While my reading taste is pretty eclectic, I read mostly a lot of mysteries and I read a lot of mysteries in series. And I like to read them in order. A valuable resource is the site Fantastic Fiction. There I can key in the name of an author and see a list of titles in chronological order.
Another perk is that the main character of that series is listed - like Kinsey Millhone or V.I. Warshawski. Author J.A. Jance has several character series going on simultaneously, and Fantastic Fiction separates them out for me.
I've recently discovered the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. Flavia is an 11-year-old girl who lives with her father and two older sisters. The story takes place in the English countryside shortly after World War II, but the writing style is sort of Gothic and Flavia is a delight. She's nerdy and interested in chemistry, especially poisons. While she's not the sort of character with which I can identify (like Kinsey or V.I.), she's bright and quirky and fun. I just requested the second title in the series (The Weed that String's the Hangman's Bag) and it's on my bed table waiting its turn to be read.
Last night, I started an old Marcia Muller mystery, There's Something in a Sunday. I've been reading this series with investigator Sharon McCone for many years and decided to start at the beginning and read through it.
And I just finished Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert. China Bayles is another protagonist that I've been following over the years and have decided to read (in some cases re-read) the books in order.
For a break from mysteries, I read Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. This was a long book, but thoroughly absorbing. However, it took me several pages to really become involved with the characters and the situation. I remember reading The World According to Garp many years ago and being immediately mesmerized. I think I made a mistake by reading the flyleaf which warned of violence; I then began the story with some trepidation. I was almost relieved when the killing happened fairly early in the narrative. It wasn't very bad in terms of violence and I could relax and enjoy the rest of the book.
I don't know much about John Irving, but I noticed a lot of parallels between his life and that of the main character, the writer Danny Angel. Danny taught at Windham College in Putney Vermont. So did Irving. A friend of mine was a student there and he was her English professor. Danny's fourth novel becomes a best seller and makes him famous. Checking the list of titles written by Irving, Garp was his fourth, a best seller and made him famous. And as the book ends, Danny is writing a new novel that sounds very much like Last Night in Twisted River.
Another pleasure of the book was the description of Brattleboro, a town that I love. Someone once described it as "a college town in search of a college". That's so true. It has all of the flavor that a college town has: boutiques, craft galleries, book stores - but there is no college. Windham closed many years ago. In its place is Landmark College for people with various learning disabilities. Plus Landmark is in Putney, the next town north. Marlboro College is a good 10 miles to the west and Keene State is east in New Hampshire. Still, I love Brattleboro and it has a great public library with an amazing art collection.
Brattleboro is a place I try to visit at least once a year. I think I'm due for a trip there soon.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Why I Do What I Do
Three days each week, 6 hours on each of those days, I sit in front of a computer at the Massachusetts Library System and work with (on?) the MassCat online catalog. This may seem like a boring and tedious job to some people (and sometimes it is), but it suits me and actually brings me much satisfaction.
I do several different things: I import bib records that library receive from their vendors when they buy new books and other materials; I find bib records via paid sources to which I have access; I create bib records when they don't already exist. All of this keeps a library's catalog accurate so patrons and staff know what the library owns and where the item is.
Most of my time is spent searching for and merging duplicate records. If you've spent any time reading this blog, you know I'm now on the letter "K". I started on titles beginning with the word "Kissinger" yesterday. (There were over 800 hits using that one word in a keyword search.)
As I find duplicates, I look at the records side by side to make sure they are exactly the same and then hit the "Merge" button. All libraries with holdings on either record are now all listed as owners of this one version of a title.
Okay, that's what I do; now for why I do it.
There are lots of benefits from merging duplicate records, but I'm sure most people - even most librarians - don't even think about it, so here they are.
Benefits to the Patrons: Whether in a public, school, or special library, if one enters a keyword search with one or two words (as in the Kissinger example above), the result is a long list of books, audio books, videos, and other materials containing that word. Sorting through that list can be difficult. Many books, especially popular titles like James Patterson's Private Paris, come in a variety of formats: regular print, large print, book on CD. There might also be a mass market paperback, a DVD, Blu-ray and/or an e-book.
Each of these formats needs its own bib record for Interlibrary Loan purposes. If I can only comfortably read large print, I don't want to get a mass market paperback; I don't want a Blu-ray disc if I don't have a player on which to view it.
It can be confusing enough navigating the myriad versions of a title, but having two or more bib records of the exact same thing only adds to the confusion. Hence, merging duplicate records.
Another benefit for the patron is having all owning libraries listed on one record, rather than each owning library having a separate record. Some libraries, particularly historical societies and other special libraries, do not allow their materials to circulate; a person can use them on site, but not take them out of the building. But if another library also owns the same title and does allow their collection to circulate, I can borrow that copy via Interlibrary Loan.
And if two different historical societies own the same item, which is often the case, and I can only use that item on site, I can travel to whichever is closer.
There are benefits to the library staff as well especially for those involved in collection development: If a particular title in my collection has been lost but several other libraries in the area own it (which I can easily tell by looking at the list of owning libraries listed on said title), I might not bother to replace that title since my patrons can borrow it elsewhere. That helps stretch my materials budget. Similarly, if a specific book is looking shabby, I can weed it knowing my patrons have access to it at another library. That keeps my library looking fresher and more inviting.
As I stand and stretch and take a quick walk because too much sitting can stiffen my joints, I reflect on what I've accomplished that day and think of my contribution - small but important - to MassCat libraries.
I do several different things: I import bib records that library receive from their vendors when they buy new books and other materials; I find bib records via paid sources to which I have access; I create bib records when they don't already exist. All of this keeps a library's catalog accurate so patrons and staff know what the library owns and where the item is.
Most of my time is spent searching for and merging duplicate records. If you've spent any time reading this blog, you know I'm now on the letter "K". I started on titles beginning with the word "Kissinger" yesterday. (There were over 800 hits using that one word in a keyword search.)
As I find duplicates, I look at the records side by side to make sure they are exactly the same and then hit the "Merge" button. All libraries with holdings on either record are now all listed as owners of this one version of a title.
Okay, that's what I do; now for why I do it.
There are lots of benefits from merging duplicate records, but I'm sure most people - even most librarians - don't even think about it, so here they are.
Benefits to the Patrons: Whether in a public, school, or special library, if one enters a keyword search with one or two words (as in the Kissinger example above), the result is a long list of books, audio books, videos, and other materials containing that word. Sorting through that list can be difficult. Many books, especially popular titles like James Patterson's Private Paris, come in a variety of formats: regular print, large print, book on CD. There might also be a mass market paperback, a DVD, Blu-ray and/or an e-book.
Each of these formats needs its own bib record for Interlibrary Loan purposes. If I can only comfortably read large print, I don't want to get a mass market paperback; I don't want a Blu-ray disc if I don't have a player on which to view it.
It can be confusing enough navigating the myriad versions of a title, but having two or more bib records of the exact same thing only adds to the confusion. Hence, merging duplicate records.
Another benefit for the patron is having all owning libraries listed on one record, rather than each owning library having a separate record. Some libraries, particularly historical societies and other special libraries, do not allow their materials to circulate; a person can use them on site, but not take them out of the building. But if another library also owns the same title and does allow their collection to circulate, I can borrow that copy via Interlibrary Loan.
And if two different historical societies own the same item, which is often the case, and I can only use that item on site, I can travel to whichever is closer.
There are benefits to the library staff as well especially for those involved in collection development: If a particular title in my collection has been lost but several other libraries in the area own it (which I can easily tell by looking at the list of owning libraries listed on said title), I might not bother to replace that title since my patrons can borrow it elsewhere. That helps stretch my materials budget. Similarly, if a specific book is looking shabby, I can weed it knowing my patrons have access to it at another library. That keeps my library looking fresher and more inviting.
As I stand and stretch and take a quick walk because too much sitting can stiffen my joints, I reflect on what I've accomplished that day and think of my contribution - small but important - to MassCat libraries.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Kennedy and Khrushchev
Since I'm now working on the letter "K" in my alphabetical list of duplicates, a couple of weeks ago I arrived at Kennedy.
A search on the single keyword "Kennedy" brought up over 2,000 hits. It likely would have been more, but some of the problems were resolved in the "John" search.
Besides Jack, Bobby and Ted, there are lots of other people whose names include Kennedy, like William Kennedy who wrote lots of books found in library collections and therefore increased the number of hits.
Shortly after Kennedy, came Khrushchev. There weren't nearly as many hits, but there were several hundred - again, many having already been merged because they were found in the Kennedy (or John) search. My teen years occurred during the 60s, and I was acutely aware of the Cold War. I even learned how to spell Khrushchev (perhaps it was a school assignment). I found one bib record with his name misspelled, probably because the record had been hand keyed into the library's former catalog.
Since most of the MassCat members are school libraries, I have concluded there are lots of materials (mostly books) covering the 1960s. I have since learned that there was lots of money for public schools in those years and library collection were well developed. Unfortunately, that's not still the case. School libraries are chronically underfunded and since librarians want their libraries to look as if they have resources, there's not much weeding going on. I'd really like to see a chart or graph of the publication dates of school library collections. I can just about guarantee it would skew heavily to the latter half of the twentieth century.
