Libba Bray, Cormier and me

Upcoming Blog name change

2008-08-28T12:50:00.008-05:00

After this blog gets reviewed by the Twenty Three Things on a Stick Powers-That-Be I'm going to change it to a more general blog, and the new name will be Cleery's Alley (at least that's the plan, if no one else has taken it). My screen name has been Cleery since about 1996, an homage to a character in one of my favorite children's books, Magic in the Alley by Mary Calhoun.

Man, I loved that book as a kid. I reread it about every season. It is hard to find now. But, a few years ago, I tracked it down through an out of print book service and grabbed up a copy of my very own. If you like children's literature and fantasy, you should read it, you really should. If your library doesn't own it, you can get it through interlibrary loan. If you're in the Twin Cities, guess what, Minneapolis libraries have it!

Now, I shall tempt you. This is from memory at this point, so excuse any errors :) Cleery is a skinny, mysterious girl (age 11?), who likes to poke around alley junk shops hoping to find something interesting. One day in a shop, she finds a carved box, with a secret latch, that contains... magic? She tests out the ingredients on a conveniently located stuffed crow, and gets a big surprise. The outcome is that Cleery, her best friend Knobs and Crow get to enjoy a strange summer of magic. They meet a ghost, a mermaid, and a truly awful scarecrow, among others. I wanted to be Cleery, lucky, brave, non-conformist Cleery. And I loved Crow. I still love Crow.

So, Ms. Calhoun, in the crazy unlikelyhood that you should read this, please consider it a big, fat valentine. You gave young me many happy hours.

Adventurous Eating

2008-08-23T11:49:00.005-05:00

Cartoon by Natalie Dee:
I got this from Librarian DOA and Floating Lush:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating (I don't know how to cross out, so I'll write them in red).

I don't eat meat anymore (since 1990) and I'm a picky eater, so we'll see.

1. Venison (as a child)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak Tartare (no meat!)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (not a pleasant experience)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (and deeply regretted it)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (not even when I ate meat)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (I'm missing something here, because all I could find named this is clay)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs (and I've always been sorry)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail (gross)
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom ( I don't know what this is)
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (although in a fairy tale if you eat the white snake you can understand animal language...that might be tempting)

Eat Pray Love and The Willoughbys

2008-08-22T16:05:00.004-05:00

Look, I read an actual adult book! Alright, it's a bestseller and the author's been on Oprah, and it could've been a letdown, but I have to say that I loved reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I expected to be interested in the travel and spiritual aspects of the book, but I wasn't expecting Ms. Gilbert to be so funny and likeable. I frequently laughed out loud when reading. It also made me think about my life and things that I could do to get more out of it. I made a little list in my journal after I finished the book. I've been to Italy, and don't dream of Indonesia, but India has appeal. If I can't get to India immediately for spiritual retreat, then that's okay, because I'm planning to go to a weekend meditation retreat right here in Minnesota. So, I finished my reading inspired.

Here's what Gilbert has to say about her reader's adulation (my word, not hers) of her travels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9B9zFo4RFw

On a completely different note, another book I recently enjoyed is The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. I listened to the complete but brief audio version read by Artie Johnson of Laugh-In fame (can you remember this show? I can). It was fun! It is what I hoped the Lemony Snicket books would be like, but weren't, at least for me.

If you have read or will read a great number of gentle "old-fashioned" children's books, then you will be tickled by this affectionate parody of the type. Like my co-librarian Carol (see

http://carolhashernoseinabook.blogspot.com/2008/08/happy-memories-of-books-past.html ),

I grew up reading favorites like Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, Edward Eager's books, E. Nesbit's books and the ones Lowry herself mentions in The Willoughbys: James and the Giant Peach, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, etc.

With this vicarious background filled with tragic accidents, plucky orphans, villainous relatives and more (See how Snicket/Handler took a page from this book to write his series?), I couldn't help but love Lowry's would-be orphans: bossy but golden-hearted Tim, the Barnabys, aka twins A & B, and the youngest, winsome confidence-free Jane. Lowry whips up a plot that ends happily, as an old-fashioned story should, and is peppered with melancholy tycoons, foreign postmasters, nanny super cooks and giggling abandoned babies on the way.

I hope it gives you a kick too, and as yet another Barnaby in the story says in his flawless :) German: "Schlee you later, alligatorplatz!"

Gocks!

2008-08-19T10:03:00.005-05:00

Here are some results from our Gock workshop in July. What an easy craft! Just provide tube socks, yarn, felt, fabric and notions, and people go to town creating.

Gocks by Librarians: Kalla's alter ego
Matilda and me

Gocks by Teens:

Batgock

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

2008-08-18T19:47:00.004-05:00

I recently finished listening to Before I Die and I think that it was excellently written and performed. Sixteen year old Tessa is dying of Leukemia, and so in order to get the most out of what time she's got left, she makes a list of things that she wants to do, beginning with experiencing sex. Some of these things get her in trouble, but they help her cope. Tessa deals with not only her own fears and feelings, but also those of her friends and family. Her best friend Zoe is by turns angry at her and bored with her, her dad is protective and her mom has kept herself almost completely unaware of the particulars of Tessa's condition.

