I got sick while I was in New York at the end of September. A cold, allergies, "The Crud", as local doctors name it. It's been going around Tallahassee in a big way lately. Only this week have I begun to really feel better, apart from a lingering cough. Sitting on the front porch with my coffee this morning, with the rising sun shining through the pines, I was thankful for the new day.
With the two new library branches opening up, promotions have meant a round of interviews for positions vacated. I am on the hiring committee for a part-time Sunday IP position in Youth Services. We interviewed three candidates today, and will interview another three on Wednesday. We are fortunate to have some good applicants.
Sitting at the reference desk with MK this morning, I heard a strummed guitar from the first floor. It was the Story Time Halloween Parade, led by Gary C.! I called M. to the stairwell to watch as moms & tots processed. We saw a monkey, a bee, a princess.
I have been reading through Barbara Cleverly's Commander Sandilands mysteries. They are set in the 1920's, in India at first, and moving to England and the Continent. They are very well written, with an impressive depth of background and strong characters. I found I would have to wait for Folly Du Jour, and I had "cannibalized" a dog-chewed copy of Patrick O'Brian's H.M.S. Surprise, applying its bar-code and cataloging label to a donated copy. So I took the old copy home to read again.
I read the whole Aubrey/Maturin series a few years ago. What a pleasure to revisit O'Brian. I used to have a patron, a man who would only read Louis L'Amour westerns, over and over again. Maybe this is a particular pleasure for old people?
In a similar vein, I was rereading my Winged Chariots: The Popular Art of Early Flight post, which continues to get hits, and I thought it was time to revisit Red Baron 3D, a flight-sim game I played some years ago. I fired up my old Windows 98 Athlon PC, which I had fitted with a Voodoo 5 graphics card specifically to accommodate RB's Glide graphics, whereupon I lost interest in the game around 2006. The sound and modem didn't work, and I had to re-seat the sound and modem cards to get them working.
Red Baron 3D opened fine. There was was my last campaign, just as I left it. Of course, I've forgotten the keyboard commands, but I tried a "Fly Now" mission, flying a Nieuport 17 against a German Halberstadt D-II. Oh well, I am no better a pilot than I ever was...
2011/10/26
2011/10/11
Manhattan Trip 2011
2011/09/17
Blogging Reference
10:51 Very quiet so far. It was cool and overcast as I rode to work. Now the sun is out. There is a huge football game here today, FSU plays Oklahoma. It's thought that up to 35,000 people will come from out-of town. The Goodyear blimp has been droning around since yesterday. The "Downtown Get-Down" street festival suffered a drenching rain last night. A good day to lie low if you are not going.
A flurry of requests this a.m. for Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, whose PBS program, "3 Steps to Incredible Health!" has been broadcast.
Also a lot of interest this week in Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, edited by Caroline Kennedy and Michael Beschloss. It's being heavily promoted, Caroline Kennedy appearing on The Daily Show:
MC groaned when I mentioned the requests. It is a slipcased book/8-CD set, a fragile format for libraries, and pricey at $60.
He wants books about African Americans in television. Couple of titles by Donald Bogle, Blacks in American Film and Television: an encyclopedia and Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television.
Someone donated a box of new-ish poetry, all published by the local Anhinga Press. Maybe we can use some of them.
11:44 Made a round of the second floor. Still quiet. Came back to find E. the retired cataloger telling SE about his e-book reader again. He's just thrilled with it.
12:40 Back from lunch in the park: a ham & cheese sandwich and The Palace Tiger by Barbara Cleverly. Hoping to get a shot of the blimp, I took my camera, but no.
It's a little busier, but there are still public PC's open. SE goes to eat. I've got the floor to myself for a half hour.
Phone: Anything on flag football? Flag Football by John Ferrell, a YMCA Skills Manual in junior non-fiction. Transfer him to Youth Services.
Young man in garnet & grey FSU hoodie, sleeves pushed up, dyed-purple short mohawk haircut, grown out blond on the rest of his head, pale complexion, stubbly beard.
South Asian man shows me CD set of Dead Watch by John Sandford, wants the book. Take to shelf. "The lady downstairs said I can listen to it in the library. I listen on my own computer", (patting his bag). He goes to a carrel. Must be learning English.
Woman wants information about parking in our auxiliary lot for jury duty.
Process some requests:
Working South: Paintings and Sketches by Mary Whyte. New, 2nd request for this. Send to purchase.
The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens. We own, place hold.
The Race by Clive Cussler. We own, place hold.
The Lazy Couponer: How to Save $25,000 Per Year in Just 45 Minutes Per Week... by Janie Chase. New, send to purchase.
Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President by Ron Suskind. New, send to purchase.
Your Self-Confident Baby: How to Encourage Your Child's Natural Abilities -- From the Very Start by Magda Gerber. 1997, send to interlibrary loan.
Walk-up: Martha S. wants Isak Dinesen: the life of a storyteller by Judith Thurman, and From Where You Dream: the process of writing fiction by Robert Olen Butler. Place holds.
He needs help finding his computer, signing on. Then requests Astronomical Papers of the American Ephemeris by S. Newcomb, (1888), and Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity by S. Weinberg. Send to ILL.
Edwin asks how I am doing, reserves a computer.
2:15 Still no rush.
He wants to find the name of a doctor who treated his wife 15 years ago. Show him the old city directories and telephone books.
CD stops in with his "super awesome dog". He is our Adult Services game-goer.
Printer is printing ascii garbage. Cancel job.
