I see I am falling behind and the new school year hasn't even officially started yet! We had our annual "All-Calvary Advance" last week, Thursday (17th). It is our faculty/staff orientation meeting for the new school year. New faculty and staff are introduced, changes in the handbooks are passed out, etc. We have been pushing really hard to get everything done we want to before the students arrive in full. (Some have already started trickling in.) I have gotten the daffodils painted in the ladies restroom last week. This week I want to do tulips, but I also have to get signs ready and tables arranged for Registration on Thursday, as I am not here Wednesdays. This has to be all done by tomorrow evening. Tomorrow is our last "work day" but I don't know how much of that type of work (such as the tulip painting) I will have time to do.
I haven't even had time to get orders for supplies turned in, until last Friday. I should have gotten them turned in a month ago. We have a 2-week delay in our approval process so that really slows things down. We have books waiting to be processed and students arrive in 3 days. It will be Sept 1st, probably before I will even get them approved. Then they will still need to be ordered. So the stress and tension is begining to build. Everyone is under a lot of pressure because there is still so much to do. Unfortunatly my impatience with circumstances beyond my control got the best of me today. In my devotions today I prayed that the Lord would help me watch what I say. When I did, the thought crossed my mind, 'I wonder what will happen today to test that.' Well, I found out and I would have to say I did not get a very good grade on the test!
Unbeknowns to anyone here except for one person, I have been considering another position in a public library closer to where I grew up. But I have decided I don't think I will apply. I never relish the idea of packing and moving. But given how close my husband is to retiring (about 6 years), I think it would be best if we stay put somewhat. At least even if we did move, we would do so, only so he could still maintain his current job. It would just be nice if I could be closer to mine. Half way between the two would be better than the way it is now. We could probably shave off 30 minutes of my drive if we made a small move. But for now we are staying put.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
In Memory of Barbara Nelson
It was a week ago today (August 3rd) that our friend and colleague passed away, into the presence of her Lord. She was an active member in the Association of Christian Librarians, as well as her church and at Auburn University where she worked. She had a love for the Lord as well as people. She brought laughter where ever she went. Yours truely didn't get to know her as well as we would have liked, but we felt a 'kinship' right from the start. Having lived in Alabama ourselves for 8 years and being a fan of UA, we always enjoyed ribbing her with "Roll Tide." She will be missed by many as she left an imprint on so many down through the years. Our prayers and sympathy go to her family and loved ones.
Barbara, you have now been delivered to heaven, having gone through the endurance of pain for the last time. We rejoice with you in your arrival in heaven and in the family of God and His waiting arms.
Barbara, you have now been delivered to heaven, having gone through the endurance of pain for the last time. We rejoice with you in your arrival in heaven and in the family of God and His waiting arms.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Summer's almost over
School starts in 2 ½ weeks.
The ladies bathroom isn’t finished
The periodicals aren’t moved
The storage room isn’t done
The file cabinets never got cleaned out
The computer lab didn’t get moved
Where has the summer gone?
It always happens this way. Goodness, what did I do? Trained a new staff member, substituted for others on vacation, painted, took a vacation, attended a conference, requested books from outside our system (ILL), checked cataloging, wrote reports, put out “fires,” waited on the front desk, answered the phone, assisted patrons, worked in the seminary library, checked time sheets, turned in invoices, downloaded free ebooks, signed and faxed contracts, learned a new courier system, attended monthly consortium meetings, took a one day field trip … Need I say more? OK. Created a new in-house cutter table, wrote thank you letters, vacuumed, did opening procedures, and closing procedures, answered questions (staff and patron), consulted with faculty members, did evaluations, got evaluated, (I’m still here) :-), submitted a revised budget, laminated, processed new ID’s… That’s enough. (Although there is more, I’ll stop!)
Whew! It’s no wonder I didn’t get all my summer projects done! I'll be glad when the students come back. Maybe I can get more done! (ha!)
The ladies bathroom isn’t finished
The periodicals aren’t moved
The storage room isn’t done
The file cabinets never got cleaned out
The computer lab didn’t get moved
Where has the summer gone?
It always happens this way. Goodness, what did I do? Trained a new staff member, substituted for others on vacation, painted, took a vacation, attended a conference, requested books from outside our system (ILL), checked cataloging, wrote reports, put out “fires,” waited on the front desk, answered the phone, assisted patrons, worked in the seminary library, checked time sheets, turned in invoices, downloaded free ebooks, signed and faxed contracts, learned a new courier system, attended monthly consortium meetings, took a one day field trip … Need I say more? OK. Created a new in-house cutter table, wrote thank you letters, vacuumed, did opening procedures, and closing procedures, answered questions (staff and patron), consulted with faculty members, did evaluations, got evaluated, (I’m still here) :-), submitted a revised budget, laminated, processed new ID’s… That’s enough. (Although there is more, I’ll stop!)
Whew! It’s no wonder I didn’t get all my summer projects done! I'll be glad when the students come back. Maybe I can get more done! (ha!)
Monday, July 31, 2006
Had a "Field Day"
There’s a little play on words there! Last Friday “we – 4 staff ladies” (S, J, A, and L) took a Field Trip and visited other libraries in our area. We had a “field day” – a good time. This year we visited Art related libraries: Kansas City Art Institute, Jannes Library; Nelson-Atkins Museum, Spencer Library and the Hallmark Creative Library. This is always a good way to broaden your horizons on similar workplaces to your own and to expose yourself to the library world in general. We always pick up ideas that we could use or adapt.
We started at KCAI where MJ first gave us background information about the Library building. It was originally a private home. KCAI was able to acquire it, did major renovation to it and moved in, in 2002. Their collection is less than half of ours and their acquisitions budget about the same as ours. – That tells you how expensive art books are! They moved from a crowded basement with less than a desirable environment, to a beautiful home which fits their needs much better. Patrons wondered where they got all the extra books that filled up the new location. They just didn’t realize they had been there all along – just were squeezed in, to maximum capacity.
They have had visitors tell of living there and of attending parties there, and more. They did well to maintain the flavor of the home and still adapt it to their needs. Pocket doors and working fire places are still in place.
MJ talked about evaluating their rare books for insurance places. (Bling! – We need to finish evaluating our rare books, to not only make them available but for insurance purposes. – Hadn’t thought of that!) She showed us their computer lab on 3rd floor and where they all sign in to use the lab. (Bling! Now there’s another idea to consider. How much staffing would that take?) Second floor held stacks in the addition to the building and offices in the original part of the building. Because staff needs access to the offices, MJ showed us how they are able to close off the stacks to allow for office access when the library is closed.
Next we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. If you have never visited the NAM, you should. Next time you’re in KC, at least drive by! They have extremely oversized shuttle-cocks (i.e. badminton birdies) in the front lawn. I don’t know what all the controversy was for when these got put in. I think they are very amusing and intriguing. ‘Whodathunk’ they would make such fascinating sculptures! Oh, yes, KCAI has a statue of Thomas Hart Benton in the front yard. It looks like he’s walking up the lawn to the library.
The director of the museum, JH, gave us a good overview of the Spencer Library. They, too, have a smaller collection than ours. The reading room is graced by portraits of both Mr. and of Mrs. Spencer. It is also adorned with vases and dishes owned by the Spencers. You won’t have any trouble dusting these objects d’art. They are glued to the shelves! We also humorously mused if the Spencers’ ashes were sealed in the urns that were on display. The room houses new books, as well as reference material, ready reference and a table of publications that contain writings of NAM staff. There was one young man there doing some research, who graciously put up with our distracting conversation.
We all learned something here, including yours truly, the Librarian. The NAM library does not catalog the items for the Museum. The Register does that. We were disappointed that we would not get to see what some of those records would look like. But we did get to see the closed stacks. They have compact shelving there. The handles on each end are so easy to turn. It is amazing to see so much weight moved so easily.
The Archives room, is really a fenced in, locked area – in the closed stacks room. Not every one would be able to work in that kind of environment. But I think I could easily become so engrossed in my work that I wouldn’t even think of the surroundings! The archivist explained to us how size is determined by (cubic) feet instead of by volume. This is a different concept than what my ladies are used to. The NAM cataloger showed our cataloger, that even tho’ she was using RLIN instead of OCLC, she still used the universal MARC record format. As you may know, RLIN and OCLC are soon to merge, btw.
Since books in this library are to help those who work at that Museum, or others from the ‘museum-world’ these books are for in house use only. None are checked out and taken home. They can be, however, taken to their offices. They aren’t limited to 3 weeks, either but can have a book for months at a time. If I remember right they use the LC system for classification.
After a delicious lunch in the Museum’s Rozelle Court Restaurant, we headed for the Hallmark Corporation location. We were instructed to come in the corporate entrance and check in with the front desk. Our escort, IH, was paged and our temporary sticky name tags were printed.
IH took us to the Creative Library. They use the Dewey classification system here. Again their library was no bigger than ours. Their books were obviously heavy in items that would help inspire and create. They included books on religion, even bibles, books on architecture, gardening, etc. Anything that would be about a topic that could give insight and inspiration would be included. They were heavy in the 6, 7, and 800 sections of Dewey. I doubt there were any “how-to” books there.
They also have a large serial collection, popular magazines as well as trade magazines. Anything that could give you an idea where the culture is today and insight into life or anything that had to do with people relationships. After all, “when you care enough…” you want to be able to send the best. This is where they get those perfect thoughts and ideas that end up separating you from your money but hits the spot for your situation.
On one side of the room where little “inspiration cubicles” –at least that’s what I call them. They would be on various themes from time to time. Some of the four were “connectivity,” and “creativity.” The librarian there was telling about a committee that had been at the library earlier. They come to the library for the meetings so that they can surround themselves with where the inspiration starts. This is the genesis-room (if you will), for what the company is all about. (Bling! Maybe we ought to have one of the monthly faculty meetings in the library, sometime.)
Next, IH took us to the Research Library. Here T. told us about how she catalogs documents, surveys, data, and more. She does not use the typical cataloging system. Instead she uses Word to write up information about an item. Then she sets it up for metadata searching. This creates a wonderful in-house database for researchers. They can do this from their desk, or can come to the library and look at the item, holding it in hand. T and IH even took us to a conference room to show us via the Intranet how employees can research these databases from their offices.
This library has a very large collection, percentage wise, of journals and periodicals. We learned that those “annoying” survey takers in the mall really are helpful. These are some of the ways that Hallmark gathers information for where the culture is today and what the current needs and habits are of customers. (Maybe next time, I’ll actually talk to one of those survey takers.)
All of these special libraries were interesting to us. We were impressed with how, in each case, the staff was, without exception, aware of the purpose of their library and how they fit into their institution. It was not forced comments as though they were trained to be sure and convey that thought. It was part of their thinking process and awareness of the importance and place of the library in that organization. (Bling! Do we really see and understand the importance our library plays in our institution?)
It was delightful to get acquainted with others in our profession. We even discovered that two of the folk we met were believers and listen to KLJC, our “flagship” radio station here at Calvary. Did you know you can listen to it online, even though you don’t live in Kansas City?
