Busy July at Carlingwood Branch

How I am participating in the Summer Reading Club

I kind of secrely love working during the summer sometimes, because everyone who comes in is more chill and less stressed. I think, in the long term, if it was feasible, I'd rather be on vacation during the school year. Anyway, here is what we were up to this month at work:

• 877 children have joined SRC at Carlingwood, (up from 710 last year—wow!), and they have read 8,000 books so far!
• 811 children and 324 adults participated in children's programs.
• The children's team did outreach at three different locations, including two City parks! I visited the Olde Forge Day Program at the Ron Kobus Lakeside Centre, and L'Arche Ottawa. Our teen librarian met with a worker from the Carlington Community Health Centre.
• One of our book recommendations was featured on a local blog.
  
• Out teen librarian posted a few blog posts.
• We hosted a really amazing program called Techno Buddies, a pilot project of our wonderful teen librarian. Read about it here! The feedback was amazing: one patron wrote on her feedback form that she had not spoken to a male teen in over 40 years ... and that she might have a crush! Another mentioned he now has a reason to visit the Carlingwood branch - he had not entered the building in 30 years. The older adults wanted to learn everything from how to play Solitaire and Scrabble on an iPad to how to watch movies and TV shows on Netflix, from Facebook to Twitter, from digital photos to digital photo frames, from texting to USB keys.
• One of our teen volunteers also scanned some historical photographs of and articles about Carlingwood Branch. Check a few out here.
• We had our second poetry workshop, coordinated by our amazing local poet. Twelve poets came to Carlingwood to discuss and workshop their poems with Stephen Brockwell. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive: “Excellent leader, generous, sensitive and perceptive. Great discussion of poems by other writers and inspiring insights on contributor's works” and “Cool space. Many thanks to Stephen and the Library.”
• We did our third Digital Media session for the public.
• We compiled the results of the branch Survey for Adults 55+, with the help of a volunteer library technician student. We received 132 surveys by the deadline! Survey respondents are most interested in programs about travel, music, health, gardening, a non-fiction book club, Coffee hour, and financial topics and consumer information. Those who are interested in computer instruction classes are most interested in learning about downloading library ebooks, using the catalogue and databases, and social networking. Afternoons (49%) and mornings (36%) are the best times for programs; on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Personally, I'm pretty wrapped up in Fall program planning, weeding projects (damn eight-digit barcodes ... Don't ask....) and furniture:

• The branch will have an English Conversation Group for adults starting in September, and we will be piloting a Forest of Reading® Golden Oak™ Award book club specifically for adult literacy students in partnership with People, Words & Change.
• We are getting a new "New books" display unit.
• For fun, I put up some more shelf-talkers, including some for French adult fiction and children's.

Seen reading on OC Transpo

• Day of the Oprichnik by Vladimir Sorokin
• Something by Reginald Hill
• The Sultan's Wife by Jane Johnson
• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• Me: the latest issue of the Literary Review of Canada, Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness.

Seen reading on STM:

• something with long title by Debbie MacComber
• Burned by PC Cast & K Cast
• Nighttime is my Time by Mary Higgins Clark
• Obasan by Joy Kogawa
• Wild at Heart by John Eldrege
• Science of the Mind magazine
• Vol de Nuit by Antoine de St. Exupéry
• Para Entender el Amor by L. Estrada
• Revenge of the Dwarves by M. Heitz
• Immortal Ante la Muerte by Nora Roberts
• Joust by Mercedes Lackey
• something in the Harry Potter series (being read by a male teen!)

An interview with rock star librarian, Smitty Miller

As dedicated readers know, I spent some time last year in charge of the Ottawa Public Library's two bookmobiles. Our buses are 14 tonnes and 12 metres long (but believe me, size isn't everything. That is, until you get a fuel bill).

There are many interesting projects out there experimenting with new ways to provide mobile library service. One of my fellow NELI alums, Smitty Miller, has developed what may well be the best new mobile service idea: LiLi. LiLi stands for Library Live & On Tour!, and Smitty is LiLi's Tour Manager, and a Community Development Librarian with Fraser Valley Regional Library.

Here are some press clippings about LiLi:

• Photo set
• One Innovation You Should Know About
• LiLi hits the road to deliver the library to the people
• Library Live and On Tour™ - Launch Party Teaser

I sat down, in the virtual sense, with Smitty recently to ask her a bit more about LiLi's journey. Here are her thoughts.