Phone: Carolyn from branch, woman coming to get our copy of the Torah. Pull, trap hold, take to circulation desk.
Repair manuals for hybrid cars? Only the Auto Repair Database, no books, I think, but S. finds the Chilton annual volumes for 2010 and gives them to him.
She wants a book about the missionary, David Livingstone. Elspeth Huxley's Livingstone and his African Journeys is available. Take to shelf.
Dad & son pass by heading downstairs. Boy has short hair on top combed up with some kind of gel into a not-very-convincing mohawk look. "Scalp 'em Noles", I guess.
He wants The Executive Dilemma: handling people problems at work by Eliza Collins. Take to shelf.
He wants a book on learning Portuguese. There is nothing on the shelf. He doesn't have a library card, is staying at the homeless shelter, so I can't reserve materials for him that are checked out or at branches.
3:30 An hour and a half to go.
She thinks the copier has taken her dollar. It's on stand-by, wake it up.
Phone: questions about the cast of the television series, The Big Valley. Did Victoria Barkley ever get married on the show? According to Wikipedia, her husband died six years before the series begins, but I don't have information about whether she might have been engaged or married later.
This happens a lot. People are at home, watching television, and they get to wondering about the show they are watching. I most often get questions about soap opera episodes.
Woman asks to see Consumer Reports on cars. Show her the annual April car issue.
Torah Woman is here, wonders if The Torah: a modern commentary by Gunther W. Plaut can be checked out. No, is a reference book. She takes it to a table to read.
Phone: The Big Valley again. She saw the name Eugene Barkley in the credits, who was he? According to Wikipedia, for what it's worth, (no citation): "The youngest Barkley son was Eugene, a medical student studying at Berkeley, played by Charles Briles...He was seen sporadically in only seven first season episodes and then written out... In real life Briles was drafted and sent off to Vietnam."
4:19 Park Avenue is lined with cars of game attendees heading to the stadium on foot. The game is at eight.
Phone: Ann P. wants Deviant Children Grow Up by Lee N. Robins and High Risk: Children Without Conscience by Ken Magid. Don't own, create requests with delivery at the Parkway branch.
4:52 Finally got our rush at 4:40. That's it for today!
A flurry of requests this a.m. for Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, whose PBS program, "3 Steps to Incredible Health!" has been broadcast.
Also a lot of interest this week in Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, edited by Caroline Kennedy and Michael Beschloss. It's being heavily promoted, Caroline Kennedy appearing on The Daily Show:
MC groaned when I mentioned the requests. It is a slipcased book/8-CD set, a fragile format for libraries, and pricey at $60.
He wants books about African Americans in television. Couple of titles by Donald Bogle, Blacks in American Film and Television: an encyclopedia and Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television.
Someone donated a box of new-ish poetry, all published by the local Anhinga Press. Maybe we can use some of them.
11:44 Made a round of the second floor. Still quiet. Came back to find E. the retired cataloger telling SE about his e-book reader again. He's just thrilled with it.
12:40 Back from lunch in the park: a ham & cheese sandwich and The Palace Tiger by Barbara Cleverly. Hoping to get a shot of the blimp, I took my camera, but no.
It's a little busier, but there are still public PC's open. SE goes to eat. I've got the floor to myself for a half hour.
Phone: Anything on flag football? Flag Football by John Ferrell, a YMCA Skills Manual in junior non-fiction. Transfer him to Youth Services.
Young man in garnet & grey FSU hoodie, sleeves pushed up, dyed-purple short mohawk haircut, grown out blond on the rest of his head, pale complexion, stubbly beard.
South Asian man shows me CD set of Dead Watch by John Sandford, wants the book. Take to shelf. "The lady downstairs said I can listen to it in the library. I listen on my own computer", (patting his bag). He goes to a carrel. Must be learning English.
Woman wants information about parking in our auxiliary lot for jury duty.
Process some requests:
Working South: Paintings and Sketches by Mary Whyte. New, 2nd request for this. Send to purchase.
The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens. We own, place hold.
The Race by Clive Cussler. We own, place hold.
The Lazy Couponer: How to Save $25,000 Per Year in Just 45 Minutes Per Week... by Janie Chase. New, send to purchase.
Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President by Ron Suskind. New, send to purchase.
Your Self-Confident Baby: How to Encourage Your Child's Natural Abilities -- From the Very Start by Magda Gerber. 1997, send to interlibrary loan.
Walk-up: Martha S. wants Isak Dinesen: the life of a storyteller by Judith Thurman, and From Where You Dream: the process of writing fiction by Robert Olen Butler. Place holds.
He needs help finding his computer, signing on. Then requests Astronomical Papers of the American Ephemeris by S. Newcomb, (1888), and Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity by S. Weinberg. Send to ILL.
Edwin asks how I am doing, reserves a computer.
2:15 Still no rush.
He wants to find the name of a doctor who treated his wife 15 years ago. Show him the old city directories and telephone books.
CD stops in with his "super awesome dog". He is our Adult Services game-goer.
Printer is printing ascii garbage. Cancel job.
Phone: Carolyn from branch, woman coming to get our copy of the Torah. Pull, trap hold, take to circulation desk.
Repair manuals for hybrid cars? Only the Auto Repair Database, no books, I think, but S. finds the Chilton annual volumes for 2010 and gives them to him.
She wants a book about the missionary, David Livingstone. Elspeth Huxley's Livingstone and his African Journeys is available. Take to shelf.
