Shelf Check

Shelf Check Turns 500: Best of the First 500: Sheep & Margaritas

2012-01-23T10:35:00.002-06:00

Shelf Check turns 500 today! Below are my favorites from the first 500 strips (you can view non-flash version here).

BEST OF THE FIRST 500 by poesygalore | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

500 feels like it calls for a celebration. So here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to get me this Folkmanis sheep I've had my eye on, and I'm going to take it out for 2-for-1 margaritas at Pancho Villa. If you've enjoyed Shelf Check, already have a PayPal account, and would like to contribute (no more than) one dollar to this celebration, my email address is elloyd74@gmail.com , and that would be delightful. Thanks for sticking with the strip (and me, Jan, and Dave) through periods prolific and far-less-so. Cheers!

Shelf Check #500

2012-01-23T10:18:00.000-06:00

ALA Youth Media Awards results

Shelf Check #499

2012-01-20T18:15:00.001-06:00

Clay Shirky on SOPA and PIPA

Shelf Check #498

2012-01-16T12:05:00.000-06:00

Shelf Check #497

2012-01-02T08:57:00.000-06:00

Prezi

Shelf Check #496

2011-12-28T22:26:00.002-06:00

Shelf Check #495

2011-12-28T20:00:00.000-06:00

Shelf Check #494

2011-12-17T13:16:00.011-06:00

"Hey girl. I like the library, too."

2011-12-07T06:52:00.001-06:00

If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss the Librarian Hey Girl Tumblr, a new take on the meme that started with Feminist Ryan Gosling. Some choice examples:

Shelf Check #493

2011-11-26T08:50:00.002-06:00

"Penguin Suspends E-Book Availability to Libraries"--NYT

Shelf Check #492

2011-11-18T06:35:00.002-06:00

Shelf Check #491

2011-11-17T08:25:00.000-06:00

Neiman Marcus, The Christmas Book, Assouline Custom-Built Library Fantasy Gift
Relatedly: Shelf Check #470

Shelf Check #490

2011-11-15T12:44:00.000-06:00

Kobo's Reading Life with Pulse

Shelf Check #489

2011-10-12T06:59:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #488

2011-09-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #487

2011-09-28T07:04:00.000-05:00

Banned Books Week: Shel Silverstein

2011-09-26T13:14:00.000-05:00

Banned Books Week

[an oldie, #97, freshly tweaked]

Shelf Check #486

2011-09-23T07:38:00.001-05:00

Banned Books Week 2011 starts tomorrow, 9/24

Shelf Check #485

2011-09-21T09:53:00.001-05:00

PETA Plans to launch Porn Website to Promote Animal Rights

Shelf Check #484

2011-09-19T09:59:00.004-05:00

Previously on the Berman Scale: Shelf Check 379

The Lover's Dictionary, by David Levithan

"Love the cataloger; hate the catalog" magnet

UPDATE: the subject heading at WorldCat included "man-woman relationships" this morning. That's gone now, and it's just "Couples--fiction." Hooray! via Catalogablog

Shelf Check #483

2011-09-17T16:40:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #482

2011-09-15T07:45:00.000-05:00

What Will Amazon's "Netflix for Books" Do To Libraries? (Publisher's Weekly)

Great Digital Expectations (The Economist) (and a follow-up/correction to BILLY bookcase story)

An oldie for James & the Giant Peach's 50th Anniversary

2011-09-08T07:40:00.000-05:00

Just learned this morning that 2011 is the 50th Anniversary of James and the Giant Peach (more at Follow That Peach). Banned Books Week 2011 starts on Sept 24.

Shelf Check #481

2011-08-29T22:28:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #480

2011-08-28T23:14:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #479

2011-08-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #478

2011-06-15T07:44:00.000-05:00

Go the F*ck to Sleep (Wikipedia)

15 Years Ago/Today

2011-06-13T11:40:00.001-05:00

Via the Newsweek Tumblr, and apparently originally by Peter from Toronto:

I'd add "visiting the library".

Shelf Check #477

2011-06-04T11:15:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #476

2011-06-01T07:28:00.002-05:00

Shelf Check #475

2011-04-05T08:31:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #474

2011-03-10T22:49:00.001-06:00

Judgmental Bookseller Ostrich

2011-02-25T07:50:00.000-06:00

I've been in Learn mode more than Make mode, but want to share Judgmental Bookseller Ostrich, pointed out to me this morning by my friend Will Callahan:

[more Judgemental Bookseller Ostrich]

Shelf Check #473

2011-02-07T08:55:00.001-06:00

"Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" (excerpt from Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother)

Shelf Check #472

2011-02-01T10:36:00.001-06:00

Shelf Check #471

2011-01-17T20:06:00.002-06:00

Babies, Coworking Spaces, "Member" v "Customer" and User Experience

2011-01-17T09:31:00.038-06:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking and questioning about the future of public libraries and, obviously, not a lot of comic-writing. Some of the questions that keeps coming up for me are

Will the babies in today's baby storytime bring their babies to storytime at the library?

Should storytime be offered, like shows at a museum, every hour on the hour, every day?

What will storytime in 2021 look like?

--------

Another question:

Should a portion of the library building be rebranded and promoted as the ideal coworking space?

I follow a listserv for my neighborhood, and folks are often looking for coworking spaces (to rent) and others to cowork with. Plenty of people already run their small businesses from or do their freelance work at the library, but entirely independently, without the quietly social, communal feeling that it seems those who are looking for coworking spaces crave. Could we fashion a "coworking area," much the way we fashion teen and children's areas, in the library? And aggressively, cleverly promote it as a "coworking space--but better," because workers in the library will have access to on-site librarians who can help them with database searches, etc?

---------

Customers, Members, and UX:

I was listening to the Seattle Public Library's podcast of a panel discussion called "The User Experience in the 21st Century Library" (scroll) last night and it got me thinking how the simple use of "member" for library users could contribute to a more positive UX than "customer."

I am a customer at the gas station, the grocery store, the dry cleaners, and (according to the library system I use) the library. To be a customer is to be someone who wants or needs something and pays for it. It's transaction-based, not relationship-based (though I might feel something more like a relationship when I am a "regular customer" or "one of our best customers"). I don't really choose to be a customer--I have no choice but to be one (I can't make all the stuff I need to live, at least not where I live now). So I can't say I'm proud to be a customer. It's not something I think of as part of my identity. It's not something I am all the time--just when I need something. I shake off my customerhood the second an individual transaction is complete. Until I need something again, I won't be a customer. Until I need something from you again, I won't be your customer.

To be a member is to have joined something, to have decided you want to be a part of something, part of a community. I think this is true both for paid memberships and (essentially) free memberships. The few times I have briefly held a membership to a gym (paid), I felt like a member when I walked in and my membership card was scanned, not "just" a customer. I was part of a community of people who worked out there, and part of a community of people who had decided that working out was a good idea. I was proud to be a member, because it meant something about me, as would being a member of a certain church, political organization, community of folks who support the same arts organization, etc. Being a member of this or that is, if only a little, but often a lot, part of my identity. I am a member of an organization even when I am not doing something directly related to that organization: I am always a member.

When I walk into a place where I am a customer, I am already harried. I have a specific thing to accomplish, obstacle-like, and I want to accomplish it and get the heck out. When I walk into a place where I am a member, my breathing relaxes. I might have a task to accomplish, but my mindset is different. I'm in a shared space, not at a pit stop. (Someone on the Seattle podcast says "A member has rights...and responsibilities." Yes.)

Sometimes the switch from using "customer" to using something warmer is too ridiculous to swallow. I will never, no matter how many times I am referred to as one, feel like a "guest" at Target. But I think it possible that a customer who hasn't visited the library in a while might question why we "still" need libraries, and a member who hasn't visited the library in a while might argue for why we do.

When articles on public library systems and budgets appear online of late, there always seems to be at least one commenter who asks why s/he--who does not use the library--should have to pay for "poor" or "cheap" people to get "CDs and internet" at "The Free Store". Though s/he may have a library card tucked away somewhere that hasn't been used in years, that commenter doesn't feel like a member of the library. S/he feels like someone who is not a customer at a store.

