Tinfoil + Raccoon

Retrograde+Raccoon

After a long hiatus, I'm baa-ack. In print, that is. As of today, I am a contributor to a local weekly, Second Supper, and have carried the T+R brand with me. The column explains how I got the gig and why I don't post here much any more. As of now, I'm not a weekly contributor, but hope to contribute at least once or twice a month. I'll post links to the issues I'm in.

Before you click the link to Second Supper, I am obligated to tell you that it's the worst online interface I have seen in....forever? It kinda makes me carsick. Do not click through if you have a seizure disorder, don't want a virtual acid trip, or are prone to vertigo. (Sorry, Adam!)

Amazon on Kindle: "We don't talk about our enforcment actions"

Anyone who has been following the discussion about whether or not it's okay for libraries to loan Kindles knows that Amazon has appeared to be giving mixed messages about the exact interpretation of their Terms of Service. I asked Norman Oder at Library Journal if he could contact someone higher than a first-named support staff person to give a definitive answer.

The definitive answer is that Amazon seems to be taking the don't ask/don't tell approach to the Kindles- in-libraries issue. Oder writes:

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener confirmed to LJ—as he did last year—that the policy bars library lending, but “we don't talk about our enforcement actions.”

The rest of the story is here. Maybe Amazon could give some chill-out lessons to the recording industry.

A Visit to Wisconsin Job Center in La Crosse

I wrote this for an in-house blog, but I think it's something that a lot of libraries are thinking about, so I decided to share it. It was a very valuable community connection to have made, and I like to think that we can become more of an informal partner.

 

Why I visited the Job Center 

I had wanted visit to Job Service, so that we, as a staff, could better understand their services and how we could play a role in helping people who use the agency. I also wanted to see if we have a role in a community where many people do not have minimal skills for jobs that increasingly call for tech skills. We see a lot of job seekers who lack basic internet skills and wanted to know how the Job Center worked with these people. I got in touch with Kathleen Olson, Employment and Training Specialist at the Job Center, who arranged for me to visit on March 2.

 

What is the Job Center?

Kathleen started my visit by explaining that the Job Center is not just one office or organization, but a one-stop shop that houses and partners with numerous other organizations that work with various segments of jobseekers. The umbrella organization in the state is the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development which oversees two Job Centers in each of the state's eleven regions. La Crosse is part of WDA #9, an eight-county area in Western Wisconsin.

I asked Kathleen to walk me through a first visit for someone looking for employment services. First off, everyone who uses the Center for any reason, signs in at the reception desk. A new visitor is required to fill out a Resource and Referral Form. The first side gets your personal information and asks what sorts of information you want. It covers a broad range of categories, in addition to employment-related resources, including GED, food assistance, housing and domestic abuse.  The second section narrows down your specific circumstances for job referral (criminal record? homeless? senior? at-risk youth?) The form also asks what agencies you are already working with. The back page allows people to register for one-on-one assistance.

 

What services does the Job Center offer?

Once someone is established as a client they can get as much or as little help as they want. Some people use the Center as an information source and mostly go for computer access so that they can look for jobs or housing, do interest inventories, work on computer skills and resumes, and apply for jobs online. This group of people is referred to as "job-ready." For the most part, they have the hard skills (those needed to do a given job) and the soft skills (job hunting etiquette, interview skills, and even something as simple as personal hygiene) and are not in need of assistance or other services.

 

Clients who receive direct services often lack hard or soft skills or both. Within the Job Center are offices for other agencies that can help people with specific problems. Steve Johnson from Independent Living Resources is a Disability Navigator who keeps office hours at the La Crosse Job Center. He works with job seekers who have disability-related barriers to finding employment. He also works with other Job Center agencies and outside employers. Often, his clients have multiple barriers to employment. He works with a lot of mentally ill clients who, as a result of their illness, have become homeless or have a police record. Some of his clients are veterans who struggle with not only physical disabilities, but with PTSD and addiction.

 

Some of Johnson's clients also receive services from the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP). I spoke with DVOP specialist David Wolf who not only has office hours in La Crosse, but who works with incarcerated veterans to make sure they have the needed skillsto look for work after their release.

