Newsletter (Nov 2007)
N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7
Monthly newsletter pertaining to the topic of librarians.
Doctor/Librarian Prescribes Books
Many of you may be familiar with Reach Out and Read (www.reachoutandread.org), a nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy in pediatric clinics across the nation by giving new books to children, reading aloud in the waiting rooms, and advising parents on the importance of reading. On October 19th the Madison Capital Times ran a story on one doctor participating in the program who also writes prescriptions to “read books” to children (www.madison.com/archives/....).
Dr. Dipesh Navasaria of American Family Children’s Hospital works with the Reach Out and Read organization to prescribe reading to children he sees. What’s even more interesting about Dr. Navasaria is that he is also a professionally educated librarian. And no, he didn’t start his career as a librarian before moving into medicine, but did just the opposite. He reportedly took a break from his medical studies to earn his MLIS degree with a focus on children’s literature. So when this librarian doctor writes a prescription for reading, parents should definitely heed his advice!
Restaurant/Search Engine Expert is a Librarian
If you’ve ever visited FoodHawk.com, a Texas restaurant site that recently won an Interactive Media Council award for its search engine, you may not be surprised to learn that its founder and CEO is a librarian. Let’s face it, who knows better than a librarian as to what elements should be searchable by users than a librarian?
An article in the October 18th Austin American-Statesman highlighted Judy Hamlin, founder and CEO of FoodHawk.com. A librarian, and retired professor, Hamlin’s website can be searched by restaurant, neighborhood, cuisine, menu items, allergies, and family-friendliness. Now that’s what I call providing good search fields!
What I especially love about the article on Hamlin is that it says she personally hit the dining scene to review the restaurants on her site. Gee whiz, I’d love to have the burden on having to dine out at different restaurants to write reviews when I retire!
Librarian Noted for her Fashion Sense
Most articles about librarians and fashion tend to deal with librarians’ lack of style, and their stereotypical image of the dowdy librarian. So it’s so uplifting to read an article praising a librarian for her sense of fashion. So applause goes to the Hattiesburg American (MS) newspaper for running an article on October 28th titled “Librarian Keeps an Eye on the Trends.”
The article focused on Nancy Kaul, a librarian at the University of Southern Mississippi, who as the reporter states, “always looks magnificent” and “totally blows the stereotype out of the water.” The article discusses Kaul’s secret for beautiful classic style. That secret consists of taking the time to select her outfit and accessories the evening before, buying classic clothes, and watching the trends so she knows what scarves, jewelry and accessories to purchase to update her classic clothing with the times.
And sometimes she will creatively build an outfit around an accessory, rather than the other way around.
Evil Librarians in New Children’s Book
There’s a new book out from Scholastic Press titled Alcatraz Smedry Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. Targeted at elementary and junior high school readers, the book abstract reads: “Alcatraz Smedry doesn't seem destined for anything but disaster. On his 13th birthday he receives a bag of sand, which is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians plotting to take over the world.” I haven’t purchased my copy yet, but what librarian can resist a book featuring evil librarians seeking world domination? (http://tinyurl.com/3yxzyz)
Librarian to Appear in Play Written for Her
An article in the Entertainment Section of the October 31st Los Angeles Times carried an article (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/...) about playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and librarian Galeen Roe. After a chance introduction, Roe, a Los Angeles law librarian, decided to attend each of Parks’ plays during her yearlong “365 Plays/365 Days” festival.
To thank Roe for her faithful attendance, Parks is reportedly writing a play for Roe which will be presented during the last Los Angeles performance. Now that’s what I call a nice thank you gift!
“The Librarians” Trailer on YouTube
The trailer for “The Librarians,” a comedy mini-series airing on the Australian Broadcasting Company can be viewed on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6_dcjR2npU. An interview and other promotional videos for the mini-series also appear on YouTube.
Librarian Socks and Personalized Travel Mug
Although my book, Casanova Was a Librarian: a Light-Hearted Look at the Profession has a section on gifts for librarians, there are always new products for librarians in the marketplace. One of these items I just came across is librarian socks. Yes, you read this right – socks designed for librarians. Homeroom (www.homeroomdirect.com) sells a pair of white socks (with a blue banded top, heel and toe area) featuring pictures of books on it with an oval near the top band of the sock with the word “Librarian” in it. Since a picture’s worth a thousand words, you can see the sock at http://www.homeroomdirect.com/librarian/. The socks sell for $8.95 a pair.
While you’re at the Homeroom site, you may want to also check out the personalized librarian travel mug. It features a picture of books, with “Librarian On The Go” appearing across the top of the books, and a personalized name below the books.
Librarian Stitch Pattern
It’s often said that gifts made by the giver are often gifts made with love. So if you’re into hand crafts and want to make a gift for a librarian, you may want to check out the cross stitch occupations pattern available from 1-2-3 Stitch! The pattern includes one for librarian. You can find out more about the pattern at http://www.123stitch.com/.....
Library Bracelet
As you may have guessed, I do a lot of my Christmas shopping online or via mail order. If you’re like me, here’s another gift idea for your favorite reader or librarian. Target sells a sterling silver link bracelet decorated with colored enamel books on their website. You can see the bracelet on their website at http://tinyurl.com/26ormo.
For more information about librarians…
Be sure to purchase a copy of my new book, Casanova Was a Librarian: a Light Hearted Look at the Profession, by Kathleen Low, available from McFarland (www.mcfarlandpub.com), Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and other retailers.
Thanks for reading along with me!
Send an email to Casanovawasalibrarian@hotmail.com with “Librarian fun” in the subject line and you'll receive interesting librarian related information in your email inbox once a month.
