From Retirement to Replacement

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the library is still here and life goes on.

New Title!

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

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

Job Announcement

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

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

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

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

Christmas is Done

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

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

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

10 January 2007
sg

overdue book! (I'll say!)

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

Timing/automation/speed

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

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

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

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

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

Puns

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

Too Much?

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

I Corinthians 13, Christmas Version

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

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

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

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

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

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

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

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

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

Love never fails.

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

Have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Book Repair

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Carols

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

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

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

Organizational Behavior and Culture

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Giving of our Thanks

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

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

swg 11-2-2006


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

Cataloging

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

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

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

Tuesday - Election Day!

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

Here are some examples:
One vote revisited

Durango Herald

Clean Air bill

ABC news

Hallowed Evening

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

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

Nothing profound

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Kroeker Mouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What more could you want?

SOFIA 2006

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

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

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

John W. Peterson

In case you haven't heard, beloved writer and composer, John W. Peterson, has moved into his 'mansion, just over the hilltop.' He will be missed by thousands (or more) of us who grew up with his music. His music was of "our generation" in the realm of Christian music for so many of us.

His obituary was sent to me and is as follows: Gospel composer John W. Peterson went home to be with the Lord on September 20, 2006, at the age of 84. He passed into eternity very peacefully at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, surrounded by his family. He was born in Lindsborg, Kansas, on November 1, 1921, and began his musical career while still in his teens. During World War II, he served as an Army Air Force pilot flying the famed “China Hump” and received an Air Medal Award. After the war, he attended Moody Bible Institute and went on to graduate from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. While in Chicago, he was on staff at radio station WMBI and was responsible for several weekly programs. Shortly thereafter, John and his family settled in Montrose, Pennsylvania, where he continued his songwriting career while working as Music Editor at Singspiration, a sacred music publishing company. When the company was acquired by Zondervan Publishing House, he relocated his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was President and Editor-in-Chief of Singspiration for over ten years. Then after moving to Scottsdale, he co-founded Good Life Productions and a few years later established the John W. Peterson Music Company. He served on several boards, including Gospel Films (now Gospel Communications) and Family Life Radio Network. He was a member of Scottsdale Bible Church for the past 34 years and had been very active as a board member and Enrichment Class teacher.

His music has been loved and sung around the world. He has composed over 1,000 individual songs, including “It Took a Miracle,” “Over the Sunset Mountains,” and “Heaven Came Down.” In addition, he has written 35 cantatas and musicals, such as “Night of Miracles,” “No Greater Love,” “Carol of Christmas” and “Love Transcending.” As a composer, he was a long-time member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Throughout his life he received numerous honors and awards, some of which include: Sacred Music Award from the National Evangelical Film Foundation, International Composer of the Year from SESAC, The Music Achievement Award from Christian Artists, The Ray DeVries Church Music Award, Doctor of Sacred Music from John Brown University, Doctor of Divinity from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, and Doctor of Fine Arts from Grand Canyon University. In 1977, his autobiography, “The Miracle Goes On,” was published by Zondervan Publishing House, and a film by the same title was released by Gospel Films. In 1986, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.


There will be a Memorial Tribute service on Friday, October 6 at 2:00 pm, Scottsdale Bible Church; 7601 E. Shea Boulevard; Scottsdale, AZ.

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I am not usually that emotionally touched by people on the 'public stage of life.' But I did have a few encounters with John Peterson myself. His brother was my pastor for a while when I was a teenager. I was also one of many choir members he came to Birmingham, Alabama to direct in a cantata when he had an allergic reaction to aspirin, was rushed to a hospital and nearly died. Also his nephew married a High School classmate of mine.

My all time favorite cantata is still "Night of Miracles." I could probably sing it all from memory, but most people don't want to hear me sing... Phrases and storylines from the Christmas story still trigger to this day lines from the cantata. He will be greatly missed - especially by those over the age of 50, I suspect! My prayers and sympathy go to his wife and family. Our loss is definitely heaven's gain!

BANNED BOOKS WEEK

This week is banned books week for ALA. There were 405 books that were challenged last year. But, according to a news reporter, none were actually banned.

