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Seen reading on OC Transpo

2012-01-27T06:09:00.000-08:00

Fitting and Dispensing Hearing Aids by Brian Taylor, AuD, H. Gustav Mueller, Ph.D.
The Economist magazine
Flight Journal
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum
The Destructive War: William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and the Americans by Charles Royster (I had to snicker at that one .... Aren't all wars destructive?)
The Husband: Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies and Aid by Dr. Samantha Nutt
Me: The Tiffin by Mahtab Narsimhan and Love is a Four-Letter Word by Vikki VanSickle (polishing off the last few BOYCA-consideration titles)
Bonus STM read: Sur le Seuil by Patrick Senécal

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2012-01-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers (being read by a colleague!)
The Economist magazine
The Other Side by J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney and Ruth Ryan
No Second Chance by Harlan Coben
The in-between world of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Almost Heaven by Judith McNaught
Hello Canada magazine
Me: Charlie's key by Rob Mills, Monoceros by Suzette Mayr, and Torn from Troy by Patrick Bowman

Mark your literary calendars for 2012....

2012-01-18T07:40:00.001-08:00

Here are some things I am looking forward to in 2012, inspired by (and stealing several items from) the Guardian's amazing list:

The Coriolanus movie in January. It better not suck. Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave, I'm looking at you!). This is violent Shakespeare, but it's a good play. One of my favourites (Measure to Measure is my favourite, if you're wondering).
Cairo: My Country, My Revolution by Ahdaf Soueif (release date: March 27 2012) - I discovered her two novels, The Map of Love and In The Eye Of The Sun when I was working at Nicholas Hoare in Ogilvy's, in 2000. She's amazing.
No Time Like the Present by Nadine Gordimer (release date: sometime in March 2012)
James Bartleman is visiting one of Carlingwood Branch's book clubs, hopefully in April 2012! I plan on sneaking in to this one....
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (release date: May 29, 2012). Seen via this excellent recent article in the Globe about Pakistani literature. Due to (in spite of?) a complete cad of an ex-boyfriend from this country, I have a great deal of esteem for Pakistan's cultural scene (and my heart breaks for the state of the country as a whole).
Not sure if I will enjoy this, but I often enjoy her columns: Everybody Has Everything by Katrina Onstad (release date: May 29, 2012)
I would be remiss not to mention to major life events sandwiched in here: one being the Ottawa Race Weekend, May 26-27, 2012, and the other being CLA 2012 in Ottawa, May 30 – June 2, 2012. I am going to be the Chair of the Local Arrangements Committee for CLA (members of my team are responsible for public relations, library tours and hospitality, donations and charities, and general local stuff relating to the conference). So, should I do the half-marathon (3rd time!) the weekend before? Talk about a busy month.....
Shout-out to my peeps, a.k.a Bookninja: Whiteout: Poems by George Murray (release date: April 2012). Hey, George, did you notice that right below your mention in Q&Q, the next book of poetry was Glickman's, entitled Yarrow? Caught my eye!
The Red House by Mark Haddon (release date: June 19, 2012)
File under: "apprehensive about"? The August release of Amis's new nove, Lionel Asbo: State of England. The Guardian says that "Amis promised that this satire about a violent criminal who wins the lottery will be the "final insult" to the England he's left for the US. The novel will be his revenge on celebrity culture, X Factor vacuity and the decline of England in all its "rage, dissatisfaction, bitterness". " Eeek. I forsee a new "DARTS, KEEF! DARTS!" quotable moment.
Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie (a memoir, appearing in Fall 2012 - I do always love Rushdie's nonfic better...)
Two other novels I am really looking forward to, but can't see a Canadian release date for, are Toby's Room by Pat Barker (into WW1? Watching Downton Abbey right now? Drop everything and read her Regeneration trilogy) and NW by Zadie Smith (White Teeth remains one of my two favourite books of all time. The premise of NW makes me think it might be somewhat similar, or more similar than her previous two novels. We shall see!).
Footnote: I could add more films, such as the Gatsby or Life of Pi adaptations, but frankly, again those would be more File under: Apprehensive about. Although Mira Nair’s adaptation of The Reluctant Fundamentalist sounds promising.....

Favourite teen books of 2011

2012-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

The twin's daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted - Seen via. The scene: Victorian London, the home of the prosperous Sexton family, with father Frederick, mother Aliese, and daughter Lucy. The action: Aliese's twin, the strange and somewhat mysterious Helen, who Lucy had never heard of, appears on the scene, and is taken in by the Sextons. The drama: Several years later, Lucy opens a door and finds one woman dead, the other collapsed. The surviving twin, supposedly Aliese, is acting strangely, prompting the question of whether her behaviour is due to shock and trauma, or guilt, or the fact that she might not be who she says she is. Chilling right through the whole book.

Strings attached by Judy Blundell - Not quite as good as 2009's What I saw and how I lied, but still great, in a spooky, suspenseful kind of way. Kit Corrigan leaves her boisterous Irish family, and her first love, in Providence, RI, to move to New York City, where she hopes to make it big as a star. New York in the 1940s has a hard shell that Kit soon finds difficult to crack; that is, until her boyfriend's father, Nate, turns up and offers to help her out. Nate's shady business dealings soon implicate Kit, who feels beholden to Nate for his help finding work. Meanwhile, her boyfriend has enlisted to go to Korea, and a violent crime is committed. Kit begins to uncover links between her family and Nate's that she might not really want to know about...

Beauty queens by Libba Bray - A plane full of aspiring beauty queens crashes on a desert island. The surviving girls rally to build shelter, find food, and if they are lucky, retrieve their make-up bags. They soon find, however, that the accidental crash may not be so accidental ... and someone may want to ensure that the crash doesn't have any survivors after all. A wonderful romp of a novel, full of humour and a spot-on analysis of feminine ideals and the beauty and modelling industries.

Folly by Marthe Jocelyn - Ooooh, more delicious Victorian London! This novel by Canadian author Jocelyn (of picture book fame) features 15-year-old Mary, sent into service as a scullery maid by her wicked stepmother. Naive Mary soon falls for a young man, and it doesn't end well. Meanwhile, a young orphan struggles to find out where he comes from. Jocelyn is great setting the tone and atmosphere of dirty, desperate Londoners (um, if you're into that sort of thing).

Half brother by Kenneth Oppel - Thirteen-year-old Ben is at first reluctant when his scientist parents explain that they are bringing home a baby chimpanzee for an experiment. They intend to raise Xan as a human, hoping to teach him to speak via sign language. At first, the experiment is a great successs, and Ben and Xan develop a strong rapport. Soon, though, discord runs through the family, with Ben and his mother both disagreeing with the stringent confines of the scientific methods employed by Ben's father. When Xan misbehaves one too many times, and the scientific community becomes uncomfortable, the project loses its funding and Xan’s place in the family is threatened. Oppel convincingly explores questions about scientific ethics, animal welfare, and what it means to be human in this incredibly complicated, and deeply moving, book.

Crossover appeal titles:
Book Of lies by Mary Horlock - Girl pushes her caustic best friend off a cliff - or does she? On the tiny island of Guernsey, everyone has a secret, and not everything is as it seems.

Previous lists: 2010, 2009, 2008.

Sticky patrons

2012-01-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

No, no, it's not that bad (well, it probably is, but I generally don't touch) - I mean metaphorically! And I'm using the term to avoid saying "difficult patrons" which, to me, always makes me think of recalcitrant children.

This article came out awhile ago. It's about having a library "rescue plan" to deal with difficult patrons in the library: the ones who stick around for conversation and can't be dislodged, the ones who like to complain or antagonise, or the genuinely angry ones.

The author Steven, expresses dismay about an academic library conference session he attended where the speaker was suggesting staff deal with these situations by employing "white lies" to extract themselves. The methods suggested were to have a signal among staff for when they need rescuing, to set up a fictional scenario with a colleague to extract yourself, or to interrupt the patron to tell them that you're sorry, but XYZ is happening and you have to go.

Steven suggested a "more honest and forthright" way to deal with these sticky patrons, perhaps having "a designated person take the patron aside for a private conversation" or "referring the patron to the library user’s code of conduct and indicating that failure to comply could result in being banned from the library."

Let's face it: I think I can safely assume that I deal with sticky patrons more often than the average academic librarian, and I think that both responses are valid, but everything depends on who you are dealing with (this from someone who once tried to reason with a stalker: needless to say, that naive attempt didn't end well, and put my in needless danger).

I tend to employ the rule of "three strikes and you're out" with practically everything in the library, from teenaged hoodlums to well-intentioned sticky adults. On the first two occasions, I will try to reason with someone (or politely excuse myself with a nebulous excuse, in the case of sticky patrons). If I find myself in the same situation a third time, I will remind the person of previous conversations, and outline the reasons why their behaviour is not acceptable.

While I have a lot of empathy for people who are lonely and might want to chat, or who have problems of their own, I also think it's important to set boundaries for both staff and patrons, in order to respect the roles and responsibilities of both parties.

What do you do with sticky patrons?

Favourite adult books of 2011

2012-01-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

The Meagre Tarmac: Stories by Clark Blaise - This was my year to read short stories, apparently; see Selecky, below.... Blaise has been on my must-read list for years, now, thanks to Professor Dorsinville at McGill. I was intrigued especially by this recent book when I read that some characters in it made appearances in a novel by Blaise's wife (novelist Bharati Mukherjee). A review in the Globe, including the following excerpt from a previous work, clinched it:

"E.M. Forster, you ruined everything,” laments the narrator of a story from Clark Blaise’s first collection of short fiction, published almost 40 years ago. “Why must every visitor to India, every well-read tourist, expect a sudden transformation?”

..... a Forster reference?... how could I ignore Blaise any longer?

This collection of stories focuses on immigrants arriving in North America from the Indian subcontinent. There are family secrets, schisms, skeletons in the closet, and a fair bit of humour mixed in here as well. To quote the Globe again, Blaise's greatest strength here is his "ingenious use of this hybrid form (in which the reader knows characters through other stories in a way the characters themselves do not) to mirror the experience of the people he writes about: the Indian immigrants who are often entangled in several stories – several histories – simultaneously."

Half-blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - Reading this made me miss reading James Baldwin; it made me want to dig out Go Tell It On The Mountain or "Sonny's blues." I'm not saying it's that good, but it has definite promise. The novel itself interweaves two storylines, as well as the drama of World War II in Europe, the jazz age, and even includes a passing reference to Montreal. In the core storyline, jazz bassist Sidney “Sid” Griffiths reflects back on life as a good, not great, musician, and discovers some surprising news about a wartime colleague, the young mixed-race trumpeter Hieronymus “Hiero” Falk. The second strand of the narrative is set in Berlin and Paris in 1940, and finds Hiero, Sid and their friends making (what later becomes) musical history to the backdrop of increasing racism and the rise of the Third Reich in Paris and Berlin. Compelling reading.

Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt - Scroll down to the last entry in this blog post for a full review.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan - This is my 2011 un-put-down-able title!!! Seriously, thanks a lot Sharron (said sarcastically) - I couldn't concentrate at work all day one day because I was halfway through this and couldn't stop thinking about it! This is a re-writing of The Scarlet Letter, set in a dystopian future. The southern United States have devolved into a radically conservative society, in which criminals are punished not by jail time, but by having their skin dyed a certain colour (based on the seriousness of their crime). Our narrator, Hannah Payne, is a murderer (of her unborn child, the product of a relationship she refuses to tell the authorities about), and is therefore a Red when she wakes up from "surgery." Forced to live on society's fringes, desperate to re-connect with her family and her lover, Hannah has to make some tough choices about her past, her religious beliefs, and her future. Extra credit to the author for planting a sympathetic, progressive woman minister near the end of the book.

Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz - You might know Lisa Lutz from the funny and dark Spellman mysteries; Heads you lose is also a mystery, this time co-authored by her ex-boyfriend, David Hayward. Lutz and Hayward have a history of, shall we say, disagreeing .... They begin to co-author with the intent to alternate chapters, offering feedback on the previous chapter at the same time. The book is ostensibly about siblings Paul and Lacey Hansen, a pot-growing pair of 20somethings. When they find a headless corpse on their property, they decide to move the body to avoid having the police discover their grow-up. One thing, and one body, leads to another.... Meanwhile, authors David and Lisa are busy dragging their old baggage out of the closet. Before long, they are arguing in the footnotes and killing off one another’s favourite characters. It's hard to decide which plot was more interesting – or absurd! This one is NOT for readers who want their stories tied up with tidy bows.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai - A 20something children's librarian, unsure what to do with her adult life, embarks on an impromptu roadtrip (or is it a kidnapping?) with one of her young patrons, a boy with an unhappy home life. Who is leading who in this adventure....? And why are they being followed? A funny, strange, and oddly warm and fuzzy read. Bonus points for chapter headings based on classic children's novels.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - I totally didn't want to read this, because I read A Moveable Feast in my mid-teens and was highly influenced by it. I was afraid that this novel would ruin the picture I had in my head of the time that Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, spent in Paris in the 1920s. I shouldn't have been worried - the novel captures Hadley's voice wonderfully, and presents a nuanced, complicated, and ultimately somehow uplifting portraits of the early days of a highly influential woman ... and her husband.

Where Children Sleep by James Mollison - A photo essay book consisting of portraits of children and their "bedrooms;" at left, Ahkohxet from Brazil, and his sleeping quarters. Mollison intended the book to be an exploration of children's rights from a different perspective. Deeply, deeply moving, and surprising in both wonderful and appalling ways.

This Cake Is for the Party: Stories by Sarah Selecky - I'm very proud of myself for reading two short story collections this year. Read my full review of Selecky's book here.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - The titular Major lives in a cozy English town and has lef a fairly traditional, straight life, in keeping with his military training and his organised nature. His well-ordered life goes a bit off the rails, however, when he befriends Ms. Ali, a local shopkeeper. Before long, he is mixed up in all kinds of domestic drama, and the other townspeople are flummoxed by the new Major, with new friends and new opinions (or, frankly, any opinions). Adorable romance for the literate type who enjoyed Old Filth, with less of an edge.

(Favourite adult books of 2010 list here).

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2012-01-06T06:11:00.000-08:00

Hulk vs Hercules: When Titans Clash by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente
something by Frederic Beigbeder
Eona by Alison Goodman
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Escape by Carolyn Jessop
The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq by Joshua Key and Lawrence Hill
An issue of the New Yorker
One Kobo (unknown book)
Me: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan and Infrared by Nancy Huston

Upcoming programs at Carlingwood Branch of OPL

2012-01-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

I'm still just getting settled in my new home, and dealing with a flurry of projects and nice juicy situations to sink my teeth into. Here's a run-down of what we have on the agenda, in terms of programs, in the near future.

Carlingwood has two book clubs, one on the first Wednesday of the month from 2 - 3:30 pm (reading Colm Toibin's Brooklyn this month - I just met them today!), and one on the second Wednesday of the month at the same time (reading The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre this month).

We're also hosting one of the visits by our fabulous Digital Services staff, who will present what I call the Digital Media Petting Zoo (stolen from Lora), but is technically called Digital Media: Downloading Audiobooks , E-books and Music from the library. This session focuses on how to find and download our e-books, audio books, digital music collection, exploring supported devices and OPL policies. The session will be on Tuesday Jan 31, 2012 (6:30 pm - 8:30 pm )

Other fun programs:

Monday Jan 23, 2012 from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Protecting your computer: It only takes about 15 minutes for an unprotected computer to be compromised after connecting to the Internet. Don't let it be yours. Chris Tayler, from the Ottawa PC Users' Group, will give you tips to prevent hacking on your computer.
Monday Feb 27, 2012 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm - Have you been diagnosed with fibromyalgia?: Dr. Joseph Lawrence, a chiropractic neurologist, gives a lecture on one of the most controversial topics in chronic pain. He will discuss lab values, contributing causes, innovative approaches to give results - and much more.
Wednesday Feb 22, 2012 from 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm - Knowledge is Power: Ovarian Cancer Canada representatives will discuss the signs, symptoms and risk factors of the disease.
Monday Jan 30, 2012 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm - The 3 Secrets to Stress Management: Is stress having an overwheming impact on your life? Dr. Surbjit Herr offers safe and effective ways to manage the 3 diffent types of stress, so that they don't take over your body and overall health.
Monday Jan 16, 2012 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm - Cuba - beyond the beaches and resorts: Join traveller and photographer Alex Bissett on a journey through Cuba, visiting colonial cities, beautiful countryside, revolutionary headquarters and the hideouts of Castro and Che Guevara.
Wednesday Feb 15, 2012 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Memoir Writing Workshop with Alan Cumyn (MASC): Alan Cumyn’s books include the Giller Prize finalist, Burridge Unbound, and the acclaimed Great War novels The Sojourn and The Famished Lover. Join him for this workshop on memoir writing. Offered in partnership with MASC. For Adults 50+.

Find a full list of Carlingwood's programs for all ages (we have fabulous children's programs, too, and more exciting adult programs in future months, including sessions on decorating, dog training, and Latin American Percussion!) here.

Favourite children's books of 2011

2011-12-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

Picture books:

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj - Many reviews have compared this interactive story to the Pigeon tales of Mo Willems, and with reason: the suspicious feline narrator of this book addresses the reader, refusing to divulge cat secrets until readers prove they are, in fact, cats themselves.

The Can Man by Laura E. Williams - A poignant story about a young boy who struggles to save enough money for a skateboard, something his family cannot afford to buy for him. He strikes upon the idea of collecting cans to make some quick cash, but soon finds that he is infringing on the livelihood of the Can Man, a local homeless man who used to live in his building. The Can Man generally keeps to himself, but pitches in to help the boy; the boy, meanwhile, struggles with why the Can Man does what he does, and whether the Can Man's desire for a winter coat is more important than his need for a new skateboard.

Won-Ton A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw - A shelter cat tells his story in his own words. A great introduction to poetry in a classroom setting, and a touching story about a tough cat with a vulnerable core. Hate That Cat for the younger set, with fewer tears and more laughs, but just as much heart.

Honourable mentions to two titles technically not published or first read in 2011:

Taming Horrible Harry by Lili Chartrand - This was my go-to book for outreach visits to the K-3 set this year, of which I made significantly fewer, alas. This is the story of a monster who becomes captivated by books and learns to read. A joy to read aloud (with opportunities for roaring (kids) and licking (adults... don't ask....)). Translated from the French.

Not All Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple - Yolen and her daughter co-authored this charming rhyming picture book depicting a variety of princesses (some with power tools, some in sports gear ... all in crowns and NONE in pink). The illustrations are not my favourite, ever, and the crown refrain is a bit tiresome, but this is a good pick for adventurous girls everywhere. Kirkus called it "A joyful and much-needed antidote to the precious pink pestilence that has infested picture books aimed at girls." Ha.

Best book trailer for a picture book: My Rhinoceros by Jon Agee

Middle grades:

The Odious Ogre by Norton Juster - The titular ogre terrorises entire communities until he is utterly confounded by an unfailingly pleasant young girl: “Are you new to the neighborhood?” the girl asks sweetly. “Please don’t leave until you’ve had a muffin.” Ponders the ogre, "I can't be liked. It's bad for business." Verbose, exaggerated fun for the whole family, this book is full of life and wickedly funny.

This Child, Every Child: A Book About the World's Children by David J. Smith
Each page illustrates aspects of children’s lives (at home, at work, schooling, gender inequality, being “on the move” due to adoption, kidnapping, immigration, etc.) and has the text of a related Article from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in a box at the bottom (the simplified text was a bit jarring to me, but appropriate for children). Sometimes, one child’s situation is used as an example of a certain aspect of children’s lives; sometimes, two or more are juxtaposed. There is a section for “learning more” and a great list of sources for all the statistical information in the book. The Children and the future section is a bit of a platform for UNICEF programs, but it is still very good.

The Adventures of Jack Lime by James Leck - Short detective stories written in the style of a 1950s potboiler. And I quote:

"What you are about to read are some of the more interesting cases that have crossed my desk. You see, I'm a detective, a private investigator, a gumshoe. What I do is fix problems for people who need their problems fixed. My name is Jack Lime, and these are my stories."

This book fell into my lap several months before Leck made a series of successful and entertaining class visits to several OPL branches (including Rockcliffe Park, which I was temporarily supervising at the time). Leck was fun to work with, and was great with kids. I hope to see more of Jack Lime, since it's always a struggle to find funny, interesting middle grade books with appeal to both boys and girls.

