« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »

May 31, 2006

Local Celebrities

Last Sunday's Newsday (Long Island section) featured three local celebrities! The cover story, called "Hip-hop phenom-moms," is about a new dance group called Momz n da Hood. It details three women, Audrey Feiner, Barbara Adler and Susan Estep -- the first two of whom are Roslyn residents! These amazing women, all in their 40's and 50's, have found a fun and entertaining way to stay in shape -- with hip hop! Momz n da Hood was also featured on NBC's Weekend Today in New York a couple of weeks ago -- talk about famous!! I happen to know Audrey and I didn't need this article to tell me that she's hip, cool, deserving of celebrity-status and waaay fun!
While reading the previous article, I came across a beautiful photograph -- it was black and white with a spot of color -- a style that I'm particularly fond of. Anyway, when I looked to see who took the photo, I was surprised to see that it was done by none other than Jonathan Heisler, a Roslyn teen! A couple of days later, while working at the Reference Desk, a gentleman with the last name of Heisler approached with a question. When I saw his name, I asked if he was related to Jonathan -- in fact, he was Jonathan's father! He proceeded to tell me that not only was Jonathan in Newsday, but he is the official photographer of the Village of Roslyn Estates. Apparently, they are celebrating their 75th anniversary with an Arts and Crafts/Photo Exhibit on Saturday, June 3rd. Jonathan's father told me that Jonathan has been taking photographs of homes in Roslyn Estates and put together a dvd combining photos of historic homes and how they've changed. Bravo, Jonathan!

Posted by Michele at 7:17 PM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2006

IM (Almost) Ready, R U?

There is a lot of buzz lately about IMMing in libraries. Just in case you don't know about instant messaging, or have never used it yourself, you can get an overview at wikipedia. Essentially, it's a way to communicate online in "real time" with someone else. It is very big with teenagers, or, a term I fell in love with this morning, "screenagers." This blog post talked about data that is being collected in terms of how people view online chat. As I said, it is a major form of communication among teens, but often these same teens aren't as willing to chat with librarians. In my house, my kids often first check to see if someone's "online," before picking up a phone. They will IM their friends for homework help, to make plans to get together, or often just for fun. We are always striving to provide more and better service to the largest population of people and I believe that IM is the key to reaching more teens. We still have work to do in terms of ironing out the details, but we do hope to roll out this service in the not too distant future. Anyway, we can't do it just yet, because I'm still trying to come up with a clever screen name! If you have any thoughts about using instant messaging in the library, or have cute screen name ideas, please leave me a comment!

Posted by Michele at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

For Want of a Music Education

Speaking as someone who is admittedly not music savvy, I've been having fun playing with a great new toy. One of our library teens (thanks, Erica!) told me about a fantastic website called Pandora. Pandora is an idea that grew out of the Music Genome Project. This project began 6 years ago by people with a vision -- these musicians and technicians developed a way of dissecting individual songs into "genes" and in this way created the ability to find songs that are similar in characteristics to one another. How it works is this: after registering for a free account, you enter a song or artist that you enjoy. Pandora plays that song for you, then continues to play songs that have similar characteristics. As the songs play, you "teach" it by telling it if you like or dislike each piece. It builds what it calls a radio station based on your music preferences. They have tens of thousands of songs in every genre -- including club and garage bands! This is a great way to learn about new music!
Back to my "bookish" self, I have to tell you that there is already a way to do this for books. Novelist is one of our Electronic Databases. Once you enter your library card number, you can put in a favorite title or author and it generates a list of subjects. Once you select the subjects that are interesting to you, Novelist returns a list of recommending reading! Now I've given you two new toys to play with -- enjoy!

Posted by Michele at 6:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2006

American Idol vs. Bryant Library

I must admit that "reality" shows are not really my style. I know that there are some households whose weekly schedule revolves around the American Idol lineup -- we don't fall into this category. We tend to watch the last 15 minutes or so, just so we don't look like idiots the next day. For the most part, I think these shows are harmless fun. But, I was shocked when they announced last week on the show that they had gotten around 50 million votes!! Last week, we were stressing over getting enough people out to vote in the library/school budget election, and American Idol pulled in that many votes -- I couldn't believe it!! Where are our priorities?

