Carleen and Mike

Mike did away with my perky template because it was lacking in a admin link and search box. I’ve lost faith in my ability to choose proper templates so I’ve stolen the one he’s used for his campaign blog. I figure since he’s already used it then it must have his seal of approval :-). Sorry about the avatar. I have no idea who that dude is. I’ll have Mike replace it with a lovely snuggle picture of me and him once he wakes up.

I found out last Friday that the city has pre-approved a salary increase for me. It’s always been a goal to make my position full time professional whether I was in it or not but since Mike and I have been looking for a one person work one person stay at home schedule they were kind enough to include it in this years budget request. I was supposed to keep this secret until the final public approval was made but apparently it’s already leaked so there you go. Unless something drastic happens, begginning in July, I will be a full time professional librarian with salary.

It’s rather ironic that I should find this out now. I was supposed to have an interview for a youth services position at the Tulsa City County Library this morning. I called early to cancel it but no one answered so I had to leave a message. It was really hard to explain the situation on a voicemail and i hung up feeling really awkward about the whole thing. Career goals put aside, Mike and I are exhuasted from our schedule, despite what the city decided I was bound and determined to have a full time position somewhere by the end of summer. When I got to work, I emailed the HR guy to make sure he got my message. It was supposed to be a telephone interview. He returned my email just before lunch to say that he had got it, congratulations on my new position and that out of 25 applicants I was in the top five so they were a little disappointed but they understood. I nearly cried.

The truth is, I would prefer the youth services position. That is my goal here, to work with kids, with teenagers specifically and I’m pushing thirty now and rather anxious to actually start a career, something that gives me a clear sense of purpose. Who knows if I had gotten it. I still would have had to oust four other people and that’s certainly not an easy thing to do. But I’ve applied for several positions at the Tulsa library since graduating and this was the first time I got a call back. When I recieved that email and realized that there really was a chance at this job, I really started to second guess my decision to back out. The library I work at now has done a lot for me and has provided me with a lot of opportunities but I am more then ready to move on at this point. Although the position I have is giving me a lot of valuable experiences, I’m simply burned out on it. I’ve worked at this library on and off since I was nineteen and I’ve shared many wondeful memories with the people I work with, been mentored by some great people, but the office politics and drama that goes on there now seems to be hindering any real progress at this point. I tend to leave work feeling more frustrated then fullfilled these days which was another reason why I applied for the youth services position in Tulsa. I am simply not happy at my current job and that enivitably is making an impact on my personal and family life. I have to take that into consideration. But leaving may not be the best thing for my family. The job in Tulsa paid about four thousand more than the one here. If we stayed here in Bartlesville, that means commuting two hours a day. A lot of gas money and less time with Liam. Moving to Tulsa would mean higher cost of living. The extra four thousand would mean little at this point and Mike may even have to take a second job which defeats the whole one parent stay at home thing. But the plus side would be that I would have my first career job thereby paving the way for when we move back upsate and I need a job up there. However, there’s always the possibility that the job in Tulsa is an absolutely horrible job, so then I’m stuck with a horrible job, a two hour commute, less time with my son and possibly even more unhappy then I am at my current job here in Bartlesville. In the end, I was pretty much hugging my knees in a fit of frustration trying to make a decision. I chose to stay here, to do what I can with the position I have…and keep looking.

So, I have a phone interview for a young adult position at a library in New Jersey scheduled for the second week of January. New Jersey. Bruce Springsteen is from New Jersey. He’s my secret boyfriend. Atlantic City is my favorite song.

I’ve applied for several more positions in the upstate/east coast area. Unfortunately, there aren’t many in youth services. I think the market is a little swamped now given that it’s graduation time everywhere.

Grades are in. I passed. I’m done. I’m gonna be a bad ass librarian wearing this t-shirt.

I’m done, minus a final quiz which is open book and nothing to worry about. I think I’m proud of myself. At least, I know I should be but I’m kind of still too exhausted to even think about how we managed to make it through these past three months without loosing much more than sleep.

I had a haircut yesterday. This wouldn’t usually be such a big deal but it was for me because it meant that I actually had time to schedule something as simple and everday as a hair appointment. I also crocheted a scarf yesterday and read from a fiction book for pleasure. I baked a cake for my friends birthday (Happy Birthday Cindy baby!) and finished half of my x-mas shopping. Sweet.

