#chronicles of a queer library tech

[cumulohimbus]

In the 12th month of employment my workplace gave to me:

12 login errors

11 uncomfy chairs

10 cancelled events

9 printer jams

8 impatient teachers

7 greedy vendors

6 spammy phone calls

5 broken links

4 work study students

3 mismatched bookshelves

2 squeaky stepstools

1 lifetime's worth of chronic fatigue

[dazzledbybooks]

The Lunar Chronicles meets Rook in this queer #OwnVoices science-fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer and Sharon Cameron. A secret beats inside Anna Thatcher's chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna works cog by cog -- donning the moniker Technician -- to supply black market medical technology to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner's tyrannical laws. Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner's son, has never had to fear the law. Determined to earn his father's respect, Nathaniel sets out to capture the Technician. But the more he learns about the outlaw, the more he questions whether his father's elusive affection is worth chasing at all. Their game of cat and mouse takes an abrupt turn when Eliza, a skilled assassin and spy, arrives. Her mission is to learn the Commissioner's secrets at any cost -- even if it means betraying her own heart. When these uneasy allies discover the most dangerous secret of all, they must work together despite their differences and put an end to a deadly epidemic -- before the Commissioner ends them first. Tarnished Are the Stars by Rosiee Thor Publisher: Scholastic Press Release Date: October 15th 2019 Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBT Links: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43319680-tarnished-are-the-stars Amazon: https://amzn.to/2HbLT7j B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tarnished-are-the-stars-rosiee-thor/1130053238#/ Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/tarnished-are-the-stars Google Books: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Tarnished_Are_the_Stars.html?id=TJKCDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y Favorite Quotes: "For your tech-related inquiries, see a consultant when the moon sleeps and the kettle sings. It is a long four to the short nine." "Beneath the panel, a familiar machine ticked. Silver sheets fanned out like flower petals, interwoven with scarred flesh; the marks of metal from long ago still bloomed angry-red on his skin." "He wished she wouldn't. he did not deserve to be touched, marred by dirt and filth and the kind of blood no one could see." Review: Tarnished are the Stars by Rosiee Thor is such a great read. I really liked these characters so much. I really love Eliza but I will try not to play favorites. Let's dive right in to this great book. Anna has a mechanical heart. She tries very hard to keep her TICCER a secret. This one difference sets her apart from other people on the planet. I think it truly makes her special. Anna being a gear head wants to help everyone she can with technology that has been outlawed. If Anna were to get caught using this technology, she would die. Anna thinks the people are worth that risk. I really liked Anna's character because she is brave and determined. She wants to do what is right by the people even if it would cost her life. Nathaniel is on the hunt to catch The Technician. He wants to prove to his father that he  is able to take over the family business. Nathaniel just wants to be understood and treated like an adult. His father The Commisioner likes to keep him locked up. Once Nathaniel learns that he and Anna have something in common, he wants to learn more. Eliza works for the Queen. She is the eyes and ears. I think Eliza's story is very interesting because one minute she is an assassin and spy and then the next she is supposed to be engaged and reporting back to the queen. I feel like s hew went from having kickass experiences to pretending to settle down. I really loved how Eliza's personality just screamed off the page. I felt like I really got to know her and I want more. This book was so good. I really enjoyed the characters and the story line. I was routing for these characters the whole way even though at times they all wanted something different. Tarnished are the Stars definitely surprised me. You get some sci-fi, some fantasy, some steampunk, some romance, and even some adventure if this novel. I swear it has it all. Definitely pick up a copy today. I can't wait until Rosiee Thor's next book. She is an author to watch. Character Art: About the Author: Rosiee Thor began her career as a storyteller by demanding that her mother listen as Rosiee told bedtime stories instead of the other way around. She lives in Oregon with a dog, two cats, and four complete sets of Harry Potter, which she loves so much, she once moved her mattress into the closet and slept there until she came out as queer. Links: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18157283.Rosiee_Thor Website: http://www.rosieethor.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosieethor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosieethor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosiee.thor Giveaway: Prize: Win a signed hardcopy of TARNISHED ARE THE STARS by Rosiee Thor (US Only) Stars: 15th October 2019 Ends: 29th October 2019 a Rafflecopter giveaway Tour Schedule: https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/08/tour-schedule-tarnished-are-stars-by.html October 15th The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club - Welcome Post October 16th Utopia State of Mind - Guest Post Moonlight Rendezvous - Review + Favourite Quotes Book-Keeping - Review everywhere and nowhere - Review A Dream Within A Dream - Review October 17th L.M. Durand - Interview Luchia Houghton Blog - Review + Favourite Quotes Dazzled by Books - Review + Favourite Quotes Pages Below the Vaulted Sky - Review The Reading Chemist  - Promotional Post October 18th BookCrushin - Guest Post Novelishly - Review My Thoughts Literally - Review + Favourite Quotes TBR and Beyond - Review + Playlist + Favourite Quotes Fanna Wants The World To Read - Review October 19th Here's to Happy Endings - Review Morgan Vega - Review + Favourite Quotes Starlight Reads - Review + Favourite Quotes Arzo Reads - Review Confessions of a YA Reader - Promotional Post October 20th NovelKnight - Interview Bookishly Nerdy - Review The Layaway Dragon - Review + Favourite Quotes Musings of a (Book) Girl - Review One in a Million - Review October 21st Kait Plus Books - Interview Shalini's Books & Reviews - Review The Book Dutchesses  - Review + Favourite Quotes Novel Nerd Faction - Review + Playlist Library of a Book Witch - Review

