Batten down the hatches

Since I've subscribed to the Swiss Army Librarian blog, I'm tempted to share his posts several times a week. But since you also have the option of subscribing to this blog, I'm trying to only pass on information that is absolutely essential.

A post that's come through in the past few weeks is about IT security in libraries. That translates to things like choosing hack-proof passwords, making sure your email and Facebook accounts don't get hijacked, and how to test if you're scam-savvy. It isn't just security in libraries, but good privacy tips for all online users. While not all of the resources will be applicable to your internet and computer use, there is just too much here for a handy cheat-sheet or summary. So click on the links above, bookmark them, and go through them bit by bit to make your internet experience safer.

Online piracy graphic courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

This doesn't pertain to us

The Swiss Army Librarian blog posted Swear like a Librarian, positing that sometimes serving the public is stressful enough to make one swear, yet swearing is the last thing one does when working with the public. While the librarians at the Santa Fe Public Library do not relate to this tendency at all, we did find the list of swear substitutions to be quite humorous, despite a few bordering on PG-13.

Also, I believe that this tendency doesn't entirely belong to other librarians. One of the examples given is Jeepers Crow, which reminds me of my much-missed departed grandfather's favorite, Cheesum Rice. Interestingly, this was almost always followed by him hollering "Shut the front door!"—another phrase on the list. I'm also reminded of colorful old-timey favorites such as dagnabbit and goldarnit. And yet, what I'm really reminded of is the end of summer, children & teachers back in classrooms, the ease of the last few months gone in just a few weeks, and I'm sure more than a few folks are biting their tongues, the phrase "Mother of Pearl" escaping from between clenched teeth.

Happy End-of-Summer, everyone! And no, that isn't a substitution for something PG-13.

Loving Icarus

About a month ago, we sort of quietly asked our Facebook fans to vote for Icarus, the SFPL Blog, in Salem Press's Library Blog Awards. Thanks to the support of our readers, we've made the finals in the Local Blog category!

Please vote for us before June 1. And if you're so inclined, check out some of the other Library Blogs that made the finals. I think you'll see that Icarus is in good company.

Hidden Treasure

Like many librarians, I got my start as a library shelver. Often part-time and minimum wage, shelvers are the most entry-level staff in the whole place, but without them each and every library would fall apart. The best part about being a shelver is getting hands-on knowledge of the variety of books, newspapers, magazines, and other resources in the library.

Besides becoming well-acquainted with the enormous breadth and depth of the library's information and the thrilling methods of organization, there was another interesting perk about working in a place where I handled so many objects that had passed through many other hands. I've never had a term for the various bits of other people's lives that I encountered: bookmarks, photographs, notecards, letters, newspaper clippings, shopping receipts. I collected these artifacts for years and used them in art projects or as inspiration for writing exercises.

It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one who enjoys this small degree of voyeurism. Fans of Found Magazine share these sentiments. In the strictly found-in-a-book category, Forbes has an excellent literary blog called Booked: Reading Unbound, and a regular feature is Forgotten Bookmarks. Whether it's a recipe for brownies left in Motherless Brooklyn, or a land deed from 1917, the assortment of hidden treasures unearthed is fascinating. The primary blogger is a used and rare book dealer, so his finds are more, shall we say, genteel than some library objects or Found's fare. That is to say, I don't think he's posted about finding a bacon bookmark in a rare edition.

While I love what I do, I sometimes miss the serendipity of the shelver's life. In addition to the right book falling into my hands at the right time, there's always the possibility that Mamie Eisenhower's Million Dollar Fudge recipe would also fall into my hands. Fortunately I can still partake of Forgotten Bookmarks, and puzzle over the pieces of strangers’ lives.

Portrait of Mamie Eisenhower courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Technical Difficulties

For the past week, Blogger, our Icarus blog provider, has been having trouble displaying line and paragraph breaks. We apologize for the ensuing eye-strain, and assure you that we haven't turned over control of the blog to a congress of orangutans. Thank you for sticking with us during this time.

p.s. This is obviously not an April Fool's Joke!

This may come as a shock...

Proper pronunciation can be a tricky thing, especially with different regional or national dialects and accents, and the mere fact that English can be such a hodge-podge of other languages. While you and I can argue about "tomato" until it's chopped for the salad, what about people's names? Surely, individuals should have the last word on how their name is pronounced.