I don't work at The Free Store. You can ask me to call the people I assist customers, but I want them to have the best user experience possible. I want them to feel like, and be, members.

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-22T07:35:00.000-06:00

Shelf Check #470

2010-11-29T10:33:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving week oldie:

2010-11-22T08:07:00.001-06:00

"Good Books About Thanksgiving" (American Indians in Children's Literature)

Shelf Check #469

2010-11-18T08:49:00.001-06:00

Some colleagues and I were admiring San José Public Library's new web site the other day. Then, yesterday, I came across the Librarian in Black's post about it, which included this shocking, wonderful information:

"*Every single staff member at SJPL has been asked and empowered to create blog posts for the new site. That means everyone. No limiting by classification, specialization, or degree-holding nonsense. We’re all smart. We all have things we know about and want to share with our library users. We currently have over 300 staff set up to create content and I couldn’t be happier.

*Content is not pre-moderated by any web staff. When staff click “Save,” it goes up. And rightly so.

*We offer commenting as a function on almost every part of our site, and user comments are not pre-moderated either. Again, rightly so."

Congrats to all who worked on the site, with extra kudos to SJPL's web librarian, Nate Hill, who the Librarian in Black credits with the design--it's fantastic (and, for the record, also splendid on an iPad). I love the non-policing policy and radical trust, too.

Serving Our GLBTQ Customers (link to PowerPoint)

2010-11-17T13:12:00.008-06:00

I gave my first presentation ever to people older than high school age this morning!

Here are the slides: Serving Our GLBTQ Customers

Shelf Check #468

2010-11-15T08:45:00.000-06:00

Shelf Check #467

2010-11-12T07:33:00.000-06:00

Shelf Check #466

2010-11-08T10:37:00.001-06:00

Shelf Check #465

2010-11-05T07:23:00.002-05:00

Shelf Check #464

2010-11-04T07:14:00.000-05:00

Embedding Shelf Check: Scroll or No Scroll?

2010-11-03T11:57:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: OK, SCROLL WILL CEASE IMMEDIATELY. You've convinced me that hitting CTRL-+ (PCs) or Command+ (Macs) to enlarge if necessary is preferable to having no choice but to scroll. Thanks for the feedback--I should've asked earlier!

Embedding options have multiplied since I first started writing Shelf Check. I usually use the one that necessitates scrolling, because that way the text is easier to read:

...but there's also an "Auto-Fit" embed code, which makes the above strip appear like this:

By poesygalore | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

The scroll option doesn't work on iPads--you have to tap through to view the full strip at ToonDoo. The no-scroll option makes the text tiny, and I tend to be wordy, so larger text that fits is out. Most of me would rather err on the side of accessibility (larger text), but I know the scroll's annoying and might sometimes lessen a strip's impact. Any readers out there have a strong preference either way?

Happy 11th, LISNews!

2010-11-03T06:42:00.003-05:00

By poesygalore | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Blogs, wikis, projects, and comics have hot and cold streaks and come and go. LISNews, not so much. The go-to library news site turned 11 yesterday. I don't know a librarian who doesn't read it daily. On more than one occasion I've learned about things happening in my own library neighborhood from LISNews before I've heard about them from a local source. Happy Birthday, LISNews, and thank you, LISNews regulars--and especially Blake--for all that you do to keep libraryfolk informed and entertained.

Shelf Check #463

2010-11-02T09:30:00.001-05:00

By poesygalore | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

"What to Expect When You're Expecting" Heading to the Big Screen (Popwatch)

"Can you help me find my polling place?"

2010-11-01T09:12:00.000-05:00

A 2008 rerun for U.S. election day eve:

Shelf Check #462

2010-11-01T09:07:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #461

2010-10-30T08:48:00.002-05:00

Jump Rope with a Muslim

The Social Physical Library: fostering connections & giving patrons a reason to come inside

2010-10-28T08:51:00.001-05:00

[PROSE ALERT]

The fate of the library's physical space in a digital era often comes up in discussions of libraries' futures. At times, I've found that future physical space hard to visualize, outside of less shelves and neato computers and funky sleek study spaces, etc. (like Dave's fairly standard vision in the most recent strip). I've found it hard to imagine why people getting most of their books/movies/music/reference service through the library's digital branch will come into the library building, unless they don't have their own computers or are coming for storytime (a social experience I think folks will continue to find valuable for a longer while).

This morning, I thought of a reason patrons might come inside. A way to make a visit to the library full of potential for them every time they walk in the door. A "you never know what you might find" kind of a thing. A way to build community, foster local connections, empower our users to learn new things, and accomplish this all--perhaps most importantly, these days--on the cheap.

People love making online connections (Facebook, Twitter), but they want local connections, too--that's why we see Twitter apps to find local people to follow (and resulting tweet-ups), dating apps to let you know if someone single that might be a good match for you is in the same coffee shop as you right now, and to some degree, the success of Foursquare (where you can see who frequently visits the same physical spaces you do). But, while you can freely start chatting with someone local via Twitter, you don't usually feel as free to strike up a conversation with a stranger in physical space. We assume people are on social software sites/using social apps to be social, and it makes them easier to approach, especially if we see we have mutual interests. In person, we have no way of knowing if anyone else in the building is also a big China Mieville fan or also writes Modern Family fanfic or also wants to learn Tagalog, unless by some chance we both have the same phone, use the same apps, and are currently using those apps--and even then we have no way of knowing whether they'd like to talk to or work or study with someone else in person right now.

One of my library system's objectives is to serve as a gathering place. Our mission is to "nourish minds, change lives, and build community together." I know many libraries have similar missions. One way libraries strive to build community is by offering programs--lectures, YouTube viewing nights, open mic poetry readings. Folks come together and hang out with their neighbors with similar interests (if only passively, while listening to a lecture in the same room together). The thing with events, though, is that people have to a)hear about them, usually in advance b)remember to come to them (if they're still in the mood), etc. They also c)usually require a significant amount of planning on the part of library staff, and perhaps even some money.

What if (in addition to these events) there were neat, social, community-building opportunities for patrons to engage in whenever they happened to step foot in the library? That didn't require planning on the library's part, or remembering on the patrons' part? That were targeted to their own individual interests? That fostered connections between them and their neighbors? That made stopping by the library just to see what's up in the building worthwhile, as opposed to only using the digital branch? That helped people to learn and to better use our resources and our spaces?

Here's what I'm thinking: a living, updated-in-real-time site (somewhat like Twitter or Foursquare in the way it works--and it would need IM capabilities built in), ideally displayed prominently on a large screen in the lobby/entrance, but workable even if it was just on the web via a link on the library's home page (that automatically loads when you use the library computers, and that wireless users can choose to load). The page's content:

Who's Here? (and what are they doing?)

The large prominent screen (almost like a flight status screen at an airport) would be nice because most of us are curious--even if we're just dashing in to the library, not logging on to a computer, we'd glance at the screen to check it out, then maybe find something we want to stay for. You'd automatically look at it when you walked in the door.

But, for cheapness, for budget-cut times, let's say it's just a site or page or "living bulletin board" or whatever would be the most apt word (it won't catch the eye of the dashers-in, but will still attract those who sit down and log in). In college libraries since way back when, there have been whiteboards or blackboards in the lobby where students can leave messages for their friends (I'm in study room A, 3rd floor). This digital page/board could also be a way to leave messages for friends, but, more importantly, it would provide a way to leave messages/invitations for strangers. Fellow patrons, but not necessarily even acquaintances yet.

Patrons can create user names and leave "statuses" if they're interested in connecting with other patrons in the library. You wouldn't log in if you didn't want to be bothered, or didn't want to let people to know you're in the library: you'd only use it if and when you wanted to.

