Winter Term

Hope your holidays were happy.

If you signed up for an on-campus or online winter classes, you are officially behind! Get going on your work because you only have three weeks to do it in.

Slush Week

I do not know what this week is called. We have an odd empty week between Fall Semester and Winter Term. I have been referring to it in my mind as slush week, and today that seem to fit. We got hail and rain and hail today. It is very cold for Del Norte county, which averages a low of 40°F in the winter. Usually it is like spring and summer all year round. This week it has felt more like winter.

Most students have already started their holiday breaks and are off relaxing with their families. If you can't relax until you have all your finals back, you should come into the library. I have papers to hand back from Mr. Owen's classes, Mr. Freneau's classes Ms. Ross' class and all the language classes (ASL, French, Spanish). I also have the art you submitted for the art show.

All next week the whole campus is closed down. We hope you have a wonderful break and a good time celebrating with your family.

Finals

If you are like most students I have talked to, you are nearing the last couple of your finals. Maybe you jsut have to finish your research paper or study a little bit more. Don't Panic. It will end soon enough. Sleep is for after finals, anyway.

Good Luck!

Shopping with plastic does not hurt as much

Scientists have found that shopping with paper money triggers a sense of loss with each purchase. Buying things on credit does not. This is part of the reason people tend to overspend when purchasing items with credit cards rather than cash. Purchasing items with credit cards makes the fun parts of our brains feel good like all shopping does, but without any of the negative reactions our brains have to paying with cash.

It's not your fault America owes 750 billion dollars to credit card companies for products we have, more than likely, already consumes. It's your brain's fault.

Read more about it in the most recent Newsweek.

the foggy fog fog fog

4 hours ago it was sunny and warm. Two hours ago it was sunny. Now, a coud of thick gray fog has floated it and visibility is in the 100's of yards. Walking in the fog is like watching an old movie that has gotten stretched and faded sitting in the sun on a too-tight reel. And it feels like getting wrapped in a cold blanket, thick and surrounding, but clammy and not really that welcome. I lived in the Portland area for 18 months about a decade ago, so I thought I was prepared for the Northwestern weather here in Crescent City, but I was wrong. I do not recall fog like this in Seaside. I still like it, don't get me wrong. But fog is different than rain.

If it is dirty, people will make it worse

Scientists are always wondering what makes things tick. What makes the earth work? What makes the machines work and what makes our brains work? They may have figured out why people tend to contribute to messes that are already in progress. If a wall has graffiti on it, people are more likely to litter and do other socially unacceptable acts. So if you want people to treat your stuff nicely, you had better clean up your yard!

Read more about it here.

Just a little librarian humor

But seriously folks, our online book offerings are awesome. You can find many different subjects and they can be read from any library computer and even your home computer if you sign up ahead of time.

Sure you can surf, but can you research?

There is a gaping difference between the skills needed to find directions to a friend's house and those needed to research and move information forward as expected in academic settings. Specifically, "the researcher of tomorrow must have the skill to extract the required information from these [internet] sources in an effective and efficient manner, while evaluating and using it ethically." This, according to Marsha Spiegelman and Richard Glass, is the goal of Information Literacy, and by default, the goal of college libraries as well.

Do you know where the information on Wikipedia came from and why it is correct or misinformed?
Can you tell the difference between ranting and research?
You do not really know how to use the internet until you do.

short week

Thanksgiving always makes such a welcome short week. So I will keep this short too. Happy Thanksgiving.

Art Show Winners

Come to the hallway gallery to see over 100 art entries created by students in one of our 4 art classes this fall. There are paintings, drawings, photography and ceramic pieces in every shape and color imaginable. Come see if you recognize anyone in the portraits or one of the places in the landscapes. The reception went well and many people from the community came out to see the work the students have done.

Art Show

Tomorrow is the last day to submit entries into the fall art show. If you are taking an art class, pleas bring your art down to the library. It will be judged on Friday with a reception for a first chance to see who won and what our students have been doing this semester. There will even be some cookies hopefully.

Microscope on your cell phone.

I don't know about you, but I am always wishing I had a way to use a microscope when I am in the middle of a national forest (I'm Liken the Lichen) or surrounded by beach grass and mushrooms (I found the fairy!). Well, someone has invented the perfect tool for these close-up inspections. Designed to diagnose skin and blood problems in undeveloped regions of the world, I can think of tons of other fun things to do with the Cellscope. Very cool. Read more about it here.

Parade and being Green

Tomorrow, don't miss the veteran's day parade. It should be short and sweet, with lots of veterans and scouts.

Also tomorrow is the "It's a Green Day" celebration at the Fairgrounds with other displays at the middle school. Come learn how to grow your own food and make your own power.

Three days of rain

The weather forecasts call for three days of rain in a row. So that got me thinking about things to do on a rainy day. These could be used for you as a college student, or even for your children, with a few adjustments.

1. Bake cookies and give some to your family or friends. Everyone likes cookies.

2. Have a Film Festival at Home. Pick movies on a similar theme, time period or all with the same actor or director and see what differences and similarities you fins. For example: WWII--rent Schindler's list, Saving Private Ryan and Bridge over the River Kwai and Stalag 17. or for Civil War, rent Glory, Gettysberg, Gone with the Wind and Shenandoah. For Meg Ryan, rent When Harry Met Sally, You've got Mail and Kate and Leopold. for movies by the director Hayao Miyazaki, try Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service.


3. Play Scrabble with anyone else who doesn't feel like getting wet.

4. Come to the library and check out two books: one related to a class you are taking and one just for fun. Then read them.

The election is over and we have a President

If you voted, the nation would like to thank you for your service. President-elect Obama is starting the really hard part of the job now. Getting elected is just the beginning. No matter who you voted for, come inauguration day, Obama will be OUR President. Working together to solve our problems is the only thing that makes sense.

election map just for fun

At least for today there is a fun way to play with the electoral college. Go to this site and YOU decide which candidate each state will vote for. Watch the numbers go up and down and the states change color as you do. Have fun and don't forget to vote. Here in Crescent City, the polls are open until 8pm. We are lucky. The lines are not too long.

post 100

Are you feeling full of childlike Halloween fun? Well, check out this site for 100 fun things to with a pumpkin. 100 things

photos of the library

I have found a photo of the library online I didn't know existed. Thought I would share.

Ewoks in Del Norte county

Well, not now. But 25 years ago the place was crawling with them. Our own redwoods played the set for many of the scenes from Return of the Jedi. Check it out in Saturday's Daily Triplicate or read it online here.

How distinct are the marbles murrelet?

A Pacific Northwest bird whose endangered status has protected over 89,000 hectares of old Redwoods could be declared the same species as their Canadian cousins, which are more plentiful. Scientists are at odds over whether the birds represent one species or two. They have a year to decide. In the meantime, here is a photo in case you are lucky enough to see one.