Dad & son pass by heading downstairs. Boy has short hair on top combed up with some kind of gel into a not-very-convincing mohawk look. "Scalp 'em Noles", I guess.
He wants The Executive Dilemma: handling people problems at work by Eliza Collins. Take to shelf.
He wants a book on learning Portuguese. There is nothing on the shelf. He doesn't have a library card, is staying at the homeless shelter, so I can't reserve materials for him that are checked out or at branches.
3:30 An hour and a half to go.
She thinks the copier has taken her dollar. It's on stand-by, wake it up.
Phone: questions about the cast of the television series, The Big Valley. Did Victoria Barkley ever get married on the show? According to Wikipedia, her husband died six years before the series begins, but I don't have information about whether she might have been engaged or married later.
This happens a lot. People are at home, watching television, and they get to wondering about the show they are watching. I most often get questions about soap opera episodes.
Woman asks to see Consumer Reports on cars. Show her the annual April car issue.
Torah Woman is here, wonders if The Torah: a modern commentary by Gunther W. Plaut can be checked out. No, is a reference book. She takes it to a table to read.
Phone: The Big Valley again. She saw the name Eugene Barkley in the credits, who was he? According to Wikipedia, for what it's worth, (no citation): "The youngest Barkley son was Eugene, a medical student studying at Berkeley, played by Charles Briles...He was seen sporadically in only seven first season episodes and then written out... In real life Briles was drafted and sent off to Vietnam."
4:19 Park Avenue is lined with cars of game attendees heading to the stadium on foot. The game is at eight.
Phone: Ann P. wants Deviant Children Grow Up by Lee N. Robins and High Risk: Children Without Conscience by Ken Magid. Don't own, create requests with delivery at the Parkway branch.
4:52 Finally got our rush at 4:40. That's it for today!
2011/09/15
Codices and Daleks
I attended an online course today, with a bunch of other librarians, about OverDrive Mobile: installing and using the OverDrive Media Console "app" on Apple, Blackberry and Android devices to download OverDrive e-books and audiobooks directly, without a PC.
At the beginning of the class, the instructor asked how many owned smart phones. A little over half the attendees owned one. Smart phones are projected to outsell PC's in 2012, and many more readers of e-books will read them on these devices than will buy a dedicated e-reader such as a Kindle or a Nook. DS joked that she had a "dumb phone" that only made calls. I don't own any kind of mobile device.
It was interesting, then, to read Lev Grossman's piece in the NYT Book Review, From Scroll to Screen, a capsule history of the book. While accepting the inevitability of the transition to electronic formats, he maintains that an e-book is more like a scroll than a codex of bound pages, losing non-linear reading functionality:
The Guardian has a story, Dalek collector enters Guinness World Records. Over twenty years, Rob Hull has collected 571 Dalek models.
I was mildly bitten by the Dalek bug when I discovered a cult of hobbyists who build full-scale Daleks. But I resisted the temptation to buy a Dalek model. The only thing I collect are editions of the Rubaiyat. Daleks are quaint, compared to today's computer-generated nightmares, with their toilet-plunger arms.
At the beginning of the class, the instructor asked how many owned smart phones. A little over half the attendees owned one. Smart phones are projected to outsell PC's in 2012, and many more readers of e-books will read them on these devices than will buy a dedicated e-reader such as a Kindle or a Nook. DS joked that she had a "dumb phone" that only made calls. I don't own any kind of mobile device.
It was interesting, then, to read Lev Grossman's piece in the NYT Book Review, From Scroll to Screen, a capsule history of the book. While accepting the inevitability of the transition to electronic formats, he maintains that an e-book is more like a scroll than a codex of bound pages, losing non-linear reading functionality:
Trying to jump from place to place in a long document like a novel is painfully awkward on an e-reader, like trying to play the piano with numb fingers. You either creep through the book incrementally, page by page, or leap wildly from point to point and search term to search term. It’s no wonder that the rise of e-reading has revived two words for classical-era reading technologies: scroll and tablet. That’s the kind of reading you do in an e-book.
The Guardian has a story, Dalek collector enters Guinness World Records. Over twenty years, Rob Hull has collected 571 Dalek models.
Hull, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, said: "I've never been a fan of the show, but I have been enchanted by the Daleks ever since I saw one in a toy store as a child. "My mum wouldn't buy it for me, but I swore at that moment that I'd have my own one day." He said he bought his first Dalek at the age of 29 and since then they had slowly taken over the house.
But his 43-year-old wife, Dawn, will not celebrate her husband being the newest record-holder. She said: "I hate the bloody things and I've got a feeling this is only going to encourage him."
I was mildly bitten by the Dalek bug when I discovered a cult of hobbyists who build full-scale Daleks. But I resisted the temptation to buy a Dalek model. The only thing I collect are editions of the Rubaiyat. Daleks are quaint, compared to today's computer-generated nightmares, with their toilet-plunger arms.
2011/09/06
To Largo Once More
R. and I returned to Largo on Friday for the memorial mass and burial of her Uncle Ray, who died last Tuesday. We joined R.'s Aunt Pat, in the company of her extended family, in honoring the passing of this kind and generous man. He was remembered as a pillar of the Church and as a military veteran.
We stayed again at the Hampton Inn. I brought my camera, but I didn't have the leisure to take pictures. I would have liked to get some shots of the quaint old cinder block and stucco houses in the neighborhoods of Largo, with their sandy yards and tropical plants. These views from our fifth floor room at the back of the Hampton, looking out on Missouri Avenue, will have to do. It is common in the St. Pete/Clearwater area to find northern place-names, such as Missouri. Many retirees from the north and mid-west have settled there. Mobile home and RV parks often fly Canadian flags. We passed one place called the "Empty-Nester Diner".
