My New Desk

We're about to open a new library building, at my library.  We're closing up on January 16th, and we have our Grand Opening Celebrations on February 11th.  It's all very exciting.  And incredibly, freaking, downright, CRAZY.  Every one of my coworkers is freaking out on one level or another.  Some of them are freaking out on all levels.  And not entirely without cause.  We haven't been able to really work in our new building much, and our movers arrive to transport our collections in ten days.  Yesterday, for instance, I discovered that the magazine collection I tend doesn't, you know, FIT, so much, on the new, undeniably beautiful, new shelves that were planned for them.  They don't fit in a variety of ways.  The shelves are too small for the magazines and there are nowhere near enough shelves to house the number of magazines we receive.  This is disturbing certainly, and a bit of a challenge, and something I'm sure we'll figure out in the next few days.  Just a little unforeseen blip.  I found two or three such blips yesterday.

And so did my coworkers.  All over the place.  Everyone, in every little corner of the new building is experiencing some growing pains.  Which is to be expected.  It's like when you move into a new house, and you realize there is no full length hanging space in your master closet.  Who hasn't been there before?  Eventually, you make your peace with hanging your wedding dress in the guest closet.  Still, everyone is FREAKING OUT.

My favorite way to combat the craziness?  I like to plan my new desk.  I have a lovely new desk.  It has several great features, such as being near a window and close to Heidi, allowing us to plan stuff without getting up from our chairs.  But most of all, it's SO PRETTY.

Here's my desk now:

My kingdom, under the air vent that blows freezing air all day.

Very busy.  Lots of happy crap.

Yep, lots to look at.

Here's my NEW desk (a week or two ago...):

Luckily these chairs have been moved...otherwise it would have been 

pretty crowded.  The walls are a nice buttery yellow color, and my

computer screen will go on that arm thingy there.

My second table!  And shelves!!  Also note, I'm not wedged into the middle

of a bunch of shared workspaces, where other people will need to reach

over my head several times a day to accomplish a task!  Such luxury.

My plan is to keep things very simple and clean and tidy.  Not nearly as much happy crap this time around.  Much of that will go in my ephemera collection to be scanned.  But the things that are out and visible, oohhh, those will all be pretty.  Much like this blog, I'm going GIRLY with my desk.  No trucks or dinosaurs.  Flowers and dainty shapes.  I can't WAIT to get in there.  

Library Fairies

No, really, I didn't forget I had a blog, exactly. I didn't.

See, here are pictures of the Halloween Splendour in the library:


The Rock and Roll Fairy and The Coffee Fairy.





The Argyle Fairy and The Cowgirl Fairy.


The Reluctant Fairy and two Circ Fairies, The Horseback Riding Fairy and The Neon Fairy (her wings are made of bubble wrap, for extra lift.)





Group shot!! That's (back row L-R) the Director Fairy, the Classy Fairy, the Neon Fairy, the Cowgirl Fairy, the Tennis Fairy, the Halloween Fairy (I have no idea what was so funny!!) Front row (L-R) half of the Reluctant Fairy, the Rock and Roll Fairy, the Hairy Fairy, and a small horse or giraffe.



Town Employees, some fairies, others not so much. I'm not totally slouching, I'm trying to bend my knees so my wings don't cover the people behind me. This is why tall people always stand in the back for group photos.

When I get ahold of a shot that has all our wings from the back (the pretty side) I'll add that. Happy Halloween, all!!

Rats, I took all the links out by mistake. I'm feeling lazy. If you want to see more details, check them out

here.

And for the backstory on the wingmaking, check out this informative post.

100 books. 16 weeks.

You know how sometimes I like a challenge? How sometimes it can be more fun (for me) to do something just almost un-doable, than it is to do something a bit more doable? Heh. I'm so set.

I get to read 100 books in the next 16 weeks. That's right. 50 for my YA class + 50 for my Tweens class = 100 books. Plus whatever reading from textbooks I get to do. Plus, if I'm feeling inclined to, you know read an adult book or two.

That's 6.5 books per week, which is, if you're quick on the math, almost a book a day.

Sounds AWESOME.

