it's all greek to me

Information Service Questions of the Day

Late this afternoon I received a phone call from a lady requesting books in other languages.
I began to explain to her that we have books in other languages in each of our branches (Community Languages collection), and was there a particular language she was interested in? She said that she was after books in Greek, and did we have a printed catalogue?
I had a sudden visual memory surge of timber draws with metal handles filled with hole punched index cards in the library of my childhood, but I moved on.
I asked if she had internet access at home so she could look at our online catalogue, but she did not.
I said that I would be happy to show her our catalogue when next she is in the library. ('I' being the collective Information Services team because I move across branches with no set routine, so I was suggesting that anyone on our team will be happy to show her).
It is then that she said that she would like the books for her elderly husband, and that she would like a printout to show him the titles as he is unable to come in.
I had searched on 'Greek' and collection: Community Languages by this time and found 7 titles.
Our Community Languages collection is sourced from SLQ.
I said that we could certainly print out a list of seven titles. As I mentioned our source, my customer asked if she could have a printout of their titles. I thought that might be a different thing entirely, especially in its entirety.
She wanted printouts to show her husband at home. She was particulary keen to see if the titles were in English as well as Greek because she does not speak Greek. She did not want to have to keep coming back asking if we had this title or that title.
After contacting Heather (assistant cataloguer who liaises with SLQ for commlang supplies) I got back to the customer with the relevant information in front of me. A quick search on SLQ's commlang collection found 1604 titles in modern Greek fiction and nonfiction.
I suggested she come in to the library so information services staff could show her the search, she could select a range and we could print out a list.
Of course not all of those from the search are available, but we can sift through to discover which of these we can request for our customer.
Generally our library service has a changeover of languages six monthly, but SLQ is open to requests as necessary.
Our customer was pleased and said that she would visit on Friday. She asked if I would be there. Unfortunately not, but I advised her who would be available that day and have sent that staff member details of our search today.
A bit of a heads up too, because we do not at the moment have printer access from that information services point. Our hard drive was just returned after a ritual cleansing, and the KM guy just said we would be able to find the printer name and add - unfortunately no.
I'd checked everything else with him when he was there. Spydus access, network access, email access, clone screening. Just not the printer *sigh*

Letting the customer know that we can provide her with access to a list of Greek books for her husband was a good result for her, and for us as enhancing the usage of our community language resources is one of our kpi targets. Needs to rise 15%.
Today I contributed to literacy satisfaction and percentages. Yay.

I recently worked with Heather to source nonfiction books in the Urdu language for a customer recently arrived from Pakistan. Our Customer Services team is working on providing a suite of information for our new members from Somalia.

Hey Dorothy, we are not in Maryborough anymore...


SLQ's LOTE collection languages: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/file/0009/73638/SLQ_-_LOTE_collections_prefix_-_May2008.pdf

* I also had an enquiry from a gentleman about Indigenous resources. I showed him our collection and mentioned similar collections in the other branches. He was very impressed with the range and how it was organised.
This time a nice memory of Kerry, our Indigenous Resources librarian, came to me. She would have been happy that the collection suited the gentleman.
He had a very cute daughter who wanted chapter books and cookery books. I showed her the way and asked what she liked to cook. "Cakes!" We looked through a few and I read out some mouthwatering cake names. She laughed.
Another good day at the office.

townsville stories and townsville authors

i am discovering more richly evocative townsville literature, thanks to library colleagues who have lived here for longer than I. and soon it will be time again for one title one townsville, which was such a success earlier this year with alex miller's journey to the stone country.

which book will be the one that all townsville reads?

i have most enjoyed estelle pinney's house on the hill because estelle portrayed the multiculturalism of townsville, and her characters covered the landscape well.
the story revolves mostly around a family of women, but the men are also strongly drawn, especially Nicos, the Greek cafe owner and Belle's sometimes lover.

a few weeks ago i smelled the luscious aroma of monsoon season that so beautifully conveys our northern summer mood. it was still autumn.

today i started kay donovan's bush oranges. kay writes the monsoon so beautifully.

