Librarians @ MindSay 
I love lists. I suppose that isn't too odd, but I absolutely love them. Call it a passion or an obsession, but I am totally hooked.
I will write lists, things to do, things I'd like to do, books I've read, books I'd like to read, jobs I've held, possible names for children I don't have, whatever springs to mind, I will often times just write a list for the joy of writing a list.
Hand-in-hand with this obsession comes a love of other people's lists. VH-1's greatest power ballads of the 80's, ESPN's best catches in sports history, the History Channel's Top 50 moments that shook the world, whatever it is, regardless of topic, I love 'em all.
So imagine my joy when stumbling across the website Lists of Bests, where users can post lists of things, but they also contain lists created from other sources. Oh the Joy!
Well, the site breaks it down into categories and I immediately jumped to books. Duh. I was just curious to see what kinds of fun I could find there. The first thing I read was MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die and isn't that a catchy title. I didn't even know who MLA was, but come on--don't you just have to know?
Okay, so it turns out that MLA is the Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council in the United Kingdom and they did a survey of British librarians that asked which one book should adults read before they die? The answers were then tabulated into a top 30 list. I was so excited as I scrolled down to see who the winner would be.....
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Hmm, interesting. An exceptional book, certainly one that everyone should read (and heck, see the movie too....Gregory Peck is awesome!) but I don't know if it is number one. I mean, theoretically, if you could only read one book before you die, you would start at # 1. Does Mockingbird have that kind of cachet? Maybe, I really don't know. There are definitely some others I would put up against it for a healthy debate, but not the worst top pick I have seen.
So I keep going to find that The Bible is number two. Really? I mean, really? I am Catholic, have no problem with the Bible, believe it to be a source of some really good moral information, along with some truly outdated notions, but that 's my take. And I have no burning desire to read it. I have read parts of it, sure, and have listened to much of it in church, but read it cover to cover....well, um, no. And I for sure don't think that it is a book that EVERY adult should read before they die. It just isn't for everyone. That kind of thinking is what gets us into wars and stuff, so pretty bad choice there. Shouldn't be on the list. Shouldn't be considered a book, should fall under the category of religious text or something.
Whatever. I guess to each his own and we'll just move on. Unfortunately, after the first pick, the list really kind of fizzled out. There are so many great books to choose from, that I understand this would be hard, but really. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold????
That book came out like 4 years ago. I just don't know if it can qualify as a classic yet. How could a book like that bump, say, Huckleberry Finn from a list like this. There are several other modern suggestions on the list besides that one and they just don't sit right with me. I am not saying that a book must be 100 years old or more in order to be good. The Lovely Bones is a good book. I was impressed by it. But hell, Harry Potter is a good book (pick one) and I don't really think anyone believes he should be on the list. Although, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (including The Golden Compass) made it at #9 so who knows?
Okay, bottom line. A list like this is nearly impossible to create, especially when allowing a group to do the choosing. But as I perused this mediocre list, I couldn't help but notice that most of the authors that made it are British. Hmmm, national pride anyone? But they did choose Harper Lee as their top pick and she's American, so obviously it wasn't intentional, but there are certainly an overwhelming number of Brits on the list. Many undeserving, in my humble opinion. I have decided to start thinking of my own list along these lines. We'll see: I'll either drive myself batty or have loads of fun and drive my readership batty.
Any thoughts?
I was doing a crossword puzzle today and I came across this clue. (3 letters) "a group of kangaroos". Huh. I didn't know it, I had to cheat and look it up.
As I was doing so, I came across a couple different pages dedicated to collective nouns. (Those being the terms to define groups of anything). I will admit to being entertained by this for quite some time. I have always known some odd ones, a murder of crows, a convocation of eagles, a shrewdness of apes; but I had no idea there were so many oddities to choose from. If you are curious, a group of kangaroos is a mob.
Here are 10 of the best I came across: an ambush of widows, a business of ferrets, a coalition of cheetahs, a dazzle of zebra, an exaltation of larks, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, a shimmer of hummingbirds, a troop of mushrooms, a troubling of goldfish, and an unkindness of ravens.
However, my personal favorite is: a group of librarians is known as a Shush.
Beat that, I dare you.
So I stumbled across this interesting tidbit: Emilio Estevez is making a movie about librarians. Sort of.
Those of you who read regularly will recall that I recently posted the briefest review in history with regard to Estevez's last movie: "Bobby sucked".
That, of course, makes me a bit leery, but since, as far as I know, this will be the biggest budget, and of course, Hollywood made film about librarians and libraries, I am looking forward to it. I will see it, I don't see how I could not, I imagine all librarians will see the film. I wonder if it will be required?
I just hope that Estevez will stay away from the "artistic" storytelling of his last movie and give us something with a little meat to it. We shall see. I will try and find the original Op-Ed piece that is mentioned in the article, to see if I can get a little backstory....I'll let you know.
Today I just had an amazing experience. A young college student came into the library and was taking a course in Information Access. She had an assignment to visit a local library and get information from the librarians and on her own. Fortunately for me, I was the chosen one to sit and talk with her.
Aside from how much fun it is to talk about my job and show off all of my knowledge and skills, this was personally a fun session for me to be part of. When I was researching my decision to go to library school, I did a project like this all on my own. I stopped in to my local library, the R. H. Stafford branch in Woodbury, and made inquiries of the staff there. Once in library school, this same assignment was given to me by one of my instructors. I then toured the Barrett branch of the Alexandria, VA libraries. Finally, while I was an intern in Hennepin County, I worked at the Southdale library and my boss there, Maureen Bell, gave me another version of this same assignment to help familiarize me with the place where I would be learning so much.
Since I have done this assignment no less than three times, I was so excited to be on the other end and help out this young student. Now, she wasn't a library student, just an undergrad hacking away at her generals, but still, this was one of those moments that brought everything full circle for me. I am glad to have had the opportunity to hopefully show this student what the library has to offer and how helpful librarians can be.
[Marco: a dark, Italian, and very outwardly quiet lib. parapro who is known for looking slightly intimidating. He speaks English with little to no accent (I first thought he was from Minnesota until I realized that he spoke flawless Neapolitan, and I have yet to meet such a Minnesotan), and typically has his arm hooked up to an IV of espresso from the cafe down the street.]
Location = The travel section of the library, near the WiFi room, where our heroine was hidden whilst reviewing American Libraries' book review section and listening to Ben Folds.
Pam: Marco, I'm leaving in a few weeks for the holidays, what's your favorite kind of travel guide?
Marco: Pam, where are going again so soon? I thought you just got back from London!
Pam: Well yes Marco, but these are the holidays. I'm going to Paris.
Marco: Woohoo! You're going to Pahr-ree? Bring us back the Mona Lisa, mkay? Or maybe some cheese.