Adventures of Library Girl

A Rant in the Key of C

2008-10-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the thing. I do care about my patrons and their happiness. But I also have a respect for rules and fairness. A HUGE respect. Problem is, not all patrons share this love. Exceptions must always be made for those who feel they are special or more worthy than the next guy. I do not have patience for that. So please, do not try to guilt trip me into letting your child into the music program, ahead of a 15 people on a waiting list simply because little Bobby "loves music so much" or "adores the teacher" or "would simply be so upset if he missed this class". Listen sister, Bobby is 2 years old. You don't tell him he didn't get into the program, he won't know. He might even get it if you do tell him he didn't get it. And guess what? Suzy and Jane and Connor all loves music, too. So why does your son need to get priority over all these other children? Exactly, they don't. So go play your violin somewhere else, cuz I, unlike Bobby, am not a lover of such music.

Librarians Have All the Time in the World

2008-09-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

The past two days I have gotten two different parents ask me the same question. During the summer reading club, the kids hand-write all their books into a paper log that we keep in here until the end of the summer. We give them back so they have a record of all they have read. Both these parents misplaced their logs and wanted to know if we had a print-out of the books their kids read. Tell me readers, who the hell has time to transcibe 300 reading logs (and thousands of book titles) into an excel spreadsheet? They seemed slightly incredulous that we had no back up of this information. People, we can only do so much, take some responsibility. However, this has made me start thinking of online logs, which could be accessed forever and ever. This will never, ever happen in my library, but here's hoping!

Guilted into Blogging

2008-09-06T08:48:00.001-07:00

So here I am going through my web pages and I see that my dear librarian friend Kate has updated her blog. Which means, here I am looking at my blog and feeling like a failure. So, here we go...

My reasons for not blogging as of late are similar to Kate's. Our summer reading club has left little energy or desire to blog. We did have a great turnout this year, and only a few REALLY crazy patrons. Also, this summer every single one of my friends has gotten married (well, ok not every single one, but alot of them)so that has happily taken up some of my free time. An FYI - I think I was born to be in weddings. They are awesome and always fun.

Anyway, ALRN. Our new project here in the children's room is WEEDING. ALL. OF. NONFICTION. YAY!! I actually am very excited about this, as many of the sections probably have not been weeded in decades. Which means there are a lot of really fun titles you come across. My two favorites titles right now have been:

The Crusty Ones (book about lobsters)
Lobsters: Gangsters of the Sea (I'll admit, I kept this book....shhhh)

I will keep you posted on fun, old, horrible books!

Questionable

2008-04-09T14:44:00.001-07:00

I live for the reviews in SB and F (Science Books and Films) that are listed as "Q" or "Questionable content". It's just funny to me. Although, as a whole, I don't enjoy reading the reviews in this journal because some of them are incredibly tedious and awful to read.

An example: A book titled "A Head Start on Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder: 89Activities for Children Ages 3-7" has a review that states, "This title helps adults facilitate young children's learning while the two work as partners to explore the world with a sense of wonder." Hmmm. Wow. Really? That's, um, so useful to me. I'm snobby....sigh.

Lack of Motion

2008-03-11T10:54:00.001-07:00

So I wake up on Sunday morning and my neck is KILLING me. I can hardly move it and I cannot complete simple tasks like drying my own hair (though I did get some help with that!) I went to the chircopracter Monday morning and he tells me my neck is indeed locked up and tense. Yes, thank you for that accessment. He is doing his fixing thing and he tells me I should ask myself a question when this thing occurs, "What caused this? Lack of motion? Too much toxicity?" In my head I am thinking, "Um, I was sleeping." He decides it was indeed lack of motion that was the problem. Ok...um....So I should move more when I sleep? Like, do pilates at 2 am?

Witches

2008-02-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

"I don't like witches"

This comment came from one my most favorite little 3 year old patrons. She was pointing to a little reading scarecrow we have up as part of my Read-to-Me Preschool Reading club decor.

Me: "Oh, its not a witch sweetheart. It's a scarecrow."
Cutie: "What is dat?"
Me: "It goes up to keep the birds away from the farm. But this is one very nice, it is smiling and reading a book!"
Cutie: "What is this?" (pointing to the straw body)
Me: "It's made of straw."
Cutie: "I don't like witches. There is a witch in there."

