My boss tells the following story from her days as a reference librarian. One day a patron approached her and asked for a book about snakes, particularly snakes in that region of Florida. After she had retrieved some snake books, her eyes fell on the paper bag that the patron had placed on the counter. "What's in the bag?" she asked. … [Read more...] about What’s in the bag?
Where’s my Powerpoint presentation?
Recently, a teenager waved me over to the computer on which she was working and asked for my help in accessing her PowerPoint presentation. Thinking that she had never before created a PowerPoint, I was preparing to walk her through it. However, her problem was not what I expected. She opened up the PowerPoint program, and then … [Read more...] about Where’s my Powerpoint presentation?
Not all information is good information
Go to martinlutherking.org and you will find offensive and inflammatory material written by Klan sympathizers. Countless students will no doubt discover this page quite innocently as they prepare to do school reports. This web-page is a blatant example of why Google is not a replacement for libraries. Students often think that whatever material they find on the Internet is … [Read more...] about Not all information is good information
Reading on the job
I supervise four library assistants, and I encourage them to read as many children's books as possible. My rule about reading on the job is simple: If we are slow, by all means read a book; but, it must be a children's book. One of my assistants is a college-aged girl who recently discovered Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner. Skippyjon Jones is a Siamese cat who thinks he's … [Read more...] about Reading on the job
Why I hate the Accelerated Reader Program
Recently, a mother came up to the desk with her third-grade daughter. The daughter had selected a book about horses that she seemed very eager to read. The mother asked me if it was on the Accelerated Reader list. It was not. "Well," she said, "there's no point in my daughter reading this book if she can't get points for it." The child was then made to put the book back on … [Read more...] about Why I hate the Accelerated Reader Program