I'm envisioning content like this:

member: burbuja
right now: working quietly, but interested in practicing my Spanish conversation skills. Message me if you are, too, and we can have an informal conversation circle

member: gwangai
right now: reading aloud to my kids in picture book area because we missed today's storytime. Here with your kids? Come on over and we can have our own spontaneous storytime--more the merrier!

member: oliogirl
right now: cramming 4 Moudry's chem midterm. If u r 2 and want a study buddy, holla

member: bellzy98
right now: anyone here have protractor and compass w/them that I could borrow for a few min? Msg me

member: jacksonp
right now: working on my blog about ham radio stuff. Feel free to contact if interested in blog/forming group

member: utherdoul
right now: chess in teen area, anyone?

member: newjillcity
right now: drafting biz plan for my potential new small business. would love to talk to anyone who's done this before or is a running a local small business, to share tips and strategies

member: elloyd74
right now: I bet I can beat you at Boggle

What excites me about this is that unlike, for ex., on Craigslist, you wouldn't have to look for someone to practice Spanish with, contact them, make an appointment and settle on a place, and then meet them there: you're already in the place--your library. Sure, there might not be anyone there that day that wants to practice Spanish. You might not find a connection every time. But some days there will be, or there might be someone who didn't know she wanted to practice her Spanish until she noticed that someone else in the library wanted to--the availability of the option might awaken the dormant or idle interest. Key words: spontaneity, serendipity, community.

I think this could work really well at academic libraries and busy publics, and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard to design and implement. What do you think? Has anyone heard of a library doing anything like this?

Shelf Check #460

2010-10-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

A Library Designed for the Post-Print Era (article at Fast Company's Co.Design)

Shelf Check #459

2010-10-26T07:31:00.000-05:00

Amazon to Sell Short-Form "Singles" for Kindle (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Shelf Check #458

2010-10-22T11:08:00.002-05:00

Publishers Association Sets Out Restrictions on Library E-book Lending (UK) (thebookseller.com)

Shelf Check #457

2010-10-21T07:51:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #456

2010-10-18T08:59:00.001-05:00

Mashable: URL Shortener Bit.ly Now Generates QR Codes, Too

Shelf Check #455

2010-10-16T21:14:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #454

2010-10-14T20:03:00.004-05:00

Amazon Launches "Bookstore Killer" App (Joe. My. God.)

Shelf Check #453

2010-10-13T08:19:00.003-05:00

Teen Read Week: October 17-October 23 (ALA)

Shelf Check #452

2010-10-05T10:02:00.002-05:00

Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science

My Video for the It Gets Better Project

2010-10-03T20:30:00.001-05:00

[one more cross-post from Poesy Galore--then back to the usual :)]

(some images modified after borrowing from the generous

Flickr Free Use and CreAtive ComMonS (All Free Stuff) pools)

Being Visibly Queer-Friendly: Please Consider It

2010-10-02T10:46:00.005-05:00

[cross-posted from Poesy Galore]

Six GLBTQ teen suicides were reported in the month of September. Six that we know of. Six that made the news.

I urge you, if you work with kids in a library or school or afterschool program or religious organization, to please consider wearing something (or posting something in your office, if kids visit you there) all the time that identifies you as GLBTQ-friendly. At 36, out since 18, I still feel a little lift (and gratitude) when I see a rainbow sticker on a car or posted in a shop window (or, for that matter, a queer magazine with all the other magazines in a library). It still makes a difference to me.

When I was 17, in 1992, a professor of mine wore a pro-GLBTQ button on his bag, and seeing it made my heart beat faster. I bought one and wore it (this was a button that simply said that the wearer supported GLBTQ rights--not that the wearer was GLBTQ) from my dorm room all the way to the bathroom. Then another girl opened the bathroom door, and I turned red and ripped it off before she’d even seen it, and buried it in a drawer back in my room, and even then worried that my roommate would find it when I was out of the room. Just conjuring up that moment for some weird reason makes me feel scared enough, now, to need to pee. I couldn’t wear the button yet (when I came out a year later, things went a bit too far the other way: I hardly had one piece of clothing that didn’t have some kind of queer slogan on it)—but it made a difference, however small, that someone I knew and respected—the professor—could wear it without blinking or even mentioning it, like it was perfectly normal.

I remember that dark swirling feeling I had in high school and the first year of college before I came out, the feeling that if people knew who I was that their stares would crumble my body to dust. I remember blushing a lot, and feeling my stomach sink a lot, and feeling hunted and baited by the few people (I think it was only a few) who suspected. I remember feeling ice cold when I walked by their lockers. I remember feeling like my sexuality was the source of their deepest amusement, their most hilarious joke among themselves. That they daily looked forward to that moment when I would pass by and they could make me pay for who I was, if only with their eyes and cruel, knowing grins.

I was never openly, loudly bullied, and I never had more than three or four people who made me feel bad. I’m trying to imagine what it feels like to have a huge portion of your school—including adults at your school—enjoy making you feel bad, ashamed, sick (that’s right--not just making you feel bad, but enjoying it, thriving on it, feeling a little thrill when you walk by or when they think of some new clever way to attack or hurt you). And then going home and having their intolerance follow you onto Facebook or Myspace or in texts to your phone. Bullying without borders.

As GLBTQ rights are slowly won, each generation of GLBTQ people tends to think that it's easier for the new one coming up. I know I've been guilty of thinking "Well, if I was 11 in 2010 instead of 1985, I'd have come out at 11." In 1985, I didn't even have a vocabulary to describe who I was--I honestly didn't know what "gay" or "lesbian" even meant. In 2010, most kids know what it means. And they see successful, out, unashamed GLBTQ folk, at least on TV. And maybe their schools have GSAs, though I’m sure some kids are afraid to attend meetings (I know I would’ve been—my siblings went to the same school. I might’ve been ready for a GSA, but I wasn’t ready for my family knowing I was interested in one). But perhaps there's a mistake in thinking this stuff makes it easier.

In addition to seeing Ellen and Kurt on Glee, today’s GLBTQ teens are also seeing GLBTQ rights discussed almost every day in the media. Eat breakfast. Wait to see if the country decides folks like you are allowed to be in the military. Pop a Diet Coke. See a photo of Fred Phelps picketing funerals with a “FAG BURN IN HELL” sign. Take a bus. See a campaign ad arguing that you should never be allowed to marry. Right at that moment when change seems to be accelerating--a biracial president! Gay marriage legal in Iowa!--is when we see a huge backlash against the change. People that were passively racist/homophobic/etc become actively so. People, goaded by anger and irresponsible politicians, somehow feel it's okay to make remarks they wouldn't have made before. Hatred in the air and on the airwaves trickles down to kids. Opinions get magnified into passions and crusades.

And there are parts of being a queer adolescent that, even when role models are available and rights are won, are humbling. So entrenched is the default assumption that everyone is straight that straight kids don't have to come out to their parents. And coming out, as long as GLBTQ folks are considered "lesser" (and discussions of sex between generations are considered taboo) in the U.S., isn't easy--even to accepting parents. For one, you usually know your orientation before you're ready for your parents to think of you as a sexual being. And when an 11-yr-old girl tells her parents she has a crush on a boy, they don't respond, "How can you know you're straight when you're only 11?" Queer 11-yr-olds are regularly told they can't possibly know who they are yet. Finally, as long as GLBTQ folks are considered lesser, you might have the feeling that you're disappointing your family, letting them down by being queer, giving them one more thing to have to "deal" with. This is not a great sensation to be running around with as a young teenager.

We can help young queer kids by knowing about things like the It Gets Better project, I'm From Driftwood, and The Trevor Project--and promoting them through posters or buttons or bumper stickers, so kids can see and learn about them without having to ask for them (which they might not be ready to do). We can also help by visibly wearing a button on our lanyards or bags that identifies us as queer-friendly. Kids will notice, even if they don't yet feel comfortable approaching you to talk about it. I wear a "Be Proud at Your Library" button on my lanyard that I whipped up at Zazzle. It costs $1.45 to get a button from Zazzle. They're easy to make. Consider making one--or customizing the one I've linked to (you can change text to "school" or whatever fits your situation)--and wearing it. Bumper stickers are a little more expensive at Zazzle, with a base price of $3.99. I made the below and ordered one. You can also make shirts, stickers, posters, and more. Note: before buying anything from Zazzle, check at RetailMeNot for promotional coupon codes--Zazzle regularly offers them.

