The Bookmobile

I was born an unusually curious child, which served in my early years to provide nothing more than an endless series of beatings. At the age of 11 or 12 I discovered while “investigating” my mother’s underwear drawer a copy of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” With the instincts of a life-long pornographer hunter, I quickly discovered all the dirty words and salacious parts.
Growing up in relative isolation, except for my family and the children of the black sharecroppers that lived on my Daddy’s property, I spent the majority of my time discovering new and increasingly creative ways of getting into trouble. The black children were not allowed inside the house to play, so we spent our time climbing trees, playing pretend and going to the places we had been clearly instructed to stay away from. There were no Pre-Kindergartens or Kindergartens either for that matter, so it was not until I was nearly seven years old that I knew what it was like to have playmates. I learned to read in the first grade from the “Dick and Jane” books. I learned to read by sight, and still do, because phonetics were out of fashion, either that or I rejected the notion outright. Learning to read was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me. I loved going to school and I loved reading circle, lunch and recess. The school I attended had no library for the elementary students. There was one in the high school building, which we were never ever allowed to go into.
During the school year I was very happy to be in the company of children and very strident adults, but at night I returned to isolation and a large family with only arguments at the supper table and the radio to keep us entertained. As first and second graders, we were allowed to take home our reading books and our spelling books and I would try to read ahead in my “Dick and Jane.” As a young child I was given books for Christmas and birthdays, Trixie Belden and Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew books.
Summers were a misery, there was work from 4 or 5 a.m. until the sun set, with the only relief coming from the rock n’ roll music and the Yankees and the Dodgers on the radio. I have no idea how I learned that on certain days of the week I could walk down that mile long dusty road that lead to my house and there discover a whole new world.
The light summer breeze made arabesque patterns in the dust as my short tanned legs and bare feet plowed along the road that led to the blacktop. Past the ramshackle barn, past the corn crib, on past the three tobacco curing barns and on past the packing barn I went. And there it was! A Bookmobile! I’d never heard of such a thing and never dreamed of the treasures it held inside. I recall nothing about the driver or librarian, I only remember that I was allowed to check out and keep for two weeks two books of my choosing! I looked, and looked and browsed. I recall the musty smell of old paper and ink, and the sheer joy of being able to take two books home to read for two whole weeks. My first choice was two biographies about Dolly Madison and Betsy Ross. The books were not colorful or bright, but very plain and the only illustrations were black silhouettes of the famous women at the beginning of each chapter. They were well used, yellowed, thumbed and none of them were new. I didn’t care. In two weeks I was able to read and re-read them whenever I was not working in the field.
I don’t want to suggest or imply that I grew up around ignorant parents with no reading materials in the house, though I venture that until I was 13 or 14 years old, I’d never met a person who had a college degree, except of course for my teachers. My father only went to school through the 8th grade and my mother had graduated from high school and attended a secretarial school. Whatever skills she learned there were never used in her lifetime. Both of them were very smart and they both believed strongly in the power of education. They nagged us raw about “getting good grades,” “applying yourself” and “if you can’t be smart, at least be quiet at school.” Our house had an occasional woman’s magazine and some kind of farming magazine. There was always a newspaper and a book shelf in the living room with a few hard bound volumes. I suspect they were more for décor than actual reading. I recall they were mostly of the Neville Shute and Ernest Hemingway variety, not exactly reading material for a 7 or 8 year old. The tiny type and the long pages served to dampen my spirits about reading them. There was a public library in Lillington but that was 9 or 10 miles down the road. We only went to town for business or on Saturdays and the library was closed. When my mother or father went on business, the children were not allowed to go. So the bookmobile, served as my salvation and my earliest memories of libraries. Little did I imagine that I would spend the better part of my life living among books and music and interesting people, nor did I ever consciously choose this profession, but it is a profession that I love. I can scarcely imagine myself doing anything other than what I do now. It’s unfortunate that I took my first position in a library, because I love to read. Now that I’m here, I seldom have time to read but busy myself with the business of running this wonderful resource for others. I have pledged to myself that as an adult I would actually read “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” Maybe someday---besides I’ve already read all the good parts.

October Begins a New Year-Budget wise

It's been a long time since I posted and hope to be able to devote more time to this blog about library building, computer training and of course all those snazzy new web 2.0 thingies. Currently, I'm enrolled in an on-line course on building maintenance from North Texas University at their LE@D site. This is a wonderful resource for continuing education for any librarian in the profession. The courses are very reasonably priced and they are offering all the courses needed for a Certified Public Library Administrator. By all means check out LE@D.

