The Wildcat's Den

 24 hours.  I HAVE WORKED 24 HOURS THIS WEEK, PEOPLE!! *joy*

Okay, okay, this might not look that impressive to you full-time 9-5 working stiffs, but for someone who has only been able to secure part-time work for the last year-and-a-half, this is momentous news.  Especially since in a couple of weeks, I'm signed up to sub for 31 hours in one week (including a couple of 8-9 hour days.  Well, the nine-hour day is including an hour lunch break, but I'm not going to get paid for that, obviously).

So, I've been working.  And it's made me tired.  But it's a good tired, like I've said before.  The only complaint I have is that I've been working more hours in the backroom than actually with the patrons.  It's not like I'm on a probation where I can't help patrons until I have so many hours being the grunt girl and then I can work the front desk because I've done plenty of front desk hours so far.  It's just how the scheduling works - sometimes you're up front, sometimes they hide you in the back where you lug books, shelve DVDs and sweat your armpits off (if there is any justice in this world, that little chub on my tummy will melt off from all the lifting and running about I've done).

Though I will admit, just looking at the stuff I've had to check in - kind of makes me want to start reading or watching some of this stuff.  I've never seen any of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the library has it and there's no reason I couldn't check it out and watch it (I think it's on Netflix too, if I wanted to go that route).  Same with Battlestar Galactica.  And there's so, so, SO much YA stuff that looks good too.  There's a manga version of "Much Ado About Nothing" and I actually squealed when I saw that sitting on the cart (the other circ staff looked at me like I was nuts, but I didn't care).  I'm also a little curious as to what the big fuss is about authors like Janet Evanovich and Dean Koontz.  Not curious enough to put myself on the hold list for those books, mind (for those hold lists are long and legendary - I've hardly touched a copy of "Sizzlin' Seventeen" without a hold slip being spat out at me), but just wondering why those books are so popular.  Besides, I've checked out plenty of other stuff that I'm enjoying, so let me get through this stack before I start borrowing more crap.

In the meantime, I have a paper due on Monday that I decided to change topics on mid-stream.  Off to toil away!

With a new year comes a new semester (more or less) and I've found something new to do that's going to take up the better part of my time and sanity (but it's all for a good cause).  The high school library has a shortage of shelving space.  I could invest in new shelves... but then I got looking at some of the books that are taking up all the space and the kids don't read them.  Actually, nobody reads them.  Ever.  Most people just request new titles and I buy them (hence, why I am looking for more shelf space).

In a somewhat unrelated twist, the librarian before me had begun weeding out old titles and taking them out of the system, but she didn't know what to do with all the old books.  She thought about a few things, including a book sale, but if people want to buy books, they can go get new ones from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.  So, we've got at least three huge boxes of old books in storage with no idea what to do with them (I say "at least three" - I think there are others stored elsewhere.  I haven't had time to go on an exhaustive search, but that's for tomorrow).

Here I come - bright-eyed and full of idealistic... ideas.  I haven't been able to implement very much (lack of money, lack of time, lack of people), but I did find an interesting place to take our old books.  One of my classmates in my graduate program has connections with the library at the state penitentiary and brought up Books Inside, a not-for-profit group that provides books to prison libraries.  Looking at their website, it looks like they don't really care what condition the books are in because the inmates can repair them and they're always looking for more books and things.

You can all see where this is going, can't you?

Pending district approval, all our old books are going to the prison.  On the surface, it seems like an odd place to take our stuff, but I have the feeling that most of these inmates are serious about paying their debt to society and they'll be better people when they get out.  Besides, they could probably do with some good books to pass the time while they're incarcerated (according to my classmate, the library is one of the most-used facilities in the prison).

