A Novel Professional

Vincent Lam said it best ... taking the pink out of pinko

2012-02-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

You gotta love Vincent Lam, author of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures amongst other notable titles. This soft-spoken, thoughtful and genuine soul is just so darn cute!

Well I didn't think it possible, but today I love the guy even more. His response to the question "why is your library important to you?" in today's print edition of the Life & Entertainment section of the Toronto Star is so well crafted - something to be expected by a writer. It not only mirrors my own sentiments, but does so in a way that's much more eloquent than I could devise. So dear reader, you know what's coming, a re-broadcast as it were of Mr. Lam's thoughts:

"My kids love the library. They love looking through all the books, seeing all the possibilities, and choosing which ones to enjoy next ... [they] also know that those books go back to the library. They learn that as citizens of the City of Toronto, they have a right to explore ideas and books freely, that the public library is an institution that makes this possible, and that those ideas and books are shared: they are a public resource. To me, this is a fundamental, core element of an open, democratic society of ideas."

Although I share this exact sentiment, whenever I try and communicate it to people around me I sound like nothing more than a biased pinko. So thank you Vincent Lam for introducing a shade of acceptance to an otherwise debatable, and some would argue off-putting, shade of pink.

Unattended Children In The Library

2012-01-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

Image via the STFU, Parents Facebook page

Most Librarians and Library Workers would agree - unattended children in the library is never a good thing. My branch posts polite signs in our Children's Department reminding parents and caregivers of this very fact. They read:

Please stay with your child at all times. Never leave young children unattended. Kids belong at the library. Help us make their visit a safe and happy one.

These signs are effective, but not as fun as the sign pictured above. I first came across this awesome poster on a Friend's Facebook wall and well just had to re-post it.

Perhaps if we posted this one instead of our current boring old signs in the library we'd get smiles along with compliance ... and if we're lucky a few chuckles along the way.

Living History Project Highlighted on the York Woods District Blog

2012-01-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Jane Jacobs. Image via Wikipedia

I was pleased to check out the York Woods District blog the other day and see a shout-out to the Black Creek Living History Project. This was one of my favourite projects to work on in my professional career to date. And to make it even sweeter, the blog highlights one of my favourite videos from the project entitled: Jane Jacobs Move Over: comments on the planning of the Jane-Finch community.

There is Nothing Quite Like a Real Book

2012-01-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

You can't make an ebook dance quite like this now can you?! The book as a physical object is a delight all its own; one which celebrates form over content in a way that electronic objects never could.

The other day I was at a colleague's house marvelling at her bookshelves. They were in all honestly the most beautiful bookshelves I'd seen in my whole life. Her book collection was wonderfully curated, and with floor to ceiling dark wooden shelves, took on an air of sophisitication, which is in my opinion is impossible to capture through a two dimensional digital format.

So this post is dedicated to her and all those like her who have taken the time to showcase their book collection, preserving the book as a work of art to be displayed, not turned off when the battery runs out.

Art Book Love

2012-01-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

Wish I could have been there. This event sounds like my idea of a good time.

Image via: modernfuel.org

VHS: Put Out To Pasture

2011-12-22T10:45:00.001-08:00

That's it. We've done it. We have finally withdrawn the entirety of the VHS collection in the Children's Department at our branch. It's a sad day indeed.

It seems only natural to mark the occasion with a blog post featuring an image of the last video cassette standing. Goodbye Saddle Club the movie, may you rest in peace with all the brave VHS holdings that have gone before you.

The Last of the MISts

2011-12-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

I am one of the last of the MISts.

This lovely moniker was bestowed upon me by a colleague who rightly observed that I was among the last U of T cohort to earn the MISt degree.

Although it was where I graduated, the University of Toronto's iSchool, where I received my degree in 2010, was not the Faculty to which I had applied. I'd applied instead to the Faculty of Information Studies otherwise known as FIS and was accepted into FI (the Orwellian sounding Faculty of Information), which later became known as the iSchool.

My graduating class had the choice of obtaining either the Master of Information Studies (MISt) degree or the newly approved Master of Information. Since I couldn't in good conscience say that I was a Master of Information (that's a pretty big domain you know), I chose to remain as one of the last of the MISts.

What can I say I've always had a soft spot for romantic language.

Ryan Gosling = Rob Ford Antedote

2011-12-08T05:41:00.001-08:00

Image via: librarianheygirl.tumblr.com

In these tough times of budget restraint, ever present slash-and-burn gossip, and uncertain futures, laughter is a godsend. Cashing in on Gosling's Tumblr fame, the blog Hey girl. I like the library too delivers some much needed irreverence to the tense situation currently faced by many public librarians, myself included. Thank you Ryan Gosling (or more precisely your Tumblr-able fans) for distracting us from Rob Ford.

A Painstaking Portion of My Library School Letter of Intent

2011-11-27T18:33:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I'm doing this. Before I go any further let me ask: what's the point of writing a blog if you can't be self-reflexive? This is therefore an exercise in self-reflection as opposed to an entertaining jab at my more idealistic self.

Below is an excerpt from my letter of intent for library school. I recently shared the letter with a friend who is considering applying to library school herself. I couldn't help but guffaw at certain points. But don't worry - I left out the really obnoxious portions of the letter, sparing you dear reader from a rather painstaking read.

If I am accepted, I plan to direct my studies within the Library andInformation Science area. More specifically, I am interested in courses thataddress the cultural sector, and the techniques, issues, and strategies relatedto the democratization of knowledge. From my research, I feel strongly that XYZ Faculty is the place for meto route the application of such knowledge within a comprehensive understandingof the past, the present, and the future of information science.
My interest in working with people and my strong communication andinterpersonal skills would enable me to serve, as an Information Sciencegraduate, a variety of communities with a full range of needs. As an individualwho aspires to work within co-operative environments that empower, educate andliberate individuals, I see a Masters of Information Science as providing mewith the opportunity to gain additional knowledge and expertise that I couldthen utilize in working in such environments. As well, I believe thatlibrarianship would offer me the best opportunity to put my beliefs into actionin working towards building an informed and thoughtful citizenry through thecreation, dissemination and preservation of knowledge.

Oh dear. Oh my. Well folks there it is. A window into the past. I was reading a lot of Augusto Boal at the time of my writing this statement. So now I do what any self respecting professional would - I blame Boal for the letter's contents!

When Only Kids Laugh At Your Jokes You Know They're ... Truthful!

2011-11-18T13:14:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading a fantastic article in The Horn Book. The article featured in the latest edition of this serial publication about books for children and young adults was written by none other than children's author supreme Mo Willems. It was equal parts hilarious, moving, and insightful- one of the best arguments for the importance of print in our e-obsessed age that I've ever read.

But that's not what spurned me to write a post about it. Believe it or not I related to something that Willems said in the article about sketch comedy. During high school I competed in the Canadian Improv Games and in my university days I did bar-prov performing in a short lived show predictably called the Improv Show. I was never the funniest person on stage and an average improviser at best. Something always bugged me about performing improv that I could never put my finger on until now.

In speaking about the difference of writing for kids versus writing for adults Willems notes that the former is more difficult:

"It was harder. I couldn't use cultural modifiers: the entire world of pop culture references, that lazy backbone of sketch, was lost to me. Arc de Triomphe, Super Bowl, Cadillac. Those are just silly sounds to kids; they have no emotional meaning."

When improvising I always found it tedious to keep my pop culture references up to date. This is a must for any improviser but not, I am happy to report, for a children's librarian like myself. Willems goes on to say:

"Writing for a kid means you can't exploit genres and fads and fashions. The only weapon left in your arsenal is truth."

That's why I'm so privileged to be working for an audience of pre-schoolers! I perform storytimes and plan programs for older kids too, but my favourite audience is by far the toddlers who relate simply to raw emotions like love, fear, excitement etc. Maybe I like them best because they laugh at my jokes unlike the older kids. Regardless, Willems' observations have made me look at how I relate to kids in a new way and with a new sense of gratitude.

Thanks Mo!

A Thing of Beauty

2011-11-17T18:30:00.001-08:00

An old card catalogue from Robarts library

The Sisters Brothers has nothing on Fandango Stew

2011-11-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

It feels like everywhere I turn nowadays I come across a new article praising Patrick deWitt's Giller nominated The Sisters Brothers. Seeing as the world of the 1850s frontier is popular once again I thought it might be fun to write a post about a Children's book on the subject.

Ben Galbraith's illustrations in Fandango Stew are great fun. For folks such as myself upset by the cancellation of the popular HBO show Deadwood, this book sort of fills that void.

Of course this 2011 children's picture book was not meant as a substitute for all the Deadwood-junkies out there, but Galbraith's detailed illustrations of the old west town of Skinflint sure are a great substitute. His depiction includes a level of detail far more sophisticated than your average children's book; even the lace curtains hanging in his windows reek of authenticity! The illustrations are not realistic representations of the frontier. They're even better - they're stylized renditions of a nostalgic wild west shoot em up landscape.

Following the classic folk story Stone Soup, the narrative chronicles the creation of a Fandango Stew - a dish that is only as good as the cooperation that goes into it.

Take that deWitt: Fandango Stew is riding right behind you!

A Topical Children's Librarian Post - Thanks Lemony Snicket!

2011-10-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

As a Children's Librarian I feel the need to share Lemony's Snicket's Thirteen Observations made in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In typical Snicket fashion these observations are wryly entertaining reflections on human nature. Who could expect anything less than a topical list of thirteen points from an author enamored with the number thirteen (ie. his publication 13 Words and the 13 books which make up A Series of Unfortunate Events). I mean really. It's wonderfully obvious and satisfying at the same time.

Kurusa's The Streets Are Free

2011-10-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

This Advanced Picture book is a great read. Who wouldn't love a story about a group of kids living in a favela in Caracas who come together to lobby for, and eventually build, a playground in their community?!

I hate to admit it, but the part of the book which I loved the most was that the push the kids needed to make this happen came from their local librarian. The librarian was the first to encourage their idea to build the playground and allowed them to use the library as a meeting place from which to organize. A fantastic way to utilize public space in a library indeed.

The story reminds me of the Brazilian sitcom City of Men which also takes place in a favela. Like The Streets Are Free, one of the episodes of this TV show is also based on a true story. Instead of building a playground like in the book, the episode I'm thinking of portrays the organizing potential of young citizens who come together to institute a postal route in their favela.

More power to the kids is what I say; in these two examples they really did earn it!

A Proud Daughter Indeed

2011-10-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

My father recently wrote a two part article on the history of our cottage for the Tiny Cottager Magazine and I couldn't be prouder. Not only does his love of restoration bring a smile to my face, but perhaps more significantly, it is his admiration of local history that speaks to my own interests and professional activities.

Check out page 7-8 in the magaizne below (Fall 2011) for the most recent of these articles. Part one of the article is found in the Spring 2011 edition of the magainze.

Open publication - Free publishing - More federation

His articles make me realize just how important local history enthusiasts are to the preservation of stories which would not otherwise be told. My father's admiration for Mr. Ridley, the cottage's original owner and builder, seeps through in both the articles and succeeds in celebrating Ridley's extensive accomplishments. My father's re-telling of our personal family stories not only add to the lore of the cottage, but also help to cement its place within a new generation.