British (?) reader Charlotte Parry believably voices the characters and differentiates them well.

The story is emotional and touching, but not maudlin. I tend to avoid books in which the main character is dying, but I had heard such positive buzz about this that I was willing to try it and I liked Tessa very much. See if you do, too.

Cleery Superhero!

2008-08-15T10:34:00.003-05:00

Here is me (AKA Cleery) as a superhero, courtesy of HeroMachine: http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heromachine2/heroMachine2.asp

Making this was very fun, and in truth she looks much more like me than my cute but skinny little "plus size" Yahoo avatar (apart from the huge hands and feet). I'd rather have a book in her hand than a staff, but that wasn't an option, and maybe if her staff is game she can magic one up! I also immortalized my former faithful library rat JoJo as her mighty companion.

When I worked at the Prescott Public Library in Prescott, AZ,

http://www.prescottlibrary.info/

JoJo and his brother Smores were very sweet and lovable pets in our children's section. Jo was a fuzzy grey Dumbo rat (the official term for extra large ears) with a curly Rex coat. The kids named our ratties in a contest, and the boys lived in a birdcage on the Children's desk during the week, and at home with me on our days off. Rats actually make very good library pets. They should not bite, they stay awake when you are around and they can be taught to do tricks!

http://www.avidpet.com/petcare/trick-training.htm

JoJo and Smores were handled every day by eager kids and their grown ups. They attracted pet lovers of all kinds to my desk. So, here's a big kiss to them, and Jo, I hope you enjoy saving the world with Cleery!

Library reptile visit

2008-08-14T17:57:00.009-05:00

Handsome Skink in his log
Pudgy the Uromastyx

Buttercup and me
Smile, Buttercup!

Fluffy

In July, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Mike Burpee and the Reptile Experience.

http://www.thereptileexperience.com/

The kids loved it and I did too. Carol (Has Her Nose in a Book) wasn't such a fan, but she was a good sport and ran things nobly. Mike and his mom brought Buttercup, the beautiful albino python, Fluffy the tortoise, a blue tongue Skink, an Uromastyx and more snakes and lizards. The nice little Skink gave me a "kiss" on the nose. If you're a librarian and you want reptile entertainment, I recommend Mike and crew!

The Alice series

2008-08-13T14:28:00.004-05:00

I just finished the newest book in Phyllis Renolds Naylor's often banned Alice series and once again enjoyed spending time with Alice and her friends. I love the way Naylor matter-of-factly handles all the ups and downs of teen life. Throughout the series, she has calmly addressed bullies, death, a seriously ill classmate, unwanted pregnancy, abuse in a teen love relationship, a gay-straight student alliance, a variety of questions about love and sex and more. Our heroine Alice deals with them all, frequently awkwardly, but always genuinely. One reason to love Alice is that she is not the girl who always knows what to do, but she muddles through good-heartedly, like so many of us try to do. Go Alice!

Breaking Dawn photos

2008-08-13T14:16:00.002-05:00

Reading Recommendations
Guys on a stick: Edward & Jacob

3 dozen
What's my fortune?

Breaking Dawn Party

2008-08-08T13:48:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was our big library celebration of Meyers' new book! I am very happy to report that we had 17 teens show up and we had a fine time (pictures to come). We did not have a sign up ahead of time, so I am especially happy with the turnout. The main events were intended to be the costume contest, for vampire, prom or wedding finery and the Twilight series jeopardy game. In reality, only one girl came dressed up, so she won that prize, and only two people really wanted to play the trivia. Luckily, all the side activities were the hits.

Planning:

I have to admit that I spent a lot of time planning this.

We had:

3 dozen cupcakes with Twilight series cupcake picks that I made with pictures from the net, library tape and toothpicks
frozen Hershey's kisses (Edward's cold kisses)
"Bite-size" red licorice
lemonade and water
"Ask Alice" fortunes in a glass goldfish bowl, with paper quotes from Alice mixed in with colored feathers, with a sparkly sign to catch attention
red lunch bag goodie bags filled with more kisses and licorice, buttons and stickers courtesy of the publisher's book release kit, and little writing pads left over from last year's summer reading
voting with marbles for Team Edward or Team Jacob
Dance card icebreaker (these went pretty much unused, unfortunately)
word search
Edward and Jacob on a stick: nearly life size paper heads of the actors playing these roles for photo ops

The most popular things were the craft tables, with magnet making supplies, and the prize raffles. For the magnets, I bought flat self adhesive magnet panels that could be cut into shapes, and gave the teens Meyer related color pictures, glitter, ribbon, blank paper in red black and white, and coloring mediums. This was a hit, and they made magnets of their names as well as Breaking Dawn stuff. We had 3 t shirts ( 2 B.D. and one Edward), 2 copies of Breaking Dawn, 1 of Eclipse, a tattoo and iron-on set, 2 promo CDs and a CD of Meyer's play list for the first three titles to raffle off.