Did racism die in 1996?

According to Science, a journal writing on all things relating to the field, race may be the last factor Americans are considering when it comes to choosing a President. Although many social scientists have warned about a "Bradley affect" where the poll show an African-American candidate in the lead but on the actual election day he or she loses, such an affect has not occurred since 1996. But social scientists and pollster and political analysists alike are fascinated with the idea. Is it possible people would lie to a pollster? Who is likely to do so and when? Some of these answers will only be known in two weeks when people go to vote for real.

This weekend

Are you bored this weekend? Well there is nothing going on at the college, but Crescent City has lots going on.

The Dance troupe Polaris is coming to town and will be performing at the Crescent Elk Auditorium at 7:30 pm on Saturday.

Also, Del Norte's own Habitat for Humanity is hosting a fundraising dinner on Saturday at 5:30 at the Crescent City Cultural Center: "A House by the Sea, a Place to be."

See you there.

Too much sweet stuff

Have you ever wondered why a bee, hummingbird or other pollinator would choose to go from flower to flower rather than finishing up all the pollen at one flower? Well, I always assumed they did finish up the pollen in each flower. Turns out I was wrong. Many flower types (specifically the desert tobacco) have a sweet scent and a bitter side (in this case nicotine). Why would a plant choose to attract a pollinator and then scare it off? To diversity the gene pool, of course. Self-pollinators like the desert tobacco don't technically need other flowers to produce seeds, but having them around diversifies the population and ensures larger seedpods which means more flowers.

Don't believe me? Read about it yourself in the 29 August 2008 Science journal.

Not CGI

These are real plastic black balls (over 400,000 of them) released into a Los Angeles resevoir. The idea? to stop harmful bromate from forming. Sunlight is required to transform chlorine and bromide into the harmful bromate. LA officials figured: no sunlight nor bromate.

They will be there for five years.

Are you into black and white?

Black and white photographs are the quindicential symbol of history. Simply making a photo black and white makes it timeless and brings out amazing detail we would otherwise miss.

Did you know we are offering a photography class in the short three week term in December and January? This would be a great chance to really learn how to capture all those cool things you see around you.

Also, if you just like seeing in black and white, check out the Library of Congress' account on Flickr. you can view photos from years gone by and even comment or label them if know more about the photos they posted. Check it out!

What's your 856?

In cataloging, each field has a number which indicates more about the book and its subject, publication date and so forth. Field 856 has been used at the Library of Congress as a way to indicate a record has been digitized (or otherwise made available electronically). Digitizing books has been going on for 0over a decade, but the availability of those records on the open web is a fairy recent development. Google Books has scanned in literally millions of books from libraries and partner publishers, enabling people to access information and authors at an amazing rate. Librarians can use cataloging fields like 856 to indicate the record is available in a place besides the shelf in your local library.

The College of the Redwoods provides access for students to two separate sets of digitized information. The first are e-books as part of NetLibrary, a collection of books you can see all the information as laid out on the printed page, including photographs and diagrams. The other set of digitized information are the indexed periodical databases available here.

The lesson here is that you no longer have to attend a huge university to access a large amount of information.

the Debate

My mind is all pictures today and no words.

MLA format cheat sheet

Did you leave your St. martin's handbook at home again?

Is it impossible to remember when to use a comma and when to use parentheses in your citations?

Never fear, MLA citation guide is here.

Wit extensive examples and explanations, this is the best thing for writing a paper since reading your teacher's directions!

New employee

The Del Norte Library has hired a new library assistant to work in the evenings. So starting Wednesday October 6, the library will be open from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm Monday through Thursday and 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on Friday.

Join me in Welcoming Lisa!

Lots of New Videos

We received 8 new DVDs and DVD sets today. They include The Presidents (the first 43 at least - 3 volumes), Blue Planet (5 volumes), Gettysburg, Life's Greatest Miracle, World's most Dangerous Drug, Addiction, Planet Earth (5 volumes) and 7 volumes of "Religions of the World."

We also got a Book on CD as well: The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.

This doubles our offering on CD :) and greatly improves our DVD collection as well. What, you didn't know we had DVDs? Well, I am not surprised. They were hiding in the back stack for a long time. Now they are out on the side of the criculation desk. Come on in. Hopefully there is one you like.

This is important

Anna Quindlen has "The Last Word" in this week's Newsweek and she uses it to remind us that, "every time you vote you make your kids a promise. It's a promise that you will look past cheap slogans and lazy alliances to try to find a way to make America worthy of a new generation."

We need to decide who to vote for based on honest, detailed answers to well-thought-out and relevant questions. Using rumor, quotes out of context and gender or race to decide who will run our country will be a decision we all regret as soon as it is made.

If you want to read her whole article, it is here.

Late-start classes today

Today is the first day for several of our late-starting classes (others start tomorrow). If you have not signed up for as many classes as you want to take this semester, this is your last chance to get into the classes you want. They include Sociology, Psychology, English and a Dance class.

Happy Constitution Day

Hope you are having a great day with the freedoms first conceived by the Constitution over 220 years ago.

Today we had a booth manned by employees and volunteers to encourage students to register to vote and to educate them about the constitution.

We handed out about 50 voter registrations, and 40 constitutions in booklet form. We connected with a lot of students who had not managed to register yet and I feel confident in calling it a success. Thanks to all the brave men and women who posed the question, " are you registered to vote yet" to strangers as they passed by!

Patriotism

I am most struck when two events or ideas come to me at the same time. It is the intersection of the two things which I don't usually connect together that triggers a memory and interest response in my mind.
I have been putting some things together for our upcoming Constitution Day display when I read a government employee blog about September 11. I have heard several people today contemplate where they were 7 years ago when New York City was attacked and the whole of the United States stood in horrified silence. The necessity of a 220 year old document designed to establish a just government is even more evident to me now.
The atrocities our country experienced on that day should not have happened. But the reaction of the people and the government to such an event must always be legal and cause less pain, not more.
As Election Day approaches, I encourage you to vote your conscience and hope for a peaceful American future, whichever candidates you choose.

Travel Papers

Within the last few years, passports have become mandatory for anyone crossing an American border (at least legally). Now a new program using cards instead of booklets is being introduced which will reduce the cost of international identification. Passports are still necessary for air travel, but land and sea crossings can be done for nearly half the cost with a convenient card. Check out the details here. And start planning your Canadian vacation now.

Looks like a good weekend for a picnic

Del Norte County should be sunny and pleasant this weekend. Some nice places to picnic might be the beaches (Pebble, South, Kellogg, Endert, Pelican State, etc.) or the Parks (redwoods, Tolowa Dunes, Mill Creek, Jebediah Smith, etc.).

Scariest article I have read in a while

I thought it was only me and Crescent City, but apparently, the whole nation is experiencing heart-wrenching decisions on a weekly, if not daily, basis. The article was "Welcome to the Frozen Economy" by Shoshana Zuboff. It is in this week's Business Week. Crescent City is facing the same decisions.

