Confession #15...I am addicted...to Good Reads

One of the best and worst things about being a librarian is that you are surrounded by books all day long. It's not a strange environment for me to be in. Let's face it, I worked for a bookstore for almost 15 years and was surrounded by them all day long. I survived just fine.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon this fabulous website...goodreads. Now I could finally get rid of all the pieces of paper I had laying around the house with book suggestions on them. I could put them in one place and shazam! They were all together.

The great thing about it, is that I get suggestions from friends, books they are reading, they have loved, they want to read. My eyes look over them and think "Hey, I want to read that book too!"

As of today, I have 1,063 books on my to-read list! 1,063!!!!! I read 216 books last year. That means, at my present rate of reading, I will get through this list in 5.315 years! Years! 1,940 days! AND that's not in addition to any books I choose to add to the list!

I am not going to figure out the hours because math was never my strong subject. But over 5 years!!!!!

In my defense, I recently purged this list. It used to have almost 1,500 books on it. I even deleted all of the duplicates I had on the list (there were only 30 so it wasn't as dramatic as I am making it sound). I just realized there were lots of books I wasn't interested in reading anymore. I discovered there were about 100 I had in fact read and forgot to update.

I recently broke off my "professional" reading from my personal reading. I found I had a hard time keeping track, so, I simply created an alter ego, who is very stingy with her stars and doesn't write actual reviews. I only add books I can give 3 stars to. I started doing this thanks to a friend of mine. She didn't add any books that she couldn't give at least 4 stars to. Her reasoning was this...she is a writer and someday she may end up sitting next to another author and she doesn't want them to think that she didn't like their book. I guess it could be rather awkward.

Anywhoo, to make a long story short. I am addicted to goodreads. Plain and simple.

If you want to check out my profile, I am listed as Angie the Librarian.

Confession #14...I cheat...

Today at the library I had a patron come in looking for a specific article in a magazine from 6 years ago.

I tried to use the library's resources and found myself getting frustrated that I couldn't find what I was looking for. I looked for about 5 minutes with no luck.

What to do? Oh what to do?

So, I cheated.

I logged onto Emporia and accessed the William Allen White library on campus.

I found the magazine he was looking for and with just a few keystrokes, found the exact article he was looking for.

I printed it out and sent him on his merry way.

Best use of library resources? Probably not, but the patron was happy and that's all that really matters to me.

Confession #13...What is Yu-Gi-Oh and why are grown men playing it...

I love to read kids books. I can talk mysteries, humor, adventure and especially fantasy. I like most books I have read and love quite a few. There are some I haven't liked quite as much, which usually means I was distracted while trying to read it and couldn't get into the story/experience/etc.

However, there is an enigma that continues to elude me...what is Yu-Gi-Oh? This whole phenomenon is something I don't understand. I've googled it so I have a basic idea, something like an offshoot of Pokemon, which believe me, is a whole different concept I don't understand, but I digress...

So, the Donkey Kong of this generation? I thought that was Mario Kart. (Sidenote: my 6 year old nephew smokes me at Mario Kart on a regular basis...so much so, I have quit playing with him)

Anyway, back to Yu-Gi-Oh. I still don't get it. Anime? Cartoon? What's the draw of this?

The library where I am working today is having a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. To be honest, I thought there would be a few kids, swapping cards (at least I think they are cards, they have big, huge, binders with clear plastic sheets that look to be the size of baseball card holders). I walked in the room, because the lights were being weird, and I was slightly taken aback by what I observed.

This tournament was not just kids, but teenagers and adults. I assume these men are parents, although some of them looked like they had just crawled out of their mother's basements...not really, but you know what I am talking about...AND their leader looked to be about 22 years old. What is a 22 year old doing in a library on a Saturday afternoon playing cards with kids and grown men?

So, if anyone knows what this mystical thing is, please feel free to share your vast knowledge and understanding with me.

Please.

And on that note, how is Ninjago pronounced? Nin-jah-go? Nen-yahhhh-goooo? I give up.

Confession #12...I will uphold copyright laws...

Today I had this question from a patron...

Patron: How do I burn a cd?

Me: You need to have a cd burner. The library computers don't have them.

Patron: Can you burn cd's on the library computers?

Me: Um, no.

Patron: Huh. Why not (as he glances at the 10 cd's he has sitting next to him)

Me: Well, sir, it is against copyright to "burn" cd's and the library computers don't have CD burners.

Pause.

Me: Anything else I can help you with?

Patron: No.

Addition to confession #11...

A librarian friend just sent this to me...

I give credit to librarianproblems.com for this content...

Some One Asks, do you have to have a degree to be a librarian?

Confesssion #11...Librarians do NOT get to spend the day reading...

I used to get this question all the time when I worked at the bookstore...

"So, since you are surrounded by books all day, do you just get to sit and read?"

Nope. Doesn't happen at the bookstore and definately doesn't happen at the library. If it did, how would I be able to help you when you need helping finding that book club book, or how to print a document, or where the closest post office is.

In all actuality, since I have begun working at the library, I HAVE read more books, although, not the kind I used to read. I have found myself on several different committee's, reading for upcoming reader's choice, beehive awards etc. Some of these have been a pleasure to read, some, not so much.

While I don't get to spend the day at the library with books and a cup of tea, I have had the great opportunity to read some great books, recommended by patrons, friends and librarians.

Here are a few such books: