Once you're a librarian...

You can never NOT be a librarian!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get back to reading.  Ok, so maybe not a resolution so much as an aim to return to normalcy.  I'm a bookworm (surprising in a librarian, right?) and yet haven't really been able to read over the last few years.  Grad school kinda dominated my recent reading, so I'm getting back on track and tackling the reading list that kept growing even as I was buried in articles for school.

To that end, I'm taking on some reading challenges!  Yes, more than one.  Because it's me.  But they are each different, and they'll all getting me reading, both things on my To-Read list, and some new stuff that might or might not be something I'd normally grab off the shelf.

So, here they are:

Goodreads has an annual reading challenge.  This is a straight quantity challenge - you set the number of books that you'd like to read, and log them with Goodreads as you begin and finish them.  It will track the books and let you know how many you've read and if you're on pace to reach your goal.  Goodreads is a free account, and there's an app as well, if you'd like to log on the go.  Goodreads is a pretty handy account to have, anyways, if you haven't looked into it.  I like it for this challenge, for tracking my reading, and for making notes for books to read in the future.  I also use it to tag ("shelve") books to possibly use in storytimes in the future.  I don't use it to catalog my home library; my LibraryThing account is still best for that. Goodreads doesn't let you log multiple editions of a single title, so it's a challenge to inventory my collection.  After all, I've got 4 copies of the Hobbit, among others...

Funny side story:

I was telling a friend here about Goodreads (she hadn't encountered it) and she saw my Currently Reading shelf. 

"You're reading seven books right now??" 

"Yeah..."

(Is that odd??)

Zach found a challenge from The Goodwill Librarian on Facebook, to read 26 books with these different characteristics - over 500 pages, written over 100 years ago or in the last year, etc.  It averages out to a book every two weeks.  I like challenges like this because it will stretch my reading.  When I read for escape or comfort, I tend to go to the same authors or genres.  Lists like this expand my reading.

Another "expanding" reading challenge is the one my childhood home library system is running this year: a reading marathon.  Yes, the pun was intended :)  The idea behind the marathon is to read 26.2 books in the year.  Again, that's a book every two weeks.  The 0.2 book allows you to start a book and abandon it if it turns out to be something that you reeeeeeally can't get through (no need to make yourself suffer, right?  It's supposed to be fun!).  They have an Extra Mile challenge too, keeping with the marathon theme.  The Extra Mile, like the Goodwill Librarian, gives you 26 types of books to read, different categories again, to push your repertoire, expand horizons, all that fun stuff.  For those of you from that area, the categories are pretty much the same as the Summer Reading Program Bingo.  Not that that's a bad thing - the same categories can still push you to read something new - but yes, they might sound familiar.  And some of the categories do overlap with the ones in the Goodwill Librarian's list, too, but not all of them.  And since my Goodreads goal is well above 26 books this year (I do work in a library, after all), I'll be able to check off items on both lists :)

Obviously being a librarian, I'm very pro-reading, pro-books and media.  Kinda comes with the territory.  There are tons of reading challenges out there - a quick Google search turns up dozens online.  You're sure to find one that meets your needs and interests.  Read all Jane Austen books in a year, read a certain number of banned books (check the ALA for lists of popularly challenged books), read from the BBC Big Read (over 10 years old now, but still a GREAT list), PopSugar has one, and dozens of blogs do too.  I like challenges like these because there are always new authors or new titles out there to try.  As much as I love rereading favorites ('visiting old friends'), it's always nice to read new ones too, maybe make some new favorites. 

I blinked and Spring happened...

Well, I knew this spring semester was going to be a doozy, but I didn't realize how big until I sat down to write today and saw my last post was from DECEMBER!  Yipes!!

But, lots has happened in the meantime, so for a quick catch-up:

• I am in my final semester of grad school, and almost done with that (only 5 more weeks now!!)
• I finished my End of Project Exam in February.  This is the capstone exam for my degree program - Written Comps/Comprehensives, some might know it as.  Basically a looong week of writing papers, trying to demonstrate in your answers that you are fully synthesizing what you have learned over the past three years.  Pretty draining, with the way I write papers.  But all is good; I've been notified that I've passed.  One more box checked off before graduation!
• I finished a pair of blankets for my niece and nephew.  THE blankets, if you've heard me talk about them.  Quite the project, but finally all done and being enjoyed by the little ones :)
• We had a whirlwind trip to New Mexico with Mom for a marathon.  There are so many pictures from this trip, that it will have its own set of posts.
• And the big news (as if all that wasn't enough): Zach and I have moved!  We are now in a hotel in HAWAII looking for housing as Zach in-processes at his new job. After 5 years in TX and 3.5 in the desert, we are in Hawaii!!  Water!  Mountains!  Trees!  Very very exciting!!!!  But more on that in another post, since the whole move has been a saga unto itself.

So, yes, a few more posts to come over the next few days, with plenty of pictures.   I've time to write again, now that the semester's winding down and I'm not working at the moment.  Just consider this a teaser for now, so stay tuned :)

Something to show for all my schoolwork

So after all the posting during the conference this summer, I was hoping I'd have more momentum to keep writing through the fall.  Well, it partially worked.  

I've done a great job writing for my classes!  Unfortunately, little time (or mental energy!) for other writing.  This semester has been a very, very busy one.  I've had two courses, plus my practicum.  Basically, I was full-time grad student who was also working full time.  Like I said, very, very busy!  

But, I have a project to brag on now!  My practicum was spent at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a university in the next town over, working with their digital resources librarians.  And as a result of my work this semester, I've created a digital collection!  I talked through the template with the librarians, and we created the fields, determined how we wanted to catalog and present the metadata (information on the item and how it's displayed on the page or not), and then I actually did it.  I've cataloged about 50 issues now, all up on the website.  Call me dorky, but I think this is really cool.  I'm honestly quite proud of it :) 

"My" collection is for The Baylorian, a student literary magazine.  The Baylorian is a literary magazine now, but it didn't start out that way entirely.  Back in 1912, it also had campus events and news, jokes and cartoons, odds and ends.  Over time, it evolved to be a more traditional student literary magazine - more poems, essays, and short stories, and less Hints on Headgear (no really - hat fashion tips, May-June 1921).  It's always been student created, though, which makes reading through them fun. Zach says it's not really schoolwork if I'm having this much fun reading them, but what can I say?  They are fun!

