Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick

I have just finished listening to an eleven-disc recording of Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, read by George Guidall. I think the title is misleading, for the story goes far beyond the Atlantic crossing by the Pilgrims in the famous ship in 1620, far beyond the early years of settlement in New England. It includes history of the second generation of settlers and a lengthy battle-by-battle account of King Philip's War of 1675-1676. "Plymouth" or "The Pilgrims and the Natives of Massachusetts" would have been more informative titles. The publishers probably thought "Mayflower" would be a more marketable name.

The strength of the book is its account of the lives of settlers, natives, and descendents. Philbrick has drawn on many contemporary accounts, such as Governor Bradford's and Benjamin Church's manuscripts and transcriptions of native oral histories. The author restores to the story many unflattering details excised from mythical accounts of the Pilgrim colonists and their Indian friends. Envy, greed, and betrayal fuel the action, which is full of murder, beheadings, and dismembering dead enemies. Philbrick suggests that with more noble actions the outcome and the resulting heritage could been different. Many opportunities for peace were lost.

What may surprise many readers of Mayflower is learning that Plymouth authorities sold many Indians into slavery, shipping them to the tropics and claiming their land. Philbrick also points out that the colony bankrupted itself in the conduct of King Philip's War; Plymouth was an economically depressed community for the next hundred years.

In the Epilogue, the author gives a brief history of Plymouth Rock and the glorifying and sanitization of the Pilgrim story.

The battle descriptions with slogging through swamps and woods are a little tedious, but the book as a whole is an interesting account of early European settlement of the New World. Every public library should have this book.

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Viking, 2006. ISBN 0670037605

11 compact discs. New York: Recorded Books, 2006. ISBN 1419390031

We're Back from Saugatuck

We are back from vacation in Saugatuck, Michigan. It was a warm week good for beach lovers. I spent a lot of time eating ice cream, hiking across dunes, struggling with sudoku, and reading books. It was good.

The photo to the right shows a chain ferry that takes people and bicycles across the Kalamazoo River every ten or fifteen minutes. It is used by hundreds of people on their way to the beach.

Many people know about the ice cream shops, but not as many know about the gelato served at American Spoon. There are some unusual flavors, like burnt caramel and pumpkin, as well as a rich chocolate and tasty strawberry. I need to go to the store more than once next time.

Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile

Let the discussions begin. How far are we from a world like that found in Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile? Cloning technology is advancing rapidly. People already live virtual lives on the Internet. What distinguishes the novel's time from ours? Not much other than the intensity of the author's prose.

As a reader, I found the story full of surprises until nearly the end, and I have questions about some aspects of the story after finishing it. I particularly wonder about the actions of Chicago Tribune editor and the police in the story. Would they really do what they did? I also wonder about Justin's motives near the end and whether the scene he creates would be believied.

Cast of Shadows is not a perfect novel and probably will offend a number of readers with its sex and violence, but it certainly is filled with topics to discuss. It will also keep many reading past their bedtimes. Make sure your library has a copy.

Guilfoile, Kevin. Cast of Shadows. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1400043085

When Wikis Get Old: Questions in Verse

What will happen when wikis get old?
Will all their linkers become clinkers?
Will the data that was beta start to fade? ah!
What will happen when wikis get old?
Will they have to unload tons of out-of-date code?
Will they have to erase to free up some space?
What will happen when wikis get old?
Will wikites learn that they have to return?
Will they see that their fate is to often update?
What will happen when wikis get old?

Comment in verse if you can.

The Practicing Librarians' Book Reviews at Library Success

Some librarians want to be book reviewers. Many hands were raised in New Orleans at the program So You Want to Be a Book Reviewer. Many librarians already are reviewers. They write for Library Journal, Booklist, Choice, or other publication, or they post reviews on personal or library blogs. Some contribute their reviews to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookslut websites. A few have posted reviews on Open WorldCat. The opportunities for writing reviews are diverse and scattered. Wouldn't it be helpful to have a center for librarian-written reviews for selection and readers' advisory?

Check out The Practicing Librarians' Book Reviews on the Library Success wiki. Any librarian can now write about the great books they have read and communicate their enthusiasm across the library universe without having to be accepted by one of the journals. Becoming a contributor to the wiki is as easy as signing up and logging on.

