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Notes from a (New) Librarian
by Colin Rea

Hey hey, PNBA (how many books did you sell today?).

Ah, nothing like a little LBJ nostalgia to start a rambling. I'm sitting at my huge desk here in my huge office and thinking about the changes in my work routine o'er the last month. Besides swapping a cubicle for a room with a door, I've had a lot to get used to. Indeed, I have a lot to learn. What thrills me, though, is that I still play with books. The processes have changed, but the lit remains.

My brain is a bit scrambled from learning a complex job filled with everything from material selection to state laws regarding special districting, elected officials, and a forthcoming tax levy. As complicated as this all is, I comfort myself with the knowledge that I don't have to man a till on X-mas eve! In keeping with the scrambled theme, here are a few random thoughts, images, and musings about my first month as a librarian:

· The hardest thing so far? Scanning the &@#$-ing book! I've spent a decade aiming scanners at the lower right side of the back of books. Our library books, however, get their own special bar code on the upper left side of the FRONT of the book. I can't tell you how many times I've stood there repeatedly sticking the UPC under the scanner, tilting it this way and that trying to get the silly thing to read. D'uh. Understandably, my staff loves to watch me do this.

· Thanks to all who e-mailed a farewell when I suddenly disappeared. The number one question from the world of retail books: Where is Fern Ridge? Why, it's right here, of course.

· Coolest thing about my library? That would be John Daniel's one-line poem, written for the library and painted in 12-inch tall letters around the interior of the library. (See below)...

· Hand-selling is soooooo much easier when it's hand-loaning. Actually, in libraries, it's called reader's advisory, and it's great to tell people 'Try it; if you don't like it, bring it back and try another.' This just re-affirms my belief that a guarantee on all staff rec's would work in a retail bookstore. The confidence gained by your staff would result in more than enough sales to offset the few returns.

· I miss my sales reps. I now choose titles solely based on print reviews, catalogs, etc. Even as I come across glowing reviews in Library Journal, I can still hear Cindy H. saying 'This book is incredible, you'll sell a ton.' You know what, she was always right. So was George, Bob, Reed, Michael, and all the rest.

· Denis Johnson and Sherman Alexie just won National Book Awards. That is more than a quiet endorsement of the quality of the literature coming out of our woods.

· Brian J visited a few days ago from the offices of the PNBA. Even in my office, he couldn't help but speak quietly in the reverential tones of a library patron. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why libraries are my church, and the created word is my religion.

Until next time,
Colin
crea@fernridgelibrary.org

ps Here's the John Daniel poem.

Read then, if you will,
and in the springtime of your reading
the pages will shine with pale fire,
like new alder leaves in sun.
In their secret way they grow
and gather as you turn them,
they remain with you,
they rise up close around
like blackberry thickets in midsummer,
a wilderness of leaves
you're lost in. Turn, turn further.
Something shy and never seen
awaits you, and as you search
you may discover what you did not think
to ask for, a last apple
in autumn boughs where you saw
a bird fly in. Listen.
In the Douglas firs the wind
is saying something, voice
of distant places, other years
returning. Does it speak your name?
You need nothing more for winter now,
the faithful rain on your roof,
a warm fire within. Go
the way you were born to go,
turning and turning the pages of time.

Tee Hee

I WASN'T carded for buying a six-pack of Redhook tonight because of the white hairs in my beard... and yet, I still love to watch old classic Scooby-Doo episodes and even the new Avatar serires on Nickelodeon. Just thought I'd share that.

On a less tee-hee note, I'm still bumming about the Terry Pratchett news, and about the fact that they most likely won't make a sequel to Golden Compass.

Neglect

See what happens when you leave the '20 hour job stretched out to 40' to take a real job? You neglect your blog, which was a great time filler at work. Throw in a stomach flu that hits the whole family, the advent of the silly season, and a new HDTV in the basement, and it's all over from there. To catch you up, here are the last few books I read:

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King... A nice little pseudo-noir pulp.
The Last Town on Earth by Thoma Mullen... Very good, but not great novel about a logging town in WA trying to keep out the Spanish Influenza. Some good commentary on what community is in this one.
Return to Spirit Lake by Christine Colasurdo... A dad recommendation, and well worth the time. Reminded me that it's time to take the kids up to see Mt. St. Helens.

