Nomenclature for non-Librarians reading this blog:

ALA is the acronym for American Library Association
ACRL – Association of College and Research Libraries, division of ALA
LITA – Library and Information Technology
YALSA – Young Adult Library Services Association
AASL – American Association of School Librarians

2010 ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC – WOW…that was a big – hot – conference [25,444 attendess and temperatures seldom below 95 degrees for the 6 day conference.]  Here is where you will get all the  “good stuff” links wise. I guess you had to be there to actually get the good stuff if the multiple bulging bags of books and the lines in the mail/shipping  center were any indication of getting good stuff. The exhibition area was huge, unwieldly and like another planet without basic provisions like food and water and coffee!  I navigated with due caution (and probably missed out on lots of good stuff – fondly known in Librarian parlance as “swag”. ) I never learned how to do swag in Library school. By Monday afternoon, after attending an author “tea” I did figure out that if I stood in the hall after the talks the publisher reps just handed me books – then I got them signed and I will give them away to deserving homes – after I read them!

It looked to me – a “newbie” first time attender – like the conference was many things to many people. Will Manley saw it this way – book people and machine people.

It was an organizational meeting grounds. I spoke with other Librarians who attended and were on ALA committees and they used much of the times attending ALA meetings. I did sit in on the YALSA  Best Fiction for Young Adults meeting and realized… ah ha, that’s how they pick the best books lists.

The conference was a showcase for best practices in libraries – but I have to say I was somewhat dismayed by most of the Librarians presentation styles. Bad powerpoints abounded. I tried to stick with my division of ALA – ACRL; but, discovered the LITA presentations had much more thought,  content and presentation panache. [More on the best, most thoughtful session of ALA DC 2010 Top Tech Trends soon.] Some intrepid Librarians know that presenting the  message is important and they practice with hilarity at Battledecks!

Be inspired at your conference, seemed to be another theme for me at the ALA Conference. I caught some (but unfortunately, not all) of the big name speakers. Toni Morrison spoke Saturday evening and was quietly eloquent. I did get to hear Mr. Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer (Director of DOK Delft – The Most Modern Library in the World) and so appreciated his F^5 approach to design and services. [Stay tuned and I will link my presentation describing this – here, soon] See him  at  TedxRotterdam 2010 here.

I was reminded everywhere during the conference…  Libraries are all about FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY! Librarians are teachers -all the time- and information literacy is a challenge and a calling. But, I always knew that Libraries are all about READING!

And though I attended sessions on Mobile Reference, eBooks, Marketing your Library services, and Tech Trends, as well as, talking and networking with our vendors like a good academic librarian should – I loved the time I got to spend with the authors and editors who were so eloquent and passionate about their books and reading.

Don’t forget Libraries are all about READING!

“There is nothing more beautiful than a beautiful story.”  (Eppo’s father!) ALA DC 2010 was the story of Libraries in all their organizations, contradictions, beauty and necessity.

I learn so much reading blogs. Who thinks reading blogs is declining? I was reading Is Twitter Replacing the RSS Feeder? – while cleaning out my RSS feeds in prep for going being out of the office for five days. If you think blog reading is declining, check out John Dupuis doing great work with blogs and instruction!

I’m trying to catch up on all my work…submitting time sheets, processing new books, finalizing performance reviews and clearing my RSS feeds so I can attend the ALA Annual Conference guilt free. How serendipitous to read this blog entry by Nancy Pearl written by her husband, Joe about a book – Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh- and then to just get up from my desk and find the book in my Physics Library at CUA. So. my RSS feeds and blog reading led me to this book! I love good books and I’m checking this one out. But I won’t be reading it this weekend…I’ll be at ALA.

Nancy Pearl is going to ALA, too!

From the ALA Wiki:

ALA Auditorium Speaker Series

Nancy Pearl with Mary McDonagh Murphy

Saturday, June 26, 8:00 -9:00 am
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird, an American classic, Nancy Pearl will interview Mary McDonagh Murphy, Emmy award-winning filmmaker and author of the upcoming book, Scout, Atticus and Boo: A Celebration of Fify Years of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Nancy Pearl speaks about the pleasures of reading to library and community groups throughout the world and comments on books regularly on NPR’s Morning Edition. She’s the author of Book Crush: For Kids and Teens: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest; Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason; and More Book Lust: 1,000 New Reading Recommendations for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, all published by Sasquatch Books. In 2004, she was awarded the Women’s National Book Association Award, given to ” a living American woman who… has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation.” In 1998, Library Journal named her Fiction Reviewer of the Year. She is the model for the Librarian Action Figure. On her monthly television show, Book Lust with Nancy Pearl, she has interviewed authors as diverse as E.L. Doctorow, Ann Patchett and Terry Pratchett.