A Second Is A Hiccup by Hazel Hutchins - A book about time (and thus, math) for the middle grades set. In other words, a pink polka-dotted unicorn. Thank your lucky stars for this charming, engaging book that illustrates different units of time with real-life examples. For instance, "A second is a hiccup--the time it takes to kiss your mom, or jump a rope, or turn around," and "If you build a sandy tower / Run right through a sprinkly shower / Climb a tree and smell a flower / Pretend you have a secret power / That should nicely fill / An hour."

Novels:

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis - A Regency England tale for young girls, about a widower parson, his three unruly daughters, and a family secret. As previously blogged, this tale features "three quarrelling sisters, two highwayman (real/not), secret family magical powers, romance, the clergy, and a flying teacup." Flavia de Luce for the 8-12 year old set.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow - An utterly captivating read. Few of you will know that I am tremendously sentimental about animals (in film and books - I was influenced early and deeply by The Velveteen Rabbit, wept at The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, avoided The Underneath and am currently studiously avoiding War Horse). As such, I am compelled to point out that the cat, Taggle, made the book for me, here. I read this shortly after my cat died and every time Taggle found himself in a sticky situation, I was falling to pieces. I wept. Seriously. ANYWAY, feline attachment aside, this is a rollicking good tale about an orphan who is the victim of a small town's superstitions. Alone and abused, Kate falls under the spell of the mysterious sorcerer, Linay, who, in exchange for her shadow, promises to grant her heart's wish. As Kate agonises over her (limited) choices, she befriends a young girl and learns that her fate, as well as that of her new friend and her deceased mother, might be connected to Linay's world in more ways than one. A truly dark and dangerous fairy tale.

Lily Renee, Escape Artist by Trina Robbins - Seen via the fabulous Elizabeth, this is a graphic novel biography of a real-life comic book artist and Holocaust survivor, Lily Renée Wilheim Peters Phillips. Lily escapes Vienna in 1939 via Kindertransport, arriving in Leeds at the home of her pen pal. She soon realises that some people in wartime England aren't quite as welcoming as she had hoped, and the book follows her as she works various odd jobs (mother's helper, servant, caretaker, candy-striper), eventually securing her (aging, ill) parents' passage to England after years spent unsure if they were still alive. Lily went on to work as a penciller for early comic books, creating and illustrating stories about Jane Martin, a female pilot, and Senorita Rio (at left). The facts of the book are compelling, and I agree with Elizabeth, who writes at Fuse #8 that "one thing about the book I liked without hesitation was the backmatter. In addition to the Glossary of German to English terms there are wonderful sections explaining everything from the British Internment Camps (something I’ve never encountered in a book for kids before) to automats." (Seriously, automats. Read all about them).

The Summer of Permanent Wants by Jamieson Findlay
This was such an odd little book, but I really loved it! Eleven-year-old Emmeline, who suffers from aphasia since an illness abroad, sets off with her grandmother in a boat rigged up as a traveling bookstore one summer. Aboard "Permanent wants," the two voyage down the Rideau Canal Waterway, in towns real and imaginary, encountering characters both possible and impossible. This book works as a novel but is best understood as a series of linked short stories about Permanent wants's various ports of call, and the mysteries Emmeline and her grandmother encounter there. From a lonely woman whose vocation is to be a mailwoman between doppelgangers, to a fraudulent sea captain, to a reptile zoo and its extravagant owners, this is a book rich with diverse characters and suffused with tenderness.

Previous children's lists: 2010, 2009, 2008.

The Children's Book Bank

2011-12-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

On our last visit to Toronto, the Husband and I were fortunate to receive a tour of The Children's Book Bank from our friend, Jackie Flowers, the organisation's assistant executive director.

I first read about The Children's Book Bank in 2010, in this article in the Toronto Star. Later that year, we parked directly outside the Bank on our way to the newly-renovated Parliament Branch of TPL. The Book Bank was definitely something I was aware of, but, to be honest, the impact it has on children's lives was most powerfully observed in person when we visited last month. Both the Husband and I were getting misty-eyed.

From its website, "The Children’s Book Bank is a registered charity that provides free books and literacy support to children in low-income Toronto neighbourhoods." The books are new and gently-used donations received from publishers, organisations such as First Book Canada, schools, groups, and individuals. The Book Bank is located in Toronto’s Regent Park neighborhood (Canada's oldest and largest social housing project), on the main floor of a lovely old rowhouse. Founder Kim Beatty, a litigation laywer, began the organisation as a search for meaningful work. She reasoned that since there were other types of "banks," (eg. food banks and clothing banks), then why not a book bank? Considering that many families would be willing to contribute old children’s books, she and her husband set up the Children's Book Bank in May 2008.

The Book Bank now averages 150 - 200 books given away each day. A small staff, and a large contingent of dedicated volunteers, sort incoming donations (in bins, at left), arrange the shelves (focusing on thematic displays and sections divided by age and popular series reading), provide readers' advisory services, and offer literacy support and programming. Local schools and daycares visit, as well as families from the neighbourhood and further afield. The Book Bank has a complementary relationship with TPL's Parliament Branch across the street: they noticed a dip in visits to the Book Bank when Parliament closed for renovations, and Beatty said in the Star interview that she "will often send children across the street if they are looking for a particular title or popular series." As a librarian, I can see the merit in both organisations: while the library is a great place for voracious reading across a wide range of subjects and levels, there is something very uniquely important about owning a book, both in terms of lifelong learning habits and in terms of personal pride and self-worth.

When we visited The Children's Book Bank on a busy Saturday morning, it was hard to find a place to stand where we weren't in the way of one of the visiting families. In the front room, where the desk and infant / parenting books are, people were coming in and on their way out (every book is stamped before leaving with a peronalised stamp that reads "This book came from The Children's Book Bank and now belongs to _____"). In the back room, a girl and her father were offloading a half-dozen boxes of donations from a book drive she organised at her school. In the early readers room (heavy on series such as The Magic School Bus, Junie B. Jones, and the other usual suspects), a young girl stared shyly at the Husband and I (he smiled at her; she hid) as we perused the warmly-decorated wooden bookshelves and the spectacular table display of medieval stories. In the back room (more novels, and many picture books), we came upon a mother reading to her son in an oversized armchair, and a family sitting on a back bench under a window, also sharing a story. The walls and tops of bookcases are decorated with stuffed animals (all book characters; Jackie says occasionally some find their way home with visitors!) and photos of visiting children with their hand-written book recommendations (see above, at right - "Hannah recommends Ms. Nelson is Missing"). The sense of excitement and wonder was palpable.

For more information about The Children's Book Bank, please check out their Facebook page and blog. They are also on Canada Helps as BN: 844532952RR0001 (registered as: The Children's Bookbank and Literacy Foundation).

At the moment, the Children's Book Bank exists only in Toronto; for more information about future plans, write me (alexandrayarrow -at- yahoo -dot- com).

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-12-29T05:39:00.000-08:00

My team: Paul, Leslie, France, Beatrice, Martin, me, Emilie

This may be the last Bookmobile round-up for awhile, as my time with this amazing team comes to an end. I promise to monitor the news on a less frequent basis, though, and save the juiciest morsels just for you!

Bus –>Public library, via Recyclart
"A conceptual vision for a new public library, which would be housed in a waste tram at the “Otets Paisiy” Street in the town of Plovdiv."
Hitch on bookmobiles: "Christopher Hitchens: 'God is not great' - but bookmobiles are" via the Christian Science Monitor
"“When I was very young I lived in a remote village on the edge of an English moorland,” Hitchens recalled. “Every week, a mobile library would stop near my house, and I would step up through the back door of a large van to find its carpeted interior lined with bookshelves.... If I live to see retirement, I would quite like to be a driver of such a vehicle, bringing books to eager young readers like a Librarian in the Rye.”"

THINGS CHANGE

2011-12-23T08:07:00.001-08:00

Well, that was quite the month.

I've been writing fewer original posts about life in general recently, not from lack of news, but from a surfeit of news, really. I needed to let the dust settle (both in life and inside my head) before I distilled some things in print here (wow. Mixed metaphor. Sorry).

One of my favourite professors from Marianopolis, Dr. McKendy, had several "bits" he used to employ in class as humourous reminders of salient points in our course. One of these was a piece of tongue-in-cheek advice: if you are ever writing an essay piece for a final exam, on a piece of literature you have never read, or you have run out of time, scrawl down "THINGS CHANGE." This will always be applicable to any novel.

I often think of Dr. McKendy, and of THINGS CHANGE (it's always in capitals, ok, and it's always in his voice, too). My entire month of December can be thus described. It was a month in which I found myself contemplating two roads diverging in a wood. It was a month in which I had to give up several dreams, but found another I perhaps needed to fulfill first. It was a month in which I discovered that people I thought were enemies were perhaps at the very least receptive and friendly, and people I thought were friends developed a more complicated, troubled relationship with me. It was a month in which I packed up offices in three libraries, and moved into a cozy one tucked under a staircase, with a bay window. It was a month in which I was able to use extensive knowledge about grief in the workplace. It was a month in which I broke down leaving a thank-you voicemail for a wonderful City of Ottawa employee, with whom I had developed an unexpectedly great rapport with on a City-wide committee this year. It was a month in which I made some mistakes, and was saved only by the generosity and support of my team. It was a month in which I moved beyond projects and external goals, and saw for the first time in my career that maybe I really influenced a team for the better.

It was also a month in which I tabulated the final grades for my Acquisitions class, read voraciously for BOYCA, accepted the role of the Chair of the Local Arrangements Committee for CLA Conference in Ottawa in May 2012, agreed to be on the Ottawa IMPAC committee, trained an employee, coached another, sat on an interview committee, judged some poster sessions, went to Toronto, and fêted the retirement of our City Librarian (one of my own mentors, and a friend).

Maybe I should be clear now.

Late last month, I accepted a new position as the Coordinator of the Carlingwood Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. Carlingwood is one of our larger branches, with some of the highest circulation of material in the entire system (Q3 2011 circ was 145,888, surpassed only by Beaverbrook, Main and Nepean Centrepointe). I'm really pleased to be back in a large branch for the first time since I left Westmount, but I do miss the community feeling in a smaller branch. I already miss doing storytime and find myself lingering in the children's department like a pathetic loser, but I enjoy having more time to focus on supervisory tasks. I am worried about leaving the downtown marginalised populations I have grown to love and admire so much, and with whom I see so much more to be done, even as I know I will discover other groups in my new neighbourhood in great need. I am getting to know the teams I work with, and I continue to be amazed by the great people we have working at the library, full of ideas and ready to go out of their way to support each other and serve our patrons. Everything this month has been a bit like Elizabeth Bird's Fortunately, Unfortunately blog post of last year (brilliant, btw). I am finding myself paralysed when people ask me how things are at Carlingwood: no one really wants the full answer... it would take too long to list all the good things, and all the things I am sad to lose! There is so much going on! THINGS CHANGE!

I'm just getting my bearings, still exhausted from wrapping up a multitude of projects at Bookmobile, training my replacement there, and saying goodbye to three teams: Bookmobile, Homebound, and Rideau Branch (for the first time in five years, no longer my substantive job, my home base amid renovations and repairs and mat leave replacements....). I've hardly even started to make a list of the ideas for Carlingwood swirling in my head. I still have at least three boxes hiding under my desk that I have to unpack.

Here's to turning the page to an exciting new year.

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-12-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

Ottawa in 1800, at the Walkley transitway station

Better than chocolate by Susan Waggoner
The daring deception by Brenda Hiatt
Me: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, my students' exams

So, my lovelies, discuss: why are readers on the #87 reading such absolute shite? And why am I reading a Western? It's like Opposite week!

Bonus reading + public transit link: "Bus-stop books – Israel's newest public library," by Karin Kloosterman: "Wait in line at the bus stop, shuffle through a few books, and take one with you on the commute? The idea could not only increase literacy rates in communities, but also serve as a new way of connecting people [....] Israel already has professors giving scholarly lectures on trains. Maybe thanks to this new project, new authors will give public reading at bus stops. Shoshan thinks such a project could work as a community-builder in disadvantaged areas as well." (with thanks to C for the link)

RA in a Day 2011: Serving Readers with Library Building Projects

2011-12-09T10:11:00.000-08:00

Our last session of the day was Serving Readers with Library Building Projects: Toronto Public Library, Mississauga Public Library, Ottawa Public Library

I was presenting, so no notes on these sessions. My session was Serving Readers at Ottawa, and here are some of my speaking notes.

I opened by speaking about GASP - a set of standards for graphics, ambiance, style and presentation developed by American consultant Peter Robinson, and first implemented in West Palm Beach Public Library (see here). I talked about how this unifying set of standards was very challenging in a large library with 33 branches, but necessary: it doesn’t mean OPL locations have to have to be cardboard cut-outs of one another, but they do have to be identifiably part of the same family. GASP standards apply to everything from promotional posters and customer service to renovations and new buildings. We implemented some of OPL's GASP standards in several of our renovations, and these proceses relate to serving readers, as part of an over-arching idea of customer service in the library.

In several renovations, for instance, our use of slatwall, the use of angles as well as lines, and our common chair and carpet designs, unified branches with a similar visual style.

In serving readers with renovations, one important element is to emphasise the library as a place of discovery. This was something we really tried to highlight at Rideau Branch, for instance: says manager Philip Robert, “I hope that people can walk around [...] and discover ideas, authors, books, etc. that they were not thinking of when they arrived at the branch.” We created small display spaces/nooks as best we could, within the constraints of the building. These mini-displays creates sense of discovery for patrons throughout branch and allows you to use small collections in small branches for small displays.

Other renovation ideas that directly serve readers and highlight collections include gondolas and tiered shelving. The latter is both less intimidating, and invites people down the aisle if you use the flat top for display – this was creatively used in a Vanier Branch renovation to pull people into a somewhat arhcitecturally awkward space in children's non-fiction).

In terms of overall architecture, creating an unobstructed view of stacks is helpful for readers, and invites discovery, as does effective use of lighting and floor. Floor colours and materials can be fun to play with - for instance, at Rideau we created the "green carpet" runway that both complements the oak ceiling beams (you can't fight your architectural bones) and leads patrons to the Information desk; we also placed alphabet carpet tiles along a whimsical hopscotch-style pathway in the children's section. Adorable seating in the children's section add to the atmosphere: staff are commenting that young families are staying in the children's section longer and more often after the renos at both Vanier and Rideau. "One of our goals was to make that section into a destination point for young families," observes Philip, and it definitely worked!

If you know Rideau Branch, you know we are lucky to have 30 foot ceilings, which invite the kind of spirit of imagination and inspiration that I am hinting at as an overall theme for serving readers with building projects. These windows both allow us to capitalise on a "cathedral" atmosphere and display selections from the City art collection, further encouraging and supporting creativity in the library.

Moving on to Greely Branch of OPL: Greely's previous library was a 946 square foot space in the fire hall; now they have 3000 square feet. Greely is the fastest growing rural village in the City of Ottawa, and, in fact, one of the fastest growing in Ontario. We received $400, 000 each from ISF, and federal and provincial gov'ts for this new build, with the City contributing the remaining costs. Again, here, you can see how we capitalised on small spaces using some of the same techniques as Rideau and Vanier to create spaces for readers: we used angles rather than straight lines, we made a Teen "nook" behind the circulation desk with a special reading bench, and tucked a display space on the other side of the circ desk. We also used slatwall and adjascent windows to create a small adult reading area: a space of quiet contemplation, cut off from the traffic in the branch.

Words of wisdom from Ottawa Public Library managers and staff:

Know your natural environment: the way the sunlight streams into those lovely windows at Rideau affected our plans (after the fact). We realised that we had moved the circ desk into the path of direct sunlight, and had to order custom blinds!
Win some, lose some: gradual height increases in shelves opens up the area for display and browsing, but you lose precious shelf space.
Re-use and Re-cycle: OPL manager Tony observes, "at both Alta Vista and Ruth E. Dickinson, we were able to re-use and re-cycle many pieces of furniture. The end panels of the shelving at Alta Vista were of excellent quality so we refinished them and we re-purposed shelving from the old City of Ottawa archives. Similarly, at Ruth E. Dickinson we are having chairs with good quality wooden frames re-upholstered in flattering new fabrics."
Check the latest accessibility guidelines for design (eg. aisles) . In high use public areas, aisles and passageways, a minimum of 1675 mm wide is recommended to allow two persons using wheelchairs or scooters to pass each other easily. 1200 mm width is required to allow one person using a wheelchair and one ambulatory person to pass. Interior barrier-free routes shall be minimum 1100mm wide with a 1600mm by 1600mm turn-around space a minimum of 30m apart. Know the rules before you make your plans!

My final observations came from:

Lawson, Bryan. "Healing Architecture: For a long time, we have supposed that good design will improve patient well-being. Now we have figures to prove it. Bryan Lawson reports on how patient treatment and behaviour improved with new architecture. (Theory)." The Architectural Review 211.1261 (2002): 72+. Academic OneFile. Web. 4 July 2011.

A study was done in a new wing of a hospital, observing patients’ responses to their surroundings. Patients in the newly designed environments gave significantly better ratings to their treatment and thought more highly of the staff treating them, even though in some cases, it was the same people and the same service. The study concluded that there is a direct relationship between people and their environment, and important factors included:

the colours of surfaces
the temperature of rooms
high and airy spaces
an environment that appears loved and cared for

It also cconcluded that it is EVEN MORE IMPORANT how the environment mediates the relationships between people:

Matters of privacy or how spaces enable people to establish community or maintain personal place.

So, what does this means for us in a library environment? Although library patrons are not as vulnerable (hot/cold spaces, privacy) as hospital patients, there are some ideas here about serving a variety of people with a variety of spaces and options, being aware of how high and airy spaces are inspiring and formal, whereas lower ceilings are cozy and informal, and about noise versus quiet. Think about how people currently use your space: you can prescribe use by changing elements, and you can capitalise on current spaces/touchpoints by targeting areas for specific reader-oriented activities.

P.S. The computer crashed mid-way through my presentation (it was all a bit "Computer says no") and I had to ad-lib the rest with no pictures - the greatest tragedy was people missed out on the owl (slide 19 above).

Most of the other presentations (very visual!) are online:

Serving Readers at Mississauga
Serving Readers at Toronto:
- Cedarbrae Observation Report
- Branch-tastic! Merchandising Training

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-12-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

Navarro's Promise by Lora Leigh
The Giver by Lois Lowry (spotted by P!)
The Estrogen Effect: How Chemical Pollution Is Threatening Our Survival by Deborah Cadbury (A
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Something by Sidney Sheldon
Me: The Summer of Permanent Wants by Jamieson Findlay (local author alert!) - excellent....

RA in a Day 2011: The Psychology of Reading Fiction with Dr. Keith Oatley

2011-12-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Dr. Keith Oatley is Professor Emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, and it is due to the hard work of committee member Diana (pictured here!) that he graced us with his presence at RA in a day. His slides are here.

Dr. Oatley has written extensively about the psychology of reading fiction (see here). He opened his talk by describing character in a novel as being made up of both actions and what happens “beneath the surface,” what is visible and invisible. The relationship between the two is what the psychology of fiction is all about. One of the unique things about a novel or a film is that we can be ourselves and another character when reading or watching: this is “the centre of the psychology of fiction. We take the author's instructions and we mentally create the imagined world.”

Oatley made an interesting comparison with the process of meditation: in reading fiction, we insert the intentions of the protagonist into the part of our mind with which we usually make our own plans. In essence, their plans become are plans: we feel our own emotions in the circumstances in which the protagonist finds him/herself. Studies are beginning to show a correlation between reading fiction and empathy: the more fiction you read, the more empathetic you are and the better you are at understanding others. This could be a kind of “expertise” being developed: for instance, if you read a lot of novels about romantic relationships, you develop better skills in these relationships in real life.

An interesting study was done by Oatley and his colleagues in which a “small personality change” (proportional to the emotions felt) was documented by subjects who were given a Chekov story to read, compared to a control group given a nonfiction re-writing of the same story. One might be able to conclude that “the story enables people to change, but it doesn't make people change.”

Another interesting observation Oatley made was that studies have shown, preliminarily, that people who may be “avoiders” of emotional engagement in real life actually feel empathy more strongly in fiction – perhaps fiction can circumvent that avoidance?
Oatley closed with two wonderful quotes:

Proust on his books: they allow people to be readers of themselves, not of my book. My book is the “magnifying glass by which I could give them the means by which they read within themselves.”
George Eliot on writing: "It's a set of experiments to see what we humans are capable of."

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Take your book and move to the back of the bus, please!

