At the Harris County Public Library we have been participating in a Book Hunters program for a couple years now. It is great fun trying to match titles to readers tastes.
Readers fill out a detailed interest form and provide a few authors and titles that they like. For example one customer liked fantasy fiction, historic fantasy fiction, and well written history. She said that she likes trilogies and series and these are her favorite authors: Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Robin Hobbs, and David Eddings.
Here are a some of the titles suggested to her:
Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Blackout by Connie Willis
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Well of Darkness by Margaret Weis
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Library Routes Project
The Library Routes Project
I have told this story many, many times, but I have never written it down before. I got into the library world almost by accident. I walked into my local branch library the one day they advertised for a "part-time substitute clerk." I wasn't even really job hunting at the time, having two young children at home. I was lucky enough to be hired for the position. This was in 1988 and I started the day after Labor Day. It was an election year and since libraries in Ohio were voter registration sites, I was immediately signed in as a registrar. Over the next two years I eventually worked in 5 different branch libraries and the Dayton - Montgomery County Main Library in Dayton. I loved being a substitute clerk. I could almost set my own hours, but I could also accept more long term assignments for maternity or sick leaves. When I was offered a part-time staff job, I found out that the substitute position paid more because more skills were required!
My home branch was the Northmont Branch in Englewood, OH and I worked there most often. The Children’s Librarian had ordered some information about the Library Science program at IU for a friend of hers who never picked it up, so she gave it to me. I applied to the program and wham I was off on the road to a career. Prior to this I’d only had jobs, nothing that counted for anything. I attended IUPUI in Indianapolis for four years, taking one class a semester and driving 90 miles each way once a week. The first two years I paid for myself. My goal was to have a professional job by the time my children were in high school and preparing for college. I was able to carpool with other library school students for the whole time (except for one semester). And believe it or not, we were never snowed out – in four years of commuting from Dayton to Indianapolis, even though there were weeks when we wished it would snow.
In the meantime I accepted a job as an ILL clerk at the Main library in Dayton. The hours were 9-1 five days a week. Perfect for a mom with kids in grade school! I took a pay cut for this job, but because I was now on staff, I could have my tuition reimbursed. After a year or so in the ILL position I applied for a part-time professional position in the Magazine Room of the Dayton - Montgomery County Public Library and was hired. This position also had great hours for a mom with kids in school. I worked 9-12 most week days, and 12-9 on Thursday, with a full day every other Saturday. Sundays were voluntary at the time. I can’t said things always went perfectly on the home front with childcare and all, but mostly it worked out well, much better that some of the awful jobs I’d had just to bring in some money (mostly to pay the babysitter it turned out).
I graduated from IU in 1994 and have worked as a Reference Librarian ever since. I worked as a corporate librarian for Mead Corporation via Dayton - Montgomery County Public Library, and Compaq Computer Co. in Houston, TX and as a Reference Librarian for the Harris County Public Library in Houston since 2001. I started with HCPL as a Young Adult Librarian for the Cypress Creek Library and moved to Adult Reference when the new building opened in 2003 under the name: The Barbara Bush Branch Library at Cypress Creek.
I have told this story many, many times, but I have never written it down before. I got into the library world almost by accident. I walked into my local branch library the one day they advertised for a "part-time substitute clerk." I wasn't even really job hunting at the time, having two young children at home. I was lucky enough to be hired for the position. This was in 1988 and I started the day after Labor Day. It was an election year and since libraries in Ohio were voter registration sites, I was immediately signed in as a registrar. Over the next two years I eventually worked in 5 different branch libraries and the Dayton - Montgomery County Main Library in Dayton. I loved being a substitute clerk. I could almost set my own hours, but I could also accept more long term assignments for maternity or sick leaves. When I was offered a part-time staff job, I found out that the substitute position paid more because more skills were required!
My home branch was the Northmont Branch in Englewood, OH and I worked there most often. The Children’s Librarian had ordered some information about the Library Science program at IU for a friend of hers who never picked it up, so she gave it to me. I applied to the program and wham I was off on the road to a career. Prior to this I’d only had jobs, nothing that counted for anything. I attended IUPUI in Indianapolis for four years, taking one class a semester and driving 90 miles each way once a week. The first two years I paid for myself. My goal was to have a professional job by the time my children were in high school and preparing for college. I was able to carpool with other library school students for the whole time (except for one semester). And believe it or not, we were never snowed out – in four years of commuting from Dayton to Indianapolis, even though there were weeks when we wished it would snow.
In the meantime I accepted a job as an ILL clerk at the Main library in Dayton. The hours were 9-1 five days a week. Perfect for a mom with kids in grade school! I took a pay cut for this job, but because I was now on staff, I could have my tuition reimbursed. After a year or so in the ILL position I applied for a part-time professional position in the Magazine Room of the Dayton - Montgomery County Public Library and was hired. This position also had great hours for a mom with kids in school. I worked 9-12 most week days, and 12-9 on Thursday, with a full day every other Saturday. Sundays were voluntary at the time. I can’t said things always went perfectly on the home front with childcare and all, but mostly it worked out well, much better that some of the awful jobs I’d had just to bring in some money (mostly to pay the babysitter it turned out).
