Merry Christmas!

Christmas Bells

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1864)

I Heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

The Black Book of Secrets

The Black Book of Secrets, by first time author F.E. Higgins is a compelling study in human nature with an interesting bit of magic adding flair to the story telling. Young pickpocket Ludlow Fitch narrowly escapes his drunken parent's diabolical plan to sell his teeth for profit, fleeing the City on the back of a carriage. Arriving in the village of Pagus Parvus, Ludlow immediately looks for a way to make a living and realizes his former skills as a pickpocket, while well honed, will not serve him well here; the village is destitute and it's inhabitants poor, mostly due to the greed of landlord Jeremiah Ratchet.

As chance would have it, Ludlow arrives in Pagus Parvus the same day as prosperous stranger Joe Zabbidou. Joe is a pawnbroker who, with little ado, sets up shop in one of the village's rundown building. After inviting Ludlow to join him for dinner, Joe reveals he is in need of an assistant for his business. Inqurining as to the exact nature of his business, Ludlow learns that Joe is the Secret Pawnbroker. He listens to secrets and pays the owner cash for their trouble. Able to read and write, Ludlow's job is to record the secrets into the Black Book only writing on the clean pages and never reading what has been written prior.

One by one the villagers sell their secrets to Joe and leave the shop lighter in spirit. However, the secrets follow a pattern as the villager's difficulties forge a path directly to Jeremiah Ratchet. After each person sells their secret to Joe they inquire "what of Jeremiah?" and are told, "Be patient." Business flourishes, soon the villagers forget how miserable they were and become determined to take care of Jeremiah themselves regardless of potential for a dangerous outcome. As the story unfolds short vignettes, featuring tales within the story, present chapters from Ludlow's memoirs, as well as extracts from the Black Book of Secrets. Higgins weaves a chilling fantasy world that will leave readers enthralled.

"So wish me luck on my journey. I promise whatever I find I will bring it to you as quickly as I can. Until then, as Joe would have said, Vincit qui patitur." (p. 268)

Addenda to the book include information regarding facts included in several of the secrets such as a brief history on grave robbing and tooth pulling in the 1800s. The UK site Fantastic Fiction reports Higgins currently has a two book deal with the next title due out in 2008.

Tags: The Black Book of Secrets, F.E. Higgins, Juvenile fiction, New juvenile author

Early lunch blogging: Collection development

Instructors at the university take advantage of the opportunity presented with library reserves, both electronic and book. One of the children's literature professors routinely places juvenile award book winners on reserve for class projects; included are Caldecott (10 years), Coretta Scott King, and in years past Children's Choice and Teacher's Choice from the International Reading Association. Each year in November, The Reading Teacher publishes an annotated list of these selections. This means each year in December I work with the reserves person, I search and pull the new titles and order additional selections as needed, she pulls the old titles and prepares the new titles for reserves. I also print out and bind hard copies of the award lists for the reserves student workers (saving wear and tear on our hard copy of the journal).

• Teacher's Choices 2007
• Children's Choices 2007
• Young Adults' Choices 2007

Though part of the IRA Choices booklist, the annotated copy of Young Adults' Choices is made available in the November issue of Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

What I need to accomplish this afternoon is note what we have, do not have, and/or need to add to the juvenile collection from these booklists. While not traditional collection development, this is a quick way to make sure the juvenile section has books that will definitely be used by students this spring (2008) and next fall (2008). Before I hit the ground running with this project, ordering titles, I have contacted the professor who teaches the children's literature class to verify she is indeed going to use these books for her course.

Lunch is early today, so I am multi-tasking making good use of time left before Christmas break begins tomorrow at noon!

Spanking Shakespeare

Shakespeare Shapiro's name has been the bane of his seventeen years of existence, as has his somewhat avant-garde family; high octane parents and a younger brother Gandhi. Spanking Shakespeare, by Jake Wizner, is an irreverent look into the trials and tribulations of Shakespeare's senior year.

"I should warn you. Some of the material you're about to read is disturbing. Some of it will make you shake your head in disbelief. Some of it will make you cringe in disgust. Some of it might even make you rush out into the stormy night, rip your shirt from your body, and howl, 'WHY, GOD, WHY?'"