What does American Idol offer that we don't? American Idol offers entertainment, music, videos, ringtones, interactivity in terms of the web... Here is what the Bryant Library offers:

So, I want to thank you for acknowledging your appreciation of the Bryant Library last week by passing the library budget. We understand that it took an extra effort to vote yes on the library proposition, so we know that you appreciate what we do. Okay, so we didn't get 50 million votes, and we don't offer ringtones, (and I admit to sometimes having fantasies about voting people out of the library on occasion!) but I think we stack up pretty well. Thanks again for your support.

Posted by Michele at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

The Buddy System

I firmly believe in sticking together and using the "buddy system." I have taught my children that there is safety in numbers and they will always be safer if they stick together. I adhere to this rule myself -- except when I don't. The library closes at 9:00 p.m., and we always all walk out together. But, when we walked out last week, there was a young girl waiting to be picked up by her dad. I felt funny about leaving her alone and volunteered to stay with her. She assured me that she was fine and that her dad would be there in a half hour. She appeared to be about my daugher's age, and I knew how uncomfortable I would feel if my child was waiting outside, alone, in the dark, so I knew that I had to do something. It just happened that there was a meeting going on in the building that night, so I let her back into the library and told her she could wait inside. I let the custodian know that I was leaving this young woman in the building. Then, I left by myself. Just as I was getting into my car, this woman approached me. She gave me a whole story about how she was "due any day," she felt sick, had children waiting at home for her in Queens, could she have $12.00 for the bus home, please, and repeatedly said that she "didn't want any trouble." My initial internal response was to think of what I could do to help her, but as she talked I remembered seeing a memo from a couple of months ago that alerted staff about a woman who fit this description. As soon as I said no, she left me alone and I drove away.

Why am I still ruminating about this event? First of all, because I want to be able to believe that when someone says she's in trouble, she truly is. And, I want to be the kind of person that would help. My husband calls me naive (or stupid), but I refuse to become cynical -- I want to hold on to that belief. The other piece of the story that irks me is the young teen. We have an unattended child policy, but that technically applies to children under 10. The policy states, "the child is not picked up within 30 minutes of Library closing, Library personnel may notify the police to assume custody of the child." What of children over 10? Maybe it's a subjective thing -- if the father thought that his daughter was safe enough outside the library building, then perhaps it isn't our responsibility to wait with her.

I have always trusted my "gut feelings." I find this to be the best predictor of the "right thing to do." I'll continue to do this, but in the future, I will remember to stick with the buddy system.

Posted by Michele at 7:49 PM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

Please Don't Forget to Vote!

Today's the big day -- it's time for the library budget vote! You vote at the same time and place as you vote for the school budget. The polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The library budget is a separate item described on the ballot in Proposition #2. I spent last night making reminder phone calls to people in my home community. I was surprised by how many people had forgotten, or weren't sure of their polling place. It is very important that you vote in these elections. We hope we can count on your support.

Posted by Michele at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006

Summer Reading 2006

Now I know that summer is right around the corner -- we've gotten the summer reading lists for 5th-12th grades. They're linked from the BLTeens site, and also under "What's New" on our website. My advice... reserve and read the books earlier, rather than later in the summer. Take notes if you have to, but if you wait until late in the summer to think about it, the books you are looking for might not be available right away. Some of the lists have been completely redone for 2006. I have to say that even though I read a lot, I always find a bunch of books that I would like to read after perusing these lists. Maybe it's time to create my own summer reading list!

Posted by Michele at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

May 9, 2006

Common Courtesy, Or It Almost Came to Blows

What a day! I am exhausted and it isn’t even noon yet! Here is the view from my desk: every computer is filled and has been since early this morning, there is a yoga class going on upstairs, a group of BOCES students is here reading magazines. I have helped a lot of people this morning – to log into their library account, to find a video, fill a reserve, I even passed along a request for more soap in the bathroom! I consider all of this part of my job. The gray area is the interpersonal stuff – we just do our best. I’ll bet you’re wondering what kind of situation could have occurred at the library that was so serious that it would cause that kind of anger and frustration?

