Sure, Happy Holidays and all that

I'm sure some of you are having happy holidays, but I am livid, I tell you LIVID! My parents had the audacity to get ANOTHER kitten. She's mostly black like me and cute, like me and has good fur, like me. So if she's alot like me, why do they have to get ANOTHER me. Okay, she is young and frisky and keeps Bengal from chasing me quite so much. But tell me when will the madness end? Will four cats be enough to make them stop adopting. I sure hope so because I'm not sharing any more food. Just so you know, if you're interested, her name is India.

Can't we all just get along

Woman on Phone: I just wanted to tell you there's a homeless man outside your building everyday at 3 when the kids get out of school.

Me: Is he doing anything to harrass the kids? Is he making trouble?

WoP: No, I just wanted you to know that he's there EVERY day just sitting out where the road curves in front of the library and there's children out there.

Me: Well, it's a public space and as long as he isn't doing anything inappropriate or making troubleI can't just kick him off the property.

WoP: You'll be sorry when he rapes one of the kids! Thank you (said sarcastically) -hangs up.

Duh

Patron: Can you show me how to delete these pictures off of my phone?
Reference: Can you pull them up?
Patron: No, my phone's not charged up.

Hmmm.
My recommendation for Reference:
Reference: Sure no problem. (Takes phone and pulls out a large hammer. Hammers phone to smithereens. Hands pieces back to patron).
Reference: Is there anything else I can help you with?

closer to sadness

Mom speaks:The closer we get to Oct. 1, the sadder I get. I just can't picture our library without V. She is the heart and soul of our branch. V. is always doing outside work for the benefit of her co-workers. She plans get togethers, creates cool t-shirts, bags, and many other excellent things designed to rally the troops. She's like our cheerleader. But, just because she's our computer guru, we're going to lose her. But see, that makes no sense because if anyone needs a computer nerd full-time it's our branch, the busiest one in the city. Every day and by that I mean EVERY DAY someone asks us something about the computer (mostly about problems trying to log on to the wifi) so now instead of giving even more excellent customer service, we have to say "I don't know anything about that." And by the time we call downtown, that patron will be gone and possibly fed up because we couldn't help them in a timely fashion. But that's not all V. is, a computer person. No V. is an excellent library assistant that is a master at reference. When I was a bright shiny new librarian, V. was extremely helpful in showing me how millenium ran and many, many other things about the reality of manning the reference desk.
Then there is C. She has only been with us about a year and a half, but she's really a part of our family. She also has great ideas and is a wonderful cheerleader. She might even make a good librarian some day if this doesn't dishearten her about libraries altogether.
And N. She has been with us a very short time, but fits in well here.
Everyone keeps telling me I should feel lucky because we all still have jobs. And I am grateful for that. But starting Oct. 1 I will be going to a workplace with a piece of my heart ripped out.

Trials and torments

Ah the exciting life of the cat who belongs to a librarian. Something going on about budget cuts and no pay raises. I am glad mom isn't losing her job, but she is very sad about losing people at work. I think she actually cried. I don't like it when she's sad. Apparently these things happen when you work for something called a government agency. Mom's worked for them all city, state and federal. It's all the same with higher ups cutting and making decisions without any input from the people being affected.

PS That stupid Bengal is still annoying, but it doesn't appear he's leaving any time soon.

Mom says: Read the Tushy Book for those children librarians out there.

Summer Reading....

is mostly finished. There's a few mopping up to be done, such as the last summer movie this week (Mall Cop) and the last Terrific (Terrible? Terrifying? Tremendous?) Teen Tuesday. I found the coolest game ever for the Wii called Rayman Raving Rabbids. That game is awesome. I think I want to dress up as one of the psychotic rabbits for Halloween. All I need is rabbit ears and a plunger. I'll wave the plunger in the air and yell really loud! Hee Hee!
My husband an I have been trying to unlock stuff on the game so the teens can play four player games on it. Lily and the other cats love the Wii because it's got a dangling cord they can try to play with.

Lily: Stupid human.

Lily's grounded

Lily's Mom: Lily bit me today. Very Very Hard. Two of her fangs stabbed my hand! I have been looking at bad things that happen to people who are punctured by cat teeth and it's not pretty. I just hope I washed it out enough. I really should stay away from googling in situations such as these. I did see a particularly horrible example of ringworm on this guy's head during my search. It was like the size of a grapefruit. On. His. Head. Ewwwwww!