What has been your most successful event or community visit with LiLi so far?
The most successful stops have been the community visits. Although I know we are exposed to more people at the big events, the times when I know that LiLi is making an impact on people’s lives seem to hold the essence of what I hoped we would accomplish. Having said that, it gets a little gritty sometimes. I’ve been to a number of food banks, soup kitchens, transition houses, prison release halfway houses, etc. It can be sobering.

I was at a homeless shelter the other day. A woman came up and asked me what I was doing there. I told her I was with the library. She said, “Oh Oh! I’m in trouble with the library.” I said “Well, let’s see what we can do about that.” I looked at her account. She owed some money (under $50). I heard the whole story: her landlord was arrested and the police kicked her out of the house when they took the landlord away. She could only take necessities like a toothbrush. People came and threw everything else in the house into a big dumpster…including her library books. This was 2 years ago. She hasn’t been to the library since because she was scared that she’d get in trouble. In the meantime, she’s lived at various locations and with no fixed address. She goes to the shelter to get a hot meal.

All I could think was: do we really want to be another weight on this woman’s world? I waived the fines. She went back to the library that day.

What has been your biggest challenge since LiLi hit the road?
Personally, it’s been the physical demands of the job. I have to lift an event tent onto the roof of the car. I stand outside most days in the heat…or the cold. It’s much more physically draining than I’d expected.

On the service front, the biggest challenge has been enduring the events/stops that are not effective. I’m in my first year and we’re still defining WHERE and WHEN LiLi will be most effective. Since Library Live and On Tour is an adult literacy initiative, I have to be careful about how I present the car. The Xbox has been a problem at a couple of events because it becomes a ‘kid-magnet’. Not that I mind the kids playing, but it’s my mandate to have conversations with the parents.

Would you do anything differently, if you were starting this project again now?
I’ll have to say that I did a lot right! And that’s because I had time. If things had gone at the speed I would have preferred (I’m a tad impatient), I’m sure I would have had many more problems. My lesson in this is that it is necessary to ‘take the time’. I kept an internal blog for the library’s employees and my conversations with my colleagues helped slowly bring LiLi to form.

Having said that, a lot of the challenges I’ve faced have been due to simple ignorance. If I did it again, I would know differently.

For instance…who knew you had to worry about gross vehicle tonnage? There was a weight issue toward the end of the car development….would the event tent make the car too heavy to drive safely? Could I really take 3 passengers as well as all the equipment? The end of that story is that we decided to remove the back seat (2 more people would have made poor LiLi groan).

How did you introduce LiLi to the rest of the team at Fraser Valley Regional Library? How do you stay in touch with them about your work? What has been the response from the team?
As I mentioned earlier, I kept an internal blog going during the development of LiLi. If they were interested, they could read that anytime…and comment if they wanted to. It was certainly a challenge to communicate what I was envisioning. It was so clear in my mind (and, thank goodness, in my supervisor’s mind). But I was constantly searching for the right ways to succinctly explain the marriage of flashy PR with community development.

Now that LiLi is on the road, and my colleagues can see her in action, there is an almost audible “AHA—OH…Now I get it.”

There was very little resistance at the start, but there WAS hesitation about what my colleagues’ roles would be in the Library Live scene. Understandably, folks worried about there being more ‘on their plates’.

Keeping in mind that FVRL has 24 libraries located in 15 different municipalities, this is the way it works:

2 Parts

Part 1: Events

• the library supervisor/manager identifies community events he/she would like for LiLi to attend (this would happen 1X year…in a meeting with me)
• the library supervisor/manager fills out a ‘booking form’ and sends it to me. (I maintain a calendar on our Intranet so that any staff member can look and see where/when LiLi is booked at any time).
• if there are registration fees involved, the local library assumes those.
• I follow up with the event contact people as required.

Part 2: Community Stops

• the library supervisor/manager identifies ‘underserved’ targets for their community (i.e. Homeless? Seniors? Immigrant?)—again, set at our 1 meeting per year.
• the library supervisor/manager sends an introductory email (I provided them with a template for this) to any community partners/agencies they hope to connect with LiLi.
• when I receive the CC of the introductory email, I send an more detailed explanation of what LiLi does and ask the community partners/agencies to invite me to their locations.

