dirtylibrarian

Yet another reason to love Obama:  his favorite tv show is The Wire!  From good article on The Joys of the Wire.

Rampant Plagiarism in comics.  I think you have to be a pretty hard core comic geek to enjoy this.  From the Unshelved boys.

I'm thinking about having a combination board book drive and karaoke party, to benefit the public library in San Pedro Belize, where I am going next month.  Do you think this would work better at a public venue (Bush Garden) or my house?

I like it when people stir things up by designing interesting libraries.  While even I may hate details about the specifics, it is still good to have people buzzing about their libraries.

'Octopus' library stirs up Czechs

Czechs argue over the futuristic design of the new national library - nicknamed "the Octopus".

from lisnews.org

Fighting fires may sound taxing, chasing criminals demanding, but a new study says that working in library is the most stressful job of all. The BBC says Librarians are the most unhappy with their workplace, often finding their job repetitive and unchallenging, according to psychologist Saqib Saddiq. He will tell the British Psychological Society that one in three workers suffer from poor psychological health. The study surveyed nearly 300 people drawn from five occupations. They were firefighters, police officers, train operators, teachers and librarians and were intended to cover the spectrum, with the librarians first-thought to be the least stressful occupation.

In a survey of five occupations? Not very wide ranging that one. More stressful than deep sea oil rig repairman? More stressful than high school vice-principal? More stressful than emergency room doctor? I'm sorry, while I certainly do agree that being a librarian can sometimes be repetitive and unchallenging, ennui is not the most stressful of conditions to work under, IMHO.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/nyregion/02library.html?em&ex=1167886800&en=139255a494f12fba&ei=5087%0A

I think this is why most library systems don't do more for teens...because they are afraid of what they would do if they all started coming in. My branch has about six 12 year olds that drive the staff crazy...I can only imagine what 50 would be like. I guess I would try and recruit a partner organization to make the meeting room a space teens want to be in and have pride in. Getting the closing police station into a youth center also sounds good.

I dream of running a teen community center in a medium size city that would be part Y, part library, part community health center. With stuff teens really need, but also enjoy. Where they wouldn't just be babysat, but have opportunities to grow and become great citizens.