embedded teaching

Well Monday was the last day of my embedded teaching for this semester. I think it went well in a way for my first time - as far as the pedagogy part went. The first class the students had an assignment to do and turn in. That seemed to go well. I am disappointed that some students didn't put forth much effort on such an easy assignment. I guess it was considered unimportant. hmph. How would they get a book if they don't know how to use the OPAC!

I'll admit that databases are a little more difficult to understand. Maybe I should just go straight to teaching the students how to use the databases and not bother with explaining the way they work. For that class I gave them a quiz. Without a couple of bonus questions, the majority of the class flunked the quiz. I required them to take notes and would specifically point out things they needed to take note of. I was disappointed to see such poor results on the quiz. So we'll see. I did ask the English teacher to also do an assessment of my teaching - since I am new at doing this and have not had formal training on how to teach! So we'll see. This year was definitely a guinea-pig experience.

Celebrating 75 years!

Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary celebrates 75th anniversary.

Last week we celebrated 75 years of training and educating young people for ministerial service. Special highlights were the chapel services and a workshop with Don Wyrtzen, President’s Dinner with Gracia Burnham as speaker, and special guest, Don Wyrtzen as he accompanied the choir singing his music (on Thursday) and a concert by Don Wyrtzen on Friday night.

Mr. Wyrtzen has a good grasp of a biblical approach to music: Beauty and Love (of God) based on Truth. What has happened in the past is that the evangelical, fundamental churches were so concerned about truth and about being right that love and beauty were ignored. The liberal churches took up the championing of beauty and love and would ignore truth. You need all of these to be the most effective in using music to worship and glorify God.

He also explained the importance of involving the whole person in music – a holistic approach, but don’t let the word holistic scare you. Music needs to involve mind, body and soul. He illustrated how playing the piano does just that.

The eye gate reads and interprets the dots and lines, & sends a message to the brain. The brain then tells the hands what to play, (feet what to pedal). The ear hears what the hands are playing. The entire body and mind are involved. This in turns ministers to the soul as you hear the music played: mind, body and soul.

I Samuel 16:23 demonstrates this thesis. “…when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.”

1. David took the harp and played with his hand – mind and body
2. Saul was refreshed and was well – mind and soul

When asked what he thought the future held for Christian music, he stated that the piano is not going away, (as some have thought,) as the keyboard is the basis of all other music and instruments. He also mentioned that, with a global society, we will see more Asian and Hispanic influences in future Christian music. It will not be limited, in essence, to the white American style of music. Music will become more global. Already the Praise and Worship style of music has swept the world. He shared an experience of being in the Philippines when the electricity went out. In the dark, he started playing Praise and Worship music and the local people immediately recognized the music and joined in with singing.

All in all, it was a good time of celebrating the years God has given us here. It was refreshing to hear the ministry of others and of God’s word. These insights gave me something new to chew on. Maybe they will you, too.

Information Literacy and Library Orientation

Today was Library Orientation and we did something different today. In the past the group was divided in half as well as the time. Each group was led by a staff member. One gave a tour and the other (usually the librarian) gave lessons on using the online catalog and the online databases. Then they switched groups (halves).

We are now doing ‘embedded teaching’ in the English class to teach how to use the catalog and databases. So today we had the obligatory tour, a short explanation of the call number configuration; 15 minutes to read the handbook and review special points. We ended with a game they really enjoyed.

The group was divided into four teams. Each team was given a list of various areas in the library with a color to look for. Each team had to go down their list and find a colored sheet of paper that was their color. (Blue team looked for blue paper.) After all their sheets were found they came to the front desk, picked up their quiz and left.

It was a full, packed class hour but they seemed to enjoy the game. Oh yes, one other thing – they had to hold on to each other’s wrist (or sleeve if they objected!) and had 2 ½ minutes to complete it. They seemed to really have fun with this. One student questioned “holding wrists.” I told them that holding hands was against the rules, not wrists, ;-). They wanted to know what to do. I told them “enjoy it!” They got a kick out of that. Interestingly enough a few of these college students felt squeamish about holding someone else’s wrist! I didn’t think anyone at this age would object to that!!! But allowances were made! The goal was accomplished. That was the point. And it was fun.

Embedded teaching

Today I taught the second section of the English class about our online catalog. I really enjoyed it. I hope the students weren't totally bored. Although I did try to involve them as much as possible and as much as I know how - given I really have had no teacher training, well not for this setting anyhow. This is a lot different than teaching children in Sunday School! I like the idea of having the class in two sections. The only problem is the first section probably doesn't get the level of quality the second section does. The first ones are the guinea pigs. The second group gets the improved edition! Next time around we will be learning about databases - but that is next month.

For now, I'll go back to my ordering supplies, training new help, going to or holding meetings, watching the budget, answering questions, overseeing acquisitions and cataloging, freshmen orientation, and getting pictures painted on the office walls - yea, you know, some of that really stressful stuff! - Like tomorrow - a birthday party at our student workers' meeting. But somebody's got to do it. I've got a couple weeks yet to worry about the next English class opportunity.

New school year, New approaches, New ideas

The new school year is well under way. Where DOES the time go. Registration went the best this year since I’ve been here I think, although our numbers are down by 30 this year from last year.

“We” are trying a new approach this year to Information Literacy. Instead of trying to cram (!) it all in at library orientation, we are trying “embedded instruction” in the English class. This does miss some who elect to take their G.E. classes somewhere else, but hopefully this will catch most. I have two class hours with the class to teach them how to use the online catalog and the online databases. We’ll still have orientation but it will be more “shallow” shall we say concentrating more on the library handbook and the tour.

Here are some websites I found on Information Literacy:

Information Literacy Curriculum

Colorado Standards for Information Literacy

Library Media Learning Outcomes

More sites can be found in this list: Resources for School Librarians

Here’s one in library instruction outcomes from FIU.

Here’s a blog by an Information Literacy Librarian.


Another idea we are pursuing is meeting with the faculty one on one for their book ideas, requests, favorite authors, and what they need for the classes they teach. I have met with four so far. Then I go researching what they want and report back to them what we have and what I have found that we can get if they are interested. Obviously this will take more of my time but I really think that this will improve communication and support between the library and the teaching faculty.

An ALA phone poll

...of one thousand people revealed that:

• 91% believe libraries are changing and dynamic places with a variety of activities for the whole family.
• 90% believe libraries are places of opportunity for education, self-help and offer free access for all.
• 88% agreed that libraries are unique because they offer access to nearly everything on the Web or in print, as well as personal service and assistance in finding it.
• 83% believe libraries and librarians play an essential role in our democracy and are needed now more than ever.

Emery-Pratt Newsletter, Issue 4, 2007

Harry Potter strikes again.

The newest and apparently last book of the Harry Potter series is now in the hands of thirsty readers.

I hesitate to get into the foray about the discussion. But here are some links that were passed around on one of my listservs. The first one you may not be able to get into, but I put it here anyway in case you can.

1. Looking for God in Harry Potter, John Granger

2. Critique of Granger’s book.

3. Here is an apologeticist’s point of view regarding the Potter phenomenon. It is written in two parts by James White. You’ll need to go to the Archives and find July 21, 2007. You'll have to scroll down a bit to find them. Harry Potter meets Cornelius Van Til

4. Now this is a different point of view: Straight talk on Harry Potter

5. The Lantern also weighs in on the conversation.

If you wish to find more go to your favorite search engine and type in Harry Potter, book reviews, christian, anti-christian and you will get numerous more articles to raise points for you to consider. I pulled up 632 listings with all the above words. Bon appetit!

Progress

One day a week (Tuesday) we take off from regular work and have a 'workday' on campus. We have used that in the library this summer to get our Bound Periodicals moved to a new room. We finished moving all the periodicals today and have now started taking down the shelves and moving them to the storeage room for other use (Book sale and cataloging of donations). It is exciting to see some actual progress.

When we get the old periodical area emptied we have plans of putting up partitions for some much needed office space for the library director and for staff. It will be an exciting day when that happens. To date, the library director is the only department head on campus that does not have a private and much needed office. Our current office will be turned over to the student workers for book processing and book repair. Woo Hoo!!!!

Oh yes - I'm back from vacation. I returned to work Monday (yesturday) for a much needed rest. :-) Not sure I got one today, though with all the moving we did.

Happy Fourth

Happy Independence Day to all

I will be going on vacation starting tomorrow and will be gone for a week and a half. So there's not apt to be anything posted till I get back. I'm going to Arkansas to help do crafts at camp for Junior age kids.

Acquisitions and Budgets

For the first time in the 6+ years that I have been here, I feel like I have finally been able to achieve what I have always wanted to do in dividing the budget. This institution has struggled financially in the past quite severely. When I first came I only spent 1/6 of the amount that I spent this year. So we have improved significantly.

