The Best American Poetry 2005

The series Best American Poetry has been published now for 18 years, each year with a guest editor. Paul Muldoon, the editor of Best American Poetry 2005, has chosen 75 poems that represent a great variety of poetic styles. As a result there is something for everyone to love and to hate in this collection.

I will concentrate on what I loved.

"Adam and Eve's Dog" by Richard Garcia tells the real story of why the first couple left the Garden of Eden. Apples and serpents are not involved.

"19--: An Elegy" by Andrew Feld summarizes the 20th Century alphabetically in less than two pages.

Amy Gerstler tells a sad story about retrieving the possessions of the deceased in "Watch."

Jessica Goodheart may offer "Advice for a Stegosaurus," but it is not going to help much.

Do not assume you understand ants. In "Ants" Vicki Hudspith dishes out the insect gossip.

Galway Kinnell reflects on the children of "Shelley" and his lovers. It is a grim legacy.

Richard Nixon communicates with Leonid Brezhnev in Rachel Loden's "In the Grave of Fallen Monuments" that time improves the past.

"Death Is Intended" by Linda Pastan presents an unfamiliar view on suicide.

Richard Wilbur playfully puts "Some Words Inside of Words (for children and others."

Unlike in many poetry collections, the "Contributors' Notes and Comments" in the appendix are substantial. Some help readers understand what they have read. All profile the poets.

Use The Best American Poetry 2005 as a catalogue from which you select new poets to read. The selection is top notch.

The Best American Poetry 2005. New York: Scribner Poetry, 2005. ISBN 0743257588

Metroblogging New Orleans

It is less than a month until thousands of librarians descend on New Orleans for an annual conference. One of the reason to go, aside from attending professional meetings, is to see the state of the city. Before you go, you can gain some advanced intelligence by visiting Metroblogging New Orleans.

Metroblogging New Orleans is a cooperative effort, as a variety of citizens with varying viewpoints are posting their observations about living in their city. New today is a two minute video from Editor B of B.Rox showing a strip mall that is as it was right after Katrina. In a clothing store the muck of the high water line cuts right across dresses still on display. Yesterday Chris Martin wrote about the smell. Scroll down the page to read about local festivals and other recovery successes and about constant desperate needs.

This blog is more immediate and personal than some of the official news media's reports. Please read.

America's Art: Smithsonian American Art Museum by Theresa J. Slowik

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Donald W. Reynolds Center in Washington, D.C. has been closed for over six years as the building has been renovated. In conjunction with its reopening on July 1, 2006, it has released a huge book showing masterworks in its collection, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, and other objects. While America's Art: Smithsonian American Art Museum by Theresa J. Slowik is attractive, it is a little short on content. The text says nearly nothing about the art work included. Instead the book seems to be a history of the United States with some discussion of the context within which artists worked. There are many beautiful but unexplained illustrations.

If students come wanting images of American art, this is their book. If they need any background information of the art works and the artists, they must look elsewhere.

A nice book if you have plenty of funds.

Slowik, Theresa J. America's Art: Smithsonian American Art Museum. New York: Abrams, 2006 ISBN 0810955326

Smithsonian American Art Museum Website with Blog and Podcasts

To accompany its newly refurbished building, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has a bright new website. Some of the highlights include a blog to discuss the art at the museum, a collection of student podcasts about specific pieces, and Meet Me at Midnight, a clever animated tour/game for kids.

Like most museum websites, there are links to information for visiting its buildings, showing directions and parking. There is also an image search for the works in the collection. I really like this painting of Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler by John Singer Sargent, which unlike the new book has a background story about the painting. Another great work is The Girl Left Behind by Eastman Johnson.

Students can get more from the website than from the new book.

The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories by Rudolfo Anaya

I do not remember who recommended to me The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories by Rudolfo Anaya. Was it So Many Books So Little Time? Was it Manuel Ramos of La Bloga? Neither looks familiar, so I think not. Was it Janet St. John in the March 15 issue of Booklist? Was it Adam Hill in the Chicago Tribune on May 3? It could be either, so thanks to both. It is a great book.

The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories collects pieces written by University of New Mexico professor Rudolfo Anaya over a thirty year period, a time in which he also wrote several novels. Moods and settings vary in the stories, but most have a supernatural element. Hill says in his review that Anaya is a founder in the Chicano Literature movement. I am reminded of the magical realism in works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the horror in some stories makes me want to reread Edgar Allan Poe. In his Introduction (read the stories first), Anaya says he is writing myths. No matter how you label the stories, they are memorable.

Which story is my favorite? I might choose "The Village That the Gods Painted Yellow" because I have visited the Mayan ruins at Uxmal and can see how he captured the feel of the site. The mystery in "Jeronimo's Journey" kept me wondering what was real and what was imagined. In several stories, notably "The Man Who Found a Pistol," the present and the past become entwined so time is bridged. The end of the first story "The Road to Platero" is shocking. They are all so very good.

More libraries should acquire this short story collection and put it on display.

Anaya, Rudolfo. The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. ISBN 080613738x

If You Enjoy the Poetry of Robert Frost, You Might Try ... : The Read-A-Like Idea in Poetry

I reported a couple of weeks ago that the read-a-like idea used in fiction readers' advisory has not been applied to poetry. There are several good reasons for this situation. Reader demand is low, and the librarians (including me) producing readers' aids know less about poetry. After a little study I have finally been able to produce a what-to-read-next list. I hesitate to call it a read-a-like list, which implies a much closer matching of styles and content than really exists. Still, this list may help readers of Robert Frost find some other poets to enjoy.


