Work is a four-letter word!

First, let me post a disclaimer: this blog post is not about my current job!

It’s about some of the other jobs I had along the way to this one. That list  includes the  summer spent working as a farm laborer, and one working at the local drive-in (restaurant, not movie theater, for those of you who can remember that far back).

My friend’s parents owned a tomato field. At 7 a.m. and bleary-eyed, we rode standing in an open-bed farm truck from the downtown Shell station  to the farm field 5 miles out in the country.  The work was back-breaking and sweaty, bending over the seedling tomato plants and tying them up. As the plants grew taller, we learned to pull off the sucker shoots. To this day, I can tie and sucker tomatoes in my sleep. We camehome covered in  green plant stain and chemical pesticide. Is that what causes brain tumors? All that fun for about $1.35 an hour. As a side benefit, I got severely sunburned, since this was the days before sunscreen. I still have scars to prove it.

My next memorable work experience was a summer at the Point Drive-In. The Point was famous for its Slurpees, or some such sugar-and-ice creation colored with red or purple food dye, and we were told we could have all we wanted, but not to use the Slurpee cups, since that’s where the real cost was. The food was basic drive-in fare: burgers and fries, chili dogs, and Slurpees. There must have been some other drinks, but I honestly don’t remember. The amount of Slurpees I consumed that summer must have sugar-coated my memory. Or maybe it was the red dye.

Keep in mind that both these jobs were before I had a driver’s license, so my parents had to provide transportation. When the shifts at The Point got too late, or they wanted me to work on Sunday, my father put his foot down. End of job. Although before I left, I did  work one day up on the mountain at another business owned by the same man. This tourist attraction featured an Old West town accessible only by chair lift, complete with shoot-em-up gunfights. It was an experience I hope to never repeat. And, before you ask: no, I did NOT participate in the gunfight.

But enough about me. If you’d like a job that doesn’t feel like a four-letter word,  your Fontana Regional Library is the place to start. There are web resources accessible from our home page  at www.fontanalib.org, and books on topics such as running your own business and how to write a resume. Try Resumes for dummies or The resume and cover letter book to help you search for a new job. If you want to work for yourself, take a look at The everything start your own business book or So you want to start a business? or maybe Entreleadership.

However you choose to spend your time, your library is the best place to start a new job  search or career exploration!

Who’s up for the Dewey Challenge in 2012?!

Does this list mean anything to you:

• Generalities
• Philosophy & Psychology
• Religion
• Social Sciences
• Languages
• Natural Sciences
• Applied Sciences
• Arts and Recreation
• Literature
• History and Geography

Well, I’m guessing that unless you’re a library employee or a true library nerd, that this is just a list of topics, which is actually true.  But it’s not just any old list of topics, these are the 10 main classes of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, in order.  This blog post is not going to be about Melvil Dewey or his classification system (mainly because both topics have been covered here before by Deb and Don).

This post is actually about a CHALLENGE!  As it turns out, Christina at the beautiful new Jackson County Public Library, in Sylva, has challenged herself, as a sort of New Year’s Resolution, to read one or two books from every call range in the Dewey system in 2012.  Not only that but she is challenging YOU to do join her.

If you’re not up for this challenge yourself (gee, we sure do wish you’d reconsider), but would like to follow Christina on her journey, you’re in luck.  She’ll be tweeting about it all year long at the Fontana Regional Library Twitter Feed page and she’ll be looking for your feedback every step of the way.  If you’d like to recommend a book, pass along the title, author (and  Dewey Decimal Number) and why you recommend the book.

The first step of Christina’s journey will begin with The Black Swan:  The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (call number - 003.54 T).  I’m particularly excited about this book because it’s a book that I was previously unfamiliar of, but appears to be right up my alley.  In other words, I can’t wait to read it too!  To learn more about this book, you can read a summary of the book, a couple reviews and the first chapter from our card catalog by going here and then clicking the A Look Inside tab.  You can also see a short video of the author explaining his premise here and an interview with author can be found here.

