rare book school, a recap

It's somewhat difficult to characterize Rare Book School. It was, in a word, marvelous in that way things are can be when you get to indulge in something you're passionate about along with others who share the same passion. In a world where what is temporary is valued more than what is lasting, it was so nice to come together around a belief in the enduring value and significance of the printed word. In a profession that is increasingly seduced by the promise of technology and electronic access for all, it was a breath of fresh air to be around people who understand the need to preserve the printed record and learn from past triumphs and failures.

I feel like I work in a profession that is so insecure about its own relevance and validity that it's willing to toss aside time-honored purposes and values for what seems to be the trend of the moment. It would of course be foolish to pretend that there's no need to embrace technological advances. I would just encourage the profession and its leaders to think about the long term implications of the direction we're heading in.

In a word: think.

Think critically, logically about the decisions that you make, and really consider the ramification of choices. That was really the underlying lesson of the course I took on scholarly editing last week. Pay attention to the details of whatever it is you encounter. Don't just dismiss or accept it blindly, but really consider how the new information you've learned fits with other facts at hand.

And as we thought deeply and barreled through an entire semester-long graduate course in one week, we began to understand how something as seemingly small as an editorial decision can impact what is believed to be true and good. It made me think more critically about how I build my collections at the library and how they can be used in scholarship. It also reinforced a thought that I've been thinking around for quite a while now. We in the library profession are too insular. We need to get out more. We need to read the scholarly literature of the disciplines we support. We need to be in conversation with faculty outside the walls of the library about the research they're doing and the concepts they're teaching their students. And we need to think carefully about how our decisions impact the people who use our collections most.

The more we know about any topic, the better we understand it, and with understanding, a deeper appreciation and interest develops in time.

It is as Michael Suarez, the RBS director, said in both his opening and his closing statements: "Knowledge conduces to love, and love conduces to wonder."

And we could all use a lot more wonder in our lives.

why I love the English grad students

English grad student: "Sometimes I see you helping some other student at the reference desk, and I have to admit, I get a little jealous because you're ours."

time has flown

When April began several weeks ago, it seemed so full of promise and opportunity and time. Time was what I was most excited about. I would have time to work on my play indexing, time to complete a few more book chapters, and time to exercise and lose those irritating pounds before my sister's wedding. Of course, that time was whisked away by planning for the impending construction of Starbucks in our reference area, reassigning reference books, countless meetings, a general slump in motivation outside of work hours, and a little bit of personal drama for kicks. Then just when I was recouping from all that, allergies hit with a vengeance, followed by a particularly evil sinus infection, from which I am just now recovering.

The bottom line is yesterday I finally woke up from all that yuck and funk of the last 6 weeks and realized that it's nearly mid-May already. How did that happen? I need that time back! No seriously, I need that time back. Somehow I don't think I'm going to get a rain check on this one. The coming weeks don't look good for productivity either. C'est la vie!

This post brought to you by the number 13, the color gray, and a general overwhelming sense of gloom and doom.

when old becomes new

Today I dazzled and amazed a class of 400-level French students with dictionaries. Yes, you read that right - dictionaries. Not fancy online databases with tons of bells and whistles, not archival products that contain crazy amounts of information, not even online dictionaries. No nothing of the sort. Just your run-of-the-mill dictionaries.

They might have been in French and some were bilingual, but really there wasn't anything special about them. Even so, the students were amazed to learn that such things exist (and in a library of all the crazy places). I suppose if I had grown up with Google and Wikipedia as our students have, maybe I wouldn't have guessed to look in the library for them either. Having grown up before everything was done online, I would think that the library would be a natural place to look for something as basic as a dictionary. Apparently this is not true anymore.

I know that most things go in cycles, so perhaps the old "technologies" behind printed materials will one day become new again for this and future generations. Today's students weren't even freshman. They were juniors and seniors who were just now realizing that they could get these basic resources in the library. Not just dictionaries but grammars, thesauri, verb charts, etc. How different would their experience as a French major been if they had realized that or someone had told them 3 or 4 years ago?

On a related note: you should check this film out:

'I found you online'

I often receive e-mails from JMU students and faculty along with the occasional JMU alum. Only very rarely does a reference question from a complete stranger make its way to my inbox. This one came today:

Melissa,

Wuthering Heights was published in 1848 by Coolidge & Wiley in Boston and I am attempting to determine the exact date of publication. So far I have had no success.