Part of the fun was looking at what has changed and what hasn't over the past 100 years.  Most of the issues I was cataloging were from the 1910s, after all.  Every time there was something which was so very, very dated, there would be something that was still very true today.  Jokes about freshman vs seniors, or men vs women, for example.  Take away the slightly dated wording or vocabulary, and you'll have something you might hear on a college campus today.  When the articles were on serious topics, that was even more striking.  The more things change, right?

Some highlights:

• I love the names.  Seeing as we started with the oldest ones first, I was cataloging issues from the 1910s, 20s, and 30s.  Some of the names are very characteristic of their time, so sound very dated now (lots of Frances, for example, and a surprising number of Minnie).  And some are good ol' stereotypical, small-town Texas (Lula Belle worked on the staff for several years, for example, and Ethelyne). And then you take them as a group, with five or six names on a staff... it just makes you smile.  Of course, in 100 years, people will probably be thinking the same thing with all the Mikayla, Bella, and Madison now.
• 1920s debate speeches  There were several collegiate debates in which UMHB participated, and the Baylorian later published all four speeches (two affirmative, two negative) from each debate. The topics: immigration reform (June 1922), and the purpose of the electoral college (should we keep it? May-June 1921).  Take away the specifics on the immigrants and their country of origin, and you could hear the exact same arguments being used by candidates today.
• On Being a Twin (Fall 1931) shows that my niece and nephew would probably be fielding the same sort of questions 80 years ago as they do now.  For example, on trying to distinguish themselves from each other: "Another brilliant idea of ours is to wear different clothes at times. The attempt is futile. The world then wants to know why we do not dress alike if we are twins."
• My favorite issue of all has to be November 1916.  In the campus events news, there were write-ups of two -count them, 2- possum hunts.  The Senior Class hosted one, and so did the Fine Arts department.  Each had a write-up too.  Excuse me: 'possum hunts.  The apostrophe was apparently still standard at this time.  Remember too: at this point, the school was still Baylor Female College, an all-women's institution.
• November 1916 also had an advertisement for a Turkey Trot in Temple, TX.  In 1916, this apparently referred to REAL turkeys!  Mr. Jarrell, owner of Jarrell's Mississippi Store, was planning to "turn loose a drove of fine turkeys from the roof of his building, Catch 'em and they will be yours."  Funnily enough, Temple still hosts one of the Turkey Trots in the area, though nowadays it's a Thanksgiving Day 5K.  We ran it last year :)

So there you have it.  A brief sampling of the fun times (and extremely dry sense of humor) which have been filling my fall.  Read and enjoy.

IFLA WLIC Final Thoughts - International Librarianship

Now that I'm back in the States and have had a chance to breathe (and get over jet lag - 7 hr time difference is nothing to sniff at!), I've also had some time to look back on the conference itself, see what I've learned.  

Library jobs are surprisingly transferable internationally.  Yes, universities in South Africa use Dewey and ones in the States use Library of Congress, but that's really a pretty superficial obstacle.  There were several presentations I attended where the presenter is from one country and talking about their work in another.  There was an Australian working in Qatar, an American working in Moldova, an Italian working in Australia... and those are just the ones off the top of my head!  I chatted about that with one of South African librarians, and they'd had the same impression.  Many of the information management basics are the same no matter where you go, so should you want to move internationally, it is quite possible to have your certifications transfer as well.  The world's your oyster, so to speak.

Information management remains pretty consistent internationally, and so do a lot of the challenges we face in the profession.  The idea that kept floating through my mind the whole week, was how similar it sounds working at all these different international libraries.  As I said earlier this week, there's lots of differences, but there's a lot more in common too.  Everyone seemed to have concerns over funding, training, professional development, community connections, determining customer needs, management support...  It was interesting to watch people relate through frustrations in their respective organizations half a world apart, or through excitement and pride over accomplishments.

Language is one hurdle that is a pretty common one, at least outside of the English-speaking world.  There are lots of languages, but a large bulk of manuals, resources, etc. are published in English.  So how do you teach patrons when they speak Romanian or Xhosa or Mandarin, and the resources you're using are all referring to equipment in English?  How do you train your staff when you're facing the same linguistic hurdle?  And to really put a fly in the ointment, what about countries with multiple official languages?  Remember, there are 11 in South Africa, and that's only one country's circumstances!  It was an interesting question that I hadn't really considered (being an English speaker myself).  

The language discussion also made me want to become fluent in another language.  My French is very rusty (though surprisingly not a far gone as I'd thought!) and my Spanish is about enough to ask directions to the bathroom or how much something costs, but little more.  Being surrounded by delegates who had 3 or 4 language stickers on their name tags, or listening to the South Africans shift between 2 or 3 languages so easily... I felt very much the stereotypical isolated American.  Gotta change that!

Librarianship is also a pretty small community, I learned.  Well, for those active in it beyond their own facilities.  I suppose if you never really work with any others outside your own building, then it's a REALLY small community.  But even on an international level, it seems to be a rather contained world.  My professor went to dinner one night this week with a handful of people.  No one really in the same committees or specializations, and definitely not in the same institutions.  Yet, they were quickly finding all sorts of connections - people they'd worked with in common, or if they'd sat in one another's presentations at previous conferences, that sort of thing.  Instead of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, she said that it felt more like 2 Degrees of Librarianship!  In short?  Don't burn your bridges professionally - you never know who you'll meet and have to work with again!

But the actual work in this field can also be as big or as small as you wish to make it.  There are opportunities which never take you beyond your facility, being "just" a librarian.  Depending on your personality, that might be a very satisfying career.  Or you can be involved at state, national, or international levels, joining committees or international advocacy efforts.  IFLA was presenting a case at the UN this past year, in fact, on how access to information needed to included in the UN post-2015 Development Agenda.  So, the same woman speaking at the Closing Session of the IFLA conference was also speaking at the UN last year, but at one point was a basic law librarian, back at the beginning of her career.  Really, it can be whatever you want to make it, however big or small a picture you want to see. 