About 4 years ago we were working on accreditation. The acquisitions budget was divided (into percentages) by the Accreditation Steering subcommittee. I am on that committee so I did have some input. With 4 years behind us I have been able to catch up in areas that we were lacking. Yet there is always the drive for balance. I did not feel we really had acheived that balance.

I have now written up a proposal, and received approval from two key faculty members to adjust those percentages. This will now go to the appropriate Accreditation Steering subcommittee. Furthermore, I have divided each of three major areas into "areas of study" so that within these three areas, each professor gets the same amount of money spent on them as the others.

Balance can be looked at in several ways. In General Education vs theology we have improved. Where we are still unbalanced is within these categories. Some Gen Ed professors did very well in submitting requests. So we are now heavy in two areas of Gen Ed, but still lacking in others. The same can be said for Bible and Theology.

I'm sure we all have similar difficulties. Some faculty members are very dutiful in giving you requests/lists of books to order. Others do not. This year I am going to meet with each faculty member and do the looking for them. This should help with the disparity of requests.

When it came to deciding how to subdivide the major sections of the budget, I was in quandry for some time how to do this. Do I divide it by number of majors we offer? Do I divide it by number of professors? Do I divide it by ratio of students to a class/subject? What to do, what to do.

I finally came up with looking at "areas of study." This was an easier handle. We are a small school so we don't have full fledge deparments in some cases. Those are called "programs" with program directors. Others are big enough (with more than one professor) to be called departments. Most of our teachers are full time, but some are part time. But they all teach classes that are necessary. So how do I divide and be equitable to all.

In these areas of study I have mixed in the faculty with them. Most cases have one, maybe two professors to each area. This is particularly true in our General Education "section." I came up with 12 "areas of study" for Gen Ed. They get about a third of the budget. So that is divided by 12 and I now know how much will be spent for each of those "areas of study" for Gen Ed.

Within Professional Education/College (PEC) there are 3 major areas. These are subdivided into a total of 14 "areas of study" with the appropriate faculty assigned to each. I gave them all equal weight, however two areas have two faculty assigned to one area. (They get one "bite" so to speak.) PEC also gets about 1/3 of the acquisitions budget. Their third is divided by 14.

Professional Education/Seminary (PES) has 4 faculty and areas of study. They, too, get about 1/3 of the pie. Divided by 4 they do get bigger individual servings. But given that Seminary resources are so lacking, and given that most of their resources are also usable by the upperclassmen of college, this is still worth the pieces being divided this way.

We do have 10% of our budget that is devoted to reference and non-curriculum subjects. Once that 10% is taken off the top the rest is more easily divided into the thirds mentioned above, (give or take 5%).

Even though we are required to purchase one copy of all textbooks, they can still be assigned to each of the three areas mentioned. Overall, this plan will give us a much better sense of what we are purchasing for what area and not be heavy in one area and lean-to-nothing in another. This gives me great relief. Time will tell this time next year if this worked like I am hoping it will.

Library Surveys

This spring’s surveys in some ways told us nothing new – mostly satisfied with resources, staffing and services. There are always those who complain about it being too loud or too quiet, or never any new books, even though they walk by a New Books display every time they come into the library. But this year, about half noted that the New Books display was found helpful. I think it is becoming slightly more noticed. But you do wonder if some even realize the new books that you do buy. We send the faculty a list of new books every month. Maybe we should send this to students as well. Another thought I have is posting it on the library’s webpage each month – anything to raise awareness.

It turns out that the Textbook display is a big hit, even though we weren’t able to get all of them. Hopefully we will be able to add to it, this fall. This is very helpful to those who haven’t gotten theirs in yet or don’t have the money to buy them. Money is always tight, no matter what decade you live in I have discovered.

Surprising was how many actual do pay attention to our Special Books display on a 4-tier cart; and to the bulletin board. The fact that anybody notices them is thrilling for me.

We had 2-3 students this year that were challenging in following the no-talking rules this year. Correspondingly we had 2-3 surveys that complained about the no-talking rules. (Hmmmm!) I have noticed this is almost always freshmen. We will see if they return this fall and if they continue the same point of view. But someone else will take their place.

We have a huge disparity of those not using the services of requesting books from other libraries in our consortium. It looks like that will be our focus this next year. Besides the regular one-shot orientation, we are going to try “embedded instruction” to also help students to connect the need to knowing how to use the library in a timely manner with actually using it to their best advantage in fulfilling their assignments.

ACL 2007-Signs of a good conference:

Finding others in similar situations as yours
Aching feet and bleary eyes on the first night
Handouts you read again when you get home
Social engagements scheduled for afterwards
Not enough exercise and too tired to get any
Keeping in touch with your roommate
Answers to nagging questions
New ideas swapped over lunch
Getting your pick of door prizes
New books purchased or ordered
Positive feedback from your workshop
Someone remembered you from last year
Using suggestions from a fellow colleague
168 pictures uploaded to an online photo service
Being glad to be back in your own comfortable bed
(Figure out what the outline of this list looks like)
Renewing friendships face to face
Changing methods you held dear
Getting to visit new places
Discovery of new resources
New thoughts shared in workshops
Making plans now for next year
Hint*
Left home
Good turnout
Missed friends
New inside jokes
List of new emails
Gaining four pounds
Winning a door prize
Freebies you will use
High rating on surveys
Professional networking
Finding a fellow hobbyist
Following up on contacts
New board game learned
Smooth-running schedule
Pages and pages of notes
Pile of new business cards










*(squint your eyes)
I would have suggested you cut and paste this into a word processor. But when I did this the length of lines changed in the bottom part. You can try it and see if it helps you or not. Be sure and reduce the image to about 25%. That gives you the best overall view of what the list looks like. Have Fun!

Traits of Catalogers...

-compiled from a recent listserv (UNscientific survey)

(Love of) team sports
Card games
Forest ranger/lumber jack
Create order out of chaos
Diagram sentences
Puzzle solver (all kinds) (in ink)
Large personal library
Service oriented
Dog lover
Orderly desk
Interest in preservation
Law enforcement officer
Word games
Sort M&M’s by color (or Skittles)
Sort out mixed nuts
Create own mazes or puzzles
Cat lover
Eat food in certain order
Messy desks
Separate food, so it doesn’t touch
Rule-based games (not strategy)
Paper arts
Needle work (e.g. counted cross stitch)
Beading? – No, just bead sorting!
Read encyclopedia, dictionaries and atlases for fun
List maker
Familiar with a foreign language
Learning about something new every day
Alter sewing patterns
Buy less fabric then required for above patterns
Creative
Visual
Oh yeah, and a love for books


PS: someone once said - When Hinkley tried to assassinate President Reagan, a news broadcaster interviewed a psychiatrist who described Hinkley as having a mental disorder that was "common to" librarians and forest rangers. Honest.

Original source unknown: They can test for that now (the above mentioned disorder). During a tour of a local mental hospital that acted as a library, a visitor asked what the criteria were which defined whether an applicant should be institutionalized and which duties they should be assigned.

"Well", said the tour-guide, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a fork, a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to each applicant and ask that they empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would ignore the fork and use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No," said the tour-guide, "a normal person would pull the plug and get out of here."

"As for qualified applicants, patrons demand everything in a bucket, reference librarians want to serve in a cup, catalogers would analyze every spoonful, and administrators are puzzled as to why so much falls through the tines."

************

I am off again next week as I will be attending the ACL annual conference, this year in Grand Rapids, MI then spending the weekend at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN (a genealogist's dream).

Proud of my staff

Since my last post we had graduation (Sat., 5th) and finals the next week for the rest of the students. They were all officially gone by 2 p.m. last Thursday and the army moved in at 4! - Yes, the Army.

There is an Army Reserve post down the road from us and they needed lodging for their unit getting ready to go to Iraq. So they are staying on campus for 30 days. It was an awesome task to get everything ready, but we 'got 'er done'!!!

Last Sat. (12th) my husband was in a motorcycle accident and ended up with broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung. So my staff has stepped up to the bat for me and will 'carry on.' I know they will do a fine job. They're a great bunch. Fortunately, the semester is over and I have nothing on my schedule for this week.

I may not be posting for a while, but as soon as "things and husbands" are back on their feet I will be back.

Sunflower houses

I found some (4) websites that give information on how to plant a playhouse for your kids. I also finally figured out they are called Sunflower houses. I have added the info about the links in my entry below in: Last Day in April. Have a look.

Oh, and by the way (btw), I went through my postings for the last several months and saw where some of you folks have left comments that I didn't catch before. Thanks for visiting and leaving your thoughts. Please do so any time.