For the first two months in Tully it rained every day, sheets of rain. Heavy, drenching rain you couldn't walk through.... The rainforest shaded the house and kept the inside cool and moist, even when the clouds cleared enough to let the tropical sun shine through. (Donovan, 2001, pp 38-39).

Set in the brooding, tempestuous climate of North Queensland from the 1920s to the 1990s... (from jacket blurb)

I love that NQ's climate is tempestuous and the landscape evocative. Not for us the ordinary adjectives like 'liveable' and 'friendly'.

Bush Oranges has multiple female narrators with many local landmarks making the cut: The Strand, Belgian Gardens, the Criterion Hotel, Magnetic Island and Tully. One of my grandmothers was born in Tully, and NQ remains her favourite place. She dreams about it from Brisbane.

With my cataloguing colleague, Anne, I plan to create a local authors/local stories page on the library website where we highlight some evocative Townsville literature from our collection. Although I have not yet read Thea Astley's The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow, I expect we will include that. Thea Astley taught school here and visited the city library here (not in its present location). And of course Janette Turner Hospital, who I understand taught at JCU some time ago.

This is going to be such fun.

be an information services librarian and make a difference

Darwin's advertising: Reference librarian job description, closes 13 September
Actively participate as a team member and provide outstanding customer service.

Effectively manage reference services and ensure a consistent standard of service delivery across Darwin City Council Libraries.

Fraser Coast's advertising: Information services librarian job description, closes 12 September
The position is responsible for the management and coordination of all functions within the Information & Reference Services section of the Regional libraries. The position is responsible for the organisation, direction and promotion of five (5) discrete operational areas: 1. Reference and information research, 2. Local history, Heritage and Genealogy programs, 3. Community and staff education programs, 4. Statistical monitoring, 5. Cataloguing of specific collections

* and if you're a newgrad or student, participate in the LIS education project survey before 14 September.

#ALIAAccess 2010 Brisbane

say hello to the future. it was good.
#ALIAAccess group on flickr

highlights:

1. meeting tweeps @jobeaz, @rachelwray, @newgradlib, and catching up with Jo and Robyn (fraser coast)
2. Dr Neil Carrington's leadership workshop
3. Helen Partridge's LIS education project
4. the massive twitter interaction during the conference (33%+ delegates tweeting) - realtime responses to discussion
5. north brisbane library visits - checking out design, spaces, information service models, community engagement, staffing, collection development and customer service
6. the interaction and community atmosphere of many sessions, especially #camp
7. the walk from Ibis, across the Victoria Bridge to the convention centre - Brisbane turned on beautiful weather

suggestion:

1. brilliant to have iPads on the perch to play with, but next time - perhaps loan out a few iPads and other devices to delegates in each stream, particularly to newbies so they can tweet intensively in sessions; get a real feel for it.
2. loan out flipcams so short films can be uploaded to the website (#camp, dinners, the lunch buzz, exhibits)

If delegates haven't used these devices preconference, then actually putting them out there will do more to encourage their use and the influence will spread. 

congratulations:

committees did a fabulous job :) thnx

in brisbane june 19-22

Kurilpa Bridge
Ron Mueck exhibition at GoMA
Chapel Hill
Leading Library Teams workshop at the Mercure Hotel
Airtrain

... and I put the finishing touches to my Brisbane poem on the plane on the way home. now i have to send it out in the world.

the benjamin andrew footpath library now in brisbane

http://footpathlibrary.org/index.html

I first heard about the Footpath Library earlier this year so was excited to hear that it had now branched out to Brisbane. Immediately after I sent an email to colleagues about it two came up to me to say what a wonderful idea and if it ever branches out to Townsville they'll be there to help. I had mentioned the TBAFL to another colleague a while ago when she had discussed her idea of setting up a bookclub for homeless people. We have very caring library staff.

So the TBAFL is in Brisbane now, as well as Melbourne and Sydney, with Bernadette Franzoni on the management team. Bernadette has been a young people's librarian and worked on the Summer Reading Club project, so many would know her.

Fiona Crawford, TBAFL Communications Manager, has let me know that in Brisbane TBAFL installs and stocks bookshelves in hostels and community organisations. They have enough volunteers at the moment but Fiona said that they would always appreciate if people wanted to run book drives. Book donation guidelines are on the website.
Knitters alert - The TBAFL will also happily accept knitted scarves and beanies.