One thing I would like to do is search Boston newspapers of 1848 and see if any has a column called "Books just published", a common subject of the period.

Can you help? I found you online.

Thank you, J** L******

The question itself is fine, but I'm slightly creeped out by the vague statement "I found you online." Found me where? How? And why me? :(

I'm debating ignoring the e-mail entirely.

signs of the semester break

The students have cleared out as finals week has drawn to a close. The students who filled every nook of the building earlier this week have dispersed for other places as they each finished their final paper, project, or exam. And in their stead we are left with the following:

* Two white Rastafarian wannabes with crazy dredlocks
* A handful of students frantically trying to finish that last paper before 5 p.m. (tick tock, tick tock)
* One middle-aged man watching porn films on one of the reference computers

The end of the semester is upon us.

sigh

Yesterday a student literally shoved the table I was eating lunch at a good 6 inches when he hit it with his bicycle. He had ridden his bike down a set of stairs, cut in to close to the table, and almost face planted into the sidewalk. He was fine and just laughed it off and rode off without a word of apology.

Today I had to say something to a student (or possibly townie) who was watching porn on one of the library computers. Yes, libraries are all for free speech and all that, but seriously, that's not exactly an appropriate use of the library's computers. And of course he and his buddies thought it was hilarious that they were caught.

Sigh.

Repeat after me: I'm so excited the students are coming back. I'm so excited the students are coming back. I'm so excited...

where i've been

Hi! I haven't yet disappeared from the face of the planet, but I apologize if it has seemed like I did. There have actually been blog-able things happening in the past few weeks, but I never seemed to find the time to sit down and write about them. Sigh. Rather than rehash the minute details of everything, I'll give you the highlights, or I'll end up being hopelessly behind forever.

Since my last post...

I helped Diego move from one apartment to another. Many boxes were lifted. Many pieces of furniture were moved. Many things were thrown out. Many muscles were made sore. But my lovely boyfriend bought me an hour massage as a thank you :)

Diego and I went to Michigan for the wedding of one of his close friends. The interesting thing about this was that it was a Muslim wedding. Having never been to one before, I was quite interested to see what they're like. They're quite different from Christian weddings and may warrant a separate post in the future. For now, you can see the pictures here.

Stephanie came to visit for a week. It was wonderful having her here :) We did some of the touristy things around DC (Smithsonian, monuments, the zoo, Georgetown, and old town Alexandria) and then headed to the H'burg area so she could see where I live. We shopped for bridesmaid dresses, went to the Shakespeare Theater, and saw Monticello. Pictures will be forthcoming.

And...

I went back to work on Tuesday. Sigh. Poor me. However will I survive! But seriously, I was very spoiled having 3 months off, but I knew at the beginning that it wasn't a permanent thing. Still... it's a bit sad having to work full-time again. I'm planning to ask my supervisor if I can work from home on Fridays so I can make faster progress on the book. I'll let you know if he OKs that.

meetings defined

A time during which fierce battles are fought over tiny kingdoms.

poor me (not really)

I haven't completely disappeared from the face of the planet. Not yet at least... Classes started again last week Monday, and I've been just slightly swamped at work ever since. I'm expecting things to calm down a bit after this week. No, I don't want to teach 6 instruction sessions each and every week, thankyouverymuch.

Truth be told, I'm glad the students and faculty are back. They provide an energy and diversion that are really missing in the summer months. Librarianship is much less rewarding when there's no one around to use the collections and need research assistance.

meanie

I'm mean. Perhaps I should say, I'm overly critical.

For a conference that I attend, I'm serving as a reviewer for poster session applicants. What that means is that I am the primary reviewer for about 15 abstracts for poster presentations. I read through the abstracts, provide some written feedback, and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5. The scale is as follows:

1 - Fair
2 - Good
3 - Very Good
4 - Excellent
5 - Superstar (choose 2 or less)

You may have gathered from this scale that librarians aren't big on being critical of their colleagues. The woman who asked me to serve as a reviewer explained that she added the "2 or less" restriction because she had a problem in the past with reviewers raking every one as either a 4 or a 5 regardless of how poor or inane the submission was.

Not me.

