A mother and three daughters came over to the Reference Desk; the mother wore sunglasses and a ear piece for a cellphone (I refer to them as implants). Modern orthodox: long skirts, flat shoes, no makeup. The oldest daughter, an 11th grade student, had an assignment of a French poet named Freneau. She knew nothing about the poet: not when he lived, simply that he was French.
After getting the call number of a book about Freneau, I showed her how to use the OPAC to search: by author, by subject, and by keyword. Her mother kept inserting comments, which I found less than useful, but I concentrated on the librarianship.
I then walked her to the stacks, showed her the 811 and 818 sections, telling her how, in some cases, looking at books to either side of the book she found might be useful (though not in this case). She left the library with two books about Freneau, and some knowledge about using a library. I was satisfied with a job well done, a patron educated (a young woman studying at the carrel near the 818s smiled in contentment at seeing me teach the young lady, and at her absorbing information).
Such encounters are the very essence of how satisfying it is to be a librarian.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
When Enough Is Enuf
Language matters. Which words to use, and how they are used, defines good conversation, good reporting, and good writing. Further, how words are constructed, how they are spelled, is of importance.
The notion that by reforming the way people employ language you can reform almost everything else is a durable canard that has survived a thousand years of contrary evidence. Concoct a mental image of language utopians and you'll likely summon a stereotype of busy eccentrics. And you wouldn't be far wrong. But their ranks have also included stalwarts like Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie and George Bernard Shaw.
Quite a group -- but how did Carnegie sneak in there?
The trouble with English orthography starts with a simple mathematical fact: the language has 44 distinct sounds but only 26 letters to express them. Letters have to double up (and triple and quadruple up). Add to this a mongrel pedigree and a knack for absorbing new words from all over the world and you have an unruly language that cries out for housekeeping.
Mongrel pedigree? Pardon me for being common. Yes, English, or American English, does readily absorb words from other languages. With a twist, though, now American words are being absorbed by other languages: hamburger, video, gay, are but a few.
Shaw famously argued that the word fish should be spelled ghoti – from the "gh" in cough, the "o" in women, and the "ti" in nation. In his will, Shaw left a small bequest for the winner of a competition to devise a new English alphabet.
Irascible Shaw?
Noah Webster had better luck. The ardent lexicographer and nationalist succeeded in ridding American English of the "u" in words like rancour and humour – spellings, as it happens, that had been introduced in a previous fit of improvement. Webster also won battles against silent or unnecessary letters, like the "k" in publick and the second "l" in travelled. Ironically, he lived out his days in Amherst, Mass., a town whose name is properly pronounced with a silent "h."
Ah-merst? Doesn't sound right. I often add that second el to traveler.
Another child of Amherst (the college) was Melville – later Melvil – Dewey, a hyper-organized young man whose reformist impulses encompassed the metric system and book cataloging. Colonic irrigation was probably in there somewhere. Determined to lead Americans out of their "orthografic swamp," Dewey created his own spelling regime and enlisted Andrew Carnegie to support the efforts of a crusading organization, the Simplified Spelling Board. For decades Carnegie wrote the board a check every year for $25,000.
Ah, Melvil Dewey. Dewey Classification System (R 025.43 D). Colonic irrigation? As in anal-retentive, one supposes.
Dewey's influence reached its zenith in August 1906, when Theodore Roosevelt, a sympathizer, issued an order directing the Government Printing Office to adopt new spellings for some 300 words – for instance, prest, dasht, nite, thoro and good-by. The outcry was immediate and intense. Rusevelt, as one newspaper began referring to him, said that he saw no harm in "the concentration of powers in one man's hands"; but spelling reform, as another paper editorialized, was just "2 mutch." Legislation moved quickly through Congress to countermand this act of executive overreach. Roosevelt withdrew his order.
TR could never be accused of pusillanimity. prest, dasht, nite, thoro and good-by. Prest? Oy.
Eye strike the quays and type a word / And weight four it two say / Weather eye am write or wrong / It tells me straight a weigh.
In MS Word this quatrain is fine. Spelling is correct, but ...
