Guidelines for Library Use.

1. Try to stay awake. Especially if you snore as this can bother others.

2. Please keep your clothes on your body. Again this can bother others.

3. Spit and various other other bodily fluids belong inside your body and not spread around the library. People could slip and fall.

4. Please be patient with your librarian. Contrary to popular opinion he/she has not read every book and may not remember the one you checked out last year that had a blue cover.

5. Librarians have lots of duties. We do not "sit around and read all day." Be respectful and say "please" and "thank you." A little courtesy goes a long way.

6. Waving a cane in a librarian's face or general threatening will not get better or faster service. It may in fact slow service down while the librarian takes the time to call security.

7. Making out, macking, snogging and other such frivolity should not be conducted in public and especially not the library. Nobody wants to see that. You don't look hot, you look desperate.

8. Dirty diapers belong in trash cans and not on bookshelves or chairs in the children's area. Ewww!When is this ever appropriate?

9. During a heightened security alert it is not a good idea to put powder in your books no matter how bad they smell. Someone might alert Homeland Security fearing anthrax.

10.The library is not a good replacement for childcare. Again, librarians are busy people and although we love children we do not know them all let alone their family members. We may not notice if your child walks off or leaves with a stranger, or looks at inappropriate internet sites, tears up books, empties shelves, or creates general mayhem.

11.While libraries are not the quiet places of yesteryear they are still not an appropraite place to have loud cell phone conversation or fights with your significant other. Nobody needs or wants to know your business.

There you have it. Just a few simple guidelines for using the library. One would think these would be common sense but people are funny that way. These are taken from stories that I have heard over the years from many people working in libraries all around the country. And believe you me there are plenty more! They do not necessarily reflect the library that I work in.

Thanksgiving is always a lot of fun and often the best part (even better than the food) is sitting back and listening to all the conversations going on around the table. I am one of those people who is blessed with a family that I truely enjoy spending time with.

At one point we were scattered, Mom, Dad and I were playing a game in the dining room, the girls were looking at funny Youtube videos and updating their Facebook statuses, and my sisiter, brother-in-law and the two boyfriends with us this year were watching the game. There was laughter and conversation and absolutely no-one was asking anyone else to be quiet. In that moment I was so grateful for the people in my life and the easy way we love each other that I was nearly overwhelmed.

It's what I am most thankful for.

"Beneath heaven is hell. Beneath hell is Furnace."

So begins Alex Sawyer's new life inside Furnace, a high security prison built to house the worst of the worst juvenile offenders. A life of harsh rules rules. A life of hard labor and brutality. A life without the sun or freash air. A life where a single mistep could bring the blood watch in a place where there are things worse than death.

Problem is, Alex is innocent.

Set in the turn of the 20th Century China City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell is the stoy of two Mennonite Missionaries who leave home to live in the plains of Northern China. In China they discover love, hate, danger, turmoil, doubt, but also deep contentment. Life is hard, sometimes excruciatingly so, but their love for the people of China and dedication to God keeps them standing firm through good times of plenty and hard times of drought, famine, and war.

This tender story is one of deep relationships and the amazing power forgiveness has on the lives of all it touches. Full of wisdom it is based on the real lives of Caldwell's grandparent's, enhanced with pieces from the lives of other missionaries to China making the book an even more compelling read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Once again I find myself procrastinating on my classwork.

This semester's class is Collection Development which is actually pretty interesting. We have developed a plan for collections for a library of our choice and mine is a mobile library. Imagine that. Only one part of this plan remains, it is the shortest assignment to date and probably the least challenging and yet I find myself sitting in front of my computer screen staring at a mostly blank word document.

I think it's finally happened. My brain is full. The knowledge is now jammed in there so tightly that it can't get back out. Do you think my professor would accept that as an excuse?

What to do?

Since I'm a children's librarian (almost) and use this song all the time but hate spiders, sleep talkin' man made me guffaw out loud.

This is what he said but you really need to hear him, say it. The link is in my blog list on the bottom right of this page and the date is Nov. 2.

"(sing-song) The itsy-bitsy spider, craaaawling.... SMACK IT WITH A NEWSPAPER, get on with your life!"

(I tried to link or inbed it here but it wouldn't allow it. Or maybe I just couldn't figure it out. Either way)

Things that bug me...

People who are so self-absorbed or too stupid (yes I said stupid) to realize that it is inappropriate for a three year old to be in a rated R movie!