Stacks Adventure

Long time no write! It has been a busy few weeks for me, so much so that I have abandoned writing my weekly blog. My last blog briefly discussed my adventures in the stacks at U of D-Mercy’s library. I needed a book from their library to use for my philanthropy discussion. Initially, when I called to make certain they had the book I was informed that they don’t pull books for patrons. There, patrons are responsible for pulling books themselves which differs from WSU’s library policies and/or rules. Never did I imagine having to work so hard to obtain this book!

First, I arrive at U of D and realize that I’m a tad bit confused about gaining access onto their campus. Luckily, someone who worked at the University was kind enough to “let me in.” Once inside, I was impressed by the overall feel and presence of the college campus. Despite being located in Detroit, U of D successfully manages to separate itself from the urban community to ensure a safe and academic-spirited environment.

Next, it was easier to find their library than it was to get inside the University’s campus! The reference librarian told me I could find the book I needed in the basement. To my surprise, the University of Detroit-Mercy has crank shelving which enables stacks to be rolled open or closed and is ideal for small spaces. I’ve seen at least one library’s use of crank shelving and I was very impressed at its usefulness. However, I have never used crank shelving and found it to be very intimidating in this already unfamiliar library.

Unfortunately, my ignorance in properly using the crank may have lead to it bending. I kept turning and turning it so much that one of the pieces was bent and would not move. Eventually, once I tired of my failed attempts to open the shelves, common sense kicked in and told me to go ask for help! The circ student assistant, politely, came down to help me in obtaining my book. It should be mentioned that as she and I were walking back towards the stacks, I passed a pretty important sign. The sign was indicating how to use the crank shelving, and I completely bypassed it on my first trip down to the basement.

In about five minutes, she too couldn’t open the stacks and realized that one of the pieces was bent. She went upstairs to alert someone of the problem and I stood downstairs pondering what would happen next. Uncertain about whether or not she was going to return with someone who could get me the book, I took matters into my own hands! I began moving books around to determine if my book would be at the bottom or at the top of the shelves.

My hard work paid off because not only did I get the book I needed, but I got it before the student and her supervisor made it back to assist me. They were both amazed, especially her supervisor that I was able to obtain the book! Further self praise was needed as I quickly stated; “yes I just used my cell phone as a flashlight and was able to locate where the book would be on the shelves!” Ironically, what I failed to mention was that I probably broke their crank, how I uncaringly stood on their shelves, and re-arranged their books to get what I needed!

All in all, I’d say it was worth it! My philanthropy discussion went very well and that book was one of my main resources. Perhaps, the University of Detroit-Mercy should re-consider going to pull books for their patrons…This is no excuse for my alleged destruction of their property, only an observation…

Oh Bloggie...

In the words of Langston Hughes' Mother to Son, “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair!” The last couple of weeks have been so chaotic. These last two weeks have found me overwhelmed by work, school, and life! I had a great blog entry in mind that was going to give a detailed account of my stack experience at U of D Mercy. I had to borrow a book for them for my Urban Library Seminars course, and it ended up being quite the adventure. Although, I would really like to share my experience, I don’t have the time this week to properly write it. Hate to admit this, but I really need to dedicate time to my various school assignments as the deadlines are QUICKLY approaching! Not to worry though, I’ll be back to my usual detailed writing before you know it ;)

Class Highlight...

This week, for my Young Adult Literature class, some of us presented book talks. Book talks are presentations that briefly cover a book without giving away the ending. I have to do book talks for this class as well as my Children’s Literature class and I love them! What I most enjoy, is the variety of the types of book talks that I am required to do for both. My Children’s Lit class is online, so the professor has required us to create book talks using Power Point. However, my Young Adult Lit class meets every Tuesday, and I have many more options as to how I am allowed to present my book talks.

Did I mention that having a Theatre degree rocks?! Okay, well having a Theatre degree rocks, and here’s why, I get to use my performance skills to creatively appeal to audiences. It should come as no surprise that for my book talk, I choose to rap and perform a skit that I wrote based on my book’s main character. The book I read was A long way gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah.

The book tells the tragic and emotional story of Beah’s journey to becoming a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Most of the book’s pages are filled with the sadness and grief that aided me in writing my skit. One of the things Beah and his friends loved to do growing up was rap to American music. They loved Naughty by Nature and LL Cool J and would often get together to rap to their music.

Inspired by the book, I decided that I would rap to Naughty by Nature’s hit O.P.P. Before I knew it, I was on google.com searching for lyrics to that hit song. After locating the lyrics, I purchased the song from iTunes, and began learning the first verse of O.P.P. Learning that verse proved to be intimidating at first, but after much practice the melody and words began to stick.

It’s Showtime!! Tuesday rolls around and I am gearing up to perform my rap piece and skit to my Young Adult Lit class. I had a great time performing O.P.P. and I believe that performance outweighed the skit's performance. My classmates thought it was pretty cool too, and my professor Janet Bobak was also impressed. Once class was over, she playfully suggested having me come to her school to do that for her students.

Final Thoughts: When I began to think of ways in which to present this book talk, rapping didn’t exactly come to mind. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became to rap. Realistically, how cool would it be if more librarians, teachers, and/or media specialists would rap to capture the interest of their students? They may not read the book, but if you present it to them in a way that’s catchy, exciting and attention grabbing that may pique some interest. Hence, the reason I chose to rap…

My Utopia

Generally the material that I am required to read for my LIS classes is BORING!! I find the most interesting LIS articles either on the listerserv or from my own research. For my Urban Library Seminars course, which I absolutely positively love, we were assigned to do a lot of reading this past week. My favorite article was called The Public Library in Utopia by Kevin J. Hayes. Although, the article is filled with various viewpoints I chose the three that most appealed to me.

First, Edward Bellamy’s ideal public libraries were conveniently open twenty-four hours a day (Hayes, 2010). In Bellamy’s utopia “no public service or convenience is ever suspended at the present day, whether by day or night, the year round (Hayes, 2010). When my classmate discussed this idea, he posed the question, how accurate have the predictions from this article proven to be? Last week I learned that in October, the Undergraduate Library will be open twenty-four hours. There’s an extended study area in the UGL that is open twenty-four hours from Sunday-Thursday. Now, the entire library will be open all day everyday for students and/or faculty who would like to use it.

Next, the article makes mention of how libraries were designed in the past. The stacks were designed so that librarians were able to keep an eye on the patrons and supervise everyone using the stacks (Hayes, 2010). Is it me, or does that sound completely ridiculous? Granted, they’re some patrons I find it necessary to monitor but only because they exhibit inappropriate behavior. Really, who has the time to sit and watch a patron’s activity while he/she is in the library? A librarian once told me something that I never forgot, in reference to children using the unfiltered computers in the adult section. When I asked why she didn’t stop children from doing this she said “we’re not babysitters.” My point exactly…

Finally, the article concludes within a description of the ideal public library. In fact, the last sentence reads, in utopia everyone knew how to use a library (Hayes, 2010). It is believed with any library, that the librarian must at some point show patrons how to access and/or use the library resources. While I do appreciate when a patron approaches the desk with some idea as to how to use the library catalog, I thoroughly enjoy showing he/she how to use databases or find articles. The day when everyone will know how to use the library is a scary day for me because if everyone will know how to use it, what then becomes of the librarian?

References

Hayes, K.J. (2010). The public library in utopia. Libraries & the Cultural Record, 45 (3), 333-349.