In the end the debates over spelling are skirmishes in the larger war between those who seek to impose lasting order on the way we write and speak and those who believe such efforts to be futile. Most of us keep a foot in each camp, knowing that language both demands regulation and defies control – much as, to take an analogy from physics, we live tidy Newtonian lives in a bizarre quantum universe. It's a serviceable enough contradiction, and what choice do we have? But I doubt we've seen the last of visionaries who refuse to accept it. Dasht hopes lie ahead.
The notion that by reforming the way people employ language you can reform almost everything else is a durable canard that has survived a thousand years of contrary evidence. Concoct a mental image of language utopians and you'll likely summon a stereotype of busy eccentrics. And you wouldn't be far wrong. But their ranks have also included stalwarts like Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie and George Bernard Shaw.
Quite a group -- but how did Carnegie sneak in there?
The trouble with English orthography starts with a simple mathematical fact: the language has 44 distinct sounds but only 26 letters to express them. Letters have to double up (and triple and quadruple up). Add to this a mongrel pedigree and a knack for absorbing new words from all over the world and you have an unruly language that cries out for housekeeping.
Mongrel pedigree? Pardon me for being common. Yes, English, or American English, does readily absorb words from other languages. With a twist, though, now American words are being absorbed by other languages: hamburger, video, gay, are but a few.
Shaw famously argued that the word fish should be spelled ghoti – from the "gh" in cough, the "o" in women, and the "ti" in nation. In his will, Shaw left a small bequest for the winner of a competition to devise a new English alphabet.
Irascible Shaw?
Noah Webster had better luck. The ardent lexicographer and nationalist succeeded in ridding American English of the "u" in words like rancour and humour – spellings, as it happens, that had been introduced in a previous fit of improvement. Webster also won battles against silent or unnecessary letters, like the "k" in publick and the second "l" in travelled. Ironically, he lived out his days in Amherst, Mass., a town whose name is properly pronounced with a silent "h."
Ah-merst? Doesn't sound right. I often add that second el to traveler.
Another child of Amherst (the college) was Melville – later Melvil – Dewey, a hyper-organized young man whose reformist impulses encompassed the metric system and book cataloging. Colonic irrigation was probably in there somewhere. Determined to lead Americans out of their "orthografic swamp," Dewey created his own spelling regime and enlisted Andrew Carnegie to support the efforts of a crusading organization, the Simplified Spelling Board. For decades Carnegie wrote the board a check every year for $25,000.
Ah, Melvil Dewey. Dewey Classification System (R 025.43 D). Colonic irrigation? As in anal-retentive, one supposes.
Dewey's influence reached its zenith in August 1906, when Theodore Roosevelt, a sympathizer, issued an order directing the Government Printing Office to adopt new spellings for some 300 words – for instance, prest, dasht, nite, thoro and good-by. The outcry was immediate and intense. Rusevelt, as one newspaper began referring to him, said that he saw no harm in "the concentration of powers in one man's hands"; but spelling reform, as another paper editorialized, was just "2 mutch." Legislation moved quickly through Congress to countermand this act of executive overreach. Roosevelt withdrew his order.
TR could never be accused of pusillanimity. prest, dasht, nite, thoro and good-by. Prest? Oy.
Eye strike the quays and type a word / And weight four it two say / Weather eye am write or wrong / It tells me straight a weigh.
In MS Word this quatrain is fine. Spelling is correct, but ...
In the end the debates over spelling are skirmishes in the larger war between those who seek to impose lasting order on the way we write and speak and those who believe such efforts to be futile. Most of us keep a foot in each camp, knowing that language both demands regulation and defies control – much as, to take an analogy from physics, we live tidy Newtonian lives in a bizarre quantum universe. It's a serviceable enough contradiction, and what choice do we have? But I doubt we've seen the last of visionaries who refuse to accept it. Dasht hopes lie ahead.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A gem of a book
Since reading biographies of Margaret Bourke-White and Richard Wright, I have floundered some, reading a handful of good books – good, but not great: "The Know-it-all" was enjoyable, funny in spots; "The Awakening" was interesting, even fascinating. But after two books I'd rate as 9, enjoyable and interesting weren't enough. I needed another gem.
