Ok, Ok: Comment Away!

Hello Everybody.

The Comment Box has apparently stumped a few readers. I want to hear what everybody has to say, and it seems the blog inadvertently has been shutting down comments by asking people to sign in to Google every time a response comes to mind. So, as of today, it will be easier to make comments here.

From now on just click on the purple link that says 0 (or x number) comments right below the post. You don't need to sign in or identify yourself. But do keep it appropriate, as we can't publish obscene or otherwise offensive remarks.

Ok, then: COMMENT AWAY! I am looking forward to hearing from YOU! (Someone's got to keep me awake!)

Hi Mom!

Mother’s Day is tomorrow, May 11th. The library is closed.

My mother is a strong woman of great compassion. I won’t be at her side tomorrow, and I’m too broke to send flowers. But I do what I can, and so today’s entry is a tribute to my mother, Harriet May Newman Lavin.

I learned to read very early and with great zeal because of the bookish and supportive atmosphere my mother created in our farmhouse in the country. My mom was such an “evangelist” reader, she taught my best friend (and other local kids) to read too! There were always lots and lots of books around for me to read, many of them from the local library, where I spent so much time they offered me a job in the second grade. I remember my mother taking me to the library often, although I wouldn’t participate in the summer reading program because I didn’t think kids should have to be bribed to read! Yes, I was a curious little bookworm, but my mother always encouraged my imagination. In the long hot days of summer, when the even the dandelions were bored, my mother would say to her complaining daughter, “Only boring people are bored,” and hand me a book. She also set a good example by keeping up a cupboard full of books that she read herself. Those bookshelves were a mystery to me, and as I grew older, I picked a few of her favorites and set at reading them as if they were keys to her soul and mine. And they were.

Do you remember Greta the Strong, Mom? Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak? What about Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree or Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie series? And my prized set of hardback Nancy Drew mysteries that you found at a garage sale! C.S Lewis and J.R.Tolkien and even Aldous Huxley and Nikos Kazanzatkis and puzzling, troubling Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The Lord of the Flies and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and The Book of Ruth with Jane Hamilton right down the road…! And NEVER NEVER FORGET Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice! Your daughters were too wild too read Jane Austin out loud--- we should have tried Edgar Allen Poe or Alan Ginsberg’s Howl instead!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

Good News!

Our databases are up and running again. If you encounter a problem accessing a database, either at home or in the library, please contact the reference librarian on duty at the desk.

It is a quiet overcast Friday here on York St., Blue Island. You could hear a pin drop in the library---

The dark sky reminds of the day last fall someone called in with a dream for me to interpret. I dutifully looked the dream symbols up in a dream dictionary and translated them for the patron, but no psychic powers were truly exerted.

...Or were they? (Only the librarian knows for sure...)

Celebrate National Library Week!

If you don't like poems, pass on to something else, quick...

In The New York Public Library

He has pissed himself. Is he high or ill?
He swings toward me on a single crutch
And smells of the sympathetic hyacinths
Sent from Rotterdam which Hitler flattened.
Kerouac's crutches are kept in the Berg.
Is not this the greatest of institutions,
With levels we both know nothing about?
We take the elevator past the top floor
To the imaginary roof garden.

---Michael Longley
from The New Yorker (April 14, 2008)

Temporary Trouble In Database Land

Hello folks. We are experiencing some technical difficulties with access to databases from outside the library. You may be unable to access all of our databases from home. This situation should not last longer than a week as we are making some good changes behind the scenes. I'll keep you posted, and, as always call the Reference Desk with any questions or concerns that you may have. Our number is (708) 388 1078 ext. 19.

Blue Island Will Rise Up

... like a phoenix from the flames!

So, unless you were on vacation in the Bermudas last week, you've heard about the closing down of St. Francis Hospital. I've watched the news, worried, signed petitions, worried some more. Today it appears there might be reason to hope a potential buyer might step forward, but no matter WHAT happens, this experience might as well be a reminder to EVERYONE to keep resumes updated. Cuz you never know. The reference desk at the library is happy to proofread resumes. Bring 'em on down.

In other news, today was the first day of Ms. Rodriguez' annual basic English class. It was excellent, if, as assistant, I may dare say so. We worked on pronunciation, conversation, and vocabulary. I think everyone learned something. Especially me.

Back in the Saddle

In case you’ve been wondering where I was, I spent the past week in Minneapolis at the Public Library Association Conference. I was accompanied by Ms. Lynne Ingersoll, Head of Reference and Technical Services, and Ms. Deb Beasley, Children’s Librarian. We had the opportunity to reunite with Ms. Patty Wanninger, former director of Blue Island Public Library, who was a spritely and welcome addition to the contingent from Illinois. Much was discussed over walleye cakes and beer, and Ms. Wanninger coined the phrase “edge-urb” to describe the City of Blue Island.

You really haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the enthusiasm, the sheer philanthropic goodness, the single-mindedness of purpose of thousands of librarians together, like an organism with many heads and many elegant hairdos, sashaying around in their sensible shoes, gathering information, ideas, and free books to bring back to their beloved home libraries.

I scored a few really nice new books for the collection, including an intriguing Encyclopedia of Gangs from Greenwood Press, mystery novels galore from Sisters in Crime, and several Harlequin romance novels in Spanish. All the free books we couldn’t use for our collection were donated to a women’s shelter in Minneapolis, so that I wouldn’t have to lug them home on the plane.

The comedian Paula Poundstone gave a hilarious performance the last day in which she laughed at and with the enormous crowd of librarians, many of whom could be characterized as "gentle" and "eccentric". One of her zingers was (and I paraphrase) "Down in the children's department, they really care if you read the book... they'll even read it to you! But up in the Adult's section they just point, disinterested as can be." That made us all laugh with recognition, and promise ourselves we'd do better.

In case you were wondering, I attended workshops on such themes as:

Grants for Libraries,
What Does It Take to Be Good at Reference in the Age of Google,
Weeders Attract More Readers,
and Handling Upset Patrons.

Yes, those are the kinds of things librarians think about. Yes, we really do care.

One of the best moments, the moment that really showed me the compassionate, patient heart of the profession, happened on the plane. I was freaking out as I always do about the bumpy landing into Midway Airport. The kind librarian sitting next to me soothed me all the way to the ground, dealing with me gently and resourcefully as I shrieked and hid in my hands and shook.

I know for some people, finding a book on a computer catalog, or using a database or a computer, doing geneological research, or even finding time to finish a book is hard and anxiety-producing--- even as scary as the plane's landing was for me. I only hope to you I can be as helpful to you, my patrons, as that anonymous librarian in the seat next to me. All... the... way... to... the... ground.