If you have a blog or other website where you post reviews, all you have to do is create a link to your review on the wiki page for your category of books. You can click the edit tab for a page and see how others have entered their links or look at the tips page. If you don't have a blog, it is easy to get one, or you can write directly on the wiki. Create a new page from the wiki page for your book category and write on the new page. Look at the poetry page for examples of both linked reviews and reviews posted on the wiki.

One of the advantages of posting reviews on the democratic wiki is that you do not have to adhere to the restrictions from editors of the review journals. You can write more than 175 words. You can be more personal. Still, it is good to consider your readers and concentrate on providing helpful information. Look at Elements for Basic reviews from RUSA. Also, if you long to review for the journals, you can use The Practicing Librarians' Book Reviews as a place to practice.

At this point a few reviews from various library blogs have seeded the wiki. You can find them by looking at the main review page and clicking on the blue-colored links. The red-colored links are pages that need some reviews. Have any reviews to turn the main page bluer?

There are lots of books to review. You can even get advanced reading copies by contacting publishers identified at the program What You'll Read Next: The Buzz of Books; look toward the end of the report.

So, join us a democratic, librarian-driven effort. Let's show what can be done with a wiki. Let's share our knowledge and love of books. Write and read some reviews.

The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea by Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, also writes lively poetry full of vivid vocabulary. His first collection is The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea, a 60-page book with a spinning wheel in the front cover.

I can not claim to understand everything that going on in the poems, but the images are arresting. I was particularly struck by the start and the end of "The Seventh Circle." It begins thus:

Another werewolf night, the trees spastic
with wind and the dogs uneasy on their chains.
Three trolls wrestle with a bloody scrap
that will not die, the taverns roar and glitter
on the greasy quay and the Scissorman
chases the dragon ...

At the end of the poem, someone will be waiting for you (yes, you) at the bottom of a frozen lake. It makes my hair stand on end.

Not all the poems are quite so fantastic. I like the advice from "A Rough Guide":

Be polite at the reception desk.
Not all the knives are in the museum.
The waitress knows that a nice boy
is formed in the same way as a deckchair.
Pay for the beer and send flowers.

It seems like good advice to share at a high school graduation.

Like many music CDs, it seems the best pieces are clustered near the beginning. I enjoyed "Go, Little Bok," "After a Beheading," "Trees," and "Nuns." The nuns are like crows flocking and observing a village.

I hope Haddon writes more poems. For now, I recommend more libraries add The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea.


Haddon, Mark. The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea. New York: Vintage Books, 2005. ISBN 0307275698

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

When asked whether he is an optimist or a pessimist, Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, says that he is a "cautious optimist." He thinks that the people of the earth can choose to make the changes to their lives that will prevent a failure of our civilization as we know it. He says we already have the necessary technologies to adapt to our overuse of resources. While a voluntary choice to live with a lower standard of living may look very unacceptable to many, the alternatives are horrid.

He is optimistic because some civilizations did make necessary changes in the past, even jettisoning out-of-date societal values when needed. Also, we have modern communications and academics now, so we can understand our options better than any civilization in the past. What we need is resolve. We have to learn to be more concerned for community rather than individual opportunity. We have to become more global and less national.

Despite his cautious optimism, eighty percent of his book tells about societies that failed and the reasons for those collapses. Climate change, ecological disaster, over population, loss of trade partners, and attacks from enemies contributed, but failure to change was always central to the collaspes. Examples include the societies of Easter Island, the Maya, the Norse in Greenland, the Soviet Union, and Rwanda. Diamond also focuses on current fragile systems, such as those of Montana, Australia, and China.

Collapse should be an excellent book for discussions. A library that I know held such a discussion, but only three readers came. The size of the book and the seriousness of the subject may have culled some readers, but the readers and librarians who were there had a very good discussion.

I listened to Collapse on 22 compact discs, which were read by Michael Prichard. Prichard is an excellent reader, i. e. he never sounds like he is reading. In my mind, Diamond was speaking directly to me.

Like Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse is a very readable and important book that every public library should have.

Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670033375

22 compact discs. Santa Ana, California: Books on Tape, 2005. ISBN 1415917272

Wedding March on Decatur Street: A Flickr Story

Wedding March on Decatur Street
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Here is an interesting story about the popularity of Flickr.

