I’m sure these were NOT made up…
http://pointsofreference.booklistonline.com/2009/06/30/we-get-questions/
Heh! 
June 12, 2009
Honestly, is this a surprise?
I’m sure any public library staff in southwest Florida (where the economy is much tougher right now) could tell you this – but it’s a well done story from Today anyway…
June 2, 2009
“Oh Bill, at least they’re *reading*…
The Mighty Thor, circa mid 70s or so
That’s what my grammie used to say to my grampie when he complained that instead of buying us comics, my grammie should buy us higher literature, like Grimm’s Fairy Tales or Dickens and Kipling. So, finally, at long last, scholarship bears out what my grammie knew all along…Comics appeal to the reluctant reader, and can help middle reader boys (ages 8-12) make reading a regular habit through the years when they’re most likely to give up reading for pleasure. Our public library director Greg Hill has started a program in the middle schools here called “guys read“. Adult male volunteers lug a data projector and laptop to different middle schools one day a week and read graphic novels to the boys during their lunch hour. It’s important, according to Greg, that the men learn how to read actively and keep the boys’ attention; he says some of the boys have even come in to the library to check the graphic novel / comic out to see what happens *before* it’s finished in school! I think it’s also great for the boys to see that it’s cool for men to be interested in reading. There have been a few studies undertaken by the American Library Association , Random House and others to bolster this claim, as well as a few well regarded librarian websites like “No flying, no tights” that old nerds like me use for age recommendations and purchasing decisions, but the acceptability of this idea in scholarly circles is very, very recent indeed. It’s just interesting to think that my grammie was way ahead of her time, at least in this. 
Other links to follow:
Brodart has been extolling the appeal of graphic novels in libraries almost before any other publisher.
Librarians Gilles Poitras and Steve Raiteri have been reviewers, authors and advisors on graphic novels and anime for a long time, even before it was cool!
The Comics Journal and Drawn and Quarterly are probably the most scholarly journals I’ve read on comics and comic art; not necessarily useful for suggestions for reluctant readers, though. More of a adult source for criticism and review. Both are fairly “alternative.”
April 22, 2009
Generational Shift, part deux; or, why librarians don’t just stamp things anymore.
Click on the above picture. It should open into a bigger picture where you can read what’s written on the whiteboard. Unfortunately, the flash is right on the part I wrote, which says, “please do not download WOW patch while ur working.” If you understand this message, you are probably under 30 years of age. 
This is why I’m so great in my job; (JMHO, of course) all the students understood the message, which is who I needed to reach. All the staff over 35 (except for the media guy and my evening supervisor tech geek guy, who are both under 40) all went, “What? Please explain.”
There is a fundamental change in language going on online. Soon, the generations younger than 30 right now will speak two languages – vocal English and online English. It’s already happening! They expect to use technology in *every* aspect of their lives. They have mastered it easily, and expect it no matter where they are. I’m sure you may have noticed all those cryptic email abbreviations from your children and children’s friends, and maybe your friends – “LOL, BTW, YMMV” and those faces made out of punctuation- ;-P 
, :-O…If you’re older than 40, you may notice that your kids *never* leave off texting on their cell phones. They post their status to Facebook at any time, from their palm or phone or laptop, on the bus, in the library or at home. They expect to be able to do this even when the person they’re speaking to is sitting in the next room! They speak online so easily and unquestionally, because they’ve never been alive when there wasn’t a computer in their house, or one in their hand! Geeks my age and older may have brought the internet into being, and started the first online languages, but now I kind of feel like I’m being dragged along in the young people’s wake! The master has now become the student! (NOOOOOO!!!! You’re not my fatherrrrrrr!!!!! 
) We may have started all the acronyms and emoticons because our bandwidth was *14K* a second, but it’s grown waaaay past me even *pretending* most of the time that I know what’s going on. Call it accelerated, internet-caused, tech Progeria.
So, why did I post the original first message on the whiteboard? Well, you see, I have this talent of being able to learn new technology, just well enough to be able to understand younger people, and try to explain it to older people. One of our students expected to be able to read his updates about a game online at the PC at the front desk. Somehow, he had managed to mistakenly download that HUUUUGE patch on the library’s Circulation PC, and it had crashed. Since online gaming is not necessarily something we forbid at the library, but something that they probably shouldn’t be downloading on a computer that is not theirs, I wrote the note on the board. Low tech, but it was seen! Is this something that I needed to do in my normal course of daily activities, making sure that the front Circulation Desk runs smoothly? You Betcha! Is it something I learned how to do in Library Graduate school? Well, not really. I guess you could say the UW Ischool taught me how to think systematically, gave me a familiarity with technology, and taught me to roll with the technological punches. That’s why I went to the University of WA Ischool, not somewhere else. Is it something people think librarians do in their jobs? Probably not.