I graduated from IU in 1994 and have worked as a Reference Librarian ever since. I worked as a corporate librarian for Mead Corporation via Dayton - Montgomery County Public Library, and Compaq Computer Co. in Houston, TX and as a Reference Librarian for the Harris County Public Library in Houston since 2001. I started with HCPL as a Young Adult Librarian for the Cypress Creek Library and moved to Adult Reference when the new building opened in 2003 under the name: The Barbara Bush Branch Library at Cypress Creek.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Evening Book Club in October
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct.15), the Evening book club read and discussed "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez.
"They were the four Mirable sisters - symbols of defiant hope in a country shaowed by dictatorship and despair. They sacrificed their safe and comfortable lives in the name of freedom. Their codename in the revolution was Las Mariposas, 'the butterflies,' and in this extraordinary novel, Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Dede speak across the decades to tell their own stories. From tales of hair ribbons and secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture, they describe the everyday horrors-and the unbelievable joy- of life in the Dominican Republic under dictator Trujillo. Through art and magic, the martyred Butterflies come to vibrant and dramatic life in a warm, brilliant, and heartbreaking story that makes a haunting statement about the human cost of political oppression."
US Penguin Group
Julia Alvarez's father was part of the same group as the Mirabel sisters and they got out, and the Mirabel's did not. Julia, her mother, her father, and her sisters all got out. The book club members enjoyed talking about the "voice" that Alvarez gave to the Mirabel sisters, their lives, their loves, and their faith. They were very human, not tragic stick figures. As a society we need to keep writing and reading books about these awful, charismatic dictators since they seem to keep reappearing in various countries and societies.
"They were the four Mirable sisters - symbols of defiant hope in a country shaowed by dictatorship and despair. They sacrificed their safe and comfortable lives in the name of freedom. Their codename in the revolution was Las Mariposas, 'the butterflies,' and in this extraordinary novel, Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Dede speak across the decades to tell their own stories. From tales of hair ribbons and secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture, they describe the everyday horrors-and the unbelievable joy- of life in the Dominican Republic under dictator Trujillo. Through art and magic, the martyred Butterflies come to vibrant and dramatic life in a warm, brilliant, and heartbreaking story that makes a haunting statement about the human cost of political oppression."
US Penguin Group
Julia Alvarez's father was part of the same group as the Mirabel sisters and they got out, and the Mirabel's did not. Julia, her mother, her father, and her sisters all got out. The book club members enjoyed talking about the "voice" that Alvarez gave to the Mirabel sisters, their lives, their loves, and their faith. They were very human, not tragic stick figures. As a society we need to keep writing and reading books about these awful, charismatic dictators since they seem to keep reappearing in various countries and societies.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
August Evening Book Club Meeting
Welcome to new member Judith and welcome back to Doris.
We sure had a great discussion last night about the book "Consumption" by Kevin Patterson. We talked about how rapid the change was for the Inuit community and how it affected the different generations and their relationships with each other. This also reflects how we live now.
Kevin Patterson:"The Inuit moved from the most traditonal hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the Facebook era in about 15 minutes. Until the late sixties, there were still Inuit living on the land, hunting caribou and seal--even today, when one is talking to someone 50 or older, the chances are good that their childhood was spent in migration, watching the geese and the weather and arctic char, as their ancestors did for thousands, even millions of years...but the subsequent pace of change has been violently fast...Disaffected teenagers, heart disease, and depression are examples of this."
So you can see that there was a lot to talk about.
The September book is "Septembers of Shiraz" by Dalia Sofer
We sure had a great discussion last night about the book "Consumption" by Kevin Patterson. We talked about how rapid the change was for the Inuit community and how it affected the different generations and their relationships with each other. This also reflects how we live now.
Kevin Patterson:"The Inuit moved from the most traditonal hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the Facebook era in about 15 minutes. Until the late sixties, there were still Inuit living on the land, hunting caribou and seal--even today, when one is talking to someone 50 or older, the chances are good that their childhood was spent in migration, watching the geese and the weather and arctic char, as their ancestors did for thousands, even millions of years...but the subsequent pace of change has been violently fast...Disaffected teenagers, heart disease, and depression are examples of this."
So you can see that there was a lot to talk about.
