Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Something most libraries/librarians have been watching VERY closely. I can't believe we have to fight so hard to protect our libraries and schools in our country. Sad panda. Colleagues, I’m pleased, but with important cautions, to tell you that all of our collective work to Fight for Libraries! is poised to pay off dramatically. Key parts of the House Appropriations Subcommittee bill that is scheduled to be voted on tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 EDT were released late this afternoon. The bill does NOT cut last year’s funding to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Once final, that would mean no cuts to LSTA in this critical first vote stage! (We’ll know about Innovative Approaches to Literacy tomorrow.  Now the cautions… While unlikely, an amendment could be offered to the bill that changes the IMLS appropriation. In addition, after tomorrow’s vote, there will be at least two further procedural opportunities for the bill to be amended. After the House acts, of ...

10. Don't be surprised if you see lots of comfortable shoes with all kinds of outfits. Librarians are about practicality. 9. At some point during the week you will hear discussion of the latest book or comic book/graphic novel turned into movie, opinions about the actors selected, and who really should have been cast. 8. You will see a few too many programs on whatever the latest craze in libraries is in the current year...STEM or Makerspaces ring a bell? 7. You can play a sort of Where's Waldo that includes: one librarian wearing some kind of kitchy library swag, i.e. due date slip scarves or socks; a librarian wearing an ironic cat sweater; a few famous authors, an endless sea of characters wearing glasses. 6.  You and your friends play "Shoulder Bag Show-off." Winner points out the most shoulder bags touting a specific library name, or a book seller. Double points if the bag displays "famous" mascots like Penworthy Bear, or the Baker & Taylo...

If you need to be reminded why you became a Librarian, or why libraries are amazing places, and still so relevant in the 21st century, watch this and be inspired.  “If you are a dreamer come in If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer If youre a pretender com sit by my fire For we have some flax golden tales to spin Come in! Come in!” --Shel Silverstein

Not only are we super busy in the thick of Summer Reading--this is week 3 of 6--but now I am getting nervous and trying to get prepared for ALA Chicago. I'm excited for the roundtables/lectures/speakers, etc., it's the logistics that are bugging me out. I am riding in with a friend and fellow librarian, SmuttyNovelHound, early Saturday and am already pondering how to accomplish these things: 1. dropping SmuttyNovelHound's stuff off at her hotel 2. finding parking for my car during conference 3. finding my friend's condo post conference 4. finding parking again Sunday morning 5. making it back to the conference in time for a Sunday session that I am directly involved in, and finding parking!! 6. finding parking again Monday morning 7. getting the hell out of Dodge before the traffic gets bad when we head home Monday! I am reading all the ALA websites, stalking ALA on Twitter, but nothing prepares you for the shittiness that is parking in Chicago, ESPECIALLY duri...

A million years ago, in what now seems another life, I worked full-time at the Farm, but also worked part-time at a little, liberal arts school nearby called Simons Rock. Though I don't have many fond memories of my short time there--I worked a shift once a week that consisted of me working a full day at the Farm, taking an hour nap, wolfing down dinner, then working a 6p.m.-1a.m. shift--what was I thinking?!--I did have the pleasure of seeing poet Rita Dove's poetry reading there. Not just because I'm a librarian, but because this is the kid I was in some ways, my favorite poem that Dove read that night, which Dove said is her, "love poem to librarians." The poem has crept back to me and I am reading it again and smiling. "Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967" For a fifteen-year-old there was plenty to do: Browse the magazines, slip into the Adult Section to see what vast tristesse was born of rush-hour traffic, décolletés, and the plague of ...

  I love coming across these little gems. I definitely feel like the shushing librarian after school when the kids of OHCity are losing their damn minds in our library.