If you enjoy the poetry of Robert Frost, you might try ...

A. R. Ammons

Philip Booth

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Josephine Jacobsen

Jane Kenyon

Maxine Kumin

William Stafford

Henry David Thoreau

Richard Wilbur


I used Facts on File Companion to 20th Century American Literature by Burt Kimmelman to come up with an initial list; I found all the pages mentioning Robert Frost, read about the poets who claim Frost influenced them, and created a list. I then read several poems of each and verified that there are books by these poets available in our library system.

Next I am going to try Walt Whitman.

Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

There is no peace in Beasts of No Nation, a first novel by Uzodinma Iweala, a young Nigerian author. The people of the villages flee when the rebel forces of Commandant Sah appear from the jungle killing and burning indiscriminately. Dehydrated and feverish twelve year old Aga is unable to flee. Strika, a preteen soldier of the insurgency, pulls Aga from a hut into the road where he beats him until stopped by the Commandant. The leader says Aga will become a soldier, too.

Beasts of No Nation is an important book that not many people will like, for there is no relaxing of the terror of inexplicable war. The level of violence and cruelty is far higher than in An Innocent Soldier by Josef Holub, another story of a youth impressed into being a soldier. Like Adam in An Innocent Soldier, Aga does what he has to do to survive and hides when he can. Escape is his only hope.

"There but for the grace of God go I" is a terrible thought for the reader to contemplate. Beasts of No Nation should be in more libraries than it is.

Iweala, Uzodinma. Beasts of No Nation. New York: Harper Collins, 2005. ISBN 006-79867x

Improving the Model for Interactive Readers' Advisory Service by Neil Hollands in Reference & User Services Quarterly

I finally got back to the article "Improving the Model for Interactive Readers' Advisory Service" by Neil Hollands in the Spring 2006 issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly, pages 205-212. In this article, Hollands lists the problems with the traditional ways of providing readers' advisory service and describes a very personalized readers' advisory service provided by Williamsburg Regional Library in Virginia.

The central feature of the WRL model is the use of a questionnaire for the collection of readers' preferences. Readers complete questionnaires, and then librarians analyze them and create annotated book lists for the readers. Hollands reports that the WRL staff spent between two and six hours to respond to each form in the early days of their program. With experience, that time has been reduced in most cases to between 30 minutes and two hours.

What a form! It's huge! Click here to see it. It reminds me of the questionnaires a patient fills out when seeing a doctor for the first time. Like doctors, the librarians at Williamsburg Regional Library want a lot of information from their clients before they create individualized reading lists.

My first reaction is that Williamsburg's program is not a workable model for small libraries. It asks for a lot of input from the readers and then for a lot of time from the staff - time that many staff in small libraries will not have.

On my second reading I see that Hollands does say that his library was not swamped with completed forms, and the librarians were given a couple of weeks to produce the annotated reading lists. In two years, the library completed nearly 250 lists for readers. On a scale of 1 to 5, client satisfaction with the service was 4.79. The model looks a little more workable if the numbers are small and the clients very patient.

I still have a major question. Would providing a service that required many staff hours and served only a few clients directly be a good use of library resources? It might if what the staff learned helped them improve the collection and improved their face-to-face readers' advisory sessions.

How can a library start such a service? I think the first investigatory step is having the librarians who will be creating the annotated lists self-advise. They should go through a form, like that from Williamsburg, and see if they can make annotated reading lists for themselves.

Second, the librarians should experimentally offer to create some reading lists for a few regular clients and see how they do. Only after this experiment should they consider putting together a form-based program for the public at large. Then the article in Reference & User Services Quarterly might help.

I commend Williamsburg Regional Library for their innovative service for readers. I'd like to hear more about it.

Urban Suite by Leonardo

Yesterday I listened to Urban Suite by Leonardo as drove to work and ran errands. As I listened I thought about how some folk music CDs are much like short story collections, especially Leonardo's CDs, as he is as much story teller as singer. "King of the Hill" tells about a tough kid who grew up in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, while "East Chicago" tells about old union workers and young immigrants in the industrial city. "Covered Bridge" is a story about lovers reuniting at a high school reunion in Indiana. "South Shore Line" tells about the commuter train that takes workers from South Bend to Chicago. Nelson Algren and Simone de Beauvoir's love affair on Miller Beach is the subject of "Nelson and Simone."

Leonardo writes all of his own songs, crafting melodies that stick with you. I particularly like how most have a sense of place.

An anthem called "Friday Night in America" is my favorite Leonardo composition. He opened his Friday Night at the Ford concert two years ago with this lively song. He sang all of the songs mentioned above and told stories of his youth and his travels. He plays regularly in the Midwest, and has planned many children's concerts at libraries in Illinois and Indiana this summer. His website has a schedule, as well as music samples, a press kit, reviews, information about Down Syndrome, and a bibliography of children's books he recommends. His new CD Makin' Lemonade is aimed at children.

I recommend Leonardo to adults and children.

Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile by Verlyn Klinkenborg

Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile by Verlyn Klinkenborg is a slow read, as you might expect for a book written by a tortoise. Though the text of the story takes only 158 pages, it took me five or six days to read, as I found I could only read five to ten pages at a sitting. I admit some of these reading sessions were late at night, and I became sleepy, but I think there are additional reasons Timothy took me so long to complete.

As an action movie fan would say, "Nothing happens!" This is not completely true, as something does happen in the beginning pages and again in the closing pages. In between these events, Timothy describes his world in 18th Century English villages and the people who come into the garden of Mr. Gilbert White, minister and amateur naturalist. In a tone much like the naturalist who often talks to him, the tortoise enumerates his world, listing every type of tree of the woods, crop of the fields, vegetable of the garden, domestic animal, bird of the air, and occupation of the villagers. The result is much like Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass; Timothy could serve as an “everyday life in” book.

The tortoise changes topics rather frequently or he at least seems to change topics. Only as a chapter ends does the reader sometimes discern what the tortoise is discussing.

Timothy is filled with the vocabulary of rural 18th Century England. I wish I had noticed earlier in my reading that there is a seventeen page glossary in the back of the book.

Despite the challenge to modern readers, Timothy is worth slogging through, as the tortoise makes some keen observations about the human condition. Humans are top-heavy, unattractive, awkward, and never satisfied with nature as it is. They also know so little about tortoises.

There is a lot to be seen from the ground.

Klinkenborg, Verlyn. Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 0679407286

Google Notebook for Nonfiction Readers' Advisory

One of the nice advantages of having a Google Mail account is that I have ready entry into almost every new Google offering. Yesterday morning I read about Google Notebook and went to the login page and got right in without any additional registration. (I did then have to upgrade the browser and add a plug-in, but that only took a couple of minutes.)

So, what is Google Notebook? It appears to me to be a tool that lets Internet users copy and paste bits from web pages into personal webpages for later use. All the bits accumulate on a webpage, and the user arranges them in whatever order he or she wishes. The content can be edited and subheadings can be created. Because the notebook is online, a user then has her research available anytime she is near a computer.

Being a reference librarian and book selector, I saw using a Google Notebook to create a way to get quickly to nonfiction book review and readers' advisory content. I started a notebook and then began finding appropriate website from which to cull content. When I saw something I wanted, I highlighted, right clicked, and then clicked "Note This (Google Notebook)" from the menu. The content went straight into my notebook. It was very easy.

The main intent seems to be that people use Google Notebook for private purposes, but people can chose to make a notebook public. Google does advise the user about copyright considerations at the point of making a notebook public, and asks that users credit their sources. The notebooks do include automatic links to the sources used.

With a minimum of effort, I created a sample notebook with text and links for nonfiction readers advisory. It looks pretty basic at this point, but I'm still working.

Google Pages are easy and free, and budget-conscious librarians should consider good ways of using them.

Government Information to the People: Where We've Been and Where We Are Going (ALA, Dallas, 1979)

I was looking in my old files from pre-PC days and found my reports from the first American Library Association Annual Conference that I attended, which was in Dallas in 1979. This was my first report. I have corrected some grammar and spelling.

Sunday, June 24, 9:30-12:30

Government Documents Round Table:
Government Information to the People
Where We've Been and Where We Are Going

The first speaker was Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. His use of government documents has been archival, mostly using the U.S. Serial Set of the 1800's. From these documents he has taken speeches by the American Indians for his nonfiction works and gathered ideas for his novels.

He said that several fields of history use archival documents heavily: American Indians, Ku Klux Klan, railroads, trials, medicine, agriculture, inventions, foreign relations. He added that Margaret Mitchell used KKK trial documents for background information and speech patterns for Gone with the Wind.

He described how difficult research is because of poor indices and policies that keep documents from browsers. He said that librarians have often not bothered themselves with documents, including himself, once being a librarian.

He warned against strict belief that government information is accurate, or always true, especially modern documents, which he described as less honest and duller than older documents.


The second speaker was Larkin Warner of the Kerr Foundation, which makes economic predictions. His use of documents is mostly statistical. He uses Census information and state publications frequently in producing regional predictions. He recommended calling the person who compiled state information.

Warner distinguishes two library stances toward documents: (1) proactive, which anticipates need, and (2) reactive, which follows demand. Too many libraries take the later stance.

He advocated a three part program for government document service. (1) The librarian has to plan and gain some expertise; (2) the librarian must contact government and business officials and promote service; (3) the librarian must teach use of the documents.


Kay Morgan of Oregon State University spoke of the history of the Government Documents Roundtable. Its purposes are (1) to serve as a forum for document librarians, (2) to support research on document use, (3) to draw guidelines for cataloguing and other policies, and (4) to educate document librarians.


Robert Wedgworth, the executive director of the American Library Association, praised the roundtable's growth since conception in 1972. It is now the largest roundtable. He expressed concern that government publishing may be made cost effective by use of private printing firms that would sell documents at higher prices, thus increasing the cost to libraries and making documents less available to the public.


William Lancaster, dean of the School of Library Science of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, spoke on the inefficiency of print and the efficiency of computers in storing and accessing government information. He gave many examples of how print costs have increased and of how the information was out-of-date when distributed. He also discussed the declining costs of electronics. He predicted home communication centers, analytic magazines on magnetic tape, "on demand" news via cable television, and immediate on-line publishing.


