It's been awhile

This summer has been very stressful in library world, with budget cuts, hour reductions, layoffs, etc. It's not over yet. Cutbacks are necessary--the money just isn't there for us to keep doing all the things we've done (and done well) in the past. This leads me to wonder, just what is the job of a library? C'mon, if you went to Library School you took the Foundations classes that gave us the background as to what libraries have BEEN. If you use a library, you know what the library is to you. If you work at a library, you know what you'd like the library to be--well let me know what you think!

What IS a library?

Hug your Valentine

It's the day for telling the ones you love that you LOVE them!
Grandpa, Bob, Bobby, Tanya, Cathy, Jeremy, Mike, John, David, Annie, Melissa, Jimmy, Heather, Liz, Jack, Kathy, Jim, Patty, Joe, Ryan, Olivia, Abby, Taylor, Hailey and many, many more--this hug's for YOU!

Happy, Hopeful New Year

It's a brand-new year...well actually it's been here for 3 whole weeks. I'm inspired by the attitude of cooperation and possibilities that the inauguration of a new President seems to have inspired, and I hope to do my best to participate in this renewed spirit. Here's to a prosperous, healthy New Year!

Happy, Merry and Bright!

If anyone happens to wander upon this blog, here's my wish for a blessed, joyous holiday season, whatever holidays you happen to be celebrating.

Now it's Really 8N08!!

I've finished the last two exercises for our technology project. I listened to a "Car Talk" podcast, and I downloaded Part 1 of Wayne Dyer's book, "10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace." I'm excited that now I might be able to find a use for the MP3 player that's been sitting in a drawer since last Christmas!! I'm a lot more comfortable downloading books and things now.

I'm also familiar with the social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook. My nieces and nephews all keep in touch with my kids through Facebook, so they may be surprised to find Aunt Pat on the site soon. I started setting up a profile, but it's not finished yet. In fact, Facebook alerted the family to a tricky family situation and we were able to correct things before anything bad happened. The social networking sites can be very useful.

I'm grateful for the 'gentle nudge' into the brave new world of technology. The various exercises we did were well-written and not that hard to do. I've learned a lot through this challenge.

Out of Order but Moving On

Just a quick post to say that I've finished the 7th 8in08 exercise--I haven't yet done #6, but this is due to limited availability of workstations with the correct software--it'll happen soon. We explored Wiki's for this assignment. Here's what I found today:
The Uncyclopedia featured article was a very crass rumination on why the author liked the "Tango and Cash" movie.

I did visit the ALA Wiki and found some useful sites for ALSC which will be useful to me for early literacy information. A couple of the links did not work because of ALA's restructuring of their website, but most were good.
On WikiHOW I found out how to strengthen my back with Pilates, and I was very glad to learn that the moves that I do often in my Yoga class were moves that were recommended, and I can do them!!

I was not impressed with Wikia--most of the subjects I typed in had no information available. (OK, two of those subjects were Arlo and Folk Music--but nothing on Folk Music??? Really??)
The quilting Wiki had a grand total of 3 articles, and I couldn't access 2 of them. The one I found was just a sappy inspirational poem about quilts and our lives, etc. I christened this one the Icky Wiki. I may be inspired to create an account if this is all the information available on this site. There WAS a very detailed Harry Potter Wiki which was nicely designed, but given all the HP information widely available, I doubt I'd use this source for research.
That's my experience with Wiki's.

Still Here

OK, it's been almost 3 months since I've posted, but I've got a good excuse! I've just started my second 'new' job in 3 months in the same place. I am loving, LOVING my newest duties as a supervisor, but that's because my staff is wonderful. That being said, I'm sure that excuse is not going to get me out of completing my 8in08 assignments--but I have 34 days left--I'll get it done!