Saw this posting on my alumni listserv, thought this job sounded cool, worth sharing: Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration  (Assistant or Associate Professor) Purdue University Libraries seeks an energetic and user-centered professional archivist to manage and develop the Barron Hilton Flight and Space Exploration Archives of the Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center into an internationally renowned resource documenting and preserving the history of flight and space exploration. Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration (Assistant or Associate Professor) Purdue University Libraries seeks an energetic and user-centered professional archivist to manage and develop the Barron Hilton Flight and Space Exploration Archives of the Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center into an internationally renowned resource documenting and preserving the history of flight and space exploration. The Hilton Archivist is r...

...NO, not books, just suggestions. Today in the Kitchen we began talking about our backgrounds and education, which of course lead to people learning that I am also a librarian, which of course leads to the age old questions: "What's your favorite book? "Who's your favorite author?" "What are you reading right now?" "Can you recommend any books for me to read?" So, I told them: Too many to chose one, but some are: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee;  Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck; Gone with the Wind , Margaret Mitchell; Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen; Angela's Ashes , Frank McCourt; Roots , Alex Haley Too many to chose one, but some are: Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain Right now, well, you can see those on my side bar. YES! I gave them  my list . And also what I always mention when books come up is how I am constantly stealing ideas for what to read from my patrons. For example, tonight ...

 Pigasus , the flying pig, used by John Steinbeck throughout his life; used as a symbol of himself, "earthbound but aspiring." I love HuffingtonPost. I love the bizarre articles. I love the good articles. I love everything. I enjoyed the doodles by famous people today. I enjoy that it also links to other websites too. Somehow I made Somehow, I made my way to this article, a list of the Highest Paying Jobs with the Most Time Off , Librarians made #6, "Librarians Hours worked/year: 1,819 Median hourly earnings: $27.35 No. employed: 148,240 Hours worked/week: 38.3 Median annual income: $54,500 Top annual income: $83,510 There are several different types of librarians, and depending on the position, workloads can either be demanding or much lighter than the national average. According to the BLS, those working at colleges can work full-time, and even weekends and some holidays. However, nearly half of librarians (63,000 out of the 148...

I have glimmers of my old life as a Librarian; moments which make my small, Grinch-like heart begin to grow. These moments happen in the simple: being asked for book suggestions, reading stories to the Farm kids or Monster Niece and Nephew S&A (when I am in MI), or even being asked to loan books (my personal library has become the source of "check-outs," for about 4 other farmers.) One of the teams on the Farm begins each day by reading; they just returned Travels with Charley --one of my personal favorites--and swapped it for The Great Gatsby. I have been asked to come up with a list of other books which might keep the attention of our guests and am currently working on that. *sigh* Good to still feel like a Librarian...

This was on The Librarian's Guide to Etiquette Page: "Wikis, On pretending to give a shit that they exist Make sure that you fool your bosses (who are a million times more technophobic than your grandparents) into thinking that you are 'up on technology' by making reference to Wikis and RSS content as if they really mattered. In the old days before either of those things, librarians were constantly referring to listservs and internet bulletin boards and before that they were probably referring to modems and electronic mail. There's nothing more amusing than seeing the look on the faces of your boss(es) when they pretend to a)know what you're talking about and b)act like this bold new technology will revolutionize [fill in the blank] at the library. Every once in a while, make something up and watch their faces light up when you claim that there's a software company working on a product that will [fill in the blank] and that it's gonna be so awesome and...

My boss came up earlier this morning to give me a sticky nametag, printed with our school colors vomit and puke (seriously green and gold...?) YUCKO! It looks even more vomitrocious on our mascot, W the Warrior . Seriously what the hell is W? The President's alter ego in mascot form...?! College is supposed to be a time when students become adults and are encouraged to go out into the world with a sense of clarity and vision...how the hell are we encouraging that when the school can't even define its FREAKING MASCOT! Sorry...tangent...I am over tired today. Anyway, my supervisor found me this morning and told me three times to make sure that I wore my nametag to the Annual Library Staff picnic, so wanting to seem like I 'got the point,' I said, "oh, we all wear nametags so we can get to know each other better...? That's a good idea." "No, actually we wear them because homeless people try and come and eat our food from the picnic, so your nametag s...