Way to go Dad!

Knuffle Bunny: Mo Willems' Wimsical Illustrations

2011-10-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

I adore the Knuffle Bunny series by Children's author Mo Willems. The way in which Willems fuses photography and illustration is a great imaginative prod. Yeah sure the characters are great, and the story is heart-warming, entertaining, and instructive, but it's the illustrations that really make the books stand out for me.

As Children's Librarians we're often urged to choose books, which prominently feature recognizable objects from kids everyday lives. Children first gain an awareness of their physical environment and then later come to recognize that reality through a print environment; the fusion of illustration and real life photography is a great technique to help ease this transition along. So if you haven't already done so, I urge you to check out this fantastic trilogy.

Why Can't the Library Never Close?

2011-10-04T05:38:00.000-07:00

The other day a young boy approached the Children's reference desk: "Jessica, why can't the library stay open until 5:30 pm instead of 5 pm?" Achmed asked (I have of course changed the boy's name in this here post). He's a regular customer at our branch, one whose family relies on library services and really takes advantage of all we have to offer.

"Because it costs money to keep the library open" I replied "and right now the City doesn't have that money to spend." Achmed is a very bright child, mature beyond his years; consequently, he deserved a truthful answer.

He disappointingly looked down at his shoes, paused and retorted:
"Well how much exactly does it cost?"
"A fair amount" I said.
"Well ... I've been saving up my money for a while. If you tell me the amount, maybe I can pay it and we can stay at the library for longer."
His response nearly broke my heart.

"It doesn't really work that way. We aren't able to take money directly from the public. But I'll tell you what ... if you'd like, you can fill out a customer feedback form indicating that you'd like the library to stay open for longer, and I'll pass it on to the people who make these types of decisions." At this the young boy's face brightened. I felt a little guilty. "Sure!" He told me he'd never been asked to fill out a form like this before.

Proudly and with a steady hand Achmed wrote: "Why can the library open on Saturday to 5:30 pm?" His civic duty achieved, he ran over to his mother and showed her the completed form. I explained to her what had transpired. She smiled first at Achmed and then at me. The little boy strode back to the desk proud chested, to hand in his customer feedback form.

The Bus Lady From the Library- That's Me!

2011-09-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of months I've been working to provide storytime outreach to shelters serving families across Toronto. This has been a really rewarding project to be a part of and I'm sad to report that it's coming to an end.

At one of the last events I planned for the project a funny thing happened which made me realize just how small the city really is sometimes. I had arranged for the bookmobile to make a special trip to a local shelter. When I got there, one of the kids yelled out: "hey look Mom, it's the bus lady from the library!" I was very confused to say the least.

It turns out that her and her mom came out to another program I had organized for the library, which believe it or not, also included a special vehicle. They had accompanied us on the Black Creek Living History Project's historical bus tour of the Jane-Finch area. And now, they found themselves on yet another library bus of sorts, with me on it!

A small world indeed. I guess there are worse labels that could stick then "the bus lady from the library."

The Three Musketeers of Shocking Subversion: Seuss, Sendak and Silverstein

2011-09-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

There was a great article in the New York Times recently written by Pamela Paul - an article which all Children's Librarians should read.

Not only is the article amusing- relating interesting tidbits like the fact that it was Shel Silverstein who wrote the lyrics to Johnny Cash's famous song Boy Named Sue, but it also celebrates the kind of playful irreverence, which so wonderfully percolates from the works of Seuss, Sendak and Silverstein.

The article reminded me just how lucky I am to be able to interact with authors like these on a day-to-day basis. Many children's books, like the ones mentioned in the article, do in fact glorify absurdity in a fantastic way. It's no wonder that someone like me, who once entertained dreams of becoming a professional clown (the tragic yet profound kind and not the birthday-party type), ended up reading books to children for a living.

It's great when something as simple as an article causes you to pause, reflect on what you do, and feel infinitely grateful for being able to do it.

Happy First of Octember!

2011-09-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

I wasn't entirely sure when to publish this post. But with October fast approaching, I thought now would be a good a time as any.

It's always a good time to promote the message of Octember - that great Dr. Seuss creation of a hybrid month when all your dreams and desires come true. Cool and exciting things happen on the first of Octember every year. Alas, if only this date would ever come around, the world would be a much better place- more fun and exciting, and a lot more of magical.

Oh that philosophical Dr. Suess! Describing the most wonderful day in the whole year, a day which has yet to happen, is not only an exercise in imagination, but perhaps more importantly an exercise in faith.

So, I think I'll take his advice and get my Octember First list ready, writing down all that I want and readying myself for the moment that this sublime date will come.

It's Like Visiting An Ex-Boyfriend

2011-09-08T01:54:00.000-07:00

I met my husband in a university town. We fell in love and I stayed long after my undergraduate days had ended. We got involved in lots of great community initiatives, individually and together, and surrounded ourselves in what seemed at the time to be a fortress of community. Then we moved to the big city so that I could pursue a Master of Information Studies. Sometimes I think that was a mistake.

I get anxious every single time we head back there. Upon our last trip "home" it hit me - visiting this place is like running into an ex-boyfriend. An ex you're still desperately in love with. Feelings stir in me which make me uncomfortable. The regret of leaving mingles with false hope and hangs over the visit like a haze.

We tried to move back there. We tried in earnest. Gave it our best shot. But I couldn't find work. And that makes me feel like it's my fault. Like I've failed. Like I wasn't funny, smart or pretty enough to keep the relationship going.

If only this ex would give me another shot, I could make it work. But just like resurrecting an ended relationship, this here fantasy ain't so easy to turn into reality.

My Love of Library Thing

2011-08-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

I wish I could say that I was an early adopter of the social cataloging application Library Thing, but I must admit that I came to it quite late - I came to it yesterday afternoon to be precise. I was always hesitant to join since I thought of the application as a mode of online bragging: "look at me, I've read so many books, aren't I smart?!" is what friends' Library Thing accounts would call out, their well stocked virtual libraries intimidating the heck out of us less heraldic book lovers.

But after having a hard time remembering the books I've read, which for us librarians translates into a challenging time fielding readers advisory questions, I felt it was my professional duty to open an account.

Now, only one day into my relationship with this highly amusing catalogue, I can officially say that I LOVE Library Thing. I can't believe I went so long without it. Not only does it help me to recognize my proclivities, but it also allows me to spend my leisure time pulling apart all sorts of different stats relating to my reading habits - a much more constructive approach to online time wasting than any Facebook activity. And for this, I am most appreciative.

There's a little magic in interlibrary loans

2011-08-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

A friend's recent post on Facebook made my day. Yes, it's true - I am easily amused. You know you've come across a library supporter when you read a status update that says: "There's a little magic in interlibrary loans."

Interlibrary loan is an age-old service (officially begun in1886 according to Wikipedia) which perfectly encapsulates the cooperative values for which our institutions stand. This collaborative approach to information access is indeed a magical service, one apparently well represented by flying books out there on the internet! A google image search for "interlibrary loan" brings up dozens of photos of books gaily flying around, resembling a scene straight out of a Harry Potter book.

If your local library doesn't have a specific book or article, your trusty librarian will look into borrowing that item from another library, filing out a loan request on your behalf. ILL as it's lovingly referred to, is in many cases a free service and one worth checking out.

A Note on Modern Day Children's Performers

2011-08-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

Our branch recently hosted a very special visit from the Canadian Children's Music duo Splash 'N Boots. Not only did I have a great time professionally speaking, but I also had a wonderful time on a personal level. You see, the performance was a bit of a reunion of sorts.

I knew Nick and Taes (a.k.a. Splash and Boots respectively) from my undergraduate days at Queen's Unviersity where we all worked for Theatre Kingston's young company, albeit in different years. Barefoot Players was, and still is, a wonderful group to be a part of and fertile training ground for a Children's Librarian such as myself. Having performed for many different audiences in parks, schools, libraries and festivals, the group really cemented my storytelling chops.

If my singing chops were even a tenth of that of Splash 'N Boots, then well, I would do nothing but sing all the time. The duo are in my opinion the rock stars of the Canadian Children's Music scene. With a more pop inspired and modern sound than the bango-playing Children's performers of yore (which for the record I also love), these two represent a new generation of kids music, one which is fresh, fun, and inspired.

Like the best of contemporary Children's cartoons, Splash 'N Boots not only entertain the kids in the crowd, but do a great job relating to the adults in the room as well. Their charming stage presence and lyrics make for a great combination, which entertain beyond generational barriers. I can't wait to start using their CDs in my storytime programs at the library!!

Library Research Guide Kicks Butt - Zombie Butt That Is

2011-07-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

Image via: blogs.mcpherson.edu/library

I recently came across an awesome resource, which I just had to share. The Zombie Guide to the Miller Library is fantastic! Over the last couple of months I have been working on writing a research guide for my library, so I've got research guides on the brain (insert zombie brain eating joke here). Hence, I feel as though I'm in a particularly good place to appreciate the freshness of Library of the Living Dead: Your Guide to Miller Library at McPherson College.

Not only does this unique comic teach students how to use their academic library to fight a zombie apocalypse, but it also gives them pointers on how to research efficiently and effectively. The comic starts out in the periodicals section of the Miller Library and quickly moves on to general reference sources before exploring the Dewey Decimal System (DDC) and its varied coverage on zombie resistance. Talk about a guide that is both entertaining and instructive!

I particularly appreciated the depth of its content, which points to the recursive nature of the research process and reminds students that the process does take time. A map of the research process, which appears at the end of the guide, provides solid direction on the steps involved in writing a research paper. Furthermore this flowchart highlights the fact that the comic was indeed written by an academic librarian, someone who undoubtedly has the utmost respect for the crafting of a good research paper. Not only does Library of the Living Dead cover DDC, boolean operators, the evaluation of scholarly journals, include a floor plan of the actual library it sets out to explain (a brilliant idea in both its simplicity and handiness), but it also smashes the ho-hum librarian stereotype presenting instead a zombie-butt kicking alternative- something which is bound to sit well with any information professional.

We Made It! Toronto Public Library's 2010 Annual Report

2011-07-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to announce that The Black Creek Living History Project has made the cut; mention of the project has made its way into the 2010 Annual Report of the Toronto Public Library!

When visiting the unique online report, follow the following prompts to access the blurb about the project:

Under the Sharing Our Stories tab, choose the Always Innovating option
Click the Watch, listen, read ... option
Click forward towards the 6th panel (using the orange arrows)
And you've made it!

This is a good time to mention that the Living History Project website now has a total of 14 individual transcripts uploaded. These transcripts, of oral history interviews conducted by author Wanda MacNevin, are a great local history resource in and of themselves and serve to make the site all the more relevant to the community.

Margaret Atwood To The Rescue: Crashing Servers On Behalf of Public Libraries Everywhere!

2011-07-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

Image via: guardian.co.uk

An article in the Toronto Star reports that library avenger and author extraordinaire Margaret Atwood has successfully crashed the server of the Toronto Public Library Workers Union CUPE4948.