After the mass on Saturday morning, we took part in our first ever funerary motorcade, processing from the church to the cemetery, which was a lovely park with old water oaks shading the burial site.
Afterward, everyone wanted to change clothes before gathering at Aunt Pat's, and we went back to the hotel. The staff at the hotel recommended the Thirsty Marlin, nearby, for lunch. I devoured a cheeseburger, fries, and a large slice of dill pickle.
We went over to Pat's house, and sat with her on the back porch, along with R.'s uncles Art and Ernie and their wives, drinking sweet iced tea. After a couple of hours, everyone was clearly flagging, and we took our leave. Back at the hotel, I had a nap. R. went online in the hotel's computer room and found a local Italian restaurant, Alfano's . We went there for supper, and it was excellent.
We wanted to get an early start Sunday morning, so we went to the eight o'clock mass at St. Cecilia's, checked out, had breakfast at the Largo Family Restaurant, and were on our way out of town by 10:30. We took the causeway over Tampa Bay and got on the Veterans/SunCoast Parkway, a toll road that lets you avoid the sprawl of Highway 19 north of Clearwater. Up to Homosassa Springs, through Crystal River, over the barge canal bridge and out of Central Florida altogether. Through Chiefland, Old Town, Cross City, Perry, and into the hills, Lamont, Capps, and Waukeenah, where roadside stands sell fresh pecans. And home to Tallahassee, our Shangri-La.
It wasn't long after that the rains of tropical storm Lee arrived. R. baked a frozen lasagna and made a salad for supper. We said the rosary, and settled in to watch an Inspector Lewis mystery on PBS, retiring to bed for a soothing rainy night, and looking forward to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.
We stayed again at the Hampton Inn. I brought my camera, but I didn't have the leisure to take pictures. I would have liked to get some shots of the quaint old cinder block and stucco houses in the neighborhoods of Largo, with their sandy yards and tropical plants. These views from our fifth floor room at the back of the Hampton, looking out on Missouri Avenue, will have to do. It is common in the St. Pete/Clearwater area to find northern place-names, such as Missouri. Many retirees from the north and mid-west have settled there. Mobile home and RV parks often fly Canadian flags. We passed one place called the "Empty-Nester Diner".
Afterward, everyone wanted to change clothes before gathering at Aunt Pat's, and we went back to the hotel. The staff at the hotel recommended the Thirsty Marlin, nearby, for lunch. I devoured a cheeseburger, fries, and a large slice of dill pickle.
We went over to Pat's house, and sat with her on the back porch, along with R.'s uncles Art and Ernie and their wives, drinking sweet iced tea. After a couple of hours, everyone was clearly flagging, and we took our leave. Back at the hotel, I had a nap. R. went online in the hotel's computer room and found a local Italian restaurant, Alfano's . We went there for supper, and it was excellent.
We wanted to get an early start Sunday morning, so we went to the eight o'clock mass at St. Cecilia's, checked out, had breakfast at the Largo Family Restaurant, and were on our way out of town by 10:30. We took the causeway over Tampa Bay and got on the Veterans/SunCoast Parkway, a toll road that lets you avoid the sprawl of Highway 19 north of Clearwater. Up to Homosassa Springs, through Crystal River, over the barge canal bridge and out of Central Florida altogether. Through Chiefland, Old Town, Cross City, Perry, and into the hills, Lamont, Capps, and Waukeenah, where roadside stands sell fresh pecans. And home to Tallahassee, our Shangri-La.
It wasn't long after that the rains of tropical storm Lee arrived. R. baked a frozen lasagna and made a salad for supper. We said the rosary, and settled in to watch an Inspector Lewis mystery on PBS, retiring to bed for a soothing rainy night, and looking forward to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.
2011/08/27
Blogging Reference
College students have been moving in all week, The Fall term at FSU and FAMU starts on Monday. It's a good day to stay away from the universities and popular restaurants.
It's a clear day, and expected to be hot. You'd never know a hurricane is churning up the Atlantic coast. I shouldn't joke, but I feel a little left out. We haven't had a tropical storm here in a few years. Maybe I should watch Key Largo.
Another Saturday morning with the A/C down. They seem to have gotten it going a little.
10:00 I open the doors at the 2nd floor entrance.
PC for Cheryl.
Phone: She got a notice for a book she returned. Can I look for it? Grrr, we're not supposed to get these calls, but I'll handle it. Not on shelf, find Rick Steves' Prague & The Czech Republic on a cart in the circulation workroom.
Phone: Is Joyce M. Wants address & phone for a company named Santana. Has no idea where it is. Try Switchboard, Google. It's not enough to go on, sorry.
Today's paper.
Where to get library card?
10:26 Still have about 8 PC's free.
PC for Michael.
She wants The Territorial Papers of the United States, vols. 22-26, covering the Territory of Florida. After a couple of tries, I find them in the catalog, and there they are in the reference collection. She remembered them from years ago, before we moved into this building in '91. Embarrassing to have never noticed them, over all these years.
Do we do phone reference? His library in Memphis did it too. He says he stumped them twice, with "How deep is the sand in Saudi Arabia?", and "Why are salmon and mackerel cans smaller on the bottom than on the top?".
PC for Miller.
PC for Jeff.
Where is PC 56?