The cluttered corpse by Mary Jane Maffini
Alone with the devil: Famous cases of a courtroom psychiatrist by M.D. Ronald Markman, Dominick Bosco
Sugar and spice by Debbie Macomber
Me: I am half-sick of shadows by Alan Bradley and I am Canada: Shot at dawn: World War I, Allan McBride, France, 1917 by John Wilson

Newsy news!

2011-11-30T11:28:00.000-08:00

Where does the day go?

British authorities giveth: 'Super library' in Southwark opens its doors: this inverted pyramid is opening in London, but has the word Canada in its name!
British authorities taketh away: More trouble for Edzell Library patrons - "Rural book-lovers have branded an Angus Council mobile library ''decrepit'' after revealing they face being without a service until January 9," and "some local residents [are] feeling unfairly treated" - um, obvs.
Alert the media: there is a crisis in literary criticism!
Stop workplace bullies (OK, this article is about women being treated unfairly by men, in general, but there are some workplace examples and this entire discourse is often internalised by other women also!) - thanks to Cait for the link.

RA in a Day 2011: Luncheon speaker, Charlotte Gray

2011-11-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

I was the convenor of this session, and Charlotte’s “handler,” so I have to confess I didn’t get many notes down! But here are some observations:

I had never heard Charlotte speak before, and I was kind of thrilled to discover that she has a very sharp sense of humour.... Speaking about Dawson City in the 1890s, Charlotte deadpanned: “150, 000 people and 3 public toilets: that's what history smells like." She also protested my introduction of her was fulsome....Bah!
Charlotte spoke about her most recent book, Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike. Gold Diggers follows the stories of six historical figures who arrive in Dawson City, Yukon during the gold rush. Charlotte sketched several of the characters in her novel for us, including Father Judge, a Jesuit priest, Belinda Mulrooney, who became the richest business woman in town by opening a hotel in nearby Grand Forks, and Flora Shaw, colonial editor and correspondent for the London Times, who crossed the White Pass trail in 1898 and wrote about it; Sam Steele, the head of the RCMP’s Yukon detachment.
Charlotte spoke about the fine line writers walk when writing historical non-fiction: as she described it, "I do not invent, I imagine."
She explained that the dialogue in her books is what people really said, taken from their diaries and letters.
She gave us some great snapshots into her research processes, sitting at LAC reading Flora Shaw’s letters, or consulting the Sam Steele collection at the University of Alberta.
Charlotte also gave us an idea of why she began writing historical non-fiction: when she arrived in Canada from England, she expected it to be very similar to Britain, and found that it wasn’t. She described what she called an uniquely Canadian character: an endless landscape, the idea of "the North."

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-11-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

In line

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (one of my 2010 favs)
Half-broke horses by Jeannette Walls
Lucky stiff by Deborah Coonts
The hero's walk by Anita Rau Badami
A Romani - French Dictionary
The power of full engagement: Managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
Me: Vital signs by Tessa McWatt and Uncommon criminals by Ally Carter

Ambition is not a dirty word, and neither is change

2011-11-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

One of the most comforting things about NELI was being around other people who are driven to make a difference in the library world(s). I honestly had a moment: wait, you mean these people are like me? There's nothing wrong with me?

In other circles, this is called enthusiasm. In still other circles, it is called ambition. In many of these circles, these are derogatory terms.

Ambitious people seem to thrive on change. I've been thinking a lot recently about my past, and about how the library world is at a bit of a turning point that perhaps my whole life has helped prepare me for. My next (home) move will be my 12th; my next professional move will be the 13th different job title I have had in libraries, since starting as a library assistant in the Marianopolis College Library in 1998 (and I'm not even counting working at Vanier during Rideau's renovations, or temporarily supervising Rockcliffe Park, but I did count Westmount 3x, since I had about five different job titles there - whatevs. Read more here).

I kind of hated moving houses so much: making friends and losing friends was difficult for me. I was painfully shy for a long time, until my early teens (ya. I know. Libraries totally never attract shy people. Don't get me started on how this kills us....). At that point, having spent several awkward years alone at (different) church coffee hours, waiting for my mum's parishoners to be done with her so we could go home, I saw years of more of the same stretching ahead of me, and decided that the only way to make this all less awkward was for me to change. I began initiating converstions, learning about the parishoners, asking after their children; in many ways, although it isn't a time I look back on exclusively fondly, it made me a better person: more thoughtful, more compassionate, and more independent.

I talked about these skills at NELI, crediting my mother as a role model, which she certainly continues to be. I entered the library profession as a young adult familiar with organisational change, comfortable coming into a new situation and evaluating the dynamics. I also saw my career as a vocation, something I felt I was doing because I believed that education and lifelong learning were vital to our modern world. I quickly had my heart broken, having to leave the library at which I had made my home (the longest I had been in a community, in any capacity, my entire life). This ended up being the best decision I ever made. It taught me that sometimes the best decisions are the hardest ones, and the most unlikely; it also taught me that sometimes you might be ready to change, but you need a kick in the pants.

I arrived in Ottawa wanting to stand out. Because my talented mother was treated like crap by the church. Because I felt I had a lot to offer, and I was sick of having my heart broken. Because I am by nature someone who gives everything to a project or a person she believes in. Because, because, because.

And now that I am perhaps entering the mid-career phase, I am attending this slew of retirement parties, and we're all dancing along the cliff edge of baby boomers leaving the workforce. The world is opening up, career-wise, and it's both a fascinating and a truly dynamic time to be in libraries.

I'm also feeling the backlash against that. Many of us are scared, facing the first changes in staffing or organisational structure they have ever faced. I understand that. Many are saying, "gone are the days when someone worked for one institution for 40 years," and I'm thinking, when were those days? My parents never did that (but then, my situation is a bit, ahem, weird, right?) I've lived through a lot of change - and hated it at the time - but I've come through the other side more or less intact.

And now, as they say, I have a taste for it: in my own career, I have been so lucky to work with great people, and I have also sought out opportunities for diverse projects and new challenges. You only get one life: you might as well not get bored. I inherited a strong work ethic, and I am proud of my parents for instilling that in me. I have a fierce passion to make public libraries the most amazing places that they are capable of being, and I am proud of myself for that. I will go anywhere where I can do that (I almost wrote, "preach that gospel" - see? Can't shake your roots). I also have come to believe in myself, and each new change has shown me how much more I have to develop, and how much more I can grow.

It's not so bad over on the other side of change. You grow a lot. Life is rich.

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-11-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

Prey on the weak much? "Library board mulls cutting jobs, literacy program in budget crunch," via the Globe and Mail
"A clear majority [of the Library board] have no interest in a reduction of hours, something Chief Librarian Jane Pyper suggested as a means of lopping 4.3 per cent off the agency’s budget, the remaining amount it must lose to meet Mayor Rob Ford’s demand of a 10 per cent cut. The board had already consented to a 5.7 per cent cut by eliminating 100 jobs and introducing new technology. But Ms. Pyper gently reminded the board that if it doesn’t squeeze 4.3 per cent in hour reductions, it will likely have to consider dropping adult literacy, bookmobile and student homework programs."

"Wielklem voor bibliobus in Maurik", via YouTube (and via Dr. Mary Cavanagh!)
There is less and less money for libraries. Many municipalities have cut back. Neighbors is the first municipality that decides to not have money to spend on a library. Children today are therefore the plans into action. They can take a chain of children all about the mobile library to go.

"Rosendale Primary School was announced winner of the SLA Library Design Award for 2011, " seen via Twitter
"Rosendale Primary School's Library Bus is ‘visionary’. Not in the sense of a library in a bus, as that is certainly not unique. But the concept of a school community volunteering together to design and build a new school library in a bus… this is truly visionary. Rosendale Primary School has 700 pupils housed in a cramped Victorian building. They needed a library, but there was neither the money nor space to build one. Instead, parent Kate Gorely had the idea of converting a London bus into a fit-for-purpose library. At a cost of slightly over £5,000 a group of 50 volunteers achieved just that in only nine months."

"Boonslick Regional Library gets some new wheels," by Megan Tilk, Boonville Daily News
"Recently, the library purchased a 2006 ELF Farber Ford E450. With an original cost of $182,500, the library's purchase cost came in at a lot less. previously used and kept in storage for two years, the library was able to purchase the new set of wheels for just $62,999 [....] The best part of the new van is that it comes with a kneel-down feature. It has the ability to raise and lower depending on the curb height so that way people can access the vehicle without steps. It also has better lighting, computer access and an exterior canopy."

"An Airstream Ingeniously Repurposed into a Library," via Poetic Home
"A vintage 1959 Airstream was converted into a traveling bookstore gallery no less, complete with exhibits of independent magazines, artist publications, and more literary goodness."

"Mobile library brings books to the streets of São Paulo," via InfoSurHoy.com

When he was homeless, "Mendonça took refuge in reading.He says he faced discrimination at the Mário de Andrade Municipal Library.“When I would approach a table with a book in my hand, people would get up and leave,” he says.Mendonça was also unable to borrow books because he didn’thave a permanent address.In 2002, he got off the streets, but he never forgot the people he met there.Through his NGO, he’s helped the homeless people return to their hometowns, get jobs at hostels and enroll in vocational courses.With his Bicicloteca, Mendonça provides the homeless with access to books without any bureaucracy and in an environment where they feel comfortable."

Seen reading on OC Transpo: Bonus two-week edition!

2011-11-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

Me, on the #95

Persuader by Lee Child
Ameliorer sa memoire pour les nuls
Vernissage magazine
A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) by George R. R. Martin
Vanish In Plain Sight by Marta Perry
The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present by Felix Gilbert and David Clay
something by Clive Cussler
Sovereign by C. J. Sansom
Me: The Antagonist by Lynn Coady, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner, Wildcat Run by Sonya Spreen Bates, and Justine McKeen, Queen of Green by Sigmund Brouwer (Justine was kind of adorable - great for middle grades...)
The Husband: An Imperfect Offering by James Orbinski

Oh, my pretties! I miss you!

2011-11-15T14:25:00.001-08:00

I'm so sorry it's been all automated posts without real thought or insight.

I'm feeling devoid of any more thoughts or insights these days! I'm enjoying my term with OPL's Diversity and Accessibility Services (since March), but my manager and I were both saying today how we feel that it's been about a week since March. The time is flying by this year at work: I pointed out that we've done a lot of great things, but I think we are both going home at night exhausted (I know I am: it's all I can do to say hi to The Husband, eat, rouse myself briefly for Two Broke Girls, make a salad for lunch the next day, and then fall asleep somewhere between 9-11 pm).

Today, a training session I was scheduled to attend was cancelled, which bought me a morning "free," so I got a few things done, but it's like feeding a cranky elephant one peanut - it's just not going to cut it. I woke up at 5 am today, worried about several different things.... Most of which, of course, I have little control over. Bah. Overthinking things. Too emotionally invested in things. Pick the crappy explanation you prefer.

Some days, it's just a fish-eat-fish world....

(That's the Fish Hall in McGill's Engineering Building, btw)

I do have some (read: more than one!) fun projects up my sleeve (shhhh my pretties..... Soon!), so that's good. In the next little while, I'm going to nominate people for awards, give out cards, clap when a dangerous area of our offices gets re-paved, oversee two VIP ride-alongs on Bookmobile, and go on two outreach trips (bringing three new-ish employees for professional development)... all while attending at least two more retirement parties (this year has been WHACK for that stuff) and at least three OPL Christmas parties.

Also, in the "not-really-important" category, you know what I love? (Chocolate-glazed doughnuts? Members of my team stretching themselves to learn new things? Cracking the spine of a new novel? Finishing a 3-month long project? Sitting in the front row of a ballet? Holding hands with the husband? Lunch with a friend? 3-day weekends? Kat Dennings? Malbec? Montreal and London?) No, no.... My office at Main Library. Basement and all, it's growing on me, but I think that's J. Alfred Prufrock's influence (words to live by, in this case - and the answer is YES!)

Meanwhile, here are some recent 10-second book reviews from since we last spoke:

State Of Wonder by Ann Patchett: reading it before Carrie kicks my butt. We have to schedule a mini-book club / debrief in my office when I am done. So far, really enjoying it.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides: If you looked up "Contemporary (ok, 80s) American Novel" in the dictionary, this book should be listed. I definitely liked it; it had AMERICAN REALISM written all over it, but not in a bad way. I felt for Madeleine, especially when Eugenides focused on her reasons for / feelings about staying with a man who evidently has some mental health issues, but other readers might just want to smack her. Bonus points for saying nice things about Quakers (since my uncle was one, that is, in case you are wondering...)
Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner: A bit too out there for my taste (sorry, I am a total square) but, on an intellectual level, I appreciated it. Whoa, snap, that sounded bad. My Giller prediction to Kris, shouted out across the living room 2 minutes into the broadcast, was "If they want to be really brave and alienate the general reader, they will give it to Zsuzsi. If they want to be sort of brave , they will give it to Esi."
The Antagonist by Lynn Coady: Oddly compelling, despite subject matter that isn't usually up my alley.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: Beautiful book; couldn't really care less about the characters.
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht: Disturbing, engrossing, weird. In the best possible way.

Must dash. Dizzy with fatigue.

"Give me the time"

2011-11-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Ottawa, 2009

Give me the time to lie and dream,
To lull the hours with reverie
And set my sluggish fancies free
Upon the tide of beauty's stream.

Give me the time to rest my mind
From thoughts of massacre and war,
To think awhile of life, before
The chance is left too far behind.

Give me the time to seek for truth,
Wherever it may be concealed,
And time to savour of its yield
Before I lose the eyes of youth.

Give me the time to fill my heart
With draughts of love and ecstasy,
To pierce the core of life and be
The favoured sculptor of its art.

Give me the time to gain release
From war's insistent ache and stress;
Give me a glimpse of happiness
That I may know the ways of peace.

John Cromer, "Give me the time," Poems of the War Years: An Anthology. London: Macmillan and Co., 1950.

This is my great-grandmother's brother, Lew Jack Melhado. His sister had already left England for Canada, as part of the British Women's Emigration Association, when he joined The Northamptonshire Regiment, 6th Battalion. He died in France, on 1 July 1918, aged 23, at Pozieres, the Somme. Between 21st March to 7th August 1918, when Pozieres was lost and re-taken by the British, 14,669 men died.

"A lifetime burning in every moment"

2011-11-09T05:17:00.000-08:00

On a ferry with my dad, 1985ish

So, if you've been following this blog for awhile, it's 22 years today

"[....] So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years [...]
Trying to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure
Because one has only learnt to get the better of words
For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which
One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture
Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate
With shabby equipment always deteriorating
In the general mess of imprecision of feeling,
Undisciplined squads of emotion. [....]

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment."

Eliot, T. S. "Four Quartets." The complete poems and plays. London: Faber, 1969. 182.

RA in a Day 2011: Keynote: "RA as a Transformative Act"

2011-11-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

The keynote address at this year's RA in a Day event was given by the amazing Duncan Smith, creator and founder of NoveList. Here are my notes; his presentation is available here.

Duncan opened by reading a quote and asking us where we thought it was from:

"We will help you find the perfect collection of books for reflection resolution or relaxation."

Sounds like it could be from a library? It's actually from the website of an English bibliotherapist. Duncan first heard about her in an article in En Route magazine (“Geek Odysseys - Book Loving in London: Volume 2 Bibliotherapy”). The bibliotherapist profiled, Ella Berthoud, spoke about the importance of novels at life-changing moments, and how the reading of these novels allows us to come back to world refreshed.

Duncan then asked, what is the nature of readers' advisory work? He proposed the following four core ideas:

To help readers understand what they like
To assist readers in finding more of what they like
To deepen readers’ appreciation of their reading
(Smith told a story about Jane Goodall explaining in an interview how her interest in animals was sparked by reading about Dr. Doolittle and Tarzan. He also mentioned an interview with Mia Bauer, the founder of Crumbs Bake Shop, who spoke of being inspired to open her own business by Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence: “she didn't want to live a life of regret like Wharton’s characters.”)
To support readers in sharing their reading with others (sharing comments via catalogue)

The true product of readers' advisory service is thus not circulation, or the number of interactions we have with the public, or the number of book groups our library hosts, but relationships:

between books
between readers and books
between readers (creating a culture and climate of sharing that deepens understanding)
between readers and books and us!

So where are the readers?
One essential thing that Smith identified that we need for effective readers' advisory services is the readers themselves. Those who use the library just for fun are approximately7% of all users, but account for 24% of all visits to the library. What is missing from their profile is interaction with staff. Stats from major Canadian public libraries show that the majority of people who come in to the library are not interacting with staff. Also, stats show increased placement of holds online, which means readers may not visit in person as much anymore. In the US, we see that typically 87% of holds are placed remotely. “People are searching for things they already know about, not coming in to find out more about other things;” they see the library as “a utilitarian service.”

Being connected
This use of the library as a utilitarian service speaks to a lack of connection to the library, and specifically to the skilled staff. Smith pointed out that above and beyond implications for readers’ advisory service, this lack of connection can also affect library funding, because “people who are not connected don't vote for increased funding.” Staff need to focus on not just saying "Sorry, we don't have that," but on starting a conversation with readers. Smith posed the question of how we are behaving in interactions with readers: “are we being reactive, invitational, suggestive, enlightening (teaching how to use Novelist), anticipatory, contributatory, participatory?”

Building relationships
We might think the world is now dominated by technology, but it's actually dominated by relationships and “social capital,” just in different places. Some modern places to build social capital include: in the library catalogue, on the library website, in the blogosphere, on social sites (GoodReads, Facebook, etc). With respect to social websites, Smith encouraged us to engage in outreach to them: ‘places like Good Reads are full of library lovers. We should be connecting with them!”

What is our value? According to Smith, there are three ways readers' advisory experts add value:

Our professional stance: we talk about the promise or potential of books for all readers, not from a personal perspective (eg. “This book is great if you love 18th century mysteries because...” not “I loved this book because....”)
Our focus on the reader
Our “reflective practice:” our use of well-researched and thoughtful criteria to categorise reading (the appeal factors).

The majority of our users are connected “not with your building or your collection, but with you, the staff. And that's why we can't just sit around.”

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-11-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

From Jordan to China to Indonesia, to the Boing Airplane Co. in Seattle and a boxcar in Montana- and now with more printables!

"Mobile Services, The Seattle Public Library -- The Bookmobile," via HistoryLink.org (editorial comment: Aweseome pictures)
"On May 4, 1931, Seattle's first bookmobile, with 600 books, hit the road to West Seattle. Each day of the week, the van and its driver and librarian visited different parts of the city, making stops at prearranged locations. The last stop on Mondays was the Boeing Airplane Co. The bookmobile, designed by Arthur D. Jones of Seattle, featured four innovative bookshelves -- two on each side -- that rotated inside or outside. On nice days, borrowers browsed books from the street or sidewalk. In bad weather, they went inside the truck."
"Mobile library spreads joy of reading," via the Middle East North Africa Financial Network (Jordan)
"The Ministry of Culture on Tuesday officially inaugurated its mobile library project for 2011-2012, with the aim of promoting literacy and cultural exposure across the Kingdom."
"Mobile Library brings joy of learning to children in China" via 4-traders
"A mobile library funded by a Finnish foundation began its journey to schools for migrant children in China."
Printable 3-D paper bookmobile (hey, whaddya mean, "relic of a bygone era?" Maybe for readers of the New Yorker, Bob, but we're still on the road where there is a need!)
In case you didn't like that paper bookmobile, here's another.
"Project Sophia Mobile Library--Books without borders for post-conflict children in Indonesia" via the Peace and Collaborative Development Network
"The Sophia mobile library is basically a library in a vehicle, moving from village to village. The library vehicle, which also known as “the magic box,” contains storybooks for children and teenagers, textbooks, drawing books, stationaries, puzzles, origami, Indonesian children's movies, and children's songs." One of its objectives is to "open a space for intensive and massive communications across generation between various ethnics and religions which allow dialogue to occur and in the end would contribute to the joint effort in building peace."
"Bookmobile driver shares joy of books on route," via the San Francisco Chronicle
"She chats up the students, stokes their enthusiasm about new titles (" 'The Great Rabbit Rescue' comes out in December!") and at one stop reads a spooky Halloween story, "Bone Soup," out loud to the children. Most are the children of ranch owners and ranch workers; Jones knows each one by name. Jorge, a fifth-grader, is hooked on the Percy Jackson series, which retells Greek myths. Megan, a sixth-grader, is big in 4-H and searching for books on chickens [....] In the summertime when kids are not in school, we have 10 ranch stops. It keeps the kids reading for the summer, which is really important. We also get some of the single men who work on the ranches, and some of the moms take advantage of the materials to learn English."
"The Lumberjack's Boxcar Library," via Exile Bibliophile
"Beginning in 1919, this railroad boxcar was refitted to be a library on rails to serve the mobile timber camps in western Montana [....] It was in use into the late 1950s as a library by the Anaconda Company. After that, it was used by the University of Montana at one of their lumber research stations-- first as a library then as a dormitory. It was later used for storage, until it was discovered by the museum and acquired for restoration and interpretation of the timber history of the region."
"Baldwin County's Bookmobile: Library on Wheels," via Alabama Live
"Bookmobile patrons include [people at] retirement centers, retirement homes, assisted-living facilities, day-care centers, public and private schools that do not have an adequate library, the Association for Retarded Citizens, and some stops that are literally in the middle of nowhere. In remote areas, like Hubbard’s Landing north of Stockton, the Bookmobile stops at a fire station, post office, store or community center. Use of the Bookmobile has grown over the years," and the community now has 48 stops.
"Our libraries deserve your 'yes'," via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"We lived in one of the more obscure suburbs of Philadelphia then, and there was no library. But the library came to us in the Bookmobile. The Bookmobile was the coolest vehicle ever, a building with a steering wheel. When I was 3, if you had offered me the choice of someday driving a Ferrari or the Bookmobile, I would have snubbed the overgrown Matchbox bauble and gone for the literary bus."