http://www.dazzledbybooks.com/2019/10/tarnished-are-stars-blog-tour-review.html

[cumulohimbus]

I vet open educational resources as part of my job.

DO NOT USE PDFDRIVE.COM!

There is a high risk of your computer being infected with malware from pdfdrive.com.

I have looked at the other resources in this list as well, and so far they seem safe. 

Can for sure be trusted: worldcat.org (this is used in many academic and school libraries).

Almost certainly safe: bioline.org.br (run by scientists and librarians; a collaborative initiative between Bioline Toronto management office and the Reference Center on Environmental Information in Brazil), repec.org (created and run by volunteers and seems legit, if also complicated), science.gov (made available through an agency of the US government).

Probably safe, but be cautious: refseek.com (links to a number of reference resources like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and various other sites, a number of which I recognized and know to be safe), link.springer.com (part of Springer Nature, which is a research group, and whose home site seems to be safe; though I am wary of sites that offer free textbook chapters and the like - I would instead recommend starting with Springer Nature’s home site (https://www.springernature.com/gp) and going from there.

refseek.com

www.worldcat.org/

link.springer.com

http://bioline.org.br/

repec.org

science.gov

pdfdrive.com

[cumulohimbus]

The Higher Learning Commission was in for a reaccreditation visit at my workplace today and a couple of students had lunch with them. When I showed up to the forum time for the EDI committee and bias incident report team, the peer reviewers told me I had a lot to be proud of because the students said a number of positive things about me and the library I run during their lunch. 😭

[cumulohimbus]

Fantastic work news today. Government bonding bill passed approving funding for the college to build a new facility and move their transportation and mechanics trade programs department into it. This means those programs will get upgrades to their space, and it means the college will be able to pursue funding for a new entrance to their main campus and a much larger, much more central student support commons, which would, in theory, include the library!!

[cumulohimbus]

This is my second time participating on higher ed job search committees, and let me just say, somehow this time is so much worse.

The search committees are for faculty positions...

(I'm just...I'm just the library guy, okay? I don't know everything that goes into lesson planning and stuff, but I'm doing my best. I wanted to be a teacher at one point too, maybe I still kinda do, but libraries are my new baby and it means I get to hang out with teachers anyways.)

I'm not allowed to say a ton because of confidentiality rules, but I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to say that it breaks my heart to read all these peoples' cover letters and CVs and have to grade them on who goes above and beyond the most. Like, they're all teachers, none of them are applying because they're looking for tons of money. They're all just talking about how much they love teaching. Some want to give up their current higher paying positions to go back to teaching because they love it so much. Some have compelling cover letters, some just wrote like three sentences. Some have fancy resumes/CVs, some are super plain. It makes me nauseous thinking about the possibility that the perfect fit for the job won't get interviewed because their little collection of pdfs didn't pander enough to the hoity-toity bureaucracy of higher ed.

All I know is I would give every single one of them an interview if I could, just to meet them and hear them talk about how much they love teaching. Fuck man...

[cumulohimbus]

Sometimes everything is kinda shit, but thankfully shit is a pretty decent growing medium so sometimes a cool plant grows out of it.

I got news today that my temp part-time library tech contract is not only being extended, but in many ways I'm being offered a promotion. They're creating a seasonal full-time library tech position that will give me approximately a 33% salary increase, plus health and retirement benefits, vacation time, and access to the union.

In a lot of ways this creates additional stressors for me, but in a lot of other ways it is extremely positive news, and it does relieve one of the more immediate massive stressors that's been keeping me up at night as I no longer have uncertainty about my employment for the next year.