While I was walking around New Orleans on Saturday, June 24, on a lunch break, I spotted a wedding parade coming down Decatur Avenue. It was led by a small jazz band. The bride and groom with their umbrellas followed, as did the rest of the wedding party. Trying not to intrude, I snapped a couple of pictures. I later posted this photo on Flickr.

On Sunday, June 25, I found a comment on my Flickr photo from the groom's brother Greg, thanking me for taking the photo and posting it.

Last week I got Flickr mail from Becci the bride. Her brother-in-law directed her to Flickr to see the photo and then she contacted me. She was thrilled to see the photo because her photographer did not cover the parade. Being without photos of the event, she asked me if I could send her some. I sent her the two I had, for which she warmly thanked me.

This past weekend, I got a thank you email from the mother of the groom. She heard about all the librarians in New Orleans and wondered if others were taking pictures that Saturday. Could other librarians have taken pictures of the parade and could I find them?

So here is the appeal. Did you or someone you know take pictures of Becci's wedding parade? If so, please log in with your email address and leave a comment here. We can arrange to then send photos to Becci and her mother-in-law. Thanks.

On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa by Nick Brandt

Nick Brandt is someone to envy. He is a great photographer, and he obviously gets to visit Kenya and Tanzania frequently. All the evidence is in his book On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa.

The photographs in On This Earth present a different view from most African wildlife photographs. Most obvious to the viewer is that they are black and white or sepia. Brandt has made a curious choice of films for photographing a land of light and color, but it works well. The lack of color forces the viewer to see the faces, expressions, and shapes of the animals. Brandt even enhances the mood with finishing that reminds the viewers of 19th century prints made from glass plates. You wonder if Matthew Brady went to the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, and other East African game reserves with his big box cameras.

Brandt explains in his Afterword that he never uses telephoto lenses. To get a close up, he gets close to the animals. When you take a second look at them, you realize that he gets very close. The result is that the perspective is always correct and immediate.

There are some incredible moments captured in the photographs. Dust explodes off an elephant in Amboseli. A cheetah seems to fly over the Maasai Mara. A curious young zebra enters a room at Lewa Downs.

On This Earth is Brandt's first book, and I hope there will be more. You can see some of his work at his website www.nickbrandt.com.

Brandt, Nick. On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2005. ISBN 0811848655

The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa by Eileen Welsome

Ninety years ago our border with Mexico was not secure, but the issue of the day was not illegal immigration. Our newspapers were filled with the story of the Mexican revolutionary bandit Pancho Villa and his late night raid of Columbus, New Mexico, where his men killed eighteen people. The story of the night and the chase of Villa into Mexico by General John Pershing is told by Pulitzer Prize journalist Eileen Welsome in The General & the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution & Revenge.

Welsome's book is divided into several sections. The first 151 pages focus on the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa, and the attack on the small New Mexico town. General Pershing, referred to in the title, is not introduced until page 164. In the second section of the book, Welsome chronicles the 1916 U.S. military invasion of the northern states of Mexico to capture Villa, a ten-month expedition which nearly started a war. The final section tells of the troop withdrawal, the reappearance of Villa, the trials in New Mexico courts, and the subsequent careers of all the central characters.

As a journalist, Welsome mostly tells the story without editorializing. Readers get to draw their own conclusions as to why the story is interesting in 2006. Supply your own current newspapers.

Librarians can add The General & the Jaguar to their nonfiction-that-reads-like-a-novel lists.

Welsome, Eileen. The General & the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa: A True Story of Revolution & Revenge. New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2006. ISBN 0316715999

Let's Buy Some Books: Staying Relevant in a Competitive World

I was surprised. Maybe I should not have been, but I was. I expect public libraries to have best selling books in a timely manner.

On Wednesday night, while double checking our holdings of best sellers, I noticed that the SWAN catalog showed only 47 copies of Ann Coulter's Godless: The Church of Liberalism. With over 70 public libraries in our consortium, I thought there would be more copies. I then looked more closely and saw the situation was worse, as six of those copies were listed as on order, and some of the larger libraries had multiple copies.

Why is it that five weeks after the book was released nearly half of the public libraries in my area do not have it? Even some larger libraries did not have the book.