Sponsored by HarperCollins

Thanks to PBS for this widget

I am so NOT good at this. Is it just me? Or, are all of my fellow country men and women having trouble embracing uncertainty?  It seems to me that I and others are retreating into the cave, afraid of the future. That is just so un-American. As people are treated as commodities in their work lives and no employer seemingly can be trusted, we are losing our confidence in the future to uncertainty.

I wonder if this is a generational feeling. I was brought up to “do good work” as my dues for a life in America and my down payment as a human being to the future. I take pride in my work and have sought to do a job that adds to peoples’ lives – first, in Engineering to build a better future; and now, through Librarianship and teaching and service. I want to live – as one of my favorite authors  Diana Gabaldon writes  -   an “eminently useful life.” I thought by doing good work, in service to others and the future, that I was “of value.”

But, I am watching so many of my peers and beloved family members struggling with work – downsizing and layoffs – and what that does to a person’s belief in themselves and the future. What truly does make a life of value? And where and how much should we invest in work?

Broadway reminds us that life may not be measured in work… the Broadway musical Rent says, “measure your life in Love.”  La Cage Aux Folles reminds us that the “best of times is now, so live and love as hard as you know how!” And my favorite, Les Miserables (Ah, the irony of such a metaphor in such a time as this!) always comforts me as I remember that “to love another person is to see the face of God.”

The book I am gifting this summer – The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha – short essays on the really awesome things in life remind me that it isn’t the big things that make you happy. It is the little things (and the “small people”), like real letters in the mail, warm towels, crying and laughing that truly makes people happy.  It is just too scary to look at the big picture right now, so concentrate on and count your blessings. But, I feel that the times I live in call for more from me.

We watch that d%!* oil leak in real time and are faced with our own failure. It is the failure of technology, the failure of conservation and, most importantly, the failure to provide a better future for coming generations, a “mortal hemorrage.” On a gut level, we know that we are failing the earth. We are more connected to the earth than our daily lives seem, especially those of us that live in urban, heavily populated places. We need to look at the big picture and make some big changes.

Maybe instead of embracing uncertainty – we need to grapple with it. Know any good wrestling holds that work?

I think April’s big question is…will this semester ever end? But, others think April’s big question is:

Isn’t this an ever-expanding universe of tech goodies? Will we be forced to chase hot tools and social platforms to stay competitive? How the heck are we supposed to stay up to speed on all the latest stuff and be successful using it personally and professionally?

How do we keep up?

I like new technology tools. I love getting my “news feeds” from twitter. Have you seen Neil deGrasse Tyson’s tweets on aliens? They makes me smile! So, we all learn and use technology tools to “keep up.”  My newest tool is  Prezi – I learned it works better in Firefox than in IE; and, if you put in graphics, they need to be very high quality to project well. I also learned about QR codes, but am still figuring out which is the best software to use on my phone to read all QR codes. All QR creator sites are not created equally good.  So, yes, I use technology tools to keep up.

But, as it is the end of the semester here at the Catholic University of America, and the end of my first academic year on the job. I need to find time to reflect about what worked this year…and what didn’t. To learn my new job I’ve read management books, built LibGuides, “selected” for subject areas, kept track of seven subject budgets and two  staff budgets, all the while, still learning how to commute. And I’m thinking, maybe – every now and then – I need to step back to keep up.

It was kismet then today when I read a lecture [delivered to the plebe class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in October of last year reprinted in theAmericanScholar.org Spring 2010] by William Deresiewicz (essayist and critic) on Solitude and Leadership: If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts .

So it’s perfectly natural to have doubts, or questions, or even just difficulties. The question is, what do you do with them? Do you suppress them, do you distract yourself from them, do you pretend they don’t exist? Or do you confront them directly, honestly, courageously? If you decide to do so, you will find that the answers to these dilemmas are not to be found on Twitter or Comedy Central or even in The New York Times. They can only be found within—without distractions, without peer pressure, in solitude.

It reminded me of the Thomas Merton quote that I have always loved and think of often:

“It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.”

Deresiewicz talks about the new technology tools – and why reading books is better than reading tweets. [Though I love the heavenly irony that I found this lecture through a tweet.] When  he rhapsodizes about the importance of solitude and friendship… well, I am still reflecting about why this speaks to me…but it does!  Read the whole essay…and then reflect about it for a while.

On tweets and books…

So why is reading books any better than reading tweets or wall posts? Well, sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes, you need to put down your book, if only to think about what you’re reading, what you think about what you’re reading. But a book has two advantages over a tweet. First, the person who wrote it thought about it a lot more carefully. The book is the result of his solitude, his attempt to think for himself.