Last year we did some investigative reporting to ascertain how to say "Junot", and we came across some other resources for properly enunciating authors' names. A new page of pronunciation has been making the rounds in Cyberland, and there are some surprises on here. It's been reblogged and retweeted many times, but it originally came from The San Francisco Panorama, a one-shot paper publication of McSweeney's. At a glance, I'm quite happy that my several-decades attempt to turn my tongue from PIN-shuhn to pin-SHAWN was never successful.

Take a peek, grade yourself, and prepare yourself for perfect pronunciation at your next literary party:


Need more? Check out this link for larger type.

Stretch Your Bookshelves

I recently came across a blog by author Carleen Brice: White Readers Meet Black Authors. It's a great resource for reviews of (mostly) contemporary African-American writers' works, with an emphasis on women novelists. In addition to being a useful tool to enrich our fiction collection, Carleen's both critical and humorous voice is also fun to read. She even includes a not-to-be-missed Welcome White Folks Video!

In addition to book reviews, the blog tackles issues such as the bestselling novel The Help, about a black maid in the South, being written by a white author. As a black woman novelist herself, this blog also provides interesting insights into issues about writing and publishing. The copious links in the right-hand panel direct you to websites, articles, media outlets, and book sites galore. Also, December is National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month, and this blog has a ton of recommendations to celebrate with.

So move beyond The Help, Oprah's Book Club, Toni Morrison, or Alice Walker, and pick up some recommendations from a black author.

Health Hut

If you read yesterday's blog and watched the video, you'll recall that data and information is often absorbed and understood more efficiently when it's presented visually. With new studies being published daily, one field that's difficult to keep up with is health and medicine. A good health blog is Health Hut, which periodically posts health and fitness information for those of us who don't work in the healthcare field. A recent post features 40 health infographics, so you can visually access quality information about health topics such as the causes of obesity or alcoholism rates by state and country.

For example, the following graphic charts rates of diagnosed depression worldwide. Without peeking, can you guess which country is highest?

American Indians in Children's Literature

Debbie Reese has spent years discussing and writing "about the good, and the bad, and (speaking frankly) the ugly with regard to how [American Indians are] portrayed in books." From Nambé Pueblo, she now teaches at the University of Illinois in the American Indian Studies Program. Thankfully, she hasn't forgotten New Mexico in the midst of her research, writing, and presenting.

Debbie Reese's blog, American Indians in Children's Literature, is a fantastic resource for booklists, journal articles and reviews, and ongoing commentary on artifacts such as the "Ten Little Indian Dolls". The highlight of the blog is her lists of Top Ten Books for Elementary School, Middle School, and High School. These lists are open to comments, and other readers have expanded the lists to be more than ten titles apiece. At the end of each list is a link to expanded book summaries from School Library Journal.

If you're starting a school or home library, or are a parent or educator who would like to provide young readers with well-written books about Native Americans, and you don't know where to start, check out this resource. Even if you're not actively seeking out children's books, this is an interesting blog to keep abreast of how American Indians are portrayed in American media and culture.

Teen Reading

One of the best things about the internet is how much easier it's made sharing information and opinions across geographic boundaries. Aside from Amazon reviews or comments made on blogs and YouTube, online tools have made it much easier for librarians to compare and share all kinds of information to help us provide you with better resources. Whereas we used to rely on magazines like Library Journal or pricey conferences for this sort of sharing, now we can just click on a link and read what a librarian friend has to say about an author, a program, or a policy.

As the Santa Fe Public Library has been building up its Young Adult, aka Teen, book collection, I've been paying special attention to the recommendations from my Teen Librarian pals around the country in addition to traditional resources like YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). Aside from getting information from emails and Facebook posts, one of my fave librarians has a column devoted to Young Adult fiction. Her most recent recommendation is Sarah Dessen's novels, and other topics include Award Winners, Booklists, and Book Reviews. While the librarian's location in Upstate New York makes her Local Author posts a little less local to us, it's interesting to read about a lively teen literary scene in another part of the country.

Lovely Libraries

When you're in the same building frequently, say, every day as an employee, or a few times a month as a patron, it's easy to either disregard your physical surroundings or see the flaws in them all too well. That's one reason why it's so gratifying to have visitors and new arrivals to Santa Fe come into the library. They see the city and its offerings with fresh eyes, and they point out things our own eyes have become immune to. There's nothing like working a busy reference desk on a stressful day and having a visitor or transplant let us know how beautiful our libraries are and how much they appreciate the services we provide.