What I learned from this party:

Our meeting room does not require 6 rolls of crepe paper for decoration
Side activities are important!
Although I downloaded a Jeopardy Power Point and put the trivia into it, it was really unnecessary for this party. My coworker Floating Lush was good enough to make me a large Jeopardy style category chart to use instead, which was what we did, but even that was just the icing on the cake. I think that unless I'm doing an event billed as Jeopardy trivia, I'll just read off the questions from a regular word document. The teens didn't seem to care much about the presentation.
The amount of cupcakes teens can eat can never be underestimated

So, things were swell, I was exhausted afterwards, and I want to thank Floating Lush and Carol has Her Nose in a Book for all their help!

Breaking Dawn Book Controversy

2008-08-04T18:58:00.004-05:00

The following contains No Spoilers!

The first thing I did when I got in today was check the reviews on Amazon of Breaking Dawn. Our party is Thursday and I was curious to see how things were going. I was quite surprised to find that many reader reviewers were very disappointed in the book. Many also loved it. I won't go into any detail here, but now I'm very interested to hear the reactions of our teens and my library coworkers who will be reading the book. I also would like to hear Stephenie Meyers' reaction to her disappointed fans. It would be difficult to be her and have to please all of her readers, many of whom love the series to distraction.
As for me, I read Twilight, but it just isn't for me. So, I'm not emotionally invested in the new book. Still, I'm looking forward to our party. Check back for details!

Thing 23: Finale!

2008-08-04T17:52:00.004-05:00

I had a wonderful time doing my 23 Things on a Stick and if more are offered in the fall or farther future I'll do it again in a heartbeat. A one word summary: Fun! I have to say that I was hazy on what Library or Web 2.0 was before I started. Little did I know I was actually familiar with a lot of it, but didn't know those tools (Flickr, Library Thing, Myspace, etc) by that name.

I had a great time beginning this blog and reading what my coworkers are doing. I liked learning about things like Flickr toys, Lazy Base, del.icio.us, Assignment calulator and more.
Personally, I didn't enjoy doing the computer games and I especially disliked Mixx, Reddit, Digg and Newsvine for reasons I've already explained. But, I'm pleased to be familiar with them, so I can have an opinion. :)

Thing 22: Resolution

2008-08-01T12:43:00.005-05:00

Okay, so I resolve to keep up my blog and keep practicing Library 2.0 things. If there is a 23 More Things in the fall, I'll eagerly sign up.

I looked over the suggested resources in this thing, and I plan to further explore:
Library Bytes: http://librarybytes.com/
NeverEnding Search: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334.html
Go2Web: http://www.go2web20.net/
WebJunction-Minnesota: http://webjunction.org/do/Home

Final Thing 21

2008-08-01T12:20:00.002-05:00

The last social network I checked out was 43 Things. This is a fun one, because you get to list 43 goals for your life, both big and small. You are able to tag them and write entries about them if you wish. The social part comes in when you look to see who else shares your goals or you cheer on someone in their goal pursuit. I listed a range of goals from "visit Scotland" to "get new glasses" to "see agility rabbits." :) I got cheered on my goal to "scrapbook our wedding photos."

I like social networking!

More Thing 21

2008-08-01T10:10:00.005-05:00

I joined Crafter. I love it. I enjoy finding and reading about crafting projects, with the best intentions of using them with teens or personally. If that never comes to pass, I still really groove on the research process.

I want to learn to sew, and Craftster has rich pickings for various projects. I want to make a almost no sew t-shirt for my upcoming Breaking Dawn party at the library and I got a good idea there, but unfortunately the tutorial's pictures are missing. Nevertheless, If I have time I will pursue this. I've ordered t-shirt surgery books from the library to see if one of them covers the project (corset-laced tee).

So far, I've found Craftster an excellent place to browse, and I love the bookmarking feature. I was less successful searching for a certain craft. I want to make magnets at the B.D. party, but I couldn't find any inspiration when searching under "magnets." Maybe I'll be more successful as I grow to know the site better.

One of the cute thing that I found was Marian the Sock Monkey Librarian (see above and find her at http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=162450.msg1644092#msg1644092

I like her little bun!

Thing 21: Other Social Networks

2008-07-22T10:15:00.007-05:00

In this thing, I looked over Gather, Web Junction and Ning. I searched for my usual interests: teen books, teen librarians, libraries, Fairy tales, Steampunk, history, etc. I did join a vintage clothing group on Ning, but in general, Facebook, LibraryThing and Myspace seem more useful to me. If I had found the new social networks first, maybe I would feel differently, but between the other possibilities and the listservs I'm on, I'm well covered.
Joining the 23 Things Ning was more fun because I was able to find many librarians that I know and friend them. It will also be enjoyable to look at the other participants' pages.

This has nothing to do with work, but I'm already a member of http://www.longhaircommunity.com/
which is a network that discusses long hair care and styling. There are sub-groups, and you can friend people there, too.

Inspired by a coworker, I joined Linked In, to keep in touch with friends from former jobs. I only have 5 contacts as of yet, 2 from my current library system, 2 from my last one, and 1 from my very first library job. I also signed up for Lifeknot, which centers on the activities that you like and finds others who enjoy them as well (being married, I passed on the possibility of using it to find dates). Several days since sign up, no one has viewed my profile or sent me any topic-related email. I haven't posted a photo or filled out my basic book, movie, music likes either. Maybe when I'm more interesting someone might look at my profile.
I've just filled out my likes, but no one has the same books or movies as me. I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch.

