A Break in Routine, or How I learned to love the Sparkly Stuff.

We Public Librarians have it good.
We have it good in the sense that we can bust out of our routines, like an impromptu staged dance routine in the style of Glee, at the drop of a hat (a normal un-sequined one). 

Take a typical office worker, with his formal clothes and expensive coiffing.
He spends his time in a cubicle or if he works at company that wants to deny you privacy, he works in an open plan office where everyone can see him trying not to scratch his itchy left butt cheek.

 

Then you have the public librarian.
The public librarian wears sensible shoes, a t-shirt or shirt, if he/she is feeling particularly perky that day, sandals. We’re not squished and chained in blood clotting immobility to a cubicle because we’re quite active. 
We sway. We swish. We move.
Hence the comfortable clothes.

And yes your office worker guy does get his hour lunch and gets to schmooze with his colleagues over filter coffee and get to walk outside in the sun or rain, while we librarians are stuck for the duration inside our buildings. But we can do something that not a lot of people are able to do in their jobs (unless it IS there job.)

We can be creative.

The office worker guy or gal, can also be creative.
He can change his screensaver, think up a witty status update on Facebook or tweet some profound wisdom but he’s still stuck there in that constricted space.

If any librarian needs to be away from the managerially induced paperwork or the hot sticky war that is the front line desk, they simply leave, go to that hallowed sanctum (secretly called “at the back” or “workroom”) away from public eyes and can put glue to paper, and paper to cardboard.
Sometimes there’s glitter involved.

It’s a wonderful thing to break out and experience freedom through creative expression. It makes you feel like a child.
Many a time I’ve witnessed a colleagues lose themselves in the simple act of coloring in, or painting.  Even though the finished product might not look as impressive as the effort that went into the making of the poster, display, diorama or a 1 tenth replica of Hogwarts, it is nevertheless the heart and soul of a librarian on full display.
So.
Mr Office worker, have your 9 to 5 and I’ll take my 8 to 7 with my pencils, papers, paints and glue……and glitter.

Librarian Apocalypse Averted! -- for now

It seems that yonder Universities in yonder province with the flat mountain top will be in fact still be producing new librarians, for now. The Powers That Be current elected Representative (El Presidente!) steering the good ship 'South African Librarian Professional Association' has actually said that there was discussions with actual words and people. 

Look: 

"It is my pleasure to confirm that the University of  'University near Flat Mountain' has approved the continuation of the Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies from 2012 onwards.    Master’s and Doctoral Degrees will also be offered in 2012 and beyond.

'The Professional Association' communicated with the Vice-Chancellor of  ' University near Flat top Mountain' Dr 'Very Important Dude' in January 2011, expressing our dismay and concern at the announced closure of the Library Department.   We were subsequently invited to meet with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor,  Prof 'Slightly Less Important Dude that has realised too late, that stuff rolls down hill'  on 19 October to discuss the possible continuation of the PGDipLIS.     
Following a very fruitful meeting and discussion,  I received an official letter this week from Prof 'Slightly Less Important Dude that has realized that stuff rolls down hill' confirming the continuation of the LIS courses at 'University near Flat Top Mountain.' "

There are some thoughts though:
Dr. 'Very Important Dude' expressed dismay at round about January 2011, whereupon it took 9 months to get a reaction.Yeesh!

Universities, like most business have bottom lines, and even though you'll probably hear some "we put education first" rhetoric, if a department isn't getting the rands and cents that necessitates its existence, then the university will probably take action of a cutting nature. 
Which begs the question: Will the University make its Post grad qualification attractive to prospective students by offering it with a part time option? Especially since Public Librarians (who really do need this degree) have been hampered by the Local Authority in terms of how much study time they can have.

Let all agree that this is a minor reprieve for the University, the message from the University is that they will continue providing the qualification but with no give or take with regards to accommodating students. Which,as I recall, was the reason the Library Department was shut down in the first place. 

"...doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Definition of Insanity by A. Einstein.

