Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Feeling truly blessed today. Nobody wants to work on their birthday, but today has been a blast, and yes, I have gotten very little done. My staff surprised me with a cake My dear friend Liz sent me a stunning bouquet of flowers Mom, Prairie Dawn, and I went to one of my fav restaurants in Sticks for lunch Two of my favorite kiddos surprised me a homemade card and chocolate chip cookies And I get to be dressed in costume (one of my favorite things to do!) because Sticks Trick o' Treat Night is tonight and our FRIENDS group throws a huge party for kids passing through Feeling so grateful, grateful, grateful today; thankful for a job I love, folks who care about me, and health and happiness to appreciate every day of this grand life! Part of the card the kids made for me Part of the card the kids made for me

"October" O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the forest call; Tomorrow they may form and go. O hushed October morning mild, Begin the hours of this day slow. Make the day seem to us less brief. Hearts not averse to being beguiled, Beguile us in the way you know. Release one leaf at break of day; At noon release another leaf; One from our trees, one far away. Retard the sun with gentle mist; Enchant the land with amethyst. Slow, slow! For the grapes’ sake, if they were all, Whose leaves already are burnt with frost, Whose clustered fruit must else be lost— For the grapes’ sake along the wall. --Robert Frost I know I've shared this poem here before, but it's one of my favorite poems and I love to reread it every year, multiple time a year....

"Among the Rocks" Oh, good gigantic smile o’ the brown old earth,       This autumn morning! How he sets his bones To bask i’ the sun, and thrusts out knees and feet For the ripple to run over in its mirth;       Listening the while, where on the heap of stones The white breast of the sea-lark twitters sweet. That is the doctrine, simple, ancient, true;       Such is life’s trial, as old earth smiles and knows. If you loved only what were worth your love, Love were clear gain, and wholly well for you:       Make the low nature better by your throes! Give earth yourself, go up for gain above!  --Robert Browning Another lovely poem for another lovely autumn morning.    Heading out soon for a gathering of Adult Librarians at the Upper Sandusky Community Library, where we will discuss creative program...

Fall is happening all around us and I feel so grateful that I've seen so much of it's glory this year; the colors over our campsite when the leaves were first bursting, and then last weekend as cover and forest bedding for us as we hiked lovely Hocking Hills! Last weekend I went home and to the town of Fenton, MI, where I grew up and was greeted by downtown Fenton in full autumn regalia. Beautiful beautiful! With fall on the brain I've been seeking out more poems that celebrate this favorite season of mine! Here's a gem:   "Autumn Fires" In the other gardens And all up the vale, From the autumn bonfires See the smoke trail! Pleasant summer over And all the summer flowers, The red fire blazes, The grey smoke towers. Sing a song of seasons! Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall! --Robert Louis Stevenson

Ben, Beth, Everett Ben carrying my niece through one of the small caves. My niece had a huge crush on Ben, asking him to carry her through the park. She has good taste--Ben's a gem. My brother A3's family: Alex (8mos), Dayna, A3, Savannah Our weekend away was lovely. I took a half day on Friday and after 3 hours of fall colors alongside the roads meandering south and east, I wound up at the house we were renting. Right around the time I finished unloading my car and stowing all the food in the fridge, A3 and company were pulling up, followed 5 minutes later by Beth, Ben, and Everett, who'd traveled from the Farm in Massachusetts.  The weekend was typical Midwest fall: colorful, blustery, rainy at times, perfect for being snuggly tucked away in a lovely house with friends and family. We were able to find a pocket of time when it wasn't raining and headed to Hocking Hills for a couple hours of camping. The kids were EXCELLENT the whol...

By the time you're reading this I will be on the open road, heading northeast for a weekend I've been looking forward to for about 6 months! My brother A3, sister-in-law Dayna, and niece and nephew, and friends Beth & Beth and their baby Everett and I have rented a house for the weekend near Hocking Hills State Park . So excited to see my dear friends and meet their new baby! So excited for lots of laughs, shared meals, time with people I love, hiking, and fall colors! What are you doing this weekend?