I can attest those were interesting times that today's students should know about, but how often are most of these books read?
A search on the single keyword "Kennedy" brought up over 2,000 hits. It likely would have been more, but some of the problems were resolved in the "John" search.
Besides Jack, Bobby and Ted, there are lots of other people whose names include Kennedy, like William Kennedy who wrote lots of books found in library collections and therefore increased the number of hits.
Shortly after Kennedy, came Khrushchev. There weren't nearly as many hits, but there were several hundred - again, many having already been merged because they were found in the Kennedy (or John) search. My teen years occurred during the 60s, and I was acutely aware of the Cold War. I even learned how to spell Khrushchev (perhaps it was a school assignment). I found one bib record with his name misspelled, probably because the record had been hand keyed into the library's former catalog.
Since most of the MassCat members are school libraries, I have concluded there are lots of materials (mostly books) covering the 1960s. I have since learned that there was lots of money for public schools in those years and library collection were well developed. Unfortunately, that's not still the case. School libraries are chronically underfunded and since librarians want their libraries to look as if they have resources, there's not much weeding going on. I'd really like to see a chart or graph of the publication dates of school library collections. I can just about guarantee it would skew heavily to the latter half of the twentieth century.
I can attest those were interesting times that today's students should know about, but how often are most of these books read?
Friday, September 30, 2016
Shopping in Provincetown
M. and I just returned from a week in Provincetown where we attended the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. This was our 7th TW Festival and the 5th year in a row. We may take a break next year.
The festival organizers are looking for new ways to present TW's plays. Having organized plenty of conferences, I understand this completely. 2016 marks 100 years since Eugene O'Neill's first play was performed in Provincetown and half of the plays were his. The theme was "Beyond Success" because after both Williams and O'Neill were big hits, they tried experimenting, not always to great acclaim. These plays were the ones written later in their careers.
Next year's theme is "Shakespeare" so perhaps I don't want to skip that.
One of the things I like the best about going to Provincetown at this time of year is the shopping. It's post "season" when there are far fewer tourists and many store are winding down, some closing for the winter. There are LOTS OF SALES. As I look through my wardrobe, much of my clothing is from Provincetown.
This year's purchases include: Rubber sandals, a white tunic top with floral design, a white blouse with white embroidery, 4 pairs of earrings (M. bought 2 of them in the Turkish store that he likes so much), water shoes, a bandana (which I donated to the Hatfield Senior Center to use for stretching during exercise class), postcards, and a box of note cards.
M. bought another mermaid statue. He's beginning to develop a collection of them. He didn't buy any clothes for himself, though he has in the past.
I've just finished my morning tea and bagel and it's time to get dressed for exercise and work. I'm looking forward to wearing my new tunic. But which earrings to choose?
The festival organizers are looking for new ways to present TW's plays. Having organized plenty of conferences, I understand this completely. 2016 marks 100 years since Eugene O'Neill's first play was performed in Provincetown and half of the plays were his. The theme was "Beyond Success" because after both Williams and O'Neill were big hits, they tried experimenting, not always to great acclaim. These plays were the ones written later in their careers.
Next year's theme is "Shakespeare" so perhaps I don't want to skip that.
One of the things I like the best about going to Provincetown at this time of year is the shopping. It's post "season" when there are far fewer tourists and many store are winding down, some closing for the winter. There are LOTS OF SALES. As I look through my wardrobe, much of my clothing is from Provincetown.
This year's purchases include: Rubber sandals, a white tunic top with floral design, a white blouse with white embroidery, 4 pairs of earrings (M. bought 2 of them in the Turkish store that he likes so much), water shoes, a bandana (which I donated to the Hatfield Senior Center to use for stretching during exercise class), postcards, and a box of note cards.
M. bought another mermaid statue. He's beginning to develop a collection of them. He didn't buy any clothes for himself, though he has in the past.
I've just finished my morning tea and bagel and it's time to get dressed for exercise and work. I'm looking forward to wearing my new tunic. But which earrings to choose?
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Recipes
I love to cook.
I find it creative and relaxing and, of course, I also need to eat.
Cooking is also a gift I give to my husband and friends.
Because I cook, I'm always looking for interesting recipes. I don't own many cookbooks. I used to, but realized I was only using a few recipes from each and books take up a lot of space. So I copied the recipes I like on 3x5 cards, put them in a file box, and gave the cookbooks to the Friends of the Library book sale.
As I read through the evening newspaper (it's really a morning newspaper, but I end up reading it in the evening when I come home from work), I sometimes see recipes I'd like to try. When the local food co-op sends out a newsletter, it usually has a recipe or two that I'd like to try. Magazines are another source of potential recipes. And I sometimes I'll borrow a cook book from my local public library, especially one on vegetarian meals, and look for recipes I'd like to try.
After I've tried a recipe, if I like it and M. likes it, I'll write it down on a 3x5 card and add it to the file box. Sometimes, I need to make adjustments and try it again before it gets written down.
Since I've liked to cook for a very long time (ever since I came to terms with the fact that a feminist can do something so traditional as cooking), I've been on the lookout for recipes.
After the recipe has been cut (or more likely torn) from the newspaper, or photocopied from the library cookbook, it sits on top of the microwave oven, in plain sight, until I've had a chance to try it. I used to put it in a drawer, but, alas, it would be forgotten and languish until I felt the need to hunt for it. Unfortunately, that pile on the microwave sometimes gets annoying and gets transferred to the recipe drawer to languish.
The recipe drawer is getting full and messy and it's too hard to wade through all of the recipes I've mostly forgotten about.
While trying to find a recipe I was sure was in there, I decided to at least sort through all of these pieces of paper and put them in some kind of order. That way, when I wanted to try a fish recipe, I could go to the fish folder and save myself a lot of time.
And so I began. I made piles: "breads", "breakfasts", "soups/stews", "salads", "pasta", "vegetables", etc. Then I took some file folders, labeled them, and stuffed the appropriate recipes into each. By then I was tired and was less than half way through all those bits of paper.
A few days later, I continued the task. I actually found pages of newspapers dating back to 1988! When I look at some of these recipes, I can truly say "I'll never make that" and just toss it into the paper recycling bag. That's where many of the fancy dessert recipes have ended. I need fewer desserts, fancy or otherwise.
My recipe pile is looking a little less daunting, though I haven't yet tried any of the recently unearthed recipes.
After I finish sorting through the "to be tried" pile, I'm going to weed out the file box. There are a lot of recipes I added 20 or 30 years ago that I no longer use. This project could take a long time. I wonder if I'll have any time to actually try any of these new recipes?
I find it creative and relaxing and, of course, I also need to eat.
Cooking is also a gift I give to my husband and friends.
Because I cook, I'm always looking for interesting recipes. I don't own many cookbooks. I used to, but realized I was only using a few recipes from each and books take up a lot of space. So I copied the recipes I like on 3x5 cards, put them in a file box, and gave the cookbooks to the Friends of the Library book sale.
As I read through the evening newspaper (it's really a morning newspaper, but I end up reading it in the evening when I come home from work), I sometimes see recipes I'd like to try. When the local food co-op sends out a newsletter, it usually has a recipe or two that I'd like to try. Magazines are another source of potential recipes. And I sometimes I'll borrow a cook book from my local public library, especially one on vegetarian meals, and look for recipes I'd like to try.
After I've tried a recipe, if I like it and M. likes it, I'll write it down on a 3x5 card and add it to the file box. Sometimes, I need to make adjustments and try it again before it gets written down.
Since I've liked to cook for a very long time (ever since I came to terms with the fact that a feminist can do something so traditional as cooking), I've been on the lookout for recipes.
After the recipe has been cut (or more likely torn) from the newspaper, or photocopied from the library cookbook, it sits on top of the microwave oven, in plain sight, until I've had a chance to try it. I used to put it in a drawer, but, alas, it would be forgotten and languish until I felt the need to hunt for it. Unfortunately, that pile on the microwave sometimes gets annoying and gets transferred to the recipe drawer to languish.
The recipe drawer is getting full and messy and it's too hard to wade through all of the recipes I've mostly forgotten about.
While trying to find a recipe I was sure was in there, I decided to at least sort through all of these pieces of paper and put them in some kind of order. That way, when I wanted to try a fish recipe, I could go to the fish folder and save myself a lot of time.
And so I began. I made piles: "breads", "breakfasts", "soups/stews", "salads", "pasta", "vegetables", etc. Then I took some file folders, labeled them, and stuffed the appropriate recipes into each. By then I was tired and was less than half way through all those bits of paper.
A few days later, I continued the task. I actually found pages of newspapers dating back to 1988! When I look at some of these recipes, I can truly say "I'll never make that" and just toss it into the paper recycling bag. That's where many of the fancy dessert recipes have ended. I need fewer desserts, fancy or otherwise.
My recipe pile is looking a little less daunting, though I haven't yet tried any of the recently unearthed recipes.
After I finish sorting through the "to be tried" pile, I'm going to weed out the file box. There are a lot of recipes I added 20 or 30 years ago that I no longer use. This project could take a long time. I wonder if I'll have any time to actually try any of these new recipes?