"Then again, maybe you'll just sit back and smile, secure in the knowledge that your name is not Shakespeare Shapiro, and this is not your life." (p.6-7).

Shakespeare's senior project, Spanking Shakespeare 17 Down, is cleverly interspersed and visually apparent with different fonts, between the months comprising his senior year. His class memoir provides bright insight to daily happenings in Shakespeare's life at home and in school. No one is exempt from his musings and, most telling of all, Shakespeare's self awareness is portrayed with the same truth and revealing the growing confusion felt by a teenage boy. The result is an unashamedly cheeky book sure to please readers.

Tags: Spanking Shakespeare, Jake Wizner, Juvenile fiction, YA fiction, Young Adult fiction

Bounce

Bounce, by Natasha Friend, features thirteen year old Evyn; her mother died when Evyn was young and for years it has been Evyn, her brother Mackey, and Birdie, her dad. One night at special dinner Evyn's father "drops the bomb" announcing he is getting married, moving the family from Maine to Massachusetts, and not only will they be gaining a step-mother, but also a plethora of step-siblings. Evyn is coping, barely, with the furious changes in family dynamics by talking to her dead mother "Stella" about her new school, lack of new friends, and a growing confusion regarding why her brother and father are flourishing in this new environment while she drowns in misery. Despite Stella's calm assurance that things will work out and she should just let things bounce, Evyn does not want things to change - she wants her life back.

Full of smart dialogue, complicated feelings, and a wealth of understanding how a thirteen-year-old girl’s brain works, Bounce charts a course through the turbulent sea; an adventure full of family and friends. Evyn's wry understanding of self, she knows discussions with Stella are a coping mechanism, and equally horrified reaction to her father's love life, are vivid reminders of how hard change can be at any age. For more information About Bounce, or any of the other previous books by Natasha Friend, check out the author's blog.


Tags: Bounce, Natasha Friend, Juvenile fiction, YA fiction

Vitae this, vitae that

I have finally finished updating my personal page and have moved on to obsessing (nothing new there) about use of CV titles, tags, and format of the page. I Googled CV this afternoon and found various adaptable resources from colleges and universities; career service pages were promoting resumes and vitas. After awhile, they started to blur and one pithy tip stood out from the others - be to spell vitae correctly. I am somewhat disappointed by my alma mater, University of Pittsburgh, provided only linked information to other pages and did not provide samples of any sort; sad for a university that is touting itself in the newest magazine for being a top level facility for alumni. Be that as it may, here is some of what I found:

• Preparing a Curriculum Vitae - University of Texas at Austin
  EUREKA (Enhancing undergraduate reserach experience, knowledge and access
• Writing the Curriculum Vitae
  The Owl (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue
• Writing a Curriculum Vitae
  University of Virginia Career Services (Handouts)
• Curriculum Vitae and Related Letters
  University of North Florida Career Development Center
• Writing a Curriculum Vitae
  University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Career Services
• Writing a Curriculum Vitae
  Carnegie Mellon - Career Quick Tips & Academic Resources
• Writing your Curriculum Vitae
  Dartmouth Graduate Studies
• Writing a Curriculum Vitae
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Career Services Office

I have not read through everything I printed (thank heavens for duplex) as of yet. The next step will be determining if the headings I am currently using actually fit the information displayed. After the page is complete, I will take a serious look at the job openings that have caught my attention in the last weeks and determine where to go from here. There are questions to be answered. Use the vitae? Create new resumes? Submit electronically? Start working on updating that portfolio?

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period

The first of three books I originally freed from the cataloging cart right before Thanksgiving, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, by Gennifer Choldenko has traveled straight from the cart, to my office, to lunch, home, back to the cart for cataloging, to the circulation desk (officially checked out to me), and finally back to my home office. It has been sitting in Blogger draft format for several days patiently awaiting completion, only to be superceded by diatribes on journal articles, library statistics, resumes, vitaes, movies, and snow.