...the last word: The Professional Association

So the attendees of the conference from my neck of the woods experienced what can only be called conference deja vu and found the conference, as last year:
over catered, over boozed and over the top with academic rhetoric.
Although the hard cold lump that was my librarian heart, was warmed and brought to a flutter when the three public librarians in attendance presented their papers, about things that mattered to PUBLIC LIBRARIANS.  Hell, so far, has not frozen over.
My colleagues are a proverbial tip of the sheer talented iceberg that lay in wait for the the next annual conference, I just hope there is a professional association still around by that time.

Looking Forward-eish Part 2 : Who's your 'Daddy'?

So it’s almost that time of the year when the South African Librarians Professional Body meets for its Annual Conference.   Since I’m sure I’m not going to attend, I thought I would excavate and resurrect some issues that had me chomping at the bit at last year’s conference.

To prevent from being a victim of the Managerial Finger Twinge (see previous post for world ending specifics) I will not refer to the specific Local Authorities by their copyrighted trade names but will use the friendly and generally accepted names like Cape, Jo’burg, P.E. and Harold. I will also refer to the specific Universities in these provinces by even friendlier names like That-Steppy-One-Near-The-Mountain-in-the-Cape, or the One-That-Has-Lots-of-White-Waters near it, in Gauteng.

Sadly Harold only has UNISA.

I will endeavor to call public librarians, by their names: Public Librarians, and academic librarians by there’s, which as a matter of interest isn’t P.E.S.T.S but rather Academic Librarians. And any indications that I think Public Librarians are better than Academic Librarians is completely a figment of some of our overpaid imaginations.

So.

Too the issues Library Boy!

The Thin Line between Sponsor and Graft

Organizations like our professional association thrive on sponsorship. The membership fees, which are in a price range of their own (read: high and a post for another time), could buy 1 glorious meal at the One and Only Restaurants for two,  31.25 loaves of bread and 750 Chappie bubblegum, but barely manages to keep the national office from closing each year.  If it wasn't for monies from sponsors and the National Government events like the annual conference could not happen.

But there is a catch that comes with these sizable donations.

I can only speculate what the National Government might ask for in return but corporate sponsors want a show of good faith for their investments.

Usually this good faith has happened already, ie business continues with the recipients of the cash. Where things get fishy is when its the same bunch of sponsors every single year that start doling out the cash. Then the dynamic changes into something of  a twisted relationship dynamic worthy of Doctor Phil.

To whit:

Sponsors (Vendors/Companies/Service Providers/Daddy)  give money to clients(the Customer), and clients feel obligated to put up with the Sponsors deficiencies when rendering their services.

It becomes even more toxic when you're choosing vendors based on the likelihood that they might be better corporate sponsors than a vendor you are currently using.

(It's all just so twisted.)

Then you have a massive events like the upcoming National Conference, which requires a ton of funding, giving the sponsor an in. The Corporate sugar daddy basically gets prime space on the display floor in absence of any competition, show-casing the goods and services that is relevant to its client.
All good and well, except when your client is just a small demographic of a much larger population.
And since, the client needs to keep Daddy happy, Daddy's products and services get pushed to the wider population, who in fact, can't really afford it or the simply don't need it.
Translation:
Yes this is about Academic Libraries shoving Academic Library vendors down the throats of  Public Library attendees, by booking them as speakers, showcasing products and generally not giving a crap about who or what Public Libraries want to see at the National Conference.

Again, its all so tawdry and.....twisted. (Where are you Doctor Phil?)

You could say that the Professional Association needs a more coherent plan for requesting funding, other than asking Daddy for pocket money for sweets all the time. Daddy's wallet is not always going to stay flush with money.

Of course by requesting funding, comes the implication that you can pitch what your Organization can do, or highlight its successes, why it should exist, the happy neighbourhood kids sitting at your free internet access, enjoying your new books and friendly well trained staff (See, Ms Tise. We be having it.) etc.

