Sleeplessness equals more reading time

Apparently, homecoming here is cause for non-stop partying Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is accompanied, of course, by screaming, yelling, shrieking, chanting, singing, etc. I can usually sleep through most chaos, but not this time. Too much, too sporadic, too sustained. On the up side, I read 8 of the 30 juvenile/ya novels (or roughly 27%) I need to complete by the end of the semester.

For those looking for an interesting historical novel dealing with fire fighting, I recommend The Big Burn by Jeanette Ingold. She looks at the fires that took place during the summer of 1910 through the perspectives of several different people (ranger, ranger's brother who becomes a firefighter, homesteader, black army private called in to fight fires. With a double major in English and history, you'd think I'd be a big fan of historical fiction. Usually I prefer to keep fiction and history separated. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction usually, but this book has interesting characters, different plotlines, and historical accuracy in a very readable combination. Plus, it's set in the west.

Another author I'm really enjoying who writes historical fiction is Joseph Bruchac. I read two of his novels in my reading stint. Code Talker and Hidden Roots. Code Talker is far more of a straight historical novel, dealing with the Navajo code talkers in WWII. Hidden Roots is more of a growing up novel set in a historical time frame (1954). It deals with family secrets, and for a short novel, it unravels the secret without giving it away until the very end of the novel.

Caroline Cooney's novel, Enter Three Witches, tells the story of Macbeth through a ward of the Macbeth's, Lady Mary, and a variety of other minor characters. It stays as dark (maybe even darker) than the original. Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach deals with a missing diamond, a new house, a father who's a Shakespeare scholar, and a bad start at a new school.

Other books read in the reading frenzy include Dog Sense (Collard), Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear (Mazer), and Project Mulberry (Park).

A Few More Mercantile Library Photos

Stacks (with chalkboard labeling)

Piano and window alcove


Display rack

More Cincinnati Public Library Photos

Courtyard at Cincinnati Public Library

Fountain at Cincinnati Public Library

Mercantile Library

Cincinnati Public Library - Main and Bond Hill

Tour de Libraries

Today was a day of some firsts, first time to visit Cincinnati, first time to visit a subscription library, and first time to see closed stacks in a a public library. The student chapter of ALA sponsored a tour of several libraries in Cincinnati, including the Mercantile Library and Cincinnati Public Library (main and Bond Hill branch).

The Mercantile Library is in an old building in downtown Cincinnati. It has amazing architecture, and still uses a card catalog and date stamps. It's a subscription library founded in 1835. If I lived in Cincinnati, I would join. It would be worth a membership to be able to hang out there and read.

The public library was extremely interesting, too. We saw the renovations, so far, at the main library, and the new Bond Hill branch just opened a couple months ago. The renovations are far more user-oriented - a new teen space, computers grouped together in a technology area, and a restructuring of reference services. This is the first public library I've seen with closed stacks. It's interesting; this way they can keep the material, on-site even, but not have to have the space it would take if the same materials were open in a browsing area. It's kind of a nice compromise. We even had lunch at the main library, sitting out in the courtyard area.

The Bond Hill Branch is very interesting. They are trying to move to self-checkout and hope to get librarians and staff out from behind the desk and interacting with patrons. It would be very interesting to go back to see how that works, or even do an internship there.

The trip home was interesting, in that the car we were in developed problems, continuing to stall out when stopping, and threatening to die unless the gas pedal was pumped. When on cruise control, it worked better. We made it back, but all three of us were pretty relieved to get back without breaking down somewhere.

Less sweating, more sweaters

And it's still in the 80s during the day, in spite of my wishes for cooler weather. The trees are losing a few leaves, but not in a huge splash of color. Long sleeves have yet to make an appearance for me. In fact, I'm not sure where the fall/winter clothes are, other than in a box in the "box room" (aka storage room, aka that wierd little room in the back that has no windows).

I'm blaming my recent streak of procrastination on the hot weather. Who wants to do anything ambitious with heat and humidity? I have finally made and mailed thank you notes to participants in the fundraising effort, though, and have been plotting out some beaded items requested from that event. In spite of procrastinating on reading and projects, I have somehow managed to get good grades on my papers. I would grade myself much more harshly, so I suppose it's a good thing I don't grade myself.

I finished my first week at my new second job. My "temporary" first job is still hanging in there, on a week by week basis. After that I'll go to on-call. I'm working next week for sure. My second job is very part-time, 9 hours a week, doing reference in one of the departmental libraries on campus. It's a little unnerving. People ask questions, and I'm supposed to have the answers. Some I can answer, while others send me running to the office to ask the experts. It may well be more of a learning experience for me at the moment than for the people who ask me things.