Well, okay, in truth, there are some caveats that will make this slightly less impossible, but I'm not focused on those because it is the sheer enormousness of this task that appeals to me. But they don't all have to be "books." I'm supposed to explore various forms of media, so that'd include graphic novels, audiobooks, websites, magazines, movies and TV shows. Still, there'll be a fair number of books. Even though I might, at some point in the next 16 weeks, view (are you sitting down?) an episode of Hannah Montana or something.

I'm so freaking STOKED!!

I'm going to start two blogs (one for each class) to track my books. More on that soon.

A Dash of Nerdiness for y'all

So, here at the library, we have a magic shelf called "The White Shelf." You put things on "The White Shelf" when they've been processed downstairs, and they are ready to head upstairs to the Circulation Desk to check in. It could be called "The Lazy Shelf" because you stick stuff there to avoid running up the stairs to drop stuff off. And, in truth, most of the shelves around here are white.

I was just showing a new employee where "The White Shelf" was, and explaining how lately, there seem to be two "White Shelves." I explained my system was to use whichever shelf already had books on it. My desk neighbor Carol overheard my explanation and giggled. I asked her which shelf she thought really was the True White Shelf. She said that was something we should probably decide. I agreed, and said that when we decided, we could stick a sign on the non-true White Shelf that said "This is not the white shelf."

"It would be like a Magritte painting," I said. "Ceci n'est pas the White Shelf." Carol looked at me for a moment, and then we both realized, "Nope. If we're going to be Magritte about it, we have to put the Ceci n'est pas the White Shelf sign on the shelf that actually *IS* the True White Shelf." Ah. Nothing wraps up the work day like a little dorkdom.

A Great Lunch Hour

This is a week old now, but still exciting. Last Saturday I went to work. On my lunch hour, I went to a big chain bookstore. I'd reserved a copy of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final installment in the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series. After wrapping my book in my sweater (so I didn't get finger prints on the cover) I went up the street to the frozen yogurt store. Got myself some lunch, and then sat outside on their patio. And cracked open a book I'd been waiting eight months to read. Could there possibly be a better lunch hour?

Oh yeah!! More pictures!!

Jean reminded me I hadn't posted these. See, I had carefully captioned all the Parlier pictures, explaining who was in each one, and pointing out how my cousin was trying to drink water from the sprinklers the same way the dog was.....but I guess I did that in Picasa, and not with my web album, so when I loaded them to the web....there were no captions. I was so disheartened by my silly mistake, I never loaded the pictures from Anahiem. But here they are!! We had such a great weekend. Heidi and I had a fantastic time at ALA, learning about books for Tweens, and we heard some totally fantastic authors speak. And then I got to hang out with Jean and Mike! We walked for miles and miles and AB got his foot fixed. And we ate tons and tons of good food. And here are the pictures. Finally.

Awesome.

As the kids sign up for summer reading here at the library, they put their name on a yellow paper butterfly, which we then hang on the walls. We're currently surrounded by a plague of yellow butterflies. It's quite festive. I was just hanging some butterflies, a lovely Friday afternoon task, and I found myself stapling one that said........Eowyn. Nice. Eowyn's in our summer reading program this year. I'm soooo bummed I didn't get to sign that kid up.

Smoky Skies

There's a fire burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains today. South of here a ways, not near our beloved SLV. Heidi and her family can see the flames from their house, but they're still a good distance off too. The major inconvenience for those of us on the non-ocean side of the mountains today is the smoke. When I went through my kitchen this morning, I could smell it. When I got outside, it was like a campground. By the time I drove to work, which is closer to the fire, things were downright unpleasant. Our eyes are all burning today, and we've all got major sniffles. I can't imagine what it's like closer in to the fire. Must be miserable. We talked about closing the library (it smells like we've had a fire here, can't be good for books, staff or patrons) but the local schools are still open, so we figure we can't give up yet.

Mystery.....

I'm at work, getting a copy of "The Wandering Fire" ready to go out on the shelves. One of the perks of this job is that when I discover the library has made an appalling oversight in its collection, say, they own "The Darkest Road," but NOT "The Summer Tree" or "The Wandering Fire," I can take action. I can put the missing volumes in a shopping cart and they will arrive within the week. It feels good, I tell you, saving the world in this way.