Crashed in a good way that is.

Like when that great aunt of yours picks you up and squeezes the life out of you by expressing her love through her infamous iron-grip bear hug. Ms. Atwood's recent tweets in support of the Toronto Public Library, led to an overwhelming show of support, which eventually crashed the site. These tweets are the doyenne of CanLit's online equivalent of a bear hug.

The image above is an expression of Atwood's super hero sympathies. Taken from a Guardian article, the illustration was created by Atwood herself - it's her stab at fashioning a superhero outfit worthy of one of her online admirers. The article quotes Atwood: ""I just thought it would be fun to draw some superhero costumes for [these fans], as their names were so evocative, so I asked them what magic powers they would like to have."

I ask you: what kind of costume should we create for Atwood and her mission to protect the Toronto Public Library from Rob Ford and his KPMG thugs? After all, every good super hero deserves a costume worthy of their cause.

You Heard It Here First: Splash 'N Boots' Favourite Books

2011-07-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

They have been hailed as “the U2 of children’s music,” “the Canadian Wiggles” and “a cross between the Barenaked Ladies and Raffi." Yup, Splash 'N Boots, winners of the prestigious Canadian Children's Music Group of the Year award, is a great Children's music duo. Splash 'N Boots a.k.a. Taes and Nick really know how to get a crowd of little ones moving.

In anticipation of a performance that they'll be giving at the library where I work, I recently sat down with the popular group to ask them some hard hitting questions. The group's answers are posted below.

Q: If you could be any superhero which one would you be and why?
A:We would like to create a new superhero who's biggest quality is that they can make anyone and everybody laugh and smile.

We were actually asked to write a song for a kid who's little brother was sick, and the big brother had the ability to make his little brother smile even when he wasn't feeling good. So we wrote a song for him about a superhero named Eli who could make everyone smile. We loved it in the end, so we changed
the words a bit and it ended up on one of our albums.

Q: If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be?
A: Lucy and Edmund from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Both of us loved these books as kids. I remember my dad reading them to me for a bedtime story.

Q: What is your favourite kids book?
A: It's hard to say because there are SO many! But I think I [Taes] would choose Love You Forever by Robert Muncsh. Nick says he would choose James and the Giant Peach.

Below is one of my favourite of their music videos. It features a song which just so happens to be perfect for the current TD Summer Reading Club theme of, wait for it ... Splash!

Wish I Were There: TEDx LibrariansTO

2011-06-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Good luck to all of you participating in today's TEDx LibrariansTO talks and happenings. Wish I could be there, but alas I've got a story time to do. The theme of the event, Librarians as Thought Leaders, sure is a doozy and has already been nicely hashed out by some online. I look forward to future reactions to these talks and events in the library blogosphere.

"All I Want is More Than I Ever Had" and other cool Travel Books

2011-06-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to check out All I Want is More Than I Ever Had, a road diary of photographs from the recent Diamond Rings/PS I Love You North American tour. Hand-bound books make me so very happy as does the Kingston Ontario duo P.S. I Love You one of the bands featured in the photographs. I'm counting this road diary as sort of a second cousin of the travel book. Call it a weak segue if you must.

Travel books in general make me happy. Toronto Public Library has recently updated its website to include a page where you can browse its travel book collection quite easily. This is just the latest great feature of the library's user friendly website. Alas, you won't find any photographic road diaries of rock bands here, but you will find books that delight in an escapist sort of way.

Please excuse me for the second terrible segue in this here post, but I also wanted to give a nod to travel writer extraordinaire Paul Theroux. It was his book pictured above which first began my love affair with Latin America. When I think travel writer, I think Theroux and when I think of Latin America, the Old Patagonian Express ain't far behind.

Move Over B.C. (sorry Christ!) You've Been Replaced By B.I. - Before Internet

2011-06-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Image via theonlyhumor.com

A recent article by Murray Whyte in the the Star got me thinking about the Internet. In his article "Those were the days," one of the artists behind an exhibit archiving Toronto's art scene in the 1980s, says: "We realized that this was a huge part of Toronto's history. It pre-dates the Internet, so most of it has just vanished."

One of the main challenges of my job is working with kids who have never lived without the Internet - they can't seem to conceptualize the fact that information was accessed and organized in a different way before the mid-nineties. As far as most of them seem to be concerned, anything that pre-dates the Internet anyhow might as well vanish.

Their difficulty in understanding how collective memory was preserved B.I. (Before Internet) sort of reminds me my own naivete in visiting Cuba. I spent a couple of months there as part of a Development Studies trip offered in my undergrad. Ironically while there, I had a hard time comprehending the scarcity of paper on the Island. Never having to go without myself, I was shocked that not every event or trivial remembrance merited the use and subsequent disposal of a piece of paper, be that a flyer, a sticky note or what have you. This reality was incomprehensible to me in a way that the modes of collecting and distributing information, which pre-date the Internet seem to be incomprehensible to today's teens and pre-teens - at least in the industrialized world that is.

Guys Read: A Great Web-Based Literacy Program for Boys

2011-05-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Image via literacyresourcesiteforteachers.blogspot.com

Amidst all the recent controversy over the Toronto couple raising a gender-neutral child, I got to thinking about books for boys. Sitting on the Children's reference desk has- I'm mildly disappointed to say, reinforced gender stereotypes in my mind. Young boys are forever searching for books about trucks and explosions while young girls want to read about princesses and fairies. Although there are exceptions to these broad generalizations, from my experience they are the norm.

It's a challenge for me to deliver good Readers Advisory (RA) services for boys in part because well I'm not a boy and never have been. Consequently I was thrilled to stumble upon the Guys Read website. Since libraries are staffed mainly by women, and the vast majority of Children's librarians are female, I sometimes worry that our presentation of material is not as enticing to young boys as it could be. This coupled with the fact that research tells us that boys are having trouble reading is a grave concern for any Children's Librarian.

Here's where Guys Read steps in. Aside from providing great book lists for boys, the site has a myriad of other RA tools. It is more than just a website. As a "web-based literacy program for boys," the site includes things like a Charter for newly formed Chapters of the organization, bookplates, and other cool downloads inspired by a genuine passion to get boys reading.

Battle of the Books Event Youtube Winner Announcement

2011-05-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

This year our branch ran a very successful Battle of the Books event in our Children's Department. The competitors were Rosalyn Rutabaga and the biggest hole on earth by Marie-Louise Gay vs. Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland. Students from over 25 classes participated and over 725 ballots were cast. Check out the video above to see who won. We look forward to a third installment of this popular challenge next year.

A Great Article About School Library Closures

2011-05-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

Click on the image above to get to "Saving the Google Students"

by Sara Scribner

Author Vikki VanSickle Visits The Library

2011-05-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

Author Vikki VanSickle leads a writing exercise.

This week our library had the pleasure of hosting a visit from author Vikki VanSickle. Her book,
Words That Start With B was shortlisted for the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Libris Awards 2011 Young Reader’s Book of the Year. Vikki did an hour long presentation for a group of grade fours and fives who were not only swept up by hearing her read from her wonderful new book, but also by Vikki's ability to charm an audience. She led the group through a number of writing exercises which got their creative juices flowing, and left enough time at the end of her presentation for questions from the audience. The excitement in the room was palpable. Her next book Love is a Four Letter Word is scheduled for publication this fall.

Library Professionals - Is There Such a Thing?

2011-05-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

I received a rather strange compliment yesterday while at work. The comment unfortunately epitomizes a small segment of the population's (I hope!) perception of librarianship. At the end of a Saturday story time session, a well meaning parent approached me to say that I was very good with the children. He asked me which elementary school I worked at. This puzzled me since he and his daughter have been attending my Saturday story times since the beginning of the year - a fact which I assumed meant that he understood that I worked at the library. I told him that I did not work at an elementary school, but that I worked here in the library as a Children's Librarian. He seemed confused by this.

"But I thought you were a professional since you're so good at what you do" he said.
"I am a professional. I'm a professional Children's Librarian." I retorted.
"No, no, I mean like a real professional. A professional teacher."
"Librarians are professionals too" I said with a smile.

The confused parent then proceeded to walk away and his manner made me wonder whether he thought I was joking or not.

"Haha, yeah. Right. See you next week then" he said with a jovial goodbye.

Oh well. Can't win them all. Them's the breaks I guess.

Image credit: Matt Stensland via exploresteamboat.com

Using Libraries to Sell Condos: The Library District Condominiums

2011-04-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Library of Congress. Image via nikonians.org

I feel quite perplexed about the fact that Libraries are being used as a marketing ploy to sell condos. I'm not entirely sure whether I should view this as a good thing or a bad thing. I was amused to come across the cover article in this month's Condo Life magazine. The article describes the new Library District Condos slated to be built in Toronto's Fort York neighbourhood. The development takes its name from the fact that a library (Toronto Public Library's 100th branch - a very good thing!) is going to be built near by.

The article explains that the condo will take its cue from the yet-to-be-built library, featuring in its lobby a wall of "shelves stacked with books of every kind, a modern interpretation of the world's great libraries." Really? Are they seriously comparing a CONDO to the sacrosanct Library of Alexandria, the famous Bodleian Library, or the inspiring Library of Congress?! In using libraries to sell condo units it seems that perhaps the developers have run out of kitschy themes to grab the attention of potential buyers. But on the other hand, perhaps employing the idea of a library indicates something positive - society's belief in the importance and cultural relevance of these institutions. I'm not sure how exactly I feel about this parallel, but at least I know that it will keep me amused for a while yet.

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole: Digital Devices and Multimodal Literacies for Kids

2011-04-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

Book apps are big business. Especially for kids. So what can reading a book on a digital device bring to a child's experience of a classic text? Below are examples of some digital adaptations of Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carol for a new generation.

Multimodal reading is only going to get more popular in the years to come as digital devices such as the iPad and smart phones become more widely available. Combining art, text, music, sound and animation together is an interesting way to experience a story.

For me personally, interacting with these sorts of story apps is a bit like falling down Alice's infamous rabbit hole. The experience makes me recall Alice's own words at the beginning of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carol narrates, "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'" I wonder, in ten years time will kids be asking what the point of stories without fancy apps are? I sure hope not!

Fantastic T-Shirts from the Edmonton Public Library

2011-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

While in Edmonton for last year's CLA conference, I was excited to stumble across Edmonton Public Library's (EPL) witty T-shirt line. I bought matching "information ninja" tees for myself and my fiance, which we still wear to this day. I know I know, lame right? But EPL's publicity campaign is the opposite of lame. Below is a short clip from the EPL YouTube channel which is thoughtful, inspiring and uplifting.

The message of the video reminds me of the reasons why I wanted to work in a public library in the first place. While watching it, I seem to drift into a daydream about what it would be like to share this vision on a day-to-day basis. I would arrive at work and immediately be greeted by my colleagues passionately discussing the societal merits of a collectively owned space, only to head out on desk and and enter into a conversation with a patron (yes that's right I meant to type PATRON and not "customer") concerning the cornerstones of modern day democracy, and retire home on public transit with musings of righteous civic institutions swimming in my head. Let me be clear: I am not criticizing the video or its tone. Far from it. It's a great reminder about why we should all be passionate advocates for libraries in general, and why specifically I am so fortunate to work for such an institution.