It looks like a lot, but really, it’s just a matter of informing me of events and making introductions. I do the rest. The supervisors are getting into the rhythm of how it works now and the process has been effective to date.

Oh, one other important thing. I get a lot of ‘out of the blue’ requests (often from folks that see me at an event and want to invite me to another one). I never book an event or a community stop without running it by the local library supervisor first. It’s critical to know that I aim to serve as an extension of the local library, not as an independent entity. They know their communities better than I do…and it works best if I do THEIR bidding.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about the Library that you and LiLi have encountered?
The biggest? That the library isn’t for everyone. This comes from both sides of the fence. Marginalized or socially excluded people don’t feel they belong at the library because the library is an important place for smart people who read. (Keep in mind that they get kicked out of libraries a lot, too). On the other hand, middle class folks can BUY their books and often think that libraries are only where homeless people hang out.

If I had to shout one truth from a mountaintop, it would be that the public library exists for everyone in the community: the smelly, the wealthy, the fat, the brown, the ones with carts, and the ones with homes. This does not mean that the public library is an appropriate place for every kind of behaviour (that’s why we kick people out, right?). But the services the library offers are as important for those who walk into the library as for those who don’t. That’s what LiLi is trying to do: be inclusive.

What do you think is the most important step that a librarian tied to a physical branch can take towards engaging marginalised communities?
Engage with the people who DO come into the library. I have seen staff members bristle when an obviously down-on-his-luck guy comes into a library. They anticipate trouble. They expect bad behaviour. I’m not so idealistic that I believe this is a cure-all, but you wouldn’t believe the difference if you look the guy in the eye, welcome him to the library, and tell him he is welcome to ask for assistance if he needs it. Yes, we must sometimes address little issues (please put your shoes and socks back on, sir), but when you have a ‘relationship’ with a person, they are likely to behave better. We all discriminate in one way or another, but we must try to identify those discriminatory tendencies. Being aware of them is the first step. From there, we can have those inner conversations with ourselves that lead us to treating every person we encounter with respect and the same level of service.

In addition, be part of the conversation with local social services. Introduce yourself to community agencies who serve marginalized people. Then (and this is where it gets challenging) LISTEN. Don’t tell them what you will do for them. Listen to what they need. In my view, this is the biggest problem libraries have with community partnerships. We have traditionally ridden in on our white horses and given the ‘natives’ what we think they need. What makes a library a useful part of ‘community development’ rather than just ‘community outreach’ is that we must open a conversation and then…wait.

We say: “Here is what the library can offer. Can you think of a way that we can help you serve your clients?” Then we have the conversation. We remain flexible. We work together to define services. We work together to deliver them. We work together to evaluate their effectiveness.

It’s all about the conversations…and the relationships that grow as a result.

How do you see LiLi and outreach services changing and growing in the future?
I think we must shake ourselves out of some of our traditional thinking. The library is not just about books. Books are a small part of what we do. (I told someone the other day that thinking of the library as ‘all about books’ was like saying that the supermarket only sells soup.) We must find an effective way to communicate this.

The library must continue to take its services outside of the library’s walls. There are lots of folks out there who have a right to our expertise…

If we don’t want to continue being seen as rigid, elitist institutions—we must stop acting in rigid, elitist ways. How do we do that? You tell me…

Book covers, take 2

Spinning off my recent-ish blog post about book cover design, here's another link on the same topic: the amazing teen librarian at my branch recently talked with her teen advisory group about unfortunate book covers (et aussi en français). Enjoy! (< or maybe that's not the right word, exactly)

Seen reading on OC Transpo

• A book in Arabic
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The Official Driver's Handbook
• An anatomy textbook
• The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters: Moonsong by L J Smith
• Computer Power User magazine
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
• Bared To You by Sylvia Day
• What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
• Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier
• 1000 Years Of Annoying The French by Stephen Clarke
• Me: The New Republic by Lionel Shriver, McGill News, Natural Order by Brian Francis (OLA Evergreen shortlist), Everybody Has Everything by Katrina Onstad, and the last print copy of Feliciter.