Anyways, I digress.

So, I'm putting barcodes and stamps and tape on this book. It's an edition I've never seen before. I'm not wild about the cover (it's actually kind of hard to find these books these days...I didn't have the option of the cool paperback editions I own.) It's got a fire-colored unicorn/pegasus creature, a horn, stuck on a tree, a guy with antlers on his head, a cloaked lady with a red glowing ring....all in all, not that exciting.

HOWEVER, on the tree on the far right hand side....a heart has been carved, with an arrow no less, and the initials JW and DM. (No plus sign. Not JW + DM, which as we all know, is the appropriate way to carve initials in a tree...) I don't see any notes in the book about the cover illustration. I thought it might be the artist's initials... perhaps it is. I can't think of any relevant characters. Dave Martynuik. That fits. But not with JW. Jennifer Lowell, and Jaelle (who, like Madonna, apparently has no last name.) Those don't work.

I think we have to go with the artist. But I'm opening it up for discussion.

Also, I'd never read the acknowledgments. I'm bad that way. But Wandering Fire was written in New Zealand! In Whakatane. I would have made a pilgrimage, if I'd known.

My Day At Work Today

It's possible I have the coolest job ever. (Sometimes I have to remind myself.)

We used sidewalk chalk to decorate the fountain outside the library today after storytime. I took pictures for the library blog.





And since it's probably unethical to post pictures of other people's kids to your blog without asking them, I'll settle for only one (of the many) cute kid pictures I took.



I think this guy was going to go for some chalk handprints, but I didn't see how it turned out. Perhaps one of us is walking around with a little blue handprint on our backsides.

Geek Cops

Like most public libraries, we have a patron or two here that occasionally require more than just the help of librarians. Luckily, we're located right next door to the local police department, and we're in a town that has pretty low crime rate, so when we call for backup, as it were, we usually get help very quickly.

So today, I'm in the kids room, and I see one of our regular patrons involved in some sort of altercation with our pay phone. He's slamming the receiver repeatedly, and he's on "the list," (those individuals with whom we no longer engage in the dance of public service.) I call my supervisor, who comes up, assesses, and calls the police.

A few minutes later, I see the full force of our local police department in action. I'm watching through the panorama of windows in our kids room; it's like great television. First, from stage left, comes a cop in full gear, striding purposefully. He looks like he's ready to rumble. Then, following behind, like synchronized swimmers, two more police officers. I know they are police officers only because their polo shirts say "POLICE" in jaunty blue letters. They are in shorts. And they are RIDING SEGWAYS!! Rather than feeling relieved someone was here to handle the phone slammer, I had to laugh out loud at how silly they seemed.

They scooted around in peppy circles while waiting for the patron to finish his phone conversation. Was there anyone on the other end of that call? Hard to know.

I suppose, especially for here, it's good that our cops look more nerdy than threatening. I can see the advantages of it. But it's hard to imagine them segwaying down the road after someone who'd snatched a purse or something.

Because Jim posted his pictures

Here are some of the rituals we enact at the Los Gatos Public Library. I'm not totally sure if the copying and pasting of pictures is going to work well from flickr, but you can go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/losgatoslibrary/
and see some hokeying and pokeying action. And "Stay Awake Sally," which, if you haven't already read it, I'd totally recommend.

p.s. I'm going to have to speak to someone about the differences between people named "jen" and people named "jenn." :)

Addiction Update

So I've finished reading the three books in the Twilight series. And then I went through and read books one and three over again. And then I sort of sunk into a funk, pleased with how they ended, but sad that they did in fact end. Sure, they are making a movie (thanks Dad!) but I'm not at all optimistic that it'll be all that good.

Good news, though, my coworker (you remember, the one who makes up the puns?) had read only the third one, and he'd done some research on wikipedia, and it turns out, she's writing not one but TWO more books in the series. The fourth one is just what I needed (I need to see someone go from being human to being a vampire) and the fifth one is a retelling of the first one from a different perspective. So, though there's no instant gratification (well, there is one chapter from book five on Stephanie's website, so there was some small gratification instantly.) I suppose it's good to draw it out some.

