Honey, IM Home

Well I am IMing again! I haven't done it for several years and two computers ago (one crashed and one fried by lightening).

I think IM is the granddaddy of texting. My daughter was really into it a few years ago and we listened to the nightly sounds of constantly chiming IM tones as she and her friends chatted endlessly about middle school minutiae. I even went so far as to ban IMing on my computer (I was in school) and got an el cheapo computer for her to use to keep her from burying my harddrive in spyware. When my computer crashed and I got a new one I swore I would NEVER EVER IM again. Somewhere in 9th or 10th grade my daughter discovered MySpace and her IMing days came to an end. I thought I had heard the last of IM and that the world had moved on. Well, you know what they say, "Never say never!"

So I am IMing again! At work and now at home. But hey, it's professional; it's my job!

Seven and a Half Lifelong Learning Habits

None of the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners (as defined by PLCMC) are hard for me except sometimes #4 (Have confidence). I like to learn - a lot. I went ahead and made up my own personal 7 1/2 habits some of which are hard for me!

My 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits are:

1) Stay curious.
Our page, who is a special guy, sometimes uses the phrase, "Let's find out!" I have sort of adopted this phrase as my unofficial librarian motto. I even find myself saying it as a response to patron's questions! I hear his voice inside my head every time I say it.

2) Follow all the steps, including reading the directions.
This one is harder for me because I tend to jump ahead. I am not a linear thinker. I learned this one from E.L. Konigsburg's book, The View From Saturday. In this book one of the characters learns the art of calligraphy. The first thing he is taught is how to prepare the pen. The person teaching him tells him to think of preparing the pen as a part of the writing process and not some barrier to it. I try to look at directions and details from this perspective; part of the process and not an ancillary nuisance.

3.) I can learn how.
Another tough one. I have to tell myself that I am not too old, too inexperienced, too whatever, etc, to do whatever it is I don't know how to do.

4.) Don't give up. Hard, but essential.

5.) Everyone is a teacher.
I learn from everyone - all ages, cultures, education levels, etc. This is an easy one because I am a big people watcher and culture vulture!

6.) Mistakes are part of the process.
Another hard one. It is easy to get discouraged when things go awry but often you learn as much from what doesn't work as you do from what does.

7.) Have fun!

7.5) Stop and smell the roses.
There is more to life than just getting stuff, achieving goals, etc, IMHO. Kick back, meditate, and let the stuff you've learned gestate in your mind. This is one of my easiest habits. I am something of a dreamer, but hey, to paraphrase Bobbie B. (Burns not Brown), "A woman's reach should exceed her grasp or what's a heaven for."

Oh Brave New World: Tech Trek Take Off

Ok. It's official. I am joining the Tech Trek -X- odus to boldly go ..... you know the spiel! So this is Mission 2: Blogging.

The view from STA about Tech Trek is really positive. We have a number of people that have made it all the way to Mission 4 and lots of folks who are working that way. I am really excited about the "play" aspect of TT2.0. I think it really captures the spirit of what Michael Stevens talked about at Staff Day!

Jango!

I got a chance to try Jango, a new personalized music/online radio social networking site today. It is really very interesting with a wide variety of music. Jango represents another dimension for social networking. I am not downloading any music so I don't think any copyright laws are being broken that I can tell, but I am enjoying listening to a wide selection of music that I really enjoy including old favorites and new interests.

Check out Jango at http://www.jango.com/?r=59892561.

Thanks to Jango staffer, Stella, for providing this link!

Photo: Jitterbug (1939)

I Got Simpsonized!

I tried the Simpsons movie-related website, Simpsonize Me, which is sponsored by Burger King. Here I am coming out of the Kwik-E Mart.

If you would like to use this site to turn yourself into a Simpson's character, step one is to follow their photo guidelines (a head shot against a white background) that is or has been resized to 640 X 640 pixels. The first pictures I tried were too big and I kept getting a message that the site was busy. Once I resized the pictures, the site worked quickly to "Simpsonize" them.

I saved my created character pictures on my PC but the file format is not a JPG or GIF and I could not view the picture until I uploaded it here on Blogger. I think that it is an image that is only viewable with a flashplayer.

The website has a feature where you can order merchandise with your Simpson character on it. Perhaps not allowing the image to be saved in an easily reproducible format like JPEG is a way of ensuring that site users don't produce their own items with the images on them and are pushed to buy the site's merchandise.

Tech Trek 2.0 at CCPL

Charleston County Public Library is boldly going where it's never been before and taking its staff into the brave new world of online social networking! Staff will have a chance to participate in Tech Trek 2.0 this fall, a special program for learning and playing! See you in cyber-space!

I made this image at http://www.imagechef.com/, an online image generator site, where you can make fun images to jazz up your blog, use as avatars, and enliven your online posts!

Word on the Street: Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Noire

Some folks might feel that the current, hot publishing genre, Street Lit, with its tales of gangsta' life and love, is inappropriate for inclusion in library collections. Street Lit books may be highly sexual, violent, filled with profanity and slang, or all of the aforementioned. Books in this genre frequently have suggestive covers and titles reminiscent of the pulp magazines and books of the early 20th century. Thong on Fire by Noire is typical of this genre.

So why would a library want to add these books to its collection? The answer is simply that the mission of libraries in the 21st century is to serve every reader not judge what a reader should or should not read. These books are hot and circulate like crazy. They also serve as a reminder that the history of Western literature is rampant with stories of great works of literature that were castigated for their use of language and storylines.

Pulp novels and magazines of the early 20th century, serial novels, and other popular works were not considered library-worthy. The standard library mission of the past was that libraries were to be sources of "culturally" valuable materials. Librarians were the selectors and arbiters of what was "appropriate" reading material. Today, libraries and librarians seek to match all readers with the book that meets that reader's needs and desires. The reader is the force behind selection and the librarian is merely the "guide on the side". The bottom line in today's library is that if readers are engaged by Street Lit, then it should be included in the collection.

Thong on Fire may not turn out to be a lasting literary gem but it helps to remember that Herman Melville wrote Omoo and Typee before he wrote Moby Dick. The critics and public hated Moby Dick when it was published, but who today (apart from Melville scholars and English majors) remembers Omoo and Typee much less reads them. Omoo and Typee were hot when they were published.

I am reminded of Chaucer, whose Canterbury Tales are filled with risque' humor and storylines. Chaucer created a sensation when he dared to write in the Old English vernacular, the language of the street of his time, rather than the courtly Norman French of the ruling classes and royalty.

I am also reminded of Shakespeare, whose genius for inventing English words from Latin enriched our language immeasurably. I like to think that he would have appreciated the term "bootylicious".

Finally, I am reminded of Langston Hughes, whose own vernacular writings earned him a great deal of censure from the black intellectual community of his time. They felt thatHughes' use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) was harmful and contrary to the efforts of African Americans in their struggle for civil rights. His poem, Mother to Son, would not be the same without the use of AAVE.

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I'se been a-climbin' on,

And reachin' landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't been no light.

So, boy, don't you turn back.

Don't you set down on the steps.

'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now—

For I'se still goin',

honey,I'se still climbin',

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.