i've got your history right here

When I first transferred to Glendale, one of the things I was geekily excited about was the opportunity to work in a building with a nifty heritage. Which isn't to knock the functional-60s era-government-building aesthetic of Central - at least not entirely. But, I'm one of those girls who likes things to have a history. I shop at thrift stores. I can spend hours at a time browsing used book and record. I love coming across old notes and photos and, as such, think that found magazine is one of the greatest things ever. If I ever get to that grown-up, buying a house stage in my life, I totally want a cute little Craftsman cottage.

Thus, the idea that the physical building where I would be working day in and day out would have a rich history, of which I would play the smallest of parts, was very cool. While Glendale isn't a Carnegie building, it was opened in 1936 and the construction of it was a WPA project. Hadn't I spent hours online, looking at the WPA posters digital collection? Do I not love stories from that historical period? Could I not look at old pictures of the original librarians in this building and marvel over how different they seem and how foreign they would find much of our daily procedures, whilst also noting how remarkably unchanged our mission and regular activities are? Yes, yes and yes.

And now, a year and change later, I still get excited about that stuff. Sure, working in an older building doesn't come without it's difficulties. The occasional leak, odd placement of this and that, the challenge of updating pipes and phone lines and what have you. But those difficulties are far outweighed by the pleasure that comes from discovering a hidden nook, gazing at the lovely interior beams, eating lunch on the front steps, and many other small, daily joys. And, most significantly, I love that I am constantly reminded of the way I fit in with the great tradition of this building, of this neighborhood, of this city and of this profession. It's an admittedly small role, but incredibly satisfying one and I've learned that that sort of thing counts for quite a lot.

tutorial thoughts

I suspect that the fact that it has taken me oh so many days to make my second post here - the one that specifically addresses the tutorial and how it relates to my own learning process - is somewhat indicative of my personal challenges when doing new things. Meaning, sometimes it's really difficult to make the time to do the things you want. My interests tend to be all over the place. I think that's one of the things that makes me a good librarian, and for that I'm thrilled. But, at the same time, it makes it difficult for me to prioritize and say, "Okay, this is the thing that I'm going to focus on right this very moment."

Actually, no. I'm okay at prioritizing. I am not, however, the queen of focus. I get distracted. "Hm, what is the guy currently on Fresh Air talking about? Ah, he wrote a book about Jews and Arabs during World War II. I wonder if Amazon has any new recommendations for me? Ooo, there's a new Nancy Drew video game coming out next week. I wonder if that Nancy Drew movie was really as bad as I heard it was - maybe I'll Netflix it when it comes out on DVD, probably pretty soon. I really should update my Netflix queue. And mail back the movies that I have out. But, I fell asleep while watching the last episode of Deadwood. Maybe I should finish it now and mail the disc in when I go to the grocery store. Gah, what am I going to have for dinner tonight?"

You get the idea. And I'm actually hugely more focused, with a longer attention span than a lot of people that I know. It certainly isn't easy though. Maybe that's why it's such a good idea to make a plan, something else I don't consider a strong point. I make them, but mostly vaguely, in my head. Concrete might be a better idea. Probably in the form of a list, because I like to make lists and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from crossing things off of them. And look, that was recommended in the tutorial, so here we have an illustration of how things do indeed come back around.

Other aspects discussed in the tutorial are easier for me. I've always been a big puzzle person, so assuming that it doesn't totally mess up everything, I sort of like it when obstacles come up and I have to figure out a way to meet the challenge. I'm pretty confident about my abilities in this arena - I've dabbled enough to know my way around these new technologies (which is a much nicer way to phrase the fact that I sometimes spend way too much time online). I like to learn new stuff and think it's fun to teach others. Which, I hope, I am successful at, although maybe you should ask my friend B., whom I taught to knit.

the introductory stuff

So, I thought that it would be logical to use my first post here to explain why I decided to participate in the Queens Library Learning 2.0 project. In a lot of ways, I don't think of myself as the ideal candidate for it. While I won't claim any expertise in these things, a lot of the components of this project are things that I know and use regularly. And even the stuff that I don't utilize, I have a passing familiarity with.

And yet, one of the things about lifelong learning, that I actually don't think they made much mention of in the tutorial, is the fact that it's never ending. You don't get a certificate or a diploma for mastering the skills you decide to learn on your own. And the time you spend practicing and sharing what you know adds to your own store of knowledge. Whether it's a hobby or a language or some random skill, there's always a way to add to it, increase your proficiency, comfort or experience. And I think that this is especially true when technology is involved, because it's so quickly evolving and developing. The things that are pretty commonplace today weren't necessarily things that anyone would have even considered a year or two or five years ago.

And yet, how quickly they can become parts of our everyday lives. Last Friday, I noticed that the Google banner ad was celebrating their ninth anniversary. Which is cool, but was also one of those things like seeing your distant cousin's child at a family reunion, realizing that that person that you still think of as a toddler is now an awkward teenager. Meaning: I remember when I first started using Google. When I was a paraprofessional in Ohiom one of my co-workers told me, "Hey there's this new search engine I've been using. You should try it because it's pretty cool."

Thus, I hope that this experience will equip me better for the job I do everyday. I hope that this project will enhance what I do, both at home and at work, in these many hours that I spend online. I hope that what I learn here will make me better, more efficient and better connected all around. Ambitious and vaguely stated? Maybe, but it's still what I'm aiming for.

Finally, I'm hoping that this project will help me to know my colleagues better. We work for a huge library system; there are a lot of people vested in the success of the Queens Library. And as much as we might think we know each other because we see each other at meetings or sit on committees with one another or receive the same e-mails, there so much about one another that we don't share. Because we don't have the means or the time or the opportunity, or whatever. But libraries and librarians are very good at sharing. I can't tell you how many ideas for books or programs or displays I have gotten because I saw it somewhere else, read about it on a listserv, heard about it on a blog ... And it will be nice to learn stuff from my immediate colleagues, based on the experiences they share during this project, and perhaps develop relationships that will translate into the "real world" - be it at a meeting, a conference or over dinner and drinks.

Not to get all, um, kumbaya on you, right at the end. But yeah.