It’s been a rather hellish week with Liam. There’s been some issues with the whole feeding/food thing. We tried feeding him cereal for the first time yesterday. By peditrician standards he’s still a little young but our doctor said it would be ok to try. We video clipped it. I’m not sure what Liam thinks about this new feature on the menu. However, he does seem to have good table manners for a baby…was very good at wiping his own mouth with his bib.

It’s been a rough few weeks. I’m down to the wire now with only two classes left. I haven’t kept up as well as I hoped I would. I turned two pretty big projects in a day late. Mike and my parents have been amazing. Mike still looks after Liam three days a week. He has to stay up way past his “bed time”, sometimes not getting to bed until around four or five in the afternoon and having to get up again around nine for work. Even more amazing is that he manages to stay pretty darn chirpy through all of it.

My parents have an interesting tag team operation going on when they take care of Liam on Wednesdays. The pack ‘n play crib is in my dad’s office. He sets the iSight camera on Liam so my mom can keep an “eye” on him via IM upstairs in her office. Together they keep Liam occupied, happy and fed until I’m home at nine. Then thursdays mom comes with me to school to look after Liam while I’m in class. It makes me pretty exhuasted to even write about all of this but somehow, together we all manage it and Liam is growing into the most amazing little kid, he’s so smart and cute I swear honest to God I’m not just saying that because he’s mine.

I’m having a little difficulty focusing on the final projects for class nowadays. All I can think about is what I’m going to do when I’ve finally graduated. First thing, obviously, is spend more time with Mike and Liam. The time I do manage to have with them now is usually spent stressing over one thing or the other. I have an entire folder full of topics I’ve been wanting to blog about for ages but just never had time. Another folder full of links to sites that I’ve wanted to read. A very long booklist, an even longer “to do” list (paint bedroom, clean out closet, clean out bathroom, clean, clean and clean). But I think I’ll start first with buying some yarn to knit Liam a blanket. Then catching up on his baby book which I have yet to even start. I can’t believe it’s been three months already.

Today I heard Liam giggle. I got so excited. Mike had already heard him giggle before. These are the moments that feel a little sad for me, when I miss those “firsts”. He’s becoming very vocal. He stays awake a lot during the day and most of that is spent girggling about something. Sometimes he sounds a little like a bird so I’ve started calling him goose.

I’m looking for jobs but not having much luck yet. I just did an ego surf which is when you google your own name to see what comes up (employers do this often with potential hires). I came across this which lists our blog as a “commentary on politics, movies, and family life”. I’ve seen our blog described this way before and I find it kind of funny since neither Mike or I have mentioned much about politics and movies in a long time. I think maybe blogging lost its novelty for us, and we just started using it more as a communication tool to keep friends and family informed about what’s going on in our lives.

This list also had a link to an online magazine called Backwash which listes sites according to personality instead of topic. Interesting practice in folksonomy there…anyway, homework.

I PASSED!!!!!!!

We’re having a kind of heat wave here right now. Actually, I think there’s pretty much a heat wave everywhere in this country at the moment. It’s been like this for three days. To make things worse, our air conditioning isn’t working properly. In some rooms it doesn’t even feel like there’s any cool air coming out at all. I feel cranky. My body feels pretty bloated and “thick” around the curves. Six weeks left. I hope this discomfort is short lived.
Turbo update: I believe he’s doing better. He gave me a little scare last night after he got sick a few times but he seems to be doing ok now, his appetite is still good, his personality is back although I sometimes find him to be more anxious then usual. This might have something to do with the steriods he’s on, I don’t know. As for his slipped disk, it doesn’t appear to be giving him any more problems. Despite his improvement, I still find myself being extremely paronoid about his health. I think I just worry that the steroids are masking his ailments to the point where when he comes off them, the same symptoms will come back. We’re slowly weening him off them now. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I’m definitely tired and worn out. Every small thing seems to take an extra amount of energy to accomplish now. It’s difficult to find a comfortable position at night so I don’t often sleep so well. Besides, Turbo’s heart medication makes him drink more which means I have to get up more often at night to let him out. I’m keeping up with yoga alright but I haven’t really managed a consistent regime of walking for awhile, especially now with this heat. Yeah, so…pregnancy is becoming a little more cumbersome here lately.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here yet, but I’ve spent most of the summer helping in the Local and Family History section of the library. I’ve really been enjoying myself there. It’s been a nice change of pace compared to reference. The questions are often much more interesting to work on (ie..can you help me open my email vs. can you help me research my native american ancestors). I spend a lot of time looking up obituaries in old newspapers. This can be a lot of fun since it often means coming across interesting stuff like this announcement about a young girl who apparently died…or did she:

