Library Musings

Library Musings is Moving

2008-10-02T16:27:54Z

After having some LM-Net members evaluate the blog, I've decided to move it to EduBlogs where it will be more accessible for school systems.

The new URL is http://librarymusings.edublog.org. Oops! Just got a comment that the URL didn't work. Try this URL instead: http://librarymusings.edublogs.org. (Those tricky s letters always get me.)

To subscribe to the RSS Feed check the fine print at the bottom of the page.

Later, I hope to transfer the archive of posts from here to EduBlogs.

Thanks for following me here. I hope you'll also come visit at EduBlogs!

Lost an entry

2008-10-02T14:22:14Z

One of the entries I just posted disappeared into thin air. It was about the advantages of having a special ed class in the library. I'll have to re-post it later. Sigh.

Time for a New Display

2008-10-02T14:18:04Z

I've been displaying our new books since the start of the year, but interest in them has waned. Probably too many books on display at one time.

I'm going to switch now to my Stephenie Meyers display. I've got the poster so that part is ready. I think I'll sprinkle a few more vampire books in to fill out the display space. Besides being a good preview to the upcoming movie I think it makes a good lead-in to Halloween. I'll probably update it before Halloween though to offer more horror. Stephenie's books are not actually all that scary.

On the other hand, Halloween displays don't seem to generate much (if any) interest here, so I may do something completely different like the special display for guys that I have planned. As a life-long tom-boy the whole idea of this display still irks me, but I hope it will be effective in encouraging guys to read. I mean, they're definitely not going to read girly books, are they?

I wish I had more talent in designing displays, but it's never been a strong point. Instead, I think I need to read more of the books so that I can answer that eternal question, "What is this one about?".

I've signed up for the YALSA class on The Right Book for The Right Teen at the Right Time. (Still haven't gotten any info on where to go to access the class, and it starts October 6th, so I'm worried.)

Well, I'm far off my original subject now, so I'll end this entry here.

An Unexpected Triumph

2008-09-20T19:12:06Z

I had a good professional accomplishment that wasn't even planned. There was a "dead" space on a counter as you enter the library, so I put two slanted (magazine) shelves back to back there and started displaying "coffee table" books there just because the pictures were pretty. I noticed the boys taking an interest in one on cars, so I shifted over to all photo books on boy interests--cars, motorcycles, hunting, etc. And, lo and behold, I had some boys who have NEVER checked out a library book ask to check these out. Happy Dance!!

Funs and pretties

2008-09-11T14:19:26Z

I may be last on earth to know: go to http://icanhascheezburger.com/. Is fun, fun, funny! kthnx. Also, http://ihasahotdog.com/. go, plskthnx. Will help you connumi--comunik--talk wif student hoomins.

Also, see LiveJournal community http://community.livejournal.com/nomnomicons/ for lots of pretty icons (not lolcats related; just nonnom). Some celtic, some artsy, lots pretty.

We now return you to proper grammar and spelling. Have a nice day, and be safe out there.

Technology Workshop for My Teachers

2008-09-06T22:02:04Z

I'm planning a full-day technology "conference" for my faculty on a date-to-be-determined.

I was hoping to share the responsibility for the conference with our Instructional Technology Resource Teacher who is in our school each Friday, but to massacre a quote: "I know ITRT's, I've got a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology, and I'm here to tell you this guy is no ITRT."

I had come up with a list of six simple ideas for workshops, and showed it to him hoping he would be excited about teaching some of them. He looked at each of them and his only comment was, "Now you're saying you want me to learn all about ____ in time to give a workshop on it?" (Uh, no--I thought you would already know all about it...) He finally ventured that he could bring his pack of GPS devices in and do a unit with those. Which is the same session he did at the county conference two years ago. So, I guess I'll either be finding another partner, bringing in a guest speaker, or figuring out how to do an all day workshop on my own. And now, back to the positive and professional portion of our show.

My focus will be mostly on Web 2.0 concepts. This will be very new to 99% if not all of our faculty.