Graduation is upon us

Second blog entry of the night, (see next entry):

History of Graduation sites found here and here and here.

This is an interesting site on traditions.

Here’s a blog that tells about regalia being based on ancient traditions.

This website talks about the school Mace and the President’s Chain of office, something we don’t do here at CBCTS.

Last Day of April

“We” worked in our flower bed this weekend, guess that got this writer in the mood. Saturday was a beautiful day, so I “staked out” 2 of my dogs and got all the dead weeds and grass pulled out and new bark bedding put in. It is not one of my “top loves” but it is for a lot of people. Maybe it’s too late to begin planting a flower garden or any kind of garden for that matter (you can see how much I know about gardening) but here are some websites I found that might be helpful or enjoyable. “Forward, Hoe!” (Yeah, that was an intended pun! Sorry friend. Well, no not really.)

Kids Page: “Sow what? Plant a flower or vegetable garden”

Flower Garden design – list of links. It co-incidentally lists a Kansas City website, work "home" of this writer.

Play house for children made from live plants:
Sunflowers, Sweet pea and other climbers are planted to form the walls of your play house – leave a doorway-space. Poles and strings can train the climbers so that you even have a roof over the top. You can make this as simple or as elaborate as you wish. A friend did this years ago. You could probably find plans on line, although we didn't look for any. (Additional note: found this on another website. Look for "Living Playhouse". Here is a different idea for a living playhouse. Ah-ha, I found another site when searching for 'sunflower houses'. This one actually gives you plans. Earlier I found a similar sight that mentioned adding morning glories. O.k. this site is probably the best given as far as instructions are concerned, but she still didn't mention adding the morning glories I found elsewhere.)

Flower Garden help with tools, plans, seeds, plants appropriate for you area and more.

Don’t forget Amazon.com for any book on garden you can imagine.

Here are some other options:
Raised beds here,
Container gardens here; and here;
one more from Better Homes and Gardens website;
Water garden here and here, (a “How-to” );
and vegetable garden options.

This gives Cooperative Extension Service links for every US state.

If you ever watched “Ground Force” on TV, (Miss) Charlie Dimmick has several books on water features. Alan Titchmarsh has also published books on gardening. There were over 200 hits on Amazon.com but I am not sure they are all by the same “Alan Titchmarsh.” Tommy Walsh has published about 16 books it looks like. Check out “Ground Force” with any of the above named authors in google and there should be links to Amazon. Or go directly to Amazon and look. I couldn’t pull up anything with just author’s names, but I didn’t play around with it to find books by them.

VT Memorials (more)

Students are returning to classes at VT and the student government has asked the media to leave by 5 a.m. this morning so that life at VT can return to somewhat a more normal life. It will be interesting if they do.

Here are some memorials websites I have found.

Virginia Tech has put together a beautiful memorial page.

CNN has also done a nice page of short memorials on each of the victims at VT.

Niagra Falls was bathed in VT colors Sunday night. Picture on Fox News website.

Here’s a new website called the Va. Tech Angels, and another one.

Here is a citizens' tribute page.

BBN Radio has a page of how to pray for the tragedy.

Cho Family's response

On behalf of our family, we are so deeply sorry for the devastation my brother has caused. No words can express our sadness that 32 innocent people lost their lives this week in such a terrible, senseless tragedy. We are heartbroken.

We grieve alongside the families, the Virginia Tech community, our State of Virginia, and the rest of the nation. And, the world.

Every day since April 16, my father, mother and I pray for students Ross Abdallah Alameddine, Brian Roy Bluhm, Ryan Christopher Clark, Austin Michelle Cloyd, Matthew Gregory Gwaltney, Caitlin Millar Hammaren, Jeremy Michael Herbstritt, Rachael Elizabeth Hill, Emily Jane Hilscher, Jarrett Lee Lane, Matthew Joseph La Porte, Henry J. Lee, Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan, Lauren Ashley McCain, Daniel Patrick O'Neil, J. Ortiz-Ortiz, Minal Hiralal Panchal, Daniel Alejandro Perez, Erin Nicole Peterson, Michael Steven Pohle, Jr., Julia Kathleen Pryde, Mary Karen Read, Reema Joseph Samaha, Waleed Mohamed Shaalan, Leslie Geraldine Sherman, Maxine Shelly Turner, Nicole White, Instructor Christopher James Bishop, and Professors Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, Kevin P. Granata, Liviu Librescu and G.V. Loganathan.

We pray for their families and loved ones who are experiencing so much excruciating grief. And we pray for those who were injured and for those whose lives are changed forever because of what they witnessed and experienced.

Each of these people had so much love, talent and gifts to offer, and their lives were cut short by a horrible and senseless act.

We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, helpless and lost. This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person.

We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.

He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare.

There is much justified anger and disbelief at what my brother did, and a lot of questions are left unanswered. Our family will continue to cooperate fully and do whatever we can to help authorities understand why these senseless acts happened. We have many unanswered questions as well.

Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us.

Blaming others doesn't help

This has nothing to do with libraries, but here are some of my feelings of recent days and I'm a librarian...

Hind sight is always 20/20 – but we don’t have the benefits ahead of time by its very nature. It is hind sight.
-Blaming others after the fact isn’t going to undo what was done at VT.
-Blaming others isn’t going to stop rampages in the future, either.

Evil is evil – and like it or not – it resides in all of us. The sooner we realize this is the real problem, the sooner we can address real issues and real solutions.

Every person has within him/herself the potential for violence. Fortunately, most of us don’t act upon it. Yet, we, as a culture, are so paranoid about privacy that it also contributed to what happened Monday. Had the counseling center and the police department and the faculty of the university been able to share what each other knew – it would have put up a bigger red flag. Instead they each had a piece of one and each one on its own didn’t look that damning.

Blaming the President of VT or the university police doesn’t help anything, either – not really. They just become targets of our grief and anger over what has happened. This is not constructive, proactive solutions. There were people who tried to reach out to Seung-hui. But, according to news reports, no one could break through, – not even his mother. There comes a point in time where people have to decide they want help or they want to change. No one else is to blame for what Seung-hui did. Stop the blame-shifting.

On the other hand each of us needs to take responsibility ourselves in how we treat others and how we allow our children to threat others. If you want to blame “someone else" – blame those who picked on and teased Seung-hui as he was growing up. We should examine ourselves and ask what are we doing to contribute to the breakdown of another person. Ultimately, I think, this goes back to the breakdown of the family unit, in this country and in this world.

If you will look at the crime rate since the 60’s you will see how it has sky-rocketed. Psychologists were so afraid that if we discipline our children we would warp their little psyche. Now we are reaping the seeds we have sown. Better to warp their little bottoms then to worry about their little psyche. And don’t tell me about those who use this abusively. I know that happens. But the percentage of that is very low compared to the populace. Don’t throw out the whole bushel of apples because one apple is rotten. Throw out the rotten apple. Deal with the abuser, but don’t stop the discipline. You can preserve the rest of the bushel this way.

Another thing, people, like a certain “pastor” (and I use that word reluctantly) in Topeka, KS don’t help the situation any. That does nothing to minister to those who are hurting. His actions don’t advance the kingdom of God. Whether I agree with his message or not, I am disgusted by his actions and those of his followers. I am not even going to name him because the more the media reports on him the more attention he gets. Media needs to ignore him. Scripture tells us to teach truth in love. There is no love in this man for the sinner. He shows just as much hatred as those “on the other side of evil.” What good does that do? NONE. He’s no better than a commentator on TV news I heard that was name- calling, labeling Seung-hui a maniac among other things. That doesn’t help anyone either. What good does that accomplish? That just stirs up more hatred.

Yes, what Seung-hui did was awful and upsetting and wrong, but what this “preacher” and that “commentator” are saying is just as upsetting. And, it’s disgusting.

Yes, each person in this world is responsible for his or her own actions. But blaming others solves nothing.

Right now, friends and families are hurting and grieving, including the Cho family. What an opportunity to reach out and minister to all those people in love. WOW! Let’s stop the blame game.

Virginia Tech tragedy

We here at Calvary Bible College and Theological Seminary are touched and saddened by the events at Va. Tech. Chapel time and dorm devotions have been used to pray for the families of the victims. This has helped students to stop and realize how petty our lives become and how concerned we got over trivial things, when there are much more serious, life-threatening needs in the world and amongst those around us.

My heart goes out to the family of the victims but also to the family of Cho Seung-Hui. They are caring the grief of the students that were killed, the death of their own son as well as the anguish of the entire situation. People and ‘the public’ – in their anger about a crime and desire to vilify the person that commits that crime don’t stop to think what it is doing to that person’s family. Sometimes they are the ones needing the most support because they are the ones that are ignored at the very least, or shunned and condemned as “guilty by association.” I know from personal experience this is not always the case.

