My thoughts on A Thousand Splendid Suns

Well, I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns last night, and slightly upset my husband in the process. Why, you ask? Well, because I was weeping during the last 1/8th of the book. I had to put the book down for a short time before continuing on. He didn't understand why I would want to read a book that made me cry. Maybe it is a girl thing. I like movies that make me cry, too. Beaches was one of my favorite movies when I was a teen.

This book was amazing. It is a tale of the enduring strength of love, the hardships of living in a war zone, and the tribulations suffered by women in Afghanistan. It follows the life of two women growing up in Afghanistan since the 1980's. The book tells the story of the Soviet occupation, the wars that broke out between Islamic factions after they left, and the ruling of the Taliban.

What made the book so moving for me was that I knew that the saddest parts of the story were actually based on true stories. I attended a lecture during Women's Day in 2001 on the plight of women in Afghanistan. Women from RAWA told stories of their work in both the Afghani refugee camps in Pakistan and their secret schools in Afghanistan. One woman told us how she teaches women to read, even though she would be executed for doing so if found out.

The public could not take pictures at the event because it would actually endanger the lives of some of the presenters. We were told that women in Afghanistan are forbidden to work. Women cannot be seen outside the home without being accompanied by a man. We saw what a burka looked like and were encouraged to try it on. I saw pictures of the punishments and executions held in arenas for various crimes. One that still sticks in my mind was of a young boy holding up a string of decapitated hands from thieves.

Needless to say, this book is not an easy read. But, it is still a worthwhile read. I am looking forward to my book club discussing it this afternoon.

Books and Video

Book of the day that kept me up 3 hours last night (yawn...):
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Borrowed from: Oakton Community College :-)

Audio book in the car:
The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova
Borrowed from: my friend Ann

Both are great so far.

Since I'm a little sleepy this morning, I will end my blog with a new installment of Simon's Cat from YouTube entitled "Let Me In!":

YouTube

First off, I have been working on the YouTube part of this week's activity today. I visited YouTube in the past, but I never set up an account. I really recommend doing this. You can mark your favorite video clips, subscribe to other users channels, and create a playlist of videos to share with others.

On searching in YouTube for useful information for work, I looked up "The Common Craft Show" that is featured each week in our Library 2.Oakton weekly activity explanations. They provide great explanations of various online technology in "plain english." What I didn't know is that they had a Halloween spoof called "Zombies in Plain English." I about died laughing. Here it is for your enjoyment.

Flickr

Well, I spent part of my day today uploading, tagging, etc. photos on Flickr. This is my first photo account online, and I can see how it can become addictive. Flickr seemed very easy to use. I uploaded my favorite pictures of my cats and my Chicago Botanical Garden visit. I quickly reached my maximum upload for the month (I usually use the highest resolution when I take pictures). I know I could get unlimited uploads with a paid subscription, but I am going to resist for now.

I can see some of the personal benefits I can derive from Flickr. First, it is an extra place to store photos so that you don't lose them from either natural causes or computer failure. Second, it is a great way to share pictures with friends. I like the fact that you can request an rss feed of an account on Flickr that you like.

On a professional note, I can see Flickr coming in handy.

• Since Oakton has two campuses, we could post pictures to share between libraries of physical changes made in the library or innovative ideas to share.
  
• Scanning forms and other objects could be used with the libraries website to instruct the public.
  
• We have had many events and open houses at the library, and I can see the benefit of posting them online to share. It would be a great way of promoting the library. My only worry is in posting pictures from previous events. People knew we took their picture, but we never declared we would post them online for the world to see. Could we still post them?
• This article Richard gave us for our Library 2.Oakton project lists many other uses of Flickr that libraries have employed.

The only trouble I had was making a slideshow I liked for my blog. I started with the slideshow feature of blogger (which is currently displayed on the sidebar), but I was disappointed that it didn't show all the pictures in my photostream. One article I read recommended slideflickr.com. I checked it out, and tried making a slideshow this way. I liked the idea of creating a slideshow of specific sets I had created. After filling out the form, the preview looked great. But when I used the slideflickr html for a widget on my sidebar, the pictures got cut. I played with the html measurements, but it still seemed a little off. *shrug* I'll ask Richard to take a look at it on Wednesday.

