In memory of Gina

Today I'm writing to honor my tatting friend Gina, who died earlier this week. Gina and I became friends via the Internet and her Yahoo Groups list, Tatting Goddess Updates. I'm not at all a prolific blogger but a lot of tatters and lacemakers are. After we heard about Gina's passing, a suggestion was made to blog today about Gina and what she meant to us.

I never met Gina in person but it didn't matter. She made you feel like you knew her. She was supportive and encouraging about all lace things. When she traveled she tried to connect with lacemakers wherever she was, and as many people have said, they just knew if they'd met her, they would've been good friends. She had that effect.

Shortly after I joined her Yahoo Group, a Christmas exchange was taking place. People on the list wrote teasingly about the gifts they planned to share, the lace they were including in the gift, when they sent it, and when they received a package that must've been sent somewhere else first. That was all in an attempt to keep the partner anonymous. Rules stated one could not open the package until Christmas! And nobody did. While I was so envious that I'd missed out on the fun, I didn't think my lace making was of good enough quality to share with some of these really good lacermakers. Gina took me as a partner once after I shared my hesitance but partnered me up with people all around the world afterwards. And oh, were those exchanges fun!

Gina posted often about the things she was doing beyond lacemaking: her family, finds she got in antique shops, tea-for-one pots and cups she found, her work, and meeting with friends. When she became a Great Grandmother, she posted in a way that if one wasn't paying close attention to what she said, you'd have thought she had another grandchild. Someone pointed out that it was her child who had a grandchild, not her! I know grandchildren are a blessing, as are children, but great grandchildren? Wow!

Early on after developing a blog-reading list, Gina's was one of two blogs I read religiously. I'll miss not being able to email her with a question, or just to chat. I'll miss reading about her lace life on her blog. Maybe I'll blog a little more often. I know when I tat, I'll think fondly of her. Today, it's about a post to honor someone I admired and will always wish I'd met. Today I'll tat, think of Gina, and have a cuppa tea. Just for her. RIP, dear Gina.

Thing 37-photos and fun

In the earlier version of this exercise I set up a Flickr account. Having seen a lot of libraries use photo rolls, I can see using this or tools like these for promotional purposes, especially for a lot of children's activities, i.e., storytimes, summer reading programs, special programs, and events. Because I have some great photos at home to play with, I plan to use pictures on a home computer to do more of this exercise.

DD discovered there is a great piece of software built into newer Windows machines that times and displays selected photos and applies music. She did one for her cousin's Hawaii wedding this past February, and it will be played on their DVD player at their wedding celebration and open house in the next week or so. It turned out nicely, what with the software knowing how long the song is, being able to time the bleeding of the pictures and melding into the next, and it was free. It seems the sites in this thing either wanted registration or one would be using someone else's pictures, neither of which I want to do. The first one was of a darling bride and groom at their wedding, and she found it on YouTube, but the music was removed from someone at YouTube because it was a copywritten song.

Thing 36 - Comic Relief

I used the conversion to .pdf tool. This is the productivity tool I've been waiting for. Granted, it's probably been around a while but I didn't seek it out. What I converted was an application for interning at my library. Someone took the application to volunteer and converted it to put it on the library's website and now this one can be placed there in a similar format too.

The next fun thing I did was a fake newspaper headline commemorating the birth of my grandson. Because I murdalized names, I'm not going to post it anywhere visible and plan to delete it once I've chuckled over it one more time.

I made a tinytag but man, was it tiny! You know those ads for enhancement? This tag could use a vitamin V! lol I know they're for embedding and viewing on a computer screen but this wasn't the best use of my time in the end. I really don't foresee libraries (at least not here) generating their own comic strips or even cartoons. There is an unwritten code saying we don't make fun of patrons or books. We should listen to this one -- it's sage advice!

Thing 35 - books 2.0

I'm not interested in organizing or cataloging my books either in-house or electronically. On my FB account I have used the Visual Bookshelf but don't care enough about it to keep it updated. Sadly I don't find as much time as I had to read so spare time is used rather to read than to blog-and-share it. I am a tangible person -- I like the feel, the touch of paper, the smell of ink, and the holding of the book. I've listened to an audiobook on my iPod and enjoyed the narrator. Since then I've picked up a hardcover of a different title and enjoy imagining hearing the narrator's voice. I plan to download a number of items to listen to on my summer trip because we'll be spending a lot of time in the car. I hope they're just as enjoyable as my first iPod title was. Wish me luck.

Thing 34 - not a competition

Asked to read articles on whether librarians compete with AskA services, my thoughts are mostly in the No camp. I know some questions can be answered quickly there, but do I want someone seemingly untrained to answer questions that are *very* important to me? No. I want an answer that comes at me from all directions. I want responses to an important question answered from authoritative resources -- known, credible, and answered from someone who cares that I get the right answer. This being said, I understand how easy it is for someone to rely on an AskA service, get a quick-and-dirty response to something they've pondered. There are times and places when Google answers questions, but not always.

If a good reference librarian cannot find an answer, they'll readily recommend a department, an agency, an expert, a place, or a person who, even if they too cannot answer a query, can lead me in another direction to find the right one.

It scares me to think of all the K-12 librarians and media specialists who have been cut from schools. If someone does not give proper direction and instruction to these budding minds, will they become a generation of "google does it all?" I sincerely hope not. College and University libraries should not be the only place to have properly and adequately trained librarians working with students and those being educated. Even the college and university librarians are being re-purposed.

It may sound like I'm trying to protect my own job. Granted, I don't want to lose my job, and I do realize evolution is happening whether or not we want it to. I'm happy to learn how to do things differently and to learn new things. One of the things that makes me happiest about being a reference librarian is that I learn from people who ask me to find answers for them. It's sort of like stealing, but the information was there to be found, I just didn't know the question to ask!

Thing 33

With the prevalence of Wifi and the ease of carrying a laptop or Wifi-connectable device, the links on this travel 2.0 exercise would come in handy for a lot of people. I'm planning a driving trip this summer and have taken note of the url to search for hotspots along the way. We'll be staying in some chain hotels and probably some non-chain hotels but we're looking at this time away from work as a sereindipitous excursion. Maybe we'll want to blog on hotel experiences and maybe we'll walk away without wanting to mention details. There are a lot of travel ideas in this Thing. I'll come back to this one when our departure gets closer.

Thing 32

Do the Mashed Potato . . . Do the Twist . . . yes I like it like this!

Although I couldn't get the map with directions into the body of the blog, check out the map on the sidebar -- it's the route to get to our temporary library. Since we'll be here until summer of 2010, I'm pleased I was able to get this here. There seemed to be a significant problem getting the map into the main page. Adding the HTML to the sidebar, however, was easier. To find the directions they recommend, click on the button that says View Larger Map

This is a sweet application, and one I will suggest to DD whose planning a November wedding that will have a lot of out of town guests. If we can simplify travel for them I know they'd appreciate it.