 

There are numerous other grant-based programs that provide training and/or employment for targeted groups. There's a complete list of programs and partner organizations here. There's also a transportation program that helps people buy used vehicles with no-interest loans, get a voucher for auto repairs and receive reimbursement for specialized, disabililty-related transportation needs. More information is available at Transportation Connection.

 

Not grant-funded and available to all clients are workshops including Job Club, Jump Start Your Job Search, Basic Resume Writing, Job Seeking, Advanced Resume Writing and Interviewing.  You can use services without setting foot in a Job Center office via JobCenterofWisconsin.com. This is a free resources that allows job seekers to search for employment opportunities in Wisconsin and adjacent, out-of-state counties. With the website, you can create and post a resume, write cover letters and reference pages, apply for jobs, and save your searches.

 

 

Here are some specifics about computer use and other services at the Job Center office:

• Computers are first come/first served, with no timing or time limits. If people are waiting, computer users are asked to be considerate of others and move along.
• Computers are to be used only for job searching or skill development. The receptionists do casually monitor use and give reminders about guidelines.
• For a fee, clients can send or receive faxes ($1/page), print (first 10 pages free, .15 after that), and purchase resume paper and envelopes, larger manila envelopes and floppy discs. 
• All computers have Winway resume software loaded on them. Winway is much easier to use than Word.
• There is typing tutorial software to check out.
•   

Job Center does not offer any productivity skill-building training (basic computer use, keyboarding), but refer people to Western Technical College or other community training opportunities.

The philosophy at the Job Center is that people need to learn to do for themselves. They believe that learning how to do things on your own is part of the employment process. They do not fill out forms, do resumes or do anything else that a patron can do themselves. They do offer limited one-on-one coaching with clients to review and critique resumes and letters. These are not "how do I make a resume," sessions, but review of complete documents that are in pretty good shape to begin with.

 

Many of the services and programs offered through the Job Center are grant-funded, so it's good to check the website or call to see if a particular program is still available. Because there is no full-time web person, it's a good idea to call for verification of programs and the training schedule. Services will likely get a boost because of the stimulus bill.

 

How my library can help

As a result of this visit, we've come up with the following responses:

The best way we can help is to refer people to the Job Center.
We can also help by offering training in basic computer skills. We're working on getting this going. Staff tried to offer training sessions a few years ago, and they never jelled. My hunch is that this is the perfect time to try them again.
I have an idea for offering less structured, open practice sessions for jobseekers, in addition to specific training sessions. Rather than promoting it, we could start out by having the Job Center refer clients and see how it goes.
Soon, we will be making Mavis Beacon typing software available for in-house check-out at the Reference Desk. We will be looking for other training software as well. (Share ones that you know about and have used!) 
Staff members from Reference are encouraged to attend training sessions and workshops at the Job Center as observers.

If your library is adjusting or adding service in response to the economy, please link to your posts or leave comments here.  

Kindle News for Libraries to Chew on

2/20/09 Update with conflicting information from Kindle support at end of this post.

Since Amazon is fixing to birth the bouncing baby Kindle 2, discussions about loaning Kindles to library patrons, including the legality of doing so, are cropping up on blogs, email lists and elsewhere. My Kindle posts from last year are getting lots of action, and it seems only responsible to update them. I've been looking for information and articles following up on the libraries that decided to loan Kindles, but most of what comes up are the gee-whiz articles from last year.  Thankfully, I received a new comment on an old Kindle post about one library's successful Kindle program. After a few emails back and forth between Mary White, Director of Howe Library in Hanover, NH, I decided to give her a ring and get the full scoop.

White said that before the Kindles were ordered, they "did their homework" by calling Kindle support to make sure that they were legally able to loan the machines. She was assured by the support rep, John, that it was indeed legal to circulate content to patrons. (I have a question into Kindle support to verify this.)  The rep also gave her this tip: "when you purchase a title, it can be loaded onto a maximum of six Kindles attached to your account." So, she said, the purchase of 13 titles at $10 each, cost the library $130, rather than $390.   (I cannot find this same policy on the Kindle 2 page.)