My first worry was that librarians selecting books were letting their personal feelings or fear of controversy get in the way of meeting their obligation to order the book. Then I looked at consortium holdings of Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick. There are only 55 copies two months after its release. Again, a few of those are on order and larger libraries have multiple copies. There are still around 25 public libraries that do not have a copy. I doubt fear of controversy explains the delay in most cases.

I can think of four other explanations.

1. Some libraries are without funds to buy books. I know several of the libraries that had neither Godless or Mayflower are financially poor. There is a stark contrast in the wealth of Chicago suburbs and the funding of some libraries.

2. Some libraries do not preorder books before publication. I think this is hard to understand these days when it is so easy to know ahead some of the books that will be best sellers. I think the reason goes back to library funding. Poorer libraries do not want to commit to buying what they may not be able to later fund. When they wait until books are published to buy, vendor supplies are depleted and shipments are delayed. Reader requests then accumulate while the library waits for the book to arrive.

3. Some librarians are not keeping up with their book selection. Perhaps their libraries are under staffed and they have too many responsibilities. Perhaps they just do not make book selection a priority. Readers' requests alert them to best selling books. Readers wait.

4. Some libraries have book processing backups. I once worked in a library (long ago) that had a four-month delay in getting books to the shelf after they arrived from the vendor. Readers often did not remember the books by the time they got them.

Explanations #2, #3, and #4 are the results of bad library management. If they are explanations, they are also excuses. We need better management, not excuses.

According to OCLC's study Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, the American public still looks to libraries for books. It is important, therefore, to get them when the readers want them. We have to do so to stay relevant.

I expect a lot more from public libraries. Our readers do, too.

Jersey Rain Record on Open Worldcat is Off by Many Miles

Jersey Rain Worldcat
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

When I checked the Open WorldCat record to which I linked my review of Jersey Rain, I found that the tool for identifying closest libraries was way off. I put in the zip code for Downers Grove, Illinois and was told that the closest copy is at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, 3919 miles away. I double checked our local SWAN catalog to make sure I had not used a British ISBN. I had not. There are many copies with the ISBN in the Chicago suburbs.

This beats my finding last fall that the closest copy of Larry Dierker's book This Ain't Brain Surgery to Big Lake, Texas was in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Click on the photo and then click on "All Sizes" to get a better look.

Blue Front: A Poem by Martha Collins

The Blue Front of Blue Front: A Poem by Martha Collins was a restaurant in Cairo, Illinois in 1909. Her father was a poor five year old who sold fruit on the street in front of the restaurant and was a witness to two brutal lynchings from the arching electric light stands on Commercial Avenue. A frenzied crowd of 10,000 watched the hangings and dismemberment of both a black man accused of rape and a white man accused of murder.

Collins brings her father's memories and much research together in a 78-page poem that reads quickly. In free verse, with different voices and subjects on pages, she tells of the once thriving city at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, its and the nation's racial injustice, and a legacy that led to the Civil Rights Movement. She stirs reference facts, photographic descriptions, narrations, and quotations into a poetic stew that works as a peice of local history with national implications.

Within the poem Collins describes briefly a series of postcards made to "celebrate" the lynchings. She notes that the Postal Service then wrote regulations to restrict the sending of offensive literature.

Blue Front is an interesting introduction to the unpleasant history of American injustice.

Collins, Martha. Blue Front: A Poem. Saint Paul: Graywolf Press, 2006.

Jersey Rain by Robert Pinsky and Poetry Out of the Books

Before I attended the American Library Association Conference in New Orleans last month, I attempted to read a collection of poems by Robert Pinsky but failed to get past the fourth or fifth poem. I was trying to prepare for the conference and had several other books that I was already reading. There was a lot of gardening to be done, and I had just been given new music CDs. I just did not have the heart or the time.

At ALA, I heard Pinsky on the Live @ Your Library stage. He read several of his poems and spoke about his writing. He introduced himself to us, and I recorded his voice in my brain.

When I got back to my library, I checked out Jersey Rain: Poems. In it I found three of the poems that he read to us in New Orleans. They worked as keys to many of the other poems in the collection. As I read I heard his voice step in, giving cadence and emphasis to the words and phrases. Reading most of the poems was easy.