I found one. Yesterday, in the new book cart kept in the Information Desk area, I found a gem: 7x5 rather than the more common 9.5x7, it is actually even smaller than a DVD case. But it is a magnificent tale. I read 134 pages yesterday; yes, smaller pages, less words, but, it is a gem.
I found one. Yesterday, in the new book cart kept in the Information Desk area, I found a gem: 7x5 rather than the more common 9.5x7, it is actually even smaller than a DVD case. But it is a magnificent tale. I read 134 pages yesterday; yes, smaller pages, less words, but, it is a gem.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Rescuing the Bible
Do you have Rescuing the Bible from fundamentalism: a bishop rethinks the meaning of Scripture / John Shelby Spong. here? he asked without any formalities or chit-chat. A tall man wearing a big yamulke and a serious look, a white sweater, and traces of whiskers, approached the Reference Desk a bit after 3 this afternoon.
No, as it happens, only two libraries in Nassau County own said book. He went to the stacks to look in the 220.6 area, but returned soon, unsatisfied with what he had found. In a loud voice he asserted that the reason we do not have Rescuing the Bible is because "orthodox parents do not want their kids reading" such books. He then wondered if perhaps some books that such people object to have been checked out and never returned.
He told me of having a discussion with a rabbi, who rebuffed his assertions by refusing to discuss them. "It's blind faith," he asserted emphatically, "not just faith."
I found several entries and told him to look and see if any books there satisfied him. He seemed not just willing, but insistent, on arguing the point. Good to see such passion and vehemence.
No, as it happens, only two libraries in Nassau County own said book. He went to the stacks to look in the 220.6 area, but returned soon, unsatisfied with what he had found. In a loud voice he asserted that the reason we do not have Rescuing the Bible is because "orthodox parents do not want their kids reading" such books. He then wondered if perhaps some books that such people object to have been checked out and never returned.
He told me of having a discussion with a rabbi, who rebuffed his assertions by refusing to discuss them. "It's blind faith," he asserted emphatically, "not just faith."
I found several entries and told him to look and see if any books there satisfied him. He seemed not just willing, but insistent, on arguing the point. Good to see such passion and vehemence.
Friday, October 24, 2008
An important question
Working at the Reference Desk, a few minutes before 2 in the afternoon three young teen-aged girls, er, young ladies, approached me. One said that a man who had been sitting next to them suddenly moved closer; when he did so, they looked over, and saw pornography on his computer screen.
They seemed upset. In a low voice, my fathering instinct kicking in, I asked them who the man was. No, not that guy with the red shirt, they said, but the man standing outside in the courtyard talking on his cellphone. I recognized him, instantly.
The girls, er, young ladies, said that as soon as they looked over toward him, once he had made a move that made them uncomfortable, he shut the window on his screen. As we were talking he had finished his phone call, and moved to computer number 4, the one with the screen no one can see.
I was upset. The teenagers were clearly upset, even afraid. I told them that they could go back to where they'd been before, that we would check on them every few minutes, and that if anything bothered them, they should come over to the Reference Desk.
They did not want to go back. They asked me not to say anything to him, because they did not want anything to happen. They didn't want a scene. They were obviously not just nervous, they were afraid. They chose to not go back to work in the computer area; they chose to go to the children's room.
After just a few minutes they came out of Children's, and went back to the adult computer area. They did some more work.
By then I was sitting in the demo area, working on my OPAC presentation. As the three teens passed by, one of them waved at them; I knew immediately that she, they, needed reassurance. Some minutes later they passed by again, on their way out of the Library, and one of the three caught my eye and smiled. Perhaps it was appreciation, perhaps a seeking of reassurance (I'd say the former).
The kicker of the whole thing is that Grandpa Porn sat down and watched not only most of my OPAC presentation, but the following database presentation as well.