National Library Week

We are celebrating National Library Week this week with "thankyou" gifts of book marks for the faculty and staff - if they come by. :-) And hopefully we plan to have candy available on Friday for anyone who stops in. This is also Amnesty Week this week and we are doing 3 skits in chapel. Today was the first one of "Erkleline and Ernestine" - talking about all the neat resources "at the library." It went well, if I do say so myself. It was taken off the idea of the character Erkle in Family matters. (I didn't know thaaaaaaaaaaat.) Erkleline was kind of a cross between Erkle and a clumsy hillbilly. Even the unplanned dropping of the canvas, and hitting the mike with the easel (Did I do thaaaaaaaaaat?) went well with the skit. We have two more planned for this week: stewardship and (Not) loaning your library card.

We also put a bulletin board together. Being a Christian college/academic library - I try to take the theme ALA comes up with and see how I can adapt it to our situation. So this year, we cut out a sillouette and cut it into puzzle pieces. Each piece is labeled with a Godly characteristic. It is fastened to the board, with the theme above and a statement that "Hilda Kroeker Library is committed to helping godly characteristics come together in your life." i.e. When all these pieces "come together" they will make you into the person God wants you to be.

Here is the Ye Old Library Blog that tells their plans. What are you doing? Leave me a note and let me know you visited my site.

If I have time to find others I'll post them here.

libraries vs. the internet argument

There has been a debate that is becoming a long held discussion on whether the Internet and digitization would replace libraries. You may have seen this list before, but here you can read it again. Their conclusion contained this comment that says it well:

librarians are the most suited professionals to guide scholars and citizens toward a better understanding of how to find valuable information online.

Here is another list from ACRL that is along the same vein: Top Ten Assumptions for the Future of Libraries. That is from Bailey Library Staff Blog.

Here is a podcast on libraries and cataloging of the future. This is with the patron in mind and the young ones at that. There were a few comments on AUTOCAT (listserv) recently and one person pointed out (basically) that as important as it is to reach our youth, they will not be "millenial students" (my quotes) forever. We need to teach them how to be serious researchers and to have the resources available for that research.

Have you seen “Facing the Giants”?

...I have not seen the whole movie but I did see a clip from it the other day.
Here is a review from Christianity Today:

“A variation on the standard football movie plot, Facing the Giants takes place in a southern Christian high school, where coach Grant Taylor (Alex Kendrick, who also wrote and directed the film) is struggling to keep the school's football program alive. The team isn't winning, the players are apathetic, and some of the parents are trying to have Grant replaced. When we first see him go home to his wife, Brooke (Shannen Fields), we learn that Grant's also having problems off the field; in fact, the film begins stacking the odds so high against Grant that it flirts with outright melodrama—his car won't start, his home is in a state of disrepair, he and Brooke can't conceive, money is running out, and most folks just plain don't like him.

“Then, just when things seem like they can't get any worse, a stranger shows up in Grant's office and shares a Scripture verse, saying that the Lord sent him there. Suddenly, it's a whole new ballgame! Grant prays, gets inspired, and revamps his entire philosophy of coaching. His enthusiasm spreads to the whole team, and then the whole school, and suddenly, as Grant notes, it's ‘like a whole new team.’”

Plugged’N gave even a better one. Click there to read their comments.

There’s a lot of positive and negative reactions to the movie. Here's just one. What I want to concentrate on here is not how well it was made, or how good was the acting, etc. It’s the message of the film that is important.

In particular I wanted to comment on a scene of the coach challenging his star football player to demonstrate what his very best was. Without giving too much away, the footballer had to carry another player on his back, crawl on his hands and knees to the 50 yard line, and do it blindfolded. The coach got right down on the ground with him, encouraging him all the way, challenging him to give just a little bit more, pushing, pushing, pushing, not letting the player stop until he couldn’t move another step. Did he make it to the 50?

I’ll not tell you how it ended – you’ll have to watch the movie yourself. But it certainly challenged me to think: do I really give my very best in everything I do? Not even close! Yet that is what Christ wants me, and you, to do. Wow! What a challenge! What a powerful message.

Want to find other blogs?

I didn't know about this until the other day - just one of those tidbits that you pick up from someplace else: a blog searcher.
You may already know about this - but I didn't and hadn't even given it much thought.

Easter like I’ve not done before.

This past Sunday was Easter. But this year I wasn’t in the worship service. In fact originally I wasn’t even going to be in my church at all. Now before you start throwing all those left over beginning-to-spoil Easter Eggs, hold on a minute. My High School has their Annual Alumni Banquet every year on Easter weekend. This year my own class was even planning a get together. (More on that later, …maybe) :-) So I didn’t originally plan to be home for Easter Sunday. I made arrangements for others to handle children’s church in my absence. (It was my turn to have the class.) But the more I thought about it and the closer it came the more I “rebelled” at the idea of being “there” instead of “here.”

So at the last minute I decided to come back home Saturday night after our class get together and not stay for the banquet. Sunday morning came and Liz had done a wonderful job preparing for the class. The really young ones (2’s and 3’s) stayed in another class; the 4’s, 5’s and 6’s didn’t come in until the offering was being taken up in “big church.” Liz had a story to read – the Easter story, from a children’s book. Then there were the cookies to take home (after play time) that told the Easter story. When it was time to go home and all the toys were put away, I called all the children over to the story time corner. I thought maybe I could get them to quiet down while waiting for their parents. I had brought some plastic Easter eggs in case I needed to come with something myself. I had an idea.

I took one of these eggs to tell them a story. I had read this in an email forward and maybe you have too. I couldn’t remember all the details and some of the details I left out. (How much can a 5 year old understand about a child who is “slow” or “different” not to mention “mentally handicapped”?) But it was interesting to see how quiet they got.

The story was about a teacher who had asked her students to each bring something to school in an Easter egg that represented something special to them. Some brought the expected figures of their favorite pet or favorite toy. Some even brought things that represented Easter (bunny, candy…) to them. But one little boy did something different.

When it came time for “Peter” to show what he brought, all the eyes in the room were turned to him. When he opened his egg, the teacher, trying not to be shocked, wasn’t sure if he understood the assignment. You see, Peter’s egg was empty. Peter didn’t bring anything in his egg.

I asked the children what having an empty egg meant. One of the little darlings shot his arm in the air and said, “I know, because Jesus was risen, and ‘that place’ was empty.” But he wanted to know what a tomb was. I explained that it was like a cave, where they buried people like we do in graves today. Peter understood better than any one else what was the most important thing to him: an empty tomb (grave) on Easter morning. To Peter it was important that his egg be empty because the tomb was empty.

It was such a delight to see the eyes of these little ones light up as they put together the empty egg with the empty tomb.

I told them that later that day when they’ve emptied all their Easter eggs to remember what an empty egg stands for. If it wasn’t for the empty tomb we would be celebrating Easter. It’s not always what we have or are given but sometimes what we don’t have that is the most important. We don’t have a saviour who is still in the grave. It is empty. I think the children went home that day with a new understanding of Easter.

The lesson on the empty Easter egg, and the children’s looks on their faces, was probably a better sermon than what I “missed” in Big Church. This is one Easter I won’t forget.

My job as a Librarian is like...

Thanks to contributions from friends, here is the response:

My job as a librarian is like - a Detective - I hunt for information.

My job as a librarian is like - a Photographer - I develop collections.

My job as a librarian is like - an astronaut – I go in orbit from time to time.

My job as a librarian is like - a Handyman - I fix things.

My job as a librarian is like - a Detective - I find lost things.

My job as a librarian is like … a zookeeper – I try to keep the herd (of students) under control.

Shhh… my job as a librarian is like - a spy - I classify information.

My job as a librarian is like … an employment counselor - I help students with their references.

My job as a librarian is like - Jury or Judge – Evaluate evidence

My job as a librarian is like - a gourmet chef – Use choice ingredients (aka information) and presentation is important.

My job as a librarian is like - a Marketing expert – Devise plans to get people excited about our services

My job as a librarian is like - a Funeral director – Bury old practices (like card catalogs)

My job as a librarian is like - a Budget analyst – Decide if we have enough money based on usefulness for that new database

And too realistically sometimes - My job as a librarian is like - a Pothole Filler – Patch the carpet and other things so that they can be patched again the next year and the year after that and the year after that until someone finally gives us funding for the needed replacement

My job as a librarian is like - a lover … I am a novel lover.

My job as a librarian is like - a bookie - I am the happy booker.

My job as a librarian is like - a checkout clerk – I’m constantly scanning barcodes
Also like a James 5:16 Employment Agency - I hire student workers and pray fervently………

My job as a librarian is like - an Obstetrician - I set Due Dates and Assist with Deliveries

My job as a librarian is like - a computer - I organize and collect information that get stored for an unlimited amount of time.