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-11-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

something by Nicholas Sparks
a comic book! I was cranning my neck to see what it was, but decided not to risk life and limb. It was exciting, though, and it made me think - that was the first comic book I have seen. Clearly I don't hang with the right crowd on the bus.
something by Ernest Hemingway (it was blue-ish and I am hoping it was Across the river and into the trees, my all-time favourite Hemingway, but I suspect it was the over-prescribed The old man and the sea)
Me: Peter Nimble and his fantastic eyes by Jonathan Auxier (CLA BOYCA reading)

RSC Annual Symposium: Where have the books gone? Reading in our Public Schools, with Heather Reisman

2011-10-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I was blown away by Heather Reisman’s presentation, even though I already knew a bit about the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation, and I certainly knew about the (mostly sad) state of school libraries in Canada.

Reisman outlined the beginnings of the Foundation, when she visited Church St. School in Toronto in 2003. “What I discovered when I opened the door,” she said, “took my breath away.” There were lots of shelves, but few books; the books they did have had an average age of between 18-30 years old. School budgets, Reisman learned, were so tight that purchasing textbooks, toner for the photocopiers or even Band-Aids for nursing stations was proving a challenge for schools. The principal of the school, Judy, admitted it was “all she could do to maintain her half-time librarian and make a few acquisitions in a school year.” For Reisman, who learned to read at age 3 ½, this was unbelievable. She immediately invited Judy to Indigo and told her to buy everything she needed. Judy came, accompanied by students and teachers; none of the children who came to the store that day had ever been to a bookstore before. With these new acquisitions, Judy described to Reisman how the school “went from being a sad place, to being the absolute hub of the school.” Reisman added, “the overall energy of school changed, and student performance and test scores for Grades 3 and 6 improved.

This was the impetus for Reisman to establish the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. Her work with the Foundation has “opened her eyes to the extent to which we are failing the economically disadvantaged children of this country” and “the extent to which we undervalue teachers and educators.” As Reisman observed, we are systematically widening the gap between haves and have nots; schools in wealthier areas are able to organise fundraisers to provide materials for their school libraries, whereas schools in more impoverished areas cannot do this. “You can't bake sale your way out of this problem!,” declared Reisman. Children at these schools are also doubly deprived, as they are the children more likely to not have books in their homes, either.

Reisman concluded by re-iterating that, if nothing else, “enlightened self interest should make us want to tackle this problem,” since a 1% increase in the average literacy rate of Canadians could generate a 2.5% growth, up to 18.4 billion Canadian dollars in additional money in the Canadian economy. "In my world, we would day this is a very high return on a very small investment," Reisman concluded.

Reisman showed us several excellent videos about the Foundation’s work, with other statistics about early literacy, education, poverty, and student success (38% of Grade 3 students are failing reading; in the 1970s, school library budgets provided for 3 books per child per year, whereas now they provide for less than 1/3 of a book per child per year). One video is online here.

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-10-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

A slow week this week, books-on-the-bus-wise. On Monday, I was happily given a lift, and otherwise the week seems to be a blur. Plus, you know, OC and I had a bad day on Wednesday, when in the morning the 97 was so far back in the line of buses at Mackenzie King that I missed it, so my commute was 9-95-116-98 (thanks for that!) and then in the afternoon, the 9 just plain didn't show at Hurdman, leaving me there freezing my toes off for 30 minutes. All this after I had actually left work early/on time for once and was looking forward to a hour's uninterupted reading at home alone. Grr. And on Friday, I enjoyed a really lovely walk to Main. OK, anyway....

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
one of the Harry Potters (couldn't see it clearly)
Me: The Tiger's Wife by (which won the Orange for its 25-year old author - I KNOW!, but garnered some criticism.... Not to mention, Obreht felt she didn't deserve it). My verdict: haunting tone, intriguing characters, interesting mix of folklore with modern conflict in the Balkans, but could have done with some editing ...

Dr Jeffrey Turnbull: Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in a new Health Care Environment

2011-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Dr. Turnbull's talk last week at the Desmarais Building was the first in the University of Ottawa's President's Lecture Series. Dr Turnbull spoke to a full house of physicians, scientists, University faculty, students and stragglers like us. No surprise there.

I have been very impressed with Dr. Turnbull's work, especially at the Ottawa Mission, and was eager to hear him speak. Since his topic was the social determinants of health, and given that he serves the same population we sometimes see in the Library, I thought it would be valuable to hear his impressions and recommendations. This post is therefore a bit outside the scope of this blog in some ways, but very much not outside the scope in others: one of my primary interests has always been Library outreach to marginalised populations. You'll see that several of Turnbull's points below have implications for libraries: how can we appropriately (and best) support the health of all people in our communities through our collections, services and programs? With the below in mind, why not ask them?

Dr. Turnbull structured his talk around the "Top 6 ways to stay healthy:"

Don't be hungry:
In a country in which 868 000 Canadians use the food bank every month, many live great distances from a grocery store (on foot), many cannot afford fresh fruits and vegetables (see Ottawa Public Health's "The Price of Eating Well"), and those living in shelters may not have access to a kitchen to make their own meals, proper nutrition is still a tremendously large problem.
Live in a nice community:
There will be 1000 people sleeping in shelters in our city tonight. Very shortly, the shelters will begin putting out the mattresses in chapels, hallways and washrooms for the night; it's only October and they are already doing this (it's not even winter yet!). For those who do have a home, 3.1 million of them cannot afford their housing, and another 1.3 million are living in subsidised housing. There is a 21 year difference in average life expectancy between the poor and the rich; in cramped shelter quarters, it's easy to see how infections and illnesses can be spread quickly.
Get a good education:
There is a 25% illiteracy rate in the poorest bracket of Canadians; there is a 31% illiteracy rate on reserves in Canada. For more information, see ABC Canada's Adult Literacy Facts and a 2006 CBC News Indepth report. As CBC says, "Nearly 15 per cent of Canadians can't understand the writing on simple medicine labels such as on an Aspirin bottle, a failing that could seriously limit the ability of a parent, for example, to determine the dangers for a child." And as ABC Canada observes, "Literacy proficiency improves chances of employment, builds self-confidence and enables discussions and actions that affect the welfare of individuals and their community."
Get a good job:
6% of Ottawans don't actually make enough money to live in Ottawa. Many are living on the poverty line, or below it, while supporting their families.
Get good health services:
21% of homeless people in Ottawa shelters are HIV-positive; 80% have Hep C (for more general numbers, see Ottawa Public Health). There is a higher risks of contracting disease in Ottawa shelters, and in many of our poorer areas; in fact, the incidence of TB is lower in Bangladesh than it is on some Canadian reserves.
But above all else, be wealthy:
"The commodity of your wealth is your health," Turnbull says; "Money can't buy happiness, but it can certainly buy your health." In fact, the biggest predictor of health is your economic status.

So what are the implications of the above Top 6 list, and the attendant issues in Ottawa, for health care?

Isolation = social stratification. There are increased risks when people are crammmed in confined spaces together, resulting in diferential exposure of certain groups... We act surpsied when there is higher incidences of illness among certain populations, but isolating those populations together has increased the risks for them.
The idea of health care as a public service: This is one way of "levelling the playing field," but is it sustainable? The current health care system was not designed for the 21st century: it was designed on an acute care model, except now we see increased needs for chronic care, and increased numbers of chronic care patients. Observes Turnbull, "we use the chronic care sector as the default for meeting acute care needs."
Accessibility: ever waited for lab results? It takes awhile, and that's in an urban area, never mind in a rural area or on a reserve. Compared to other first world countries, "we are a bottom-of-the-pack perormer," despite high spending on health. In fact, health spending gobbles up funding that could perhaps better be routed to preventative measures, such as improving social or educational services, which would in turn improve health ("I just put myself out of a job"). As Turnbull phrased it, "healthcare is the monster eating everybody's lunch!"
The CMA wants to mobilise Canadians to "press for transformative chaneg to Canada's healthcare system," including 5 pillars of change: "building a culture of patient-centred care, providing incentives for enhancing access and improving quality of care, enhancing patient access across the continuum of care, helping providers help patients, and building accountability at all levels."
Our Canadian emphasis on equity of access to and delivery of health care expresses our values, ensures human rights are protected, and saves money (for more information about the economic consequences of health inequality, see "The economic burden of health inequalities in the United States").
We should thus shift this debate away from a conversation about providing charity towards a conversation about protecting the rights of citizens (who are entitled to protection, as enshrined in law and with respect for their human rights).
The outcomes of treatment in this manner include improved compliance, appropriate use of medical services (hospital, EMS), and a 64% reduction in risk behaviours, including substance abuse.

Dr. Turnbull spoke about the Ottawa Inner City Health program (of which he is co-founder and Medical Director). You can read a full history of the group here, but as Turnbull explained, it was born out of concern that, while many homeless people were using health services on disproportionate levels, their health needs were still not being met. The co-founders began to ask, what about other related services that the homeless clients might need, such as judicial and social services, etc?

As Turnbull concluded, Canadians can "do better," can serve homeless and marginalised groups better. The model that he envisions is to make the services a homeless person receives "equal to what an individual family would get in their home." It is our collective responsibility to advocate for health equality by advocating for "informed social policy decisions, effective health delivery systems for prevention and care, anti-poverty measures, direct health care services, and positive social change through healthy public policy."

I was fortunate to have a chance to speak with Dr. Turnbull after his talk, and let's just say we have a possible partnership up our sleeves......

A great event.

Miranda Hill fan club

2011-10-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

(file under - I think I'm going to start one)

Hamilton writer and Journey Prize finalist, Hill is guest editing The Afterword all this week. Two recent pieces of interest:

"Reading here," about her creation of Project Bookmark Canada: "One day, I realized that my walks were covering the same ground as the books I had been reading. I felt that I was stepping into the stories, and my experiences with the books and with the places were suddenly and forever altered."
"Since you asked…," about breaking down the subtexts in the question she commonly gets about what it's like to be married to Lawrence Hill (yeah, that Lawrence Hill). An excerpt: "How do you put up with all those moods and pouting? If a plumber storms around and is generally miserable to his wife and children, we call him a jerk. We don’t say, “You’ll have to excuse him. It’s all because of his plumber’s soul.” And plumbers don’t get to say, “There’s only room in this family for one plumber, and I’m it!” Thus, writers who do this are also just jerks. Happily, I’m not married to one of them. I hope Larry isn’t either."

Peter Behrens @ the Ottawa Public Library

2011-10-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

I wish authors visited my library every day to do readings on my lunch hour.....

I was at my Bookmobile office this morning, but had to scurry back to Main Library for a meeting this afternoon. When I realised that if I left a bit early, I could get to Main in time for Peter Behrens' reading, I was thrilled. My office at Main is just on the other side of the back wall of the auditorium, by the way; knock in Morse code next time you're visiting.

With my crazy week last week (I am working on a couple of posts about it, including hearing Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull talk about the social determinants of health, RA in a day, as well as the International Festival of Authors!), I was happy to catch not one but two Writer's Fest events here in Ottawa on the last day of the Festival (right by the skin of my teeth, eh?). As this post auto-publishes, I will be on my way down the street for the Ottawa Book Awards Non-Fiction Roundtable with Tim Cook, Charlotte Gray, Roy MacGregor, Lawrence Martin and Eric Enno Tamm.

But Behrens... First, what can I say, he is completely captivating. Two lovely colleagues from Westmount Library had been trying to convince me to attend his talks there, and I couldn't quite grasp what the fuss was about, but he's a great, great speaker... and I say that as someone who has heard about a million introverted librarians and authors speak (badly) before! He's self-depracating (buy this book, and if my kid doesn't get into a Canadian university and we have to pay for an American one, the money will send him to university for one minute!), warm, thoughtful (to the point of being, frankly, intense) and has a wonderful deep voice.

Behrens explained that his desire to delve into family history was sparked when he thought about his relationship with his grandfather, and his relationship with his grandfather (upon whose life The O'Briens is based). As Behrens phrased it, that's only "two handclasps" away from history. He spoke about the tradition among earlier generations to keep their feelings and emotions private (they weren't "the Oprah generation"). As they understod it, your truest feelings were the ones you keep inside. Observed Behrens, "now, we hink we have found this new way of being warmly human," and that this privacy is unhealthy, when it is "more complicated than that."

Behrens spoke about the first time he saw the Black Rock in Montreal (I remember the first time I saw it, too: like Behrens, I was in a car, driven by my father, who explained what it was; Behrens observed his grandfather make a gesture to protect himself from the "juju" of the Rock). Behrens described how the "Irish established the template for how immigrants are received" in 20th century North America. The most interesting part of his talk, I felt, was his discussion of how history is treated in art (he talked about either books or films). "What bugs me about historical movies and books," he said, is how sometimes it seems as though "time happened with a different light around it." Artists portray the past in a fuzzy, rose-coloured light, as though it was "unclear," a sort of foreign country. Speaking about people in the past, he said, "I believe they were like us." He hopes historical novels, instead of placing the past at a distance, "take you by the hand and pull you into the world."

RSC Annual Symposium: Early Innovations and Initiatives in Literacy for Citizenship

2011-10-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

A week ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Royal Society of Canada's Annual Symposium: Literacy and Citizenship in the 21st Century, at Library and Archives Canada.

I will post more notes about other sessions later, but one of the first sessions was one of the most fascinating. James H. Morrison, a Professor of History at Saint Mary's University, and Board member and College Historian for Frontier College, presented about "Early Innovations and Initiatives in Literacy for Citizenship." We have a partnership at the Ottawa Public Library with Frontier College: they deliver homework help sessions and reading circles at numerous branches.

Here is my summary of Professor Morrison's fascinating talk.

Professor Morrison opened by sketching several vignettes of his early involvement with Frontier College. During the 1960s, when there were protests on his university campus and students were developing their “social conscience,” Morrison began working on a rail chain gang on the Prairies. He decided to hold evening classes for his fellow workers, tacking up a sign on a rail car that classes would be from 7-9 pm in the evenings. Over the summer, he helped his coworkers work on citizenship applications, or letters to sweethearts.

Morrison described Frontier College’s humble beginnings, from an "idea conceived in protest." Founder Alfred Fitzpatrick’s concern for the transient working class, who were “neither sheltered by unions nor cared for by management,” led him to want to help these unrepresented people. Morrison drew a vibrant picture of the “transatlantic migration of human machines” in early 20th century Canada (between 1881 and 1891, 1 million people came to Canada): the “new world welcomed new immigrants via steam trains,” as politicians (Morrison specifically mentioned Clifford Sifton) promoted immigration as an attractive prospect. Many were destined for work camps or farms: in 1900, the majority of the Canadian population was rural, and the labour class lived outside urban settings. Fitzpatrick took this fact, and the concept of adult literacy, to “rail workers, shanty men, and miners,” beginning in 1899, “bringing education to the men, not the men to the education.” His early efforts “in the wooden wilds of Ontario, were an experiment, intended to demonstrate what Fitzpatrick believed the state should be doing. Fitzpatrick believed that “as long as one man wanted to learn, and another man was prepared to teach him, education would take place.”

Morrison shared many wonderful archival photos of Frontier College’s early work, including farm workers’ classes in the 1950s and today (see one pic above, and others of their lobby display here). The College now works in urban “frontiers”: while they continue their rural work, they also have classes in prisons, low-income areas and have classes for Aboriginal and other marginalised populations. This is in keeping with their history of ensuring that all are welcome: classes have seen waves of Eastern European immigrants in the early 20th century, Aboriginal workers mid-century, and Jamaican and Mexican farm workers in modern times.

Morrison attributed Frontier College’s continued success to four important concepts that the College has learned along the way:

Innovation: Frontier College adopted the concept of the “labour teacher,” had some of the earliest travelling libraries, and were one of the few organisations sending teachers to the unemployment camps in the 1930s. In modern Canada, they were one of the first to hold camps for Aboriginal populations.
Continuity: In its 11 decades, the College has only had 7 presidents. The College has maintained a constant ideal, also: that “literacy is the means by which citizens can enjoy equal rights and equal career opportunities.”
Commitment: Frontier College has maintained a commitment to assist those who have fallen between the cracks of society or “slipped through the twine of the social safety net.”
Youth: The passion, energy and dedication of youth have been crucial to the College. Committed young people with a civic conscience can influence change for the better in the world in which they live.

One of the interesting audience questions after Morrison’s session inquired about Frontier College’s relationship or link to union organisation. Morrison replied that Frontier College was developing long before unions had any influence or power, and also, really, migrant workers (who were the clients of Frontier College) were entirely unrepresented. Frontier College’s opinion was always that their students “can read Lincoln or they can read Lenin... Politics is not the point. We can't tell them what to read!”

A wonderful session full of interesting historical context for adult literacy programs in Canada.

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-10-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
A biography of Martin Luther King
Memory In Death by J. D. Robb
A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer
Stephen King title (may have been Full Dark, No Stars)
The Lost Hero (Percy Jackson Series) by Rick Riordan
Me: the latest issue of Feliciter

"A ride-along with Ottawa's Bookmobile"

2011-10-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

I had a great time last week hanging out with Katherine Dunn, a student in Carleton's School of Journalism and Communication. She's a big fan of Murakami and Hornby, and we both had issues with One Day, so we got along well!

Check out her interview with France and I for CKCU's Week's End radio show here.

I really, really, hate my recorded voice. I sound, um, 12.

Guest post: Honouring F. R. Scott in Montreal

2011-10-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

My mum kindly reported back from the Evensong held last week in the Writers' Chapel at the Church of St. James the Apostle, Montreal, to honour Montreal's own F. R. Scott:

"Truly wonderful, inspirational service last night: beautiful music, beautiful setting (the church was gleaming), most interesting talks by Desmond Morto n and Roderick Macdonald, current F. R. Scott Professor of Constitutional and Public Law. Macdonald read some of F. R. Scott’s poems and talked about Scott’s legal decisions, his work in the NDP party (a membership he had to give up in order to become Dean of Law at McGill), and Scott's views on the War Measures Act.

The speakers were introduced by Mark Abley, part-time editor at McGill-Queen's University Press, who told a great story about a colleague at McGill-Queens, who undertook a PhD. in History because, at age 11, she was so inspired by a public lecture that Desmond Morton gave at Missisauga Public Library, to which her mother took her."

