To-Write List
This is a placeholder for posts and a list of things I should be writing instead of blog entries. Guh
Blog posts:
- Review of The Garden Intrigue, by Lauren Willig. Which I loved. As expected. I just need to tell you all about it!
- Blog about the guest speaker we had in class, who works for ProQuest, training libraries and librarians to use the databases. Proof that MLIS degree doesn’t automatically mean library.
- Notes and thoughts about a very interesting afternoon at a newspaper library. The Daily News, to be exact! The blog post will be notes and thinking out loud for a paper due at the end of the semester.
Things I have to write for class:
- A PowerPoint presentation (my first ever!) about social media and libraries. Due Tuesday. Also, notes for said presentation.
- A reference source evaluation of 4 reference resources. One of which is going to be IMDB. Because it was on the list of potential topics. I will possibly get surly about crime dramas.
- A writeup of the news visit, which will become a paper for later in the semester.
Send coffee. And crock pot recipes, so dinner can make itself while I write and read all the things!
Things I have read on the web
It has been an interesting week already. And it’s only Wednesday.
Things I have read:
How the New York Public Library figures out what its patrons want to read- and budgets for new books “Like bookstores, libraries need to anticipate literary appetites. Unlike bookstores, libraries do not have a financial incentive to feed those appetites immediately. They have to balance civic missions and budget concerns with the imperative to put books in people’s hands. Sometimes, patrons have to wait. While bookstore best-seller lists monitor only what goes out, lists of the library’s most-circulated and most-requested books reveal not only which books readers want right now, but which they’re willing to wait for.”
I find the mechanics of libraries fascinating (hence, starting the Masters program at Pratt.) And I think this piece explains the inner workings and decisions of the library rather well.
The Business Case for Beautiful Libraries ”The public library is a city’s epic living room.” Yes. I am all for libraries being beautiful in their spaces, both physical and virtual.
for Reference class, we were assigned to read Chapter 2 of The Information: A History, A Theory, a Flood by James Gleick. Having read his overview of the history and rationale of dictionary writers through history, I want to read the whole book. Cultural history for the bookish!
Why established writers use pen names: In this tight economy, publishers are warier than usual, giving smaller advances, and even spurning novels from established authors whose recent sales weren’t stellar. So… some authors are gaming the system by submitting novels with a fresh start of a new pen name. (I guess it’s riding the perception of the breakout-debut-novel-success, like Kathryn Stockett and The Help?) Other surprising bit: I didn’t know there was a Nielsen rating system tracking book sales. But there is! And yes, e-books have thrown a wrench in the monkey. As usual.
The Myth of the Eight Hour Sleep I’ve seen references to this before, the idea that waking up in the middle of the night, and/or sleeping in segments during the night is natural, and was common practice up until the Industrial Revolution really got going and artificial light became more common. This article explains it particularly well, though.
I am also reading, furtively and in between things for grad school: Best Food Writing 2011, edited by Holly Hughes. And Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. The problem is that I am reading them as library books on my Kindle, and they are about to have their loans expire and I’m not done yet. I think I need food writing to be in print, and be a book I own. So I can savor it properly.
I am also reading a ton of poetry. As I shelve it at the Poets House.
How to Review Poetry
This isn’t a guide, actually.
Because I don’t think I know how, myself.
I like to think I have a good amount of poetry cred. I was skittish about studying poetry in school- though I wish, now, that I’d taken poetry classes in college, I did take a few after college. Including a really interesting one-on-one master class with Dean Young, through Gotham Writers.
And now, I have an internship at the Poets House.
I may have more bookshelves devoted to poetry than to any other genre. Four shelves in my apartment. And that’s not counting the literary journals.
Now that I am in school for library science, I’m finding my way back to reading poetry again, remembering how good it feels to sink into the enjoyment of a poem. Part of this is rebellion against some of the academic reading and writing (yikes, the writing!) I need to get done. And part is that I do genuinely enjoy poems.
I understand how to review a work of fiction or nonfiction. I feel comfortable summarizing and evaluating how the narrative worked. Even, recommending it based on similar books.
But poetry? It’s subjective, and it varies so much based on mood. I read poetry to sink into its loveliness. Sometimes to admire the structure. I don’t have the same faith that I do about prose, that I can really evaluate what makes a poem or a collection work.
I can gush about poems and poets, sure, and… I guess I could share that delight.
