In Praise of Mentors

It may come as a huge surprise to many new librarians, but in the 1980’s, computers were rarely mentioned in Library Science Programs.  We arrived at our jobs in libraries that didn’t have a single computer in the building.  So how did we learn to thrive in an environment suddenly so dependent on technology?  - in my case, it was working with a mentor.  Imagine, if you can, being given the job of technology librarian based solely on the fact that you were the only person in the building who owned a computer.  This is what happened to me.  I had an Apple IIc in my house, primarily for my three young children. 

Our library was one of the forward-thinking  facilities in our area.  We had two Apple IIe’s (Amber screens) and an old IBM.  We were just starting to migrate to GEAC, our first OPAC.  I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, especially since I was hired to be a children’s librarian.  In stepped my mentor, a retired GM employee who had the patience of a saint and was the most computer-saavy person I had ever known.  Chet sat with me as I looked “under the hood” of my first computer – and then put it back together for me.  He made sure I memorized the DOS commands needed to copy files, create directories and many other tasks that we now accomplish with a mouse click.  Unfortunately, he taught me enough to be dangerous – - I wiped out entire hard drives several times with that “Fdisk” command and Chet would arrive at the building in time to rescue me and rebuild the drive.  Over the years, he learned web design in order to aid me in creating our first library web page, and then assisted in helping other community organizations to make their own pages to put on our site.  He helped me when we started our web search classes for our patrons, acting as my assistant.  There was literally nothing that he wouldn’t help with in the area of technology!

As the years went on, Chet’s eyesight failed him and he had to give up his own computer.  He still served as a great coach and resource for me in so many ways.  His wisdom and wit were inspirational.  Chet’s heart  failed him just as his eyes,  and we said a final good-bye to him this week.  I told his family that I would not have been able function in my job for the past twenty years without him as my mentor.  This is the absolute truth!  There may be moments when I envy the librarians who come out of school knowing programming languages and the most current technology.  Then I realize that no amount of formal schooling could be as valuable to me as the time I spent with my mentor.  Chet, you were the greatest !!

Getting to know Wii

It’s been a while, but I’m still excited about our staff development day in early September.  I actually did the boring part of “development” with two 90-minutes presentations on how to use Health Internet Resources.  But then I got to enjoy the real fun – learning how to use a Wii.  The Library owns several Wii consoles for gaming programs with teens and tweens, so now it was time for the rest of the staff to learn how to use them.  I’m a terrible bowler – bad hook, and being left-handed doesn’t help either.  But I bowled the best game of my life using the Wii.  I wasn’t quite as good with tennis, but that was to be expected.  I was playing with a right-handed character and never figured out how to do it.  By the time my session was over, I was energized and ready to go.  (I was also sore the next day, but that’s a different topic all together…)  We were treated to a massage from a trained professional as part of our in-service, so that really made my day.

It’s been three weeks and I’m still thrilled about the possibilities of home exercise with the Wii.  I think I’ve convinced my two oldest sons to give my husband a Wii for Christmas this year.  Then we’ll both get to use it!  I have visions of the two of us bowling or playing golf in our living room during the dreary days of January and February rather than watching non-stop sports on television.  Hmmm, could this just be wishful thinking on my part?

RFID in fact and fiction

Our Library is getting RFID for security and self checkout in September.  This will enable staff to keep a better inventory of our materials while making self-checkout an easy task for our patrons.  These are both good things!

It just so happens that Jeffery Deaver’s newest book, Broken Window, is all about that technology and how it can be used to literally destroy people’s lives and send them to prison.  Granted, this is purely fictional, but it certainly gave me a new appreciation of the extent to which our lives can be traced using RFID tags in our purchases.  If you are not familiar with Radio Freguency Identification devices – and you want to read a thrilling forensic mystery book – check out Broken Window.  By the time I finished it, I wanted to throw alway all credit cards, my smart phone, computers, and anything else that might be the target of identity theft.  I also wished he’d made it longer, so I could have kept reading one of my favorite authors!

Playing with gadgets while on vacation

Our family took a ten day trip to Florida and North Carolina earlier this month.  There were six adults crammed into a Saturn minivan, along with all of our luggage.  Included were four notebook computers; two digital cameras and two smart phones.  The crazy part is that three of us needed our computers to either do school work or business while on “vacation.”  Fate interceded, however, and the Internet went down in our pricey hotel the day after we checked in.  I actually went an entire week without checking my three email accounts.  Now that’s a vacation!

