Medic to Medic fact of the day 3

Medic to Medic's three aims (source):

To support trainee healthcare workers "throughout their education, so that they are at less risk of dropping out of their course and can concentrate on their studies. We want to add to the absolute numbers of healthcare workers in training, in order that there are more graduates in countries with critical shortages."

To improve equity and access by increasing "the numbers of doctors working in rural areas, so that everyone has equal access to healthcare. We want to increase the number of women training as health workers, in order that more women have entry to better paid, stable employment."

To raise awareness "through mentorship, teaching and exchange programmes, [...] of the different conditions facing colleagues worldwide and an appreciation of the global health community."

Donate to Medic to Medic in support of my half-marathon run on May 29, 2011 here.

Volunteers: Hearts full of grace @ OPL

On Friday, I attended two volunteer appreciation teas at OPL, first at Beaverbrook Branch, and then at Hazeldean.

I would have been ashamed to tell you that I keep a running list (in Excel, natch) of OPL locations I have visited, had I not discovered that several of my colleagues also aspire to visit all the locations (one even has a plan to do it all on one day - tip: can only be achieved on a Thursday). As of Friday noon, I was at 25 out of 34 (if you count 33 branches + 1 Bookmobile, except there are 2 Bookmobiles, technically, and yes, I've been on both...).

I had been to Hazeldean before, but I had only ever been in Beaverbrook's parking lot (don't ask!) Above, you can see the public computer area at the branch, looking out to a patch of grass that some Beaverbrook Branch volunteers, working with the library settlement worker, are turning into a garden (hard at work in the picture, even! On the day of their own celebratory tea!). Below are some other photos, first of Beaverbrook's teen zone (designed by teens from Earl of March Secondary School), and then of the lcoal history room, the Kanata Room. I was very lucky to receive a tour of Beaverbrook from my colleague and fellow readers' advisory expert, Pat, and a tour of the Kanata Room (including framed sheet music, which you can sort of see in the dead centre of my -sadly- blurry pic) from the volunteer who lovingly maintains, arranges and promotes the collections therein. In addition to gardening and local history, volunteers at Beaverbrook sort book donations, do minor book repairs, run book sales at the branch (for which there are line-ups outside the doors!), and animate book chat groups. A mix of dedicated volunteers (some having given more than 30 years' service!) and newcomers to Canada mixed with local high school students (who also volunteer), staff and managers at the Beavrbook tea; my speech was translated into Chinese (hey, try translating "Acting Coordinator of Diversity and Accessibility! No small feat!).

At Hazeldean, I was introduced to many more passionate volunteers, including some who work with the Friends of the Library. I was also treated to a very funny reading of Lane Smith's It's a Book, in celebration of the day's events, and I was served with real teacups. It was such a pleasure to meet some of the people who so kindly give of their time for the library (and it's always a bonus to spend some time with colleagues who I don't often see, including the lovely Pat, who picked me up at the bus stop and gave me a tour of Beaverbrook, the amazing Karen, fellow coordinator, with whom I always have thought-provoking conversations about management, Annie, storyteller extraordinaire, and Linda, who drove me from Point A to Point B and then back to Point C - Main Library!)

Below are some excerpts from my speech.

Almost half of the Canadian population volunteers, and in 2007 alone, volunteers contributed 2.1 billion hours of their time to organisations around the country (source). Here at OPL, we have about 350 volunteers at a variety of branches.

You donate your time, your wealth of experience and knowledge, and sometimes a little muscle, to the library, and it’s a contribution that I know is greatly appreciated. Volunteers enhance our services and inject fresh energy into the library. You are relied upon for your friendly faces, your willingness to pitch in, and, in many cases, your ongoing years of involvement in the life of our library communities. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace [and a] soul generated by love.”

There is a saying in volunteer circles that “a few contribute the most” – so, for instance, the top 25% of volunteers contributed 78% of all volunteer hours in 2007 (source). That’s a simply exceptional achievement! Beyond numbers, you may not think of some of the other ways in which you positively influence your communities as volunteers: for instance, those who have seen a parent or someone they admire perform volunteer work in the community are more likely than other Canadians to volunteer (source). I was, and still am, a volunteer in part because I watched my grandfather enjoy contributing almost 30 years of volunteer service, from practically the day he retired until weeks before his death. Volunteering is intensely personal: the contribution of one outstanding volunteer can change an organisation, and, as I am sure you know, the volunteer.

Thank you, on behalf of OPL, for giving a part of yourselves to the library.

Medic to Medic fact of the day 2

There is a worldwide shortage of healthcare workers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa bears 24% of the global disease burden, but has only 3% of the world’s health workforce (source).