However, I'm in the phase where I can't really imagine liking other books.

Still, there is hope!

I went to a class this week, or a talk, or a presentation, well, whatever...by an "expert" in Young Adult Literature. (How cool is it that this is part of my *job*! A whole day listening to someone list their favorite new books for young adults?) And he gave us a LIST! You know how I love a list! A list of things to read, really my favorite kind of list!! Want to see it? Here it is.

I've read two books from the list already. Just because, even though new books might not ever be interesting again, still, you should read them. I read "The Beautiful Miscellaneous" by Dominic Smith and "Hush" by Donna Jo Napoli (which is in the kids section at our library as of now, but I'm going to suggest we move it to teens.) Both were just okay. They had their moments, but they weren't quite enough to restore my faith and interest in the world of literature beyond Stephanie Meyer. :)

First Day

It's my first day of school! My first "first day" since 1992. Wow! I'm getting to be such a grown up kid. :)

So far, I have nothing interesting to report. I have "introduced" myself in both classes, and I have some reading I need to do. Who didn't see that coming.

Two "unique" ideas

Did anyone else run across a lot of plain old fashioned oddness this week? My two favorite examples from my week are as follows:

1) I had a woman at the circ desk try to get us to waive her fines. In and of itself, this isn't unusual, but her defense was that she was currently unemployed, and as part of her job search, she had to keep track of a floppy disk with her resume on it. So, as you see, since she had to keep track of the disk, she couldn't be expected to keep track of her library due dates. Because that would be two things to remember. Once she had a job, then she wouldn't need to remember where the floppy was, and thus, presumably, she'd have a space *open* to remember library due dates. Hopefully, her new job won't require her to remember anything, otherwise, I suppose we'll be out of luck. Again.

2) In one of the many blogs he reads, Nathan found a post from a woman who was complaining about video games causing epileptic seizures. She was the parent of an epileptic child, I think, and felt that all video games should have to prove they were seizure proof. Most of the comments were along the lines of "Look, there is a huge warning in the directions that come with the game, if you can't be bothered to read them, we can't be bothered to care about your kid." Which is what it is. My favorite part though, was someone who wrote in saying, "I am prone to seizures, and I think you should all get over it." I guess this person had been in a meeting at work, and someone had suggested they all do some *brainstorming.* Whereupon, another coworker went off about how insensitive it was to use the word *brainstorming* in a room with someone prone to seizures.

OHHHH, I laughed and laughed at that one.

Back to School

It's official, I'm going to be a student (again) in January. I'm starting to library school, at that state school near my house, though my goal is to set foot on campus as infrequently as possible. Hopefully, through the magic of those internets, and a few years of reading and writing, I'll be a really-truly librarian. I am, as they say, stoked. :)

My Cool Job

From Library Stuff

Something you may or may not know about me, is that I have a real fondness for travel guidebooks. I like to read them before I travel, I like to take them with me while I travel, I like to admire them on my shelf after I travel. Heck, sometimes I imagine purchasing travel guides for places I don't actually have a real interest in visiting. I like the idea of a place in a book. Usually there are pretty pictures. It's really the BEST things about a place in a book.

Of course, at home, I don't indulge in this obsession, except when I'm actually going somewhere specific. But at WORK, it's actually my job to tend to the travel section. Last week, I found a steal on the Lonely Planet website, and went crazy. I tried to fill all the holes in our collection. Do you see that Ukraine book in there? Greenland and the Arctic (visit now while you can!) Dubai? That's right, I ordered a book about Dubai. Trekking in East Africa? I've got you covered.

I get to spend my time today playing with my new books. I'm going to enter them into our circ system, then update them to "received," and then, I'm going to feature them in our blog.

And here are two pictures of my desk area, that I threw in because I was taking pictures.


Jean, that's my postit note board for things I need to read, watch and listen to.