I originally intended for this post to be a nod to EPL's T-shirts and nothing more. Along with all the other great stuff it communicates, the video above also features some of these fantastic T-shirts. I hope you enjoy them- and the video's message, as much as I do.

Keep Toronto Reading: My Pick for a Transformative Children's Picture Book

2011-04-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Recently a post appearing on the Keeping It Real Bookclub blog, lauding the Toronto Public Library's Keep Toronto Reading program, was brought to my attention. This piece of writing made me stop and think just how exciting KTR really is. To show my support for this wonderful celebration, which takes place over the month of April, I've created my own "transformation" picture reminiscent of this year's "Let Books Transform You" visual theme. The book I've chosen is just perfect, not only because the character pictured on the cover resembles me physically, but also because it's a really great book!

Oh No! Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World by Mac Barnett relays, in a fresh visual style, an adventurous tale about a young science fair competitor who is unsuccessful at controlling her prize-winning robot . That sort of sounds like me circa 1993. Perfect.

Some Examples of My Library Displays

2011-04-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

If you click on the photo above, you'll be taken to a Picasa album of some of the library displays I've put together in the last year. I hope you have as much fun looking through them as I had putting them together.

Remebering TVO's Book Mice: Norbert, Zazi, and Leon, Residents of the St. Clair/ Silverthorn Library

2011-03-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

What better way to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the St. Clair/ Silverthorn Branch of the Toronto Public Library than with a nod to its most popular contribution - I'm talking about Bookmice! This series, which followed the hijinks of three puppet mice who made their home in the walls of this library, ran from 1991 - 1999 on TVO. As a kid growing up in the city I remember walking past the branch and wondering what Norbert, Zazi and Leon were up to. Heck, to this day I can't seem to pass the branch without a girlish giggle transporting me back to my TVO Kids days.

Happy 30th Anniversary

St. Clair/ Silverthorn Library!

I Wish I Was There: Fred Penner Takes Canadian Music Week By Storm

2011-03-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Image via chartattack.com

I'm not the only one who gets a kick out of Children's music. It seems that legendary kids performer Fred Penner was a welcome addition to this year's Canadian Music Fest. In a review of Mr. Penner's performance for CHARTattack, the online companion of Chart Magazine, Sarah Kurchak writes:

"Clapping along to a song is fun. Singing along, or participating in a particular callback can make you truly feel happy. In getting a bunch of his old school fans from the '80s and '90s, now all grown up into journalists, industry people and serious business music snobs, to have fun and play with music like we first did when he was our OG homegrown hero, Penner reminded us of something important ... Before it was a status symbol, a job, or something to be evaluated, music was, pure and simple, our friend. And, if we open ourselves up just a little bit, it still can be."

A Children's Librarian's stance towards musical additions is at last vindicated! If a kids performer can get to the most cynical of hipster music audiences, just think what he can do for a room full of eagerly awaiting parents and kids at the local library.

Facebook, Smoke Signals and Tin Can Phones: Running An Internet Workshop for Kids

2011-03-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

As a Children's Librarian I feel that it's important for me to encourage kids to think about what the Internet is and how it works. Unlike those of us born before the 1990s, today's children and tweens have never lived in a world without the Internet. In order to show these kids the world before www, I ran what I called an Internet Workshop for Kids. This program was not an introduction to computer science - far from it; instead it was intended to help kids conceptualize the Internet and the World Wide Web as just another communication tool.

Trying out the tin can phones we made.

The craft for the session (now let's be real, what's a children's program without a craft!?) was making tin-can phones. I used the phones to demonstrate how sound energy can be transmitted along a solid connection in order to mirror how the Internet transmits digital information between computer networks. I don't think they appreciated the parallel as much as I did, but boy-oh-boy did they enjoy playing with those darn tin can phones!

Over the hour we spent together we talked about ancient means of communicating across distances including: Native Americans' use of smoke signals; Ancient Africans' use of drums; and the Ancient Greek and Romans' use of heliographs, or giant mirrors, used to flash the sun's rays across great distances.

My favourite part of the whole experience was the discussion portion of the workshop. When asking the participants how the Internet differs from other forms of communication, one young participant said that using smoke signals was detrimental because everyone could see the messages you were sending. She went on to muse about how nowadays it's easy to send messages to your friends via Facebook. In reaction to her comment, another participant responded that just like the smoke signals of yore, the messages that we post on Facebook can also be seen by an entire community. Having them connect Facebook to smoke signals was indeed the highlight of the evening.

Just Try and Do That With An E-Book!

2011-03-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

Brian Dettmer image from mymodernmet.com

Links to the image at left as well as others like it have been circulating quite widely over the internet in the last two weeks. They're so amazing however that they almost demand yet another re-post. The Book Surgeon post originally featured on the My Modern Met blog features the work of artist Brian Dettmer. Dettmer's canvases are books, in particular out of date encyclopedias, dictionaries and medical journals. In the creation of his sculptures he is careful not to relocate or implant any pages, but to simply carve the original contents into something spectacular.

Dettmer's work is a great example of how books can be appreciated as objects of beauty in and of themselves. His skill of re-purposing browning pages and cracked spins into works of art is truly amazing and can go a long way in making you fall in love all over again with the book and its physical form.

Female Camaraderie and Book Clubs

2011-02-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

Female bonding over books: image via google images

It has taken me twenty-eight years, but I've finally done it- I've joined a book club! There have been half a dozen attempts in the past to be a part of such a club, but every time I got close, things would go awry: the club would dissolve due to scheduling conflicts, I would move to a different city, I was unable to commit the time etc. A couple months back however I responded to an email invite sent to my local residents association mailing list, and successfully joined my very first book club.

So ok, perhaps the scene depicted above isn't exactly what happened during our first meeting. I did however feel that after discussing the chosen book Barney's Version, the lot of us did get the chance to bond. Most of the women in attendance, including myself, had never met the other brave email invite respondents. As women who live in the same neighbourhood however we had a ground of commonality.

I found it interesting that despite discussing a book written from a very male perspective (that's Mordecai Richler for you) we inevitably regressed- and I use this word in the most positive of connotations, to a form of female chatter towards the end of the night. Discussing familial and professional responsibilities, each one of us shared a little piece of ourselves and bonded over the challenges that inevitably emerge from balancing both. I walked back home carried away on what felt like a ladies auxiliary cloud: delusions of grandeur began to dance in my head as I pictured our little group of women quilting, darning, organizing community fundraising initiatives, wearing fashionable hats, and daintily sipping tea from flowery bone china tea cups. This overwhelming sense of female camaraderie was unexpected yet welcome.

Apply for the Canadian Library Association Student Article Contest If you Can

2011-02-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, AB

I would highly advise Library School students or recent graduates to consider submitting an article to the CLA's Student Article Contest. Last year I was lucky enough to win first prize in the contest and as a result I was able to go to the CLA conference in Edmonton all expenses paid. The contest is open to all students registered in, or recently graduated from a Canadian library school, a library technician program, an information science program, or faculty of education library program.

I had never attended a conference outside of Ontario before last year. Comparing my out-of-province experience at CLA to my in-town experiences at OLA, there is no comparison. While staying in a hotel just down the street from the lovely conference centre pictured above, I was totally immersed in the conference experience- I didn't have to worry about cooking dinner, cleaning the dishes, or doing my fiance's laundry. I did however have to worry about these things while attending the OLA conference in Toronto, the city in which I live. The lack of at-home responsibilities while in Edmonton made me free to reflect on the day's sessions, to socialize with other conference attendees, and to learn about other librarians' professional experiences. Now don't get me wrong; I recognize just how lucky I am being able to attend OLA every year with only minimum expenses. But I also realize just how lucky folks are who have the opportunity to attend a conference far from home. I hope I'll get to have this experience again soon.

So what are you waiting for? The deadline for the CLA submission is March 31st, 2011. Get yourself writing!

My Favourite Valentines Day Picture Books for Kids

2011-02-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

In honour of Valentines Day I thought I would share some of my favourite picture books appropriate for the occasion.

Smitten is the engrossing story of a mitten and a sock who strike up a deep friendship. After sock falls out of a man's laundy basket, he meets mitten who, also lost, sits atop a fence post waiting to be claimed. These two lonely orphans seek out on an adventure to find their other halves and hilarity ensues.

Most kids, especially those of Italian descent like me, can relate to this second picture book. In Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! Andy can't stand Aunty Elsie's big sloppy kisses on both cheeks, the ones she plants on him every time she visits. Things begin to change one week when Aunty Elsie doesn't show up.Soon enough Andy begins to miss her and does some kiss planting of his own when she returns.

In the book How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? illustrator Mark Teague's fun, over the top illustrations subtly showcase parents' unwavering love for their children- be they dinosaurs or humans. The message of the book is that no matter how badly you might behave, your family will still love you. The end papers contain a legend of all the unique types of dinosaurs featured in story; a fun little touch.

Ricky Gervais Rubs Off on Toronto Public Library

2011-02-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves the show The Office, originally made famous in the UK by Ricky Gervais. Everyone also loves the Toronto Public Library. So I ask you, is there anything better than a Library-Office mashup? My colleague Ryan Saavedra has done a bang up job inserting our lovely branch staff into a short video clip, which takes its cue from the opening credits of this popular NBC sitcom. Although the names of individuals have been changed for privacy reasons, the sentiment of our modest workplace remains true to form. An activity like this is a great moral booster for any workplace, library or otherwise. Thanks for allowing me to post the video Ryan!

Another Year Another Super Conference

2011-02-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

So this year's Super Conference has come and gone; another year, another conference. This was my first time presenting a poster session at OLA and I had a great time. Below is a photo from the session, with our poster about the Black Creek Living History Project in the background.

Barbara Myrvold and I at the 2011 OLA conference

I was lucky enough to attend all three days of Super Conference. I met lots of nice people and took home some great ideas.

In a session for Markham Public Library, the notion of merchandising, bound up with their unique C3 Classification System, was turned towards other parts of the library. A presenter asked the audience why on earth librarians would place customer holds shelves by a library's entrance; by placing high necessity items at the front of the library, we are encouraging our customers to be in and out as quickly as possible. More often than not citing efficiency as a reason to locate these shelves close to library exits, libraries unwittingly miss out on the bigger merchandising picture. If we were to instead place customer holds at the back of the library, as Markham Public Library does, customers would have to first pass by other aisles, being tempted to borrow additional library materials on route to pick up their holds. Think of how grocery stores place milk and eggs at the back, forcing us to walk through the entire store to get what we came for. Why wouldn't libraries take this extra step? If we are going to embrace the notion of merchandising in some parts of our libraries, we should be embracing it in all parts.

Another small piece of advice I took away with me, and indeed my favourite from the conference, came from a session on Edmonton Public Library's (EPL) Community-Led Framework. The individuals involved in implementing this framework described the EPL celebrations (ie. meetings) held to get buy in and feedback from library staff for the Community-Led Toolkit they produced. I'm paraphrasing here, but they shared with the audience a gem of wisdom: "Never call a meeting a meeting. Call it a party instead." This not only lowers the usual anxiety about attending meetings, but goes a long way in creating a more welcoming and positive space in which to share ideas. Brilliant.