23 Things Badge

2008-07-21T19:22:00.002-05:00

View my page on 23 Things on a Stick

Guess the missing word

2008-07-21T12:34:00.000-05:00

Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable giant squid.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

2008-07-18T16:10:00.002-05:00

Take the Quiz here!

Project 17 Book Trailer

2008-07-15T14:19:00.001-05:00

Thing 20: Libraries and Social Networks

2008-07-14T17:55:00.008-05:00

I already have both Facebook and MySpace accounts. I've had MySpace for a few years, and Facebook for probably less than a year and I generally prefer Facebook. It seems more adult, even though I still love the Facebook toys like Flair, Fluff Friends and Travel Brain. I really love the Visual Bookshelf application and I use it all the time. I belong to 22 groups, including Teen Services Librarians, GLBT Round Table of the American Library Association, Don't Mess With Me, I Worked in a Public Library and more.
Though neither of my accounts were set up for me to use professionally, Facebook is more so. My friends on it are mostly my real (non-net) friends, librarians and authors I wish were my personal friends. :)

My MySpace page covers a wider range of my interests. It is at myspace.com/hislittlelily . I have many author acquaintances, but also belly dancers and other friends, and most of them I haven't met personally. I have 199 "friends" there versus 34 on Facebook. I think that I will thin these down some. I like that you have more options in designing your page and I'm sorry that there are so many annoying adds. Since I made my Facebook page, and don't keep up with my MySpace page very well.
In my previous library life in Arizona, I created a Myspace for teens. I friended many authors, bands and magazines so the teens could browse them. We also posted our events. I put up my book reviews and I wanted our whole department to feel free to contribute, and I thought it would be fun if we posted pictures of the Youth staff as teens. We had a fair amount of tweens and teens friend us back (maybe 20?). When I left AZ it was still developing, but I think that it had potential. I think that the challenge is keeping the content fresh and interesting without spending all of your time on it.

Thing 19: Podcasts

2008-07-14T17:52:00.009-05:00

I went through Podcast.com and listened to Book Lust with Nancy Pearl featuring Sherman Alexie.

http://video.seattle.gov:8080/podcasts/BookLust/BL_ShermanAlexie.mp3

It was an half hour program and was very interesting. I am a fan of Mr. Alexie, having greatly enjoyed The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. There was no discussion of this book, but they did talk about his newer title, Flight, and now I want to read it. Now. :)
Podcast.net is down. There are a couple of promising podcasts on Podcast Alley, but the directions look more complex. They are Meet the Author and Teen Librarian. Stay tuned.

Okay, I went back to listen to them and I found out I need to get a Podcast Aggregator before I can hear them. I don't feel comfortable doing that, so never mind. My vote is with Podcast.com.

Yahoo Podcasts searches seem very broad and maybe not worth the effort of winnowing while other searches are available. The Educational Podcast Network looks good. Check back for more.

This requires me to add Windows Media Player. That seems reasonable, but I don't want to add anything to a work computer, so I guess my lesson is done. Podcasts can be valuable. I would most likely personally use them for programs like author interviews, when I want to hear the author's spoken voice. Professionally, you could add them to your website to try to entice teens to read certain books or come to events. It would be one more way to catch their interest.

When I am finished with my Things, I think I will try to make a Podcast, just to learn how it is done.

Thing 18: YouTube and more!

2008-07-14T17:51:00.012-05:00

I have not had much experience with YouTube. Honestly, I haven't even had a working TV for years, until recently. I have seen some cute things on it courtesy of my more knowledgeable friends, like the Potter Puppet Pals doing "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"

and "The Mean Kitty Song."

The 23 Things suggested videos were pretty silly, but I sort of enjoyed "Conan the Librarian." I wasn't allowed into "The Grand March of the Librarians," and that's disappointing. I am much more excited about the Book Trailer videos, especially the teen ones. My official video for this thing is posted above. It's a trailer for the new teen book Project 17 by Laurie Stolarz. I wanted to read it already, and the trailer makes me want to read it more. I don't know if I can wait until Halloween, which is when I usually read my scary ghost stories. These trailers would be great on a library web page, especially since some are actually made by teens. I want to put more on my blog.
I glanced over the other video sharing services listed, but for my purposes, YouTube looks to have what I need.

More Thing 17

2008-07-11T15:01:00.003-05:00

17.3: ProQuest:
I made a webpage of links doing exactly what the directions stated. It went smoothly.
17.4: NetLibrary:
I made my NetLibrary account, followed the instructions, and learned how to make notes on the contents of an ebook. Smooth again.
None of the instructional videos ever played for me, but that was okay.

These tools would be helpful to patrons in doing research and keeping current with personal interests. I can see that the Search Alert and notes option on NetLibrary would be something I could mention to patrons regularly, when I tell them about any of the databases.
The web pages of links would be more for our student population, I would guess.
Any of these tools would make sharing information between colleagues simpler, and I probably would use them that way before I use them personally.