Why buttons and bumper stickers? I think it's extremely important to be visibly queer-friendly out in the world, especially in less metropolitan areas. Some kids aren't ready to attend GSA meetings, and some may even shy away from watching queer-friendly YouTube videos if it's on their home (or even a library) computer. Seeing a car pass by with a friendly sticker while your mom's driving you to your piano lesson doesn't require a kid to pursue anything: it just happens. And we need to reach (and not judge) kids who aren't ready to pursue anything, but may be comforted by seeing a queer-friendly face (or bumper).

Please consider making or buying and wearing or posting something that identifies you as a GLBTQ-friendly adult, and passing this post on or writing your own. We are needed.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE: It Gets Better Project by shelfcheck

Shelf Check #451

2010-09-28T08:19:00.002-05:00

This Guy Thinks SPEAK is Pornography (Laurie Halse Anderson)

Shelf Check #450

2010-09-27T10:18:00.002-05:00

FYI: In 2008, Jamie LaRue posted the contents of a letter he'd written in response to a patron's request that Uncle Bobby's Wedding be removed from the picture book area (it's cataloged as a picture book in LaRue's system). The letter is polite, well-considered, careful, concerned, solidly argued, and awesome. You can read it here.

Shelf Check #449

2010-09-26T08:46:00.004-05:00

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Why Were You Banned? (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Banned Books Week 2010

Image Generators for Library Displays

2010-09-24T09:21:00.004-05:00

I've been slogging through the hundreds of "saved to read/bookmark later" posts in my doomed Bloglines account and came across this faux newscast generator, which seems ideal for Banned Books Week (replace Dave & Jan with staff photo?):

Tuxpi [Photo Effect: Newscast]

We've used free online image generators from time to time at my branch to beef up ye olde 8 1/2" x 11" book display sign in the Lucite frame. This license plate generator helped for a display of Minnesota Book Award-winning books last Spring--

ACME License Maker

--and this highway sign maker for an audio book display in summer 2009:

Highway Sign Maker

The black top and bottom, "Traffic," and "It's better with audio" and were added in Picnik, a simple but quality (and free) online image editor. Some image generators automatically add a stamp with the generator's URL ("sign-generator.net," etc.), and you can crop them out quickly in Picnik.

We haven't used the Magic 8 Ball Maker yet, but I think it might work for a teen area bulletin board, or on the teen portion of a library site (frame and text added in Picnik):

Magic 8 Ball Maker

Then there's the classic receipt maker--

Custom Receipt Maker

--and the Garbage Pail Kids generator (possibly not too library-display-friendly):

Public domain images make good sign inspiration, too. My genius coworker Marni (also responsible for our Eden Prairie Library by the Numbers Display, which was great for bringing home what the library accomplishes during a budget crisis) used some in my favorite book display signs from this year:

---

More image generator sources: The Generator Blog, Custom Sign Generator (lots of good ones, lots more not-so-good ones), ACME Laboratories, Image Chef (small, don't enlarge well), RedKid

Shelf Check #448

2010-09-13T21:24:00.002-05:00

Religious Search Engines Yield Tailored Results (NPR)

I'mHalal
Jewogle
SeekFind

Shelf Check #447

2010-09-13T11:48:00.004-05:00

"Pentagon Aims to Buy Up Book" (Washington Post)

Shelf Check #446

2010-09-10T09:03:00.002-05:00

(click to hear Hole's "Violet")

Shelf Check #445

2010-09-09T18:45:00.002-05:00

Google Instant Predictions from A-Z (Mashable)

Shelf Check #444

2010-09-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

"Multicultural": not a genre. Again.

2010-09-08T20:17:00.005-05:00

Still no new toon--just feeling kind of brain-beat this week. But this rerun is for my colleague JC, who was hit hard with requests for "multicultural books" today (first week of high school in our town):

[Says JC: "To all the teachers out there sending their students to the public library for a book, please, for the love of God, "multi-cultural" is NOT a genre. What is multi-cultural to me is someone else's culture and to call it multi-cultural is insulting. Be specific! To the white kid, the East Indian kid and the Somali kid all standing in front of me, I say what? 3 books on Inuits, here you go."]

Banned Books Week: a few oldies

2010-09-05T07:30:00.003-05:00

Banned Books Week 2010 is coming up on September 25, and a coworker and I recently compiled a display of banned and challenged books. Another coworker, spotting A Light in the Attic on the display, asked what on earth Shel Silverstein's books had been challenged over. The answer? Cannibalism!

Here are a couple Banned Books Week Shelf Check oldies:

Response to "The Master’s Degree Misperception, Ctd."

2010-09-04T17:40:00.009-05:00

Via Twitter, Andy Woodworth directed me to his response to my response to The Master's Degree Misperception, which I respond to now below. Tomorrow: maybe a comic!

----

I understand what Andy was getting at in discussing image--how librarians are perceived. I think "I didn't go to library school to end up having to [fill in the blank]" is never a good way to phrase it. No one goes through pregnancy to end up having to clean up baby puke, but it happens. A lot. It's not the reason you had a baby, but it's part of the job, especially if you're short-staffed. I think the impression some people have that "librarian" is not a job you need a master's for, though, might come less from having witnessed a librarian help with a copier, and more from the general public just having no idea what librarians do, especially NOW--now that there are computers and databases and more than just books and quiet. There is still a widespread assumption that librarians get to read books at work, and that libraries are peaceful places to work.

Folks having no idea what librarians do is similar to the image problem I think we work harder and focus more on, which is folks having no idea what libraries offer. We market our programs and offerings and there are still people coming into libraries wondering how much a library card costs, or shocked that our computer classes are free, or that with a library card they can access thousands of full-text journals and magazines from home. We do our best to publicize what we offer. And, if it bothers us that folks think librarians don't need degrees, than it is on us to publicize the degreed-level work we do.

Unfortunately, the general public is not as likely as we are to spend hours at the Library Day in the Life wiki reading up on all the different ways to be a librarian and all the different projects on which librarians work. So how do we publicize what we do?

----

That's a question I need to think about more. The other I think Andy's asking is, "What should degreed librarians be doing?" What should their work days look like, etc. If you're a degreed librarian and don't think you should be working the ref desk, helping with copiers, etc., then the ideal thing to do is to find a job where that's not required of you. A large number (a majority?) of the folks who participate in Library Day in the Life are not working ref desks, so we know these positions exist (though we also know that, right now, both these AND ref desk positions are hard to find).

Andy got two different kinds of angry response yesterday (and some happy and relieved responses, too). There was my kind: I felt it was implied that having an MLS automatically, by definition, makes one better equipped to perform certain tasks--and makes one more deserving of opportunities to perform them. The latter (deserving) I can swallow more easily. The first I disagree with (key words: automatically, by definition).

