Volume Control

I'm not trying for a perfectly quiet library. I don't sit behind my desk, with my hair in a bun, cardigan, and glasses on a chain and shush people. (Well I do have a desk, wear my hair in funky ballerina buns and wear cardigans, but no glasses chain!) People can converse in normal inside voices. We've got ukuleles for check out and playing in the library. It's a fairly relaxed environment.

And yet still we require a limit to the chaos. I'd realized how bad it gotten when after a two hour desk shift during the afterschool hours I had ringing ears and a headache.

We average between 60 and 110 teenagers that visit the library during a two hour span afterschool every day. That's never going to be quiet. Sometimes no one person or group is noisy, there are just a lot of them. I'm of the belief that middle schoolers are naturally about 10 decibels louder than adults anyway.

We struggle a lot with headphones and music played over speakers on ipods, iPhones, and various other devices. I've ranted posted about this before. Today when I asked a teen to turn down his music, he expressed surprised that "no loud music" was a library rule. I reminded him that this is a library, and he explained that it was a "lousy library" because it's always noisy.

Can't win. If I ask him to turn down music, I'm mean. If I don't, it's a lousy library because it's too loud.

I've been looking at a number of ways to address the noise issue. When you just ask teens to be quieter/calmer, it's subjective and only effective for about 85 seconds.

My first thought was to get a decibel meter attached to a stop light. It's called a Yakker Tracker and has been effective in classrooms and school lunch rooms. Another librarian pointed out it would be extremely unfriendly to teens. A staff member thought they might see it as a personal challenge. True all that. Idea dropped.

My next idea was a portable decibel meter. (I saw them using one on Top Gear and that inspired me.) You can get a relatively decent one for ~$40. The advantage of a decibel meter is it gives me a scientific tool. It's no longer my discretion and face it we all have bad days when we're more sensitive and easily annoyed. The teenagers don't feel that I'm singling them out. It's SCIENCE! Who doesn't love science?

As I was perusing various portable decibel meters, I had a realization. (And I admit this should have come up a lot sooner.) I bet there's an app for that! Sure enough, I downloaded a decibel meter app and started using it immediately.

I consulted various decibel charts to see what an appropriate noise level should be. Finally I decided that a "dull roar" was less than 80 decibels at 5 to 10 feet away from the group of teens. A more ideal number would be less than 70 decibels at the same distance.

So far it is working really well for us. The teens see me walking around with my iPhone out and know what I'm looking at. The objective nature of it prevents them from feeling attacked. They often ask me how many decibels they are. It also gives me ammunition against adults who say it is "too noisy".

I'm happy enough with the app that I am considering purchasing the portable decibel meter for a tool for all staff to use.

So what is everyone else doing for volume control at your libraries?

Bye Bye Britannica

Earlier this week the Encyclopedia Britannica announced that after 244 years of publishing, it would no longer print a new edition. All content will now be available only digitally. This set off tearful editorials, hand wringing, and pearl clutching throughout the Internet. I particularly liked this editorial in the New York Times because it triggered a memory of my own first encyclopedia set. So here for five things on a Friday are random reflections on encyclopedias, reference, and classic pop songs.

1. Funk and Wagnalls
   My first set of encyclopedias, the one we had when growing up, was a set of Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedias. They "sold" them at the grocery store, but I believe you got them very discounted if you purchased x amount of groceries. Or something. I was too young to be much interested in the details. I do know that they were released slowly (or so it seemed to me as a child) and every few weeks we would get the new volume, the next letter in the set. I can remember the excitement of watching the shelves fill up in the living room (I bet they are still there in my parents' living room) and flipping through the latest volume looking at all the colored photos. They got me through our first few years of school reports and random questions.
   
   
2. Microsoft Encarta
   Thanks to my mother's job (running payroll computer systems) we had a computer at home and an internet connection before many of my peers. Before we were online, I can remember the fun of CD-ROM games. My parents were anti-video game and we never had a console system, but we had all the educational CD-ROM games (Dr. Brain, Carmen Sandiego, etc.) My favorite game was an extra feature included with our CD-ROM copy of Microsoft Encarta (a digital encyclopedia). It was called MindMaze and you wondered from room to room answering trivia/general knowledge questions. Each room had its own guardian and quip for you. That was one of my favorite games when I was in middle school. I've always been a sucker for trivia games. And I do remember using Encarta as a source in a few reports; mainly I remember how much of a pain it was to figure out how to cite in my bibliographies. Our librarians had photocopied sheets for us about how to cite new formats like CD-ROM encyclopedias.
   
   
3. New World Books
   One of my favorite things in the year is when the new World Book Encyclopedias come in. They always have this beautiful panoramic/mural style photo along all the spines. All the staff gets excited to see it. So pretty.
   
   
4. A Librarian Confession
   And this is the point where I admit I'm not a very good librarian. I've never directed a patron to the Encyclopedia Britannica for a reference question. Databases or World Book yes, but never the good old Encyclopedia Britannica. It just isn't as useful for quick reference as World Book and as good for in depth reference as a dataabase. So I guess I'm not all that upset about it going away.
   