On that note, we had an interesting discussion about publishing one night.  Academic librarians and professors at LIS schools publish regularly.  Like with many academic positions, publications are part of the path to reaching tenure.  So there's tons of information on academic libraries and best practices there, and so forth.  But my professor was saying that there's noticeably less published on public libraries, and school libraries even less than that.  There isn't the push from management to publish, so many librarians don't.  It's a shame that their information isn't being shared on a larger scale, but I can see it from the other side too.  There are so many other job duties pressing on you during your 8 or 9 hour workday, that if it's not a requirement, it's more likely to be pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.  It goes back to how big picture or small picture you're thinking.  You might have the best Summer Reading Program ideas ever, but if you're focused entirely on your own facility or library system, you're not thinking of libraries on the other side of the country using these same ideas.  So those ideas or best practices or whatever don't ever make it into the professional literature to be shared.  It's just not your priority.  But at the same time, you should be thinking at least a little about sharing these ideas.  It benefits the profession as a whole if ideas are exchanged.  Which brings us back to the first point - if there isn't the push to write, publish, share ideas, then we tend to focus on our own small worlds first.

Thinking of publishing and tenure and jobs... I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!  It's been one of the questions I've been asking a lot of people this week, how they reached the position they're in now.  The information or library PhD isn't a common one, and it's not one that you enter school thinking that it's the path you'll be taking.  So hearing how people arrived there is helping me sift through options for myself.  I've talked to LIS professors, senior staff in both public and academic libraries, editors on professional journals, as well as entry and mid-level "basic" librarians.  Everyone seems to have a different path, but many worked for a few years before coming back to the PhD.  The general consensus was that it built connections and helped narrow down the focus for their research and dissertation.  

Besides advice on degrees, the other advice I received was to get involved.  Professional committees and round tables and mailing lists - IFLA, ALA, and state level were all mentioned.  Community organizations too, particularly if you are considering working with multicultural or indigenous services.  Especially being in such a small community as librarianship, these networks will help get a foot in the door professionally.  And like working for a few years, being involved professionally will also help spark interest for a dissertation topic, introduce potential advisers, or even determine if you actually need the advanced degree after all.

So, yeah, still don't know what I want to be, but I have a little bit better idea of how to get there.  :)

IFLA WLIC Day 6 - Multicultural Librarianship

Today was my day of multicultural sessions.  My morning session was sponsored by the Indigenous Cultures Special Interest Group, and my afternoon one by the Multicultural Libraries one.  I had been looking forward to today's sessions more than any of my others, I think.  Between moving to Hawaii in the spring, and a long running half-joke, half-plan to move to New Zealand when Zach gets out of the Army, I was definitely curious.  I was also pretty sure there was a lot I could take home from these sessions.

The morning one was by far my favorite.  There's just so much potential from the projects these presenters are working on, and so much need for them.  It's just a great opportunity.

The project that intrigued me the most was out of Western Australia, called Storylines.  It works with Aboriginal groups in WA, uploading pictures and using the community knowledge to add names, dates, places, and tags to them.  And the tagging goes beyond just basic metadata; users can add whole stories to the pictures (or recordings or videos, whatever was uploaded).  The portal is available in several Aboriginal languages, and they aim to eventually have it available in all languages in that state.  The project returns materials to the Aboriginal families if possible, once everything's uploaded, so there is a restoration component to the project too.  And there is a culturally sensitive aspect; pictures can be marked as private or sacred or secret, so that something that should be treated with a great deal of respect doesn't end up as 'just another picture' going viral on the Internet.  There's a little bit more restriction in dealing with those, so that they can indeed remain private. It's a great platform with a lot of potential applications.  I can think of several historical libraries I've researched in which would benefit from being able to collect local, personal history like that.  And even the college I work for has boxes of old pictures from the 1960s and 1970s which would be such a resource, if only they could be properly labeled.  A portal like Storylines would be really be useful for libraries and archives like these!

And there are so many stories coming out of Storylines so far!  A man from the Lost Generation was helping with the project, and actually identified some of his own family members, and was able to reunite with his mother.  And in another area, children were asking about a dance shown in pictures, one they hadn't seen before.  It sparked the elders to remember the dance and teach it to the younger generation.  And the presenter said that's an added benefit, how it's helping to bridge generations as they share stories; the children hear stories from the past, and the older generation learns computer skills working with the portal.  It's a really, really impressive project.

I think that is becoming one of my favorite topics this week.  Not indigenous populations necessarily, but inclusion. Yesterday I had a session on LGBTQ materials in the library, and today had the two multicultural sessions.  I'm a knowledge junkie, and curious.  I want to know everything I can.  And one of the things that boggles my mind utterly is the conscious decision to deny someone access to information.  It's one of the reasons that Banned Books Week can get me riled up - if you don't agree with something, fine, but don't try to tell me it's something that I'm not allowed to read.  Let me decide for myself.  If there's an unconscious block to information access, or an institutional hurdle rather than an actual policy or rule, then it's something that can be overcome.  We just have to figure out how.  So I have really enjoyed my sessions which discuss inclusion within a library, how best to provide information to all audiences, to meet the needs of more than just the majority.  Sometimes it's because you're in that minority that you need the resources a little more.  Seeing people all over the world tackling the same (or very similar) problems, it makes you think.  At what point is this a reflection of human nature, dominance of the majority and all, but is it also part of human nature to work together, to share ideas on how to address the balance?

I had a nice long chat with the Indigenous Population SIG chair after the morning session.  Lots of good advice for someone starting out in the profession, and possibly thinking about this aspect of a library.  Volunteer volunteer volunteer!  Get involved, both professionally and in the community.  Especially if I'm thinking about working with multicultural or indigenous library services, being active in the community will definitely help build those connections. And she had a great line about native cultures and the more relaxed way many of them look at life, that "things just bloom in their own time, when they are meant to."  I know it's a cliche, but when you're looking at finishing your degree and moving a quarter of the way around the world in the same month...  well, the reminder that things will happen when they happen, and sometimes the best opportunities are the ones that come upon us unexpectedly, can be very comforting.

IFLA WLIC Day 5 - Meeting people

Networking, networking!

Part of the benefit to these conferences is the ability to meet people face to face, swap business cards, build those connections.  And I'm doing my best to strike up conversations.  As I mentioned yesterday, it's not my strong suit, introvert that I am, but librarians on the whole are a pretty friendly, helpful bunch.

