Saturday, July 12, 2008
Chris and I are in the midst of a frantic apartment search. Keeping up with school work hasn't been difficult, only life's many distractions keep me from really meditating on the issues at hand. (Can this confession be held against me?)
I crossed the 600 mark this week, my second week doing Summer Reading Outreach in Germantown, Mt. Airy, and East Falls. We're challenged to see 2000 kids over the course of the summer. While I'm pleased the progress I need to make MANY more contacts. Libraries are tyrannically ruled by statistics. I understand what they are supposed to measure but they fall far short of really being meaningful.
One principal at a local elementary shared a pretty cynical view of libraries as we talked Friday morning. I was excited to tell her about the new relevance and vision of libraries here in this digital age. The skepticism clouding her eyes lessened the more we talked. I had a similar conversation with an old friend this week. We hadn't spoken to one another in quite a while so he was just finding out about my interest in librarianship. He couldn't figure out how I could follow a path beginning in the art world and land in a library. :) After discussing the relevance of public libraries and the technological explosion around us he shared my epiphany and suddenly saw libraries in a totally different way. Not as they are in our memories or in the present transitional state but in the light of the future of libraries. In a society that has reordered the familiar, where the stuffy quite library of the elite has become the heart of a community. How? By working to equalize the growing digital divide, providing free information to ALL, supporting community development through hosting events and activities, feeding the hunger for literacy skills and more.
I crossed the 600 mark this week, my second week doing Summer Reading Outreach in Germantown, Mt. Airy, and East Falls. We're challenged to see 2000 kids over the course of the summer. While I'm pleased the progress I need to make MANY more contacts. Libraries are tyrannically ruled by statistics. I understand what they are supposed to measure but they fall far short of really being meaningful.
One principal at a local elementary shared a pretty cynical view of libraries as we talked Friday morning. I was excited to tell her about the new relevance and vision of libraries here in this digital age. The skepticism clouding her eyes lessened the more we talked. I had a similar conversation with an old friend this week. We hadn't spoken to one another in quite a while so he was just finding out about my interest in librarianship. He couldn't figure out how I could follow a path beginning in the art world and land in a library. :) After discussing the relevance of public libraries and the technological explosion around us he shared my epiphany and suddenly saw libraries in a totally different way. Not as they are in our memories or in the present transitional state but in the light of the future of libraries. In a society that has reordered the familiar, where the stuffy quite library of the elite has become the heart of a community. How? By working to equalize the growing digital divide, providing free information to ALL, supporting community development through hosting events and activities, feeding the hunger for literacy skills and more.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Contents of my Koha virtual bookshelf
The storyteller's start-up book/ MacDonald, Margaret Read.
Three-minute tales/ MacDonald, Margaret Read.
Mythology/ Hamilton, Edith.
More ready-to-tell tales from around the world.
The jungle books/ Kipling, Rudyard.
Moby-Dick, or, The whale/ Melville, Herman.
The portable Kipling/ Kipling, Rudyard.
Language and gender in the fairy tale tradition/ Levorato, Alessandra.
Chinnubbie and the owl/ Posey, Alexander Lawrence.
The World's great folktales.
African folktales.
The wonderful treasure horse.
Fantastic theater/ Sierra, Judy.
Earth care.
Peace tales.
Tell the world.
The round book.
Five-minute tales/ MacDonald, Margaret Read.
The true story of the Three Little Pigs/ Sciezka, Jon.
Quests & spells.
Beastly rhymes to read after dark/ Sierra, Judy.
The flannel board storytelling book/ Sierra, Judy.
The sea of gold, and other tales from Japan/ Uchida, Yoshiko.
The encyclopedia of Celtic mythology and folklore/ Monaghan, Patricia.
South American wonder tales/ Carpenter, Frances.
I have to say, I don't really understand what Koha is... Sure, I have a collection of cataloging information there but the actual book is not available. I'm still trying to understand the relevance.
In other news Chris and I gobbled up a lovely brunch at the Stone Barn (We'll also be having our wedding reception there). This was a much needed break from the chaos that has been my life in the past two weeks. I went from working round the clock at Teacher's Summer Institute to diving head first into more wedding planning, classwork, and physically exhausting summer reading outreach. I should really have a car for all the stuff I'm lugging around.
I'm off to learn "Puchika Churika", a traditional Siberian tale, for my story telling performance this week. Wish me luck. :)
Last night I converted yet another soul to Del.icio.us and talked at length through the Google Apps Hacks text. My best friend is in the midst of a start up busines, Google's SaaS is empowering, not to mention Google Scholars simplification of her blogging addiction.
Three-minute tales/ MacDonald, Margaret Read.
Mythology/ Hamilton, Edith.
More ready-to-tell tales from around the world.
The jungle books/ Kipling, Rudyard.
Moby-Dick, or, The whale/ Melville, Herman.
The portable Kipling/ Kipling, Rudyard.
Language and gender in the fairy tale tradition/ Levorato, Alessandra.
Chinnubbie and the owl/ Posey, Alexander Lawrence.
The World's great folktales.
African folktales.
The wonderful treasure horse.
Fantastic theater/ Sierra, Judy.
Earth care.
Peace tales.
Tell the world.
The round book.
Five-minute tales/ MacDonald, Margaret Read.
The true story of the Three Little Pigs/ Sciezka, Jon.
Quests & spells.
Beastly rhymes to read after dark/ Sierra, Judy.
The flannel board storytelling book/ Sierra, Judy.
The sea of gold, and other tales from Japan/ Uchida, Yoshiko.
The encyclopedia of Celtic mythology and folklore/ Monaghan, Patricia.
South American wonder tales/ Carpenter, Frances.
I have to say, I don't really understand what Koha is... Sure, I have a collection of cataloging information there but the actual book is not available. I'm still trying to understand the relevance.
In other news Chris and I gobbled up a lovely brunch at the Stone Barn (We'll also be having our wedding reception there). This was a much needed break from the chaos that has been my life in the past two weeks. I went from working round the clock at Teacher's Summer Institute to diving head first into more wedding planning, classwork, and physically exhausting summer reading outreach. I should really have a car for all the stuff I'm lugging around.
I'm off to learn "Puchika Churika", a traditional Siberian tale, for my story telling performance this week. Wish me luck. :)
Last night I converted yet another soul to Del.icio.us and talked at length through the Google Apps Hacks text. My best friend is in the midst of a start up busines, Google's SaaS is empowering, not to mention Google Scholars simplification of her blogging addiction.
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