Thing 17: ELM Productivity Tools

2008-07-10T14:38:00.006-05:00

17.1: Search Alert
After some initial confusion (I was worried about the new directions, but they were simple after all), I happily subscribed to a "Cake Recipes" feed through EBSCOhost MasterFile Premier. It's not at all professional, but a girl has to indulge occasionally ;) They aren't full text recipes, but I work in a library, for crying out loud, and I can find the magazines that they're in.
17.2: Ebsco Page Composer
When I tried to watch the video on Page Composer, it merely froze my computer. :( Being foolish but persistent, I attempted it again, with the same results. It didn't update Quick time or show me anything. So...
Later: I've spent a good healthy chunk of the evening making my website on Page Composer. I just had to wing it, but it went fine. My topic is Fairy Tales, and I divided the page into links to relevant book reviews, full-text articles and articles of interest that you'd need to track down in the actual periodical (many from Marvels and Tales). Maybe I'm missing something, but I found editing the page very tedious. To put my links in order, I had to move them up and down the page by arrow. The screen was so long (horizontally) that it was difficult to see what I was moving. So, editing took quite a while. I enjoyed creating the page though, and I saved it to my flash drive and sent it to my work email, private email and my boss (Hi Maureen!).

Thing 16: Assignment Calculator & Research Project Calculator

2008-07-02T16:23:00.003-05:00

These look like super handy tools. Looking through the Support Materials for Teachers, I see two documents, "Improve Your Google Search Tip Sheet" and "10 questions for evaluating web sites," that would probably be useful when we teach our computer classes for patrons.
Both of the Student Tools would be very useful if we start to offer after school Homework Help for teens, or to point out one on one to teens starting big research projects. I agree that it would be a great link to add to our teen web page.
Personally, I could use the slide presentation format in the Research Project Calculator as a guide to set up a Power Point presentation for school visits, etc. I would appreciate the deadlines and email reminders.

Puzzle Pirates

2008-07-02T14:32:00.004-05:00

Doing Puzzle Pirates gives me the same sense of inadequacy I felt more than twenty years ago when I tried to play games like Ms. Pacman and Frogger. I'm pretty awful at them. It was fun to make a pirate player, I made a couple, Cleeryratter and BrawnyIvy, but they both lost pitifully. I started out trying to find my friends on deck, but when the watchman Jack Tar caught me, I ended up "boxing" with him. This involved shooting colorful balls and trying to knock out groups of one color (I think). This is probably a fun site if you like games, but I really don't. Honestly. I don't even like board games.

Of the two I am more interested in Second Life, probably because I can't get into it and I'm curious. As a Teen Librarian, you don't have to sell me on the acceptability of computer games. I've been to workshops about them and they're fine with me, as long as I don't have to play them. I know how attached people are to games like Runescape and Halo. I realize games teach problem solving, teamwork, and improves reflexes and more. So, as far as giving patrons what they want, I see how games like Puzzle Pirates have their place.
I'm more interested in Second Life because it seems like more creativity is involved. I watched the Ohio University video on Second Life and it is interesting yet also baffling. I wish I could explore it more. I also read about how the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Library does Teen Second Life. That is pretty cool. I've never seen a teen on Second Life, but then, they wouldn't be able to get into it on a library computer.

Thing 15: Games

2008-07-01T17:46:00.003-05:00

I thought Second Life seemed like fun, so I set up an account with my new name, Cleery Bookmite. But, alas, I can't download the software on the office computer and I don't have one at home. I looked at what I could and it had a certain playing paper dolls appeal to me, but beyond creating and dressing an avatar and furnishing a home, it just might be too much. One life is confusing enough!

So, I guess it's a pirate's life for me tomorrow. Yo-Ho!

Thing 14: LibraryThing!

2008-06-30T18:02:00.002-05:00

I've had a personal LibraryThing account since June 2006 and I love it. I haven't really been using it to catalog my own library, exactly, because I've never paid for an expanded account. Also, I haven't had Internet access at home since I moved to Minnesota, but all that is about to change, and then I would like to list everything in my library.
What I use it for is as a list of some of my favorite books, that I own or borrow from the library, and mainly, as a place to enter titles that I want to read and don't want to forget. So, when I'm reading about upcoming books or a friend or patron recommends some to me, I just enter them and give them an "unread" tag. It's great.
I like to see who has my books, but I've only got 200 up at any time, and often if someone has several of my books I'll look at them and see that they have 2000 books, so we're not necessarily reading soul mates after all.
I sometimes check out the Early Reviewers group, but I haven't ever got a book from them. I usually have strong success getting ARC s to review from www.harperteen.com instead.

So, for this thing, I put the book widget on this blog (just to the left) and the "search my library" widget near the bottom of this page. I looked at the list of authors who LibraryThing and asked John Green ( Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, etc) and Brent Hartinger (Geography Club, Split Screen, etc.)to be my friends. They are my friends on MySpace, and B.H. even commented on my cat. It was a moment of glory!
I also looked at the Local page and added some local book venues, such as Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis and The Red Balloon in Saint Paul, and also an upcoming author event that I'm interested in (Laurie Halse Anderson at the Red Balloon!) This is a very enjoyable Thing.