Kirsten McKenna and Walker Jones are returning to school after summer vacation. For Kirsten, it is a time of relief because summer was stressful, her parents have fought the entire time and her best friend was away at camp. Kirsten's only friend was her younger sister. Walker is returning to school as well, but he is a new student; a young African American in a prestigious white school. Resigned to making the best of the situation to please his mother, Walk is reserving judgment concerning the school and it's inhabitants. It does not take long for either student to realize things are going to be radically different this year. Told in dual voice, Kirsten and Walk each have their own chapter and point of view, the unlikely duo bond as friends before learning how close their lives intertwine beyond the confines of school.

Choldenko, also the author of Newbery Honor book Al Capone Does my Shirts, again provides a glimpse into the messy life of teenagers. Her characters are well developed, flawed as humans should be, and must deal with inevitable complications of life; parents and children included. Kirsten is fighting weight gain, a coping mechanism for her parents consistent fighting and low self-esteem. Walk is dealing with his single mother's fear for her child and subtle issues of race in school. Foreshadowing is subtle, but readers will not be overly surprised when the secret kept by Kirsten and Walk's parents for thirteen years is exposed by an unlikely source and the repercussions reverberate throughout both lives and school. How the character's move forward is realistic and rewarding.

Choldenko's web site is both teacher and reader friendly, there is a If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, Teacher questions section particularly useful for classroom discussion.

Tags: Gennifer Choldenko, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, Juvenile fiction

HP5, dog food, & ice cream

Tuesday after work I rushed out to buy Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; one for me (regular wide-screen) and one for my dad (2 DVD set) for Christmas. After dinner that evening I relaxed watching HP5 and was transported back to Hogwarts for year five. I have enjoyed each of the preceding HP movies, first in the theater then on DVD, and all have had a different "something" about them. However, HP5 is the first one that after leaving the theater I remarked to my dad that had I not read the book, it would have been confusing.

Like the book, the movie becomes not only a bridge between the beginning and end of the series, but also between HP as young boy and HP as a young man. It becomes obvious adults in the wizarding world while opting to protect the young, are in many ways inhibiting their growth. I spent time again this evening watching the end of the movie, attempting to catch some dialogue that was difficult to hear over the music accompanying the scenes; Ron really needs to speak up and Luna, though effectively childlike and wize, has a voice that could cut glass. Casting remains consistently on-target; the actress who plays Dolores Umbridge is a complex mixture of perky kindergarten teacher and evil personified ("I really hate children, you know") and Lucius Malfoy, my favorite bad guy, is the epitome of arrogant.

Though, I must admit Snapes has one of the best quotes (aside from Hermonie telling Ron he has the emotional depth of a teaspoon) in the movie, delivered in his customary droll tone: "However, if you do intend to poison Potter, I assure that I have the greatest sympathy."

After adjusting the audio (emphasis on less bass for the music) on my television, I watched the last hour of the movie (choosing scenes is much simpler than fast forward) a short while ago taking a break from baking and weather forecasts of gloom, doom, and blizzards. I still am unable to understand what Ron says to Harry and Hermoine when explaining how they escaped from Umbridge's office, but have learned the first wave of snow has passed through Northeastern Ohio and we are now bracing for the second batch of weather containing the ultimate "mixed bag" of precipitation. Approximately four inches of snow is laying on the ground and it sounds as if we have entered the freezing rain portion of the evening (it's pinging off of the existing snow).

In a brief moment of clarity, I remembered to purchase a snow shovel this morning so I will not have to use my small garden shovel to clear the path to the alley behind my garage. I also learned something new; we always discuss how predictions of snow storms drive the populace to the grocery store for milk and toilet paper. Today the cashier at the grocery store set me straight, what people buy when a snow storm is forecasted is - wait for it - ice cream and dog food. Yes, ice cream and dog food. Seems they kept an informal record at the store one winter and those were the results. I hated to disappoint her as I had neither in my cart, but she gave me a pass since I did have toilet paper.

I am kind of wishing I had some ice cream.

