shelfmonkeys

Just a typical Monday evening. Books to put away, storytime to do, and an unexpected cub scout meeting. Where do I find time to draw these things?

And You Thought I Was So Smart

Okay, I feel silly. I just spent the last five minutes teaching myself to make a linking tag by hand and I noticed that there is a button for it right on this text box. Example: do any of you read the library strip Unshelved? All I did was type in "unshelved" and highlight it. Then I clicked on the teeny icon of the green globe with the blurry thing that's actually chain link but it's so hard to tell at that size. It looks more like two horseshoe magnets. From there you get a prompt for the url (http etc.) which I was at least clever enough to copy from the website before I started.
I did feel like rather an idiot when I bothered to look up a book on creating web pages, search through it for the html bits I wanted, and practiced it on one of the earlier blogs (WebJunction and Spanish Outreach). Then when I started a new post and saw the icon and felt a right dickey-doo-dah.
I can still use the info on other sites that don't have this nifty button, but I'll have to practice or I'll forget how to do this by Sunday. I'd gotten really good at using html for italics and then I didn't do it for a while and suddenly I have to think about it.

shelfmonkeys

All Pumped Up!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like I've been pumped up by Franz and Hans! Zee already has gotten her parking spot, so I'm expecting peace in the middle east and a nice big library full of new furnishings if we will just put our minds to it. I suggest some inspirational wallpaper on our desktops (start>my computer>(other places) control panel>appearance and themes>change the desktop background).
Okay, first we'll have to find something inspirational to look at. I see ... I see a gorgeous storytime room ... with draperies ... special lighting ... mmmmmmlalalalalalalaaa. I see space for all my program planning. I see a nice, comfy chair to sit in ... a recliner ... I see naps! No, ummm, I see lots of productive work being done and lots of room to store stuff.
I see a Great Benefactor. I see someone writing a great big check with lots of 0's. Did I ever tell you people about the check for $6,000,000? It's on my other blog. To this day my friend Temple insists that it was only for $4,000,000. I was moving to New York City and he wrote that I'd need some money and enclosed a check in with the letter. I was all touched and teary until I saw the check. Then I laughed my posterior off. Wish I still had it.
I'm off to wast- um, to research children's room furnishings on the internet. I'll need some pictures!

Survial Spanish for the Library

I have spent an entire hour with this quick course on Spanish for use in the library. It is excellent. Nothing lasts more than two minutes. You'll need headphones and you should probably also download the pdf file that goes with it. That said, there are a couple of inconsistencies between the print and the audio and one ... incomplete piece of information. The inconsistencies are not of great importance. There isn't a whole lot of difference between "de nada" and "por nada" in saying "You're welcome." The difference is regional, like "y'all" versus "you'uns" or "youse guys." There was another one ... what was is? Oh, saying "se vence" instead of "expira" for a card that has expired. Again, it doesn't make a difference, but if you are following along the printed version while listening to the audio, it might confuse you.

One minor thing I'd like to make clear is that, "Excuse me" in English is used for all sorts of things, but there are two ways to translate that into Spanish and they only show one. And there is a difference. You would say "Disculpe" after you have done something rude (bumped into someone, spilled their coffee, interrupted them). If you are about to do something (trying to get someone's attention who is talking to someone else, trying to pass between people or between someone and a wall, say), you use "Permiso." The former apologises for something done, the latter begs permission to do something.

Let's practice this.

You and your co-workers are chatting and don't notice a patron has walked up. They clear their throat. What do you say, dear?
Desculpe. You were being rude and you are asking for forgiveness (literally it means to take away the fault, as in "culpable").

Someone has asked you to find some information for them, but when you are done, they are talking to someone else. What do you say, dear?
Permiso. You ask permission to interrupt their oh-so-important conversation to give them whatever they asked you for. They should say "Disculpe" to you at this point for ignoring you.

You want to put away some books, but there is a crowd of people in the aisle. What do you say, dear?
To self: Hmm, I'll come back here later.
But, as you turn to go back, you bump into someone. What do you say, dear?
Disculpe. Forgive me for bumping into you.

You are in a big hurry to get from one end of the building to another and there is a whole crowd of people in your way. What do you say, dear?
Permiso. Permiso. Permiso, permiso, permiso, permiso.

Having said all this, we also have to take into account discrepancies between the printed part and our specific library. Our bathroom is not near the entrance. I bet you could construct the proper response from the information given. For instance, in the main branch, the bathroom is next to the circulation desk. Our fines are five cents a day, not fifteen. And you can't take out "as many books as you can carry."

If you only learn, "I will go get someone who speaks Spanish," this will be worthwhile. Unlike the French (and sometimes the Germans*), people who speak Spanish are delighted to hear someone attempt their language and appreciate the gesture. After all, we will only be getting more and more people who speak this, not less.

Besides, it's fun. The fidelity of the recording is so good that you can even hear the speaker's stomach growl. No, really.

*Actually, while the French will roll their eyes and start speaking English at you if you even slightly mangle their language, the Germans will think you're cute, but spend hours working on you trying to improve your German ... while speaking perfect English at you. (Oh, ziss iss a common error of zeh English speaker. Zat verb takes zeh Datiff case ant you haff used zeh Accusatiff. Also, zeh adjectiff iss different if you are using zeh definite article. Here, let uss review ...)