Ticker resolution

2008-06-28T17:10:00.003-05:00

I finally figured out the Ticker. There was an option for a white or black background, so I picked black for a spookier effect. But, the black somehow interfered with the text under my ticker, even though it had been clear on Ticker Factory. So, there you have it!

Thing 13: Productivity Tools

2008-06-28T14:12:00.005-05:00

I've been having a good time with this one. I chose to make a customized Start page on IGoogle, and picked my themes and widgets from a truly staggering array of choices. I added the tabs "Home," "News," "Cooking," "Art," "Entertainment," and "Independent Film." Then I chose the themes (art backgrounds)to appear on each page from mermaids to Civil War photos to the "Pig of Happiness" and more. Personalizing is super fun!
Then I picked some widgets for my Home page. After careful deliberation, I ended up with an Oscar Wilde quote of the day, a feed from Librarian.net, a Book Lover's Guide, a weather widget, and again more. Searching for widgets (gadgets) is both satisfying and frustrating. There are just so many, and the search button seems to bring up existing titles only rather than just anything related to a topic. So, it's kind of a treasure hunt. I can see how you could spend hours looking for the perfect Productivity tool :) I still want to tinker.

Next, I moved on and tried to make a Countdown widget, mine was to Halloween (a holiday that I love), but the counter part would move. I plan to try again before I am done with this thing.

Most recently, I created an event list and calendar on Spongecell. I picked it from Wired's list of the web's best calendars, but it really wasn't much of a choice, because I didn't want to make a Hotmail account to use their site, I don't want to pay for Backpack, and Kiko wouldn't open for me. However, I'm happy with Spongecell and I like the list of Wentworth library events that it let me publish at the bottom of this blog. I had a harder time making a calendar of a usable size. They were either too big or too narrow, with very thin boxes and little room for event titles. Goldilocks hasn't found the one that's just right yet...

I just made a To Do list at Ta-da lists. I made a shopping list for our upcoming teen program Teens Make Gocks. You can check it out here: http://cleery.tadalist.com/lists/1020072/public

I just tried again with the Countdown widget and also made a ticker countdown to the library's upcoming Breaking Dawn release party, but neither one of them actually worked once on my blog. I think my friend Katie made one of these, so I'll need to ask her for tips.

Thing 12: Social Media Sites

2008-06-26T19:03:00.003-05:00

I shared an article from the New York Times, SteamPunk Movement Moves Between Two Worlds with Mixx.

While I was playing around with Mixx, I searched with the key word "books" and out of the top ten results two were about girl's taking off their clothes and one involved "sexy bikini photos." This illustrates my biggest doubt about these sites. If everybody is voting on the best articles, videos, etc. they may appeal to only the lowest common denominator. That sounds so very snobby, but right now I can't think of a better way to put it. Maybe I'm missing the point, but after looking quickly at Mixx, Reddit, Digg and Newsvine it looks to me like a lot of the news is frivolous and sensational, and I don't know how those sites would fit in to my library work life. Thumbs down!

Thing 11: del.icio.us

2008-06-24T17:10:00.007-05:00

I like del.icio.us much more now than a did when I tried it a couple of years ago. I thought then that it was confusing, and I couldn't get the buttons to load. I was also learning about more exciting (to me, of course) things such as MySpace and Library Thing, and they outshone del.icio.us. Also, the punctuation in del.icio.us is hard for me to remember, but, to be fair, I just googled the word delicious and the site came up without bothering with any punctuation.

This time around I had lowered expectations. I still couldn't get the buttons to load on my computer, but I had a fun time choosing, tagging and bundling twenty links. I like the idea that I can access my bookmarks from any computer. I mildly enjoy seeing who else shares my markers. I want to explore this more. I will probably continue to use this in my personal life.

I can see using this as a research tool and for Readers' Advisory. I like the way the Menasha Public Library has their bookmarks easily accessible from their website under "Recommended Websites" and the bookmarks themselves are organized by general and then specific categories. I think it's the most user-friendly set-up of the del.icio.us library pages that I viewed.

Thing 10: Wikis!

2008-06-24T11:26:00.006-05:00

I made an addition to the 23 Things Wiki with no trouble, once I realized that multitype was a password and not a link I was supposed to click on (ahem...hangs head in shame). This was caused by jumping in and not reading the directions closely enough combined with working on 23 Things at the desk.

I also found a great link to a Steampunk book list on the Yalsa wiki:

http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Steampunk_and_Neo-Victorian

I like wikis. I think they're fun and useful, but if I was doing serious research on something, I'd have to especially consider the source. The Yalsa wiki is obviously reliable, since it is put together by people from the American Library Association, but you can't always be sure of the authority of contributors to a wiki. I also noticed when I was looking at the sample wikis that there can be problems with vandalism (which would be upsetting) and spam (super sneaky and annoying).

That said, I think it would fun for our librarians to do book list wikis.

Thing 9: waiting

2008-06-23T15:36:00.005-05:00

I've looked at the Declaration document in both Google Docs and Zoho Writer, but I'm unable to edit it until I'm invited. I requested an invitation, so now I must just wait. I think I'll go on to Thing 10.

