Here is a list of my top 10 non-fiction favourites in no particular order:
No doubt I have forgotten some…
While I drive to and from work each day I listen to podcasts rather than listen to the radio. I have a few favourites that I download regularly and have mentioned previously on this blog.
But I was curious to know how many podcasts there are about libraries or by librarians. These are the results of that inquiry; although not the definitive list. My focus is on content about libraries and not particularly books, authors or events. I also focused more on public and academic libraries and disregarded school libraries. These were all still active at the date of this blog post. My rating system judged the podcast on: relevance; content; sound quality; host performance; currency; and enjoyment factor. The results reflect an entirely personal opinion.
You can find these podcasts and many more via the iTunes store.
I am currently reading Wool by Hugh Howey. I have just finished watching Series 2 of Game of Thrones on DVD. I am listening to The Wellness Guys podcast.
So I spent an afternoon traipsing around the city shops of Melbourne in search of two particular books. I asked at the desks and eventually conceded that these two titles were not currently available in print. Neither were old or obscure titles. I want to support local businesses in preference to large multi-national companies that monopolise the market. Alas this was not possible.
The next day when seated at my desk with blisters on my feet I quickly and easily and cheaply downloaded the two ebook versions onto my iPad. I find that my eBook shelf is gradually filling up (if that is possible?!) Talking with colleagues at work, who share a love of books, reading, and techno-gadgets, we compare our eBook experiences. One person deletes the books she buys after she has read them assuming they remain on her invisible purchases sitting in ‘the cloud’. None of us seem to mind what format the book is in, and ultimately it is all about the content and getting our hands on it when we want it.
On my iBooks shelf
3. Make shift happen: Changing how you look by changing how you think by Dean Dwyer (2012)
4. Expect more: demanding better libraries for today’s complex world by R. David Lankes (2012)
5. Walden: and on the duty of civil disobedience by Henry David Thoreau via Project Gutenberg
6. Beatles Yellow Submarine by Subafilms Ltd. (2011)
7. I quit sugar by Sarah Wilson (2012)
8. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (ebook edition 2010)
9. Leaves of grass by Walt Whitman (ebook edition via Project Gutenberg 2008)
10. Living as a river: Finding fearlessness in the face of change by Bodhipaksa (2010)
11. Rainbow’s end by Rex Ellingwood Beach (1971) (ebook edition via Project Gutenberg 2004)
On my Bluefire Reader shelf
53 documents (either PDFs or ePubs)
Relating to work, food & health, and study
Typically as a Librarian, reader and book lover, I am an introvert. So I tend towards being quiet, reserved, shy, aloof, socially awkward, not fond of big groups of people, and private. I think, ponder, listen, discern, assess, appreciate, analyse, observe and evaluate: before I speak- usually.
I like to weigh up arguments and information. Sometimes appearing wishy-washy, non-comprehending, or a fence-sitter; I can usually appreciate both sides of a situation, and without a vested interest, nor a full understanding about all of the facts of the matter, I am reluctant to side with either polarity. Life is not black and white, but yin and yang with a little bit of each in the other.
I don’t like small talk, but I admire the way extroverts so easily begin with small talk and quickly move a conversation into a more meaningful depth. I can’t do this. It’s not that I am not interested in the opinions or lives of other people; I just don’t like to pry. Over the years I have learnt to manage and overcome my fears to some degree, of course.
Lately I’ve realised that the conversations I am listening to and a part of, have taken place in a variety of ways. My conversations are virtual, online, via podcasts, in person, while involved in activity, with special groups such as Buddhists, Librarians, and local government staff.
This week I attended some presentations in Second Life. The topic was “preservation of audio-visual materials”. It was strange to be sitting at home at my desk looking at my PC, whilst also being involved as an avatar seated in a virtual room with other avatars listening, observing, taking photos, and being a part of the discussions. Two robots, a pirate, a girl with wings, and other cool guys and girls congregated – alter egos for the librarian-techie-geeks, seated in our homes across the country, enjoying a topic in which we share an interest.
At work I gave a presentation in real life to a group of people about social media for our organisation. As a quiet listener, this does not come easily to me. But as they grapple with trying to control Facebook for work purposes, I tried to lead them deeper into the Web 2.0 world. They are only dipping in their toes (faces), while I was encouraging them to see the bigger picture. I tried to encourage them to create their own Personal Learning Network by providing them with a brief overview about how to do this. They looked at me with blank stares. These weren’t Librarians or people who work in libraries. Thankfully the library staff I work with are well up to speed with online tools.