Many people have come into the library looking for jobs, but even more have come in hoping to find housing. I point them them towards the resources we have: the job board and the local listings online. But I never really know how most stories turn out. They are usually looking for housing at prices that do not exist. Or for the job that pays what they need to survive on. I am n0t sure they always find it.

Prices cause even people with "good" jobs to make decisions they would not have considered several years ago. If this does not describe your life, then count your blessings and save your pennies.

Political Speeches

I read an article from the Smithsonian yesterday and it got me thinking. It was an article about the debates between hopeful Senatorial candidates Lincoln and Douglas. Increasing technology had transformed these debates from local events to a dialouge of national interest. The article can be read here.

Then last night I saw the first of the two major candidates for President speak. I was struck by the similarities. Including the increasing technology increasing awareness on a nationwide basis. In fact, each of the three big boy channels were playing their own versions of the acceptance speech. Not to mention the news channels.

I was struck by the similarities and thought I would share.

Ebook and google book advances

Ebooks (digital books available online or through subscription) took two more steps forward this year as the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) encouraged publishers to migrate to the .epub format for its books. increasing uniformity or at least transferability between formats will increase readership and reduce costs associated with multiple players for each format.

Also Google and the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) have partnered to connect Google Book Search with WorldCat.org, the international card catalog online. This means that patrons will be able to search for a book and find it in nearby libraries or even scanned online.

This news is especially good for a small location like our because it increases our access to information from just our stacks to books located in many locations online and in other colleges.

Busy busy

Well I know you are all as busy as I am. I see you running around, trying to add one more class, trying to get that one last book that was on back order, writing papers (already!), and there has been a lot of reading. Good to have you all back.

I want to say Thank you to each of the professors and instructors this year. We have a lot of books on reserve, and that really helps students bridge the gap when their is late in coming or forgotten at home.

Remember that Monday is Labor Day, so the whole campus is closed. Go have one last picnic of the summer!

Welcome back to School!

Fall Semester begins today. So print out your schedule and pull out your map.

The library hours remain at 8:30am to 5pm for the time being. Any changes will be posted on this blog and on the door and library website.

Good Luck with all your classes!

New library webpage

Our new library webpage is up! Check it out here. What this means in the long run, is that this blog will be migrating over to the new page. More on that once I get the right software and so forth.

Remember, the library is closed tomorrow and will open at noon on Friday.

Books on reserve

I have been figuring which textbooks we have in the library that I can put on reserve for students to use. Many of them are older editions, so if you are an instructor here who wants an updated text on reserve, please bring me one. Hopefully by tomorrow the online catalog should reflect which books are really on reserve. The bookstore is open all this week and next week from 9 am to 6pm (with an hour lunch between 1 and 2).

Last week before school starts

Lots of new enrollees and people filling out financial aid applications online.

The end of last week was very busy with deadlines for the Writing Conference, things that needed to be changed and so on.

This week will be busy because of convocation: a yearly orientation for employees at our college. Because of it, the Library will be closed on Thursday and will not open until noon on Friday. But you have all day Tuesday and Wednesday with the library open for all your internet, computer and book borrowing needs.

Native American poetry

I got two books back from re-cataloging today that caught my attention. The first is Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1900-1970, an anthology of short stories. The other book is The Dirt is Red Here: Art and Poetry from Native California. It has a number of fascinating poems and art like this one by Sylvia Ross:

SISTERS

Talking at the table until late
When everyone else is asleep

Sister, we are the bear women
We wear abalone shell necklaces
We carry baskets
We hold our men in great bear women
Arms

Sister, we were too far apart
In our births
We never played together
Never danced with the same boys
Didn't share small children
Like other Sisters did

But while you talk
Our mother's voice comes out of
Your wonderful bear woman mouth
Our mother's laugh shakes your belly
Though it is much smaller
Than hers ever was

My sister, we are the bear women
We have the power
To crash through brush, to smash
The clouds and pluck stars down
To make a meal

Sister tonight your voice
Brings our mother back to us
Her great bear woman presence
Fills all the space
Of this room.

New Books: photos and Hemingway

We received two new books today: Caring for Photographs and the Ernest Hemingway Audio collection with Snows of Kilimanjaro, Old man and the Sea and selected works read by Hemingway himself.

The clouds are out and it's a beautiful day to have Hemingway read to you.

Weekend in Del Norte

There will be a farmer's market again this Saturday: get there early for the best selection.

Also, at 9 a.m on Saturday there will be a volunteer clean up at Elk Creek. Pizza King is sponsoring it and will be supplying pizza for anyone who comes to help.

Sunday at 1 pm at Tolowa Dunes State Park & Lake Early Wildlife Area , the friends of the Dunes are having a Tide Pools and Beach Ecology with Maggie Stoudnour hike.

With these great events planned and miles of beach and mountain trails, you shouldn't be bored this weekend.

computers all in place

But new computers always need tweaking. Little changes that the restricted user does not have the power to change. Sometimes, even a power user cannot change.

I am getting closer to knowing which books are here and which are not.

The library will be closed on Thursday the 20th and Friday the 21st for convocation, which means beginning of the year meetings.

Busy and then not

After a morning of inventory, shelving and a ton of students using computers, the afternoon was slow enough I was able to get some desk work done. Now there is more shelving and book searching to do. At least I won't be bored tomorrow.

I am starting a new book, a book on historical fiction called, Johnny One-Eye. It is set during the revolutionary period and my librarian's journal said it was a good one. I have not read much fiction recently, except for Harry Potter. But that has been a few years now. I will keep you posted.

For those keeping score on the old post about the three presidential hopeful books I got, Obama was checked out twice, McCain once and Hillary Clinton not at all.

Computers

the brand new computers are all set up for the students here in the library. Now if we can only get the computers behind the desk to work...
I decided to switch out my old computers for slightly less old ones being replaced by the new computers. It was not that easy. Some specific programs are not wanting to be installed on different computers. Jim spent most of today trying to figure it out. It is not working. Computers are great. Until they are not.

Del Norte County Fair

If you are in Crescent City, you can't help but notice we are having our county fair. The fairgrounds are abuzz with activity. It should be a lot of fun.

The college has also been very busy. Classes end next week, so a lot of students have final papers and projects to finish. We are also getting a lot of new studnets. That's right, it is not too late to register. We have several dedicated counselors ready to help you decide which classes to take, how to pay for it and what you want to be when you grow up. Okay, you might have to decide that one on your own, but the counselors can point you in the right direction.

The library will be open regular hours next week and even during the two weeks between summer and fall. See you then!

The Library has new Computers

The guys from IT imaged them yesterday and today I set up all my new computers. There are 10 total, which leaves a few in the study rooms still 5 years old, but nothing is older than that anymore. I am hoping to get photos up here soon. The students have already remarked on how much faster they are.