On a listserv that I'm on, we occasionally discuss the values of the ALA philosophy and how the Christian is able to work that into his own philosophy. My institution does not believe in censorship, either (among other core values). However, it will not allow and neither will I pornography, i.e. anything that is purposely promoting sexual perversion. This does allow us to have in our collection books that have been written on sex (for example) - from a physiological, biological, and social point of views as well as spiritual - i.e. Christian. It also allows books on Renaissance art that are 'revealing,' shall we say, as well books on drawing that are designed to teach aspects of art including drawing the human body.

At the same time, we all 'censor' what we purchase all the time. This was a point that I raised in Library School. When it comes right down to it, technically, what you don't buy, you have censored. Whatever your library is, determines what you buy as it also determines the criteria for purchasing. Since we are an academic library we are primarily focused on training young people for a life of service from a biblical worldview whether it is preaching in a church, or hammering nails on a construction site. We have a narrow focus of the majors we offer. We do not teach forestry, or hog raising, or carpentry, or how to manage an airline business so we do not purchase books that have anything to do with fields as they are not a part of our curriculum. So do we censor? Yes, all the time. Do we prohibit points of view just because we don't agree with them. Absolutely not. In fact we look for them so that opposing points of view can be studied.

No academic institution is 'worth it's salt' if it does not allow intellectual freedom. Recently three sources were listed on the above mentioned listserv that deal with this very subject:

Dahl, Katherine. “Intellectual Freedom Stands of American Bible College Libraries: Taken or not Taken.” Paper presented at the Association of College and Research Libraries session of the annual meeting of the Illinois Library Association, May 1988. ERIC, ED 307878. 16 pp.

Hippenhammer, Craighton. “Patron Objections to Library Materials: A Survey of Christian College Libraries.” Parts 1 and 2. The Christian Librarian [U.S.A.] 37 (November 1993): 12-17; 37 (February 1994): 40-47. [Results are summarized in
Craighton Hippenhammer, “Intellectual Freedom in Christian College Libraries,” Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom 43 (March 1994): 41+.]

Smith, Gregory A. “Intellectual Freedom and the Bible College Library.” Christian Higher Education 3 (July 2004): 241-59.

One of the listserv subscribers mentioned that ALA actually does a rather fair job of bringing ideas to the table for discussion. It is not perfect but it is a good source to get us thinking and even good as a source (among many) to incorporate in our policies. Those of us who hold to the Christian faith and its values and make it a part of our lives would all agree that ALA does take an extreme liberal left view. But I will also have to add that there is so much divergence within even the evangelical Christian community that it would be difficult to come up with comparable Bill of Rights that could be agreed upon.

Another subscriber, Greg Smith, stated "About the LBR [Library Bill of Rights]: James R. Johnson authored a significant Christian critique of the then-current version in 1990. The essay, which bears the title 'A Christian Approach to Intellectual Freedom in Libraries,' was reprinted in my anthology, 'Christian Librarianship: Essays on the Integration of Faith and Profession' (McFarland, 2002).

One of my book’s reviewers described this essay as follows: 'Meticulously researched and exhaustively documented, James R. Johnson’s accompanying essay outlining a Christian approach to intellectual freedom in libraries is perhaps even more valuable because it boldly proposes a distinctively Christian approach to intellectual freedom. Most libraries in the United States draw upon the American Library Association’s (ALA) Library Bill of Rights as they create policy and procedure related to intellectual freedom. Johnson, however, argues that ALA’s conception of intellectual freedom is defective because it relies upon autonomous individualism, a relativistic view of the truth, and antireligious bias. This ALA policy is ultimately untenable because it attempts to impose an extreme ideological position on intellectual freedom for all libraries. The importance of Johnson’s piece cannot be understated. It is a weighty and well-reasoned alternative to the 'radical liberal approach' (153) of the ALA Bill of Rights.' "

[Citation: Rosen, Scott. Rev. of Christian Librarianship: Essays on the Integration of Faith and Profession, ed. Gregory A. Smith. Christian Scholar’s Review 32 (2003): 465-67. The quote came from p. 466 of the book review.]

This is not a perfect world and never will be. Banned books should never be just because of opposing points of view. But we should also filter anything we do in our society through our values. It doesn't take rocket science to know what is commonly agreed upon to be degrading to our society. There are cultures from antiquity, Christian and otherwise, who have always had their standards for their society. This is not really unique to the Christian faith in origin or practice.

Maybe what those of us in the profession of librarianship need to do is re-evaluate our terminology and how we use it. There is no conclusion here as this is a discussion that will take us well into the future.