Many readers do not relate or comprehend poetry they way they do novels. Our culture conditions us to be fiction readers, as we hear stories read to us as children. Some children's books are in verse, but prose dominates and verse mostly disappears after third or fourth grade. Later literature classes include some poetry, but it becomes exceptional experience instead of daily experience. Even the narratives of film and television support the reading of novels, teaching story and providing images to connect to novel content.

There are some attempts to bring poetry into the out-of-book experience of readers. A few poetry books with CDs, such as Poetry Speaks, are available. Pinsky's An Invitation to Poetry includes a DVD of people reading their favorite poems. Billy Collins' Poetry 180 project aims to have poem a day read to high school students. National Public Radio has an RSS feed for poetry. Garrison Keillor's daily A Writer's Almanac podcast always includes him reading a poem.

We need more. Have the television networks considered Poetry Idol?

Public libraries can help. They should continue to collect poetry and should especially look for audiovisual presentations. They should link to poetry websites. They should present poetry programs.

In the poem "Jersey Rain," Pinsky describes rain that is always present even when it is dry. Poetry should be so ever present.

Genealogy and Internet Basics for Reference Desk Personnel

I think this will be my last tardy report from the American Library Association Conference in New Orleans.

Genealogy and Internet Basics for Reference Desk Personnel was a vendor showcase program that was well attended considering its late Saturday afternoon time slot. Many more librarians are interested in genealogy and family history now than there were when I started in libraries in the late 1970s. We had few tools with which to help family historians then. Now there is a growing body of online resources.

Thomas J. Kemp from Newsbank announced a new suite of genealogy databses his company calls American Genealogy Bank. The product, which will be available after Labor Day includes:

1. Historical newspapers 1690-1923 - There will be over 900 copyright-free titles which included over 3.2 million obituaries. These digitized newspapers, which cover all fifty states, have never before been available digitally.

2. Obituaries from 1980s to date - There are more than 19 million to start. The datebase will be working its way back in time.

3. Digital books 1639-1819 - Genealogies, local histories, land title records, and even funeral sermons are included.

4. Federal and state government documents - There are lots of pensions, land claims, and military records.

5. Social Security Death Index.

According to Kemp, researchers can search the service's databases individually or as a group. Newsbank will market to libraries and individuals.

Paul F. Smart from FamilySearch.org said that its popular Internet database (free) will soon allow people to contribute their own genealogies to the official LDS records online. He said that the database already includes over a billion names.

William J. Forsyth of Proquest showed its suite Proquest Genealogy Center. IT includes the well known Ancestory and HeritageQuest, as well as historical newspapers, Sanborn maps, and military journals. One part is American Periodicals Online, which covers over a thousand titles between 1741 and 1900.

I hope the Illinois State Library arranges free trials of the Newsbank and Proquest titles in the fall.

Please Don't Come Back from the Moon by Dean Bakopoulos

In Maple Rock, a working class suburb of Detroit, all the men "go to the moon." One by one they simply disappear into the night, leaving their wives and their sons and their daughters. No messages are left. No trace of them can be found. How Michael Smolij and his friends evolve without their fathers is the story of Please Don't Come Back from the Moon by Dean Bakopoulos.

I was hooked reading the mysterious first chapter. Michael is only seventeen, and the void his father leaves needs to be filled. The young man, of course, is not really ready to become a reliable adult and stumbles for years in his attempts to find vocation and commitment. His friends struggle, too, while their mothers actually seem eventually to thrive.

I do not want to give away the story. I will say that it is never predictable and I began to hope several of the characters could overcome their problems. I also enjoyed Bakopoulos' descriptions of the evolving suburb with its bars, old houses, trailer communities, and new shopping mall. I recommend it to readers who like offbeat fiction.

Bakopoulos, Dean. Please Don't Come Back from the Moon. Orlando: Harcourt Inc., 2005. ISBN 0151011354

Depressing Movies

Warning: This movie contains scenes of deceit and self-absorption. Some characters are ruthless. People say terrible things. Many hearts are broken. The implied future is even worse. The Surgeon General has determined that watching depressing movies may cause insomnia.