Just a reminder, the challenge isn’t to read every book Christina reads (even though I’ll be reading her first choice), but to read one or two books from each main Dewey class.  The goal is to read a few books that you otherwise wouldn’t and to share your experience with others.

Good Luck!  And Have Fun!

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Season’s Greetings

(Note: the comments expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the policy of the Library system or any other person or agency.)

Christmas 2005, Disneyland, CA

No matter what your particular beliefs are, this is a season of traditions, memories, and reflection.  So, I thought I would share some stories of my own.  My family is a mix of Scot-English and German.   I expect that this cultural heritage is behind a lot of our traditions, but I can’t say that for sure.  Like most family rituals, I grew up with mine and didn’t question where they came from.  It’s just the way we do things.

The Tree

We have a Christmas tree.  When I was little my parents would bring home the tree and then the family would all gather together to decorate it.  While we were decorating, we would all drink eggnog, and my parents and older brother would eat smoked salmon.  I never liked the salmon, so I got chocolate chip cookies.  I have no idea why eating smoked salmon was part of the ritual, by the way.  My father put the lights on, and then the rest of us put on the ornaments.  In those days they were made of glass with paint that would eventually flake off, and glitter that would get into everything for weeks after.  After the ornaments were on we would finish with the tinsel.  It was made of metal and hung perfectly – not like that plastic stuff they came out with later that blew around every time you walked past and kept sliding off.  Every strand had to be put on individually and pass my mother’s and grandmother’s inspection.  I still have a package of that old metal tinsel.  When I was in high school my mother sent my brother and I to buy the tree on our own for the first time.  We spent an hour wandering around a tree farm and carefully made our selection.  When we got it home we realized it was nine feet tall and wouldn’t fit in the house.  Apparently we were looking at the trees from the perspective we had as kids and forgot to take into account that we were a little taller now.  The tree always stays up until Epiphany January 6^th). 

The Food

My grandmother started baking cookies a week or more in advance and made at least 6 different kinds of them every year.  She would also make three or four pies, each different so that everybody had their favorite.  There was also lots of candy and a big bowl of mixed nuts in the shell.  Christmas dinner was pot roast.  Always.  When I grew up I found out that the reason for that particular tradition was that my grandmother didn’t like turkey, so she made pot roast, and my mother followed the tradition.  We still have pot roast every year, even though my grandmother and my mother are no longer with us. 

Gifts

Tradition in my house was that presents from family could be opened on Christmas Eve.  That was when we got sock and clothes, and wallets, and ties.  Toys only came from Santa and would not be there until Christmas morning.  But the best present I ever got didn’t actually come from anyone.  When I was seven years old I had a cat named Tabby.  If any of you remember the cat food commercials that featured “Morris” – that was what Tabby looked like.  About two weeks before Christmas Tabby disappeared.  He usually slept on top of the clothes washer in the garage.  One day he wasn’t there.  We couldn’t figure out how he had gotten out since the garage doors were all closed.  When he didn’t come back home for dinner or breakfast the next morning, I was heart-broken.  He never stayed away that long.  The only thing I wanted for Christmas that year was to have Tabby back home.  When I woke up on Christmas morning, there he was, sleeping under the tree.  He was thinner, his paws were bleeding, and he was filthy, but he was home.  My mother said that he had shown up, meowing at the back door, early in the morning.  We never knew where he had been, or what happened, but he was home, and it was the best Christmas for me, ever.

Remember, even though the Library is closed for a couple days, you can still download ebooks from the Library’s ebook page and use our NCLive resources.  The Libraries will be back open on Tuesday.  And feel free to share your own holiday stories with us.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, whatever and however you choose to mark the season.  And Peace on Earth, Goodwill to all. 

(photo by Deb Lawley)

The Paper Chase

The gray one there on the bottom...

You’ll be reading along, minding your own business, and there it is – a quote from some obscure author in some long-forgotten book that was published in 1923 by a publisher who went out of business during the Depression.  The quote is just the appetizer; you want the whole enchilada.  Where O where do you go from here?