The great thing about the Web 2.0 theme is that our county has finally developed a more sophisticated means of filtering so that we can access some Web 2.0 materials from school.
My rough list of workshop titles includes:

Clearly, these are rough titles. I can see that some of them are downright insulting, but I can refine that as things develop. Some of them will probably be cut from the final list as well.

I'm going to ask another of our high school librarians if she could join us on that day to lead the workshops on the OPAC, databases, and/or lesson plans & worksheets from the Internet, or Windows Vista/Office 2007. And our ITRT will be there to take those who are interested on a GPS expedition.

I think that a lot of these workshops can be designed so that I can segue from one to the next. For instance, I can upload a video to TeacherTube that serves as an intro to how the site works (or use one that's already there); take them to a second video that is well known on the Tube; and conclude with my own video which introduces the concept of the next workshop.

In general, I totally realize (to the max, man) that they aren't all going to dash out and start using Web 2.0 tools at the end of the day, but I want to at least give them a taste of it. Much like a particular style of music, sometimes you have to force yourself to experience something a few times before you develop a liking for it.

Web Site Update

2008-09-06T21:53:29Z

With the exception of a couple of small errors, my library website is now updated. It's still not where I'd like it to be (nothing ever is, is it?) but you can see the direction I'm headed now. I am very proud of the Reference Desk page. I will keep adding links to it, of course, but in terms of appearance and the ways it can be used I'm totally happy with it.

http://tazewell.k12.va.us/schools/ghs/library/

Where to Find My Website

2008-09-02T23:39:39Z

I will share the URL for my website soon, but not yet. For now I've just got some rugly bare bones pages up to hold my place until I get the re-design done. I'm thinking I'll have the real thing up by the end of this week or beginning of next week.

Oh, what the heck--If you want to see how bad it looks right now, go ahead to http://tazewell.k12.va.us/schools/ghs/library/library.html. You'll be able to get a "before-and-after" picture of it that way.

My Library Web Site - Lessons in Creation

2008-09-01T20:23:19Z

As I work on an update to my library web site, there are a few valuable lessons I've learned. I thought I'd share them with you here.

First, don't be afraid to borrow from your friends and colleagues. They are often happy to share design ideas, links, and more. In other words, don't reinvent the wheel when you don't have to.

Second, think about the exact purpose of each page you add to the web site. Who is your target user? How and when will the page be used? What links and other info suit those needs.

I've got two good examples of the second rule. It took me awhile to work these out in my own mind. I have a page called Links and one called Reference Desk. (Because I liked the way those sound, OK?) What's the difference between those pages? I finally focused my understanding on these, and here are the specifics I worked out: The Links Page is a source of connections to lists of links. It's for the use of students and teachers and they can browse from there much as they would if they were walking through the stacks of a library. It took more time, but I finally realized that I should visualize the Ref Desk page as an old fashioned library reference desk. The primary user for this page is me. I should be able to answer questions quickly based on what I know (i.e. the links I've provided on the page for myself), and I should be able to quickly grab a resource to find answers I don't know (links to search LII, and the like).

Third, don't forget attractive design. I've tried to unify my design with two major graphics that are almost the same on each page, except that they change colors. I also add special graphics to some pages if I find some I really like. I found an image of a woman doctor in a lab coat, and she looked so much like me I took the time to edit the picture so that there is no stethoscope, the lab coat is shorter and looks like a loose overblouse, and there are legs below the overblouse. I used this graphic a lot on the Ref Desk page.
That's all for now! Have a safe week.

Books I'm Reading, Just Finished, and/or Just Bought

2008-08-31T18:16:38Z

I enjoy reading several books at the same time, both for the variety, and because of the interesting synchronicity you often find when reading that way.

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes--And Why by Amanda Ripley. I bought this one to continue filling in my "disaster buff" collection. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and found it informative. It touches on many disasters I am familiar with, but takes a different tack by looking at the common characteristics shown by the people swept up in disaster, the heroism of people in emergencies, and the factors that affect our responses to crisis. The book cover blurb says it well: "The Unthinkable escorts us into the bleakest regions of our nightmares, flicks on a flashlight, and takes a steady look around. Then it leads us home, smarter and stronger than we were before."