I knew that Woody Allen's Match Point and Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale are serious dramas, but I was not warned as to how bleakly depressing they are. I could have used a warning. Maybe I should read movie reviews instead of writing them.

I did appreciate both of the films. Woody Allen really broke out of his box by setting a movie in England, and his use of opera music gives the movie a really somber, inevitably tragic feel. Music is important in Baumbach work, as well. The soundtrack sets a mellow 1980s mood that is shattered by the story. The acting in both movies is superb. I especially liked the boys in The Squid and the Whale.

Both movies are excellent and would fit well in the Aaron Schmidt Depressing Movie Series with Dear Wendy. They would also be good choices for movie discussion groups.

Pushing Books Successfully

At the program Establishing and Promoting Readers' Advisory in Small and Medium-Sized Libraries in New Orleans, Sharon Smith said her number one rule is "Never let a reader leave empty-handed." Liking the lofty idea, I tried to put it into practice in my shift at the reference desk last night.

It was one of those night when people asked for books that were out or at other libraries in our shared catalog. After writing the book titles and the client information on request slips, I asked matter-of-factly, "Since we did not have your book, can we find another for you? We wouldn't want you to go home empty-handed." It worked three out of the five times I tried it. One of declining readers told me she already had several books on a nearby table to check out. So, one person went home empty-handed, and even he said he had several books on his nightstand.

I was pleased. I think the statement works much better than the vaguer and weaker "Is there anything else we can do today?" When we have taken a reserve, we have not actually done anything immediate for the client, and this question might not really instill confidence. We have only given them a promise to do something. The new statement that I tried says exactly what I can do right now. Two of the clients replied "Now that you mention it, I have been thinking about reading (fill in the blank)." One client declined initially, walked away very briefly, and came back asking, "Do you have any books by (fill in the blank)?"

As a bonus, I had another reader recommend a book of international finance for library purchase last night. It reminded me of a book I reviewed three weeks ago. I said, "This reminds me of a book I think you might like." It did look good to him and he checked it out.

Four books went home with readers last night. Assertiveness works.

Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood

It seems very appropriate that I finished listening to Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S Wood, read by Scott Brick, on the Fourth of July. While I was pulling weeds in the yard I heard the last chapter, which tells how the founders never imagined that public opinion would ever be so important in the policies of government. Their ideas of democracy were more republican than democratic. They believed that educated gentlemen of wealth should always guide and rule over common men.

Wood begins his book with a discussion of what made a gentleman. Who had the proper character? Then he profiles eight of the men of the period from the American Revolution, telling of their careers and chronicling their rise and fall in the eyes of historians. He tells how George Washington was beloved in his day but became a rather wooden figure in histories until rather recently when his stock went up again. He argues that Washington's voluntarily withdrawing from the Presidency after two terms may have been the most important political act ever. Benjamin Franklin's fame has also been up and down with historians' fads.

After listening to or reading Revolutionary Characters, the reader may conclude that modern Americans most honor Thomas Jefferson and James Madison with their words, but really honor Alexander Hamilton with their actions. Hamilton argued for a society with wealthy classes, a bureaucracy in government, and strong banking. He also wanted a standing army that would fight wars as just part of the everyday business of pursuing the national interest. Hamilton's greatest act was keeping Aaron Burr from becoming president in 1800.

The irony is that Aaron Burr, who is regarded as a bad character with no principles other than self-interest, has become the model for the modern politician, who works for his friends and special interests. John Adams, a man of good character and high principles, is portrayed as a man who lost touch with political reality.

The most interesting chapter was that about Thomas Paine. Paine is rarely considered as one of the founders, though his writings very important in the revolution. He never became a gentleman or a public official, and he considered himself a citizen of the world, not an American. Americans have never warmed to him.

General readers and history students will enjoy Revolutionary Characters. It should be in most public libraries.

Wood, Gordon S. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different. New York: Penguin Press, 2006. ISBN 1594200939

8 compact discs. Westminster, MD, Books on Tape, 2006. ISBN 1415931585

A Job Announcement for Thomas Ford

The word has gotten round that Aaron Schmidt in leaving the Thomas Ford Memorial Library and heading to Portland, Oregon. He will be greatly missed.

With some regret, I have a job to fill. Here is the announcement:

Reference Librarian in Adult Services
Thomas Ford Memorial Library

Deadline for Applications is August 7, 2006.

