Getting Published!!

I'd planned to be too busy working to blog, but this was too good not to share:

I'm going to have a chapter in a book published!! Woohoo!

Suzanne (my awesome boss), Annie (our awesome Outreach Librarian), and I submitted a chapter proposal on academic library collaboration with public libraries, and I got word this morning that it was accepted! Yes, I did a little happy dance. It's to be published by Libraries Unlimited sometime around January of 2009, and it's an entire volume about outreach in academic libraries.

So... now if we can just get 5,000 words written before the end of next March, we're set.
Yay! (Happy dance again.)

Banned Books Photos

Just thought you might like to see some images from the past week, since I didn't have time to upload them earlier.

Sweet Success

Our presentation at the DPL North Branch last night was a success! I've got the photos to prove it... but probably won't get around to posting them until, you know, a nice sane month like November.

We spoke collectively for about an hour to an audience of five--and were then pleasantly surprised that they kept us another half-hour-plus with all their questions. We had two UNT faculty members in the audience, a government activist, a librarian, and--wonder of wonders, a high school student. Who wasn't dragged there by force, but actually stayed afterward to ask a very perceptive and involved reference question that Suzanne is now working on. Sian, who has been working with Suzanne to coordinate these kinds of cooperative academic/public library presentations once a month, was thrilled at the turnout, and we were thrilled at the interest. I had never given a presentation where every single audience member had at least one question.

I also found a fantastic opportunity for a book chapter related to the very kind of library outreach that Suzanne and I have been working at. Sure, it's one more thing to add to that list of "to-do," but it would be so, so fantastic if we were accepted.

Now, if I could just get my next slate of PowerPoints completed... I've been trying to snatch time to work on them all week, but have been sidetracked by an application essay, a minor metadata crisis, and the usual plethora of email. My brain periodically sends me wry observations such as, "well, it's job security, right?" I'm trying to ignore these and work.

But I can't wait for Monday--wow, that's a surprising statement. But this Monday is the SAPL program--Theresa Ybarra sent me their program yesterday, and it looks so fantastic that I immediately told two colleagues all about it and how, hmmm, wouldn't it be great if we had something similar. Ah, how I love libraries.

Pardon My Hacking Cough

...Actually, it's not that bad. It just feels that bad. But after two days home sick, I'm back at work.

And I'm about to give the first of my 5 (6?) presentations this month, in a little more than an hour, at the North Branch of Denton Public Library. Melody Kelly (my boss's boss), Suzanne Sears (my boss), and I are going to give a three-part talk about censorship of government information, in honor of--you guessed it--Banned Books Week. If you'd like to see my wiki notes, handouts, or lecture text, you can always snag it off my wiki.

I've got my three presentations for San Antonio Public Libraries mostly done (not that you'd know it from my wiki page--for once I've been hand-writing my notes)--save for the screenshots, which of course will require no less than three hours of struggle and some mild cursing at my laptop. The Library 2.0 technologies and the "Keeping Up as a 21-st Century Librarian" talks both came together really easily--it's more the basic tech competencies for librarians that I'm struggling with. I think it's because I have an hour, so I want to do more than say, "this is what you ought to know--now learn it." But then again I only have an hour... and I can't possibly teach the intricacies of ten basic tech competencies in that amount of time. I'll have to find some kind of happy compromise and point them to some great resources to follow-up on their own.

In any case, I am very, very excited about the SAPL event. And my mom's looking forward to attending; I've been telling her than since she can't get Wordperfect 5.0 installed on her computer, and she hates MS Word, she really just ought to use a wiki. It's got the simple, code-revealing mark-up she wants (without really realizing that's what she wants), plus she can access it from any computer without having to save it to a USB drive or floppy or whatnot. And she can have all the old versions backed up... yeah, she's wiki-bound, I tell ya.

Well, I'd better sign off. I need to finish printing those handouts for tonight and down a few cough-drops.

Happy Constitution Day!

Our GovDocs Department went out to Wooten Hall this morning, home of PoliSci majors, to hand out pocket constitutions. We had close to 300 constitutions at 8:30 this morning.

By 9am, we were nearly out.