The floppy drive in PC 52 can't read his disk. Give him another PC. Advise him to move his files to a USB drive.
PC's for Vincent, Jason, Brittany.
Long schmooze w E., who retired as a cataloger from the FSU library, about e-book readers. He is pretty sold on them. Has a Nook, but thinks Kindle may be a better choice. Nook can't zoom maps and diagrams. He likes that you can change the type size. No need to buy a large print edition. Mostly reads ePub versions of free books from Project Gutenberg. Has issues w e-book pagination, which plays hell w citations, and w current state of "digital rights" for e-books. I am hearing good things from serious readers about these e-book readers.
How to find McDonald's web site to apply for job. Bing is confusing.
Any more titles in Molly MacRae's Lewis Wilder mystery series after Wilder Rumors? No. Do we have The Terrorists, by Maj Sjöwall? Is on hold. Is the hold for her friend? She will get it from her.
Phone: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Place hold.
Do we have more recent issues of Value Line reports? Not yet, show him online access through the library web page.
Check the materials request database, (MRD). It's up to 54 new, but only 22 book requests, the rest media. Can get to them later.
11:58 Time for lunch.
12:43 Back.
The NYT.
Today's Democrat.
Print out 1040EZ tax form for a man.
Phone: It's Florida P. Who won the 1998 World Series? Yankees.
Where are books on psychology? Take to shelf.
Her PC is not on, Have her press power button to turn it on.
Today's paper.
Refill CD's Southern Gothic Fiction display.
Can she have scratch paper?
1:19 SE is back from lunch.
Where to get library card?
It is very quiet. Plenty of people. Quiet people, reading. It's nice...
She is here for a meeting. The Greater Tallahassee Section of the National Council of Negro Women is meeting in program room A on the first floor.
Does the library have food vending machines? No, sorry.
Where to get library card?
Tarot Woman walks by.
Might as well work on requests,
Try to show self-check-out machine, but her card's not in the system. She must go to circulation.
MRD: The Forgotten Locket, by Lisa Mangum. New, juvenile, redirect to Youth Services.
SE is making Grisham/Baldacci readalikes display. I'm alone for a little while,
Has anyone turned in a flash drive? No. Is WiFi available on the 3rd floor? Yes, but public not allowed up there on weekends. Can she print from the 15-minute PC's? No.
She's here to pick up On Human Nature, by Edward O. Wilson. Was on 24-hr. hold at refdesk, but she couldn't get here. We still have it.
He can't find The 7th Victim and False Accusations by Alan Jacobson. Go back to the shelf with him and find them.
Repair information for 1989 Saab 9000 CD. Mitchell doesn't cover Saabs. Auto Repair db has only service bulletins. Have only annual all-in-one Chilton tune-up book for imports. They'll take that.
Do we have Pharmacy Technician Certification book? We had a different one from the one he wants, but it's now lost.
She wants books in Spanish by Esmeraldo Santiago. Place hold on Conquistadora.
Today's paper.
Mom w 2 little kids wants Run, Baby, Run by Nicky Cruz. Take request for ILL. Anything on the West Memphis Three. We used to have Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, but all copies are lost.
Phone: Mrs. Rounds wants Escape by Barbara Delinsky in large print. Do we have Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner in large type? Not yet. She'll take regular print then.
Phone: Joyce C. wants Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen by Evanovich. Place holds.
Show Democrat on microfilm. Demo viewer.
DC gives me a break.
GED book? Copies for in-library use, or can reserve copy for check-out.
PC's for four kids.
Phone: Rosa B. in Lloyd wants contact info for Ruby Kisses. Made by Kiss Cosmetics. E-mail only on web site, not listed in Dun & Bradstreet directory. There is a store locator. Give her three local stores.
Phone: Joan C. wonders why ducks removed from Lake Ella, popular walking location in mid-town. Muscovy ducks, threat to local species, aggressive, leave "unsightly waste".
3:26 So much for quiet time to process requests!
Mom & teen son. How can he volunteer at the library? Show VolunteerLEON web site.
PC for Dave.
Books for Bolivar. Also wants The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang, Not a Suicide Pact by Richard A. Posner, In the Shadow of Death by Elizabeth Beck, and The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr. Take to shelf for Rape, don't have the others. For a course? Yes. criminal justice, so don't offer ILL.
PC for Matt.
4:00 SE takes discards and books for bindery up to Collection Management.
MRD: Surrendered :the rise, fall and revelation of Kwame Kilpatrick by Kwame Kilpatrick. Send to ILL.
MRD: Eviction Notice: A Hood Rat Novel by K'wan. New, send to Purchase.
MRD: 3 X 33: Short Fiction by 33 Writers, Mark Winegardner, ed. 2004, $100!, send to ILL.
MRD: The Hot Zone by Preston. We own, place hold.
4:27 Phone. Hurricane Tracking Man wants particulars from the National Hurricane Center's 2:00 advisory on Irene.
MRD: The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman. New, received, in process. Place hold.
Show her how to reserve PC w her card.
Dave asks if we have an envelope. No, sorry.
30 min. announcement. I think that's enough for today.
It's a clear day, and expected to be hot. You'd never know a hurricane is churning up the Atlantic coast. I shouldn't joke, but I feel a little left out. We haven't had a tropical storm here in a few years. Maybe I should watch Key Largo.
Another Saturday morning with the A/C down. They seem to have gotten it going a little.
10:00 I open the doors at the 2nd floor entrance.
PC for Cheryl.