Read recently: One-minute reviews

• The Land Of Decoration by Grace McCleen: A very odd and touching novel about a young girl raised by a single father in a religious sect. When Judith begins to believe that God is speaking to her, and that events occurring in her miniature dioramas (the Land of Decoration) are mirrored in real life, things go a bit haywire for her and her father, especially when Judith is bullied at school and her father, whose factory is on strike, is being persecuted as a scab.
• Gold by Chris Cleave: Oh my God, Chris, why do you do this to me every time? Although there was less weeping over this novel than over his previous two, I still managed to read this one in 24 hours. No joke. Caroline and I raced. The protagonists in this story are almost exactly my age (interesting? Weird? Sometimes I hate reading about people my age. They often annoy me ... in real life, too). They are also Olympic bike racers. Despite not being at all interested in competitive sport, I could not put this down. There are some absolute gems of phrasing and emotion in here. Read it.
• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers: Book 1 in a series (His Fair Assassin), this is a really fun teen title with a great heroine. Set in 14th century France, it sparked me to learn more about Anne of Brittany (ah, thank you Wikipedia). I can only take a few of these hardcore genre books a year, but this one was outstanding writing so it went down easy.
• New Republic by Lionel Shriver: Is it just me, or is her tone starting to sound fake? Maybe grandiose is a better word. Anyway, not my favourite. Getting into Rushdie's pretentious territory.
• South Riding by Winifred Holtby: a true 20th-century gem, this one was recommended by the inestimable David of Nicholas Hoare's Greene Ave. location. I am a total sucker for an interesting back story, so when I read more about Holtby, I was captivated. This was her sixth and final novel, published by Vera Brittain after Holtby's death at 37 from Bright's disease. South Riding is about the titular fictional district in Yorkshire, and the political and social machinations of local aldermen and community leaders. Interesting for me to read in one sense for the sense of local politics of yesteryear, and the dealings behind the scene (interesting subplot about a local slum). There is a "Preferatory letter" in the book addressed to Holtby's mother, Alice, the first woman alderman of the (real) East Riding. Alice tried to block publication of the book because (so saith the Guardian) "she feared that her daughter's depiction of local government, allied to the vein of satire and "puckish mischief" familiar from her earlier books, might expose her own job to criticism and ridicule." It's heartbreaking that Alice wasn't able to see her daughter's book as the loving tribute that it was. For those of you looking for plot here, the central thread of the novel follows the arrival of the new headmistress of a local school, and her altercations with a local landowner, Robert Carne (the new Elizabeth and Darcy? Bleh!)
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: Book 1 in a series (All Souls Trilogy): This was all fun and games until I remembered that I don't like my vampire stories to be patriarchal. Meh. In fact, "vampire stories" and "patriarchy" may be Venn diagrams that more or less sit on top of one another.

Renovations at Hazeldean Branch

On my day off last week, in some pretty impressive heat, I gave up plans to head to the beach so I could check out the renovations at our Hazeldean Branch.

Check them out here!

May and June at Carlingwood Branch

I know I've neglected you, but it's been an emotional roller-coaster of a few weeks, with wild and crazy things happening at work and home. Not to mention, you know, Canada Day plans!

Anyway, here's what has been going on at work, in a nutshell.

