Keeping track

I’ve been reading blog posts this morning, trying to catch up after a break. Many of the library/ian blogs that I read have been noting how many books they read throughout the year.

I find this fascinating.

Frankly, I have no idea how many books I read last year. I know I read lots yesterday: I finished one book and read two others. Great way to spend the day. But for the year? No clue. Lots. Even more if you count the books begun but not finished, set aside for a number of reasons. They didn’t grab me. I wasn’t in the mood for that genre. Possibly both. I can’t bring myself to completely set them aside, so they pile up next to my side of the bed, reproaching me for not having finished them.

Reading, for me, is an escape. Relaxation. A trip to another time and place. An adventure. A romance.

The idea that I would keep a tally of what I read would somehow turn it into a competition, or an obligation…..which would take the fun out of the pastime.

So, dear reader, you’ll get no tally from me. Just a gentle nudge to grab a book and dive in.

In a similar vein, DH and I watched the movie, “The Jane Austin Book Club” this weekend. It was charming and has made me want to actually read Jane Austin. (I know, I know. A  librarian that hasn’t read Austin?  Scandalous. But there it is.)  Perhaps I’ll put that on my list for this year. Hopefully, they won’t end up in the pile next to the bed. But if they do?  That’s okay, too.  I’m not keeping track.

Customer Service.

Not.

DH and I made an unexpected trip to a Major Alliterative Electronics Store (MAES) to return my Christmas gift, which was a netbook.  My previous netbook had seemingly stopped working (more on that later) and so DH got a new one for me.

I was mid-search yesterday when the new netbook went black. No amount of rebooting worked. I plugged it in and let it hang out for a while with no results. Disgusted, I decided to return it and instead get a new flatscreen television for the bedroom.

So….we trudge to MAES and encountered a young lady at the Customer Service desk, who proceeded to become snippy and condescending, in turns.  I was so irritated, I had to walk away from the desk, leaving DH to finalize the transaction.

Meanwhile, the woman that was supervising the desk was understanding and managed to talk to us about the problem without being either snippy or condescending. Regardless, I left MAES with a bad taste in my mouth…and that’s not the first time this has happened.  At this point, I have a feeling I will purchase electronics anywhere but there.

So, Library Directors….do you have a snippy and condescending person working your desk? Does he or she verbally sneer at patrons if they aren’t sure what book they’re looking for, or can’t remember whether they returned an item, or are simply asking a question? If so, you are dangerously close to losing that patron for life.

And that patron has friends. And those friends will hear how badly they were treated. And all of those people vote. Guess how well your bonding bill will go?

If you suspect one of your staff treats people like this but aren’t sure, ask around. Either coach them into behaving properly or free up their future. It’s important.  The future of your library may depend on it.

Oh, and my old netbook? I turned it on when we got home and it’s miraculously working again. Will wonders never cease.

Greetings and musings

It’s hard to believe that Christmas and the New Year are upon us.  It’s been a year of ups and downs in my household, but all in all, everything has turned out well. I’m looking forward to a new year.

Merry Christmas to all…and Happy New Year.

Consequences

I had the opportunity yesterday to hang out at one of the local high schools and teach a group (well, five groups) of English students about databases, identifying good sources, and general research skills. All of this was done in a 50-minute class period, so it barely skimmed the surface.  It seemed well-received, though, and I think the students came away with a few tidbits.

In the course of the day we got to talking about their school library.  They have a librarian one day a week.  One. Day. That is a travesty.

The students also talked about the paraprofessional (who they assumed was the librarian) and mentioned how cranky she is. In her defense, the teacher talked about how this woman is now responsible for policing the library (and computer usage), and that there are fewer “labs” and so the library’s usage is exploding.

So here we have a high school with an overworked paraprofessional, who is trying to shelve books and police computers and answer reference questions as best she can, while the scope of her job has gotten so big that the woman is perpetually cranky. And we have a librarian available to the students on only one day, and it’s a day in which their classes are divided up into 40-minute increments, so the students have at most 40 minutes a week to talk to a librarian.

And we wonder why the research skills of incoming college freshmen are so weak.

 

Stroke

This is very important … please pass it on.

Blood Clots/Stroke – They Now Have a Fourth Indicator…… the  Tongue

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.. Seriously..

STROKE   IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) .she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food.

While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 PM Ingrid passed away.)

She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ.

Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don’t die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition   instead.

It only takes a minute to read this…

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally.

He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the ‘3′ steps, STR .

Read and Learn !!!

Sometimes  symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.

Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster.

The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage  when people nearby fail to recognize the  symptoms of a  stroke.

STROKE  Remember   the 1st Three Letters….S.T.R. and now Four letters…S.T.R.O.

Now   doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three  simple questions:-

S *Ask  the  individual to SMILE

T *Ask  the  person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE  (Coherently) (I.e.  It is sunny out  today.)

R *Ask  him or  her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If  he or  she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call  emergency  number immediatelyand describe  the symptoms to  the dispatcher.