Phone: She got a notice for a book she returned. Can I look for it? Grrr, we're not supposed to get these calls, but I'll handle it. Not on shelf, find Rick Steves' Prague & The Czech Republic on a cart in the circulation workroom.
Phone: Is Joyce M. Wants address & phone for a company named Santana. Has no idea where it is. Try Switchboard, Google. It's not enough to go on, sorry.
Today's paper.
Where to get library card?
10:26 Still have about 8 PC's free.
PC for Michael.
She wants The Territorial Papers of the United States, vols. 22-26, covering the Territory of Florida. After a couple of tries, I find them in the catalog, and there they are in the reference collection. She remembered them from years ago, before we moved into this building in '91. Embarrassing to have never noticed them, over all these years.
Do we do phone reference? His library in Memphis did it too. He says he stumped them twice, with "How deep is the sand in Saudi Arabia?", and "Why are salmon and mackerel cans smaller on the bottom than on the top?".
PC for Miller.
PC for Jeff.
Where is PC 56?
The floppy drive in PC 52 can't read his disk. Give him another PC. Advise him to move his files to a USB drive.
PC's for Vincent, Jason, Brittany.
Long schmooze w E., who retired as a cataloger from the FSU library, about e-book readers. He is pretty sold on them. Has a Nook, but thinks Kindle may be a better choice. Nook can't zoom maps and diagrams. He likes that you can change the type size. No need to buy a large print edition. Mostly reads ePub versions of free books from Project Gutenberg. Has issues w e-book pagination, which plays hell w citations, and w current state of "digital rights" for e-books. I am hearing good things from serious readers about these e-book readers.
How to find McDonald's web site to apply for job. Bing is confusing.
Any more titles in Molly MacRae's Lewis Wilder mystery series after Wilder Rumors? No. Do we have The Terrorists, by Maj Sjöwall? Is on hold. Is the hold for her friend? She will get it from her.
Phone: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Place hold.
Do we have more recent issues of Value Line reports? Not yet, show him online access through the library web page.
Check the materials request database, (MRD). It's up to 54 new, but only 22 book requests, the rest media. Can get to them later.
11:58 Time for lunch.
12:43 Back.
The NYT.
Today's Democrat.
Print out 1040EZ tax form for a man.
Phone: It's Florida P. Who won the 1998 World Series? Yankees.
Where are books on psychology? Take to shelf.
Her PC is not on, Have her press power button to turn it on.
Today's paper.
Refill CD's Southern Gothic Fiction display.
Can she have scratch paper?
1:19 SE is back from lunch.
Where to get library card?
It is very quiet. Plenty of people. Quiet people, reading. It's nice...
She is here for a meeting. The Greater Tallahassee Section of the National Council of Negro Women is meeting in program room A on the first floor.
Does the library have food vending machines? No, sorry.
Where to get library card?
Tarot Woman walks by.
Might as well work on requests,
Try to show self-check-out machine, but her card's not in the system. She must go to circulation.
MRD: The Forgotten Locket, by Lisa Mangum. New, juvenile, redirect to Youth Services.
SE is making Grisham/Baldacci readalikes display. I'm alone for a little while,
Has anyone turned in a flash drive? No. Is WiFi available on the 3rd floor? Yes, but public not allowed up there on weekends. Can she print from the 15-minute PC's? No.
She's here to pick up On Human Nature, by Edward O. Wilson. Was on 24-hr. hold at refdesk, but she couldn't get here. We still have it.
He can't find The 7th Victim and False Accusations by Alan Jacobson. Go back to the shelf with him and find them.
Repair information for 1989 Saab 9000 CD. Mitchell doesn't cover Saabs. Auto Repair db has only service bulletins. Have only annual all-in-one Chilton tune-up book for imports. They'll take that.
Do we have Pharmacy Technician Certification book? We had a different one from the one he wants, but it's now lost.
She wants books in Spanish by Esmeraldo Santiago. Place hold on Conquistadora.
Today's paper.
Mom w 2 little kids wants Run, Baby, Run by Nicky Cruz. Take request for ILL. Anything on the West Memphis Three. We used to have Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, but all copies are lost.
Phone: Mrs. Rounds wants Escape by Barbara Delinsky in large print. Do we have Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner in large type? Not yet. She'll take regular print then.
Phone: Joyce C. wants Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen by Evanovich. Place holds.
Show Democrat on microfilm. Demo viewer.
DC gives me a break.
GED book? Copies for in-library use, or can reserve copy for check-out.
PC's for four kids.
Phone: Rosa B. in Lloyd wants contact info for Ruby Kisses. Made by Kiss Cosmetics. E-mail only on web site, not listed in Dun & Bradstreet directory. There is a store locator. Give her three local stores.
Phone: Joan C. wonders why ducks removed from Lake Ella, popular walking location in mid-town. Muscovy ducks, threat to local species, aggressive, leave "unsightly waste".
3:26 So much for quiet time to process requests!
Mom & teen son. How can he volunteer at the library? Show VolunteerLEON web site.
PC for Dave.
Books for Bolivar. Also wants The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang, Not a Suicide Pact by Richard A. Posner, In the Shadow of Death by Elizabeth Beck, and The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr. Take to shelf for Rape, don't have the others. For a course? Yes. criminal justice, so don't offer ILL.
PC for Matt.
4:00 SE takes discards and books for bindery up to Collection Management.
MRD: Surrendered :the rise, fall and revelation of Kwame Kilpatrick by Kwame Kilpatrick. Send to ILL.