Here are the elements of the Howe Library Kindle collection :

 

• Three Kindles, funded with money donated in memory of a long-time library volunteer
• Each Kindle has the same 13 titles, including best sellers, local authors and book club selections
• Check-out period is one week, no renewals (currently, there is a wait list of 60+ patrons)
• The Howe account is deactivated on all the machines, so patrons cannot load new content
• Because they are a big-ticket item, borrowers must be 18 or older and sign an agreement that they are financially responsible for loss or damage.

White's enthusiasm was unqualified. Her patrons have enjoyed the experience and have not had ANY trouble figuring out how to use the machine (translate: no frantic "how does this work?" calls to the check-out or reference desks). Before I heard from White today, I was talking with our IT manager, who wondered if it was time for us to check out some Kindles. I did some math and could not come out with a number that made me think "good value." We're cancelling a bunch of databases for abysmal cost-per-search numbers, and a Kindle, loaded with a small number of titles didn't come out with a good cost-per-circ. When I mentioned this to White, she said that they looked at loaning Kindles as a try-this-tech program. It's not about the content, according to White, but about the experience.

 

I asked her if there was an identifiable demographic for patrons who were checking out the machines. She said that she wasn't aware of one, but did say that "senior citizens are not afraid of them." One of the benefits of Kindles for older adults and others with low vision is that you can transform any title into a large-print book with adjustable font sizes.

 

At this time, Amazon still has backorders on the first Kindle. Those buyers will automatically be upgraded to Kindle 2. It will be interesting to see if the economy is a Kindle 2 buzzkill. Kindle 2 lists for $359, with $29 extra for the protective cover. Used Kindles and new-in-box ones from non-Amazon vendors are selling for $250-500. I'll start considering when the price is under $100. And if my library decides to buy a 2, I'll dutifully review it.

 

************

On Feb 20, 2009, I received a conflicting reply from Kindle support rep Forrest B that said:

Thank you for asking about using kindles in libraries. As stated in the terms of service, a library issuing loaded or unloaded kindles to individuals is against the TOS.

I have emails out to a couple people who are working directly with Amazon and who have been told that it's a-ok for libraries to check out Kindles. Stay tuned!

 

Me+Obama=Hope

Me+Obama=Hope
Originally uploaded by rochelle, et. al.

Usually I end up dozing another 20 or 30 minutes after my alarm goes off, but this morning, I rolled out of bed, hopeful about how this day might end. I'm writing this around 11 am CST, from a pretty busy reference desk where I can hear the sounds of a buzzing electorate wafting up from the first floor, where staff are trying to make voting as easy as possible. I'll catch up on my morning so far, and update throughout the day.

*****

1:08 pm Wow! It's been really busy and I've not had a chance to do much besides give excellent reference!  The huge lines anticipated have not yet materialized, but there's been a steady stream of voters. I'll be heading downstairs to help with registration after lunch. I've heard from coworkers that there have been more instances of "what do we do about this situation?" than when we served as general registrars. Luckily, we're just sidekicks and have help from the pros at the City Clerk's office.

*****

Buzzed

7:30 am After I dropped the girls off at school, I stopped to take pictures of high school students who were campaigning on all four corners of a busy intersection and getting lots of honks and waves. The two students I talked to were not old enough to vote, but were excited about helping out in any way they could. I was pretty wound up before I talked to them, but was filled with such an intense jumble of emotions as I talked to then, that I was worried I'd start bawling right there. So, I took the middle-aged dork route and high-fived both students and thanked them for what they were doing. But, you know? In their own jubilance, they returned the high-fives without eye-rolling or irony.

Relieved

7:35 I drove past my polling place and saw people lined up out the door, and was glad I voted early.

Giddy

7:40 I stopped by Bean Juice, my coffee place, and saw that my barista had on an "I voted today" sticker. When I asked if I could take her picture, she beamed and said yes. After I snapped her photo, she exclaimed "High five!" and we had an awesomely giddy moment which prompted other customers to share their experiences of the morning.