News round-up: Hitchens and 8-yr old girl charmed by each other, alterna-Booker, zombies and Brutalist buildings

2011-10-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

News too interesting NOT to read:

"Mason Crumpacker and the Hitchens reading list" via Why Evolution is True
"Though [Hitchens] was asked a variety of questions from the audience, none appeared to elicit more interest than the one asked by eight-year-old Mason Crumpacker, who wanted to know what books she should read. In response, Hitchens [...] asked to see them once the presentation was over so that he could give her a list."
Just read this for Mason's thank you letter to Hitchens alone - priceless.
Ooooh, snap: "War of words: major authors launch rival to 'low-brow' Booker" via the Independent
"A group of prizewinning authors and literary aficionados have launched a new book prize which they claim will capture the original spirit of the Booker and become its most formidable rival. Among supporters of The Literature Prize are former Booker winners Pat Barker and John Banville [....] The award's advisory board said it would reward the best in quality fiction – a role fulfiled by the Booker prize until it shifted its criteria, it claimed. The prize[...] will include American writers – unlike the Booker which extends its reach across Commonwealth countries but shuns US authors."
A well-rounded article about weeding: "Hard Choices: Do Libraries Really Destroy Books?" via NPR
Includes this great quote from another related article: "Nobody likes it, but for a librarian it's like your best friend just got bitten by a zombie and you're the only one with a gun."
See also my article about this topic.... More recent info (including Q and A from real librarians!) here.
There's hope for Main Library yet: "Architectural fashions change, but even brutalist buildings should be saved" via the Guardian

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-10-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Delight: Why Soaps Still Matter by Carolyn Hinsey
The Stolen (Henry Parker Novels) by Jason Pinter
The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-human Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama
A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer
To Wish or Not to Wish by Mindy Klasky
A 3-year old reading an article about Rihanna in the Metro paper (newsflash: I don't think she was really reading it)

A proper post, for reals

2011-10-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

Seriously, kids. I've been run off my feet even more than usual these past few weeks. This week's adventures have involved training new staff on various things (including readers' advisory at OPL: the blog, the catalogue, and print tools like read-alike bookmarks, shelftalkers, and reading maps), finding a craft suitable for Sukkot (that's a long story!), a journalism student on the Bookmobile (yay!), various personnel issues and scheduling issues (resulting in me doing a Bookmobile run today to kill 3 birds with one stone: filling staff shortage and maintaining 75% service for the day, taking care of the journo, and going out with the only driver I haven't been out with yet), and (on Friday) The Royal Society of Canada's (RSC) Annual Symposium: Literacy and Citizenship in the 21st Century. In between that, I only have about a million emails to reply to, a presentation to finalise for next week, a speech to write (this and presi for RA in a day next week), and volunteers who have (or can get asap) police records checks to corral for our branch library homework clubs (Srsly. Want to volunteer? Branches that have an immediate need include Greenboro, Ruth E. Dickinson, and St Laurent; futures include Blackburn Hamlet and North Gloucester. Email me at libraryvolunteers [at] BiblioOttawaLibrary.ca).

Last week involved the Mayor's Seniors Summit, working a day at Rideau Branch (it was super cool to see some of my "old" regulars happy to see me! Plus I got to sit in on a wicked author event that is part of our Fall Author Series), more training of new employees, and the always-amazing Dewey Divas.

Meanwhile, I've been reading (some for CLA BOYCA, some for fun):

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (maybe it's 'cause I have a crush on him, but I read EVERY Ondaatje with his voice in my head. It's delicious)
That Boy Red by Rachna Gilmore (Gilmore's best yet, by far. Red is equal parts Anne Shirley - comparison can't be helped, Ramona, Owen Skye, and Clementine)
Dragon Seer's Gift by Janet McNaughton (I am really intrigued by where this series for older children is going.... Well-done!)
Broken Trail by Jean Rae Baxter
Where Children Sleep by James Mollison (heartbreaking and touching photo essay book about children's bedrooms, and sleeping quarters, around the world. Compare and contrast a pile of garbage with a room full of toys, etc. Read with Kleenex. Great for Grade 3+ in a classroom setting)
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (made me want to re-read some James Baldwin)
The Beggar's Garden by Michael Christie (I know, 2011 is apparently the Year of the Short Story for me. I demand to be patted on the back)
Reinventing the Rose by Kenneth J. Harvey (just plain ... weird)

Must now get off computer. Spend enough time on computer.

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-10-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

The theme of this particular bookmobile news round-up could well be Bookmobiles+ (or Bookmobiles 2.0, if you prefer): A mobile library offering programs, one at a souk, one promoting peace, one with hugs, one seeking a world record, a Supermobile, and a little red bookmobile that could, so to speak.

"North Yorkshire unveils “Supermobile” library timetable" via the Harrogate News
"From October 24, North Yorkshire County Council’s supermobile will call at twenty two locations on a rolling fortnightly timetable. Unlike the conventional mobile libraries, which were withdrawn last month, the supermobile offers a superior service, carrying around 3,000 items of stock – including books, DVDs, videos, and audio books – and offering internet access via satellite."
Editorial note: Psh! We visit 22 locations on a weekly basis! We should be a "Supermobile!"
"Mobile library for peace, Dharavi, Mumbai India." part of the Davis Projects for Peace
David Projects for Peace is "an initiative for all students at the Davis United World College Scholars Program partner schools to design grassroots projects for the summer of 2012 - anywhere in the world - which promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties." This project was developed by Aravind Unni, from the University of California, Berkeley, and aimed "to wipe out the marginalization that the slum communities in Mumbai experience, by providing them access to information on informal education and healthier living through the simple act of storytelling."
"Portland Public Library may add 'portable library' service," via the Forecaster (MA)
"The library [will] probably purchase a van and equip it with wireless technology and computers, enabling the mobile unit to provide digital library services and a wide variety of educational services to people who are unable to travel to the main branch. "It's not just showing up as a bookmobile. It's also delivering programs.""
"Library on wheels" by Amal Al-Sibai, via the Saudi Gazette
"We don’t see travelers in the Kingdom’s airports reading while waiting for their flights, nor do we find children here picking reading as a fun pastime to ease their burden of boredom. This aloof attitude towards books is sure to change in the near future. With such initiatives by government officials such as the mobile library, more and more people will start gaining interest in reading. King Abdul Aziz Public Library packed 3,000 books in a large bus and sent it to Al-Taif during the Souk Okaz activities."
"Foster: We must cultivate a love of reading in our island's children" via the Guam Pacific Daily News
"Yesterday, Guam took part in the Jumpstart Read for the Record worldwide literacy event, in which readers from around the world read the same book on the same day to students. First lady Christine M.S. Calvo was one of the participants, reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" to students at Chief Brodie Elementary School."
"Smiles and hugs welcome bookmobile's monthly visit" via the Seattle Sketcher
"Seattle has a brand-new bookmobile -- a red, white and blue van that went into service this week. The vehicle replaces one of four that deliver books to child-care centers, nursing homes and homebound residents who can't get to the library [....] "We know everybody by name," said Little, who was welcomed with a warm hug by Tess McBride, 88. That was the moment when it became clear to me that this is a different service of what anyone could get going to their branch library -- do you get hugged at yours? I don't."
"Little Red Bookmobile expanding list of services" via ENC Today (Eastern North Carolina)
"The Little Red Bookmobile that has gone into neighborhoods for five years delighting children and their parents with its treasure of books is expanding its services to offer after-school tutoring and to highlight science and nature."

News round-up

2011-10-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go to this
"Bishop Barry Clarke, St. James the Apostle Anglican Church and the Writer’s Chapel Trust invite you to a service of Evensong honouring the life of Frank R. Scott and dedicating the chapel at St. James the Apostle as The Writers’ Chapel, Montreal: a place to honour and remember the talents of Canadian writers. The Writers' Chapel Trust was created 2 years ago to commemorate Montreal writers. This year Bishop Barry will dedicate The Writers' Chapel and a plaque for F.R. Scott will be installed."
"Breathing the rarefied air at Centennial College's new library"
"The architectural re-branding of Centennial [....] The dour series of pre-cast concrete buildings put up in the 1970s are still standing, but now they’re offset by light-filled buildings with lounges equipped with computer bars and hipster seating in shades of cool, cucumber green. At the heart of the new $34-million library by Diamond + Schmitt Architects is a living wall of mesmerizing greenery that’s four storeys high."
Oxfordshire County Council resorts to blackmail: "I hope you're happy, Philip Pullman. We saved your libraries, but the elderly and disabled will suffer instead."

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-10-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

William McElcheran's "Untitled" (read more)
Happy commuters?

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsen
Acts (as in, the book from the New Testament, read on iPhone)
An Apple A Day by beloved Montreal icon, Dr. Joe Schwarcz
Me: Broken Trail by Jean Rae Baxter (it's a work thing)

Sorry, kids, for the boring week on this blog; I have been utterly swamped. It's 5:08 and I am not even close to leaving work either, so I am beginning to feel a bit panicky (Main does close at 6, so they security guard might come looking for me....!)

More from me next week, promise xxx

The psychology of reading

2011-10-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Our 6th annual RA in a day workshop is coming up soon, and we are building on an extremely popular session from last year's workshop with one of this year's sessions.

One of our speakers last year was York University's Dr. Raymond Mar (read my summary of his talk here), whose topic was “Empirical research on reading, and its implications for advising readers.” This year, we will hear from Dr. Keith Oatley, novelist and professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, about the psychology of reading fiction: how and why novels and short stories engage readers, and what the effects of reading are.

If the psychology of reading interests you, here are some other resources:

“Reading Fiction Impacts Aggressive Behaviour”
Researchers report that reading literature depicting aggression can impact how those readers respond to provocation.

“Reading fiction 'improves empathy', study finds”
US researchers measure impact of reading JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer

"Why fiction is good for you"
Keith Oatley proposes that stories create "a mental model in which readers can try out ideas about themselves and others."

"The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience."

News round-up

2011-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

"A reader's guide to Manhattan," by Christopher Reynolds, from the Montreal Gazette
"So, old-fashioned book people, hit literary Manhattan soon and hard. Even if you have only three days, as I did earlier this year, you can squeeze in an eight-stop tour, complete with thinking, drinking, Bibles, tote bags and a certain pair of municipal mascots. Here’s how my circuit went..."
Rohinton Mistry has won the of the $50,000 Neustadt International Prize for Literature
Dinosaur vs. the Library, anyone? This is a very cute series.
Otherwise, continue to sit on your hands or whatever until the Nobel is announced on Thursday! (place your bets here)

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-09-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

Outreach tip: Save on fuel by having the Bookmobile ride the bus.

Tough Guys Don't Dance by Norman Mailer
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
PM Network magazine, September 2011 issue
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Heartwishes by Jude Devereaux
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
One Sony ereader
Me: The Beggar's Garden by Michael Christie, 10 myths about Afghanistan (Guardian), and Guerres by Charlotte Gingras (the latter recommended by the lovely and talented Marina via our internal Collection development newsletter)
Bonus STM read (thanks, Mum!): Detecting Lies and Deceit: Pitfalls and Opportunities by Aldert Vrij

New-ish roles @ OPL: the past three months

2011-09-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

So, again, not a monthly report, but more of a quarterly one. Previous here.

I went on two ride-alongs with Homebound Services (third one was foiled by my recent stomach flu... and I am very annoyed)
Bookmobile implemented our new communications procedure. Many thanks to staff in our Communications and Community Relations and Digital Services departments, who cooperated with us to implement this new procedure and helped with supporting resources, which included a cheat sheet for staff to follow, with templates for messages and tweets, a bilingual press release which was picked up by the Citizen and Ottawa East EMC, and a social media poster with OPL’s first-ever QR codes.
Bookmobile did some healthy collection maintenance, including selecting some new magazines (look for Cooking Light, Family Handyman, Money Sense, Natural Health, National Geographic Kids and Mes premieres j’aime lire), re-organising teen material on the bus, and weeding.
395 children registered for the TD Summer Reading Club on the Bookmobile, thanks to excellent promotion by all, and festive SRC-themed decorations by one of our team! Bookmobile patrons read 2256 books this summer! We also visited 5 local schools to promote SRC, with 1150 children reached this way.
Bookmobile started using a Smart Bin!
We bought traction tape and sweeping compound to minimise slippery conditions and dust on the bus.
We participated in the Capital Pride Parade!
Three special guests went on ride-alongs: a University of Western Ontario FIMS student, an OPL Board member, and our boss.
We're working on new publicity, including Bookmobile’s first-ever bookmarks (you may have seen branch bookmarks).
We're working on moving some extensive Homebound files that are still kept on paper online, into some kind of database ....
I did some massively boring file management on our Shared directories, giving more power to the peeps by allowing staff to see more files, documents, procedures, stats, training guides etc. for Bookmobile.
I helped out in other areas of our large department: with Fall events for our Library Settlement Workers, preparing for the Mayor's Seniors Summit next week, answering questions about accessibility issues in branch libraries, and dealing with questions about newcomer homework help sessions at branch libraries.

News round-up

2011-09-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've written you a nice long post, but some are coming, promise! I've been swamped here at work. Last week involved teaching, a job interview*, two crises, leading part of a tour of Main (Diversity and Accessibility Services, obvs) for new employees, some time at Bookmobile, a 2 hour meeting on Wednesday, followed by outreach at a local school (promoting Bookmobile and children's services), followed by more outreach (class-by-class 20 min presentations!) on Thursday at another local school. All day Thursday I kept taking my jacket off ad putting it back on, like some perverse Mr. Rogers on fast-forward... And my copy of Taming Horrible Harry seemed impossibly heavy. Turns out I was not having premature hot flashes, or losing my outreach stamina, but about to get the stomach flu! Hooray!

While I hobble towards recovery on a bread-and-water diet, here are some juicy stories to sink your teeth into:

Ottawa poet-barkeep tapped to judge Griffin literary prize
Libraries in Cumbria have launched a new audio book service allowing members to download books free of charge (shortest story ever. More info here. And no, this is not revolutionary on this side of the pond, but interesting to see it over there....).
Dayton Literary Prize prize winners announced
The E-book revolution: four years in
Homesick Montrealer non-book link of the day: Calèche drivers flout cell phone law (and I quote: "“My horse sees where he’s going.”)

* yeah, you caught that, didn't you?.... I am staying in my current post (no longer acting) for a term of 6 months. That's me, Coordinator of Diversity and Accessibility Services!

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-09-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Yes to buses!

Hotel California by Barney Hoskins
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles
Suite francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (lu en français)
Making Decentralization Work: Democracy, Development, and Security by Ed Connerley, Kent Eaton, and Paul Smoke (eds.)
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
The Demon King (A Seven Realms Novel) by Cinda Williams Chima

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-09-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Kobo reader, title not visible
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (which I adored)
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Last Innocent Man by Phillip Margolin
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
This Is Your Brain On Music by McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin... (my husband spotted this one, and was especially amused to see someone sitting across the aisle reading another brain-related title)
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Me: The Meagre Tarmac by Clark Blaise (scrumptious)

My essay is up

2011-09-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Wheeee!

"Pantsuits, pink and the power of the librarian by Alexandra Yarrow" on the Women Doing Literary Things blog.
"In an attempt to dispel one stereotype, we’re often simply constructing another, a cartoonish riotgrrrl librarian who can’t be taken any more seriously than Marian the Librarian."

Talking about The Cat's Table with Michael Ondaatje: It "blossomed like a flower outward"

2011-09-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was all over the map. You know those days that the expression "well, she really got out of bed on the wrong side" were just made for? I had one of those. At work, I made it through a Herculean pile of tasks with (alternating) panic, mood swings, exhaustion, dark humour and cookies. After work, it was like a cranky, argumentative jerk took over my body, as all the unexpressed frustration at my day came seeping out onto the poor unfortunates who crossed my path.

So, listening to Michael Ondaatje read from The Cat's Table at the Writers Festival last night was like a balm for the soul.

I am not really one to moon over authors (or anyone, for that matter). That being said, Ondaatje has always had a special place in my heart: those eyes! That voice! The sense that he is listening carefully to everything the audience says and actually cares about it! (Did I mention his eyes? Because those of you there last night didn't really get a chance to see them up close, but they are seriously intense).

A good friend of mine has a bit of a thing for Joseph Boyden, so the fact that he was interviewing Ondaatje was kind of oddly simpatico, in terms of dreamy authors, but alas my friend was unable to join me for the evening. I had actually never been to an event featuring Boyden. Apparently, Ondaatje had asked for him to be his interviewer, and I can see why: Boyden's questions were thoughtful and interesting, and were peppered with some humour and gentle ribbing ("So, another thing that pisses me off about you is....")

Some gems from the evening:

Boyden admitting he would be hesitant to set a novel on a boat (The characters would do "one lap around and then what?"). He then admitted that the enclosed setting of the novel didn't hinder Ondaatje's work: rather than becoming confined, it "blossomed like a flower outward."
Many reviews I have read have mentioned that this is Ondaatje's most accessible work, a choice of words that made me snort with derision a little, I must admit. Boyden touched on this, asking Ondaatje if he felt this was his most approachable work. Ondaatje hedged a bit, suggesting this word might be coming up simply by virtue of the fact that the novel has an 11 year-old protagonist. Boyden added that he has never seen Ondaatje's writing as unapproachable; he said that, as a poet, Ondaatje "grounds his language so specifically" that his words have a certain clarity.
Ondaatje on being a poet writing a (longer) novel: "Part of the book is, you know, how do I get out of it?"
Ondaatje on the structure of a novel: he described a novel as a sort of collage: this blue goes over here with this green, for instance, in the editing process. In his opinion, character "is the central machine in a book," followed by setting (location and time). I would say that's a good assessment of the two main appeal factors of his work.

As always, a pleasure just to hear Ondaatje's voice. He can read to me any evening.

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-09-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

No, seriously, that's your boss? She looks so young! *

"Mobile Library Festival, Turku 2011" (video)
The International Mobile Library festival was held in Turku, Findland, last month. Buses from several (Nordic) countries were parked on the banks of Aurajoki River, near a Finnish library boat (gotta watch until the end to see that!)
"Graying of the gay community - building new kind of library" via GazetteNET.com
"The Out Books On Wheels, a Northampton-based mobile library created to help LGBT elders “continue enjoying life outside of the closet,” according to its mission statement."
"Putting literacy on the road" via The Media Online
Six new bookmobiles are on the road in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, serving as "multi-purpose mobile libraries that also offer computer and internet access, photocopying facilities, DVDs, CDs and toys. They will also provide a space for storytellers or speakers." In SA, UNESCO estimates that "7.4 and 8.5 million adults are functionally illiterate; between 2.9 and 4.2 million people have never attended school. One million children in South Africa live in a household where no adult can read, [and] just over 50% of South African families own no books for recreational or leisure time reading."
"Bookmobile return overdue?" via the Worcester Telegram
"Today, in an age when people are a mouse click away from gathering information from the Internet or are reading the latest bestseller on a portable electronic reader, bookmobiles are going the way of the trucks once used to make daily milk deliveries. That might not be the case in Worcester, however, where local book lovers and some city councilors are looking to buck the trend [....] Bookmobile service would be valuable because it is very difficult for many people to get to the library's three branches."
..... Is it creepy that there is another Ottawa with another Bookmobile? Discuss. "West Ottawa Bookmobile ends 2011 summer season" via The Holland Sentinel
"“This is as good as it gets. It’s the bomb,” bus driver Robin Veenhoven said. “I get to drive a big bus around with Clifford and ‘Charlotte’s Web’ on it.”"
Whaddya mean, improving on the bookmobile? "Almost a bookmobile, not quite a library" via Out of the Jungle
"The Uni Project is a "portable reading room" designed for urban spaces [....] Davol's idea is to improve on the venerable bookmobile by adding features like furniture that encourages community members to hangout and enjoy the books and each other."
"Volunteer on a Mobile Library in Malawi" via Idealist.org
The Book Bus mobile library in Malawi visits schools in which "children learn to read by simply repeating what the teachers say, the memorise it, and repeat it again. As you can imagine, not a very insipring way to learn.The book Bus aims to provide children with the resources (fun, colourful storybooks) and the inclination to continue to read. We do this by working with small groups of children in Malawian schools, and practising reading. We also plan fun activities and games around the books to encourage them continue to use the books and persuade them that reading is fun and enjoyable."
"Book bike will take library for a ride" via Tuscon Velo
"The Pima County Library is putting a new spin on the book mobile. The newest vehicle in its fleet has one less wheel and a giant sunroof. The library’s new book bike will make its debut this winter."
"San Francisco Public Library’s Green Bookmobile Visits the Exploratorium’s Front Parking Lot" via the Exploratorium
Discover "the San Francisco Public Library’s new Green Bookmobile," which "runs on 20 percent biodiesel with a hybrid generator, [is] equipped with 4 solar panels, has skylights for natural light and it is made from sustainably forested wood with recycled content carpet."

* (But she did turn 31 last week)

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-09-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

An unknown Michael Crichton novel
Adeleïde par Marie Laberge
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls by Zoey Dean
The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier by Tony Jones
Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar
The Wreckage by Michael Crummey
A title in Lisa Jackson's To Die series
The Economist magazine
A book in Chinese
Me: The Secret River by Kate Grenville (so good!)