Of my batch of abstracts, I'm not using the top ranking at all. The problem is that so many of these are just not innovative or would be better suited for an article than a poster. And I'm continually asking "so what?" So what is the impact of this project? Why should I care? What are the broader implications and/or applications?

I guess it's probably good to be critical as a reviewer, but in a profession where people just want everyone to get along, I don't think it's a very popular stance to take.

the librarians

I'm not sure if this is funny or sad or both, but it is entertaining.

For your viewing pleasure, courtesy of YouTube:

The March of the Librarians &
Your Life Work: The Librarian.

If you only view one, definitely watch the first one.

seattle recap

My trip out to Seattle this past weekend was fabulous but too short. I spent most of the weekend going to meetings with other lit librarians. The meetings were actually really good, but I would have liked to had more time to wander through the city and see some sights.

I spent Saturday morning traipsing through the city. I had planned to visit the Space Needle, but its unimpressive appearance paired with a highway and a somwhat questionable looking neighborhood between me and the tower, persuaded me against it. Seriously, the Space Needle is so much shorter than I expected it to be. Pictures of the Seattle skyline always make it look like it towers above the city's skyscrapers. That's a total lie. I don't know from where or what angle they take promotional pictures of the city, but the needle is absolutely not the tallest building in the city.

Since that plan didn't pan out, I spent the morning window shopping and wandering around downtown Seattle. The city reminds me somewhat of San Francisco. I think that's probably from a combination of the waterfront, the hilly streets, and the nature-lover meets high-end technology population. Oh, and there really is a Starbucks on almost every corner, and if it's not a Starbucks, it's a Seattle's Best Coffee or some other coffee shop. I visited the the original Starbucks, and it was, well, very much like every other Starbucks just older.

I took a few pictures of the city, which I've uploaded to my Picasa albums. I wasn't in much of a photo mood, but I figured I'd kick myself later if I didn't at least take a few pictures.

One thing I wish I'd known before I went to Seattle: There a whole underground city underneath the streets of Seattle. I guess there are purple squares in the sidewalks that allowed light to the underground city. The city was reserved for the Chinese people who lived there up until the early 1900s; they weren't allowed to live above ground with the white people. I guess it was that way in a lot of cities in the Pacific Northwest. If I'd known that before I went, I totally would have gone to see what's left of the underground city. I guess I'll just have to visit Seattle again...

beware of the librarians

If you can at all help it, never fly with a plane full of librarians.  For people whose lives are more or less devoted to organization, they don't queue well at all, and they tend to take up more space than the average person due to this terrible habit they have of carrying large over-stuffed tote bags, which they invariably got for free from a vendor or publisher. (Librarians are obsessed with swag).  They may come in a close second to college students when it comes to collecting free stuff.

However, the oddest, and perhaps most irritating thing, about travelling librarians is that they treat airplanes like a cocktail party - not in terms of their drinking habits, but in terms of their socializing.  On my flight to Seattle earlier today, numerous librarians left their seats and wandered through the plane cabin to chat with other librarians.  They stood in the aisles and around the lavatory chatting with one another.  And not just a quick "hi, how are you?" conversation.  No, some of them would actually stand and converse for 30 to 45 minutes.  Unbelievable!

For heaven's sake, people, this is an airplane, not a social hour.  If you need to catch up with someone, make plans to do it over drinks or dinner, but please don't block the aisle while you chat about your current research interests or library approval plan.  Ridiculous.

So if you can at all help it, don't ever, ever, ever fly with librarians.  Check the ALA website to learn when and where the upcoming conferences are located, and then avoid them like the plague. 

---

Aside from ridiculousness on the trip out here, I'm excited to be out in Seattle for the weekend.  I had dinner and drinks with some fun Indiana people tonight.  I have some meetings to go to over the next couple days, but I'm hoping to see some of the city as well.  I'm sure I can make time for that :)  I don't know if I'll post more while I'm out here, but if not, I'll give you an update once I'm back in Virgina.

oh the irony of it all

Display of Banned Books Removed at Harrisonburg High School
Superintendent Encourages Reading Because of Content, Not Controversy

From the Daily News Record, October 4, 2006

By Jeff Mellott

A display at Harrisonburg High School of books that have, at some point in history, either been banned or challenged was ordered removed last month by Harrisonburg Schools Superintendent Donald Ford.

