About three weeks ago, I finished rereading Lord of the Rings. Every time I read it I get something different from it, and this time I was deeply struck by the landscapes of the book. In the introduction, Tolkien talks about wanting to create a story that is deeply rooted in place, and for him the place was England. Tolkien's love for his land permeates Lord of the Rings; trees and hills and rivers and shafts of sunlight are described with caring (as well as careful) detail.
I think it's Tolkien's love for the landscape, rather than the physical features described, that makes me so inclined to picture Virginia when I think of Middle-Earth. Middle-Earth is described with love, so I respond by thinking of a place that I love. For weeks, Virginia has been infused with a fairy-tale glow; I see Middle-Earth in every mountain range, every gully. A city park takes on the green wonder of Ithilien. Central Virginia at sunset becomes the soft hills of the Shire.
For books one has loved from childhood, it can be hard to tell if your opinions were shaped by the books, or if you loved the books because they resonated with something you already knew or felt. But I don't think that Tolkien taught me to love landscape. I think that even in youth (and much more so today) I felt that Tolkien was illustrating something that was already deeply rooted in my mind and heart; a passion for the land around me.
Tolkien, for your many brilliances I salute you. Virginia, I love you dearly.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Is this a library?
There's a lot of talk about the changing notions about libraries. Here's an interesting article: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42339223/ns/today-books/?GT1=43001
Basically, this describes a "library" with a computer lab, comfortable seating, wi-fi, and meeting space - but no stacks. It's an interesting idea, and my imagination takes off as I think about what we could do with a large library space like that. A job search center? Large-group performance space? A teen area, where we could put out the Wii? Space to run art programs? There are a lot of fun possibilities.
One big question comes to mind: would you call that space a library? It's really more of a community center, and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. "Free books" has been our primary function for many years, and it's still our single most unique service. However, in the age of the internet and the ebook, libraries are struggling to define and redefine themselves, and this is a definite redefinition.
But is it really a good idea? Is it justifiable to use taxpayer money allotted to libraries to open a computer lab/community center/performance space? Would a space like that help us fulfill our mission, and help our community?
Are we thinking outside of the right box?
Basically, this describes a "library" with a computer lab, comfortable seating, wi-fi, and meeting space - but no stacks. It's an interesting idea, and my imagination takes off as I think about what we could do with a large library space like that. A job search center? Large-group performance space? A teen area, where we could put out the Wii? Space to run art programs? There are a lot of fun possibilities.
One big question comes to mind: would you call that space a library? It's really more of a community center, and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. "Free books" has been our primary function for many years, and it's still our single most unique service. However, in the age of the internet and the ebook, libraries are struggling to define and redefine themselves, and this is a definite redefinition.
But is it really a good idea? Is it justifiable to use taxpayer money allotted to libraries to open a computer lab/community center/performance space? Would a space like that help us fulfill our mission, and help our community?
Are we thinking outside of the right box?
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Tip of the Week from Captain Obvious: Don't Work Too Fast!
Captain Obvious Says:
Working too fast WILL lead to error. When you're writing, copying and pasting, proofreading, managing multiple versions of documents, and in general doing the things that people who work in publicity do, you must take your time. Good work cannot be hurried.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Consistency and Excellence: The Customer Service Debate
Here's a scenario:
On a quiet day at the library, you bring in your résumé. You come to the desk and ask me, "Is there someone here who can look at my résumé?"
Now, résumé proofreading is not a service that the library normally offers. However, I used to do résumé critiques in the Career Services office at UVA, so I'm completely qualified to look at your résumé and offer comments.
How do I answer?
The obvious answer is "Say yes!" Do whatever you can to help your customer, right?
"Say yes" is not the prevailing answer in library-land. Many of my coworkers would suggest treating your question as a reference question: "Here are some books and websites that can help you, and the Virginia Unemployment Commission will look over your résumé," and so on. Why would they say this? Why direct you to an hour-long struggle with books and websites, when all you want is a 10-minute critique?
Consistency of service. This notion is so important that it has found its way into our library's mission statement. Not excellent customer service, consistent customer service.
Why is this so important? Let's have some variations of our scenario:
If you come to the library when it's busy, there's no way I will have time to spend 10 minutes critiquing your résumé.
If you tell your friends how helpful I was, and 20 of them visit the library expecting help with their résumé, there's no way I will have time to help them all, even if I happen to be at the desk when they arrive. It's even more likely that I won't be there, and your friend will walk up to the desk and say "I need my résumé looked at."
My coworkers will say "I can help you find some books and websites."
"I don't want books, I just want someone to proofread my résumé. My friend said you would do that here."
"No, unfortunately we don't do that here, but maybe I can help you find an organization that can help."
"But my friend got her résumé looked at here last week. Do you mean I drove all the way here for nothing?"
This is the point when my coworkers (and your friends) begin to feel that I haven't done anyone any favors by helping you with your résumé.
This is just a brief introduction to a long-running debate, and I want to make it clear that I understand both sides of the issue. But where do I stand?