“The fast girl who died of cocaine and was burried last Monday is now being dug back up. Someone says she isn’t dead”

The 1950’s are always neat to look through, especially all the fashion advertisements. I also came across an interesting opinion article one time:

WE, THE WOMEN by Ruth Millet

The young woman who tackels her first job when she’s just out of school usually develops a business like attitude without much trouble. From nine to five she is all business.
But the woman who gets her first business experience after being a housewife for a number of years often fails to develop a “business personality.”
She carries her “good neighbor” policy into the office-where it is entirely out of place.
She gossips across her typwriter, the same way she used to gossip across the back fence.
She carries on long personal telephone conversations the way she used to do at home after the breakfast dishes were finished.
She tells all her troubles and personal business to the people who work in the same office.
She gets chummy with the salesmen who want to do business with her firm, until she finds it hard to get rid of a caller without a long chat.
She encourages her friends to stop by the office and see her whenever they are in the neighborhood.
She never goes in for tailored neat clothes, but goes right on wearing the kind of clothes she used to wear to bridge parties and to church on Sunday.
None of those errors need to be, if a woman realizes that they are mistakes a woman not used to the business world, is likely to make.
And if she will compare her business manner and habits with those of the successful women around her, she can tell easily whether or not she has adapted herself to the business world.

Even though I was only there for a few weeks I thought it would be a good idea to join a Geneolgy listserve, just for the heck of it. They had an interesting discussion going on the other day about “strange” town names, like Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky. There was also apparently a local history published for a small town known as Climax. The book was titled, perhaps not so strategically, Climax: Before and After. Apparently it’s a real collectors item today. Then there was the Iowa newspaper announcement from 1964, when a young man and young girl, one from Manly, Iowa the other from Fertile united in marriage. The announcement read “Manly Man marries Fertile Girl”. Yeah, definitely had some good times in the Local and Family History section this summer.

So, I think I’ve finally gotten over my little whiney stage concerning the whole maternity leave thing. It’s a sucky situation but it’s time to refocus and start planning. It’ll be tough for the first few months, trying to balance school, work and baby but I’ve got a great, unbelievably fantastic husband and wonderful supportive parents and parents-in-law all there to help. Together we’re gonna raise a wonderful little boy and I can’t wait…

So, the plan for now is for Mike and I to both continue working where we are. We just can’t afford to do otherwise. If all goes well, I’ll pass my comprehensive exam in October and finish my last class in December (hopefully with most of my sanity intact). Meanwhile, I’m going to start sending my resume out now in hopes that I may be able to land a full time position with salary as soon as possible, somewhere in Oklahoma, hopefully within driving distance (is this really so much to ask?). As long as they can pay me the equivalent to what Mike and I are making together right now, then Mike will potentially be able to stay at home with Liam. Our plan is still to someday move up North somewhere, but for now, we have a house that’s paid for which is a very good reason not to do anything reckless like skipping town with very little money saved up, minimal job experience, a new baby and an ailing dog.

I just discovered a new librarian blog called Library Dust. The blogger, Michael McGrorty, is on the ALA council. He’s so funny!