Pensive

7:50 La Crosse Democratic and Obama HQ. I stopped by the HQ to pick up a crockpot and a dish (I cooked for volunteers Sunday--Obamacue!) and asked if I could take some pictures. The HQ resides in a couple different storefronts downtown. There weren't a lot of folks around, and I didn't find the energy I'd expected. But, these were folks who have been living the campaign for the past few months and are probably looking at today from a different point of view than most of us. I wandered around, took some pictures, got some fabulous Obama schwag and offered to help clean up and close down the office later this week.

Surprised

8:20  I arrived at work and was surprised that the parking lot wasn't full. The library is a polling place and we planned as if there would be super long lines. There were greeters at both entrances and lots of welcoming helpful faces waiting to help. When I peeked into the polling area, there were maybe 15 people. 

Busy

9-1 I worked the reference desk all morning. I thought that our regulars might stay away since we were a polling place, and that it would be a relatively quiet day, but the desk was seriously hopping. In addition to the usual stuff, a lot of folks were calling to find out how and where to vote. So many people assumed they can vote anywhere, so we've been doing a lot of voter education. I didn't even have time to check news sites until late in my shift. Glad to see an absence of sensational or catastrophic headlines so far. The school nurse called to say that Miss 17 was in her office and not feeling well. She had money on her, so I told nurse to let her take the bus home. I'm hoping she's not really sick--have been looking forward to watching returns with her tonight.

Catching my breath

1-2 I've been in my office, eating leftover Obamacue (Carolina Pulled Pork), and wondering what my 3-4 hour voter registration shift will bring. My giddy is gone for now, which is probably a good thing for a Deputy Registrar. Heading down now.  

8:10 pm  Wow. I put in about 4 1/2 hours registering voters. When I left around 6:30, we had registered around 900 people. While we never had huge lines out the door, there weren't more than 3 or 4 lulls of a couple minutes where there wasn't anyone. I didn't have much time to reflect or process--I just kept processing registrations. I'm guessing that 60-75% of the people we registered were college student and there were a notable number of young black voters (for WI, that is). I'm still decompressing after an intense day working with the public and just want to focus on returns. I'll finish my recap tomorrow. 

Bottom line: It's been a remarkable day so far, and I'm daring to predict that it will get even more remarkable before day's end.  

 

Dave Wallace, Nice Guy, 1962-2008

Saturday evening, the news came through on FriendFeed that iconic author David Foster Wallace had died, apparently by his own hands, on Friday night, September 12. The friend who posted the news was a huge fan and others followed with expressions of genuine sadness and shock. I had taken several stabs at Wallace's fiction, but always gave up, feeling distinctly unmo and unclever enough. Even so, I grieved along with DFW's fans.

Why am I writing about the passing of one of the most influential authors of our time if he's never been on my Must Read list? Even though his writing was anthemic to Team C & I (Cynicism and Irony), it's not at all how I experienced David Foster Wallace. I guess I'd like you to know that he was just a really nice guy. Dave taught at Illinois State University in Normal, and lived in my hometown, Bloomington, IL until he left to take an endowed creative writing chair at Pomona College in Claremont, CA in 2002. I became acquainted with Dave through a coworker who was close to him as a friend, and who also did a lot of research for him. Even though I don't think I ever formally met him, I do a have a vivid image of him at the reference desk, scruffy and bandanaed, talking to my friend.

When my friend was in the process of a cross-country move, she asked if I could take one of Dave's requests, as she was without internet access and up to her waist with U-Haul boxes. I was pretty excited about helping out Perhaps the Most Influential Writer of Our Generation, and in no small measure intimidated, for fear of a sudden reference skills failure. Who wants to look incompetent to a Macarthur Genius? As is, I performed adequately (phew!) and was rewarded with an acknowledgment in Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity. Unfortunately, as difficult impossible as Infinite Jest was for me, this book was all alien script, given my distinct unmathiness. Regardless, I'm pretty proud about being even a minuscule footnote in such a rich sliver of literary history. All of our transactions were via email, and I was very surprised to find him a charming, chatty, gracious and warm correspondent.