Ignore Rice and Try Wild Potatoes

In the July 11, 2008 Science Journal, there are two articles which struck me as odd. And a good reason to eat potatoes. First off was "Arsenic and Paddy Rice" which was a scary article about the large amounts of inorganic arsenic finding its way into the watery rice fields and then into our food supply. They are working on a solution to reduce the amount to within acceptable limits, but in the meantime, you can eat potatoes. "Celebrating Spuds" is an article and accompanying photograph about the large and varied wild potatoes. They come in a variety of shapes and colors. I wonder if they have different flavors, too.

Weekend plans

If you don't know what to do tomorrow, I have two suggestions: go to the farmers' market at the fairgrounds for some fresh produce and baked goods. Also, I hear Fern Canyon is lovely this time of year. Or find one of the other hundreds of trails here in Del Norte county. Hope to see you out there!

Blue skies and light breezes

It looks so pleasant through my windows here. Definitely a "go play outside" day. But not if you are working. or taking a class. Then it is a "stay inside and finish what you need to do" day. But for all you kids and retirees out there, I encourage you go go have fun. It should be like this all week. We hope.

Banks then and now.

In This week's Newseek, we are struck by two photos placed in Juxtoposition. They were shot 70 years apart, but they are eerily similar. Click here.
The photos are of people lining up, hoping to get some of their money out of a failing bank. I am not a financial guru or even an accountant, so I do not fully understand all the things that went wrong, I just hope someone knows how to fix it.

New computer carrels

We got three new computer carrels today. They are sturdy and match our current decor. They also have privacy panels so you can write a paper without feeling like your neighbor is peering over your shoulder. I hope to include photos in a few days.

New books on nursing and literature

We got several new books today: Essentials of Nursing Leadership and Management and Later works by Richard Wright.

We had a rush in the library today between 12 and 3pm. Every computer was full, quite unusual for a Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Plants in the hot seat

I read an interesting article and part of the accompanying report online which brings up the question of the survivability of plants in an increasingly warm world. Plants can't migrate, so they are at more risk than most animals. It remind me of the increasing intersest in locally endagnered native plants like the darlingtonia californica (see the stories here and here)

Extinction

I have been catching up on a backlog of some journals our Biology teacher and photographer Bob Mize donates to the library after he has finished reading them. World Watch had a number of interesting articles about endangered animals facing extinction without us knowing it. The tiger has had a dramatic decrease in numbers across the species. Also a number of unusual animals are fading before we even get a chance to understand them. These include the saiga antelope and the slender loris. They are both on the watch list of an organization from the Zoological Society of London. Their website (http://www.edgeofexistence.org/) helps us to understand more about the 564 animals facing extinction. Go check it out. Some of the species I did not know even existed.

changing of the terms

Our early summer term has ended and today is the first day of our late summer term. I have papers to hand back to Psych 33 and right now the front desk has Psych 1, but that may change.

The fire that was burning near Highway 199 over the weekend is under control. The fire meant no Gasquet River Raft Races on Saturday. But that means you did not miss it, since they have rescheduled it for this Saturday instead.

The bookstore is open today thru Thursday, so if you need to buy books for this term, now is your chance.

Millenial Makeover wrap-up

I think in some senses Mr. Hinograd is an optimist. He has great hopes, backed by some historical patterns, that the upcoming generation of voters will take on political problems with a new perspective. According to him, they favor environmental causes, strengthening the middle class, and introducing changes into the healthcare system. He bases these conclusions on the tendency toward groups the Millennials have shown already. They have a clear sense of fairness and playing nice. They are the most colorblind generation of Americans ever and they want things to be equitable for people economically, socially, etc. Millenials also prefer an individualized approach: they are used to being able to change their MySpace pages to fit their personalities. This could change the way we administer public schools.

If you have enjoyed my sporadic reviews of this book, it is now available to check out here in the library. If you found a book you want to tell the CR community about, let me know. I am not opposed to guest reviews on this blog.

Fireworks in the Fog

For anyone who was within 30 feet of the fireworks on Friday, the view was great. For everyone else, fog obscured most of it. When we went down to the park to see the city fireworks, all we could see were ghostly jelly fish floaty in the sky and then disappearing. It was a neat effect, but I did not bring a camera.

Several classes are finishing up and a number of students are signing up for classes starting in July. Good luck with everything. I hope you get good grades and the classes you want.

If you are looking for a elective this fall, try creative writing :poetry. It is only offered once a year.

Happy 4th of July

Tomorrow, that is. The whole campus is closed for the holiday. But we will all be back Monday. See you then.

How bugs mate

Although it is not perfect in its depiction (see comments on the site itself) a new series of short films attempts to show some of the hows of bug reproduction. Written by and starring Isabella Rossellini, Green Porno is produced by the Sundance Channel. It would probably raise more questions than answers for the elementary set, but as college students I think you can all handle a woman dressed as a bug pretending to mate with a similarly dressed cardboard cutout.

Fun and Fascinating.

If you like that, come on in and read the reference book "Insects : their natural history and diversity : with a photographic guide to insects of eastern North America" here in the library.

New President at the College of the Redwoods

Today is our new president's first day. Read all about it in a newspaper article here.


If you have art from the art show or papers given to Letko or tests taken from Owen, please come to the library and pick them up. I am going to start a round of calling the art owners again, but that is not as much fun as finishing a book about the changing political system.

Fines begin Tomorrow

Up until now, we have had extensive grace periods that meant you were not charged fines unless the book was more than a month overdue. No more. all late books will now be fines at the rate of 10 cents per day we are open (50 cents per week). So return those books on time!

Or better yet, renew them yourself at My library

Persnickety connection

Our connection between Del Norte and and Eureka campus is very touch and go today.

In addition, the library has to close at 1:30 today. See you on Monday!

Two New books

We received two new books today. The first is the Atlas of Human Migration, a photo-rich coffeetable book showing how man has moved over the face of several different continents. The other is called War and The Soul and it focuses on the damage that war can do to our perceptions and morals.

It's all about how you use it.

I am still trying to finish the Millennial Makeover book I told you about. Its current essence is that the internet, web 2.0 and associated technologies are not intrinsically political, effective or good. Success with technology depends to a great degree on how they are used. Just like guns, publishing houses, and even chocolate, both good and evil can be had depending on how they are used. The author is dedicated to his perception of the generalized empathetic and civilly minded personality of the Millennials.

I am not sold on the idea that generations have personalities. Or rather I am not convinced that the personalties we espouse as teenagers and college aged adults remain with us once we get jobs and families, dogs and cats. Most of the things I valued when I was that age no longer hold sway for me. And my mom has very little in similarity with the hippy she once was. I am not convinced personality of a population is maintainable.

Preferences on contact method change as well. Right now texting and IMing are popular, but they may not be in 20 years.