Getting Ready for the OLA Super Conference

2011-02-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

On the eve of this year's OLA Super Conference, I find myself busily packing to ensure that I don't forget anything. Hence, below is my "to pack" list. Perhaps it will jog your own memory and help you to remember what's easily forgotten in the inevitable conference rush.

OLA badge and tickets. Very important.
A stack of business cards- both professional (ie. from my organization) and personal (ie. a card with some personality)
A notebook and a pen. A working pen. Although free pens abound at these things, it never hurts to bring your own.
Post it notes to mark up your agenda and help guide you to those must-not-miss sessions.
A refillable water bottle. Last year, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre thankfully had functioning water fountains, saving me a bundle on bottled water.
Gum and/or mints. A primary networking staple.
Lip gloss. A secondary networking staple.
A CHARGED cell phone and possibly a cell phone charger. Key components for staying in touch and tracking down colleagues and friends.
If you're convening a session like me, don't forget to bring your speakers' bios, a copy of the OLA Guidelines for Session Convenors, and a copy of OLA's Connectivity Information sheet.
If you're presenting a poster at the conference as I am, don't forget to pack your various poster accoutrements. Aside from the predictable promo material this may also include tape, velcro, scissors and other miscellaneous office supplies.
Cash. Finding a bank machine can be a pain. Paying interac fees is an even bigger pain philosophically speaking.

Good Riddance Reference Desk

2011-01-31T12:17:00.000-08:00

Back in November, I blogged about the so called death of the reference desk in public libraries. As of late, I seem to have reached a verdict on this rather controversial topic. Over the past month, I've had the opportunity to work at a library branch, which has taken the plunge into downsizing this sacrosanct library fixture. Much to my surprise, I've enjoyed delivering information services from their new, smaller designed reference desks. While staffing the desk, I felt freed by not having a physical barrier between myself and the customers. I found myself providing them with better service because I was encouraged by my physical surroundings to be more engaged in their search for information.

Imagining a Swede in my library. Image via IMDB.

I've actually begun to feel a bit hampered in returning to my regular branch, which has the traditional reference desks of yore. Although I love this work environment, the steps required to physically interact with library customers have begun to seem a bit absurd. I feel as though the large, fort like reference desk quite literally forces me to go the extra mile to help deliver information services. Every time I leave the desk to escort a customer to the stacks, to lead them to the program room, to give them directors, or to help them with either the computers or the library catalogue, I feel caught in slow motion, as though it takes an eternity to physically reach them. I have begun to feel a bit like a character from the 2003 movie Kitchen Stories in which a scientific observer calculates the number of steps taken by single men in the kitchen, in order to make their daily kitchen routines more economical. On average it take me about sixteen steps to walk around the reference desk to complete an interaction- and yes, I have counted my steps. So now every time I leave the confines of the reference desk, I imagine a scientific observer perched on a strategically placed life guard chair, calculating my steps and shaking his head in economical disgust.

As silly as my workplace hallucinations may be, the issue of the size and design of reference desks remains pertinent. I do however agree with fellow blogger Pegasus Librarian who wrote: reference desks "are just the tools, and only a subset of the tools available to us now; any tool can be put to good or bad use. The service that makes use of these tools is the key. And that service reinvents itself every time a new person presents us with a question." Food for thought in my Kitchen Stories parallel.

Storytime Passports

2011-01-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

For this season's new round of story times at our library we decided to produce "passports" like the one below to encourage regular attendance. After the second week of stamping children's story time passports, I am happy to report that they're becoming quite popular. Although not the official version of the one in use, you get the idea.

TD National Reading Summit II

2011-01-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

Something very exciting is happening today. I wish I could be there, and because I can't, I find myself longingly reading the program for what will surely be an inspiring day; I wanted to pass along links so that you can do the same. The TD National Reading Summit II: Toward a Nation of Readers takes place in Montreal today and tomorrow, January 21st, 2010. The summit promotes reading as a central feature of 21st century Canadian citizenship and features a list of interesting speakers including John Ralston Saul. The program is broken down into blocks which include amongst others the following: Babies and Young Children; New Canadians; Boys and Reading; and New Technologies. Interesting stuff indeed.

I've Been Scribd

2011-01-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

While reading a day-in-the-life-of segment on the blog Goop the other day (I'm so terribly embarrassed to admit that!), I was struck by the phrase curate my social media, which was used in the description of a woman's daily routine; she talks about taking the time to curate such media including her personal Facebook and Twitter accounts.

This rather self aggrandizing phrase at first made me laugh. Who does she think she is reserving the word "curate" for herself? My understanding of the word curate has always been linked to the activities of some sort of cultural heritage institution or harbinger of culture- not the superficial minutia of someone's daily life. But as I thought about the phrase some more, I realized that she isn't far off. Many of us do take the time to organize and oversee the presentation of our online selves.

Related to this fact, I've been thinking about how best to present some of the work I've done online- for potential employers to see. Embedding PDFs onto a website is often clunky and not very visually satisfying. But Scribd on the other hand, well it makes this process easier and more appealing, introducing an element of functionality which I rather enjoy. Plus, Scribd's vision of "liberating the written word" through social publishing, which allows millions of people share documents online, makes me feel a little less superficial about sharing my documents online.

Above is a short presentation I made back in August for a youth workshop. As part of the Black Creek Living History project, this workshop was organized for teens interested in conducting oral history interviews with local seniors in their community.

A Note on Musical Storytimes

2011-01-14T07:41:00.000-08:00

Image via lutherwright.com

While I was listening to Luther Wright and the Wrongs at home the other night, my fiance made an astute observation: I have a strange proclivity towards music that sounds like Children's songs. Since we have different tastes in music, he meant this as a slight, but I instead took it as a compliment of sorts. Now I'm not saying that Luther Wright composes for a juvenile audience, but I must admit that his country/bluegrass sound does share similarities with some of the Children's performers whom I use in my professional work. To be honest, most of the artists I listen to at home do. Considering the fact that a lot of Children's music is rooted in the folk genre, this is no big surprise.

I recently chose the opening and closing songs for a storytime program I run at work. Choosing the right music has always been important to me as a Children's Librarian since I am of the opinion that singing together can go a long was in developing phonological awareness - an important pre-literacy skill. When we sing in our storytimes, kids not only have fun, but also learn how to recognize the smaller sounds in words since each syllable in a word usually gets a different note.

During the fall session of storytime programs, I'd chosen a Woody Guthrie tune as a sort of theme song. This time around, I've gone for a rockabilly version of the old time-y classic When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along, as well as a Ken Whiteley song. Ken is coincidentally the uncle of Jenny Whiteley, a Canadian country and folk singer of whom I am also a fan. I hate to admit it, but my musical preferences are creeping their way into my professional work. There's just something about the banjo that seems to resonate with kids and I'm not making any apologies for that.

One Great Poster

2011-01-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

I love a good poster. So I couldn't help but share the one below, posted in honour of yesterday's unveiling of the 2011 City of Toronto budget. Although just a mock up, it's still a heck of a good poster in my opinion.

Reproduced with permission from Of Swallows Bookshop

Popular Childrens Series

2011-01-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

I began my job as a Children's Librarian last September. Although the programming part of the job came naturally- due in part to my background in Children's Theatre, my knowledge of Children's literature did not. I regret never having taken a Children's Literature course while at library school; I would have taken one if I could have fitted it in (I completed a dual specialization in LIS and archives, hence the tight schedule). So needless to say, when I began this job I had no idea who Geronimo Stilton was. For shame! So in order to help others who might find themselves in similar situations, below is a list of some popular children's series. While on the reference desk, I've found that these series have been requested time and time again.

1. Geronimo Stilton published by Scholastic
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
3. Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
4. The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
5. The Rainbow Magic series
6. Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
7. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
8. Spongebob Squarepants books by various authors
9. The Breadwinner Trilogy by Deborah Elis
10. My Weird School by Dan Gutman

'Tis the Season For Cough Mixture

2010-12-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Image from thatssoyummy.com

It's the season of colds. So in the spirit of warding off sickness, I've decided to share a recipe entitled "Cough Mixture" lovingly scrawled in a 1923 edition of Reference Hand-book for Nurses. I found it in the "additional notes" section of a book I processed while working as a cataloguer at Robarts Library. Coming across these sorts of things is what I miss most about that job. Communing with old books sometimes makes me feel as though I am communing with their past owners. So I would like to thank Mary Smith, the woman who donated this book to the University of Toronto Library, for her homemade cough mixture recipe. I encourage all those of you out there feeling under the weather to give it a try.

Cough Mixture (1923)

2 cups rum
6 cups water
1/2 cup honey
nutmeg flavor
boil for a few minutes

TPL's Digital Collections Survey

2010-12-14T06:27:00.000-08:00

Image credit: Toronto Public Library, Special Collections

I like surveys. I also like digital collections. So I was quite excited yesterday to fill out the Toronto Public Library's Digital Collections Survey. The Library has some very rare and unique items within its special collections and is seeking your input on how best to publicize them to the general public. The above image is from the library's Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, one of the world's foremost collections of materials devoted to the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. So take a moment to inspect TPL's Special & Digital Collections and give them your verdict.

My Favourite Children's Books of 2010

2010-12-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

The New Year always inspires lists, something which has been on my mind lately. Hence, as a new Children's Librarian facing the New Year, I was inspired to write down my favourite Children's books from 2010. The books listed below are not necessarily 2010 publications but are instead books, which I found myself turning to time and again for storytimes, outreach visits, and personal enjoyment.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy (2006)
by Oliver Jeffers
HaprperCollins Children's Books

I absolutely adore the illustrations in this book because of their fantastic tactile quality. The story is so enticing and its message (if indeed there is one) is right up a librarian's alley. The aesthetic of the book as an object itself is to be admired. The missing chunk on one end of the book- a mark left by the story's protagonist, is something that's sure to win you over.

The Canadian Railroad Trilogy (2010)
Gordon Lightfoot, art by Ian Wallace
Groundwood Books/ House of Anansi Press

Speaking about beautiful books, this one takes the prize. The story is a literal reprint of Gordon Lightfoot's famous "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" commissioned by the CBC for Canada's centennial year in 1967. This book is probably best admired by adults, but has the potential to capture children's imagination through its expansive portrayals of Canadian landscapes and the poetry of Lightfoot's lyrics.

How to Get Married by Me the Bride (2009)
Sally Lloyd-Jones and Sue Heap
Schwartz & Wade Books

This book has personal significance. I didn't actually use it as a professional resource this year, but as a personal one instead. A colleague suggested that it might help me to cope with my own impending wedding. And let me tell you he was right! I have turned to it on a number of occasions to make me laugh, to make me smile, and to calm me down. It's a lovely book, equal parts sweetness and wry humour.

