university city public library

I travel a lot. I keep telling myself that I really should visit libraries more when I travel so I can blog about and show pictures of them. I almost always forget.

Last week I was in St. Louis, Missouri, prior to attending the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color. I was traveling with a fellow-librarian and staying with another librarian. We managed to visit one library: the University City Public Library (UCPL), the one closest to where we were staying. UCPL is part of of the Municipal Library Consortium (MLC) of St. Louis County, which consists of nine municipal libraries. I believe MLC is separate from both the St. Louis Public Library system (for the city of St. Louis) and the St. Louis County Library system.

UCPL is a pretty nice library. This is what it looks like on the outside. I had to include the no firearm picture; this is a pretty common sign in St. Louis.

The first things to grab my attention when I walked in the door were these fabric artworks hanging on the wall to the left of the entrance. The quilt has people’s names on them, so I assume that they are the names of donors.

To the right of the entrance was a exhibit case. Directly behind it, in full view of the entrance were the DVD shelves. I thought that was an interesting location choice for them.

Here are a few shots of the inside. The last shot (3rd row, right) seems to be the jazz/music reference area, which is on the second floor.

Also on the second floor are the juvenile and teen areas. Here are some pictures:

One of the things that I liked about this library was the way they promoted some of their collections and services. Instead of putting them on a bulletin board or in case by the front (which they probably also did), they posted them at then ends of the shelves. I don’t think my public libraries do this (or I certainly haven’t noticed), but I think it’s a great idea. There was only one on each shelve end, so it wasn’t competing with lots of other things for your attention. It definitely made me want to read them.

They also had their patron behavior rules posted. I think many libraries do this, though I’m not sure that I’ve really paid attention to them before.


In addition to the regular spaces for library materials, this library also had an exhibit space. When we visited, there was an exhibit called “Homage to Dad” by Frank Enger. It is not so much an homage to fatherhood, but about aging fathers. In one corner, was a book display (with one chair next to it) on caregiving, Alzheimer’s, etc.

The exhibit was primarily along the walls outside of the reserve-able study/meeting rooms.

On the way out, I saw the sculpture with which this library is associated. (When we had been talking about libraries a day or two before, my hostess’ friend asked if UCPL is the one with the lions.) Our hostess later told us that this lion used to be outside. I think this was probably a part of those fundraisers where cities pick an animal that applies to them and various artists decorate them. This one is obviously covered by pages from books as well as musical sheets. There is a page from the Wizard of Oz on there. I think it’s cool.


So, this is the only library we managed to see while in St. Louis. We saw the outside of the downtown public library and saw the outside of another one in the Del Mar Loop area, but that’s about it. We thought we’d visit our hostess’ library at Washington University, but we just never made it there. At least we made it to one, right?

literacy

Tomorrow, September 8, is International Literacy Day. Check out this infographic from the United Nations. I am not sure how they're defining literacy. In a lot of cases, it's defined as the ability to read and write. Sometimes, it's tied to educational attainment. The former is probably the case here.

I believe that literacy is key to progress and success. But I personally think that literacy goes beyond basic reading and writing or achieving a certain level of education. I think that it should include understanding of the context and critical thinking and analysis of the text, including evaluation and interpretaition. After all, what is the point of passive reading or rote writing?

Literacy also goes beyond the printed word. There is Internet literacy, media literacy, emotional literacy, and so on. Master most of these, and you should be set. But then again, if you're really smart, you would know that there's no such thing as mastering these--life is a continuous journey of learning.

           
           

                by UNRIC.Browse more infographics.
           

           
           
           
       

library day in the life 8.3

What can I say about today? I guess I could sum it up as a day of questions, ideas, people, technology, and materials. Hmm...that kind of sums up librarianship, doesn't it?

Reference desk. After the usual check of emails, I was on the reference desk from 9-11am. I like to be on the desk in the morning because that's when I'm most alert and energetic. But early mornings are actually quiet on the desk. Not that the reading room is empty. It can actually get quite full. But it's mostly undergrads studying.

at the reference desk

While I was there, a faculty member came in to ask a question (which I don't remember anymore), then he asked if the library does training for iAnnotate. He said that he and he his colleagues were interested in getting training on it. I had never heard of it and didn't know if anyone in the library knows, so I took down his info. Once he was gone, I looked up what it was --an app for making annotations on PDFs, and that certainly has research applications. I emailed my departmental listserv and a couple of other librarians if they knew about this app.