Now - I have to finish the weeding process, de-catalog (is that even a word?) the old books, box them up and get them to the Books Inside people.  And I'll finally have room for the new stuff.  Everyone wins. :)

Another class weekend is upon me (seems like that's all I talk about - school, Doctor Who, family drama... well, it's summertime.  That's what happens).  I'm part of  yet another presentation, but this one is on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH for short), of which I know absolutely nothing about, but that's okay because I'm only supposed to come up with the uses for it in cataloging and I only have to fill up about 5 minutes of presentation time (one of the benefits of group work).  I found some good info on the MeSH website and sent it on to our group-leader-person, so yippie.  Sadly, MeSH doesn't lend itself well to making another cool-yet-educational video based in fandom, which is a shame because I'm becoming quite proficient at it ^_^

In the course of my quest to become a well-rounded and informed librarian, I checked out a book called "This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All" by Marilyn Johnson.  My instructor in my last class suggested that we all read it because it's got some good insight on new technologies for librarianship.  I'm right in the middle of reading it... and I just must be an idiot or something because it's making my brain melt.  Every chapter details how various librarians throughout the country are using blogs, iPhones and Second Life to meet the masses' information needs - and they all have tattoos and spiky purple hair, because, you know - that's cool!  We have to grind that oppressive stereotype of dowdy spinster librarians into dust!  Peace, love, dope - it's all about anarchy!  Down with the establishment!! (yes, Sheldon, that was sarcasm).

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with tattoos and spiky purple hair - if that's the way you roll, then go for it.  But it's like people have to go from one extreme to the next just to prove how relevant they are, which is kind of dumb.  There are plenty of middle-of-the-roaders (like me) who aren't necessarily going to get on your case for being loud in the kids' section or playing "World of Warcraft" on your computer time, but I'm not going to go make up a bisexual persona on Second Life just to show how "hip" and "with it" I am (some people will and that's fine. I'm not disparaging that lifestyle - I'm just saying that's not me).  Personally, I think we have sufficiently proven that geeks can be cool without having to make a big neon sign proclaiming it to be so.  You're as relevant as you make yourself out to be - and it's not by playing some whiny victim act that everyone picks on you and your life is so unfair because that gets you nowhere.

Anyway (now that I've made my political statement), it blows my mind how many avenues there are to librarianship.  I mean, I blog (obviously) .  I have a Facebook and a YouTube account, but I don't have a Twitter or a Second Life account.  Honestly, I think that I'm one of those people that if I had a Second Life account, I'd never get off and venture outside.  I really have to be careful about things like that because I can be an extreme person.  I probably would be okay with doing roving reference (where you have an iPhone and you go out into the stacks or even the streets to provide reference - you don't have to be tied down to a desk).  There's just so much librarians can do and sometimes I feel like I have to do it all to be a good librarian.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's okay to pick and choose what you do.  Not everyone is going to respond to everything out there.  There are some people that still run the ink-and-paper route and if you try to explain something like Second Life to them, they aren't going to go for it (happily, there is a chapter in this book about people who still deal in bound books, but they get pretty whiny when there's talk of funding cuts and stuff like that.  Heaven help me if I ever become so annoying).

That's what my Future of Reference presentation was all about - we get so enthralled by these shiny new toys and how things have changed, we forget what the changes were for.  It's about serving people - not serving our egos or staying on trend with the latest and greatest.  I'm just trying to keep a perspective on things for myself because I can get caught up in all these NEW! IMPROVED! AMAZING! gimmicks, much to my own detriment.  I want to become a librarian so I can help people become better than they already are - especially middle and high school kids because they're just fun.  I want to help the sophomore English student with a report on "Julius Caesar."  I want to help an 8th grader work out a question about volcanoes for a science fair project.  I want the 13-year-old whose parents are divorcing to be comfortable asking me for a book on how to cope with the situation.  I want some kid who got a telescope for Christmas to ask me for the names of the constellations.  Whatever they need - that's my purpose in life.

And, you know what?  I'm okay with that.

I know that's from a song, but can I remember which one?  Of course not!

I just finished reading "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card.  And can I just say, that was one of the cutest darn stories I've read in a long time!  ( Spoilers! )

I also had my class weekend - I think it's just because I had a pretty stressful week leading up to it, but I didn't enjoy class as much as I usually do.  Some of it was fun, but I've kind of been grumpy lately about a whole slew of things that have nothing to do with school.  Maybe The Greater Cosmos(tm) just decided I needed to have a downer week for no good reason.  Wish TGC(tm) would give me some notice about these things.