As I reflect on it all now, I am quite upset. Why does this jerk get away with upsetting three teen aged females? I've seen him looking at porn. He has a reputation as a porno man. In fact, he's been doing it for many years. Why does he get away with it? Because no one has said anything to him, because he can get away with it.
It seems entirely inappropriate that such a jerk can get away with being a bully. He should be reprimanded, embarrassed, called out for his boorish behavior. It is one thing to look at porn in a public library computer; inappropriate. But to upset three youngsters is an entirely different thing. He can not be allowed to get away with such brazen behavior. He must be reprimanded.
They seemed upset. In a low voice, my fathering instinct kicking in, I asked them who the man was. No, not that guy with the red shirt, they said, but the man standing outside in the courtyard talking on his cellphone. I recognized him, instantly.
The girls, er, young ladies, said that as soon as they looked over toward him, once he had made a move that made them uncomfortable, he shut the window on his screen. As we were talking he had finished his phone call, and moved to computer number 4, the one with the screen no one can see.
I was upset. The teenagers were clearly upset, even afraid. I told them that they could go back to where they'd been before, that we would check on them every few minutes, and that if anything bothered them, they should come over to the Reference Desk.
They did not want to go back. They asked me not to say anything to him, because they did not want anything to happen. They didn't want a scene. They were obviously not just nervous, they were afraid. They chose to not go back to work in the computer area; they chose to go to the children's room.
After just a few minutes they came out of Children's, and went back to the adult computer area. They did some more work.
By then I was sitting in the demo area, working on my OPAC presentation. As the three teens passed by, one of them waved at them; I knew immediately that she, they, needed reassurance. Some minutes later they passed by again, on their way out of the Library, and one of the three caught my eye and smiled. Perhaps it was appreciation, perhaps a seeking of reassurance (I'd say the former).
The kicker of the whole thing is that Grandpa Porn sat down and watched not only most of my OPAC presentation, but the following database presentation as well.
As I reflect on it all now, I am quite upset. Why does this jerk get away with upsetting three teen aged females? I've seen him looking at porn. He has a reputation as a porno man. In fact, he's been doing it for many years. Why does he get away with it? Because no one has said anything to him, because he can get away with it.
It seems entirely inappropriate that such a jerk can get away with being a bully. He should be reprimanded, embarrassed, called out for his boorish behavior. It is one thing to look at porn in a public library computer; inappropriate. But to upset three youngsters is an entirely different thing. He can not be allowed to get away with such brazen behavior. He must be reprimanded.
Kate Chopin
A student, perhaps a senior in high school, cam in looking for short stories by Kate Chopin. O, that caught my attention immediately. I told her I had just read Chopin's "The Awakening." I looked in our OPAC and saw that HWPL owns two books Chopin's short stories.
A nice connection.
A nice connection.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Lunch in the Grass
http://www.topofart.com/images/artists/Edouard_Manet/paintings/manet002.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Luncheon_on_the_Grass
this is an interesting link: http://www.johnbrody.com/gallery/2274690/Wallpaper/Manet-Lunch_On_The_Grass-1024X768.htm#134369244_G8nqv
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Gorky
A Peninsula patron asked for Maksim Gorky's Lower Depths. Never heard of it. A handful of libraries do own it. Always more to learn.
The lower depths / by Maxim Gorky ; translated by Jennie Covan ; edited & introduction by William-Alan Landes.
The lower depths / by Maxim Gorky ; translated by Jennie Covan ; edited & introduction by William-Alan Landes.
A Brooklyn Librarian Is Fined for Promoting His Daughter’s Book
The line between a bookstore and a library seems to be a fine one.
For 39 years as an educator, Robert Grandt has been promoting other people’s books. So this year, when his daughter helped create a graphic novel of “Macbeth,” Mr. Grandt could not resist bragging a little in the newsletter he distributes as a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School.
“Best New Book: Grandt, Eve, ‘Shakespeare’s Macbeth — The Manga Edition,’ ” he wrote under the heading “Grandt’s Picks.” He also placed a few copies of the book at a library display table, and posted a sign: “Best Book Ever Written.” If someone were interested, they got a book free.