Others were angry because they felt like Andy was saying that some work was beneath him (really, beneath degreed librarians, but it read kind of personally), but not beneath them (this was not what bothered me about the post). If it had been phrased, "I wish my daily work was more challenging, and more related to what I studied," it probably wouldn't have hit folks the way it did. If it had been phrased, "I need my daily work to be more challenging, and more related to what I studied," then more people may have been moved to respond with practical advice, which sounds to me like what he may have wanted: "What should we [the degreed] do?" It's a good question. I think it is valuable to have degreed librarians working the ref desk, but yes, many inquiries do not entail challenging work. To me, that's just part of the job. I imagine that rote, non-intellectually-engaging tasks make up part of the days of neurosurgeons, architects, college professors, and so on, too. I think Andy is saying that maybe that shouldn't be part of the job if you have an MLS--that it would be great if the ref desk had the equivalent of Gmail's new Priority inbox, and filtered and forwarded the less quotidian tasks to the degreed librarian. The trouble to patrons is that having someone say, "Let me call a librarian out to work with you" slows down the transaction and makes it less seamless. The librarian has to trundle out from the back room where s/he has been working on more intellectual stuff, the patron has to restate his or her inquiry, etc. Maybe this should be the case. Andy argues that it hurts the image of librarians when librarians are seen helping with copiers instead of on inquiries like these, and this approach would make librarians seem more "special," somehow. It does seem nonsensical, though--although I know some unions require it--to call a librarian out if the paraprofessional on the desk is perfectly capable of fielding even the more complicated inquiries. If you've got knowledgeable paraprofessionals, you (the librarian) might never or only very rarely be called out to the desk (perhaps about as often as one turns to a print reference source). That presents its own image problem: for who are you then? If you're not out there often, you know less about the needs of the community, and they know even less about what you do and how you do it. They might even (shudder!) start to think of the paraprofessionals they see daily, and who after all can answer 98% of their questions, as the branch's "librarians."

It could be that the library jobs that allow one to use one's "master's degree brain" are ones that just don't involve working with the public that much. What to do if you want to use that brain but DO have to work with the public that much? I guess, try to bring an ok attitude to the mundane stuff (so you don't feel miserable), and think and write and design and implement and present and, also, do what Andy's already doing: engaging that brain not just at a local branch level, but on an international stage like this internet of ours. If you are not given opportunities to shine and think hard at work, you can make them to shine and think hard online, and this might help somewhat in terms of wondering how one's really using one's degree on a daily basis when one feels mired in printer troubleshooting. Maybe blogging at the award-winning Agnostic, Maybe; spearheading a campaign to get Ben & Jerry's to have a library-themed flavor, running #andypoll on Twitter, and so on, are the ways in which one uses one's library degree. I know it hurts (annoys, bores) one to not be able to use it as much as one would like at one's place of work, but at least we do have this space in which to think and ("unofficially," and without pay) contribute to the profession and do the kind of work we want, need, or--as I hear in Andy's tone in both posts--feel we "have a right" or "deserve" to do.

Shelf Check #443

2010-09-03T12:18:00.002-05:00

Apple: iTunes: Ping (at Apple)

Response to "The Master's Degree Misperception"

2010-09-03T07:59:00.019-05:00

It is exceptionally rare that I get offended enough by a librar* blog post to respond to it with more than pulling a coworker over and saying, "Get a load of this," but Andy Woodworth's The Master's Degree Misperception at Agnostic, Maybe, got--as we used to say in high school--on my tits. Read it, but here are two excerpts:

On any given day, I can be standing at the circulation desk side-by-side with a support staff member doing the same thing that they are doing. So long as this arrangement exists, the perception that librarianship does not require an advanced degree will continue to taint the image of the profession.

--

It is a disservice to the education, to the degree, and to the profession when the bulk of a librarian’s daily tasks could be performed by someone with a GED...[H]ow can we separate the MLS from the paraprofessional? Should the profession insist on a greater separation of duties? Should we surrender the reference desk over to the paraprofessional and adopt “research hours” where we can sit down with people who have actual reference questions? What needs to change in how we approach the job in the context of the library?

While I do like the idea of "research hours," I'm afraid I'm fairly sure my paraprofessional self could handle them as well as many--though certainly not all--professional librarians.

I've worked in libraries on and off, mostly on, for 16 years, in both circulation and reference. I've worked in two academic and three public library systems (my personal preference is for public, because of the greater diversity of tasks and of patrons served, but I'll admit that at my last academic job I made twice what I do at my current public job). I have consciously, actively chosen not to obtain a master's degree in library and information science for the following reasons:

1) I want to work in public libraries, and librarians in public libraries don't make much unless they're in management,

2)I never want to be in management, and

therefore, 3)I can't bear the thought of the expense of the degree in comparison to how much I am likely to make after obtaining it. I don't want to be paying for my MLIS for years to come, especially as I have a high school junior and a seventh grader who want to attend college. If I truly, deeply thought that I would be learning things that would make me far, far better at my non-management, non-cataloguing job, I might go for my MLIS. But folks: I can read professional journals, I can read blog posts and professional presentations, I can engage in seminar-like discussions with professional and paraprofessional library staff in the blogosphere--I--anyone--can learn so much on my own online and in conversation with colleagues, that I really don't feel that not attending school limits my acquisition of knowledge about the work I do. I learned about Ranganathan's Laws by Googling them after seeing them mentioned in a blog post, and they were the same five laws you learned about in library school.

I love school. If someone handed me a full scholarship to library school, I'd happily go. I don't think library school is a joke or a waste of time. But I'm disgusted with tuition hikes in this country, the turning of learning into little more than a business, and will not go into hock for a degree.

If it's important to you that people outside libraryland understand why your work requires an advanced degree, and you don't think that working the public library floor contributes to the perception that it does, I suggest working in academic or corporate libraries, being in management in public libraries, or--as I prefer to, degreed or not--giving such awesome and knowledgeable service on the public desk that people are dazzled by the depth and breadth of what you can show them. This last does not require an advanced degree. It requires a hungry and dedicated mind and attitude, and a constant willingness to search out new ways to meet your patrons' needs. These days, I'd argue that it means you need to know about tools like superscreenshot.com, zamzar.com, and fillanypdf.com--little things that make your patrons' lives and work much easier once you've demonstrated them. It means keeping your eye out for the good stuff.

More on Woodworth's "someone with a GED" remark and college-as-business: in case you haven't noticed, most service staff have undergraduate degrees now, at least in my town. What's more, several service staff folks working in my county have master's degrees in library science. The jobs aren't there, people. And frankly, again because of the "businessification" of college, degrees hardly mean shit any more. It doesn't say much about your intellect, these days, if you have managed to complete a master's degree. Sure, you worked hard, you learned some stuff, fine--but the degree was ultimately a purchase. One could say "an investment," but if we're looking at the financial picture for most public librarians, it's an investment without much of a payoff.

One of my favorite library-related quotes is from Frank Zappa: "If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library." Now--I realize Zappa's talking about undergrad here; I'm not suggesting one goes to library school to get laid. BUT the point is: you can learn a lot in a library. And one extension of the point is, when you work in a library, you learn a lot. The library's original raison d'être--or one of them--is to make opportunities to learn available to folks who might not otherwise be able to afford to learn. So it seems especially ridiculous when library staff, like Woodworth in this case, assume greater intellect and ability on the part of folks who have been professionally educated and that it's best for autodidacts to stick to telling patrons where the bathroom is. If ANY profession should value the self-taught, it's this one.

I may have blogged this before--I know I've thought it before--but, even when it comes to medicine and law, I would rather be treated or represented by an intellectually-engaged, enthusiastic paraprofessional than someone with a degree who's complacent and resting on his or her laurels. Degree ≠ competence. Degree ≠ good service. A degree simply means that you worked for and obtained a degree. It has nothing to do with whether you'll be a good or dedicated librarian in practice.

Woodworth concludes his post, "I’m not ignorant of the fact that this post will not apply to some libraries that have a smaller staff; nor that there will be times when there is a crossover of duties between librarians and paraprofessionals. I’m simply saying that this will continue to be an image problem so long as it is found [that paraprofessionals and librarians often do the same work] in the majority of public libraries around the country.

To my mind, the best way to solve an "image problem" is to provide patrons with knowledgeable, kick-ass, "I can't believe how much time you just saved me," "I can't believe you were able to find a book series that my reluctant reader devoured"-type service. And to have a good, helpful, I-want-to-make-your-day-easier attitude when, yes, telling folks where the bathroom is or helping them figure out how to make double-sided copies. Because they'll remember it, and when you seem friendly, they might (they often, in my experience) decide to ask you another question, a more, in Woodworth's words, "actual reference question" (that they may not previously have felt comfortable asking, or as if it was worth "disturbing" a librarian about) after they take their leak.