• We welcomed Caroline Adderson for an author visit on May 7.
• Our Books and Fun book club read Catwings by Ursula LeGuin, the Page Turners read Magic or Not by Edward Eager and the Homeschoolers’ Bookclub read Moon over Manifest by Clare VanderPool. In our teen book club, 4 teens came to discuss Numbers by Rachel Ward, and chose Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood for next month.
• We had three successful teen events in June: the Teen Café program (with Chillers donated by Second Cup in the Carlingwood Mall), a Wii program, and a "Get a job" workshop.
• A teen volunteer designed a banner wishing teens good luck on their exams. The banner was displayed overhanging the 3rd floor mezzanine. Our teen librarian also handed out 48 granola bars to teens studying (in one day!) We have seen lots of teens in the teen zone studying recently.
• Our wonderful Children's librarian visited several local schools to promote Summer Reading Club, and I visited the Gold Club at Dovercourt, two local seniors' residences, and set up an info kiosk at the Carlington Community Health Centre, to promote Carlingwood adult and senior programs. I also brought a colleague to visit the Council on Aging in Ottawa, where we delivered a PowerPoint presentation to 8 employees about library programs and services.
• We had two Digital Media workshops (two more coming up!). We helped people download library e-books with Kobo, Sony and Libre eReaders, as well as with iPads and iPhones.
• We launched our “Coffee with the Community” programs with Coffee with a city councillor, Mark Taylor, and Coffee with a police officer, Lori Fahey. As you probably know, these are programs close to my heart. In both cases, we partnered with Second Cup in the Carlingwood Mall to provide refreshments for free. We hope to run more of these programs in the Fall 2012 season. Feedback included: “Great idea! Very convenient, too. Heard about it from my neighbours,” “This is the type of councillor we voted for. A person who goes out to meet the residents, one-on-one,” and “I wish many parents can come out and listen to the police officer, because we have to work together to keep our community safe and healthy. Please keep it up and we would love to hear from officers more often.”
• We screened an NFB film, “The Hole Story,” about mining in Canada.
• We gave two groups from a LINC class of newcomers a tour of the library, and a brief presentation about services and collections.
• Our team, as well as the Bookmobile (my old friends) celebrated Canada Day 2 days early with the Michelle Heights Community House.
• I attended the June quarterly OPLA RA Committee meeting in Toronto. We are planning the RA in a Day conference in October, and special guests will include someone from Good Reads, a panel about online book clubs including Chatelaine.com and the Globe and Mail, and lunchtime author Deborah Harkness. You heard it here first!
  
• We had our first “Librarians’ meeting” at the branch, to discuss shared concerns. There are only three librarians at Carlingwood, and it's good to share ideas and support each other's work.
• We have a great new gardening volunteer, who has solicited donations from the community, which are being incorporated into our space. Most notably, we received a lovely rose bush and two trees, including a cherry tree and a bamboo tree. Here they are, getting ready to make their way in the world:

LANCR AGM presentation

It was a lot of fun presenting last night at the LANCR AGM. For those of you interested in clicking through the presentation, here it is!

Readers' advisory resources

View more presentations from Alexandra Yarrow.

Heard at CLA 2012

Here are some snippets from other sessions I attended at the recent CLA Conference.

From Tina Thomas's session, "Making a Lasting Impression: Building our Brand in our Branches" (Tina is the Director, Marketing and Fund Development, Edmonton Public Library)

• Clutter is an ergonomic issue for the mind
• Do your dislays make it look like professionals work there?
• Can anyone run a program or do circ? Then why can everyone and anyone make a sign?
• Do you have a signage problem?

From the Great Debate:

• Why did Occupy make their own libraries? Maybe bc ours close at 5
• Slacktivism! Petitions are what the powerless people do....
• Access is not equal to, in one province, a fee. In one national library, an appointment.
• Put your meat on the table. If you are a professional, show your face.

From the Book Awards's acceptance speech by Matthew Forsythe

• "Illustrators and freelance artists have to spend one or two days a week at libraries to nourish what we do!"

During Battle Decks, from the lovely Robyn Stockand:

• "Librarians are innovators in some of the best and all of the worst ways."

From Christina Neigel, Instructor, University of the Fraser Valley, during her session, "Inclusiveness and Hypocrisy: How Do Libraries Really Measure Up?"

• What about instituting a minor in library studies? Think: if people knew more about our profession, wouldn't that benefit us?
• "We need to be more outspoken about what it takes to work in this field: you have to want to engage in conflict."
• "Libraries do not do a good job of supporting lifelong learning within their own walls"

From Evan Solomon at the closing keynote:

• "The only way around the political philosophy is to be a political strategist."

The Big Society and UK Libraries: Lessons for Canadian Libraries with CILIP president Phil Bradley

I had the great pleasure of introducing CILIP President and avid blogger Phil Bradley for his session at the recent CLA Conference in Ottawa. His talk focused on the current political situation in the UK, as it affects public library service, but I also learned a few random fun facts (such as
Edinburgh is the first library to develop an app!).

As you likely know from reading this blog, the current horrifying state of UK libraries is a topic very close to my heart. Much of what is happening over the pond should serve as a warning to Canadians, especially Canadians who love their public libraries. Phil's passion for them was evident in his speech, and his final words were quite moving. Here are some of Phil's quotes and facts.

