Lines from Libraryland

Change is Constant

2008-06-19T15:52:00.002-05:00

It's been so long since I've added anything to this blog that I could not remember the email account I used to create it. So much for my devotion to Web 2.0. Time to turn over a new leaf -- now that we finally have leaves on our trees in Wisconsin.

I made it through my first semester of graduate school. I did well. That really wasn't a surprise. I worked very hard. What did surprise me, however, was how much I enjoyed being in class! It's been a long time and since I'm taking courses online, everything has changed. For instance, now I look at a computer screen, not a teacher. I know my classmates by their login names, not their faces. Notes are not written on blackboards, but in PowerPoint presentations. And, in case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm older than my teachers.

It was wonderful! I loved the courses and the research and the interaction with classmates from all over the world. One classmate was teaching English in Baku on the Caspian Sea. The teacher checked in from his vacation in Uganda. And I chimed in from the spare bedroom, feet propped comfortably on a footstool, and the rest of me wrapped in a great big pink bathrobe (perfect for embarrassing teenage children). I learned that there are dozens of career opportunities in library science, and I also learned that I still like public libraries.

I'm looking forward to next semester. I am also hoping that I can be more organized. It should be possible now that I know how to logon to D2L, the distance learning software at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Go Panthers! Any organizational tips are much appreciated!

Talking Books

2008-01-22T11:56:00.000-06:00

I came by my second career naturally. I'm a reader; I came from a house full of readers; and I live in a house full of readers. It's a good life.

By the way, the word for today is "swivet." It's a noun meaning a state of extreme agitation. I've got to find a way to fit this one into conversation. Actually, I can use a couple of my new words in the same paragraph: I'm in a swivet trying to determine what I need to access to successfully navigate my online course. Maybe I will be gruntled by the support of my classmates.

Yes, "gruntle" is another of the new words introduced to me by my Page a Day Calendar. We've all been using disgruntled forever. I suppose "gruntle" was just a matter of time.

Anyway, one of the things I really enjoy is talking books. I email friends and family with book recommendations, and here at the Library I stop people in the halls and stacks to share a favorite title. A friend recently recommended Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish, and now I am recommending it to you. What a marvelous book about women and their friendships! Occasionally the language is a little blue, but it's real. It combines vignettes of real life with a real life fantasy of many women -- just getting away for awhile.

So pour yourself a cup of your favorite beverage, curl up on a comfy sofa or chair, spread a blanket across your lap, and open Kris Radish's book. And when you're done, call a friend!

The library as a community center

2008-01-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

I plan and promote library programs for a living. Well, there are some other requirements in my job description, but there's a lot of planning and promoting. To date I have scheduled 30 events for 2008, separate from the regularly scheduled youth, young adult and adult programming. A public library should certainly be a center of community life. The more that is happening at the library, the more it will be perceived as that center. We're trying to make the library relevant in the life of everyone in our community. We want them to find themselves on the shelves, to be entertained and educated by our programming, and to feel that the availability of the public library is essential to a quality life. Too grandiose? I don't think so. It's a process, and it won't be quick, but what a pleasure to try!

We at Manitowoc Public Library are especially pleased to offer the 2008 Great Decisions Discussion Series. We're co-sponsoring the series with these fine organizations:

The League of Women Voters of Manitowoc County
The Manitowoc Public Library Foundation
The Friends of Manitowoc Public Library
Manitowoc Noon Rotary
Manitowoc Sunrise Rotary
University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc
Silver Lake College
Lakeshore Peacemakers
Manitowoc County Diversity Circles

How's that for a roster. Almost as impressive as our topics and speakers:

Talking to Our Enemies with John E. Katzka, retired diplomat, Senior Foreign Service Officer
European Union at 50 with Wolfgang Schmidt, UW-Milwaukee, Institute of World Affairs
Iraq End-Game with Richard Flannery, UW-Manitowoc/Sheboygan, Political Science
Russia with Clarence Davis, retired professor, Marion College, History
U.S. Defense & Security Policy with Michael Tobin, Executive Director Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission
Latin America: Shift to the Left? with Sr. Carmen Marie Diaz, Silver Lake College, History & Social Sciences
U.S.-China Trade Policy with Prof. Martin Farrell, Ripon College, Political Science & Global Studies
Private Philanthropy with Mary Beth Growney Selene, past governor, District 6250, Rotary International

This exciting series begins Monday, February 11, 2008, at 6 p.m., and continues for the following 7 Mondays. More info? Log on to www.manitowoc.lib.wi.us.