Lunching on library stats

One of the perks accompanying my various 'duties as assigned later' projects is that while binding surveys and reports, I have opportunity to peruse the same. No, I am not overstepping bounds looking at the materials, I am more often than not asked to edit while compiling materials to be bound. Yesterday's project was binding the library year-end annual report for the president and provost. This year's library annual report, the same one that prompted me to update my vitae, is later than usual due to the inclusion of a survey. It is interesting reading and I am enough of a statistical information hog that I immediately searched for numbers on resource center holdings, cataloging activity, and circulation. Finding what I wanted, this morning I asked to read those stats at a more leisurely pace; a request that was immediately and happily granted (the boss knows I love this stuff). Actually, pertinent information was emailed to everyone after I babbled about wanting to review resource center statistics.

Without providing proprietary information, here are some general comments about my resource center and juvenile collection:

• Overall library circulation has steadily increased over the last seven years. Items circulating are not limited to books (DVD, CD, Software, and other materials) however , I find this particularly interesting due to the consistent availability of online information in databases, the Internet, and other electronic resources.
• Between July 2000 and July 2007 there has been a catalog holdings increase of 49% for the juvenile collection and 60% for the resource center. Much of this may be attributed to the resource center officially becoming part of the library in 1999 and taken over by a librarian in 2000; it is my understanding that funds accompanied the space. More funding = more stuff.
• Cataloging activity for my two areas of interest are a bit fuzzy, while both areas have increased the resource center numbers do not gel for me. On the other hand, the increasing space issue for the juvenile collection is aptly documented illustrating a 67% increase in juvenile books cataloged in 2007 compared to 2000.
• As to circulation by type; the resource center (11%) and juvenile collection (16%) together account for 27% of the total library circulation in 2007. That is a significant increase over the 2000 figures, 70% for resource center and 42% for juvenile.

An over abundance of contributing factors and intangibles could argue for and against the above generalizations. But generally speaking, is it heartening to know that college students are indeed making use of academic libraries for more than email and printing.

Now, lunch is over and I have to trek across campus for a meeting.

He's baaaack, riding to the rescue

Just in time for a holiday chuckle, he's back; Too Much Information? Mr. Library rides to the rescue. Here are my two favorite question and answer excerpts from .... Mr. Library Man!

Q. Dear Library Man: Since you work in a public school, aren't you really a school media specialist or something?

A. The preferred title is biblio-hero.

and ...

Q. Dear Library Man: Is it your ambition to become the powerful Librarian of Congress?

A. You caught me. These 21 years at a junior high library in west Modesto have just been a stepping stone in my scheme to dominate the library universe.



Tags: Mr. Library Man, Modesto Bee, Brad Barker

Projects run away

Late last week an email arrived from the library director, it is time for his year end report. Each librarian was to send a quick list containing updates regarding our professional development pertaining to the 2006-2007 academic year. Suggested information included, but was not limited to campus committee involvement, professional affiliations (statewide and/or national), presentations, publishing, conference and workshop attendance, and anything else that would successfully speak to our professional development. After compiling the information, and yes I keep a monthly list routinely referred to when crafting my yearly evaluation document, I remarked this would be a great time to update my resume and vitae.

At the time I was merely making humorous email repartee with the boss, but in retrospect decided it would be a good time to update things. So, for the last several days I have been compiling my lists (and checking them twice)and working with my university web page and vitae. As with many universities, we have dedicated server space and it is recommended we personalize the page. My personal page is attached to the resource center web page and links to the library page. It also includes links to various presentations and course pages. While very few of the faculty librarians here have elected to provide this information to the campus community - and the web - I believe having a vitae in place is an important aspect to professional development. Furthermore, it is more often than not I overhear librarians bemoaning the fact we are not fully recognized as faculty by the faculty. Including your vitae with library liaison information is key to creating an awareness of their own professional involvement and growth.

Almost complete, I have a few workshops I unearthed this evening that I will add to the list tomorrow, it is time to take a critical look at the headings and document organization. Currently in place are education, experience, organizations, presentations, poster sessions, publications, workshops, program committees, university committees, grant reviewer and grant projects, library service, fundraising, web authoring, and blogs. Some of these should be combined while others would benefit from reconsideration. Naturally, as a librarian, I have various articles detailing aspects of vitaes and resumes. I also have references from books I have found to be useful. I will review these, find new, and progress.