MRD: Eviction Notice: A Hood Rat Novel by K'wan. New, send to Purchase.
MRD: 3 X 33: Short Fiction by 33 Writers, Mark Winegardner, ed. 2004, $100!, send to ILL.
MRD: The Hot Zone by Preston. We own, place hold.
4:27 Phone. Hurricane Tracking Man wants particulars from the National Hurricane Center's 2:00 advisory on Irene.
MRD: The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman. New, received, in process. Place hold.
Show her how to reserve PC w her card.
Dave asks if we have an envelope. No, sorry.
30 min. announcement. I think that's enough for today.
2011/08/17
Summer Break Is Over
After weeks of sweltering days and nights, the morning was cool, with a mackerel sky. I wore a windbreaker on my scooter ride to work. Autumn is still a long way off, but it looks like we can expect arid, if still hot, days and cooler nights.
It has been the most serene summer break that anyone can remember at the main library. Not that it hasn't been busy, but we haven't had the numbers of unsupervised children and teens this year that we've had in the past.
I can only guess why that is so. The nearby Life Skills Academy, which was a program for teens ejected from the high schools, is gone, I heard. The city buses have new routes that don't involve transfers at the old main terminal across the street. Several library branches have more public access computers now, (the contrast between Monday, when the branches are closed, and Tuesday, was noticeable this week). The shift of Internet traffic from PC's to portable devices, chiefly "smart phones", may be a factor too, though iPhones and Blackberrys are rarely seen on the premises. I wonder whether the Web has simply lost its novelty.
Whatever the reason, it's been a pleasant surprise . The library has been more like a library ought to be than it has been in a long time. People are coming in to use it, not to see if their friends are there. When we are needed, it is to help people do their work, not to make children behave. It wasn't what we expected over the summer break.
It has been the most serene summer break that anyone can remember at the main library. Not that it hasn't been busy, but we haven't had the numbers of unsupervised children and teens this year that we've had in the past.
I can only guess why that is so. The nearby Life Skills Academy, which was a program for teens ejected from the high schools, is gone, I heard. The city buses have new routes that don't involve transfers at the old main terminal across the street. Several library branches have more public access computers now, (the contrast between Monday, when the branches are closed, and Tuesday, was noticeable this week). The shift of Internet traffic from PC's to portable devices, chiefly "smart phones", may be a factor too, though iPhones and Blackberrys are rarely seen on the premises. I wonder whether the Web has simply lost its novelty.
Whatever the reason, it's been a pleasant surprise . The library has been more like a library ought to be than it has been in a long time. People are coming in to use it, not to see if their friends are there. When we are needed, it is to help people do their work, not to make children behave. It wasn't what we expected over the summer break.
2011/08/14
The Marines of the Library
I don't know who came up with this name for bookmobilers, but it always made me feel good to think it of myself, when I ran the library bookmobile in the 1990's. The idea is that bookmobiles establish "beachheads" for library services, regular stops in places, often rural, that will someday be succeeded by permanent branch libraries.
A bookmobile librarian is a librarian who is also a truck driver, an odd combination. When I applied for the job, it mattered that I had once driven a school bus.
It is a lonely job: only you and your assistant, without the larger crew of a branch or a department to help out, and your work is invisible to the rest of the library. It is physically demanding: heavy canvas bags of requests and returns must be handled, and at senior communities an indoor service desk and collection must be set up and taken down several times daily.
The hazards of the road, mechanical breakdowns and severe weather, are facts of life. The hardest times were in winter, driving in from miles out in the cold and dark, wanting only to see the lights of the truck route, Capital Circle, that would signal I was almost home.
And yet I used to tell myself, rolling down a leafy country lane on a beautiful day, to remember it, that I was privileged to have such freedom, such close friendships with my readers, and to be so relied upon for books to read.
The opening of two new branch locations this fall, in Woodville and on Pedrick Road east of town, will mean the end of two of the remaining rural bookmobile stops at Woodville and at Chaires. The old stops at Bradfordville and at Fort Braden were replaced by branch libraries years ago. Only the double stop at the Miccosukee Land Coop and Miccosukee proper, and the newer stop at Southwood will remain of the rural stops.
The old bookmobile frontier is just about over. Bookmobile services will be devoted increasingly to senior communities and assisted living facilities.
Raise a glass to all bookmobile librarians! But for them, many readers would have nowhere to turn.
2011/08/08
Shot of Love
Sunday Mass, how grateful I am to be there after another week in this old world of trouble. The Gospel reading is the story of Jesus walking on the water. Father Holeda likens the fearful disciples in their storm-tossed boat to ourselves in these uncertain times, when the news only seems to go from bad to worse, and we have so many worries about our work, our families, and what the future holds. "Be not afraid", Jesus says. Pope John Paul II often repeated this. "Be not afraid, I am with you."
It is my turn to serve as a eucharistic minister today. As I present the cup, Y. approaches. "The Blood of Christ", I say, and she takes the cup, a glance between us acknowledging the grace offered, and received.
Y. used to run the library's Apalachee Parkway Branch, when it was nothing but an old bookmobile up on blocks in the corner of a shopping center parking lot. She left us for the State Library in the early '90's, but the collection she had assembled on that bookmobile was for a long time the last resort for anything obscure, literary, or in translation. I didn't see her for many years. I had heard she had retired. Then, one morning a few weeks ago, I turned at Mass to pass the peace, and there she was. She had come home.
We had planned to see a movie, Beginners, at the Miracle, but when we got there we found that it had already started. The time in the paper had been wrong. So we went home. R. made a lasagne, I washed a load of whites.