OPL @ the Power of Words breakfast

2011-09-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

This morning, I attended the Power of Words breakfast organised by the amazing People, Words & Change. We met and spoke with many of the 90+ people attending the event, including literacy tutors, adult students, PWC staff and Board members, Mayor Watson (at left*), Councillor Fleury, and Councillor Hobbs.

The line for food snaked by our Ottawa Public Library display table (at right), which was a great strategic advantage; I was able to call out “While you’re waiting, have a free bookmark ... And can we interest you in some information about the library?” We had a nice chat with Mayor Watson when he was waiting in line, and he mentioned OPL in his speech. He said that he is proud of the work the library does, of its “dynamic staff,” and our “passionate” Board Chair (the always-spectacular Jan Harder). He also alluded to Toronto (“unlike that city down the road, we know the importance of the library...”).

I answered one or two reference questions, promoted our collections (some lists: Golden Oak Award Finalists, Quick Reads series, Good Reads series, and the Open Door series) and services. We brought material from our collections to display, membership forms, information about programs, some OPL swag (bookmarks, pencils, magnets), branch and location information, and we also raffled off two free books!

The speeches given by the students themselves were hands-down the best part of the morning: one student mentioned every tutor he had at PWC - and many of the administrative staff - by name and thanked them; another mentioned how, now that she was more comfortable using her English, she went out more and was more sociable because she wasn’t embarrassed to speak to people... and she could negotiate a better rate on her travel insurance! Another stressed the importance of reading, specifically, and said that she never realised how important it was to read a lot until she began working with her tutor to improve her grammar. A few made some pretty cute jokes about idiosyncrasies of the English language: one remarked how important it was for him to learn the difference between "affect" and "effect." Another described her trouble with the complex uses of the word "up:" you can say "it's clouding up," or "it's clearing up," but really, she should be "finishing up" her speech and she should really "shut up." There were some really moving stories of people overcoming great adversity; two students who spoke are now Carleton students; one student said that he and his wife agree that calling PWC was the best thing he ever did.

It was a really rewarding experience to be there. FYI, though, networking at 7 am is pretty exhausting.

*Photo at top left: David Barbour, http://www.davidbarbour.com

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-09-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
An original Penguin Classic with a green border
Jacques Cartier by Yves Jacob
An unknown Patricia Cornwell mystery - seen in Montreal (so, an STM read not OC!)

Felt Friday Special edition: Owls

2011-09-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

This is a special Felt Friday because it is dedicated to Baby Girl G. Our second rezling baby is due next month, and her parents are decorating with owls in mind. Above is the gift bag that contained my present for the lovely Baby G; I made the felt owls (one on each side) myself, and they are sewn loosely on so they can be snipped off and incorporated into Baby's room.*

Owls! Owls and I go way back: back to Westmount Public Library days, in fact. Being the connoisseur of random WPL tour-guide-themed facts (seriously. Ask me about the flowers in the frieze in the Findlay Rooms. I dare you!), I can even tell you how the owl ended up in the centennial bookmark at right. You might think it is there because of the association of owls with wisdom (via the goddess Athena), and that's a good guess. There is, however, a real-life story about owls at WPL: during the 1995 renovations, the wonderful team behind the work discovered an owl living in a tree in what is now the reading garden; although his habitat was certainly displaced, shall we say, he coped, and he became an unwitting mascot. In the mid-2000s, a children's department logo was designed, using an owl as the central image.

The owl became a beloved symbol for staff, as well. I have wonderful memories of Ann's owl collection in her office, a tradition which the current director, Julie-Anne, has happily continued; I like that her owls are keeping an eye on things in the library (at left). Whenever I see owls, I think of my Westmount friends; I always want to buy owls for them!

The fabulous Lora (my fellow Digestive Librarians' Digest blogger) also has an impressive owl collection in her office at Westmount, to which I have contributed via the fabulous Workshop Boutique here in town). Look at them all chillaxin' there on top of her cabinet! I just want to hang out with them every time I visit, although that little dude at the bottom of the group there looks like he's too cool for me.

My bestie Caroline also has some impressive owls, including the felt one at left inherited from her grandpa (it used to live on his fridge).

Yeah, so, if this is a Felt Friday, I should offer some reading and singing recommendations... Here we go!

Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton (the author and illustrator is was named one of Time Magazine’s DESIGN 100 for his work for Fair Trade in 2007): Houghton blogs about the making of this book here (a fascinating look at owls in art!)

Over in the Hollow by Rebecca Dickinson: I love the somewhat complex melody of the song "Over in the meadow;" when you've mastered it, you can graduate to this Halloween-themed picture book featuring an owl family on a double-page spread, as well as a host of other Halloween characters...

WOW! said the Owl by Tim Hopgood: all about colours, as seen by yonder wide-eyed owl. Deliciously vibrant.

There is also the old favourite (and slightly scary for little folk) Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, and the classic Good Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins.

To sing and rhyme:

There’s A Wide-Eyed Owl
There’s a wide-eyed owl
With a pointed nose,
He has pointed ears
And claws for toes.
He sits in a tree
And looks at you,
Then flaps his wings and says,
"Who... who... whooo!"

Little Owl (tune: This Old Man)
Little Owl, in the tree,
He is winking down at me.
With a wink, wink, wink, wink,
All through the night,
Little Owl is quite a sight!

Little Owl, in the tree,
He is hooting down at me.
With a hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot,
All through the night,
Little Owl is quite a sight!

Owls Are Sleeping (tune: Frère Jacques)
Owls are sleeping
Owls are sleeping
In their trees
In their trees
Soon it will be nighttime
Soon it will be nighttime
Wake up, owls (clap)
Wake up, owls (clap)

If you’re an owl and you know it
If you’re an owl and you know it, BLINK your eyes,
If you’re an owl and you know it, BLINK your eyes,
If you’re an owl and your know it ,
Than you really ought to show it
If you’re an owl and you know it, BLINK your eyes.

If you’re an owl and you know it, FLAP your wings....
If you’re an owl and you know it, Shout WHOO– HOO....

A final fun fact via The book of general ignorance (accurately skewered by the always-pithy John Crace, but nevertheless interesting... as Crace says, to geeks, anyway....):

"William Shakespeare first used the phrase 'tu-whit, tu-whoo' in his song, 'Winter,' from Love's Labour's Lost [...]. No single owl has ever gone 'tu-whit, tu-whoo.'Barn owls screech. Short-eared owls are largely silent. A long-eared owl makes an extended low pitched 'oo-oo-oo' noise. The owl noise that most resembles 'tu-whit, tu-whoo' is made by Tawny owls. Two of them. The male Tawny - also known as a Brown Owl - calls with a hooting 'hooo-hoo-hooo,' and the female replies with a hoarser 'kew-wick.'

Try that at storytime.

* Can I just say... really hard to take a pic of a hot pink bag with an orange felt. Yeah. That's all.

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-08-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (little-known AJY factoid: I read every Agatha Christie, except for the Marples, at age 12)
The Necromancer by Michael Scott
something by Chuck Klosterman
A Harlequin en français
A Will and Kate picture book for grown-ups (le sigh) (bonus point for library copy, however, so my guess is it's one of these)

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-08-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

"In Pictures: Devraj Urs Mobile Library in Bangalore" by Lavanya Srinivasan, from My Bangalore
"The primary objective of the mobile library is to facilitate citizens through home lending. Though there is no membership fee, a small deposit of Rs. 40 must be made as refundable security. To become a member, all you need is a passport photograph and an address proof with the application form attested by a gazette officer."
"Reading on the run" by Jonathan Allen, from the West Ashley Patch
"Charleston County has been bringing the library to them since 1931 with its Bookmobile. The bus [...] stops at more than 40 locations twice a month."
"Kids cheer for private bookmobile party" by Erin Pustay, from IndeOnline.com.
"On the perfectly sunny Wednesday afternoon, the big blue bookmobile rolled right up in front of his Navarre home. It brought with it all the adventure and fun packed into the books it totes, as well as a craft and a story. “When the bookmobile pulled up,” children’s librarian Laura Klein said, “they were literally jumping up and down and cheering. They were so excited.”"
"BiebBus: Amazing Dutch Children’s Library Pops Up Inside a Shipping Container" from inhabitat.com
"The BiebBus Library can pull in, pop up and let kids participate in a parable or two in small Dutch towns." (First heard about this via IFLA's Mobile Library Guidelines, but now it's everywhere, even Yahoo)
"Free Library Service in Brazilian Taxis" from PFSK
"The Bibliotaxi contains a number of books inside the vehicle. Passengers can read any of the available books during their trip or borrow the books by registering their names and returning them to the taxi or other city locations."

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-08-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Hua Shan Hospital murders (Zhong Fong Mystery) by York U prof David Rotenberg
Captain Cook by Frank McLynn
The moral landscape by Sam Harris
Bloodletting and miraculous cures byVincent Lam (2nd week on this list!)
The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead
Fresh magazine
The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherford

Book trailers: YouTube as the "first stop" for publishers, or books as the "quiet place"

2011-08-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

The Toronto Star has an interesting look at book trailers, with quotes from Emma Donoghue (for) and Jonathan Franzen (against).

Meanwhile, Oppel has a Frankenbook coming out? Nice!

On the road with Homebound Services

2011-08-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

The image on our Homebound delivery bags.

So, I know I've been writing more about Bookmobile than about any of my other areas. FYI, my department, "Diversity and Accessibility Services," includes Homebound Services, Bookmobile, Library Volunteers, Services to Older Adults, Accessibility, Diversity and Literacy. My position as coordinator of the department includes direct involvement in Homebound, Bookmobile and Volunteers, and marginal involvement in the other areas. However, we have two vacancies in our department, an Outreach Librarian (the "Diversity" area) and an Accesibility Librarian (both were recently posted ... are you a librarian looking for work? I hope you applied!). The vacancies mean that I have also spent some time recently dealing with seniors stuff, accessibility questions, and services for new Canadians (Diversity), including coordinating the work of the library settlement workers.

After spending the first four months as Acting Coordinator focusing mostly on Bookmobile, I am now turning more attention to Homebound Services (Volunteer stuff is mostly status: maintain, for now...). Basically, to crib from our website, Homebound "staff and volunteers regularly select library materials and deliver them to [borrowers'] doors every month." The service is available to individuals of "any age who are confined to their home or residence for more than three months" - or the winter months! - "because of age, illness, frailty or caregiver responsibilities."

So, Homebound staff use their amazing readers' advisory skills to select materials for Homebound borrowers (some computer-literate Homebound borrowers also request online via our website), and staff and volunteers deliver materials every month to them (borrowers get longer loan periods and other extended privileges). We visit people in their homes, and also in continuing care centres, auxiliary hospitals and senior residences.

Recently, I did selection for 4 hours. We keep records for each Homebound borrower that include all their past loans (this is a special module in our ILS, specifically for libraries with Homebound departments), as well as a "profile" of the borrower: their likes, dislikes, etc. Most of our staff rely heavily on their own knowledge of (and expertise with) the collection to select for patrons; they also use tools such as Novelist (free to all OPL cardholders!) and in-house booklists for further ideas. I selected a total of 75 items for four patrons in my four hours (so about 19 items/hour, and remember, Homebound serves hundreds of borrowers a month!). For a patron who enjoys the contemorary historical "blockbusters" of Leon Uris, I chose Edward Rutherford's Dublin Saga, Sandra Brown's Rainwater, as well as titles by Beverly Swerling, Barbara Wood, and James Michener. For a Peter Robinson fan, I went with some Ann Granger, Kate Atkinson, Elizabeth Adler, Beverly Cleverly, and Ann Granger. A "certain type of" biography fan will be unpacking a bag filled with The Bride of Science : Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter by Benjamin Woolley, Letters of a woman homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, The Great Western Beach : A Memoir of A Cornish Childhood Between the Wars by Emma Smith, and The illustrated Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. For someone who enjoys the romantic suspense of Barbara Taylor Bradford (with a side order of historical fiction and family sagas), I chose Jayne Krentz's All Night, as well as titles by Karen Robards, Jo Ann Ross, and Suzanne Brockman. I had one patron who wanted some "coffee table books," so for that I . I also threw in some curve balls (read: literary "stretches" that also happen to be titles I have read and enjoyed), including Nicole Krauss's The history of love for a romance/family saga lover, and Kate Mosse's Sepulchre for a mystery / women's lit reader. There were many other treasures in there... I really should have taken pictures.

Selecting was an excellent way to exercise my readers' advisory muscles, get to know the collection at Main Library much better (I rarely browse there), and, of course, become more familiar with the work performed by the employees I supervise.

I also went out on two recent visits made by Homebound Services staff: one was to a long-term care facility, where we delivered new material, and picked up old material, to several residents, and one was to what we call a mini-library. A mini-library is pretty self-explanatory: we set up large boxes with a selection of our collection (see at right: novels, romans, nonfic, large print, PBs, A/V) in a seniors' care facility. It was really interesting for me to visit one of these: aside from the nerdy librarian "that's so cool!" factor, it was fun in a way I had trouble pinning down at first. Here it is: with all the other library "busy work" removed from the equation: staffing, equipment, managing patrons, Internet usage, facilities, etc., it was so lovely just to do checkout and readers' advisory. It was our service stripped to bare bones, with one meagre laptop (offline) and just our own wits to guide us. That probably sounds really lame, but it was a blast just chatting with the patrons about books and rummaging through the bins to help them find something to read. Extra points to the colleague I went with: since she helps select the material in the boxes, she knows the material like the back of her hand (and it's pretty diverse - although we can definitely say that some things are popular, like political biographies and romance novels). Working with her I observed probably some of the best readers' advisory transactions I have seen in a long time.

More on Homebound in the coming weeks....

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-08-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

unknown Jodi Picoult title (library copy!)
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
A Cold Treachery by Charles Todd
Lost Prophecies (part of the Medieval Murderers series, authored by six British mystery writers: Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Philip Gooden, and Simon Beaufort)
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam (coming to TV)
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Room by EmmaDonoghue (one of my 2010 favs)
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
One Day by David Nicholls ("The man who made a nation cry")
The Sun Sword by Michelle West
Something by Bret Easton Ellis
Ben W. of I Heart OCTranspo reports via Twitter that "I've been reading @RossBrownfoot's Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary on iPad." (local author alert!)
... and what am I reading on the bus, you ask? Last week and this week, it's been The Accidental Library Marketer, by Kathy Dempsey. Not very juicy, I suppose, but it was on my desk for several weeks and I was just not getting to it, so I started carting it around. Turns out work books are good for me to bring on transit - with novels, I often get so engrossed I miss my stop!

(Measuring) The value of libraries

2011-08-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

This TPL thing has really been getting me down recently. Then, just for extra fun this past weekend, the Husband (and me, but only marginally) had a raging debate with a federal government worker who thinks that Ottawa has too many libraries. So, below, I am going to outline some salient points about the importance and value of libraries, and how to measure this (the qualitative/quantitative debate), with specifics about Toronto and Ottawa.

This is a very, very long post. I decided not to split it up because I want it to be read as one entity. For those (like me) who have to print out posts this long, here's a PDF. Sorry, trees.

WHY LIBRARIES ARE IMPORTANT TO ME (QUALITATIVE)
When it comes right down to it, if you stuck a microphone in my face, here is what I would tell you is the value of libraries, to me, as a patron and not as a librarian: Libraries are important to me the way parks are important: you can’t quantify the joy that they bring to people, the smiles, the shared moments and the private ones, the sense of wonder, the respite from loneliness. Statistics about numbers of items borrowed and numbers of computer terminals used are important, even crucial, for us as professionals, but for me as a person, the importance of the library lies in its importance as a place of refuge.

In this case, the quantitative can actually help flesh out the qualitative. I read 56 adult books last year, and an additional 106 children’s books. If you average out the adult titles at about $30 a piece, and the children’s ones at, say $20, then that adds up to a value of about $3800. I probably would not have bought all those titles myself: none of us who read that much would, if only for the lack of shelf space at home. And in reading fewer books, my life would have been much the poorer, but not in any quantifiable way. I would have been missing the joy and the comfort of being challenged, entertained, and engaged with all of those characters and ideas.

I would argue that we need libraries the way we need to be able to see the sky beyond the skyscrapers. When I was working at Westmount Library, back in the days when we all religiously powered off computers and had logins for OPACs, one of my favourite times of day was first thing in the morning, when I used to boot up the OPACs on the second floor. I would stand there, alone with the collection, waiting for the password prompt. Those computers were near 819 – Canadian poetry, and so I used to often pull out some Leonard Cohen or whoever else was at hand on the shelves that day, and read a few lines aloud, glancing out the window and up Mount Royal. That kind of serendipitous experience is necessary, not in a life or death kind of way, but for the well-being of the soul. Those books were there for when I needed them - as an insurance policy against becoming too hardened, too bogged down in the minutiae, as a pre-emptive strike against losing my sense of whimsy. Everyone should have the chance to experience that moment of wonder that comes from an encounter with an old friend in the stacks, or the discovery of a new kindred spirit.

WHY LIBRARIES ARE NECESSARY, NOT ESSENTIAL
The Annoyed Librarian recently wrote a post entitled “Busy isn’t enough,” about what public libraries do and why they are important. She picked up on Rex Murphy’s recent editorial about ebooks, and poked some great holes in his arguments. I always have a soft spot for AL, because although she is sometimes harsh, or plain wrong, she always challenges me to think a little harder about why I believe the things I believe. Case in point: “You might protest, but if public libraries were essential public services, there wouldn’t be this sort of arguing about them for 150 years. Nobody argues that cities should eliminate police departments or sanitation services, but public libraries are always ripe targets for budget cuts when times get hard. They’re treated by politicians as luxury services for the good times.” Libraries are definitely not essential public services in the same sense as police, sanitation or fire departments. That’s a no-brainer, and AL’s right that we do ourselves no favours when we pretend to be essential this way. As AL points out, “Librarians need to start reminding people of why libraries are necessary, even if nobody is using them. That’s a harder argument to make because it can’t be tied up into a neat little quantified package, but ultimately it will be a better argument.”

That is the argument I am trying to make here: any argument about the value of libraries needs to include both quantitative and qualitative data. I recently sparked quite the debate about this on Facebook (details below....) and some friends made some excellent points about how to measure the value of libraries. One wrote that "there are strong arguments that say cultural institutions cannot be justified on an evidentiary basis, but that that does not make them any less valuable, and which makes it all the more necessary to protect them against the 'efficiencies' of capitalism." I would argue that some aspects of cultural institutions can and should be analysed and evaluated (note I do not say 'justified') on an evidentiary basis. As another friend observed, "specifics - where it's possible to get them - make an argument stronger," and "there are a number of things [libraries] could do a better job at measuring." That's part of the hard truth in this post. As much as it's important for librarians to focus on the work we do, I strongly feel that it is also important for us to focus on gathering evidence (both quantitative - facts/stats - and qualitative - anecdotes, responses, opinions) so that when (and it is when) the day comes when the value of libraries comes into question, we are ready.

One of my friends wrote that "by providing the kind of 'evidence' that would be accepted, all we are going to do is get sucked into the same corporate ideological framework that is causing the problem. By using their language we have to play by their rules. Di Brand [Toronto's poet laureate] is right: this is an ideological question, and no amount of evidence will satisfy an ideological objection [Alex interrupts a second time to point you to Di Brand's great article about public libraries here]. Culture cannot be justified by appealing to economic, fiscal, utilitarian, or 'instrumental-rational' evidence - it can only be appreciated, supported, and defended on its own terms."

I actually agree with that. When it comes to the reasons libraries are important to me, no amount of evidence can quantify that. Exposure to - and participation in - culture, via the library, cannot be defended using the language of the corporate and political world. On the other hand, unless we throw out the current predominant model for public library funding (a combination of various levels of government), we will kind of have to play by their rules, at least in part. Don't think I don't think about a model of public library service that doesn't involve more private funding, and less reliance on government, but never mind that for now. We are where we are, and if we have to play by their rules for the moment, why not try to bend them a little along the way? Rules can be bent in both directions: corporate and political decision-makers can try to adopt a greater understanding and appreciation of the nuances of qualitative, idealogical, "Gross domestic happiness"-types of measurement, and librarians and those who support culture can can also adopt more effective measures to quantitatively evaluate their work.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN TORONTO
Oh, what a mess.... I won’t even touch the Doug Ford Atwood comment or the Rob Ford “I can think of a word for her” comment. I think most of you reading this will have heard that funding for public libraries in Toronto was recently up for debate.... One of the responses to the Fords's challenge was a website sponsored by the Toronto Public Library Workers Union, called Our Public Library: Great people, great library, great city. Shortly after this website popped up, a reflection on this website, and the TPLWU movement, was posted by Dr. Ken Haycock, “Why Toronto Public Library Staff Gave Me Indigestion, Part I.” Haycock, a frequent speaker at library conferences about political advocacy for libraries, didn't mince words, calling out the website for trying to advocate via "embarrassing the mayor," and engaging in fear-mongering, intimidation and misinformation; he also pointed out that “if [TPL staff] had relationships with their city councillors they could better make the case than embarrassing the mayor in the hopes of gaining support. They even had six months warning.”