(please also see follow-up post)

Happy National Library Card Sign-Up Month!

2010-09-02T07:23:00.002-05:00

National Library Card Sign-Up Month (ALA)

Shelf Check #442

2010-09-02T06:48:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #441

2010-08-31T08:08:00.002-05:00

"Miracle Film Turns Any Surface into a Touchscreen" (Mashable)

Shelf Check: Back to School

2010-08-30T12:31:00.003-05:00

Folks, I didn't have time to get a new strip up this morning, but since today marks the beginning of the K-12 school year for so many, thought I'd rerun a couple back-to-school strips:

Shelf Check #440

2010-08-26T08:08:00.001-05:00

(See also: Shelf Check #353)

Shelf Check #439

2010-08-25T11:25:00.002-05:00

"Facebook Lawsuit Throws the -book at Social Networking Site for Teachers"--Wired

Shelf Check #438

2010-08-19T07:42:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #437

2010-08-18T12:21:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #436

2010-08-17T08:27:00.001-05:00

Who Are the Marketed-To in Your (Library's) Neighborhood?

2010-08-15T10:15:00.004-05:00

[cross-posted from Poesy Galore, my all-too-occasional-these-days blog. Another recent post that might be of interest: Mockingjay, Instantly]

Via Lifehacker, a fascinating tool put out by Nielsen used by marketers to determine what "types" live in your ZIP code and how to market to them. Types are arrived at by, according to Nielsen, "ground-breaking segmentation techniques." You can look up your ZIP code here, and see your area broken into five main types, some with less-than-flattering names. Click on any one type to see more information about it.

I currently live in South Minneapolis, at 55407. Types include:

American Dreams, who are

"a living example of how ethnically diverse the nation has become: just under half the residents are Hispanic, Asian, or African-American. In these multilingual neighborhoods--one in ten speaks a language other than English--middle-aged immigrants and their children live in upper-middle-class comfort." American Dreams folks, we learn, shop at Old Navy, buy motivational tapes, read Black Enterprise, watch TeleFutura, and might drive a Lexus IS;

Big City Blues, described this way:

"With a population that's almost 40 percent Latino, Big City Blues has one of the highest concentration of Hispanic-Americans in the nation. But it's also the multi-ethnic address for low-income Asian and African-American households occupying older inner-city apartments. Concentrated in a handful of major metros, these younger singles and single-parent families face enormous challenges: low incomes, uncertain jobs, and modest educations. Roughly 25 percent haven't finished high school." Big City Blues families shop at The Gap, go to movies, read Ser Padres, watch Noticiero Telemundo, and drive Volkswagens;

Close-In Couples: "a group of predominantly older, ethnically diverse couples living in older homes in the urban neighborhoods of mid-sized metros. High school educated and empty nesting, these mostly older residents typically live in older city neighborhoods, enjoying their retirements." Close-In Couples shop at Macy's, travel by rail, read Essence, watch Rachael Ray, and drive PT Cruisers;

Money & Brains: a "wealthy, older family mix" who "seem to have it all: high incomes, advanced degrees, and sophisticated tastes to match their credentials. Many of these city dwellers are married couples with few children who live in fashionable homes on small, manicured lots." Money & Brains types shop at Nordstrom, contribute to NPR, read the Sunday newspaper, watch News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and drive something from the Lexus RX series. [I can't remember ever seeing a Lexus in my neighborhood, and now two segments drive them!]

;

and finally, Multi-Culti Mosaic: "a mixed populace of Hispanic, Asian, and African-American singles and families. With nearly a quarter of the residents foreign born, this segment is a mecca for first-generation Americans who are striving to improve their lower-middle-class status." Multi-Culti Mosaic folks shop at CVS Pharmacy, buy "Spanish/Latin music," read Seventeen, watch Premio Juventud, and might drive a Volkswagen GLI.

In my neighborhood proper, there are also a bunch of white, queer or queer-friendly, work-at-nonprofits, bicycle-riding, left-leaning, shop at farmers' markets and Savers and Target (but no more!), watch Rachel Maddow or Democracy Now, over-educated, etc. folks, but not enough to make up a fifth of 55407.

Before moving to Minneapolis, I lived in Milford, DE, 19963--a town of 15,000 about 20 miles north of Rehoboth Beach--whose types included, Nielsen says, Crossroads Villagers, Mayberry-Ville, Simple Pleasures, Traditional Times, and Young & Rustic.

The library I work at is located in 55344--one of the ZIP codes of Eden Prairie, the Twin Cities suburb recently rated the #1 place in the country to live by Money magazine--and 55344 includes Executive Suites, Gray Power, Home Sweet Home, Movers & Shakers, and Young Influentials. At least a third of our library users--maybe closer to half--are not included here, and are Somali immigrants who have come to live in Eden Prairie in the last 10 years (most more recently), who do not have internet access at home. Not surprising, I guess, but interesting: that the people who most use the library here aren't the people who are most recognized by marketers. I'd wondered about the use of this tool for libraries (who are, ever more, needing to market ourselves). But then, the people who most use the library don't need to be marketed to: they're there because they have to be. So perhaps it's still useful. The "Gray Power" category certainly is, in terms of program planning.

As for 90210--come on, you were wondering--its types include Bohemian Mix, Money & Brains, Movers & Shakers, Upper Crust, and Young Digerati.

I could spend a lot of time with this strange little tool, finding out what the Young Digerati read (Wired, I was hoping--but no, of course: The Economist) and marveling that it's the Middleburg Managers who "buy books on tape." The Segment Look-up shows all 66 (and a 67th: "Unassigned") categories in which United States residents might be officially lumped (what on earth are Country Squires? Hey, there's a category called Shotguns & Pickups!). It's a weird little glimpse into how we're glimpsed. Thanks to Lifehacker for blogging it.

Shelf Check #435

2010-08-12T21:04:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #434

2010-08-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

Shelf Check #433

2010-08-10T08:19:00.002-05:00

Shelf Check #432

2010-08-09T09:03:00.003-05:00

A recent David Lee King post, Help Others Get Permission, asked commenters for tips on how to get permission--when you're not at the top of the heap--to try new things at your library. Genesis Hansen made a point I find especially useful [italics mine]: "Always try to demonstrate the tangible benefits your project will offer. If you're in a place where the powers that be are generally resistant, don't phrase your request as 'this is something cool I want to try' but 'I think I know a way to help the library meet this particular service goal, and I'm happy to do the legwork to make it happen.'"

I know I've been guilty many times in the past of "This is something cool," etc.

Shelf Check #431

2010-08-08T07:03:00.001-05:00

Shelf Check #430: Based on a True Story

2010-08-05T11:16:00.002-05:00

True story: this past Monday, two chickens were found pecking around in the 300s at the B________ Library. Alicia and Ted, library staff on the scene, commented with the lines about the 600s and the "other duties as assigned" on Facebook.

Daniel Pinkwater did not show up to help Alicia and Ted with the chickens, but I have a feeling he'd be good in a Chicken Emergency. At The P-Zone Forum, you can leave a message for Mr. Pinkwater. The other day, I left this:

July 20th, 2010
From: Emily Lloyd
Hello, wonderful Mr. DP! I'm a librarian and write a webcomic set in a public library called 'Shelf Check"--today's strip mentions you, so I thought I'd post the link here in case you'd like to see it: Shelf Check #422

Thanks for all you do!

and this followed:

Daniel replies:
I checked Shelf Check. I am pleased you mentioned me, but I think you should have had me appear as a character in the strip. I am easy to draw, using a compass, or the bottom of a cup or glass to get my general shape--then you put a smaller circle for the head, and two even smaller circles for the eyeglasses--and there you have me!

I wasn't able to find a digital compass at ToonDoo, but I did the best I could, Mr P.

Shelf Check #429

2010-08-03T07:15:00.001-05:00

Revolutionary Voices: If You Have This Book in Your Library, DON'T Weed It! Here's why:

2010-07-30T19:30:00.001-05:00

The banning of any book hurts. The banning of Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology (ed. Amy Sonnie, Alyson Books 2000)--recently pulled from the Burlington County Library System in New Jersey--will hurt many.