R. tried calling her Aunt Pat and Uncle Ray, but got no answer. A few minutes later, Ray called back. He was doing well, with no pain, only some tiredness when he over-exerted himself. He had started two new paintings.
We sat in our reading/radio-listening chairs, reading the Sunday New York Times. Our cat, Claudius, sat nearby on the fireplace. A jazz program was on the radio. And joy broke in. I kissed R., and said I was not sorry we had missed the movie. Nothing could be better than this: to be reading the Times together on a Sunday afternoon with our cat, and jazz on the radio. I felt like crying, so sweet was my release from care and sorrow.
It is my turn to serve as a eucharistic minister today. As I present the cup, Y. approaches. "The Blood of Christ", I say, and she takes the cup, a glance between us acknowledging the grace offered, and received.
Y. used to run the library's Apalachee Parkway Branch, when it was nothing but an old bookmobile up on blocks in the corner of a shopping center parking lot. She left us for the State Library in the early '90's, but the collection she had assembled on that bookmobile was for a long time the last resort for anything obscure, literary, or in translation. I didn't see her for many years. I had heard she had retired. Then, one morning a few weeks ago, I turned at Mass to pass the peace, and there she was. She had come home.
We had planned to see a movie, Beginners, at the Miracle, but when we got there we found that it had already started. The time in the paper had been wrong. So we went home. R. made a lasagne, I washed a load of whites.
R. tried calling her Aunt Pat and Uncle Ray, but got no answer. A few minutes later, Ray called back. He was doing well, with no pain, only some tiredness when he over-exerted himself. He had started two new paintings.
We sat in our reading/radio-listening chairs, reading the Sunday New York Times. Our cat, Claudius, sat nearby on the fireplace. A jazz program was on the radio. And joy broke in. I kissed R., and said I was not sorry we had missed the movie. Nothing could be better than this: to be reading the Times together on a Sunday afternoon with our cat, and jazz on the radio. I felt like crying, so sweet was my release from care and sorrow.
2011/08/02
Heat is Austerity, Cold is Misery
...Swami Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad, the guru of Krishna Consciousness, was supposed to have said. Gerald Ensley, a columnist for our local paper, devoted his space today to hot weather being a fact of life in Tallahassee in the summer.
And it seemed appropriate. There is really nothing else happening here at the end of July. I worked this weekend, but it would have been a waste of time for me to do a Blogging Reference post. The streets were empty. If it were not for the people coming in to access the Internet, the library would have been almost completely quiet.
R. attempted to go to Governors Square Mall on Saturday, and couldn't find a parking space, so I guess that is where everyone was, if not at the beach or out of town.
I did have a man come in first thing on Sunday, looking for reviews in Consumer Reports for HVAC units. But CR doesn't evaluate them, nor any one else. I think that there are too many variables. So much depends on a competent energy audit and the installation of the right unit for the house in question.
At some point, air-conditioning became a requirement for life in the South. When I arrived at work Saturday morning, the A/C was off. A county technician got it going before the library opened. The idea of being without it was too uncomfortable to contemplate, though the library does have windows that can be opened if need be.
Until the age of eight, I had little experience of A/C. We and our neighbors did not have it at home. On hot summer days, we went swimming for relief. In 1962 we moved into a new house in Maitland that had central heat and cooling, but the new school I attended there did not. Open windows and fans kept us cool.
In 1969 I entered the eleventh grade at the new buildings for Winter Park High, which had sealed windows and an HVAC system. Attending FSU in the '70's, the classrooms were air-conditioned, but the dorms were not. Large fans were something everyone brought with them as incoming freshmen.
Now we expect it. But if air-conditioning the Sunbelt were to become unsustainable, I think most of us would adjust to it. And for those who found it unbearable, perhaps they would return to the Northern states, leaving Tallahassee and the South to return to its hot, slow, pace of life.
And it seemed appropriate. There is really nothing else happening here at the end of July. I worked this weekend, but it would have been a waste of time for me to do a Blogging Reference post. The streets were empty. If it were not for the people coming in to access the Internet, the library would have been almost completely quiet.
R. attempted to go to Governors Square Mall on Saturday, and couldn't find a parking space, so I guess that is where everyone was, if not at the beach or out of town.
I did have a man come in first thing on Sunday, looking for reviews in Consumer Reports for HVAC units. But CR doesn't evaluate them, nor any one else. I think that there are too many variables. So much depends on a competent energy audit and the installation of the right unit for the house in question.
At some point, air-conditioning became a requirement for life in the South. When I arrived at work Saturday morning, the A/C was off. A county technician got it going before the library opened. The idea of being without it was too uncomfortable to contemplate, though the library does have windows that can be opened if need be.
Until the age of eight, I had little experience of A/C. We and our neighbors did not have it at home. On hot summer days, we went swimming for relief. In 1962 we moved into a new house in Maitland that had central heat and cooling, but the new school I attended there did not. Open windows and fans kept us cool.
In 1969 I entered the eleventh grade at the new buildings for Winter Park High, which had sealed windows and an HVAC system. Attending FSU in the '70's, the classrooms were air-conditioned, but the dorms were not. Large fans were something everyone brought with them as incoming freshmen.
Now we expect it. But if air-conditioning the Sunbelt were to become unsustainable, I think most of us would adjust to it. And for those who found it unbearable, perhaps they would return to the Northern states, leaving Tallahassee and the South to return to its hot, slow, pace of life.
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