We started at KCAI where MJ first gave us background information about the Library building. It was originally a private home. KCAI was able to acquire it, did major renovation to it and moved in, in 2002. Their collection is less than half of ours and their acquisitions budget about the same as ours. – That tells you how expensive art books are! They moved from a crowded basement with less than a desirable environment, to a beautiful home which fits their needs much better. Patrons wondered where they got all the extra books that filled up the new location. They just didn’t realize they had been there all along – just were squeezed in, to maximum capacity.
They have had visitors tell of living there and of attending parties there, and more. They did well to maintain the flavor of the home and still adapt it to their needs. Pocket doors and working fire places are still in place.
MJ talked about evaluating their rare books for insurance places. (Bling! – We need to finish evaluating our rare books, to not only make them available but for insurance purposes. – Hadn’t thought of that!) She showed us their computer lab on 3rd floor and where they all sign in to use the lab. (Bling! Now there’s another idea to consider. How much staffing would that take?) Second floor held stacks in the addition to the building and offices in the original part of the building. Because staff needs access to the offices, MJ showed us how they are able to close off the stacks to allow for office access when the library is closed.
Next we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. If you have never visited the NAM, you should. Next time you’re in KC, at least drive by! They have extremely oversized shuttle-cocks (i.e. badminton birdies) in the front lawn. I don’t know what all the controversy was for when these got put in. I think they are very amusing and intriguing. ‘Whodathunk’ they would make such fascinating sculptures! Oh, yes, KCAI has a statue of Thomas Hart Benton in the front yard. It looks like he’s walking up the lawn to the library.
The director of the museum, JH, gave us a good overview of the Spencer Library. They, too, have a smaller collection than ours. The reading room is graced by portraits of both Mr. and of Mrs. Spencer. It is also adorned with vases and dishes owned by the Spencers. You won’t have any trouble dusting these objects d’art. They are glued to the shelves! We also humorously mused if the Spencers’ ashes were sealed in the urns that were on display. The room houses new books, as well as reference material, ready reference and a table of publications that contain writings of NAM staff. There was one young man there doing some research, who graciously put up with our distracting conversation.
We all learned something here, including yours truly, the Librarian. The NAM library does not catalog the items for the Museum. The Register does that. We were disappointed that we would not get to see what some of those records would look like. But we did get to see the closed stacks. They have compact shelving there. The handles on each end are so easy to turn. It is amazing to see so much weight moved so easily.
The Archives room, is really a fenced in, locked area – in the closed stacks room. Not every one would be able to work in that kind of environment. But I think I could easily become so engrossed in my work that I wouldn’t even think of the surroundings! The archivist explained to us how size is determined by (cubic) feet instead of by volume. This is a different concept than what my ladies are used to. The NAM cataloger showed our cataloger, that even tho’ she was using RLIN instead of OCLC, she still used the universal MARC record format. As you may know, RLIN and OCLC are soon to merge, btw.
Since books in this library are to help those who work at that Museum, or others from the ‘museum-world’ these books are for in house use only. None are checked out and taken home. They can be, however, taken to their offices. They aren’t limited to 3 weeks, either but can have a book for months at a time. If I remember right they use the LC system for classification.
After a delicious lunch in the Museum’s Rozelle Court Restaurant, we headed for the Hallmark Corporation location. We were instructed to come in the corporate entrance and check in with the front desk. Our escort, IH, was paged and our temporary sticky name tags were printed.
IH took us to the Creative Library. They use the Dewey classification system here. Again their library was no bigger than ours. Their books were obviously heavy in items that would help inspire and create. They included books on religion, even bibles, books on architecture, gardening, etc. Anything that would be about a topic that could give insight and inspiration would be included. They were heavy in the 6, 7, and 800 sections of Dewey. I doubt there were any “how-to” books there.
They also have a large serial collection, popular magazines as well as trade magazines. Anything that could give you an idea where the culture is today and insight into life or anything that had to do with people relationships. After all, “when you care enough…” you want to be able to send the best. This is where they get those perfect thoughts and ideas that end up separating you from your money but hits the spot for your situation.
On one side of the room where little “inspiration cubicles” –at least that’s what I call them. They would be on various themes from time to time. Some of the four were “connectivity,” and “creativity.” The librarian there was telling about a committee that had been at the library earlier. They come to the library for the meetings so that they can surround themselves with where the inspiration starts. This is the genesis-room (if you will), for what the company is all about. (Bling! Maybe we ought to have one of the monthly faculty meetings in the library, sometime.)
Next, IH took us to the Research Library. Here T. told us about how she catalogs documents, surveys, data, and more. She does not use the typical cataloging system. Instead she uses Word to write up information about an item. Then she sets it up for metadata searching. This creates a wonderful in-house database for researchers. They can do this from their desk, or can come to the library and look at the item, holding it in hand. T and IH even took us to a conference room to show us via the Intranet how employees can research these databases from their offices.
This library has a very large collection, percentage wise, of journals and periodicals. We learned that those “annoying” survey takers in the mall really are helpful. These are some of the ways that Hallmark gathers information for where the culture is today and what the current needs and habits are of customers. (Maybe next time, I’ll actually talk to one of those survey takers.)
All of these special libraries were interesting to us. We were impressed with how, in each case, the staff was, without exception, aware of the purpose of their library and how they fit into their institution. It was not forced comments as though they were trained to be sure and convey that thought. It was part of their thinking process and awareness of the importance and place of the library in that organization. (Bling! Do we really see and understand the importance our library plays in our institution?)
It was delightful to get acquainted with others in our profession. We even discovered that two of the folk we met were believers and listen to KLJC, our “flagship” radio station here at Calvary. Did you know you can listen to it online, even though you don’t live in Kansas City?
Monday, July 24, 2006
Cost Free Vacation, almost
I am back at work today after being on vacation all last week; at least as far as work is concerned it was a vacation. I went to Arkansas to sort through 30 years of slide pictures my parents had taken while with Mid-America Mission and Woodland Acres Bible Camp. I looked at and organized about 1500. About half of those have been marked for scanning. Probably about 100 were actually scanned. I have about another 1000 still to go through. (Not to mention that I think there is more in another big box.)
What has this got to do with a cost free vacation? It was a trip down memory lane going back to the mid 50's when I was a 'mere child,' including one summer in Canada. That cost me nothing. It certainly did a good job of blowing the dust and cobwebs out of my memory. Some was successful, some were not! This trip mainly cost me gas, and a donation to the camp for housing me for the week. It was a very interesting trip bringing back a variety of people, places and things we did:
• like 4 blow outs in Ohio one year when driving back to MO from NY,
• like a visit from our grandparents when we lived in western Kansas,
• like the first time I wore a formal (piano recital),
• like visiting Hannibal, MO (boyhood home of Mark Twain), on our return trip home from NY state.
• like the Christmas program when I was one of the sandmen, (I still have the costume),
• like getting the chicken pox when we (my parents and I) were at a camp for the summer,
• like visiting the Niagra Falls on the Canadian side, -& taking a picture of yours truely, holding her skirt up at the sides so you could tell it was a full circle skirt!,
• like going to Wooley Creek for sunday school (yup, that really was the name of it)...
I also got to see a high school friend, DC. We went out to eat and tried catching up on news. Our High School class will celebrate our 40th year anniversary next year. Hopefully we will be able to get together and do something. It would be nice since we have only had two other reunions: 20th and 25th! We have already lost over 13% of our class-almost all of them tragic deaths: accidents or suicides. We have had one die of cancer.
My daughter who is mentally handicap went with me to Arkansas. This past week was Junior High week which fits in perfectly for her social level, even though she will be 30 later this week. I didn't see her much except at meals, so I knew she was having a good time. On our way home she was getting settled down to sleep while I drove. She raised her head up and said "I had fun" and put her head back down again!!! I could tell she did - she was exhausted! Sunday afternoon she slept about 5 hours and still went to bed at her usual time. They also had crafts that she could do. She was thrilled with her creations!
Now maybe this week I'll have some library news to report. We-4 (library staff) are taking a field trip Friday to visit other libraries in the area. That is always enlightening and educational to see how other libraries do things. It gives you good ideas.
What has this got to do with a cost free vacation? It was a trip down memory lane going back to the mid 50's when I was a 'mere child,' including one summer in Canada. That cost me nothing. It certainly did a good job of blowing the dust and cobwebs out of my memory. Some was successful, some were not! This trip mainly cost me gas, and a donation to the camp for housing me for the week. It was a very interesting trip bringing back a variety of people, places and things we did:
• like 4 blow outs in Ohio one year when driving back to MO from NY,
• like a visit from our grandparents when we lived in western Kansas,
• like the first time I wore a formal (piano recital),
• like visiting Hannibal, MO (boyhood home of Mark Twain), on our return trip home from NY state.
• like the Christmas program when I was one of the sandmen, (I still have the costume),
• like getting the chicken pox when we (my parents and I) were at a camp for the summer,
• like visiting the Niagra Falls on the Canadian side, -& taking a picture of yours truely, holding her skirt up at the sides so you could tell it was a full circle skirt!,
• like going to Wooley Creek for sunday school (yup, that really was the name of it)...
I also got to see a high school friend, DC. We went out to eat and tried catching up on news. Our High School class will celebrate our 40th year anniversary next year. Hopefully we will be able to get together and do something. It would be nice since we have only had two other reunions: 20th and 25th! We have already lost over 13% of our class-almost all of them tragic deaths: accidents or suicides. We have had one die of cancer.
My daughter who is mentally handicap went with me to Arkansas. This past week was Junior High week which fits in perfectly for her social level, even though she will be 30 later this week. I didn't see her much except at meals, so I knew she was having a good time. On our way home she was getting settled down to sleep while I drove. She raised her head up and said "I had fun" and put her head back down again!!! I could tell she did - she was exhausted! Sunday afternoon she slept about 5 hours and still went to bed at her usual time. They also had crafts that she could do. She was thrilled with her creations!
Now maybe this week I'll have some library news to report. We-4 (library staff) are taking a field trip Friday to visit other libraries in the area. That is always enlightening and educational to see how other libraries do things. It gives you good ideas.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Reliable Communication part two
The IT dept and the Library made plans this spring to move the computer lab from a room on the west side of the library. We want to put it on the east side of the partition that is between the west room and the remainder of the library. Before we can do this we need two outlets added. We ‘enlisted’ the help of a staff member who has done electrical wiring. This was around the end of May/first of June.
A couple of weeks ago I talked to the maintenance department head (CA) about what was happening about this, as nothing had yet been done in the library with the two outlets. He told me that he had not received any info or a PO from our “electrician” (GW). Tuesday of this week I talked to GW. He said he had told CA what was needed. But he also told me that it would cost $600 to put these two outlets in. So the business office had decided back in the beginning of the summer to have him do other smaller projects on campus.
Why would it cost $600 for two outlets? Because the breaker box is already full and GW can not put any more wiring in, for two outlets. They would have to be “conduited” (new word for the day) to a new breaker box in the back room as there is plenty of room in it for new wiring. So that would cost a lot of money.