Sing a Song of Bottoms! (2010)
Written by Jeanne Willis; illustrated by Adam Stower
Puffin Books

This book is so much fun to read to a group of little ones in part because it reads like a song, and in part because of its subject matter. In the end, after an exhaustive search, which includes pirates, pythons, elephants, trolls and half a dozen other wacky contestants, the book awards the audience themselves with the best bottom prize, a reality that insights a whole lot of excitement and laughter.

Aliens in Underpants Save the World (2009)
by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
Simon and Schuster

This book is a real crowd pleaser. As I write this, I'm beginning to see a pattern, especially since this choice follows the one above; I guess I had a bit of a predilection for bottoms in 2010. But hey, what can I say, bottoms and underpants really do sell to a toddler crowd.

The Power (and Guilt) of Library Fines

2010-12-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

Photo via xmacex's photostream, flickr

A story that was featured in today's Odd News section of Yahoo Canada made me smile, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. It was about a California woman who returned a library book that had been overdue for 74 years, and who offered to pay the accrued $2,700 fee. The library thankfully didn't charge her the fee, but agreed to accept a donation instead. The photo to the right is of a book published in 1900 with a posted excerpt (in pink) from the Helsinki City Library rules, which state among other rules that "if the book is overdue, the borrower must pay 5 pennies a day, up until 1 mark." Although library fines and librarians' attitudes towards them have evolved over the years, these financial disincentives remain part of the mystique of libraries everywhere.

We Made it Onto Jane-Finch.com

2010-12-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

When I started working at the York Woods Library, one of the first things I did to orient myself to my new surroundings was to check out the fantastic Jane-Finch.com. I love this website, which just happens to be a recent recipient of the Annual Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) awards for excellence in print, radio, television and the internet. So you could understand my excitement at having the Black Creek Living History Project covered by one of the website's reporters.

Black Creek Living History Launch Event

2010-12-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

Last night, the York Woods Library hosted the launch event from the Black Creek Living History Project. The evening was a great success drawing a large crowd from the Jane-Finch area who came to celebrate the launch of this local history project, make friends, and of course enjoy some fantastic Caribbean food. Below are some photos from the evening.


That's me, addressing the crowd and thanking them for coming.

Past Living History events on display.


Our exhibition of some wonderful images found on TPL's Historicity site.

The crowd enjoying some of the delicious food.

Librarians Without Borders Call for Volunteers

2010-11-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Librarians Without Borders is now accepting nominations for their 2011 Executive and Board of Directors. For more information, including job descriptions and details for applying, visit their Volunteer Page. The deadline for nominations is December 7, 2010.

Celebrating The Sentimentalists

2010-11-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the hand made printing process. Image credit: Gasperau Press blog.

I was so very pleased upon hearing that this year's Giller Prize was awarded to Johanna Skibsrud for her book The Sentimentalists. The Globe and Mail called the book "the most obscure ever to win a major literary award in Canada," helping to build a mythology around Skibsrud and her win. I was giddy with excitement watching news stories about the win due mainly to the fifteen minutes of fame awarded to the book's publisher Gasperau Press. As someone who laments the diminishing respect for printed material in our society, viewing clips of an alternative press cranking out hand-printed copies of a book makes me happy. All the stories I read about Skibsrud's win make mention of this small publisher in Kentville, N.S., which originally printed a mere 800 copies of her book, and which is now struggling to meet the demand for more copies. The Globe and Mail reported that Gasperau publisher Andrew Steeves in fact refused a commercial publisher’s offer to produce a second edition for wider distribution. This is good news since it reminds people that books, and the content within them, can be regarded as something other than commodities. Printed books are are indeed objects, which themselves can be respected for their form and beauty. Stories like Skibsrud's remind us of that, and for this I am greatful.

Downsizing the Reference Desk

2010-11-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: onlinlibref's photostream on Flickr

This year's CLA conference abounded with discussions over reference desks- the recently departed staple of libraries of yore. At the conference, there was much talk about the so called "death of the reference desk" in both academic and public library circles. As a new graduate at that time with little reference desk experience, I found myself unable to connect with the hullabaloo surrounding this startling statement. Over the past six months however, I have spent over half of my working days on the desk. I now feel invested in the controversial decisions by many public library systems to downsize the reference desk. Part of me agrees that this customer-driven initiative will be of benefit, while another part of me laments the loss of security and authority bestowed by the physical barrier between myself and library customers. As library systems throughout Canada make the move to smaller desks, I am keen to sit behind one and experience this new model of service delivery.

The Bucky Awards

2010-11-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

This is a very personal post- more of a plug really. A couple of friends of mine were recently nominated for some CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards and I'm so excited about it that I just had to share the good news with all of you. The Gertrudes have been nominated in the category of Best Canadian Song for their tune Ronnie Hawkins, while P.S. I Love You is nominated in the Best New Artist and Sexiest Artist categories. So check em out, and vote if you feel so inclined. P.S. both of these bands are big fans of libraries.

DDC Can Change Lives

2010-11-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

Photo: pennandteller.com

Yesterday morning, while listening to Q with Gian Ghomeshi, I was struck by the effect that browsing library shelves can have on an individual's future. Ghomeshi was interviewing Penn Jillette of Pen & Teller fame. When asked how his illustrious magic career began, Penn replied that it in fact began in the public library. He credits the Dewey Decimal System (DDC) as the thing that first turned him onto magic. Penn believes to this day that he never would have stumbled upon the ancient art form of magic had it not been for the fact that DDC places juggling books and magic books next to one another. Thanks to a young Penn's obsession with juggling as a kid, and his subsequent boredom with the activity, his eyes soon found their way to the magic books, never to wander again. Penn, pictured at left has since gone on to merge his love of books with his love of magic as a very successful Las Vegas headliner. Well folks, there it is: proof that DDC can change lives.

The Infamous Picture Book Article

2010-11-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of hearing Robin Muller speak. The renowned and much loved Children's illustrator and author spoke about the importance of picture books. His enthusiasm for this particular form of literature was made ever more poignant by the now infamous New York Times article Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children. A nicely written rebuttal article soon appeared in the Huffington Post, summarizing librarians' reactions.

For my own reaction to the article, I would like to pass along what Muller had to say about the issue. He shared with the audience two concrete examples of just how vital picture books can be in the development of visual literacy skills. It was the power of the images contained in Muller's The Nightwood that went on to inspire the creation of other works of art including Back Burner's 2009 theatrical adaptation of The Nightwood for the Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity. Additionally, one of the six finalists for the Toronto Fashion Incubator (TFI) New Labels Fashion Design Competition, Sarah Nicol, credits The Nightwood with inspiring her winning label. In an interview with Elle Canada she states:

"Our collection -- Mi Amor, A Victorian Love Tragedy -- is based on a book I read as a child: The Nightwood by Robin Muller ... the illustrations are so mystical and romantic, we wanted to bring them to life in our clothes."


The cast of the Nightwood (photo credit Jacklyn Atlas)

These real life examples illustrate (no pun intended) the often subtle ways in which the images of our youth weave their way into our adult lives. From an artistic standpoint, these examples show just how fruitful the information presented to us in picture books can turn out to be.

Canadian Library Month

2010-10-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let October pass before writing a post about Canadian Library Month. So ... happy Canadian Library Month to you all! This yearly dedication of the month of October helps to raise awareness of the valuable role that libraries play in the lives of Canadians. I like it because it comes with some pretty cool bookmarks.

The snazzy 2010 logo

Donde Esta La Biblioteca?

2010-10-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

I was most amused by this rap, performed by Abed and Troy, characters in the NBC sitcom Community. Much of the show, which follows the burgeoning friendships between a colourful cast of characters who attend the fictitious Greendale Community College, takes place in the college's library. In my previous post about the social capital implications of another TV sitcom (that time it was Steve Coogan comedy Saxondale) I wrote: "I will never look at sitcoms featuring library interiors the same way again." Well I guess it's true. Enjoy the rap.

Knowledge Ontario Receives Bridge Funding

2010-10-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that Knowledge Ontario's sector partners have pledged sufficient funding to keep KO operational until June 30, 2011. This vital organization recently made successful requests (and continues to do so in the public library sector) for bridging support from K-12 school boards, colleges, universities, and public libraries. As someone who believes in the organization's commitment to its core values of equity and collaboration, this is fantastic news. From my days as an askON intern, to my admiration of the OurOntario databases, I know that the ongoing funding for the vision and the services of KO is definitely something worth singing about.

Photo taken from the KO Matters homepage

Open Book Magazine Interview

2010-10-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

I participated in a very intriguing 48 hour interview for Open Book Magazine last month, which has recently been published. Over a couple of days, and a dozen emails, myself and Caitlin Fralick of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library discussed patrons, ebooks, rebellious heroines and the future of public librarianship. It was a blast. If you do choose to read the interview, I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed doing it !

Lessons from the Black Creek Living History Project Thus Far

2010-10-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the Black Creek Living History Project for just over three months now and have learned a number of important lessons. Below is a list of some of the more important ones. I hope that these reminders will make someone's life a bit easier when it comes to coordinating a local history initiative such as the one embarked upon by the York Woods Library.

Conducting community outreach is much easier to do when you have a car.
Rendering video files takes a long time. Uploading these files to YouTube takes even longer.
If using an external mic when recording an interview, don't be fooled by its stated battery life. Always keep a number of extra batteries on hand.
Make sure that the audio level indicator on your camera is turned on and visible. Know how to read and understand this indicator.
Never allow your interviewee to leave the building before checking the beginning, middle and end of the recorded interview to ensure that it was successfully captured. This lesson is directly related to the above point.
If you are presented with an equipment list, take the time to go through each piece and make sure that it works, that it has been properly charged, and that it is compatible with the rest of your equipment.
Seniors are keen to participate when a program involves a chartered bus. They will also come out for sandwiches.

Congratulations to the Sleepless Goat Cafe & Workers Cooperative

2010-10-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited to the 10th anniversary of a place where I used to work: The Sleepless Goat Cafe and Workers Cooperative in Kingston Ontario. Although I no longer work at a collectively owned cafe, I believe that the institution for which I now work- the public library, does in fact share some of the same values as a co-op. Both of these environments present spaces where collective ownership can happen, albeit in different ways. So congratulations to everyone at the Goat! Ten years of cooperative decision making is nothing to sneeze at!

Above is a short documentary made about the Goat back in 2006 by Frangie Films.

My New Job

2010-09-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to report that I recently began a new job at the Downsview Branch of the Toronto Public Library. Catharine Raine's Blog Breakfast in Scarbourough nicely describes my new home branch, which I find to be very cheerful, welcoming and open. I am the new part-time Children's Librarian at Downsview and loving it.

At my first visit to the branch, I had a flashback to childhood memories spent in the public library because I instantaneously recognized Carm, a fellow Downsview staff member (in the photo below) from many happy Saturdays spent at the Dufferin/St. Clair Branch in the neighbourhood where I grew up. During my childhood, Carm checked out many a book for me with a sense of humour, friendly candour and of course a big smile. It's a wonderful coincidence that many years later we are no longer patron and staff, but colleagues.

Me and Carm in front of my new desk at the Downsview Library.

