NitaKeepUp

For the life of me I can not remember how I found this website.  I use it a lot, for myself and for patron questions at the library.  It is called Fantastic Fiction.  Go check it out.  You can search by author or title, and includes usually a little bio of the author, a list of forth coming publications, and a list of all their works.  My favorite part is that the series are separted and listed in order.  I don’t know how many times I have been asked what the next book in a series is.  This website is great for that question.

I have to admit it is a pretty ugly site.  Don’t let that scare you away, though.

I am almost a month complete at my new job.  I really like it here.  My co-workers are great and I am learning a lot.  The patrons have been pretty great too.  With any public job there has been a couple upset or mean people.  And of course annoying or at least trying to be annoying. 
The teenagers must be getting bored around here.  I had one come up to the desk last week while his two buddies were hiding in the non-fiction shelves.  He asked, very very loudly, if we had the book titled “Penis”.  Just about every head in the adult section turned to watch.  I stared him down for a moment and asked if he knew who the author was.  The teenager thought about it for a few seconds and said, “Martin Gay”.  I asked him if he was sure that was the author’s name.  “It’s a real book, I swear!” he said.  While I typed the author’s name in the catalog he stood there trying very hard not to start laughing, his lips slipping into a smile a few times.
“Well,” I told him ”there does happen to be an author out there named Martin Gay.  But he wrote books on the different wars, not on the title you asked.” 
I don’t know if he expected me to freak out or chew him out, and the fact that Martin Gay actually existed threw him off, because all he did was clear his throat, say thank you and walk back to his friends.  I think I was a disappointment to him and his friends.  They left pretty quickly after that.

What I had really started this blog post for was to talk about SAM.  SAM is the software the library uses to manage the internet computers.  At my last job, they used PC Reservation, which I like so much more than SAM.  PC Reservation does all of the same things as SAM, but it is so much simpler to use.  I think the most annoying thing about SAM is the pin.  Patrons have to make up a pin and use it each time they log on.  They are always forgetting what it is.  And sometimes SAM doesn’t accept a pin even though it is the patrons first time using it.  I have to go in and delete the pin that is not even there, and then it works.  It is just plain annoying.      

I have seen this on a few other blogs and thought it fun and interesting.  Wordle is a place where you can enter a bunch of text from really anywhere and it will make a word cloud for you.  It is fun to see how many times you use certain words, I think.  Here is my cloud with all the text from my blog:

It looks like I use the word library the most.

I am just about finished with my second week in my new library as a Reference Librarian.  What kind of reference questions have I gotten so far?

How can I buy this cd I found online at this website?  Can you buy it over the computer there at the library for me?
I had to decline on doing the purchasing for him.

What is the current stock price for Google? Did it go up or down?
Yah! for my Business Reference class!

Can you order this cd and this cd and this cd and this cd and this cd?
This town has some very music-orientated patrons, and they order the most obscure music out there.

How do I get to ______________? 
Two of these questions were for two different summer fairs in two different states.

Do you have a directory of consulting firms? 
She wanted a physical book, and not use Reference USA like I suggested. We didn’t have one, but Elmhurst Public Library did. 

What is my pin to get onto the internet?
For this I have to go into SAM and delete the password they can’t remember so they can make up a new one.  I do this about 10 times a day, I swear.

But really this is an awesome place to work so far.  I haven’t gotten yelled at yet.

I was not popular in high school.  I was (and am) much too quiet and awkward.  I wore glasses and had frizzy hair.  I was in band and loved to read fantasy books.  But when I think back to high school I do not linger on those moments of teasing and ignoring.   I was not completely alone; I had three great friends, and we had way too much fun together.  I remember detours and dance parties, Taco Johns and itch vs scratch debates.  I remember Holly’s trampoline and the hours and hours of driving around.

My ten year high school reunion is coming up this summer.  In those 10 years I have met some great people, but I still consider my three high school friends dearest in my heart.  I love you Maura, Julia, and Holly!

Did you know Plymouth was not the first English colony in New England?  Me neither.  Apparently it was Fort St. George in Maine.  I just started reading A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz.  Horwitz mentions the fact that 128 years passes between when Columbus “discovered” America and the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and yet he knows nothing about those years and the years before Columbus.  I thought back to my young school days, and I remember learning about Columbus and the Pilgrims, but nothing really before Columbus or in between the two historical events.  That just seems very wrong to me.

Two interesting facts I have read in this book so far:

The Pilgrims were not the first English to settle Massachusetts.  It was some English settlers who built a fort on the island of Cuttyhunk.  What is even more interesting is the fact that they came to gather sassafras to sell back to Europe, and not to find religious freedom.

Second, half of the what was to become the United States was explored by other Europeans before the English settled at Plymouth.  I had no idea!

I love Battlestar Galactica!  Love, Love, Love!  Some people think the show has gone down hill since they escaped New Caprica, but I have really enjoyed every season. 

Last cylon predictions – I think it will be either Gaeta or Dee.  I am leaning more towards Gaeta.  The last four discovered they were cylons through music, and in this last episode Gaeta is singing throughout while mourning his lost leg.  Connection?  I hope so.

Go watch the first 3 seasons if you haven’t.  Even if you do not normally watch sci-fi.  You will thank me later.