Other conversations I am part of take place while cycling or enjoying the compulsory coffee afterwards. Also after sitting in meditation with a group of like-minded people, we chat about the meaning of life and how to be better at it.
I travel alone each day; a 50 minute trip to and from work; and I love to fill this time listening to podcasts. There are so many available now on a range of topics. So while I listen to someone speaking as if in conversation directly to me, I consider the absurdity of the situation. This person, who I don’t know, is sitting at their home alone speaking and recording into their PC, hoping that someone like me will find, listen to and appreciate their ramblings. I am currently listening to Dean Dwyer’s Make Shift Happen, Michael Hyatt’s This is Your Life, Steve Thomas’s Circulating Ideas, and others.
Feeling inferior and apologetic for most of my life for my bookish ways and failure to be extroverted, I am finally validated by the words of Susan Cain about the value of being quiet. I have read her book Quiet and enjoyed her TED talk. Thank you Susan.
Besides, all of these talkers, performers, teachers, and show-offs need an audience and who better than someone who is quiet, listens, observes, evaluates, and knows how to appreciate their efforts?
I am currently reading an eBook version of Make Shift Happen by Dean Dwyer, I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson, and The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain Ph.D. I am also reading my study materials for the subject Social Networking for Information Professionals.
I have let all of the old words go; dropped them into the dumpster of time never to return. Back in the mid ‘90’s I was inspired by Julia Cameron’s work The Artists Way and like so many people I began writing morning pages and these evolved into regular journal writing. I was only writing for myself in order to make sense of the world and my errant mind. As expressed by The Moody Blues, these were my “letters I’ve written, never meaning to send”.
My journal is a place for me to whinge and complain, and to try to get some kind of perspective on normal things going on in my life.
I still have a journal that I write in once in a while. But while going through my mother’s belongings recently after her death, I was struck by the impropriety of this act. It felt like snooping and I didn’t want to find anything that would make me feel uncomfortable. So I thought about my children and if they had to face this difficult task, and I thought that I wouldn’t want them to read the crap in my journals. It was only meant for me anyway and there is nothing noteworthy contained within the scribbled pages. So they have gone. And I must say I feel liberated. I was tempted to read the old words but after a few pages I could almost recall the whole lot – 17 years of it. Blah! I did find this little gem stuck in the pages and it made me laugh:
I’m writing enough words at present: at work; in my online blogs; and for my Masters studies. My journal is neglected and that is not a bad thing.
Wow! Two months of 2013 have disappeared already. And it’s been busier than ever. What can I tell you about my work at the library so far this year?
We installed new movable shelving for our non-fiction collection in our main branch which entailed a team effort of unloading, loading, reloading, unloading, reloading books by hand. But the end result is very pleasing and we have just ordered the display fittings that go along with this new configuration. The plan is to rearrange the non-fiction books from Dewey to shop-style subject categories. Then we will need to get some new signage to suit.
We have also embarked on the RFID implementation. At present we have completed one small branch and almost finished the second small branch. Then it is just the tagging at the main branch to go. Another team effort is required to get this job done, and everyone is stepping up to the plate. This new technology will allow customers to check out their own items giving them more privacy and independency. It will also free up our staff so they can provide some deeper and more meaningful conversations with the customers.
I have completed and passed two subjects for the Master of Information Studies and have just two to go. I have started Social Networking for Information Professionals.
Next weekend is a long weekend here in Victoria and I will be going along to the Annual Port Fairy Folk Festival for the fourth year in a row. Last year I had the pleasure of seeing a band called Tinpan Orange and just love their song Every Single Day.
“Time rolls away, it rolls away, every single day it rolls away…”
My youngest son was married last month and that was a fun event despite my mother passing away the week before and her not being there (in body) with us all.
The Tomorrow’s Library discussions continue.
Our current open art exhibition is ‘Sunflowers” and we have received many bright works of art from local people. It is always such a privilege to receive and hang these creative pieces. I totally love the idea of inclusive community art, because after all we are all creative to some extent.
Yesterday (on a Sunday) I attended a workshop Social Media for Small Business and the Arts presented by John Paul Fischbach and Criag Lambie of Auspicious Arts Incubators. It was a really worthwhile session and these guys really know their stuff. I got a lot out of it and wrote my notes to Twitter until my phone battery went dead. It really gives me a better perspective for revamping the social media presence of our library.
I am currently reading Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (this is my favourite genre – true travel stories with a twist or quest) and Face2Face by David Lee King. I am listening to Little Stories by Harry James Angus and podcasts of the Midday Interview with Margaret Throsby and This is Your Life by Michael Hyatt.