The Thomas Ford Memorial Library seeks applicants for a full-time reference and readers' advisory librarian position. The successful candidate will be responsible for technology in the library and must be able to teach others the use of emerging formats. Other duties will include collection development, writing web content, supervision of part-time reference librarians, and cultural/educational programming. Candidates must be able to communicate effectively with patrons of all ages.

An ALA accredited MLS is required, as is prior experience at a reference desk using online resources and at computer troubleshooting. Evening and weekend hours are required.

Minimum starting salary: $35,500. Benefits include IMRF, health insurance, and 4 weeks vacation.

Contact:

Rick Roche, Head of Adult Services
800 Chestnut Street
Western Springs, IL 60558

(708) 246 0520

(708) 246 0403 Fax

rick@fordlibrary.org

http://www.fordlibrary.org


If you are interested in applying, contact me.

Top ALA Conference Trends

Here are some of my totally unscientific observations about the recent American Library Association conference in New Orleans. You may refute them with comments.

1. Casual dress is way up. I saw very few suits among the attendees. Some vendors were still in suits, but many of them now seem to be in matching shirts with corporate logos. Many librarians were in shorts and T-shirts or Hawaiian shirts or sundresses. Being in hot, humid New Orleans, the trend was very reasonable and to be expected.

2. Walking shoes were way up. The length of the Morial Convention Center was almost two thirds of a mile, longer than the walk from many of the hotels. Comfortable shoes were necessary.

3. Bus service was really good. I got from the conference center to conference hotels and back really quickly. I was never passed up by a loaded bus. I never waited very long at a stop.

4. Touring the conference city was way up. This may be a special case because librarians wanted to see how New Orleans was recovering or not recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Many people took tours or volunteered for rebuilding projects.

5. I saw more young librarians. A few years ago I was worried because most of the attendees at conferences seemed to be my age or older. I think the shift has finally come.

6. PowerPoints were down. I went to three programs with no PowerPoint presentation at all. Only one program that I attended was totally PowerPoint driven.

7. Handouts were down. Few programs had any handouts at all other than evaluation forms. People seemed to take their notes on the backs of the evaluation forms. I had many people ask me, "Were there handouts?"

8. Book signings were up. I saw lots of lines inside the exhibit hall and after the big presentations given by famous people.

9. Digital cameras were up. I saw librarians taking photos at programs and around the city. Many can be found at ALA2006 Flickr Group website. Other photos can be found by searching ALA2006 in Flickr.

10. Blogging was up. There was even a room set aside for bloggers. Blogs about the conference can be found at the conference wiki. Go to Conference Bloggers to see who was writing. An alphabetic list of conference reports is started at Stories, Reports. The latter needs more input. If you wrote or know of conference reports, add them in.

I heard many librarians say they had a wonderful experience in New Orleans. Will this continue next year in Washington, D.C.? It will if we make it so.

NPR All Things Considered Covers ALA in New Orleans

Thanks to Birdie at LISNews for pointing out the National Public Radio report "New Orleans Marks a Recovery Milestone," which is about the American Library Association conference in New Orleans. The four and a half minute report can be heard at the NPR website.

What You'll Read Next: The Buzz of Books: RUSA President's Program

The RUSA President's Program What You'll Read Next: the Buzz of Books brought together three speakers with diverse views on how authors, publishers, journalists, and librarians promote books to book buyers and readers.

The first speaker was best selling author Gail Godwin, who published her first book in 1970, a time when few authors got their photos on book jackets and took book tours. Publishers then relied on reviews and catalogs to promote most of their books to bookstores and libraries. They did not cooperate with the bookstores on publicity campaigns to the extent they do today. There was just the trust that books would find a market and readers.

Now Godwin spends about six months promoting each of her new books. Recently she took her younger brother, a business consultant, on a book promotion tour. After a few days he told her that he found the tour an ineffective marketing tool. Publicity was low-key and the numbers of people at book signings relatively small considering the cost of the tour. He thought sending authors to speak at libraries would get much more attention than in store book signings, especially if the events could tie in to library fundraisers. He also noted that in many cases publishers spend much time and money on books before they are published and then drop them to concentrate on other books. No other manufacturer would essentially abandon a product once it is released.