Nancy Cline of Pennsylvania State University discussed how federal policies for information dissemination may bypass libraries. She advocated library activity in finding and training people to work with government information offices to keep libraries in the system.


Technology has changed greatly in the 27 years since I wrote my report on this program, which I typed on an old non-electric typewriter. William Lancaster seemed to forecast electronic "home communication centers," but he did not know about home PCs and the Internet as it is today. I do not think anyone ever got magazines on magnet tape. What has not changed is the belief that government documents are essential sources of public information and the concern that federal and state governments will fail to keep them free and available to the public. The fact that the new Historical Statistics of the United States is being sold by Cambridge University Press for $825, when the 1975 GPO version sold for $26, tells me that our government has failed us. My favorite part of the program was hearing Dee Brown. I heard him again in the late 1980s at the Midwest Library Association Conference in Indianapolis, when he talked about documents and the history of the Oregon Trail. I always enjoy hearing good authors at ALA.

Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams by Paul Hemphill

Having enjoyed Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?, a book by Mark Zwonitzer about the Carter Family, and having seen the recent movie Walk the Line about Johnny Cash, I checked out Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams by Paul Hemphill. I saw it on the Downers Grove Public Library new books display, and thought it might prove entertaining. I was not totally unaware of Hank Williams and his music, remembering that "Hey, Good Looking" was one of my father's favorite songs. I had also enjoyed some of Williams' songs sung by Linda Ronstadt and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Still, I did not know much about the singer/songwriter before I read this book.

I must have been living in a bubble to have grown up in rural Texas and not heard one of country music's most tragic stories. From the poverty of rural Alabama, Hank Williams rose to be one of the top acts on the Grand Ole Opry and sold millions of records across the country. In a few short years, he become a folk hero and then lost it all to alcohol, prescription drugs, divorce, and constant touring. His strange death at age 29 on New Year's Day 1953 is still questioned by his fans.

Hemphill is a lifelong Williams fan. Though Lovesick Blues is filled with sordid details of wild living and betrayal, he is generally sympathetic to Williams. He is less sympathetic to Audrey, William's first wife, about whom most of his songs were written.

I enjoyed reading this fairly small book. Now I need to ILL some CDs.

Hemphill, Paul. Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams. New York: Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670034142

Crash, or a Very Bad Day in LA

We finally saw Crash, the film by Paul Haggis that was a surprise winner of many Academy Awards this year. There are three of us in the family and we had very different reactions. Laura thought it ended on a high note, leaving her "hopeful." Bonnie thought it was depressing and deemed the last action rather insignificant compared to prior action. I felt very confused, uncomfortable, and unwilling to offer an opinion until I thought for a day or two. We all were fascinated by the film.

We agreed that the ensemble of actors was impressive, as many took atypical roles. Brandon Frazier was not goofy, and Sandra Bullock was not bubbly. They were all convincing in their roles. Bonnie pointed out the film's similarities to works by Robert Altman, which I see. I felt, however, that it was all a little too clever how all the characters connected.

I was left shaking my head at some of the actions in the story. I think we were supposed to understand why some characters did what they did, but I was unconvinced that their actions were natural. The violence seemed senseless to me. Of course, I feel the same way every day when I read the newspaper.

We disagreed about the music. Bonnie and Laura thought it was very effective. I liked it as music but wished it had all been taken out. I felt the soundtrack was trying to manipulate my moods, which is what soundtracks do, of course, but I do not want to be directed thus. I want the actors and images to carry the movie.

The movie was loaded with content: crime, violence, guns, racism, public corruption, immigration, poverty, and more. With guaranteed viewer disagreement, it would be a great pick for a library film discussion.

A Memory of Renata Ochsner

Renata Oschner was one of the first librarians I met when I came to the Chicago area in 1981. She was the reference librarian at the Harvey Public Library at the time and was thinking much about interlibrary cooperation. I met her at a Zone 6 and Friends Reference Librarians meeting within weeks of my arrival at the Dolton Public Library. Jim Steenbergen, who died in February, who was in 1981 the assistant librarian at the Riverdale Public Library, was also there. With librarians from Calumet City, Lansing, and South Holland, we brainstormed how to help each other. We had no email or Internet at the time. We did not even have computerized catalogs. What we came up with was a network of friendly librarians ready to call each other on the telephone for help, and Renata organized an exchange so we worked in each other's libraries to see our libraries' strengths.

Soon Renata and Jim were calling librarians from all over the southern suburbs to the Harvey Public Library for a bigger brainstorming session, which eventually led to the formation of the Reference Association of South Suburban Libraries (RASSL), which is still going strong twenty-five years later.

Renata moved up from reference librarian to director at Harvey and eventually took top positions at several other libraries. She always kept the needs of the public for good reference service in mind. She was always a reference librarian at heart.

She will be missed by all the librarians who knew her as an energetic, dedicated advocate for libraries. Her funeral is Tuesday, May 16 at 10:00 a.m. at Hope Lutheran Church, 424 Indianwood, Park Forest, Illinois. An online guest book is sponsored by the Daily Southtown.