Lily ususally play bites but I think she is mad about the new kitten. He and Maggie are already playing together but Lily is still wary about him. I will let Lily post again when she calms down.

Kitten

Stupid Mom and Dad got a stupid kitten. AND he's a stinky boy! The indignity of it all. His name is Bengal and Mom think's he's quite cute with his Siamese markings of silver tabby. All he wants to do is play...oh and eat...MY FOOD. At least my sister Maggie doesn't eat much but Bengal is like a kitty food hoover. I wacked him on the head a few times to show him who is boss! So far he's bowed down to me and Maggie. He better keep in line OR ELSE!

Ice Road Truckers

I am so loving the Ice Road Truckers on the Discovery Channel. It's great coolness on the oppressively hot days with my hot black fur. I want to be a trucker! Too bad they discriminate against cats.

Is it a full moon?

Mom speaks: There are many challenges in the public library forum especially when the 100 degree plus days won't stop coming.

Summer situation no. 1: Some patrons seem to think getting a book for summer reading isn't enough. One lady asked me what days and time her child was supposed to attend the summer reading program. I think she thought it was like a summer camp or free day care...go figure, this happens every year by the way. Definition of Summer Reading: traditionally when children chose their own books to read and read them where ever or whenever they'd like (yes in the W.C. counts too). Librarians aren't concerned about what they are reading in terms of classics, comics. We don't even care where they are reading such as the dinner table. We are concerned about reading itself. Yep, that's what we're into. Reading! Yeah! Reading! Summer Reading can also mean reading books assigned by the school, those harshers of mellow who bring the purity of summer down with assignments. C'mon dude it's freakin summer give the kids a break!

Summer situation no. 2: Patrons think they can just wait for books to come back to the library and check them out then. Especially patrons who are wanting books on reading lists assigned by the mean ol' school districts (see above). Note to these folks: the library is state of the art, computer run there are no more CARD catalogs. What this means to you: people can put books on hold either by yourself from the comfort of your home computer or with a friendly librarian, they love to do it, they live for it. These books on hold can come from ANYWHERE in the city from ANY branch library. If a book is on a summer reading list it will RARELY just come in. In fact, the closer to the school year starting, the higher those hold numbers will get larger lessening your chance of getting a book before you go back to school. Put it on hold people that's the only way. You don't want to be in the library the last week of summer asking about the Red Pony believe me! It's kind of fun for us librarians seeing kids putting off the dreaded reading then two days before school starts trying to read SOMETHING, ANYTHING FROM THAT ASSIGNED READING LIST! Then parents get mad, there's yelling and chaos and possibly beatings. Very entertaining.

Which leads to the
Summer situation no.3 (actually this one happens year round). Reference staff of all types getting blamed for everything. Here are many sentences associated with this. "But I need the computer because my paper is due tomorrow"-heard 5 minutes before closing time. "But I have to read that book for school next week." "I have to check out that book for a book club, can't you just check it out to me." - said on the phone by a patron who hadn't returned a book, owed money and sent her son in with her card and the card was expired. Work with me here people. I can't help you unless you help yourself! I've been to school and I am not writing your paper for you or reading your book for you either.

We're reference librarians, not superheroes.
Add in the smelly people, the angry people and the insane and you have last week.

Summer continues....

Mom speaks: Story time was much better in the big room. I did cat stories (my favorite subject?!) and I read a particularly awesome one called Splat the Cat. I just love that author/illustrator Rob Scotton (sp). His pictures are so fluffy. He's got a series about a sheep named Russell which is where I first encountered. I also found out he's got a Splat book that is a valentine story. It is sooooo sweet, I just love it. I wish I was going to be here next week when Miss Sheila does hat stories. I've got some great hats like this bunny one with log wrap around ears. But I'm going to California on Tuesday for my step-daughter's high school graduation (don't tell Lily, she hates it when we leave town).