It's time to put on your big boy pants.

For too long, I am afraid we have coddled our students. However, college should be about preparing people for real life and that means being responsible for your own actions. Even when it comes to the library.

Starting July 1, 2008 there will be some changes to how we bill late fees. Currently, we have very long grace periods which basically guarantee that anyone who at least eventually brings a book back will not be charged more than $9. July 1 changes that. We will start enforcing late fees on books and DVDs and other library materials to the tune of 10 cents per day. Fines under $9 will be paid to a clerk (or me) in the library. Fines higher than that will still have to paid for at the main office.

More details to follow.

Connecting people with their passions

I think that headline is what most librarians really enjoy about their jobs. We don't get into the Library Business to make lots of money or even to read lots of books (although if we are lucky we might get to do a little of each of those things). No, we become passionate about libraries I think because we enjoy helping people find the things they are looking for. Or perhaps the things they didn't know they were looking for.
I found a 1980 video on the Pioneers of French Cinema while doing inventory today. Besides thinking of the hundreds of people who would not want to watch the video, I also thought of a young student who had recently checked out several books about reading and speaking French and couldn't help but glow as she gushed about how much she liked French.

She happened to come in today, and I looked at her blankly, knowing there was something I was supposed to tell her, but not remembering what. After 20 seconds I got it.
"Do you like watching French, too. Or just reading it?," I asked conspiratorially.
"I like anything French," came her answer. I showed her the video and she excitedly checked it out.
Another successful day for Lynn the Librarian.

Stuff to do this Saturday

There are a lot of things planned for Crescent City tomorrow, so if you are in town, I hope to see you there. Tomorrow is the first day for the Farmers' Market this year. I am excited to see what kinds of produce this lush area produces. The annual health fair is being held too, both events at the County Fairgrounds.

Downtown they are painting a Mural in a Day and having a variety of sidewalk sales and it should be lots of fun.

Inventory

I spent several hours today staring at a computer screen, trying to match the row of numbers for books we have with the row of numbers for the books the computer thinks we have. Now I have to figure out where 20 of my books went. That was just for the reference section.

Late Posting and plans

It is almost closing time. I have been calling students and handing out art all day today, if I didn't call you yet, I will unless you come in to pick up your painting or ceramic piece.

Some of you may be wondering how that book Millenial Makover turns out. Well, I still wonder myself, but I am halfway through. Some of his ideas are very interesting, which is why I keep reading. The cornerstone of the theory is that new technology brings with it a new way to contact and energize voters and whichever candidate utilizes the new technology the best wins over the new techno-savvy voters. Right now netroots (or grassroots merged with the internet) is winning over new democrats, primarily. using blogs, websites and emails.

More books to come check out!

We have four new books today.

The Secret Pulse of Time concentrates on helping each person to change their attitude toward time and thus to change their interactions with it. If you are convinced you are out of time and frantically react to that idea, you will achieve less than if you embrace time and its flightiness and utilize it better. At least that is what I got from the description. Leave a comment if you read this book and have anything to say about it.

The Encyclopedia of Judaism is a new Reference book we have. Trying to round off our religious offerings. Discovery is a new photo intense book which showcases some of the more recent archaeological discoveries with photos of the artifacts and human remains found as well as photographs and drawings of the digs where the items were found.

The last new book is called Facial Expression. It is a drawing book concentrating on that most difficult and yet tantalizing of objects to draw: the human face with all its expressions and moods. It examines the face as a whole as well as piece by piece from the eyes to the chin and everything in between.

CR Del Norte is Buzzing.

Classes start today for most of our summer students. I have had quite a few questions on English and Poli Sci books. Unfortunately, we only have books on reserve that professors give us. I am working on getting some publishers to send us desk copies to put on reserve, but that may take a while.

For summer classes, we currently have the book for Biol 1, Psych 33 and Spch 1.

Also, if Prof. Sara took your artwork up to Brookings for the art show, it is now available for pick up in the library. I will call you soon if I do not see you in the next few days.

The Library is Closed Thursday and Friday

And I know that is hard for a lot of you. But, to make it up to you, a student will be in the writing lab from 10 am to 3pm. You can use the internet, do your online classes, write papers and use email in there just like you can in the library. But you don't get me and you don't get the books.

I will see you on Monday.

New Books PC to RG

We now have a book for Bilingual (English and Spanish) kids which may help our ECE students better communicate with their students.

We also got The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 Nice compact set. Although there is no year, which is weird. They are not brand new and they look in extraordinarily good shape, but I wish I knew the year. They have the old style ragged cut edges. Anyway, they were published posthumously, we can all be sure.

One of our professors from Mendicino County took a sabbatical to write a book and we have a pre-publication copy in reference and one in general circulation as well. It is called The Explorer's Guide to The Natural World of Mendicino County. Now we just need to convince someone to do the same thing for Del Norte County. That would be so cool. Any volunteers?

Medicine Women is a book filled with photographs and biographies of women involved with medicine from Greek and Roman times through the modern age. Not inclusive by any means, as it is fewer than 100 women, but it is interesting how medicine and the women who practiced it have changed over the centuries.

Finally we got the Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by Shelia Kitzinger. We did not have any books on this subject from the last couple decades, so I thought it time to get some updated information for our pregnant students as well as our CNA and LVN students.

BL to NC new books

While doing more inventory scannin, I was surprised by the secretary carrying in a box of new books. Seems like that is going to make the inventory problematic...
oh well


We got books in a huge variety of subjects. I will tell you about the first half today.

Pilgrimage is an interesting photo intensive book following twenty different pilgrimages across many cultures and religions. First Families is an interesting photo intensive book featuring photographs of Native Americans in California from the last century, with descriptions and tribes identified in each photo.

Revolutionary Characters: What made the founders Different seeks to paint written portraits of eight of the original "American Worthies" from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to Aaron Burr. Should be an interesting read for any history buff.

How to Flunk out of Community College offers 101 proven ways to mess up college, but a lot more suggestions on how to overcome your own foibles and succeed. We also got the Animator's Survival Kit: a big paperback which details how to be an animator, from angles and multiple images to expressions and more. I had a student complain that the art teacher did not like her cartoon images (I could not blame the art teacher, who was trying to teach realistic drawing techniques, not every subject related to drawing every student might ever want to learn). It got me thinking, though that once a student knows how to draw reasonably well, he or she may wish to develop further skills like animation and comic styles (coming in a future shipment).

Summer Days

Things were slow again today. But there is always inventory to do and mending the books I find during inventory.

Please note: the library will be closed next Thursday and Friday. There will be a student in the writing lab from 10 am to 3pm. So if you need to use the computers in the library for a class or so forth, I will direct you to the writing lab during those hours.

Busier

Today the library was much busier. People finally came out of hiding.