Stone Age Librarians

I know I've pushed this "clog" before, but if you don't stop by to look at the "Turn the Page" view of libraries in Pre-historic times, you're really missing something. Ohhh, I had a good laugh! Don't call that hold or shelve that book until you've read this! Whatsamattayou?

WebJunction and Spanish Outreach

I was just wasting ti- I mean, I was checking my professional feeds on bloglines this morning when a new one came up for LibraryTrax (the SC State Library blog) that linked to the updated WebJunction site, a site for library staff. Hot dog! Or, rather, perro caliente! They have a whole section on Spanish Outreach and what amounts to a "short" course (less than an hour) on Spanish for library use. There's mucho mas. Like, dealing with Spanish speakers at the computer. I'm at the CR desk right now, so I can't really investigate it thoroughly (as I'll need sound and ... oh,yeah, I need to be alert to customer interaction, if one comes in today - Heavens, it's been slow) at the moment. Visit the site yourself (link is above in the title). I'll give it a look-see perhaps this afternoon (once I get my programming for next week under control) and report back!

shelfmonkeys

That Little Thingie Button

It was really annoying! For one thing, it wasn't that little! It was enormous and it was overlapping my blog! It was making things difficult to read. So I moved it. I am so proud. I put it somewhere that it won't screw things up. I hope. It took about 10 tries, but now you can read my blog without a few letters on some lines being obliterated. The del.icio.us button fit beautifully on the other blog (which has a different format), but it bothered me on this one, so I moved it up to my profile area.

The Operant Phrase Is ...

A patron called in today asking about the e-books. I took the call because Reference was busy and I've actually used it to read an actual book. We both needed to read that first sentence that says "Visit the Library to set up an account ..." We finally got that straight, though. It was a Dopeslap moment.
And I really enjoyed At Bertram's Hotel. It was short enough to read on-line (I don't think I'd attempt War and Peace) and I had minimal trouble locating where I'd left off.
So we know at least one person (besides my good self) is accessing the e-books.

Bookmoochers in SecondLife

Okay, I'm turning nerd here. I read about an area for Bookmoochers in SecondLife and I had to go visit. I had lost interest in SecondLife (SL) because apparently I was walking around boring people to death. Well, here's a new place to bore people! I had a nice chat with Mrs. Bookmooch (who runs the Magnatunes website, an ancillary site to Bookmooch ... or the other way around). There's a tiny corner (with a dog) for moochers and the rest of the area is given over to listening to sample music from Magnatunes ... each genre of music with its own space and decor.
SecondLife isn't exactly on the StaffDevelopomendo list, but it was talked about at the Library 2.0 Thingie. I had downloaded the programming at home and gone in to wander about. I have also taken a class in SL on how to create objects in SL. This is definitely not for people with limited time. The Library on Info Island is looking for volunteers, however. Now, this is what cracks me up about the various libraries (they just opened one for Genealogy) on SL: they have little, tiny computers you can use to look up stuff. You're already on a freakin' computer!!! And the databases, etc., are hardly going to be any faster going through the shell programming of SL. I just think that's soooo funny.
Please note the Bookmooch t-shirt I'm wearing. I'm just geeking-out thinking about the whole thing.

Long Beach

Count up four floors and four or five panes in (probably the first without the reflection of the building) and that was our room ... the next to the farthest from the elevator. We had a "lovely" view of the lagoon, the sports arena, and the back of the convention center. Oh, yeah - and the Pacific waaaay off in the distance if you craned your neck around. There is a beach in Long Beach, if you go east. If you go west, not two minutes from the hotel, there is a deep water port and those big oil tanks. Like the rest of the LA area, there are oil derricks pumping away in the most unlikely spots: say, parks.

I highly recommend this hotel (whatsis, the Hyatt Somethingorother), or at least the half of it closest to the elevators, as a convention site. It was apparently expensive and after taking a poll, it was decided that they'd go back to Disney*%##ingland next March (not this March). I can believe it! Long Beach is a beautiful city, the hotel is near abso*%33inglutely everything you could possibly want or need by foot - everything from the Queen Mary and the Aquarium to Wal-Mart (which is so expertly hidden in downtown, you'd hardly know it was there).

I visited my cousin in Rancho Palos Verdes and we went to lunch with her friend, Debbie. This is my rich cousin, by the way, who picked a restaurant from a coupon received in the mail that morning. Okay, it was a restaurant she liked and not Bojangles, but it just goes to show that we are definitely related. Marylyn is having rotator cuff surgery (she is recovering at this writing) and she seems to intimate that this will be next for me after a gall bladder operation (which also seems to run in the family). And for those of you who don't believe that our family's health stuff is that related, five of us have had to have carpal tunnel surgery, at least two the gall bladder, and Dad's shoulder hardly moves at all these days but he never had anything done because it might have interfered with his golf.

I managed to get to one beadstore, two Indian restaurants, and one Thai restaurant. I have written reviews for same on Yahoo Travel. Don't I love this 2.0 stuff!

I will post further photos on Flickr. Click on title above for link.