“I met Ruth Seid in her office at the Central Library of the Los Angeles Public system about two years ago, though it seems like centuries now. Ruth is the East Valley Area Manager for LAPL, a job which seems to involve much more paperwork than any librarian ought to have to endure. In the months I’ve known Ruth, she has become like a sister to me, which is to say that I want to kill her about once a week. It goes without saying that we are very good friends. The benefit of knowing Ruth is that she has disabused me of any myths about the profession. When she comes around to visit after work she seems to have been run through a colander. She has taught me that library administration is not for me. For that matter, it might not be for anybody, but Ruth is one of the people who do it, because she loves the library, its patrons and the people who work there. I see a lot of Ruth. We have a perfect understanding: She tells me I am wrong about nearly everything and I tell her the same. We argue, even about matters we agree on. She has bad traits that are almost precisely like mine, which I find practically unbearable in others. In order to pay her back for her many kindnesses, I have forced her to buy a dog she didn’t want, introduced her to the grief of growing roses and told her how to arrange her hair. We have reached a stage in our relations wherein she often responds to my questions by extending the middle fingers of both hands in reply. Is that love or what?” http://librarydust.typepad.com/library_dust/2005/04/ruth_seid.html

I’m a little late on the uptake on this one, but oh well.

I came across a site called Radical Reference today through chocolatespoon’s website.

Mission Statement: Radical Reference is a collective of volunteer library workers who believe in social justice and equality. We support activist communities, progressive organizations, and independent journalists by providing professional research support, education and access to information. We work in a collaborative virtual setting and are dedicated to information activism to foster a more egalitarian society.

Apparently, including the term “radical” in their title has caused them some grief. In reviewing their site, LISNews.com accused them of “extreme leftism” and even sited them in possible violation of Article VII of the Library Code of Ethics. I believe this stems mostly from the fact that the site was originally launched to provide information support for demonstrator’s at the Republican convention in NYC this past fall. In defense Radical Reference claims the following:

..If they had taken the time to investigate — rather than getting caught up with the term “radical” — they would have seen that we provide services regardless of political leaning. Remember, language is not a static thing; rather, it is a place where social struggle takes place. The term itself is interpreted within a specific social context. By using the term “radical” to define our service, we are challenging the maintream meaning which largely marginalizes the term and along with it certain groups.

We face a society where citizens are less and less informed due to consolidation and corporatization of media. I think it is our core code of ethics to help to inform citizens so that they can participate fully in the democratic process. In this way, we are forwarding the profession by reaching out to the community. Every librarian should go out to his/her own community and use his/her information skills to affect positive change. If this is radical, then by all means I am radical.
–Discordia, August 25, 2004

As far as I can tell, it seems relatively balanced. But I do wonder whether right leaning activists are going to feel welcome at this site. Although I agree with their interpretation of the term “radical”, I feel that the word itself is so controversial that they would be best to choose something a little more mainstream or a word that is collectively understood and agreed upon by the general populace. I understand that it’s important for us to challenge our society but I have a bad feeling that their take on this ends up alienating some people rather than challenging them. I’m also a little concerned about the subject matter of several of their blog entries. Advertising an ACLU movie screening in Boston is a little edgy in my opinion. I don’t know, those are just some of my thoughts.

