with my hand held out

I've been remiss in not posting this earlier, but life has been a bit busy recently. Our volunteer group, along with UCLA's Graduate Student Association, are doing a book drive for juvenile detention facility where I volunteer and if any of my devoted fans would like to donate a book or two, the kids and I would be ever so grateful. Tonight we had a taker on the Malcolm X autobiography, a Stephen King, a Walter Mosley and oh so many more. One kid booktalked this book, which I was a little surprised about. We often have a difficult time getting kids to read fiction that purports to tell a story about a kid with a hard life, but our reader enjoyed this one. I noticed that the Amazon review thinks that the book's hard luck story is implausible, but our reader mentioned no such thing--sadly, it probably seems completely plausible to him. Anyway, here is the little book drive spiel--sorry that it is kind of long. Thank you in advance!

BEYOND 4 WALLS BOOK DRIVE

Greetings, UCLA Community,

Reading changes lives. We ask you to partner with us to impact and improve
the lives of incarcerated children and teenagers, by purchasing books for
the BEYOND 4 WALLS BOOK DRIVE.

The Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Detention Facility in Sylmar houses 600+
children and teens. The members of the Nidorf Collective, a group of
students from the UCLA Information Studies graduate program, have been
volunteering at the facility for the past year, bringing books to this
underserved population. The Beyond 4 Walls Book Drive, sponsored by the
GSA Community Service Commission, will further the work to give the gift
of reading to these kids.

How can you contribute? Here are several ways:

1) The best and simplest way is to use this link to select books for the
kids from the “Beyond 4 Walls Wish List” on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/3GB06L568M0Y3

The books on this list have been requested by the teens at Nidorf and/or
recommended by the library students in the UCLA MLIS program, who have
seen what a difference books and reading make to this population. After
you use the link, please forward this email to others who might also like
to make a fundamental difference in this ongoing literacy program. The
email campaign will run from Friday, May 18th to Friday, June 8th. (Please
note and make use of all the tools Amazon gives you to view the books by
highest priority, by price, in detail, or in summary.)

2) Bring new or used books to our BOOK DRIVE PARTY on Wednesday, June 6th
from 5-9 p.m. at Kerckhoff Art Gallery (Kerckhoff 214). We will serve
food, beer and wine, and celebrate the success of the Beyond 4 Walls Book
Drive. (Paperbacks are preferred.)

3) Finally, if you cannot attend the event but want to make a book
donation, please deliver your new or used books to the GSA office in
Kerckhoff 316.

The GSA Community Service Commission, the members of the Nidorf
Collective, and the kids at Nidorf thank you for giving your time and
energy to community service. Your donation makes a big difference.


========================================
The Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Detention Facility in Sylmar (north San
Fernando Valley) houses children and teens ages 12 to 17, who are awaiting
adjudication. About 70 percent of the kids rotate in and out quickly
(within 28 days)—either sent home or placed in other facilities—but the
rest are at Nidorf long-term, a more stationary population of about 200
minors who may remain at the facility for up to several years.

The only library at Nidorf is in the on-premises LACOE school. The library
is only accessible to the kids during school hours, and then only if their
teachers bring them in for a class visit. They are not allowed to check
the books out and take them back to their rooms, with the result that they
have nothing to read during the hours they need it the most.

For that reason, the UCLA students of the Nidorf Collective have made it
their priority to collect books from wherever they can—mostly libraries
and schools who donate their discards—and deliver boxes of books to the
living units. Additionally, they have started five bi-weekly book
groups—one each in the Boys’ and Girls’ Special Handling Units (SHUs), two
in the lockdown units, and one in the girls’ school—for which they
constantly need more books, since they take books in, book-talk them and
give them away, also taking requests from the kids for specific titles and
then trying to track those down and acquire them cheap or free.

One restriction is that only paperback books are allowed in the living
units. Hardcover books can go into the school library for more limited use
there. The Nidorf Collective’s hope is to eventually provide a stocked
rolling book cart to each of the 15 living units, and a part- or full-time
librarian to visit all the units and also continue the book groups. But
for now, book drives such as Beyond 4 Walls are their best hope of
bringing books to eager readers in this marginalized population. We hope
you will help.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/3GB06L568M0Y3
======================================

of course i have to post this

Even though I don't think it's the best librarian joke out there.


toothpastefordinner.com

sometimes i don't think about libraries and books

Here is a list of fifteen million jobs you can get with an MLIS, just in case you thought all we did was shush people in the public library (in which case I probably couldn't be your friend).