As I've been talking to people, I've been asking about career paths and schooling.  Librarianship is such an unusual field in terms of grad school.  We all need our master's (or at least most countries require it) but unless they want to teach, few get into the field thinking "I want my PhD in Information Science."  That's very different from my undergraduate degree.  Scientists pretty much know if they will need advanced education, and if they will need it, most go straight through to the doctorate (or at least the ones I know).  At most, it seems they might take a year or two for some sort of work-study or Fulbright or Peace Corps sort of project.  But I know very few librarians, either in my grad school or those I've met at events like this, who have gone straight through.  A lot of people seem to get out and work for a couple years (or more) and then find their way back to a PhD program for one reason or another.  Common advice I'm hearing is to get involved in the IFLA and/or ALA committees.  They are good ways to get to know other professionals, and also to learn some of the opportunities and possibilities out there for librarians.  More chances to figure out how I want to focus my library career, and possible ways to go about doing it. 

As for me, I'm still learning my options.  We will be moving to an actual city in April, and there will be a university there with a PhD program I could enter.  I don't object to further education, so in terms of the work, I have nothing against earning my doctorate.  But with moving around so unpredictably, I am unsure if I should get my PhD while we're in a city where I can, or if I should wait, or if I need it at all.  Will I spend all that time and effort and expense to earn my degree, and then end up getting stationed at Ft Irwin or Polk or someplace else so remote there's no chance to use it?  So, as I chat with people, I'm also trying to pick their brains, get advice, and hear their story of how they ended up where they are.

Speaking of where we'll be in the future, I've met one librarian who teaches at the university there where we'll be stationed in the spring, as well as a couple people who will introduce me to others (people who know people, in other words).  Here's hoping that it'll help get my foot in the door next year, and make moving to a new area a little easier (in the job search, at least!).

I'm also meeting non-librarians (who'd've thought!) and it's very interesting talking to people from all over.  At the reception last night, for example, I had a great conversation with a college kid from Montreal who had come along with his mom before heading back to school in the fall.  We talked about beaches and the coast (the reception was at an aquarium, after all) and travel and sites in Cape Town and the surrounding area.  I've only had a little bit of tourist time so far, but what I've done hasn't been what he's done so far, and vice versa, so it was interesting comparing notes.  He said that he'd be shark diving this week, so hopefully I'll see him again later this week and be able to hear how that went!

IFLA WLIC Day 4 - So much to learn

My first two actual sessions were today, so we are definitely underway now!

My morning session was on continuing professional development, one of those major challenges in librarianship.  Technology is changing so quickly and so constantly, that the information field is evolving nonstop too (you have no idea the number of papers I've written on the subject so far in my program).  Like many professions, librarians must continue learning even after earning their degree, as they must stay current technologically, as well as develop their personal skills.  Like many academic programs, the LIS master's degree has been trimmed down to be the bare minimum number of credit hours, and many skills are learned on the job or in professional development courses after earning the degree.  You only have 36 credit hours in a master's program after all; there's a lot to cover.  As a result, many librarianship degrees, for example, don't require a management course, or the school might not even offer one that's library specific.  (As a side note, my school thankfully does offer one - I took it a year ago, and found it very interesting, especially with the variety of managers and workplaces I've had as we've moved around). 

Adding to the discussion, some countries have a professional certification for librarians.  New Zealand, for example, has a professional registry for librarians (like the PG or PE certification for geologists and engineers, respectively).  You can still work in the field without that certification, but having it does open up more doors professionally.  To renew, a NZ librarian has to complete annual CEU work covering standard topics according to LIANZA guidelines.  The US currently does not have anything comparable, though personally, I think it's a great idea to have some sort of current standard that a professional must maintain, beyond the initial degree.  That opinion probably reflects my experience working with so many PEs and PGs and seeing Zach work on CEUs for his job.

So anyway, required or not by the country's professional organization, professional development typically covers a variety of topics, including technology, professional skills, management topics, advocacy and fundraising skills, etc.  But how do these professional development courses happen?  What's the best way to deliver them to librarians - in person, webinars, workshop, lecture?  What is the most effective way to present the material?  Who should be providing them - the professional organization, the institution, or someone else?  What are some of the current practices?  All of these questions bring us back to the session I was in this morning.

I was very interested to see how international these issues are.  The papers presented were from Qatar, the UK, Switzerland, and Africa (a training program that was conducted in several countries).  And at my table, there was myself and one other from the States (two different states), plus three from South Africa (again, two different states represented), two from Namibia, one from Uganda, and one from Benin.  And yet there was so much that overlapped or was common to our jobs and our libraries, no matter the country.  Like when we discussed management support, or lack thereof, for library professional development - everyone could relate to micromanaging bosses, or ones who don't delegate, or being unable to escape our email inbox and really focus on a training or webinar.

My afternoon session was one I was really looking forward to.  Titled "Do THEY have the right to information?", this one discussed library and information access for those homeless, incarcerated, or with mental difficulties.  I wasn't disappointed in the session, but the speakers were hit or miss for me.  Either the projects they presented were really on-point personally, or I just didn't have the background or experience to fully appreciate everything they were presenting.

One I was very excited about was Gerd Peschers, the director of the prison library in Munster, Germany.  This library won the German Library of the Year Award in 2007.  Yup, against all other libraries, this one was honored.  I was very curious to see what he'd present about. His website libertree.eu tells more of his goals and his work (it is in German, so you'll have to use a translation site to really get the most out of it).  And there was a surprise guest too.  Peschers had come early to South Africa to visit some of their prison libraries before the IFLA conference began, and he had talked to one of the staff members (I missed whether it was a guard or administrator or what) about coming to present today.  So, we had a brief surprise presentation!  It was really neat.  Peschers had been impressed by the SA libraries, and thought that it had been largely due to Mandela's influence, both from his value of education, and from his time personally spent in prison.  The guest agreed.  The right to information is in the South African constitution (yes, actually in their Bill of Rights!) and the prison libraries continue to support that.