New   Sign of a Stroke ——– Stick O*UT Your   Tongue

NOTE: Another ’sign’ of a stroke is this:-

Ask the person to ’stick’ out his tongue. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

 

Morsels

We’ve been trying to beef up our communication at MPOW, with some efforts more successful than others. One of the things I decided to try was a site where I would post some of the tidbits of information that I inevitably gather as I go about my week. I’m not sure how many people (if any) and reading it, but it’s out there.

I thought I’d share some of the tidbits here, too.  Enjoy.

• Art in the library There’s an anonymous  Scottish patron that has been leaving beautiful book sculptures in the libraries.  Scots are content to let the donor stay anonymous.
• Secrets of the Sequence 50 videos from the public television series, “Secrets of the Sequence” on genetic research.
• Twitter history Snap Bird is a handy tool for searching a twitter feed.
• Plant Information Online A terrific resource by the UM Libraries and the Landscape Arboretum. Search for plants and nurseries.
• Color vision and art This online exhibit explores the science of vision by looking though the works of scientists and artists. 

• PicsLikeThat Search engine for images.  
• Europeana Explore the digital resources of Europe’s museums, libraries, and archives. 
• Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties Compilation of the laws and treaties between the U.S. Government and Native American tribes. 
• The Euler Archive Online resource of Leonhard Euler‘s works. 
• InnerBody.com Site with animations, graphics, and descriptive links for human anatomy. Research human anatomy online.
• Stem Cell Resources  Stem cell information for the educational community.
• ARTStem Exploring collaborations between teaching and learning in the arts and the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and math.
• The Student Source Extensive list of medically-themed software from various educational sources. Compiled by the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Infuriating

Those of you who know me know that I’ve struggled with my weight all my life.  It’s been an incredibly frustrating problem, and so when I read articles like this, it makes me crazy.

Seriously??

“… typical daily meals used to include a 20-ounce steak and three potatoes washed down with a 12-pack of soda.”

The thing that makes me crazy is that this is how the media typically portrays overweight people, as eating ridiculously large meals.  So of course they’re overweight.  Which means that when they look at people like me, they think I’m putting away meals like that when in many cases, I eat less than they do.

Just a personal rant. Grrr.

Everything I need to know…

…I learned from a children’s book.  Opening keynote by Anita Silvey.

She’s wearing a hat.  Love that.  I should wear hats more often.

Concept of the book is to talk with celebrities or people who have otherwise distinguished themselves about what books influenced them as children.

Drew up a list of 500 people that would have something interesting to say about books.  Wanted people who would write something interesting.

Would wake up in the morning wondering, “Who do I get to talk to today? Will it be Kathy Bates or Pete Seeger?” Many chose not to write, but to be interviewed. Talked to some very interesting people.

What was her biggest surprise?  Talking to Kirk Douglas. His favorite book is the Bobbsey Twins.  (big laugh) His parents didn’t speak English and her sister was the first one to speak English.  She would sit him on the couch and read to him, and that’s how he learned English.

Maurice Sendak chose “Harold and the Purple Crayon” – an artist can create his own world with the tools available to him.

Many of the people she talked to chose their career based on a book. David McCullough said, “I met my first revisionist historian when I was six.” The book he chose was “Ben and Me”, about Benjamin Franklin.

Lovely stories of people whose lives were very influenced by reading a book as a child.  Children read for plot or story, or they read for character. Has yet to have a child say, “I love they way the author used metaphors.” Most people, therefore, talked about a character they loved.

Judy Blume loved “Madeline” so much she stole it from the library and didn’t admit to having it for 20 years.  She says she has spent the rest of her life making it up to librarians.

Jo Marsh in “Little Women” was very influential for many women. Julienne Moore and Hilary Clinton, for example, loved the book.

Brad Paisley argued with his wife about naming their son after his favorite character. They argued up until it was time to leave the hospital.  They came to a compromise: their son is William Huckleberry, after Huckleberry Finn.

Interviewed Andrew Wyeth. His father was working on the illustrations for “Treasure Island” he would read to Andrew every day from the book.  When he saw one of the paintings for the book, he knew he had to be a painter. Robert Montgomery, years later, saw the painting about Wyeth’s mantle and commented that when he saw the painting, he knew he had to become an actor.

This sounds like a lovely book – I have to pick up a copy.  I wonder how many people fondly remember Nancy Drew, as I do.  And this makes me remember back to the books I read and loved as a child, and start to think of the books I can introduce to my grandchildren as they grow. How will they be influenced?

 

Decade

It’s almost inconceivable that it has been ten years since the Towers fell and our lives changed. As with most of you, I will always remember where I was when I heard the news, and my stomach still clenches when I see film of some of the events that day. The planes hitting. The Towers falling. People jumping to their deaths.  Images that will haunt me for the rest of my days.

I can only imagine what memories the people that were actually there feel, those who lost loved ones, those who were one of the brave that ran up the stairs.

In memoriam.

Never forget.

Howard Kane, Rest in Peace.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon him.

Thanks to Project 2,996.

Mindset 2011

If it weren’t obvious that fall is rapidly approaching, the Beloit College Mindset List is out.  As usual, there are a few that hit the spot, at least for me:

2. Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.

9. “Don’t touch that dial!” What dial?

There are many more. Check it out for yourself.  While the list isn’t definitive, of course, it does give a glimpse into the world that our incoming freshmen know as their own.