Ryan's Tree for the Modesto Library

Geez, it took me forever and a day to complete this quarter’s newsletter. What’s up with that? And the PDF I created is 4MB 523kb which is huge. Nevertheless, I submit it here for your reading pleasure.

One cool project I wanted to highlight is Ryan’s Tree, the steel art tree in the Children’s Dept. in memory of Ryan Dickerson, son of former Modesto Bee publisher Lynn Dickerson and Ron Dickerson. Ryan drowned in an accident while working at camp,. In trying to make sense of their loss, the Dickerson family is busy doing good works for the community–setting up scholarship funds and now the amazing tree. I hope you consider supporting it. Go to RyansTree.com for more information, and to donate via credit card online.

Doorway to little amphitheater

So what if you offer a workshop on online social networking for Friends groups, and no one signs up?

I wonder if it’s a demographics thing. You know. The age thing. I’m under 50, and most people on library foundation boards or FOL boards seem to skew to a different generation.

However, when I mentioned using MySpace, Facebooks, and blogs at a recent area Friends meeting which involved FOL groups from all 12 of our library branches, I had many folks ooohing and ahhhing at the prospect of marketing our organization online to millennials and Gen-X. So I offered to do a workshop this Saturday to introduce the tools that our own group, the Modesto Friends, has started using.

So far, no takers.

And how did we publicize this meeting, you ask?

I say, “Via email, which isn’t used by most FOL board members in the first place.” D’oh!!

Realized I should just go since it’s in my (smoky) backyard anyway. Here are a few resources I’ve used to help me figure out what to attend & do while in town:

• YALSA at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference wiki
• The O.C.: Our Guide to ALA in Anaheim from School Library Journal 6/1/2008
• Conference Materials from the ALA Conference Materials Archive

Strangely enough, I’ll be staying in an RV park in my family’s gas-tastic motor home. Of course I’ll be taking my 6-year-old to Disneyland on Friday and Sunday. This time we’re definitely utilizing Fastpass and this cool software called RideMax which plots a ride itinerary to minimize ride wait times. No, I’m not compulsive! I just hate waiting in lines….see you there!

My letter to the editor about the upcoming library budget cuts was published yesterday. My initial draft was all outrage and dismay, however in the interest of being optimistic and forward-looking (under the advisement of a more savvy person) I decided to begin  and end on a more positive note and ask people to support the library by joining their local FOL group, or to look at the Library Foundation web site for more ideas.

Sure, this is not the time for protest. I mean, what are we going to do? Cut some other essential human service so the library can stay open on Sundays? We’re lucky that our cuts are so minimal, actually. This is not the Board of Supervisors’ fault–it’s the economy’s fault.

I hope that concerned individuals understand that this is the prime time to get involved–by joining their Friends group.

Stanislaus County Librarian Vanessa Czopek issued recommendations yesterday to deal with the SCFL’s projected budget shortfall for FY 2008/2008. The recommendations include closing the Modesto Library on Sunday, letting all P/T employees go, and closing all branches an additional two days per week. The book budget will also decrease by one-third. WHAT??? It’s all bad news, folks…read about it here in the Modesto Bee piece Stanislaus County Library cuts 94 part-time jobs.

I’m shocked that this is happening Read the rest of this entry »

April is National Poetry Month, and so in honor, here’s a poem I would like to share from Irish poet Mebdh McGuckian, an amazing writer whose work you sense more than understand in the conventional sense of “knowing”:

LEMON WITH WHITE JUG

The ghost island passes us by,
Its Greek name, meaning watchful,
Like a cloud bent back upon itself
Blown smooth by the wind.

Its village, furrowed with cold,
Lays a bed of colour
In the unaccepted space between
Your upper eyelid and eyebrow-

Doors of lawless scarlet,
A purple that can be tied.
Now a dream begins to value
The fretwork of the small red crowd

To its nth foundation, the cool,
Bleached mood in the languish
Of your neck,the gospel-net
Fletching of your arms.

While love and its technologies
Drinks the working day from your palms.

Ah, Medbh. You are amazing. If you liked her work and want to find out more about her, start with this great interview in The Argotist.

I’m giving serious thought to attending the annual ALA Conference in Anaheim this summer for a variety of reasons:

• I just became a member of ALA and maybe there’s something interesting for me to see/do there?
• As president of FOL for Modesto, there will be some great events to attend.

On behalf of the FOL, I can attend the super-fun-looking Laugh’s On Us program featuring Paula Poundstone, June Casagrande, Dan Kennedy, the excellent Beth Lisick & Robert Schimmel.

Also scheduled are two Friends/Trustees “Best Practices” workshops, from which our group can definitely benefit. As a library school grad student and future info professional, I’m quite excited about the many other programs and sessions available to attendees.

Sixteen Rivers authors Dan Bellm, Terry Ehret, and Gillian Wegener will be reading from their new collections at the Mistlin Gallery at 4 pm today. As you’ll recall, Gillian read from her work at the Friends of the Modesto Library annual meeting and bowled everyone over with her great poems (and delivery). We’ll see you there!

If you enjoy shopping for books as much as I do, make it a point to visit the Friends of the Salida Library used book sale this weekend, at the Salida Library, a branch of our beloved SCFL. In addition to thousands of books, they’ll also be selling magazines, videos and CDs. Sale hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 14 and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 15. Call 209-543-7315 for more information.

Paula Poundstone is working with FOLUSA to promote public libraries. Check out the cool PSA she made, urging folks to join their local Friends of the Library group.