I have, over the years, adapted ways to explain and introduce poetry to people who are new to it. Shelving books at the Poets House reminds me, though, that I am by no means well read. I have a handful of poets I read obsessively. And hundreds I haven’t read at all.
I’m not sure I have the right mindset to review poetry.
Might be a work in progress.
Best Day Ever at the Poets House!
Getting to spend the day at the Poets House is always a good day, of course. Surrounded by nice people (both those working there, and the ones who come in to read- lovely!) and shelves upon shelves of interesting poetry.
And I like shelving books and shelf-checking titles. It’s meditative. Creating order in a small place. Getting to stop and snack on a few pages of poetry here and there doesn’t hurt.
But today? Today was outstanding!
There was some kind of big meeting going on in the conference room. I started scooping up books from the cart, and returning them to their spots. I settled into the zen of going from cart to shelf, finding places for books. Smiling at the people who passed. A lot of new faces today!
Cornelius Eady. Photo from the Blackbird Archive at VCU
Then Cornelius Eady walked by. And we exchanged smiles.
Outwardly, I might have been cool. But I promise you, I forgot how to alphabetize for at least a few minutes.
I fangirl for stanzas.
One of the many, many things I like about the Poets House is that the people there understand feeling awestruck about poets. “Was that Cornelius Eady?” I asked one of the Poets House staff. As befits a librarian in training– I managed to squeal in a fairly approximate whisper.
But the celebrity poet sighting wasn’t even the best part of today!
I returned to my meditative shelving fugue state after the Cornelius Eady sighting. Shelving, alphabetizing, smiling vaguely at all the nice people walking by. But mostly thinking about arranging books, and how to fit more literary magazines onto that one crowded shelf…
That’s about the only reason I can think of that I didn’t recognize Michael Joyce when I saw him.
Michael Joyce!
My freshman advisor at Vassar!!!! He was doing hypertext and digital text when I was in college!
We caught up a little (he was there for the big meeting) and I told him I’m doing a masters in library science and interested in learning about digital things and libraries. Asked him if he knew my Pratt advisor, Chris Sula. Getting the two of them together would be fascinating. (Possibly incomprehensible, but fascinating.)
I met Michael Joyce when I was a freshman in college. I remember having such fun during our advisor meetings… the only bad part about majoring in anthropology was that he stopped being my advisor. I remember taking a class with him, and playing with StorySpace hypertext stacks. I can’t wait to catch up on what he’s working on, and what his classes are like now.
And now, starting Pratt is making me feel like a freshman in grad school, and Michael Joyce has crossed my path again. When the digital possibilities for literature and information are even more amazing than before!
I am so very glad I happened to be at the Poets House this particular afternoon.
Now, to write an email that attempts to explain ten years (Ten years, man!!!) of not doing digital literature things, before finding my way here. Back here? I don’t know.
So… yes. Best day ever.
News I have been reading
Are books and the internet destined to merge?
Good state-of-the-book and publishing biz piece from The Guardian. Mostly, I see pieces like these, talking about the consumer and business side of e-readers and books. What I’d like to see is an examination on the mental, cognitive, psychological, even emotional side, of the tactile experience of taking in print media via screen versus via paper. I print out all the e-articles I’m supposed to read for class. There’s a difference. I want to see it put into words.
The New York Public Library revives its overhaul plan and Reimagining the Library for the Future
Now that I am in library school and hoping to find a job in the New York area, my feelings about this one are more complicated. I want to see the NYPL, my NYPL, make a good transition into the next phase of library space, and reader engagement. I’m… just not sure gutting the historic main library is the way to do it… And closing SIBL? Insane, in these economic times.
I feel viscerally queasy about this, and it’s getting in the way of thinking it through at the moment. Do not mess with Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, or the building they guard, please! Throwing digital technology onto everything like it’s a life jacket in and of itself does not make sense. I wish I had more faith that the library endeavors were doing a better job of considering and weighing the role of the digital sphere in the library’s mission of community outreach.
And this, this is just lovely: The Jeremy Lin story is real magic. via my Dad, who has been a Knicks fan for ages… I grew up going to games, when Patrick Ewing was part of the starting lineup. It was excellent father-daughter bonding. Feels kind of nice to care about the Knicks again. Read this even if you don’t like sports. It’s just good writing.
A Library of Two Million Sound Recordings
Tonight, we had a guest speaker in class. Will Susich, who went to Pratt, is now the assistant archivist for the ARChive of Contemporary Music.