Human Library Heads for Toronto

2010-09-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

A publicity image from the Uof Guelph

I was so very pleased to learn that the Toronto Public Library is at last taking part in Living Book programming. A living book, according to HumanLibrary.org is "a person, that has chosen to be a public representative of a certain group." On November 6, 2010 Toronto Public Library patrons will be able to check out a human book at a handful of branches across the city. These "books" are intended to challenge the public's perceptions by exposing readers to people they might not otherwise meet. The University of Guelph's McLaughlin Library has participated in a Human Library experiment in the past; their Human Library catalogue documents the types of interactions that were made available to library patrons.

Upcoming Of Swallows Reading

2010-09-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

This coming Saturday Sept 18 at 8:15 p.m., New York poet Anselm Berrigan will give his his first public Toronto reading at Of Swallows Their Deeds and the Winter Below (otherwise known as 283 College). Space is limited. This event will be preceded by Berrigan's afternoon, workshop: "Speech, Speed, and Structures of Voicing in Poetry and Prose" for which a few spaces are still available. Check it out. Of Swallows is a great new scholarly bookstore at College and Spadina.

My Weeding vs. My Wedding

2010-09-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

In any professional context, there is a particular humour that can only be shared amongst colleagues. I recently ran into such a case at work. Librarian jokes- or misunderstandings in this case, may not seem funny to those of you not in the library profession, but for me, they are capable of making my day. A recent miscommunication at work revolved around the words weeding and wedding. The former word refers to the removal (weeding) of materials no longer needed in a library's collection. In the context of the public library, this is an important part of one's professional duties. According to the Milton Public Library, weeding ensures that you have an up-to-date, attractive, and useful collection. And of course we are all familiar with what a wedding is. In my personal life I am facing the daunting and exciting task of organizing a wedding of my own, while in my professional life I have been doing much weeding as of late. Hence the confusion in a recent email when a colleague asked that I keep her updated on my wedding plans. I read WEEDing- not wedding, and proceeded to compile a progress report on what I had done to date and what I planned on doing over the next couple of weeks to weed the conspectus areas assigned to me within the Dewy Decimal System. I guess I was just so darn excited about weeding (or more likely anxious about wedding planning) that I saw what I wanted to see!

Google Hacking Into Google

2010-09-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

I like Google. It makes both my personal and professional life much easier. But I am also suspicious of Google for its omnipresent-for-profit-all-knowing-and-powerful ways. So you can imagine how I felt when I accessed my Google documents page to see that someone (gasp!) had hacked into my account and had the nerve (double gasp!) to upload a file that I neither expected nor intended to be there. I guess I shouldn't have been that shocked because this hacker was none other then Google itself. Earlier that day I had created a Google Site, so Google went ahead and did what it thought to be a proactive and generous act- it skillfully interfiled a Google for Webmasters Tutorial amongst my other personal documents. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the gesture- it's just the sneaky way that Google went about doing it that bugs me. Google should have at least asked for my permission first before accessing my account, or better yet, they should have asked if I even wanted a copy of the tutorial. I guess this is what happens when you use free stuff- the entities that actually own it can and will eventually do with it what they please.

Good Bye Robarts

2010-09-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

This week was my last week working at Robarts Library at the University of Toronto. Over the past year and a half I have been fortunate enough to work in the Materials Processing Department as a Project Cataloguer. My contract, as well as those of a number of us "student cataloguers" has unfortunately ended. Below is a photo of our section that was taken during our goodbye party.

The ladies and gent of Robarts' Materials Processing Department.

This department was a wonderful place to work, and an even better place to start out one's career. Working as a cataloguer is a great foundation for anything that one goes on to do as a librarian. Aside from the obvious work related skills that I got from Robarts, I also was able to revel in the atmosphere of its work environment. The section in which I worked was wonderfully functional. The sense of respect and comraderie was palpable. There was also a lingering reverence for the book as a physical object and for this, I was truly grateful. Ironically, I do not get to interact with books as much as I assumed I would in my day-to-day life as a librarian. Not only was I able to physically handle and process books while at Robarts, but more importantly I was able to take in and contribute to a culture of celebrating these books. Staff in our section would often pop up from our respective cubicles to share our thoughts about a controversial book, a seemingly absurd monograph, a fanciful dust jacket or a creative type design. Although my Robarts days are gone, I know that I will take these wonderful memories with me throughout my library career.

Living History Workshop a Success

2010-08-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

I had such a great time this past Wednesday at the living history workshop for teens at the York Woods Branch of the Toronto Public Library. Oral history expert and retired TPL librarian Vivienne James came in to teach participants of the Black Creek Living History project how to conduct professional oral history interviews. Thanks to everyone once again for coming out.

Me with our group of budding oral historians

Living History Facebook Group

2010-08-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

Corner of Jane and Finch, 1878. Courtesy, Toronto Public Library.

It's official. We've got ourselves a Facebook group. Join the Black Creek Living History Project Facebook Group to learn more about the exciting local history project that we're doing at the York Woods Branch of the Toronto Public Library. It's a great way to get more information and to stay on top of what what's happening next.

Knowledge Ontario Matters

2010-08-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

As I was preparing to write another post about why Knowledge Ontario matters, I came across the following clip on YouTube. It's my very own response to the question "why does Knowledge Ontario matter?" from last year's Ontario Library Association Super Conference where I volunteered for the Knowledge Ontario booth. I found the clip on the Knowledge Ontario YouTube channel where there are a dozen other video testimonials just waiting to be viewed. So stop writing and start filming! Show your support for Knowledge Ontario by making a short video about why KO matters to you! Tag your video with "KOmatters" and submit it to the knowledgeontario group on YouTube.

The Black Creek Living History Project

2010-08-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited this morning because the official press release for a project I'm working on at the York Woods Branch of the Toronto Public Library has just come out. I feel really lucky to have been given the opportunity to work on this project. Working on a local history project sure is a good way to learn about the community you're working in! It's also easy to enjoy a project when you believe in the power and impact of its goals. So in the spirit of sharing I thought I'd share some of those goals with you. The Black Creek Living History project aims to:

Engage seniors in the Black Creek community, by providing them with an opportunity to share their stories and memories of growing up or living in the Jane-Finch community
Mitigate the effects of social isolation that some seniors experience, through a series of regularly planned library visits and trips to key community destinations of historical interest.
Provide an inter-generational experience, where seniors and youth interact together during the development of the local history resource.
Develop seniors and teens' knowledge of technology and local history research methodology.
Involve local youth in interviewing and recording seniors' memories, providing a unique opportunity to earn community service hours.

The focus of this project is the Black Creek neighbourhood, including the Jane-Finch community. This covers the area north of Hwy. 401, east of Weston Road, west of Keele Street and south of Steeles Avenue. The project is funded in part by the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors program.

Open Book: Toronto's 48-Hour Interview Series

2010-08-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Open Book is a magazine that celebrates and profiles Toronto’s literary scene, while OpenBookToronto.com serves as "a hub for all things local and literary year round." I recently agreed to participate in Open Book: Toronto's 48-Hour Interview series- a regular feature in the online Open Book magazine. These interviews are between two people who work with books. The idea is for participants to exchange emails over a 48-hour period, asking each other questions about their book-related work, discussing their industry, books, writers, and anything related. Professionals profiled in the series before have included writers, editors and publishers. This time around, it will be myself and another public librarian participating.

London Library's book stacks- unchanged since 1898.

Reviewing the roster of others who have participated in this series before, I feel humbled. As a new librarian, I often feel intimidated by those already established in Toronto's vibrant book and literary culture scene: I worry that I'm not well read enough, that my opinions are not backed by sufficient experience etc. You know, regular new-young-professional kind of concerns. So being asked to participate in this series made me a bit nervous at first. But now I'm just excited. As a new and eager librarian at Toronto Public Library, I have learned a lot about patron's perception of books within the city. Heck, I've also learned a lot about fellow staff's perceptions- be they librarians, teenagers or paraprofessionals. In many cases such opinions and attitudes have surprised me and have encouraged me to continually question my role as a librarian and my contributions to the literary scene so well profiled by spaces such as Open Book magazine. Although I am interested in sharing my opinions and experiences with a fellow public librarian, I am also excited to participate in this 48-hour exchange for completely non-professional reasons. It's sort of like having a pen pal all over again. I used to love writing to friends as a kid on stationary that was lovingly and painstakingly picked out. So this experience will sort of be like that- minus the stationary, the doodles, and the prepubescent ramblings.

Innovative Indoor Literacy Playground

2010-08-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Taken from the Toronto Star article referenced below

At the CLA conference in June I attended an interesting session put on by the Toronto Public Library. The session's presenters introduced the audience to TPL's KidsStop concept. These interactive play areas support early childhood literacy through the creation of different "stations," which focus on the Ready for Reading steps. These unique and innovative locations have been created at the S. Walter Stewart Branch, the Dufferin St. Claire Branch, the Thorncliffe Branch, and the Cedarbrae Branch of the Toronto Public Library.

The KidsStop concept was written about in a 2008 Toronto Star article. For more information about TPL's KidStop, the power point presentations referenced above are available for download on the CLA's post conference resource centre under the Friday June 4th 2010 heading.

Celebrating Our Digital Culture

2010-07-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

A library display highlighting TPL's digital collections.

I recently put together a display at the York Woods Branch of the Toronto Public Library (TPL) highlighting the library's digital collections. In order to grab people's attention, and to encourage them to view digital archival objects as a regular part of their everyday experience, I decided to centre the display around an iPhone. The idea is that library customers will come to associate TPL's digital objects (ie. broadsides, photographs, digitized books & other printed material etc.) with the pervasiveness of iPhone apps. The popularity of the iPhone mirrors the ever increasing ubiquity of digitized objects in our lives. I hope that customers will have as much fun taking in the display as I had creating it.


Detail of individual archival apps.

E-Books: Making Opthalmologists Everywhere Happy

2010-07-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Every week, the Toronto Public Library puts out @tpl a weekly newsletter for its staff. One of the components that I particularly like about this publication is its quote of the week section. This week's pick is a good one; so good in fact, that I couldn't help sharing it. It was penned by American journalist Martin Arnold and originally appeared in his 1999 New York Times column. The article from which it came is titled From Gutenberg To Cyberstories.

"Still, the E-book is not a passing thing, but here to stay as it becomes cheaper and improved. Nonetheless, it is really no more than a screen upon which to read, and it is clear that when enough people start reading them, electronic books will do for the ophthalmologists what taffy and caramels did for dentists."

Now there's some food (hehe) for thought.

Saxondale and Social Capital

2010-07-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

For all you Steve Coogan fans out there, this post is for you. I was recently introduced to Coogan's BBC comedy series Saxondale, a show that revolves around the character of Tony-- a middle aged ex-roadie with anger managment issues who ownes his own pest control buiness. Every episode beings with Tony's anger managment class, which takes place in the children's department of his local Hertfordshire library; and herein lies the relevance of this post to all you non Coogan fans. Not only is it amusing to witness the outbursts of the anger managment attendees within the children's section of a library, but this peculiar juxtaposition also speaks to the importance of the library as a neutral meeting space within the community. I know I know, I am reading way too much into this-- a fact which makes me ponder a particular archivist's warning.While at the Unviversity of Toronto's iSchool, one of my archives professors warned us that from this day forward we would be cursed with obsessively breaking down the crux of movies, stories, articles etc. via their relationships to documents and records. She went on to confess that, much to the chagrin of her friends and family, she has been unable for years to watch the popular show Law and Order without contemplating the archival issues raised by its storyline and characters. Like her, my mind has also wandered while enjoying Saxondale. I find it both fascinating and agrevating to catch myself contemplating the social capital implications of hosting a ficitious anger management class in a fictious library in a fictionalized account of a northern English town. I will never look at sitcoms featuring library interiors the same way again.