Ten years old, the book remains, sadly, as revolutionary as it was when I reviewed it for School Library Journal upon its publication. That year, I nominated it for SLJ's Best Adult Books for Young Adults list (it made the list, as did the other book I nominated, Naomi Klein's No Logo).

If you aren't familiar with the story of how the book got pulled, though no formal challenge had been lodged, and how it relates to Glenn Beck, please click here for the story at Amy Sonnie's blog, Banned Librarian, and here for the updated story in SLJ . I don't want to summarize it here--though I will reproduce a quick quote:

"[I]n a May 3 email, [Library Director Gail] Sweet told staffers that they needed to 'pull' Revolutionary Voices from library shelves. 'How can we grab the books so they never, ever get back into ccirculation (sic),' Sweet wrote to BCLS staffers. 'Copies need to totally disappear (as in not a good idea to send copies to the book sale).'"

Totally disappear. When library books don't go to the book sale, they get a) put in the recycling bin, if the library is responsible or b) put in the trash. Note: Sweet also referred to the book as "child pornography." Of its 54 contributors, only 11 are under 18 (most are in their early 20s), and of these 11, only 2 mention sex at all (and this in ways totally in keeping with YA novels*, etc). Very few of the pieces mention sex, period.

The banning of any book hurts, but Revolutionary Voices is out of print. Copies remain in only 400 libraries, according to WorldCat. And there's nothing else like it out there. 54 youth contributed stories, poems, artwork, and zine pages to the book. Most also contributed pictures of themselves, along with short bios. Here's a sampling of sentences from the bios:

"I am a 23-yr-old mixed-race queer poet of Vietnamese/Scottish/Swedish descent"

"I am a 20-yr-old Igbo woman from Nigeria…I am trying to find my voice as a Black queer woman living in the United States. Our society tries to speak for us young folks, and it's about time we find and use our own voices"

"I am a triracial, First Nation, Two-Spirit Fairy Trans Faggot activist"

"a 17-yr-old queer Latina living between homes in New Jersey and California"

"I am a poet and queer youth activist about to enter tenth grade"

"I am a 19-yr-old Chinese-American, born in Hong Kong and raised in San Francisco"

"i am 23 years old and active not only in the arab community but also in ethnic/feminist/queer communities"

"I am a gay biracial (Japanese and white), Nissei, male, genderqueer"

"I am a 21-yr-old queer boi of mixed heritage (human-melting-pot-style) and intersexed physicality"

Now: it is hard enough for queer youth to find books about white queer youth, and books about white queer youth that talk about more than just coming out. This book is full of the work of young queer writers of color (it does include white queers, too). It has pictures of the young queer writers of color. And it's about a lot more than being queer and coming out.

Here's a paragraph from the Introduction:

"What's so revolutionary about these voices? The young writers in this collection, like so many revolutionary thinkers of the past and present, are moving toward a radical consciousness by questioning heteronormativity and positioning themselves as young and queer in a world that tells us queerness and teen sexuality are discrepant. We think critically about regimes of gender, race, class, ability, and age. We see that we live under a system of heterosexism, white supremacy, misogyny, and capitalism--where homophobia is wielded as a weapon of sexism; where most of us are taught a Eurocentric version of history in school; where young people, especially young people of color and poor people, are being tracked into prisons. This is a system that justifies spending more money on the military than on education and health care combined; a system where foreign business interests control peoples and nations of color and the United States bombs and sanctions whoever it pleases. This system makes possible a society that packages queer identities with rainbow ribbons and sells them to the highest bidder. A society in which Pride has been commodified… Unlearning mainstream society's teachings is a difficult process requiring visible alternatives and open dialogue. This collection is our attempt at opening this dialogue. We share our work to counter our own invisibility, to become allies to one another, and to demonstrate that we believe in ourselves enough to take up a pen, paintbrush, or a camera in our own defense."

This book should be in print**; this book should be in libraries; this book should be in readers' hands. If you own it at your library--we are lucky here; our library system owns 2 copies--please don't weed it, ever. It's ten years old, yes. But it reads like now, and tomorrow, and probably many tomorrows after that.

*as commenter "Josh" wrote in the comments section of the SLJ article: "No one is removing books marketed toward preteen girls in which 150 year old men eating the placenta out of their new wife so that the baby that is devouring her from the inside can be freed. Nope, they are simply further marginalizing an already shaky and oft oppressed teen demographic.

**I've contacted the editor to see if she's interested in trying to get it back into print, or creating an ebook version

Shelf Check: The First 201

2010-07-29T19:20:00.003-05:00

This site has seen a good number of new visitors lately, thanks to David Lee King's kind words, so I thought I'd post the first 200 strips, starting from April 2007, in these easier-to-flip-through-and-load "ToonBooks" (Flash) in case folks wanted to read from the beginning . I'll also add links to these on the sidebar, for future viewing. Thanks for reading!

Shelf Check: The First 100 by poesygalore | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

Shelf Check: 101-201 by poesygalore | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

Library Day in the Life

2010-07-28T19:17:00.019-05:00

The Library Day in the Life project is positively infectious. In its first go-round, in July 2008, Jan participated. I want to participate this year, in a meandering kind of way, so here goes:

My work days, for the most part, are similar to each other (though a benefit of working with the public is that no two days are ever too much alike). Occasionally, I do a high-energy storytime (I’m not in Youth Services at my current pow, but I was when I worked for FCPL, so I’m back-up) and emerge sweaty and happy. Occasionally, I do a program—recent ones have included a "Best of YouTube" Viewing Night (my baby--more on this another time), an Open Mic Poetry Night, and “10 Sites in 10 Clicks,” a recurring series in which we highlight useful (or much-in-the-news) sites for the 55+ crowd. As often as I can—which is usually about twice a year, as lots of other folks are interested in these opportunities, too—I involve myself in one of the library’s outreach programs—in April, for ex, I participated in Dan Marcou's brilliant Read to Me, which entails heading to the correctional facility and holding three sessions with currently incarcerated parents, talking about the library and early literacy, and helping them make digital recordings of themselves reading a few books, poems, and jokes to their kids (we send the kids the books, a CD of the recording their parent made for them, and a pic of their parent holding the books).

But for the most part, I’m a desk horse. As an associate librarian—at my previous job, called a “Library Assistant I” (whatever it's called, it means I didn't go to library school)—I have less intense assigned off-desk projects than my librarian coworkers. And mine are dreary: I handle exam proctoring, booking the meeting rooms, and tax forms, when they’re in season (if you handle them at your branch, you know that they almost always are. We need to place our orders with the IRS in August). I’m lucky in this, because I prefer to work at a clip, on my feet, moving around, etc. (with an occasional stretch of time to read feeds), and my current branch, a very busy one, lets me do just that. If I get assigned more than two hours in a row off-desk, I usually try to bum a desk shift from a coworker who could use more back-room time.

On to the average day:

6:00-- wake up, to have an hour to myself before waking my partner & our girls. This is when I throw together a comic strip, if I have an idea in mind, or catch up on unread posts in my feedreader, or read some of an actual book. If there's a new strip, I sign into Facebook to post it directly to the Shelf Check page, as Facebook's blog import feature's spottiness leaves much to be desired. Scroll through friends' statuses.

8:30-- after half-hour car commute, arrive at work. Check work email, phone messages (rarely do I have any), deal with meeting room and exam proctoring requests that have come in since I was last in the building. Sign into Bloglines, which I keep open all day. I subscribe to a few feeds in Google Reader--I am trying to prefer it--but so far, buggy as it can be, I still prefer the look of Bloglines.

8:45--9:50: Morning routine before we open: check the weeding cart we place at the end of our AMH (Automated Materials Handler) for items that need to be withdrawn. Whoever's on the desk (there are two of us each shift) in the morning gets this duty. In the month of July, my library checks in an average of 4000 items per day. When folks spot books that are falling apart, they place them on this cart. It's pretty full.