The ARChive collects, preserves and provides information on the popular music of all cultures and races throughout the world from 1950 to the present. Since the ARChive’s founding in 1985 our holdings have grown to over 2 million sound recordings, making the ARChive the largest popular music collection in the United States.
They keep 2 copies of just about every LP and CD from 1950 on. And have some earlier ones too. Will said that he was looking through the LP collection, and found Robert Johnson’s recording. One of nine copies known to exist, ever. Just there, in the collection! (I might have squeaked when he said that.)
I am interested in the way a small staff works so closely on these archive projects, with limited resources. And they seem pretty relaxed- they use their own homegrown cataloging system, for example.
No, they do not spend all day every day listening to the LPs in the collection. Mostly, the LPs are to be kept pristine, and not touched or played, except to be digitized for specific client requests.
Like The Poets House, the ARC runs on donations. And so one of the archive’s tasks is to process the donations that come in. They keep 2 copies in good condition, and then have a semiannual record sale of what they don’t keep. But what donations! The Board Of Advisors for the ARC includes the likes of Todd Rundgren, Lou Reed, and Keith Richards, who is putting a lot of money and research into curating their blues collection. (Yes, I squeaked at hearing that, too.) Almost as soon as I wondered whether David Hinckley knew about the archive, I found his name on the site as a donor. Unsurprised.
The ARC exists to collect and preserve music as a historical resource. Even the DJ dance records of the late 80s. The archive works with researchers who are looking for specific, sometimes hard-to-find music. Say, if someone’s putting on a revival of a play that hasn’t been done in a long time, they might come to the archive to chase down an obscure cast recording. As I understand it, there’s a fee for that service, which is an income source, along with grants and partnerships.
World music is another big resource. And a place where they’re using the webspace to great effect. The ARChive has put together an impressive compendium of Muslim World Music on the web. And they’re putting together one this year on Brazilian world music. India is slated for 2013.
They also maintain a collection of music books- not sheet music, but things like biography and history and commentary. I would love to get in there and browse!
I had to ask about Christmas music, because how could I not? Yes, they have a Christmas music collection. As the most junior member of the staff, Will wryly admitted that he gets “stuck with it,” and it is definitely not his favorite thing.
Social Media Week at the Queens Library
This afternoon, I went to a Social Media Week panel hosted by the Queens Library. Now, usually, I get starry eyed about the NYPL’s social media presence, and the NYPL in general. Unknown to me, though, the Queens Library is doing all kinds of snazzy things with their web presence.
As part of Social Media Week, they hosted Ushering Your Company into the Social Media Age.It covered the basics, and some more advanced ideas, about putting together a smart social media campaign for a business. Using their own website and social media initiatives as an example.
I really, really like that. The library as a business, using every tool it can, to do digital community outreach, respond to patrons’ needs, even do outreach in other languages. People with tech and publicity backgrounds working with librarians who have MLIS degrees.
The three presenters were Mary Kearl, the Queens Library Social Media Manager, Karen Keys, an Outreach Librarian (and Pratt alum) and Loida Garcia-Febo, who does outreach to immigrants, and works on multilingual and citizenship programming.
The Queens Library is culturally fascinating. Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the US. I’d read about how the library figures out services for all the different languages patrons speak (NYTimes link) And, as Ms. Garcia-Febo talked about social media initiatives as part of other outreach programs, I got to see how they were factoring in other languages as part of the social media strategy. (Drop-down menus to translate the library’s main site to some of the most prevalent languages, and working on content for Facebook in other languages.)
Also, I really, really like the sound of Outreach Librarian.
Thing I did not know: 1 in 10 Internet users worldwide uses Twitter as of 2011. That’s a lot of hashtags and pithy observations about sandwiches.
Facebook and LinkedIn are the top two social media sites people use.
The Queens library does outreach to its community libraries (community libraries is what they call branches, a simple word choice that signifies a really interesting shift in organizational thought)
So, ultimately, in a presentation about how and why to build smart social media strategy for business, the Queens library used itself as a case study.
And that makes an interesting point about the public library as a business as well as a site for community engagement, across digital and physical space.
The Best Romantic Movies Of All Time
Inspired by ChrisL and Women’s Voices For Change, and the fact that I unexpectedly have only 2 boroughs worth of tearing around to do today (a nice surprise) I started thinking of my favorite Valentine movies.