Despite the impending library extinction on the horizon (see previous post), we can safely show that libraries are an integral part of communities. Sorry, I meant to say Public Libraries can show that they are integral parts of a community's social fabric. 

What do Academic Libraries do again?
Sweety time? And enduring Daddy's ministrations for it?

A lack of a clear funding strategy and a clear marketing tool (an equivalent of Swiss Army knife of marketing) that can be used as a foot in the proverbial door of Corporate Sponsors other than the usual bunch of Daddy's, is an issue that will not be  discussed at the National Conference.
Why?
Because, in this case and according to some librarians, its just easy to take candy from strangers than to ask where its coming from and how much of it is still left. Or even why you should be taking it in the first place!

Looking Forward-eish

So it’s almost that time of the year when the South African Librarians Professional Body meets for its Annual Conference.   Since I’m pretty sure I’m not going, I thought I would excavate and resurrect some issues that had me chomping at the bit at last year’s conference.

To prevent from being a victim of the Managerial Finger Twinge (see previous post for world ending specifics) I will not refer to the specific Local Authorities by their copyrighted trade names but will use the friendly and generally accepted names like Cape, Jo’burg, P.E. and Harold. I will also refer to the specific Universities in these provinces by even friendlier names like That-Steppy-One-Near-The-Mountain-in-the-Cape, or the One-That-Has-Lots-of-White-Waters near it, in Gauteng.
Sadly Harold only has UNISA.

I will endeavor to call public librarians, by their names: Public Librarians, and academic librarians by there’s, which as a matter of interest isn’t P.E.S.T.S but rather Academic Librarians. And any indications that I think Public Librarians are better than Academic Librarians is completely a figment of some of our overpaid imaginations.

So. 

Too the issues Library Boy!

Euthanising the Profession (or how University Library Departments and Faculties are killing Librarianship and how you can’t really help because it might be too late.)

So at last year’s Conference, the ‘Steppy’ University from the Cape made a motion (by waving their hand in the air quite vigorously thereafter followed by talking) and asked if the Library Association (that represents all librarians)  could send a strongly worded communication to the Steppy University’s Management, to (pretty) please "not close the Library school", which had been around for a very long time. (Put it too you this way, it’s been around so long, it has a Dewey System stamped out on stone tablets.)

The reasonable reasoning behind this was that closing the school would mean one less library school to train librarians, and also it would give the other Universities the brass balls to do the same to their library schools, which would ultimately lead to undergraduate students seeing a lot of brass balls lying around the campus but also have the University Library staffed with trained monkeys and ring tailed marmosets (which actually love the taste of  books), OR devoid of humanity altogether in favor of a talking vending machines that dispense Kindles and Nooks.
The close-to-home reason, is simply that my colleagues and I wouldn't be able to get ourselves trained properly and that would put us at the tender, overpriced mercies of UNISA in Harold.

So the motion flew to the floor, and then got crushed beneath the heel of a University that has lots of beaches. Let’s call them: the Beachy University.
The Beachy University felt that the Librarian Association would be overstepping its mandate.

What What WHAT!, you say. A Library Association representing all Librarians everywhere (In South Africa) not saying anything while a mechanism that creates said librarians is stopped, dismantled and sold for scrap, is staying within their mandate by NOT SAYING ANYTHING!

 

That's like the ANC circa 1950-something, saying that this Apartheid thing is really none of our business because this is a policy decision that those Pale People made, and nothing will really come of it, we'll just ignore it because its not really in the mandate slash bylaws. Sorry.

So cue, this year and I honestly don’t believe that anyone will say anything.
At all.Despite UNISA changing their Library Degree Post Graduate qualification again! 

That other Flattish University in the Cape is phasing out their Library Science departments and changing the qualifications. 
 

Who knows what will happen next year or the year after that.

So how is the Association going to survive when 2015 comes round and there is no such thing as a qualified Librarian anymore? 

How can the Association justify its existence then? 