I still had my daily “fix” of electronic toys, however, since I was in charge of my son’s Garmin Nuvi.  I hadn’t really paid much attention to GPS’s before, but this was lots of FUN to work with.  I managed to locate a 24 hour drug store and navigate my husband and I there and back to the hotel without any help from my son.  By the time we were on the home stretch, I was actually talking to Nuvi and felt like she was a new-found friend.  Hmmm…… now I know what to ask Santa for this year for Christmas!

Mother’s Day at Work

It’s Mother’s Day and I’m here working at the Library.  Yep, it’s a bummer, but I actually volunteered for this day.  While my mother was alive, I never worked a single Mother’s Day Sunday, but now I’ve worked two in the past three years.  Our neighboring library is closed today, so we get twice the traffic in ours.  Working on the Reference Desk for three out of five hours is just my cup of tea.  So far, I’ve had three really great research-type questions for which I’ve been able to provide quality material for potential papers.  Two of the three patrons were genuinely interested in the topic, which makes it even more rewarding.  There are entire weeks that go by without this kind of reference activity!  There are, indeed, good things to be done on Mother’s Day.

On a personal note, my daughter-in-law actually signed an email to me “your daughter” – WOW!!  I’ve been waiting for a daughter for years.  Now I have one – as well as a granddaughter.  As I grow older, it’s not the material things that matter nearly as much as the emotional rewards.  My life is good. 

Home from Grandmotherhood and back to Work!

I have just returned from spending two weeks with my new granddaughter and her parents.  It was probably most most challenging two weeks I’ve had in 25 years or more.  Sarah has a few digestive problems and as a result, sleeps very little and screams a lot!  Since I’m still working to roll out the new web site, I actually brought my laptop with me.  (In my innocence, I thought I’d have time to do work while she slept.  Little did I know that she hardly EVER sleeps!)  While I was able to perform basics updates to our current home page on a regular basis, there was no hope of new work on the future site.  Yet, I didn’t mind at all.  Seeing Sarah and holding her during the night so she could sleep made me realize that there IS a life apart from the Library and Technology.  Frankly, if I were not the benefits provider for our household, I might have considered quitting my job just to stay another month with Sarah.  Sadly, I had to leave and now face the challenge of two weeks of back work and still a new web page to create.

Time out for Grandmotherhood!

If you take a peak at the photos at the bottom right hand column of this page, you will see my brand new granddaughter, Sarah.  She was born March 14th in Arlington Virginia and weighed 7lbs, 14oz.  I personally think she is the most beautiful baby in the world, but I guess I might be a bit biased.  Instead of working non-stop on my web page transformation at home each night, I prefer to continuing knitting the beautiful pink baby blanket that is only half done.  At this point, the web page can take back seat to my little darling Sarah.

Another Time Out for Personal Announcements

I try to keep centered on librarian issues, but every so often I need to share my joy online.  Back in June – it seems like a long time ago – I posted a photo of my son at his wedding in San Diego.  Well, since then he left his job at EDS and now works for the Dept. of Defense in wireless Internet security.  The best part is that he and his bride are now in Virginia, a short eight hour drive from Michigan.  If that were not enough, I found out several weeks ago that I am going to be a grandmother in March, 2008.  WOW !!  Nothing can beat that!  I’ve already started selecting books to purchase for the newest member of the family. 

Time Out For Personal Life !

 Okay, I have to take time out every so often for my personal life, and this past weekend was one of them.  My oldest son, Tom, married the woman of his dreams, Danielle, in a ceremony at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Old Town, San Diego.  It was a time of great joy for all of us!  The librarian part of me has already networked with the bride’s stepfather to do some research for him on OCLC FirstSearch.  Trust me never to be too far away from work, even on family vacations.

Moving Day

They said it couldn’t  be  done   – my office – desktops  clean!!!  This was only out of dire necessity since this space will be gone soon and I’ll be moved into temporary office space.  Give me three months and it will be back to its old cluttered area!  However, it was worth a photo for historic purposes.