“You can dye your hair…and you can have all the plastic surgery you want until you look ridiculous, like morning talk show hosts who’ve had so much work done they almost look like they’ve been a burn victim, but in the end, a lot of it’s about your outlook, your mind-set. 

You simply can’t walk into a room complaining that movies aren’t as good as they used to be, or that  ‘kids today know nothing.’  It tags you as being out of touch the same way you’d be out of touch if you said you didn’t use e-mail, or you didn’t understand or weren’t interested in things like MySpace.com or blogging.  As a writer or director out here, it’s your job to stay current and youthful.  You may not like video games, but you’d better know about them and recognize their importance.”

This just drove home the point once again for me that staying current means staying relevant, both personally in terms of staying on any sort of career track, but perhaps more importantly, for the library as a whole, so that the community continues to realize that libraries have a lot to offer.

When I’m weeding, like today, I sometimes come across a book that nobody has checked out in a zillion years and I realize that it might in fact be worth something, so I research it and sure enough…it IS.  It’s like finding an Easter egg or something.  So, I take it to the Powers That Be and they do something with it.  Who knows?  Maybe it is put in storage for posterity or maybe it gets sold and the profits go to the library.  At any rate, it just feels special to hold something like that.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, I also get to try out new databases and discover the power and information within each one.  In my job I get to bridge so many different worlds – information worlds past and present as well as the real-life worlds of patrons when they come to the reference desk for help.

What a life!

Within 24 hours, most of our papers from November 12 were stolen.  Why?  To save it for posterity?  That’ll be great.  Show the grandkids the paper in 30 years and they’ll wonder why it is stamped all over with the library stamp.  Well, kiddos, gramma and grampa stole the paper…  ugh.

Meanwhile, the adults had sessions to go to as well.  These were more about what the host college had to offer, what sort of high school preparation colleges in general were looking for, what tech careers are available, and so on.  One of the morning speakers was….an academic librarian….  YAY.  She talked about how tech savvy librarians are today.  After lunch, all the adults went to a Web 2.0 class led by yet another librarian.  So cool.  It was fun to look around me and see all these adults being rather impressed by what librarians have to offer. 

The whole thing made me feel so proud of my profession and you know, I had no idea that the conference was going to have anything at all to do with libraries.  So, I had a surprisingly library-ish day after all.

• Last week an older gentleman walked up the the reference desk and asked me if we have yesterday’s newspaper.  I showed him where it was located and handed it to him.  15 minutes later or so, he came back to the desk to tell me what a huge help I’d been.  Okay, that was nice of him.  Then he turned around and walked out the front door with the newspaper.   I had to chase after him and explain that he couldn’t take the paper…that it is our only copy of it and it is for in-library use only.  He told me that he never should have told me I’d been helpful and then I wouldn’t have noticed him walking out.  ha.  That’ll teach him.
• Yesterday, a similar thing happened.  A young man with an intimidating appearance approached the desk and asked if I had white-out and a black marker.  I found the items, handed them to him and, you guessed it, he turned around and walked out the front door.  I didn’t chase after him and I’m so glad that I didn’t, because about an hour later, he came back in the library and returned the items.  I’d never seen him in the library before and it seemed like he wasn’t entirely familiar with how libraries work, but you know, I think he had a positive experience and I am so glad.

 I suspect that if I suggested something like charging a fee for a temporary card, the powers that be might entertain that idea, and it would solve most of the problems.  I have issues with that too though, because I fundamentally believe that people should be able to walk into any public library and access information for free.  What if they can’t pay?  It just widens that gap between the haves and have nots.

In the summer we vacation near Manotowish Waters, WI and they have a great public library where anyone can walk in and use the computers, no questions asked.  The icing on the cake is that even people vacationing up there can check out books.  Talk about customer service!  That is the kind of library that makes me proud.

 So, these poor people cannot print what they have been working on all morning.  It’s okay, says my co-worker.  They aren’t from our library district.  She tells me not to feel bad.  I do though.  Really bad.  Not just for them, but for what it does for peoples’ perceptions of libraries.  Aren’t we supposed to help people??  There were empty computers.  It wouldn’t have hurt anything.  Will those people go back into a library if it doesn’t meet their needs?  I think that libraries are at such a critical juncture in terms of perception.  Why are we pushing people away?

Over spring break we traveled to different colleges/universities for the benefit of my son, who is a junior in high school.  We saw Macalester and Carleton and the University of Chicago.  I was especially interested in their libraries.  It was interesting to me that although the University of Chicago’s library is known to be one of the best in the world, the tour didn’t take us inside.  At the other, much smaller schools, they took us in and showed us around.  Very proud, they were. 

 Our hotel Internet was down in St. Paul so it was wonderful to walk into the library at Macalester and be able to sit down and log on.  Very friendly people there.  The libraries were busy, happy places. 

My online Collection Development course is almost over.  Can’t say I liked the online format.  At all.  Kinda feeling like I missed out and wish I could retake it in person.  Not that I didn’t learn anything…it just isn’t the same.  I guess I’m too much of a people person.  I wish there was a way to incorporate technology so that Blackboard could be more student-community oriented.  Enough whining.  I know the online option is a fabulous direction for Dominican to be taking.  I know that Karen Brown is a phenomenal professor.  I’m just crabby because I didn’t sign up to witness the phenomenalness in person.