It’s library budget time again. Good things, like Christmas and Mothers’ Day seem to come around only once every two or three years. Things I don’t like (budgets and taxes) seem to happen at least twice as often.
You wouldn’t think preparing the library budget would be that complicated. I’ll bet you think that I dream up a really big number of dollars to buy new books and ask the city council to fork it over. Hah! Little do you know!
The first thing I consider is how old are the furnace, hot water tank, air conditioner, carpet, etc. How likely are they to make it through another year without major expense? The HVAC system never makes it without repair. That system has more motors, belts, pulleys, fans and gizmos than Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory. At any given moment, at least one item is waiting for repair or making suspicious noises. I think up an amount that I hope will be sufficient to cover repairs for a year.
I estimate how expensive the utility bills will be. I budget for capital expenditures-big ticket items like new computers. With 700 patrons using our computers each month, they need constant updating and replacement on a regular basis. At the moment we have 14 computers for public use: five regular, sit-down desk computers in the adult library, two more stand-up computers for people who just need to look something up quickly and two laptops that may be used if all the others are full. In the children’s library we have three internet computers and two more that aren’t internet, but have only games for kids.
In addition, we have one for the microfilm viewer and four that are used to search our card catalog. THEN, we have another handful that is for staff use. Computers get complicated; I budget.
I do budget for books, , but I also must factor in the costs of all the extras we have grown to expect such as dvds, books on cd, magazines, music cds, downloadable audio books, and databases. That is my current dilemma: databases and other online services. Currently we have EBSCO Host, NoveList and Tumblebooks and NEIBORS. All are available on our webpage (www.humboldtpubliclibrary.com). EBSCO Host is a database of magazines and newspapers and journals of all sorts. You can check Consumer Reports through EBSCO when you want to buy a new washing machine and you can look for the latest information on just about anything else that might have appeared in magazines, journals or newspapers.
NoveList is a database of fiction books. The library staff uses it regularly, but it is right on our webpage for anyone to use. You can look up your favorite authors to get a complete list of his/her work. You can find “read-alike” authors, too
Tumblebooks is a web service for kids. The most delightful voices read stories aloud while the pages of children’s books fly by. Give it a try. It’s fun even if you aren’t a kid, but I hope it doesn’t replace parents reading bedtime stories aloud. That was the very best part of being a kid and a parent…..cuddling up in warm footie pajamas with a new book.
NEIBORS is our downloadable audio books consortium. You can sign in at the NEIBORS site and load an audiobook into your computer, portable audio device like an Ipod or MP3 player or record the book on cds for listening at your convenience.
There are many other databases available. Would Humboldt library patrons use an auto repair reference center? A home improvement database? A genealogy site such as Heritage Quest? Let me know if there is something you would use. We’ll consider budgeting for it.
Our website is open 24/7 even when the library isn’t. Check us out! @ www.humboldtpubliclibrary.com.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Retiring Librarians
Recently there has been some buzz in the library world, in magazines and email list-servs, that we baby-boomer librarians should retire to provide job openings for younger ones. I’ve noticed that my sit-in, walk-out, love-in, protesting, bra-burning generation doesn’t take kindly to such suggestion. We want to do what we want to do in the manner and time of our choosing. You can imagine the uproar this is causing. None of us is about to gracefully fade away. No; we’ll have to be carried out of libraries all over the country kicking and screaming with arms full of unread books.
However, on dreary days, gray rainy days or cold, snowy ones, I envy those of you who can curl up with an afghan, a cup of tea and the latest bestseller in the middle of the afternoon. We working stiffs arrive home after dark this time of year to take the dog out, cook supper, and throw in a load of laundry before we can collapse in our easy chairs to read. On a good day, I have an hour or so before my eyes start fluttering closed.
Between my living room coffee table, my bedside table and a spot on the kitchen cabinet by the door, I have $191.75 worth of library books. I have three quilt books to leaf through during semi-interesting tv shows. I have the book I am currently reading, Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman. It is one of his Alex Delaware mysteries that are always so good. I have The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf checked out. I can’t remember why I wanted to read it. Some book review in Library Journal or a spectacular summary on the back cover must have attracted my attention. I have Nevada Barr’s latest book waiting for me, too. I always like her work. John Grisham’s newest, Ford Country, is also on my book stack.
Last, is a book called Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin. I can’t remember what it is about or what made me want to read it. The only thing I do remember is that Jane Smiley gave it a terrific review. Smiley said Confessions of Edward Day is “such a lovely book.” I so admire Jane Smiley that I am just sure to love anything she recommends. She is the Pulitzer prize winning author of A Thousand Acres and Moo, both of which are based in Iowa. Smiley received a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and taught several years at Iowa State, although I don’t think she’s native.
If I’m really lucky, maybe we’ll have a dreary weekend. Brady-the-dachshund loves gloomy weather, too. He knows I’ll sit down somewhere and read away the afternoon. He’s always willing to share the afghan with me.