While I waited for the response, I posted this on Facebook:

Should there be a specific librarian in a library whose job it is to keep up to date with apps & other programs that have research applications? If so, who?

I'm mostly a subject bibliographer, and I can be caught up in my own little world. It's not that I'm not interested in technology, but that I don't have the time to play around with it. That's why I posted that status. I know there's people who do stuff like that, but I wanted to see just what my friends have to say about it. The consensus was that emerging technologies or user experience librarians do this kind of work. I've seen these titles before, but I guess I never actually thought about what they do! Consequently, I didn't even think of my friend, Evivva Weinraub Lajoie, Director of Emerging Technologies and Services at Oregon State University Libraries -- that's basically what she does! [head slap] She even has a whole department who works on these things with her. Now that the lightbulb is on, I am now wishing that I could do a field internship with Viva.

Peer review. When on the desk, I usually bring things to do. Today, I brought redacted copies of my reference letters for peer review. (You can actually see them in the above picture.) I have to read them before my packet can be turned in, and today is the deadline. Later, in the afternoon, I was getting antsy because I didn't want to have my packet turned in late, and I still have to see the whole packet and sign off that I've seen the documents. By the end of the day, I knew it wasn't going to be turned in on time. I hope I don't get dinged for that.

Orders. I also brought lists of titles for collection development. I am a bit behind on this and have to really get cracking. I also did some of this later in the afternoon.

Research proposal. After my shift, I hand-delivered the signed hard copy of the research proposal I was working on. I still wonder if I'm a bit crazy to want to do it, as I already have too much to do, but I know it will help me in my job. So, do I will, if I get funded. For now, though, I can forget about it until April or May, when the decisions are made.

Colleagues. Normally, I'm cooped up in my office, barely coming up for air. Today, I actually talked to quite a few people. As Martha says, it's a good thing.

Networking/Outreach. I have a colleague, Eloisa Borah, who regularly organizes get-togethers with students of Filipino heritage from UCLA's library school. She usually invites me to these. Today, we had one, but it wasn't just for library students. There was one PhD student in the information school, but there was also a grad student from the World Arts and Culture Department and the Pharmacology Department. A Filipina staffer from the Asian American Studies Center was also there. It was a good event. I not only got to meet the grad students, but we came up with some ideas of how we can work together. I better follow up with them. I also came away with a couple of research ideas. Unfortunately, I already have a lot of research ideas and can't really get to anything new for at least 2 years. Still good to keep in mind though. And who knows? When the applying-for-grants bug hits me, I just might go for them anyway.

Data visualization. At the end of the day, there was a little bit of excitement, in that I had to decide really quickly whether I wanted to go for an opportunity or not. A couple of weeks ago, I had asked our Librarian for Digital Research and Scholarship if she knew data visualization because I'm interested in getting training in it. She sent me some links but, because I'm so busy, I'm really less likely to do things on my own as I am when there are scheduled classes. Long story short, Edward Tufte is having a couple of one-day courses in LA next week. I'm not entirely sure how helpful it'll be, and I'm not entirely comfortable with the implication that I will then become a resource on this, but I would really like to learn this stuff. But, if work is willing to pay for it, why not, right?

Letters. I didn't have to go to the trainer today (thank goodness, as I'm too tired). Instead, I got to start the A Month of Letters challenge, in which we're supposed to mail at least one item--letter, postcard, cookies, a leaf--each day that the post runs in the month of February. We also have to write back to everyone who writes to us. That's a total of at least 24 items to mail.

I'd been meaning to write to people for a long time, so this certainly force me to do it. I'm actually really excited about this challenge. I happily gathered all my stationery that's been languishing forever in my drawers. I searched for the calligraphy set that I acquired during one of my trips last year, but I couldn't find it. I did find the wax and seal that I bought at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany.

stationery galore

I only got to write two letters because 1) I was trying to figure out who to write to first, 2) I then had to pick the appropriate stationery, and 3) I wrote somewhat lengthy notes. My shoulder, which had been bothering me, complained, so I had to stop.

sealed and ready to go

I'd say it was a good day...

library day in the life 8.2

Today was a slow day. I don't mean that I didn't have work to do, but more that I lacked energy. It's probably because I slept after midnight last night and had to get up at my usual 5:20 am. I'm sure it's also tiredness from the busy weekend and Monday.