An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere by Gabrielle Walker. I bought this one for one of my strange reasons. I was ordering two CD's from Amazon, and I hate to receive a package that doesn't include books, so I tossed this one into my cart. I'm only up to page 27 so far, but it seems to be a good book. So far it's a history of the philosophers and scientists who have studied the properties of air. Think Carl Sagan's Cosmos in a book.

The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout. The premise: One in twenty-five ordinary Americans secretly has no conscience and can do anything at all without feeling guilty. Who is the devil you know?. This book is interesting for about half of its length especially if someone who was your friend has just betrayed you in a big way. After that...I keep it on the shelf in the bathroom.

Death Ride at Euclid Beach: And More True Tales of Crime & Disaster from Cleveland's Past by John Stark Bellamy II. I've had this one awhile, and read it all the way through when I got it. Just picked it up recently for no particularly reason. If you have read it though, did you ever ask yourself what became of the adopted son from the final story? By any chance did he grow up to write books about Cleveland???

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. I also bought this one to fill out the package when I bought the CD's. I'm really glad I did. The short stories here are excellent. Some are horror stories; others are sweet fantasy. Definitely a worthwhile buy. I haven't read all of the stories yet. I want to make the enjoyment last longer.

The Art of Looking Sideways. This is a delightfully random book. If you read and enjoyed Metamagical Themas, this is the book for you. Visual paradoxes, chaos and fractals, and comments like, "In the eyes of a topologist, a doughnut and a coffee cup are equivalent, because each has only one hole. Either object can be transformed into the other by moulding and without any tearing. A doughnut and a banana don't share the characteristic because on would have to tear the doughnut to mould it into a banana." This is the kind of book I scan, put aside, pick back up, scan some more, and so on. Love it!

How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein. Interesting history/geography and I learned new things, but about 2/3 of the way through it seemed repetitive and I gave up on it.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers. Reading it for school. I got as far as the scene where the two main characters are alone in her bedroom, and got uncomfortable, so I stopped. Whatever, huh?

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations by James Surowiecki. This is a good book that takes a fresh look at a sociological concept. Sort of a Tipping Point type of writing. I'm keeping it in the car for those times when I stop for a meal and want something to read while I'm eating.

The Winecoff Fire: The Untold Story of America's Deadliest Hotel Fire by Sam Heys and Allen B. Goodwin. This rates as one of the top three books in my disaster collection. I've read it at least twice, and have just started on it again. It's too gruesome for most people's tastes with some very graphic photos, although they're in black & white which helps to reduce the nastiness a little. All of these disaster books offer valuable lessons on how to be safe though, and that's one reason I read them. There was a lot of synchronicity between this book, The Wisdom of Crowds, and The Unthinkable for obvious reasons.

What the Birds See by Sonya Hartnett. To be honest, I had this one in the car and had forgotten I was reading it. That is no reflection on the book. It is a tender and haunting story and I look forward to returning to it.

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston. I saw this one on Amazon, but in a real first, they were out of stock on it and I found it in my local bookstore instead. It's a story of climbing the great redwoods to view the isolated ecosystems that exist in their upper reaches. I had read something (maybe a magazine article) years ago about a similar exploration in the Amazon rain forest. I think I'll start on this one this afternoon while I watch the news coverage of Hurricane Gustav/The Republican Convention.

G-bye for now.

Progress with my Pile Cabinet

2008-08-31T16:18:13Z

I've now got 24 items in my Pile Cabinet. (Some are folders with related items in them; a couple are books--I used post-it notes to record their serial numbers.)

It's taken me an hour and a half to clean all of the papers off of my desk and add them to my Piling Cabinet. I've found lots of other things in the process: staples, paper clips, post-it notes, notepads--all of the things that were missing when I wrote my last post. I've moved the items that need to go to school into a plastic bag and hung it by the door so I'll be sure to take it with on Tuesday. And I wrapped the loose CD's together with rubber bands to keep them neat.

The dirty coffee cups are in the dirty dish tub in the kitchen; books are back on the shelf; the partridge in a pear tree has flown away and taken the tree with him.