All in all, it reflects well on both the library and me to have the information presented professionally and updated constantly. From a seriously selfish standpoint, this will be helpful should I decide to apply for one or both of the openings that have caught my interest as of late.

I did not finish all I planned with this project this evening. As noted in the title, a clever little word-play on my Wednesday night television show Project Runway, things got away from me.

Closed, not locked

It seems that though the door was symbolically closed, I neglected to verify my capability to lock it and walk away with a skip in my step. Twice in the last two days I received email (tagged priority) from the eternally patient and kind academic journal editor regarding necessary changes to my references, both in text and the 'bibliography.' I must admit to being embarrassed that my misuse of this citation style was causing such trouble for the editor.

For heavens sake, I'm a librarian! I was forced to use MLA, APA, and Chicago style for papers in a grad class (he was making us aware of the differences, uh-huh). A change in citation format should not cause issue and angst.

But, I digress. After an hour yesterday and a simple reference question today, I may .... she says hesitantly and with a vestige of hope ... be finished.

This morning I spent time looking for a book on using Harvard Style. I can not be the only person on campus utilizing this for articles. Faculty members here, sans librarians, are tenured and the academic cry of publish or perish is alive and well. I have been able to find two interesting titles in World Cat that looked promising; A guide to writing bibliographies : based on the Harvard style and Sweat-free referencing Harvard Style: source acknowledgement, paraphrasing and quoting, a student's guide. Interestingly enough, the first is in a library in New Zealand and the second in South Africa. Not surprisingly, neither titles are available in Amazon or Barnes and Noble, nor are they in Baker & Tayloror Gobi.

Well, fine. It's time for lunch anyway.

Closing the door

After spending several hours, so much for the changes not taking long, on the article revisions yesterday, this morning I emailed my article submission, author information, abstract with keywords, and publication permission to the journal editor and assistant editor. I've already received a reply from the assistant editor thanking me for the submission. It appears the second of two invited articles has passed the peer review process and will be published. What a whirlwind adventure that was. I checked the journal database this morning and the final edition for 2007 was published (yes, an obvious statement when we are less than three weeks from the end of the year). It follows that both of the article submission will be published in 2008. Works for me; I have two more things to add to next year's end of year report and this years evaluation. Good thing goals for this academic year included publishing and presentations. Closing that door and moving on, at least until I wax poetical about how fabulous these articles look in print during a future blog post, I need to think of something to submit for a poster session this summer.

Grades will be submitted later this week; after evaluating this morning there remain only two outstanding projects to be completed and a rousing 91% completion rate for the course. The I.T. department created, or rather recreated, my course materials into WebCT. After meeting with the GA tomorrow I will make a few minute adjustments to the course in preparation for spring 2008. Things ran smoothly, especially considering the loss of GA six weeks into the fall term. The remaining GA and my student workers helped make the term run smoothly by picking up extra hours and making an effort to work closely with the students. I even got my paycheck for teaching the course last Friday! By the end of this week I should have the spring course ready, know if I have a second GA for the term, and will have effectively closed the door on fall 2007.

Now I only need to survive the library web site meeting(s), a strategy meeting with my boss and the actual meeting with the web page committee. This almost two month lull in the process has effectively stopped progress that had been made. A new site ready for summer is looming on the horizon. It is always possible, but as of now I feel it improbable. We - actually I - have to know if using the university template is the final decision so we can close the door on that portion of the design discussion and move on to content. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Overheard

The grocery stores today were overflowing with customers. There were those stocking up before the "mixed bag" of precipitation due this evening (have enough milk and toilet paper?), some obviously stocking up on baking items, and many who were just doing their weekly grocery shopping routine. Personally, I was braving the madness of this particular store because I have recently developed a taste for chicken salad. Odd, but there you have it.