• At the moment, 600 libraries in the UK are under threat, of which 262 have been threatened or closed since April 1st 2012 alone. This is out of a total of 4612 libraries in the UK. This is round 1 of the government cuts. Check out the map.
  
• "We are very closely associated with one of the artefacts with which we work (the book) and that is causing us problems as that artefact becomes less important over time. Thus the librarian becomes less important as the library becomes less important." We need to distance ourselves from the artefacts. "No one sees a brain surgeon and says, "Oh, of course, scalpels! They say, "Oh, you make people feel better."
• The UK has a variety of associations serving library workers. CILIP alone has over 16, 000 members, and views itself as a charity and not a trade union. "There are therefore limitations on what we can do and say."
  Sidebar: this issue of the role of a professional association in a time of government cuts ran through a few sessions at the conference, and unofficially spoke to the situation at the opening keynote speech.
• There are 150 public authorities in England responsible for public library service.
• All professions are under attack in the current British government's "Big Society:" Police officers are to be replaced by community police (with limited powers, resources, or training). Doctors will have more control over budgets and deciding where to send people (therefore spending more time administrating than doctoring). There will be a higher tax on the teaching profession: more and more are leaving the profession because they find themselves in difficult financial positions and will get more $ elsewhere.
• There are 44 local campaigns to save libraries. Check out the main page for these campaigns here.
  
• Phil's advice to those seeking to advocate or work within the political machine: "You have to be crystal clear about what comprehensive and efficient means or what any of your terms mean. Or what "open" means." For instance, in Essex, the government statement was that "we're not closing anything." The local library's opening hours, however, were cut drastically.
• "Previous success makes you less likely to change in the future. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've already got."
• "The idea that libraries are a good thing is worth nothing."
• One of the recent developments in high-level advocacy includes a Libraries All Party Parliamentary Group. The Libraries APPG "provides MPs and Lords with information and opportunities for debate about the role that libraries play in society and their future," and has a Conservative MP as its Chair.
• "Signing petitions shows how powerless you are"
• "The more strident we become, the less we are able to advocate on the highest levels and discuss libraries instead of library closures."
• We have to ask ourselves the difficult questions. Here are some of the difficult questions on the table right now for CILIP and UK libraries: Campaigning or advocacy work? What should be our relationship with Friends groups and their campaigns? What is the role of volunteers and what is a volunteer? (Is volunteering really job substitution?) Hospitals or libraries? (Or is this a false analogy?) Do we retrench and do the same things we've always done, or do we do it better, or do we look at new options for libraries? Are fewer bigger libraries better than more small community libraries? What is the role of eBooks and social media for UK public libraries?
  

Library design eye candy

For the past few weeks, I have had a big coffee table style book on my desk at work called Library Architecture + Design. There are some fantastic designs in there, so I thought I would share my favourites (you’re better off checking out the websites, since the copy in the book is really poorly edited)

• Chilean National Library, Founders Hall (it’s like a study room hovercraft!!!)
• Kazakhstan National Library
• The Scholar’s Library in Olive Bridge, New York
• Book Mountain in Spijkenissse, the Netherlands (my team agreed we are re-designing CA to look like this!)

And with points for sheer crazy:

• Historical Archive and Library of Palermo

One of only 2 Canadian choices was Bloor/Gladstone Branch, TPL, but I much prefer the reno at St Clair-Dufferin.

Seen reading on OC Transpo

• Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication: An Exploration of Faculty Values and Needs in Seven Disciplines by Diane Harley, Sophia Krzys Acord, Sarah Earl-Novell, Shannon Lawrence, C. Judson King
• Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang
• The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits by Gregg Braden
• Something by Sue Grafton
• In Search of My Self : Signposts along the Way by Basil Arbour
• A book in Chinese
• Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James (you knew it was inevitable!)
• Just After Sunset by Stephen King
• Lucid Intervals by Stuart Woods
• Me: latest issue of LRC!

Husband's reading list #2

In the ongoing saga of perilously-constructed towers, an update....


The last one on the bottom is a Life magazine pub about Bob Dylan.

Hey, Lorie, no library books! For shame, eh? But he has 2 from Ottawa U, if that makes it ok. They are just in the library pile so they don't get lost.

Less colourful than last time, isn't it? Colour choices in nonfiction: debate.