Foiled! Thing 10 requires you to have an Invite Key, that I've now requested. But, happily, I've gotten the okay for the Thing 9 documents.

Okay, using Google Docs was very simple, and I was able to comment (edit) with ease. But, Zoho Writer continues to evade me. I was able to open the sample document, but I tried signing in with both my Gmail and Yahoo accounts and got nowhere.

I think that doing editing like this would have been very useful to me when I was doing group projects in Grad school. I have to say though, that I'm possessive of some of my writing (on pet subjects like fairy tales say, rather than for example, Beyond Computer Basics)and I wouldn't be too happy to have people just change it.

Final Thing 8: slideshow

2008-06-19T19:57:00.002-05:00

I just had a very nice time putting together my slide show (Flick) on Picture Trail. It was very simple to do. I would be interested in making more in the future, both personally (wedding pictures) and professionally ( it would be great to show off event photos or displays). Some of my photos are too tiny to really see, but I just pulled what I had and if the photos were all from one time you could save them in a uniform way. Also it would be nice to include other people in the photos besides me, but unless I had permission, in the case of my coworkers, and a parental release, in the case of kids in the pictures, I would still be cropping.

Faces of a Youth Librarian

2008-06-19T19:37:00.001-05:00

My database

2008-06-17T14:13:00.005-05:00

The database I made is a small sampling of some books that I'd like to read, called, unsurprisingly, Read Me. Here it is: http://lazybase.com/dbhome?a=478638570

I've also added it to the bottom of this blog, but I am confused about why it shows the number of titles that it does and how they are arranged. I tried to set it up alphabetically by title, but that doesn't seem to have taken. I need to explore this more and see what other people have done with it. If you could link book covers to it and give short summaries of the books it would be more helpful. Maybe you can. We'll see.

Oh, wow, you can!

Thing 8 Pseudo-Disaster!

2008-06-17T09:27:00.002-05:00

Last night I was working to make a database on Lazybase, and when I went back to look at my blog, it appeared to be gone. My title was there, but no posts. It was about ten minutes to closing time in the library. I was practically in tears. How horrible to lose something that I'm working so hard on. How disheartening! There wasn't anything I could do then, so I went home and told my sensible husband, who reassured me that it would be okay and encouraged to back up what I can by making a Word document of my posts.

Happily, when I logged in this morning and now, my blog is back with bells on and containing everything that it should. So, the moral of the story is back up your work and have the patience to ride out a problem. I still don't know what happened, but I'm relieved that it's over!

The rest of Thing 7...for now

2008-06-16T18:47:00.003-05:00

I have a coworker who is willing to IM with me, but there hasn't been an opportunity yet. I have semi-reluctantly texted my friends, which worked, but I would have just as soon called them. I signed up for Twitter, but I don't really have anyone to share it with. I believe they use this on Facebook though, and I do it sometimes there.

I have done a web conference recently, based on homework help from Tutor.com. I thought it went very smoothly, and I learned everything that I needed to. It was a lecture format, with questions at the end. I listened and then signed off without asking anything. I think that I might have been uncomfortable asking a question, but that would also be the case in a telephone conference. I am happier face to face. I don't mind this format though, and I think it is a handy way to learn new things that might not be available to me otherwise.

Thing 7.2a-2b

2008-06-13T15:31:00.003-05:00

Instant messaging. This is the first tool that I've been pretty uncomfortable with going into learning about it. I watched the University of Buffalo video and was baffled by all of the abbreviations. It's like a secret code that I've not been privy to. For my personal use, I think that it's unnecessary. I am not the fastest typist, and it seems stressful to me. Plus, if I'm right, people can contact you through a little box that pops up on your screen, when you're already doing something on your computer. I don't want to be interrupted, even by my friends. But, then, I don't usually answer my phone, either.

Of course, being accessible is really important when you're at work on the desk. The answering back quickly enough part still worries me, and the unknown shorthand, but I could learn that. We are doing IM reference here in Dakota county and I'm to be doing it too, but I've been dragging my feet. I keep forgetting to start, and this should give me the push that I need.

But, I just read the idea in the Library Journal Article "IM Me" about loading IM software on the public computers so patrons can use it to talk to reference staff and it sounds like a nightmare to me. My knee jerk reaction is if a patron is in the library and they want to ask me something they should come and talk to me. Part of what I like most about my job is interacting with people face to face. Also, I'm imagining what our bored and often badly behaved teens (not all, just some) would come up with to ask!

Thing 7.1

2008-06-13T11:49:00.002-05:00

trading3cormier
Originally uploaded by cleery

Email. I love to get email, but I don't love to respond to it. I have both Yahoo and Gmail accounts, plus my work email. Since I'm on multiple listservs, folders are my friends. I don't use an auto-check with any of my accounts and you don't have to encourage me to be brief in my emails. I have some little experience with Ask-A-Librarian email reference, but it seemed to go smoothly.

2008-06-12T18:58:00.000-05:00

Book wisdom

2008-06-12T17:25:00.001-05:00

Thing 6

2008-06-12T16:19:00.002-05:00

trading2garden
Originally uploaded by cleery

Oh wait, I already made some trading cards. Let's see what else I can do!

