Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

Got in the better part of a massive donation today (the rest should come Monday), so some of my colleagues helped me move over 130 boxes of books and stuff I'm going to be plundering through.

If I'm *really* good about staying on top of it, I should be able to go through it all in a year. When real life intervenes, it'll...take a bit longer.

Btw, I also posted at Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me about some recent donations and adventures in processing.

I've gotta go in tomorrow my turn at the Saturday shift, will be going in next Saturday because a professor wants to bring his class in for a field trip, will likely be going in the Saturday/weekend after that cos of the exhibit we'll be installing.

My boss said this is how one builds a reputation. I said, "Yes, a reputation for not saying no!" gadgetorious likened it to an MMORPG and now all I can think is that I'm grinding for rep abd building my epics, and I want to assign classes to all my coworkers.

I'm trying to decide if I'm a Hunter (I have minions!) or a Paladin (I can do AoEs!).

I'm more than a bit slap-happy right now. Oh boy.

At first I was really pissed off at this article in The Post and now I just think it's kind of funny. The short short version of the article is that the writer, a DC school librarian, fiercely resents that school librarians have to teach Information Literacy. Y'know, how to pick out good information and not cite Wikipedia in research papers. That sort of thing. Instead he would much prefer to foster a love of reading and have high schoolers blissfully lost in Dickens tomes.

To which I reply: Buddy. Go back to teaching English.

Yes, love of reading is a beautiful thing. And the thing is, you're not going to foster it by shoving Victorian doorstops into teenagers' hands. You have to woo them. In the words of Titus Pullo, you have to treat them like you're saddling a skittish horse. Lots of "Shh now" and "There there." Start off easy, with graphic novels. Trust me, if a kid reads Sandman, you'll have 'em on Shakespeare in no time. Easy.

Also, you HAVE to teach IL. HAVE to. If more people were information literate, we wouldn't have Bush in office, trust me. It's just like cataloging and shelf-reading, two other largely unenjoyable activities that are basic musts for us.

It struck me this afternoon that the author, Thomas Washington, has shot himself in the foot if his boss ever figures out that he really wrote that article. (Seriously? A guy named Thomas Washington in DC? Not very creative, is he...) Being a school librarian and saying you don't like IL is like saying you're a chef but you're never working with eggs, butter, flour, sugar, or meat. Well, okay, but good luck finding a job anytime soon.

Mostly I think "Thomas" should just go back to teaching English. Either that, or stop buying the lame ALA posters and get the cool ones with the superheroes. Just sayin'.