Our first performer went great here on Thursday. One lady was mad about not having tickets to the event or even knowing you needed tickets for the event, but whatever. Every year I serve as ticket taker and usually get yelled at some point during the summer. Standby people always get in and I try to tell people that but they didn't want to wait to see if there is room and accuse us of having "secret rules" because it wasn't in the program that you needed tickets. It is posted on all the flyers around here and online. At least the angry lady just yelled at me and gave me the "I hope you die" look as she left. No biggie. I was as nice as possible so that's all you can do I guess.

Lily: That Splat looks alot like me. Except I am prettier. Going to where?

Summer Mondays

Mom speaks: Wow, every year I forget about Mondays in the summer. It's the most frightening thing. I started on a summer Monday and I remember thinking as the people poured into the library that I may have made a mistake in becoming a librarian. I no longer feel that way but yesterday was the typical Monday. I counted about 130 people (and I think I missed the two daycare groups) in the library at 2 p.m., an hour after we'd opened. I bet we had more people than any library in the city (except, perhaps Central). The phone also rang and rang and rang. I can't even remember how many people we signed up for summer reading. Today was fun because it was Teen Tuesday @ 2 with Wii video games and Guitar Hero on the Playstation. Unfortunately since we had early voting I had to use the small meeting room which was rather loud. I heard one of the kids playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl say the funniest thing: "Dude, you got schooled by Pikachu!" I can't wait for tomorrow when I get to do story time in the big room!

Lily: What's a pikachu? Are they tasty?

Summer starts with a bang

Mom speaks: Blood, angry patrons and movies that don't get released on time so now my flyers wrong. Yes it's starting out to be a typical summer! The best summer ever! I will give colorful updates folks as the summer marches on. More madness mayhem and broken computer printout change machines. It's all part of the thrill that comes with being a public librarian. The glamour, the riches, the prozac! Stay tuned!

Lily: You silly humans always getting upset over things. I just don't get it. Eat some tuna, you'll feel so much better!

Unruly preschoolers

Mom speaks: Well I had my first official story time as a candidate to become a Children's librarian yesterday. I've done story time before but this time I am trying out to see if I really want to be a children's librarian and not a teen librarian. Yesterday was rather challenging as I had about 35 people crammed into a very small room. The first two stories went alright but by the third the natives were restless and wandering, like trying to herd cats*. Maybe the Hokey Pokey wound them up or everyone gave their child a Red Bull before coming in...I don't know. Two kids were crying, one was screaming and one enterprising young lady found wrist bells and was shaking them behind me as I was trying to read Wombat Walkabout. This is the same girl who tried to sit in my seat twice the minute I stood up to turn on the Hokey Pokey. So I just said "I give up, let's dance some more to Shimmy Shake." This was greeted by cheers all around. I have a very high tolerance for children screaming and wandering around. I mean I deal with teens. So it doesn't really phase me, but I want to know if parents ever discipline their children. My mom would have pulled me out of there so fast if I was taking the story lady's chair and shaking her bells while she was trying to read.

* Lily's note: Cat herding is possible if you want to drive them toward tuna or perhaps delicious chicken.

Pre summer nutiness

Mom reports: The library was horribly busy yesterday due to the Memorial Day holiday. How dare the library close for one day! People paid fines in droves, children ran everywhere. At 8 p.m. it still looked like 5 p.m. and 10 people were on the list for the computer. A lady tried to print her documents, did something to the printer to make it say "ykiexit" and then was mad because she lost $2.50 and logged off, because her term paper was due TOMORROW! Did I tell you to wait until the last minute.....um, no.

Library strangeness

Mom told me this story: Yesterday there were two teen girls blocking the entire magazine section. They were constucting something out of wood, paper and what appeared to be those pool noodles. It had a helium balloon attached to one side. At one point a hammer and a screw driver were used. The pair also had a hot glue gun and were frantically gluing when mom told them the library would be closing. It had been busy and no one had complained about the girls so she had just left them alone, but told them to please not hammer so loudly in the library. As she drove away, Mom noticed the two girls outside the library still constructing whatever it was. She never figured out why the girls thought it would be best to construct a big five foot tall whatever at the library. Couldn't it have been done at someone's house. The girls just gave non-commital answers to these questions and apologized for doing this in the library.

Mom speaks: Preschoolers

I did story time today for the preschoolers and they wore me out. Of course I did pick the energetic songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. I did frog books and they really liked the book called Fribbity Ribbit! I love story time!