Goodwin had some other complaints about publishers. She said they give fewer advances to first authors now. The corporations that own them have been merging them and firing their editors. She never knows how long she'll get to work with anyone.

The author is taking some of the promotion of her books into her own hands. She did not like the study guide that was produced for one of her books, so she wrote her own for Evenings at Five and put it on her own website.

Godwin said that writers and readers depend on librarians to step in after the "six week shelflife of publishers." She said that books are important to readers. They help readers learn to be alone and find their essential selves. Librarians are the guardians of the selves. Most importantly, libraries are there after the buzz is over.

The second speaker was Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly and author of So Many Books, So Little Time. Nelson said that she has not always been crazy for books, but she became very hooked on reading for pleasure when she became a journalist. She started writing reviews for any publication that would take them, eventually passing through Glamour and Inside.com. She took the PW job in January 2005 with the intention of modernizing the publication. She said that PW needed more passion, which she thinks recent articles and her opinionated reviews add. She also wanted PW to review more books.

Nelson talked about "embargo books." Some publishers are trying to keep high profile books under wraps until publishing dates and then want PW and other publications to run prominent reviews at the time of publishing. She said PW will not play the game because bookstores and libraries need reviews three months before publication. She seemed almost happy that some of the "embargo books" from high public officials have turned out to be real bombs.

Nelson said one of the biggest debates at PW is which reviews get stars. Reviewers recommend them but the editors have to grant them.

She also described how PW and other publications draw up their best sellers lists. A company called Book Scan tracks sales nationally, but the information is far too expensive for the review journals (even the New York Times) to buy. To create its lists, PW polls a number of prominent book sellers and extrapolates from their figures. When someone asked whether she was saying that best seller lists were "just made up," she replied "I did not say that!" She indicated that the lists are really good guesses as to what books are selling best nationally.

The final speaker was the energetic Neal Wyatt of the Chesterfield County Public Library in Virginia. She said that libraries were both consumers of publishing industry buzz and creators of their own book buzz. She said that publishers and distributors would like to help libraries, referring to a program handout that listened book publishing groups that offered newsletters and other services, such a review galleys, to libraries. The distributors included the following.

The Hachette Book Group USA has a web page linking to library opportunities. To sign up to receive prepublication galleys, contact Nora Rawlinson at nora.rawlinson@hbgusa.com.

Harper Collins has a web page for librarians. To get advanced copies of books, go to the First Look web page.

Holtzbrinck Publishers has a web site for librarians. The group has weekly podcasts about featured books.

Random House also has a library web page. To get advance copies of books suggested for book discussions fill out a survey.

Wyatt said that the most essential task for librarians is to talk about books. Talk is much more effective than book displays and signs in influencing the reading of library clients. She also urged librarians to listen to readers seriously and buy what they want to read.

In keeping with the title What You'll Read Next, Wyatt predicted which books soon to be released will be great library books. We should all be ordering the following:

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson, October 2006, ISBN 0316154849

Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist, August 2006, ISBN 0385340354

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, October 2006, ISBN 1400080665

Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke, October 2006, ISBN 1596912510

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, August 2006, ISBN 067003777x

Other upcoming books were listed on the handout.

Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies

In early 2004, after Brian Fies learned that his mother had lung cancer, he started a cartoon on the Internet to journal the experience. Wishing to protect his family's privacy, he wrote anonymously and used no real names in the cartoon. His main characters are simply Mom, Nurse Sis, Kid Sis, and Me. The cartoon was noticed and became popular. When the story came to an end and his family agreed, he turned the strip into the book Mom's Cancer.

Fies says in his preface that he wishes that he had something like Mom's Cancer to read when his mother was diagnosed. Though it is an account of a specific family, many elements in their story are universal. The cartoon has been popular with other cancer victims and their families and with medical educators needing materials for their students about patient experiences.

Mom's Cancer is a very honest account that deals as much with pateint and family emotions as medical diagnosis, treatment, and results. Readers need to read to the end. A short resource guide follows the story.

I recommend libraries shelve Mom's Cancer with books on cancer patients, not with the graphic novels or the cartoon books.

Fies, Brian. Mom's Cancer. New York: Abrams Image, 2006. ISBN 0810958406