   
5. Bye Bye Britannica
   I've been trying really hard since I heard the announcement to rewrite the lyrics of "American Pie" to fit this situation.
   Bye Bye Britannica,
   Drove my ferry to the brary but the shelves were bare.
   And good old kids were drinking gatorade
   singing This'll be the day that I upgrade!
   This'll be the day that I upgrade!
   It doesn't work I'm afraid. However I have had that song stuck in my head for two days now.
   

DVD and CD Suggestion Box

Normally our system does not do suggestion boxes for materials. We have a suggest a purchase link on our website and encourage patrons to use that. (It's so much easier for our selectors). When a patron can't or won't use that, staff might fill it out for them. Staff can also use it to let selectors know of gaps in the collection they notice.

However I have some grant money to spend for my location on DVDs and CDs. Instead of going through the normal media selector, I'm ordering the DVDs and our youth services librarian is ordering the CDs. So for just this location we placed a "Suggest a DVD or CD" box complete with papers or pencils directly on top of the (short) shelves that hold those materials.

Our patrons have been very happily giving us suggestions and I've been emptying the box every two days or so. There are the normal generic suggestions (more exercise videos, more PBS features) and that is very doable. Some of my favorites are for items that we own but were checked out when they asked. But that is neither here nor there.

For today's five things on a friday, I give you five unusual suggestions from our suggestion box:

1. Comments on staff member's bodies or suggestions of activities to do with them.
   I'm not surprised by this one. I knew this box would have some kind of abuse. But I've never been sexually harassed by comment card before.
   
   
2. A full page typed list (single spaced) of suggestions
   They were all anime. We've actually set aside some of our DVD money especially for anime. I'm really impressed by the amount of time a person took for this.
   
   
3. Vague insults
   One card said "your mom!", another "in your face" and a third "F you". They actually just wrote the F and not the full word which made me chuckle. We're adjacent to a middle school. These things happen.
   
   
4. Stuffing the ballot box
   We have one child who writes down every title he wants three or four times, on three or four different cards, and puts each one individually into the box. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it isn't an election.
   
   
5. "Akward chink"
   This was written twice (on two different cards), but not by the boy mentioned above. I tried that spelling, the correct spelling, and every possible variation and I can't find a movie, anime, TV show, CD, band name, song name, or anything that would makes it make sense. So I can't purchase whatever it was this person wants. (And I'm quite sure that this is not meant as an insult to any of my staff since I have no staff members of Asian-American ethnicity.) If anyone has any ideas, I'd like to hear them.
   

Five Language Observations

Before I was a librarian, I was a language geek, specifically a linguistics major. Today I bring you five things on a friday, five language notes.

1. Bitchin'
   This is apparently back as teen slang, at least in Anchorage. I waited until I heard 3 teens say it in one week before making that declaration on twitter a few weeks ago. I hear it at least that often if not more now.
   
   
2. Awesome possum, cool beans
   Things I say on a regular basis that make me sound like a character on a 50s sitcom. I don't care. Awesome possum and cool beans are fun, happy, cheerful words to say, and I'm not giving them up.
   
   
3. Circulation, discharge
   Words we use all the time in the library field that have limited meaning to the rest of the world. Staff tells patrons to go to the circulation desk or that their materials have not been discharged and they get blank look. Check out desk. Checked in books. And there are a lot more examples. Don't force people to learn our jargon to use our services.
   
   
4. Redemption, repent, lamb of God
   Words we use all the time at church that have limited meaning to to the rest of the world. How easy is it to be new to a church or a faith and not really understand most of what is being said? You redeem coupons and vouchers, what does that have to do with the guy on the cross? When was the last time you heard repent outside of the church? And lamb of God makes no sense without an explanation of traditional Jewish rites. There are a bunch of other words like this, these are those that come to mind right now. Why are we creating a language barrier between those with a lifetime's worth of church background and those who lack that vocabulary?
   
   
5. Adult movies, adult books
   Words that mean something very different outside the library. I am so used to the "adult movie" section at the library which is basically every feature film not geared for kids under 10. I blithely (and naively) wondered into the adult movie section of a video rental store a few years ago reading titles outloud to my friend a few rows behind me. She was laughing uproariously (she's known me long enough to know how my mind works), but I really embarassed the two gentlemen who were browsing in that section. And myself.

Weird even by our standards

When you work in a public library long enough, you get used to a certain amount of crazy. Walking downtown in a major city (not Anchorage) and some companions were concerned about the homeless man yelling loudly at the air as we walked by. Please. I'm a public librarian, that doesn't even phase me. Bring on your best crazy. I've probably seen it before, if not worse.

But this week two events happened that are weird even by my jaded standards.

Unidentified white powder
There are few phrases in our modern era as scary as unidentified white powder. (Probably no cell phone service and the plane has minor mechanical issues are a close second and third.) I was in a meeting talking about spending grant money when my cell phone rang. Since it was the library, and my staff is extremely capable and only calls in emergency, I answered it. My youth services librarian explained that the women's restroom was a disaster zone (read: covered in diarrhea) and there was an unidentified white powder on the floor.