Can you support the TBAFL's work with donations of books or knits?
Check here for a simple knitted beanie pattern: http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/hats/footyhat.htm


And, stay warm. It's cold outside.

in the punk salon

now there's an in-your-face label ; not library 2.0 or contemporary practices.

Feel empowered to try new things

you're a libpunk!

let's not follow the old ways just because we think we don't have time to think about better ways.
libpunk-it-up and 'increase social capital' (Kathryn Greenhill) 

don't dismiss twitter because you think it's inane. find out how your library can use it positively. @townsvillelib started off small, but we responded to tweets from people in townsville with information (about the weather, about sushi bars, about cultural highlights, about how to use twitter). incite published @nealthorley's article* about our twitter/web 2.0 use and ABC aired a story about social media use with input from @warrencheetham** after information exchange on twitter. we now also tweet about events and collections, and have a growing list of followers.

* Information delivery and web 2.0 - 31 (4), p. 18 (ALIA members' access, or through databases)
** read more on Warren's blog

Paul Hagon's LP. Michael Stephens, Helene Blowers, all LP. and Comrade Harps.

and again: what Kathryn said:

Librarians using non-proprietary products and groupings not based on institutional alliances to practice their craft and communicate their practice. Open, collaborative enterprises based not on making money, but often on increasing social capital or extending knowledge

more here: Informing Thoughts, Library Attack, Sarah Glassmeyer,

your challenge for the month (if you're not already LP): libpunk-it-up a little more

and tell me about it. What makes you libpunk?

image source : DMUSA store - red mcmarten tartan

writers in townsville

this month in townsville - Alex Miller (Journey to the Stone Country) and Narelle Oliver (Fox and Fine Feathers).

Townsville recently joined a small Australian list of cities running the One Book One City concept with Alex Miller's JTTSC for One Book One Townsville. Alex hosted a book discussion at Riverway and a writers' workshop in Flinders Street library - both well attended.Salisbury  runs OBOC. Brisbane used to until the great Malouf v. Sparrow debate and it split into a writing competition called One Book Many Brisbanes where the resulting book has short stories featuring Brisbane.
So now Townsville joins this list. Where else in Australia is this done? The US has a website to list all the OBOC sites/books. In May One Book One Twitter is on.
What will Townsville read next?

And Narelle Oliver is in town this week for the Books North literature festival. Narelle grew up in and around Toowoomba a little before me. Her most recent book Fox and Fine Feathers is on the shortlist for the CBC Awards. This is a wonderful opportunity for Townsvillians to meet this incredibly talented Australian writer/illustrator, and to learn from her work.
I met her in Mackay some years ago at a SLAQ conference where she talked to us about the process of her work being used as design in the children's area at Brisbane Square Library.
My favourite: The Best Beak in Boonaroo Bay - because it's set at the beach, and it's fun.

whose role is it anyway?

Synopsis: The issue of accepting interlibrary loan requests for textbooks from tertiary students at a public library has stimulated debate on whether the public library should or shouldn't, with or without conditions.
And yes, considering ALIA's standards, SLQ's standards and guidelines, the Australian ILRS code, the library's CDP and mission statement.

Question: What is your public library's guideline on this issue?


Please add your comment below, or email me at wordbox@live.com.au(nospam)
Usual disclaimer: remove (nospam) from the address - make your spam into poetry but not for me.

Thanks!

librarything thing

LibraryThing for Libraries is compatible with Spydus, so it's on my wish list, and now they have Library Anywhere which looks delicious.

Dreaming of future times with an upgrade, I've set up an LT staff site, and a top reads site which lists our most popular borrowed titles each week. We already submit to the the local newspaper's Saturday books page and have listed the titles on our website.
The LT thing is to encourage more interactivity, discussion and wide reading, and to promote use of LT by customers. There's RSS and events/venue listings, reviews, librarysharing, discussions and challenges...

In January's Booklist, Joyce Saricks* is imploring librarians to 'make a list (of titles you read last year), put the titles on a display, add them to your blog... and don't forget to start keeping your list for next year'. Hm. Do it in LibraryThing! It's so much more amazing.