The Books go marching one by one

Today (and yesterday and probably tomorrow) I am doing inventory. This means I am going to scan each book in the library, and double-check those against the list of books we think we have. I am interested to see how they mesh.

This week has been painfully slow. All the students are off enjoying their break. Or working.

I have a few stalwart souls who are using the library right now, but earlier today it was hauntingly empty. All the chairs lined up and pushed in at tables. the computers humming, but no tapping or shuffling. Just silence.

Benadryl

Today I am on benadryl and I feel like my body and brain are going in slow motion. Did you know that Benadryl was invented by George Rieveschl working at the University of Cincinnati. Rieveschl experimented on lots of ideas, usually trying to stop muscle spasms. Instead he discovered the first antihistamine, used for allergy sufferers.

I don't have allergies, at least I never have had them. But when your legs and back start itching uncontrollably, you are willing to at least try something to make it stop.

I still itch, but not as badly.

But none of this has to do with the library, now does it?

You would think that on a rainy day, you would want to come to the library and stay all day. Not here in Crescent City. There were hardly any visitors to the library today. I can only contribute it to the dreary weather outside.

Is it Monday already?

Some weekends are just not long enough. But then again, neither are some Mondays. I did not get everything done today I was hoping to.

This week, I will be starting an inventory on the books in the library. So if you have a book on your shelf at home, now is the time to turn it in. Once I discover it's missing, I am going to be calling you.....

Just a heads up, next Thursday and Friday (June 12 and 13) the library will be closed. For those students needing to use the computers, we will have the writing lab open from 10 am to 3 pm. Library related questions will have to wait until Monday the 16. Or ask me before the 12th. I will post signs today reminding your friends who don't check my blog yet.

Mushrooms and Physics

The last six new books this week don't really fit together in a particular category except for the fact that they are the last ones.

The first two are about mushrooms: Mycelium Running: how mushrooms can help save the world explores how mushrooms and other fungus can clean water and soil and in general help destroy the pollution we have created. Lots of great color photographs. I also got The Mushroom Cultivator, a book for people who want to grow mushrooms. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we get a lot of rain. A lot of rain means a lot of mushrooms. I figure if the things are going to grow anyway, we might as well learn as much about them as we can.

Lost Mountain is all about the effects of strip mining in Appalachia. The Digital Photography Book: How to make your photos look like the pros' and The Last Word, a book about American Education system are also new this week.

The last book for the week is The Trouble with Physics. I have only started it, but so far it is fascination. It explores string theory and why it is being dismissed and where that leaves the scientific community. Have you read this book? I will comment more on it as I read more of it.

Books on the Mind

The new books for today are all about the mind in one way or another.

The Three Faces of Mind: developing your mental, emotional and behavioral intelligence seeks to increase our self awareness and knowledge of our brains work. This is one I would like to read when there is someone to discuss it with. I'm not sure I could stick with it on my own. Too abstract.

Shyness: how Normal behavior became a Disease addresses the increasing number of people diagnosed with anxiety and show that some of it is just normal emotions. This reminds me of another book we got recently called The loss of sadness, with a similar theme. I doubt I will agree with either of these authors completely, as I know of people for whom drugs helped them through times of shyness or sadness. But I do tend to think that is too easy to diagnose someone when all the evaluations occur in their own mind. Sometimes we all feel shy and sometimes we are all sad.

Concentration by Ernst Wood is an approach to meditation. Everyone needs an approach to that.

The last book for today is Alternative Cures that Really Work. I included this with books on the mind because when it comes right down to it, so many cures depend on the mind as much as on the medicine. This is evidnet in the placebo effect as well as other instances where things that shouldn't work do and things that should work don't.

The Question of God and religion

I recently ordered 5 new books on the subject of God and religion. They are:
The Christian World: A global History and Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling: a cultural biography. These two books about religions from a historical and global perspective will help our students who are taking religions of the world (Phil 15) as they write papers on specific religious movements.

We also got three books which consider God from a variety of different (and conflicting) angles. Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God attempts to explore a variety of cultural explorations of diety including : the God of Fiesta, the god of Love, the God of compassion and God acting Womanly. Chance or Purpose revisits the creation vs. evolution debate using rational thought. The Question of God is an imaginary debate between C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud.

Especially on a campus which teaches philosophy and religion classes, the opportunity for debate and understanding and questions is everywhere. Hopefully these books will help students to add to the debate and understand their own positions and the positions of their neighbors better.

Poetry and Fiction

Perhaps because we are a college library, perhaps because it has been so long since I read a fiction book, but for some reason I have an easier time picking our nonfiction than fiction. But despite my frailties, I managed to pick out 5 new books in those subjects.

They include: Anne Sexton: complete poems: a thick book her photograph on the cover. I probably will not have time to read it all, but I read one, Cinderella, which ended with a familiar ring:

Cinderella and the prince
lived, they say, happily ever after,
like two dolls in a museum case
never bothered by diapers or dust,
never arguing over the timing of an egg,
never telling the same story twice,
never getting a middle-aged spread,
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Regular Bobbsey Twins.
That story.


It just may be my new favorite poem


I also received Sixy Poems by Charles Simic and Poetry on Record: 98 Poets read
their work on CD.  I also selected two works of fiction: Tunnels, which our
English professor says is very good.  It centers on a boy about age 10 who lives
underground.
The last book we got in new is Johnny One-Eye, a revolutionary War Historical
 Novel. It got a great review and I felt like it would be of interest to our
History buffs and our novel buffs.

New Native American Books

I just got two big boxes of books in from Eureka. Rather than just listing them all, I have decided to split them up according to some very general subjects and explain why I chose them. The first pile is Native American books.

We got: Understanding Tolowa Histories: Although we have another book very similar to this one, it is checked out almost the whole semester every year. We teach a Native American Studies class and they always have to write a paper about an aspect of Native American culture or a tribe.

Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes, plus Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country, a Native American Perspective: I got them both because the review I read said they complimented each other very well and show a side of the Lewis and Clark expedition we don't usually see.

Carving Traditions of Northern California: Amazing photographs of carved items from canoes to spoons to toys. wow.

Tribes of California: a thick book covering almost 30 different tribes. traditions, drawings, etc.

Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the missions. We teach a religions of the world class and a Native American Studies class. This book seems like it could be used for reports from either one.

Manual for the Peacemakers: an Iroquois Legend about healing.

Our county is almost 7% Native American and is the ancestral home for two tribes, the Yurok and the Tolowa.

Papers to hand back

If you are one of the dozens of students looking for the tests Professor Owen gave in one of History, Economics or Poli Sci classes, Wait no more. The tests and results are now available in the library. Stop on by.

Remember that the library is closed for Memorial Day this Monday.