So yes, I like living in Libraryland. Let me know what you think.

A New Word -- Cybrarian

2007-12-27T09:15:00.000-06:00

I received a gift for the holidays, a Merriam-Webster 365 New Words-a-Year Calendar. Now, I know it's not 2008 yet, so I must admit that I look ahead -- plus the word I'm about to share with you was advertised on the box.

Our word for the new year is "cybrarian." It is a noun meaning, "a person whose job it is to find, collect, and manage information that is available on the World Wide Web."

It is the word for the day January 21, 2008. We'll have to start using it in conversation. "When I need information at two in the morning, I will have to log onto my computer to chat with a cybrarian." Since I'm going back to school, that's a sentence I may actually use.

I'll let you know if I come across other fun words to add to our vocabularies.

Generosity of Spirit

2007-12-19T16:19:00.000-06:00

I work in a wonderful community, or maybe it's the time of year. Whatever the reason, I am thankful that when I reach out to the people of Manitowoc County at this time each year, they respond!

Manitowoc Public Library collects new, unwrapped children's books each December. Hundreds are received and we, in turn, deliver them to the Salvation Army for their annual gift distribution to underprivileged children, so one one has to go without a new book at the holidays. Books that arrive too late for the SA party are taken to the Domestic Violence Center. Those children endure so much hardship -- especially during the holiday season -- that it's especially nice to give them the opportunity to get lost between the covers of a book!

I also ask people to make a gift to the Friends of Manitowoc Public Library during this festive season. Years ago our appeal took the form of a Cookie Walk. While a wonderful idea, there aren't too many folks who have the time they'd like to bake for the holidays. (Last night, for instance, was baking for the Foreign Language Week festivities [I found out about it at noon]. I'm sure the bars tasted good, but they certainly weren't "Cookie Walk-Pretty." Why do teachers think the high school students actually prepare the food?) Anyway, back to our fund drive. We simply ask our members to save themselves the shopping and baking and plating and shlepping, and send us a check for what they would have spent. And they do. Now, we don't raise enough to replace our book budget, but we certainly raise enough to present a program or two throughout the year that would not otherwise be possible. I'm so happy to send the thank you notes, but what really is fun is introducing those programs, and telling everyone that they're possible because of the community's generosity.

We think of the Library as a community resource. It's nice to pause for a moment or two and remember what a resource we have in the people of our community.

Great Reading

2007-12-03T14:25:00.000-06:00

I have been very fortunate. I have read some terrific books lately. I raved about A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, recommending it to everyone as the best book I've read in months. Then I picked up The Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan. Wow! Another new author with another must read novel. I learned a great deal about different cultures overseas and here at home in both of these books (as I did in Hosseini's first novel, The Kite Runner). While I don't anticipate passing up new books by some of my favorite authors, after reading these works by Hosseini and Pradhan, I will certainly look for more titles by new writers -- and will certainly add these two to my favorite authors list.

My First Posting

2007-11-16T16:49:00.000-06:00

I recently attended the Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference in Green Bay. I learned many things over the course of the conference, even things about myself. I learned, for instance, that I am a "digital immigrant." My children, however, are all "digital natives." Well, I'm not about to let the year of my birth stop me from taking advantage of Web 2.0, so I vowed there and then that by the end of 2007, there would be a blog from the Manitowoc Public Library. Welcome to Lines from Libraryland.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I entered Libraryland seven years ago, with years of industrial and professional marketing experience. I loved what I did, but I could not have found a better niche for myself at this time of my life, which is why I've enrolled in UWM's School of Information Science. I want to be a Librarian with a capital "L."

I believe in free and open access to information for everyone and, in fact, consider ALA's annual list of challenged books to be a list of recommended reading!

Looking forward to meeting everyone out there. Glad you've visited Libraryland.