I'll be back soon with longer posts with actual full sentences. I'm just totally swamped and at least two weeks behind (after CLA, being sick, and a great - but tiring - trip to Toronto and Kitchener last weekend).

The CLA Conference in pictures

So many experiences to distill into a bog post! I am working on some notes from a few sessions I was able to attend despite Local Arrangements Committee duties and THE PLAGUE, which descended on me on the day we were stuffing the bags and doing conference prep. Basically, I spent the first half of the conference with a fiery throat and no voice, and the second half hawking up crap and still unable to talk. Good times.

Anyway, I did manage to have a lot of fun, too:

We stuffed bags.

A LOT of bags:

I am so lucky to have the best team in the history of the world, and two of them, Laura and Helena, created this colour-coded master schedule for the volunteers at the conference. Genius.

Opening keynote:

Delegate feedback to opening keynote:

Laura and I getting silly with the room decorations in Local Arrangements Committee office

Screenshot from Tina Thomas from Edmonton Public Library's great presentation entitled Making a Lasting Impression: Building our Brand in our Branches (this slide = "Do you have a signage problem?")

Here is the first thing I learned at the Great Debate: masks kind of totally scare me.

In other news, the debate was awesome. The topic was “Be it resolved that the core values of modern librarianship areantiquated and obsolete,” and Stephen Abram, Robin Thiessen Hepher, Mike Ridley and Andrea Siemens nailed it with an examination of whether we actually live our values. Some choice quotes:

• "Why did Occupy make their own libraries? Maybe bc ours close at 5."
• "Slacktivism! Petitions are what the powerless people do."
• "Access is equal to, in one province, a fee. In one national library, an appointment."

I hung out with my NELI ladiez.

I was star-struck by Kit Pearson. As Megan phrased it so well, it is such an honour and a privilege to grow up reading someone's books, and then be able to give them an award!

Ryerson's Chief Librarian Madeleine Lefebvre kicked it at Battle Decks. Here, she is explaining how a certain gait will make you more flexible, and allow you to, um, innovate.

This was my favourite Battle Decks slide, noting the intersecting area as "Shitty movies."

A more serious post is forthcoming, but I will leave you here with Vin.

Crazy / exciting news that broke while I was in CLA mode

• Madeline Miller won the Orange Prize
• Brent council acted like thieves in the night
• At CLA: all heck broke loose during/after keynote speech (CLA response)

Friday: Lunch hour reading with Angie Abdou at Main Library

If you're not at #CLAOTT2012 (look it up!) this Friday, as I will be, or if you need a lunchtime break (ahem - visit the Exhibit Hall! - but anyway), I would encourage you to check out this great event at the Main Library with 2011 Canada Reads finalist Angie Abdou.

Friday, June 1, 12:00 –1:00 pm
Ottawa Public Library, Main Branch, 120 Metcalfe Street
From the poster: "It’s the last ski weekend of the season and a mishmash of snow-enthusiasts is on its way to a remote backwoods cabin. In an odd pilgrimage through the mountains, the townsfolk of Coalton—from the ski bum to the urbanite—embark on an adventure that walks the line between comedy and tragedy. In an avalanche of action, Abdou explores the ways in which people treat their fellow citizens and the landscape they love."

Angie Abdou's first novel, The Bone Cage, a finalist in the 2011 Canada Reads debates, #1 on CBC's Book Club’s Top 10 Sports Books, and a pick for Canadian Literature magazine’s “All-Time Top Ten List of Best Canadian Sports Literature.” Abdou has also published a short story collection called Anything Boys Can Do; The Canterbury Trail, a "Canadian mountain adventure," is her second novel.