What I don’t understand is: we are already using these 16 computers and 2 printers on our current breaker box. Why can’t we take out two current outlets and wire in the two needed outlets? Well, you can’t do it that way if you want to do it right.
When was this decision communicated to the Library? Tuesday, 6 weeks after the fact. The “disease” of non-communication continues to abound! Bummer.
BACK ROOM PROGRESS
Remember our back room “disaster”? That was about the time we launched this blog. We (the campus) are having a Workday all over campus every Tuesday. So this past Tuesday a couple of us worked in our back room. 40% of the original area is our new storage room. We are actually making progress in getting the room set up the way we want it. Boxes have been heaved and ho-ed, tables have been turned over onto their legs and arranged in the room the way we want and most of the boxes now placed on the tables in sorted groups. (There’s a few more boxes that need to be moved.) It has been a lot of sweat, aches and pains but we are getting there. It seems to be taking for ever, but we are finally beginning to see “final” plans taking shape. It may not sound like any big deal, but it is exciting to us. If I can ever figure out how to upload pictures to this blog, someday you just might see some before and after shots.
INFORMATION LITERACY
I have been concerned for some time now about the lack of teaching our students how to use the library to its fullest advantage. Today I met with MP, the head of our Non-Traditional Studies department. He wants to put together a 6 weeks course (20 hours) for the NTS students on how to write better papers, improve grammar, use the library and more. This is going to be a little bit of challenge – or maybe work – as I have not done this before, but see the need. So now we (royal we) will need to start researching and pulling info together on how it’s done in other places and what we need to talk about, regarding our own library etc. etc. I’m glad to begin to see some movement in this direction. I have also been in conversation with the seminary dean about doing the same thing there. So we’ll see what happens and where this will take us. “Stay tuned.”
MYSPACE
MySpace is in the news, if you haven’t heard. It is the number one draw to a website, out pacing Yahoo and other similar sites. Genealogy used to be the number (legal) use of the internet. (You can probably guess what is THE number one use, but we’ll not state it here.) It will be interesting to see, as this generation comes of age, if that will change. Here is more information, showing graphs, etc. If you have not heard of MySpace.com or Facebook.com and you are working with high school and college students today either in academic/educational settings or in the public library, you might take a look at what is big with our millennials.
SEMINARY "LIBRARY"
Today ADJ and I went over to the Seminary and worked some more on the books that are over there. We photocopied the title pages and versos of 21 books, keeping them in order of how they were copied. They will be cataloged, labeled, "licked, stamped, and sealed" (no, I'm just kidding). Hopefully they will stay on the shelf in the order we photocopied them so when we return after ADJ has them cataloged them, we can quickly add the labels. The remainder still to do have been sorted and grouped somewhat by how they will be on the shelf after they are cataloged, i.e. all the individual commentaries on books of the bible have been put in canonical order. Books on Greek, Hebrew, New Testament, and Old Testament have been put together by topic, etc. So when we work on the next batch and take back their labels, they will already be somewhat in the order they will need to be when in call number order.
Next we will have to begin to educate the Seminary faculty and the students the new procedures that will need to happen, which they are not used to doing. This will be a self service library. The books are for "in-house use only" so the students will need to track their usage and be sure they put the books back in the correct order. No problem for a grad student, right??? We'll see. But something will be better then nothing, which is what we've had before.
NEXT WEEK
...I will be "on vacation." At least, I won't be in the office. I am going to Arkansas to sort through hundreds (or more) of pictures my mother took for over 30 years while associated with Mid-America Mission, (home of Woodland Acres Bible Camp). Their fiftieth anniversary is coming up this fall, so I am going to take these pictures down to them and go through the pictures. It will be a trip alright - a trip down memory lane. This will probably be a cheaper trip then a lot of vacations!! Hopefully I'll get to see some friends, too as this is where I grew up and graduated from High School. (Next year will be our HS class's 40 year anniversary. But I doubt we will do anything. Nothing's been done since our 25th. We're quite a lazy bunch!) So it may be a couple of weeks or so before I'm back. I can tell you right now it will take me probably the first whole week I'm back just to catch up for the week I'll be gone.
A couple of weeks ago I talked to the maintenance department head (CA) about what was happening about this, as nothing had yet been done in the library with the two outlets. He told me that he had not received any info or a PO from our “electrician” (GW). Tuesday of this week I talked to GW. He said he had told CA what was needed. But he also told me that it would cost $600 to put these two outlets in. So the business office had decided back in the beginning of the summer to have him do other smaller projects on campus.
Why would it cost $600 for two outlets? Because the breaker box is already full and GW can not put any more wiring in, for two outlets. They would have to be “conduited” (new word for the day) to a new breaker box in the back room as there is plenty of room in it for new wiring. So that would cost a lot of money.
What I don’t understand is: we are already using these 16 computers and 2 printers on our current breaker box. Why can’t we take out two current outlets and wire in the two needed outlets? Well, you can’t do it that way if you want to do it right.
When was this decision communicated to the Library? Tuesday, 6 weeks after the fact. The “disease” of non-communication continues to abound! Bummer.
BACK ROOM PROGRESS
Remember our back room “disaster”? That was about the time we launched this blog. We (the campus) are having a Workday all over campus every Tuesday. So this past Tuesday a couple of us worked in our back room. 40% of the original area is our new storage room. We are actually making progress in getting the room set up the way we want it. Boxes have been heaved and ho-ed, tables have been turned over onto their legs and arranged in the room the way we want and most of the boxes now placed on the tables in sorted groups. (There’s a few more boxes that need to be moved.) It has been a lot of sweat, aches and pains but we are getting there. It seems to be taking for ever, but we are finally beginning to see “final” plans taking shape. It may not sound like any big deal, but it is exciting to us. If I can ever figure out how to upload pictures to this blog, someday you just might see some before and after shots.
INFORMATION LITERACY
I have been concerned for some time now about the lack of teaching our students how to use the library to its fullest advantage. Today I met with MP, the head of our Non-Traditional Studies department. He wants to put together a 6 weeks course (20 hours) for the NTS students on how to write better papers, improve grammar, use the library and more. This is going to be a little bit of challenge – or maybe work – as I have not done this before, but see the need. So now we (royal we) will need to start researching and pulling info together on how it’s done in other places and what we need to talk about, regarding our own library etc. etc. I’m glad to begin to see some movement in this direction. I have also been in conversation with the seminary dean about doing the same thing there. So we’ll see what happens and where this will take us. “Stay tuned.”
MYSPACE
MySpace is in the news, if you haven’t heard. It is the number one draw to a website, out pacing Yahoo and other similar sites. Genealogy used to be the number (legal) use of the internet. (You can probably guess what is THE number one use, but we’ll not state it here.) It will be interesting to see, as this generation comes of age, if that will change. Here is more information, showing graphs, etc. If you have not heard of MySpace.com or Facebook.com and you are working with high school and college students today either in academic/educational settings or in the public library, you might take a look at what is big with our millennials.
SEMINARY "LIBRARY"
Today ADJ and I went over to the Seminary and worked some more on the books that are over there. We photocopied the title pages and versos of 21 books, keeping them in order of how they were copied. They will be cataloged, labeled, "licked, stamped, and sealed" (no, I'm just kidding). Hopefully they will stay on the shelf in the order we photocopied them so when we return after ADJ has them cataloged them, we can quickly add the labels. The remainder still to do have been sorted and grouped somewhat by how they will be on the shelf after they are cataloged, i.e. all the individual commentaries on books of the bible have been put in canonical order. Books on Greek, Hebrew, New Testament, and Old Testament have been put together by topic, etc. So when we work on the next batch and take back their labels, they will already be somewhat in the order they will need to be when in call number order.
Next we will have to begin to educate the Seminary faculty and the students the new procedures that will need to happen, which they are not used to doing. This will be a self service library. The books are for "in-house use only" so the students will need to track their usage and be sure they put the books back in the correct order. No problem for a grad student, right??? We'll see. But something will be better then nothing, which is what we've had before.
NEXT WEEK
...I will be "on vacation." At least, I won't be in the office. I am going to Arkansas to sort through hundreds (or more) of pictures my mother took for over 30 years while associated with Mid-America Mission, (home of Woodland Acres Bible Camp). Their fiftieth anniversary is coming up this fall, so I am going to take these pictures down to them and go through the pictures. It will be a trip alright - a trip down memory lane. This will probably be a cheaper trip then a lot of vacations!! Hopefully I'll get to see some friends, too as this is where I grew up and graduated from High School. (Next year will be our HS class's 40 year anniversary. But I doubt we will do anything. Nothing's been done since our 25th. We're quite a lazy bunch!) So it may be a couple of weeks or so before I'm back. I can tell you right now it will take me probably the first whole week I'm back just to catch up for the week I'll be gone.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Undo the "delete"
Have you ever reversed a decision of a predecessor? Or withdrawn a book only to add it again? Today ADJ and I spent 2 hours in the seminary "lab." We have started cataloging the books that are there, adding them to our collection but indicating by location where they are. Some of the books that are there belong to the library and were "checked out" to the Seminary. These had to be "checked in" and then back out again every summer. We were able to get a location added to our software that says "seminary". This is a big help. Now we no longer have to check them out and in from the seminary. Most of the books that are there are donations. Some from a former president, some from a current professor, the rest from a variety of other sources. A few of these books are books that had been withdrawn from the library's collection and given to the seminary. Well, today we brought these four books back to the library. We are going to re-catalog them, then take them back to the seminary, noting in the record that location. Wonder what my predecessor will do to all my "hard" work!!!
FREE EBOOKS
Got this website from a friend, by email. This gives you free access till August 4th to ebooks listed on this site: a Book Fair digital style!
FREE EBOOKS
Got this website from a friend, by email. This gives you free access till August 4th to ebooks listed on this site: a Book Fair digital style!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Fourth of July weekend
Create your own fireworks celebration. I found this through a friend's blog site. Have Fun!
Last Saturday (July 1, 2006) was our older son’s 29th birthday. So “we-4” (b’day boy/son, daughter, father and mother) met our other son and daughter-in-law at a LongHorn Steakhouse to celebrate his birthday. JG works at a LongHorn restaurant but had never eaten there as a customer. Most of us had a steak. They were all delicious. MSG, our daughter had her favorite supper: cheeseburger! (All that delicious steak, and she picks a hamburger!!) Oh Well, she was happy. And we all enjoyed a good meal.
Afterwards, MRG (husband) and I went to the city to see Riverdance!! WooHoo! I had heard they were “in town.” I had asked my husband if he would like to go see them. He said no unless “he was tricked into it”! :-) So, I asked him to take me for our 35th anniversary which is 8 days later. So we did! I had an absolutely wonderful time. He really enjoyed himself too. He did say he liked the first half better than the second. And I liked some parts better then others, and “Trading Taps” the best. But it was all very good. The lead dancers that we saw were Mr. Liam Ayres, and Miss Siobhan Manson .
From their website is this bit of information: "Riverdance has been seen live by over 18 million people in over 250 venues worldwide, throughout 30 countries across 4 continents."
Sunday was the first day that our interim pastor officially started. Afterwards we had a church picnic at a member’s home/yard. That was a nice touch for it also being the Fourth of July weekend.
