Too Many Books - So Little Time - A Blog That Understands Me

I blame Rod Serling. There was an episode of the Twilight Zone that marked my need for books for life. I'm not letting the end of the world find me under-read or book deprived. No siree, I've got my pile of books and there will always room for one more.

I found a blog that shares my pain on not getting to every book I lay eyes on. Too Many Books, So Little Time give brief opinions and reviews of books. I can get a glimmer of what is out there and make notes to keep an look-out for the new goodies that are being published.

http://www.toomanybookssolittletime.blogspot.com


P.S. Beware of blog posting at 4:30am. You are not at awake as you think you are.

Advanced Information Management - Library Staff Jobs

Advanced Information Management (AIM) is a staffing agency for temporary and permanent placement agency. AIM specialty is library and information based jobs for Northern and Southern California.

This company services academic, public, and corporate libraries as well as other business that might need the skills of a trained or experienced library worker.

You can search the job database to get a sense of the kind of jobs that are open. However when I used the database there was only one position. As an experienced temporary employee, I know that many positions are filled within an hour or two so this is not a knock against the database.

One of the pages that I found really helpful is the Events calendar - it is a listing of some of the library events and conferences that are happening around town and in California. This is always a good way to network and making connections to the folks that may eventually hire you.

Using a specialized staffing agency like AIM can help you get the experience that you might need. It can help to supplement your income or give you a chance to find out if you really want to work in a law library.

http://www.aimusa.com/index.shtml

Job Leads From Mrs. Kim

You might have missed the e-mail that Mrs. Kim sent a few days ago so here is another chance to check out employment opportunities.

1. INTERNSHIP at PASADENA PUBLIC LIBRARY: This is non-paying internship and you gain one unit by working 90 hours at Pasadena Public Library this fall semester. Contact Joanne Kim jykim@pasadena.edu for this sign up.
2. Paid INTERNSHIP at THE CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEALS LIBRARY: This Library would like to hire two LT Program students by paying $13/hr. Public transportation cost or parking will also be reimbursed. 30 hrs.per week divided to two students. Send your letter of application and resume by FAX to (213) 897-2429. Or contact: Carol Ebbinghouse, Court of Appeal Library, 300 South Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 830-7241.
3. Paid JOB at a parochial school: Immaculate Heart High School is seeking a part-time library staff. 15 hours/week, M-F, 3-6 at a private middle and high school for girls. $10.00/hr. Basic Cataloging, supervising & assisting students, circulation and special projects under the supervision of the Assistant Librarian. FAX (323-462-0610) resume to: Ms. Virginia Hurst, Principal, Immaculate Heart High School
4. Charles Drew University Library is seeking a Library Technician.
5. Art Center College of Design in Pasadena is seeking a Library Technician. Inquire at:Anita Flynn, Human Resources, Art Center 1700 Lida Street Pasadena, CA 91103 (626) 396-2270 or (626) 683-0559 FAX

Banned Book Week - September 23 - 30, 2006

Would our world be a better place if you were prevented from reading The Diary of Anne Frank? What about To Kill A Mockingbird? Could we function as loyal Americans if we did not have access to George Orwell's 1984? There are people that want to remove these and other books from schools and libraries.

Banned Books Week poster ceated by student artist
Camden Forgia from Arizona State University.

The American Library Association's Banned Book Week calls attention to books that have been challenged or removed from libraries because a person, a group or an organization found the book to be obscene, salacious or have the ability to generate subversive thoughts.

These are the same books that have educated, inspired and guided generations to greater understanding of ourselves and each other. To get you up to speed here are a few places to visit to help you learn, discuss and help educate others on the importance of protecting books.

ALA has a page on their site that contains information about Banned Book Week where you can download flyers, read the FAQ page and listen to an audio public service announcement. Also, check with your local library, they might have an event that you can attend or participate.

ALA also has a page on book burning, sadly this is happening even in the 21st century. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bookburning/bookburning.htm

Google Book Search has a list of the 100 most challenged or banned books. I prefer to see the list as a starting point for essential reading - http://tinyurl.com/zb3of

For those of you who work with kids or in classroom situations Read Write Think has a page of lesson plans, activities and resources to get the little one connected with books. http://www.readwritethink.org/CALENDAR/calendar_day.asp?id=295

Integrate library content into your web browser

Integrate library content into your web browser with some of these tools

http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Web_Browser_Extensions

Some of these tools won't work completely until the PCC library gets EZProxy implemented.

Try the bookmarklets from OCLC below with your favorite library whenever you visit Amazon or BN and many other sites which lists the ISBN of the book.

http://alcme.oclc.org/bookmarks/

Google News Archive Search

As a student in the program I love having access to newspapers and magazine archives via ProQuest. Yep, it was a-ok with me. A little bit of a learning curve but volumes of goodies.

Just introduced, Google has a news archive search. This isn't the same as when you use Google News to look up past stories. This news archive will place the subject of the article either in a search context with the dates available or in a time line view.

I'm still going to use ProQuest (and I'd advise you to learn to do the same if you value your grades) but I like have another web tool to play with.

http://news.google.com/archivesearch