A Day in the Life*, part 3

(With apologies to Lennon and McCartney)

I read the news today, oh boy
About some libraries that closed in schools...

Today's edition of www.philly.com featured an article lamenting the closing of libraries of two of its flagship schools, Central High School and Masterman High School.

I don't care about the reasons why, but everyone involved should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

The librarians who didn't stay relevant, or market themselves and their services aggressively enough so that hearts and minds were converted;

The teachers and principals who still saw their school librarian as Marian Paroo (The Music Man), not realizing that underneath the prim and proper exterior was the wily, crafty, intelligent woman who was able to help "River City out of the serious trouble that it's in";

The taxpaying citizens of any locality who think that the real work of a librarian can be done by non-degreed customer service associates; who think that reference work begins and ends with Wikipedia;

And don't get me started with elected officials.

There's a fine balance between doing what's expedient and doing what's right.  Right now, the balance is so skewed towards expediency I'm not sure it will ever be right again.  It could be argued that what's right is changing--I know the way in which libraries serve their collective patrons is changing, even if the basic mission remains the same--so we as librarians have to change our approach to marketing and service.  We can do that.  We must.

*--John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967.

What's New?*, opus 2

I figure since I haven't done too much writing about my library work lately, I would devote today's entry to just that, and in addition to that, job-hunting.

Our time at the Riverside Drive facility trudges on.  It's cramped to the point of claustrophobia, I'm getting cranky and bored; I've answered the same questions about the progress of the new library a hundred times and I wish to God I could change the answers.  It's frustrating to have to make the customer wait several minutes to check out if we happen to be doing something on the Internet. We can't run our circulation system and be on the Internet with the same terminal, simultaneously.  Yes, it's a gigantic pain in the tuckus. I did get an honest-to-God reference question on Saturday, though. 

A woman came in needing to order a textbook thru Interlibrary Loan.  After checking WorldCat and discovering that less than 100 institutions worldwide had the book, and none within a day's drive, I offered to check and see if her college bookstore had it.  Back ordered.
Checked Folletts: difficulty accessing website, gave up.
Checked Amazon: Available, but she wasn't particularly interested in paying $47 (not bad considering it's a fairly esoteric subject--American Deaf Culture and ASL)
Me: Have you considered renting that book?
Her: People do that?
Me (smiling): sure, and it's a lot less money than purchasing.
I check several rental agencies, finally settling on www.textbookrentals.com. I gave her the information and she left happy.  I encouraged her to let her classmates know about her experience and that she was successful in obtaining her book.

For those of you scratching your heads and saying, "that wasn't a reference desk question", well it wasn't at first, but it became one as I searched for ways to ensure that the patron got what she needed. It didn't help (although I understand the reasoning behind it, but that's for another day's entry) that it's a general rule of thumb for colleges not to do ILLs with textbooks.

JOBHUNT:

Most recent interview was mid-August at Manor College, a tiny Catholic two-year institution that specializes in pre-professional studies (Nursing, Medical tech, etc.) and that has a beautiful library. I don't think that the interview went especially well, but we did have a pleasant chat (NOTE TO SELF: stimulating conversation is not the same as an interview with a positive outcome).  No prospects on the horizon in the Academic Library world, but I continue to seek opportunities in the usual places, as well as some unusual ones.  For instance, I will start singing with the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Choir next week, and the director said (in what is definitely the most interesting thing ever said at an audition I've taken), "I don't care how crappy your voice is, you're going to be my librarian!"

I can't get a word out of any of my contacts regarding the West Chester U. position. The website still lists Paul Emmon's old job as "vacant".  The optimist in me says, "they're holding the job until you've graduated!", while the musician/neurotic in me says, "Yeah, sure, and Flo is driving her boat thru the intercoastal waterway complete with unicorns and glitter".  The mind reels...
UPDATE: As of September 9, West Chester U. had hired a new Music Librarian, according to my source.  I have yet to hear from the search committee.

Onward. Cheers.



*--Johnny Burke and Bob Haggart, 1939.  Notable covers include McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Frank Sinatra, and Linda Ronstadt.

Celebration*

Short post tonight--my reason to celebrate was not anything earth-shatteringly important, but I went to the store for some last-minute items for the Labor Day festivities.  I found Vernor's ginger soda, which up until now is not sold in Pennsylvania.  I almost started jumping up and down.  I gasped and almost screamed for joy--then I emptied the shelves. HA!

(cough)**

Cheers...

*--Ronald Bell/Kool and the Gang, Celebration,  1980
**--Michiganders will get this.