Summer is coming

It's already hot and I have too much fur. At the library this will mean a thousand people will flock in each day. Over half of them will want to use the computer and half of those will not even know how to work a mouse. The librarians won't have time to teach them because they will be busy entertaining the children and listening to people tell fiction stories of why, once again, they were late with their DVDs and how they pay their taxes and the librarians salaries so should not have to pay any fines ever. Children will throw fits. People will complain because they couldn't get into a program because they couldn't find a parking spot. More words will be said about how library users pay taxes. A busload of kids wearing identical t-shirts will come in with two adults and tear the place apart. Spinning book racks will fling books. Pages will be ripped out of easy books. Comics will disappear in seconds. The feeding frenzy is over. The library closes. The librarians drink until they pass out at home.

Wetness falling from sky

What is this? Could it be rain? My sister Maggie and I are very sleepy from this rain. Mom says it's good for the grass. I wouldn't know about that since Mom never lets me go outside because I like to climb the fence and sit on the top mocking her. She can't figure out how I do that without any front claws but, duh, I have powerful legs and can leap REALLY high in the air. How does she think I get all those flies. I am still a little peeved because Mom and Dad held us down last night to put anti-flea stuff on us. We HATE that and no amount of hissing, spitting or growling deters them.

Mom speaks: Twilight Movie

Cats are so lucky. They don't have to watch excruciatingly bad movies whilst tweens parrot the dialog EXACTLY and squeal every time the lead hunk appears. Actually the tweeny dialong and squeals didn't bother me as much as the movie itself. Now sure I diss Twilight and its spawn pretty much every chance I get but I had NO idea a movie, which closely follows the book, could ever be this horrid. I mean, I've seen porn with better acting in it.

Now all the acting wasn't terrible, but much of it led the viewer into wondering why in the hell Bella and Edward would have fallen in love in the first place. He's repulsed, he's secretly attracted, he angsts, runs away, comes back and makes cryptic statements and then she makes statements that don't make sense. It's all doom and depression and saying don't be around me and then you're around all the time so I FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU ?!!!! Right. I thought love was about joy and lightness. Okay there's some brooding but mostly when the guy you like doesn't like you not says "I have to stay away from you" and then practically stalks you he's there so much.

And Carlisle the handsome, dashing doctor....yeah if he's a corpse. They did such a horrible job on him he's paler than an alien being with the large eyes. Like no one can tell there's something fishy with this guy?! Buy some bronzer Carlisle and join your fake family at slightly looking just un-tanned.

In the book when those vampires hit the sun they are all ethereal and glow nicely. In the movie Edward just looks like he's got a horrible skin condition. Not very attractive or sexy. Edward also has stupid hair.

Okay and really I am more of a "Team Jacob" person anyway but Jacob in this movie blends in with all the other generic Native Americans with exactly the same hair. Too stereotypical. All they needed was feathers woven in their hair to say "hey look at me I'm a native american see here's my feathers and long straight hair to prove it." Jacob in the book seems more modern to me. He wouldn't have hair from a bad 1950s western, he'd have long-ish hair but not down to his butt. More like shoulder length or something.

In fact, the police chief father Charlie was stereotypical too. He didn't really act or look like a police chief except for the cheesy 70s mustache he was sportin'. Cliche city baby.

Don't even get me started on Rosalie and Jasper. They don't blend(well none of the "teen" vampires blend) at school. They look like 30 year old yuppies who should be playing tennis at the club.

The only actor worth anything in this mess was Alice and James. They were the most realistic characters.

Happy Sping! *

Happy Easter, whatever the hell that is. Mom says "Happy Jesus Zombie Day," again whatever the hell that is. Apparently it is all about eating eggs (which I don't like) and chocolate (which I don't like). Isn't there a holiday where we all eat canned cat food? Now that's a holiday I can get behind!

*see cakewrecks.com for explanation.

Cmon' with the new site already

Okay, so you've got this nifty brand spankin' new mysapl site. It's at least oh so much more lovely than the old site BUT....Is there a link to it from sanantonio.gov? No. Does it automatically pop up when you're on WiFi? No. Is there an automatic redirect from sanantonio.gov/library? No. Please fix this whenever possible. Thanks!

