A Wandering Eyre

Cluetrain Manifesto #50 perfectly describes one of the issues facing my library. We have many talented people who want to do wonderful things, but they are circumvented by the system and given no authority.

Case in point.

–Jane, is one hell of a committee member

Mondays Suck.

Reading my feeds made it suck a bit less this morning, because I stumbled across this. I am trying not to get my hopes up, after all, our ALA presidents only get a year. What can one accomplish in a single year? They can succeed in making librarians everywhere appear technologically defunct, *cough* Gorman *cough*, but making progress is a bit more of a struggle at times.

It takes time to get an entire committee of out of touch people to agree. No offense directed at those on Council that are screaming into the wind. We know who you are and we love.
Jane, trying to find the groove for the week

It has been one of those weeks that picks you up squeezes you, flings you about, loves you then leaves you, all the while laughing maniacally. I feel good about all that was completed and ok with the progress in projects looming.

My day was brightened by two things:

A talk at my library by none other than Lawrence Lessig which was as informative as the content was frustrating. I will have a nice review of the topic (with pictures!) up soon.

After the Lessig talk, I came back to my office to find a truly lovely piece of mail in my mailbox. The wordsmith, Michael, sent me a letter (picture coming) of friendship that made me smile down to my toes. Some people are to remind us of the kindness in the world.

Jane, happy friday

Warning: a word in this post may cause it to be blocked for those of you with Nazi filters in your workplace.
I am obviously taking a break from working to amuse you this afternoon.

My friend and fellow Mimi Smartypants fan, sent me this excerpt because she believes this is how my kids will behave: About her daughter Nora

For some reason she has been drawing the sexual organs on her drawings of people, which is probably going to get us another sideline “talk” from the preschool teachers before long. When I asked her why she always draws the penis on her figures of Daddy or her little male friends, she got exasperated and said, “That’s how you know they are BOYS.”

(scroll down the section entitled, Valentine’s day)

Nora has a point, but I do not think I should make people drop their pants to make sure they are boys. Unless you are playing the Pat game and then this could come in handy.

Jane - one more laugh before I go

Today, I have already managed to finish my handout for the workshop this afternoon and get a fait amount accomplished on my presentation for faculty next week despite the fact that I have been compelled to watch this and this over and over and over and over.

I try to be productive. I do, but people like this are keeping me from doing my job! Stop entertaining me!

–Jane, where for art thou Friday?

What I am doing today (including non-work items):

• Learning how to make Power Point not suck from a coworker who makes beautiful presentations
• Starting presentation on blogging for next week, Audience: university faculty and whatever librarians we con into coming
• Creating a handout for my Advanced Research for the Humanities Workshop happening at 4pm TODAY!
• Teaching the aforementioned workshop
• Checking links in our new open URL link resolver program. This one should be the highlight of my day.
• Taking over the world, one end user at a time
• Eating veggie fajitas for dinner prepared by Mr. Rochester. I should work late more often
• Watching Lost
• Forgetting all about work
• Playing with Pullo
• Reading
• Going to bed

–Jane, has a full day

Shadows and Light (which many book places list incorrectly as The Shadows and the Light)

The House of Gaian

I have decided to review these novels by Anne Bishop at the same time as they are the second and third book in the Tir Alainn Trilogy and continue the story started in The Pillars of the World, which I reviewed here.

I could not stop reading these books. I think the last time I was this sucked into a fantasy series was The Mists of Avalon, years ago, though Martin came close. There is some implied instances of darkness these books, but they are free from some of the darker tendencies of Bishop’s other series.

This series, instead of trickling out as some series tend to do, grows and develops, concluding with a strong flourish. Bishop resists the urge to tie all the bows together in the end, but gives the reader enough to make some extrapolations. There is a war in this book and not everyone makes it through the fight. I like that.

There are some interesting themes in this series. The antagonist is a man who thinks that he is cleansing the evil of the world by killing witches and stripping women of their humanity. It is interesting to see the way Bishop creates an evil in the form of men who oppress women, the mob mentality that can cause witch hunts, and the way ordinary people can be dragged into sinister acts.

Highly Recommended: It is fantasy, but the themes might appeal to someone interested in fictional accounts of witch trials and similar situations.

This post is the result of two things: MPOW’s recent recantation of our food and drink policy and a conversation I had a couple of days later with a long time staff member which left me irritated, frustrated, and sad. Some of our staff have been very hostile towards our recent change in policy, using some faulty arguments that were present even with the old policy in place.

I have stated previously that my library getting rid of our unenforceable food and drink policy is good because we have to treat our users like adults and allow them to use our space as they define it. (Within reason, of course. I am not advocating free love in the stacks or things that are illegal, however fun they might seem) At this moment, I am going to focus on the issue of space.

Libraries tend to get caught up in what our space means. Is it books? Computers? Information? Starbucks? But we are missing a critical point when we, librarians and those invested in the library, start this discussion. Librarians may create the space, with the help of architects, builders, and decorators, but we do not define the space nor do we own the space.