I've got a decent amount of desk space now that the scattered papers are piled away. My keyboard and mouse are up on the main desktop so that is a problem for space when I need to write something by hand. I've got a pull-out shelf for them, but my computer glasses don't work at that distance from the monitor. Maybe I could use the shelf as writing space.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the Pile Cabinet system so far. If you want to decide whether to buy it, visit the web page at http://www.pilecabinet.com/letter_cont.html. I'm really not trying to advertise this system, but if you think you may be a piler, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick it up. I got in on a special price because I've been receiving his emails, but I think you can use the coupon code bday until September 1st even if you don't get his newsletter.

I'd like to come back to this later to see how it links up with my computer organization methods, especially the add-ons I'm using with Firefox. For now, have a great Labor Day!

The Pile Cabinet System

2008-08-31T13:38:59Z

As is often true, I have been looking for new ways to stay organized. You're probably familiar with the (somewhat) recent revelation that some people are filers, but others are pilers. I am definitely a piler, so I'm currently trying out Blair Hornbuckle's Pile Cabinet system.

I normally wouldn't have bothered with the system. The price is ridiculous for what you receive, but "Blair" had a special on because it was it was his birthday, so the online components were free, and the "super" components could be ordered for the cost of shipping & handling. (I think they're the same as the online version, except on CD, but I gave in and ordered them anyway.)

You have to come up with most of the actual supplies on your own, but they can range from free to cheap, especially when you're just getting started. I'll come up with either a box that held reams of paper of maybe a banker's box when I go back to school on Tuesday.

I don't want to go into detail about the methods of the system, since the intellectual property is all he's really selling (except, probably my e-mail address, and maybe my credit card number--just joking--I'm so cynical). Anyway, I don't want to cause the poor man to lose his house and have to live out of his car with his wife, 2.5 children and dog. Sorry again, my sarcasm floweth over, and I really do think this system has possibilities, so I should try to be serious.

I do think it's fair to compare the Pile Cabinet system to other methods I've tried. I bought a book called A Perfect Mess by Abrahamson and Freeman, thinking that it might offer a solution, but it's more of a historical and theoretical study of the benefits of messiness in business and society, and doesn't pretend to offer a practical, step-by-step system for creating a messy method of organizing.

In a quick look through my shelves, I also see Getting Organized by Stephanie Winston, and Sink Reflections by The FlyLady.

I must have bought Getting Organized a long while ago judging that the price was $4.95, and it's a trade paperback. It is more of a book for filers and for those who are looking for a way to be super-organized. Not my cup of tea, but that was probably well before anyone thought of the idea of "pilers". I purchased the FlyLady book primarily for house-cleaning purposes, but also considered it as a model for a system at work. It didn't change my nature in either place. It's a good system, just not the right one for me.

I'm sure I've also visited many web sites over the years looking for organizational tips, but I don't even remember any of them, which says something I guess.

So, back to the Pile Cabinet system. I didn't have the free-to-cheap components here at home to set it up, so I'm trying to use a piece of furniture that has turned out to be just slightly the wrong size. (And I thought I was being so clever.) I've only "piled" one item so far (the manual for the system). I think a big problem for me is getting started with piling the stuff that is already on my desk, just as it would be if I was trying to file. Hopefully, once I get to a place where I'm processing items as soon as they appear it will get easier, but I've said that about a lot of systems... Most of the stuff on my desk here appears to be trash anyway. Shouldn't take me long to sweep it off the desk surface and into a trash can.

As I look at my desk I see other problems though. There are a bunch of CD's that came with my printer, along with some for games, and a few blank ones laying around. I've got a spindle organizer but it's full. So that's something complete different I'm going to have to take care of. There is also a messy array of books on the desk: the ones I got off the shelf to mention to you earlier in this entry; some crafts book I bought this summer and didn't use (they need to go to the art teacher at school); and some books I think I was listing on librarything and forgot to take back to the shelf. Three dirty coffee cups, an old cell phone, three pairs of prescription glasses ... and a partridge in a pear tree.

Sigh--in the time it took me to list those I probably could have put them where they belong, but it's so much more fun to type.

My desk is also missing things that I clearly need: staples, stamps, paper clips, post-it notes, a small notepad, etc., etc.