All in all, I'm a big fan of flickr. I just need to be careful of my upload limit next month. :-)

The Wiki World

Now that I know more about how wikis work, I think that they can be a wonderful tool in the right hands when used for the right reasons. Wikis can be used on a small scale to coordinate and share information between small groups. They can also be used to share information to the world at large. On the larger scale, it is up to the contributors and the moderators to make sure that it stays current, relevant, and reliable.

Wikis are fairly easy to use. The edit features are similar to many email, blogging, and word processing softwares. If you log in, you can save a draft of what you are working on so that you don't have to work on a document from start to finish (something I didn't realize right away). I wish there was a back or undo button. Maybe I am missing it.

On a side note, I'd like to know copyright procedures for pictures found on the web. If you add an image to your wiki by linking to the originating page, do you have to ask permission?

I think the 24/7 page could use a little more graphics and color. I think people are used to scanning for images more than words. Think about how easily you can find a brand name item in a grocery store. You are scanning for the label you identify for that item. Too many words on a page can be intimidating and overwhelming. The idea is to make the page user friendly for those seeking information.

Today's society are great at scanning. But the eyes sometimes miss what they are searching for in word lists when they are longer than 7 lines. Breaking up the long lists by grouping them into smaller subtopics would make sense to me. If you make sure every subfolder has a back button, then you're good to go. People love to click that mouse button. Maybe it gives them a sense of control over their web environment.

I find that younger people expect immediacy for information. That is what makes Wikipedia so appealing to them. If it takes longer than five minutes to figure out where to navigate on a page, many give up and move on to a more appealing and user friendly medium, even if the new source isn't as reliable. Sigh.

As for Wikipedia, I find it an excellent place to start looking for information. It provides a general overview on a topic, a basic vocabulary to use for key words, and links to further sources.

For academic research, I treat Wikipedia like a tertiary source. Because anyone can add to and edit Wikipedia, it can't always be reliable. Sometime when people put things in their own words, they get their facts a little bit wrong. You need to trace the resources used to make an entry to their primary source. If no information is provided to do this, you need to look elsewhere fast. That's why I see it as a starting point for research and not an end point. An end point would be a primary source when possible or a reliable secondary source.

Of course, if you aren't doing academic research, Wikipedia is a free and easy way to get a quick answer. I've rarely had a wrong answer when using Wikipedia this way. Also, if you are looking for cutting edge new information and popular media information, Wikipedia sometimes beats traditional sources.

For instance, look up Joss Whedon in Wikipedia. It provides tons of information on Joss Whedon, including the new TV show Dollhouse he's currently filming that will air in 2009. Josh isn't listed in the Encyclopedia Britannica or CultureGrams. He is in Literature Resource Center, but the most recent update on that entry was 09/12/2006 . Wikipedia was last modified 6/19/2008 - today.

Should college students be encouraged to use Wikipedia as a research tool?
As the only tool, no. As one of many tools, yes. Let's use my example from before. If a student was doing a paper on Joss Whedon, I would suggest using the Literature Resource Center for the main data. For information more current, I would tell the student to follow the links on Wikipedia about his most recent work to their primary sources. For instance, the source for the tip on Dollhouse on the Joss Whedon page was from USA Today. The wiki page on Dollhouse has 25 References. Wow.

For general use of Wikipedia, I would tell the students to check the References listed for a Wikipedia entry. If no or few references are provided, they shouldn't trust it.

Schools are starting to teach students how to evaluate a source found online. This education should include training on how to evaluate an entry in Wikipedia. "Just say no" doesn't work. Students may feel that a teacher or librarian either doesn't understand or is afraid of this new resource. In my mind, explaining how to weed the bad from the good is what people need to use modern technological resources effectively.

Publish or Perish

Publish or Perish has long been a phrase used in academia.

