Confessions of a Library Clerk: Summer Reading Program - an Insider's View

Ah, Summer Reading Program, I'm sure many of you reading this have at some point or other participated in this annual activity at your local library.  It works the same most everywhere: get a reading log, read lots of books, record your time, turn log back in when a certain number of hours has been accomplished, hope you get drawn for whatever the prize is, and get more logs for more reading.  There are, of course, some variations on this based on whether you're in the adult program, teen program, or children's program, but the format is still pretty much the same.  It's always a lot of fun, and it encourages those that may otherwise be timid readers to get involved and read more.

However, now that I work at a library, I get to see another side of this program: the chaos.  You may not realize this, but there are months of prep before the summer reading program even begins!  Besides getting the prizes sorted out there's a whole lot more that goes on to prepare for this yearly madness.  There's getting the summer reading book bags (which are different every year and for every library system), getting the logs (first and second logs) ready (nearly all of them have to be numbered so as to keep track of how many sign up; there are also a few unnumbered logs in case someone loses there first log), there's getting all the other sign-up goodies ready (bookmarks, small fun items for the kids, etc.), getting all the book displays to match with the reading program theme, decorating the whole library in accordance with the theme, and, of course, any special programs going on just because of summer reading. And this is just the list of prep that I know of!  In all likelihood, there's probably a bunch of stuff that I'm not even aware of that should be added to that list.  This, however, is just the chaos before the actual program begins!  After it starts there's a whole new level of madness!

I'm not sure how it is with other libraries, but this is what I've observed at mine.  For the first two weeks or so there is a steady, non-stop stream of people signing either themselves, their kids, or their grandkids up! If they work at a school, they might even sign up the kids from any summer classes they may be teaching!  And of course, following the flurry of signing up at whatever station has been set up for summer reading (usually at the public service desks), there is the ensuing chaos at circulation with myriads of books being checked out or requested.  This is the first two or so weeks,  however, come the third week that is when the chaos is in full swing. Remember all those books checked out during the first two weeks (not the mention the weeks prior)? Well, this is when you start to see them all coming back.... at once, because of course they can't just trickle in gently, that would be to easy. But really, this is no big deal right?  This is normal: what gets checked out, must be returned within a set period of time.  However, it's not quite this simple.  The number of books being checked out dramatically increases during summer reading.  People that usually only check our 2 or 3 books, are now checking out 6-8; and those that usually check out large numbers of books?  Yup, their check outs are easily double their norm.  Oh, and did I mention that the number of books being shipped out to/requested from other libraries has also just about doubled? And this level of chaos will continue for pretty much the rest of the program!

Now don't get me wrong, this is all great for the library!  However, it can be killer to keep up with.  For everyone: PSD is swamped, circ is swamped, and let's not forget the poor pages.  Again, remember all those books being returned? Well, someone has to put them all back again! (And hope the shelves where they go back to are in a somewhat decent order still, but, that's really just wishful thinking during the summer: the #1 untold rule of paging during summer reading is - always assume the shelf is out of order, especially if it's in the children's area.)  Ah yes, those poor, poor pages. With seemingly endless streams of books being pulled from the drop boxes (inside and out) and sent back to them to reshelve.  Right when they may have been getting sooooo close to emptying the paging shelves from the last bunch of books, here come a whole pile more!!  *Sigh* Oh, well.  

As a former page myself, I know that I really should feel terrible (or at least somewhat sorry) for the constant barrage of incoming books that can make a page feel as if they really haven't accomplished anything by the end of the day because the paging shelves are still full, but............ I really don't.  I just can't help laughing, and saying 'I'm so glad that's not me anymore!'  

If you are reading this and you are a library page, I will tell you what my page supervisor used to tell me: ........... job security! 

Confessions of a Library Clerk: Series Labeling

Ah series labeling, simultaneously both a joy and a headache. Why when it is such a useful (and, in my honest opinion, important/necessary) thing for a library to do? Because series labeling is not as simple as it sounds. 

A couple years ago now, my library decided to go through our entire fiction collection (all departments) and label all the books that had a corresponding series/series number.  Sounds simple right? Think again.  Here are some of the reasons why:

1) Not all websites agree on what is or is not a series.  At present, my library primarily goes by Fantastic Fiction, however, as we have recently encountered a number of errors/discrepancies on Fantastic Fiction, we also refer to Goodreads, Fiction Database, Librarything, and, when possible, the author's own website.

