; I read LOTS of library and publishing oriented blogs so I can keep abreast of what's happening in those respective fields; and I generally am online all the time at work, doing something.

I use the Web everyday in my life: I post photos on Flickr and Videos on YouTube of my daughter for family in Denver and Arizona and elsewhere; from looking up who's that actor to finding recipes to getting driving directions to weather forecasts to sports scores to buying foodstuffs I can't find where I live, there's a lot of information I get online that, while available through other means, is not as convenient through other means.

I use not-the-Web everyday in my work: I talk to my staff every day, face to face; I answer questions from students at the reference desk; I walk patrons to the stacks and help them find their books (I never point); I attend conferences to learn more about specific aspects of librarianship and to network with other library professionals; I attend conventions (science fiction) to meet authors, editors, fans, etc. and to promote what I publish; I meet with colleagues and staff to talk about concerns and plans for the library; I mail out lots and lots of magazines, etc. to people who purchase what I publish; and I do mundane things like check out and check in books, send faxes, make photocopies, accept fine payments, place books on hold for patrons, sign time sheets, and so many other things I don't keep track of.

I use not-the-Web everyday in my life: as evidenced by the photo above, the most important thing I do everyday is spend time with my family; I love to cook; I sit on a couch and read a book; I take care of my house; I watch tv with my wife; and so many other things that don't involve the Web.

I don't know that I could work without the web (i.e., this morning I sent a story collection to a writer in Serbia so he can write the introduction and also sent it to an artist in MA so he can create interior artwork; pre-Web days this would have been impossible), but there is work I do that does not and cannot involve the web. They are not exclusive of each other, but I do not do only one or the other. I feel that the Web enhances the most important thing I do: provide service to my patrons.

(inspired by Michael and the Annoyed Librarian)