Hopefully I'll be telling you in a later post that I got all of this worked out, and that the Pile Cabinet system is working for me. For now, I'm going to have a cup of coffee and a little breakfast. And I'm going to leave the half-full coffee cup on my desk. 'Cause that's who I am.

Busy Busy Busy

2008-08-11T22:49:02Z

It's amazing how actually going back to work in the fall cuts into the time available for learning about and reflecting on my librarianship.

I am swamped with processing the books I received from Pocahontas High School when it closed. Today I managed to shift the books from 700 to 739 along with the 600s; I shelved some books; and I only got about 20 books cataloged (tops).

The shifting has to be done to make room for the fiction books I received. They're a top priority since they are the books that will interest the students. I can't even catalog any more of them until everything else is shifted because the shelves for fiction are packed so tight...Oh well, stress.

I'll just stop there for now. Not in a very reflective mood.

Totally Random Musing

2008-07-19T00:59:59Z

Have I been working as a librarian for 30 years or have I worked a year as a librarian thirty times?

Catching up on some interesting sites I noted on Twitter

2008-07-18T12:51:00Z

Keeping Found Things Found review at tametheweb.com. Couldn't find any additional info on the book, but serendiptiously ending up at http://sf0.org/coreopsis/Leave-Clues/ where I found inspirational ideas for a treasure hunt exercise for libraries. The one described there is for an academic library which lends itself more to treasure hunting since academic libraries tend to be larger and have books placed in stranger, harder to find places. But, I think I could adapt it to a treasure hunt requiring use of the OPAC, including some detailed reading of the records there. I especially liked the idea at sf0 that the hunt doesn't necessarily have to be part of a formal instructional project. The starting clues are simply left in plain site as a possible study break for the students.

I'll return soon and add more info to this entry, but am going to go ahead and post what I have here.

Got totally distracted putting together this year's library calendar. Maybe I'll add more info here after dinner.

Keeping Track of All the Info

2008-07-14T17:56:08Z

A list and description of my current favorite ways to organize professional information sources and a few that are falling out of favor with me:

Speed Dial - Available as an add-on to Firefox. Displays nine windows to a page that show thumbnail shots of web sites. Additional pages (groups) can be added as needed. I use it to keep track of sites where I have memberships (in most cases I've been able to set it up so that when I click on the thumbnail I'm not only navigating to the site--I'm also logged in.) I have to do this because I forget about sites I have joined and if I do remember them I forget my login info. I also include blogs that I have started following recently. I like to have a few visits to a blog under my belt before I decide to get an RSS feed to it.

Twitter - Virtual post-it-notes such as, "Tame the Web has a brief post on a new book: Keeping Things Found. More info is promised later so I'll keep an eye out."

Feeds - I have to admit I've gotten overloaded with feeds. I weeded them just awhile back and they've already become un-manageable again. And they're now spread across three places: Google feeds, Live Bookmarks, and Internet Explorer (I think). I think I may be learning with more certainty exactly which sites I really want to follow that closely, so maybe I can weed things again and get them back into some kind of usable state.

Bookmarks - I have completely given up on bookmarks. They're totally impossible to control no matter how hard I try to organize them into folders and so on.

I haven't tried del.icio.us in a long while. Don't know if it would be helpful to me at all.

Forwarding e-mail - I get LM_Net Digests at school, but the individual posts at home. When I read them at home and find one I really, really think I can use, I forward it to my school address. I have also done this with the occasional US-CERT post, and a few other e-mails. That way when I receive an e-mail from myself at school I know it was something that I considered to be very useful. And on a good day I may have included a note in the e-mail to remind myself what it might be used for.

A BIG problem in tracking information as a school librarian is that when I'm at work I am behind the iron curtain of a firewall and under the thumb of the Internet gods there. This means that I can't access my home e-mail (except on my cell phone); can't go to any site that so much as mentions the word blog or that might be a social network; and can't download any updates to programs (such as Speed Dial for Firefox). So I do most of my professional research at home, and try to be creative about getting it to school.

Well, that's ending on a negative note. Sorry.