After my friend got settled, I was retired as a reference pinch hitter to the literati. Maybe a year or so after that, I decided that I wanted to take a writing course at ISU and was sort of thinking about an MFA program. Dave was in the English department and teaching a 200-level fiction course. Of course I wanted to take a class with him, but he said that I would be frustrated and way out of my element, and suggested I start at the 300-level. Several weeks into the class, I was glad to have taken his advice and was particularly pleased that he passed along that another student in the class, a friend of his, was impressed with my work. I know that it wasn't Dave saying he was impressed with my work, but he trusted his friend's opinion. As a teacher and a writer, he had to know that this casual comment would be a great motivator for me, and it was.

I'm still slightly mortified about the one time I had a conversation of any length with Dave. By that time, he had left for his new teaching gig, and my friend, who had relocated to Florida, was back in town for a funeral. Despite the sad occasion for her visit, we had a small party, . In keeping with the theme, let's call it a wake. Which we used as an excuse to pass a bottle (okay two bottles) of tequila around and around.  Somewhere around midnight, both deep in our cups (aka "grunk"), my friend decided to call Dave. Apparently more incapacitated than me and unable to string a sentence together, she passed the phone to me. I did my best, a semi-lucid drunk talking to a recovering alcoholic, thinking, "this is both inappropriate and incredibly embarrassing." But, you know what?  Dave was as gracious and kind on the phone as he was via email and wound down the conversation by tucking me in and gently stepping back, like a parent leaving a toddler's room at bedtime, wishing me a good evening, but making it clear that it was bedtime.

Dave deserved such a gentle end to his day on Friday, but who knows why he felt that alone. People with chronic, clinical depression become so adept at masking that they frequently give those around them little or no opportunity to help.

Recently, another friend started talking about a suicide plan. You hear something like that and think that it's just venting during a crappy patch of life. We all have bad, bad days, but clinical, black dog depression is not something that's going to get better with a Hallmark "coping" card and a hug. I knew that my friend had cut his partner out of any discussions about how serious his depression was and decided it was my responsibility to put his partner back in the loop. I called and emailed his partner and shared every detail I knew, even if it meant making my friend angry. He did make an attempt, but people were around to intervene and get him help. My friend is alive, and we're still friends. If you value your relationship with someone like this, learn the signs and don't be afraid to intervene, even if it means losing a friendship.

Waiting for Gustav

Three years ago this weekend, I sat at the reference desk before the library opened and read this apocalyptic weather alert from the National Weather Service.

HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED....THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED....THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN.

Aside from having been to New Orleans twice, and having a friend in the area, I had no particular claim to the city. But having been there a couple of times was claim enough for me. Like many people who go to New Orleans for the first time, I fell in love with America's one pagan city. It wasn't beads, beer or boobs that grabbed hold of me. I can't even explain it, aside to say that I felt bewitched.  It doesn't even embarrass me to say such a corny thing. That's how strong the magic was.

So, when I read the above weather statement, I went numb and tried to process the message. Through the rest of my shift, I obsessively refreshed NOLA.com and Weather.gov. I furtively listened to the Neville Brothers and was close to tears and feeling helpless. When I got home for the remainder of the holiday weekend, I was glued to CNN and The Weather Channel, and reading the message boards on NOLA.com.

Everyone was relieved a bit when Katrina was downgraded to a Category 2 before it made landfall. It was still grim, but the weather report above seemed a bit sky-is-falling. Then, as folks started back to work after the weekend, the storm surge came, the levees started to fail and the real horror-show began.

For several days, with the rest of the world, I just watched in paralyzed shock as the apocalypse unfolded.

Eventually, I stopped crying and mourning and found a way to help by doing online outreach to the Gulf Coast library community, along with Jason the ZenFoPro and a few others.  We had a Yahoo! forum and a website, we were emailing like mad, and I created an ongoing blogpost with links. I can't even remember all what we did, but it was librarianship at its best. (If you worked on this with me, please give a holler!)

