Several questions instantly popped up for me (and I’m sure more will as I continue thinking about it) – how do you determine what books are going to be selected for this machine? Hot topics? Best seller lists? New releases?
Also, does it require multiple copies of a book, or can you expand your selection by having only one copy of each title? Is this just for big library use, or is this something smaller libraries could use? I can only imagine the cost since even basic book drop bins can cost hundreds of dollars or more.
As for the book return, since the book is inside a cassette box, how can it tell what item is being returned? If the barcode or identifying scan is on the cassette, how can you be sure the correct book is put into the correct case? What is the item check out limit per patron?
Very cool.
Today is the first day of Graduate school. Officially. Oh my!
Luckily, I’m already ‘in the mode’ thanks to the onsite orientation about two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve cleaned and organized my artroom, cleared a space where I can easily read and write, and where tools and supplies are readily accessible. Maybe I’m one of those people, but for a little over a week now I’ve been watching the first few lectures, completed my first reading assignment, and taken notes (…and taken notes, and taken notes…)
I’ve been keeping up to date with the 23 things blog on SLJ, but I haven’t been posting response entries because they’re skills I’m already utilizing so it’s not as high a priority to sit down and write a reflection post when there’s other more pressing things that need to get done before I really have no time to do them now that school has started.
As a personal goal, however, I would like to continue blogging as I continue my studies; and I am sure the crunched time will help me to focus and write down what it is I want to say without having to take the long way to get there. READ: I want to make a habit of shorter entries. (“and there was much rejoicing… ALL: yay! yay!”)
Happy School Days, everyone!
Graphic Novels for Kids Display 2
Originally uploaded by merlibra
Close up of my comic alter-ego. She really has a way of coming in handy…
the Librarian Newbie
MerLibra Trading Card Originally uploaded by merlibra
I’ve created several variations of the MerLibra trading card… but this is the only one you’ll ever see online.
My favorite one was me sitting and reading in a bathtub (clothed, mind you! with tank top and shorts!) with books lining the baseline of the tub, but seeing my bare arm and a bare knee bent up, well… while still done in good taste, it was still somewhat boudoir reminiscent, leading minds to where they need not go.
So here I am relaxing in my artroom, reading the Almighty Dorothy Parker.
I’m sooooo going to have to make a card of my SigOth!
When we talk about Privacy Issues today, it seems we are so consumed by the politically fueled current events of terrorism and the Patriot Act that we forget other dangerously close to home (at your doorstep) reasons to protect each others right to privacy. (I’ll warn you – this isn’t a cheerful post.)
For the most part, we believe in the goodness of other people and we inherently put our faith in that integrity which may or may not exist. It’s easy to get carried away with posting pictures… there’s so many things that make us happy and we desire to joyfully share with others. Acquiring people’s permissions become a fuzzy memory when they wind up in fun snap shots; it is sometimes difficult to reign ourselves in when we might need to double check if we’ll inadvertently provide enough detail to remove or destroy our privacy (or that of others).
I have always been hesitant to post photos online because unlike writing, photos are very tangible things that can easily erase the ability to be anonymous. Perhaps it’s my own experiences with abuse – either directly as a someone who recovered, or indirectly as a protective educator.
When I was a intern teacher in a public school, we had to post pictures and names of students with care. We had a student who was part of a foster family, and several others throughout the school who lived in divorced families. In a library setting, I was approached by a patron who was a foster-care parent. To help insure the privacy and protection of the children in their care, they requested that the children’s last names not be written on the little paper name tags that would be posted on one of the walls inside the library.
It’s a hard reminder that some children are in foster care not because they are orphans, but because they’ve been removed from parents who ought not to be; and there are reasons why some divorced families have a court ruling full custody in favor to one parent.
It’s an incredibly unfortunate thing to think about, but it’s a horrible reality: just as there are many wonderful, loving, caring parents and people in the world, there are unsavory ones as well. Resentful and/or abusive people have used the internet to try to locate minor children and previous spouses for malicious reasons. Finding an identifiable image and/or first and last name of a child on a school or public website may alert such harmful persons to the locale of the people who sought protection against them.
When taking on Privacy Issues from any standpoint -whether Legal, Library, or Activist- it’s important not to forget the ramifications if these invaluable protections were not in place.
Originally uploaded by merlibra
“Ants carry letters and words up an ant hill and their traffic spells out “Catch the Reading Bug,” our theme for this years summer reading program. Colorful paper butterflies float overhead in a ‘leafy’ glen. A net is perched to swoop up a blue butterfly. This display was created on top of the picture book shelving.”
For my first Flickr post, I decided to share the display I am most proud of… My ‘woodland glen’ of butterflies and industrious ants!
Getting set up with Flickr was a classic, clean and easy sign- and set-up. I’ve known about it since it came onto the web when a number of friends made immediate use of it. Through Michael’s abundant Flickr posts on TTW, and the wonderful examples set by other Web 2.0 embracing libraries, I’m finally beginning to warm to the idea.
It is with great sadness I write about SLJ’s #3 Thing: Podcasts in this post without my laptop, and as a result, do not have access to my podcast subscriptions, nor am I able to discover if I have the ability to create a podcast if I so chose to create one. *sigh*
Anyway. I have yet to swamp myself with RSS’s the way I swamp myself with podcasts. It makes me wonder why there are seemingly so many out there to listen to. Is it because it is easier and quicker to speak than it is to write and edit an entry before posting it to a blog? Probably. Does it have something to do with most people’s comprehension abilities processing information faster when they hear it instead of reading it from a page? Or is because it’s something we can multi-task with, as we can have a podcast playing through our headphones while we do something else?
I began listening to podcasts as a way to make time for mindful/spiritual thinking. I commute a little over an hour each day to and from work, so I thought that would make for excellent time to listen to several pagan podcasts I had subscribed to. It’s nice to have a little ‘me-time’ in the car before and after work.
Some podcasts have introduced me to new music, new ideas, new food for thought. Some have responded to listener emails or interviewed a special guest. One podcast in particular is recorded by a group of people who share an hour’s long discussion over certain topics – which is fun to listen to with all their differing points of view and how they interact.
Once I have my laptop back in working order, I am very excited to learn how to create a podcast, though I’ll admit, I don’t have any solid ideas what it could be about. The teen librarian and I at my POW have talked about creating podcasts for our library; however not only is our website currently unable to be updated, but we’re not sure we have the tools to pursue our ideas.
Some of our ideas included:
- Spoken Book Reviews: at first, these could be performed by the librarians, but we thought it would be neat to interview our teens and kids about books they’re reading.
- Event Promotion: You only have so much space on a flyer or space in the paper. With a podcast, you could describe special upcoming events, detailing as much as you’d like – think of it as a commercial without video!
- Patron Interviews: Patrons (of all ages) could be interviewed, either as a way to help promote the library in how patrons are using our services, or to help promote community by having them tell us about themselves and gain a little feel for celebrity.
- New Book Excerpt: To help promote new books, department librarians could read an excerpt to help foster interest in new titles.
For now, we hold our ideas in our back pocket and await eagerly for an opportunity to learn how to create a podcast so we can test out our ideas… but perhaps in the meantime, someone else can take these ideas and make them work for their library. I’m looking forward to hearing how other libraries are utilizing the podcast!