Temporary Library Cat

Tuesday, when I arrived at the library, there was a cat in the building. A huge grey and white cat, patrolling the upper floor. I confirmed with one of our Circ Staffers that indeed, though it would be cool, cats were not supposed to be in the library. He was not a "seeing eye cat" of some kind. I went over to the cat, who was delighted to be picked up. He had on a tag that said "I'm an outdoor cat, and I know my way home." It also said his name was Max, and it had a phone number.

So I put Max outside, and thanked him for visiting. Max waited a moment or two, and then when a patron came through the automatic sliding doors, he followed right on in. Fearless. We debated whether to call the number on the tag, since obviously his owner knew that Max was a wanderer, and that Max would be more than able to get himself home when he wanted to leave. Someone had the brilliant idea of escorting Max out the side of the building where the doors are not automatic sliders. That was fine with Max. He lounged in a sunbeam, next to a window for awhile. The kids, of course, LOVED that there was a cat in and near the library.

Several hours passed, and then, there was Max. Downstairs now, weaving among the folks using our stand up terminals. I scooped him up again, and introduced him to our director, who is in favor of a library cat. I finally called the number on his tag, and got a voicemail box that said, "If you are calling about Max the Super Friendly Cat, his human is out of town. You can call this other number to talk to a human that knows about Max. Again, if Max has wandered into your life, call this number. If you actually wanted to talk to me, leave a message." That cracked me up. We let Max roam in the back staff area until his temporary human came and picked him up. Then I missed him the rest of the day. But I understand he has other folks to visit.

Library cats are the best.

Great Books!

I've been on a spurt of great books lately. You will have seen them over there on the right hand sidebar, in my Librarything widget, but I feel I need to tell you more about them. I feel this so strongly, that I've even written most of this post twice. Because apparently just letting Blogger autosave your message doesn't keep it in draft form. I guess you actually have to save it to save it. I wrote about most of these books on Saturday before I left work, and the message is gone! All this to say, these books are so great, I'll tell you about them twice.

My list is in reverse chronological order, so the first one I read back in Dallas, and the last one, I just put down this morning.

• The Last Summer of You and Me, by Ann Brashares -- This is the first grown up novel from the lady who wrote "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" books. Ann did a great job of getting readers inside the heads of her characters, and though I would have been even more impressed if she didn't take the easy way out of the love triangle she'd so carefully built, I still loved the story. Very well done.
• Dedication, by Emma McLaughlin and some one else -- The same two ladies who wrote "The Nanny Diaries." I loved this book, partly for the plot, who doesn't love a story where a girl with a life long obsession with a boy finally gets to be with him? But more than that, I loved the references to being a teen in the late 80's early 90's. These ladies had me at "Salon Selectives."
• The Amelia Books, by Marissa Moss -- Amelia is a grade school kid, she's an author, an artist, and bless her, an avid journal keeper. Moss has created a series of notebooks with Amelia's thoughts and her drawings, and they are funny and intelligent. And somehow Moss dumps a life lesson in each one without sounding obvious. I want to be like Amelia when I grow up.
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan -- Both of these authors have written other young adult books that I've really loved. The book alternates between Nick's perspective, all written by David, and Norah's all written by Rachel. I love stories with multiple points of view. And I love this story. One night, two people, and the sweetest edgy little love story you'll ever read. Warning, lots of profanity. But it's sweet.
• A Certain Slant of Light, by Laura Whitcomb -- This is a story about a ghost haunting a high school English classroom. Y'all know I'm not much of a ghost story person, but this was touching and only barely spooky in a few small places. As the story opens, the ghost realizes that for the first time in 130 years, someone can actually see her. And, another bonus, this book totally did not end the way I thought it would.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling -- Plenty of hype around this book, last of a seven part series. I think I liked taking part in something like literary history almost more than I liked the book itself. But, all good things must end and all that. It was still a good read. And Hermione rocks. Obviously, I recommend this for folks who've read the others. For non-Harry Potter fans, I'll just add this to demonstrate the sweep of good books I've been reading.
• The Uglies Trilogy, by Scott Westerfeld -- I checked out this series after seeing the wait list for it at the library. And because it has a pretty cover. In a future version of the world, everyone gets an operation when they turn 16 that makes them stunningly gorgeous. Of course, as it turns out, it also makes you a bit slow witted. Rats. I've read Uglies and Pretties, and I'm waiting anxiously for my turn with the last volume, "Specials."
• The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron -- This is the Newberry winner that raised such a fuss 'cause it has the word "scrotum" on the first page. Somehow I managed to overlook that travesty and enjoy this book heartily. I'd recommend it in audio format, especially, since the reader does such a good job. Lucky reminds me a bit of Ramona, and her friends are quite likeable. The residents of Hard Pan, CA remind me of the characters you'd find in a Barbara Kingsolver novel.
• Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke -- Okay, I'm cheating with this one, because I'm not even halfway through it, but it's wonderful. It's Gabriel Garcia Marquez meets that artist I like, Michael Parkes. It's about a girl who's father is a bookbinder who has the unfortunate gift of bringing people and things out of books just by reading them aloud. And you really, really should listen to it as an audio book. Lynn Redgrave does a splendid job of reading this story. It has one of my new all time favorite characters, Meggie's aunt Eleanor, who is wonderful. She's like Farmer Maggot telling off the Black Riders. That's another thing I love about this book. When Meggie is leaving her home, she suspects for a long time, she packs up only her most-favoritist books ever. One of them is the Lord of the Rings. You have to like book characters who like your favorite books, don't you. I think this one will become an all-time life favorite. Though I've still got two and a half books to go.
  