Yesterday, as unidentified victims of Katrina were finally laid to rest, Gustav began to gain strength and spin towards New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.  As of this writing, even though a Category 4 is predicted, the warnings are not as dire. As with Katrina, it appears that the worst damage may come from the storm surge to follow.  I've been reading the news and forums on NOLA.com and it's been a relief to see that lessons were learned from Katrina. Massive evacuations have begun and everyone, bureaucrats and residents alike, are taking the threat seriously. My friend from the area is tucked away in a far-away cabin and will be hosting Gustav refugees, all, I'm guessing, relatively well prepared for this exile.

Meanwhile, I'm going to work some homeopathic magic at home by cooking jambalaya this weekend. If you've ever been bewitched by New Orleans, head to your kitchen and let's whip up a decadent love offering for the city we love best and its residents. We need po' boys, gumbo, craw fish etouffee, pralines and bread pudding. If you can't cook, light some candles for those in Gustav's path, say a prayer that there's no criminal negligence on the part of the government, work on a hangover, or make a Gustav voodoo doll and poke him into impotence. If you'd like, share your offering here.

Day in the Life: Liveblogging

Woke up, got out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and had a cup.  And looking up (from FriendFeed) I noticed I was late

Really, that's pretty much how it started, minus the Paul McCartney narration. I like the idea of this meme because it will make me more mindful of how I use my time today. 

Today I put on a lady dress, in anticipation of meeting with our city's well-kempt grant writer. All my other looks-credible attire is more for fall and winter, so now I am wearing a nice, above-the-knee linen sheath dress, which will prevent me from sitting yoga-style at the ref desk. But, dang, I look pretty good.

8:30-8:45--Arrived at work, entered my status on digital whiteboard, gathered some notes and legal pad, then left to meet with city grantwriter/development guy to talk about writing an RFP for the library to become a Foundation Center Cooperating Collection. Grant writer is very excited about the prospect of having easy access to the Foundation Center's online database and will happily write a letter of support for the RFP.  It was also good to get out of the office and made me realize that I should be networking in the community a little bit more. 

10:15--Stopped by Co-op to grab some lunch stuff when I realized that I'd left a beautiful pasta salad on the counter at home.

10:30--Back in office. Logged into computer & checked phone messages (2). Sorted through pile on desk to check for unfinished ref questions and for stuff I don't need.  Looked at intranet and Incident Reporting System (IRS). Hooray! No incidents between last night and this morning. Amazing what a quiet place it is when there are no patrons. Responded to a couple emails.

11:00--Talked to boss lady about next year's materials budget (and about bringing spanikopita to her house this weekend).  Reported to her about meeting with grant guy and updated her on where I am in the process.  Started Day in the Life post.

11:2-noon--Responded to back-up call at busy ref desk. Hunted down source of loud audio coming from computer headphone 15 ft away. What I am learning is that most people are not used to having an actual knob for volume on a keyboard and choose to let audio blast rather than ask for help in turning it down. Even the bright orange sticker with + and - and directional arrow on the knobs don't seem to help much. My aural sensitivity does not serve me well in a lively, well-used library.

1-5 pm--Reference desk.

• Trying to pick out fabrics & finishes for new office set.
• Explained what email was to a guy who only wanted to play Spades on Pogo.com. Pogo requires registration to play, I guess.
• Helped woman find phone for her public defender while she told me about living at Salvation Army and losing custody of her daughter to her crazy mother. Sad.
• Tried to convince fellow that 973.03 and 973.3 are really and truly different numbers. Then I told him that libraries are really hard to use and not to feel bad about asking for help. And to please not reshelve the 973.03s into the 973.3s.
• Several phone/address look-ups
• Three Four Six "please turn volume downs"
• Helped autistic boy find book about mermaids, because we didn't have anything age appropriate about Michael Jackson (young patron does not need to know about vitiglio, sleepovers and Jesus Juice). 
• Several computer log-in assists.
• A book pull or two.
• Finally picked finishes and fabrics for desk set. 
• Confirmed sighting of notorious trouble-maker who isn't supposed to be here.
• Helped Crossword Lady: Peer Gynt (dancer)
• Used Reader's Guide Retro to verify and ILL
• Listened to patron's ongoing job search saga. I helped him set up email for his online apps. He's getting the hang of it.
• Let patron use my computer to do a quick print-out
• Was happy to see Miss14 show up at ref desk. We're going to Farmer's Market right after work.
• Ladies and gentlemen, the library is now closed.