Leading into the bakery area, a smiling, pleasant employee was stationed offering cookies to customers. With a fresh cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing in my future, I declined. But while perusing the display I overheard the following between the employee and a two male customers:

Store employee: "Hello, would you like to sample a cookie?"

Male customer: "No, thank you. I just put in a fresh chew and don't want to waste it."

In the frozen food aisle of this same store I heard a woman offer to kiss her husbands ass. I moved quickly to pick up a package of Phidelphia cream cheese and was equally pleased not to be privvy to either what instigated the offer or her husbands charming response.

Really, you can't make this stuff up.

Channeling the scarecrow

The last day of classes is survivable, even when large contingencies of procrastinating freshman wait to finish a lab project. With an hour to spare, last evening at 5 pm 90% of the students had successfully finished their coursework; smiles were big, relief was palpable, and there was joyful skipping from the building. Even better, the number who would need to make corrections was basically infinitesimal. Next week is finals and it is a denouement of sorts for the resource center. With the course completed, traffic will return to normal and "the regulars," students who routinely use the space and avoid it during course due dates, migrate to their favorite computer and library space to settle in and study for finals. The relative return to normalcy is accompanied by its friend, blatant finals panic; often characterized by lack of sleep and mainlining caffeinated beverages.

As for me, though the frantic pace is energizing my brain is pleased to be able to not only focus, but also prove itself known and capable of stringing together a few coherent thoughts, words, sentences, and possibly paragraphs. I will complete final editing of my journal article this weekend and send of the information Monday as requested. Of course, Monday is also the traditional library holiday luncheon and I have a learning community meeting on Friday, and ....

Good thing the pace is so much slower when finals are over.

View from my window ...

The last day of class and we are enjoying the second winter snowfall to hit in three days. It is really a lovely view of the snow covered campus from my office window, but scraping my car has already gotten old.

Procrastinating with purpose

I have a deadline of December 10th for editing my journal article. However, my problem remains having sufficient brainpower to make sure said edits are better than the original submitted work; something I have serious doubts about during this time of year.

Quality time is at a premium during the next two days. As of this morning, 57 of 150 students (38%)were finished with their portfolio projects, leaving a significant number to troupe their way through the resource center before six o'clock Friday afternoon. I estimate checking multiple assignments for twenty plus students today and know at least ten finished (45%). I have faith we will have close to a 90% completion rate and the remainder will take the course during another term. But during this time the pace is frantic and my brain is mush. I am less than brilliant, bordering on embarrassing myself. With that in mind, I am currently procrastinating with purpose. Enter the books added to the new book shelf yesterday afternoon.

I will accomplish things needed at the beginning of spring term. This is critical since I will be in Philadelphia at the midwinter meetings during the first two days of classes for spring 2008. Today I started pulling books and compiling a list of juvenile picture book titles for the spring semester Mock Caldecott panel. My current list/handout features thirteen books and I am hoping to add three or four additional titles from recently ordered picture books due to arrive in the next couple of weeks.

Here are the thirteen books I selected, list even includes non-fiction titles:

• Mars Needs Moms!, by Berkeley Breathed
• When Dinosaurs Came with Everything, illustrated by David Small
• The Boy Who Painted Dragons, by Demi
• Jazz on a Saturday Night, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
• Henry, the Dog with No Tail, illustrated by Jules Feiffer
• How to Catch a Fish, illustrated by Peter Sylvada
• Scribble, by Deborah Freedman
• Four Legs Bad, Two Legs Good!, by D.B. Johnson
• At Gleason's Gym, by Ted Lewin
• The Crow: A Not So Scary Story, by Alison Paul
• The Lemonade Club, by Patricia Polacco
• Velma Gratch & The Way Cool Butterfly, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
• Cowboy and Octopus, illustrated by Lane Smith

Recent winners of the Caldecott award have been an eclectic group showcasing different artists and styles:

• Flotsam (part of last years spring mock Caldecott)
• The Hello Goodbye Window
• Kitten's First Full Moon
• The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
• My Friend Rabbit
• The Three Pigs (my personal favorite)