The Millennial Makeover has used two analogies to describe the upcoming change in political feeling and influence. One is the generational changes in personality that the authors say happen in 4 generation cycles: every 80 years. This is based on American politics since its inception and shows that we alternate between generations that get stuff done and generations that don't. The other analogy is the Harry Potter analogy. The idea that the old guard and professors equals the babyboomers and the Students are like our millennials and the generation stuck in the middle: the Hagrids, have very little power and are like the generation X. Now I don't like either of these analogies for several different reasons, not the least of which it makes me look like a lazy, fat half-giant. Have you read this book? What do you think?

Presidential Politics

We got a book in by each presidential candidate yesterday. I know I mentioned that but today I got a visual for them. Behold the Presidential Candidate Vermont Teddy Bears. They were too cute to resist.

Anyway. I started to read one of the other books I got yesterday, too. It is called Millenial Makover. It is about the changing face of politics and how the newest generation of voters have the power to change the way we run for office. It goes along with my not-so-nice comments about the seemingly egotistical generation taking over the web 2.0. But Millennial Makeover contests that they are actually more likely to feel empathy toward other people, to be more tolerant and so on. I will let you know more as I read more.

By the way, Obama's book is already checked out, but Clinton's and McCain's are still available for check out.

Another reminder: the whole campus, including the library will be closed for Memorial Day. You need a day to stop studying and go play in the Redwood Forest anyway. Find a trail, examine a mushroom, do something in the fresh air (now watch, it will rain and we will all be stuck inside anyway.)

New Books for the Presidential Candidates

We ordered three books by the three main Presidential hopefuls: Hillary Rodham Clinton's Living History; John McCain's Faith of my Fathers; and Barak Obama's Dreams from my Father. They are not all their autobiographies, but rather are books about their families' lives and hopes. They should be good reads, and they are available to check out in the library starting today.

We also got several other books: "The loss of Sadness" by Horwitz; "Millennial Makover" by Winograd and "Four Girls from Berlin" by Meyerhoff. We also got a collection of poetry by Rossetti, a debate between an atheist and a Christian called "God?" and a book on mushrooms that can be checked out and used to identify local mushrooms called "All that the Rain Promises and More" by Arora.

Should be a lot of good summer reading for the inquiring minds of College of the Redwoods, Del Norte students, staff and faculty.

The coolest public library Wiki ever

I found a very cool public library Wiki today. For those who don't know, a wiki is a website that anyone can add stuff to. Like Wikipedia. The thing that the Stevens County public Library did that is so unusual is that rather than being a website for the library only, it centered itself in the community and made its wiki the place to go to find out about that county's everything. Makes me want to be in a public library again.

But not really. A college library does leave me yearning for a children';s department and a teen program to implement, but I really do prefer it in so many ways. College is a jumping off place for so many people and if a library can be open and educational, a great place to study and yet welcoming and informational, then students can take off from there and do anything.

But I wonder if a Wiki would be more advantageous than a blog. I started a blog because I knew it would be easier to manage and honestly, I wanted to get my feet wet before I swam the canal. But I think I would welcome greater comments and more categories and so on that a wiki specializes in. Check out Stevens county wiki. I think you will be as impressed as I was.

http://www.scrldwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page

Why books are still better

I have been reading a lot about Library 2.0 recently. This is a new direction in libraries of which blogging, wikis and XML are a part. The idea behind much of these innovations in web 2.0 where social networking and blogs and websites which can be commented on and changed by anyone. It can also include increasing amounts of digital resources.

Obviously as someone who has a blog, I embrace many aspects of web 2.0. I even like the fact that digital e-books can be purchased by our main librarian and all three campuses can use them. Periodical indexes have been revolutionized since I was in college, to the degree that we don;'t even need to offer ILL of articles anymore.

However, I still get many students who prefer the look and feel of a real book in the hands. For one thing, they can be checked out for free rather than printed out for a cost. The thick bulk of the book also adds to the perception of reliability, whether or not correctly placed.

I read an article today about openlibrary.org, an amazing site devoted to creating a webpage for every single book in existence, eventually. There will be places for reader comments, links to other works by the same author and other amazing features. It could truly turn out to be an amazing resource. But it took my computer several minutes to load and then thirty seconds each time I turned a page. It will be a wonderful resource for books you can;'t get your hands on any other way. But if the physical book is just a few shelves away, I will pick it up and be engrossed in another world in ten seconds. Until the internet is as easy to turn on as a book, there will still be a place for both.

Today it is just plain hot

They say it doesn't get hot in Crescent City. But they weren't talking about today. All the girls are in tank tops and summer dresses. I have even seen a few guys in tanks or without shirts altogether. They say it won't last long and won't happen again, but I am starting to wonder if they know what they are talking about.

What do you think about carrels for the library? It gives some privacy, but it can also feel claustrophobic. Would you rather have your own little space, or a table big enough to spread out if no one else was there?

Open until 6pm

The library will be open until 6pm just like every other week this semester. Please try to have your assignments finished before 6pm.

The finals are flowing

Every hour or so another student comes in to ask for a final. the computers are full again with students finishing papers and emailing their professors one last request for an extension.

One girl is checking out her last book and sending her deposit check to her new apartment in Hawaii. The sun is shining and out my back window I can see the bright pink rhododendrons. It is a beautiful spring day. Day two of finals week. hang in there. It is almost over.

Finals Week

Finals Week is upon us and so far things have been pretty calm. A lot of people are studying . The computers are full of people finishing papers and the quiet rooms are all full of people taking tests. So we are calm as a beehive: full of activity, but everyone knows what they need to do and they just do it.

The weather is sunny and warm. One of those Del Norte days that reminds you why you live up here so far from the rest of civilization: it is absolutely beautiful.

Yesterday on a drive out to Gasquet to see some exotic and area specific wildflowers, someone said, "some people travel hours and hours to hike this trail. We get to live right nearby it." We really are lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

So soak up the sun, study outside if you can and then breathe in all the wildflowers while you wait for your next exam.

Lots of new books

Three boxes of books arrived today. Many were specifically requested by professors.


They are: Tunnels, Tending the Wild, Immigrant America, Written in Water, Written in Stone, The God Delusion, Bilingual Law Dictionary, Critical Encounters in High School English, Imposter, They take our Jobs and 20 other myths, The Flash of Lightning behind the Mountain, More Damned Lies and Statistics, Classic Spanish Stories and plays.

Also Spanish for Educators, ADD and the College Student, Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism, Public Access, Freakonomics, The Lost Boy, Animal, Vegetable and Miracle, god is not Great, the Blue Death, Pigs in Heaven, Writing like a Woman, God in the Classroom, Living Like Ed, The Digital Photography Book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Plus: Flowers for Algernon, A Second Opinion, Best Damned Lies and Statistics, beautiful boy, A Man Named Dave, First Spanish Reader, Poems by Sylvia Plath, Letter to a Christian Nation, Windfalls, Aspects of the Novel, Untapped: the Scramble for Africa's Oil, Robert Hayden: Essays on the Poetry, Beginning Theory, Into the Forest, The Culture of Fear.