Unlike yesterday, there were no deadlines today, so I could afford to be a little bit flexible with my schedule. Don't get me wrong, I still had my whole day planned out from 5:20am through 11pm as part of my time management experiment, but I was okay with moving things around. I did some of the things that I didn't get to yesterday, and I moved up a couple of tasks that I had (re-)scheduled later in the week.

Commute. The day started out fine but, like yesterday, the commute took longer than usual. I don't know what it is these days. It's either the traffic is worse, or my vanpool is leaving a few minutes later, which then makes a big difference in the amount of traffic we encounter. I arrived at work closer to 8 than 7:30.

E-mails. As part of my time management, I'm only supposed to be on emails until 9am, and then another hour in the afternoon. Yesterday, I never got to my afternoon hour. Since I got in later today, I had less time to do emails and other online stuff. That felt weird. Today, I wasn't as strict about the whole email thing. I found myself reverting to my habit of looking at all my email accounts every so often and looking at some emails when they pop up. I don't think I was doing it as much as normal, but definitely reverting.

At 9am, I had a phone meeting with Sandy Wee, President of the Asian / Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). I don't think I ever announced it here, but I was elected Vice-President/President-Elect early last year. So, I'm fulfilling that role in 2011-2012. Sandy is a super-organized person--I really need to take lessons from her! Before my tenure even began, she started copying me on emails. Once my term officially started (after ALA Annual 2011), she instituted regular phone meetings between the two of us. (I think Immediate Past President Florante Ibanez was the first to do this.) So, today's phone call was our regular once-every-weeks meeting.

We had a lot to talk about today. At Midwinter, Sandy generously gave me time during our Executive Board (EB)to do a brief "future of APALA" brainstorming session. I wanted to use that discussion to help me inform what I'll be doing during my presidential year. During today's call, we talked about a lot of the things we discussed at the session, including creating a planning task force, which I intend to do soon. Sandy was also giving me some advice about making committee appointments, something I also need to do shortly. We had so much to talk about that we actually went over our allotted hour.

Since I was already in the APALA frame of mind, I did a few APALA-related things throughout the day, mostly reading and responding to emails and communicating to the committee to which I'm the EB liaison.

I have so much to do to prepare for my presidency. I better start scheduling all these tasks! But it should, hopefully, make my actual term a little bit easier. My upcoming presidential term is actually part of the reason I'm doing this whole time management thing--I need to get ready for a crazy 2012-2013. In addition to being President, I will also be Chair of ACRL's Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Committee and might potentially be doing a research project (if awarded funding). Egads!

ANSS. I think I was really in the mood to do committee work today because I decided to do work for the Anthropology & Sociology Section (ANSS) this afternoon. Well, maybe it's more that it's been a week since Midwinter, and I really needed to follow up on things and get them moving. I was actually supposed to do this yesterday, but it got preempted. I had moved it to later in the week, but I decided that I needed to pay attention to this sooner rather than later. I typed up the notes I took during the 2012 Program/40th Anniversary Planning Committee and posted it on our Facebook group workspace. I hope people start discussing soon because we really need to make some decisions and get the ball rolling quickly.

"save the date" magnet, without an actual date
(photo by Erin Gratz)

Commons. After chatting with Sandy, I had Zoe Borovsky, our Librarian for Digital Research and Scholarship, give me a quick tour of our Research Commons. I've seen it before, but I was specifically asking her which spaces would be ideal for a small class (5-10 people) that wants to view a film. She pointed out the research pods, the study rooms, and the small classroom as possibilities.

research pods (picture taken over the summer, before the Commons opened)

When we were touring, I could see that the spaces were full. I haven't really been in there, other than passing through, since we first opened it last fall. What struck me was that, though the Commons is supposed to be this dynamic, collaborative hub, people were really just using it as study space. Questions: If all the students want is study space, do you give them that? Or, do you force them to see the research possibilities? How do you make this space live up to its potential?