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Cats and Rabbits
This song has been running through my head for months. I even find myself silently singing it when I get up in the middle of the night to pee. I don't know why it suddenly appeared.
While it sounds as if it's from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (and it is), I haven't seen that movie in many years and I didn't remember that song at all. Not like "Painting the Roses Red" or "I'm Late, I'm Late".
The oddest thing is that when the song first appeared in my head, I could only remember the melody and bits and pieces of the lyric. As I worked on it (or it worked on me), I remembered more and more of the words. When I finally did my Google search, I had remembered the words almost perfectly. How did that happen? Especially since I didn't even remember the song!
I suspect that one evening as I was reading in bed listening to Jazz à la Mode, Tom Reney played the song and it seeped into my brain before I even realized it. While I'm getting a little tired of "Cats and Rabbits" there are far worse songs I could be stuck with.
Alice in Wonderland is my very favorite of all the Disney movies. It's about a little girl who has big dreams. She takes a chance, has an incredible adventure, and meets lots of very interesting people. Yes, she's sometimes in danger, but she's able to cope without the aid of a prince - handsome or otherwise. What a wonderful story.
While it sounds as if it's from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (and it is), I haven't seen that movie in many years and I didn't remember that song at all. Not like "Painting the Roses Red" or "I'm Late, I'm Late".
The oddest thing is that when the song first appeared in my head, I could only remember the melody and bits and pieces of the lyric. As I worked on it (or it worked on me), I remembered more and more of the words. When I finally did my Google search, I had remembered the words almost perfectly. How did that happen? Especially since I didn't even remember the song!
I suspect that one evening as I was reading in bed listening to Jazz à la Mode, Tom Reney played the song and it seeped into my brain before I even realized it. While I'm getting a little tired of "Cats and Rabbits" there are far worse songs I could be stuck with.
Alice in Wonderland is my very favorite of all the Disney movies. It's about a little girl who has big dreams. She takes a chance, has an incredible adventure, and meets lots of very interesting people. Yes, she's sometimes in danger, but she's able to cope without the aid of a prince - handsome or otherwise. What a wonderful story.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Judging a Book by its Cover
I often choose a book to read because I like its cover, so how could I resist a book that displayed a little black dress?I love little black dresses. I've owned several over the years. I've admired even more. Who can forget Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's? Now that's a little black dress to admire.
Nine women, one dress was an absolute delight to read.
The book reminded me of works by Maeve Binchey or Fannie Flagg. There are lots of characters, beautifully developed, and a central theme, so that the characters are related and everything ties together. This is a book I can easily recommend to anyone and everyone.
On the workfront, I have finally arrived at the letter K.
I'm totally convinced there are gremlins that invade the MassCat database when I'm not working on it. They create duplicate records and typos and turn book records into e-book records. The more I try to straighten out this catalog, the more stuff I find that needs fixing. Every time I think I'm making progress, I stumble upon a section that is so sad, I have trouble believing I haven't found it before. Cleaning up this catalog is definitely a long term project.
I guess this is called "job security".
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Four Days of RDA
In June, I gave two all-day workshops on RDA. This month, I also gave two all-day workshops on RDA. That's the same workshop four times in two months. I'm ready for a break from teaching RDA.
There are pros and cons, of course, of doing something like that.
There's a lot of preparation involved for any workshop even though I've given this one before. All handouts have to be reviewed and many updated. Changes are made based on the success (or lack of) of examples and exercises I used previously. But I only had to do the prep once because the workshops were held so close together. That saved me a lot of time.
In giving these one after another, I was able to build up a sort of momentum. I was better prepared for certain kinds of questions because they had been asked just a couple of weeks before. As I began each teaching day, I felt more confident than I did for the previous one.
A lot of energy goes into giving a presentation and I use twice as much for an all-day program than for a half-day (which is usually the schedule for Continuing Education in Library Land). Therefore, I'm pretty tired by the end of each of the days. More so for two of them which involved an overnight because of their distance.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty satisfied. They all went well and the evaluations were very positive. But as I said in the beginning of this post, I'm ready for a break from teaching RDA.
There are pros and cons, of course, of doing something like that.
There's a lot of preparation involved for any workshop even though I've given this one before. All handouts have to be reviewed and many updated. Changes are made based on the success (or lack of) of examples and exercises I used previously. But I only had to do the prep once because the workshops were held so close together. That saved me a lot of time.
In giving these one after another, I was able to build up a sort of momentum. I was better prepared for certain kinds of questions because they had been asked just a couple of weeks before. As I began each teaching day, I felt more confident than I did for the previous one.
A lot of energy goes into giving a presentation and I use twice as much for an all-day program than for a half-day (which is usually the schedule for Continuing Education in Library Land). Therefore, I'm pretty tired by the end of each of the days. More so for two of them which involved an overnight because of their distance.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty satisfied. They all went well and the evaluations were very positive. But as I said in the beginning of this post, I'm ready for a break from teaching RDA.
Friday, July 15, 2016
Binge Watching "I Love Lucy" and Reading in Between
I recently borrowed the entire 4th season of "I Love Lucy". This was aired during the years 1953-54.
I've watched so many re-runs of "I Love Lucy" I don't know if I actually saw any of these episodes in first-runs. In those days, I was not old enough to be up and awake when the show was aired even though it wasn't all that late. I do sometimes remember when I couldn't sleep, I'd sit at the top of the stairs and listen to Lucy's antics and listen to my father laugh nearly uncontrollably. I didn't hear my father laugh a lot, so clearly, "I Love Lucy" must have been pretty special.
The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz combination was pretty special. The plots were quite involved. Even though you knew it would turn out all right at the end, there was an extremely circuitous route to get there. When Lucy and Desi split and Lucy continued on with her own shows, I stopped watching. Those later ones are not nearly as witty or funny.
I also stopped watching "Cheers" when Diane left the show. Actually, I reluctantly watched for a couple of more years, but shouldn't have bothered. In my opinion, Rebecca was never as good as Diane. The only television show that continued to be great (if not better) with a change in characters was "M.A.S.H. "
I've also been reading an absolutely wonderful book. I'm nearly at the end and already feeling sad that the journey will be over soon. A woman is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her son, Will, often takes her to doctor's appointments and chemotherapy treatments and visits with her while she spends the month of March in Florida to escape the New York City winter. Since they are both readers, they recommend books to each other and discuss them. It is an informal book club of two and the book is The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.
Sometimes Will and his mother re-read older books, sometimes newer ones. The subject matter varies greatly as both have widely eclectic tastes: novels, short stories, poetry, fiction and non-fiction, humorous and dark. There is so much information about books, that it is practically an annotated bibliography. And it's so beautifully written it's a pleasure to read.
Someone in my exercise recommended this book to me. Unfortunately, I can't remember who it was, but I want to thank her (I'm pretty sure it was a woman), and I fully intend to continue the favor and recommend this book to someone else. I want everyone to read it.
I've watched so many re-runs of "I Love Lucy" I don't know if I actually saw any of these episodes in first-runs. In those days, I was not old enough to be up and awake when the show was aired even though it wasn't all that late. I do sometimes remember when I couldn't sleep, I'd sit at the top of the stairs and listen to Lucy's antics and listen to my father laugh nearly uncontrollably. I didn't hear my father laugh a lot, so clearly, "I Love Lucy" must have been pretty special.
The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz combination was pretty special. The plots were quite involved. Even though you knew it would turn out all right at the end, there was an extremely circuitous route to get there. When Lucy and Desi split and Lucy continued on with her own shows, I stopped watching. Those later ones are not nearly as witty or funny.
I also stopped watching "Cheers" when Diane left the show. Actually, I reluctantly watched for a couple of more years, but shouldn't have bothered. In my opinion, Rebecca was never as good as Diane. The only television show that continued to be great (if not better) with a change in characters was "M.A.S.H. "
I've also been reading an absolutely wonderful book. I'm nearly at the end and already feeling sad that the journey will be over soon. A woman is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her son, Will, often takes her to doctor's appointments and chemotherapy treatments and visits with her while she spends the month of March in Florida to escape the New York City winter. Since they are both readers, they recommend books to each other and discuss them. It is an informal book club of two and the book is The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.
Sometimes Will and his mother re-read older books, sometimes newer ones. The subject matter varies greatly as both have widely eclectic tastes: novels, short stories, poetry, fiction and non-fiction, humorous and dark. There is so much information about books, that it is practically an annotated bibliography. And it's so beautifully written it's a pleasure to read.
Someone in my exercise recommended this book to me. Unfortunately, I can't remember who it was, but I want to thank her (I'm pretty sure it was a woman), and I fully intend to continue the favor and recommend this book to someone else. I want everyone to read it.
Friday, July 8, 2016
The New Office
MLS-Whately is now MLS-Northampton. We've moved into our new office and are getting settled.
My work space is much larger than the one I had before. I don't know what to do with all the room! The downside is that I don't have a separate office. Well, I never actually had a separate office. When I first became the MassCat cataloger, I shared an office with my boss Nora (who is now Director of the Emily Williston Library in Easthampton). However, Nora was pretty quiet and she was there if I had a question about how to do something in Koha.