The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King

How would you like having a big red R stamped on the back of your paintings? The French Impressionist painters whose works are the highlights of many museum collections worldwide today saw a lot of red Rs in the 1860s and 1870s, as the juries for the Paris Salon's annual Exhibition of Living Artists refused to accept many of their paintings. According to Ross King in The Judgment of Paris, the conservative-minded juries conformed to the tastes of the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, which revered history painting above landscapes, still lifes, and portraits, which they considered merely decorative. Prizes were usually awarded to artists who painted emperors, generals, and biblical figures in patriotic or religious scenes. The Impressionists took their canvases with the permanent red Rs back to their studios, from which few of their works were sold.

1863 was a turning point in French art. Artists of many genres, including Edouard Manet, complained bitterly when the jury rejected most of that year's submitted works. To the surprise of many, the emperor Louis-Napoleon, not known for any democratic ideals, ordered a special exhibit of the rejected works. The benefits of being exhibited at the Salon des Refuses were few, however, as most critics and journalists publicly scorned the paintings. Most salon visitors especially laughed and jeered at Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe.


King continues the tale through the next decade, weaving the stories of Louis-Napoleon, Manet, and Ernest Meissonier, who was at the time France's most famous painter. Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Victor Hugo, and Emile Zola also appear in the "reads like a novel" history of French arts and politics.

The focus of King's history turns away from the world of art to the Franco-Prussian War in the latter third of the book, as Louis-Napoleon sends thousands of troops (including some artists) to their deaths in Germany. In reprisal, the Prussian surround and starve the residents of Paris. The details of the seige, in which Manet and Meissonier serve in the emperor's guard, get pretty gory, as the residents begin eating horses, cats, and rats and burning their pianos.

In a final chapter King tells how the various artists from the period are now perceived. It seems to be a classic case of reversals. King, however, feels Meissonier is unfairly castigated for opposing Impressionism, as he too worked for artists' rights to show their work at the annual salons.

Readers of The Judgment of Paris will also want to scan some art books. They should also try King's other histories Brunelleschi's Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.

King, Ross. The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism. New York: Walker and Comapny, 2006. ISBN 0802714668

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

Because I have already commented positively on three other books by Alexander McCall Smith, it is no surprise that I enjoyed Blue Shoes and Happiness. In this new book Mma Ramotswe and company tackle small mysteries while suffering a very hot dry season in Botswana. Instead of reviewing the book in a way that might give away any of the surprises, let me list what I like about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series, of which Blue Shoes and Happiness is the seventh book.

Mma Ramotswe is a thoughtful main character who seeks humane, respectful resolutions to the problems she encounters. She is humble and usually honest. She gets most of her information by waiting until she understands a subject's motivations and then asking direct questions. She never breaks into buildings, never uses weapons, or never chases criminals in sports cars. She is a peace-seeker who finds solutions that usually do not involve the police or courts of law.

The plots are very subtle. I had read two thirds of one of the books before even realizing there was a mystery. The author may have Mma Ramotswe solve three or four client problems in a book, while dealing with her own business and her family. Readers can not foresee most plot twists.

The series continues to develop new characters. Two important characters who first appeared in In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, the furniture salesman Phuti Radiphuti who is engaged to Grace Makutsi and the mechanics' assistant Mr. Polopetsi whose bicycle Mma Ramotswe hit with her old white van, have important roles in the new book.

Mma Ramotswe loves Botswana. She keeps the land, its people, and her ancestors close in her thoughts. Readers of her descriptions of the land want to visit the peaceful country. I know that I do.

Though the stories are set in a distant African country, the concerns of Mma Ramotswe and her friends are the same as those of readers - protecting one's family, making ends meet, and living a good life.

These books are very popular and do not really need a plug, but I want to go on record recommending them. If have not yet read any of the books, go to the library now and check out the first book The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. If you have started reading the series, continue. Every one of the books is worth your time.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Blue Shoes and Happiness. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006. ISBN 0375422722

A Question About Poetry Readers Advisory

I am rereading 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day in preparation for this month's book club. We always discuss poetry in May and really enjoyed Poetry 180 last year, so we chose the sequel, again with poems selected by Billy Collins. Both of the books introduce readers to many living poets. In his introduction he says something aimed at educators, but the statement interests me as a librarian who advises readers.

"I had hoped that curious readers (with or without the help of a teacher) would be guided by these poems to others outside the collection. I envision a reader who happened to be struck by a Mary Oliver poem advancing from there to the nature poems of, say, Robinson Jeffers or Pablo Neruda, then to Hopkins and Wordsworth. This type of "branching," as it has been called, invited readers to find their own way in poetry by discovering patterns of influence and association by which poets are connected to other poets, one leaf leading to another. So, instead of the once traditional method of approaching poetry chronologically, which in my school days meant beginning with the daunting Middle English of Chaucer, readers would use as a starting place some of the more palatable types of contemporary poetry (you hold 180 of them in your hands) and work backward along lines or branches of influence and commonality. Perhaps a reader who appreciates the humor of David Kirby or James Tate would follow this branch back to Philip Larkin, then to Swift, and maybe - years later - to Chaucer himself."

Upon reading this, I sat up and thought of read-a-likes. Do we have any tools to help us with poetry readers' advisory that would recommend similar poets? Collins mentions readers doing it on their own. He suggests starting with 180 More, but I do not see that he says in the book where to find the branches. How are readers supposed to know to try Jeffers and Neruda after enjoying Oliver? Where are the lists?