Pineapple Poll*

Unlike my previous posts, the subject today is actually the piece named in the title.  It's Pineapple Poll, a ballet created by (among others) Charles Mackerras, the English conductor, using music of Gilbert and Sullivan.  G and S aficionados will recognize excerpts from Mikado, Patience, and H.M.S. Pinafore and doubtless others. I first ran across this delightful, frothy pastiche as a freshman in college, where we played the Duthoit transcription in Concert Band with Carl St. Clair.

I've always had a deep affection for Gilbert and Sullivan's work. I don't know whether it's because of the active G and S Society in Ann Arbor, or my frequent brushes with it in the theater, or if it's simply my predilection to be a big ol' smarty-pants like G and S were in their day.

Musically, it's not profound, and it's not meant to be. There was something strangely familiar about the scoring, and now I know why.  In high school, we played Benjamin Britten's Soirees Musicales, a work of similar intentions using the music of Rossini. The scoring of the Britten is so much like Mackerras' work, one could be forgiven for mistaking the two.

According to Allmusic.com, "the plot of Pineapple Poll revolves around Pineapple Poll and her colleagues, who are all madly in love with the captain of the good ship H.M.S. Hot Cross Bun. In order to board the ship, they disguise themselves in sailors' clothes, a fact that is not revealed to the audience until near the end of the ballet".  Who said there were no good stories left to tell?

*--Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, arr. by Charles Mackerras, 1951 for the Sadler's Wells Theater.

Achieved is the Glorious Work*

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here”.

I was reminded of this excerpt from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address when preparing for today’s ceremony. The achievement of earning the Eagle rank in Scouting is but one stop in a boy’s life journey, albeit a huge one, and should not be confused with the final destination.  So many tasks had to be completed, activities engaged in, skills learned, so much information absorbed and applied, all in the name of building one unique young man.  Earning the highest award in any worthwhile endeavor, whether it is an Olympic medal, a Nobel or Pulitzer Prize, or the Eagle rank in Scouting, is a beautiful thing.  But it pales in importance to what happened leading up to the attainment of the rank, and perhaps more importantly, what happens next—in the hours and days, weeks, months, and years after the ceremony. 

How does the newly minted Eagle apply everything he’s learned? Young adulthood is an overwhelming experience for many. Mistakes are made—even by Eagle Scouts. How the young adult deals with adversity, pitfalls of all kinds, and temptations, speaks to how firmly rooted "Scouting's timeless values" become in the individual.  It is insufficient merely to parrot the words of the Scout oath or the 12 points of Scout law--they must be lived, deeply, as though the Scout's response to life's challenges sprang from the foundation of his existence and was not merely a thin coat of paint that sloughed off in the first storm.

There's so much to say and perhaps more that will be left unsaid in the weeks and months to come, but I'd like to hit a few salient points:

1) Your Grandpa De Kok and Grandma Brooks are smiling right now.

2) My mom--your grandmom--is back in Michigan, and very pleased. She'd be here if she was able, but look around.  To quote Governor Lang in Mr. Holland's Opus, "There is not one person in this room whose life you have not touched".
3) While the troop and its leaders did give you substantial help along the way with one thing or another, this was an individual achievement that reflects favorably on you, your troop and peers, and your family. This was your bite at the apple, Daniel, your time to shine, and you did it. Congratulations.**

*--Franz Josef Haydn, closing chorus to part 1 of The Creation, oratorio, H.21/2**, 1798.  My sincere apologies. I changed the name of this post and couldn't change the note referencing the title.  To those readers who think I'm one of those horrible ignorant Americans, well, what can I say? The computer wasn't cooperating. 

**--H. 21/2 is this work's Hoboken Catalog number. Various composers with large opuses (Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and even Peter Maxwell Davies in this century) have had fellow musicians and musicologists cataloging their works, sometimes by type of composition, other times by order of composition. The Hoboken catalog is named for Anthony von Hoboken, a 20th century musicologist who published the first edition in 1957.  You're forgiven if your first thought upon hearing "Hoboken" was either Bugs Bunny and a penguin that cries ice cube tears, or Frank Sinatra.

We Didn't Start the Fire*

After last night, I've come to a few conclusions.

1) It isn't right for someone to force another person to open his or her birthday gift ahead of his birthday.  It's awkward for the recipient and their loved ones, who were savoring the surprise with great anticipation.  The recipient was perfectly willing to wait until it was time, but in the interest of expediency, those in charge of the gift decided to do so anyway. Those of you who were responsible, shame on you.  You've cheapened a joyous individual achievement for your own selfish motives.

2) The adult leadership in our troop as a group leaves too much to be desired in terms of personal and emotional maturity. During the recent controversy regarding membership and leadership requirements in Scouting, there was much said about Scouting "not being about sex". I guess that all went out the window with the summer camp mock awards that were given out at last night's awards ceremony.  Not to be a wet blanket, but the next committee chairman needs to address each individual leader's behavior and contributions now if not sooner.  What I witnessed was beyond the bounds of good taste and civility. We represent Scouting when we're in uniform, wherever we happen to be.