I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for the last four years bracing myself in anticipation for the inevitable crash that was my mother’s messy destiny. I lacked motivation to move or plan of think or enjoy simple pleasures. I had a tight grip on the handrails of life.
Now I feel I can breathe easily for the first time in ages. It is uncomfortable to admit there is relief but there it is. It is hard to watch a loved one suffer. So the relief is mine, as well as the guilt in feeling that.
Anyway, amazingly I have begun to move – to swim, cycle, walk and practice yoga, as well as meditate, study, read and I hope to paint again too.
Also cook – yesterday I made this Chocolate and Zucchini cake using zucchini’s from our garden and based on the recipe from Clothilde Dusoulier the author of the book Chocolate & Zucchini, but I changed it to be gluten free.
This uplifting TED Talk by Shawn Anchor was shared on Facebook by Oriah Mountain Dreamer and it made me laugh as well as remind me of the simple ways to tap into positivity. The happy secret to better work.
I am currently reading The one hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.
I was so lucky to be able to look my mother in the eyes before The Big C finally claimed her after a four year battle. With both of her parents living healthily into their mid-90’s, it was a surprise to us all that she would be gone before her 78th birthday.
Cancer is a cruel disease robbing a person of all vanity, dignity, and hope. It ravages the body, is successfully excised with toxic drugs, only to sneak up in another area where no one is looking.
My mum was lucky in many ways; she had my father beside her for the whole treacherous trip and he tended to her every need without complaint, nor a moments wavering of resolve. It began in 2008 with a diagnosis of secondary lung cancer developed from undiagnosed breast cancer. Ironically mum was never a smoker.
They beat the lung cancer but the chemotherapy wiped out her immune system. The cancer morphed into Leukaemia. As an Australian with white freckled skin inherited from British ancestry she had already been treated for many years for squamous cell carcinoma. The Leukaemia needed an accomplice so the SCC assisted. Time after time the skin sores budded, bloomed and were excised by the surgeon’s knife. Bigger and nastier they became until skin grafts became the norm.
It was a skin infection arising from Necrotizing fascitis that proved to be a foe too mean for her weakened immunity. How cruel!! How much indignity can a person bare?
As I sat holding her hand in the intensive care unit watching her machine-assisted breathing get slower I considered the double-edged sword of the privileged Western existence. Cancer is our plight borne of our environment, production, food, lifestyle, modern developments, and privilege. It runs rampant among us. Yet she lay on a high-tech bed connected to multi-million dollar equipment in a brand new ICU in a public hospital on a public health scheme. Our taxes might be high but we know how to care for our loved ones when they are sick. The hospital staff were amazing catering to all the psychological needs of the family as we fumbled with our personal goodbyes. This was an exceptional level of care that Mum and Dad received from Day 1 through all of their varied treatments and doctors rooms.
Last night as I sat in the glorious St. John’s Anglican Church listening to the music of dead composers, Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Paganini, and Borne, brought to life by Sergey Didorenko, Evrydiki Iladou, Alexandra Castle, and the Chamber Philharmonia of Cologne, I realised that my love and appreciation of classical music was a precious gift given to me by my mother.
Margaret Smith
22 December 2012
Thank you Margaret Lillian (McKinna) Smith ~
(17/3/1935 – 23/01/2013).
Funeral to be held on Tuesday 29th January 2013.
Inspired by Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity I offer you a review of my 2012.
It was a fruitful year at work. After three years in a leadership role I feel the library team are functioning happily and effectively. This is positive and noticed and commented upon by our customers.
On a National level the National Year of Reading and love2read campaign provided a brand and focus to work around. Our locally organised and funded events were successful and included: an entertaining talk by David Astle of SBS’s program Letters and Numbers; a Dr Suess Olympic Reading Relay Challenge; a visit and talk by author Kathryn Fox; a short story competition with the NYR theme for November “What makes you cry?”; book reviews; and competitions. It must be said that for our small rural region the NYR offered nothing except a logo. We provided everything all the planning, funding, organisation, seeking and paying for authors, staffing. We should have used our own logo!
On a State level Tomorrow’s Library and the Victorians Love Libraries campaign prompted passionate discussion. The Stage 1 Report has leapt to a ‘solution’ that needs quite a lot of detail IMHO. Hopefully Stage 2 will fill in the gaps, especially for small libraries on the remote fringes of the state.
The VALA Conference held in Melbourne in February was a professional highlight and I was particularly interested in the presentations by Jason Griffey, Eli Neiburger, Eric Miller, and Tim Sherratt.
The Local Government Rural Management Challenge was held in Renmark and I was part of the team. This experience was intense, challenging and worthwhile.