In Malawi, there were only 266 doctors working in the public sector 2004. This works out to less than 2 doctors per 100 000 people (source).

Donate to Medic to Medic in support of my half-marathon run on May 29, 2011 here.

Clip from We need to talk about Kevin movie

Chilling...


We Need to Talk About Kevin clip 3 by Flixgr

Canadian comics and graphica award

The 7th Doug Wright Awards (for Canadian comics and graphic novels) were recently given out in Toronto. Congratulations to Pascal Girard, who won Best Book for Bigfoot!

Medic to Medic fact of the day 1

Medic to Medic was founded in 2007 by Kate Mandeville.

Kate was born in Malawi, where her father was working as an engineer at the time. When Kate visited the village, and the mission hospital where she was born, as an adult, she was struck by the scarcity of doctors.

Kate also visited Malawi's one national medical school, where she met with the Dean of Students, who related how "many students spent their spare time trying to find extra funding rather than focusing on their studies. Some students were dropping out of the course, even in their final years, due to lack of finances."

Donate to Medic to Medic in support of my half-marathon run on May 29, 2011 here.

Half-marathon update

I haven't been talking too much about training so far, in part because I have been following my physiotherapist's advice to under-train, due to January's knee injury (the clearest diagnosis I have is that I received a bone bruise.)

I've been averaging about 22ish kms a week, when last year at this time I was running double that. I'm a bit nervous about the half-marathon, but I think overall it was a good decision not to over-train on a still-swollen knee. Yesterday, I ran about 13k, down to Bronson Bridge and back (I cursed the fact that I had not brought my camera, because the spring flowers were amazing, and I passed Ottawa's only Project Bookmark marker!)

In the coming weeks leading up to the half-marathon, I will be posting some fun facts about Medic to Medic, the U.K.-based charity for which I am raising money with my run. I would encourage you to donate online if you can; Medic to Medic does some amazing work supporting trainee doctors in the third world.

Fun read

I must recommend The Top 100 Unusual Things To See In Ontario, if only for lines like this:

"The dune that ate a town: Although it didn't exactly 'eat' a town, a giant wall of sand did move across Prince Edward County between 1890 and 1920 to consume a sizeable settlement before finally being halted. And it was all due to beer."

I can't read short stories. I just finished a book of short stories.

I haven't forgotten you, dear readers! I am just running around in circles: literally. Most of this blog post was (oh, brave new world!) written on my iPhone, with a side order of a study carrel at Algonquin's library. Monday, I was at Bookmobile then Main Library, Tuesday, I was at Bookmobile, Nepean Centrepointe Branch (and quick stop at Algonquin College), and then Rideau Branch (briefly). Today, Bookmobile, Main Library, and now Algonquin again for OALT's opening reception. This learning curve on the new job is one wild ride these days, let me tell you. I am tired and hungry all the time, from getting up earlier, absorbing information, and dealing with new challenges. On the bright side, spring has sprung, as you can see from one of the trees in my front yard.

So, into this scattered existence, enter the short story.

Short stories and I have just never really been friends. It's not that I hate them (ok, I sort of do), it's not that I am too simple-minded to appreciate them (although sometimes I fear that may be the case), it's more a combination of fear and dissatisfaction.

I know, you're thinking how could I be afraid of a short story?

Aside from Lives of Girls and Women, and some Atwood, I have to say I somewhat avoided the short story for years. Here's the thing, I think: I throw myself into a world, and I have always found the short story somewhat jarring because just when I get myself settled, just when I get my loyalties sorted out and immerse myself in the narrative, it's over. I appreciate the art form, but my heart just can't take being wrenched away from the characters so quickly. Alternatively, I feel so alienated from the story that I never settle in properly.

Then, a few years ago, a book of short stories pushed me over the edge into a long-term bout of insomnia, during the brief period I lived alone in a 14th floor, 800 sq. ft. apartment looking out over McGill campus. The book in question was The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, lent to me by my library school friend, Mary. Within the two previous years, I had ended a long-term relationship with someone who was of a different religion, just days before 9/11, and finished my Honours thesis about connections across class, race, and other social boundaries. The nights alone in a new place, figuring out what I was going to do with my life, entering a new relationship, were coloured by Lahiri's brilliant, but devastating, stories about missed connections, couples who say the same thing but don't understand one another, people reaching across boundaries and not finding anyone on the other end. It was too heartbreaking.

I swore off the stuff.

Short stories were the thing I decided, maturely, to allow myself to give up. I'm an adult, I thought; it's time for me to just own it already. I don't like them; no point in apologising for it.

Then two short story collections made the Giller shortlist, and I heard Alexander MacLeod speak at Writer's Fest, and I was utterly charmed. Am I brave enough to give this another shot, I wondered? In a fit of optimism, I placed my requests at work.