My job as a librarian is like - a family physician - I prescribe things and make referrals.

My job as a librarian is like - a fast food worker in a drive-thru - students run in looking for a few articles, print off the first five that pop up and run back out the door

My job as a librarian is like - a chiropractor - I make adjustments all day long

My job as a librarian is like - a linguist - I speak MARC fluently

My job as a librarian is like - the needle of a compass - I keep trying to point researchers in the right direction.

My job as a librarian is like - a matchmaker - I match patrons to information.

(Working in a Bible college setting, sometimes I assist in matching patrons to patrons.)

Enough humor; let's get serious. My job as a librarian is like - a stable hand - I shovel....

That means librarians are very stable people, right? :)

My job as a librarian is like MapQuest, (ed.: travel agent) - I (occasionally) help students to get from point A to point B; sometimes literally.

My job as a library director is like - a rancher - only what I'm trying to herd are cats.

My job as a library director is like - a stapler - We are very good at keeping things all together.

Variations on a theme:
I’ve been waiting on all the circulation folks out there to say that their job is like a meter maid because they issue fines

In the same vein I’ve always said that God’s first job was as librarian.
In the beginning He found chaos and brought perfect order to it in only six days. Now Ray—And on the seventh day He rested.

The official librarian's hymn: "When I can read my title clear."


And here is what I came up with last night:
My job as a librarian is like -- A Gardener - I weed (books),

My job as a librarian is like -- A Seamstress - I sew (signatures together) and work with material

My job as a librarian is like -- A Chef – I cook (a book in the microwave to soften glued spines)

My job as a librarian is like -- A Mother – I mentor and nurture (my staff under me)

My job as a librarian is like -- A Diplomat – I work with an academic administration that is sometimes foreign to Library thinking.

My job as a librarian is like -- An Ambassador – I promote the library in the community

My job as a librarian is like -- A Curator – I care for old books (and old maid librarians!)

My job as a librarian is like -- A Mediator – I mediate conflicts between staff members, or staff and patrons.

My job as a librarian is like -- A Facilitator – I help bring people and the information they are looking for, together

My job as a librarian is like -- A Miner – I mine for information in metadata

My job as a librarian is like -- A Doctor – I mend (books); deal with cuts (in budgets,) breaks (in pipes), and diagnose (people’s information needs)

My job as a librarian is like -- An Opera Singer – I’m not done until this fat lady sings

My job as a librarian is like -- A Fortune Teller –I (try) to look into the future with my 5 year plan

My job as a librarian is like -- A Lawmaker –I write new policies

My job as a librarian is like -- A CIA Detective –I do reference interviews, trying to get information “covertly”

My job as a librarian is like -- A Rubber Band – I try to make my money stretch through the end of the year

My job as a librarian is like -- A Sears’ employee – I catalog material

My job as a librarian is like -- A Preacher – I try to get to the soul of the matter

My job as a librarian is like -- A Fireman – I am always ‘putting out fires’

My job as a librarian is like -- An architect/Artist – I draw up plans for library expansion

My job as a librarian is like -- A Doorman – I help people thru’ the door of knowledge to a whole new world of info.

My job as a librarian is like -- A Bridge builder – I help people cross the information gap

My job as a librarian is like -- A Music Conductor – I have to bring harmony back when there’s discord; I orchestrate meetings, staffing, events, duties, etc.

My job as a librarian is like -- A Juggler – I have to balance my budget

My job as a librarian is like -- An Explorer – I help people discover new worlds

My job as a librarian is like -- A Fruit picker – I got some information from here, and from here, and some from over here and bring it all together

My job as a librarian is like -- A Thief – I break in (books)

Me? Forget? Of Course!

I have never said I was perfect. In fact, I am the first person to admit that I am not. This has even been developed into my "style" of leadership. Even though I am fifty-!@#$ (something) I do not have the experience of those who have been a librarian "all their lives." So I have always looked for and/or invited other people's input on a given issue or decision-making process. I admire those, on the other hand, who seem to "have it all together." I have done this long enough now, though, to discover that this is sometimes a cultivated talent, not necessarily a natural one in others.

I have learned much since taking this position - I am to claim my strengths and staff my weaknesses (so I am told); use tools of organization - like calendars, day planners and schedules (etc.), pace myself, put different tasks into my weekly or monthly calendar that seem to never get done, delegate jobs and responsibilities to others (you DON'T have to do it all yourself.), check your email, voice mail and schedule every morning and more.

However, inspite of the best attempts to use these organizational tools, there invariably comes a situation that reminds me once again that inspite of my best efforts, I still fail the system. (not vice versa) One of the issues of getting older (!) is that of remembering verses forgetfulness. Some folks have said to me 'oh, you just have too much on your mind,' or 'you're under a lot of stress.' They are kind folks as they use these remarks in attempt to console me and maybe even themselves when I fail.

I was reminded again just this morning of this human fraility of 'older age' called forgetfulness. We are in the midst of spring break. Students are gone and the faculty and staff are also taking various amounts of time off. One of my own staff ladies arranged to take today and tomorrow off. That would work just fine, I figured. I was taking off Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday off already. I would be back for Thursday and Friday. Everything was settled.

This morning when I got up at 7 I realized, LL won't be there to open today at 8 am, I had a meeting elsewhere and would not even arrive in the office until after lunch and AdJ doesn't start work until 8:30. GREAT! I didn't have AdJ's phone number as she has a cell phone with a long distance number (Puerto Rico, no less). What was I going to do? Well - the students are all gone. Even my boss is gone. (That may be a good thing!) What could I do? I decided that I would have to just let it ride and find out when I got to work what happened. Good, bad or indifferent that is what I did. Hopefully given the week, the fallout wouldn't be too bad.

After my meeting, I called in and found out that AdJ had come in (unaware of the need) 15 minutes early which helped. So we opened at 8:15 instead of 8:30 like I expected. And, the only person waiting to get in was an on-campus student who is in and out of the library all day, anyway (with "nothing" to do). At least it wasn't someone who had driven across town to get in and then couldn't. Fortunately the fallout was very little and quite forgiving. AdJ was apologetic that she didn't think to come in earlier because she had known that LL was going to be gone. She just didn't put the two together. (Another kind soul) I told her that I was the one to carry the blame, I was the library director, it should have been me to have seen to it that someone was here. She had no reason to be apologetic. It was I who should apologize!!! And did!

Well, not to sound like I am beating myself up, unmercifully tho' well-deserved, it would be encouraging if these reoccuring occasions would help to eliminate these from happening again, or to educate oneself to know better next time. But for some of us, is there any hope??? Hmph! I doubt it.

*****************

btw, my husband and I were out driving yesterday. On our way we saw some buffalo. These were domesticated ones, but you still don't see them very often. (Yes, we live in Kansas.) - See post for March 15th: a year of beauty.

A Year of Beauty

I had a dear friend, who started out being my English teacher in High School. She was such an inspiration. The 50th year of her and her husband’s marriage she wrote down something every day that she saw that was beautiful. I’m sure there were a few days that that was a struggle. But the rest of the time there was at least something to many things to choose from.

I was reminded of this the other day when I saw my first robin! And I noticed that my tulips and grape hyacinths are sprouting and my daffodils are up and some are blooming.

I even get quite fascinated looking at clouds and have been known to take a few pictures of them, stopping along the road on my way to somewhere. So even when it is a cloudy or stormy day you can still find something beautiful. That seems to be so true of life, even.

What have you seen today that is beautiful?

It's beginning to look alot like - SPRING!!!!

Yeah! Springtime! It couldn't come soon enough. For this area we had a lot of snow this year, maybe not in inches, but in frequency!

But I can tell Spring must be just around the corner because already activity is picking up. I have hired JM's replacement (see last post), and gotten her started on her training. (JM has also come back 2 times to train DS and she will come one more time.) Then the end of February we had our annual booksale. We did all the usual advertising, but we had very poor results this year - the least since I started working here. Now this weekend is "Campus Preview" (where highschoolers come and look us over) and our annual play. (This year it's Pirates of Penzance.)

I had my bi-monthly library committee meeting last week. We are working on our department manual - or I should say - I am. Then I take it to the committee for review, discussion and/or approval. I was hoping I had it all done, but alas, no - I need to take our objectives and plug them into the feedback and assessment procedure page.

I have been trying since I came to get the Friends of the Library revived. It has been to no avail. I'm not good at marketing and really don't know what I can do or do differently that would solve the problem. This institution being a private, christian school (Bible College) really limits me as to who I can go out to and bring in. The booksale is technically an FOL project to raise money. If I disband FOL, and continue the sale - what will happen to the money? Will the library be able to keep using it for special projects? Or will the administration step in and say (in essence) 'hand it over.'? If that happens it will be put in the Big Black Hole called the Pot and disappear! It won't stay compartmentalized.

