On some level, I’ve lived my life that way henceforth. Sure, I have a retirement plan a good job and savings a little. But I am also crazy pants in debt. So, as I will perennially, I started trying to pay some attention to Suze Orman and get my finances straight. Her new show on OWN is Money Class and on of our first assignments was to reveal our debt. And since I come from a background of finance hiding, I figure maybe the only clear way out is to be out, loud, and…well, not exactly proud, but honest!

So, here it is:

Student Loans – $98,364.00
Credit Cards – $25,806.00
Car Loan – $1,567.00

Total Debt – $125,737.00

There. Owned.

So, you might be asking, how do you intend to pay that off? Truthfully, I have no idea! But, we have EAP at work and I’m going to use it to talk to a financial advisor. I did the math, and my math is poor so hopefully it’s less, but I’m hemorrhaging money to the tune of about $700 more per month than I bring in. Now, sure, I can not go out to eat and cancel my cable and lots of thing, but not $700 worth of things! So, I’ll get a helper and do whatever they say to and trust that they can do better by me than I have, that much is clear!

So, parents, talk to your kids about money, but more importantly, teach them about responsibility by being responsible. That’s it right there. And, do them a favor and don’t tell them they can have whatever they want. Teach them about what they need. As a librarian with a medical degree worth of debt, I can assure you that teaching them not to live beyond their means is the better thing to do for their future.

I gave this one 4 of 5 stars on Goodreads

As a rule, I love Steve Martin’s books. Though I have yet to read a novel of his that comes close to his debut novel Shopgirl, this one is closest.

I have no specific interest in the art world and had been cautioned that I might not really get or enjoy this story. Not the case at all. In fact, having no preconceived notions about art or stake in it probably made the book more enjoyable. It was a glimpse into a world I will never be a part, giving it a sense of fantasy while referencing things I know are real having lived in New York.

Steve Martin is gifted at laying out spans of life in a effortless way, showing the through lines of a persons life so subtly that it’s as if you’re going through it with them. In the case of this story, we follow the rise and fall of an intrepid, sometimes devious, always ambitious, woman in the high powered art world of New York.

I haven’t talked to anyone who’s read this story who is involved, or even simply has knowledge, of the art world, so I cannot speak to its accuracy. But it feels authentic which is inviting to an outsider. I feel like I’m spying.

Toward the end there are a few chapters that feel a little forced, like there was a point he wanted to make all along but never found a place for. But these shoehorned bits are forgivable in light of the rest of the story.

I gave this one 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads.

I loved the first half, Parts 1 & 2, which explained in layman’s details how the human brain seeks patterns and forms beliefs in all kinds of things. It was the kind of stuff that makes you think about your own beliefs and makes you feel like you’re being found out. It’s kind of a rush!

But then the last bit, Parts 3 & especially 4,  focused entirely on theories relating to cosmology and origins of the universe, which is obviously not unrelated information, but I was in one lane and then being asked to switch to another. It was jarring, and I was left already forgetting the brain information I picked the book up for and having my brain stuck with an exhaustive history of universe origin theory. It was good information, but it wasn’t the information I was going for here.

I would for sure say this book is worth the time if you are interested in why and how people form belief systems, but there’s a lot of opinion out there about how and why we believe and this is just one. He is a skeptic and so am I, so it is a book that largely reinforces my own beliefs, which frankly is something the book addresses — being drawn to the data that most closely aligns with your own thinking. I was a little annoyed with the author that he pointed that out (naturally), because now I feel I’ve been challenged to read books that try to scientifically prove the presence of God and ghosts. So, you know, if you know of any…

]]> http://celestihel.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/my-two-thirds-book-challenge-book-1/feed/ 0 celestihel http://celestihel.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/my-two-thirds-book-challenge-intro/ http://celestihel.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/my-two-thirds-book-challenge-intro/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:18:08 +0000 Helen L. http://celestihel.wordpress.com/?p=204 ]]> My buddy Mark did the 12 Books, 12 Months Challenge last year and, like many of us, did not exactly complete the challenge as laid out. This inspired him to create his own challenge that allows the reader to change their mind and set their pace and have choices. He’s calling it My Two-Thirds Book Challenge and the goal is to pick the books you’d like to read in a year and then read at least two-thirds of them. I’m in.

I have 75 books on on my list, which is ambitious, I know. The number coincides with another goal, which is to read 10 more books every year. This year I am working on 40. So next year, it’s 50! Many of them are graphic novels, which take longer to read than you think, but still not as long as straight novels and not nearly as long as non-fiction, which I’m a little heavy on also.

If you want to see my list, check it out on my Goodreads profile. The books I’ve chosen are in the list two-thirds-challenge. I will be giving my reviews here and also on Goodreads.

Nobody loves a conference like I do! They’re an infusion of theory and practice on the cutting edge. It’s important to occasionally break from the day to day to look out on the horizon of libraryland. Our profession is evolving so rapidly that it’s never been more necessary to embrace change. The New England Technical Services Librarians (NETSL) 2011 Conference was a provocative call to arms for all librarians, not just those of us in tech services.

A few salient points from the NETSL Conference:

1) Lean into your discomfort – An individual attitude adjustment is where it starts. Let’s choose to change our minds. Instead of anticipating failure, choose to expect success. To do otherwise simply creates fear and makes both libraries and librarians obsolete. A positive culture must also be fostered by institutional leadership. If leadership dares to greet change with faith instead of skepticism, staff will be less likely to shy away from the challenge.