Looking at this list, I wonder what it reveals about my romantic ideals? Good banter, good food, a little bitter in with my sweet. Sounds about right.
I second the WVFC pick of Roxanne, which I think was the first romantic movie I ever watched.
Like Water For Chocolate- I can’t find a good clip that captures how sensual the food-and-love-and-magic movie is. Glorious book, too! To clarify: It’s not about the main characters’ epic tragedy of a romance, but the food sensuality. And that redheaded sister. She’s got it right.
And of course, Much Ado About Nothing, which I love mostly for Beatrice and Benedick. And Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.
My favorite of favorites may well be Angus. I love everything about that movie.
And then there are two that are, well, kind of outliers….
Casanova, otherwise known as David Tennant has lots of sex wearing Renaissance Garb. (Swoon!) Casanova bloopers here. Bit of swearing, not that much sex.
Chris cringes every time I list Grosse Point Blank among my favorite romantic movies. But sarcasm, earnest love, and Minnie Driver and John Cusack? Violence, yes, but very comic-bookish and snide.
Three boroughs in the name of library science
Today’s going to take me to three boroughs in the matter of a few hours, all in the name of library science.
Will the G train be my Valentine?
Stop 1: a meeting at Pratt Brooklyn, to investigate options for library science grad school scholarships. That ends, I think, at 1:30, giving me JUST barely enough time to scoot to
Stop 2: Ushering Your Company Into The Social Media Age at The Queens Library.
Plenty of this year’s Social Media Week events promise to forecast what’s coming next for the industry, but is your company still trying to catch up from the social media conventions of just a few years ago—create a Facebook page and have an intern check in a couple times a week—to today’s expectations—have a daily brand presence on a dozen or more social networks, fully integrate social media into every aspect of your company, and use the power of, and lessons from, social media giants toward brand innovation and reinvention?
Social networking is the most popular online activity worldwide, accounting for 1 in every 5 minutes spent on the Internet: Join us for a frank discussion of the challenges facing companies—particularly those outside of the tech and social media industries—as they struggle to embrace this new reality.
Queens Library Social Media Manager, Mary Kearl, will give an overview of how she crafted a social media approach that makes sense for her company, a leading nonprofit cultural institution. Karen Keys, an outreach librarian, for Queens Library will discuss the unique ways the library has incorporated social media into programming. Loida Garcia-Febo, coordinator for Queens Library’s New Americans Program, will discuss connecting with multicultural and multilingual customers through new media. Topics will include:
• Starting from scratch: Putting a social media strategy in place—and tracking your success!
• How to improve your social media presence on a limited budget
• Tools that are cheap and easy to use and will make your social media monitoring/management a breeze
• Leveraging today’s top networks to increase brand awareness, improve customer service, and provide innovative programs
• Claiming user-generated brand pages (on Facebook, Foursquare, and Yelp)
• Fostering a company culture that embraces and understands social media
• What to consider when managing brand pages and social media accounts for a company’s physical locations
• Learn best practices, tips, and information about how emerging technologies can be used to improve connection to multilingual populations
The second half of the program will be an open forum for attendees to exchange best practices and to network. Queens Library will have afternoon snacks to facilitate food for thought and networking!
Queens Library serves a population of 2.3 million in one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the U.S. and has among the highest circulations of any public library system in the world.
I find the potential of social media use in libraries fascinating. Enough to write an end of semester paper about it. Right now, I’m thinking about this thing in Queens as a chance to learn about social media, and a chance to ask the library staff there how they coordinate and decide who does what for their social media.
Then, it’s time to zoom back to Manhattan in time for tonight’s Intro To Information Professions Class. Which ends a bit before 9.
And then? I am going to fall over.
Speed Dating For Book Lovers
I saw it on The Strand’s Facebook page. “What book would you bring to a speed dating event at the Strand?”
Well, all right then!
The book was an easy choice for me: The Westing Game. The one book I’ve read more times than any other. Nearly once a year since I was eight.
The event took place in the Strand’s Rare Book room, up on the third floor. Which is a great place to hold events, and even romantic, in a literary and classy sort of way.
There were many more women than men (I gather there’s more female respondents than men in any speed dating scenario) so women sat on one side of a long table, and when the whistle blew, loudly, after about 2 minutes, the men moved on. Each person had a score sheet on which to write the name, nametag number and favorite book of the people they’d spoken to, and a checkbox marked “like.” The theory is that the organizers would sit with the score sheets and match up people who liked each other.