In the afternoon, I showed the same spaces to a student in charge of the class, which is on the experience of Pacific Islanders (PI) in educational systems. Like me, he thought that the pods was not a good option. It's hard to have a discussion when you feel like you're intruding on people studying. He did like the study rooms, which I found out had whiteboards as walls. (I'm not sure if I knew that before but just didn't remember or not.) I showed him the small classroom, as well as our conference spaces.

smaller group study room, with screen

Part of my goal with meeting this student was to reach out to the PI student population. As PI Studies (among other subjects) librarian, I technically do collection development, research, and instruction in this area. While it is PIs who are most likely to do research on this topic, not all of them would necessarily want to. However, while I am committed to developing a PI Studies collection (it actually wasn't an area of focus until I made it so), I also want to help the PI community, whether or not they are actually using the materials I purchase or taking PI Studies classes. I want them to know about libraries and what we have to offer. I also want them to know that we can work together to create programs on PIs or that interest them. I think I conveyed that. Let's see if something comes out of it.

Lunch. I was supposed to have a working lunch today, but I decided to have real lunch instead. I had brought lunch for me and a co-worker, which we ate outside in the sun.

Minutiae. Other than the stuff I already mentioned, the other things I did today included: doing a reimbursement form for ALA Midwinter (somehow took longer than the 30 minutes I allotted for it), the Midwinter survey (procrastinating much?), more emails, and some cleaning up/filing.

After. The rest of the day remained sluggish. Got to my vanpool early and to the trainer's early. But everything was just going really slow at the gym--everything I did seemed to give me pain, and I hadn't come in sore from yesterday's workout. I think I may have done something to my shoulder -- a pinched nerve maybe? Left the gym a little bit early, started the rest of my evening ahead of time. I even started this post early. But now, I am behind. Sigh. Better go to sleep.

library day in the life 8.1

Or, I Don't Like Mondays

Today was a long day. This is because today really started over the weekend. And, I am exhausted.

Time Management

This year, one of my goals is to be more organized and to be more efficient with my time. Though I think the main problem is that I just have too much to do, I feel that maybe I could manage my time better. So, I finally bought a smart phone, which I hope will help me in this endeavor. This weekend, I started using the Errands app to put in my to-do list and put due dates and reminders. Well, my weekend was packed! I had a few things I had to do for work, plus household and personal tasks. By Saturday, I was already behind. By Sunday, I had a bunch of unaccomplished tasks, which I had to move to future deadlines. I wasn't slacking this weekend, though I did take an afternoon nap on Saturday and walked both days. The rest of the time, though, I was busy. So, not only did I not get to relax or get enough sleep over the weekend, but I was already tired before the work week even started.

my schedule for the week

As part of this organization goal, I started a time management experiment, where I scheduled everything from the time I wake up to the time I sleep. For accountability and support, I turned in my schedule for the week to my partner in crime on Sunday afternoon. I was afraid that I really wasn't giving myself enough time to do the tasks but, at the same time, I had a lot of things that needed to get done. So, I thought I'd limit the timing, hoping that being more focused on specific tasks would help them get done faster. Turns out things just really take a while to finish.

Things Go Awry (or Aray (Ouch) in Tagalog or Cebuano))

I was off to a good start. I didn't press the snooze button once and wasn't rushing to leave the house. But it went downhill from there. Traffic was somewhat bad for a Monday morning, so we got to campus a tad late. When I got to my office, my computer was locked out. I wasn't sure if IT people were working on it, so I didn't want to reboot it. Some more minutes wasted. Mid-morning, the alarm went off, so we had to evacuate. More time taken off my tight schedule. Fortunately, there were no other surprises.

fire alarm evacuation -- there were a lot of people in the library!

It Just Takes Time

I basically only worked on two things today: my peer review and a research proposal. I have been working on these for a while, but I wasn't quite done.