Aside from the content, I had a few thoughts on the format of these things, and talked about it a little with my professor.  There are pluses and minuses to each of the ways that my two sessions were run today; which one you use just kinda depends on your goals and schedule.  And probably some personal preference too.  The morning session had each speaker present, then after each one, we broke into smaller groups (our tables) to discuss a handful of questions relating to the topic just presented.  In the afternoon, all the speakers presented, then all discussion was at the end.  Personally, I preferred discussing after each speaker.  I felt like I could process more of the material, talking about it right then instead of moving immediately onto the next topic.  The first presentations in the afternoon just didn't feel as fresh in my mind by the time we could discuss and ask questions. On the other hand, this session had the discussion at the end to allow all the presenters to entertain small audiences and answer questions.  Attendees could move between the groups, talking to several of the presenters during the discussion time.  My professor also pointed out that with so many overlapping presentations at the conference, going straight through the papers meant that people could slip in or out to move between sessions and not miss as much. 

I do wish the afternoon session had been broken into at least 2 sessions.  I know that the presentations did overlap some, in broad topics, but it felt like each of the three subcategories could have been its own section.  Not that I didn't get anything out of them, but I feel I could have gotten more out.  As it was, it felt like each topic was just brushed over lightly.  I know that's how these major conferences can feel sometimes, with just so much material to cover in relatively little time.  But at the same time, to work with any of these populations (homeless, incarcerated, or mental difficulties), you have to be motivated, given the challenges and stigmas associated with them.  And you could definitely tell from the presentations, that these were people who were passionate about their work.  I'm sure there were practical scheduling reasons for setting up the session as it was, but I would have loved to have given them each a little more time.

Finally, do something that scares you every day. 

I presented my group's highlights to the room after our discussions this morning.  I realize that I only spoke for about 3 minutes, but it was about a half ballroom full of people, all way more senior in the profession than I am (seeing as I'm still working on my degree...).  And actually saying something, presenting something no matter how small, is very different than just asking a question in one of these sessions.  Plus, I hate public speaking (am sooooo much better talking one-on-one).  So consider this a conscious effort to do something to challenge myself!

IFLA WLIC Day 3 - Welcome to IFLA!

Today began with the Newcomers' Intro Session and then the Opening Ceremony.  We're officially open now! 

The Newcomers' session was helpful, but mostly in a review sort of way.  Information on the program, how the schedule was set up, how best to make the most of the conference.  All very good information, but a little bit of a review.  Still, always good to have reminders.

The Opening Ceremony was impressive, as opening ceremonies tend to be.  The key speaker was very interesting.  Dr. Rob Adam works on the Square Kilometer Array, or SKA.  It's a massive radio satellite array, an international collaboration aiming to create the most accurate radio telescope.  The dishes are spread in South Africa and in Australia (need lots of isolated desert for clear reading).  So why was he speaking at a librarianship conference?  His work falls more on the Information Science side of the spectrum.  The total area covered by the radio dishes is the titular square kilometer.  Which means that's an awful lot of data processing.  So, his work has some interesting implications for information science and Big Data.

Besides the speeches, there was interpretive storytelling, and lots of music.  I'm not much for interpretive storytelling (or poetry readings, so similar) but I really liked the children's choir who closed the show.  Very dynamic, and good music choices - some more popular stuff.  The lady behind me was singing along to one medley of songs they did, and I was singing along to Circle of Life (written by a South African, apparently!).  

 

I have to say, I like all the music.  I know I've heard about it before, but it really does seem to permeate life here.  It's like going to Memphis, I think, and not hearing blues or jazz.

The other thing I liked seeing today was how similar we all are, even as different as we all are.  I people-watch, being the little wallflower that I am.  So after I'd taken several pictures of the Marimba players before the Opening (the picture right above), I was watching the crowd who was also taking pictures.  And in the same crowd of people, were several in more traditional dress.  I.e., the sort of eye-catching dress that others might stop and take pictures of.  In the few minutes I was watching (and then getting my camera out), I saw lots of sports coats and similar business casual, a bright pink sari, several different traditional African outfits (sorry, can't narrow it down more), a handful of hijab, and an East Asian nun.  I think you can see several in the picture below, all snapping pictures (mostly on their cell phones) of something that's new and different to them.  I like that about big travel like this - the world is both very big and very small all at the same time.

IFLA WLIC Day 2 - Some sightseeing - the Museums

The conference doesn't really get going until tomorrow, so today was spent getting my bearings (i.e. doing some sightseeing!).  I'm gonna divide this up into 2 posts, so that it's not a GIANT picture dump on you.  First I'll talk about the museums I went to today, then I'll post on what I saw on tour (walking and on the city bus - but more on that in a bit).

The first museum I went to today was the District 6 Museum.  This one was a pretty intense one.  District 6 was one of the municipal districts of the city, going back to the early 1800s.  It had always been a crowded, pretty blended community, and in every description I've read, described as "rich and vibrant," even when it became poorer and neglected by the government.  In 1966, the apartheid government declared that the district was now a white area, and that everyone else had to move.  In relocation, the government gave you no compensation, just moved you from your home, not even with all your belongings, to somewhere (most likely) on the outskirts of the city.  More than 60,000 people were relocated from District 6, which was then razed to be rebuilt for white residents.  And this was just one of the areas that the government decided to reallocate in the country. There's tons more to read about it online and elsewhere.  If I tried to give you the whole history, this post would turn into a doctoral thesis.

And I've heard that the movie District 9, released a few years ago, was heavily influenced by these events.  I know it's dealing with aliens, but there's supposed to be a lot of truth to the circumstances (if not the players) in the movie.  I'll have to watch that one.

The museum itself is in a restored Methodist church, located on the edge of the original district and one of the buildings not totally destroyed. Along one wall is a timeline of the whole history of the district, going back to the city first being settled.  The big map on the floor is the old layout of the district, with notes from residents marking where they used to live.  And there are old street signs, and photos and stories from former residents.  It's not huge space-wise, but there's plenty to see and read.

One of the most striking pieces is this one.  It's 1.5m wide and 7m tall (stretches from floor to ceiling).  All of the writing is names and former addresses and maybe a sentence or two from former residents.  It was written by the residents and then embroidered.  What makes it especially striking is that this is only one portion of the whole Namecloth.  The entire thing is over 1km and continues to grow as more residents visit the museum and write.

 

The other piece I found very striking, once I realized what it was, was the mural upstairs.  The coloring is all done in earth pigments, with the images inspired by the stories and memories of the former residents.  What got me was at the base are bowls with rocks in them.  It's rubble from the areas or roads labeled on the bowls. 