On Monday, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board announced it had settled a case it had brought against Mr. Grandt for promoting his daughter’s work. He agreed to pay a $500 fine and admit in a three-page stipulation that he had violated the city ethics code.
Three pages? Indeed. The document has 12 points, and has a two-page press release attached. Yikes! Who ever thought being a librarian exposes one to such criminality?
The New York City Charter warns public servants about taking actions in their official roles that benefit them personally, and the conflicts board is empowered to interpret the code and bring cases. Last week, for example, the conflicts board ruled that City Council members would not violate the charter if they were to vote to extend or abolish the term limits now scheduled to remove them from office.
Now, that's absurd. Politicians voting to extend their own terms in office are not in conflict? And a librarian has to pay 500 bucks for promoting his daughter's book? Wow, the law is a complicated thing, ain't it?
Mr.Grandt’sdaughter, Eve Grandt, co-illustrated a version of “Macbeth.” He said he was taken aback by conflict-of-interest charges. "I was just so proud of my daughter for writing it," he said.
Robert Grandt, a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School, put his daughter’s book on display and mentioned it in a newsletter
For 39 years as an educator, Robert Grandt has been promoting other people’s books. So this year, when his daughter helped create a graphic novel of “Macbeth,” Mr. Grandt could not resist bragging a little in the newsletter he distributes as a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School.
“Best New Book: Grandt, Eve, ‘Shakespeare’s Macbeth — The Manga Edition,’ ” he wrote under the heading “Grandt’s Picks.” He also placed a few copies of the book at a library display table, and posted a sign: “Best Book Ever Written.” If someone were interested, they got a book free.
But one person’s parental pride is another panel’s ethical transgression.
Oops.On Monday, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board announced it had settled a case it had brought against Mr. Grandt for promoting his daughter’s work. He agreed to pay a $500 fine and admit in a three-page stipulation that he had violated the city ethics code.
Three pages? Indeed. The document has 12 points, and has a two-page press release attached. Yikes! Who ever thought being a librarian exposes one to such criminality?
The New York City Charter warns public servants about taking actions in their official roles that benefit them personally, and the conflicts board is empowered to interpret the code and bring cases. Last week, for example, the conflicts board ruled that City Council members would not violate the charter if they were to vote to extend or abolish the term limits now scheduled to remove them from office.
Now, that's absurd. Politicians voting to extend their own terms in office are not in conflict? And a librarian has to pay 500 bucks for promoting his daughter's book? Wow, the law is a complicated thing, ain't it?
Mr.Grandt’sdaughter, Eve Grandt, co-illustrated a version of “Macbeth.” He said he was taken aback by conflict-of-interest charges. "I was just so proud of my daughter for writing it," he said.
Robert Grandt, a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School, put his daughter’s book on display and mentioned it in a newsletter
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Yiddish theater
A patron asked for books on the Yiddish theater: "I wonder if you can help me; I'm not sure that you can. But I'm looking for books on the Yiddish theater."
Well, indeed the Library has books on the topic: a couple of biographies of Jacob Adler, a book on the Moscow Yiddish theater, one on "Kafka and the Yiddish theater," and a few on the Yiddish theater in America.
Often patrons approach the reference desk sheepishly, reluctantly, hesitantly, and preface their question by such comments: I'm not sure if you can help, I'm not sure if there are books on. At least they come to the library, which expresses some hope they will find what they need here.
Well, indeed the Library has books on the topic: a couple of biographies of Jacob Adler, a book on the Moscow Yiddish theater, one on "Kafka and the Yiddish theater," and a few on the Yiddish theater in America.
Often patrons approach the reference desk sheepishly, reluctantly, hesitantly, and preface their question by such comments: I'm not sure if you can help, I'm not sure if there are books on. At least they come to the library, which expresses some hope they will find what they need here.
The Goose is Loose
On page 91 of his autobiography, "The Goose is Loose" Goose Gossage describes Kent Tekulve this way: "With this aquiline face covered by thick, tinted glasses, and a slight frame with a sunken chest, he looked like an eighth grade science teacher or a male librarian."