I joined the Association for Rural & Small Libraries last year and have really appreciated the listserv, where professional peers reach out to one another with questions, and in search of support. I thought it might be cool to occasionally share these issues/questions, in case anyone out there is in the same boat and doesn't know where to look. Today's question: We have a regional catalog in which librarians can see the records of patrons at other libraries. Do you have policies restricting the issuing of new library cards to patrons with bad records in other libraries? How do you handle this ethical issue? I don't always respond, but I did share some thoughts today, which are: We are in a consortium and are strongly encouraged to not give new cards to persons with accounts past due at any other libraries within our consortium; this is a rule we adhere to. That said, we still were getting occasionally burned by folks who'd get a card and then leave ...

This years poster Star War READS Day was this past Saturday, but since neither Prairie Dawn or I was working, we bumped it to Monday afternoon. We had a blast(er) making themed crafts and enjoying snacks (made by my awesome friend Baker Sarah): Jabba Jiggler Jello, Jedi Juice, Stormtrooper cupcakes, and Wookie cookies. Star Wars READs is great because different book sellers offer freebies (Abrams, Chronicle Books, Dark Horse, Del Rey, Disney Book Group, DK, Klutz, Quirk Books, Random House Audio, Scholastic, and Workman Publishing) like posters or displays, which you can use and give away (we received at least 15 of every poster) and the Jabba the Puppet display is AWESOME and will be used again for our next party. A great way to keep abreast of things for next year is to like Star Wars Read s on Facebook! Stormtrooper cupcakes Wookie Cookies Our checkout-ables: all of our Star Wars books, comics, and DVDs The kids LOVED making this R2D2 My favorite pos...

Delicious coffee at Pistacia Vera, German Village, Columbus After 2.5 days in Columbus I wanted to: *Move to Columbus! I miss living near(er) to a big, happening city! *Eat at the North Market everyday; Stuffed cabbage and chicken/cheese balls at Hubert's Polish Kitchen, sandwiches and pickles from the barrel at Katzinger's Little Deli, strawberry buttermilk ice cream at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams *Have a roommate again--sharing a room with Prairie Dawn for a couple nights was a blast and made me miss the camaraderie of housemates *Spend hours (decades!) at The Book Loft of German Village *Have a croissant and quiche every day at Pistacia Vera in German Village The conference was great, as was the digs (the Columbus downtown Hilton), and it was definitely hard to leave this happening city, but I was excited to head points north and west for a weekend of camping with ChicagoBoy. ChicagoBoy and I met up at the State Park, Chain O' Lakes , in Albion, Indian...

Feel like I've been so busy, leading up the Ohio Library Council (OLC)'s Expo it was all about the Expo, post-Expo it's been about playing catch up with things I let slip a little. The Expo was FANTASTIC! Not only did I make lots of new library friends, and some are actually not too far from us--SCORE!--but I also participated in my first Battledecks ! Battledecks is a competition where contestants get a certain amount of time (5 minutes in our case), 12 powerpoint slides, and a topic (ours was taken from Sessions presented at OLC). You must cohesively present your slides, describing how they fit in with your topic, and of course the slides are of the most bizarre and ridiculous pictures. It was so much fun and some of them were hysterical! Definitely want to participate in it again next year! So, my talk? It went great! I had about 25 people attend (not terrible for 8:30a.m.) and received loads of great feedback and was even asked to consider presenting it again at o...

Prairie Dawn and I are just about to leave for the OLC (Ohio Library Council) Expo. Did I mention I'm speaking? Did I mention I'm nervous?! Busy week! We're gone until Friday, then as soon as I get back I change, dump my bag and reload it with camping gear and head out. ChicagoBoy and I are camping in Indiana this weekend at Chain O' Lakes State Park (can we say it's going to be freezing?!) My only hope is that while I was packing for both the conference and camping, at the same time last night, that I put the right clothes in my bag, or I'm going to be looking pretty silly presenting...

I finally broke down and joined Twitter, mostly because A. I'm bored. B. I've been feeling in a funk lately. 3. I need an outlet for my sarcasm. So, find me on Twitter @MMLnomnom

I love my best friend, Lisa, who ALWAYS finds great articles for me on all sorts of subjects, but especially on literary things. Now that I've read about Fr. Neenan and his epic Dean's List I've become inspired to do one of my own!  SOON...

I remember how hard it was finding library jobs when I was looking; feel like I spent entire afternoons just finding postings, hence why I like to pass along postings every once in a while. These are all in Connecticut: Adult Services Assistant, Case Memorial Director of Library Services, PT, Aldrich Free Public PT Library Assistant, Farmington Children's Services Dept. Head, Ridgefield