Your first stop should be your local library.  There’s a possibility the very book you want is on our shelves.   But even if it isn’t, we have this wonderful thing called INTERLIBRARY LOAN, the greatest thing since the combustible engine.  You come looking for a book, we don’t have it, BUT we search until we find it at another library and then we borrow it for you.  It is shipped to us and you pick it up at our front desk, just like any other book. What a concept!   And, believe it or not, our trusty ILL Librarian almost always finds what you’re looking for.  Your only obligation with ILLs is to pay their return ticket home.  Usually that amounts to about $3.00 (give or take) for a single regular-sized volume.  Not too bad, for that “can’t-live-without-it” book.

OK, but what if we can’t get the book on ILL?  It does happen now and then, sad to say.  Your next best bet is a digitized version online.  First you could try our new e-book site at e-iNC.  (The link is also on our homepage.)  When you get to e-iNC, you just log-in with your Fontana library card and you’re good to go.   Of course, most of the books there are new bestsellers, so you may have a little difficulty finding that depression-era tome.  You might like to try a few of the e-book sites that deal mainly in classic works.  Project Gutenberg has over 36,000 free ebooks, many of them important scholarly works with great historical significance, like some of the rare books published in the Middle Ages. (And while you are there you can read about Michael Hart, who invented eBooks in 1971.)   You might get lucky and find your book there.  Or you could try Classic Reader or Planet eBook. They have thousands of classic ebooks free for the reading.  Another huge library is available at the University of Pennsylvania site, called The Online Books Page, with over one million free ebooks available.  Your search could end at one of these sites.  But, then again, it might not.

At this point, if you haven’t found a reading copy, you will probably have to buy the book – if you can find it for sale.  You can begin this type of search right in your own backyard, so to speak.  We have both new and used bookstores right in the community.  If they don’t have it and can’t get it from their regular vendors, some bookstores offer a finders service and will complete the search for you.  Just ask.  Please don’t forget to check our Friends of the Library used bookstore, though.  They offer thousands of titles at very good prices.  Maybe the book you want is just sitting there waiting for you.  But if it isn’t…

Move on to one of the many booksellers on the Web.  Amazon, of course, comes to mind first.  You can often find older books at Amazon for a very reasonable price.  And when you search their marketplace sellers, you are searching all over the U.S.   If Amazon doesn’t have it, there are other sellers who are as reliable, like Alibris, Barnes & Noble, Bookfinder, and AbeBooks, just to name a very few.

When all else fails, you might special-order the book.  Lightning Source, a print-on-demand (POD) book publisher and a division of Ingram Book Company, is a good starting point, if you hope to buy something that has long been out-of-print.  If the title is one they offer in their catalog, they will print you up a new copy of the book at a very reasonable price, usually, especially considering the high quality of the paper and bindings.

(Not all POD publishers offer a catalog of works to be reprinted, however.  Some of them are in business strictly to publish works created by their customers. You will probably need to research that a bit.   This site (click here) lists a comparison of publishers, but you would need to verify if they can print a random book, rather than your own work.)

I hope you’ve found your book by this point.  If not, I hope you have at least enjoyed the chase.  But always be sure to check with your library first.  It might save you a lot of time and money!

What Dimension Are We In?

Do you know what a quark is?   How about a brane?  Have you ever heard of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)? If you read books or watched television shows devoted to new theories of physics, you probably have.  If not, I hope I have peaked your interest.

To listen to a scientist talk about the latest theories in physics one wonders if he, she,  or you has stepped into the “Twilight Zone.”  When Lisa Randall,  Michio Kaku, or Bob Greene appears on the “Daily Show”, “Colbert Report” or some other popular television show to discuss their latest book on quantum physics and you can understand what they are talking about, you know something has changed.

The other night I found myself watching a talk on Book-TV by Lisa Randall physics and the importance of science education. Ever since the Russians launched Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite, in 1957, educators and scientists have been talking about the importance of science and math in American schools.   The theme is still relevant.