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Monday, October 20, 2008
4,800 Books and 10 Legs
In a ritual repeated nearly every weekend for the past decade here in Colombia’s war-weary Caribbean hinterland, Luis Soriano gathered his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, in front of his home on a recent Saturday afternoon. Sweating already under the unforgiving sun, he strapped pouches with the word “Biblioburro” painted in blue letters to the donkeys’ backs and loaded them with an eclectic cargo of books destined for people living in the small villages beyond.
In a country that has suffered so much violence in the last half century plus, this is a heart-warming story of a man and books, a triumph of the human spirit that is not a cliché.
“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings.
A whimsical riff on the bookmobile, Mr. Soriano’s Biblioburro is a small institution: one man and two donkeys. He created it out of the simple belief that the act of taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region, and perhaps Colombia.
A breakthrough came several years ago when he heard excerpts over the radio of a novel, “The Ballad of Maria Abdala,” by Juan Gossaín, a Colombian journalist and writer. Mr. Soriano wrote a letter to the author, asking him to lend a copy of the book to the Biblioburro. After Mr. Gossaín broadcast details of Mr. Soriano’s project on his radio program, book donations poured in from throughout Colombia. A local financial institution, Cajamag, provided some financing for the construction of a small library next to his home, but the project remains only half-finished for lack of funds.
He fractured his left leg in a fall from one of his burros in July, leaving him with a limp. And some of his readers like the books they borrow so much that they fail to return them. Two books that vanished not long ago: an illustrated sex education manual, and a copy of “Like Water for Chocolate,” the Mexican writer Laura Esquivel’s novel about food and love in a traditional Mexican family.
And there are dangers inherent to venturing into the backlands around La Gloria. Two years ago, Mr. Soriano said, bandits surprised him at a river crossing, found that he carried almost no money, and tied him to a tree. They stole one item from his book pouch: “Brida,” the story of an Irish girl and her search for knowledge, by the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho.
Luis Soriano, a teacher from La Gloria, Colombia, traveled to the village of El Brasil with his Biblioburro on Oct. 11. The donkeys are named Alfa and Beto.
Slide show
In a country that has suffered so much violence in the last half century plus, this is a heart-warming story of a man and books, a triumph of the human spirit that is not a cliché.
“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings.
A whimsical riff on the bookmobile, Mr. Soriano’s Biblioburro is a small institution: one man and two donkeys. He created it out of the simple belief that the act of taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region, and perhaps Colombia.
A breakthrough came several years ago when he heard excerpts over the radio of a novel, “The Ballad of Maria Abdala,” by Juan Gossaín, a Colombian journalist and writer. Mr. Soriano wrote a letter to the author, asking him to lend a copy of the book to the Biblioburro. After Mr. Gossaín broadcast details of Mr. Soriano’s project on his radio program, book donations poured in from throughout Colombia. A local financial institution, Cajamag, provided some financing for the construction of a small library next to his home, but the project remains only half-finished for lack of funds.
He fractured his left leg in a fall from one of his burros in July, leaving him with a limp. And some of his readers like the books they borrow so much that they fail to return them. Two books that vanished not long ago: an illustrated sex education manual, and a copy of “Like Water for Chocolate,” the Mexican writer Laura Esquivel’s novel about food and love in a traditional Mexican family.
And there are dangers inherent to venturing into the backlands around La Gloria. Two years ago, Mr. Soriano said, bandits surprised him at a river crossing, found that he carried almost no money, and tied him to a tree. They stole one item from his book pouch: “Brida,” the story of an Irish girl and her search for knowledge, by the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho.
“For some reason, Paulo Coelho is at the top of everyone’s list of favorites,” said Mr. Soriano, hiding a grin under the shade of his sombrero vueltiao, the elaborately woven cowboy hat popular in Colombia’s interior.
Luis Soriano, a teacher from La Gloria, Colombia, traveled to the village of El Brasil with his Biblioburro on Oct. 11. The donkeys are named Alfa and Beto.