 

Most of the reallocation in District 6 happened in the late 1960s and 1970s.  However, with all the protests over this removal, it really didn't end until the early 1980s.  Which means, that it was still going on in my lifetime.  The tour guides at the museum are all former residents, so they are full of stories about how it used to be, and about being removed (definitely catch a tour if you can!!).  Such a perspective shift - You read about these things in books, and it feels like history, but it really was not very long ago.

For some history that really WAS that long ago, I next went to the Castle of Good Hope, only a couple blocks away from the District 6 Museum.  This is the oldest building in South Africa, built between 1666 and 1679. 

 

The Castle itself is an old fort, so unless you especially like that sort of thing, it's kinda the same as any other old fort protecting the waterfront.  Think Ft Sumter or Ft Pulaski or something similar. There's only so many ways you can build a fort on the water's edge and position your cannons to protect all angles.  This one had a wider range to cover, so it's a star instead of a square, but otherwise... But, this one is very yellow!  It's plastered over with yellow clay (or something similar), so that is pretty unique.  The view looking down from the wall into the first courtyard shows you a lot of the yellow walls :)

 

A few other little tidbits were mentioned on the tour (free, and offered several times a day, if you get the chance).  There is a room in the governor's old section (now a small museum) with the Long Table, a dining table to seat about 100 people.  Imagine a stereotypical "isolating millionaire's dinner table" and then make it bigger, and that's this table.  It's in sections (obviously it'd have to be) but they are all connected together in one reeeeeally long dining room.  It's very impressive!  Unfortunately, the museum didn't allow pictures, or I'd have tried to capture that one. 

Besides fancy dinner tables, the Castle also has a torture chamber.  No, really.  They didn't want to execute anyone for a serious crime unless they'd confessed.  So if he'd hadn't confessed yet, they'd help to persuade him.  What I noticed most about that room wasn't the old manacles or chains still attached to the walls, but the small desk in the corner.  All torture proceedings had to be recorded, so a clerk sat at that desk to write down everything.  What a horrible job!

Also, all the shutters in the Castle are painted green, except for the end on the inner wall, where the shutters are red.  The magazine.  It warned the soldiers training in the courtyard to not smoke or fire their weapons too close to that end of the building.  Apparently, this has been a standard color-coding for Danger for a couple hundred years now :)

The portion of the Castle where I spent the most time was actually the military history museum (the Castle is supported by the SA Army even today).  Military history museums are hit-or-miss for me.  They seem to be either really interesting history, or just rooms full of insignia and memorabilia.  This was an interesting one.  It followed all the military activity in SA, going back to the Dutch and the Dutch East India Company (which supported its own army) in the 1600s.  And since the US is woefully lacking in African history education in schools, I really knew very little about any of it.  It really put the race relations in the country into perspective.  Basically, they've all been fighting each other since at least the 1600s.  South Africa is a very strategic spot for shipping.  So two colonial powers and a major commercial interest (that was basically its own country), dealing with several local tribes... it lead to a couple hundred years of fighting, ultimately laying the groundwork for the Nationalist Party and the apartheid system.  Like I said, it was very interesting seeing the pieces starting fitting together, even just through the lens of the military, like in this museum.

And to prove I really was there, and not just picking photos off a Google search (that big cloudy mass behind me would be Table Mountain, if it was a clear day):

And just to end things off, a slightly artistic shot of the Castle and Table Mountain (clouds) from the flower and herb garden outside the walls.

IFLA WLIC Day 1 - The Penguin has Landed!

And it's a reeeeally long flight from TX to SA!

Three flights actually.  And that's been almost entirely my last day and a half.

But it was not entirely uneventful, and I'll share a few things here as I try to calm down for sleep (yay jet lag!)

• I am a catastrophizer.  Really, though, no surprise there.  Everything worked out just fine, even with my long flight landing late in Johannesburg, I'd still allowed myself plenty of time for Customs before my connecting flight.  It was just amazing me again how wildly my imagination can spin worst case scenarios.  Especially when I'm traveling on my own halfway round the world (funny, go figure).  

• Motivational socks help combat the catastrophizing.  They also get compliments from TSA security guards :)

 

• The South African flag really can look like a rainbow.  The reflection of the wing tip on the South Africa Airline plane as it reflected on the wing was really rather pretty.

• Speaking of South African Airline, they treat you pretty well!  We even got dinner on the 2 hour flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town!   On a lot of short flights in the States, I don't even count on drinks on a flight that short, let along expect a hot meal!

• It's been so long since I've had a chance to focus on a fun book, I forgot how fast I read.  I finished my book on the long flight (the 2nd leg of the 3).  So yes, day one of the trip.  Now I've nothing left to read for the trip except a text book, a guide book, and whatever light-n-fluffy thing I have saved on my Kindle.  :( 

• I had some time to knit (of course I brought a project - what did you expect?)  And I started Citron, a shawl from Knitty a few years ago.  It's been sitting on my queue, and with the mindless pattern and the lace-weight yarn, it made for a good travel project.  For those interested, I'm using the possum lace-weight that Sarah and I dyed a few years ago.  I've a bunch of the green left, so this is perfect for it.  I made it through the first two shawl sections on my flights.  What can I say, I'd finished my book!  I know I'll slow down now that it's getting wider, but here's a first glimpse :)

 

The best comment I heard through all the traveling was in the very first airport.  A young jetsetter businessman type saw me knitting as I was waiting.  "Oh perfect airport hobby - no charging!"  A good comment on its own, but it made me laugh because I was sitting charging my phone, on which I'd saved the pattern I'm working from!  Signs of the times, maybe?  Either way, it made me smile.

At any rate, busy day sightseeing tomorrow before the conference really starts on Sunday, so I must get to bed.  Think I've finally wound down enough for that :)

Oh, look - she's back!

Hello friends!

So, I know it's been ages since I've posted -  Life has been rather on the busy side.  Things have been rolling merrily along in our little corner of the country, though, so all is well.  I still knit, and run, and read, and all those other things.  But the thing that has been keeping me busiest is also the reason I'm posting again: grad school!

Normally, school takes up most of my spare time and mental energy.  If I've time to write, it's probably being spent on a paper or a discussion post or something similar.  Except for this summer!  

