Today I am subbing as a librarian at our new Green Valley Ranch. We have just passed the 1-year anniversary for this spacious state-of-the-art branch. I am stationed at ASK DESK #1, right next to the cockpit. Yes, I said "cockpit". There is a life-size airplane cockpit, complete with all those luminous dials and levers that kids (of all ages) cannot wait to try.
Exploration and imagination are given free reign throughout the library. There are interactive play stations at the end of the stacks in the kids section. A little while ago two eager sisters claimed their stickers for properly identifying the Letter of the Week. They had visited the lounging areas where plasma screens and the "coffee tables" have clear tops to display cubbies full of things whose names all begin with one letter of the alphabet. Really cool!
The customers and I are having a blast!!!!!!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Making friends with POLARIS
The time has come for me "go all in" on POLARIS! Despite the fact that we have been on the Polaris system for almost a year now, my preferred method of placing and checking holds and renewing items for customers has been from the CATALOG and MY ACCOUNT functions from the DPL public homepage. For me, it just seemed to be more intuitive than the "professional/staff" version on the staff PC's. At first customers were a bit taken aback when I asked them for their birth date in addition to their library card number. But once I hit upon the handy dandy explanation that "it is SO much harder to misspell a birth date!" we usually got past any awkwardness. And I have gotten over feeling rude about it!
When on the Information Desk on the first floor, it is still my preferred of placing holds and accessing customers' records, since it gives me an opportunity to demonstrate how easy it is to use the PLACE HOLD function and to use MY ACCOUNT to check on holds and fines and loan periods that are about to expire. I access my own account that way most of the time...so it is very comfortable.
But with the New Year, after a whole year of my new, improved 30 hours schedule, I have opted to pick up occasional added hours as an "On Call" staffer. I have enjoyed filling in as a librarian in other departments here at Central, but in order to substitute in the branches, full circulation training is required. So I have opted to take the Polaris trainings being offered this winter on the general training calendar, and am following up with some hands-on practice at the Circulation (make that Borrowers' Services) Desk here at the Central Library. I am looking forward to both the final two training sessions and the coaching from seasoned circulation clerks. And then look out customers---here I come, to a Circulation Desk near you!
I also hope to find fun ways to share the valuable tips and tricks I learn along the way with my colleagues here in Reference Services, too!
When on the Information Desk on the first floor, it is still my preferred of placing holds and accessing customers' records, since it gives me an opportunity to demonstrate how easy it is to use the PLACE HOLD function and to use MY ACCOUNT to check on holds and fines and loan periods that are about to expire. I access my own account that way most of the time...so it is very comfortable.
But with the New Year, after a whole year of my new, improved 30 hours schedule, I have opted to pick up occasional added hours as an "On Call" staffer. I have enjoyed filling in as a librarian in other departments here at Central, but in order to substitute in the branches, full circulation training is required. So I have opted to take the Polaris trainings being offered this winter on the general training calendar, and am following up with some hands-on practice at the Circulation (make that Borrowers' Services) Desk here at the Central Library. I am looking forward to both the final two training sessions and the coaching from seasoned circulation clerks. And then look out customers---here I come, to a Circulation Desk near you!
I also hope to find fun ways to share the valuable tips and tricks I learn along the way with my colleagues here in Reference Services, too!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
RE-PERFORMANCES
Driving into work today I heard an extraordinary recording on our local Classical Music station (KVOD).
It was a cello/piano selection from their "CD of the Week" entitled THE SPANISH MASTERS (Zenph, 2011).
What blew me away was the seemless way in which this North Carolina recording company has added contemporary artists' music to WAX RECORDINGS (cylinders, actually) of Piano compositions by the legendary Manuel De Falla, IsaacAlbeniz and Enrique Granados made a century ago! Featured in these "re-reperformances" are cellist Zuilli Bailey and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. If the vocal/piano pieces are as good, I will DEFINITELY be adding this to my music library ! The idea of making these ground-breaking recordings available in newly mastered arrangements that pair long dead composers with contemporary musicians in digital format is amazing to me. Sort of like photoshoping music or allowing Natalie Cole to sing with her father the late great Nat King Cole in the album UNFORGETTABLE: WITH LOVE (Elektra / Wea, 1991)--only more so....my mind is racing with pairings of musicians who never had a chance to meet in real life, but could now be captured "re-performing" together. The possibilities are mind boggling!
For a full description of the title and an NPR interview with the contemporary artists, checkout the info on the KVOD website:
http://www.cpr.org/#load_article|New_CD_of_the_Week__The_Spanish_Masters
What blew me away was the seemless way in which this North Carolina recording company has added contemporary artists' music to WAX RECORDINGS (cylinders, actually) of Piano compositions by the legendary Manuel De Falla, IsaacAlbeniz and Enrique Granados made a century ago! Featured in these "re-reperformances" are cellist Zuilli Bailey and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian. If the vocal/piano pieces are as good, I will DEFINITELY be adding this to my music library ! The idea of making these ground-breaking recordings available in newly mastered arrangements that pair long dead composers with contemporary musicians in digital format is amazing to me. Sort of like photoshoping music or allowing Natalie Cole to sing with her father the late great Nat King Cole in the album UNFORGETTABLE: WITH LOVE (Elektra / Wea, 1991)--only more so....my mind is racing with pairings of musicians who never had a chance to meet in real life, but could now be captured "re-performing" together. The possibilities are mind boggling!
For a full description of the title and an NPR interview with the contemporary artists, checkout the info on the KVOD website:
http://www.cpr.org/#load_article|New_CD_of_the_Week__The_Spanish_Masters
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