Here’s the thing – manners matter, they just do. We ask people not to use cell phones in the library, not because we want to restrict their freedom to speak to whomever, whenever they wish, but because it’s bad manners to use a cell phone in the library or a restaurant. You simply need to speak too loudly into a cell phone to be heard and understood, and it’s disturbing to the people around you. Do you hold the door for the person behind you? Do you say, “excuse me” “please” and “thank you?” Should you care about manners? I think so. It makes the world a nicer place.

Posted by Michele at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

May 8, 2006

I got such a

I got such a nice phone call the other day. A new Roslyn resident, a gentleman, called to ask a few questions about our Downloadable Audio Books. He had read in our May/June Newsletter that you can now download audio books right to your own computer! He thought that it was a fabulous idea and wanted to know more about it. After I answered his questions, he went on to tell me what a draw the library is to the community of Roslyn. He said that he wished that his real estate broker had mentioned the library to them when they were contemplating buying in the neighborhood. I know that there are so many factors that go into buying a new home -- the schools, the neighbors, the number of bathrooms, etc., but as a homeowner, you should also consider what the library adds to the value of your home. Hmmm... a partnership between the library and the real estate industry -- what a great idea!

Posted by Michele at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

May 5, 2006

Summer Planning

When you're as old as I am, June, July and August are more beautiful and enjoyable months, but my schedule tends to stay the same. Not so with you lucky high school and college students. It's not too early to begin planning for your summer -- whether you want to work, have fun, or both, there is something for everyone! Would you enjoy working at a camp? This article poses questions that will help you find the perfect job for you. There's also a U.S. government site that has some interactive features -- like a resume builder! Teen Ink Magazine (which we keep in the Young Adult section) has an online summer teen section. Whatever you choose to do, Summer 2006 is looking great!

Posted by Michele at 4:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 1, 2006

Name Recognition

I had a phone call recently from a gentleman who said that there was a problem with the May/June newsletter. The problem was that he is familiar with a librarian named Kathy, but this was not the Kathy who was pictured on the cover of our newsletter. He told me that he's known Kathy for years, and he can assure me that this was not Kathy. He was right -- we have two librarians who work here with the same name, but it is Cathy Mealing who is our new director. Bryant Library is funny with names. There are two Micheles working here now. We also have a couple of Jackies, two Annes, and, you're not going to believe this, but we have not one, not two, not even three, but four Barbaras working here! When I was hired, I was sure that I couldn't have a future here since my name wasn't Barbara!

We have one woman who uses our library frequently, who can recognize all of us immediately by the way we answer the telephone. I think that's incredible. She insists that it's a matter of paying attention. The unfortunate truth is that in our day to day interactions with people, we often don't look that closely. I am one of a few blonde librarians, and we've often had to run down the list of blondes when we're trying to track down a particular situation. I used to be the "young one," but I haven't been referred to that way in a while!

While shopping in Michael's recently, a woman, rather aggressively, asked where she knew me from. I'd like to say that I recognized her immediately from the library - remembered the book she was looking for, what she was wearing and what time of day it was, but I didn't. I had no idea who she was. She insisted that she knew me and wanted to know where I lived, what school my children go to, my religious affiliation and my workplace. When I mentioned the Bryant Library, she recognized me immediately!

I am still one of two Micheles, am still blonde (albeit with a few grays!), but now I have a new identifying feature. I am now known as "the blogger." The newsletter came out a few days ago, with an article that I had written about the blog -- it is even accompanied by a photo. I can't tell you the number of people who have come in recently, recognized me from the photo and commented on my "new title." So, I've lost my anonymity, but I'm enjoying my moment of fame. If you're in the neighborhood, please come in and say, "hi!" Just ask for the "blogger!"

Posted by Michele at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)