I'm following up the Stephen King read by listening to Blaze, his last Bachman book on my commute. Not sure what else to start. Where's the new Pratchett galley when you need it? Speaking of Pratchett, the Hogfather movie mentioned below was fun. An awful lot of Pratchett's humor doesn't translate to the screen, especially the wizards at the Unseen University, but Death, Susan, and Alfred made up for that.

I want to go camping.

I wanted to embed this song from Lair of the White Worm, but the embed was disabled. Click to see it here. 20 years ago, my brother and I tried in vain for a long time to find any info about this song and where to get a copy of it. Thanks to IMDB.com and YouTube, it took me all of 12 seconds when I stumbled across the movie on cable the other night. Sometimes, the 1's and the 0's really work out, no?!

How did I not hear of this?

http://www.rhifilms.com/hogfather/

And here in the states we'll be stuck with yet another excreable Tim Allen Santa movie, I'm sure...

Those who review and/or blurb love to heap praise on good non-fiction by stating 'it reads like a novel.' I'll go along with that, and then assume that the opposite must be true as well. Roth's speculative fiction/alternate history masterpiece is so plausible and, of course, applicable to our current political mess that I have to now remind myself that Charles Lindbergh isn't to be reviled as 'the anti-semitic president.' Combined with my recent tear through Chabon's library, I have been immersed in the imaginary Jewish past. Leaving that religion, but staying with the 'could have been' theme, I'm now starting The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen.

Also reading: The Future of Nature and The Truth. Wish I had more time to read, but new jobs tend to slow one down...

Work E-mail

I'll be working a few hours in the evening at home tonight, and while I COULD get instructions on how to check my work e-mail from home, I've decided against it. Why? Here's a reading list.

1.
2.
3.
4. My own ramblings on the subject, overwritten because it was for school.

The Horror!

That's right, I read an Oprah pick. In my defense, it was on my stack long before Oprah got her hands on it. In point of fact, I listened to rather than read Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but then audio books are really another form of reading, 'cause it's all literacy. In hindsight, I should have stuck with the codex here for a couple of reasons. The story has very few characters; an unnammed father and son account for almost all the dialog. The narrator did a great job with the father, but the whiney voice of the son grated. The story, which has no real beginning and not much of an ending, is not what defines this book but rather the stark writing -- something best enjoyed in one's head and not out loud.

Move over Blatz

This has become my beer of choice. I'm sad for those of you on the other coast who don't have access to all the micro-brews out here. Sniffle...

This Seattle brew is almost as good, but they don't bottle it, so I don't get it down here in Eugene.

Cool Docu

I caught this on cable the other night. It's a cool remembrance of a period of music that, sadly, flamed out just about the time I was starting to discover what was out there. This poor timing is likely directly responsible for the fact that, for a few brief days, I thought Matthew Wilder was the bomb -- an embarassment of which my brother takes great delight in.

Speaking of my brother, if you see this guy around on Tuesday, wish him a happy Birthday.

Scouting Libraries

I wandered around the Springfield and Eugene Public Libraries yesterday evaluating the good and bad aspects of each physical space. I had no intention of picking up additional reading, but I randomly stopped in the S's on the third floor (fiction)of the EPL and saw Garth Stein's first novel, Raven Stole the Moon. After the first 50 or so pages last night, I realized how very much he has matured as a writer. The storytelling is immediately recognizable, but his writing is much less refined than it is now. In The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein says more with fewer words.

Two other things to note... Somewhere around page 30 a character enters a 'Starbucks Coffee.' I'm guessing an editor today would find that second word unnecessary! The next paragraph then provides the very same observations about the myriad decisions needed to order a beverage that were offered up in You've Got Mail, which released, I think, after the book. What's up with that, Nora?