I confess: my "scenario" was a true story, and none of my hypothetical downsides came to pass. All that happened was that I helped someone.
I'm on the "use your expertise and help the customer" side of this debate. Library workers aren't all the same. We have different areas of interest and expertise. If you want to chat about the latest fantasy novels, I'm a good person to talk to; if you want to chat about westerns, you might want someone else. We complement each other with our strengths, and we are all here because we want to share our information and knowledge with others. We should neither hide our differences nor waste our talents. If we can help, we should help. That's the route to customer service excellence, and personal excellence as well. That's my take on the issue.
On a quiet day at the library, you bring in your résumé. You come to the desk and ask me, "Is there someone here who can look at my résumé?"
Now, résumé proofreading is not a service that the library normally offers. However, I used to do résumé critiques in the Career Services office at UVA, so I'm completely qualified to look at your résumé and offer comments.
How do I answer?
The obvious answer is "Say yes!" Do whatever you can to help your customer, right?
"Say yes" is not the prevailing answer in library-land. Many of my coworkers would suggest treating your question as a reference question: "Here are some books and websites that can help you, and the Virginia Unemployment Commission will look over your résumé," and so on. Why would they say this? Why direct you to an hour-long struggle with books and websites, when all you want is a 10-minute critique?
Consistency of service. This notion is so important that it has found its way into our library's mission statement. Not excellent customer service, consistent customer service.
Why is this so important? Let's have some variations of our scenario:
If you come to the library when it's busy, there's no way I will have time to spend 10 minutes critiquing your résumé.
If you tell your friends how helpful I was, and 20 of them visit the library expecting help with their résumé, there's no way I will have time to help them all, even if I happen to be at the desk when they arrive. It's even more likely that I won't be there, and your friend will walk up to the desk and say "I need my résumé looked at."
My coworkers will say "I can help you find some books and websites."
"I don't want books, I just want someone to proofread my résumé. My friend said you would do that here."
"No, unfortunately we don't do that here, but maybe I can help you find an organization that can help."
"But my friend got her résumé looked at here last week. Do you mean I drove all the way here for nothing?"
This is the point when my coworkers (and your friends) begin to feel that I haven't done anyone any favors by helping you with your résumé.
This is just a brief introduction to a long-running debate, and I want to make it clear that I understand both sides of the issue. But where do I stand?
I confess: my "scenario" was a true story, and none of my hypothetical downsides came to pass. All that happened was that I helped someone.
I'm on the "use your expertise and help the customer" side of this debate. Library workers aren't all the same. We have different areas of interest and expertise. If you want to chat about the latest fantasy novels, I'm a good person to talk to; if you want to chat about westerns, you might want someone else. We complement each other with our strengths, and we are all here because we want to share our information and knowledge with others. We should neither hide our differences nor waste our talents. If we can help, we should help. That's the route to customer service excellence, and personal excellence as well. That's my take on the issue.
Monday, February 7, 2011
My Day in Design, February 2011
It's the Philadelphia edition of My Day in Design. These are items I found while cleaning out my grandparents' old house. There's some architectural elements, and some cool vintage graphic design. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
SEO: Quick Tips for Libraries
If you've already heard a bit about SEO, you may find the idea terrifying, because the potential scope is so large. It can be a huge project requiring a great deal of time and expertise. But please don't run away screaming; I've got some quick tips that can get you started.
(I already know what SEO is; I want to skip straight to the tips)
Or you may be wondering, What on earth is SEO? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I've been doing some reading, and I'm learning a lot.
SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Basically, this means "making sure that people who are looking for you (whether they know it or not) can find you. So: you want them to be able to find you if they google you; for example, if they type "marketing non librarian." You want them to be able to find you even if they can't remember the name of your organization: "publicity not a librarian" (you can see that I don't turn up here at all, so I obviously need some tips!) Ideally, you want to be at the top of the page when someone searches for what you do: "library marketing blog" (again, not in the list.)
This applies to libraries in a big way. Don't you want people to be able to find you when they search for "teen events [yourtown]"? Or "job search help [yourtown]"? Or when they search for your annual "humpty dumpty festival"?
Of course you do! And there are some very simple things you can do to help this happen.
1. Web pages should have meaningful titles. Don't just have the title of every page say "Mytown Public Library." Include some descriptive information, such as "Mytown Public Library - Job Search Resources" or "Mytown Public Library - Teen Events." (By "title" I mean the stuff that goes inside the "title" tag, and shows up in the bar at the top of the window. But this could also apply to the headings you use.)
2. One topic per page is best. If something is important, it needs its own page. If your annual Humpty Dumpty Festival is a big deal, don't bury it in a mile-long listing of events - give it its own page, and this will help search engines find it.
3. Put relevant text on the page. So you've created a page for your Humpty Dumpty Festival. Don't just upload a pdf of your flier and leave it at that. Add some text that will make sense if you see it in the search results: "The annual Humpty Dumpty Festival is held the third weekend in September at the Mytown Public Library."