As a technology lover I enjoyed using my new devices to access information for work and play. I am adept at sourcing and reading eBooks, e-journals, and multimedia. I listen to a variety of podcasts from around the world on my iPod as I drive to and from work. I watch TV programs, podcasts and other videos on my iPad. I sync my devices to my work email and calendar to stay on track. Facebook is a horrid and deceitful form of communication that has lost its value since being infiltrated by advertisements, organisations, and payment for sharing. Twitter I ignore now that it has become too big and unwieldy. Free Apps are king. I read blogs via the Google Reader app and this is a very convenient way to spend down time. Pinterest and Goodreads are top of the tree in terms of social media I think.
I began a Master of Information Studies via distance education at Charles Sturt University. With just four subjects to complete, the first two subjects are Strategic Planning and Project Management. The reading of academic papers on these topics has been interesting and rewarding and I hope will assist me as I lead the library into the strategic planning process in 2013.
On a more personal level I have been meditating and practicing yoga and hope to increase my involvement in these. Leadership for the disillusioned by Amanda Sinclair provided a useful model of mindful leadership that supports my own attitudes. I read her book then was lucky to attend a seminar at the SLV.
My eldest son was married earlier this year and my youngest son gets married early in 2013. My daughter was married some years ago now – can’t think how many! My mother continues to respond to all the cancer treatment they throw at her and my father does everything in his power to support her. My husband continues to cycle with the local cycling club, as well as working with the local Council.
The 2012 Local Government Rural Management challenge was held at Renmark in South Australia. I was part of a team of six people representing our organisation. Seven teams competed – six from South Australia and one from Victoria. Our team consisted of: Mr. Les Al Dance, Miss Ima Hugga, Ms Heaven Lea, Mr Doug A Trench, Mr Al Grandé, Ms Ginger Plum and the Team Coach Dr Tor Mentor.
We travelled the 800km in a mini bus and got to know our team mates a little better as most of us had not worked together before. We appeared to be a fairly reserved and quite bunch. We had been briefed and prepared for the challenge. So we had a logo, a flag, a motto, a vision and values, team rules, banners, and team t-shirts; as well as a heap of stationery, documents, laptops, printer, lollies and music.
We were all nervous on the day but keen to set up our designated room. We moved beds, put up posters, set up the banners, made our work areas, set up the laptops and printer, and prepared the customer service area complete with fresh flowers, sign-in book, picture of The Mayor, and welcome sign.
Then the whirlwind hit. After a briefing with all the teams, we started work on the four tasks that were delivered, with two more undefined tasks expected to arrive at any time. We brainstormed as a group, wrote up the task schedule on the whiteboard, divided the tasks accordingly, and got our heads down.
Three reports, one briefing paper, a meeting, a flowchart, and two customer service actions with file notes later and it was lunch time. PHEW! I felt dehydrated, headachey, stressed and overwhelmed. After lunch it was straight back into it with three more tasks to complete. Another report, a media release, and a presentation and we were done. Our presentation was a group effort and we kicked off the seven presentations to finish the day. FRED formed the basis of our Staff Code of Conduct Training Overview.
The scenarios and tasks formed an interesting and descriptive narrative for the District Council of Galeforz, so much so that I felt as if I knew the place and the people. Rather than dry tasks, the tasks proved to be interesting, challenging, relevant and realistic. Two women acted some parts during the day in order to provide some “real life” action. This added a further dimension to the scenarios and was well executed.
Our team performed like a Bathurst Pit Crew. There were no conflicts or power struggles. Just a team of equals working together: collaborating, supporting, sharing, suggesting, and swapping. It was a thing of beauty. Our Coach worried that we ignored the morning tea of cakes and drinks. And by lunch time we were dehydrated, tired and a bit worse for wear. The afternoon session was shorter and less intense. The seven group presentations formed a perfect way to complete the day. I was quick to volunteer our team to present first just to get it over with. FRED formed the basis of our presentation.
Back at the motel our Coach de-briefed us and provided words of encouragement and pride. We were glad she was glad.
Dinner and presentations were enjoyed at the Renmark Club on the banks of the Murray River. The winners – six young gorgeous women from the Yorke Peninsula were the stand out performers on the day. We won an award for the Best Dressed Room and so our badging and arranging efforts were recognised.
The long bumpy return trip in the mini bus was a quiet journey with the team feeling totally spent and mentally exhausted. It was an excellent experience that condensed a year’s worth of training and team building into a single day. If you get the opportunity – dive in.
Signing off: Ginger Plum, Group Manager Human Resources.
Sues Bent 