Being at home when I thought of this, not near library reference books, I turned to the web to see what I could find. I tried a variety of searches (readalike, read-a-like, read-alike, "if you like") through Google and found only a list of readalikes for the poet Shel Silverstein, which I have lost and been unable to refind. I scanned several poetry portals without luck. I also tried searching using Collins' term "branching" without finding any poetry readalike reading advice.

I discussed this question with Heather Booth in the Literature Department at the Downers Grove Public Library. We agreed that many poets are rather independent and might not like the read-a-like concept being applied to their work, but the idea of poetry study implies comparing and contrasting works of poets that are in some way associated. Many anthologies will collect poets by period, movement, or nationality. Of those, movement is the most promising for read-a-like associations. Heather found some links to movement information through the website poetry.org, which links to Wikipedia articles. Through this website, you can find Cowboy Poets, Performance Poets, and the poets in The Movement. The best link takes you to Lists of Schools of Poetry.

Looking around under poetry Dewey numbers in the Downers Grove literature reference collection, I discovered Facts on File Companion to 20th Century American Literature by Burt Kimmelman. I started to skim the entries for American poets and found paydirt. For example, the entry for Tess Gallagher says:

"... writing reflects the influence of the Confessional Poetry of her immediate predecessors, including Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath; like contemporaries Louise Gluck, Jorie Graham, and Sharon Olds ..."

Should you ever get a read-a-likes question in poetry, this reference book gives you something solid to offer to the reader - names of other poets.

Do you or will you ever get such a question? Reading poetry is not so common as reading novels, for which there are many read-a-like lists, and neither Heather nor I could remember such a request, but Collins (without realizing it I am sure) in his introduction is encouraging poetry readers' advisory. We may not be seeing the questions because we have never looked or prepared for them. What should we do?

I suggest we create poetry read-a-like lists and distribute them through our libraries and blogs and submit them to the Recommending Books page at the Library Success wiki.

Aaron Schmidt in Front of the Library Kaleidoscope

Aaron Schmidt in Front of the Library Kaleidoscope
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Aaron Schmidt reads a book in front of the limestone walls of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. The more Aarons the better to answer questions, chat with his IM friends, fix computers, and design some more web pages.

Made with the "Make Your Own Kaleidoscope" toy at krazydad.com.

Readers Advisory Kaleidoscope

Readers Advisory Kaleidoscope
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Nancy Pearl stands at our reference desk with some readers' advisory tools, including Sequels, To Be Continued, The Romance Readers' Advisory, and Literary Laurels in this strangely dark kaleidoscope image. Created with the "Make Your Own Kaleidoscope" toy at krazydad.com.

Google Pages in Support of the Blog

I have been playing around with Google Pages for a few month to see what I can do. My interest was to create some aids for this blog to help me find old posts in the archive. Search engines and the Blogger search tools often seem to fail to find what should be easily found with keywords. So I now have a dozen Google Pages (and I am working on another) that collect links to reviews and comments by category. For example, I have a Google Page listing all my Poetry Reviews, that also includes a list of my favorite poets. Another page links to all my Library Conference Reports. Audiobook Reviews, Library Life, Opinion/Advocacy, and Movie Reviews are some of the other pages.

All the pages are linked to each other. The Main Page has my latest book recommendations and my image Simpsonized.

You may notice as you look at these pages that I have ignored the advice of most web developers, which tell us to give our web pages a consistent look. Every page looks different from every other page, because I wanted to play around with the colors and designs. There actually is a certain amount of conformity because there really are not many options with Google Pages.

It has been interesting to troll through all my old posts to see the variety of categories and how long winded I have gotten at times. I was surprised to find that I reviewed one book twice - I only linked the better review.

I have placed links to two of the pages to the left. I call the main page ricklibrarian's book page. The other is ricklibrarian's greatest hits, which includes links to my most popular posts.

The challenge for me now is keeping these up-to-date. Google Pages are pretty easy to create and modify, and if I add links as I post, it should not be too hard.

I Have Started a New Blog

If you get tired of reading about libraries and books (which I can not imagine), you can take a look at my newest blog St. Luke Gardens. I am going to journal the year in the church gardens with photos and short reports. It will give me a place to post my photos instead of injecting them willy nilly into this book and library blog.

Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia Today by Alan Huffman

I just finished reading Mississippi in Africa by Alan Huffman, a book about the author's quest to learn the true story about the freeing of slaves from the Prospect Hill Plantation and their fate in Liberia. As is often the case with book writing research, the author discovers other stories. In this case, he even becomes part of the story.

I remember that when I was in school back in the 1960s and 1970s, my textbooks always touted Liberia as an American success story. There seemed to be pride expressed that a good thing had been done sending African-Americans back to Africa. The civil war there in the 1980s came as a surprise to many Americans raised on a rosy story. Huffman's book tells how Liberia had modelled itself on the American South and for a time had many of the trappings of success, but there was always a supression of civil rights, and violence and injustice were ever present.

Maggie of Maggie Reads recommended the book. She wrote a terrific review a couple of weeks ago, which emphasizes the parallels between the American South and Liberia.

Should you seek more slave legacy stories after reading Mississippi in Africa, I recommend Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball and My Confederate Kin by Thulani Davis. If you want to know more about Liberia, try Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State by John-Peter Pham.