In my old age I’ve gotten interested in our place (the world’s) in the realms of space.  There is an irony in that interest:  when I was in school I stayed away from science and math because I didn’t think  I was smart enough to understand them.   I still don’t think I am that smart,  but more scientists are writing so lay people like me can understand what they are talking about.  Lisa Randall is one of those.

Lisa Randall’s latest book, which she was discussing of Book-TV,  Knocking on Heaven’s Door  and her earlier work, Warped Passages: Unraveling the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions deal, at least in part, with theories concerning hidden dimensions in our world and beyond;  with smallest (particle physics) and the largest (Cosmology).  Randall reveals the hidden dimensions are so small they are visible to naked eye.   She also tells the reader about the work of the Large Hadron Collider which will hopefully lead scientists to the origin of dark matter and proof of extra dimensions.

Similarly, Brian Greene has worked to make the work scientists who study  quantum physics understood by the lay person.  Beginning with The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, and continuing with The Fabric of the Cosmos:  Space, Time and the Texture of Reality and Hidden Reality:  Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, Greene as the subtitles reveal has similar interests to Dr. Randall.

In addition to Randall and Greene, John D. Barrow, a British scientist, has explored a number theories of the universe in his book The Book of Universes:  Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos.  Universes are the theme of Barrow’s book:  all sorts of universes.  Universes we can see  and those we can’t, because they are in a different dimension.

But these theories are not new to the 21st century. If you are an aficionado  of the Nat Geo, Science, or Public Television channels, you are probably familiar with Michio Kaku, another theoretical physicist.  Kaku,  the co-founder of the string theory, wrote Hyperspace:  a Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension in 1994.  Ten years later Randall, Greene, and Barrow are elaborating on his ideas.

After you have read even one of these books, you will understand the theories prevalent in contemporary physics.  You may even know what the Large Hadron Collider does and why it won’t create a black hole to swallow the earth.

What’s in YOUR attic?

As a child,  I was intrigued by the disappearing  staircase at my grandmother’s house.  Because my grandmother, being a rather large woman, was afraid to climb those stairs, I was even more interested in what might be lurking just above that ceiling!

My parents’ house had a boring attic, which was easily accessible by full-sized doors off the bedrooms at each end of the second story. No secret staircase, no rope to swing from. And no fun.

Eventually, my mother and I ventured into my grandmother’s attic. There was a trunk of clothes, which included my mother’s wedding dress (which I couldn’t fit into even at age 12) and several prom dresses from her college years. I remember one in particular: a beautiful smooth yellow satin gown. Alas, it didn’t fit me, either.

Years later, I  climbed alone  into my grandmother’s attic and rescue two of my most prized possessions.

One was an old quilt someone had left in one of her rental houses, and the other was my grandmother’s  Dazey churn.

Turns out  it’s a good thing I grabbed those two antiques. Not long after I visited, my grandmother had a stroke and ended up in the nursing home. While she was there, someone broke into her house, climbed up those same stairs and broke or stole whatever was left.

Although I’ve never used the churn, I did spend the whole next winter wrapped up in that old quilt, mending it while it kept me warm in my chilly post-college apartment.

Other attics I have known and sometimes loved include the one across the street from my parents’ house. The Wasilik attic was a treasure trove for the neighborhood kids. On rainy days, we’d play in the upstairs bedrooms, which had convenient access to the attic crawl space under the eaves. There we discovered an old Victrola phonograph, along with musical recordings on wax cylinders! Because the attic had no lights, it was a good and scary place to tell ghost stories and play hide and seek.

More than a decade ago, I was faced with cleaning out my parent’s house–the only one they ever owned. All three levels, basement to attic, were full of things they had accumulated during their 45 years of marriage, plus additional items from their own parents. When I got to the attic, it was hot and I was tired of having to decide what to do with all that stuff. There was one last trunk in the back, and I was almost afraid to open it, fearing there were important papers I’d have to sort through.