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My Favorite Marathon and Tidal Waves

Ah, blog friends, I'm sorry that for the most part you live too far away to come to a movie marathon. But we did have a great one this last weekend. We started at 10 a.m., a little later than we intended, and it lasted until one in the morning. Sarah wins a prize for being the only guest to make it through all three movies, but both Lisa and N.S.L. arrived not far into The Two Towers.

It had been SO LONG since I'd seen the movies. Even little bits of the movies. I mean, at one point, I was watching some part of the movies almost daily, and it had been probably close to 18 months since I'd seen any of them. There was stuff in there I felt like I'd never seen before. Lines that seemed completely new. AND, this time through, there was the bonus of being able to say "We were THERE!" when we saw familiar bits of New Zealand.

Oh, and we had good food!! Gina stopped by and dropped off HOMEMADE donuts! Donuts, the traditional food of Bastille Day of course. Nathan and I had made homemade ice cream. There were Toll House cookie bars. I made an enchilada casserole. We had dips and chips and salsa. Sooooo much good food.

The best part though was the thoughtful discussion that came up. The Teos had some great questions about Middle Earth. "So, if orcs are descended from elves, are they also immortal?" or "If Gandalf is somewhat super-human, a Maia, how come he couldn't kick Saruman's fesse in the first movie?" or "How would Aragorn and Arwen have kids, if they aren't the same race?" I mean, these are the questions of TRUE Tolkien dorks. Between Sarah and I and Nathan searching the Encyclopedia of Arda, we came up with the answers.

I've spent every free moment since watching the commentary on ROTK. I'd never watched it before. How is this possible, I ask you. Or if I'd watched it, I'd forgotten it. But there's a bit in there about the dream of the tidal wave that Faramir has in the book, and that Eowyn has in the movie. Turns out it was Tolkien himself who originally had the dream. I'd known this at one point, but forgotten it, so I got to have the "Whoa. That's so cool!" moment all over again. I remembered we'd had a great email exchange about this. I've also had tidal wave dreams in the past and found them oddly relevant. And there are some interesting allusions to tidal wave dreams in other things I've read. I'm including our previous conversations here, because I find us so interesting. This'll be long.

Ah, technology. I've used my Google webspace and put it all on it's own little page.

Two things:
1) I got so engrossed in this project that I forgot to go upstairs and tell the knitters that their Knitting Librarian was out sick today. Argh.
2) I'd forgotten that we used to use the fact that Jim took Greek as a general Trump Card of Geekiness. "Oh yeah? You think I just did something chart worthy? Well, you took Greek!" (Jean, kind of a "You like Keeler!" moment.) But you know what Jim? Jean also took Greek.