Now, on top of that, I have a buyer who wants to buy the inventory I have left over from the sale. He wants to purchse it for 10 cents a book! We normally hold over the books from one year to the next as we do not get enough in, in one year to really make it worth having a book sale. We have about 7000 books, so I need to decide: do I want "this" or do I want "that." I have been picking the brains of fellow Christian librarians to see what is done in other colleges. It pretty much runs the gamit.

I just finished a meeting with our current (for one more day) webmaster. Our whole method of updating content is being totally overhauled and is becoming much more managable. For me that means I need to do some thinking of what I want on the library's page - what is most useful to our students today. I love computer/internet/website/technology. So I am looking forward to working on this task.

I have also gotten my budget for next year worked on and done. Procrastinator that I usually am, I have it already turned in - 9 days ahead of time. That must be a first. I also have an IPEDS report to finish. It is a report we make every 2-3 years to the government's Department of Education. It's due by the end of the month. I would have it finished but I am waiting on one bit of information on our Reserves transactions. When I get that I can go back into the IPEDS page put that in and another tidbit and, Voila!!, I'M DONE!

On a personal note, I did get to go to Anthony, Kansas last Saturday with my family to attend the Kansas wedding reception of a friend and fellow librarian. It was wonderful to see CG now CM and meet her new husband JM. They are into clogging and basically that's how their romance got its start. They were able to do a little demo for us with a third friend of theirs. It was really fun to watch. Only disappointment - CM didn't clog in her wedding dress like she did at the the reception following the wedding. She did have it on to start with, and she made a lovely looking bride. I hope to see her again at our annual Association of Christian Librarian's annual conference in Grand Rapids, MI in June.

From Retirement to Replacement

January 4th I returned to work after a nice long Christmas break. I soon learned that my acquisitions clerk had decided to retire the first of February. This was quite a blow as she hast not only done well in her position and in helping the library but she had also become a good friend and, in a roundabout way, become a mentor to me in many ways, even though she has worked for me. She has been in the business world and in management for many years. Her experience was very beneficial.

The last week of the month was very busy getting ready for her Open House Retirement. Although she had not work here 'many, many' years, she had work all her life and at this institution for about 4, 3 of them in the library. However, I valued her contribution to this department. She and her family had experienced some negative situations from the job place and I wanted to show her that she was appreciated, validated and valued - as an employee and a friend.

The color theme was pink and silver with flowers and punch to match. The cake was a white "straw hat" with a pink ribbon to match. It was beautiful and many friends, coworkers and family came by. It turned out to be a wonderful day.

The next day was her actual last day at work. That afternoon I walked her to her car helping her to carry the last of her things and told her goodbye. I turned and went to the faculty mailboxes and picked up an application that had just recently come in for her position. The following Monday the applicant came in for an interview and I virtually hired her on the spot. She came back in for another interview with the academic dean. He gave his approval and today - two weeks to the day of the Open House JM's replacement began.

In the midst of these last two weeks I have been absent for half a week with my husband's out-patient surgery. This was a needful and good thing for him, but certainly puts me behind on the job-side of life.

It has been a whirlwind of activity and the wind isn't through blowing yet, as now the training will start tomorrow in earnest. And the timing, of course, is never ever "just right." We have our annual book sale in two weeks that we are also getting ready for, on top of training a new employee.

But the library is still here and life goes on.

New Title!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Imperial Majesty Suzanne the Excited of Molton St Anywhere Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Check it out! I heard about it from my *newlywed* friend in Virginia.

Job Announcement

Library Acquisitions Clerk, LAI, for 20 hours a week/five days a week.
Starting pay $6.00 to $7.00/hour depending on experience.
For more information go to www.Calvary.edu or
Contact the library director: “librarian at calvary.edu”
(Kansas City, MO. USA)

Requirements:
1. Born again Christian, living a dedicated, separated Christian life
2. Agreement with the institution’s doctrinal statement, its educational philosophy, and the library’s mission statement.
3. Have an strong aptitude for detail work
4. Have an interest in libraries and a desire to learn
5. Maintain confidentiality of records
6. Preferred: college degree
7. Preferred: computer experience
8. Preferred: knowledge of library terminology
9. Preferred: library experience

Responsibilities:
Assist the librarian:
1. with registration and new student orientation as needed
2. with circulation procedures
3. with maintaining the Library of Congress classification and descriptive cataloging systems.
4. with overseeing the maintenance and use of the library equipment and facilities.
5. with maintaining a study atmosphere and supports the dress code of the library
6. with handling of monies
7. with supervising student workers
8. by supporting the policies and regulations of the library handbook
9. by carrying out other duties as assigned.

Work Tasks – Acquisitions:
1. maintain list(s) for faculty requests
2. maintain list of textbooks and recommended-reading books to purchase
3. research books and prices, submit proposals to vendors, submit PO’s for approval, place orders, track and list books on order, books received, etc., in databases, based on the collection development policy and accreditation requirements.
4. prepare reports and statistics as needed

Christmas is Done

The presents are all put away
Guests have been sent on their way
The carols were sung
The stockings all hung
New memories were made Christmas Day

Now our days of Christmas are done
And the New Year, `07’s, begun
The trimmings are packed
The lights are all blacked
We’ve honored the birth of God’s son

A new year before us, we see
Each day our new history
Let’s write them with care
So others will bear
Christ’s witness in you and me

10 January 2007
sg

overdue book! (I'll say!)

I can't copy or rewrite this story. And, I don't know how long CNN will have this available but here's a story of a many who returned a book due in 1960.

Timing/automation/speed

We received word last week that on Tuesday our automation software from the consortium was going to be shut down for a couple of hours for an upgrade. That afternoon, an email was sent out that there was a glitch but that the company was working on it, on their end. Hopefully it would be up and running soon. So my cataloger was learning how to do book processing since she couldn't do any cataloging.

Late Tues. we received an update - still have some glitches - maybe tomorrow. Well, I have Wed.'s off so I called into the office to get an update. The software was still down. So ADJ did some more book processing, and did some work on putting her cataloging manual together (good time to do that!).

Now I'm on vacation for Christmas so Thursday I call again and ...it's still down. Well now we're scratching our heads for something to do... Good thing we're shutting down for Christmas break.

Computers! Software! it's the old Love/Hate relationship! We've become so dependant on them that we can't do anything without them. Then we wonder why the "late-adopters" or the "non-adopters" hang back from taking on new technology when the 'low-tech' can be so much more dependable.

Makes me think that the constant push for getting the latest technology in order to keep up with the rest of the world is nothing more than the ole' "keeping up with the Jones" on a global scale. What do you think? Does technology really improve the QUALITY of life or just increase the speed?

Puns

I love puns and saw a new one that played on the word "snow". For those of you who like crafts or sewing you'll love this. It was a snowman with a cloth measuring tape for a scarf, a pincushion, spool, etc. at his feet. The caption read; "LET IT SEW."

Too Much?

Following the article at this blog here is a follow up to that thought. I received it from a friend:

I Corinthians 13, Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on those I love the most, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But the gift of love will endure.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Book Repair

Sometimes this website actually needs to talk about library "stuff" (technical term, there). So even though I did just post a Christmas Carol quiz, I thought I would also post some info about book repair. I just did a workshop on Book Repair earlier this week. So here is some information I put together for those who attended. Maybe the list of resources would be helpful to you, as well.

Library supplies websites (this is not an endorsement for any of these businesses.)
Gaylord Brothers: www.gaylord.com
Demco: www.demco.com
Kapco: www.kapco.com
The Library Store: www.thelibrarystore.com
Highsmith: www.highsmith.com
Brodart: http://www.shopbrodart.com/default.us.aspx
Vernon Library Supplies: http://www.vernonlibrarysupplies.com

Used and Rare Book websites:
...Can be used in evaluating books worth repairing or not; or give repair info.