3) One of the issues I've been harping on since I started as CC is our relationship with our chartering organization.  When requested by the scoutmaster, I gladly helped set chairs for the awards ceremony. Afterwards, I started quietly putting chairs away, picking up trash, cans and food, and sweeping the floor, hoping that the Scouts and adults would notice and join in.  Alas, I was almost completely disappointed. While I did get a thank you from the senior patrol leader, who really is a pretty good kid, that was about it. Not much help at all from the adults or Scouts.  People, you have to realize that when you're in a covenant (read charter) relationship with a group, for you to leave the meeting room in the state it was in before I started cleaning in effect slaps our partner in the face and says, "I don't respect your feelings, and I'm going to act however I want".

4) I've always thought that the folks that advocate for prospective parents being vetted for emotional and mental fitness to take on the job were, at best, a little off. I'm not all that certain they're wrong any more. I offer the following example:

Medical science and the industrial gases profession have determined that huffing helium is an extremely risky and potentially dangerous behavior, even in small amounts, and should be avoided at all costs, regardless of the comic effect.To wit:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/childrenshealth/203153.html
http://balloonartists.com.au/helium-dangers.html
http://www.menscosmo.com/dangers-of-inhaling-helium-gas/

So we had helium balloons at the event last night, and one of the boys was walking around breathing in from one of the balloons.  I told him to stop, and within a few seconds of doing so, one of his fellow Scouts started chanting "inhale! inhale!".  I scolded the second Scout and told him that he shouldn't encourage risky behavior in others, especially after he'd just heard me tell the first Scout not to do it..  I was ripped a new one by not only the boy's mother but the boy's sister for "yelling at (the Scout)".  Unbowed, I told her that I'd gladly do it again if necessary, and that her son was encouraging risky behavior in others. If his feelings were hurt because an adult stepped up and did his parent's job for them, too bad. As an adult in charge of youth, I'd rather deal with hurt feelings (which the child will get over) as opposed to avoidable trips to the emergency room (which may have more tragic consquences).  My advice to the naive parent?  If you won't believe me, ask your son's pediatrician about the dangers of  huffing helium, and GROW UP.

5) In these days of "everyone gets a trophy", it's been refreshing to see Scouting stand for not giving specious, nebulously described awards.  The Scout actually has to do something specific within given guidelines with sufficient documentation to earn a badge of rank, a merit badge, or other special awards such as for saving a life or acting in service to his faith community or others, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Further, it's a good thing to honor others who gone before us in service to Scouting.  That being said, it does not honor their memory to create awards in their name with nebulous or no requirements.  As committee chairman, I'm still waiting for those promised requirements in writing.

6) Still waiting, too, for the Lafayette district of the Cradle of Liberty Council, Boy Scouts of America, to act on my son's Eagle Scout paperwork.  My son called on the 22nd--three weeks to the day after he turned it in--to find out the what his status was.  He was given what I can only describe as a non-answer.  I called, identified myself as troop committee chairman and asked her directly to check into it.  We received a phone call about 20 minutes later saying that the paperwork had been picked up on the 8th but no other information was available.  Life goes on.

Cheers. 

*Billy Joel, Storm Front, 1989.

How Can I Keep From Singing?* part 2

Occasionally there are days that make you question your sanity, your raison d'etre, your significance.  This past week was full of them.

Since January 2012 I've taken ten classes.  Up until now my record has been immaculate.
Eight classes, eight A's. Batting a 4.0.  Then I make the fatal mistake of taking on too much. Two five-week summer classes, an internship, and working (I had already dropped my gigs for the summer so I could focus on school work).  I soon realized that even that was too much.  Postponed the internship. My head was swimming and nothing was making sense.  I got sick. Had to finish the classes to graduate on time.  Everything is getting turned in on time (more or less).

Long story short--in the end a herculean effort just wasn't enough.  87 on my Bibliography of the Humanities class (which I'll write about some other time).  I needed 89.9 for an A.

Final score as of today: Nine A's, one B.  If I'd done that as an undergrad, I'd still be celebrating.
In a sense I should be proud of my work thus far, but I really craved that 4.0. It's not like I flunked out, but still...sigh.

I have two good professors this fall--Clark for Bibliography of the Social Sciences and Kreuger for Instructional Techniques for Librarians, and then graduation!  I think I'll bring Turkish Delight to the after-ceremony reception at Dr. Lillard's...

*Rev. Robert Wadsworth Lowry, 1868; text attributed to "Pauline T." in the New York Observer.