When Nora left MassCat for her new job, the town of Whately had already purchased the building and began moving offices into it. The remainder of the MLS crew all moved into one office, but that was usually only one other person.
Now I'm in a big room with dividers and can hear other people's conversations. Fortunately, not many people are there most of the time and I'm in a corner, so I play classical music as background.
Here's an image of the Pot Pourri Mall. We have the office in the upper left hand corner.
My work space is much larger than the one I had before. I don't know what to do with all the room! The downside is that I don't have a separate office. Well, I never actually had a separate office. When I first became the MassCat cataloger, I shared an office with my boss Nora (who is now Director of the Emily Williston Library in Easthampton). However, Nora was pretty quiet and she was there if I had a question about how to do something in Koha.
When Nora left MassCat for her new job, the town of Whately had already purchased the building and began moving offices into it. The remainder of the MLS crew all moved into one office, but that was usually only one other person.
Now I'm in a big room with dividers and can hear other people's conversations. Fortunately, not many people are there most of the time and I'm in a corner, so I play classical music as background.
Here's an image of the Pot Pourri Mall. We have the office in the upper left hand corner.
Friday, July 1, 2016
Lisa Scottoline does it again
I've just finished reading Lisa Scottoline's newest book, Most Wanted. I highly recommend it.
Scottoline is one of my favorite authors. I love her Rosato & Associates series, but her other, stand-alone books, are excellent.
It took me a few chapters to really get into the story. I'm not a mother. While, when I was much younger, I imagined having children, I decided at age 29 1/2 to remain child free. I know many women who wanted children and agonized over becoming pregnant. However, it's not a situation with which I can identify. I try not to be judgmental, but sometimes women with fertility issues can sound somewhat whiney.
The beginning of this book reminded me of Jodi Picoult's Sing You Home that features a music therapist who is about 6 or 7 months pregnant and then miscarries. She is desperate to have a child and is consumed with trying to get pregnant again as soon as possible. Again, it took me several chapters to get past my lack of identification with the character and into the story - which turned out to be great.
So back to Lisa. This plot is a real thriller. The pregnancy begins to share top billing with several other issues: Who is the sperm donor? Is he a serial killer? Is that sort of pathology inherited? The twists and turns of this story are myriad (not unlike her other books) and my feelings about the young man in jail went back and forth as the story unfolded.
I like to take breaks from mysteries and read to become educated as well as entertained. A book recommended to me by a friend did just that: Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence. I've never visited the White House though I've been to Washington D.C. several times. Harry Truman was the President when I was born, but I have no recollection of him in office. (I do remember Ike and Mamie.) I was a history major in college and I'm very interested in 20th century American history. I read biographies of political figures and this book fits right in that category. It is about Harry Truman and his family as much as the house he lived in.
I've just begun reading First Women: the Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies by Kate Anderson Brower. Since I've read a lot of this information in other sources, I'm finding it a little repetitious. It's also a little too gossipy and rambly for my taste. However, I'll see it through to the end (being a somewhat OCD-ish person) and perhaps it will get better.
Waiting for me on the top of the "To Be Read" pile on my bed table is a book by J.A. Jance - another of my favorite authors. Something to look forward to.
Scottoline is one of my favorite authors. I love her Rosato & Associates series, but her other, stand-alone books, are excellent.
It took me a few chapters to really get into the story. I'm not a mother. While, when I was much younger, I imagined having children, I decided at age 29 1/2 to remain child free. I know many women who wanted children and agonized over becoming pregnant. However, it's not a situation with which I can identify. I try not to be judgmental, but sometimes women with fertility issues can sound somewhat whiney.
The beginning of this book reminded me of Jodi Picoult's Sing You Home that features a music therapist who is about 6 or 7 months pregnant and then miscarries. She is desperate to have a child and is consumed with trying to get pregnant again as soon as possible. Again, it took me several chapters to get past my lack of identification with the character and into the story - which turned out to be great.
So back to Lisa. This plot is a real thriller. The pregnancy begins to share top billing with several other issues: Who is the sperm donor? Is he a serial killer? Is that sort of pathology inherited? The twists and turns of this story are myriad (not unlike her other books) and my feelings about the young man in jail went back and forth as the story unfolded.
I like to take breaks from mysteries and read to become educated as well as entertained. A book recommended to me by a friend did just that: Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence. I've never visited the White House though I've been to Washington D.C. several times. Harry Truman was the President when I was born, but I have no recollection of him in office. (I do remember Ike and Mamie.) I was a history major in college and I'm very interested in 20th century American history. I read biographies of political figures and this book fits right in that category. It is about Harry Truman and his family as much as the house he lived in.
I've just begun reading First Women: the Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies by Kate Anderson Brower. Since I've read a lot of this information in other sources, I'm finding it a little repetitious. It's also a little too gossipy and rambly for my taste. However, I'll see it through to the end (being a somewhat OCD-ish person) and perhaps it will get better.
Waiting for me on the top of the "To Be Read" pile on my bed table is a book by J.A. Jance - another of my favorite authors. Something to look forward to.
Monday, June 13, 2016
So Many People Named John
Now that I've arrived at J in my alphabetic list of possible duplicates, I've discovered how many people are named John - and how many book titles begin with the name John: John Adams, John Brown, John Donne, John Dos Passos, John F. Kennedy.
Checking various websites, John is still a pretty common name, but other names are pushing John further down the list.
I know a lot of Johns. My father is John, although he always went by his middle name. He actually has a brother who is also named John. My brother is John Jr. One of his daughters named her son John, and she was married to a John. My sister has a son whose middle name is John.
My husband's father was John, and my husband has a grandson named John. There is also a John in my exercise class. John seems to be one of those names that persists. There are elderly men. middle aged men, and young men named John.
It's fun to see how different names ebb and flow. There are some one only associates with older people (Bertha, perhaps). I remember when names like Bethany, Tiffany, and Amber were all the rage. Those Bethanys and Tiffanys and Ambers are now adults and I haven't heard of any babies with those names.
Sometimes people have a name that's not uncommon, but has a different spelling. That's happened for a long time - such as Barbra Streisand. However, I just checked IMDb and learned that she was born Barbara Joan Streisand.
In Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, I just finished the part of Chapter 7 on Identifying Persons. Over the years as a cataloger, I've had to determine if the person who wrote this children's book is the same person who wrote that economics text 10 years ago. Maybe, maybe not. One of the things about RDA that really pleases me is that there is so much more information in Name Authority records. It's much easier to determine if the retired economist is now writing children's books.
And one of the great advantages of the Internet is that it is so much easier to research a topic or person. It took me just a few seconds to find out Barbra Streisand changed the spelling of her name.
Checking various websites, John is still a pretty common name, but other names are pushing John further down the list.
I know a lot of Johns. My father is John, although he always went by his middle name. He actually has a brother who is also named John. My brother is John Jr. One of his daughters named her son John, and she was married to a John. My sister has a son whose middle name is John.
My husband's father was John, and my husband has a grandson named John. There is also a John in my exercise class. John seems to be one of those names that persists. There are elderly men. middle aged men, and young men named John.
It's fun to see how different names ebb and flow. There are some one only associates with older people (Bertha, perhaps). I remember when names like Bethany, Tiffany, and Amber were all the rage. Those Bethanys and Tiffanys and Ambers are now adults and I haven't heard of any babies with those names.
Sometimes people have a name that's not uncommon, but has a different spelling. That's happened for a long time - such as Barbra Streisand. However, I just checked IMDb and learned that she was born Barbara Joan Streisand.
In Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, I just finished the part of Chapter 7 on Identifying Persons. Over the years as a cataloger, I've had to determine if the person who wrote this children's book is the same person who wrote that economics text 10 years ago. Maybe, maybe not. One of the things about RDA that really pleases me is that there is so much more information in Name Authority records. It's much easier to determine if the retired economist is now writing children's books.
And one of the great advantages of the Internet is that it is so much easier to research a topic or person. It took me just a few seconds to find out Barbra Streisand changed the spelling of her name.
Monday, May 30, 2016
ICC and the PSs
I'm slowly working my way through the 11th edition of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification (ICC).
The authors explicitly state that reading this textbook is not a substitute for reading RDA (Resource Description and Access), but in my opinion, using this book plus a couple of other good books on RDA (Maxwell's Handbook for RDA and Mering's The RDA workbook), a cataloger is pretty well equipt to catalog most library materials according to RDA guidelines.
RDA defines different metadata elements for describing resources. Some of these elements are "core" which means they are required. Others are "optional". Using only the core elements results in a pretty minimal record, though enough to identify the resource.
LC (the Library of Congress) and the PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) Libraries who do much of the cataloging we see, have issued Policy Statements (PSs) giving their explanations or preferences for using specific areas of RDA. Both LC and PSS recommend more of the RDA metadata elements as "core".
One of the things I really like about ICC is that the authors have issued their own PSs. These are their recommendations that may differ from RDA and/or LC. Here's an example from page 215:
ICC11 PS for Optional Omission for RDA 2.4.1.4 Recording Statements of Responsibility: Although abridgement is not generally recommended, use, judiciously and thoughtfully, the option that allows catalogers to abridge SORs when needed. This may prove to be useful if a statement of responsibility is cluttered with extraneous data. Be careful not to remove essential identifying information.