The September book is "Septembers of Shiraz" by Dalia Sofer
Thursday, June 12, 2008
June 10 Movie night for book club
On Tuesday this week the book club viewed "The Painted Veil" based on the book by W. Somerset Maugham. The movie was very different from the book, with a completely different ending. Both were very good. It would have been hard to stay more true to the book in certain aspects since so much of the book took place in Kitty's mind. However, I didn't see any reason to change the ending, except to possibly make the movie more acceptable to the modern audience. It was a little more upbeat than the book, even though Walter dies in both the book and the movie. In the book, Kitty has a last one-night-stand with Charlie and feels devastated. She then goes to the West Indies with her father to have and raise her child. The child is not born yet at the end of the book. In the movie, she meets Charlie on the street in London and introduces him to Walter, her 4 year old son, there is no mention of her father and she doesn't fall into bed with Charlie.
Here is the source of the title:
"Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear."
byPercy Bysshe Shelley
"What Walter and Kitty see is a 'painted veil' - an unreal mimicking of life." Tony Watkins (Culture Watch) -www.damaris.org
Next month's book is The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. We'll meet on July 8 at 7:00 in the WCR conference room on the second floor of the library.
Here is the source of the title:
"Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear."
byPercy Bysshe Shelley
"What Walter and Kitty see is a 'painted veil' - an unreal mimicking of life." Tony Watkins (Culture Watch) -www.damaris.org
Next month's book is The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. We'll meet on July 8 at 7:00 in the WCR conference room on the second floor of the library.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
May Book Club Notes
On May 13 the club met to discuss Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki. Seven members attended and we had fun talking about the various characters, their lies, and the consequences of those lies extending over three generations of a Bengali family. The story took place in Bengal and London.
A few of the quotes we examined were:
"I loved him too much not to hate him now"
"She'd rather be unhappy with the memory of true love, than happy with a real, breathing love."
What replaces true love once it's gone (if not hate). Shona says "emptiness." "..tears where for the coldness of her own unhappy heart."
"Dermot likes her for her intelligence, unlike Parvez who liked her inspite of it."
The issues we covered were bigamy, homosexuality, lies, dysfunctional family, denial, Asians living in London, playing a part rather than living your life, adultery, incest, and mother-daughter relationships.
Comments from readers on Amazon (mixed reviews):
"...unashamedly funny, sharply observed, but also perceptive and tender in its exploration of ethnic difference, family values and relationships..."
"The problem is, it isn't good." "..downright annoying.."
"So this is chick lit for sure."
Anyway, we all enjoyed it and had fun talking about it.
Join us on June 10 at 6:30 pm for a viewing of a movie based on a book by W. Somerset Maugham. The movie stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton.
Val
A few of the quotes we examined were:
"I loved him too much not to hate him now"
"She'd rather be unhappy with the memory of true love, than happy with a real, breathing love."
What replaces true love once it's gone (if not hate). Shona says "emptiness." "..tears where for the coldness of her own unhappy heart."
"Dermot likes her for her intelligence, unlike Parvez who liked her inspite of it."
The issues we covered were bigamy, homosexuality, lies, dysfunctional family, denial, Asians living in London, playing a part rather than living your life, adultery, incest, and mother-daughter relationships.
Comments from readers on Amazon (mixed reviews):
"...unashamedly funny, sharply observed, but also perceptive and tender in its exploration of ethnic difference, family values and relationships..."
"The problem is, it isn't good." "..downright annoying.."
"So this is chick lit for sure."
Anyway, we all enjoyed it and had fun talking about it.
Join us on June 10 at 6:30 pm for a viewing of a movie based on a book by W. Somerset Maugham. The movie stars Naomi Watts and Edward Norton.
Val
Thursday, April 10, 2008
April Book club notes
On Tuesday, April 8 we had a fun discussion of "Stormy Weather" by Paulette Jiles. There were comments about poor character development, like in "Enemy Women." We talked about the strengths and weaknesses of most of the characters. Jeanine was a strong woman, but was an enabler to her father. Her motherwas not a strong woman at all, and the girls had to take over the family. Many secrets were kept from mother, and Jeanine used "a secret" to get close to Innes, Ross's son. Some commented that the story wrapped up to fast and too neatly. Do you agree?
Our May meeting will be on Tuesday, May 13 where we will talk about"Bitter Sweets" by Roopa Farooki. We will meet in the conference room as usual. One member already read the book and loved it. I am eager to hear from the rest of you.
Here is the synopsis: "It follows the machinations of a Bangladeshi-Pakistani family whose penchant for telling lies shapes the destinies of every member, from Henna, who lies her way into a marriage to a wealthy romantic, to her daughter Shona, who struggles with the superficialties binding her loved ones." (Novelist).
Our May meeting will be on Tuesday, May 13 where we will talk about"Bitter Sweets" by Roopa Farooki. We will meet in the conference room as usual. One member already read the book and loved it. I am eager to hear from the rest of you.
Here is the synopsis: "It follows the machinations of a Bangladeshi-Pakistani family whose penchant for telling lies shapes the destinies of every member, from Henna, who lies her way into a marriage to a wealthy romantic, to her daughter Shona, who struggles with the superficialties binding her loved ones." (Novelist).
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