Some impressions:
I really like that it was a book-based, topic specific speed dating scenario. I would do that again, and be more interested in a bookish speed dating scenario than I might do a more general one in a bar. I wrote down tons of book recommendations! And knowing what kinds of books someone likes to read is a helpful way to get to know them- so it might make sense to talk books at a normal speed dating thing.
Some of the books I wrote down:
Should try Aubrey Maturin as audiobooks. (Which I use to get myself to sleep.) I know there are tons of books in the series. So that’ll keep me in books on CD for a good while.
Bone- Fae Myenne Eng
scifi by Ted Chiang, which I gather is about pushing interesting ideas around. I told him he should read Iain M. Banks.
The Man Who Ate Everything- Jeffrey Steingarten. Food writing always wins. The gent who brought it was a food writer, himself. Which won points with me. I think I gravitate toward the more emotional-memoir food writing more than he does, and he prefers straight reporting without the sort of sensual emotional poetry that I really like. Fair enough.
I should try to read David Foster Wallace before I completely dismiss him as Someone Whose Writing I Would Probably Dislike. I am fairly certain I would not like him, based on what friends who do have said.But I should be sure.
I am glad (though unsurprised) that nobody brought or mentioned Anne Rice or Twilight. I’m sorry, but I’ve tried both, and I definitely could not have kept a straight face.
I wonder if anyone brought the Kama Sutra… Or the Cookie Sutra. That would have been hilarious.
As I was leaving, I caught sight of someone who had a book that I think was “Dining with Sherlock Holmes.” Food writing and Sherlock Holmes? MUST learn more!
I talked up The Poets House to the folks I saw who brought poetry. Hooray for poetry! and now I have two more poets to add to the list I need to investigate: Donald Hall and Philip Larkin. I have so many poets whose names I know and poetry I don’t know at all.
I talked with one guy who does neuroscience research- which I think is neat, in a squeamish kind of way. I’d love to learn more.
And then I remind myself, I have just started library science grad school, and I am still trying to keep up with writing book reviews too, so adding to my already legendary TBR pile is not the best idea I have ever had.
Another thing I wish- I wish there had been a better mechanism to get names and info for the women I talked to. Had some great conversations with the woman who only read nonfiction, wanted to chat with the woman a few seats down who loved to read YA… but tried to find some of the women I’d talked to, as things were wrapping up, and couldn’t track them in the crowd. A shame- because I think I’d like to make friends with them, as well as some of the guys I chatted with.
I would also love to see aggregated data on what genre was most popular, and if any one book or author led the pack… and was that gender-specific or across men and women. A few people brought their Kindles and Nooks. Would love to see the data on how many e-readers were brought, versus regular books.
I think the time frame between switching to the next person was about 2 minutes. It felt really fast. And the whistle blew super loudly! Whistle blows, guy switches seats, and you’re talking to the next person.
So, logistically, it was tough to find a time to write things down. Do you let the other person see you writing? Do you let the person who sits down next see you writing that you liked the last guy? Do you sit it in your lap and write awkwardly? I had a notebook with me, because I always do… and so I felt like I could make it subtler with a “Oh, I’m writing down the book title.” I imagine finding a way to write things down was even tougher for the guys who had to keep moving, and sometimes transition from table to table.
So– I wonder if it’s logistically possible to make sure that the right people and numbers match, with the rushing and writing. Not sure how to correct for that: Give a little “writing time” in between speed dates?
This morning, I woke up wondering how speed-dating would work if you played Scrabble… 4 minutes a board, so time to make about a move and say hi… and then off you go! Unfair advantage to the girls sit, guys move setup. But intriguing idea.
The event was cosponsored by a wine store that provided champagne, which I don’t like, and Max Brenner, which provided chocolate. I do like chocolate. So I think by the end of the event I was sailing on all the sugar. Which, hopefully, led to “engagingly enthusiastic” not “horrifyingly hyper,” to the last few people I met.
Also, across age groups and gender, “I’m in grad school” gets a sympathetic grin of “yow, you must be stressed,” and “library science grad school” seems to be regarded as universally cool. Always nice to hear. Go, me! Hopefully, my studies will make me employable as well as very cool.
Speaking of, I should possibly get to the library and get some schoolwork done.