I thought I had our top reads site all swish, especially after excellent coding advice from Jean at CMIS and Neal. I linked the books to the record on our catalogue like Jean does for reviewers. Tested at home and at work - all pretty. Until a very helpful email from Jean who uses Firefox and wasn't getting the link. Hm. I do remember that advice now from Setting up a website 101.

More helpful coding advice from Jean which I will test tomorrow (or later in the week because I'm a bit over coding right now) should see the links working with both Explorer and Firefox. Hope.
Harps, do you have FF (you couldn't access the link on: http://bit.ly/dkn5Ra )?
And probably the links on our top5 webpage don't work in FF either. Hm.

Here's my LT with no trickyschmicky catalogue links: librarianalison on LT (note to self - you're a bit behind in adding titles!)

Ancient memory: A blip in time before I started to get into creating sites on my miniscule scale, I did some training with Melanie Hassell at UQG who told us of having to learn html to write the whole page/s. Thank you technical people behind the scenes who do all the hard work now so we just have to understand code and maybe just write a little. you're awesome!**


* Saricks, J. January 1 & 15, 2010. At Leisure. Booklist. 106 (9-10) p. 41.
** tried to be clever here and put in junk code around 'you're awesome': couldn't 'cause blogger turns it into links. clever blogger.

best how-to books ever

a kick in the head and a a poke in the eye - dangerous stuff!

And there's also:
The Mentor Kit for young poets at Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
The Australian Poetry Centre
Poem in your Pocket Day
the fridge

which poems do you enjoy (writing or reading)? tell me do.

the little library in little street (circa 1980s)

View Larger Map


... just working out how to add Google Maps code to a webpage so that I can use it on our library's site. The red pin came across on this one, but not on the one I did earlier today. Frustrating? Yes. A good challenge? Yes.
The Council built the bigger library in Victoria Street in about 1990 (late 80s?) - two storeys plus a covered carpark.

Laurel Bank Park used to have an amazing playground with some whizzy spinny dizzy things, and there is also a sensory garden in the park. And statues. I must visit again sometime, preferably during Carnival.


View Larger Map

aha! figured it out I think. will test tomorrow at work.

just checking

brand yourself a librarian or with one of these?

love is all around

our library is running a mini-romance writing competition - 50 words, no more, no less - for Library Lovers Day (valentines day for you other romantics) !!
what fun!
more fun today - critically examined the reference serials collection with Julie, and cleared a few shelves ready for those car manuals that are so hugely popular. another day's work ahead with this (that's just serials, then comes the whole reference collection x 3 branches).
yesterday - smart service training with a stash of great ideas for customer service and working to improve kpi outcomes.
tomorrow - feeling the love at a staff meeting, then updating website with a prac student from CSU and our fabulous trainee Bonnie
tomorrow tomorrow - collection development meeting all day - good to have at the beginning of the year so we can get on with it.

2010 is getting better every day.

now if only i can finish that poem / write that guest blog post / get into that literature research / register for that writing class / get that next book to review / and review it / get into the novel / write that mini-romance / and get going on the 10 000 steps challenge / then I can tick February off as a big success.

what are your personal goals for February?

librarything is so much prettier

the tower of books on my bedside table is growing...  

librarything is my new thing

just started Estelle Pinney's House on the Hill - set in Townsville. Fabulous characters so far, and check this from page 27: In the early 1920s Townsville was a melange of graceful stone architecture, wandering suburbs, jerry-built stores, balconied hotels and a sweeping waterfront called the Strand. The town was a mosaic of colours and creeds and down the long main street the torrid air was rich with a cacaphony of different tongues.

Also has luscious descriptions of frangipanis and the monsoon.
I shall have to add a new collection to my librarything, maybe 'Townsville literature' ?

Warren mentioned David Williamson's play/screenplay Travelling North as another story featuring the wet season. I remember seeing the film some years ago.
Which books have you read featuring Townsville or NQ, and particularly with rich visual descriptions? Tell me!

And yes, I will be incorporating librarything into reading promotion for our staff. Looking forward to the day we upgrade to the Spydus version that can incorporate LT.

librarydayinthelife 1

I'm no. 61 on the list of librarians from various countries participating in round 4 of Librarydayinthelife - where a collection of librarians shout out about their day/week in the library.