Since both MRG and JG had to work on the fourth we didn’t have a family celebration this year. Instead I pretty much spent the day working my polymer clay magic making beads and jewelry. But that evening I did watch the Capitol Fourth celebration and Boston Pops' celebration on TV. I especially like to watch the Boston Pops on the 4th. But this year I tho’t that the Capitol Fourth celebration was the better of the two. I am not a rock and roll fan, so having Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith fame on the show actually ruined it for me. Stringy, greasy hair, leather and chain attire and screaming at the top of your voice isn’t my kind of patriotic celebrating, honoring God and Country. So this year before the Boston Pop's program was even over, I heard fireworks outside. So I grabbed my camera and walked our little community taking pictures of local fireworks. Time will tell if they even turn out. But that was truely an american celebration - having the freedom and safety to walk about town, after dark, carrying an expensive camera taking pictures of strangers' celebrations!
What has all of this got to do with libraries? Well, even library staff folks get some time off and this is what I did over the last 5 days – a nice long weekend. Today I am back at work solving patrons’ problems over losing their library card, (and still wanting to check out books), deciding what duplicate books to keep and what to return, working on a specialized cutter table for our library, reviewing the amount of requested books by professors compared to the classes they teach and see where there is imbalance, catching up on email that has accumulated over the last 5 days, juggling out a new courier service along with the two we already have (and no, we really don’t have that much business. You’ll have to see my comments earlier about the courier service situation and what I think of it.) And, of course, having lunch with my co-workers, catching up on their exploits over the weekend, too.
Guess I better get back to checking the books that have been cataloged, work on that cutter table, and see, if there’s any time left, about getting reports written up from the conference I went to last month.
PS - are you interested in blogging, too? Here's an article and handy tips on how to have a good blogging site.
Last Saturday (July 1, 2006) was our older son’s 29th birthday. So “we-4” (b’day boy/son, daughter, father and mother) met our other son and daughter-in-law at a LongHorn Steakhouse to celebrate his birthday. JG works at a LongHorn restaurant but had never eaten there as a customer. Most of us had a steak. They were all delicious. MSG, our daughter had her favorite supper: cheeseburger! (All that delicious steak, and she picks a hamburger!!) Oh Well, she was happy. And we all enjoyed a good meal.
Afterwards, MRG (husband) and I went to the city to see Riverdance!! WooHoo! I had heard they were “in town.” I had asked my husband if he would like to go see them. He said no unless “he was tricked into it”! :-) So, I asked him to take me for our 35th anniversary which is 8 days later. So we did! I had an absolutely wonderful time. He really enjoyed himself too. He did say he liked the first half better than the second. And I liked some parts better then others, and “Trading Taps” the best. But it was all very good. The lead dancers that we saw were Mr. Liam Ayres, and Miss Siobhan Manson .
From their website is this bit of information: "Riverdance has been seen live by over 18 million people in over 250 venues worldwide, throughout 30 countries across 4 continents."
Sunday was the first day that our interim pastor officially started. Afterwards we had a church picnic at a member’s home/yard. That was a nice touch for it also being the Fourth of July weekend.
Since both MRG and JG had to work on the fourth we didn’t have a family celebration this year. Instead I pretty much spent the day working my polymer clay magic making beads and jewelry. But that evening I did watch the Capitol Fourth celebration and Boston Pops' celebration on TV. I especially like to watch the Boston Pops on the 4th. But this year I tho’t that the Capitol Fourth celebration was the better of the two. I am not a rock and roll fan, so having Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith fame on the show actually ruined it for me. Stringy, greasy hair, leather and chain attire and screaming at the top of your voice isn’t my kind of patriotic celebrating, honoring God and Country. So this year before the Boston Pop's program was even over, I heard fireworks outside. So I grabbed my camera and walked our little community taking pictures of local fireworks. Time will tell if they even turn out. But that was truely an american celebration - having the freedom and safety to walk about town, after dark, carrying an expensive camera taking pictures of strangers' celebrations!
What has all of this got to do with libraries? Well, even library staff folks get some time off and this is what I did over the last 5 days – a nice long weekend. Today I am back at work solving patrons’ problems over losing their library card, (and still wanting to check out books), deciding what duplicate books to keep and what to return, working on a specialized cutter table for our library, reviewing the amount of requested books by professors compared to the classes they teach and see where there is imbalance, catching up on email that has accumulated over the last 5 days, juggling out a new courier service along with the two we already have (and no, we really don’t have that much business. You’ll have to see my comments earlier about the courier service situation and what I think of it.) And, of course, having lunch with my co-workers, catching up on their exploits over the weekend, too.
Guess I better get back to checking the books that have been cataloged, work on that cutter table, and see, if there’s any time left, about getting reports written up from the conference I went to last month.
PS - are you interested in blogging, too? Here's an article and handy tips on how to have a good blogging site.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Workdays, Birthdays, and Meetings
This summer our institution is doing something different to help offset the crunch of needing to do work on campus but no money to do it. Every Tuesday is a workday and folks in all departments pitch in to help where needed. As a reward, we get a cookout, about every 2 weeks and a free half day off after lunch! WOO-HOO! So this week ‘we-3’ ladies that are here during the morning hours worked in our ‘back room.’ We have a back room that used to be all storage. But due to a storm last year (see June 05 posts and following) we now have a refurbished room divided into a periodical room (60% of the original area) and storage room (about 40%). So, we were repacking, condensing and moving boxes out to the periodical room so we can re-arrange our new storage area. We are far from finished, but probably got about 1/3 of it done; maybe more. We could all ‘feel’ it the next day but it was a good feeling to get a lot accomplished.
Monday is the b’day of LL, our new circulation clerk. But in order to celebrate when the most people were here, we celebrated today at lunch. We signed and gave her a hand crafted card. I made her a purse out of a book cover (Voiceless Lips). It was purple with gold lettering so I used gold ribbon. For the material on the ends I found a nice piece that had books (I think) and clocks that included purple and gold in the colors. It looked pretty classy, if I do say so myself. They ARE fun to make and give.
This afternoon was the monthly meeting of our consortium council. I have been able to start going again. I don’t know when school starts what will happen – there seems to be conflicts during the school year. Our new courier service starts next week. I’m still not convinced we should be doing this. I think we are losing a lot to use a different service then what we were using. One reason given for going with SCS then KCM was: folks had been asked at conventions, etc. why we didn’t have our own courier service. We have had a metro-wide service in place that serves all the libraries in the area not just our own. They also offer workshops, and staff training with certificates. So now we are using SCS so we can say we have our own. But what I don’t understand is we are contracting the services of SCS, just as we were contracting the services of KCM. It still is not our courier service. We didn’t hire the drivers or buy the vans. We still have contacted with an outside vendor. ??? So what have we gained? Nothing. Doesn’t make sense to me. But this will be a pilot project that we are going to try. So we will just have to see how it turns out.
I had my annual evaluation last week. I hate giving them to my staff because I hate getting them. But I will have to say – it is rather painless here. It is a different process then I have ever seen. You evaluate yourself, filling out a form. Then you discuss points that are of interest to the supervisor. I am not one who can think ‘on my feet’. But this year I did ask for their opinion as to what their thoughts were regarding evaluating my work this past year. Fortunately it was favorable, and kind when talking of areas needing work on. So guess I’m good for another year. :-) A goal for next year? Less wordy reports!!! JC likes to get to the point!
This has nothing to do with libraries - but I'll have to tell about this!! My friend, BH has gotten me interested in "beading" - but I prefer to make my own beads from sculpy clay when I can. So we got together yesturday (28th) to 'bead.' BH made a panfull of beads, and put them in the oven to bake. I told her what temp and how long. When the timer went off she went in the kitchen to get them and they were all burnt black as can be!!!! She forgot that her stove temperature digital readout starts at 300. I had told her 275. So she bumped it up 75 more degrees, forgoting that she was starting at 300, not 200! So now she has a nice and varied set of black beads!!! We also learned that if you are out of black - doesn't matter. Make them in any color you want and just over bake them and you will have black. She had done some beautiful flowers with 3 leaves. Even black they were gorgeous. I told her she would just have to think of them as being carved out of alabaster!! I don't think she was convinced! Oh well - live and learn!!! It was still fun.
Monday is the b’day of LL, our new circulation clerk. But in order to celebrate when the most people were here, we celebrated today at lunch. We signed and gave her a hand crafted card. I made her a purse out of a book cover (Voiceless Lips). It was purple with gold lettering so I used gold ribbon. For the material on the ends I found a nice piece that had books (I think) and clocks that included purple and gold in the colors. It looked pretty classy, if I do say so myself. They ARE fun to make and give.
This afternoon was the monthly meeting of our consortium council. I have been able to start going again. I don’t know when school starts what will happen – there seems to be conflicts during the school year. Our new courier service starts next week. I’m still not convinced we should be doing this. I think we are losing a lot to use a different service then what we were using. One reason given for going with SCS then KCM was: folks had been asked at conventions, etc. why we didn’t have our own courier service. We have had a metro-wide service in place that serves all the libraries in the area not just our own. They also offer workshops, and staff training with certificates. So now we are using SCS so we can say we have our own. But what I don’t understand is we are contracting the services of SCS, just as we were contracting the services of KCM. It still is not our courier service. We didn’t hire the drivers or buy the vans. We still have contacted with an outside vendor. ??? So what have we gained? Nothing. Doesn’t make sense to me. But this will be a pilot project that we are going to try. So we will just have to see how it turns out.
I had my annual evaluation last week. I hate giving them to my staff because I hate getting them. But I will have to say – it is rather painless here. It is a different process then I have ever seen. You evaluate yourself, filling out a form. Then you discuss points that are of interest to the supervisor. I am not one who can think ‘on my feet’. But this year I did ask for their opinion as to what their thoughts were regarding evaluating my work this past year. Fortunately it was favorable, and kind when talking of areas needing work on. So guess I’m good for another year. :-) A goal for next year? Less wordy reports!!! JC likes to get to the point!
This has nothing to do with libraries - but I'll have to tell about this!! My friend, BH has gotten me interested in "beading" - but I prefer to make my own beads from sculpy clay when I can. So we got together yesturday (28th) to 'bead.' BH made a panfull of beads, and put them in the oven to bake. I told her what temp and how long. When the timer went off she went in the kitchen to get them and they were all burnt black as can be!!!! She forgot that her stove temperature digital readout starts at 300. I had told her 275. So she bumped it up 75 more degrees, forgoting that she was starting at 300, not 200! So now she has a nice and varied set of black beads!!! We also learned that if you are out of black - doesn't matter. Make them in any color you want and just over bake them and you will have black. She had done some beautiful flowers with 3 leaves. Even black they were gorgeous. I told her she would just have to think of them as being carved out of alabaster!! I don't think she was convinced! Oh well - live and learn!!! It was still fun.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
netLibrary
We are finally getting on the band wagon. We have signed up for the first time with netLibrary through the CLC consortium that we are with. We will be getting about 400 ebooks. That is equal to almost a full year's worth of book purchases. We vary from 400 to 550 books a year in what we purchase. This will be a great boost in what we have available.