Melvil Dewey's Classification of Women

2010-07-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a very interesting article examining Melvil Dewey's controversial plans to invite women to join the library school at Columbia University in the late 1800s. The article describes Dewey's "scandolous behaviour around women" while at the same time lauding his efforts to feminize the profession of librarianship.The article appeared on the Bitch Media blog. An advertisement adjacent to the article informs readers about the blog's plans for upcoming posts that will feature some of the women who have made contributions to social justice through their work in libraries. How very exciting! But for now, the verdict is in: the father of librarianship- our highly female dominated profession, held some questionable views on women.

CLA Post Conference Resource Centre

2010-07-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Today I visited the CLA Post-Conference Resource Centre for the first time. This site has many great resources including a link to the Wikimedia Foundation's FAQs for Librarians page and Michael Geist's closing keynote presentation, which I commented on in an earlier post. A number of speakers from the conference have provided copies from their sessions on the site including such things as: Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, handouts, resource lists, posters etc. Additionally, you'll also find an archive of the CLA Today pubications, printed daily at the conference, as well as a CLA Twub (note: Twubs are Twitter groups built around content aggregated from #hashtags) that tracks all tweets given the "cla2010" tag. This site is a fantastic resource for all those who attended the conference as well as those who couldn't make it to Edmonton. Thanks CLA!

Knowledge Ontario Needs Your Support

2010-07-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

You heard it right. Knowledge Ontario (KO) still needs our support. So what are you waiting for? Many information professionals and KO supporters have already stepped up to the plate reporting on the successes of the organization and its current funding challenges. Some of these actions can be found by accessing the following links:

Ruth Hall, President Ontario School Library Association (OSLA)
Digital Media Librarian Kimberly Silk's blog post
Knowledge Ontario intern Robyn Hall's blog post
Academic librarian Leigh Cunningham's blog post
The University of Toronto's Faculty of Information
The Burlington Historical Society
The North Bay Nugget editorial on the importance of Knowledge Ontario
Knowledge Ontario Matters Twitter stream

These are just a handful of responses to the current KO situation. If you have written about the importance of KO or are aware of someone who has, please let me know. This list is growing every day and with it grows public support for this fantastic and vital organization. So what are you waiting for? Get blogging, get tweeting, get talking and get going!!!

York Woods Arts Hub (YWAH)

2010-06-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the official opening of the York Woods Arts Hub. The recently renovated multi-purpose space is located next to the York Woods Library in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood on the bottom floor of the York Woods Theatre. Funding for the Arts Hub was made possible through the City of Toronto’s Partnership Opportunities Legacy (POL) fund and Toronto Public Library. More information about the project can be found on the Neighbourhood Arts, Live With Culture and News 4 You blogs or on the City of Toronto's website.

The Arts Hub is a fantastic resource offering a number of multi-use spaces to support local artists including a dance studio and computer stations equipped with photo-editing and graphic design software. As a librarian at the York Woods Library, I am thrilled about this addition to the community; the excitement associated with the Arts Hub is sure to have a positive effect on both the library and its surrounding community. I will report back on the Hub's progress in the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned!

Knowledge Ontario DOES Matters: A First Hand Account

2010-06-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

I was dismayed to read that Knowledge Ontario has not received government funding in 2010. After reading my colleague Kim Stymest's post about the situation- Lets Get Agitated, I became very concerned.

Knowledge Ontario (KO) is a progressive and vital organization. What first attracted me to the library profession in general was its strong sense of collaboration and the possibilities that can emerge from this. In my opinion, this is exactly what makes KO so vital to the health and future of our province. In their own words, KO engages Ontario's digital citizens "through wide collaboration, a culture of creativity, and use of leading edge digital technology." While volunteering at the Knowledge Ontario booth at this year's OLA conference I had the opportunity to learn more about the umbrella organization's inspiring programs including: Ask Ontario, Connect Ontario, Learn Ontario, Our Ontario, and Resource Ontario. I have had the pleasure of participating in the first of these programs.

AskON is a real-time chat information service that offers immediate, interactive and knowledgeable research and reference help online. I started as an askON intern in December 2009 and have experienced the benefits of this service first hand. While a student at the University of Toronto's iSchool, this volunteer opportunity was one of the most useful professional experiences during my time in library school. The training I received from the Knowledge Ontario staff before beginning this internship was fantastic- they were thourough, professional, inspiring and approachable. I leanred more about delivering professioal reference servives, and about best-practices in the information field, through this opportunity then I did in my classes at the Faculty of Information. This is not of course an attack on the iSchool curriculum but a sincere compliment to the askON service and the Knowlege Ontario staff. The askON internship program truely is a win win situation: it gives students the opportunity for real life reference experience, while at the same time supporting the essential reference service offered in dozens of academic and public libraries throughout Ontario. Ontario's digital landscape would be far poorer without the guidance and resources provided by this service.

To either learn more about the askON service, or to show you're support, please join the askON Facebook group. Please show your support for Knowledge Ontario by joining the Knowledge Ontario Matters Facebook group.

Margaret Canning Public Librarianship Prize

2010-06-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

My convocation from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information took place a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately I was not able to attend because I was in Edmonton at the CLA conference at the time accepting an award for winning first place in the CLA's annual student article writing contest. So you can imagine my surprise upon hearing the news of my winning the first ever Margaret Canning Public Librarianship Prize. This inaugural prize was awarded to myself and another graduating student Erin Anderson in recognition of our respective practicum placements in public library settings. Indeed, news of my winning this award came as a surprise only days before my departure to Edmonton.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. Margaret Canning- in who's name the prize was established, graduated from U of T with her MLIS in 1973. She began the adult literacy program at the North York Public Library and was noted specifically for her work in the Jane- Finch area of Toronto. It was a very happy coincidence to learn of Ms. Canning's work in this neighbourhood since I currently work as a Librarian at the Toronto Public Library's York Woods Branch. What a coincidence! Like Ms. Canning, I too believe in the importance of developing and maintaining close relationships between the library and its local community service groups and organizations. My practicum at TPL's Albion Branch- the experience that led to my winning of this award, really opened my eyes to how exactly libraries can start to build community through such partnerships. I love working in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood and feel priviledged to be able to interact with the York Woods patrons on a day-to-day basis. Receiving the Margaret Canning Public Librarianship Prize means so much to me for so many reasons. The most important reason is perhaps the feeling that I can continue to honour the work of Ms. Canning in the very neighbourhood in which she gave so much.

A Call to Arms: Librarians Take Up Spoons & Shovels

2010-06-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

Librarians, archivists, and information professionals everywhere are beginning to arm themselves with spoons and shovels. At the recent CLA conference session By Spoon or By Shovel: The Inside Scoop on Mass and Boutique Digitization, presenters Sharon Farnel, Peter Binkley (University of Alberta Libraries) and Darcy Glidden (Hamilton Public Library) described the differences between mass digitization programs and smaller "boutique" projects. The presenters used the metaphors of shovel and spoon to describe these varying approaches: the large scale let's-get-everything-online-now project vs. its smaller curated counterpart, which tends to focus on the details of how digital objects themselves are presented and represented online.

Nothing raises the myriad of issues associated with mass digitization like Google Books. Librarians now find themselves in competition with Google as guardians of public access to knowledge, and this reality is the subject of a recent BBC article: A Librarian Takes on Google Books. Librarian Andrew Green of the National Library of Wales believes that librarians should begin to arm themselves against the encroaching digitization efforts of commercial enterprises like Google. Green speaks passionately about having found a new cause for the age-old profession of librarianship in this new digital landscape- a professional obligation to plan for the building of secure homes for digitized texts. After reading this article, I couldn't help but picture Green himself with a spoon in one hand and a shovel in the other daring Google to take on librarians everywhere. Although a rather comical image, I noted the sense of reassurance it left me with. As a librarian with an interest in digitization, I like Green don't want to throw the towel in and passively wait for Google to digitize my cultural heritage. Over the course of my career, I hope to arm myself with both shovel and spoon, embarking upon different types of digitization in order to fight for my right to remain as a steward of knowledge in the digital age.

University of Toronto Libraries Event

2010-06-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of participating in last year's Life Beyond Work- the University of Toronto Library's 5th annual staff fair put on by the Staff Development Committee. At that time, I was asked to be part of the Frugal Fashion Show and had a blast choosing and modeling a lovely outfit, which I purchased at Value Village for under $15. I enjoyed meeting other UTL fashionistas as we had a great time discussing our frugal shopping tactics. I wanted to share this little known side of the U of T Library system with readers and post photographs from this year's equally creative event.

This year marked the first ever Celebrating Our Cultures event for the library staff at U of T, which included a fashion show celebrating various cultural outfits- photographed at right. The fashion show was complimented by numerous library exhibits featuring the different cultures and home countries of the UTL staff- an example of which is the Sri Lanka exhibit photographed above. Although I could not make it out to the fashion show this year, I was pleased to know that the U of T staff's diversity was being reflected and celebrated in such a public way.

Flawed But Fixable

2010-06-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

At this year's CLA conference in Edmonton Michael Geist, Law Professor and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, spoke about Bill C-32 (the newly proposed Canadian copyright reform bill) in his closing keynote address. He refers to the bill as flawed but fixable- a friendly soundbite quickly picked by various online media, this blog included. According to Geist, the flaws of the bill center around its digital lock provisions, which in his opinion could stand to reverse the gains afforded elsewhere. In his address to the CLA, Geist broke the bill into three groups of reforms: sector specific provisions (including specific rules for performers, consumers, photographers, creators, educators, librarians, broadcasters, re-mixers and enforcers); intermediary liability (pertaining to internet providers and ISPs); and anti-circumvention rules (also known as digital locks).

He takes issue with the third group, in which no compromises have been proposed. The issue of digital locks trump all other new rights allowed in the proposed legislation including surprisingly the rights of consumers to enjoy the materials which they have legally acquired. Hence the flaw- the problematic digital lock rules. More information abounds on the Speak Out On Copyright site from which the logo displayed above was taken; I encourage all those interested in the recently tabled Copyright Modernization Act to to visit.

I am pleased to note that The Canadian Library Association has already written a response to Bill C-32. I believe that this is exactly the type of role where the CLA is best able to shine: in delivering quick responses to national policy issues affecting us all. And Canadian copyright reform is just such an issue. Geist's CLA address was perfectly timed (albeit coincidentally) and well received by the attendees of this year's CLA conference. Timely, insightful, and inspiring, Geist's address was neither flawed nor fixable, but exactly what the CLA community needed to hear.