Library Assistants' Areas of Strength

2008-06-29T16:51:35Z

"...it is essential not only to discover and develop your strengths...but also to help the people around you build on their natural talents." (Rath)

What are your library assistants' strengths, and how can you build on them? How can their strengths complement your strengths?

Process

Use a diagnostic test such as the Strengths Finder test to determine your own strengths.

Reflect on what your strengths are and how you can use them as a librarian.

Consider the areas where you are relatively lacking in strength or talent. How can your library assistants best fill in these gaps for you?

Design "tests" to help identify your library assistants' strengths. Are they best at organizing (shelving books, etc.); at designing (displays, banners, bookmarks); interacting with others (greeting students and having them sign in, working the circulation desk, communicating with teachers); or in some other area? Tom Rath's book has a much better list of strengths that you could draw from to adapt for this idea.

Assign your library assistants to work in the areas where they show the most strength whenever possible.

Re-assess your own strengths and determine how you can personally develop additional strength in areas where neither you or your assistants naturally shine.

And, as always, give your student assistants lots of support and praise for their work.

...and don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back, and not beat yourself up because you aren't strong in every area. No one is.

Source of Quote: Rath, Tom. Strengths Finder 2.0.

Zoomii Virtual Bookstore

2008-06-24T19:45:46Z

I visited Zoomii for the first time today. I have some mixed feelings about it.

Zoomii is a virtual bookstore that is linked to Amazon. It displays as a bookstore with the sections you would expect to see in a real-world bookstore, and allows searching by category or by any of the usual author/title type searches.

I found that navigating the site is at times a tad awkward, but I think that I may have just been experiencing that because it was my first visit.

I very much enjoyed the virtual appearance of the site. The old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover" just isn't true. (Why else would publishers pay designers good money to create the book covers?) Zoomii gives you the opportunity to see shelves of book covers at once, and so saves some of the steps you would take on Amazon to view several books in one category.

You can link to the book's entry in Amazon to read the reviews or see the full "Amazon record".

Two things bothered me about ordering from Zoomii. When you click on the button to add a book to your cart, you don't receive any feedback to let you know that you have successfully placed it there. Also, if you are moving back and forth between Amazon and Zoomii to add books to the cart they don't always end up in the cart together. You might doublecheck me on this. Maybe I'm just forgetting to add them to the cart at some points.

Overall though, I like Zoomii. It's an entertaining experience.

Gothmom's Challenge

2008-06-24T15:56:28Z

Gothmom has suggested that we post a little info about ourselves. So, here goes:

1. First Name: Deb

2. Age: 51

3. Location: Green Valley, West Virginia

4. Occupation: High School Librarian and Technology Facilitator

5. Partner: None.

6. Kids: None, unless you count my cats and dog. I do have three wonderful grand-nephews, Alex, Danny, and Nathaniel.

7. Brothers/Sisters: No brothers. I have two sisters. We were paced out very evenly every three years, so Vicki is three years older than me, and Cherie is six years older. Vicki is an administrative assistant (not a secretary--much more involved than that) to the dean at Ohio University. She is also well-known for continuing a decades long tradition of feeding the squirrels outside her office building. Cherie is between jobs right now, and is very much enjoying having time (for the first time in her life, really) to be at home--gardening, taking walks, cleaning house, petting the kitties, and so on. Vicki has two daughters, Adrielle and Molly. Adrielle is a musician, and the three boys are her children. She teaches Kindermusick in her home. Her husband, Ryan, is also a musician. He teaches school and plays trumpet with a jazz band for extra money. Molly is a renaissance woman. She speaks fluent Japanese and works extensively with Japanese exchange students. She is also a skilled editor, writer, and does other things in the communications field that I don't quite understand. Molly is married to David, who is a high level computer geek, currently working on a project for NASA.

8. Pets: Here's a list of my cats. Tanner, Streak, Sneakers, Ripley, Shine, Petey, Benji von Bunnykins, Fat-and-Fuzzy, Lady Grey, Gretel, Tink, and Flea. My Pekingese is named Precious. I'm pretty sure I've forgotten some cats in that list. It's hard to keep track.