See why I'm finding this book so useful?
The authors explicitly state that reading this textbook is not a substitute for reading RDA (Resource Description and Access), but in my opinion, using this book plus a couple of other good books on RDA (Maxwell's Handbook for RDA and Mering's The RDA workbook), a cataloger is pretty well equipt to catalog most library materials according to RDA guidelines.
RDA defines different metadata elements for describing resources. Some of these elements are "core" which means they are required. Others are "optional". Using only the core elements results in a pretty minimal record, though enough to identify the resource.
LC (the Library of Congress) and the PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) Libraries who do much of the cataloging we see, have issued Policy Statements (PSs) giving their explanations or preferences for using specific areas of RDA. Both LC and PSS recommend more of the RDA metadata elements as "core".
One of the things I really like about ICC is that the authors have issued their own PSs. These are their recommendations that may differ from RDA and/or LC. Here's an example from page 215:
ICC11 PS for Optional Omission for RDA 2.4.1.4 Recording Statements of Responsibility: Although abridgement is not generally recommended, use, judiciously and thoughtfully, the option that allows catalogers to abridge SORs when needed. This may prove to be useful if a statement of responsibility is cluttered with extraneous data. Be careful not to remove essential identifying information.
See why I'm finding this book so useful?
Friday, May 20, 2016
Jumping to J
How did I manage to get to the letter J so quickly? Only a couple of weeks ago, I was still on F.
I have a helper. She is a Library Science student who wants to be a cataloger. She's also a Mass Library System employee. Depending on the time of year, her workload is sometimes light and she asked if she could help out with MassCat to get some cataloging experience.
While merging records is not exactly cataloging, this is great experience for her to look at bib records and see what kinds of problems arise. Since I work with an alphabetized list of potential duplicate titles, she has taken the later end of the letter F through the letter I.
I began with "Jazz" and have so far made my way through "Jewel", "Jewels", and "Jewelry". I've started "Jewish" which will keep me busy for a while. When I did a single word keyword search on "Jewish", I received a list of over 5,000 titles. The first 60 or so were in Hebrew, which I don't read, so I skipped past them and hoped they were accurate enough for Hebrew readers to find what they are looking for.
I'm still reading Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, and will be for a while. It's been a great reminder of the entire purpose of cataloging. While working, it's so easy for me to get involved in the specifics of the process - that whole "losing sight of the forest for the trees" thing. As I read through the textbook, the importance of describing the resource "uniquely" (to distinguish it from similar resources) and "unambiguously" (so that the patron knows exactly what he/she is getting) is repeated regularly.
To get a break from cataloging, I've been watching the third season of Hill Street Blues. Back in the 1980s, I watched the series pretty regularly and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I learned that it was out on DVD, I began requesting the seasons (in order, of course) from the library. Every few months, I take several evenings to become thoroughly absorbed in the adventures of the Hill Street station regulars. The stories are funny, sad, and always thought-provoking. The characters are multi-dimensional. The "good guys" have faults; the "bad guys" are sometimes kind.
I think what's most fascinating is the overall culture. No one has cell phones or computers. The cars are big (gasoline was just over $1.00/gallon). People wore aviator glasses. Come to think of it, so did I.
I have a helper. She is a Library Science student who wants to be a cataloger. She's also a Mass Library System employee. Depending on the time of year, her workload is sometimes light and she asked if she could help out with MassCat to get some cataloging experience.
While merging records is not exactly cataloging, this is great experience for her to look at bib records and see what kinds of problems arise. Since I work with an alphabetized list of potential duplicate titles, she has taken the later end of the letter F through the letter I.
I began with "Jazz" and have so far made my way through "Jewel", "Jewels", and "Jewelry". I've started "Jewish" which will keep me busy for a while. When I did a single word keyword search on "Jewish", I received a list of over 5,000 titles. The first 60 or so were in Hebrew, which I don't read, so I skipped past them and hoped they were accurate enough for Hebrew readers to find what they are looking for.
I'm still reading Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, and will be for a while. It's been a great reminder of the entire purpose of cataloging. While working, it's so easy for me to get involved in the specifics of the process - that whole "losing sight of the forest for the trees" thing. As I read through the textbook, the importance of describing the resource "uniquely" (to distinguish it from similar resources) and "unambiguously" (so that the patron knows exactly what he/she is getting) is repeated regularly.
To get a break from cataloging, I've been watching the third season of Hill Street Blues. Back in the 1980s, I watched the series pretty regularly and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I learned that it was out on DVD, I began requesting the seasons (in order, of course) from the library. Every few months, I take several evenings to become thoroughly absorbed in the adventures of the Hill Street station regulars. The stories are funny, sad, and always thought-provoking. The characters are multi-dimensional. The "good guys" have faults; the "bad guys" are sometimes kind.
I think what's most fascinating is the overall culture. No one has cell phones or computers. The cars are big (gasoline was just over $1.00/gallon). People wore aviator glasses. Come to think of it, so did I.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Cataloging and RDA
In preparation for RDA workshops I'll be giving, I've been reading the latest (11th) edition of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification.
I first began using this book as a reference tool - perhaps the 7th or maybe the 8th edition - when Bohdan Wynar's name was at the top of the title page. Then it was Arlene Taylor's name. Now Daniel Joudrey is the lead author.
A lot has happened in cataloging since those days. The size of this new book is at least 50% larger than the 10th edition which focused on the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules.
I've just begun chapter 4. This is not a book that one can read for long periods of time. Dense is an appropriate adjective. (Not for me, but for the book.) I find that an hour (maybe less) is all I can absorb at a time. Then I have to let that material settle into my brain.
For all you catalogers out there looking to learn RDA, I highly recommend this book. I already know a lot about FRBR and RDA, but the detail included here is really helping me put the myriad concepts together logically. And chapter 4 begins the specifics of RDA itself, as opposed to background information which is what I've been wading through the last week or so.
I have about 5 weeks to the workshop. I'll feel a lot more confident giving this one than I have in the past. Danny Joudrey was extremely helpful to me when I began teaching Information Organization for Simmons College School of Library and Information Science. I plan to send him an email letting him know how helpful he's been yet again.
Thanks, Danny.
I first began using this book as a reference tool - perhaps the 7th or maybe the 8th edition - when Bohdan Wynar's name was at the top of the title page. Then it was Arlene Taylor's name. Now Daniel Joudrey is the lead author.
A lot has happened in cataloging since those days. The size of this new book is at least 50% larger than the 10th edition which focused on the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules.
I've just begun chapter 4. This is not a book that one can read for long periods of time. Dense is an appropriate adjective. (Not for me, but for the book.) I find that an hour (maybe less) is all I can absorb at a time. Then I have to let that material settle into my brain.
For all you catalogers out there looking to learn RDA, I highly recommend this book. I already know a lot about FRBR and RDA, but the detail included here is really helping me put the myriad concepts together logically. And chapter 4 begins the specifics of RDA itself, as opposed to background information which is what I've been wading through the last week or so.
I have about 5 weeks to the workshop. I'll feel a lot more confident giving this one than I have in the past. Danny Joudrey was extremely helpful to me when I began teaching Information Organization for Simmons College School of Library and Information Science. I plan to send him an email letting him know how helpful he's been yet again.
Thanks, Danny.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Little Pads of Paper
It seems that every time I go to a conference, every time I go to a volunteer appreciation dinner, and every time that I go to a board meeting, there is a little pad of paper waiting for me to jot down notes. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. After all, someone is there taking minutes which will be sent to me later. What I always do, however, is take that little pad of paper home.
Guess what? I now have big piles of little pads of paper.
I have a pile of little pads of paper in the kitchen along with many of the pens I received at the same time. I use them to write shopping lists which I stick to the refrigerator with magnets. As I run low on something, or run out of something, it can be added to the little piece of paper which will accompany me to the market. This piece of paper is better than making a list in a smart phone. First, I don't have a smart phone and second, M. can also add things to the list if he takes the last one.
Little pads of paper are good for "to do" lists. Right now I have one sitting on the kitchen counter with all of the things I had hoped to do yesterday. A few of them are actually crossed off. Crossing things off is so much fun, it's actually worth doing them!
But even with all the shopping lists and "to do" lists, that pile of little pads of paper keeps getting bigger! It's sort of fun to look through them once in a while and see the places I've been. There was that conference in 2003 and that dinner in 2007.
The Hatfield Council on Aging just had its volunteer recognition dinner. I received a certificate of appreciation, a tote bag (something else I have lots of), a water bottle, a small container of chocolate and other candies (already consumed), and not one but TWO little pads of paper.
Guess what? I now have big piles of little pads of paper.
I have a pile of little pads of paper in the kitchen along with many of the pens I received at the same time. I use them to write shopping lists which I stick to the refrigerator with magnets. As I run low on something, or run out of something, it can be added to the little piece of paper which will accompany me to the market. This piece of paper is better than making a list in a smart phone. First, I don't have a smart phone and second, M. can also add things to the list if he takes the last one.