Second, most books are old. This is not a disadvantage: this is precisely what makes them valuable. They stand against the conventional wisdom of today simply because they’re not from today. Even if they merely reflect the conventional wisdom of their own day, they say something different from what you hear all the time. But the great books, the ones you find on a syllabus, the ones people have continued to read, don’t reflect the conventional wisdom of their day. They say things that have the permanent power to disrupt our habits of thought. They were revolutionary in their own time, and they are still revolutionary today. And when I say “revolutionary,” I am deliberately evoking the American Revolution, because it was a result of precisely this kind of independent thinking. Without solitude—the solitude of Adams and Jefferson and Hamilton and Madison and Thomas Paine—there would be no America.

On solitude and friendship…

So solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better. But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship. Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “the soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude.”

And, in this reflective mode I have checked out the book Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton and will leave you with his prayer [because I often have no idea where I am going] as I reflect and hope, as my friend Adele says, that the big guy/gal is indeed pleased.

I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - from “Thoughts in Solitude” by Thomas Merton

Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/hdude/2575132072/

Is it spring? [90 degrees for two days now – I think we went straight to summer here in the DC area!] Is that why students, faculty and librarians are all stressed? You’d think the cherry blossoms and flip flops would help, wouldn’t you?  No – stress is running high and so that makes it hard to think or write coherently. So, rather incoherently, here are just a few things I’ve been meaning to blog about.

I’ve been reading, thinking and writing about communicating science. Lots of new books on the problematical topic. [Link to reviews - coming soon here!]

I DO NOT AGREE (in part) with this book review by  Pagan Kennedy. She reviewed This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All By Marilyn Johnson in the New York Times in March 2010. She says of Johnson  – “It is a testament to her skill as a writer that she remains fascinating, even in the throes of A.D.D.” I’m not sure about the  A.D.D. allusion – but being a Librarian these days is a lot like your brain on a pinball machine. I careen from subject to subject – much like Johnson did in her book. Ping…Budgets, student worker schedules, vendor meetings, reference questions on cost estimating and heat pipes, web casts on data visualization!  Ping! Ping! Ping! (Not to mention careening physically, building to building – Ping…Engineering Library, Nursing Library, Physics Library, and Main Library.) I loved this book. It affirmed the chaotic nature of being a Librarian today. Reading this book made me dance off the train in jubilation (OK – I hate commuting – and I usually can’t read on the train because I miss my stops, but really, I wanted to dance!) Someone understood just what my day to day job was like and wrote about it with passion and compassion. Johnson waxes poetic about the saving grace of reading – I sing hallelujah. I am a Librarian and my life and career in its many forms is as chaotic as Johnson’s book, but with great meaning and purpose. Kennedy concedes at the end of her review in Johnson’s own words that librarians are “waging the holy battle to resurrect the entire world, over and over again, in its entirety — keeping every last tidbit safe and acid free.”

I’ve been all tied up in mind knots about … Informatics, Bioinformatics, Biomedical Informatics – yes, all different, but part of what is coming in this chaotic world of Biomedical Engineering, Nursing and Library Science. Is it Biology? Is it Computer Science? Is it Health Care? All of the above! Is it information and do Librarians need to be part of the conversation – YES! It is Computational Biology (according to the  National Library of Medicine) and will, in the end, dictate and inform EHR [Electronic Health Records), yours and mine.

In the meantime – while careening -  I was reminded today of the very best part about being a Librarian – helping people find stuff. I worked the reference desk tonight and I did find stuff – electronically and physically in the layers of stacks. I answered a call from an alumni Physicist in CA and helped him find an article; Heidegger on Nietzsche in German and English – found it; Opera lyrics – done! Books on terrorism – to the stacks!

I’m a Librarian and I help people find stuff .

I’ve been reading Dick Francis novels all my life. Today Dick Francis died and I feel like I’ve lost a friend and a source of daily ordinary wisdom.

I first “met” Dick Francis in a Reader’s Digest Condensed Book. These books were staples at my Aunt Marcella’s house in Grand Rapids MI. My Dad was her ”second son” nephew  and through him she loved all of us! And we were better for her love and her zest for life. She played a mean game of “31”  and loved to read! Our twice yearly family visits to he house are cherished memories. She shared all of her books with us and often sent me home with her lightly used volumes of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. I met many authors – before formal academic reading of them – through these books. Authors who have shaped my adult reading pleasures in mystery, politics, historical fiction, biography and romance… Victoria Holt,  Helen MacIness, Mary Stewart, Fletcher Knebel, Pearl S. Buck, Ernest K. Gann, Morris West, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, James Michener, Arthur Hailey, Irving Wallace, and Taylor Caldwell.  I looked it up (that’s what we librarian’s do!) and the first Dick Francis story I read (I might have been 11) was Nerve – published in the Spring 1964 volume.