Hell how does the Universities justify the existence of these Academic Library Management types now that they’ve rid themselves of the Library school?

And horror of horrors, at what point does the Local Authority feel its okay to take a handyman from a Depot and stick him behind a Library Desk, because it would be cheaper?

Public Library management will have to make concessions employment requirements if there is no way to get qualified in South Africa. If it ever gets that bad that the Local Authority has to accept a 1 year coursed librarian with an "accredited" certificate of completion (as oppose to the piece of paper you get in a ceremony where you have to wear a robe and special hat), and the Library Association is found, shall we say lacking, in its response, how long before we could see a PUBLIC Library Professional Association taking up the new mandate?

Now wouldn't that be something. 

See you at the conference in 2015. Maybe

City Island Library Offers Produce From Its Garden - NYTimes.com

You would think that no one's ever tried to do this in any of the Public Libraries in the Cape Town area. Considering our soil and climate it could be quite an interesting little project.
Along with shelving in the morning, included would be pruning, or picking and their would always be something for Tea.
It would definitely make weeding more interesting.

 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/at-this-library-check-out-the-tomatoes

The Dirty Little Secret

Librarians have a dirty secret.*

(*Point of Clarification: The ones that work the desks of Public Libraries in South Africa.)

It’s not a spectacularly game changing secret.

As far as I know, no librarian has been to outer space, been impregnated by something otherworldly, partied socially or romantically with the undead or tapped into the dark forces that lurk in ancient tomes.

So far. 

In the grand scheme of things this little secret only means something to the people who use Public Libraries in South Africa.

The secret is quite simply:

Librarians, don't read.

There I said it.

Lightning Bolts, come now....

…

…

…

Ok then.  

Now for the long winded explanation that will hopefully offer some mitigation
(the funny and insightful part is implied):

Librarians in South Africa are strictly delineated between Public and Academic.

(Private Librarians don't count, because they’re called something else:  
Moderately Wealthy)

For an Academic Librarian to stay on the top of his or her pile of Undergraduate skulls, a certain level of familiarity with stock has to be maintained. It’s part of their performance development thingies that ensures they perform their due diligence (so they can spend that bonus on the REALLY expensive bottle of red wine at the end of the year.)

Public Librarians, have no such incentive (money or otherwise). We don’t get paid extra if we list all the books Danielle Steel wrote in alphabetical order. (Based on that feat alone, we should.)

But this is not a bad thing, because what it means is that any Public Librarian that knows his/her stock, and is familiar with the thousands and thousands of new books published on a monthly basis (unlike the 5 or 6 titles your Academic Librarian has to peruse a month, and did I mention they have a department that reads things for them!) you can bet your coffee AND MUFFIN money that what you have is a public librarian worth their weight in encyclopedia’s.

Then you have those Librarians who don't read*.

(*Another point of clarification: When I say don’t read, I mean that they consider an article in a newspaper enough substantive reading material for the week.)

But how does reading lead to being a good (better) Public Librarian?

Well let us assume that one method of information gathering is done by reading (unless there is a radical evolutionary change in our biology in the next couple of minutes it takes to read this post). So when we read, we internalize the information gathering with our eyes and processing with our brains,  and it gets added to our knowledge base from which we draw our opinions and answers to questions like: “Who writes like David Icke?”

A good librarian who gathers information (by reading) will know the answer to this question, and will (because they know who or what David Icke is) will immediately deny his existence and/or give a great and bountiful explanation why David Icke is a great big tool.

If you’re a great librarian, you will perform an intervention (or exorcism) on the patron and steer them towards more wholesome fare like James Patterson, or Nora Roberts.

So until the invention of the scratch and sniff encyclopedia, that is what reading can do for a  Public Librarian.

All good and well you might say (if you're a librarian reading this and not someone who isn't a librarian, in that case: ignore this sentence), we just about understand that whimsical thing called "customer satisfaction",  but we’ve never had to do things like this in our library before, so why make a make a mole hill out of a dung beetle dropping.