The display, which Ford ordered removed Sept. 27, was part of the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week, the last week of September.

Ford said he was concerned the school division would encourage students to read banned books because they are on a controversial list and not because of their content.

Diverse Views

The high school library has participated in at least the past two Banned Books Week, said librarian Elsie Garber, who is in her third year at the library.

Garber would not comment on the display, other than to say it included several books.

School administrators would not release a complete list of the books in the display.

However, High School Principal Irene Reynolds recalled that the titles included "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain; "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury; "The Diary of Ann Frank," and "The Bible."

The American Library Association has held Banned Book Week since 1982.

According to its Web site, the ALA’s banned book week celebrates freedom to choose or to express an opinion that otherwise might be considered unorthodox or unpopular.

"After all," the site said, "intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met."

Reading For Content

The high school library display, Ford said, seemed to entice students into reading the books because they are on a list.

"We are not going to send a message to kids encouraging them to read ‘banned’ books. Our message should be to read books, a wide variety of books.

"But I don’t think we should tease kids into reading a book by trying to say, ‘there might be something juicy or controversial in this book. Therefore, it would be a good one for you to sneak home and read."’

That is not the message, Ford said, that he believed librarians were trying to send with the display.

"I don’t believe there’s a significant difference in what they wanted to accomplish, and what I want to accomplish in terms of our libraries and reading," he said.

but at least they're grateful

My faculty may be showering me with last minute requests for instruction and purchases, but at least they are truly grateful for the help. As one professor wrote in response to my message telling her that her films had been rush ordered, "You are going to heaven."

could you have that to me by yesterday?

Last week the faculty and students trickled back onto campus. Today the classes for the fall semester started. As a librarian, I've been here working all summer. Unfortunately that is not the case for most of my faculty.

This means that requests for materials that they'd like to use in their courses this semester are coming in today. If I could get those materials for them yesterday, that would be great. They're also asking for last minute instruction requests. Do you think you could do instruction sessions for my 3 classes this week? Because my unofficial policy is to say yes to their purchase and instruction requests if at all possible, I'm rushing orders for films and quickly prepping instruction sessions. And I thought I had some time to get caught up on things this week... Silly me.

Now if they could have just made these requests a month ago, we'd all be in much better shape.

college students are cute

student: Do you know where the business encyclopedia is?
me: Is there a certain business encyclopedia you want?
s: Yeah, it's black and has gold lettering on the side.
m: Is this one Kathy showed you in library instruction?
s: Yeah...

That's like the questions my friend Kristy gets in the children's department at the public library where she works. Can you help me find the book about princesses with the pink cover?

don't let the empty schedule deceive you

When I began this week, I was expecting a fairly quiet week. There weren't many meetings on my schedule. I didn't have any major deadlines I needed to meet. It was going to be a quiet week for me to work on some projects in my office.

By Monday afternoon I had completely given up the idea of a quiet week. This week was going to be crazy. We unexpectedly received some one-time money (not to be used for subscriptions) that had to be allocated for spending by Wednesday at 1. Now we aren't talking about a small amount of money; we're talking 6 digits.

Because of this, the digital services librarian called me and the history librarian to meet and prioritize the one-time purchase requests in the humanities. So we hurried and discussed about 20 different resource options and prioritized our list only to find out after the collection development committee met that they weren't going to make the final decision until May 2. Kind of irritating... If the committee had told our dig. svcs. librarian that in the first place, the hist. librarian & I wouldn't have had to scramble to get the requests prioritized. Oh well, we should be getting some pretty sweet resources out of the deal.

About the time that the one-time money adventure settled down, several undergrad theses plopped onto my desk. I'd volunteered to be a judge for the Phi Beta Kappa/Phi Kappa Phi Best Thesis contest. This means I read the top 4 theses, rank them, and help a committee of about 4-5 professors decide which ones are tops. The subjects are all over the place - economics, communication disorders, chemistry, history. I've gotten part of the way through the stack, but I think that most of that will be coming home with me for the weekend.

So much for the deceptively empty schedule I had on Monday...

dear sir

I'm sorry if you thought it would be great to flirt with me over e-mail, but I beg to differ. Let's take in to account the fact that you're my co-worker and the fact that you're probably old enough to be my dad. Those two things alone make this definitely not OK.

Sincerely,
me