Yes, I am aware of the “mystery” of Dick Francis novels. Some have said his wife Mary actually wrote the books. His latest novels since his wife died have been openly co-authored with his son Felix. I do believe that the novels contain the essence of the man Dick Francis. Read his autobiography. And read his books even if you don’t like horse racing!

When I discuss reading with others, I always ask if they have read Dick Francis. If they have…I know they are a friend. How lucky was I that my favorite Mother-in-law, Gladys belonged to the Book of the Month Club and so always had the  latest Dick Francis title for me to read – after she did, of course.

This self-contained world was, of course, a reflection of a broader universe in which themes of winning and losing and courage and integrity have more sweeping meaning. As the critic John Leonard wrote, “Not to read Dick Francis because you don’t like horses is like not reading Dostoyevsky because you don’t like God.”

After the death in 2000 of Mary Francis, his wife of 53 years and a close collaborator on his books, Mr. Francis expressed doubts that he would ever write another novel. “She was the moving force behind my writing,” he said. “I don’t think I shall write again other than letters now. So much of my work was her.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/books/15francis.html?pagewanted=1

He would prefer, he sometimes said, to be remembered as a jockey than as a writer, but then admitted wryly that, if it were so, he would be remembered only as the man whose horse stopped in the Grand National. Instead of which, millions of people, all over the world, are grateful for the pleasure he gave with his robust but not unsubtle, and in their way morally invigorating, tales. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7026693.ece

Gene Hawkins, Tony Snow and Derek Franklin are friends of mine. I have met these characters  in Dick Francis novels and they walk with me. I , too, wonder  how to go on and fight depression as Gene Hawkins did in Blood Sport. Tony Snow, wine seller and quiet hero of Proof,  feels his lack of courage, yet his perseverance in daily life  after his wife and unborn baby die is heartfelt and inspiring. In Straight, Derek Franklin prays his brother Greville’s  prayer to find wisdom:

May I deal with honor.

May I act with courage.

May I achieve humility.

Has a book ever turned on you? It begins one way – with beautiful langauge and a simple character with a small life. Then, unexpectedly, it turns on you and becomes a different story, not so simple and oh, so not what you thought it was. The power of words that our main character Bolsover believe will bring order out of chaos do nothing of the kind. But the words in By Chance linger.

Culpability, identity, morality, and luck–all these play a part in a story that echoes our own lives.

By Chance: A Nove by Martin Corrick

I’m chagrined. I have not been blogging often enough. My feeble excuse is that I don’t want to write to complain and bemoan my trying existence (which includes daily trials and tribulations with commuting in the DC area!) OK, I know that this existence is really not so trying… no death, sickness or pestilence for me and mine …so I will count my blessings in this new year. Learning is one of my blessings.

As the first semester at my new job concluded, a favorite blogger of mine, Professor Hacker, reminded me to “Write an End of the Semester Roundup Post” on my blog. But, he also suggested to unplug at the end of the semester – so I did that first! For about a week!

A new semester gives me a chance – not to start over – but to build on what I’ve learned (and what I need to learn) about my new workplace. Reading helps me learn.

Who’d have thought there was so much to learn about management. Daniel Pink, who first taught us about A Whole New Mind, has a new book I highly recommend – Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. What motivates us? Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. More importantly, to do work  “ in the service of a cause greater than ourselves.”

We know that human beings are not merely smaller, slower, better-smelling horses galloping after that day’s carrot. We know – if we’ve spent time with young children or remember ourselves at our best – that we are not destined to be passive and compliant, but designed to be active and engaged. And we know that the richest experiences in our lives aren’t when we’re clamoring for validation from others, but when we’re listening to our own voice – doing something that matters, doing it well, and doing it in the service of a cause greater than ourselves.

I’m also reading Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life by Bruce Rosenstein so that I can particpate in a SLA-DC book discussion group with fellow librarians in January.

I’m trying to be positive while commuting, the job is good and Science Librarian and blogger, John Dupuis tells us why in this post: Optimism?

What I learned in my first semester…

• Building Physics, Engineering & Architecture LibGuides.
• Serials…I have a lot to learn.
• I like to learn and most of my best moments this past year were spent learning.
• Don’t forget to be inspired by the art in everyday living and go to an Art gallery whenever you can!