Today was the LA Times Festival of Books, which takes place at UCLA. It is a gigantic event with a ton of author panels, events on stage (sadly, I missed Julie Andrews), and a huge number of exhibit booths. I went to an author panel on young adult literature where I saw some of the big names and got a book signed (An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. When I went to get it signed he said he always feels nervous signing for Katherines, because apparently they don't come across very well in the book. I told him I hadn't read it yet, which is why I wasn't grumpy at that moment. He chuckled.) (Sidenote: John Green is very cute, writes award-winning YA lit, is only 27, used to be on NPR, is funny. Is also married--all my librarian peeps and I were understandably disappointed). I checked out a bunch of exhibitor booths, got a free copy of The Nation and an LA youth-written newspaper, bought a book about woman fighters in the Mexican Revolution and saw the dad from Providence. And I'm going back tomorrow to see Nancy Pearl, famous librarian (who has an action figure and everything) and maybe another panel on "Writing for Teens and Tweens." Fun fun!

don't make me laugh

Normally I refrain from commenting on censorship attempts in libraries. They happen somewhat regularly and I try not to get my panties in a twist because I basically just stick to a fairly strict pro-intellectual freedom stance. This little story caught my eye, however, because of its purely humorous nature. And I quote:

"Two teens, 14- and 16-year-old Kyle Adams and Ryan Adams, went to the Bentonville PL, AR, in February so the younger brother could look up material on military academies. However, they wound up looking at The Whole Lesbian Sex Book, by Felice Newman, a book their father said left his sons "greatly disturbed… and this matter has caused many sleepless nights in our house." Earl Adams, according to The Morning News, has asked the city to pay $10,000 in damages per child, which is the maximum under the state obscenity law."

From Library Journal.

P.S. I wonder how they just accidentally found that book while searching for military academies. It was probably misshelved, right? And don't get me started on the sleepless nights.

juvey update

One of my fellow volunteers wrote a "This I Believe" essay about our volunteer experience. For the non-NPR listeners (do I know any non-NPR listeners?), people write essays about what they believe (not necessarily religious) and then some people are selected to be recorded reading their essays. They play them during Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Anyway, hers wasn't picked to be recorded, but it's on the website. It gives you a little peek into what we do, plus if enough people read it, it will apparently be placed in the "top 25" essays on the site.

I'm a little late with this, but hey, I've been busy this past week.

I've never actually read any of Kurt Vonnegut's books, but this is enough to make me love him:

"And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."

It's from here.

a few updates

1. Seems as if those years of French finally paid off. I applied for a job at the reference desk at the UCLA library where I work, had my little interview, etc. Then someone else in the same department saw my application and decided that I should apply for his open position in collection development in support of African Studies. I thought it was all sewn up when I went to my interview, since he was the one who approached me, and then he finished the interview by telling me about the four other people he was interviewing. But happy ending, I did in fact get the job, which I think mostly consists of checking databases to see what titles we already have. So anyway, African Studies is about the only area in which my French skills come in handy.

2. I have been having an issue getting into a section of a required class. The other section, which was open, conflicted with an elective class that I really wanted/needed to take (Young Adult Literature). I held out on the waitlist for a long time and then talked to the professor about my reasons for wanting to take both of the courses. Lo and behold, she took pity on me and raised the enrollment of the class so I got in! I was trying to be all calm about not getting into the class, but I am very relieved. Moral of that story is that it never hurts to ask!

3. In case you hadn't heard, Hillary went to Wellesley.

isn't that sweet

From an article about a Vancouver, WA real estate developer who recently passed away (Royce Pollard is the mayor of Vancouver): "Pollard said he got to know Al Angelo Sr. about five years ago, when he (Pollard) joined a group of longtime Vancouver businessmen who meet on Wednesdays, calling themselves 'The Good Old Boys.' Angelo was a key member, known among the group as 'the Mayor,' Pollard said."

Um, what year is this? Oh yes, 2007. And how many people live in Vancouver? Over 150,000. And where is it located? Right across from Portland. So why is it still run by a bunch of good old boys?

This is one of the reasons I don't care that much about Vancouver. That and the fact that I used to spend most of my waking hours in Portland.

thanks for the reminder, really

as if i didn't already worry about practically everything
Originally uploaded by kitty.pants.

