Bibliomania

Lately, I feel as though I could compare what I do to dealing drugs.

Now, I know what you're thinking (WHAT?!? is what immediately comes to mind for me, at least), but stay with me here for a minute while I attempt to explain myself.

When I've read (or listened to) a really good book, I tend to tell everyone about it. When I finished listening to Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book on audio several weeks ago, I recommended it to everyone, to the point where I'm pretty sure people got tired of me talking about it and couldn't wait for me to move on to something else.

Or my unabashed promotion of Harry Potter because the encyclopedia of HP knowledge that resides inside my brain is looking for a friend.

Or giving The Hunger Games to a friend as a recommendation, and being so excited, because now that she's read the whole series and loved them as much as I do, she's passing along the books to her other work friends. She keeps me updated on how many people she has passed the book along to.

So, I amend my previous statement. I think I'm both a pyramid scheme member and a drug dealer. I spread my love of literature with other people, in hopes that they too will become members of my pyramid scheme, otherwise know as bibliomania, and keep adding more and more people to the bottom layer of the pyramid who can work their way farther and farther up by continuing to recommend books to others.

I am a dealer of knowledge and information. I peddle my wares to all that will listen, from children who I tell about Elephant and Piggy, Percy Jackson, and Junie B. Jones, to teens who have to know about John Green, to students who need to know what database is best for a project they're currently working on, to Adults, who I have less knowledge about their materials, but am more than willing to do research or talk about what books they have loved in order to be able to pass on good recommendations to others in the future.

I deal knowledge and information, and I am proud to do it.

What kind of information are you looking for today?

Social Media

I have come to the realization lately, one I should have probably figured out long ago, that I am not one who easily shares with others. Not physical things, but emotional things. I am not good at sharing what's on my mind with other people. I can easily share here, when I have my computer and the internet as a wall between myself and the rest of the world, but most of the time when people ask me about how I'm doing or what's going on in my life, I rarely share what's really going on.

Maybe I've come to this realization because of the huge impact that social media has made in today's society. Everyone seems to feel completely OK with sharing their entire life's story or whatever pops into their head via Facebook status update or tweet. I am not one who can do that. I want a private life that remains private. I censor myself when posting on Facebook or Twitter, because anyone and everyone can read it, and there are just some things in life that I want to keep to myself.

Possible employers check Facebook when they are going through the hiring process. All of the tweets are being archived by the Library of Congress. Personally, I'd rather people find out about me by actually talking to me, and not via some sort of social media newsfeed or livestream update.

I actually spent some time the other night going through my list of Facebook friends and getting rid of people, because I don't really think that the person I went to school with for one year in the second grade really cares about what's going on in my life and I don't feel the need to share it. There are some that I got rid of, because we weren't really more than acquaintances, and I didn't feel right knowing every personal detail of their lives via my newsfeed. I think after I was done I had deleted a solid 50 people.

In the past couple of days I have seriously debated getting rid of Facebook altogether, but there are several good friends with whom I never have time to catch up with, and Facebook is how we keep in touch. I spend far too much time surfing around and "creeping" on people when I have many other more important things that I could be doing, like homework or sleep.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think social media can be incredibly useful. Look at what Google has done to help locate people in Japan, using their people finder service. I have been attempting to follow what has been going on in Japan and Libya and Egypt via an NPR correspondent on Twitter, and by doing so I have learned a lot. Twitter #hashtags allow for quick access to information. Texting services allows people to give directly to charity just by sending a text to a number that adds the donation to their phone bill.

Technology is amazing, I just think that sometimes we don't use it to its full potential. And trust me, I am one of those people who fritters time away on Facebook when I could be doing something far more important, like educating myself on what's going on in the world or, you know, doing less important things like cleaning my unkempt apartment and doing laundry. These things won't change the world, but at least they'll keep me from living in squalor. If only there was an App for that...

Things I need to remember as a new librarian.

http://blog.libraryjournal.com/tennantdigitallibraries/2011/02/18/an-open-letter-to-new-librarians/

Vampires

Any future librarians who are considering going into the youth services field should give this a listen. This is a speech given by David Levithan, author of Boy Meets Boy, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and most recently Dash and Lily's Book of Dares at the 2007 Reading Matters Conference in Australia.

http://www.insideadog.com.au/media/audio/Reading%20Matters/david_levithan_kill_the_vampires.mp3

"What are you here for? That's the question you have to ask. Reading matters, we all agree upon that. why does reading matter? Reading matters because life matters and reading matters because living matters.
You're here because you want to help kids and you help kids by getting them the right book at the right time. And you can't let the vampires prevent you from doing that. If you don't kill the vampires you are killing the kids who need the books.
A kid walks into a library or into a bookstore or into a classroom, he or she wants to see himself or herself reflected in the shelves. Absolutely. You have a moral obligation to respect that. and to fight off the vampires and to give them those books. There's no question here...
Right now homophobia is the acceptable prejudice...There is no such thing as an acceptable prejudice. Period.
The kids need you. These books help...We owe it to them to fight. It's a moral obligation. You have to do it...The only argument you have is doing the right thing.
Teen literature at its best, and the reason that I believe that I do it, that most of us do it, is that in the right hands, it doesn't just entertain, it is meaningful it says you belong...Books can help, but books can only help if you get them to the kids."

Some steps have already been taken to change things he addressed in this speech. There are more and more books being published every year in the GLBTQ genre for YA, but we as librarians need to be willing to fight those "vampires" that Levithan talks about that are in our workplace. The fear of being called out for supporting this cause, for causing controversy with those who do not want these books on our shelves. If kids can't come to the library with their questions and receive unbiased answers, where else are they going to go?