But in that old trunk were beautifully tailored women’s suits from my mother’s first teaching jobs in the 1940′s. Vintage clothing, as it’s now labelled–and all of it too small for me! Sadly, I had to get rid of it, too, along with my great-aunt’s fur coat and my mother’s wedding dress –remember that from my grandmother’s attic?

One way to rid yourself of all this stuff is to sell it on EBay. Your library has lots of books to help you, from  Absolute beginner’s guide to EBay to How to do everything with EBay. Otherwise, there are lots of thrift and resale shops who are glad to take your items. If you’re really serious, you can even learn how to start your own store: Start your own clothing store and more.

On occasion, I have to pull down my own staircase and disappear into my own attic. That’s when I need the books about decluttering.  Who put all this stuff in my attic, anyway? Library to the rescue! There are books like Lighten up: love what you have, have what you need, be happier with less and Toss, keep, sell! which can help you make those difficult decisions.

So…what’s in MY attic? Not nearly as much as there used to be!

A Toast to Squanto

Alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner are becoming increasingly popular. (Photo courtesy of splorp)

I’m sad to admit that my understanding of the first Thanksgiving is pretty much limited to what I learned in second grade (plus a particularly hilarious Bugs Bunny cartoon).

I know the Pilgrims wore construction paper hats and had buckles on their shoes and hats. They didn’t like to smile or get frisky, and cussing was definitely out.

I’m pretty sure the Native Americans brought turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie to that first Thanksgiving. And since it was before electricity, they all had to watch football on TV by candlelight.

As to whether Elmer Fudd was really there, well, I guess we’ll never know for sure.

With the remarkable resources available through the Fontana Regional Library System, I suppose there’s no excuse for not knowing more about this storied day.

But I get the big, big idea behind the holiday — being grateful for the people, random situations and material things that have enriched my life. An embarrassment of riches, it is.

Thanks to the Fontana Regional Library System, I have one more thing to be thankful for.

That’s where I found Georgia Bragg’s marvelous “How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous.” It’s a gleefully morbid examination of the over-the-top lives and gut-twistingly icky ends of some of history’s most colorful personalities.

This helps to cut the "How They Croaked" queasiness. (Photo courtesy of Tess Aquarius)

Julius Caesar, Elizabeth I, E.A. Poe, George Washington, Marie Antoinette, Mozart, Einstein and lots of others. Their gradual disintegrations and sudden expirations are laid out in unblinking detail. It’s kind of like an episode of CSI done in a breezy style. It’ll also convince you that we’re pretty much bags of guts just waiting to explode or disintegrate.

So that’s why I’m adding a few more items to the List of Things I’m Grateful For: modern plumbing, dentistry, the fact that no one’s ever asked me to wear a powdered wig, MRIs for when my stomach swells up like a watermelon, and the near-certainty that no one at Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library will ever plot to murder me.

Super Deluxe Library Patron

What is the most important part of a library?

If you said the patrons you would be absolutely right! Without them, we, the staff would not be needed.

I really enjoy working with our patrons and have decided to randomly interview some of them to get their story on our libraries.

My second “Super Deluxe Library Patron” is Francine. She is a retired Physical Education/Outdoor Education Teacher.

Francine, do you remember getting your first Library Card?

Definitely. I was about 6 years old. My parents were working at a Camp in southern Wisconsin and we traveled to Antioch, IL every Saturday. I was allowed to check out as many books as I could carry. I would read them all and return for a new batch the next Saturday. As the summers went on, I not only roamed the woods and lake areas but read my way through the children’s room at the library and kept on going!

So today, Francine, what do you use your library card for the majority of the time?

Books, Books and more Books! I love to READ!

Is there a good book or movie you have enjoyed lately?

That would be the Cat in the Hat movie. My granddaughter and I have really enjoyed it.

Is there a special story you would like to share about how the library has helped you?