Multimedia

Training of senior citizens to use computers and technology is of continuing interest to me. As people grow older they often become isolated from their families and friends. I strongly believe that the use of technology and especially the Internet can help Seniors stay active, stay in touch and eliminate much of the loneliness that many older citizens face. I found this video through a search on Youtube.com and it explains the benefits senior citizens can derive from learning and using the Internet. The video is about a senior training program in Canada. (Posted on Youtube.com in June 2006 by Mediamutt)

Internet Competency-LibrisDesign

I chose Libris Design after a search on Google for databases for library design and space planning. "Libris Design "is a library facility-planning database that assists local library officials with the planning of public library buildings. it includes a website with recent information on facility planning topics, a database of recently constructed California public libraries, an area for users to communicate with each other, user help documentation and a trial version of the Libris Design database." I chose this site because it provides assistance and guidance for librarians and local officials who are planning or preparing for a building project.

Browsing Search-ERIC/EBSCO

This was the first hit:
1. Attitudes of Older Adults toward a Computer Training Program Preview . By: Segrist, Kathleen. Educational Gerontology, v30 n7 p563-571 Aug 2004. (EJ680243)
PDF Full Text
I conducted a browsing search in ERIC/EBSCO. I searched the thesaurus for Senior Citizens and found the correct subject heading as Older Adults. I searched Older Adults and received 11,821 hits.
I then narrowed my search by using Computer Training and received 15 hits. I narrowed again by using Adult Education and received 4 hits. Using ERIC I was able to look at left side panel which provided narrowing terms for me. This made the search much easier and very effective. I was interested in this search because we have been providing computer training for Senior Citizens for about 5 years and this is a topic that interest me.
I do not think this search method was very productive. I could have more easily created a building block search that would have pinpointed the information I was seeking. Searching in this manner was awkard and more time consuming than the others I attempted.

Citation Pearl Growing-LISTA

This was the first hit:
Planning, communication are key in building new libraries.Preview By: Ames, Kathryn S.; Heid, Greg. Georgia Library Quarterly, Winter2008, Vol. 44 Issue 4, p5-7, 3p; (AN 28783224)
PDF Full Text (179KB)

I located a book in the TWU catalog entited Planning for a New Generation of Public Library Buildings by Gerard B. McCabe. I then looked at the Subject headings: 10 were given, 4 were not relevate since they dealt with other countries and Electonic Books (?)
I then searched in LISTA using these subject headings, selecting the most relevant
Set 1> library buildings AND Design and construction received 241 hits
Set 2> Set 1+library architecture received 39 hits
Set 3> Public libraries and United States and Design and Construction received 95 hits
Set 4> Set 3 and Library Architecture received 6 hits all of them were relevant.

This is an excellent search strategy when you have identified a topic of interest. This method provided guidance for finding similiar items and provided more depth to the subject. LISTA is an excellent database for Library Science students and information professionals.
LISTA is an excellent database and one I have used repeatedly for research. It is lively and colorful, with bright and graphic icons for functions like printing, RSS feeds, Saving, etc. LISTA provides many resources with full text, which students naturally are seeking.

Successive Fractions-ERIC/Internet

Successive Fractions
This was the second hit:
2. FBI Attempt to Screen Archive Prompts Fears: Journalist's Family Wants to Block Search of Papers Held by University (EJ788877)

Author(s):
Carlson, Scott
Source:
Chronicle of Higher Education, v52 n34 pA1 Apr 2006
Pub Date:
2006-04-28
Pub Type(s):
Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Peer-Reviewed:
No
Descriptors:News Reporting; Crime; Academic Libraries; Archives; Information Policy; Access to Information; Federal Regulation; Resistance (Psychology); Advocacy; Censorship
Abstract:During his life and career as a muckraking journalist in Washington, Jack Anderson cultivated secret sources throughout the halls of government--sources who passed on information that allowed Anderson to investigate and write about Watergate, CIA assassination schemes, and countless scandals. His syndicated column, Washington Merry-Go-Round, earned him the enmity of the corrupt and powerful--so much so that during the Watergate years, associates of Nixon had discussed assassinating the columnist. They never went through with the plot. Anderson died in December at the age of 83. His archive, some 200 boxes now being held by George Washington University's library, could be a trove of information about state secrets, dirty dealings, political maneuverings, and old-fashioned investigative journalism, open for historians and up-and-coming reporters to see. But the government wants to see the documents before anyone else. This article reports on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's interest to examine the Anderson archive which caused outrage among members of the Anderson family and has stoked the fears of librarians and academics. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract
Full-Text Availability Options:

Set 1= librar* or public librar* or school librar* or academic librar* HITS= 58,196
Set 2 = Set 1 AND crimes or crime HITS= 186
Set 3= Set 1 AND Set 2 AND policies or policy or procedure* Hit=46

I examined the first 40 hits of the 46 and of these hits 70% dealt with crime of some type in libraries. I think this was a successful search in that it produced additional information to the building block search above. However, I have found it difficult to build a successive fractions search and in many cases it returned hits I did not anticipate.