But clearly the craziest part is how she advocates against Dewey:

“No Dewey decimal system?”

It was what labeled her a rebel in bibliophile circles. She was a heretic to some for her views on the archaic cataloging system. “I advocate shelving books in ‘neighborhoods’ based on subject matter. It makes more sense to patrons and is easier for them to use.”

Bryce seemed to like the idea. “You must be a very persuasive and busy woman.”

This is a romance novel, you guys. Click through for more excerpts. This one’s a winner.

Aside from some mildly embarrassing sexism, I’m amazed at how little hilarity I could find in this. The media are different, but the job hasn’t changed much in 65 years. The funniest bit is the part at the end about job security. *sigh*

I found this part particularly interesting, after a few examples of people calling to ask the librarian to “compile a bibliography for a project on radar” and the like:

The reference librarians locate various materials through their familiarity with the contents of the library, a very important money- and time-saving service to the public.

Replace “contents of the library” with “resources available” to take into account databases, websites, Google Scholar, etc., and it sure as hell still is. “Information overload” is a major modern concern. But people don’t turn to librarians to deal with it; they turn to the writers of probably obnoxious books like this one. I think people tend to have the attitude that information filtering isn’t our job, that we will snarkily respond “Let me Google that for you.” We have done some poor marketing, y’all.

Ensure all school libraries are properly staffed, open, and available for children every day.

Any school receiving Federal funds should be required to have a credentialed School Librarian on staff full time with a library that contains a minimum of 18 books per student…. Study after study has shown that well-stocked, well-funded, well-organized school libraries staffed by a “highly qualified” School Librarian, or other similarly qualified credentialed individual, improve student reading scores, test scores, and literacy rates. All children have the right to read and to have access to materials that will help them grow as learners and as people.

(Emphasis mine)

Here is an excellent article in School Library Journal about one of those studies: Something to Shout About: New research shows that more librarians means higher reading scores.

She signed books (and, patiently, bookmarks), chatted to a group of 30 high schoolers during lunch, and gave a more formal presentation to a similar-sized group of middle schoolers. She talked about her writing process and about the travel that inspired Daughter. Both groups were totally engaged and had no shortage of questions. (Here’s two of my middle schoolers on her blog.)

(I’m sure she didn’t intend her hair to be a marketing tool, but boy, my students couldn’t get enough of the hair comments and questions! I think having that to talk about helped them warm up to her. Plus, between that and protagonist Karou’s blue hair, my event publicity design has never been easier.)

At one point, while talking about the challenges of editing, she said, “Just because it’s hard for you doesn’t mean you aren’t meant to do it.” That really stuck with me — she didn’t say it as a Lesson (which probably made it all the more effective), but if there’s one thing I want my girls to get out of middle school, that’s probably it.

She, her Little, Brown entourage, and Wellesley Books were super friendly, flexible, and delightful to hang out with. Thank you again, Laini, Ames, Faye, and Allison!

(That’s me up there in the picture, regretting that this was the first time I’d thought to ask for a dorky author pic for my blog. Better late than never!)

First of all, could the ALA website be any more embarrassing? Seriously, people, we’re supposed to be information professionals. How ’bout some sensible organization of content? When I click on the Youth Media Awards page, there should be a big damn list of the award winners. I don’t want to scroll through your tweets, I don’t want to go to your Facebook page, I don’t want to know about the live webcast that already happened, I want to know who won the freaking awards! I should not have to scroll down half the page and click on a tiny press release link to do so.

Hmph. Moving on.

Moon Over Manifest: train tracks, overalls… there’s a Newbery-ready cover if ever I saw one. When I have some spare time, I want to run some numbers on how many Newberys have been historical fiction.

Ship Breaker won the Printz! *Does dance of joy* I am sorry that Chaos Walking never got any little medals, though.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder lifetime achievement award goes to Tomie dePaola! I’ll admit that Strega Nona stressed me the heck out — all that spaghetti everywhere! (I told my students the other day that, even as a kid, I was the fish.) But I heart Tomie dePaola, and he absolutely deserves this award.