Little pads of paper are good for "to do" lists. Right now I have one sitting on the kitchen counter with all of the things I had hoped to do yesterday. A few of them are actually crossed off. Crossing things off is so much fun, it's actually worth doing them!
But even with all the shopping lists and "to do" lists, that pile of little pads of paper keeps getting bigger! It's sort of fun to look through them once in a while and see the places I've been. There was that conference in 2003 and that dinner in 2007.
The Hatfield Council on Aging just had its volunteer recognition dinner. I received a certificate of appreciation, a tote bag (something else I have lots of), a water bottle, a small container of chocolate and other candies (already consumed), and not one but TWO little pads of paper.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Feeling Frazzled
There is an awful lot going on in my life right now.
In addition to working and leading the exercise class, there is the normal household business of laundry, dishes, cooking meals, shopping for food, and paying bills on time.
Now that spring has arrived, the yard needs attention. We have a pond that was shut down for the winter. It needs to be opened and that means a couple of days of draining, power washing, refilling, setting up pumps, and trimming (maybe repotting) plants. The pond is beautiful and relaxing once it is up and running, but twice a year (spring and fall) it is a pain in the neck.
Spring is the season for Continuing Education workshops and I'm scheduled for 3 in the next couple of weeks. The first is a 2-day Cataloging & Classification workshop needed for directors in small public libraries in order for them to be certified by the state and for their libraries to be eligible for state grants. The following week, I'm giving 2 half-day programs in Connecticut and the week after that, a full-day program.
On the personal front, my mother died in December of 2014 and my father has not been well since then. My parents were devoted to each other and he was her primary care giver until she entered a nursing home for the last few months. Even then, he was with her every day. Now my father won't be with us much longer. The doctor's prognosis is vague: a few weeks or a few months. I'm trying to manage at least one visit with him very soon. He lives about a 2 1/2 hour drive away and a visit is pretty much an all-day affair. Fortunately, most of my siblings (and there are many) live much closer. They have been keeping an eye on him and communicating with me and each other.
At times like this when life seems beyond my control, mindfullness and meditation can help me stay calm and think clearly. These next few weeks are a time for deep breathing. I know there will always be difficulties, sorrow and loss. I will face them.
In addition to working and leading the exercise class, there is the normal household business of laundry, dishes, cooking meals, shopping for food, and paying bills on time.
Now that spring has arrived, the yard needs attention. We have a pond that was shut down for the winter. It needs to be opened and that means a couple of days of draining, power washing, refilling, setting up pumps, and trimming (maybe repotting) plants. The pond is beautiful and relaxing once it is up and running, but twice a year (spring and fall) it is a pain in the neck.
Spring is the season for Continuing Education workshops and I'm scheduled for 3 in the next couple of weeks. The first is a 2-day Cataloging & Classification workshop needed for directors in small public libraries in order for them to be certified by the state and for their libraries to be eligible for state grants. The following week, I'm giving 2 half-day programs in Connecticut and the week after that, a full-day program.
On the personal front, my mother died in December of 2014 and my father has not been well since then. My parents were devoted to each other and he was her primary care giver until she entered a nursing home for the last few months. Even then, he was with her every day. Now my father won't be with us much longer. The doctor's prognosis is vague: a few weeks or a few months. I'm trying to manage at least one visit with him very soon. He lives about a 2 1/2 hour drive away and a visit is pretty much an all-day affair. Fortunately, most of my siblings (and there are many) live much closer. They have been keeping an eye on him and communicating with me and each other.
At times like this when life seems beyond my control, mindfullness and meditation can help me stay calm and think clearly. These next few weeks are a time for deep breathing. I know there will always be difficulties, sorrow and loss. I will face them.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Sun, Snow and Murder
My leisure reading took me to Colorado. The plot began with a blizzard. As I read Diane Mott Davidson's Crunch Time, I thought to myself "I hate being cold. I hate having to drive in snow (which caterer Goldy Schultz had to do in the very first chapter). Maybe I should stick to mysteries in warmer climates."
The next book in the pile happened to be Dilly of a Death by Susan Wittig Albert. At least character China Bayles lives in the Texas hill country where there is very little chance of blizzard. Drought, maybe, but not snow.
As luck would have it, the next book was Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Oh no! Another blizzard and the main characters (Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and his new wife the Reverend Clare Ferguson) were trapped in a remote cabin in upstate New York. It amazes me how these people can survive cold for long periods of time, sometimes without jackets or gloves.
Fortunately, I'm now on one of J.A. Jance's books. This one is Paradise Lost, part of the Joanna Brady series. Joanna is Sheriff of Cochise County Arizona. Here, everyone is trying to keep cool as the temperature soars to over 100 degrees during the day.
Right now in Massachusetts, the sun is shining. While the morning temperature is chilly, the weather report forcasts highs in the mid 50s. I'll take it!
The next book in the pile happened to be Dilly of a Death by Susan Wittig Albert. At least character China Bayles lives in the Texas hill country where there is very little chance of blizzard. Drought, maybe, but not snow.
As luck would have it, the next book was Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Oh no! Another blizzard and the main characters (Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne and his new wife the Reverend Clare Ferguson) were trapped in a remote cabin in upstate New York. It amazes me how these people can survive cold for long periods of time, sometimes without jackets or gloves.
Fortunately, I'm now on one of J.A. Jance's books. This one is Paradise Lost, part of the Joanna Brady series. Joanna is Sheriff of Cochise County Arizona. Here, everyone is trying to keep cool as the temperature soars to over 100 degrees during the day.
Right now in Massachusetts, the sun is shining. While the morning temperature is chilly, the weather report forcasts highs in the mid 50s. I'll take it!
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Redundant
I received yet another invitation that ended with the phrase "Please RSVP ..."
Redundant.
RSVP = Répondez s'il vous plaît
S'il vous plaît = Please (or more literally, If it pleases you).
Therefore, Please RSVP = Please reply please.
Redundant.Or, according to Wikipedia (that source of all knowledge), it is a Pleonasm. This is a Greek word for TMI.
Pleonasms, or redundancies, appear everyday. A common one is when the cashier in the store asks you to enter your PIN number. Since PIN = Personal Identification Number, PIN number = Personal Identification Number number.
Even Librarians and other book loving people are guilty. I often hear ISBN number. Just in case you don't know, ISBN = International Standard Bibliographic Number. ISBN number is another pleonasm.
Pleonasm is a new word for me. I wonder how many times I can incorporate "pleonasm" into my conversation today.
Redundant.
RSVP = Répondez s'il vous plaît
S'il vous plaît = Please (or more literally, If it pleases you).
Therefore, Please RSVP = Please reply please.
Redundant.Or, according to Wikipedia (that source of all knowledge), it is a Pleonasm. This is a Greek word for TMI.
Pleonasms, or redundancies, appear everyday. A common one is when the cashier in the store asks you to enter your PIN number. Since PIN = Personal Identification Number, PIN number = Personal Identification Number number.
Even Librarians and other book loving people are guilty. I often hear ISBN number. Just in case you don't know, ISBN = International Standard Bibliographic Number. ISBN number is another pleonasm.
Pleonasm is a new word for me. I wonder how many times I can incorporate "pleonasm" into my conversation today.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Hang Fire
When I keyed "hang fire" into the Google.com search box, what appeared was "delay or be delayed in taking action or progressing". That's a perfect definition for my situation - especially the progressing part.
As I've said before on this blog, I have an alphabetical list of potential duplicate records. I search the MassCat catalog to determine if, indeed, they are duplicates. Sometimes they are. Sometimes not; the title and author are the same, but one is perhaps large print, another a mass market paperback and yet another the audio version. Between the less-than-perfect bib records and the idiosyncratic way that Koha sorts those records, potential duplicates don't always end up one after the other. They may be several records apart and not always easy to find. Sometimes they'll be on different "pages". Each bit of punctuation affects the sorting: Fire and Fire! do not end up near each other.
The way I search for duplicates (and other problems) in the catalog is to use my alphabetical list as a guideline. Instead of searching the entire title, I do a keyword search on one word of the title and the author's first or last name, depending which is faster and easier to type.
This can be a pretty boring job at times. They way to keep myself interested is to make a game of it - which is how "hang fire" came about. There were several titles beginning with the word Fire. I decided to key in that one word and see what happened.
The first thing is that I got a list of over 3200 titles matching that search. This was a keyword search, remember. The word "Fire" can be anywhere in the record. Unfortunately, Koha only searches the first 1000 titles, so I knew I couldn't get to that middle 1000 easily. I sorted by title A-Z and began to look for duplicates, typos, funky characters that should be accent marks, incomplete records, and any other bib record in need of a cataloger's attention. I found plenty - hence "hang fire". I've been working on variations of this search for over a week!
Here is one of the things I found: 3 records for Oscar Handlin's Fire bell in the night, although one was spelled Fire-ball in the night. There is now one record, spelled correctly.
When I finally reached record #1000, I resorted by title Z-A and worked backwards through another 1000. After merging all of the duplicate records (now there are only about 3100 or so), I resorted A-Z, went to record #940, looked through that last batch and found a few more things to take care of. I resorted Z-A and did the same from the other end.