My “project” now that I have retired from formal teaching is to share God’s wonderful world with my 2 ½ year old granddaughter. She is an eager learner and was introduced last year to the pre-school story program at the Marianna Black Library. She has been held and read to since birth by her parents and grandparents. She has many of her own books and we check out numerous one at the library. She enjoys the library programs and feels very comfortable and confident with the wonderful librarians who always treat her with kindness and respect, despite her young age.

Thank Francine for being a Super Deluxe Library Patron!

EBOOKS ARE HERE!

For the last couple of months we’ve been keeping you apprised of our efforts to bring ebooks to you.  AT LAST THEY ARE HERE!  To find them you need to use the link to the e-iNC website:  http://e-inc.lib.overdrive.com.  The link should be on the Library’s website.  Look for the e-iNC logo.

You will need your library card to check books out.  You can check out up to four ebooks for two weeks.  You can renew your items if no one is waiting for them, and you can return them early if you are finished with them.  Just like with paper books, only one person can check out a book at a time.  We’ll have some extra copies for the popular ones to help cut down wait time.  There are about 1300 titles right now.  I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but there are new titles being added every day.  Check back often to see what’s been added.  We are just getting started and we will be growing the collection.

So, how is this going to work?  Well, first you need to go to the e-iNC website.  If you remember from my last post, e-iNC is the name of our ebook consortium.   Major caveat:  This is meant for you to do from your home computer.  You will not be able to download ebooks on library computers because of licensing limitations in the ebook download software.  However, you can bring your own laptop into the library and use our high-speed Internet connection, if you want.

1. On the top of the page go to “SIGN IN”.  This will take you to a list of libraries in our consortium.
2. Select “Fontana Regional Library” from the drop-down list
3. Enter your library card number and click “sign in”

This takes you to your account page where you can see what ebooks you have checked out, what ebooks you have on hold, and your wish list.  On the left side of the screen there are help resources including a getting started video and a list of compatible devices which link to help pages on how to use each device.  And beneath that you can browse the ebook collection.

While you are over on the left side of the screen, way down at the bottom, you might notice something about “overdrive advantage”.  Because we are part of a consortium, our ebooks are shared with other libraries.  All the libraries contribute to the collection, which lets us offer more titles than we could alone.  But since that means that our customers may have to wait longer for the most popular titles, we’ve added something called an “advantage account”.  These are copies of books that are set aside just for Fontana Regional Library cardholders.  You don’t have to do anything special to get them; as long as you are signed in as a Fontana user they will automatically be available to you.  That’s one of the reasons that you always want to sign in with your library card at the beginning of your search session.

If you find something in the collection you like and it’s available you can add it to your “ebookbag” and continue browsing.  Many items  will have multiple formats available.  Choose the one that works best for your device.  The Adobe epub format works for most ereaders except the Kindles and is easier to use than the PDF version, so it is the recommended format for non-Kindle users.   If you want to wait and read it later you can add it to your wish list.  If it isn’t available you can put it on hold.  When you are ready, you can click on “ebookbag” and checkout the items you want (up to four).

After you check out an ebook you can read it on a number of different devices, including PCs, Macs, tablets, smart phones, and ereaders.  But first you need to download it from the e-iNC website.  To do this you need an “app” installed on your device.  If you are using a phone or tablet you will need to have Overdrive Media Console.  If your device is a Kindle you will be directed to your Amazon account to download the book.  If you are using a PC or Mac you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions installed.  If you have an ereader other than a Kindle, such as a Nook or a Kobo, you will need to download to a PC or MAC first, then “sideload” the ebook to your ereader.  Fortunately, the e-iNC site has handy help instructions for all of this, and links to the different apps.

It seems like a lot the first time you download an ebook, but after the first time you’ll find it’s pretty easy to do.  And if you have problems, the staff in the library is here to help.   While there are some publishers who won’t make their ebooks available to libraries, we will try to provide a pleasing variety for everyone.  So,please jump in and give it a try, and let us know what other titles you would like us to get.