ACGWeb’s http://acqweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/acqweb/pubr/rare.html
Gowan’s Books http://www.gowanbooks.com/book_search/
Enoch Pratt Free Library http://www.epfl.net/slrc/hum/oldbook.html
Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com
BIP http://www.booksinprint.com/bip/
Half.com http://half.ebay.com/index.jsp
Making of America Books http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moa.new/
Theologybooks.com http://www.theologybooks.com/site/index.cfm
Alibris http://www.alibris.com/home.cfm
Advance Book Exchange http://www.abebooks.com/

Book Repair websites
Simple Book Repair Manual
Procedures and treatments
Book Repair (Mid. Tenn. State Univ.)
Book repair bibliography
Book Care and Repair Resources
Care, handling and storage
SULAIR preservation department
More at Sulair
“Perfect Binding”
Extensive illustration of how to repair

Supplies for doing your book repair:
CLEANING SUPPLIES:
Bleach, diluted ½ and ½
Cloth bag with cleaning powder inside
Oil Flow
“Pink Stuff”*
Triple Crown leather cleaner

LIBRARY/REPAIR SUPPLIES:
“bone” folder (white or orange)
Book jacket covers
Book pockets/“flippies,” clear pockets
(due date slips)
Book press
Buckram (cloth not plastic) tape
Butterflies
Corners and Spine Corners
Cutting Board, trimmer
Double stitch tape
Easy Bind
“H” rubber bands
Hard Laminate, & h.l. scraps
Japanese Paper
Large Book tape Dispenser
Micro fiber tape
Norbond glue
Single stitch tape
Soft Laminate
White gloves

MISC. SUPPLIES
(scrounge your kitchen, garage, sewing & craft room, etc.):
Cheese cloths (for supers)
Covered brick
Clean, lint free rags
Disposable dust cloths (for supers)
Grocery sack paper (finer than sand paper)
Knitting needles (for gluing, shaping)
Paper towels
Q-tips
Quilters’ cutting board (self healing)
Quilting thread
Sand paper, (extra fine)
Scrapbooking papers – acid free
Small cheap (art) brush
Small box for spraying
Sponge
Spray Adhesive
String (various weights)
Un-do
Wax paper/ backs of soft laminate sheets
“Yogurt cup” (for water)

OFFICE SUPPLIES:
Gold ink calligraphy pen
“Kraft” paper (or acid free paper)
Rotary cutter
Rulers
Scotch tape
Scissors/shears
Silver ink calligraphy pen
White ink pen
X-acto Knife

TOOLS:
Awl
Cutting board, trimmer
Dowel rods (for shaping)
Drill, small drill bits
Hack saw
Needles
Paring knife

Christmas Carols

The semester is all but over. Where did the time go - we just started 3-4 days ago. Oh, no I guess that was 3-4 months ago. Time goes so fast months seem like days. So Christmas is as good as here. To put you into the mood - check this list of disguised Christmas songs and see how many you can get. This is a compilation from some other lists I found plus a few I added myself:

1. Approach everyone who is steadfast
2. Ecstasy toward the orb
3. Listen! The Foretelling spirits harmonize
4. Seraphim from the area above the universe
5. Hey, Minuscule urban area southeast of Jerusalem
6. Quiescent Nocturnal period
7. The primary carol
8. Embellish the corridors
9. I'm fantasizing concerning a blanched yuletide
10. I apprehended my maternal parent osculating with a corpulent unshaven male in crimson disguise
11. During the time caretakers supervised their wooly charges past midnight
12. The coniferous nativity
13. The slight percussionist lad
14. Father Christmas approaches the metropolis
15. Seraphim we aurally detected in the stratosphere
16. The hallowed ebony atmosphere
17. Bleached Yule
18. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors
19. Far Off in a Bovine Feeder
20. Jehovah subdues jovial gentry
21. Frozen Precipitation Commence
22. Proceed and Enlighten on the Pinnacle
23. Query Regarding Identity of Descendant
24. The Dozen Festive 24 Hour Yule Intervals
25. Ancient jovial benevolent despot
26. Monarchial trio
27. Shiny chrome-like carillons
28. Homo sapien of crystallized vapor
29. Perambulating through a December solstice fantasy
30. Aloft on the acme of the abode
31. Auto received chime sounds on date of Nativity
32. Continuously through the dark space
33. Tinkling carillons
34. Equine vehicle produce melodious sounds
35. Bridging the moving water and piercing the timberland
36. Befell during the transparent hour of 2400
37. Joshua - happiness of human longing

Merry Christmas!
And for my Jewish friend in KC, MO - Happy Hannakuh

Organizational Behavior and Culture

One of my favorite classes in library school was regarding the culture and unique behavior within an organization. I have always had an interest in personalities and their categories. We all have an innate desire to know more about ourselves, how we tick and why. This undoubtedly motivated Jung, Briggs, Myers and others to delve into the world of the mind and how each one is different in some ways and the same in others.

So when you take a small collection of people and put them into an organization, their cumulative personality combination creates the personality or culture of a given organization. And every time one person leaves or arrives, it all shifts a little. We don’t always stop to think that our characteristics or personalities or even styles of leadership impact the rest of those around us whether in the workplace or any other group.

Case in point:
This recently was brought to mind when talking to a co-worker who has been struggling with stress and its effects on that person. She was able to identify three areas where stress had come from. One of them was the workplace.

At the beginning of the school year we were unexpectedly given the recorded course materials for several classes. These are used by our Non-Traditional Studies (NTS) department for students who check out the c.d.’s or tapes for a particular course. (It’s kinda like a correspondence course in an audio format.)

This was probably bad timing, in retrospect. They needed to be cataloged and readied in time for the beginning of the new year. This was probably partly my fault for agreeing to the change. Students were already requesting various titles. It was a scramble. Parts were missing; and courses were found stored in various places. There was not a complete list. School was starting soon.

This was just as new books were coming in, including textbooks which really needed to be available just as quickly as our student workers could get them out. We were not even fully staffed at this point; applicants were being interviewed, hired and trained. Supplies weren’t even fully stocked. You get the picture-not quite chaos but crazy.

Having been down this road before, I knew that the beginning of every school year is always a little chaotic. But you have to go with the flow, take one day at a time and deal with it as it comes. Worrying about it doesn’t help or change anything. You do what you can, go home, get your rest, and come back the next day, picking up where you left off. Now if you haven’t done your best that’s another story. But if you have – don’t sweat it.

However, not everyone takes that approach to their job, including my friend. She was stewing over getting the “NTS” dumped in our laps just as we were in the process of getting underway for the new year. I understood her stress but I did not successfully communicate to her that I understood her situation or validated her feelings regarding the situation. I knew where she was coming from. But I also knew that everything would work out in time. On the other hand, she did not feel like I ‘heard’ what she was saying. Thus in the end my actions (or lack thereof) had in part contributed to her stressful situation and how she was able to handle them (or not).

As mentioned this wasn’t the whole situation. There were two other situations in her life that also were contributing factors to her mental state. But my actions did have an effect on her. This in turn impacted her job performance – missed days, difficulty in concentration, or the mood she was in on a given day. Fortunately, I have had some of the same experiences she has been having, but from a different source. This allowed me to be understanding of what she's been going through. Consequently I have given her wide berth, in how she wants to deal with it. Already she is improving and over the last few months we have also talked about it a little bit more each time. This has also helped her work through the stress, which in turn helps her, period.

But it hit me today, as I walked across the parking lot to get my lunch – that – my actions had contributed to her health. How often does it become obvious to us that what we do affects someone else? Probably not often enough. Yet this domino affect could probably be traced – like the rings on the surface of water when an object is dropped into a body of water. It keeps reaching out further and further until it finally has covered the entire surface of that “organization”.

Thus the behavior of one affects the behavior of all in an organization, a community, a nation …and dare I say the world?

Giving of our Thanks

We're thankful for our food, our health, our clothes, and home
But also for our Savior from whom our blessings come.

May this Thanksgiving Season find us before His throne
To give our praise and gratitude that's due to Him alone.

swg 11-2-2006


...to think that stores are going to be open on Thanksgiving Day to 'help customers beat the crowds' makes me disgusted and shows the total opposite of Thankfulness - that of Greed!!! Where is the gratitude for what we already have? "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil."

Cataloging

Now that the new semester is well underway, new help is hired and well on the way of being fully trained, I have finally reached the point that I feel I can catch up on checking the cataloging. Items that were faculty requested and/or textbooks have been pushed to the "head of the class" all along, but other cataloging has consequently been put in waiting. Starting about a month ago, I began getting the backlog checked. I have a "new" cataloger that I have had to train, so I have checked her work. She has been here a year now. So I told her the other day, that after I get this backlog caught up that I would no longer be checking her work. She is a fast learner and knows enough about it as I do - maybe more in some respects. She is good at asking questions of something she is not sure about. She has done a phenominal job.

With the introduction of automation and computer technology in the Library world, it has turned cataloging upside down. The majority of cataloging done by small libraries such as ours (59,000 volumes), is "copy-cataloging" - finding the record either in our consortium database, or on the Library of Congress website, or through WorldCat. At this stage we probably do about 1% original cataloging. That really spoils us when situations arise when we have to deal with that 1%!