At that point, I went back to my duplicate list and did slightly more detailed searches (usually 2 title words and one of the author's names) on each title listed to make sure I hadn't missed anything in that massive scanning. While I never did get to that middle 1000 records, I can definitely say there are now fewer records and they are cleaner and more complete.
Isn't that what it's all about? Now on to firefighter, firefighting, etc. It will be a while before I get to the letter "G".
As I've said before on this blog, I have an alphabetical list of potential duplicate records. I search the MassCat catalog to determine if, indeed, they are duplicates. Sometimes they are. Sometimes not; the title and author are the same, but one is perhaps large print, another a mass market paperback and yet another the audio version. Between the less-than-perfect bib records and the idiosyncratic way that Koha sorts those records, potential duplicates don't always end up one after the other. They may be several records apart and not always easy to find. Sometimes they'll be on different "pages". Each bit of punctuation affects the sorting: Fire and Fire! do not end up near each other.
The way I search for duplicates (and other problems) in the catalog is to use my alphabetical list as a guideline. Instead of searching the entire title, I do a keyword search on one word of the title and the author's first or last name, depending which is faster and easier to type.
This can be a pretty boring job at times. They way to keep myself interested is to make a game of it - which is how "hang fire" came about. There were several titles beginning with the word Fire. I decided to key in that one word and see what happened.
The first thing is that I got a list of over 3200 titles matching that search. This was a keyword search, remember. The word "Fire" can be anywhere in the record. Unfortunately, Koha only searches the first 1000 titles, so I knew I couldn't get to that middle 1000 easily. I sorted by title A-Z and began to look for duplicates, typos, funky characters that should be accent marks, incomplete records, and any other bib record in need of a cataloger's attention. I found plenty - hence "hang fire". I've been working on variations of this search for over a week!
Here is one of the things I found: 3 records for Oscar Handlin's Fire bell in the night, although one was spelled Fire-ball in the night. There is now one record, spelled correctly.
When I finally reached record #1000, I resorted by title Z-A and worked backwards through another 1000. After merging all of the duplicate records (now there are only about 3100 or so), I resorted A-Z, went to record #940, looked through that last batch and found a few more things to take care of. I resorted Z-A and did the same from the other end.
At that point, I went back to my duplicate list and did slightly more detailed searches (usually 2 title words and one of the author's names) on each title listed to make sure I hadn't missed anything in that massive scanning. While I never did get to that middle 1000 records, I can definitely say there are now fewer records and they are cleaner and more complete.
Isn't that what it's all about? Now on to firefighter, firefighting, etc. It will be a while before I get to the letter "G".
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Author J.D. Robb
I just finished reading my first book by J.D. Robb - Brotherhood in Death. I think it will be my last. I didn't like it for a variety of reasons. However, being an OCD-ish type person, I did read the entire book.
The first thing I didn't like is that it's set in 2060 and for whatever reason, I'm just not that interested in futuristic literature. The second thing is that I couldn't see the purpose for setting the story in the future. It didn't add to the plot except that the detective could use a voice command to ask her computer to perform a search on a given set of criteria. She could also use a voice command to turn on the lights 10% or 25% or however bright she wanted them.
I also didn't like the writing style of the dialog. It seemed a little forced, as if it had to be different because this all takes place 44 years from now. For example, a computer is always referred to as "comp", a witness is a "wit". All of the characters talk on what I can only assume is a cell phone with video (or "vid") capabilities called a 'link. The specifics of the 'link (or what it is an abbreviation for) are left to the imagination of the reader. When Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD (the S is never defined, but according to Wikipedia is Security) gets caught in traffic, she goes "vertical" - but again, no details.
The story takes place in New York City sometime after the Urbans. The Urbans are never explained and even Wikipedia did not have any information about it or them. Admittedly, I only did a very quick search. Still I shouldn't have to hunt down details like that.
Eve is foul-mouthed. I regularly use expletives, but Eve goes way beyond my comfort zone. She's just not a person with whom I can identify, and I think that is something I look for in pleasure reading. I much prefer Kinsey Millhone, V.I. Warshawski, and the lawyers at Rosato and Associates. I live vicariously through them.
I've just begun a thriller: Find Her by Lisa Gardner. While pretty brutal (Brotherhood in Death was also pretty brutal), I'm already finding this book much more to my taste.
The first thing I didn't like is that it's set in 2060 and for whatever reason, I'm just not that interested in futuristic literature. The second thing is that I couldn't see the purpose for setting the story in the future. It didn't add to the plot except that the detective could use a voice command to ask her computer to perform a search on a given set of criteria. She could also use a voice command to turn on the lights 10% or 25% or however bright she wanted them.
I also didn't like the writing style of the dialog. It seemed a little forced, as if it had to be different because this all takes place 44 years from now. For example, a computer is always referred to as "comp", a witness is a "wit". All of the characters talk on what I can only assume is a cell phone with video (or "vid") capabilities called a 'link. The specifics of the 'link (or what it is an abbreviation for) are left to the imagination of the reader. When Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD (the S is never defined, but according to Wikipedia is Security) gets caught in traffic, she goes "vertical" - but again, no details.
The story takes place in New York City sometime after the Urbans. The Urbans are never explained and even Wikipedia did not have any information about it or them. Admittedly, I only did a very quick search. Still I shouldn't have to hunt down details like that.
Eve is foul-mouthed. I regularly use expletives, but Eve goes way beyond my comfort zone. She's just not a person with whom I can identify, and I think that is something I look for in pleasure reading. I much prefer Kinsey Millhone, V.I. Warshawski, and the lawyers at Rosato and Associates. I live vicariously through them.
I've just begun a thriller: Find Her by Lisa Gardner. While pretty brutal (Brotherhood in Death was also pretty brutal), I'm already finding this book much more to my taste.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Funky letters
The English language doesn't have any accent marks except on the words that have been borrowed (or should that be usurped since I don't think we're going to return them) like facade (which should have a cedilla since it is French) or Noel (which should have an umlaut, but you rarely see it with one). In the library world, accent marks are called diacritics.
Now that we have word processing programs, those diacritics are often automatically added by the computer software (but not in Blogger, I guess, since they did not pop in).
Since libraries often have books (and other materials, of course) in languages other than English, and usually have books (and other materials) written by or acted by people with names that require diacritics, you'll see many cedillas and umlauts as well as acute or grave accents, and rings (which I thought was called an angstrom but, according to Wikipedia, that is a unit of measure). Depending on the software a particular library uses for its catalog, these accent marks may or may not display correctly.
When bib records are transferred from one program to another (such as Koha, which is used by MassCat), the correct coding for those accent marks may or may not be transferred correctly.
One of the things I do at work is to look for funky characters (that's letters, not people). As I scan the list of brief records looking for duplicates and misspellings (remember the Portuguese Picket Dictionary?) I look for misplaced symbols like ? or @ in the middle of words. That usually signals there should be some sort of accent mark over or under or through a letter. Often I can tell what it should be, but since all of these programs translate the codes differently, I'm not always sure.
Fortunately, it's easy for me to correct these - what should I call them? - mis-translations when I find them. I actually have a word document with all of the different possibilities of letters with accent marks. I simply copy and paste over the offending symbol. Or if it's someone's name and I'm not certain what it should be, I go to WorldCat.org, search the part I do know, and copy and paste the correction.
If only all of life's problems could be solved so easily.
Now that we have word processing programs, those diacritics are often automatically added by the computer software (but not in Blogger, I guess, since they did not pop in).
Since libraries often have books (and other materials, of course) in languages other than English, and usually have books (and other materials) written by or acted by people with names that require diacritics, you'll see many cedillas and umlauts as well as acute or grave accents, and rings (which I thought was called an angstrom but, according to Wikipedia, that is a unit of measure). Depending on the software a particular library uses for its catalog, these accent marks may or may not display correctly.
When bib records are transferred from one program to another (such as Koha, which is used by MassCat), the correct coding for those accent marks may or may not be transferred correctly.
One of the things I do at work is to look for funky characters (that's letters, not people). As I scan the list of brief records looking for duplicates and misspellings (remember the Portuguese Picket Dictionary?) I look for misplaced symbols like ? or @ in the middle of words. That usually signals there should be some sort of accent mark over or under or through a letter. Often I can tell what it should be, but since all of these programs translate the codes differently, I'm not always sure.
Fortunately, it's easy for me to correct these - what should I call them? - mis-translations when I find them. I actually have a word document with all of the different possibilities of letters with accent marks. I simply copy and paste over the offending symbol. Or if it's someone's name and I'm not certain what it should be, I go to WorldCat.org, search the part I do know, and copy and paste the correction.
If only all of life's problems could be solved so easily.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Foot in Mouth
Sometimes, I don't quite know what to say.
You know those awkward moments when someone has said something and you want to be supportive or witty? It is those times when I have, on occasion, said something stupid. Or perhaps, even a little hurtful.
I'm not a mean person, just not as witty as I'd like to be. Of course, a few hours later, the exact right phrase - or something close to it - sometimes pops into my head. Why couldn't it have arrived earlier?
Just in case any of you, my readers, have had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of one of my feeble attempts, I sincerely apologize. Please know that my less-than-appropriate comment was not due to my dislike of you, but to my less-than-razor sharp intellect.