Well, Public Librarians in South Africa have had a great impact in shaping the very fabric of  Lives, both past and present.

The Past:

Grassy Park  and Kensington Public Libraries were regularly involved in Apartheid Activities. Ironically, Grassy Park library had a police station next to it.

Kensington Library had discussion groups for youth who were disillusioned with the status quo at the time.

Albie Sachs credits his spiritual and mental survival to lowly librarian that fulfilled his bibliographic needs.

The Present:

Currently there are a number of libraries in Cape Town that operate in gangland areas.

That, in the face of headlines about Cape Towns' rampant drug use and gang violence, is remarkable.

Library staff offer and manage free Internet services to their communities.

Libraries offer reading programs, spaces for people to study, and an information service that is students and school childrens academic salvation.

Not reading because its too hard or tiring or because we think its not necessary is not the best tradition of a Public Librarian in South Africa, considering what librarians have and still accomplish every day in libraries all over Cape Town.

The best tradition of a public librarian in South Africa, is that we inspire without seeking recognition, we build with nothing but dreams and drive and we always, ALWAYS serve the public as best as we can. 

(Whilst not upsetting  the local authority or certain MANAGEMENT types who can vaporize your career with a finger twinge.)

So why is reading a couple of books so hard for a Public Librarian in South Africa?

Well it could come down to time management, kid management, husband or wife management, I have a second job management, the paper work keeps piling up on me management or my favourite: my brain dribbled out of my ear management, i.e LIFE.

Things get in the way but sometimes we can make a way for ourselves with the right incentive.

Which brings us too: 

Management, El Hefe, the Boss,  the Keeper of all the Keys or commonly known as the Librarian in Charge.

Slight Digression about Librarians in Charge of Public Librarians in South Africa:

Librarians In Charge of a library in South African have to manage a  quagmire of opposing forces that include their staff, the public, local authority representatives both institutional or political, library management, the local gangsters, and local eccentrics while juggling all the administrative balls that are a part of these interactions and still manage to open on time with toilets that have toilet paper.

Librarians In charge take on these herculean feats everyday, and manage to not break down.

So then how hard is it then to convince the staff to read books when you have been running programs and story times and keeping your library afloat in a sea of society's not so nice tendencies?

Pretty hard actually, but not impossible, and we’ve established that Librarians in charge  have the drive and passion to do the impossible (except fly - that’s hard).

The right incentive here is to make it part of the job function of being a librarian.
There's is no easy-quick, miracle cure for this malady.
The sick and twisted demented logic here (and this is the logic that is going to get me tied down to a wrack made from the old book shelves) is:
If reading is part of the Job function, then there is no excuse that will work for not doing it.
And considering what we do in libraries every day, this shouldn't be an issue. Those who are reading won't be affected because they've incorporated it into their working life already, and those who aren't reading will now have to feel the effects of the Managerial Finger Twinge (See above.)

The Bottom Line: 

Librarians in a Public Library in South Africa have to heed their public and be aware that their relevance in the community they serve depends on how they interact with that community. So rattling of 5 alternate authors to Danielle Steel is damn impressive to me, just think what it would look like to your public.

A Heavy Burden

Some days in the library are just bad for all the right reasons, if that is possible.

A borrower needing books about how to cope with the loss of her grand kids being  taken away from her and she wants a specific book (following a visit to a neurologist) on how to deal with a dis-associative state that affects her to the extent that she got into a car in Cape Town and couldn't remember the journey or getting out at her destination.

She just blanks out and goes away.

And now now she wanted a book from the library to fix that.

*phew*

There have been about 7 incidents in my life where I have been fully aware that what  book or item I give to someone is going to have a profound impact that would ripple in every aspect of their lives and the people they touch.

Its hellaciously daunting because all you have is your native librarian skills which include looking up titles and recommending vampire books.

The reference interview kind of insulates against becoming too emotional so that you sift through to what the person really needs instead of getting bogged down in the emotionality of the situation/event, but its got nothing against a full-on, in your face, cry for help.