There was also a long story which I can only assume was about a witch she saw somewhere, but there was too much preschool talk in there for me to get it lol It was so cute, though! And then she came in today and I wondered if she would remember and sure enough she walked right over to it and told me,

"I don't like witches".

Check!

2008-02-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Do you what is very hard to find? Cheap chess boards! I have been looking to replace our old library chess club boards for a while. but let me tell you, they don't make 'em like they used to. I searched Toys R Us, Target, Christmas Tree Shop, all the other usual suspects and all I found were board that were $20 and up! Or marble. Or Simpson's. Or Magnetic/146 Game Combo/Travel Extravaganza! We finally found a decent one in an online board game store, but that was after looking at online chess board stores who wanted to sell me weird vinyl roll up boards that looked like they wouldn't hold up or store very well. Also added a few chess/checkers combos. I did this because I have had several requests to play checkers, which we don't have. I have tried to improvise by giving them chess boards and Connect Four game pieces, but they kept eventually playing Connect Four which is actually a very loud and annoying game to have in the library.

Anywho, the kids will be very pleased with the new boards. We have a long standing Chess Club for Grades 4-8 which is nice group of mostly boys. I thought I would not really like working with middle school boys, but it turns out we have a pretty good relationship after all. It's really very similar to working with 2 year olds, which I love to do. Same silly behavior, same listening issues, same want for all type of attention, good or bad. I do like them though, they are generally very nice group of kids. Watch out when the competition gets fierce though!! Who knew chess could turn into a very loud spectator sport?

On a similar note, these kids are such good kids that I recruited them to teach younger kids how to play. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade chess club (called 1-2-3 Chess!) was the first time we had tried a chess club for a younger set, but I had gotten requests for it so I thought I would give it a try. It was a huge success! The older kids are really good teachers and some of the kids who had never played before we playing each other by the 2nd week! I was actually really impressed by the teaching skills of a few of the kids. It's amazing to watch. They are so patient and have great strategy in teaching them step by step and making sure they are really learning. I don't really know how to play chess (I know, I know, how can I run the clubs if I don't know how to play. Shut it!) so I wouldn't know how to teach it, That's why having these kids volunteer was so crucial. But they all come every week and I had more kids asking to help teach every week. I was up to a one-to-one ratio pretty quickly! It's also a great mentor program, as some kids asked to work with the same child every week. You could see them really bonding and talking as they played. I'm going to get a bit teary now lol So I must now try to find a way to reward all my volunteers, so I'm off to the store! Checkmate!

V is for Video Game Vendetta

2008-02-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

I need a mini-rant right now. I think I am beginning to hate hand-held video games. Or, rather, I hate how kids act when they have these things in their hands. They completely zone out and act like rude obnoxious little twerps to everyone including and especially their parents.

In a pizza shop one day, this exchange:

Father: " So then I think we will head over to the batting cages before dinner and then after that...."
Son: (looking down at his little gadget and walking slowly into other people) "Could you like, stop talking?"

WHAT!? And what did the father do? He stopped talking!! Who is in charge here?

In the library we have a mom, daughter and son looking for books. Well, to be fair, mom and daughter looking for books for son. Son is completely immersed in video game and cannot spare a second to look at me and tell me what he wants. So mom keeps asking him what animal he wants to do this report on and he responds with grunts and "Hmm." So mom and I go on a search, all the while son is zoned out in front of the game. Mom brings him book after book, to which he gives a cursory glance and a random grunt. My fellow librarian said my face was turning red as I tried to control my rage. The mother not once told her son to "PUT DOWN THE FREAKEN GAME AND DO YOUR OWN FREAKEN HOMEWORK!!!!" Which is what I really, really, really wanted to say. It was so infuriating.

When did parents stop telling their kids to be respectful? And when did they start taking abuse from their own offspring? I don't want to judge here, but I just feel like if I were in that situation I would have taken the game out their hands, turned it off, and told them to get on task. I know my parents would never have taken that kind of behavior from me. Am I just destined to be a very mean parent? Oh well, at least my kids will have a semblance of manners.

Damn it...

2008-01-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

I think my New Years Resolution should be to blog more frequently. And also to make those resolutions when it is actually New Years, not 2 weeks later. My current news is a trip to London and Belgium (fun pics to follow) and a new found love of Honey-Mustard Onion Pretzels. I know the pretzel thing is going to throw people off, considering my picky taste in food. But it's becoming a real addiction/problem.