I'm trying to practice simple statements. Something like "Oh, I'm sorry" or "Gee, that's too bad. I hope things work out" or "I'm glad for you." Perhaps those comments are a little trite, but at least they won't get me into trouble.
You know those awkward moments when someone has said something and you want to be supportive or witty? It is those times when I have, on occasion, said something stupid. Or perhaps, even a little hurtful.
I'm not a mean person, just not as witty as I'd like to be. Of course, a few hours later, the exact right phrase - or something close to it - sometimes pops into my head. Why couldn't it have arrived earlier?
Just in case any of you, my readers, have had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of one of my feeble attempts, I sincerely apologize. Please know that my less-than-appropriate comment was not due to my dislike of you, but to my less-than-razor sharp intellect.
I'm trying to practice simple statements. Something like "Oh, I'm sorry" or "Gee, that's too bad. I hope things work out" or "I'm glad for you." Perhaps those comments are a little trite, but at least they won't get me into trouble.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Aging Knees
For the last couple of months, my knees have been making themselves known. I'm aware of them all of the time. At one point, they were so sore I had to walk down stairs backwards. Not good!
The way I usually treat problems like this is to use the affected joint, but gently. I stopped using leg weights during exercise class. (I was using 5 pounds on each ankle.) I stopped crossing my legs when I sat (which I couldn't do anyway because it was so painful). I used a neoprene brace on the more painful knee, but that didn't seem to help - and besides, it pinched. When sitting at my desk at work, I was careful not to have my legs at a funny angle and to stretch them regularly. I also tried to get up and take short walks down the hall more frequently. I learned that walking was good but standing was not.
I'm now happy to report that my knees, while not 100% are definitely much better. A couple of days ago (before the snow) I walked down to the end of my road (1 mile) and back (1 mile uphill). The next day, my knees were feeling better than ever.
I think I'll have to be careful of my knees for a very long time, but if I do I can avoid knee replacement.
The way I usually treat problems like this is to use the affected joint, but gently. I stopped using leg weights during exercise class. (I was using 5 pounds on each ankle.) I stopped crossing my legs when I sat (which I couldn't do anyway because it was so painful). I used a neoprene brace on the more painful knee, but that didn't seem to help - and besides, it pinched. When sitting at my desk at work, I was careful not to have my legs at a funny angle and to stretch them regularly. I also tried to get up and take short walks down the hall more frequently. I learned that walking was good but standing was not.
I'm now happy to report that my knees, while not 100% are definitely much better. A couple of days ago (before the snow) I walked down to the end of my road (1 mile) and back (1 mile uphill). The next day, my knees were feeling better than ever.
I think I'll have to be careful of my knees for a very long time, but if I do I can avoid knee replacement.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Sally Field and the movies
Remember the television show Gidget? What about The Flying Nun? Both starred Sally Field. I didn't watch either of them regularly, but I rather liked Sally Field. I've seen her in several movies over the years.
Now at 69, Sally has a wonderful new movie, Hello, My Name is Doris. M. and I saw it at the Palm Springs Film Festival last month. I've been recommending it to everyone I talk with.
Sally plays Doris, a 60 something woman working as a bookkeeping at a company in New York City. She's single and lived with her mother on Staten Island in a house full of "stuff". Her mother has just died, her brother is pressuring her to clean out the house and sell it (he owns half), and Doris is in a muddle. A new manager arrives at work (some 20 years her junior) and shows Doris kindness. She immediately develops a crush on him. What follows is funny, sad, and very real as Doris learns more about herself in a few days than she has in the past 60 years.
Most fun of all was that Sally Field and co-star Max Greenfield were there. When the film ended, they went up on stage, talked about the movie and answered audience questions. One of the things Sally said that resonated with me is that our image of ourselves is often (always?) much younger than our chronological age. I'm only a few months younger than Sally, but my internal age is somewhere in my 40s. She also commented on how few good, starring roles there are for "older" women. How true.
Please go to see Hello, My Name is Doris. I know you will like it. Doris' outfits alone are worth the price of admission.
Now at 69, Sally has a wonderful new movie, Hello, My Name is Doris. M. and I saw it at the Palm Springs Film Festival last month. I've been recommending it to everyone I talk with.
Sally plays Doris, a 60 something woman working as a bookkeeping at a company in New York City. She's single and lived with her mother on Staten Island in a house full of "stuff". Her mother has just died, her brother is pressuring her to clean out the house and sell it (he owns half), and Doris is in a muddle. A new manager arrives at work (some 20 years her junior) and shows Doris kindness. She immediately develops a crush on him. What follows is funny, sad, and very real as Doris learns more about herself in a few days than she has in the past 60 years.
Most fun of all was that Sally Field and co-star Max Greenfield were there. When the film ended, they went up on stage, talked about the movie and answered audience questions. One of the things Sally said that resonated with me is that our image of ourselves is often (always?) much younger than our chronological age. I'm only a few months younger than Sally, but my internal age is somewhere in my 40s. She also commented on how few good, starring roles there are for "older" women. How true.
Please go to see Hello, My Name is Doris. I know you will like it. Doris' outfits alone are worth the price of admission.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Workplace in Transition
The MLS building has been sold and the new owners have begun moving in. Most of the MLS-west staff are telecommuting and those of us remaining are now very "cozy" in one office. I will likely be doing some telecommuting myself during the next couple of months until we move into our new offices at the Pot Pourri Mall in Northampton.
I'm very happy about the new location. It's closer to home. It's closer to just about everyplace I might need to go after work. It's closer to restaurants, banks, drug stores and super markets. I can actually walk to all of these places from the new office. This transition has taken a long time - first to find a buyer for the building and then to find a place to which to move. I'll be glad to be settled in the new space.
The only negative is that during the summer months I'll no longer have to pass Golonka's farm stand on my way home. Golonka's has the VERY BEST corn on the cob. Since I've been working at MLS, I've bought 2-3 ears of corn nearly every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during corn season. Fortunately, Golonka's is not far away - just a few miles north on Routes 5&10.
In the meantime, while at work I continue to correct typos and merge records. I'm still on the letter F.
I'm very happy about the new location. It's closer to home. It's closer to just about everyplace I might need to go after work. It's closer to restaurants, banks, drug stores and super markets. I can actually walk to all of these places from the new office. This transition has taken a long time - first to find a buyer for the building and then to find a place to which to move. I'll be glad to be settled in the new space.
The only negative is that during the summer months I'll no longer have to pass Golonka's farm stand on my way home. Golonka's has the VERY BEST corn on the cob. Since I've been working at MLS, I've bought 2-3 ears of corn nearly every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during corn season. Fortunately, Golonka's is not far away - just a few miles north on Routes 5&10.
In the meantime, while at work I continue to correct typos and merge records. I'm still on the letter F.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Acorn Squash
Winter is the time for - winter squash.
While I love just about all winter squashes, M. is not that fond of them. That requires dressing them up to make them more palatable to him.
I love acorn squash baked with just a little butter and brown sugar, but I also like more elaborate dressings. Several years ago, I discovered a recipe for stuffing acorn squash with pineapple, roasted walnuts, dark rum and pumpkin pie spices. That's what I use whenever I make acorn squash.
Recently, I found another recipe which I like even better. Here it is. This makes enough for 4 people, but I halve it.
Cinnamon Apple Stuffed Squash
2 acorn squash, cut in halves, seeds removed
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups diced yellow onion
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cups diced apple, cored and seeds removed (about 2 large apples)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch each salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place acorn squash halves face down on a rimmed sheet pan or baking dish and add 1/2 inch of water to the pan. Bake squash for 40 minutes
While the squash is baking, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and saute for 5 to 10 minutes until soft. Add the apples, cranberries, maple syrup, water and cinnamon; stir well and cook another 5 to 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
After the squash has baked for 40 minutes, remove from the oven, turn them cut side up, and fill each with apple stuffing. Place back into the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes until the squash is tender. Serve warm.
Yum yum.
While I love just about all winter squashes, M. is not that fond of them. That requires dressing them up to make them more palatable to him.
I love acorn squash baked with just a little butter and brown sugar, but I also like more elaborate dressings. Several years ago, I discovered a recipe for stuffing acorn squash with pineapple, roasted walnuts, dark rum and pumpkin pie spices. That's what I use whenever I make acorn squash.
Recently, I found another recipe which I like even better. Here it is. This makes enough for 4 people, but I halve it.
Cinnamon Apple Stuffed Squash
2 acorn squash, cut in halves, seeds removed
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups diced yellow onion
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cups diced apple, cored and seeds removed (about 2 large apples)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch each salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place acorn squash halves face down on a rimmed sheet pan or baking dish and add 1/2 inch of water to the pan. Bake squash for 40 minutes
While the squash is baking, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and saute for 5 to 10 minutes until soft. Add the apples, cranberries, maple syrup, water and cinnamon; stir well and cook another 5 to 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
After the squash has baked for 40 minutes, remove from the oven, turn them cut side up, and fill each with apple stuffing. Place back into the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes until the squash is tender. Serve warm.
Yum yum.
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