When I posted Haycock's blog post on my Facebook wall, I sparked a fierce debate. One of my friends commented that Ford's efforts at advocacy via embarrassing, fear-mongering, intimidation and misinformation were pretty effective, which is, sadly, true. As the Husband tried to point out to our Sunnyside patron, critical thinking (or even getting all the facts: basic information literacy skills - how ironic!) seems to be at an all-time low (and not just in Canada). I don't have a solution for this problem, but it's beyond the scope of this post, and frankly, it doesn't mean that we should stoop to this level, just because other people have. Another friend expressed wariness at the idea of “putting any kind of significant resources" into political advocacy, "particularly given the current climate of many of our local governments." While I would certainly agree, on a personal level, that the Harper government is a bit of a lost cause in my book, I don't think that any large public library with issues on the table can afford to not put resources into political advocacy to all parties. We're not in this for short-term gains (although hey, those would be great), and we need to be in this despite any personal misgivings or lack of trust: we need to be in this to continuously challenge (and attempt to raise) the level of discourse in this country. Maybe I sound all wide-eyed, naive, "be the change you wish to see in the world," but seriously, I am worried that if we tune out, we're all lost, and in libraryland, if we don't keep cultivating a place at the table, we will lose it.

Thus, without a place at the table right now, we're in a bit of a bind. Instead of focusing on the presumed possibility that “local branches of the Toronto Public Library would almost certainly be closed,” or on a so-short-it’s-embarrasing list of TPL factoids, we should be focusing public and political attention on the fact that TPL is seen by residents as a core service, and that both numbers and emotional tales back that statement up.

The quantitative: Here are some cold, hard facts, sourced from here and here:

There was a 4% increase in physical visits and memberships and a 15% increase in virtual visits in 2010 at TPL
72% percent of Torontonians use TPL
TPL experienced above-average visits per capita and circulation per capita in 2009
Also in 2009, TPL spent an above-average amount of $ on materials in Canada and with Canadian publishers.
As Atwood said in the Globe, “Toronto’s system is the second largest, by number of branches, and the busiest by circulation, on the continent. New York City public libraries lent out 24 million volumes in 2010; Toronto’s lent out over 32 million. The system has innovated, offering music and e-book downloads, making Internet access widely available, delivering materials to local branches, and lending out cards that give free access to local museums.”

The qualitative: Since I hope I’ve made it clear that any analysis of the value of libraries has to include both numbers and people, here are some additional articulations of the importance of TPL from Our Shared Stories: Writing the Future of Toronto's Library Toronto Public Library Strategic Plan 2008-2011, which opens with the statement that “the public library is a catalyst for imagination, a conduit to information, and the cornerstone of the local community.” Another great source is TPL’s 2010 Annual Report.

Chapter headings of the strategic plan itself are action verbs: “Engaging Toronto’s diverse communities,” “Addressing the growing income gap,” “Expanding access to technology and online services,” “Supporting creativity and culture.” There's the value in TPL: in engaging, addressing expanding, and supporting.
The plan clearly shows that TPL patrons value the library as “public space,” as a community hub and as a community partner. TPL branches have hosted everything from storytimes and book clubs to public meetings on the radicalisation of crime and the development of an anti-racist response to guns and gangs.
Read the stories of people whose lives have been greatly influenced by the library: speaking about Poetry is Public is Poetry, one of TPL’s contributions to city-wide cultural initiatives and local cultural expression, Toronto poet Rosemary Sullivan says “I never felt so profoundly how important libraries are to our cultural life.”
TPL is a place for new citizens to become engaged with the City and feel personally fulfilled: Gail Bowen writes about students who “went on to live lives that would have been beyond the imagining of their grandparents, and they were able to do this because the libraries of this country have always offered people the tools to build new lives.”

SO, ARE THERE TOO MANY LIBRARIES IN OTTAWA?
I can’t speak for all the librarians at OPL, but I’m willing to bet that most of us are eager for you to ask us about the library. We are sitting at those Information and Reference desks just waiting for citizens to ask us about why we have 33 branches, why we renovated a certain branch, why the fiction section was weeded, why we have those “toys” in the children’s area, etc. The problem, of course, is that many of you who have concerns don't articulate them, because you don't visit the library, or you don't particularly care, or because you think front-line staff can't answer your question (most librarians can, or can forward your query and then follow-up to ensure the question is answered). If the questions aren't asked, however, it means myself and my colleagues need to be doing two things: encouraging more of you to speak up about what you feel is successful and what you feel is not at OPL, and reaching out to library users and non-users to highlight library projects or initiatives, so that the work that is being done is being effectively communicated, before and after the fact. I feel we've been getting increasingly good at the second point above, via our Annual Reports and other documentation, but we need to be better at the first point, as well.

Ten points for the Husband, then, for doing some true outreach. We often run right down the canal from Lowertown to the Lansdowne Park. We cross the canal at the Bank St. Bridge, and run up the opposite canal bank. Since the Husband is faster than me, he circles around the parking lot of the Sunnyside Branch of OPL (sometimes a few times) waiting for me to catch up (by the way, Sunnyside has a magnificent garden!) On Saturday, as he was circling, a patron (male; 50s) was returning some material in the book drop. I heard the Husband say something to him (turned out to be an innocuous enough comment about how it’s great to see people using the library, especially with the stuff going on in Toronto) and I was close enough by then to hear the reply: “Well, you’re not going to like it then, when I say that I think Ottawa has too many libraries.” The Husband proceeded to get into a long debate about libraries (and other services), critical thinking, the hiring of consultants, and seeing both sides of an issue.... Since I didn’t get a chance to respond to several of the comments the patron made about libraries, I thought I would here:

"Ottawa has too many libraries" – Well, for this one, I guess my first question would be, what makes you think there are too many? Just the numbers (33 branches + 2 bookmobiles)? Or do you feel they are costing us too much? In any case, here are some points to consider: Ottawa has one of the largest geographic areas (2,778.13 sq. km) of any Canadian city, according to 2006 Census. This makes Ottawa the 11th largest city in Canada (Toronto, with its 99 library branches, is 43rd, and Edmonton, with 17 library branches, is 39th). As a consequence, OPL has many rural branches, and branches are spread out geographically to serve our citizens. The 2011 OPL Operating Budget is $36.8 million and the total 2011 City Operating Budget is $2.6 billion; in other words, the Library represents less than 2% of the total City budget. That’s a lot of service for less than 2%, in my opinion!
"Ottawa has a gold-plated library system” – I think this means you believe Ottawa should focus resources on something else. That's definitely an opinion you're entitled to hold.... In the meantime, I am going to take this one as a (partial) compliment, even if it might have been passive-aggressive. I do think it's a little tragic when we aren't proud of our city's successes. Councillor Jan Harder often cites the Library as a great success story of amalgamation... And yet sometimes, Ottawans are our own worst enemies! As part of a larger negative discourse about services and democratic rights, I would go back to Di Brand here and add that "we should be in a conversation about how we will provide broader, yes broader, democratic rights, deeper social care, to all citizens, not how to cut them."
"Why does the library provide social services?” - The short answer is that we don't. If by social services, you mean that we provide a space for marginalised members of society to "hang out," read the newspaper or a book, and have a quick nap, then yes, we do provide a place for that - there are hardly any safe public community places left for those things, if you've noticed. But that is not, and was never, our main role and we are not, by any extension of the word, providing the same services as a shelter or a community centre. Most of us, and hopefully especially most librarians, have a clear idea of our role in the community: we specialise in helping members of marginalised communities (and everyone) with answering information needs and strengthening multiple literacies. We excel at building community partnerships and effecting expert referrals to social services when needed. We are called upon a great deal for additional services beyond our scope all the time, from secretarial to psychiatric, and we do our best to exhibit professionalism and compassion in these situations.
"Why is the Children’s department so big? People should just go to the neighbour’s house for storytime!" and "Why are there all these toys in here?" - The Children's department got just a little bit bigger, but looks much bigger because they did a great job renovating it to be more inviting, tidy and whimsical! Library storytime is unique for several reasons: firstly, it likely (and definitely, in our case) incorporates the six early literacy skills into it. These are skills that librarians and children's programmers have become experts at: we've been trained to promote the skills in storytime, and we are the go-to resource for parents seeking assistance with promoting at home the skills that help prepare their child to be ready to read when school starts. The toys you see are part of OPL's newer foray into early literacy spaces in branches (read the report to the Board here); these spaces are designed "for families to explore through play and experience the six emergent literacy skills." All renovated branches will include these areas, which will "richly support physical, social and cognitive development, engage and activate the imagination, [and create] a sense of exploration and discovery." Rideau Branch, my heart's home, was the first branch to begin to incorporate some of the elements of the early literacy spaces during a renovation. The spectacular interactive elements in the spaces are from the Burgeon Group.
"The people in this neighbourhood should just go to Alta Vista" - For one thing, most of the people in your neighbourhood probably don't want to go to Alta Vista Branch I say that with some degree of certainty because there is some evidence to back it up (see: 2004). There is also a significant amount of traffic and circulation, including more than 3,500 people visiting the branch each week. And even if they "should," in your book, visit elsewhere instead, no one individual gets to choose where members of the community go. Not to mention that traveling further sort of destroys the idea of a community library at the heart of a neighbourhood (again, with the qualitative). And to make it quantitative, do you really want all those additional cars on the road all the way to Alta Vista and back? I don't!
"They renovated this branch for 9 months and it’s now less user friendly and they got rid of a lot of books" - So much to unpack in that sentence! First, some great information about the renovation can be found here. They took longer than expected, in part, because of the unfortunate discovery of asbestos (Rideau Branch suffered the same fate...). As for weeding, I could write you a whole other article about that (oh wait, I already did - p. 14). Long story short, many libraries have often been remiss over the years with regular collection maintenance: any collection, like a garden, must be regularly weeded and refreshed. For the library, and librarians, this is a way to increase circulation, free up shelf space, renew the collection and keep us in touch with our users' needs (what they actually check out, what we need more material about, what we need less material about). We use our professional expertise, literary knowledge and awareness of the community in tandem with computer-generated lists and statistics to evaluate the collection and make decisions about weeding, new acquisitions, replacement copies and merchandising. Weeding aside, you're certainly not alone in being critical of some aspects of the renovatio n. I can tell you, however, that people (including you!) are rocking that external book drop. What can I say? Sunnyside is not my favourite OPL reno: that distinction belongs to Vanier Branch, actually. But that doesn't mean it's not a good job done. Some renos are not as glamourous as others: at Sunnyside, some of the best things are not things we usually get excited about (wheelchair-accessible washrooms with drinking fountains? More meeting rooms? Energy-efficient lights? WHEEE!), but they do make a real difference in the work, and the life, of the library branch and the experience of its regular users.

To me, that's one of the biggest overall challenges for librarians and library advocates such as myself: to highlight the "unseen" in the library, the aspects of our work, or our renovations, that people may not observe or experience regularly, and therefore don't even know exist. Library users, never mind non-users, mostly only see branches (and usually only certain areas in branches, even): they don't see the meeting rooms, or the ESL conversation groups running in them, they don't see us doing outreach to community centres and schools, they don't see our Homebound services staff selecting and delivering books to a local long-term care facility, and they don't see the Bookmobile (but if you do, HONK!).

So, to conclude (oh, you're still here? Well done! Gold star!) the value of libraries is a complicated thing. It can never be measured down to the last decimal point; at best, we can aspire to a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures of the library's - and the librarian's - importance in community life, in cultural discourse, in artistic expressions, and in the advancement of our society and all its citizens. It's the astounding number of items checked out every year, and it's the feeling you get when you put your hand on the battered Leonard Cohen first edition in the 819s. We are large, we contain multitudes.*

*Sorry, Walt. But I bet you would have been OK with the paraphrase.

Bookmobile news round-up

2011-08-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

One of our previous bookmobiles, and possibly my personal favourite. Srsly, how freaking cute is it?

Tom Hawthorn. "Bookmobile takes library to the people." The Globe and Mail.
"At the Bookmobile, you do not need money, or identification, or an address. All you need is a desire to read. Even if you have nothing, you can always have that. The books are donated and there’s no fine if you don’t return them."

Photo essay: Mobile Library in Gaza City.

Samantha Bryant. "Georgetown City Council approves library bookmobile." Community Impact Newspaper (Texas)
"Georgetown City Council approved July 12 purchasing a $128,738 bookmobile for the public library that will be financed by the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library. The vehicle [will be] called “Words on Wheels,” or the WOWmobile."

"Clearview Library District's bookmobile proving very popular." The Coloradoan.
What I find interesting about this article is the throw-away line at the end saying the Bookmobile is visiting a local park and an arts festival on the weekend.... Great idea!

"Pakistan bookmobile turns to S.F. library for aid." SFGate.
Heart-warming story about a Pakistani man who visited the San Francisco bookmobile when in SF to see his daugher. Saeed Malik "returned to Pakistan, determined to start a bookmobile of his own. He sought out rural schools that lacked libraries. He persuaded the United Nations to donate two Land Cruisers. And he acquired 2,000 donated books in Urdu and English - the country's official languages - from the National Library of Pakistan and the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit from San Francisco."

Yesterday: serve

2011-08-09T04:29:00.000-07:00

Today: return:
"A room that is merely full of books is not a library, no matter how the councils dress it up. Most importantly, how will authorities determine whether a ‘library’ in a sports centre has been a success? Without being able to provide data to prove its usage, how long will it be before the council seeks to withdraw funding altogether? [....] As has been seen before, retailers will not hesitate from r emoving a book if it is seen to cause offence. How will a library based in a shop manage this? How will they reconcile the needs of two different sets of customers? Will they be pressured by the potential impact on their revenues if they continue to provide access to a controversial text? And what then for those that wish to access such resources?[....] As the mission of the public library is lost, councils will fail, or continue to fail, to understand why they should provide a library service to their citizens."

Side-note: LSSI is really taking a beating these days. I would hesitate to point out that they, and similar library partner companies (please stop saying jobbers!) employ many librarians, and in many cases do excellent work while committed to the same values as the rest of us. But, you know, that allows for a grey area in the discourse. That's not really allowed anywhere these days, right?

Libraries partner to survive in the UK

2011-08-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's better than nothing. *
The Local Government Association (LGA) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) released a report on Friday about the progress of several pilot projects in the Future Libraries program, and state that "libraries will increasingly rely on volunteers and community groups, with more books distributed from shops and village halls." Some of these ideas are pretty interesting: collaborations with museums and arts, "Bradford's book borrowing points in shops across the city, Hertfordshire's plans to expand in co-operation with adult social care and children's centres;" some are disturbing: relying on volunteers... how so, exactly? It's one thing to have members of the public on your board (commendable!) but if you cut the number of profesisonal librarians (staff cuts at 6000, no word on how many professionals that includes) providing professional service, you're dreaming if you think that these "innovations" will "increase numbers using libraries."

P.S. to the Guardian - seriously, a photo of a dude with grimy fingers stamping things? No wonder libraries in the UK have issues.... I haven't used a stamp in six years! Plus, would it kill you to show something other than our most mindless task?

*Yes, that is the nicest thing I could think to say right now.....

Seen reading on OC Transpo

2011-08-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

Since I spend so much time on the bus now (as opposed to walking to work), I thought I would start a new regular item on this blog: Books being read on OC Transpo buses!

I'll try to do this every week, or every 2nd if you people don't read anything other than the Metro paper (interesting article about that phenomenon here). So, yeah, take that as a challenge, Ottawa. GET READING! (unless you get motion sickness. In that case, for the love of God, don't read on the bus).

Seen this week:

Hart's Army List (year unknown)
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (Newbery Honor Book, 1997)
Perl for Dummies

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (my review here from 2009; my reading map about this title here)
I was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn
Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams by Charles King
Three books that remained elusively unidentified, despite my best stalking efforts. One might have been a Marc Levy, but that may just be wishful thinking (for something in French) on my part.
One dude walking very quickly while reading a Kindle (more than I can attempt at one time!)

Are you sick of these questions? I am sick of these questions. A post in which I snap, finally*

2011-08-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

*and by snap, I mean gather the recent flurry of news articles and plop them down in one spot.

That title was an homage to a prof of mine who used to ask questions and then answer them all the time.

I am working on a longer post about the recent craziness at TPL. In the meantime, you are hereby cautioned that the below stories contain Much Angst And Wringing Of Hands. Don't say I didn't warn you.....

"Are public libraries an essential service? Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says ‘no’—but he’s wrong," from Macleans.ca
Serves up the somewhat unpalatable premise that "libraries are on the chopping block because they can’t keep up with the times, and because they’re duplicating services performed by community centres" (not bloody likely on both counts, at least in all major Canadian cities... It's more like lack of effective marketing and being stuck in the morass of municipal bureaucracy!) and the more thoughtful realisation that "Libraries should be local hubs, not hubcaps latched onto larger, more central facilities." The further observation that "And while technology has changed the way we consume information services, it’s unlikely that an increase in Kobo sales and Wikipedia searches is going to stop an adult ESL student from taking out the required books to pass his or her TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), or a retiree from picking up the next Nora Roberts installment" warms me more - yes, exactly: technology has changed how we consume information services, but not the fact that we continue to consume them. And just because we consume, that doesn't mean we are thinking critically about what we're consuming! In this and other oft-ignored areas of service is the library a crucial link!
"Are Public Libraries Obsolete?: The Shelf Life of a "Dream Vision," from blogcritics
"Whether libraries should continue to exist has almost nothing to do with what format the information comes in. It has everything to do with free public access to well-curated, well-organised, unbiased information; it has everything to do with libraries as part of the local community; it has everything to do with libraries as a source of entertainment that doesn't presume everyone's lives are an endless race to acquire wealth and possessions." This article also interestingly touches on implications of library closures on publisher and author revenue, and the development of public libraries in South Korea.
"Rex Murphy: E-readers turn every man into his own librarian," from the National Post.
Oh yes, Rex. You had me at the sexist title. Seriously, though, although I often disagree with Rex, I usually expect a more thoughtful or well-researched opinion! I repeat, libraries are not a format, they are a service. We're not just about books. That was never the bloody point. And "portability and accessibility," really? Not universally so. But the fact that Rex has a fundamentally wrong definition of the word library means I really don't feel like expending any more energy on deconstructing his argument. Go back and read a freaking dictionary on that e-reader, then we'll talk. How about you start here - scroll down to Modern public libraries?
"Use of Public Libraries In Hard Economic Times," from the Nova Scotia Provincial Library
Some nice real data here, and anecdotal stuff, too, such as "Public libraries provide free access to all types of materials - books, music, dvds, audio books, newspapers, magazines, downloadable audio books; they provide communities with public space, promoting mutual support and social inclusion. Hard economic times can be isolating, and public libraries bring people together in an inclusive, supportive environment. Public libraries are the original family friendly environment. Public libraries offer strong support for early literacy, as well as free children's programs such as story-times, craft programs, magic shows, film programs, and live performances."
"Why We Need Free Public Libraries More Than Ever," from The Atlantic
A response to a recent article which proposed public library user fees (another rebuttal here). "The impact of the "nominal" user fee would unquestionably be a reduction in the library's use. This is very evident in France, where some local libraries charge small user fees in addition to receiving public support. [...] Libraries stopped thinking like it was 1900 many years ago, and are now providing users with access to online digital resources (and the really valuable ones are not free) e-books and 24/7 online access to library services. And national surveys show that the public considers public libraries the most effectively run of all municipal services."
"Public libraries are particularly essential in recessions," from The Providence Journal
"Contrary to the popular myth that public libraries serve primarily the recreational needs of their communities, the overwhelming majority (over 70%) of visits to public libraries are for non-recreational purposes, [including] personal or family-related needs, such as help with health and wellness issues, personal finance, how to make or fix something, or to keep current with news or find jobs., [obtain access to] jobs databases, civil-service-exam materials, software to help create résumés, and other employment-related information, [...] conduct research [about small business-related] legal, financial and operational concerns, [...] educational needs [not just students but teachers and] adults continuing their education."
In the most unexpected article appearing in my news feed this week, "Oakland Library Stays Open Late to Fight Weekend Homicides," from The Bay Citizen (San Francisco)
"...as part of the city's campaign to provide youth with safe alternative places to spend their weekend nights."
A bit more detail about the animosity between LSSI and library unions: "Outsourcing the local library can lead to a loud backlash," from Stateline
"Many in the profession were rankled by a quote in a 2010 newspaper article from LSSI co-founder Frank Pezzanite: “A lot of libraries are atrocious. Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.” LSSI has a track record of re-hiring staff from the libraries that it takes over, and claims to offer industry-competitive wages. But union protections and defined-benefit pension plans usually disappear, with a company-matched 401(k) plan in its place."
Libraries going the way of the video stores? Not likely, if the ideas in "If You Can’t Reach Everyone Aim For The Passionate Users" go viral in the library world (they already have in many libraries)... from ACRL's blog
"I’ve been emphasizing the importance of relationship building to capitalize on an experience we can provide that our community members cannot get with those nameless-faceless-corporate Internet providers of information. [...] Another potential lesson is to concentrate our efforts on the segment of the population that has the capacity to become the passionate users. The video store owners are conceding the bulk of the community to Netflix. They changed their strategy to focus on the passionate users who need more than convenience – those who want the conversation."
And a late-breaking addition: "Downey City Library: more important now than ever before," from The Downey Patriot.
"We want to help people develop life-long reading habits and help others develop basic literacy skills, but we’re not just a source for books. We meet many of the day-to-day needs of Downey residents, from helping people find consumer information for major purchases to offering bus route information, DMV handbooks, and voter registration forms. People should view the library as a one-stop-shop for different services. [...] The Downey City Library shoulders a great deal of responsibility as one of the only institutions in the city offering literary events, reading programs, cultural events, and children’s programs. Now with the closing of Borders, the Friends of the Downey City Library Bookstore, located inside the library, will be the city’s only remaining bookstore. As a cultural hub, libraries need to be able to shift to meet cultural changes and the Downey City Library is ever-evolving. Read more: The Downey Patriot - Downey City Library more important now than ever before"

I feel better..... do you?