Also, Actual Library-Related News (ALRN from hence forth) ! Awards were announced this week for Newbery and Caldacott medal winners! (The most important awards in LibraryLand) I just finished "The Invention of Hugo Cabret",by Brian Selznick which won the Caldacott. A bold choice, some might say. It would never win, though deserving, some said. But it did and I thought it was a grand choice. At first I was really surprised, since the award goes to a picture book, and pretty much has always gone to those traditional-type books of 32 or so pages. You know the ones, the skinny ones you read as baby. But Hugo is over 400 pages! However, after reading it, the choice was perfect. The pictures worked so well with the text and were GORGEOUS. I wasn't too crazy about the story itself (which actually is fine, since the award depends on art and how it works with the text, not the story itself) but it truly was an experience to read. I'm glad the committee took a chance.

The Newbery choice was "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz. I had only read it quickly when it came in after I ordered it, but I really enjoyed it, even though as I ordered it I thought, "No one will ever use this book, but it sounds great, so screw it!" I am very pleased it got some recognition after all. I will give it a better reading when it comes back to the library (in 5 million years after everyone looks at it).

I have set up a lovely award-winning book display in the back, which no one has yet to even look at. Sigh. It can be so frustrating sometimes.

Carve a Pumpkin...for Thanksgiving!

2007-11-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

OK, I know this is very, very late. But that's what happens when my email piles up and I don't read it. This is totally fun all year round!

Beach in October

2007-10-23T17:54:00.001-07:00

Got back from a fantastic weekend in Cape Cod for Ryan's Grandpa's 80th B-Day Celebration. Wonderful weather, no crowds, no stress. Driving to P-Town was so relaxing, just passing closed hotels and mini-golf places. You might think that would be depressing, but it wasnt at all. Just peaceful. This was my second time at the Cape and I gotta say I like it even more than I did the last time. Everything is at a slower pace, the people are all friendly, the air has the smell of the ocean. It probably helps that it was the off-season both times that we've been down there, but that aside, it was great to get away from work for a long weekend. We even enjoyed the beach, the proof being in this shot of Ryan's youngest cousins making "sand angels".

More from the Peanut Gallery

2007-10-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Another winner comment from my 2 and 3 year old's...

I am doing a song about 5 little bunnies with the puppet glove or "monkey mitt". A puppet glove is a furry glove with velcro on the finger tips where you attack five little puppets and sing a song and stuff. So the song goes a little like this. "Five little bunnies come into to town, into town, into town. Five little bunnies come into town. HOP HOP HOP. One little bunny hid in a bush, hid in a bush, hid in a bush. One little bunny hid in a bush. HOP HOP HOP" I put the little bunny puppets behind me on a table when they hid so the kid's can't see them. Then all the bunnies are gone and I say, "Oh no, where are all the bunnies?" hoping they would say, "Hiding in the bush!" But no, one of my little sweethearts says, "ON THE TABLE!!" It was so cute, I could hardly stop laughing. Everyone was cracking up. Kids are too freaken smart for me!

Storytime for 2's and 3's

2007-10-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

HIghlight of my storytime today:

A little boy, who had his own little party dancing a jig and singing in the middle of the room for most of the session, turns to me before he leaves and says, "OK, bye I'll miss you!"

How can you not love that?

On the Trail

2007-10-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

I will re-start my blogging career by posting a picture of a totally awsome shirt given to me by the one and only T-Coop.
For those of you who remember the orginal Oregon Trail, this was one of the funniest messages you could get. It just seemed so wasteful to let players kill so much meat and then not be able to use it. You would expect a Native American to come out and yell at you, "This is your freaken problem! You are killing the earth!" But the game never went that route. Everyone knows half the fun of playing that game was the "Hunt for Food" option. Who was going to trade at the boring trading post when you could run around with a gun! And I'm talking the old school version, the black and green screen with the man with the stick for a gun. You would control it with the arrows and shoot with the space bar and kill everything you could. Lucky people killed several bison, unlucky people got stuck with the rabbits. I enjoyed holding two arrow buttons and the spacebar down at the same time and go in a circle shooting out the little green bullets everywhere, hitting trees and stuff. Ah, the good old days. In the new version, it's a first person shooting thing, a la Halo, and you get a laser sight thing and its all in color and the animals look sort of real, as compared to the green shapes in our day. Oh, the kids have it so easy.