Huffman, Alan. Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia Today. New York: Gotham Books, 2004. ISBN 1592400442

Readers' Advisory Plug-in to Reference Desk 2.0

Readers' Advisory at the Reference Desk
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Here is one end of the reference desk after the makeover mentioned yesterday. There are books facing the public, readers' advisory books, and some random books lying around. I hope replacing the "mostly you see the computer and printer look" with books may encourage some readers to ask us for reading advice. We also have some books by the Internet sign-in clipboard.

If the books at the desk lead to any "what's this about?" questions, we will have succeeded.

No matter what the result, I think I like the look. Librarian comfort is important, too.

The Reference Desk Needs a Makeover for Readers' Advisory

I am reading "Improving the Model for Interactive Readers' Advisory Service" by Neil Hollands, which is in the Spring 2006 issue of Reference & Users Services Quarterly, pages 205-212. I think I may read this article slowly as there seems to be a lot here to ponder. I have only gotten onto the second page and I am having too many thoughts to continue at this point. Just reading Assumption 1 of the "Faulty Assumptions of the Traditional Model" is enough for the moment.

Assumption 1: Readers Will Approach Librarians With RA Questions.

Holland quotes Joyce Saricks from her book Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library. She says, "Most patrons would not consider asking for reading suggestions a valid request." Why not? Don't we look like book people? Doesn't this look like a book place? Pausing to look at where I sit, it occurs to me that this monstrously big reference desk is pulled twenty feet or so away from the bookshelves. There is an aisle, a row of tables, and even a pillar between us and the books. There are some ready reference books behind me, but they do not look like anything to read. There are no visual cues that I have any relationship with the books across the way. We think people are supposed to know that we help with books, but maybe they do not.

Can we change the desk to let it help us say, "Ask us about books"? As it is, a flat screen monitor, a box-like laser printer, and a phone are to my left side and an expansive of black desktop is in front of me. The desk also has a raised ledge to my left, beyond the monitor and printer. There is assorted stuff lying around, including the stapler, tape, and bowl of paper clips that Aaron put out for everyone to use at will. (We have not lost them!) What I do not see are books. I think the desk needs a makeover.

What would encourage people to view us as book people more than some books? We could have books propped in stands, stacked around the ledge, and lying prominently on the desk. This desk is so big that we could devote half of it to displaying books (maybe a third) and still have enough work space. Move the laser printer and we would have even more room to show books.

Visiting small bookshops, I sometimes see employees at desks surrounded by books. They are pulling books from boxes, sticking labels on them, and loading carts. Sometimes they are reading. They often look like book people to me, and if they also look pleasant, I feel I could ask them about the books in their store.

Independent books stores are willing to market their employees to sell their books. They give their employees role in the promotion of their stock. Near the sales desks I sometimes see displays of books with small signs or even post-it-notes. Often the signs say, "Connie recommends" or "Bill's Book of the Week." Sometimes the signs include short book reviews. "They like to read" is the first thing that springs into my mind. Do visitors to the library look at us and think, "They like to read"?

Hollands makes a strong statement: "Others perceive (often correctly!) that librarians are often not prepared to deal with their particular reading interests."

Let us prepare and make our readers' advisory preparations visible. Let's instill some confidence in our abilities to match readers and books. Keep Fiction Catalog, Genreflecting, and other advisory tools right on the desk. Let people see us using them. Keep some issues of Publishers Weekly and Booklist around, too.

When I was a disc jockey long ago, each jockey as he started his show brought a stack of records to the turntables. He knew what he was going to play that day. We can adapt this model for the library. We can each bring a new stack of books with us to the desk as we start a shift. Having books in hand can spark our thoughts when someone asks for reading advice, especially if we have new books every day.

What else can we do? How can we insure that people come to the desk? It seems to me the choice of books that we bring to the desk is important. It should not all be "great literature." Travel guides, decorating books, and paperbacks might be eye-catching. We want to show we know many types of books.

I have one last idea to get the readers to come to our desk - keep the hottest bestsellers there. That may be going too far!

As I finish this essay, I have already encircled the reference desk with books to the amusement of my coworkers. I am usually so neat and my "mess of books" probably looks very calculated. Still it is worth a try. Let's push some books!

nonanon: Nonfiction (Readers) Anonymous

I was reading the April 2006 minutes of the Adult Reading Round Table (ARRT) Nonfiction Study (a group I wish I could find time to join) when I spotted the URL for a book blog I had not seen. The AART group is discussing the possibility of starting its own blog (which I hope they do) and the newsletter pointed to Nonfiction (Readers) Anonymous as an example of what can be done.

I clicked on the archives links to see if I could learn the mission of the blog. Its initial posting from October 10, 2005 refers to a preceding blog StoriesThatAreTrue.com, which is now a dead link. I did find the statement:

The blog for people who love nonfiction with a passion that frankly, borders on the perverse.

I read a couple of month's worth of entries, which like postings on my blog often deal with nonfiction books (though I stray quite a lot). Like me, the author of Nonfiction (Readers) Anonymous often reads books that are several years old, but the similarity ends there. I tend to review only the books I like and want to recommend, while the anonymous author in Wisconsin (I do not want to assume a gender) will critique books with which he/she takes issue. Her/his tastes differ from mine; notably she/he does not usually like biographies, which I often enjoy. Despite our differing philosophies, I enjoyed reading the reviews and found a couple of books I want to read. Anonymous author knows nonfiction books!