You may have read about the High School Library in MA that is completely electronic and and has no physical books. How very sad. Now, I am not a Luddite (…yet) and I believe in technology as a force for good in the world, but I also believe in curiosity and serendipity and where better to discover those entities than a bookshelf.

Yesterday, I moved books. It was wonderful, a little dusty and real.

Between the LC Call Numbers G and GA (Class G — Geography. Anthropology. Recreation) on a shelf in the Engineering & Architecture Library at the Catholic University of America I was delighted to find…

Object-Based Image Analysis and Treaty Verification : New Approaches in Remote Sensing – Applied to Nuclear Facilities in Iran by Sven Nussbaum and Gunter Menz.

This book describes recent progress in object-based image interpretation, and also presents many new results in its application to verification of nuclear non-proliferation. A comprehensive workflow and newly developed algorithms for object-based high resolution image (pre-) processing, feature extraction, change detection, classification and interpretation are developed, applied and evaluated. The entire analysis chain is demonstrated with high resolution imagery acquired over Iranian nuclear facilities. [Publisher book description: Springer]

Atlas of Medieval Europe edited by David Ditchburn, Simon MacLean and Angus Mackay.

The Atlas of Medieval Europe covers the period from the fall of the Roman Empire through to the beginnings of the Renaissance, spreading from the Atlantic coast to the Russian steppes. Each map approaches a separate issue or series of events in medieval history, and a commentary locates it in its broader context.
This second edition has over forty new maps covering a variety of topics including:

* the Moravian Empire
* environmental change
* the travels and correspondence of Froissart and travellers in the east
* the layout of great castles and palaces. [From Amazon product description]

and

Cosmography: a Posthumous Scenario for the Future of Humanity by R. Buckminster Fuller

Fuller was one of the truly original thinkers of the 20th century. This book is a collection of his thoughts about life, progress, and humanity’s role in the universe as he voiced them during the last four years of his life. Transcribed by his “adjuvant” Kiyoshi Kuromiya, they range over a panoply of topics. Among other things, he attempts to explain politics, sociology, economics, and history by metaphorically extending physical and mathematical structures to describe human behavior. Although modesty was not his strongest point, Fuller was undeniably an exceptional person. His fame alone suggests that libraries should add this book to their collection. However, most readers will find it difficult to understand. – Harold D. Shane, Baruch Coll., CUNY Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. [From Library Journal]

The mind boggles…what’s on your bookshelf?

I’m OK alone.

I thought this as I was waiting for my first (of many, let’s hope!) interview of the job search process in a new town. OK, it was kind of exciting to have that first one be in Washington, DC – even if it was just a recruiting agency. I was early for the interview – after mistiming my drive, parking and Metro ride into DC – and luckily there is a Starbucks literally on just about every block. I had a coffee, read the Washington Post and thought…it is really noisy in this coffee shop but I’m OK alone.

Later in that same week I do admit that I teared up when the waiter at Friendly’s offered me a kind word. I found myself shakily returning smiles from strangers at the supermarket. Do we ever truly appreciate the kindness of strangers until we need it ourselves? I noticed attending Mass at strange churches week after week was an unexpected loneliness. Sometimes, when I took long walks I had a strange sense of displacement. It seemed to me that this is not where my footsteps should be taking me. Of, course that thought assumed that I knew where I was going and, believe me, that is not generally the case these days. But, really, I’m OK alone.

I can search or sit for hours in a Library…and I am. It feels familiar to be surrounded by books and ideas and curiosity; even if it is very strange not to be in my Library where I knew where every book lives. Libraries are universal, everyone is welcome and ideas live. No one is alone in a Library, but it is OK to be alone in a Library.

I feel safe in Libraries, but my thoughts today turn to that fateful Library in Columbine High School where,  ten years ago today, people died. Doug Johnson, Librarian and author of Blue Skunk Blog, writes eloquently about  Columbine and Community today. He notes that one of the most important roles of educators and Librarians is to create communities for young people. I am most proud of the fact that the Library I had a small part in building at my high school was a community for students and teachers and parents and community members.

I am OK alone…but I am better for the community I build and belong to. My good friend Sr. Linda often discussed the importance of community to Catholics when I would be frustrated about the Church. She would ask me to remember that the “Church” is not Rome, nor the power of the priests. It is the community of catholics defined as including or concerning all humankind; universal.

I need to find that community here in this new home, new town, new church, new job, and these new libraries that I now find myself. I may have taken a first step this weekend. My husband and I attended Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Burke, VA. It was a comfortable, welcoming parish. The priest spoke of a book in his homily –  Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza.The music was beautiful. I was reminded that while it is OK to alone…it is better to be in a community.