Whatever your cup of tea, we have the right book to accompany it @your library.
However, on dreary days, gray rainy days or cold, snowy ones, I envy those of you who can curl up with an afghan, a cup of tea and the latest bestseller in the middle of the afternoon. We working stiffs arrive home after dark this time of year to take the dog out, cook supper, and throw in a load of laundry before we can collapse in our easy chairs to read. On a good day, I have an hour or so before my eyes start fluttering closed.
Between my living room coffee table, my bedside table and a spot on the kitchen cabinet by the door, I have $191.75 worth of library books. I have three quilt books to leaf through during semi-interesting tv shows. I have the book I am currently reading, Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman. It is one of his Alex Delaware mysteries that are always so good. I have The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf checked out. I can’t remember why I wanted to read it. Some book review in Library Journal or a spectacular summary on the back cover must have attracted my attention. I have Nevada Barr’s latest book waiting for me, too. I always like her work. John Grisham’s newest, Ford Country, is also on my book stack.
Last, is a book called Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin. I can’t remember what it is about or what made me want to read it. The only thing I do remember is that Jane Smiley gave it a terrific review. Smiley said Confessions of Edward Day is “such a lovely book.” I so admire Jane Smiley that I am just sure to love anything she recommends. She is the Pulitzer prize winning author of A Thousand Acres and Moo, both of which are based in Iowa. Smiley received a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and taught several years at Iowa State, although I don’t think she’s native.
If I’m really lucky, maybe we’ll have a dreary weekend. Brady-the-dachshund loves gloomy weather, too. He knows I’ll sit down somewhere and read away the afternoon. He’s always willing to share the afghan with me.
Whatever your cup of tea, we have the right book to accompany it @your library.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Six Little Words
We have the most interesting little book in our teen library. It is called I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six Word Memoirs By Teens Famous & Obscure. Edited by Smith Magazine.
Apparently, the thought that one could tell an entire story in just six words began with Ernest Hemmingway. Legend says that when he was challenged to write an entire novel in six words, he wrote: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Smith magazine is an online publication (http://www.smithmag.net/). It is devoted to storytelling in all forms, but it seems to have hit on a real winner with the six word theme. On its website are various categories of six word memoirs. Under Momoirs I found: “Regained sanity is 18 years away” and “Screw cancer. Mom went to Paris,”
Under Food Life I read: “About that fire in the kitchen.” And “Are you going to eat that?”
In the Six Words for America category: “For every bomb, build a school.” And “We are one nation. red, blue.”
When Demi showed me the teen book, I was mesmerized for almost an afternoon…..”Dreams too big for this town.”, “Eccentricity is not an exact science.”, “Googled what he called me. Ouch.”For a few days I worried about the poor kids who wrote those quotes. When I read ”Follow your dreams. Not your parents”, I was sure my daughter Anne had written in.
What was the child thinking who wrote “The keys I have don’t fit”? What about “A time machine would be nice”? What was that poor kid suffering through when he/she wrote?
Demi put out a small notebook for our library teens to write their own memoirs. Some of my local favorites are “Five years, math homework still overdue.” And “I’m not short, I’m fun sized.”
Inspired, I wrote some of my own: “Growing old, better than the alternative.” “People my age are older than I.” “Life’s too short for ugly shoes.”
Come on in. Whether reading memoirs of other people or writing your own, you will find what you need @your library.
Apparently, the thought that one could tell an entire story in just six words began with Ernest Hemmingway. Legend says that when he was challenged to write an entire novel in six words, he wrote: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Smith magazine is an online publication (http://www.smithmag.net/). It is devoted to storytelling in all forms, but it seems to have hit on a real winner with the six word theme. On its website are various categories of six word memoirs. Under Momoirs I found: “Regained sanity is 18 years away” and “Screw cancer. Mom went to Paris,”
Under Food Life I read: “About that fire in the kitchen.” And “Are you going to eat that?”
In the Six Words for America category: “For every bomb, build a school.” And “We are one nation. red, blue.”
When Demi showed me the teen book, I was mesmerized for almost an afternoon…..”Dreams too big for this town.”, “Eccentricity is not an exact science.”, “Googled what he called me. Ouch.”For a few days I worried about the poor kids who wrote those quotes. When I read ”Follow your dreams. Not your parents”, I was sure my daughter Anne had written in.
What was the child thinking who wrote “The keys I have don’t fit”? What about “A time machine would be nice”? What was that poor kid suffering through when he/she wrote?
Demi put out a small notebook for our library teens to write their own memoirs. Some of my local favorites are “Five years, math homework still overdue.” And “I’m not short, I’m fun sized.”
Inspired, I wrote some of my own: “Growing old, better than the alternative.” “People my age are older than I.” “Life’s too short for ugly shoes.”
Come on in. Whether reading memoirs of other people or writing your own, you will find what you need @your library.
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