Library Sherpa

Someone asked me if I have not updated my blog because I’m too consumed with reading the latest Harry Potter book.  No, that’s not the case.  I’m afraid I am not a Potter aficionado, just a little lazy and unfocused lately. 

I saw this blog posting and wanted to share.  “Does Self-Checkout Make Libraries Less Friendly?”  I’m kind of torn.  Perhaps these are a necessary evil.  While I agree that they do make libraries seem less friendly, some people (myself included) don’t always want that personal touch and just want to get in and out of the library quickly.  One of the comments to this original post made the connection to the self-check out at the supermarket, and that it was along the lines of having a personal choice.  What agitates me the most about self check-out, either in a supermarket or library, are those people who cannot use the equipment and then tie up the line for the rest of us.  Sounds a little cocky, I know.  We need more common sense in this world.  If you eye up a contraption and don’t feel confident that you can use it properly, then swing on over to the human at check-out to help you.  While I’m ranting, same goes for E-Z Pass on the highways.  If you see an “E-Z Pass Only” sign and you don’t know what “E-Z Pass” is….then don’t get in that lane! 

Ahem.  Anyway, back to books.  Self-checkout in libraries.  Necessarily evil is my official response.  I do get impatient when the 6 year old in front of my has 30 books to check out to my one at my local public library.  I would embrace a self-checkout machine at those moments.  The machines just can’t replace the humans entirely…like the plot of many sci-fi books and films.  We librarians might wind up like this….

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Mr. Sherpa recently turned me on to Twitter. It bills itself as, “A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing? Answer on your phone, IM, or right here on the web!” So, chalk this is another Web 2.0 communication tool. As of now, Mr. Sherpa and I use it to communicate since our cell phone carrier shut down the website where we could send free text messages to each other. Yes, I could send the messages from my phone but since I’m in front of a computer all day long at work it is quicker for me to type him a message using this Twitter site. I’m sure I’m not using it to its full potential or even how its creators imagined. But, like any good end user, I am adapting the technology to suit my needs. Now, it also appears as though there is another site named Pownce which functions in a similar manner. I have yet to check it out, but there is a blog posting comparing the two at Mobile Messaging 2.0

Happy Twittering. (or Powncing)

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Hopefully, rumors of the death of Dewey are greatly exaggerated.  According to this article from the New York Times, a public library in Arizona has ditched the Dewey Decimal System in favor of a “Barnes & Noble style” system of classification.  (Library Sherpa takes a deep breath and counts backwards from ten….)   WHAT?!?!  Have you lost your collective minds, Perry Branch Library in Gilbert, AZ?  Ok, sorry, that wasn’t professional.  Ah-hem.  What we have here is a contribution to the ‘dumbing-down’ of America.  Librarians are not only keepers of books and information, but instructors.  Rather than teach and lead the people how to use Dewey, this library has given up and succumbed to the evil siren song of corporate America.  One of the anti-Dewey comments in the article was that the DDS is outdated and has a Christian-American bias for cataloging.  The pro-Dewey counterpoint was that the system has been revised 22 times to address these issues.  The U.S. Constitution had faults with it as well and that was revised.  But, let’s just scrap that for a more Barnes & Noble friendly version of historic government documents.  (No, Dick Cheney, I’m NOT talking to you.)  I did calm down long enough to try to see this situation from an opposite point of view.  If this change will bring more people into the library, then I suppose it could be a productive thing.  However, I cannot get past the idea of changing what I consider to be a basic fundamental of the library, an organized and proven classification system.  I feel that what this library has done is the start of a slippery slope.  Between the self-checkout counters and the ‘lay-man’ style of book organization, it would conceivably be easier and easier to phase professional librarians out of the library.  This, my friends, would be bad for us all.  Long live Dewey!  Viva la Dewey!