Slide show
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
An art question
Hungarian artist: LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY. A young lady, I'd say of college age, came in looking for a book about Moholy-Nagy. As usual, the Hewlett-Woodmere has books about him in its collection. Once again I was amazed at how comprehensive the collection is; rarely do we not have material about an artist a patron asks for. And, of course, there is a website for him.
"Founder's Day At The Bauhaus", left to right: Moholy-Nagy, Gropius, Breuer, Mies van der Rohe. The back page by Bruce McCall for The New Yorker magazine.
"Founder's Day At The Bauhaus", left to right: Moholy-Nagy, Gropius, Breuer, Mies van der Rohe. The back page by Bruce McCall for The New Yorker magazine.
Can I recommend a book?
A mother came over to the Information Desk asking for the Young Adult Mystery section; I directed her (well, her children, whom she directed) to the YA section. Mysteries have a skull on the spine. Then she asked me to recommend a book for her tenth-grader who "doesn't like to read."
A book to read is very broad, I said; can we get specific? What do you like?
"I don't know," he answered.
"Scary things?" I asked, keeping Stephen King in mind.
"No, not that."
"Detective stories," I suggested; that got no enthusiasm. He and his mother engaged in a friendly word interplay, she suggesting this or that, he declining her suggestions.
"History?" I asked.
"Yes."
"The American Civil War?"
"Yeah." That connected.
I gave him a printout of a book by James McPherson.
"Someone told me about a 3,00 page book on the Civil War."
"I don't know that there's one book that's three thousand pages," I said, immediately searching in my mind for a multi-volume set that would qualify. I thought of Douglas Southall Freeman and then of Shelby Foote. I gave him a printout of the latter, and sent him off to the 973.7 section. He seemed satisfied. I know I was.
Again I was happy to have given a patron material he wanted and liked getting. Again my knowledge helped me to recommend a good book.
A book to read is very broad, I said; can we get specific? What do you like?
"I don't know," he answered.
"Scary things?" I asked, keeping Stephen King in mind.
"No, not that."
"Detective stories," I suggested; that got no enthusiasm. He and his mother engaged in a friendly word interplay, she suggesting this or that, he declining her suggestions.
"History?" I asked.
"Yes."
"The American Civil War?"
"Yeah." That connected.
I gave him a printout of a book by James McPherson.
"Someone told me about a 3,00 page book on the Civil War."
"I don't know that there's one book that's three thousand pages," I said, immediately searching in my mind for a multi-volume set that would qualify. I thought of Douglas Southall Freeman and then of Shelby Foote. I gave him a printout of the latter, and sent him off to the 973.7 section. He seemed satisfied. I know I was.
Again I was happy to have given a patron material he wanted and liked getting. Again my knowledge helped me to recommend a good book.
A library question, and an answer
A young man came in today asking for material on the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (passed in 1890). He's an 11th grade student at Ramaz. A search on the OPAC returned very little material: the only book was a biography of Benjamin Harrison, during whose presidency the Act passed.
I looked at Economics books; the indexes (actually indices, but why quibble?) revealed little, but it was a start. Following, I went to books written by economists: Galbraith, Friedman, Thurow; not much. But I did get a lead: look at the trusts themselves: Carnegie (steel), Morgan (money), Rockefeller (oil). I suggested to the student that he look at the index of each book, and determine if the pages on the Act were relevant.
A satisfactory start: he left with books and ideas, and a lesson on using the index of a book as a research tool.
A satisfactory end: I did my job well, and provided information and a lesson to a patron. This is a time when being a librarian is satisfying and rewarding.
I looked at Economics books; the indexes (actually indices, but why quibble?) revealed little, but it was a start. Following, I went to books written by economists: Galbraith, Friedman, Thurow; not much. But I did get a lead: look at the trusts themselves: Carnegie (steel), Morgan (money), Rockefeller (oil). I suggested to the student that he look at the index of each book, and determine if the pages on the Act were relevant.
A satisfactory start: he left with books and ideas, and a lesson on using the index of a book as a research tool.
A satisfactory end: I did my job well, and provided information and a lesson to a patron. This is a time when being a librarian is satisfying and rewarding.
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