Well, all kinds of fun things, as it happens. You can see some of my experiments above. These tools would be great to perk up a library webpage. I checked out the Generator Blog, and there's plenty that teens would be interested in. You could do a teen program on these tools and decorating their Myspace pages and I think that they would love it!

Thing 5: Writer Trading cards

2008-06-12T15:40:00.004-05:00

trading1bray
Originally uploaded by cleery

I'm playing with Flickr Toys and I've discovered the Trading Card maker on Big Huge Labs. Once I found out that the photo must appear in focus on the card to be in focus anywhere (if you see what I mean) then it was easy to make some. One important thing I learned from this exercise was how to delete a photo from a blog post.

I also used Spell with Flickr to make my Librarian label to the left.

These tools are fun and I can see how great it would be to use the trading card maker for library displays (author cards, Dewey Decimal cards, banned books, etc) and events (Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series cards!).

Although I'm working with Mashups (without bananas or potatoes, happier and wiser me), I still don't think I could explain them exactly. I can show off their fruits, but I need to read over what they are again after the glittery dust from the Flickr Toy introduction settles.

Thing 5: the Beginning

2008-06-11T16:06:00.001-05:00

What on earth is a Mashup? Does it involve virtual bananas? Potatoes?

23 Things on a Stick: Betsy-Tacy Bench

2008-06-11T14:53:00.003-05:00

23 Things on a Stick: Betsy-Tacy Bench
Originally uploaded by cleery

Now that I've figured this out, I am having big fun with Flickr. I joined many groups yesterday, from Yalsa (work) to Edwardian and Victorian fashion (hobby). Today I easily loaded my Betsy bench photo. You must know about the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace? That was my favorite series when I was a child. I wanted to be Betsy, live in the early 1900s and have suppers on the bench with my best friend. Visiting Mankato and "Betsy's" house was as close as I could get. I was thrilled and my husband was patient.

Back to Flickr, I love the Common Craft videos, because they are so easy to follow. Also, I'm pretty inspired by the Clemens and Alcuin libraries and their Flickr book displays. I could definitely use that idea for the Teen section. I'd just photograph my displays and use that "add a note" feature and my themes would be around and accessible after the physical displays came down!

The Picnik/Flickr partnership looks really cool, and I'd like to play with the photo editing, but I don't have enough photos of my own to work with. So, I'll need to come back for a trial. :)

Shh!

2008-06-09T20:06:00.003-05:00

Shh!
Originally uploaded by Joei Reed

Is this not a cool photo? Steampunk librarian!

I've recently become interested in Steampunk because I read that some librarians have put on Steampunk events for teens. I love fantasy, Victorian things, and dressing up, so it seems like a natural attraction. I'm currently listening to Kenneth Oppel's Airborn to learn more.

Thing 4

2008-06-09T19:39:00.003-05:00

Wow! This one has foiled me and I'm absolutely frustrated. I can't upload an image from Flickr to save my life!

Okay, this is a hard won lesson and one that I might have learned earlier by reading more closely. Log in to Flickr, Google and Yahoo first. I'm ashamed to say how simple it was to download my photo of choice after that. Yow!

Thing 3

2008-06-09T17:49:00.002-05:00

Well, the RSS feed is really cool and apparently nothing to be afraid of. I found it really easy to subscribe to blogs in Google Reader, but I spent a good deal of time puzzling over how to link it back to my own blog. I found out how to share content, which as close as I can come.
So far, I've subscribed to Yalsa, Libba Bray's blog :), Unshelved and my friend/coworker Katie's Floating Lush blog. Yeah!

More Thing 2

2008-06-09T14:28:00.003-05:00

Today I was able to watch Stephen Abram's video on the computer at my office desk. I tried to watch it on another one in the library, but I couldn't raise the sound enough. It was fun to see the video because his excitement and enthusiasm really comes through. I can see taking 15 minutes a day to explore the Things, but I think that I'll need more like an half an hour at a time so I'll feel comfortable and not rushed. For example, we got an RSS Feed coming up and I don't know anything about that. I don't even know if I've spelled it right. So, when I get there (shortly) I'll need a psychological time cushion.

Thing 2

2008-06-06T17:08:00.002-05:00

Today I began Thing 2 ( is anybody else distracted by the thought of The Cat in the Hat here?) by reading John Blyberg's post and Library 2.0 sounds exciting to me. As someone working with teens, I absolutely agree that we need to go to where they are or lose them.
I am happy to take part in 23 Things... because I've still got so much to learn and this seems like a fun and non-threatening way to do it.

Blog Roll Success

2008-06-05T17:12:00.001-05:00

Well, putting up the Blog Roll went smoothly. I'll have to investigate other blogs to add.
I bopped over to Feedburner with a jaunty, devil -may-care attitude and now I'm completely over my head. This won't be a quickie. It will take me some time to figure out what's going on.

Thing 1

2008-06-05T15:11:00.000-05:00

I now have my very own first blog. Signing up was easy and I had an avatar through Yahoo already, so I just tweaked her a bit and we're good to go. I can't wait to find out what I can add next.