I'm Alison and I'm an Information Services Librarian at a public library service in north Queensland. I graduated from Charles Sturt University in April '09 and started my professional job search.

I started out as an assistant in a primary school library in central Queensland, created wordbox4writers, while on the Fraser Coast, and am now in my element as ISL in NQ.

If Librarydayinthelife had been on last week I would have written about the mammoth job of weeding stack NF and stack REF. The week ahead promises a lot of information service with our fabulous public. Welcome to a week in the life of a librarian. Check out the wiki for links to other librarians' days and weeks.

happy christmas!

just wanted to share my secret santa story. it can be difficult to find a special gift for a colleague (or classmate if you're at school) for under $10. the person who got the gift i bought liked it (i was eavesdropping) *whew*. and then i received these little figurines - the largest is only about 5 centimetres high - wrapped in a beautiful little red recycled paper bag. i immediately set the little nativity scene up for others to enjoy. i think i know who gifted it, but i haven't been able to catch up with her yet to say thanks - but i could be wrong of course!

thank you secret santa!

it's very sweet.

and starting this saturday down at the strand, townsville has http://www.stableonthestrand.com.au/ - an interactive nativity scene transporting you back to the day. i haven't seen it yet, but there was a similar production in maryborough - get in amongst it.

before our christmas morning tea and secret santa we had our last full staff meeting for the year. our ceo and director attended and listened to us all talk up our service. harps, i mentioned you in my spun conference report - with your library launching IM use. were your ears burning?

If I don't get this book for Christmas I'll be very surprised:

It's probably under the tree already. I'm a very bad gift buyer. I always get given much better gifts than i receive. i just don't shop. or i think - i'll come back later and get that. don't be like me!

Happy Christmas everyone, and if you're travelling - have a splash of fun for me!

spread the joy at christmas

wordbox4writers in MARC!

*smile* Hume Library in Victoria has wordbox linked in their Dynix catalogue, also visible in MARC. As a librarian that makes me smile.
They have the old url but I've alerted them to the new site just now.

So if wordbox was a book it would be hanging out at 808 at Hume. Interesting.


082: 14 $a 808 $b WOR $2 a14

082: 04 $a 808.02079 $b WOR $2 22

245: 00 $a Wordbox $h [website] : $b for young Australian writers and readers!

260: $a [Australia] : $b wordbox.bravehost.com, $c [2006?]-

incite into townsville

my article published in InCite December 2009, page 34 - celebrating the people I've met along the way. Happy Christmas inspiring people - http://tinyurl.com/ye82lkw (pdf article).

I got the print copy in the mail today and found more townsville people had written for InCite also!

Mr Ron Store's article about our QPLA/PLA conference (that he organised so well) is on page 8 with the pretty origami twist fish we all folded (he's going to hate my favoured use of lowercase, but I'm an e.e. cummings fan, and he knows it :)

Bronia Renison from the Townsville Health Library writes with Margaret Larcombe about librarians working with nurses on a research project (page 17). I was at the hospital today and a doctor mentioned how good their library was.

article also from kellie ayre from tablelands - nearish to townsville - page 21.

and, not townsville, but someone I know from CSU and mentioned in my article - Sharon Uthmann, Shire Librarian at Bellingen Shire wrote 'going on a book hunt on the dorrigo plateau' with a colleague.

Jan Richards, ALIA president, made an interesting observation in this themed issue (rural and regional libraries): 'In small rural libraries you can work across a range of tasks and roles, and you have the authority to make decisions and try out new ideas at an early stage in your career'.* It's so true.

* Richards, J. 2009. Frontline. InCite. 30(12). p.4.

Another Townsville colleague, Keil Jones, had an article published in the October issue on Movember.

It all happens in Townsville.**

** although for me it began like this - I grew up in the little library on Toowoomba's Little Street where Robyn Sheahan was children's librarian, and where I read my way through an amazing collection of paper dreams

If you read my article, share in the blog comments your memories of the libraries/librarians in Toowoomba, Dalby, Fraser Coast or Townsville.