I usually do some of what I call "proactive shelving" at this point--always do, in the summer. At 4000 items per day, full carts of recently returned items line the back room, sometimes as many as a week's worth. I skim the carts (as yet unsorted) and pull exceptionally popular items to shelve immediately--right now, Rainbow Magic Fairies books, Garfield, Magic Tree House, A-Z Mysteries, Goosebumps, Geronimo Stilton, Star Wars for kids; Jodi Picoult and Vince Flynn for adults. There is a "Just Returned" status in our catalog that is a killer--folks looking up a book see that it was "Just Returned" and, having no idea of what our back room looks like, assume we can get it quickly (a neighboring county's library catalog only has two item statuses: "Checked Out" or "Check Shelf." I think "Check Shelf" is incredibly clever. "Oh, it's not on the shelf? Guess it's not available, then.") Proactive shelving is a way to try to lessen the number of times I and my coworkers need to come back digging for a Just Returned item. Shelving is not part of the info staff's duties, but I generally do a bit anyway--not with a cart out on the floor, but in quick bursts like this. I also try to shelve all of the DVDs and music CDs before we open: I like to start the day with those sections full.

At the info desk, turn on all four computers; bring up Outlook, the catalog, Communicator (IM), and Firefox on each. Open my Bloglines account at whichever station I plan to sit at. Print a copy each of the desk schedule and the meeting room schedules. Retrieve the wireless phone we keep at the desk in case we go roving.

9:50: I smoke. Awful, I know.

9:55: I listen as people attempt to open the locked lobby door. Every morning, at least one person does. Usually, the people that attempt it are regulars, well aware that we don't open until 10:00am. Just too damn tempting, I guess.

10:00am: open. I always smile and say good morning. Most people brush past me, some bumping into me, in a rush to get to whichever of our 82 computers they have somehow decided is the best. People who are coming to my branch for the first time, however, usually smile and sometimes say "Wow" as they peer in and see the awesome that awaits them. I am proud of our branch. I've been in libraries for 16 years, and have worked with many an uninvolved, complacent, who-gives-a-fuck librarian and circ aide. While it may sound improbable, we. don't. have. any. If you work hard, think hard, are constantly trying to figure out ways to improve patrons' experience, and, basically, rock, you don't stand out here. Everyone does. Our branch is always Homecoming-fine. There's no one on staff who won't stoop to pick up some patron's nasty tissue off the floor. When I first came to the branch to interview, I stopped in the bathroom to assess my appearance (pretty weak). Do you know what I saw there? A sign that said, "NEED A DIAPER? WE MAY BE ABLE TO HELP! ASK AT THE INFORMATION DESK FOR EMERGENCY SUPPLIES." So simple a service and offer, and yet, I was blown away. And still am. Maybe two people a month ask for a diaper. We purchase them with book sale money. That's how awesome my branch is.

10:00-12:30: on desk. We're busy. This is a busy shift year-round (summer evenings and weekends are slower than fall and winter). Storytime (Family at 10:30 on Tues and Fri; Baby at 9:30 and 10:30 on Weds and Thurs--we seat 80 babies a week!) adds to the thrum. The phones ring off the hook. I sometimes think we should have a dedicated phone librarian--it is a lot for the librarians on desk to handle, in addition to in-person folk. But we do. It's true that people sometimes get frustrated on hold and hang up, and that I sometimes wish there was a way to redirect calls that are not branch-dependent (they need a librarian; not a librarian at our branch) to a central service, or a less busy branch. Our hold music is horrible, the worst I've ever heard, one terrible repeated 12-bar-or-so piano phrase. I'd rather listen to someone shout, "You're on HOLD! You're on HOLD! You're on HOLD! Sucka!" When patrons seem amenable, I joke with them about it.

We frequently have to run-walk to the back room for Just Returned items. When it's really busy, working the info desk feels like skateboarding, weaving in and out of the (oblivious to other bodies around them who need to get past them) crowd. Or waitressing. It is fast. In the back, we are on our knees, struggling to squeeze between carts, pulling unsorted books out, trying to find the ones folks want quickly enough so that they don't walk away while we're back here, and everyone in line behind them doesn't get to sighing too heavily.

My job is physical. And my legs suck. I was born (don't think I've mentioned it here), like runner Oscar Pistorius and the famous Aimee Mullins (link to her TED talk), with fibular hemimelia (always a fun term to use when trying out new search engines), only my parents decided not to amputate. I've had a lot of surgeries, my right leg is full of metal, and I don't know what in hell I'll do when it stops working well enough to do this job the fast, intense way I like and feel I need to. I cannot be a still librarian. I am not looking forward to that day. Occasionally, on the library floor, I get a feeling like lightning has struck my leg. I keep moving. This is simply not a slow job. I hear myself emphasizing, maybe overemphasizing this--because many non-library folk still say things to me like, "That must be such a peaceful job. You must have so much time to read." My ass.

Lots of reference questions. Today's favorite was a precocious 5-yr-old kid who stayed with me for minutes, returning frequently throughout my shift to thank me, or inform me of something else he'd found. He was in search of books with nothing but picture after picture of treasure chests. We didn't have any. We should. I'd like a book like that, too. Picture book writers, take note. But we found some okay stuff in Shipwrecks, in Pirates, in Gems & Minerals.

12:30 Desk shift ends.

12:31-12:35: I smoke. Yeah, I know.

12:35-2pm: I'm back on the desk at 2. I technically have a half hour lunch somewhere in this block, any time I want to take it, but I rarely take it as a full chunk and eat a full meal. If I ate a meal, I'd want to nap. So I eat weird little quick things, a yogurt, or some edamame, or a Rice Crispies bar, occasionally in the break room, but usually at my desk. I lunch-work until 2. One of my more interesting back-room tasks is curating the queer ("GLBTQ Voices") fiction and nonfiction book lists at Bookspace, so I might fart around in the catalog looking for new stuff (LC subject terms are not terribly GLBTQ-friendly, so I try to keep my book lists current and abundant, fearing no one will find this stuff otherwise), check out Lambda Literary and other libraries' GLBTQ lists, etc. I love Bookspace. Favorite blurb portion from the fiction list: "If you read only one lesbian time travel romantic adventure this year, award-winning Minnesota author Catherine Friend's Spanish Pearl is a great bet." Do people read this stuff? I hope so. Also: weeding my assigned section, choosing low-circ items to be redistributed to other branches where they might fare better, processing new books (deciding which to highlight on the "new" shelf) and new reference books. I'm on the library system's diversity steering committee, and might update the diversity toolbox (links for staff to refer patrons to) or blog, or work on a possible training. Another recent task: compiling an in-branch (not system-wide) list of "If You Like 'The Clique'" books to post in the teen section and a list of books for those just starting to to read chapter books. We do a lot of recommending on the desk and on the floor, but it's nice to have these lists posted for patrons to find themselves if they'd rather not speak with a librarian--and for us to draw on when we're caught on the spot and suddenly can't remember which titles would work. If I have a storytime or program coming up, I work on putting that together.

1:50-1:55 Smoke. Yep, I count up these minutes. We get two 15-minute breaks in addition to the half-hour lunch.

2-4pm: same as 10-12:30, with a little less energy and a lot more caffeine.

4-5pm: slump. Dum de dum. I do everything I'm supposed to, but I'm losing energy fast.

5-6pm: horrid, bumper-to-bumper commute home. My morning commute takes a half hour and energizes me; my evening commute leeches out whatever energy I have left. I often apologize to my family for the exhausted state I'm in by the time I get home. I try to play a really kick-ass song right before I pull up to the house, to shock myself back "up" for them. I'm not a road rage type, but many on the road are. It's a lot of negativity to face/try to merge with at the end of a work day. Audiobooks and music don't help all that much. My commute home is the worst thing about my job by a long shot.

Thanks for reading. How's your days?

Shelf Check #428

2010-07-28T07:34:00.000-05:00