Some of the helps that enable us to do this are:
Bibliographics and Standards
Library of Congress catalog
Library of Congress Classification help (although a more detailed list is available through membership or purchase of the books,
and WorldCat (Temporarily down as of this writing.)
There are many other tools beyond these basics that are also out there that comes with experience, networking with your colleagues.
From there, if we still do not find a catalog record, we do look at similar, online catalogs - particularly theological academic libraries. By the time we have made these rounds, our problems usually are solved. Very seldom do we have to go beyond that.
However one listserv that has been helpful to us is Autocat. These "guys" are most helpful to give you answers when you can't find them anywhere else! Thanks, Autocat!

Tuesday - Election Day!

Get out and vote. Don't complain about the outcome if you don't.
But if you live in this beautiful country and benefit from our civil laws and society, then it is your responsibility to vote. There is power in just one vote. Many elections have been determined by the narrowest of margins.

Here are some examples:
One vote revisited

Durango Herald

Clean Air bill

ABC news

Hallowed Evening

Ok, this has nothing to do with libraries. Have you noticed how holidays that started out being anywhere from sacred to very sacred holidays are gradually more and more loosing their sacred-ness and becoming more and more secular? Probably the one thing we think of as the most obvious is Christmas as that has been the biggest holiday of the year. As I was growing up Easter was still held sacred. But schools can no longer have Easter Breaks, they're spring breaks. Then people started hanging Eggs on their trees in their front yard! That, besides looking stupid, is really -- what's the word I want? -- degrading to the meaning of Easter even more. (That wasn't the word I was looking for, but the statement is true.) 'Course, when it comes right down to it what do eggs and bunnies have to do with each other? However, since I grew up with that, it does seem more normal! (right or wrong).
Now, Nov. 1st is All Saints Day. It was nearly 500 years ago (minus 11 years) that Luther nailed his theses to the "door of the reformation" -so to speak. I guess what got me thinking about this is the fact that my mother was born the year of the 400th anniversay. We've come "a long way..." as they say. Boy haven't we! But I'm not sure the direction is at all wonderful. I think Luther needs to come back and shake up the world again. I heard several mention that it is expected that families will spend, I think, 5 BILLION dollars on Halloween this year. It is fast catching up with what is spent on Christmas. In Christmas' secular version even, Halloween still doesn't come close to anything good that Christmas does. And Now! Halloween decorations in the trees! "Dumb and Dumber" How stupid can you get? Don't tell me. I don't want to know!

PS - Oh, here's a couple more: St. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day - originally celebrated something that was of Christian value. Now it's an excuse for chocolate and beer. ...Well, I'll take the chocolate, but forget the beer!

Nothing profound

As I have scanned other blogs today, someone else made the statement that they had nothing profound to say. That's kinda the way I feel. Since my last post, I have had the flu! I guess you could say that was profound. It hit full force last Thursday night and lasted till last Sat. morning. I had nothing to eat or drink in the duration. Then Sunday morning I woke up and felt like nothing had ever been wrong. (weird)

Monday and Tuesday my husband and I attend the KNCSB convention in Salina, KS. We got to hear some good speakers, including H. B. London from Focus on the Family.

Another pastor, Andy Aldis, spoke about Judas in the story of Mary and Martha when Mary poured the perfume on Jesus' feet. Judas, the money keeper, objected to her doing this. Christ rebuked him. AA mentioned that we may be a leeeeetle bit like Judas. Judas also robbed God. AA mentioned that we may be a leeeeetle bit like Judas. Judas was two-faced: acting one way when he really felt the other way. AA mentioned that we may be a leeeeetle bit like Judas. Judas was stingy. AA mentioned that we may be a leeeeetle bit like Judas. Judas was defensive and didn't take constructive criticism. AA mentioned that we may be a leeeeetle bit like Judas. AA's falcetto voice when talking about our being a leeeetle bit like Judas will make it hard to forget this for a while!

I returned to work Thursday to attend a committee meeting on our new self study for accreditation; catch up on 478 message in my email; stepped into a conversation about how to properly destroy a bible after it is no longer useable; deleted the ongoing discussion (?) (after reading some comments) about whether or not to preserve Autocat listserv; had to "hold down the fort" alone this morning as one staff member took the day off to be home with her kids for fall break, another called in sick, and the third didn't come in until noon. Our college is also on fall break, so there was very little activity in the library. It did give my cataloger and I time to visit the seminary and photocopy more title pages of books housed there. She will catalog them, and we will return to put spine labels, and barcodes on the books, adding them to our collection. Interestingly enough we are adding back into our collection books that had been withdrawn and 'given' to the seminary. Now the thought has changed to make the seminary collection part of the library's holdings. This looks better for accreditation, too.

Since yesterday was my first day back to work since last week, I realized I was thinking it was Monday. But it took me till in the afternoon for it to hit that it was Thursday, even though I 'knew' it was. But I had planned my meals as though it was Mon/Tues, instead of Thurs/Fri.

I have done some scouting around to see what kind of set up, agreements, or consortiums are in eastern Europe to help libraries. I have contacted people from 3 organizations with some interesting feedback. We'll see where this will lead. I am debating about doing a presentation of my trip to Bulgaria at ACL next year. That may lead into what can be done for librarians in eastern Europe. But I'll have to admit, I'm a little trepidatious about doing that as I never have before. The deadline to let ACL know is next week. I think I need to get some questions answered before I decide.

Someone asked on the ACL listserv as to what help your hobbies have had in your profession. So I started putting a list together. I'll have to post it later as now I am not at the same computer. Also check out some earlier blogs about things I have learned from my hobbies that can help my profession. I may end up helping on a round table at our next ACL conference regarding this topic.

The Kroeker Mouse

It was late at night, several hours after the library had closed. Because of summer hours the librarian had stayed late to paint flowers on the bathroom wall. Taking a break she sat at her desk checking her email. A soft sound of paper crinkling caught her ear. The staff had suspected some uninvited guests in the desk drawers because of the pile of torn paper that had been found.

Taking the chance of being heard she tiptoed as quietly as possible to the source of the sound. She pulled open the suspected desk drawer. Suddenly, one of God’s little creatures looked up with shiny black marble looking eyes – with a surprised look that seemed to say, “OH! Hello! Who are you?” Well, Miss Librarian wanted to ask him the same thing, thank you!

Before she could ask, her new found friend did an about-face and headed for the back of the drawer as fast as lightening, leaving behind a dime sized puddle. The muffled rattle indicated he was headed down. Below the drawer was not another drawer, but an open shelf like space with books of various sizes stacked inside. Because of the configuration with the books, the little brown mouse found a little space. He stuck his head out and lo-and-behold, that “strange woman” was still there. (“OH! You’re still here!”) Or, so his face seemed to say. – “Well, - humph, so are you!” she thought. Once again he headed for the back of the desk and this time he managed to escape without running into the big scary woman of a librarian, again. The next day she reported her encounter to her staff with the unwanted patron, culprit of disappearing cookies and candy, but leaving the wrappers behind.

A few days later, one of her friends was working at another desk. She heard a noise! She looked down into her trash can and let out a loud yet subdued, “WHOA!” There was our new friend. He had apparently fallen into the trash can and couldn’t get out. Stunned by the unexpected encounter with a four legged, black eyed, furry looking creature, she was stunned into a frozen response.

Another staff lady came to her rescue – and the mouse’s – gathered the top of the trash bag in her hand and headed out the door. Once outside and away from the front door of the library, she opened the bag and set the creature loose.

That mouse lived to tell the tale of getting caught in Kroeker Library and being set free. How differently his biography could have been written as his life could have ended right there. Instead, he had been set free upon the rest of the unsuspecting world!

There's a tradition in many libraries to have a library pet, usually a cat. Here are some websites for such examples:
Library pets
Library Pet-Gecko
Library Pets - Frogs

Then there's virtual pets and information on pets at libraries. And elementary virtual pets, and traditional library pets, a discussion of pets, a story of a library cat, and of course, another library as a source of information on pets.

What more could you want?

SOFIA 2006

In November 2000 I had the privilege of attending the Sofia 2000 conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. I was still in Library School at that time and was able to get involved in staffing this conference. It was an experience I will never forget although I don't think I contibuted that much to it. Ever since I have always wondered what can I do to make use of that experience.

Sofia 2006 is coming up again soon and I wish I could go, but not being a student, I do not qualify for the grants I got the first time. But I did do some looking around to the current website for this year's conference. One thing led to another and I found some interesting sights. I got to thinking about what is available in Bulgaria and even Eastern Europe for libraries and even more than that for academic libraries of seminaries and institutes.

I'm going to do some more research but watch my blog to see what I come up with and what I decide to do with that information. I've got some ideas "boiling." Eastern Europe is involved in "rapids of change". Our theme for our ACL conference next year is also along the same line. So we shall see what develops.