1. publish or perish used to refer to an attitude or practice existing within academic institutions, whereby researchers are under pressure to publish material in order to retain their positions or to be deemed successful. (From The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable in Mythology & Folklore)

Well, I am also finding modern connotations for this phrase.

Blogging Publish or Perish: If one does not Publish a post regularly, the blog may Perish.

This could well be true. I was discussing ways of keeping my Google Reader from overwhelming me with Richard. He showed me the trends tab which shows how often a RSS feed publishes and what percentage of the articles you actually look at.

Richard recommended deleting feeds that don't publish regularly. Makes sense, but am I not labeling any person's blog which doesn't publish regularly as dead? Perish the thought.

Wikis Publish or Perish: If you don't Publish, will not the idea Perish?

When I first started working on editing an entry in Wikipedia, I looked up Opus Teutonicum. It is a form of medieval whitework. Amazingly enough (okay, maybe not to you), it wasn't listed. The whitework listing didn't even mention it as a style. *gasp*

So I considered writing my own entry. But, then I thought about the time I would have to spend to do it right. So, instead, I put in a few punctuation marks in another entry to meet the criteria of my assignment.

Later, I thought about what I just did. The information I could add would eventually perish if I don't share it. Publish or Perish. Sigh. I can't have that happen. Yep, I'm working on adding a new entry.

Why?

Well, Publish or Perish can also refer to your creativity. If you don't actually follow through with your thoughts and ideas, won't they, too, perish?

So, I'm challenging myself to keep publishing. I will be entering that wikipedia entry. I will also re-write it for the local SCA group newsletter. Finally, I will be attempting 4 blogs a week in order to keep my Addiction blog from fading into obscurity (or simply being weeded from your Reader).

Book List

After seeing this list in my friend's blog, I thought I'd give it a try.

What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.

Here's the twist: add (*) beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend. Even if you read 'em for school in the first place. (I'm putting a # next to the ones I own-- or the ones that I *think* we own-- but that I have not read.)

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell #

Anna Karenina (reading in November for book club)

Crime and Punishment #

Catch-22

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Wuthering Heights

The Silmarillion

Life of Pi : a novel

The Name of the Rose

Don Quixote

Moby Dick

Ulysses

Madame Bovary#

The Odyssey *

Pride and Prejudice #

Jane Eyre *#

The Tale of Two Cities *#

The Brothers Karamazov

Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies

War and Peace

Vanity Fair

The Time Traveler’s Wife *

The Iliad

Emma

The Blind Assassin

The Kite Runner

Mrs. Dalloway

Great Expectations #

American Gods

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Atlas Shrugged

Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books

Memoirs of a Geisha #

Middlesex

Quicksilver

Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West #

The Canterbury Tales #

The Historian : a novel #

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Love in the Time of Cholera

Brave New World

The Fountainhead

Foucault’s Pendulum

Middlemarch

Frankenstein #*

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula

A Clockwork Orange

Anansi Boys

The Once and Future King #

The Grapes of Wrath#

The Poisonwood Bible : a novel #

1984

Angels & Demons

The Inferno*

The Satanic Verses

Sense and Sensibility #

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Mansfield Park

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

To the Lighthouse

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Oliver Twist #

Gulliver’s Travels#

Les Misérables

The Corrections

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Dune #*

The Prince

The Sound and the Fury

Angela’s Ashes : a memoir

The God of Small Things

A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present

Cryptonomicon (I own Snow Crash…does that count?)

Neverwhere #

A Confederacy of Dunces

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Dubliners

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Beloved

Slaughterhouse-five

The Scarlet Letter #*

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

The Mists of Avalon #*

Oryx and Crake : a novel

Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed

Cloud Atlas

The Confusion (I guess I bought the wrong book...)