Library day in the life, Round 7, Friday...

2011-07-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

This morning I read my rss feed news, email and newspaper over (slow-chewed) brekkies at home. Of interest:

"Know what we celebrate on Aug. 1? You should" from the Citizen's Dan Gardner (the answer: On August 1, 1834, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire (including in Canada)).
World Book Night Comes to the USA in 2012

I was at Main Library today, which is cool for various reasons, of which I will list three:

I get to see my peeps at Homebound Services, one of the depts I supervise
I get to chill with my other friends at Main Library and in various government buildings nearby - and I brought them leftover raspberry shortcake tiramisu!
I get to walk to work

So, yeah, I made it into my basement office. Even though I was here last Wednesday, it felt like years, somehow. Hello, other office! I missed you!

I began the day with e-mails and voicemails, as usual, and then I wrote up a short summary of the situation I was worrying about yesterday on the way home. I work best with an actual written account of things, so I wanted to have everything laid down on paper before I met with my manager this afternoon. I decided one question I had about how I handled this situation might be answered by a certain procedure document we have .... Alas, this doc is not on our Intranet and my paper copy is in my office at Greenboro. I figured someone at Main should have it, too, so I asked around. Eventually, one person said she did, so I ran upstairs for said paper document ... which ended up not being the one I needed. Crap. On the way back to my basement lair, I spent some time on each floor of Main Library: I strategised with one colleague over a dilemma, and generally networked with peeps (and yes, by network I mean chat, but srsly, it is networking, you know....).

Then I worked on e-mail and various randomy things until finally deciding I still needed to find a copy of this doc, so I threw myself at the mercy of the brains on the 4th floor (where our admin offices are). Success! But, as I had suspected, there was still no clear answer to my question in (several) procedure documents. This is why I was so torn up about it - there was nothing actually documented about what to do in this situation. It seems to be one of those "at your discretion" things.

Back to randoms: e-mail, answered voicemail, approved some leave requests, read some docs, called the garage about a Bookmobile issue, etc.

Noon - Grabbed a soup and smoothie at the amazing Grounded and retreated back into the office with it.... Read docs over lunch - these ones pertained to something going on at the Mission, which both my husband and I are marginally involved in (me through him and also through an OPL Rideau Branch - Mission connection). I then e-mailed my contact at the Mission with my thoughts on the documents, cc'ing the acting supervising librarian at Rideau Branch and the manager of Rideau Branch. Here's hoping more fruitful partnerships will come out of this! Then I e-mailed my manager to keep her in the loop about me spending time on a Rideau project. I don't think that any of us think that's a big deal, but I like to play nicely with others. But that was some serious e-mail cc'ing. I try to avoid that when possible: no one likes an overloaded inbox!

1:30ish - Meeeting with my manager.

2:30ish - Tiramisu party with two of my favourite peeps!

3 - DONE - Resolved the Situation successfully, at long last. I continued to knock off a few other tasks in the PM, including some stuff related to Bookmobile's involvement in the Pride Parade next month. I also revised sections of a City document that pertain to the Library, delivered something to the 4th floor again (P.S. the back staircase between 4th floor and library smells of the same cleaner used in the tunnel between my high school and the neighbouring sports arena ... flashback!), had revisions approved and sent final document off, made a to-do list for next week (AAAH!), gave a colleague some $ for ALSO's Amazing Scrabble Race, planned my day shadowing Homebound Services (I know, it's appalling that I haven't done it yet and have been with that dept for 4 months... shuddup! As you can see, I've been busy!), listened to part of CBC's What has your library done for you lately? podcast while working (digression: this is the first time I have ever listened to a non-OPL podcast while working! Weird, eh? I do this stuff at home because in my substantive position, I am on the Information desk almost all the time... But now, in my acting position, I have an office!), made a diagram about parking the Bookmobile in a certain neighbourhood, made notes about a project I have to deal with in the coming weeks based on my meeting this aft with manager, sent more e-mail, read Google Alerts, finished a report, packed up some interoffice mail to myself, returned some more voicemail, received an email that began "Hi amazing boss" (my favourite kind!), drafted a memo for senior management, found a typo on next week's Bookmobile schedule (corrected it and called the bus on the road to clarify), sent my schedule to deptartments I supervise and my manager... etc.

5:30 - husband called and was just getting on the bus, which is OK because I was still tinkering with that memo. We like to meet at Main Library when I work here and go home from there together, so we made a plan to do that.

The end!

As a final note, it was fun doing Library Day in the Life again, although I am selfishly glad that I was off for the first two days, because doing this is a lot of work! It was, however, also informative for me, since I am in a new(-ish) job and it's interesting to compare this week's notes to my previous notes from Library Day in the Life 6, Library Day in the Life 5, and Library Day in the Life 3.

Library day in the life, Round 7, Thursday!

2011-07-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Thursday....

I read my Google Reader news on the bus this morning. I experimented with a different bus route, which sort of worked out and sort of didn't. I was later than usual, but I think that could be remedied for future similar trips. Blah. I hate being late. It throws me off.

8:40-10:20ish - Varia, including: dealing with an employee's ID pass that had gone haywire (I love calling the city's Badge Master, if only so I can say BADGE MASTER), doing a demo of our new Smart Bins for staff, voicemail, scheduling a meeting, sent some e-mails, called the garage to log some maintenance requests on one of the Bookmobiles, approved leave requests, checked out my own holds, read AL Direct, worked on the same report I was working on yesterday, and checked out who has mac'n'cheese now that my favourite place is re-locating. I am SO SICK of tofu and sweet potato.

10:20ish - coffee from "By the Book," the Friends of the library shop here at GB. On my way back, I found Maurice! This only means something to you if you visit Greenboro Branch .... See here for a clue.... I e-mailed the children's staff to let them know, since I've been joking that finding Maurice will be my weekly "break."

10:20 - lunch - Developed "cheat sheet" for staff about the new Bookmobile communication procedure, including how to add shared mailboxes in Outlook and import signatures for generic messages we will be sending. Read more about what the heck that is here. Also, long conversation with patron on the phone.... don't ask..... and then patron called back 5 mins later to follow up.....

Noon - peeled crust off PB sandwich. Le sigh, version 2.0. Printed up next week's Bookmobile schedule x2 (office, both buses) and fax staff timesheets.

12:20 - Finished returning voicemails from my "sick leave," including three conversations in French - hooray! We're pretty much full up for volunteers right now in most branches. Some great resources for volunteer opportunities that I am suggesting to interested students (and including in my form response e-mails) are the City of Ottawa’s volunteering page and Volunteer Ottawa's website (Volunteer Ottawa is a United Way agency offering a volunteer recruitment and referral service for over 300 not for profit groups in the Ottawa area).

Afternoon - Handled a patron request to transfer holds from a Bookmobile stop to a branch (people call the Bookmobile extension, which I can pick up from my office if no one is around - since I get so few interactions with the public these days, this is usually kind of fun for me!), used an employee as a guinea pig for the draft cheat sheet, went over new communication procedure with three other employees, received a "Moose Hunter Extraordinaire" certificate for finding Maurice from GB children's staff (!!!!!!), read Migrant by Maxine Trottier (staff pick from Westmount Library's Facebook page, about a young girl whose family are Mennonite migrant workers in Canada...), e-mailed some orders and a job request to the city's IT peeps, more e-mail.....

2:35 - break to go outside, restore normal body temperature (air conditioning too strong), and swing on the swings in the park. Return 2:50.

Rest of afternoon: as above, more randoms, including reviewing Fall Preview submissions, more (different) hairy overtime questions (resolved, maybe, for now....), e-mail, updating procedures, and making tomorrow's to-do list, all done while taking rodent-sized bites of canned peaches.

File under "Things I never thought I would be doing:" making an information flyer about an incinerating toilet (for new staff on the bus to use as a guide).

Finally, I escaped, bringing some work reading with me for the bus ride because I didn't get to it today (I always put reading on one side of my desk, the side with the nice little mood light, with good intentions of turning said light on, creating some Ambiance, and actually said reading, but, um, it rarely happens).

But, in the interests of full disclosure, I didn't read it on the bus, either. Instead, I brooded about a situation today. Not great.... but there you have it.

Tonight: hosted a friend for dinner! (so yes, that got my mind off the above).

Library day in the life, Round 7, Day 3 (Day 1 for me!)

2011-07-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is my fourth time participating in Library Day in the Life; I am late to the table this time because I was off on Monday and Tuesday, recovering from dental surgery. For more on me, see here and here (or here, for the facts, all official-like).

Work-related things I did at home on Monday and Tuesday, while on Oxycodon (wheeeeee!):

Replied to three e-mails (I put myself on a strict e-mail diet. This is quite impressive. Please pat me on the back)
Checked voicemails (only once)
Blogged about the Man Booker longlist (what? It was time-sensitive!)

Needless to say, I hit the ground running today!

My day began with a meeting at 9 am at our Nepean Centrepointe Branch about a unique request for group volunteering that OPL has received from a local high school. Volunteering at the library falls under my department right now, but since this was more than your usual teen community involvement hours, a few colleagues and I met to decide whether we can provide this leadership opportunity, and, if so, how best to provide it.

Basically, my volunteer coordination tasks generally involve triaging incoming volunteer applications (via phone, library volunteer e-mail address, or paper application form), liaise with branches seeking volunteers or needing support regarding volunteer procedures, sitting on a city-wide inter-departmental forum for volunteer coordinators, compiling statistics. Some of the things I've done about the volunteer portfolio since starting in my new position in March include: writing a standard reply for applications in both French and English, indicating which branches are recruiting and listing other volunteer resources in the community, designing a spreadsheet for branches to update their information (contact, whether they have and/or are seeking teen or adult volunteers), designing a stats sheet for # of applications received, and in what format, every month, and updating the monthly volunteer hours stats sheets.

After my short volunteer meeting (those two colleagues rock - our conversation diverged into about five different tangents and I swear, we could have solved the world's problems, given another 3 hours), I headed to my "home base" at Greenboro Branch, where Bookmobile's offices are located. Right now, I am splitting my time about 60/40 - I'm at my office at Greenboro most of the time, and I also spend a few days in a vacant office that is mine for now, at Main Library (where Homebound Services, which I also supervise, is based).

Upon arrival, I excavated my way to the bottom of the mail pile in order to find my desk (shudder). Seven inter-office mail envelopes and more voicemail later, I decided to tackle the inbox. Joy! My colleagues and staff were all happy to see me back, and I answered lots of questions about the dental surgery. It was great to see them, too; I did miss them, even in my pained haze.

In addition to hacking through the Outlook jungle throughout the day (several volunteer requests, administrative procedures and forms, things I just had to file away or thank people for...), I also:

Hosted a colleague in the cubicle who wandered in to ask if I was attending a meeting at Main Library this aft (I hadn't heard the date had changed; decided to not attend), and to ask some advice about a staffing issue.
Met with an employee who advised me about a few vehicle issues (mechanical and otherwise); we made notes for work to be done and, in one case, a diagram!
Was on the phone with HR about a giant, complicated mess of an overtime question. Just don't ask. The collective agreement was cited numerous times. It was hairy, but I think we resolved it!
Read and posted this online, creating a raging debate. Catch up on other Google Reader news while eating rodent-sized bites of a boring peanut butter sandwich (sigh).
Met with two other employees to give them tips about dealing with a problem patron. Lots of specifics, but some general advice: don't engage. Stick to the script!
Tried not to cry when Monday's to-do list reminder popped up in Outlook. Gave myself a stern talking-to about Leaving On Time.
Dealt with seven long, drawn-out emails (each with follow-up Qs and two with a misunderstanding that needed to be ironed out) about the same topic. Gah. All new information that I need to collate into a report. Hooray!
From 3 to 3:10 I just kind of stared at everything in a panic: voicemail to return, lists, piles, reports, emails - AAAHHH! Then I discovered the stitches in the back of my mouth by accident ... ewwwww.
3:10: Pause for panic over. Instead, I responded to a call to send out info about a modified Bookmobile schedule tonight. One of our buses is waiting for a replacement toilet, so we use washrooms at the stops when we can. Today, the local school at our stop is closing earlier than we normally close, so we have to close early, too, unless, um, we want to hold it in for 2 hours..... Sorry, too much info?
Trained an employee on a certain fancypants Outlook task...
Played hardball with someone (else) ... in the metaphorical sense.... and won, at least this round.
Faxed a time-sensitive city report - ya, shuddup, we still fax.
Strategising with a colleague via e-mail and planning to attend a meeting of circulation services supervisors to talk about Bookmobile services (info, how to contact us, specific borrower policies on the buses, etc.) Sometimes, in a big org, it's hard to get all the info to the right people in the right format (email, in person, training manual?) and at the right time (eg. when they need it: evenings? weekends?)
Made a big to-do list for tomorrow. It makes me feel better, k?
Dammit there's a fly in my office!
Watered the plant :)
Answered some of those voicemail messages....!
Fled the scene at 4:20ish to run various errands on the way home. Stopped at the Caribbean grocery story for some cassareep and an impulse Jamaican patty (turns out I can eat parts of it even with my lack of teeth! I basically eviscerated it...), then Loblaws, Italian grocery, and home (collapse). Dinner: tofu, sweet potato, and beans with Quebec maple syrup. Not bad, but I could go for a hamburger.....

Entertainment for those of us about to have all four of our wisdom teeth removed...

2011-07-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

That should hold me, right?

A dog's breakfast of links

2011-07-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some other things I have been working on / excited by recently that I forgot to link to on this blog (yes, my pretties, I have a life outside here!):

My interview on Hello Ottawa (thank you to the lovely Anne; picture at right taken by her... and that's to remind you what cooler weather is like!)
An article I wrote last winter for CILIP's Library and Information History Group Newsletter entitled “The Public Library in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.”
A listing in the Salem Press blog directory - whee!
A somewhat schizophrenic post at the Digestive Librarians' Digest about restos opening food shops, consumerism, and local eating (good and bad).
A somewhat less schizophrenic post at the Digestive Librarians' Digest about making my first real "dessert" for a Canada Day party.
One of my lovely former students shadowed us for the day on Bookmobile!

Reading retreats

2011-07-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Padua, Italy, from our honeymoon trip, October 2005.

I think it's a sign that I've been working too hard recently that this was so appealing, I almost wept:

Reading retreats: Paradise for book lovers - How to get away from everything but your books in a country house or an Italian castle
"The exceedingly independent -- if not downright antisocial -- might follow the example of Natalia, who writes a travel blog called No Beaten Path. A harried mom seeking a reading getaway that involved "as little interacting with other people as possible, no housework, no cooking," she recently rented a "simple" room at Glasshampton Monastery in Worcester, England, run by the Society of Saint Francis. Even the meals there are held in silence."

Yes, please. I assume there is no Internet, either, right? Sign me up. I sometimes daydream about this, too.

Next week I'm having all 4 wisdom teeth extracted. I guess I can make my own (medicated, liquid diet) reading retreat out of that, right?

Sigh.

More on Chanda's secrets, the movie

2011-07-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Allan Stratton speaks in today's Post about his novel, now a movie entitled Life, Above All,

The film is opening (finally) in Toronto and Montreal on July 15, and in Vancouver on July 22, and tells the story of Chanda, a 13-year-old girl in a small African town whose life is changed by the death of family members from AIDS.

Stratton mentions the lovely fact that "Chanda’s secrets has been chosen as a teaching aid by a number of Sub-Saharan countries, where AIDS remains a major cause of death, but also a taboo subject."

No book trailers, please!

2011-07-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

Novelist Lee Goldberg says most writers shouldn’t make book trailers. He does have a good point about the static slideshow ones; but that's not the only kind of trailer out there. There are some brilliantly creative things being done.

To other authors, Goldberg pleads:

"Why don’t you just go to the bathroom, take whatever cash you have in your pockets and flush it down that toilet?’ They are amateurish. They are nothing but slideshows with bad stock photos, too much text and creepy music."

That being said, he made one himself.

New roles @ OPL: the past three months

2011-07-12T06:40:00.001-07:00

To do, to do... A snapshot of my various lists.

Here are some highlights from my work life during the past few months.

Managing volunteers: together with two colleagues, we worked on improving branch reporting of volunteer hours (that's the short version of that story, trust me...) I also developed a standard response to volunteer inquiries, updated the volunteer page on our website and our corporate policies, and developed a template for tracking branch opportunities. Whew! In May alone (school wasn't even out yet) we received about 30 inquiries about volunteering, via phone calls, e-mails and paper application forms.
We acquired two tablet laptops for the Bookmobiles for the PSAs to provide information and reference assistance.
We visited five local schools, from Vars to Riverside South, to promote SRC and the Bookmobile. The trips included an Algonquin College LIT student, one of OPL’s summer students from U of T, and staff.
We launched Summer Reading Club on both buses - with bus decorations!
We updated our communication plan for stop modifications and cancellations: daily updates (as needed) are now appearing on the library website.
Both buses completed their annual maintenance, which involved some days off the road and some creative scheduling, so we could cover 21 of our 22 stops with one bus.
Bookmobile attended two special events: the Farley Mowat School MayFair and the Touch A Truck event.
We ordered two counters for the buses, to enable more accurate tracking of patrons visiting at each stop, for statistical purposes.
We also developed a spreadsheet for tracking weekly counts, to make it easier to report this information for OPL reports (available here - click on each month's agenda)
Readers’ advisory services on the bus received some extra promotion as we refreshed the read-alike bookmarks displayed on the bus.
Bookmobile received new, easy to understand, visual and bilingual Open/Closed signs for the buses.
We made some changes to Bookmobile collections: more DVDs, more room for teen collections, and display space for Express DVDs and museum passes.
All Bookmobile staff went the extra mile these past few months, filling in shifts as needed: at special events or due to staff absences/retirements. Dudes, no joke, people are retiring left, right and centre over here. It's getting kind of crazy.
I worked on lots of list of duties, procedures, and staff surveys.... I'll spare you the (boring) details.
I also clocked some time overseeing Homebound Services (luckily, their excellent supervisor keeps things running smoothly!).

Bit different than a branch monthly report, eh? I'm finding I'm mired in lots of admin work, but there is some stimulating stuff in there, too, for sure. And less interaction with the public partially balances out by more interaction with staff. Different, but both worthwhile, endeavors. More Bookmobile outreach is one of the next big things on my agenda.