I got a certificate!

According to you sad humans I have the best cat blog of the SAPL 23 things! Ha I knew I was great and this just proves it. Mom plans to have my certificate framed. I know some of you will say there was a disclaimer about it not being a real award but despite that, and much like gossip girl...you know you love me!

Flies

I love spring because that means the windows are always open at home. This in itself would be exciting enough what with fresh air to sniff and squirrels to bark at (or whatever that weird non-meowing sound is). But there is also my very favorite thing of all FLIES! Giant bee-like flies, small quick ones, little bitty gnats, I love them all. A particularly large one got in the other day and I caught it and ate it. Dad was very grossed out. Those silly humans will never know how much fun it is to chase food before eating it. So much sweeter for the chase.

mysapl databases

I can't decide if I like the new database search or not. It is both easier and more difficult than before. It is easy if you know what you are doing but difficult in that you have the danger of being bombarded with information. You also kind of have to know something about the databases you are trying to seach to get useful information. I find if you don't really know what you are doing you could just check categories and have a million search results. Regular patrons don't seem very savvy while doing research, they want everything handed to them on a silver plater with wine and cheese. Those may be difficult to convince they must read multiple entries to find what they are looking for; that the databases search isn't some magic machine that will spit out EXACTLY what they need. But then again that always has been the problem with research. You get patrons who know how to search and are willing to do the leg work, and those who want the magic box. Some people just don't realize the best search engine in the world is no match for the human brain to sort out and use the information.
Also, I am not too sure about the libguides. My mom loves the creation of the libguides as masses of fun. I just don't know who they are benefiting. It seems most of them list obvious or popular choices that most people will know any way. And there aren't too many books listed on each page. Now if I am interested in a subject, particularly fiction, I want to know every possible book out there written in the last ten years on that topic so I have a bunch to choose from. The jury's still out for me on whether or not I like this service.

What does the chill mean?

It's kind of a catch 22 isn't it? More unemployment means more people using the library but less money coming into the city which leads to less money for the library. So the more people there are that need the library, the less services the library is able to offer. Or something like that. Unless they will cut the book budget which would be a drag. If you cut hours or (goddess forgive) people then customer service will suffer. Although it'd be nice to have mom home more so she can open more cans of food. There are many, many larger library systems around the country that are open hours such as 10-7 on the weekdays and 10-5 on Friday and Saturday. Some of these even have no Sunday hours for branches and only the Central library is open seven days a week. I'm sure workers might really dig shorter hours but decision makers will likely favor cutting the book budget. Of course if you wanted to go really radical, cut the DVD and media items, leave only books on getting a job and put in more computers. Does anyone really NEED Children's programming? (that was a joke) Mom loves when someone who is looking for a job gets mad because they won't move them up on the computer list over "those kids just playing video games." Hey those kids were ahead of you and are way more interested in playing those games than in you getting a job. We're all treated the same at the library....for now!

My parents went to Austin

....and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Actually it's a cool t-shirt. It says "Camp Half-Blood: Demigod in Training on it. If you don't know what that refers to you are just LAME!

cake wrecks

I thought the judge a book by its cover blog was hilarious, but this is genius. Check it out CAKE Wrecks !

Web site live?

Mom has told me the SAPL site is going live in March. I hope it's ready. You still can't "find things" unless they are on the catalog despite what the drop down menu tells you. I sincerely hope "things" get updated way faster when it goes live. I hate sites that are unchanging forever. Those libguides and blogs should be updated at least once a week for the blogs and once a month for the libguides, otherwise what's the point?

What the 23 things missed

Digital Goddess showed me this great site: pandora You can type in an artist or song and it will play similar songs or artists to that one. You can rate the songs to make your own radio playlist. Very cool!

mysapl continued

Looking better, shaping up. I still think it should say "Search" instead of "Find Things." Thanks for correcting the misspelling.