This summer, my two classes this summer are part of an independent study abroad, tied into a conference I'll be attending (this week!!). My courses are International and Comparative Librarianship, and Information and Cultures.  And to pull together everything I learn, I will be attending the International Federation of Library and Information Associations (IFLA)'s annual conference, the World Library and Information Congress.  To make it even more exciting, I'll be traveling to Cape Town, South Africa!!

Now you may be wondering why some rather intense sounding courses have me blogging again, especially when my intro courses were enough to keep me busy and off the blog.  Well, as part of my conference experience, I am posting about my travels here - people I meet, sessions I attend, experiences in the country itself, overall impressions of things.  Which means for you, dear reader, that the next week and a half or so, my blog posts will be frequent and will swing between Extreme Library Dorkiness (capitals warranted) and "Eee! Penguin!"  If that bothers you, then you probably don't know me all that well :)  At any rate, you have been warned and can skim the ones you aren't too interested in; my feelings won't be hurt.

I'm going to try and keep the momentum going, so hopefully we'll be seeing each other (reading each other) more, even after the conference when I return to my normal chatter on books and cooking and running and yarn. My next year looks to be an exciting one, so it'll be good to keep this ball rolling.

PS - And to add to the excitement (beyond the interesting classes, professional networking, and exciting travel), I do love the logo.  Just look at it - a book, a penguin, and a mountain!  Now why on earth would I be getting so enthusiastic over that?

 

http://2015.ifla.org 

Wordle!

So, Wordle is a (free!) website where you can make your own word-art picture-things.  They call them 'word clouds.'  I call them geeky fun! 

With starting up grad school soon (less that a week!!), I've been looking at planners and how to balance classwork and work and chores and workouts... you know, juggling life.  At the moment, Life is balanced between several notebooks - my main planner, my food journal and my workout journal (still trying to get those last stubborn pounds!), and a small notebook for notes, to-do lists, positive thoughts, etc.  I record a lot on my Google Calendar too, since that syncs to my phone very well, and I love being able to turn on and off the different layers in my calendars, but my phone won't cover everything I want my "paper brain" to do.  I do record a lot of my workouts via my phone, but I'm not crazy about the food journaling apps I've found (including WeightWatchers, even though I love their online site).  Just not as user-friendly for me.  And I've yet to find a good to-do list app that would act as my homework checklist, chores checklist, etc.  I like Evernote, but it's not quite as editing-friendly as I'd like.  I use it a lot, but for other things.  The daily jotting-down of lists really does end up on paper a lot for me, which is fine. I just want it to be all in one notebook, not in three smaller ones.  

After a lot of playing around in Word and Excel (not a Photoshop guru, to make a pretty, fancy set-up), I designed both monthly pages and daily pages that I liked.  There are places for my meals (food journal), my exercises, my daily agenda, things to remember looking ahead, homework or planned school reading, daily chores...  Yes, I'm in a highly dorky, happy place :) 

And before you even ask, yes I love my office supplies;  the above Nerd Girl Quirk is pretty accurate (this one's #111, though the number was cut off).  And since I've already found my perfect ball point pen (Pentel RSVP, if you are interested), I'm working on my perfect planner!

So, what does that have to do with Wordle?  Well, the new planner needed new dividers, so I designed "word clouds" to be the focus of each monthly divider.  Because I can!  The more your repeat a word, the larger is it in the word cloud, so the month on each page is repeated 15-20 times (depending on how many other words I was using), then the more major holidays or attributes of the month (ex, "spring" in April) were repeated 3-6 times, and minor descriptors, characteristics, associated words, and random holidays were repeated just 1-2 times.

For this set here, the font is Berylium.  I adjusted the color palettes to match the calendar pages I'd designed (which in turn, had their color schemes determined by the word art I was using as their headers, found on a free calendar online).  If you're playing with the colors, there's plenty of options, and just keep clicking Recolor until you find one that you like.  The format is Half-and-Half on most of these.

I also made one with my name and words about me (hobbies; places I've lived; stuff I love, etc) for the cover page in my planner, but since that one's pretty personalized, I'm just going to leave it up to your imagination.

Oh, and if you like playing with these, there are others like Wordle.  Tagxedo is one that lets you make shapes too (or rather, fill in pre-designed shapes).  These are pretty, but I liked the general cloud from Wordle better.  I found these two through Pinterest, but you can find some others if you search a little.

And as a final nerdy note on this post, when I was looking for the above Nerd Girl, she also has a Nerd Girl Quirk for Wordles, #215, which I didn't find until I was in the midst of writing this post :)

A Back-dated Test Knit

This was a test knitted pattern done a while ago, solidly in my non-bloggy-chatty period. I saw it on the Test Knitters forum board and just couldn't resist. Even with all the color work! It just screamed my name. Books AND hand mitts (I'm always cold at work, and it's even worse in my hands if I'm at the computer a lot). Too perfect to pass up!  Anyhoo, since I just finished the Surprise Cowl, to match a recent test knit, I felt motivated to write up this test knit too.

The Yarn:

Most of the yarn I used was Patons Stretch Socks. The books and the shelves were other sock yarns, not Stretch Socks, but in the same weight. Just stash yarn, so nothing more specific. The Stretch Socks (being stretchy, after all) had to be held with a loose touch. Pulling it too tightly stretched it out and would affect the gauge. So, use a gentle touch. Otherwise, nothing really to striking to mention about any of the yarns.

The pattern works best if there is a good amount of contrast between the background and the books. So, I have dark books (purple, dark rose, burgundy-brown, and navy) on a mottled cream background. The shelves are, of course, brown. The background can be a little darker than what I chose, if you like, just as long as you have some good contrast to the books. No navy mitts with dark green books, or cream mitts with butter-yellow books. You get the idea.

The other thing to consider with the background yarn is that it needs to be relatively plain. No bold stripes or busy patterns. Once again, because you'd lose the books to the background. It would be a lot of work for books you couldn't see!

The Pattern: 

Reading Mitten by Lotta Groeger (my project is Raveled here).