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I claimed my library prize last night, as referenced in my previous post about winning a summer reading contest from my local library.  I am very grateful to the UDPL and the local sponsors for giving me such a great bundle of booty to gush over.  I received:

• A stylish black tote bag which proclaims, “I am a friend of the Upper Dublin Library!”
• A $30 gift certificate to No Bare Walls Framing Studio
• A $25 gift certificate to the Agave Grille & Cantina
• Two movie passes to the Ambler Theater (or, as Mr. Sherpa calls it, the “artsy subtitle movie theater”)
• A $5 gift certificate to the Ambler Grill

So…how cool is that?!  The head reference librarian at the Upper Dublin Public Library wanted me to pass along that it’s not too late to sign up.  So, if you are local swing by the library and the sponsors’ establishments.  If you’re not local….just give their websites some traffic!

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Well, what’s the punchline, Karnac the Magnificent?  Name three things that are open while the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is having a catastrophic budget crisis.  Care to guess what’s not open?  The State Library and State Parks.  What sort of message does this send to people - drink and gamble all you want, but don’t exercise your mind or body.  I do understand that liquor, lottery and casinos bring in money.  Yes, I get that.  It’s just unfathomable to me that a library could be closed.  This is not the first time libraries have been sacrificed in Pennsylvania, nor the last.  I just get outraged each time it happens.  I’m not just upset about the State Library being closed.  It’s the bigger issue of our state government not working and making us look like an embarrassment in the country.  Contact your local representatives, if you’re a Pennsylvania resident.

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…it’s because you WIN stuff!  Yes, Library Sherpa is pleased to announce that I am the first winner of the Upper Dublin Public Library’s Adult Summer Reading Program contest.  I can just hear my sister, Insurance Sherpa, now, “That’s so unfair, she wins everything!”  I won for my entry after reading the Betty Smith classic, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  I’d like to say there was skill involved, but I believe it boils down to good old-fashioned luck.  I look forward to picking up my prize, and of course I’ll post my winnings here so I can continue to bask in the glory of being a summer reading program winner.  Some may cry foul because I am a librarian.  I don’t think that should disqualify me.  I just hope there isn’t a drug test.  Is caffeine considered a performance-enhancing substance when it comes to summer reading?!

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Thanks to Library Sherpa’s sister, who I’ll call Insurance Sherpa, for sending me this article from the New York Times about hip and stylish 20s and 30s librarians.  It’s entitled “A Hipper Crowd of Shushers.”  Sadly (or excitedly, depending on your point of view), I identified with much in the article, including using Dewey and/or Library of Congress classification to describe things you are talking about in casual conversation.  I think this article will also help divisions within SLA (or AALL) to make themselves more attractive to new and younger members.  I know some of us are antsy to get activities and technology more to our Gen X/Y tastes.  I’m glad to see the NY Times take on this subject, kudos to you!

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Today is Library Sherpa’s father’s birthday.  Papa Sherpa, as he will be known, was born on this day in 1929.  For fun, I pulled some of the headlines which appeared that day from the New York Times.

• Theatre Cashier Vanishes; Disappears After Being Sent to Bank to Make $3,000 Deposit

• Ex-Musician is Sent to Prison as Burglar; Former Speakeasy Owner Gets l8 Months in Sing Sing on Plea of Guilty

• Hoover and Party Go To Camp For Week-End; Wife and Son Among Those Accompanying President to Rapidan River (Va.) Lodge

• All-Day Riot Marks New Orleans Strike; 2 Die, Hundreds Hurt; Paving Blocks Rain on Cars, Injuring Police and Forcing Strike-Breakers Off. Trolley and Shed Burned Mob Overpowers Patrolmen and Prevents Firemen From Reaching the Blaze. Car Service is Abandoned City Council Orders Company to Stop Attempting Operation and End Bloodshed

Lastly, one headline most important to Philadelphia sports fans…

• Phils Win in 9th on Klein’s Homer; Triumph, 10-9, Over Cards, Who Suffer Their Tenth Straight Defeat. Whitney and O’Doul Star Former With Four-Bagger and a Double, Latter With Two Two-Base Hits, Help In Victory

Perhaps the last time the Phillies made the headlines actually WINNING a game! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!

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