4. Don't put important information in images or in Flash. Search engines can't find words in images or Flash. So if important information - like the topic of a page or the name of an event - is only displayed in an image or in Flash, Google will not find it. If you're using images to convey information, be sure to use alt tags on the images. If you're putting information in Flash (for instance, in a slide show) then make sure the information is also available elsewhere in text format.
5. Links are important to search engines. In some way that I don't fully understand (yet), it changes your search rankings when you link to people, and when they link to you.
How do I get people to link to me?
I don't know! This is a tough question. I can offer a few suggestions:
-Take advantage of your community partnerships; offer to link to their site if they can link to yours.
-Add your events to online event listings. Your local paper, or other local sites, may have a section where you can list your events for free. This builds links, and as an added bonus, you get free publicity!
I'll leave you with a few articles about SEO.
This claims to be a list of basic tips, but it's not; it's a quick run-though of the potential scope of search engine optimization:
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-basic-seo-tips-everyone-should-know-2010-1#monitor-where-you-stand-1
This is one of the nicest bare-bones guides I've seen:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Bare-Minimum-On-Page-SEO&id=1843695
A super-intensive (and graphically excellent!) beginner's guide: (full disclosure: I haven't read it all. But what I read seemed good!)
http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
Monday, January 3, 2011
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: a Love Letter
Don't worry, I'm not going to use the direct address. No odes here. But I am going to use this opportunity to talk about some of the many things I love about this book. Why I love the cover:
I like the striking black and cream, and the simplicity of the design.
I especially like the starkness of the raven.
I love the font. I love the unevenness of it. I love the sharp point on the second stem of the N. I love the sweeping tail of the R. I love the asymmetrical slants on the beaks of the T. (Sorry if the terminology is confusing. Just look at the T and how it is asymmetrical, you'll see what I mean.)
And I love how well the odd, antiquated feel of the cover goes with the content.
Which brings us to...
Why I love the novel:
Pacing. This book doesn't rush; it takes its time revealing character, setting, system of magic, and story. There are footnotes. But by the end, I was utterly gripped. I stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish this book.
True unpredictability. I really enjoy not knowing what will happen, and the events of this book are truly original.
Love of books. It's a pervasive theme throughout the novel, and (of course) it rings deeply true for me.
Atmosphere. Victorian, gloomy, and mystical. Reminds me of the art of Arthur Rackham - check out this site and particularly, this image.
"Getting the magic right." When I read a fantasy book, one of my criteria for rating the book is the system of magic: is it well-conceived? Is it consistent? Essentially, is it believable?
Well, the system of magic in this book is well-conceived and believable, but for me it goes one step beyond that. When I read this book, there's a part of my brain that goes "Yeah! That's how real magic is!" It's much like I feel when I read a book with a child character, and the child character actually behaves like a child. I think "Hey, they got it right! That's what a kid would really do." Well...apparently I believe in magic, and apparently I believe that real magic is structured the way it's structured in Jonathan Strange.
Which is funny, because if you were to ask me, "Hey, Kate, if magic is real, what's it like?" I would describe something completely different. I would maybe have cited "Poison Study" or "The Name of the Wind." But neither of those books rings true for me the way Jonathan Strange does.
I like the striking black and cream, and the simplicity of the design.
I especially like the starkness of the raven.
I love the font. I love the unevenness of it. I love the sharp point on the second stem of the N. I love the sweeping tail of the R. I love the asymmetrical slants on the beaks of the T. (Sorry if the terminology is confusing. Just look at the T and how it is asymmetrical, you'll see what I mean.)
And I love how well the odd, antiquated feel of the cover goes with the content.
Which brings us to...
Why I love the novel:
Pacing. This book doesn't rush; it takes its time revealing character, setting, system of magic, and story. There are footnotes. But by the end, I was utterly gripped. I stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish this book.
True unpredictability. I really enjoy not knowing what will happen, and the events of this book are truly original.
Love of books. It's a pervasive theme throughout the novel, and (of course) it rings deeply true for me.
Atmosphere. Victorian, gloomy, and mystical. Reminds me of the art of Arthur Rackham - check out this site and particularly, this image.
"Getting the magic right." When I read a fantasy book, one of my criteria for rating the book is the system of magic: is it well-conceived? Is it consistent? Essentially, is it believable?
Well, the system of magic in this book is well-conceived and believable, but for me it goes one step beyond that. When I read this book, there's a part of my brain that goes "Yeah! That's how real magic is!" It's much like I feel when I read a book with a child character, and the child character actually behaves like a child. I think "Hey, they got it right! That's what a kid would really do." Well...apparently I believe in magic, and apparently I believe that real magic is structured the way it's structured in Jonathan Strange.
Which is funny, because if you were to ask me, "Hey, Kate, if magic is real, what's it like?" I would describe something completely different. I would maybe have cited "Poison Study" or "The Name of the Wind." But neither of those books rings true for me the way Jonathan Strange does.
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