For those of you who need the translations, I’ve included them at the bottom of the post. Just so that you’ll see what I mean, about a half hour after I wrote that first message, several others appeared: “WOW Patch 3.1 is LIVE! WOOOOH!”, “Yay, more tedious hours of gold farming, FTW!”, “Die, SusanExpress, DIE!”, “Goldfarmers are EVIL”, (I wrote that), and “Dual Spec, FTW!”. Actually, I didn’t understand what one of the answers from the students meant, so I asked them…”Hey, what does ‘FTW’ mean?” I have also included this at the cheat sheet at the bottom.
The Windows Desktop support woman (who is 23) who troubleshoots problems with our Windows software came into my office right after this exchange and showed me the picture she had just taken of the whiteboard with her phone, and informed me, “That ROCKS. I’m putting that on my blog.”
If you have not understand *anything* I’ve said since I started this post, congratulations! You must be over 40 at least.
Cheat sheet below!! For those who know what I’m talking about; no, this is a cheat sheet for the old people. Reading this will not give you any leet new skillz.
ur – An abbreviation of “you’re”.
JMHO – “just my humble opinion”. Contrasted with “JMNSHO” – “just my not-so-humble-opinion”.
WOW – World of Warcraft, a real-time fantasy role-playing world, which kids pay a subscription each month to play in. You build characters and get experience, just like in the bad old days of paper and dice and AD and D (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons) or GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) books.
Patch – a piece of software distributed over the internet, intended to upgrade the program with nifty new capability, or to *fix* what the software writer *thought* would be a nifty new capability.
Gold farming – this is where the kid in question doesn’t want to spend his whole week getting experience and gold (fortune) through actually *playing* the game and successfully winning at the battles and challenges, and jumps straight ahead to the fortune part by *buying* it from someone else, i.e., a “gold farmer.” Having more gold allows you to buy better armor, horse, weapons, etc., and progress up in level quicker. Are you confused yet? Remember, this *isn’t real*. WOW only exists online. But the credit card the kid uses has to be real. Why did I write “Gold Farmers are EVIL”? Because <affecting a creaky voice here> “Dagnabbit, in *my* day, you had to get your gold the old fashioned way! You *earned* it! You had to slog through level one, two, and three, and be weak and powerless, and sometimes your character got killed after 4 hours of lovingly attentive character generation, but that’s what you did! It built character! And you appreciated that nice armor and high level when you finally got it! Even *if* your brand new gaming book you just bought from the Enterprise 1701 gaming store just fell apart; you put it back together with duct tape!” <creaky old voice off>. Man, am I *old*.
FTW – “for the win.”
SusanExpress – someone’s character that the author of the note has apparently gone against in a battle online.
Dual Spec – I have *no* idea. Specs when I was gaming lo-these-many-years-ago were attributes. You had one each for strength, intelligence, comeliness, etc., etc. They determine what kind of physical and mental abilities you had, and what kind of armor and weapons you could lift and wear.
LOL – “laughing out loud”
BTW – “by the way”
YMMV – “your mileage may vary, BTW…”
crash – your computer has frozen up. The mouse won’t work, the keyboard won’t work, nothing works.
14K – 14,000 bytes per second, a very slow modem indeed. The modem connects you to the internet. A 14K modem was what most people used about 1985-1990, and would not be able to handle most things people do on the internet today. Thus, the need to create a language that didn’t take up much bandwidth.
leet skillz – an online gamer way of “check my talent out!” Comes from the word “elite” and “skills”.
April 12, 2009
Now, *this* is a cool librarian!
I don’t know how many of you listen to NPR, but one of my favorite moments from them recently has been the “This I Believe” vignettes that have been on “Weekend Edition” and “Morning Edition.” This one this morning seems particularly pertinent to Easter, the holiday of renewal and hope:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102961694
April 8, 2009
Hey – wanna buy a ticket?
