I can't possibly embarrass Steve more...

...than I already did by nominating him for Library Journal's Paraprofessional of the Year award. Oh, and guess what? HE WON.





The best part is, when LJ called him to offer congratulations and announce that he won, he was too busy doing his job to take the call. Poor John Berry had to call three times before he could get through to Steve.

He's the first guy to win, and at a wee 30 years old, definitely the youngest. Rock on.

After I found out (and after the squealing and jumping up and down and running in circles), I totally blew the "keep it under your hat" nudge from LJ and told almost everyone I know. For the non-library folks, it mostly translated into a text message that referred to a "big deal dorkalicious nat'l library award."

You should go get your hands on a hard copy of the magazine. The cover is awesome, but I especially like his smiling face in the picture that goes with the article. My only complaint is that the article is too short. I wanted more Steve stories! I had to make do with reading the same two pages about a dozen times.

Here's a little excerpt from the 365 words that got the whole mess started:

It is in the small details that Steve truly demonstrates his delight in the role that the library plays in people’s lives. He is a constant source of encouraging words and fun ideas...Steve sees the best in other people, and he employs this same sense of visionary optimism in his approach to libraries. He inspired me during the time we worked together, and he continues to challenge me to make my own dreams of an extraordinary library into a reality.

Now, I knew from the start that Steve would win. He's just that fabulous. But a little premeditated persuasion couldn't hurt. When I wrote the nomination, I spent a lot of time thinking about the people that would be reading it and choosing the winner. I knew that, in the end, they'd have to write an article about the winner. So I didn't just tout Steve's accomplishments and sing his praises, I served them up a good story. I'd been planning to nominate him for about a year, so I saved it up until he turned 30 because it has a nice ring to it. I talked about his mom, who also works as a paraprofessional (at the same library!), and I gave one small, understated example of his day-to-day work. I threw in a nice atmospheric comment about the library where he works. I talked a bit about Steve the person, not just Steve the library employee. And I didn't even come close to using the full 500 word allotment.

So, Steve, you've just won LJ's Paraprofessional of the Year award. What are you going to do next?

Well, since the conference and award ceremony are in Anaheim, there's really only one answer. We're gonna go to Disneyland.

The first rule of book club is you do not talk about book club.

Yesterday I led a couple of book groups at the county juvenile detention facility. The participants were all girls in their teens. The first group was in a lock down unit, meaning the girls are locked in their rooms unless they are participating in a scheduled activity. It took quite a while just to enter the building. There wasn't a guard stationed at the front door, so we had to ring a buzzer and wait for someone to come down and collect us. Next was a metal detector, which felt a little bit like airport security. I took off my studded belt and keys, but got to walk through with my shoes on. The other librarian and I stood in the waiting room for a bit until someone from the girls unit came to collect us.

The facility is brand new, with fresh paint everywhere and a beautiful atrium planted with native grasses. It hasn't been open long enough for dust to have settled in the corners; if it weren't for all of the locked doors, you could almost imagine it was a high school or a college dorm. It took a while to reach the girls. There were lots of hallways that all looked exactly the same, and every 20 feet or so we had to press a button and wait for some unseen guard to buzz us through a door.

I facilitated an adult book group a few years ago, but this is my first with teens. The group was small, just five girls. Book group is at the same time as AA, so we don't get all the girls on the unit. We walked in and right away two or three of them said, "I didn't like the book."

I was okay with that. When I think back to some of the books that I was forced to read in school, I disliked most of them on principle. The fact that they didn't like it meant that they had actually read it, and that they had strong opinions about it. I can work with that.

We started with introductions, then we spent about 30 minutes or so talking about the book -- the graphic novel/comic book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I owned up to choosing the book and told them they could blame me if they didn't like it. I explained why I like the book: I like to learn about different cultures and different countries. I don't know a whole lot about Iran, and I thought this would be a good way to learn something. It's a novel about growing up, and I like learning about the experiences that make someone who they are. I like that she shares a bunch of really difficult experiences without becoming maudlin. (Okay, so I didn't say maudlin. I said, "without becoming all boo-hoo-woe-is-me.")

They thought the book was confusing, they didn't understand all of the stuff about the Shah and her grandfather being a prince. And why the teachers taught them one thing before the revolution and something else after. I pointed out that Marji is ten when the book begins and asked them if they thought she would have understood everything going on when she was so young. They got it right away, and I could see their opinion of the book starting to shift. They were critical of the teachers because they lied to the students. I reminded them that Marji's parents didn't always tell her the truth, either. How was that different? All in all it was a great discussion.

The second group was bigger, about 15 or 16 girls. This group was referred to as "the camp," and the girls aren't locked in their rooms. I photocopied pages of the book with the dialog blocked out and had the girls fill in the text. Lots of creative stuff from the girls...some of it funny, some of it banal, some of it quite serious, though when it came time to share, even the serious stuff was read aloud through a veneer of giggles.

Later that night I went to a screening of Delicatessen in a park near my apartment. An appropriately surreal sequel to the first half of my evening.

I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say next week.

The other Potter

Just helped someone find a book. "I'm looking for...Potter."

"You're looking for Harry Potter?"

"No."

I stare in stunned silence for a moment. There's another Potter? Today of all days?

"Oh, do you mean Beatrix Potter?"

A look of delight registers in their eyes. "Yes! That's it."

Huh. Guess they're probably not impressed with my Nimbus 2000 t-shirt.

Yongsan Library, Seoul

Welcome to the next installment of Libraries spotted while on vacation in faraway countries. (Actually, I will admit to a thoroughly premeditated visit. Library was on the "to see" list right between palace and mega-mall.) You may remember our abbreviated tour of the Quepos library. Well, this one is much more gratifying to the library voyeur...I visited when the library was open! Our story begins in Seoul, Korea, home of the ubiquitous free internet. Really. In subway stations, post offices, and of course, the Apple store. You can see more of my vacation here.

I was actually aiming for the Namsan library, but that one was closed.

Lookie, a book drop!

The library was up a rather big hill.

When you walk in the door, it's just hallways and stairs. I wandered around for a bit thinking, where are the books?


Ahh, finally. Looks like a library, quacks like a library.


I got really excited for a minute, I thought they were using Dewey! Then I came to my senses and realized it was some other decimal system. Amazing how your brain will jump at the prospect of anything familar when you're surrounded by so much that is foreign.


My guess would be an OPAC. But then again, I thought the little rice snack with a picture of bean sprouts on the package would be vegetarian...

The place was filled with people hanging out, reading, studying. You had to put your bag in a locker before you could enter each section.

I must have looked awfully suspicious skulking around and taking photos. Eventually, I went up to the circ desk and gave them my business card. I pointed to myself and said, "Librarian!" Much smiling and head-nodding ensued.

Shhhhh!

Storytime

Their comic books get a fair bit of use, too.

Wait a sec, I recognize those...

I know my hair is getting longer...

but do I really need a haircut that much?

Just your average Tuesday night at the liberry...

These guys were very cool. Sorry the pictures are a bit fuzzy, it's hard to hold a camera phone still when you've got 200 kids, a turtle, a tortoise, a gecko, an iguana, a 14 foot python, and a few cockroaches running around the library.

Pirate memory game

Sometimes the ref desk feels a little like this...