That certainly beat our projected goal of handing out 300 by 10:30! I guess we'll have to buy more next year.


We printed labels with our department name, URL, and phone number, and placed them on the front of the Constitutions in the hopes that it sparks more traffic at our public service desk.



We've also got a lovely constitution-themed display on the first floor of Willis Library, where we stashed a few more constitutions.

For more Constitution Day fun and learning, check out NARA's Charters of Freedom Exhibit. It's got high-quality images and text transcripts of the Constitution and other founding documents.

My Beef with the Press

Ah, the great love/hate relationship of... any organization, I'll bet... with the press. They promote us, they're necessary--and yet often they misquote, misconstrue, or as in this example, completely twist the headline to not match the story, but purely for the shock value (and therefore snagging themselves more readers).

The title of this article, which I found on the front page of Yahoo News?
"Despite demand, libraries won't add PCs."

Yes, the article goes on to explain that many public libraries don't have the facilities (either the room, the outlets, or the power grid) or the budget to support additional computers. But is that what the headline connotes to you? Doesn't it rather sound like libraries are uncaring, irrelevant institutions? Wouldn't that make you, as a potential patron, mad?

Well, it made me mad just to read it, as a librarian. I'm really steamed that this is the instant message that the Associated Press is sending out to our patrons. Thanks, AP, thanks.

Zombie Attack Thwarted by Library Staff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUxp3E3YUdQ

This is why I love librarians. (And zombie movies.)

(Apologies for cross-posting. It was utterly relevant to both of my blogs.)

To Amuse You During Your Lunch Break...

Been wondering what libraries are doing in Second Life? Would you like to get a preview before downloading the bloated SL software? Check out the 7-minute intro video over at the FGI blog.

Oh, they've also linked to a great video about copyright and fair use, created using Disney characters' dialogue. Great, great fun.

It's a Great Sign...

...when you come back from a meeting and your face hurts from all the laughing. Yay for a fun group of librarians interested in podcasting!

We're discussing our initial test for when the ordered equipment comes in, and we're pondering a library tour (just in time for new students in the fall!). Since I'll probably be the designated "expert" talking on the podcast for the GovDocs area, I'm pondering what items to highlight in the brief time alloted during the tour. Here are my initial thoughts:

• maps (specifically, geology students)
• data
• lots of historic data, sources
• much of the information is public-domain
• online resources
• covers all subject areas

I don't want to overwhelm new students with information, but specifically want to point out how relevant and interesting Docs are. Any other great ideas?

Unrelated Banter:
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette says:

Graphic novels, Embracing

Every library has at least one librarian who is a graphic novel enthusiast. This person will argue vehemently for a new graphic novel collection for your library. Give him a paltry budget to spend each year just to shut him up. It will be money well spent.

Hee, hee. So there are others out there.

Docs in Denver

So, here I am at DLC. My brain's a bit confused from having just been in San Antonio--I spent Saturday and Sunday attempting to decompress at home (as well as finishing up calendar pages for the UNT Albino Squirrel Memorial to be unveiled tomorrow at Willis Library's Cyber Cafe). Note to self: if job continues to heavily emphasize graphic design, be sure to somehow procure a faster computer and more network drive space.

At some point, I'll have to get my impressions of TLA down in a post... for now, I'm ready to finish this post and sit down with my highlighter and my book to review. I took a lot of hard-copy notes that I want to get into my wiki as soon as possible... I fear that may be difficult to do, as emails and work have no doubt been piling up while I've been playing the jet-setting traveling librarian. The highlights of TLA in a nutshell, however, were:

• seeing my new boss's (yes, it's official!) passionate presentation
• Lesley Williams's incredible session on promoting e-collections
• hearing UNT's name mentioned in every single session I attended on digital intiatives
• going to lunch with my mom (former high school librarian, now art league librarian), three UNT colleagues, and my future boss

And I've got to say--Denton Reads is paying off in a huge way not only for the community of Denton, but for the community of Denton librarians. Because of my involvement in Denton Reads, I knew a TWU librarian and a Denton Public librarian at TLA. I think this program has really brought Denton librarians together in a great way, as collaborators, and I'm excited to see what an effect this has on our library community in the future.