It strips you bare and you try harder-er, and you hope and pray (really hard) that the books that you know will help, are in and you stop feeling like you're responsible for this persons life.

I offered her the books, and we discussed the various aspects of the affliction that she ended up with something to deal with the psychological aspects and also the physical.

She left and I wandered around in a fog of contemplation. (Which looks exactly like a fog of introspection, its just got sparkles around the edges.)

Hope (and the previously mentioned fog) keeps pushing me to wonder if the book  I gave her has helped but what is also fermenting in the recesses of my librarian brain is that,  I am grateful that she came to me and didn't go to another library.

I also hope that if she did go somewhere else, that librarian would be thinking the exact same thing.

Like I said: *phew*

The top five political comic books,according to CNN.com

There a perhaps a few really good Non Fiction Graphic Novels, and CNN more or less synchs up with my own personal choices.
Maus,  I think, will stay at the top of most lists for the forseeable future.  The shear emotional weight of it, from the first to last page just wrenches you dry.

You'll cry so hard, you won't cry anymore.
 

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/19/graphic.novels/index.html

 

 

The Vampire Elephant in the Room

So I did a Teen Vamp display last year (See Pics somewhere in this blog) and it caused some friction between my boss and I. I thought having some covers of books copied, liberally decorated with glitter and some punchy/sarcastic blurbs would be cool and attract our fickle teen audience, and she thought that my overuse of the red paint was evil incarnate.

Yes I might be exaggerating for dramatic effect but the general spirit of the gripe is accurate. More or less.

I've had reactions to my displays before.
Most leaned towards laughing at disdain at my unprofessional glitter applying abilities but the subject matter and the intent/motives of my display was never called to scrutiny.
If it got people reserving a book or discussing it with us librarians, then job done.

No, I had run afoul of the two words that tends to send most people into a bit of deep soul search when uttered unto them. Hell, it even killed Van Gogh.

Personal Impression.

My bosses' personal impression was that it was in a word, Inappropriate and a bit 'Too Much'.
 And so began a conversation which ended with a rather lasting silence.

She though it was, Inappropriately too much.
And I thought she letting her personal views (cough*christian*cough) cloud her professional judgment.


We agreed to disagree and a compromise was reached. I will expand on that much later.

I understand the need for living your personal life by certain principals but I consider literacy and promoting reading a fairly good set of principles to live your life by too.
And if what you are doing (like vamp display) and what you've done before (giant underpants in the library), not only fulfill those principles and your job function at the same time, then what's the rub?
(Forgive me, if I spell principles wrong, its a hole in my skill set. )

At the end of the day, librarians serve the communities needs.
That is the credo we function under in our libraries. (That and don't ask for more staff or money. Defenestration by specially trained library assassins might be in your future.)
And the compromise we struck was that I would take the display down if it offended anyone.
To date, nobody has threatened to throw me out a multi-storey building and I actually got quite a lot of compliments....from mom's who thought that it would be perfect for luring their daughters/sons to books.
Any book as it turned out.
Which, I do believe, makes the Vampire Elephant in the Room, pretty much moot.
Done and dusted.

The Title posters were stained with Tea, to give it an aged look
and the text is a font on MS Word.
And I ran the edges of the  "&"  page under a candle.

And that Red paint under the word Blood, too much?

The blurbs in the word bubbles: I tried to come up with sort of sarcastic tongue in cheek stuff.
People like funny,don't they.

This one gave me some trouble but it makes sense. Kinda

The Blue Bloods series is marketed as Gossip Girl meets Vampire Diaries.
Well if a Vampire ever met Gossip Girl...insert logical conclusion here.

I did sort of a none traditional layout. If its skew and stuff, then its non traditional.
Hey. skew is the new straight and don't let anyone tell you different.

Used BFF. Heh. Speaking the lingo, makes me soo hip and trendy.

And back to the angsty!