Peer review: At UCLA, librarians are not quite faculty, not quite staff. We have our own version of tenure and the peer review process. We have to go through peer review every 2-3 years. It is a time-consuming process that includes gathering/creating the following materials:

• statement of responsibilities: sort of a job description, in essay form. If your responsibilities changed during the review period, you'll need more than one.
• data summary: list of everything you've done for the review period--work-related and for professional development
• statement of professional achievements (an essay highlighting your accomplishments), putting together statements of responsibilities (more than one, if your responsibilities changed during the review period
• annual work plans
• goals table for the next review period
• list of referees: needed if you're going for career status (our version of tenure), promotion (to the next rank), or acceleration (going up 2 or more steps within your rank)
• supplemental materials (optional): includes publications, brochures, and anything else that you think would help make your case
  

These materials go to your review initiator (RI), or supervisor, for feedback. The RI has to write a recommendation and an essay to support that recommendation. The unit head, department head, and supervisory associate university librarian (AUL) also have to write their recommendations and assessment. My unit head is the same as my department head so I only need 3 recommendations / assessment.

This is my 2nd time doing this, and it sure isn't any easier. I thought the first time took forever -- I was pretty much working on it for 2 months. But, at that time, I had no supervisor or unit head; my AUL filled all those roles, so we had some leeway time-wise. This time, I started talking with my supervisor in late summer. I began working on my materials in November, knowing that I'll need to turn them in earlier since there are a couple more people involved in the process. I spent a good chunk of my Thanksgiving weekend working on my materials. I was looking forward to being done by early December. When we weren't, I looked forward to being done before the holidays. Still not the case. So, due to circumstances that were not in my control, I was still working on it today, 2 days before the final deadline! And I was working on it over the weekend, too. But now, I've done my part, and it's out of my hands. My consolation is that this tedious process will soon be over. Then, I can forget about it. For a while anyway.

my peer review materials

Research proposal: UCLA is part of the University of California (UC) system, and the UC librarians have an association called the Librarians Association of the UC (LAUC). (Each campus also has a chapter.) LAUC offers its members the opportunity to get funding for research projects related to librarianship or their subject specialties. Last year, I applied for a mini-grant (only up to $500) from LAUC-LA, the UCLA chapter, to begin exploring a potential comparative collections analysis project. Now, I'm applying for a full LAUC research grant. I've been working on the proposal for weeks and turned it in a couple of weeks ago to our local committee. Late last week, the committee came back with suggested changes and today was the deadline for the revised proposal. I was supposed to work on this yesterday, but I just didn't get to it. I did turn the revised documents today but, just before I had to leave for the day, it was suggested that I modify my timeline. So, I had to do it tonight, during the time that was allotted to write my LibDay post. But, again, it's over. Well, almost. I still have to get signatures. And the local committee will review it once more before sending the packet on to the statewide committee. Wish me luck!

There's Always More To Do

Because these two projects took up so much of my time (even with a working lunch), I did not get to do the tasks scheduled for this afternoon. So, tonight, I had to find new days/times in which to do them. I tell ya, I don't think it's me.

This Really Is a Small World

An unexpected thing that happened today--a pleasant unexpected thing, that is--is that I ran into Jim Deutsch, my former colleague at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (SFF). Jim is a curator for SFF, a lecturer at George Washington University, and, like me, has a background in folklore and librarianship. When we had to evacuate due to the fire alarm, I saw Jim standing among the crowds, and I was so shocked to see him there. Turns out he's here to do two days of research (today and tomorrow) at UCLA before he heads back to DC. If he hadn't been for the alarm, we wouldn't have run into each other. Isn't that crazy?

TTFN

The day is finally over. Though I was supposed to go to bed an hour ago, I was at least able to finish this post before midnight. Yay, me! Here's to an easier tomorrow...

world of books

A beautiful, delightful film!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

Description: "Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/ illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a new narrative experience that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. “Morris Lessmore” is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” is one of five animated short films that will be considered for outstanding film achievements of 2011 in the 84th Academy Awards ®."

social justice bibliography

In 2008-2010, I was a member of the 2010 Program Committee of the Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). We were charged with putting on the ANSS program for the 2010 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. In honor of the conference location--Washington, DC), we put on: "Standing Up and Sitting In: Libraries and Social Change."

For the program, I put together a selected bibliography of social justice libraries, archives, collections, and other resources, which include the following categories: general (social change / justice / protest); civil rights / human rights; genocide / holocaust; labor; lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders; social work & welfare; and women. Erin Gratz, ANSS webmaster, has kindly reformatted it to make it more accessible. It is now available as you see it below, as well as downloadable Word document. Thanks, Erin!