While we didn't make this list of The Most Amazing Libraries in the World, the Santa Fe Public Library—all branches—has some distinguishing features in common with the ones that did. Space, curves, natural light, an emphasis on having books in the direct line of sight. A blend of history and modernity as the hosts of communication, information, knowledge, and hopefully, wisdom. We may never be singled out on The Huffington Post for our style, but that's OK. We like where we are and what we look like, and we hope you do too!

Heating Up

Well, folks, it seems as if summer, or at least a nice warm spring, is finally here in Santa Fe. The trees are green, blooms are out, and cottonwood fluff is divebombing my black work slacks. Even with some hefty winds, it's warm out during the day, and the sidewalks are full of shorts-clad visitors.

To celebrate the beginning of summer, I'd like to introduce you to a new blog: Hot Guys Reading Books. The title is pretty self-explanatory, and so far all the photos seem safe for work. The neat thing is that as much as possible we get to find out what these hot guys are reading! So think of it as a way to get interesting reading recommendations regardless of subjective notions of physical attractiveness.

I'd also like to encourage you to submit photos of local guys reading. Imagine what it could do for our fair city if it's known for handsome literate men unafraid to read in public! At the very least, it might shorten next winter by a week or so.

You can submit directly to the blog site, or send an email submission to hotguysreadingbooks@gmail.com.

And now, for some ice cream...


Photo of Ewan McGregor courtesy of The American Library Association, and not an actual photo of a Santa Fe Hot Guy reading a book. If you do get your submission to Hot Guys Reading Books posted, please let us know!

Mapping the Disaster

It may be difficult to envision the magnitude of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. While we can watch the news or hear about it from Gulf-dwelling friends, it's still not an easy thing to get a handle on. Google has created a tool using Google Earth that will allow you to compare the area of the oil spill with the size of your town or city. If you don't currently have Google Earth on your computer, the site makes it easy for you to click and install the plug-in. You can then compare it to cities like Manhattan or Paris, or type in the name of your town.

Another group, The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, has created a site of first-hand accounts of the spill, all linked to a map so you can get an idea of the size of the affected area. There are also several other interactive maps out there, one by the New York Times to track the oil spill. You can set that map back to April 22nd and see an animation of the spread throughout the Gulf.

These resources were all featured on the blog Free Technology for Teachers. Thankfully, those of us not in school can still benefit from this information. If you'd like to find out how to help, Take Part has a useful directory of organizations that need volunteers, donations, and other forms of assistance.

Who knew we were so intriguing?

Recently I've been fielding questions from both patrons and friends alike about some of the nuts & bolts involved in Library Land. While I'm always happy to talk about libraries and librarians until the wee hours, I thought it would be helpful to post some of these answers for those of you who don't want your ear talked off. So consider this a crash course in Everything you ever wanted to know about libraries but were afraid to ask.

Q: Are you volunteers?
A: About 99% of the people you see behind the desks at the library are employees. Reference Librarians usually have not only a college degree, but also a Masters of Library Science degree. Other Library staff come from a variety of backgrounds and bring a wide range of skills and expertise to running the place. Also, we couldn't open our doors without the help from volunteers, whether they shelve books, work the booksales, or assist on other library projects.

Q: Are all of your books donations?
A: While the Santa Fe Public Library gets hundreds of thousands of items donated each year, only a portion of those get added to the collection — the rest get passed on to the Friends of the Library book sales. The Library has a book budget, and it also benefits from the periodic GO Bonds to freshen up the collection. For the past couple of years, over 30,000 items were added each year across all three branches.

Q: You already have books. Why do you need more?
A: Imagine if you went shopping for socks just once in your life. That's it! You have socks! But think of what would happen to those socks over time. While we're hoping that people don't wear books and CDs and DVDs on their feet, library items suffer from the same fate as other inanimate objects: wear and tear, breakage, obsolesence. New books and movies and music come out every week, and we keep up with these so you're not stuck reading the same dog-eared copy of Jane Eyre for the zillionth time.

Q: If you're buying all these new items, how do you find room on the shelf?
A: There's a little-known and very misunderstood library practice called weeding. We go through the items on our shelves and remove things that are in bad condition and out-of-date. As an example, books about the moon published prior to 1969 are going to have incomplete information and thus removed from our shelves. For a humorous look at the ongoing world of weeding, I cannot recommend the blog Awful Library Books highly enough.