9. The 3-6 Biggest Things Going On in my Life:

One of the schools in the county where I teach was closed, and most of the library books were sent on to me, so I'm trying to get those unboxed, and processed for use next year.

Have you seen the BBC show, "How Clean is Your House?" Well, I'm there--although not nearly as bad as many of the places they attack on the show. So I am into a major summer house cleaning.

Project #1 for the summer: Travel the area where I live to create a photo essay of interesting and quirky sites, then post it on VoiceThread.

Project #2 for the summer: Learn to make mixed media mosaics.

Project #3 for the summer: Learn some basic woodworking skills.

Trying to find somewhere interesting to go/something interesting to do when the price of gas is $4.00 a gallon.

10. Where and Why Schools Attended:

Athens Elementary & Junior High School, Athens, West Virginia
Athens High School -- Graduated out of the 11th grade
Concord College, Athens, West Virginia -- Bachelors of Education (Social Studies 7-12 and Library Science K-12)
University of Tennessee at Knoxville -- One semester working toward a Masters in Library Science
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Virginia -- Master of Arts in Education, specializing in Instructional Technology
Lots of other occasional colleges for classes on accounting, technology, library science, education, etc.

11. Parents: Ed and Muriel Williams. Dad was in the music department at Concord College and loved fixing things around the house and reading. He died after a long bout with cancer and a stroke in 1983. Mom is still going strong in spite of several battles with cancer. She taught 4th grade at Knob Elementary School in Princeton, West Virginia and is still recognized and loved by many of her students.

12. Friends: I enjoy the company of my colleagues at work, but don't really have any friends outside of work except my mom. Yes, I really am the crazy cat lady who lives on the hill. I do think of my online friends here and at LM_Net as my best friends.

Friends I had growing up were Java, Suzy Homewrecker and Robby. I was Dumpty Pimple and we were the Scum Gang. Hey, it was the 70's--what can I say? I haven't seen much of them since high school.

So that is my life in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed reading it!

Woodworking Projects and the Library

2008-06-19T18:20:20Z

I just visited the Lowes Creative Designs website. It includes some online lessons (including videos) on projects for the beginner. I especially liked the newbie's woodworking lesson--learn to build a box. If this initial view of "build a box" enables a beginning woodworker to do what I think it will I can begin building boxes to use for my library book displays. I'll have to consider the cost of tools. In my quick first look I saw that I would need to buy a circular saw for lesson two. I suspect that might be fairly expensive. But I think the first lesson--the box--will only require me to buy a handsaw and some clamps (along with the wood, of course). I'll probably also need some sawhorses. But I like sawhorses. (Wait ... it's seahorses I like.) I think I may go to Lowes now and price some items. When/if I build what I'd like to have for a book display, I'll upload some pictures for you.

My other creative project for this summer is learning to make clay mosaics and jewelry. Not directly related to my library, but if I take a liking to it and if it proves to be fairly easy I can see it as a fundraising possibility.

Just trying to link my summer fun to my professional life. What are your summer plans?

Writer's Block: Favorite Lyrics

2008-06-15T13:55:56Z

What song lyrics would you love to have written, and why?

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I would have liked to have written the lyrics to "I'm Gone" by Alison Kraus. The lyrics in that song are so man-dependent. I would like to have written them from the viewpoint of a strong independent woman who doesn't need to weep about a man.

Finally switched to Firefox...

2008-06-15T13:31:47Z

I've finally made the move to using Firefox as my browser. I'm loving it.

My favorite option is the ability to download the update called "Speed Dial". Speed Dial allows you to place 9 previews of web pages on your home page so that you can reach them with one click. You can also set how often you want to have the preview panes updated (individually). I'm finding Speed Dial particularly useful for websites that I want to visit frequently but have a tendency to forget. For instance, I want to put a photo essay on VoiceThread, but I'm not ready yet, and since the name isn't obvious I keep forgetting it. I also keep a preview for this blog, for Twitter, and for FaceBook there to remind me to post more frequently. My iGoogle Feeds Page is another I've included as a reminder to visit often. For now I've also got CNN and weather.com in two preview panes, but I'll replace those as I remember pages that would be better there.

