This week has been a nightmare! There is so much to do...and just not enough time!

The gang from Libraries for the Future was at the library again this week, and that was a nice time. I wish I lived closer to Rob and Ing so I could do more than hang out at the "smokers' post" outside during breaks. It would be nice to have an unhurried meal with the two of them.

I have finished the first part of my portfolio for the Management class, but the grant isn't going as well as I'd hoped. I am so far behind in Retrieving Information, partly because I am uninspired by the lack of feedback I've received in the class. There are nine papers (I think) that remain unread. The semester is over in two weeks...I can't imagine that he'll even look at half of them. It makes the last few a little harder to get inspired for.

In a brilliant stroke of study avoidance, I raked leaves in the dark and then hung Christmas lights all around the yard. I have no Christmas spirit. I only have bills. Yuck.

Death By Dialog

Well...I've taken the day off from work...to search databases using Dialog.

Does that make me happy? No, no, no.

My head hurts and I feel like I will never use this crap again.

Lancaster County Magazine

Lancaster County Magazine this month has an article, "I Was A Teen Librarian," featuring none other than yours truly. It's a nice article -- lots of great pictures of the kids.

I'm way behind in my classes...and my work. However, it was worth it! I spent three days this week with the wonderful Pam Berger and school librarians from Lancaster County. We started the framework for digital fluency skills that will hopefully become part of the curriculum for some school districts. We spent a lot of time talking about what digital fluency was, and whether it was called fluency or literacy.


There are a couple of cool things I discovered:

1. Writely - this website allows you to do online collaboration in an interesting way. Try it out!
2. Web Notes - when surfing, this type of thing could be HANDY!
3. I've also become a FURL fanatic. Don't be afraid...try it!

OK...I have a paper to write, and some Law & Order tivo-ed.

Peace Out

Monday - Yuck

Today was horrible. I have a 13-year-old patron who is in serious crisis -- but it seems like there's nothing I can do within the confines of my job to help. And doing something on my personal times opens me up to all liability. So I'm stuck. She didn't want to go home today and I told her she had to go home, that there was nothing I could do. And she just started to cry and cry. It was awful.

The Coolness Factor: Ten Libraries Listen To Youth

If public libraries indeed want to attract teens and keep them coming in, they need to take a lesson from the funky bookstores out there. Most importantly, though, libraries need to take a good hard look at what their roles are going to be. How can libraries meet the needs of teens who need social work as much as homework help? For instance, this week I had a teen who is living in a situation that is beyond her control. There is no money for school supplies or clothes. There are seven children and neither parent is working. Should the parents be working? Of course. But can this girl control that? No. She's a poor soul who needs someone to proactively help her. She's so susceptible to getting into trouble. So I took a collection from the staff and bought her and her sister school supplies. Maybe I couldn't take care of all the kids, but at least two of them have something to wear and notebooks and stuff. Is this what the public library is for?

In other news...I actually moved my refrigerator today just so I could avoid studying. Now it's out in the yard. I should probably go move it back.

I have a whole book to read today for LIS2000. Yeah, I can't see that happening...
P

Humph...

Happy Friday!

This is my intern, Bethany. With a very large salad.

This could potentially be the most unflattering photo of her ever taken. She's a hottie...really.

Today was the performance for our Drama Camp. Teens ran the entire workshop and they did an awesome job! The little ones memorized monologues and even made their own scenery. It was very cool.

The weekend calls....P

Collection Development...Witchcraft

Upon returning from my week at Pitt, I was shown a flyer that someone had put all around the teen section. It basically proclaimed that if you read materials about witchcraft, you're going to hell. In my horror, I stomped back to the staff room, certain that I could find a caring and understanding ear. Instead, someone actually said:

"I am personally offended that I have to work in a library that has these books. Especially the ones with the spells."

No, I'm not kidding.

Collection development for teens is not always easy. There is always consideration to what is appropriate. However, just because something offends the religious sensitivities of some people does not mean it shouldn't be in a public library.

I had to leave work because I felt personally attacked. This is the reason that teens were not coming to the library. This judgemental attitude is very upsetting. Perhaps if it had come from the pastor's wife it would be one thing...understandable...and easily dismissed. But this comment came from a librarian - and I'm very upset. This same person also told me, in nicer words, that graphic novels were inappropriate - and that upset me, too.

The truth of the matter is that teens need to have a wide array of resources available to them. Some kids actually check out witchcraft books to learn something or to do a report for school. They don't check them out and start performing spells on people!

What is most troubling is that nobody else spoke up on the side of freedom. Is it just me? Am I destined to have to move from the birthplace in order to not be burned at the stake, too? I have tried to make sure that every spiritual slant is represented in the YA section. And Wicca is a legitimate religion. So I have books on Wicca. Many of the witchcraft books are light - full of goofy stuff for teenage girls. The kids that check them out are not planning on becoming witches. They are curious.

Isn't is great that there is place in this world where teens can come and read about things that interest them?

Well, not in my town...

I'm so frustrated...

It's Like Going Back To School...

Today is my first day at work since the end of June. I took a week for vacation, then a week for Pitt, so here I am - 6:44 a.m., frightened to go back to the library. It's not the library -- it's the mail, and the frightfully long to-do list that I've managed to construct over the last two days.

I did some work on the website this weekend. Check it out - HERE!

OK - it can't possibly be THAT bad, now can it?

Penny