Final Thoughts on the 23 Things

Since my second favorite hobby is sleeping I will be lazy and answer these questions instead of thinking up my own thoughts on the 23 things.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I really liked writing this blog. It's not often that a housecat like me gets to have my own blog. I also liked the various apps that went with this blog like goodreads and cat of the day (although I'm prettier than all of them). I didn't really know about goodreads until then and I think it's a fab way to keep up with all the kajillion of books Mom reads. She can also post it to her myspace account. Mom loves that Valerie was inspired to shoot a short film for YouTube although I don't know if that came from the 23 things or was inspired by the Night Fever video.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

Um, well my life isn't that long so I just don't bother with goals. I do like to try new things at all times especially when there is a reward involved. I know you're thinking "learning is its own reward" but being rewarded, particularly with food, is a better reward.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Just what I mentioned in the first answer. But it has also inspired me to try to make my own YouTube video when I found out Mom's little camera can record video.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Have less things with more exploration or as many things with more time. It was good you extended the time.

And last but not least…

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

Sure, if the discovery is sufficiently interesting and definitely if there is a reward :)

Podcasting and Audio books

I get those aforementioned podcasts (NPR) from iTunes which is a wonderful and difficult to deal with service. Wonderful because it's great once you learn how to sync your iPod, but a pain learning how to sync and make playlists. Mom bought the Ricky Gervais podcast so it's great for ones you have to buy too although, I prefer free podcasts. The NPR ones just automatically feed into your iPod when you sync it which I try to do once a week. Very, very easy, especially for a smart cat like me.
As for the Audiobooks available from SAPL I've looked in the collection but I never find any books I WANT to download and for awhile they didn't have any you could download on an iPod so I have never done that. I have downloaded audiobooks another way onto my iPod. Mom says she's walked several people through the process over the phone so it doesn't sound too difficult.
So there. I'm finished. Can I have my treat now?
....oh yeah, I guess I've got to write more on my whole experience. I'll do that later....yawn!

Express Yourself

I love and use all the new tools for video and audio! YouTube is an excellent way to express yourself and provide comic fodder for others. I really like the rabbit vs. cat video but felt it was inappropriate to post for the 23 things. I also LOVE NPR podcasts. Sometimes I'm sleeping and I miss Fresh Air or This American Life, but with the podcasts I can listen anytime I want.
Here's a video of the way Mom says she feels about the wildly popular Twilight series. One of Mom's friends actually asked her if she should buy Twilight for her nine year old kid. I haven't read it personally because it has nothing to do with cats. But here it is:

MYSAPL review

Happy New Year! In honor of the new year and sapl's new Web site, Mom has asked me to review it. Now I don't want any of you to think I am being unduly harsh or critical, I just want to put in my two cents so don't take it personally especially because I don't even exactly know who designed the site and having only left the house to go to the dreaded vets office, I've never even met any of the responsible parties.

First let me say I do like the clean format of the Web site in general and the use of a color scheme in particular.

My biggest and perhaps the most obvious problem I can see with the site is the search box. "Find Things" it says. What does this mean? What things? Any things? And where? The site, the internet, my house? "Find Things" seems, like Sarah Palin, unnecessarily folksy and unclear. Upon further investigation "find things" actually means "search the SAPL catalog" so say this or at least "search catalog". This way people know what they are searching and won't look for that missing sock there. But I do like that the search option is on every page of the site.

I do like the flash box but hopefully users will be able to click on the flashing pictures and be taken to the site it is advertising. Please fix the monomouse graphic to spell "television" correctly.

Personally I think the locations button on the top should be a drop down menu, but that's just me.

The teen blog is a little on the unprofessional side. There's a hand drawn picture with uncensored content. Now I like naughty words as much as the next cat, but I don't think it has a place on a Web site for the 8th largest city in the U.S.

I guess overall it is a good start, but I would like to see the site get more professional overall. The writing is somewhat wordy and vague. For instance: "The San Antonio Public Library is pleased to present a new website! Now it is even easier to find library material, see what you've got checked out on your library account and find out what's going on at your local library location." MIGHT be better as: "Welcome to our new Web site! Now it is even easier to find material, check your library account and see what's happening at your branch." But, I'm probably just splitting hairs from seeing Mom pour over her AP Style Book while writing for the newspaper. I have some more picky editorial issues, but I'll leave it right there.

On the whole, good job! I just say, keep the site dynamic and interesting. Update, update, update! The beauty of the Web is content can be kept fresh.

Time for my nap and then I will look into finishing the 23 things. I sure want a prize for all this work!