Hot sessions @ CLA

Today is two weeks exactly before the conference starts, at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Aside from running around like a crazy person with a 2-way radio doing Local Arrangements, here are the events/sessions I am hoping to make it to (ambitious, I know, considering.....):

• Wednesday night opening reception (duh)
• Thursday 9 am: Opening Ceremonies & Keynote Speaker Daniel J. Caron, Deputy Head and Librarian and Archivist of Canada and Chair, Heads of Federal Agencies. Oh yes. That should be interesting..... Caron is also doing a "Hot Topic" at 1 pm, but I think I'd rather be at the below instead. I would imagine both sessions will be colourful if there is some audience involvement. These are some crazy times.
• Thursday 1 pm: Community Impact: Transforming Lives through Libraries ("how public libraries create programs, advocate to stakeholders, and determine measurable outcomes") with some peeps from Gale.
• Thursday 4 pm: The Great Debate (always entertaining). This year, it's Michael Ridley and Stephen Abram debating "Be it resolved that the core values of modern librarianship are antiquated and obsolete."
• Thursday evening, I am triple-booked (thanks for that!): NELI alumni reception, Book Awards, and the pub crawl. We'll see if I last until the crawl....
• Friday 10:30 am: Tag... We’re It! The World of Interlibrary Loan. I feel like I should be there so I can learn more for my students next year ....
• Friday 1:30 pm: Getting your Library From Good to Great with my old friend Lita Barrie, now the Chief Librarian of the Grimsby Public Library ("Explore how to help your library thrive in these times of change and uncertainty. Gain practical strategies on making the most of the resources you have to take your library from good to great.")
• Friday 3 pm: No More Excuses! with Nancy Dowd from NoveList. I have no excuses for not being there because I am convening. I love Nancy's blog, so I am really psyched about this session ("This presentation will show you how ingenuity, a bit of technology and the belief that libraries matter to communities can conquer all the barriers stopping you from getting the word out about what your library is doing.")
• Friday evening: either chillin' with Lora and my peeps or grazing at the all-delegates social. Or both. Or neither.
• Saturday 8:30 am: CLA BATTLE DECKS! I want to cheer on Megan Fitzgibbons, OPL's own Beth Goslett, Robyn Stockand, Melanie Sellar, and OPL Board member Christine Langlois, all friends of mine! I know the best peeps.
• Saturday 1 pm: The Big Society and UK Libraries: Lessons for Canadian Libraries with CILIP president Phil Bradley. Again, convening, so gotta be there. Very excited about this one, too, since it's the ancestral homeland and all.
  
• Saturday 3 pm: Closing ceremonies with secret crush Evan Solomon.

And here are some other sessions I think are also totally note-worthy, although I might not make it to them. I've excluded hot topics and big issues like copyright, as those ones are pretty easy to find on the CLA website and get a lot of attention:

• Friday 1:30 pm: Canadian Challenges Survey 2011: Update on Library Resources and Policies Challenged in Publicly-Funded Libraries - always disturbing...
• Friday 3 pm: Rebuilding the Slave Lake Library: Surviving Tragedy and Lessons Learned.
• Saturday 1 pm: Evolution and Transformations. "In Autumn 2011, 19 library directors, senior staff, architects and other library leaders embarked on a four-country 22 library tour in Northern Europe and Scandinavia."

Fun fact for the day

I'm trying to be a good girl these days, and really support the independents we have left, so I was placing a special order with Collected Works, and I learned something interesting. I think it's kind of cool that I have been in the book biz one way or the other since 1998, but I didn't really think about this until now.

Books are still shipped from the UK to Canada by boat. It takes several weeks, and they are packed in waterproof pallets. So, as the salesperson told me, once a shipment of books for a book launch event was sunk on the way over (eek!) but actually did arrive (very late), perfectly intact, due to the great packing.

Heck, I want to take a boat across the Atlantic!

P.S. I was ordering this.

P.P.S. I wanted a quirky image for this, so I went with something I remember my English grandfather, Alexander Edward, teaching me to make, circa 1986, during a church service in Cambridge.

Go on, judge a book by its cover

The covers of what I've been reading over the past few months.

One of my favourite features in Quill & Quire is the Cover to cover piece, in which a designer discusses the challenges and evolution of a particular book cover design. Q&Q also does a nice covers of the year feature, too. And of course, Penguins, arguably the most recognisable covers ever, have been turned into everything from skateboards to band-aids.

So imagine my excitement to discover this morning a news item about a new blog, Talking Covers, for authors, designers, and artists to discuss book covers. Delish.

However, the City blocked me from seeing Talking Covers from work (nice, IT, nice!) so I had to wait until now to enjoy it properly.

I'm totally always a sucker for retro covers, such as this or this. I also like simple ones like this, this or the plan grey dust-jacketed Fabers, or opulent ones like the cover of White Teeth. What's your favourite book cover?