2) Not all websites agree on series names.  When checking to see if something needs a series label or not, it is not at all uncommon for me to find out that ,yes, it does belong to a series but there is disagreement on what the name of the series actually is.  Some websites default to the name of the first book as being the name of the series, while some might name it according to the main character(s)' s name, and some other site might have a totally different name from either of those. Let me give you an example: Sophie Hannah's Culver Valley Crime series.  On Fantastic Fiction, it's called: Culver Valley Crime; on Goodreads I've seen it referred to as both Culver Valley Crime and Spilling CID; on Fiction Database it's called: DS Charlie Zailer and DS Simon Waterhouse; on Librarything it's Spilling Detectives, and elsewhere I've seen it called Zailer and Waterhouse. To make matters worse? The author does not specify any particular name for the series on her website and on Goodreads (where she is a member) I have seen her use more than one name for the series.  Now, I know that sometimes a book when written over-the-water may have a different name than how it is released in the U.S., but I see no reason for why on earth you would have completely different series names.  That's just balmy. 

3) Not all websites agree on series number.  Why is this?  Oh there are many reasons, but here are ones I usually encounter:  

• Sometimes a website might forget to include a book as part of a given series.

• Publisher and author disagree on series order; believe it or not, it is not uncommon for a publisher to rearrange an author's reading order.  Most notoriously, this happened with C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, but, really, this happens quite often when an author writes a series order differently than the chronological order of events within that series.  Or, when the author goes back later and writes a prequel, as is the case with Clive Cussler's 'Dirk Pitt' series. 

• Author also wrote novellas within that series;  sometimes these will be given half-numbers, while other times they're given whole numbers, or they're not numbered at all making it even more confusing.

4) A fourth reason, and one of the most frustrating, is this: some authors can't seem to make up their own mind what series to make a book and make it part of multiple series!  This one is really, really frustrating.  I know of several authors (Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kresley Cole, and S.M. Stirling being the most notable) where they have a series within a series (and sometimes within yet another one, two, or three other series).  It happens a lot whenever there is a spin-off series within the universe of another series.  For instance: S.M Stirling's 'Emberverse' series.  Emberverse seems to be the overall name for the series, then you have: Emberverse I series also called 'The Change' which is the first 3 books (plus one novella); Emberverse II also called 'The Sunrise Lands' which is the next 3 books; Emberverse III also called 'The Montival' which is, again, the next 3 books; Emberverse IV which is a single title and the author's site says can also be considered as the last book of Montival/Emberverse III; Emberverse V also called 'Rudi's Children' which is another 3 books.  There is then a concurrent series to the Emberverse books called 'Island in the Sea of Time' which is another 4 books.  Then there is Kenyon with her Dark-Hunter series and half-a-million sub-series.  Similar to this issue, is where the author has two separate series and decides to overlap them for a few books (not necessarily one-after-the-other either).  Among these is, J.A. Jance where some of her books belong to both J.P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady.  And, yet another, way this happens (and really messes things up) is when two (or more) author's write together overlapping their series.  Then what do you do?!  The book belongs in two different series by two different authors: case in point - 'Stirred' by J.A Konrath and Blake Crouch it's book 8 in the 'Jack Daniels' series and book 4 in 'Andrew Z. Thomas.'  And then of course you have people like Jayne Krentz who also writes under the names Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick and 'co-authors' series with herself publishing each book in the series under a different name.

So you see, labeling is not so easy after all.  It's great when it's all finished and you can see just how many books actually belong to a series, but it's a never-ending struggle to make sure it is as accurate as possible.  The process is very much a love-hate relationship.

Library Rant: Snow Storms

Ok, so this is a bit of a rant since it is a big pet peeve of mine.  For those that don't know, I work part-time at a library in the northern-mid Michigan area.  And if you know anything about Michigan winters, it's that they can be very nasty, with lots of snow. Like right now, yesterday we got probably 8-9 inches (though who can really tell with all this drifting!) and this morning we have really high winds making driving conditions dangerous. Now, fortunately for me (thank you Lord!!!), my library director actually decided to close today, however, this is often not the case.

I've been working at this library for, well, between this time and the first time, it will be 5.5 years this summer, and this is the first time that I can recall the library system EVER closing for weather related issues (except of course when they lose power). Often, the most we can hope for is a 2-hour delay in opening, however, my library system has a new director so hopefully this will change.