It did occur to me, just before I moved down here, that I was entering "major quake" territory. After some wide eyed terror, I decided not to think about the fact that I could be buried under a pile of rubble at any moment. Once I moved here, I decided not to be a complete idiot and followed Lauren's suggestions to create an earthquake kit. I have extra water at home and in the car, and some extra food in both places too. I should do more, but whatever. Also, I didn't hang anything above my bed. Every time I have to do one of these earthquake things, I kind of have a heart attack. I mean, we had earthquake drills at OES and I remember a few earthquakes occurring at home (one this past summer at 1 in the morning). We have them every once in a while, but it's not like we have an official earthquake month (April in CA, now you know). This is just all to say that when I received this in the mail from UCLA today, I was not very happy.

yes, we know you had to go to school in 8 feet of snow

Some of you (Katie, in particular) probably recall my Dar Williams phase. This was back in the day when we could see a lot of other people's iTunes on the Wellesley network, so I didn't even have to actually own any Dar music to listen to it. And believe me, plenty of other Wellesley students had Dar on their iTunes. I liked Dar so much that one of only two concerts I ever paid to attend while in college was hers (the other, revealing the extend of my hippiness, was Girlyman, who opened for DW at her concert and who describe themselves as "delicious acoustic harmony-driven gender pop").

Anyway, I just rediscovered some of my Dar music on iTunes and was particularly amused to remember the song "Southern California Wants To Be Western New York." If there is anything I do not want to be, it is anywhere that could remotely be considered upstate New York. This is primarily because most people that I have met from upstate New York are annoying about it. Lauren has a theory that it is due to an inferiority complex about not being from NYC. Really, they constantly bring up the fact that they are from upstate New York, in upstate New York this is how they do xyz, you think this weather is bad, it's so much worse in upstate New York, blah blah. You think I am exaggerating, but I really am not. It just gets a little old after a while.

Next up: making vast generalizations about people from other Mid-Atlantic states! You'd better watch out Pennsylvania.

from the new yorker

"The in-house counsel was a Wellesley graduate, she wasn't Jewish, she wasn't from New York and Harley figured that if she saw him in his natural environment he would be, he said to his partner, in just a shit pile of trouble."

This article by Larissa MacFarquahar is not online, but it is an interesting profile of a lawyer who goes after counterfeiters. Hey, you can always go read it at the library!

better watch your back

When you're at the plant nursery, that is. Today Lauren and I took a study break to a nearby nursery because we wanted to buy some house plants. While making our purchases we witnessed a large and loud argument ensue when one woman thought another woman had cut her in line. The offended party loudly accused her of said crime, and the other woman denied that she had done so, leading to some yelling on both sides. The accused cutter asked the offended line stander if she wanted to go in front of her, but she refused, saying that she just wanted the cutter to KNOW that she was being a jerk. After some more back and forth, the offended party yelled out, "Actually, I WILL go in front of you!!!!!!" and proceeded to push her plant cart up to the poor cashier.

Only in L.A.

March 1 was a good day

First of all, it was the 20th birthday of my baby sister, so happy birthday to her! Secondly, Katie became the Nelson-Atkins Museum's newest employee! Yay Katie! Thirdly? Um, Lauren and I watched a depressing movie. Ryan Gosling was a pretty cute teacher in Half Nelson. If only he hadn't had that little coke addiction he would have been perfect. Obviously he has never watched Maria Full of Grace and seen how non-fair trade the cocaine industry is. Geez, Ryan.

in which i realize that los angeles is big

Sometimes I really cannot believe how gigantic Los Angeles is. I had assumed that Sylmar, where the juvenile hall I visit is located, was its own city. Why might I assume this? Oh, only because it's 22 miles north of me. I realized that it was, in fact, just a NEIGHBORHOOD of Los Angeles when I saw that they have a Los Angeles Public Library branch, the city library. It makes me feel slightly better to find out (via Wikipedia) that it is Los Angeles's northernmost neighborhood. But still! 22 miles north! And I only live in the middle of the western side of Los Angeles!

those were the days

This comic is mostly just funny to me because the "culture jamming" reference takes me back to my mildly torturous days in my "Information in Society" class last quarter. I'm just warning those with fragile constitutions that there is a non-scientifically correct term for a part of male anatomy in that cartoon, unlike the word used in Susan Patron's book.

it's kind of all libraries all the time around here

I just read the number one most e-mailed article on nytimes.com, which is about how the history department at Middlebury is banning the citation of Wikipedia, both in papers and tests. My librarian brain reacts to this by thinking, hello, information literacy! The department is missing a huge opportunity to teach kids about authority, reliability, etc., etc.--all the good things a reference librarian could come in and talk about.

I went to a talk yesterday by one of the candidates for the ALA presidency, the university librarian at the University of Richmond. He said that someone had described Wikipedia as "good when it's good and bad when it's bad." He noted that the page for hurricanes was something any other encyclopedia would be glad to have, but the page for the author Ian McEwan was shamefully tabloidesque. I personally use Wikipedia if I just want to get an idea about a topic; then I move on to other sources that I know have gone through a reasonably stringent review process to get information that I personally consider more reliable. I also love Wikipedia for finding general information when I just want a quick summary for my own edification. I know that there is a lot of good info on Wikipedia, but I am not comfortable enough with it to see it as a really reliable source of information.