My beloved True Meaning of Smekday won the Odyssey for best audiobook. I’ll take what I can get.

And Guardian of the Dead was a William C. Morris first-time author finalist! Between that and Ship Breaker, they got 2 out of 3 of my favorites this year. If 8th Grade Superzero had gotten some love (a Coretta Scott King? no?), I’d be all set.

I haven’t read any of the Stonewall winners or honors (yet), but huge thumbs-up to the ALA for adding an award celebrating “works for children and teens of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered experience.”

My friend Deborah Kaplan has a fascinating discussion going on over at her blog about the Margaret A. Edwards lifetime achievement award. (That’s the one that so controversially went to Orson Scott Card a couple of years ago; this year it’s Terry Pratchett’s.) Go join the conversation! Who do you think is missing from the list of award winners?

You can probably see both sides of this: on the one hand, the library needs to stay open so kids can use it! What’s wrong with those unions who want to close a library? On the other hand, this encourages people to get used to the idea that “librarian” is a job that can be done by anyone, with no training.

This bit was the kicker for me:

[P]arents had been upset this summer, believing the elimination of the librarian positions would mean the school libraries would close. When parents heard the libraries would be kept open to students, they calmed down.

They shouldn’t calm down. Who’s maintaining those libraries? Who decides what to buy and what to weed? Who knows the collection and knows the kids and matches them up? Who fights for research and information literacy skills to be part of the curriculum, and who teaches that curriculum? (It’s now “part of the language arts curriculum,” apparently, and I don’t know, but I worry that doesn’t involve much more than “here’s how to find a book on the shelf.”)

I commend these volunteers for wanting to keep the libraries open for their kids, and for being willing to pitch in their time to do it. But a library staffed only by untrained volunteers is only half a library, and the parents of Bridgewater and Raynham (and all the other towns in this country that are in the same situation) shouldn’t accept that.

(Thanks to my colleague Arianna of Wandering Librarians for the story.)

The middle school section at the beginning is the part you helped with. (And those yellow highlighted books, by the way? Are links to YouTube videos of booktalks by my colleagues and me. I can’t bear to watch mine, but feel free to mock my ridiculous facial expressions and hair-fiddling.)

Thanks to all of your for your fantastic suggestions! Special props to those of you who suggested:

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Susan Cooper
Lloyd Alexander
Watership Down
Island on Bird Street (replacing one of the seven — yes, really — Holocaust books on last year’s list)
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (which I’d never heard of and totally want to read now!)
Of Nightingales That Weep
Hatchet

…all of which I included. Many of your suggestions were already on the list, and some were (sorry) too old or too young. But I loved hearing what all of you read in middle school, and your ideas definitely helped round out my list!

In case their post is a little confusing for you (it was for me at first), basically the deal is this:

1. Go to Powell’s, go to Wishlist, and type “guyslitwire@gmail.com” as the email address.
2. Buy some books for one (or both) of the schools!
3. Get the address of the school librarian from the Guys Lit Wire post, and enter it as the shipping address.
4. Email Guys Lit Wire to let them know what you bought.

(I hooked up Ojo Encino Day School in New Mexico with some Sherman Alexie and Scott McCloud.)

This project, by the way, is part of the larger endevour called Operation Teen Book Drop, in its third awesome year.

One signed just “a thought”:

Also, books (or any other printed material) cannot be changed by any means without completely destroying them, while e-books can be corrupted anytime … like the time Amazon pulled books from the Kindle, or have we forgotten that already?

It’s so important to remember how malleable and insecure digital information is. Particularly when the information the library “owns” is hosted elsewhere (as with a database), the company can raise prices or discontinue access or shut down entirely — it’s not at all the same as owning the material outright. This isn’t a reason not to use electronic sources, of course, but it has to be a factor in the decision.

From “Jessica, Student,” on what students need:

Excellent physical books to get stuck into and electronic access that makes both broad and precise research feasible.

I couldn’t agree more.

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