It does not belong to us. Libraries are not for librarians and they are not for books. Those two things are merely cogs in the machine. Libraries are for people and the people that fill our spaces and our stacks define what the building will be used for and what the building means. A nice building with open areas does lend itself to studying, reading, and meeting up with peers, but does an empty space hold the same definition as a space pulsing with the life of its users? I do not think it does.

Librarians act on the belief that this building, this library, somehow belongs to us and the information. We make policies and rules based on this assumption. No food. No drinks. No cell phones. No talking. No nothing, go away! These policies are not made for our users; they are made for us. Our users should drive all of our policies. Our users should be the ones to define our spaces. It does not make sense to people that they can not bring coffee into the library when they want to study or bring a snack into our study areas when they plan on being here for hours. When was the last time you sat in one place, with no food or drink for hours on end? I would venture to say almost never and if you did have this experience, you were probably not very comfortable.

I rarely visited the library on my alma mater, Texas A&M, except to grab what I needed and leave, because I need to be able to munch and wander, two things not encouraged by the policies.

If you love something, let it go. Librarians love libraries and we love our patrons. We should respect our patrons enough to realize that they own our space. They define our space. They drive our policies. Their needs drive our services. We are here to serve them, not be their parents and say, “Because I said so, that’s why.”

–Jane, just let it go

I have been in a bit of a haze for the past week and a half, due to various circumstances, and thus am just now catching up with my feeds which have spiraled out of control. I also, pleasantly, found that I was tagged by K.G. Schneider at FRL. (update: Looks like Walt Crawford tagged me too. I am feeling quite loved!) Without further ado:

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Grocery store cashier
2. Weaving and Stitchery counselor at an all girls summer camp - the best and worst summer of my life
3. Bookseller at Barnes and Noble - I have never been treated so badly by complete strangers in my life, but otherwise a great a job
4. Shelver - I shelved mostly children’s books and, yuck!, after a cart of those babies, your hands were black

Four Movies I could watch over and over:

1. Pride and Prejudice - the good one with Colin Firth… Mmmmm, Colin. When I was in grad school, I watched this movie every day for about two months. I could not make details this pitiful up. This version is 5 hours long!
2. Ever After - I’m a girl and I have hormones.
3. Serenity - you knew it was going to be on here
4. Dead Poets Society - my first favorite movie ever

Four places I’ve lived:

1. The Woodlands, TX
2. College Station, TX
3. Irving, TX
4. League City, TX

(anyone see a pattern here? Get me out!)

Four TV shows I love to watch:

I am going to go with current shows here, even though many of my favorites are all canceled.

1. Family Guy
2. Lost
3. Supernatural
4. Gilmore Girls

Four websites I visit daily:

1. Bookslut
2. Whedonesque
3. Meebo
4. Google

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Bacharach, Germany
2. London, England
3. Leadville, Colorado
4. Natural Bridge, Virginia

Four of my favorite foods:

(really? just 4?)

1. Fajitas
2. Pizza
3. Sushi
4. Gyros - seriously, I think there is crack in the meat, because I could eat this stuff all day

Four places I’d rather be:

1. Colorado - have you ever gone to a place and it just felt like you belonged there? I feel that way about mountains. They fill me with the most amazing sense of peace, like my soul has always rested there, my body just did not realize it.
2. Scotland - Mr. Rochester is letting me usurp our honeymoon to take the vacation of my dreams. I am in love with Scotland and I can not wait to see it. My only explanation for this infatuation is too many romance novels in high school.
3. On the couch with hot tea and a book - when is this ever not the case?
4. Germany - I have been there once, but I missed the beer the moment I landed in Houston

Four Albums I can’t live without:

1. Once More, With Feeling cast album - because sometimes you have to sing out loud and laugh
2. Somewhere More Familiar, Sister Hazel
3. Back in the U.S. Live 2002, Paul McCartney - This was the most amazing thing I have ever seen on stage. Every time Paul would begin a new song, I felt like bursting into tears, all those songs I never thought I would ever hear live flowing through my skin.
4. Hymns, Kate Minor - Because sometimes I need to remember why I am here

Four Vehicles I’ve Owned:

1. 1987 Honda Prelude - red with a sun roof and still my favorite car
2. 1999 Pontic Grand Am - the largest pile of crap I have ever driven, ever
3. 2002 Chevy Blazer - My current ride, soon to be upgraded to something larger because of the massive dog
4. (I have only owned three so here is my dream car) A Cooper Mini - so cute, so small, so imparactical for my lifestyle

Four people I am tagging: all friends, three of them have the misfortune to work with me

1. In the Hoosegow
2. In the Beauty of the Lillies
3. Sharpe World
4. Library Web Chic

Today is the Big Hoopla at my library, complete with pep rally, people is cat outfits (the school mascot), marching band, speakers, old people with money, food, drink, flowers, new paint, behind the scenes tours, and librarians in actual suits. I know it sounds crazy. Librarians in suits that match with their hair neat and makeup applied. It is like being in a building run by pod people.

–Jane, on the look-out for soylent green