Lolita

Persuasion #

Northanger Abbey

The Catcher in the Rye (I even taught it)

On the Road

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values #

The Aeneid

Watership Down

Gravity’s Rainbow

The Hobbit

In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences

White Teeth

Treasure Island #

David Copperfield #

The Three Musketeers

RFID Chairs

My friend Brian sent me this article about RFID chairs that follow a patron around the library in case they need to sit down. I guess this would be good for the elderly and handicapped, but how fast is it? Will it stop if someone walks in front of it? How lazy are we really getting?

RSS Experience

Well, I created my first RSS aggregator (RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”), and I have to say that, at first, I was a little overwhelmed. It's my own fault. Whenever I try something, I go at it full force, going overboard in order to get as much knowledge from the task as possible. This may have not been the right idea. I set up about 5 RSS Feeds Wednesday night just before leaving. That was fine. Then, I added 31 more Feeds on Thursday morning. Next thing I know, I have 101 unread items. Sigh. I did read the article Richard provided on managing your RSS, and the article helped. Over the weekend, I looked at my Google Reader page daily; I then weeded out the feeds I didn't really need. I now only get 17 posts a day on average. Yeah! I now love having Google Reader set up, and I have it as my home page at home.

So what do I like about RSS feeds and aggregators?

Well, I find it helpful to have one place to look for updates instead of looking at multiple sites. I also found that some of the weekly updates I was getting via email can now be sent by feed instead. RSS fees are a great way to keep up with the mass of information available on the web.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?

Feeds in an aggregator will help with productivity in the long run: I'll waste less time visiting various websites to keep up to date and have less to deal with in my email in-box. I also like using the aggregator as a teaching tool. I am getting lots of data on books that I can use for my book club. Other libraries and librarians often post great suggestions that I'd like to try. Comparisons of software from other people save time in collating the information myself. For instance, I learned that LibraryThing will start charging once I enter more than 200 books. I've since switched to Shelfari. I can keep track on new posts from my co-workers blogs now without wasting time going from page to page. For comedic relief I have a feed of LOLCats and the "Frank and Ernest" daily cartoon (my favorite). For personal use, I get my daily devotion now sent as a feed. Using RSS feeds seem to help keep a person up to date with less time commitment. Of course, if you overdo it like I did at first, you will end up wasting time trying to keep up with all the information out there. You need to find a balance.

How can the Library use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
The library can use rss feeds various ways.

• Debbie and I were discussing the possibility of setting up subject oriented feeds for various classes.
• You could feed various blogs and updates to a feed for "What's new in the library."
• Having feeds from BookList, NoveList, Publisher's Weekly, etc. could help with collection development.
• Library faculty and staff can keep up with each other's blogs with this tool.
  
• You could set up a aggregator collecting feeds from the local libraries to keep our patrons current on the local library world.
• You could set up an aggregator of local news for patrons to access on our webpage (I think this one is someone else's idea that I like).
• The ideas are just limitless...

What kind of an impact can it have on the work of students and faculty?

• It can provide another teaching tool for the teachers to provide up to date information in their field to the students.
  
• It can be used as a group project communication tool for students (set up separate blogs, and feed them together to keep up to date on all the participants ideas, comments, progress, etc.).

My only worry is that I won't always remember from where I got my information. For instance, I know I discussed ideas for use of RSS feeds with people, and read other's blogs, but I don't know if some of these ideas listed above were all mine or inspired from other's thoughts. I'd hate to take credit for ideas that aren't mine, but, with such a mass of new information, I'm finding it hard to sort out in my head what is my idea and what ideas may have been inspired by others. The idea is to share information, not steal it. I'll just have to be more careful in the future, I guess.

For a Good Read

I've been told I am good at recommending books for people. Part of it comes from my working in bookstores and libraries for the last 17 years, and part of it comes from my memory with books. I guess I'm good at asking leading questions to find out people's tastes, too.

Earlier this year, I did a 5 minute radio show with Bob Burton on the Radio show "Impact" which airs Sunday mornings on WTMX-FM 101.9. I talked about books I would recommend based on the types of movies people like (a common technique I use with new readers). Bob told me that they recently re-aired the show. He and I are also talking about doing another show about starting a book club. If he is still interested, I may do one around Halloween about paranormal themed books.