But church was wonderful today.  There was a lot about being patient and remembering that life works on the Lord's timetable, not mine.  And adversity makes us tougher.  Oh, and we had a Relief Society presidency meeting this morning and we got our first activity planned and started on getting Visiting Teaching going.  And I'm going to be getting a blog set up for our Relief Society so the girls can get online and see what activities are going on.  Anyway, church came at just the right moment.  I love my calling!

Summertime has officially begun.  Which means that I will be seeking out the darkest, most air-conditioned basement to hole up in until September.  I hate the hot weather.  Since coming home from Florida, I've especially grown to hate the hot dry weather (which, incidentally I grew up in - I don't know why 18 months in humid Florida would make that big of a difference).  I like spring and fall weather the best because it's that middle-of-the-road cool/warm.  I hate being sticky and sweaty, even worse than I hate freezing.  At least when I'm freezing I can put another pair of socks on.

Oh, here's a funny story from the weekend - when I go up for my classes, I stay with my friend, K.  A month or so ago, our cat had kittens and K said she wanted one to help keep the gopher population down in her yard.  So, over this weekend, I took one of the kittens up to K.  Now, I had a box to put the kitten in while I drove up.  Most of my trip was out of radio range, so I listened to Glenn Beck's "Arguing with Idiots" audiobook on my iPod.  But when I came to a point where I had radio reception, I decided to switch because my friend Sean Hannity was on.  Now, up until this point, the kitten was happy and content in his box.  But when I switched the radio from Beck to Hannity, the kitten climbed out of his box and demanded that I pay attention to him.  He even climbed up to the front seat and under the pedals (did I mention I was trying to drive the freeway at the time?)  Anyway, Hannity's show got over and Glenn Beck's radio show came on and I swear, the minute Glenn came on, the kitten calmed down and went back to the back seat and fell asleep.  It was the weirdest thing ever.  I told K about it (she's a Glenn Beck fan) and she said that we picked the perfect kitty for her (and yes, she named the cat Glenn).

Number one - I LOVE being the yearbook adviser!  I've been doing it since January for West Desert High on a volunteer basis.  The school district is strapped for cash and, as a former yearbook editor myself there is NO way in you-know-where that I'm leaving this up to the sole teacher that's left to guide the kids on how to produce a quality publication.  After hearing about last year's debacle, I saw that they needed someone who actually knows what they're doing.  And I really enjoy it!  Even though I'm not getting paid for it (it would be great if I was, but it probably won't happen because of budget cuts - they're down to only one teacher in the school; they aren't going to fork out money for something like a yearbook adviser), I'm thinking of things we can implement next year and of lesson plans and how to teach the kids to use PageMaker - I'm even planning a mini-summer-yearbook-camp to put on for them (don't know how I'm going to manage it, but I'll think of something).  I'm getting into it!

Number two - As I was catching up on my friends page, narniadear was highlighting her top 10 children's books - from when she was a kid and now that she's an adult.  She also mentioned that Shannon Hale has been keeping track of the School Library Journal's list that they are compiling.  So, being inspired on all counts, I've decided to list my top 10 books that I read as a kid and children's books that I enjoy now that I'm sorta, kinda, mostly grownup (I don't consider myself a full adult - I have too much fun being a kid still.  Shoot, I'm still giddy about the high school yearbook!)  By the rule that Shannon Hale puts in her post, these are books geared for 8-12 year olds.  Not YA or picture books - that squishy area in the middle somewhere.

(I'm not sure if these are in any particular order - just the 10 that I find to be the most important to me)

Top 10 Books from Wildcat's Childhood (when she was actually, physically a child)

10. "Mitch and Amy" by Beverly Cleary - This was my first chapter book!  When I was in second grade, my mom thought I was old enough to start reading chapter books, so we went to the library and she told me this was one that she liked when she was a kid.  I read it out loud with my mom and then I went on to the Ramona books (which are wonderful in their own right), but this is the one that started it all.