I will add a photo on Monday.

New chairs and couch

Del Norte Office supply delivered the two black leather chairs to match the couch. Pretty, huh.

Furniture Frustrations

This one is for all the other librarians out there:

What do you do about furniture in your library?

I have been doing a lot of shopping for furniture recently (obviously. See my other posts). And I have run into some snags. First of all, the products never seem to end up being as good a quality as they appear in the photos in the catalogs. Secondly, things are expensive. Even cheap stuff is expensive. So decide to get something mid-grade and I still catch flack for it being "not real wood." I can't seem to find real wood to purchase, except at the hardware store, and that is only in the lumber section. My chairs are real wood and my tables have real wood legs. I am satisfied with those purchases. Now I need more computer desks and the options I have are all laminate. I picked some, but their wheels were poorly designed and very weak. How do I buy good quality stuff on a community college budget?

New books on the new shelf.

We have a new spot for new books on my new circulation desk. Today we received 15 new books in the mail. There is something for everyone: from John Stossel's Give me a Break to a "survival Guide for college students with ADHD, a book all about Gwendolyn Brooks and her writing and more.

Art Show Reception

The Student Art Show Reception is today from 3-5. If you can't make it, you can still stop by the Main building here on campus and view the art for a few weeks. The local artists had a very difficult time choosing winners because the art this year was so good. Come on by and see if you agree with their choices.

The Spring Student Art Show

The art is all arranged and hanging up in the main hallway gallery. The students did a wonderful job this yeatr with a wide variety of themes and mediums. The local artist judges are coming today at 1 pm to judge the art show. Our reception is scheduled for Monday.

Bad News at Del Norte

We found out today that we will not be getting wireless on our campus as we had hoped. Due to liabilty issues, the committees in Eureka have decided to run a wireless trial on the main campus first. If all goes well, wireless at Del Norte and at Mendicino will be addressed at a future time.

Take heart. We are making progress.

Final Day for Art Show entries

Today is the last day to turn in art show entries. If you took an art class on campus during Spring or Fall semesters, this is your chance to show off your skills.

Fuentes Culturales and a new desk

Friday the library was buzzing with activity as it hosted the annual Fuentes Culturales program put on by a college in Sonoma and benefiting local Hispanic high school students to aim towards college. They even put on a puppet show at the end.

Meanwhile the Maintenance Supervisor on campus, Stephen, brought in my new circulation desk and while the high schoolers were in other classrooms, I moved everything off my desk, unscrewed the parts of the old desk that could be unscrewed and had Stephen and his student worker Kane move the desk out. Then we arranged the new accessible and modular circulation desks into position. I spend much of Friday and Monday arranging things and hooking up printers and trying to figure out how to power and connect everything.

It is a big improvement and the library really looks nice now.

Tables

We got our new tables in! They are a beautiful oak color and match perfectly with the new chairs and the stacks and the new circulation desk that Stephen told me he has in the shed. Now I just need a way to lure the newspaper in here to take photographs so that the people in the county can see where their hard earned bond money has gone.

I think it is worth it myself. The library is much enlarged, creating better spaces for students to study, write papers and work in groups. These new tables, chairs and circulation desk mean the library is handicapped accessible.

New books again

Since I ordered new books recently, we are getting more than one batch of new books each week. Look out for more coming in weeks to come. Today we have lots: A gracious donor donated the complete National Geographic Magazine for 1888-1999 on CD-Rom. With full color photos and everything.

We also got 8 new books:
Illegal Immigration
From Clueless to classact
New Indians, old Wars
After Admission
Women and Poetry
The Black Swan
Sentinel of the Seas
The Everything Spanish book


Come on in and check one out!

Cougars and Wolves are falling from the sky.

It's raining much harder than just cats and dogs. It is hard to even walk outside without getting soaked. Maintenance was trying to put the window art back up, but it appears to all be too long. Fractions of inches need to be removed. From plexiglass. No wonder he has been putting this off since I started working here.

Tomorrow is Jeans for Justice Day, a day to wear your blue jeans in international remembrance of a 1999 decision in Italian High Court. The court overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing jeans at the time of the attack.

The court’s ruling included, “It is common knowledge … that jeans cannot even be partly removed without the effective help of the person wearing them … and it is impossible if the victim is struggling with all her might.”

UCSB Rape Prevention Education Program Director Carol Mosely said the case was a symptom of a larger problem.

“A lot of people reacted to it at the time, and people are still bringing it back up because it’s such a good symbol of the problem that we have in the world of blaming victims and not believing victims of sexual assault,” Mosely said. “The case is an extreme example, but that type of thinking goes on all the time, everywhere in the world."

Our campus is handing out stickers and information about this event. Because no means no.

New Books on a Monday

We got five new books in today and I will be putting them over on the new books shelf above the magazines. Feel free to use a stool to reach them.

The new books are: A Child Called It: One Child's courage to Survive
: It Had to be You: Memoir of a Navy wife :Umbrella guide to California Lighthouses :Belva Lockwood: the woman who would be President
:Spanish, English Medical Dictionary

They can each be checkout out for three weeks.

If you come into the library today, you may notice our three new plants. They were used to decorate the library during the CR President forums. They may end up somewhere else eventually, but for now, breathe in that fresh oxygenated air.

I'm Going to College!

Today the library played host to75 or more local fourth-graders. They got a tour of campus, and got 3 separate mini classes from three of our faculty. At the end of each tour, the children came to the library and got to exchange a fake buck for a real book (provided with money from CalSOAP). Although most of them said their favorite part was the toy that the Nursing dept handed out, donated by Wal-Mart. Chris, head janitor, vacuumed the library after they finished their lunches (it was too cold to eat outside) and after they left, we put my library back together.

The rest of the day was quiet (as a library should be :) ). I did have to stay a little late helping a student submit an assignment to turn-it-in.com. He had used spaces in stead of tabs and it had messed up everything when he did editing. He is going to devote this summer to leaning how to use Word 2007, he says.

Boy, this bog has turned into a lot of brand name dropping, which was not my intention. But I guess I wanted to thank Walmart and CalSoap one more time and the other two are essential library tools here on campus.

See you monday!

New in the Library

Today the biggest new thing is this blog. Thanks for reading.
We have several new books hitting the shelves this week:
3 on photoshop and how to use it
and 3 crime mysteries by Marilyn Meredith including Guilt by Association.

We also got our new chairs this week. These chairs were bought with Bond money and were part of ensuring that our Library in specific and our campus in general are as accessible for the most number of people possible. They are a lovely blue color and quite comfortable. You should come and try them out.

Just a heads up: tomorrow is the "I'm going to College" day with fourth-graders from three local elementary schools. The library my be a little noisy from 9-1. The writing lab will be opened if needed. Don't worry, you will be able to write your papers, respond to professor emails and research your next assignment in either the library or the writing lab.