So, I just attended my first “real” conference this past weekend in Oklahoma City. It was titled “Digital Information and Knowledge Management: New Opportunities for Research Libraries.” If I had paid a little more attention to the title, then maybe I would have realized that the attendence was going to consist mostly of research and university librarians and been a little more prepared for the fact that I was the only student, the only public librarian and perhaps a little out of my league. In any event, it was ultimately a great experience. Some of the topics presented weren’t entirely innovative. Many expressed the need to shed traditions, to be willing to take more risks with new ideas and technology, to anticipate change better so as to be more proactive and better prepared for the future and of course, the one we talk constantly about in class, collaboration between librarians and faculty. Some of the audience members were a little frustrated with the last one since many of them have found faculty to be very unresponsive to the idea of working along side their university librarian. Although they seem enthusiastic about the idea at first, when it comes down to it, they don’t have the time nor the energy to put into collaboration and seem to feel that library matters should be taken care of by the librarian. Funds are also a problem, especially when it comes to digitizing collections. There has been a movement in recent years to form official standards for digitized collections and while most librarians would obviously like to abide by these standards, those who are responsible for funding the projects tend to be more interested in the “cheaper version.”
Charles T. Cullen, President of The Newberry Library in Chicago had a very interesting talk titled “Is there a Digital Purgatory”. The analogy he used in his title was actually influenced by a speaker at the IFLA conference last year, who refered to a Kingdom of Virtuality and a Library of Babel . To be honest, I didn’t entirely see what this analogy had to do with his talk, but he had some very interesting points anyway. For example, he really feels that librarians should be cautious about digitizing special collections since they will often turn out to be rather fragmented versions of the print collections. He sited an example, a personal experience he had when he was helping to organize a set of letters written by Justice John Marshall to Thomas Jefferson. In one case there was only portions of a letter, so Cullen was unable to decipher when it was actually written. He did, however, notice that the paper the letter was written on had a watermark of a date. This is a perfect example of how crucial information can be lost through the digitization process. Cullen also mentioned something that I think many librarians have already noticed about digital collections, and that is the search and find capabilities still need a little work.
Dennis Dillon, of the University of Texas, took a very candid look at how Google is affecting libraries and user habits. He was wonderfully blunt when he said “Nobody will prefer a librarian over the internet, just because they are apparently better trained to interpret Google results” and expressed a need for librarians to be realistic about their strengths and weaknesses, not to mention making more of an effort to stay on top of things.
The conference was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel. They aren’t kidding about the suites. You do get a suite in your room, in addition to a microwave, fridge and two t.v.’s. TWO! Dad drove down with me so he could use the historical library to do some of his geneology research. After the conference was finished on the first day, we drove down to Bricktown and watched a movie (Million Dollar Baby- highly recommend). Then we went back to the room, and watched another movie. Can you tell I am t.v. deprived at the moment?

Spring semester started two weeks ago. I’m only taking one class, Information Literacy with Dr. Brown. It’s a big class. So far, the only people I know is Diama and Clair. In fact, several of the friends I have made since starting graduate school are leaving after this semester.
Diama was also on the Sante Fe trip that I took last summer. While talking with her one day I discovered that she grew up as an army brat and actually spent a greater part of her childhood in Aberdeen, Scotland, the same place I lived until I was ten. Actually, she didn’t live in Aberdeen but just north of the city somewhere, I think. Her father was stationed at the military base, a place which I remember well because our school used to have an annual BQ there and we used to fish in the stream and hoard their grocery store for American candy. Clair is also a really neat person. She works as a GA and has this wonderful motherly quality about her. She’s always bringing me books to read and always remembers to print out extra copies of our handouts in case some of us forget to print and bring our own.
As for the class, it’s still too soon to tell what’s in store. I find the topic fascinitating and have already chosen a focus for my paper, which is going to be on Information Literacy initiatives in the US versus Abroad. For the past few months I’ve been reading a blog written by three librarians in Britain, which focuses on Information Literacy in Britain and other places in Europe. I also found a lit review that provides a good bibliography to work from.
We’re hoping to tear down the walls in our kitchen this weekend, and replace them with new sheet rock. I’ve also decide that, although the blue is a beautiful color, it’s a little to loud for the room so I think we’re going to choose another one that is a bit lighter. The one we have now looks great during the day, but at night, there’s something almost sickening about it. Unfortunately the flourescent lighting in there is not very flattering to any color.

Second in the Digital Future series on CSPAN. I watched the other one online and it came through pretty good.

“Monday, December 13 at 6:30pm ET
Brewster Kahle, Digital Librarian, Director and Co-founder of the Internet Archive. Kahle is the person who first developed the idea and tools to archive the Web. He will explain how he did that, and why it’s important to our everday use of the internet. The title of his talk is “Universal Access to Knowledge.”‘

Here’s another one I’m hoping to getting around to watching.
Internet Society Conference, Harvard University

“Beginning Monday, November 15, 2004 until March 2005, C-SPAN will televise live a series of discussions hosted by the Library of Congress’ John W. Kluge Center. The series will examine how the digital age is changing the most basic ways information is organized and classified. The goal is to educate the public on the what the digital age means to their lives. The events will include a featured speaker, followed by a panel discussion, and a question and answer session with the audience at the venue, and C-SPAN television viewers. Our viewers will be invited to email questions to the experts.”
http://www.c-span.org/congress/digitalfuture.asp

This should be good.