Speaking of...

9. "Ramona the Pest" by Beverly Cleary - Funny story - there's a girl in Ramona's kindergarten class that has blonde curly hair (Ramona says she has "boing-boing curls" and she always wants to pull one and watch it spring back).  Well, I didn't have boing-boing curls as a kid, but then I grew up and my hair curled naturally.  I read this book so many times that I always think of that when I'm trying to coerce my hair into doing something other than poofing out.  And I always think about her teacher telling her to sit in her chair "for the present" and thinking that she's going to get a present.  All the Ramona books are wonderful - and the spin-offs (Harry and Beezus, Ribsy, etc.).  Beverly Cleary was a big part of my childhood.

8. "Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume - I'm the oldest in my family and I can relate to Peter Hatcher's annoyance with his little brother.  This is my favorite of Judy Blume's "Fudge" books.

7. "Little House on the Prairie" by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Another series that my mom got me hooked on that I wore out my library card on.  Made even more significant by the fact I grew up on a farm.  Also fueled my history-nut-ness.  I was really mad at my teacher when I tried to classify it as a biography in a book report (because it was LIW's life story in novel form) and she made me change it to a "Growing Up" story. (I was just reading the Amazon page for LIW and the audiobook version of "On the Banks of Plum Creek" is performed by Cherry Jones, who plays President Taylor in "24")

6. "Charlotte's Web" by EB White - I even had a little piglet I named Wilbur because he was the runt! I never felt bad about killing our farm animals because of this book, though.  Again, I grew up on a farm and I figured that farm girls read stuff like this (my mom did - goodness, I didn't realize how many books my mom recommended to me!)

5. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl - Oh geez - who hasn't read this one?  I thought because I loved chocolate that I must love this book.  And I do.  Some people say it's creepy, but I think it's just quirky and fun.  Maybe that says something about me...

4. The American Girl series by various authors - I have to point out that I'm talking about the Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha and Molly books.  I haven't been able to read much of the newer ones, but I think those are getting a little too PC for my tastes (Kit's all right, though).  I used to check these out of the library and bookmobile ALL THE TIME!! Then my aunt bought me the first three Samantha books for my birthday and it was over.  I learned so much of history from these books, which is why I'm such a history nut today.  I even have the Kirsten doll (which has now been retired *tear*).

3. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by CS Lewis - I admit, I didn't read the rest of the series until I was in college (I couldn't tell you why that is), but I loved LWW as a kid!  I was always so mad that the kids went back to real life in the end.  You're a freaking king or queen of Narnia!  Why would you leave?  But then I got the rest of the story and it's okay :)

2. "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien - We did a Reader's Theater of in 6th grade and I was inspired to read the actual book over the summer.  That led me to want to read the "Lord of the Rings" - which I did NOT finish and didn't attempt again until high school (I actually finished the whole trilogy then).  LotR may be about the end of the world, but "The Hobbit" is just a fun little tale of a creature being swept up in a great adventure and coping with it the best he can.

1. "The Giver" by Lois Lowry - This one is actually on the School Library Journal's list.  My 4th grade teacher read it to our class and I've loved it ever since.  I first bought a copy in 1995, but that has since been demolished because I read it so much.  I bought a new copy a few years ago and was happy to find that Lois Lowry wrote two more to go along with it.  "The Giver" is a classic - it paints a picture of what could happen if we forget our history and if let we the quest for "equality" go too far.  That's what I got from it, anyway - there's more - I could give a whole treatise on what you learn from the little bitty book.  Lowry said that it was about preserving our memories for the next generation and what could happen if we forget (which, I guess goes along with my history comment).  And it's written in a way that kids can understand.  You get more out of it as you get older.  I think it's something that everyone should read.

I think that's good for now (Scout is on my lap and she's licking my hand while I'm typing.  It's distracting to have the dog want to play while you're trying to work).  I'll probably do my "Top 10 Children's Books Now That I'm an Adult (sort of)" when I've had time to think about it.  And there'll probably be a little overlap (kinda).