Yesterday, I invited Sarah Selecky into this liminal world I curently inhabit, a world of bus rides and meetings, terrible evening TV and dining "al desko." She fit in just fine; in fact, she might be the perfect thing for me right now. Her stories are perfectly crafted, and seem to exude for me this sense of reverence for the characters to which I really respond. The story "Where Are You Coming From, Sweetheart?," moved me to open tears on the bus, causing me to close the book entirely for several minutes.

Maybe I am just more able to embrace the random right now. In fact, I might have embraced the random so much recently, I might have caught something from it.

So are short stories and I friends again? Maybe, but in that tentative way you make up with a friend who has hurt you before.

In the meantime, Sarah Selecky has kind of saved my life a few times this week.

So thanks, Sarah, and thanks, Jack Rabinovitch.

Thoughts on today

I remember when I was perhaps five, and I wanted to be a princess.

I remember the exact moment that I realised that to be a princess was not a career choice, but something you were either born or married in to.

It was a profound disapointment.

Here's rooting for you, Georgie!

The work of accomplished poet and Only Connect friend, George Murray (Bookninja and founder of a "new multi-aesthetic web magazine called NewPoetry.ca"), was recognised today. George's latest, Glimpse, a book of aphorisms, was shortlisted for the EJ Pratt Poetry Prize.

Congratulations! A well-deserved honour!

Award news + other news

There are a slew of awards lists out recently:

• Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist: Emma Donaghue and Kathleen Winter representing Canada! I have read 3/6 (interesting review of Annabel here)
  
• IMPAC Dublin Literary Award shortlist
  
• Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist

In other bookish news:

• ALA's list of 2010's 'most challenged' books: #1: And Tango Makes Three, #2: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, #3: Brave New World.
  
• File under: Psych 101 - "What Your Favorite Kids Book Then Says About You Now." All I have to say is, good thing I don't have any sisters (that should give you a clue as to where I am on that list).
  

Things that drive me crazy

Warning: Cranky old person post!

In no particular order...

1. People my age (or really any age) who still think jokes about gay people are funny.
2. People who say, "Sorry, I don't read the news."
3. The word "societal." It's "social." I know societal is technically a word now, but seriously, why try to sound pretentious?
4. Anyone who says "Sorry, I'm too young to remember that," or, conversely, people who ask me if I've ever used a typewriter or card catalogue [or fill in the blank with other outmoded technology related to libraries]. Yes, I've used both, and no, you are totally the first person to make a joke about my age. I'm also a reasonably skilled calligraphist who used microfiche in her old bookstore job, owned a rotary dial phone for most of the 90s, and has one parent born in the 1930s. 32 flavours and all that. Now let's all have a good laugh and I won't make any assumptions about your age or experience.
   
5. People who tell me they think homeless people are lazy.
6. Anyone who asks me where I get all my energy, and then answers their own question with, "well, of course, you don't have kids." Would you say that to a male colleague? I didn't think so. Related gripe: Anyone who says they don't have time to read. I guess you make time for what's important to you.
   
7. People who are afraid to say the word "dead," especially those who seem even too afraid to say "passed on," and so simply say "passed." It's not gas, it's death.
8. People who say "No one ever tells me what's going on around here!" Um, hi, personal responsibility?
   
9. People who take over the whole sidewalk and make you risk your life walking in traffic (that one was for the husband).
10. Those who cannot resist checking their phone while sharing a meal with you.

Please, add your favourites in the comments! It's crankypants day for Only Connect!

What goes well with your cereal? Why, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, of course

Dahl stories to be featured on UK cereal boxes - delicious!

The excerpts are only a few hundred words long, but Puffin has chosen "the most immediately exciting bit, something that plunges you straight into the story," and they hope that the boxes are "potentially reaching millions of households that just don't read any literature outside of school." Says Penguin's Francesca Dow, "there could be an enormous number of children discovering Roald Dahl for the first time, bleary eyed over the breakfast table."

*Cough* *Cough*

Libraries are the new community centres.

No, wait, bookstores are the new community centres?

Sigh.

Maybe it's the tiny little radical in me, but how can a bookstore (that is even no longer a bookstore) be a community centre when it is always, inherently, a retail establishment, focused primarily on buying and selling, and not on actively building community relationships?

Legal aid in UK bookstores

"QualitySolicitors has agreed a deal with WHSmith to offer legal services via hundreds of the newsagent's national branches. The move, which has been hailed as a ground-breaking initiative for the retail legal market, will see QualitySolicitors place 'legal access points' in 150 WHSmith stores from this summer ahead of a wider rollout targeted at 500 locations. [...] Staff will be able to use iPad applications to book appointments, provide conveyancing quotes, sell will packages and give advisory sessions for a fixed fee." More.