If you are interested in hearing the original broadcast, I put the link on the top right of my blog. I also couldn't resist putting another picture up that I took. It breaks up the space in the right column to make it more visually appealing. Plus, my cats are cute. :-)

Book of the Day:
Title: World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War
Author: Max Brooks
from Gretchen's Library

Book ADD

So I was in my book ADD phase for the last week. Basically, I want to read, but nothing can keep my attention for more than hour. It isn't always the book's fault either. Sometimes, I just can't decide what type of book I want to read. I float about from book to book until I hit one that knocks me out of this flighty state. Then, I'm nose deep in a book that requires blunt force trauma to remove from my hands. Weird, but true.

So, the book of the day seems to have knocked me back to my senses - finally.

Book of the Day:
Title: World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War
Author: Max Brooks
from Gretchen's Library (I swear I bought it before Christmas)

Book Hoarding vs. Interlibrary Loan

I admit, I hoard books that I like. But there comes a time when you run out of room in your home, no matter how creative you get, and you need to weed your collection. I am reaching saturation point in my home collection very soon. So how do I decide what to weed?

Some people would tell me to weed the stuff I don't like. But I'm usually good at not buying books that I don't like. Interlibrary loan has saved me from buying untested authors. The few bad books I do purchase usually go for credit at used bookstores for yet more books (the number of books is smaller coming back, but that is good at this point). But what to do when you have too much of stuff you really like?

Well, I'm planning on looking at my collection and weeding out the stuff I like instead of love. Before I weed it, I will check for availability in WorldCat. If there are over a thousand libraries that own the book (and the book is more than 5 years old), then I will assume that I will be able to get it in the next 10-15 years by interlibrary loan with no trouble. After that, I'm assuming my tastes will have changed.

Wish me luck. Until I weed, I am going to *sob* avoid book sales, and desperately try to curtail my book buying habit. I'm also going to look into ebooks from mainstream publishers when I can't wait for brand new books.

Knowing my excessively meticulous nature (a kinder phrase that doesn't confuse our ESL students into believing that I am over-sharing about bodily functions), I should start my weeding project fairly soon. If you have any other weeding suggestions that doesn't involve my books moving to your own personal library, I'd love to read them. :-)

Book of the day:
The Darkest Fire (pre-quel to Lords of the Underworld)
by Gena Showalter
e-book
(I actually read very little this weekend - my computer addiction got in the way).

Books of the day for Thursday

2 books of the day (lunch was messy, so I started with an e-book):

The Darkest Fire (pre-quel to Lords of the Underworld)
by Gena Showalter
e-book

A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Lender: Oakton Community College (yippee!!)

Blog Thoughts for Library2.Oakton

Well it is the end of the week for my blogging project, and (if you can't tell) I'm loving having my own blog. People are so nice about leaving feedback, and many people have made great suggestions to improve my page. My friend Carla recommended that I simplify the side bar. I'm planning on trying that in the future. Right now, I'm having too much fun playing with it. In fact *blush*, I added more instead. Oh, the pictures on the side bar are ones I took a few years ago that I am proud of.

Blogging is a cool way to share your thoughts and feelings on different topics. I love having comments on my thoughts, too. That's a great way to learn and share ideas. I had no problem setting up my page, but I'm a computer geek with a math background, so things that were easy for me may not have been so easy for others.

I can see how a blog would be a great marketing tool for the library. It really can spark interest from the public, and it is a fast way of communicating new programs. Plus, professionals can use it to communicate ideas, thought processes, nifty tips and tricks to help others, etc.

I'm looking forward to next weeks project. :-)

Word Nerd

As David Cook from American Idol, I am a self-confessed word nerd.

It kind of makes sense. Reading builds vocabulary, and there is nothing I do more than reading. Well, maybe talking...

I've actually been told by some that I shouldn't use so many big words. They think I do it to make myself look better. Well, that just isn't the case. Big vocabulary words just fit what you are saying better and usually take up a lot less space and time.