I just came back to work Monday from the ACL conference. While I was there learned what it was all about. So I was able to get it approved and signed up with it before the June 21st deadline.
These books are from the "B" section in the LC classification system. This means they are all on philosophy-psychology-religion. The topics range from commentaries, ethics, sects (groups, e.g.Mennonites, Presbyterian, Wesleyan...), and doctrine.
It will be exciting to see what the students think when they come back in the fall!
I just came back to work Monday from the ACL conference. While I was there learned what it was all about. So I was able to get it approved and signed up with it before the June 21st deadline.
These books are from the "B" section in the LC classification system. This means they are all on philosophy-psychology-religion. The topics range from commentaries, ethics, sects (groups, e.g.Mennonites, Presbyterian, Wesleyan...), and doctrine.
It will be exciting to see what the students think when they come back in the fall!
Monday, June 19, 2006
Memories from the Conference
“Celebrating the Past, Racing into the Future” (theme)
• “Cross of the Crossroads” cross “sculpture” at Effingham, Indiana
• Dropping keys down the elevator shaft
• Beautiful Campus
• Lotta walking
• Blisters from new shoes
• Lotta sitting
• 400 pictures of Greece, plus pictures of Ireland and Bulgaria
• McConn & Co. coffee shop
• The Marlins Concert
• WM and a friend dancing in the aisle
• Celebrating 50 years of ACL
• Remembering Barbara Nelson
o Volunteer of the Year
o Signature Bear
o Video taped greetings to her
• Black marble rotating globe in the library lobby
• Learning a new game: Apples to Apples
• Ice Cream Social
• Match box cars for the banquet table decorations
• 11 hours of driving one way
• Sculpture of Christ, laying over a rock, “Christ in Gethsemane” in chapel
• Learning about NetLibrary for the first time.
• “Cross of the Crossroads” cross “sculpture” at Effingham, Indiana
• Dropping keys down the elevator shaft
• Beautiful Campus
• Lotta walking
• Blisters from new shoes
• Lotta sitting
• 400 pictures of Greece, plus pictures of Ireland and Bulgaria
• McConn & Co. coffee shop
• The Marlins Concert
• WM and a friend dancing in the aisle
• Celebrating 50 years of ACL
• Remembering Barbara Nelson
o Volunteer of the Year
o Signature Bear
o Video taped greetings to her
• Black marble rotating globe in the library lobby
• Learning a new game: Apples to Apples
• Ice Cream Social
• Match box cars for the banquet table decorations
• 11 hours of driving one way
• Sculpture of Christ, laying over a rock, “Christ in Gethsemane” in chapel
• Learning about NetLibrary for the first time.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Another Conference goes down in history
I returned home last night at 6 pm after 11 hours of driving, somewhat tired but at the same time rather exhilierated with all the new information I have picked up to -hopefully- improve my job performance, ah hem, I mean to improve the services and effectiveness of our library at CBCTS. (that was a long sentence, sorry!) There was a time change that I didn't remember about, when driving up. So I got up at 5:00 yesturday morning, my time. I was surprised I could, given the late nights all week and knowing how I'm not a morning person. But I suppose that when you don't have anyone else to help you and getting going is all up to you, it must motivate to some extent.
I listened to "The Purpose Driven Life" on tape coming and going. So that was some further edification and encouragement. (It also help pass the time.) I do recommend you read it. I know it has been very popular. Sometimes when something is extremely popular like that one has been, I have too much expectations out of it. So I decided not to expect anything out of it. Guess that's a better approach, cause then when you do get something that helps, it's a bonus not to mention a blessing.
My trip over took 10.5 hours on Monday from KC. That doesn't include the 1.5 hours the night before from my home to kc. So if you put that altogether it would be 12 hours. But on the way to the conference, I stopped at an airport and picked up SP, former president, and JJ (pronounced JY). :-) So that was a slight delay but it was right on my way, and gave us a chance to get acquainted as well. It made the latter part of the trip more enjoyable. And besides, SP got to be my navigator the last part of the trip that was a little more complicated. I had driven the same interstate from KC to their airport - so that was easy! From there, there were some turns and different routes to watch for. We had a good visit.
It was wonderful to see old friends, make new friends and put faces with names you see all year on the listserv. I got to see CG's new engagement ring!! (woo-hoo!) But more importantly (?) I got to attend several workshops of interest. I learned a new game (Apples to Apples), and had Ice Cream at the Ice Cream social, but didn't get to go to Ivanhoe's for IC, (an ACL tradition).
The campus of IWU is GORGEOUS! It's a nice large campus, all rather new to still-in-the-making new buildings; it has fountains and sculptures. The inside hallway of the student center makes you think you're in the mall!
Already I can't wait for next year. It will be at CU in GR. I'll probably drive, since I drove up there last year, but it does take a day and a half - or a very long day. I made a friend with someone who does genealogy and from the same city I work in and found out that she was going to FW Friday. I could kick myself for not remembering I would be so close. I have "always" wanted to go there. So guess what! I'll do it next year! We may even go together. Boy that will be fun!
Well, later I may list some things I learned about along with some links. But all my information is at work and not at home. So I can't do it now. The workshops I attended were on:
Collection Development, (how to use approval plans), Information Literacy (2), Archetecture (interesting but not so helpful for me), Helping church libraries.
I listened to "The Purpose Driven Life" on tape coming and going. So that was some further edification and encouragement. (It also help pass the time.) I do recommend you read it. I know it has been very popular. Sometimes when something is extremely popular like that one has been, I have too much expectations out of it. So I decided not to expect anything out of it. Guess that's a better approach, cause then when you do get something that helps, it's a bonus not to mention a blessing.
My trip over took 10.5 hours on Monday from KC. That doesn't include the 1.5 hours the night before from my home to kc. So if you put that altogether it would be 12 hours. But on the way to the conference, I stopped at an airport and picked up SP, former president, and JJ (pronounced JY). :-) So that was a slight delay but it was right on my way, and gave us a chance to get acquainted as well. It made the latter part of the trip more enjoyable. And besides, SP got to be my navigator the last part of the trip that was a little more complicated. I had driven the same interstate from KC to their airport - so that was easy! From there, there were some turns and different routes to watch for. We had a good visit.
It was wonderful to see old friends, make new friends and put faces with names you see all year on the listserv. I got to see CG's new engagement ring!! (woo-hoo!) But more importantly (?) I got to attend several workshops of interest. I learned a new game (Apples to Apples), and had Ice Cream at the Ice Cream social, but didn't get to go to Ivanhoe's for IC, (an ACL tradition).
The campus of IWU is GORGEOUS! It's a nice large campus, all rather new to still-in-the-making new buildings; it has fountains and sculptures. The inside hallway of the student center makes you think you're in the mall!
Already I can't wait for next year. It will be at CU in GR. I'll probably drive, since I drove up there last year, but it does take a day and a half - or a very long day. I made a friend with someone who does genealogy and from the same city I work in and found out that she was going to FW Friday. I could kick myself for not remembering I would be so close. I have "always" wanted to go there. So guess what! I'll do it next year! We may even go together. Boy that will be fun!
Well, later I may list some things I learned about along with some links. But all my information is at work and not at home. So I can't do it now. The workshops I attended were on:
I did talk to a couple of vendors about approval plans. One vendor sets up a profile and sends you books (if I remember right), another sets up a list on the web that you choose from, according to a profile. That one seems most feasible. Then they don't have the cost of sending books to you and you sending them back if you don't want them.
Net Library is also something new for me. But I think we are going to sign up for one. The cost would come out to about an average of $2 a book for over 250 books. The savings would be huge! I just need to look over the list when I get back to work to see if they are really something we could use. This will be something different for us. But as small as we are, if we can swing the price it would be saving money in the long run.
Well, time to get back to my catching up at home. My dogs were sure glad to see me, maybe more than the people! :-) We had some play time last night and snuggle time; today we all went on a walk! They're happy now. And, so am I!
Friday, June 02, 2006
What my hobbies taught me about librarianship:
1. Be accepting of interruptions.
2. Be creative – think outside the box.
3. Be organized.
4. Be willing to try something different.
5. Continually read and research.
6. Document – ideas, decisions, sources.
7. Don’t be in a hurry; patience gets the best results.
8. Get rid of excess or unused items (give, sell or throw away.).
9. Give it your full attention.
10. Keep track of your inventory.
11. Listen to what someone is telling you.
12. Look in unexpected places for tools, ideas and help.
13. Pace yourself.
14. Read the instructions the first time.
15. Respect someone else’s property/materials.
16. See what ideas and thoughts others may have.
17. Share your ideas with others.
18. Teach others what you have learned.
19. Use the best materials.
20. Most of all – Enjoy yourself!
In other words:
1. Interruptions are part of life; you’re work will still be there.
2. How can you do this differently than what someone else has done?
3. Organization makes the work more efficient.
4. Don’t get stuck in a rut.
5. Buy all the latest books on technique, etc.
6. When you do something new, make a new decision; write down the process and rationale behind it.
7. When focusing on my projects, the hours fly by. So can work.
8. Deadwood takes up space, time and energy.
9. I get so absorbed that everything around me gets shut out, ignored; I’m unaware.
10. You’ll buy duplicates or lose track of what you have if you don’t.
11. Value the person in front of you; don’t daydream.
12. e.g.: miniature cookie cutters in cake decorating for polymer clay!
13. It’s easy to get in over your head.
14. How much time do I waste when I don’t read the directions first?
15. Cite your sources; ask to borrow.
16. Scrapbooking Parties/Library Conferences…
17. Back to those “swap meets” again.
18. Share and pass on what you have learned, to other people. Don’t be stingy.
19. Cheap materials are a waste of money in the long run.
20. Most of all – Enjoy yourself!
2. Be creative – think outside the box.
3. Be organized.
4. Be willing to try something different.
5. Continually read and research.
6. Document – ideas, decisions, sources.
7. Don’t be in a hurry; patience gets the best results.
8. Get rid of excess or unused items (give, sell or throw away.).
9. Give it your full attention.
10. Keep track of your inventory.
11. Listen to what someone is telling you.
12. Look in unexpected places for tools, ideas and help.
13. Pace yourself.
14. Read the instructions the first time.
15. Respect someone else’s property/materials.
16. See what ideas and thoughts others may have.
17. Share your ideas with others.
18. Teach others what you have learned.
19. Use the best materials.
20. Most of all – Enjoy yourself!
In other words:
1. Interruptions are part of life; you’re work will still be there.
2. How can you do this differently than what someone else has done?
3. Organization makes the work more efficient.
4. Don’t get stuck in a rut.
5. Buy all the latest books on technique, etc.
6. When you do something new, make a new decision; write down the process and rationale behind it.
7. When focusing on my projects, the hours fly by. So can work.
8. Deadwood takes up space, time and energy.
9. I get so absorbed that everything around me gets shut out, ignored; I’m unaware.
10. You’ll buy duplicates or lose track of what you have if you don’t.
11. Value the person in front of you; don’t daydream.
12. e.g.: miniature cookie cutters in cake decorating for polymer clay!