Q: Are librarians out to conquer the world?
A: While the jury is still out on this, I think it's safe to say that we have no intentions of taking over the world. We just want to make people a little more informed, a little more entertained, a little more empowered, and sure, a little bit happier than they were before they used the library.
Look It Up graphic from Librarian Avengers. Sock graphic from eHow.

Best of Santa Fe Poll

The 2010 Best of Santa Fe poll from the Santa Fe Reporter is up and ready to go! Can Icarus make it back from last year's upset?

If you're a New Mexican resident, you have until midnight on Friday, May 21, 2010 to show us — and other local organizations and businesses — your love. Go vote!

p.s. Vote for Icarus in item #10: Best local online news site/blog site.

p.s.s. Feel free to write in the Santa Fe Public Library where applicable, such as for Free Wi-Fi!

Thanks!

Ideal Bookshelves

I discovered Jane Mount’s “Ideal Bookshelves” through a post on Design*Sponge’s site. As a librarian, I was drawn to the familiar subject matter, and enjoyed seeing it in a different light. Her paintings are simple, yet convey deeply personal information. It amazes me, the story a quiet shelf of books can inspire.

You might not be able to judge a book by its cover, but you can tell a lot about a person by the books they own. What do your bookshelves say about you?

My shelves? They say that I’m an art lover and maker, and that I enjoy children’s literature. They also say I’m a librarian, because they’re arranged by subject.


Bookshelf images courtesy of Jane Mount.

By DB @LF

The Modern Ruins

Here in the Southwest, we're accustomed to seeing ruins. Whether they're in national historical parks like the church at Pecos or Chaco Canyon, a crumbling homestead cottage off the highway, or the skeleton of a Route 66 service station, the entire history of Southwest settlement and culture can be traced in these architectural vestiges.

Folks in other areas of the country are waking up to the ruins in their midst. Photographers are having an especially interesting time chronicling the passage of decay and the reclamation of nature. This Slate gallery has an artist's statement from photographer Camilo Jose Vergara, with a thoughtful slideshow of the (mostly) Midwest's modern ruins.

Library Mix-Tape

OK, the word "mix-tape" will do nothing for us librarians but make us look old and stodgy and irrelevant and...analog. But whether you listen to these songs on cassette, CD, or your iPod/MP3 player, Flavorwire has done the whole world a great service by compiling a list of the 10 Best Songs About Libraries and Librarians.

My personal favorite is the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds selection, “There She Goes, My Beautiful World”. Ooops, did I just violate my professional impartiality? Who cares! It's a great song, and there are other gems and surprises on the list as well. If you have additions or subtractions to their list, check out their comments section. Interestingly, the Library Song wasn't included.

Tragedy in Haiti

The earthquake in Haiti is all over the news and on everyone's mind. While most of us can't go there to take care of the wounded and clean up the rubble, there are many organizations who are already there to help. The Santa Fe Reporter's blog has compiled information about the best way to contribute aid and assistance to these organizations such as the American Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. The Huffington Post has a Haiti Earthquake Relief page with similar information as well as updates on the situation.

After you've made your donation, we encourage you to educate yourself about Haiti. We have books about Haiti covering all aspects of its history, culture, and economy for all ages and reading levels.



by AM & AA @ Main

Green Chile Cheeseburgers Galore!

Even though this time of year will have most of us making and/or eating posole and tamales, Gil's Thrilling (and Filling) Blog has recently highlighted our state's unofficial Casual Dining Dish: The New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger. He's gone even further than word-of-mouth amongst friends, and has posted The New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail interactive map. On the map, you can click on a burger and get the address of the burger joint. Wryly cool. (Uh, oh: looks like the SE corner of our state is strictly batty.)

The map is "a listing of the Land of Enchantment’s most outstanding green chile cheeseburger restaurants, drive-ins, diners, dives, joints, cafes, roadside stands and bowling alleys." The Cheeseburger Trail grew from a collaboration between the New Mexico Tourism Department and the Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge at the New Mexico State Fair in September. Likely this will drive out-of-state readers wild with desire to get back to New Mexico for a Green Chile Cheeseburger. For us in-state eater/readers, it can give us ideas for new places to try on road trips, or places in town we may have overlooked.

Be sure to check Gil's blog to see the winner of the Governor’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge, and to see which local eateries made the map.

by JP @SS & AM @Main