April 2009 Archives

Today, we hosted the 5th annual K-16 Librarians workshop at the Schlow Library.  The workshop is just one piece of the Central Pennsylvania K-16 Information Literacy Network (which I've written about before).  Essentially, the annual workshop is a fun opportunity to get together with area school, public and academic library colleagues to discuss shared issues.  It is always one of my favorite events of the year.

At past workshops, we've focused on more pedagogical or information literacy-related topics.  This year (at the request of the librarians) we devoted the entire workshop to exploring the use of 2.0 technologies in libraries.

Emily Rimland presented on the use of blogs and wikis in libraries, using clickers in her presentation.  A number of librarians were using blogs for a variety of purposes, including reading recommendations (with student reviews).  Karla Schmit brought a display of award-winning children's books (including the Baker's Dozen books) and highlighted the Pennsylvania Center for the Book initiatives.  Anne Behler shared her Kindle 2 and Sony Reader devices with the group, comparing the tools and detailing the Libraries' Sony Reader project.  Chris Stubbs led a great discussion on gaming in education (more public librarians are featuring year-round gaming programs than you'd think!). 

At lunch, I sat with two public librarians who shared some of the new tech initiatives they've started in their respective libraries.  One library had a Ning network for area parents.  What a terrific idea this is---such an easy way for local parents to connect and exchange ideas and information.  She also wanted to talk about the benefits of Twitter.  A patron who she helped with an information need offered to set up some new social web tools for the library.  He created a Twitter account for the library, and made a flyer for a library haiku contest (using  hashtags, even!) for the library's new Twitter account.  So cool!

I don't have any pictures from the event available yet, but they'll be up soon.  Today was
everything that I hoped our Network could be ---a positive environment for local librarians to share new ideas that impact all levels of education.  Thanks to our presenters, and to everyone who participated!

Frank was a Government Documents librarian at the University of Iowa, and one of the first academic librarians I ever met.  We worked side by side in a large room filled with about eight other staff, including two other librarians, along with lots of indexes, reference books and a few computers.  This was seventeen years ago---email was hardly an element, and computers on desks were a rarity.

My job in Gov Docs (my first real library job) was checking in document shipments.  All day, every day.  I sat in front of a wall-sized card catalog and checked off received documents on index cards.  It's apparent why I became a librarian, isn't it?  Believe me, from that job, it could only be onward and upward.  It was so mind-blowingly boring that I sometimes put my head down on my beige work table and slept, just for a minute or two.  Or I sneaked off to somewhere else in the library and slept for more than a minute or two.

When I wasn't involved in the fascinating process of checking in documents, I sat next to Frank, right by the front door, and assisted patrons as they came in.  Which meant that I got to watch Frank answer lots of reference questions.  Because everyone was all together in one room, librarians, staff, and patrons, I was privy to an amazing fishbowl, watching how librarians tackled tough reference questions daily.  And Frank was the very best.

Frank had been a Gov Docs librarian for almost 40 years.  He was a former CIA man and still looked, acted and dressed like it.  I just re-watched Apollo 13 the other night, and Frank looked like the guys in the NASA control room.  His whole look was Federal government, circa 1964.  Buzz-cut hair, black, thick rimmed glasses, and every day, a white short sleeved shirt, black pants, black shoes, and skinny black tie with a tie clip.  Every single day.  He also ate the same lunch at the same time every day (a sandwich at precisely noon), and every April Fool's Day, the library held an event where everyone dressed up in Frank's 'uniform.'  He was a library legend.

Fascinating idiosyncrasies aside, Frank made the most lasting impression on me. 

Frank taught me that:

--There is nothing more important than helping a patron, no matter what else you're working on.

--Every reference question has an answer.  Perhaps not immediately, but eventually.  A patron should never leave without an answer, a lead or a promised follow-up on what they're looking for.  It may take days, but the answer will come.

--A good librarian commits to memory every inch of their collection, physical or online and can mentally pull up information from that collection readily at any given moment.  (This one was Frank's forte, and is completely unachievable today.)

Frank's customer service ethic and commitment to patrons was legendary.  A patron came in one day, having visited twenty years prior when he was a student, and he immediately remembered Frank and the help he had given him years before. 

Librarianship has changed, but the lasting lesson of Frank's thoughtful, exhaustive commitment to good reference librarianship remains with me.  I'm thankful to him for everything that he taught me, in the short time that we worked side by side in Gov Docs.

Someone peeked over my shoulder yesterday at my Gmail account, and was surprised that I had 193 draft emails in my email account.  (What a snoop.)  I really couldn't explain why I even have that many drafts of unsent messages.  Are they messages that I meant to send, but forgot? (probably)  Are they emails that I started but quickly abandoned in favor of a better approach? (likely)  Are they a commentary on my inability to get anything (especially an email) done in a quick, linear fashion? (most definitely)

At any rate, that giant pile of unsent, incomplete messages made me think of all the forgotten posts I've started in my blog and abandoned, for one reason or another.  In an effort to clean up my half-written screed-strewn life (or at least my blog), I'm going to revisit, revise and publish some of my abandoned posts over the next week or two. 

This is a long-winded way to explain that I can't be blamed for the varying quality of my blog posts this month (if ever).  Consider it spring cleaning!  And maybe you'll follow my example and also publish some of those half-written, quickly discarded posts that we both know you have in your blog too.

For the past five years, I've been lucky to serve as a judge on the panel selecting the Baker's Dozen:  The Best Children's Books for Family Literacy.  The panel includes my friend, mentor and all-around inspiration, Dr. Steven Herb, the wonderful (and equally inspiring) Dr. Sara Willoughby-Herb, and my dear colleague Karla Schmit.  Really, I would pay to be in a room with these people and discuss children's books.  You would pay too, trust me!  Nobody loves or critiques children's books like this panel.

This year, the Baker's Dozen started with a field of over 500 picture books.  We gradually whittled down the list to the very best thirteen books for family literacy.  In other words, a book has to be amazing to make this list.  My personal favorite this year:  Chicken, Pig, Cow by Ruth Ohi.  It's the story of three Fisher-Price farm figurines and the trials and tribulations of the imaginary world they inhabit.  If you have small children (or if you just love picture books, like me) I encourage you to check out the titles on the 2009 list.