2) Do less with less – Staff and budgets are too thin to do more with less. Outsource copy cataloging, get shelf-ready materials from consolidated vendors, try patron driven acquisitions, trim extraneous steps from policies and procedures. Free up staff to do what only they can do and focus on materials that only you can provide. Rethink local control. Pour energy into umbrella projects like the Green Mountain Library Consortium (GMLC). Focusing collective resources on one project, instead of creating parallel/competing projects, will save money and time while generating cohesion in the library community.

3) Be the geeks – Libraries are not the only credible source of information on the web. Our niche should be having the best and fastest tools to access the most credible sources. We need to reinvent the environment. Instead of continuing to cede search capability and computer expertise to Google, learn to code! Learn how our tools behave across technologies and make them better. Use social media to reach users where they are. The Department of Libraries Vermont’s 23 Things is a fantastic hands-on crash course in new media.

4) Learn Everything – Make use of webinars. Many are free, but even paid webinars are easier to budget for than conferences. If you can make it to conferences, focus on topics that will help your whole organization. Bring back fresh ideas and share them so everyone benefits. Join or start local interest groups and encourage them to make meetings available remotely. Fight for professional development. Being the best we can be for our organization includes identifying and acquiring skills needed to evolve with the profession.

I would add that librarians face the dual challenge of advancing the profession while bridging the digital divide. Absence of infrastructure forces many Vermont libraries to remain analog while the world becomes digital. Those of us both with and without high-speed access need to hold government and service providers accountable to the promise of statewide broadband. Find an existing effort through the Vermont Rural Broadband Project or gather your patrons and start your own!

Helen Linda
VLA News Editor/Editorial Committee Chair
NETSL Vice President / President Elect
Systems & Tech Services Librarian, Goddard College

If you want to receive the current issue of the VLA News, you need to be an active VLA News Back Issues at the VLA Website regardless of whether you are a member or not.

I’m fundraising, which I don’t do often, and this event is on my birthday, so consider your donation a birthday present to me!

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/celestihel/notlindahelen

A weekend Professional Badge to the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the largest comics industry convention on the east coast, only costs librarians $10! NYCC considers librarians industry professionals. Can I justify why this is right and good? Yes. Was I still incredulous? Definitely. I had never heard of a formally recognized relationship between the comics industry and libraryland.

Better still, Professional Badge holders get in early! That’s right, while the other tens of thousands of geeks waited in line for hours, I got to prowl the show floor with mere hundreds while it was still clean and fresh-smelling and I had room to do cartwheels. Unbeknownst to me when I bought the ticket, comic cons also have educational panels. Taking a gander the schedule I noticed much to my slack-jawed delight that NYCC had a whole slate of programs just for librarians.

They had panels on collection development to different age groups and interests. They had panels on justifying the addition of graphic novels and fighting censorship of collections. There was a round table discussion on graphic novel librarianship and an American Library Association (ALA) booth where librarians had their picture taken together. Fans who love their library also had their pictures taken; the folks in costume were awesome!

I went to most panels and here are a few of the things I learned:

1) Comics, graphic novels, and manga are not a genre; they are a format. There are graphic stories in every literary genre. If we think of them as a format, it may help us to incorporate them better.

2) The average age of comics readers is thirty. That’s right, most users of this format are adults. We must stop thinking of them as kid’s stuff and collect vigorously for adults, too.

3) Libraryland can have a sustained global relationship with the comics industry, just as we have with book publishers and vendors. Librarians need to show comics vendors not only why we matter to them, but that they matter to us. We must be the same champions of graphic novels that we are of non-graphic books.

4) New Jersey librarians rock! They ran, and were on, most of the panels. Their Graphic Novel Collection Development Workshops wiki covers much of the subject matter I saw and provides scads of collection development guides. Check it out.

If you’re looking for an excuse to get down to the city for a weekend, always wanted to go to a comic con, and/or want a different kind of professional development opportunity, why not give the New York Comic Con a try?

Helen Linda
VLA News Editor/Editorial Committee Chair
NETSL Vice President / President Elect
Library Systems & Technical Services Librarian, Goddard College

If you are a Vermont librarian (or anyone really, if you want to support the VLA and are not a Vermonter and/or a librarian, more power to ya!) and you want to receive the VLA News, you need to be an active member of VLA. If you already renewed your membership but didn’t check the box to get the VLA News, you can use the online sign up form.

Also, registration is now open to the NYCC, which has been expanded to a four day affair but will still only cost professionals $10 if bought in advance. I’m just sayin’…

On the free version, you get 5 unsubscribes a month with the option to upgrade to unlimited unsubscribes for a fee (though at that point one would have to wonder why you are subscribing to all of these things in the first place if you don’t want them ;P)

Genius.

Also, as a delightful aside, you can now stream Netflix through your PS3 & Wii without a disc! Please see instructions in Netflix for details.

It’s about time!

Lucky for us there is a site called the Bedbug Registry. It is a place for consumers to report any place they stay where they found/acquired bedbugs. Needless to say, it’s getting to be quite a list. Maybe you can save yourself some heartache and nightmares by checking before you book.

If you find that a hotel you wanted to stay at has been reported, for the love of pete, be kind. Call and see if/what they’ve done about it. No need to punish a business for something they couldn’t much help in the first place…remember, it’s people like you and I that brought them there. If they’ve exterminated and you like the place, go forth. If not, find another place to stay. Simple.

Remember to report it if you stay in a place with bedbugs. Save someone else the hassle! But don’t forget to tell management so they have the opportunity to do something about it!

Also, if you want to know how to ID them, here is a brief and hilarious post from the House of Lemay. Enjoy, and don’t let’em bitecha!