This is a great pattern for using up lots of odds-n-ends of sock yarns (and c'mon, who doesn't have those?) The books don't need to match, and each book uses a yard, give or take. So, long-length repeats of variegated sock yarns are perfect for the books! I actually went to the skein I was using for the books and cut off the number of lengths I needed, just snipping the yarn as the color changed. But that would be just as easy to do if you're working from multiple skeins of leftovers. I did find it helpful to cut the lengths of yarn for the books, so that I could handle them, lay them out, and decide what color I wanted for which books (try not to have like colors adjacent, that sort of thing). The duplicate stitching was by far the most time consuming part of the whole project!! But, when the alternative was stranding multiple colors on teeny-tiny US 2s, working in the round... I'd rather do the duplicate stitch!

Notes, Alternations, etc:

No modifications, really. This one was pretty much as-written.

I made the Size Small mitt (6 inch hand circumference), and it fits my tiny hands just fine. I cast on and bound off with US 4s, not the 2s I used to reach gauge in the rest of the project. I tend to cast on and bind off rather tightly, so the larger needles were needed. Other than that, I reach gauge just fine with the US 2s. Did feel like I was going to snap them in half the whole time, though - been a while since I worked with needles that small!

One thing I might add would be a word around the cuff, that long stretch of cream before the first bookshelf. "Read" or "Book" or something. I'm still deciding on that one. There are plenty of free charted alphabets out there, in a variety of gauges, that it would be simple enough to do. It would give wrist a little more structure, (more duplicate stitching), and it would immediately associate the book pattern above with reading (instead of a less bookish person just thinking "Oh, what a cool geometric pattern"). And it would help me tell the right mitt from the left :)

 

Overall: 

I really like this pattern. The mitts fit comfortably, and are not too bulky. The knitting went very quickly, so these might make nice gifts for family or coworkers or future grad school friends. Other bookish people :)

Oh So Pinteresting Wednesday - Quote Scarf

Almost through February now - Week 8 already!  This year is flying right along!

This week is a lovely project that I fell in love with soon after I first stumbled onto Pinterest.  The original DIY instructions are from Stamp48, with the original inspiration piece being a scarf from We Are Owls' Fall/Winter 2010 collection.  Like Lauren over at Stamp48, designer cashmere scarves are a little (read: solidly) over my budget, no matter now gorgeous they are.  So, I followed her instructions on how to create a similar scarf of my own.  What follows, as always, are the original instructions, with any notes, advice, alterations, etc. that I used in making my own version of the piece.

What do you need:

• a scarf, pashmina, length of fabric, etc. that you want to decorate.  I used a pashmina I found on sale, a nice and inexpensive woven wool blend.
• a fabric paint pen.  I used Fabric Mate, a chisel-tip paint pen, which was perfect, as I could make my writing angled and 'swoopy' and pretty :)
• a quote you like
• optional - painter's blue tape, or similar removable masking tape
• also optional, but highly recommended - something to cover your workspace (I used my knitting blocking boards)
  
  

  

What do you do:

1.     Protect your workspace, particularly if your scarf is thin or your brand of paint pen tends to bleed.  I have interlocking blocking boards for my knitting, so I laid out three of them as one long rectangle, and it was the perfect size for my pashmina.

2.     Lay out your scarf.  I left mine wrinkled, as I liked the effect that the texture gave to the lettering.   

3.     I anchored my scarf to the craft mat I was using (i.e. my blocking boards) with some blue painters tape.  I didn't pull the scarf taut over the boards (like I said, I liked the texture), but the anchoring of tape did help cut down a LOT on how much the scarf slid around as I wrote.

4.     Write out your quote on the scarf.  Yes it really is this simple. 

5.     Follow the instructions for your particular paint pen on how to set the ink.  For the brand I used, all you had to do was let it dry for 24 hours.

6.     Shoo away helpful kitties to take a picture of the finished project.  I swear, there's a crafter deep down in that cat - so many of my craft projects have him investigating/sitting atop my work!

Things to consider:

• I practiced my quote in a font I liked on paper first, to get the spacing as I liked it.  Nothing fancy, just a regular lined notepad worked fine, but it gave me an idea of how big to make my letters. 
• Lauren over at Stamp48 also suggested practicing on a similar fabric, to get used to how the pen writes on your particular material.  I skipped this step, as I had no similar fabric to practice on.  However, I was using a long quote and had practiced my lettering on paper beforehand, so I just wrote slowly at first to get used to the pen.  I also was using a fabric pen more like a marker than a paint pen, so didn't have to worry as much about ink bleeding or how hard to squeeze the pen to control ink flow.  A little thing I hadn't considered when shopping for a paint pen, but it turned out to be a nice little bonus.

• I did estimate how many lines I would use to write out my quote, and used a tape measure to roughly mark approximate spacing for the start of each line of text.  Just plain sidewalk chalk worked perfectly.  An extra optional supply, I guess, depending on how you want your quote spaced.  I wanted it relatively evenly spaced, but not too precisely so - the inconsistencies give it a nice handwritten feel.
• I let my ink dry a little while the scarf was laid out, and then went back over some of the letters.  Some just needed some extra emphasis (like the starts of the lines of text), some letters were just kinda light to begin with.  Means that my scarf took a little to dry, but I liked the ultimate effect.  Just another option to play around with to give your scarf a personal touch.  
• Thinking of ink drying... Don't wear long sleeves, particularly if you're also a lefty.  It's the chalkboard effect all over again (Am I dating myself now?  Do many schools even still use chalkboards?)  At any rate, I had dark purpley-blue ink all down my fore-arms when I was done.  Lovely smudges that looked like bruises until I washed my hands... and my arms all the way to my elbows!  I hadn't smudged the writing, as I wasn't writing that quickly, but I did end up with ink all over.  In short, be prepared; you are working with ink after all.  Don't wear anything you wouldn't want smudges on.

What quote did I use?  One of my favorites from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

I'm a worrier, a fretter, an over-thinker.  As my life becomes more hectic with more Army moves in the future, and grad school rapidly approaching, I wanted something to remind myself to let go of what I can no longer change and focus on doing my best with what's ahead.  I'm fond of accessories that have hidden meanings like that - charms on a necklace or bracelet, quotes on a scarf, that sort of thing.  No one else might see them, but I know they are there, and it is a nice reminder for me.  Like I said, I'm a stress puppy, so every little thing to help keep me sane :)  And if it's a pretty scarf to drape around my neck, even better!