Clearly I started a trend.

Things I have learned recently

1. Most Bookmobile patrons come from within a 1k radius from the stop.
2. Incinerating toilets: 50% way cool, 50% ick.
3. Two people can say contradictory things and they can both, on some level, be true.
4. Sometimes, strangely, taking 3 buses is faster than taking 2.
5. The novelty of having your own work voicemail wears off quickly.
6. Everyone wants to work somewhere where they feel valued; there are myriad careless ways in which supervisors and managers can make staff feel devalued.
   
7. Homebound Services at OPL serves close to 700 individual patrons, all the way to the outer limits of the City, with a staff of less than 10.
8. Almost everybody in a big organisation feels a little bit alienated from senior management.
9. Creating small "wins" builds goodwill in a new department, and this pays off exponentially.
10. Thinking too hard makes you hungry.

On the Bookmobile

I went out yesterday on the Bookmobile! We stopped at Robert Bateman School and Hunt Club Centre. It was a lot of fun, and interesting, and I took notes.

Notes are my new best friend these days; I am answering a lot of questions with "Yes. I was thinking the same thing. It's on my list!" which makes me feel like a moron, but it's just a big fat transition period right now. I kind of hate the feeling that everything is creeping up around me while I take this time to get my bearings, but I am trying not to freak out over it.

So, in the meantime, here's a pic from the ride, and today's recommended read from your wonderful Bookmobile patrons is:

A Wizard in love by Mireille Levert: "Hector, a retired wizard, lives happily and quietly with his cat, Poison, in a dilapidated house at the edge of the forest, until a noisy new neighbor moves into the abandoned house across the road, and things are never the same again."

Interview with Camilla Gibb

There is an interesting interview with the lovely Camilla Gibb over at Bookslut for your reading pleasure!

First week; still standing!

That's right, I did indeed survive my first 5 days at the new job. It was exhausting!

It's so wonderful that I overlapped with the person I am replacing before his retirement, but there was a lot of information to absorb and, between training, my course at the college, and several other things that came up at the last minute, we really only had 3.5 days together before he left. I am feeling like I have a great foundation to continue to learn about the services I will be supervising (for instance, did you know that Homebound services at OPL serves close to 700 people?), but I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed. At right, the brain dump (well, that's only about half of it).

It's great to try something new, and to change departments entirely while remaining in the same organisation. As much as I love my job at Rideau, it's good to learn about another aspect of OPL, work with different teams, and try new skills. That being said, I am reminded how much I identify with my job (I'm sure you couldn't tell at all, right?), and how difficult change can be for me to absorb. This is probably the biggest change I have made since arriving in Ottawa four and a half years ago, and while I'm really pleased about it, I also have some low-grade panic, an upset stomach, and insomnia! I tend to throw myself into my work pretty intensely, so switching gears is abrupt, and leaves me a little adrift at first. I'm navigating my way through that right now.

In other news, I was interviewed for an article for Open File Ottawa a few weeks ago, and it was published last week. I am a bit disappointed that they didn't mention some of our other programs at Rideau Branch (legal aid, for instance), but pleased with the article overall: "Homeless thrive at public libraries." In a way, the timing of the article's publication was especially fortuitous, as the local paper published this opinion about the smell at Main Library, and our City Librarian, Barbara Clubb's, thoughtful response. Some people may not realise, as Barb said, that we do have a policy for dealing with smells in the library, when they come from one individual - and whether it be a case of strong perfume, body odour, or something else entirely. We've also tried a few unique things at Rideau Branch to deal with some generalised odour problems; many people can probably tell that there are certain areas of Main Library, and Rideau, that have air circulation problems, which, in the wintertime when people are wearing wet clothes, make for exceptionally poor air quality. My general response to all this, though, is that in a public place, no one has 100% control over the environment; the impact of some variables can be mitigated, but the library is a place where everyone is welcome as long as they observe general guidelines about cleanliness, dress, and behaviour.

I could go on all day, but I have class in about 20 minutes so I really should ... Oh wait, I can see alllll my 40 students lined up outside the room from here. Guess we're not getting in yet!

Ok, anyway, my week also involved running 6k (a little longer every time!), visiting a cabane à sucre (!), some wonderful training at the lovely renovated (this panel is my favourite thing) Sunnyside branch (sometimes the best part of training is spending time with colleagues I rarely see), drinking with several of said colleagues, finishing A red herring without mustard (delicious) and getting halfway through Annabel by Kathleen Winter (she has such a magnificent narrative voice. I dreamt in her voice last night).

Must go. Time to discuss serials claims! Um, hooray?