13. It’s easy to get in over your head.
14. How much time do I waste when I don’t read the directions first?
15. Cite your sources; ask to borrow.
16. Scrapbooking Parties/Library Conferences…
17. Back to those “swap meets” again.
18. Share and pass on what you have learned, to other people. Don’t be stingy.
19. Cheap materials are a waste of money in the long run.
20. Most of all – Enjoy yourself!
Thursday, June 01, 2006
"Delivered to Heaven"
"Fast Forward"
I belong to an organization for Christian librarians. Recently we all learned of the return of illness to one of our friends and co-librarian, BN. She has been moved to a hospice and holding up well, overall. She knows that her final destination is secured through her faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. It's just the "in the mean time" period that is hard.
In thinking about the pains we experience with the end of life, on this earth, the similarities of being born onto this earth, and being "born" into heaven when we die was inspiration for the following. It is an amateur's attempt, but hopefully the point will be understood.
I belong to an organization for Christian librarians. Recently we all learned of the return of illness to one of our friends and co-librarian, BN. She has been moved to a hospice and holding up well, overall. She knows that her final destination is secured through her faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. It's just the "in the mean time" period that is hard.
In thinking about the pains we experience with the end of life, on this earth, the similarities of being born onto this earth, and being "born" into heaven when we die was inspiration for the following. It is an amateur's attempt, but hopefully the point will be understood.
"Delivered to Heaven"
What a wonderful day when Jesus I’ll see
When to heaven I’m ‘birthed;’ delivered, and free.
Loosed from earth’s bonds, unfettered at last
Eyes looking forward, forgetting the past.
Death pains are only the labors of birth,
E'en passing through Waters when leaving this earth.
My Father will greet me and welcome me there.
He’ll wrap me and hold me with warm tender care.
I’ll put Jesus’ face to that wonderful voice.
I’ll breath in new air; I’ll cry and rejoice.
I’ll drink from the fountain refreshing and clear.
Surrounded I’ll be by family so dear.
He'll show me my home prepared there for me.
With Jesus I’ll live for eternity.
The saints will rejoice when to heav’n I’m borne.
By angels I’m carried on that wonderful morn.
The dark of earth's "womb" will stay in the past.
The “Light of the World” I’ll bask in, at last.
For finally I’ll reach my heavenly home
Forever to be and no more to roam.
Chorus:
That wonderful day - my birthday twill be
Real life will begin forever for me.
That wonderful day - my birthday twill be
Real life will begin for eternity.
Suzanne Guinn
1 June 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
Spring time is coming
Spring Break: March 17th - 27th
March, 2006
"Book Sale"
The first few days of March was the remainder of our Annual Book Sale. It was so much easier this year. We set the books up on the new shelves in our "new" back room, instead of on extra tables all over the library. We were ready for the sale about a week and a half before the sale was held. That has never happened before - well, not in my 'lifetime' at this library. It was so nice not to have the mess all over the library, not to have to carry boxes back and forth, unpack and repack, not to have to cram at the last minute yet during closed hours to get ready. We sorted our books this year by the first two letters of their call numbers (Library of Congress classification). It was much neater, used less space, less harried, less work and less stressful (I'm all for that!). We did our commercial! We were ready! We were pumped!!! Then when we were done, we counted our money... We only took in about 2/3'rds what we usually do. :-( What a disappointment. We weren't open for Saturday this year. We did get some phone calls asking about Saturday. That may have made some difference. So next year we are extending it to Saturday again. The TV commercial brought in 2 people. So that wasn't really the big of a draw. The students didn't respond like they usually do in the past. How sad. Well there's always next year.
"Shadowlands"
We put on a play every year. Every other year it is a musical and the "off" year it is 'just' a play. But our "just a play" this year was Shadowlands, a play about C.S. Lewis. I was very impressed. Our participants are mostly the college students, plus a few guests from the public. Our lead character this year truly is a character in real life. But he shaved his beard, let his hair grow back in and followed the directors directions (!). He was quite successful in causing you to forget who was doing the acting, and convincing you of the character he was protraying. Every one came away quite impressed with what a great job he and everyone had done! If you every get a chance to see the PBS video, check it out and watch it. It is by the same name and if you are a C.S. Lewis fan you'll love the video.
"March 23rd"
This was the 6th birthday of our next to the oldest grandson, SF. We all gathered at his other grandparents house for the occasion. He had quite a time. He is a typical second child - opposite of his brother, competitive and in his case, full of energy - very "kinetic." He got, among other things, a full batman costume. He was in 'heaven.' Of course as soon as he got everything opened he had to go put it on and demonstrate to all of us how good a batman he was! What a riot!
"Two bosses"
I actually answer to two deans - one over the college and one over the seminary. The college dean's secretary sets up my monthly appointments with him at the beginning of the semester. The seminary dean doesn't set up any appointments.It is interesting to see the different personalities and styles of management when you have more than one boss. One is organized, business like, the other is laid back and doesn't push life as hard. The College dean limits his meetings to a 1/2 hour, every month. The seminary dean - well I saw him earlier in the year. I hadn't met with him again until this month. So he got an earful, as I "had" to get him caught up. We talked for an hour and a half! It's rather amusing. They are both appreciated, however and encouraging.
March, 2006
"Book Sale"
The first few days of March was the remainder of our Annual Book Sale. It was so much easier this year. We set the books up on the new shelves in our "new" back room, instead of on extra tables all over the library. We were ready for the sale about a week and a half before the sale was held. That has never happened before - well, not in my 'lifetime' at this library. It was so nice not to have the mess all over the library, not to have to carry boxes back and forth, unpack and repack, not to have to cram at the last minute yet during closed hours to get ready. We sorted our books this year by the first two letters of their call numbers (Library of Congress classification). It was much neater, used less space, less harried, less work and less stressful (I'm all for that!). We did our commercial! We were ready! We were pumped!!! Then when we were done, we counted our money... We only took in about 2/3'rds what we usually do. :-( What a disappointment. We weren't open for Saturday this year. We did get some phone calls asking about Saturday. That may have made some difference. So next year we are extending it to Saturday again. The TV commercial brought in 2 people. So that wasn't really the big of a draw. The students didn't respond like they usually do in the past. How sad. Well there's always next year.
"Shadowlands"
We put on a play every year. Every other year it is a musical and the "off" year it is 'just' a play. But our "just a play" this year was Shadowlands, a play about C.S. Lewis. I was very impressed. Our participants are mostly the college students, plus a few guests from the public. Our lead character this year truly is a character in real life. But he shaved his beard, let his hair grow back in and followed the directors directions (!). He was quite successful in causing you to forget who was doing the acting, and convincing you of the character he was protraying. Every one came away quite impressed with what a great job he and everyone had done! If you every get a chance to see the PBS video, check it out and watch it. It is by the same name and if you are a C.S. Lewis fan you'll love the video.
"March 23rd"
This was the 6th birthday of our next to the oldest grandson, SF. We all gathered at his other grandparents house for the occasion. He had quite a time. He is a typical second child - opposite of his brother, competitive and in his case, full of energy - very "kinetic." He got, among other things, a full batman costume. He was in 'heaven.' Of course as soon as he got everything opened he had to go put it on and demonstrate to all of us how good a batman he was! What a riot!
"Two bosses"
I actually answer to two deans - one over the college and one over the seminary. The college dean's secretary sets up my monthly appointments with him at the beginning of the semester. The seminary dean doesn't set up any appointments.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
What do you do?
Occasionally I’ve had people ask me ‘what do you do?’ They seem to think I didn’t do anything, especially now that school is out. I have JM who orders books and starts the processing of ordered and donated books. I have AJ who catalogs the books. I have LL who takes care of the front desk and the periodicals and the ILL materials. So what do you do?
I started to explain what some of the things are (reports, meetings, scheduling, uh…um…well…). I started thinking. What do I do? So, I decided I’m going to record what I do for a couple of days and just see what I come up with. Well it turned out that the days I did this ended up being a couple of days when I was the only person here (besides the patrons, oh yes, and a volunteer for a half day). So I had a mix of a little bit of everything. It made me appreciate the rest who were absent that day:
Opening procedures
…..unlock doors
.....change sign to 'open'
…..turn on lights
…..turn on equipment
…..boot up our automated system
…..check for overnight books
…..count the cash drawer
…..change the dates on the stamps
…..put out the new newspaper, dispose of old
…..print the ILL request list
…..pull the books requested
Checked email, voice mail and planner (more than once in some cases)
Readied books for courier pickup
‘Routed in’ books left by courier
Got SS (volunteer) started on a project
Called consortium office for a report template
Trained SS on covering books
Showed SS how to accession
Checked library’s on-campus mail box in administration building
Checked cataloging on books done by our (relatively new) cataloger
=lunch=
Went over Over-due list
Sorted mail
Checked email
Scheduled an appt.
Left message on voice mail for LL
Printed out email responses to questions in cataloging
Wrote out procedure for deleting graduating patrons
Worked on an in-house cuttering table, based on another’s
Answered the desk 4 times (it’s summer)
Answered the phone – unknown times – more than once.
Closing procedures
.....check in books
.....count cash drawer
.....turn off equipment
.....turn off table and bathroom lights
.....take up trash
.....reboot computers
.....shut down software
.....turn off scanner
.....check for patrons
.....turn off ceiling lights
.....change sign to close
.....lock front door
Of all the things I did, only three were really “library director” tasks. – No wonder I sometimes think I don’t get anything accomplished. Although I will have to admit, this was an unusual day with staff members absent. But it seems like there are other days that I don’t get much more of my “own” tasks done, either. Ever feel like that?
There’s always tomorrow. JM is back, LL is here every day now (she's new), AJ will be back in the office tomorrow. Maybe I should keep a new log and see what that reveals!
I started to explain what some of the things are (reports, meetings, scheduling, uh…um…well…). I started thinking. What do I do? So, I decided I’m going to record what I do for a couple of days and just see what I come up with. Well it turned out that the days I did this ended up being a couple of days when I was the only person here (besides the patrons, oh yes, and a volunteer for a half day). So I had a mix of a little bit of everything. It made me appreciate the rest who were absent that day:
Opening procedures
…..unlock doors
.....change sign to 'open'
…..turn on lights
…..turn on equipment
…..boot up our automated system
…..check for overnight books
…..count the cash drawer
…..change the dates on the stamps
…..put out the new newspaper, dispose of old
…..print the ILL request list
…..pull the books requested
Checked email, voice mail and planner (more than once in some cases)
Readied books for courier pickup
‘Routed in’ books left by courier
Got SS (volunteer) started on a project
Called consortium office for a report template
Trained SS on covering books
Showed SS how to accession
Checked library’s on-campus mail box in administration building
Checked cataloging on books done by our (relatively new) cataloger
=lunch=
Went over Over-due list
Sorted mail
Checked email
Scheduled an appt.
Left message on voice mail for LL
Printed out email responses to questions in cataloging
Wrote out procedure for deleting graduating patrons
Worked on an in-house cuttering table, based on another’s
Answered the desk 4 times (it’s summer)
Answered the phone – unknown times – more than once.