Everyone assumes different things for white powder. Most of the staff assumed drugs. Despite the fact that I had just finished drug awareness training that morning, I assumed anthrax. (Because I'm paranoid and watch too many news shows.) One staff member assumed rat poison. Regardless it wasn't safe for any staff member to get close enough to find out. Police department was called and the restroom locked. They determined it was talcum powder. Janitorial took care of the rest.

Despite the benign resolution, my staff handled it completely correctly. I'm not allowing any of my people to get close enough to smell the powder for fear that they would accidentally ingest some cocaine or rat powder or anthrax. Paranoia is the first step to safety.

Special delivery!
After lunch today, my staff handed me an air mail envelope from Australia. That's fun. There was a koala on the stamp! The addressing seemed to be done by a younger person (judging by the handwriting and smiley faces) so my initial guess was a student looking for a pen pal. The envelope was rather squishy for just a letter.

Please note for future reference that squishy very rarely turns out to be anything good.

There was a short typed note expressing that the author had always wanted to visit our country and was saving up to do so. But until then she wanted to have a piece of herself in all 50 states and had decided to mail some of her hair* to various libraries. (I'm paraphrasing.)

*My sister pointed out I'm lucky all she sent was hair. My sister is smart and perhaps even more paranoid than I am.

Folded up in the note was a small tulle bag of hair. Some of the hair escaped the bag and was loose in the letter. The sender requested I place the hair under the tree or in the sunshine. She did not require an email or confirmation of any sort that I had done this. (Though she did provide a phone number, but no request for communication.)

The sad thing is I kinda get why she did this. It isn't that different than the Flat Stanley project. I've happily photographed four of those around town since moving to Alaska. It just requires no photos and is a bit creepier. And I'm completely unclear on how she chose my library to do this.

I decided against photographing the letter for the blog, though not against blogging it. I'm still undecided about placing the hair under a tree. I probably will because what could it hurt? (Unless she is using it to introduce some sort of foreign parasite to Alaska. I'm not sure how a two inch packet of hair would do that though.)

Perhaps the universe is just trying to see how far they can push me this week. Or make me laugh. Or something.

Blogging about the Newbery

It is my pleasure and honor to serve on the 2013 Newbery committee. One issue of special concern to me was the ALSC policy on social networking and blogging about committee work. This is my first time on a book award committee and I really don't want to do anything wrong. I think I understand it.

I can blog/tweet/facebook about my opinions all I want. I can not blog/tweet/facebook about any of the discussion among committee members or anyone else's opinions. That's fine. I have enough opinions on my own to go around.

This was all told with a caveat. You must be careful. You don't want to give anyone false hope. My opinion is only one out of 15. People pay more attention when you are on a committee. And mostly I am going by the doctrine of "avoiding even the appearance of evil". Or to put it in more secular terms: "Caesar's wife must be above reproach."

So will I blog about the Newbery committee? Yes. Sometimes about the process. My friend Dale has a blog about voting processes and is interested in talking about the Newbery process. (Not which books we liked, but the actual process.) Sometimes about how I am feeling about the workload. Will I blog about every book I read? Nope. I'm writing up notes for myself and that's good enough.

When I was first elected, I was terrified about how much work it would be. Then I talked myself into thinking it wouldn't be so bad. I'm back to being terrified. Last year's committee received 450 books (down apparently from the 600 they used to receive when self-publishers had access to your address). Even if you don't read every book, that's a lot. And you'll read things from other sources (libraries, book stores, etc) as well, not just what comes in the mail. It's a lot of work and I'm back to being scared.

A note on free books: no publisher is required to send committee members review copies of the books. Many still choose to do so. I have not yet received any. This is apparently normal not to get any in January and for it to really kick into high gear in March. I don't doubt I will be laughing at this vague feeling of worry and free time in six months.

For now I'm reading advanced reader copies I picked up at Midwinter (I'll review the final copy as well if it is a serious contender or even a very interesting book or a slight possibility). And I placed holds on some library copies of books for the 2012 publication year.

I will start this little counter though:
books received: 0; books read: 4

Library Sanctioned Cupcakes

Searching emails for another issue, I stumbled upon these emails from two years ago. And they made me laugh. First there was an email from a coworker that she had found a box of cupcakes on top of the recycling bin by the catalog computers. She brought them into the library workroom then sent an all staff email with concerns about health and safety issues.

I immediately investigated because CUPCAKES! I then proceeded to write one of the best emails of my professional life:
There was a note on the box of cupcakes (which I saw when ***** brought them in) labeled “Free Cupcakes”. I am a cynical untrusting person, but I would not eat a cupcake left in a bakery box by an unknown person in the public library and obviously we don’t allow food on the public floor and we definitely don’t want people to think that this is a library-sanctioned box of cupcakes.

The rest of the staff concurred and the cupcakes were put into the dumpster.

It reminds me of a sequence from the amazing Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes. Start here and read the next four.

So would you eat a cupcake of unknown provenance? I didn't.