So, I have a rule with all of my student employees. If I use a word they don't know, they can ask me what it means. I will not only tell them what I think it means, but I will also look up the official definition to make sure I am right.

At first, I checked the official definition to make sure I was explaining it right, but I have since found that it is also to make sure I am using it right. :-)

See, most readers build vocabulary by looking at the word in the context of a sentence or paragraph and figuring out what the word means by what the author is trying to say. You eventually get pretty good at this, too. But mistakes are bound to happen.

In the last few years of clarifying word meaning to my friends and co-workers, I have found the following interesting mistakes on my part:

1.Vixen (in relation to a woman):
Gretchen says: a woman who is a sly temptress.
Dictionary definition: a shrewish, ill-tempered or quarrelsome woman, a shrew, a termagant.

Now, I don't think I am the only one to mess that one up. Foxes (a female fox is a vixen) have been know to be sly in many fairy tales. I believe that this word has evolved in pop culture. It happens sometimes. Hopefully I am right, and the dictionaries will add my definition.

2. Divot (as a noun):
Gretchen says: golf term, describing the hole a wedge makes in the ground when you miss.
Dictionary definition: Golf. A piece of turf cut out with a club by a player in making a stroke.

Oops. Which came first? The hole or the dirt thrown out...
I'm definitely not an avid golfer. Now it shows.

So, I highly recommend looking up words besides figuring them out in context. The library is great for this, as we have multiple dictionaries on the shelves and online.

Now my favorite is the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). It not only gives you the definition of the word as it is currently used, but how the word was used in the past as well. This can be highly amusing at times.

I even like word games. I've added a few word games I like on the sidebar.

1. The Book Worm Adventures game is a scramble word game where the book worm defends the library from invaders with words as weapons. For some reason, this game doesn't work in Firefox. Sorry. Try Explorer instead. I've almost beat Master level multiple times. Darn those Norse gods....

2. Free Rice builds your vocabulary as you help donate rice to the UN World Food Program. Warning: it is highly addictive.

So, if I use a word you don't know in this blog, please ask me what it means or look it up. Don't be intimidated; be curious instead. I even provided dictionary links on the side bar. I'm not trying to be snooty. I'm just your average book worm word nerd.


Book of the day (almost done):
Poltergeist: a Greywalker Novel by Kat Richardson.
Borrowed from: Warren-Newport Public Library in Gurnee, IL

My First Blog

Well, I guess I should introduce myself.

My name is Gretchen, and I am a Senior Library Assistant at Oakton Community College Library. I work in Circulation and Interlibrary loan.

I have been a book addict since I was three, so I doubt this will ever change. I've spent most of my adult life working in either book stores or libraries. I even contemplated teaching English at one time. I'm also a bit of a computer geek, so I am really excited about the Library 2.0 project here at Oakton.

I joined a book club for faculty and staff here at Oakton about 5 years ago, and have since become the leader. I just added the list of books we've read since I've joined the group, and will add to it as the list grows (we meet once a month).

The picture on my blog is of my cats Grace and Shadow in my library at home. They are another addiction, but I will refrain to only one picture on this blog (probably).

As for me reading predilections, I tend to read mostly Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance in my free time, but I love diversity and frequently branch out into other genre. I'll try to list the book I am currently reading on my lunch break here at work. To list all the books I am reading on my pda (ebooks), in my car (audio), at home (non-fictions, essays, magazines, books on the history of embroidery for my personal research), and any other books I've put down but plan to pick back up when I am in the mood would take FOREVER. Like I said, I am an addict. I even haunt the book stores some nights after working all day at the library. Trust me, Interlibrary Loan is my friend, but sometimes I just can't wait for a book to be cataloged; I hit the store on the street date and devour. Whenever I am reading a book from Interlibrary Loan, I will post the library for fun.

Book of the day:
Poltergeist: a Greywalker Novel by Kat Richardson.
Borrowed from: Warren-Newport Public Library in Gurnee, IL

Gotta love Interlibrary loan! If it wasn't for libraries, I'd go bankrupt.