I am very pleased to announce that a somewhat corny looking but interesting none the less movie is in production call The Librarian. Noah Wyle, also known as “that other hot guy from ER” will star as the main character.

When I got to work this morning I found in my mailbox a bright yellow flyer from our wonderful friends at Human Resources. Our City is putting together a care package drive for the military in Iraq. They provided a nice long list of most requested items on the back of the flyer. One of the items listed was reading material and next to it the human resource person put “be careful what’s in it!”. I was very taken aback by this. What exactly am I supposed to be careful about? Our soldiers have the right to read whatever they want. I stood completely baffled for a moment trying to figure out if there was some sort of security issue that I hadn’t thought about, but I couldn’t come up with anything. As a student of library science one of the first things I would want to send a soldier is a book. But I refuse to participate in this drive if my human resource department is going to thumb through the book I choose to make sure I was “careful” enough.
After doing some surfing I discovered that the military doesn’t really want communities to send large bulks of care packages because it creates the nuisance of extra security precautions. Instead, they suggest donating money to services like the USO or the Red Cross. If your like me and would prefer to donate “care packages for the mind” then try Books for Soldiers or Books for Baghdad.

We’re starting a group project in my Collection Development Class on Digital Libraries. Here are a few of my favorites.

For Kids:
StoryPlace-The Children’s Digital Library
International Childrens Digital Library

For Lit Lovers:
Project Gutenberg
Blake Archive
British Women Romantic Poets

Shakespeare in Quarto

Just cool to surf:
National Library of Scotland
New York Public Library (My group will be evaluating Heading West: Mapping the Territory)

For those who want to learn how to create their own digital library:
Planning Digital Projects for Historical Collections

Fall classes have started. I’m slowly getting used to the twelve hour day. I’m only taking two classes, both of which are asychronouse (?) using interactive video confrencing with the Norman campus. There will probably be a lot of busy work for both classes but otherwise I don’t think the workload will be that bad, that is as long as I can keep up with it. So far, I’ve already fallen behind on some of the readings.
For the past month, the two mornings I have off in the week have been spent at a physical therapy rehab center. I’ve been having some back and leg pain problems for quite awhile and decided to finally get it seen to. They’ve diagnosed me with something called the SI joint syndrome. My therapy sessions usually consist of a combination of ultra-sound, a funny electrical machine thingy that gives me prickles, stretching, massage and being placed in all kinds of contorted positions. Some days are better than most, although this past week I’ve done remarkably better than I have in a long time. Today the therapist said that if I continue to improve than I can start running again in a few weeks. I’ll be glad when it’s better since the pains have caused a lot of sleepless nights, discomfort and lack of motivation for anything that requires me to move from a sitting position.
It also makes me more cranky. I’ve had even less patience when dealing with rude people at work. In class yesterday we talked a lot about ethics in libraries and how important it is to stand by our philosphy of treating everybody equally, regardless of how rude they are or other quarky personality traites they might have. While I’m sitting in class, listening to this, I nod my head in agreement knowing full well how difficult it can be to do this in practice. For instance, a lady came up to me tonight upset that the copy she recieved from our photocopy machine in the circulation area had leaked ink lines all over the right side of the page. Her words were something like “I just wasted fifteen cents on this and look how terrible it looks. It’s awful.” So, I offered to make her a copy on the reference copier for free and called Matt up at circulation to find out what the story was on their machine. Matt thought that the toner was running out, at least that’s what our circ supervisor had told him. But to save money, I guess, she had decided to wait until the toner ran out completely before she was going to change it. Sort of understanding her perspective, I also realized that it was probably a bad thing to make our patrons pay for a copy that had a bunch of ink marks all over it. This lady apparently listened very intently to my conversation with Matt because when I hung up she proceeded to complain about him and how it should be his job to put up a sign that informs patrons to “beware because this machine is not working at a hundred percent” and how he shouldn’t waste time telling patrons what’s wrong with the machine but instead spend that time trying to fix it because frankly she “could care less”. I agreed with what she was saying. However, I just have a big problem dealing with people who are more interested in the act of complaining then they are in using the process of complaining as a way to help rectify a problem. Even after I repaid her her fifteen cents by making her another copy she was still determined to draw out her complaint, her dramatic “I just wasted fifteen cents on this terrible copy” by placing blame on my friend and very capable co-worker just because he happened to be behind the desk at that moment in time. Unfortunately, this is human emotion. Not many people have the talent to complain constructively without stepping on peoples feelings. The act of complaining usually comes from a situation that has aroused anger and frustration, both of which are emotions that are difficult for most people to control. Part of our job is to try and limit any possible situations that might cause anger and frustration but unfortunately, everyones boiling point is different. What I have noticed, is that the majority of complaints I recieve and most of the frustration our patrons seem to exhibit (at least in this area of the library) originate from some sort of problem with technology, ie. the internet is slow, the internet is frozen, a certain website won’t come up, I don’t understand how to navigate this website, this website won’t take my password, the computer kicked me off before my time was up, I can’t find any books on NAFTA in your library, I don’t understand how to look up a library book on the computer, this photocopy machine took my money, this photocopy machine keeps enlarging the wrong section of my newspaper and I’m wasting my money on its mistakes, this photocopy machine keeps spitting out the wrong paper size, etc. On a daily basis, about 60% of the patrons I encounter are uncomfortable with technology. I have at least one-three people a week who come up to me directly and say “I am computer illiterate. Please help me”. So, where am I going with this? I don’t even know. I guess, sometimes I wish we could just turn off all the computers, pull all the books off the shelf and throw them in a pile in the middle of the floor. It would just feel so liberating to consume information without a purpose and without a medium.