Twitter: Well, he don't beat me

I'm sorry to say, but this is the best thing that can be said about Twitter right now. Twitter is not beating us, not holding us hostage and not physically harming us.  But our collective relationship to Twitter right now is sort of like being married to an alcoholic. It's unpredictable, unreliable and opaque, but expects that we'll always be there, full of unconditional love.  We're supposed to live off the good times and be grateful that Twitter has given us a place to hang our Tweets.  You know what? 15 years ago, I left a marriage with two kids under the age of 3. My mom asked, "Sis, he don't hit you, does he?"  Nope, he didn't hit me, but I was deeply and unhealthily unhappy and knew that it would never get any better, solely based on what I needed.  He was and is a nice guy, a good dad, but I had to get out. 

If I could leave a relationship with two little kids, no job, and no permanent place to stay, I sure as heck can walk away from Twitter. It seems melodramatic, but I think that Twitter is banking on the fact that it has had tremendous loyalty from the start.  Up until yesterday, I was ready to stand by my API, but after watching how Twitter let my Twits down during ALA, I decided it was time for a trial separation. The "perpetual beta" excuse just doesn't cut it for me any more. I love Twitter enough that I would pay at least a few bucks a month for stable, reliable access, but don't see that happening any time soon. I'm encouraging all you other Twits to stage an intervention and join Steven Cohen, Josh Neff and others over at FriendFeed. You can find me under tinfoilraccoon or rochellehartman. I'll keep my access open for now. 

Dear Twitter: Please get your ass into rehab.  It breaks our hearts to see you like this, but we can't continue to enable you. You come in and out at all hours, don't tell us where you're going and you've let us down when we've most needed you.  It breaks my heart even more to tell you that I'm leaving, effective immediately. I'll be keeping track of your recovery efforts. We love you and wish you the best. xo --rh

Dear Horizon 3.0.8 OPAC: You're on notice, too.

Nellie Wilson: Wisconsin's Own Rosie the Riveter

On May 3, Juniorina finished her second year of National History Day participation, reaching the state level both years. Each year, students work on projects in support of an annual theme. They can present historical research in papers, performances, websites, exhibits and documentaries. This year, La Crosse Public Library hosted over 500 middle school students who came to the library for research visits in support of their projects. We were pleased to see that eight students from our region were state finalists, some of who will advance to the national event. 

Juniorina, an 8th grader, wrote a heck of a paper, and missed nationals by one spot, placing with a 1st Honorable Mention.  I'm going to publish her work here, not (just) because she's my kid, but because she wrote about a woman, largely unknown outside of Milwaukee, who had a signficant impact on her community. Mrs. Wilson also passed away shortly after Juniorina started her research. I'm pleased to shine a light on Mrs. Wilson's life and work. 

Wisconsin's Own Rosie the Riveter: Nellie Wilson and Her Fight for Equality in the Workplace

by Claudia Elvidge, School of Technology and the Arts II, Grade 8

“Nellie Wilson had a dream, too.  Wilson attended the 1963 March on Washington.  She had a dream that she could support her two young girls. When Wilson finally landed a job worth working at, she hoped that joining the union would make a difference. Then she found herself making a difference in the union - and in the lives of countless other workers.”¹  

      That was a quote from the obituary of Nellie Wilson who passed away January 23, 2008, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the age of 91, after a lifetime of fighting for the rights of women and people of color in the workplace.  Nellie Wilson was one of the millions of women who went to work in factories during World War II at a time when, in the public eye, women were supposed to stay home or work in less demanding jobs.  Even more remarkable was that she was an African American woman.