Another wonderful feature of Firefox is that you change the default font for the browser. (This may have been available in other browsers, but I am finding that I need a larger, clearer font now for some reason, and am glad to find the option in Firefox.)

In the menu for Bookmarks, there is an option to bookmark all tabs. I haven't used this, but can see that it would be useful when you're in the middle of a project and need to shut down the computer. Stick the bookmarks in a folder labeled with your project name, and bingo, you can bring them right back up.

I'd love to see some responses here mentioning your favorite features (and tips for using) Firefox.

Writer's Block: Unique Talents

2008-06-11T21:57:43Z

Do you have a strange and obscure talent? What is it? If not, have you ever seen someone else's? What did they do?

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I don't have any, but my cats can read my mind. They're especially good with the concept of, "Mommy's just gotten comfortable in that chair, so now is the best time for me to scream until she gets up to let me out." Evil feline beasts! "Oh, she's comfortable again! Scratch on the window like fingernails on a chalkboard until she let's me in!" Evil cat laugh.

Teach a song ...

2008-06-11T21:51:09Z

My dad was a college professor who taught classes for future music educators. One of his key tips for them was to teach a song to students using a method called (to the best of my memory) the twelve-step-method.

The gist of the idea was that you teach students the first line--and only the first line--of a song by going over it three times. Then teach them the first line of the song, followed by the second, going over the those two lines together three times. Then the first, second, and third lines by the same method; and finally, all four lines of a song the same way.

So, I was thinking today: How could I adapt this to my work as a librarian? The idea that I came up with was to use the method to teach student assistants to shelve books. Using flash cards, first have the students practice three times with simple DDC numbers including a mix of numbers such as 001.9, 973, 973.4, 973.7, 813, 808.8, 796, and so on (a lot more cards than are indicated here, of course--and with a lot of numbers that are similar, but not the same. Next, mix more flash cards into the original stack. These should be slightly more complex: 801.88, 796.33, 973.92, and so on. Practice three times. Add a third set of cards that are more complex still: 796.332, etc. and practice again. Then give the student a large new mixed deck, but with completely different numbers, so that you can be sure they are practicing the concept, not just memorizing the order of the cards in the first set.

I don't know--it's a very rough idea ... but that's why I call this blog "library_musings".

Displays

2008-06-07T13:59:37Z

I've been thinking ahead to next year and the displays I might create to get more students reading more books more of the time. I've got one idea that will include a really eye-catching visual element.

Reading for Guys/Reading for Girls:

This particular display will be part of my drive to get the guys reading. I noticed the standard "industrial" signs available at Staples, and these include signs for restroom doors for "Gentlemen" and "Ladies". Using these to define the displays should definitely draw some interest. For the guys, I'm going with true adventure stories--mountain climbing stories, Into the Wild type books, collections I've bought that include the greatest adventure stories, the greatest hunting stories, and so on. There will also be fiction here, of course--the books that spend more time on action and less on descriptive material. For the girls, I'll go with the really girly books--the Private series (which I hate, but then I have never been and never will be a girly girl), lots of pink, lavender and pale blue book covers (I had to make myself buy those. I hate pink!), and some adventure books starring girls. I don't know if I'll put any nonfic in the girls' section. Nothing really fitting comes to mind right now.

I want to be sure I'm clear on one thing here: I'm not working to stereotype guys and girls. This is just one display of many I will be putting up, with one way to grab the students.

My students love series since they offer more time for story and character development, so one of my displays will draw on the appeal of series.

Series Display:

I'm working on coming up with a catchy theme for this one. Maybe ... "Get More Involved--Read Series Books" or just "These are What You've Been Hoping For". It's really a display that will sell itself based on the books there. In addition to the expected series like Scott Westerfeld's books or Cirque du Freak, I'd like to include some nonfic that could roughly be considered series books. Maybe bring back in the books on greatest adventure stories, etc.

Other Display Ideas

"Looking at the World from Outside" for titles such as After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away", The Lovely Bones, and Aftershock.

A display of books about groups of teens who must fight battles beyond their age and experience: the Tomorrow series, Angel Experiment, and such.

Hopefully, I'll come back to this topic again and add some more words of wisdom. ;-)