Closing procedures
.....check in books
.....count cash drawer
.....turn off equipment
.....turn off table and bathroom lights
.....take up trash
.....reboot computers
.....shut down software
.....turn off scanner
.....check for patrons
.....turn off ceiling lights
.....change sign to close
.....lock front door
Of all the things I did, only three were really “library director” tasks. – No wonder I sometimes think I don’t get anything accomplished. Although I will have to admit, this was an unusual day with staff members absent. But it seems like there are other days that I don’t get much more of my “own” tasks done, either. Ever feel like that?
There’s always tomorrow. JM is back, LL is here every day now (she's new), AJ will be back in the office tomorrow. Maybe I should keep a new log and see what that reveals!
Monday, May 22, 2006
First Friday Coffee
Well, back to my catching up. KR from the development department asked if I would be interested in hosting the First Friday Coffee for B, Missouri's chamber of commerce meeting. They come about 7:30, eat breakfast, and some one does a short informal program. So they came the first Friday in February. We told them of the goings on at our library, some of the accomplishments in recent times, what we have to offer and how they could take advantage of our academic library in their community.
It was a very good opportunity for networking. Out of that meeting, I made two contacts. One I have yet to follow up on. But the other one was a local fellow, KS, who has a digital business. He transfers data from an old media to new, & he does digital photography - stills and movies, including commercials. So, "long-story-short" he came back near the end of February. We had gotten our new shelves in place in a new room in preperations for a book sale; had our books all in place and some student volunteers for actors. He did some filming and put together a 15 second and a 30 second commercial. A "rep" from the local TV station, when he reviewed the commercial, wanted to know how we were able to get "all those people"! We only had about 12 that were involved. But it was done in such a way that it did look like more than that.
It was a fun experience, something I had never done. But it didn't bring in the results that we wanted. If we do that again next year, I think we'll have to be more specific about the times the commercials are run. In the middle of the night doesn't get many folks. Running them with a bunch of other college ads didn't help it stand out, either. But you always learn by experience.
"Friends of the Library" (FOL)
We have been trying for about 4 years now to revive the FOL for this library. I think this year we hit upon a success. We had a dinner, catered in the library, the first day of our annual book sale. In fact that first day was a private sale to the FOL members only. We also had a big draw for a speaker, an alum who had spent about 20 years in Ecuador, translating the New Testament into the Quichua language. We also honored a gentleman who has long supported the FOL and been very active in the past. Also, we honored 8 authors who are alumni of the college. It turned out to be the best and most successful thing we have done yet. So we are thrilled.
We were able to get the new tables and chairs for the library just in time for the dinner, table sets bought with some of the insurance money from the storm that happened in June. (See earlier blogs.) The tables and chairs look wonderful. They are wooden, and all matching. We look so much more academic. (We had had some chairs for so long, that they would fit right it with the new retro' look from the 70's. (Yuck)) We are encouraged now, to use this form of a meeting to bring folks in. Nothing else before had work, but this did. So - we'll try it again and hope it works - again!
It was a very good opportunity for networking. Out of that meeting, I made two contacts. One I have yet to follow up on. But the other one was a local fellow, KS, who has a digital business. He transfers data from an old media to new, & he does digital photography - stills and movies, including commercials. So, "long-story-short" he came back near the end of February. We had gotten our new shelves in place in a new room in preperations for a book sale; had our books all in place and some student volunteers for actors. He did some filming and put together a 15 second and a 30 second commercial. A "rep" from the local TV station, when he reviewed the commercial, wanted to know how we were able to get "all those people"! We only had about 12 that were involved. But it was done in such a way that it did look like more than that.
It was a fun experience, something I had never done. But it didn't bring in the results that we wanted. If we do that again next year, I think we'll have to be more specific about the times the commercials are run. In the middle of the night doesn't get many folks. Running them with a bunch of other college ads didn't help it stand out, either. But you always learn by experience.
"Friends of the Library" (FOL)
We have been trying for about 4 years now to revive the FOL for this library. I think this year we hit upon a success. We had a dinner, catered in the library, the first day of our annual book sale. In fact that first day was a private sale to the FOL members only. We also had a big draw for a speaker, an alum who had spent about 20 years in Ecuador, translating the New Testament into the Quichua language. We also honored a gentleman who has long supported the FOL and been very active in the past. Also, we honored 8 authors who are alumni of the college. It turned out to be the best and most successful thing we have done yet. So we are thrilled.
We were able to get the new tables and chairs for the library just in time for the dinner, table sets bought with some of the insurance money from the storm that happened in June. (See earlier blogs.) The tables and chairs look wonderful. They are wooden, and all matching. We look so much more academic. (We had had some chairs for so long, that they would fit right it with the new retro' look from the 70's. (Yuck)) We are encouraged now, to use this form of a meeting to bring folks in. Nothing else before had work, but this did. So - we'll try it again and hope it works - again!
Old Deweys
I thought I had an opportunity to give away some old Dewey Decimal books. Someone had asked for give-aways for a friend. This friend travels overseas and helps struggling libraries set up their collection. But, alas, my 16th and 17th editions were a bit too old. (I didn't tell her that I had some even older then that!) Some things you just can't even give away! Sigh! :-)
.....Oh well, I have found a use for recycling old books anyway, actually, I should say book covers. They transform into really neat purses and are cute gifts, or - as one library I know - use them (purses) to raise money for FOL! (A dewey would make one BIG purse!!!)
.....Oh well, I have found a use for recycling old books anyway, actually, I should say book covers. They transform into really neat purses and are cute gifts, or - as one library I know - use them (purses) to raise money for FOL! (A dewey would make one BIG purse!!!)
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Rewind!
Since I have not blogged all semester until this May, I am going to back up or "rewind" to the beginning of the semester and give you enteries by the month.
Are you feeling the warm temperatures of springtime and impending summer? Let me take you back to January then when it was cool - cold - or freezing, depending on which day it was. We didn't have much snow in eastern Kansas or the "KCMO" metro area. But we did have some days of beauty and inconvenience!
"Vacation days and mis-counting"
I was on Christmas vacation and enjoying my time off. The faculty are given extra days off. So between Christmas and New Year's Day we have the whole week and don't have to use our vacation days. Well - my "forgetter" started out the semester getting cranked up (it got worse as the semester wore on.) I came back to work a day early because I didn't want to use up all my vacation time, only to find out when I got to work I had more days to use than I thought!! Oh well, it worked okay - I got to take the day after MLK Day off, too. That's always nice. When there's a Monday holiday, I like to take Tues. off too when I can. Then I don't have to drive the 85 miles to the city to work. I can just stay home and enjoy an even longer weekend. ( I always have Weds. off - because I work 20 hours the first two days and 20 hours the last two days.) Yes, it's a strange work schedule, but hey, I get a "5 day" weekend when I take the Tuesday off with the Monday!!! - We need one once a month, don't you think????
"New Laptop"
I got a new laptop for Christmas. Probably sounds like no big deal. But this is my first one! I have been wanting to get one for 10 years. It finally worked out to where I felt like I could afford one and still have a desk top. My husband likes it, too. When I'm away at work, he'll lay in bed and watch DVD movies on "my" laptop. In fact I think he's used it more lately than I have. I probably would use it even more, but it does not have a floppy drive. I know, I know, they don't make them that way anymore - but my desk top still does, and doesn't have a CDRW drive. So it makes them incompatible - a real pain! (Don't tell me - I just haven't had time to bother getting an external drive. But maybe one of these days I will.)
"Ladies Luncheon"
On a Friday in January, (13th) BRBC (a church) invited the ladies from CBCTS to come to their ladies missionary meeting. We do this about once a year. Usually it is in December, but this school year, the December meeting was cancelled. So we went in January. This year I was asked to share about the work in the Library. This is a church that my family and I attended 25 years ago when we lived here in the city. So I knew many of the ladies and they remembered us and our kids. It was kind of like a 'reunion.' I shared the work of the library and what all has been accomplished or changed in the last 5 years since I came. Most of it I cannot take credit for, I don't believe. Somethings are "goina" happen no matter who's sitting in the director's chair. I also shared with them the efforts of trying to revive the Friends of the Library. I briefly mentioned some family news (some good, some not so good) and before I knew my 5 minutes (or whatever it was suppose to be) was long gone. But I enjoyed the visit. It was hard to leave and go back to work. But I had ridden with others and didn't have any choice!
"Hanging on"
In the middle of January I had a dental checkup. I had had a bridge put in after Christmas. That was an interesting experience, albeit better than I expected. For the first time in my life, I have a rather decent smile with straight bottom teeth. But I think I would recommend going the do-it-when-you-are-younger-and-get-braces route if you can. Oddly enough, it is strange to feel something in your mouth that is 'foreign'. It has taken a little while to get used to the feel, and to some extent how to talk with this strange formation.
The Wednesday night, after being to the dentist that afternoon, I started getting a sore throat. I have battled sinus infections for years. So, I was sure that was what was happening. The dentist had given me a RX for an antibiotic. So on my way to work Thursday morning I stopped at the drug store and got it filled. By Thursday afternoon, I was not feeling good at all. I went to my guest room on campus and laid down. By Friday, I ended up going home early. Saturday was mostly spent on the couch. By Sunday, I could not believe how sick I felt. I had not had a respiratory illness like this since I was a baby. [Ok, I could say "ever" but according to my mother, I was ill many times my first year of life and in and out of the hospital several times, with bronchitus and pneumonia.] Sunday afternoon I ended up in the ER and spent the next four days (counting Sunday) on the couch in the Living Room - morning and night. I tried sleeping upstairs in the bedroom, but when I laid down flat my head will fill up and I would start coughing. My husband nor I would get any sleep. So I'd go back down stairs either to the couch (propped up at one end), or in the recliner.
By Thursday I felt much better and went back to work. Oops! Bad mistake. I went home again early that Friday. This pattern went on for about 3 weeks. Finally by the middle of February I was feeling much better. I could not believe how long this 'bug' hung on and on. About a month after it started, I felt like I could actually say I was over it. Boy! I don't want to have to go through that again! Argh! Every body at work was wonderful, pitching in and helping out where I dropped the ball. JM is a jewel. She should get the biggest crown someday, for serving others. The library didn't miss a beat with her keeping things running for me.
"Maybe nextime"
Well, I like to put in links or some kind of information that will help others, so this blog isn't "all about me." But I really don't have any I can put in, for this month. I guess the advise I'd give at this point is: don't get sick!! :-) It isn't fun. (Have days off from work, but you're so sick you can't enjoy the time off!!) :-)
Are you feeling the warm temperatures of springtime and impending summer? Let me take you back to January then when it was cool - cold - or freezing, depending on which day it was. We didn't have much snow in eastern Kansas or the "KCMO" metro area. But we did have some days of beauty and inconvenience!