I’ve been here 18 months now, and I have participated in *4*, count ‘em, *4* ticket raffles. Before I moved here, I had never been in any, that I can remember, anyways. Alaskans sure do 1) know how to put a volunteer event together to raise money and 2) Know how to use that money, creating community ties at the same time. I’ve volunteered other places I’ve lived, but I have rarely seen it taken to the high professional results-getting art that it is here. A lot of the time, this is done through the ticket raffle. I’ve written before about how “recycling” is done in Fairbanks, and the most recent ticket raffle I’ve seen plays on this theme:
Raffle Ticket method #1:
Spring Cleaning:
1) Take nice stuff, but nevertheless stuff you don’t want anymore, and donate it to the cause.
2) Buy raffle tickets that give you the ability to bid on other people’s stuff that looks interesting to you.
3) Put the ticket in the cup behind the item on the appointed date. The ticket drawn out is the winner of the item.
4) Money is kept as a “rainy day” fund, buying cards or flowers or needed things for an employee who is having a tough time.
Numerous variations on the “ticket” theme exist. I had organized art auctions and book and video auctions before in the Outside, but never had I done the “raffle ticket” thing. There’s a whole rules structure to the ticket auction that neatly side steps the problems encountered in a assigned secret number silent auction or out loud auction. Some more variations on the ticket raffle theme:
Raffle Ticket method #2:
The 50/50 draw: I did this one for the Yukon Quest this year at the Finish Banquet. 1) Walk around with a plastic fish bowl with enticing signs and stickers on it. 2) Stick the fish bowl in a person’s face and coyly ask, “Buy a ticket? It’s 5 dollars! Come on, you can buy one beer less, and it’s for a good cause.” (It’s best to wait for a break in the mushing conversation before you interupt, especially if they’re standing in the line for the bar.) 3) Explain that for a looooooong string of tickets, you can buy many chances to get 1/2 of the total pot at the end of the evening. 4) Coyly and shyly show them the arm’s length of tickets they get, starting at the wrist, rolling out the roll and finishing at the bust. If it’s a guy, ask them to hold the fish bowl for a second. (Note: this works better if you wear a top with a low collar, which I didn’t. 
) 5) If you’re asked how much you’ve raised so far, tell them you’re doing pretty well, but haven’t counted yet. Shake the fish bowl and look at it. Another $5 paid means a bigger payout for you, ya know…
Raffle Ticket method #3:
Or, how about the “Shhhh, it’s a secret” game? This one takes a bit more marketing and selling from the fish bowl holder. 1) Explain that you’re selling tickets to a raffle to play a game at the end of the night, and the winner gets a really good prize. Tickets are $5 each. 2) When the person asks what the prize is, tell them. This works best with big expensive prizes. In the case that I saw, it was 2 coach tickets to Outside on Alaskan Airlines. That’s a good prize for this “what, still winter?” area. 3) Explain that you can’t tell them what the game is until later and then, your voice taking on a coy “I double dog dare ya” tone, ask them if they’re in. If they hesitate at all, give a slightly pitying look, then say “Oh well! I’m outta here.” Believe it or not, this worked like mosquitoes to bare flesh for the woman I saw working it that night. She, of course, was more suitably attired. She also made more than me.
Raffle Ticket method #4:
The Bingo Wheel Method: Sell tickets to the raffle, $10 or $25 each, explaining that out of the 500 tickets you sell, during the actual raffle, (held at a popular bar and restaurant, of course) 500 separate draws will be made, and the ticket numbers read out. Only the 1st, 25th, 50th, 100th, 150th, 200th, 250th, 300th, 350th, 400th, 450th, and 500th draw will award a prize though. The prizes are usually pretty good, but the lower numbers (25, 50…) are smaller prizes, like coffee travel mugs or sweatshirts. The higher numbers (250, 500)are airline tickets and cash awards. People really do come in droves to this thing. Or, maybe it’s a way to support the event, see friends you haven’t seen in while, and have a beer and some good conversation and halibut. I would totally go for those reasons.
Of course, being an old ex-gamer, I toyed with the idea of making the “Bingo Wheel Method” (the matching numbered tickets are rolled around in what looks like a Bingo wheel) more random. How about using percentiles (three of em, even…) to determine the random numbers from 1-500 that the prizes are handed out on? Maybe it wouldn’t work as well – no one would know when to stop talking and listen to see if it was their ticket that won, if every number had a possibility of being the one that had a prize.
Wait, how about…more than one person has the number 25, for example, and then they all have to roll for initiative? Okay, okay, enough gamer talk…