With this in mind, I selected a mix of new and well-known illustrators including previous award winners (Dillon's, Small, Demi, Lewin, Polacco, Hawkes), artists known for work in different media's (Breathed, Feiffer), a personal favorite (Smith), and an illustrator new to the children's book market (Paul). The next step was to find books featuring different mediums used to present the illustrations. The following information was garnered from individual books (some did not specify):

• Demi - "Paint and ink with Chinese silk brocade"
• Feiffer - "Charcoal pencil and watercolor"
• Freedman - "Pencil with watercolors, magic markers, and digital coloring"
• Johnson - "Hand lettered text and mixed media illustrations"
• Breathed - "Virtual acrylics and watercolor on 100% rag archival virtual illustration board"
• Small - "Watercolor and ink"
• Paul - "Collages of hand-dyed cut out and torn paper"
• Polacco - "Pencils and markers"

Lastly, even though this post is rife with lists I would be remiss not to include links to Caldecott medal information:

• 2008 Caldecott Committee
• Association for Library Services to Children - ALSC
• The Caldecott Medal
• About the Caldecott Medal
• Caldecott terms and criteria
• Caldecott winners 1938-present
• Caldecott medal and honor winners 1938 - present

Time will tell if I have made any pertinent selections; regardless, it is a class session the students enjoy and it gets them into the library again. Tomorrow is another busy day. In addition to the continuing mayhem in the resource center, it is the library open house.

On another note, I did get a chance to start reading Spanking Shakespeare today at lunch.


Tags: Mock Caldecott, Juvenile collection, Picture books, Picture book illustrators

Missing, lost & paid, or under the bed

Approximately twice a year the technical services/cataloging assistant brings me a listing of juvenile books that are missing, lost and paid, or gathering dust living under beds in the dorms until the end of the year. I go through the list and determine what titles and their corresponding records can, and should, be deleted from the catalog. The multi-page document has been sitting on top of my growing "to do" pile (yes, I did mean to write pile and not list) beckoning me for attention. The end of last week I determined what could be deleted and what I wanted to re-order. And, because I am greedy about my book buying budget, I asked the acquisitions librarian if the replacement copies should be ordered from a specific line. If money was collected for "lost and paid," that same money should be used to purchase replacements.

While the cataloging librarian was a bit taken aback that I asked, she almost speechless to learn the answer to my question was yes (hah!). The answer I wanted, as opposed to the answer I was expecting, did not change the number of titles I had slotted for replacement; but it does mean I can spend that money elsewhere. Many of the missing books were dated with the topics better served by newer titles and others were unavailable due to the short publication life of non-award-winning and/or classic children's literature. However, some of titles were award winners and purchasing replacements was easy. Here are a few of the books being replaced:

• Dream snow, Eric Carle (Eric Carle!)
• Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, Eric Carle
• Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech (Newbery Medal)
• A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck (Newbery Medal)
• The Deaf Musicians - Pete Seeger (curriculum use, new title)
• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
• The Messenger - Lois Lowry
• Remember: The Journey to School Integration - Toni Morrison

As the end of term nears, Friday is the last day of classes, it is also time to clean up things around the resource center. Bulletin boards were updated before Thanksgiving, and today the new book shelves were emptied and sent to the circulation desk for shelving. Even with constant use by the students, there were six shelves of books to be returned to the collection. I no sooner finished loading books on to a cart than the technical services assistant brought me a full cart of new titles! Here are a few of the juvenile and young adult books that caught my interest and have been added to my personal cache of reading materials in my office:

• The Chicken dance, by Jacques Couvillon
• November Blues, by Sharon M. Draper
• Looking for JJ, by Anne Cassidy
• The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex
• The Slippery Map, by N.E.Bodeand Brandon Dorman
• Spanking Shakespeare by, Jake Wizner and Richard Ewing
• Bounce by, Natasha Friend
• The Black Book of Secrets by, F.E. Higgins
• What the Dickens: The story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy, by Gregory Maguire

Whether or not I actually read all of these books is still to be decided. But, as of today they are mine for a month. Plenty of time for some lunchtime reading and even to take home over the holiday.