I want my library to be an environment where kids feel safe. I want them to be able to know that they can come to me with their questions and I will do my best to help them in finding whatever answers they are looking for.

But to do that, I need to start fighting my own personal vampires. I do fear getting into trouble for buying these books and having these materials available. But as a librarian, it is my duty to make sure that the kids have access to this information. No matter what the cost.

It is time to take up the battle against the vampires. Are you ready?

Librarian Stream of Consciousness... Bear with Me Here...

So, I was thinking today while doing homework (a frightening thought, I know).

Specifically I was taking a homework break and continuing to try to catch up on my vlogbrothers video watching (http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers) and then catching up on my email subscriptions, a.k.a. the my ALA emails (which, I am proud to report, that I am now completely up-to-date on!) and emails from EcoGeek (www.EcoGeek.org).

I went back to my reading and while I was reading an article about the library as a search engine, I had a brain wave; so while I'm still riding said wave, I am going to attempt to record my thoughts.

The article was talking about Google books and how they are attempting to digitize all of the books ever written, and how libraries could work to reduce the number of print books they purchase by utilizing union catalogs in order to reduce the number of multiple copies of a single item held by multiple members of the catalog, and instead have one copy and use the funding saved to purchase additional resources, such as online journal subscriptions, ect. ect.

And this got me to thinking about books and the environment.

Now, I will admit that I love books. And it has reached an intensity in which in the past week alone I visited 2 bookstores in the same day (and came away disappointed, but that's another story entirely).

What I started thinking about was the amount of paper used to print all of the books I currently owned and wish that I currently owned. That's a lot of trees! And if you think about it, how many times am I going to read these books? Realistically I would like to say that I will read each one at least once, but there are many books currently residing on my shelves that I have had for years, that I have yet to read. I tell myself it is because I am still in school and I am working on building my life's library. I'd like to say that there are many books that I have purchased because I know that I would like to read them more than once, but still, there are many books that I own that I may read once, and then it will sit on my shelf collecting dust.

But then I started thinking about e-readers. And my specific thought was, which is more environmentally friendly, buying printed versions of books, or buying an e-reader and electronic books? In previous posts I have said that my personal jury is still out on the e-reader. I love the idea of the kindle or nook (or whatever reader you prefer) for travel, because it is so much easier to carry that one small device, rather than the 4 or 5 (or 6 or 7 or 8...) books that I would like to read while on vacation, but I love the feel of the actual book in my hands. I love the weight and the smell and texture of the paper. I love being able to jot down notes in the margins and highlight things, and heaven-forbid, dog-ear a page for later info retrieval. But which one is better for the environment?

Books are printed on paper, which require trees, a renewable resource. E-readers require power to work, which in most cases the said power used to charge the reader comes from coal-based energy. So which way is better for the environment in the long run?

I personally have no idea, but I would like to find out. I'll have to do some research and get back to you.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a small glimpse of what it is like to be inside my head while I'm attempting to study. Only usually there's usually 2 or 3 ideas/trains of thought all trying to use the same track at the same time.

UPDATE:

Thanks to an awesome NerdFighter, I have some further info. According to this person, the first link here is a "back of the envelope" calculation of the energy used.

And for those who are extremely interested, there's a 252 page study that was done at U of M here.

Wagons

I had a professor during my undergraduate who was a member of the education department, but I took a children's literature class that she taught. I love her to death, and one of the many many reasons why I love her, other than because of our shared love of children's literature, was her childlike spirit. My professor, when teaching the children's literature course, would bring all of her materials for the day's lecture to class in a wagon. We went through so many book titles in one session that she needed it in order to be able to get everything to our room in one trip. If you went to visit her in her office you would immediately see her two wagons parked inside the door; a radio flyer for the warm months, and a john deer wagon with tractor-like tires for the winter, or for extra heavy loads.

I have decided, now that I am taking my Library Materials for Children course, that all graduate MLIS students who are pursuing a career in children's librarianship, should immediately be bestowed a wagon upon entrance into the program. I know the college my sister is currently considering attending for her undergraduate gives first year students a bicycle, since they cannot have cars on campus, a Schwinn that is built with their specifications, that they get to keep even after they graduate. So why shouldn't children's librarians get wagons?

I had so many books to carry to class today that were needed for a presentation and class discussion that I had a full backpack and a second bag that was bursting. I looked like a turtle with my huge backpack full of children's storybooks, which also made me look like a little kid in elementary school with a backpack that is too big for them.

A wagon would have come in really handy... that's all I'm saying...

One Semester Down... How Many More to Go?

2011 is here! It's coming has signaled the end of several things, and the beginning of many more things to come.

I successfully completed my first semester of graduate school. I was really nervous and overwhelmed a lot of the time, but I did it. I wrote my first graduate papers, including an imaginary research study proposal and methodology, gave my first presentations on the graduate level, and successfully participated in, and completed 3 graduate-level courses, with excellent grades to boot!

I'm hoping my next semester will be a little less stressful, as I will not be taking 3 core curriculum courses in tandem, and I'll be taking several courses that I find really interesting, including Library Materials for Children and Web Publishing. I feel as a librarian it is very important to be up to date on all of the current technology, and I am sorely lacking in my knowledge when it comes to technology. I think being able to create and update my own website, other than a basic blog, will be a very useful skill to have. I also need to take the time to learn about RSS feed (a dinosaur in the grand scheme of technology and its current history), podcasts, and other technology-related things that I know little to nothing about.

I keep receiving emails about available library positions, several of which are in Alaska, Montana, and California. It makes my mind and heart race to think about the job I will have one day. Who knows where librarianship might take me?