I have blogged my journal entries from the Sante Fe trip below. I had a wonderful time and discovered many new interests. I made new friends, spent time with relatives, spent lots of money on overpriced tourist items and went hiking up cliffs in work shoes (I was unaware of how extensive this activity was going to be at the time). I also had a very nice hotel room all to myself with cable t.v. and access to a hot tub. What more can I say. The drive back to Bartlesville was a painful experience back to reality.
I’ve spent the last week or so finishing up the homework. Everything is due this Monday, which also happens to be the first day of Fall classes. I’ve chosen to do my paper on language preservation in tribal communities, specifically the use of computer assisted language preservation programs in tribal libraries. Below are some of the websites I’ve been using in my research.

Library Services to Indigenous Populations
Native American Languages of America
Native American Libraries and Resources
Webjunction
William Yardley
NITI
Outside the Box
New Mexico Tribal Libraries: Bridging the Digital Divide
SEDL

Friday 8-06-04 Santa Clara and Pojoaque

Got to sleep in today. That was nice. It’s been an enjoyable but tiring week. First thing was a visit from Karen Buller, president of the National Indian Telecommunications Institute. She talked to us about some of the challenges they have in assuring telecommunications access to tribal areas. The main problem seems to be that because tribal areas are so rural, phone companies do not feel it is worth while or worth their money to set up towers and phone connections where their aren’t many people. So, access must be gained through wireless or satellite. Not many can afford wireless and satellite can be very slow. Internet access seems to be a major focus since many natives are now discovering what a useful tool the Internet can be.
Later we visited the Santa Clara Pueblo. The libraries we visited yesterday were developing libraries. The libraries we visited today are classified as full libraries. I admired the librarian at Santa Clara a lot. She has worked very hard to obtain grants and funding and has done a wonderful job. They have also implemented a language program. She said an interesting thing about the computer assisted language programs. She seemed a bit touchy about it and said “The computers will not teach our language to our children, WE will teach our language to our children”. The whole philosophy behind a tribal library is so different. The goal for every library is to provide for the needs of their specific community. But the needs here are so different. These libraries are not only being used to educate people. They are also being used to help restore a culture. The ideas of free access and free flow of information don’t necessarily apply so much to tribal libraries either. Because of the circumstances surrounding their history and the exploitation of their culture, Native Americans are sensitive about letting outsiders know about their culture. As a result, certain things within the tribal library are accessible only to tribal members, such as language classes. Yet, they are still considered to be a public library. But in a traditional public library we wouldn’t dream of denying access to anybody. It would go against our code of ethics. But, an entirely different code of ethics seems to apply to tribal libraries and somehow that’s ok because their culture demands that kind of respect. It’s difficult to get my head wrapped around all of this.