But not closing for severe weather is not just a problem that my library system has; this is an issue across the board with many library systems.  Today, I may not have to go into work, but my cousin who works at a library down-state does because her library director did not close/delay.  I went to the local news website this morning to see who all had closed/delayed for today, and when I looked up libraries only 8 library systems had closed state-wide.  Pretty much the whole state, if not the whole state, just got socked with a pretty large snow storm (and it's still blowing/drifting something awful) and only 8 library systems across the state closed.  What?! Even Delta Community College, about the most notorious college in Michigan for not closing in severe weather, had the sense to close today! Here's what I don't get: why?  Sure, no business/organization/etc., likes to have to close, but if it is not safe to be driving, then why stay open?  Libraries, as much as I love them and think they are important, are not a critical service to have open 24-7; it's not like a hospital that HAS to stay open in case of emergency.  It's just books, and no potential library fine for overdue books is worth the risk of crashing your car into a ditch.  Besides, any patron with sense is going to stay home; so, by staying open they are just endangering their own workers and the non-sensible patrons.

Yesterday, I would have worked from 4pm-8pm and been driving home in a snow storm and in the dark.  My mom and I decided it would be best for me to just call in saying I won't be coming in since we knew it wasn't going to be safe.  This was at about 1pm.  Being curious as to whether or not the library would decide to close early after all, I kept checking my work e-mail throughout the day. The e-mails went like this: at 12-something, there was an e-mail of a lady leaving one of the branches early so as to beat the storm; then came an e-mail about Bookmobile being canceled for the rest of the day; next there was one e-mail and one website notice of craft activities being canceled at two different branches for both yesterday and today; then three notices of three branches cancelling yesterday and today's storytimes; and finally, and e-mail about one of our branches loosing power at just after 3pm.  It was only after all this, that our director decided that we should close the library system early that day.  So, 5pm the whole library system was closed.  Great!  The director did the right, and smart, thing by closing early; however, by this time the road conditions had already reached the level of being unsafe.  I know, because I was watching out the window and it was most definitely blizzard conditions; driving in it would have been an absolute white-out.

In closing: would you library directors please pay better attention to the weather forecast/road conditions, realize that it really makes no sense to stay open in a blizzard or before road crews have had a chance clean up after a blizzard, and do the sensible thing more often: close for the day.

Book Review: After Alice by Gregory Maguire

First off, I didn’t finish this book. I managed to suffer through 19 pages before I gave it up as a lost cause. However, I did take detailed notes on those 19 pages.

I really, really wanted to like this book! The premise sounded really interesting and it could have been great. Unfortunately, it was absolute rubbish!!! There can be no doubt about the author having a great vocabulary, however, great use of the vocabulary he does not have. I happen to love weird, obscure words and yet I couldn’t get more than 19 pages into this book. He needs to learn that you don’t need to spew every piece of interesting vocab onto the page. He over saturates his writing with words that 90% of people will not know nor have the inclination to find out what they mean. Besides that, he doesn’t take care to make sure the vocab is in keeping with the speaker using it!!! Ada is a child, she is not going to know even half of these words, yet alone be using them; the same can be said of the servants: it is highly unlikely that someone in their positions would know/use those kinds of words. He just pukes up every word he can think of onto the page without regard for who is supposed to be using it. Some of the words/phrasings he used were old-fashioned even for the time period the book is set in so there is no way they would have been used let alone by the person using them!! 

His narrative style is absolutely horrible!!! It’s not even clear whether this is a third person narrative or first person. Sometimes it sounds third person, but then it switches to sound like it’s first person. It’s just plain sloppy, you shouldn’t have to be guessing what the ‘voice’ of the writing is. In addition to this, the narrative is bogged down with too much, useless drivel. He describes useless things in ridiculous detail, and using the most obscure words possible. His phraseology is also extremely awkward and unnatural. While technically correct grammar, he ignores the other rules of grammar that say when there are more than one option of correct word order choose the least awkward one: he doesn’t, instead, he chooses the most awkward. He rambles, it took Ada 5 chapters to get from her house to Alice’s and we know they don’t live that far from each other as the house was close enough for her to walk to. He also has one chapter that is just two sentences, both dialog. No problem with the chapter being short, but there is no identification for either speakers, because they are talking about Alice you just assume it must be her parents, but nowhere does it tell you this. The way it is written also makes it stand out like a sore thumb because it is not consistent with the rest of his writing. He goes from boring, rambling narrative, to two short sentences of unknown dialog, and then back to the rambling.

There are also multiple examples of serious TMI. Do we really need to read about how bad the baby’s excrement/nappies smelled? Or have the author refer to the certain private body parts!?!??! Seriously! How is that necessary information?! Let alone appropriate information, especially since it was regarding an infant. That is beyond TMI and inappropriate, that is down right disgusting, disturbing, and verbal pedophilia. How did this get printed? 

And this was all just within the first 19 pages! I cringe at the thought of what the rest of this book was like. If you see this in a bookstore/library and think you might like to read it, for you I have this advice: put the book back on the shelf and walk away. It’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.