I think a lot of people really do not know what Wikipedia even is. I can recall hearing people who were surprised to find out it was user-contributed information--they thought it was a traditional encyclopedia. As for students who are using it as a source in their papers and tests, I think a lot of that is just not knowing about other online resources that their libraries probably subscribe to and that they can access right in their very rooms. The rest of them are just being lazy, frankly. We are used to quickly finding information online, but a lot of people are missing the information literacy to determine if the information they are using is really what they want to be citing. Librarians to the rescue!

proof!

sp's card
Originally uploaded by kitty.pants.

Susan Patron came and spoke to my class today and here's my proof! I got her card because I told her about the site that listed the other books with the word scrotum in them and she wanted me to email her the link. She seemed pretty tired of all the negative media attention and more than a little heartsick that her wonderful book was only being noticed for one word contained in it.

Now that I know more about the book's plot I am even more unhappy at the negativity surrounding it. Apparently the scrotum story is integral to the growing up of the little girl and the development of her relationship with her guardian. It sounds very appropriate to the story to me.

The other part of the debacle that was so upsetting to my professor was the fact that it wasn't parents or children or teachers or anyone else who was making a stink about the books--it was librarians, who are supposed to be intellectual freedom defenders.

We discussed the actual critical question: what do children think about the book? No one actually seemed to have any first hand experience with children and the book, but there was some anecdotal evidence that they didn't care one bit about the word scrotum as long as the teacher/librarian/parent acted like it was no big deal.

I just ordered it from Powells after deciding I didn't want to sit on the holds list at LAPL for five hundred years. I can't wait to read it!

amusing sidenote

Bookslut just clued me into this list of other kid's books with the word "scrotum" in them.

since you asked

Lori brought up this kerfuffle, which is over the recent Newbery award winner. The Newbery is the top award for children's literature (the Caldecott is the other top award, but it goes to illustrations, not text). Books like The Giver, Number the Stars, Dear Mr. Henshaw, and A Wrinkle in Time have all won Newbery awards. Anyway, the winner this year apparently contains the word "scrotum" in relation to a snake biting a dog. Some school librarians thought that this word was too offensive to their communities and decided they wouldn't buy the book for their collections.

School librarians operate on a bit of a different track than public librarians because they can't take the "we have books for all kinds of people" defense. Their schools or school boards can very easily force them to remove books from their collections. One of their main jobs is really to support teachers and curriculum, so they don't even necessarily have to buy a book just because it's a Newbery (which pretty much all public librarians would do, at least with recent Newbery winners).

I do, however, think it's pretty ridiculous to self-censor (that would be when you decide to not buy it in the first place, as opposed to removing it from a collection) just because a book contains a word that is just part of male anatomy (and a dog's at that!). I've read some comments from elementary school librarians saying that they thought the book was a little "old" for most of their kids (ie, most of the kids just wouldn't want to read it because it's a little advanced in terms of reading level), which is slightly more justifiable, but I wonder about the kids who do want to read it. They could always get it from the public library, but considering the fact that they spend most of their time in school and may be more likely to go to their school library, I think it's pretty wrong for the school librarians to not buy it for their collections. A whole big group of librarians (the Newbery committee) concluded that this work was the best of the year and that counts for something.

My least favorite part of the whole thing is the defense of some of the school librarians that basically goes, "I don't want to have to explain to a child what a scrotum is." Aren't we supposed to be librarians? If we really didn't want to embarrass ourselves so much as to explain such a thing, couldn't we say, "Let's go look it up in the dictionary."? Isn't it our job to help people (even children, who some apparently think of as not-people) get information?

Lastly I would just like to point out that I'm sure a good portion of most kids in elementary school know what a scrotum is, and if the target audience for the book (probably 4th grade and up) doesn't already know, I think there needs to be some discussion at school/home.

Susan Patron, the author of the offending book, just happens to be speaking to my children's services class today on the topic of collection development. She's a good friend of my professor's, and a librarian at LAPL, and was on the docket long before she even won the Newbery. It will be interesting to hear her talk about the very subject of choosing books for a collection!

break from my usual blather about libraries

I was just rewarding myself for being about halfway done with my midterm paper (due on Friday) by doing some important internet searching (what else?) and I remembered that my extremely talented neighbor Sally has a beautiful website. She started out making quilts and now she classifies her work as "textiles" because it doesn't always fit into the quilt category. Anyway, I don't really know why I'm posting about this except to tell you that I love going through the pictures of her work and trying to decide which my favorite one is. I'm currently leaning towards "When We Think About Spring" in the "House" section, with second favorite going to "I'm Not Sorry" or "Approximating Pi." I'm also just kind of partial to her and her family in general--they're pretty cool people.