INVESTIGATE & CELEBRATE

It is women's history month. What a perfect time to surf the web and look at all of the blogs (http://www.nwhp.org/blog/), wikis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women), and websites (http://womenshistorymonth.gov/) devoted to the lives and achievements of women who came before us. Take some time to visit some of these links I have been enjoying http://www.kerncountylibrary.org/HTML/news/b_whm.html. I have been making a point to peruse at least one site each day this month as part of my perpetual search for inspiration. Despite the month being half over already I decided this morning to Twitter an "Inspirational Woman of the Day" during the remainder of March. Truly, it should be all year not just one month...perhaps I will make it my TechnoRitual 2009. Today's "Woman of the Day" is my friend and mentor Dr. Joanna Frueh: artist, writer, beauty, and brilliant inspiration. Prepare yourself to be in awe, and then visit her website: http://www.joannafrueh.com/

A book I can hardly wait to read:

I am tremendously eager to get my hands on the new book by Elaine Showalter - A Jury of Her Peers! I keep hearing such great reviews.*_*

Library Weekend

I had the good fortune to spend much of my weekend in Sierra Nevada College's Prim Library. Located in Incline Village, NV (Lake Tahoe), this is an open, warm, inviting space housing a varied collection. What a pleasure to immerse myself in the stacks! I recommend you stop in if you ever get to North Lake Tahoe. Remember to watch for bears.

Geocache Games

The idea of geocaching (usually an outdoor GPS search activity for planted caches) has great potential applications for use inside the library.  I would like to design a game that utilizes GPS devices as part of an information scavenger hunt; this will be exhilarating fun for patrons of any age.  One can use strictly GPS or can integrate letterboxing (use of clues or landmarks in a text/narrative/etc)  The caches can range from bookmarks with information to lead the players to their next answer, to token treasures for the players to keep, and to small objects which the players gather and turn in for a prize.  Really the fun and thrill should be the process of searching and problem solving rather than the prizes.  The possible combination of details for this idea are endless, and it all sounds so fun!  This will allow the patrons to learn how to use tools/resources that may be new to them.  Of course, paper based scavenger hunts have long been used by educators to guide students through a series of experiences/workstations/etc, and this is the next step in a successful hands on learning activity.  The use of the GPS devices will help the activity feel and in fact be technology driven and yet simultaneously object based.  

My Top 10 of February:

10. Started New Reading Journal

9. Tomato Bisque

8. Movie Night

7. Twittering

6. New Job

5. Antony and the Johnsons live

4. New Fluevog Zazas

3. Fresh Gardenias

2. New Red iPOD nano

1. Acceptance into Graduate School!

Finished reading Middlemarch

George Eliot's Middlemarch is a lengthy read of significant depth. Dorothea is one of the most admirable characters I have yet to encounter in literature. The last section of the novel "Sunset and Sunrise" also happens to tie in thematically with some of my recent zen Buddhism readings in compelling parallel ways. The final paragraph leaves us with the sentiment below, which imbues even the most minuscule seeming life with a certain grandeur:

Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were

not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke

the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the

earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably

diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on

unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they

might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a

hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Text Message Enticement

We all know that teenagers are the fastest text messengers amongst us, and that they possess the highest levels of cell phone literacy. So, let's use that skill to make library (or museum, or gallery) activities more appealing to teens. Why not give our youth some fun educational activities wherein they use their cellphone cameras and their text messaging speed to get them excited about finding and using information. Students (of any age actually) can start with a cellphone and their first clue. Then when they find the information they were sent after they can take a photo of themselves with it, text that image to a central number, and then receive a reply text containing the next clue. There needs to be multiple search patterns for students to follow so they cannot just chase each other around, and to avoid overcrowding in any one area of the library. Rather than punishing teens for using the phones they so love, let's harness that interest and redirect and expand it! It would also be fun to have them text certain responses to a Twitter account, or a blog, or... and then the participants could visit that site individually or as a group and see what the other's are doing.