In the sidebar of the blog are links to some more book blogs I had not seen. Ah, too many blogs, too little time. Do make some time to check Nonfiction (Readers) Anonymous.

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien: An Audiobook Read by Martin Shaw

It has been twenty-nine years since The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien was published by his son Christopher. I remember buying the book at that time, but I can not now recall whether I ever actually finished reading it. It is a tough read for anyone who is not determined to learn all there is to know about Middle Earth. It is filled with tales of many ages and places, and there are enough names to fill a rural phonebook. I now suspect that I started and soon bogged down. It was a long time ago.

Some time after buying the third of three extended DVD versions of the Peter Jackson films of Lord of the Rings and viewing them many times, I began wanting to try again to read The Silmarillion. Every time I looked at the book on the shelf at the library, I thought "Not yet. I don't have enough time." I mentioned my desire to Bonnie and she suggested listening to the audiobook version. It was a great idea.

The audiobook version of The Silmarillion is 13 compact discs read by British actor Martin Shaw, who has a smooth, deep voice perfect for this epic tale. I listened for almost two weeks as I drove to work, cooked dinner, dug flower beds, hiked at the Morton Arboretum, and waited for my teenage daughter to get home on Saturday night. I enjoyed disc 7 with the story of Luthien Tinuviel and disc 13 with the tale of the rise and fall of Sauron so much I listened to them twice.

The book is very Bible-like. It starts with the tale of the earth's creation by Iluvatar, lord of all, who sings the universe into being. He creates the angel-like Valar, including the always loyal Manwe, his spouse Varda, and Melkor, who rebels and is responsible for all the evil and anguish that follows. In succeeding chapter, Iluvatar creates new lands and beings, including elves, dwarves, and humans. Melkor creates orcs, balrogs, and dragons. Feanor creates the Silmarils, beautiful stones holding the light of blessed trees, over which his sons fight many battles. Eventually Sauron forges many rings and one ring to control them all. Readers of Tolkien's trilogy will eventually start to make many connections between The Silmarillion and the later tales.

Now that I have finished I think it is the getting started that is so hard. I recommend the audiobook. Martin Shaw will keep you engaged.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion: Boxed Set Complete and Unabridged. New York : Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, 1998. ISBN 0553456067

Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child by Elva Trevino Hart

If you had seen Elva in the 1950s or early 1960s, you would have seen a poor Mexican American girl walking barefoot along a dusty road in southern Texas or picking beans with her family in green fields in Minnesota. Her family followed the ripening of crops, north in the summer, south in the winter. Despite the constant changing of schools, encouraged by her father, Elva studied and read and eventually surprised teachers with her mathematical skill. Barefoot Heart is the story of how she rose from her underprivileged childhood to earn a masters degree in computer science and engineering from Stanford and become a computer analyst for IBM.

I recommend Barefoot Heart to students needing biographies and adults looking for interesting books. I see in our shared catalogue that some libraries include it in their teen collections. My library is promoting biographies in its adult summer reading program, and I will put the book on display.

Hart, Elva Trevino. Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child. Tempe, Arizona: Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue, 1999. ISBN 0927534819

Immigrants Are ... : Posters at the Immigrants' Rights March in Chicago

Immigrants Are Refugees
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Marchers filled the streets of Chicago today to say they want full rights for immigrants in the United States. At 3:30 p.m. the police estimated that 400,000 people had marched or attended the rally in Grant Park. Many of them carried homemade signs expressing their views.

Click here to find our slideshow of the rally at Union Park and the march into the city.

May 2 Update: there are now thousands of pictures from the rallies on Flickr. I like this set in black in white from Los Angeles called May Day on Broadway. To see marchers in Seattle, look at Si Se Peude! To see photos from Santa Barbara, click Day without an Immigrant March.

To find the many tags that Flickr members used, click this clusters page. This page will help you find many more photos.

New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence: The Photographs of Richard Sexton: Narration by Randolph Delehanty

It may seem strange that I am reviewing New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence right after reviewing Material World: A Global Family Portrait, but there are similarities. In the making of both books, people opened up their homes to photographers who wished to show what they owned. In Material World, the point is showing global disparity. In New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence, the point is showing the unique style of decorating in the Crescent City. The deeper similarity is the commitment of the homeowners in both books to reuse and recycle what other more affluent people might discard. Many of the items in the homes of artists, designers, and patrons of the arts in New Orleans were found on curbs, bought at rummage sales, inherited, or salvaged from Mardi Gras floats. In New Orleans there is an almost third world attitude of accepting what you have and taking what you find.

Published in 1993, long before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence has five sections, with the interiors of homes being in the third and longest section. The first section is an excellent urban history of the city. I now know much more about how the city grew from the immigration of many peoples and about how the canals and levees work.

The second section shows the architecture of New Orleans. Looking at the colorful photographs, readers see many shotgun houses with slate roofs and iron railings. Some of the scenes with small shops and narrow streets look very European. I see several places I hope to find when I visit New Orleans.

The fourth section shows lush private gardens filled with tropical plants. These gardens are designed for shading residents on steamy summer days.

The book ends with a short section showing Mardi Gras float construction and antique Carnival items.

New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence is no longer in print, but many libraries do still own the attractive book. It is useful reading before a trip to the city.

Sexton, Richard. New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1993. ISBN 0811800741