"Vacation days and mis-counting"
I was on Christmas vacation and enjoying my time off. The faculty are given extra days off. So between Christmas and New Year's Day we have the whole week and don't have to use our vacation days. Well - my "forgetter" started out the semester getting cranked up (it got worse as the semester wore on.) I came back to work a day early because I didn't want to use up all my vacation time, only to find out when I got to work I had more days to use than I thought!! Oh well, it worked okay - I got to take the day after MLK Day off, too. That's always nice. When there's a Monday holiday, I like to take Tues. off too when I can. Then I don't have to drive the 85 miles to the city to work. I can just stay home and enjoy an even longer weekend. ( I always have Weds. off - because I work 20 hours the first two days and 20 hours the last two days.) Yes, it's a strange work schedule, but hey, I get a "5 day" weekend when I take the Tuesday off with the Monday!!! - We need one once a month, don't you think????
"New Laptop"
I got a new laptop for Christmas. Probably sounds like no big deal. But this is my first one! I have been wanting to get one for 10 years. It finally worked out to where I felt like I could afford one and still have a desk top. My husband likes it, too. When I'm away at work, he'll lay in bed and watch DVD movies on "my" laptop. In fact I think he's used it more lately than I have. I probably would use it even more, but it does not have a floppy drive. I know, I know, they don't make them that way anymore - but my desk top still does, and doesn't have a CDRW drive. So it makes them incompatible - a real pain! (Don't tell me - I just haven't had time to bother getting an external drive. But maybe one of these days I will.)
"Ladies Luncheon"
On a Friday in January, (13th) BRBC (a church) invited the ladies from CBCTS to come to their ladies missionary meeting. We do this about once a year. Usually it is in December, but this school year, the December meeting was cancelled. So we went in January. This year I was asked to share about the work in the Library. This is a church that my family and I attended 25 years ago when we lived here in the city. So I knew many of the ladies and they remembered us and our kids. It was kind of like a 'reunion.' I shared the work of the library and what all has been accomplished or changed in the last 5 years since I came. Most of it I cannot take credit for, I don't believe. Somethings are "goina" happen no matter who's sitting in the director's chair. I also shared with them the efforts of trying to revive the Friends of the Library. I briefly mentioned some family news (some good, some not so good) and before I knew my 5 minutes (or whatever it was suppose to be) was long gone. But I enjoyed the visit. It was hard to leave and go back to work. But I had ridden with others and didn't have any choice!
"Hanging on"
In the middle of January I had a dental checkup. I had had a bridge put in after Christmas. That was an interesting experience, albeit better than I expected. For the first time in my life, I have a rather decent smile with straight bottom teeth. But I think I would recommend going the do-it-when-you-are-younger-and-get-braces route if you can. Oddly enough, it is strange to feel something in your mouth that is 'foreign'. It has taken a little while to get used to the feel, and to some extent how to talk with this strange formation.
The Wednesday night, after being to the dentist that afternoon, I started getting a sore throat. I have battled sinus infections for years. So, I was sure that was what was happening. The dentist had given me a RX for an antibiotic. So on my way to work Thursday morning I stopped at the drug store and got it filled. By Thursday afternoon, I was not feeling good at all. I went to my guest room on campus and laid down. By Friday, I ended up going home early. Saturday was mostly spent on the couch. By Sunday, I could not believe how sick I felt. I had not had a respiratory illness like this since I was a baby. [Ok, I could say "ever" but according to my mother, I was ill many times my first year of life and in and out of the hospital several times, with bronchitus and pneumonia.] Sunday afternoon I ended up in the ER and spent the next four days (counting Sunday) on the couch in the Living Room - morning and night. I tried sleeping upstairs in the bedroom, but when I laid down flat my head will fill up and I would start coughing. My husband nor I would get any sleep. So I'd go back down stairs either to the couch (propped up at one end), or in the recliner.
By Thursday I felt much better and went back to work. Oops! Bad mistake. I went home again early that Friday. This pattern went on for about 3 weeks. Finally by the middle of February I was feeling much better. I could not believe how long this 'bug' hung on and on. About a month after it started, I felt like I could actually say I was over it. Boy! I don't want to have to go through that again! Argh! Every body at work was wonderful, pitching in and helping out where I dropped the ball. JM is a jewel. She should get the biggest crown someday, for serving others. The library didn't miss a beat with her keeping things running for me.
"Maybe nextime"
Well, I like to put in links or some kind of information that will help others, so this blog isn't "all about me." But I really don't have any I can put in, for this month. I guess the advise I'd give at this point is: don't get sick!! :-) It isn't fun. (Have days off from work, but you're so sick you can't enjoy the time off!!) :-)
Monday, May 15, 2006
Stubbed Toe
Have you ever noticed how much you hurt "all over" or how impaired you are when you've hurt something as little as a toe, or finger or other "seemingly insignificant" body part? You don't realize how much you use something until you have to do with out it! Well I feel like I have a professional stubbed toe, actually maybe two.
One of my staff ladies (cataloger) is gone for two weeks. She has to help her mother get things moved out of a house to get it ready to sell. Her "vacation" started last Friday. Yesturday evening (Sunday) I got a phone call at home from my other staff lady (acquisitions clerk). She's had an (expected) death in her family. She and her husband left early this morning to go 'back home' for the funeral. Alas, our school year is also over so the students are gone - including my student workers. I have hired a new circulation supervisor to replace the one that left last December. But she doesn't start till Thursday. So today I have been holding down the fort by myself. It's not too bad, really. It's probably good for me to get my hands into some of the routine tasks of every day. But it sure slows up getting things done. (Fortunately we are a small academic school; so we're not real busy now, either.) I had three newspapers to put out today because of it being the weekend for the last 2 days. It took me until about 3 this afternoon to get to them and then it took quite a while to get them all done, with interruptions and all. (No, I didn't read them all!) :-)
"Devised Second Cuttering Table"
This evening I have been reading information on what another academic library did to devise call numbers for bible commentaries that are not volume-numbered sets, (at least, not from beginning to end). I like their method, but would like to tweak it a little. The idea is to use the initial number for whole bible commentaries for the first part, (in this case BS413); do the standard cutter number for the series (H47), then create a second cutter number based on the name of the series for the letter, ("H") and the LC number for the book of the bible, (e.g. Matthew's 2d cutter number would be H2575).
This would be perfect if it would end there. But cataloging is never that simple, huh? You have books of the bible that are I and II such-and-such, AND you have situations like additional editions of the commentaries by the same author or additional editions by a NEW author!!! humph! Well I like the idea of adding a one or a two (or a three in the case of III John) to the original number for the "I and II such-and-such" books. Then to preserve the spot the one's and two's are in, add a zero to all the other book's call numbers that don't have "I" and "II".
If I do that, then when there's an update I can add a 1 for original author and a 2 for new (2d) author, etc. Thus the book for just II Samuel would be BS413 H47 H13252. If it is a new edition by the original author it would be BS 413 H47 H132521; and a new edition by a new author: ....H132522.
Now here comes the commentaries on Matthew, in the particular series I am working on. There are THREE commentaries (volumes) to the ONE book of Matthew. Now what do I do? BS413 H47 H25750 CH. 1-7 (for chapters)? or BS413 H47 H25750 vol. 1? I could add the "1" (for vol. 1, etc.) to the end of 25750. Or should it be 257500? (two zeros.) But if, after the first four digits, each digit placement indicated something in particular that would mean adding more zeros to all the other books. Make sense?
So, the fifth digit would represent whether it's a I Such-and-Such, or a II, or not at all. The Sixth digit would indicate what kind of update. The seventh digit would indicate what volume this book is to the book the first four digits represent (e.g.2575=Matthew). But to hold everyone's "place" I would have to add zeros to others who don't have need for a 1 or 2...so as to hold the places open for future needs. I would end up creating rather long numbers for every book, something Dewey is famous for, but not normally in LC!
Well, I haven't implemented my "wild plan" (-besides my cataloger is gone, remember? and she'll get the privleges of making all the changes!) :-) But I think it will work. We'll see. "Stay tuned."
Tell me what you think. Point out anything I may not be thinking about that would throw a monkey wrentch in the works. This needs to be logical and also well thought out.
One of my staff ladies (cataloger) is gone for two weeks. She has to help her mother get things moved out of a house to get it ready to sell. Her "vacation" started last Friday. Yesturday evening (Sunday) I got a phone call at home from my other staff lady (acquisitions clerk). She's had an (expected) death in her family. She and her husband left early this morning to go 'back home' for the funeral. Alas, our school year is also over so the students are gone - including my student workers. I have hired a new circulation supervisor to replace the one that left last December. But she doesn't start till Thursday. So today I have been holding down the fort by myself. It's not too bad, really. It's probably good for me to get my hands into some of the routine tasks of every day. But it sure slows up getting things done. (Fortunately we are a small academic school; so we're not real busy now, either.) I had three newspapers to put out today because of it being the weekend for the last 2 days. It took me until about 3 this afternoon to get to them and then it took quite a while to get them all done, with interruptions and all. (No, I didn't read them all!) :-)
"Devised Second Cuttering Table"
This evening I have been reading information on what another academic library did to devise call numbers for bible commentaries that are not volume-numbered sets, (at least, not from beginning to end). I like their method, but would like to tweak it a little. The idea is to use the initial number for whole bible commentaries for the first part, (in this case BS413); do the standard cutter number for the series (H47), then create a second cutter number based on the name of the series for the letter, ("H") and the LC number for the book of the bible, (e.g. Matthew's 2d cutter number would be H2575).
This would be perfect if it would end there. But cataloging is never that simple, huh? You have books of the bible that are I and II such-and-such, AND you have situations like additional editions of the commentaries by the same author or additional editions by a NEW author!!! humph! Well I like the idea of adding a one or a two (or a three in the case of III John) to the original number for the "I and II such-and-such" books. Then to preserve the spot the one's and two's are in, add a zero to all the other book's call numbers that don't have "I" and "II".
If I do that, then when there's an update I can add a 1 for original author and a 2 for new (2d) author, etc. Thus the book for just II Samuel would be BS413 H47 H13252. If it is a new edition by the original author it would be BS 413 H47 H132521; and a new edition by a new author: ....H132522.
Now here comes the commentaries on Matthew, in the particular series I am working on. There are THREE commentaries (volumes) to the ONE book of Matthew. Now what do I do? BS413 H47 H25750 CH. 1-7 (for chapters)? or BS413 H47 H25750 vol. 1? I could add the "1" (for vol. 1, etc.) to the end of 25750. Or should it be 257500? (two zeros.) But if, after the first four digits, each digit placement indicated something in particular that would mean adding more zeros to all the other books. Make sense?
So, the fifth digit would represent whether it's a I Such-and-Such, or a II, or not at all. The Sixth digit would indicate what kind of update. The seventh digit would indicate what volume this book is to the book the first four digits represent (e.g.2575=Matthew). But to hold everyone's "place" I would have to add zeros to others who don't have need for a 1 or 2...so as to hold the places open for future needs. I would end up creating rather long numbers for every book, something Dewey is famous for, but not normally in LC!
Well, I haven't implemented my "wild plan" (-besides my cataloger is gone, remember? and she'll get the privleges of making all the changes!) :-) But I think it will work. We'll see. "Stay tuned."
Tell me what you think. Point out anything I may not be thinking about that would throw a monkey wrentch in the works. This needs to be logical and also well thought out.
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