Today has been okay. TvT

[cumulohimbus]

Stuck indoors yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow due to blizzard (and my vehicle that is literally rotting into oblivion). I hope my cat knows he's mandated to be present in any/all of my meetings since I'm working from home...

Gonna be working on libguides and a library escape room for National Library Week in April.

[cumulohimbus]

Gonna try to be as slick about this as possible bc I have zero intention of promoting or even mentioning anything related to works by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I'll be working on something in the library and get someone asking me for help finding access to the full text of an article, and every time I successfully locate said article, I hear in my head the guy from Starkid's AVPM saying "librarians are particularly good finders". If you know, you know.

Also, please, for the love of all that is good, send me better catchphrase ideas from something not related to HP/JKR.

[cumulohimbus]

Me: "Libraries are a vital component of Equity/Diversity/Inclusion work and initiatives. They teach information literacy and the skills to search for resources that a person may otherwise not know they have access to. They advocate for free, open access to high quality learning and practical everyday resources. They archive and uplift the voices of marginalized people. Our administration has a strategic plan based around EDI; it gets a lot of attention and resources. I think we should include our library in that plan. It will make it difficult for both our EDI initiatives and our library to be removed and/or continuously downsized in the future."

Someone Else (Willingly) in my EDI/Library Project Group: "Why does the library have to be an EDI thing? Why can't it be for everyone?"

Me: *aghast* "W-what do you think equity, diversity, and inclusion mean...?"

[cumulohimbus]

Yeah I rly do got them DSLs tbh. Sometimes I illogically wonder if that's what gets me misgendered still. Ah yes, the inherent gendering of...lips...

It's just sort of funny to me at this point. Like, yeah, I guess I'm a little short for the average dude, but my chest is flatter than most people my size/stature and I have an entire ass beard. Okay...

I mean, if I'm being mistaken for a transfeminine person though, that's fine; that's actually a compliment tbh.

[cumulohimbus]

Alright. I'm done frothing at the mouth about this (for now). There are a lot of negative consequences for the way our technology is changing, and personally, I think many of these negatives outweigh any positives. Maybe I'm just getting old and sentimental. There's just something about all this that I find deeply unsettling.

I don't think there is much I can do as a single individual (other than continuing to pursue librarianship, which I am), but I can offer this for now. For things like computer programs and services, I highly recommend checking out and contributing to Alternative To, which has crowdsourced info on commercial and independently produced software. It's helped me find some really neat alternatives to commercial, "freemium", and subscription based computer applications and the like.

I love you headphone jacks. I love you wires. I love you cable management. I love you DVD players. I love you VCRs. I love you CD ports. I love you disks. I love you USBs. I love you tangible technology. I love you physical media. I love you owning the things I spend money on.

[cumulohimbus]

It took me three days of drafting the email that would go out to all campus employees about the new reference collection I purchased for our library with the grant money I was awarded. I was real nervous to hit send on it bc I heard there's someone in administration talking about libraries being/becoming obsolete and admin are the ones who run everything and insisted almost the entirety of our former collection be uncataloged the past couple years.

I ended up getting so many sweet responses from coworkers across a number of different departments over the course of the afternoon though that I started tearing up. I'm so happy that there are people on campus who still care about our library and support me in the work I'm doing to try to bring it back to life. Preserving our library and providing our students with a safe, comfortable environment and accessible information means everything to me.

[cumulohimbus]

Wot does a Library Technician do?

I don’t have my Master’s degree yet; I am trying my best.  I always feel like I’m not doing enough...this is to prove myself wrong, and also to share info on what a career in library science might entail for those who may ever consider it.

Things I do/have done for my job as a library technician so far (I’m just under two months into this position):

Check out/return books - the standard stuff.

Find relevant and reputable information to aid someone in their research/projects - also standard stuff.

Provide technology support to the best of my ability, and/or direct people to more qualified help as needed.

Analyzed my library’s current shortcomings and wrote a 16+ page report/informal strategic plan (with graphics) on ways to address issues and implement projects and initiatives with the central goal of revitalization and growth.

Broke down the library’s issues into five categories, and documented detailed ideas to combat each one individually.

Decided on three primary projects to focus on this school year.

Added budgetary estimates to projects that would have costs.

Renewed a couple of our eResource subscriptions.

Established lines of communication with various offices across campus through signage, regular emails, a virtual discussion group, and personally attending events, and student org meetings, even outside of my paid hours.

Reorganized most of the pitiful remainder of our physical collection.

Made a significant dent in vetting the remnants of our former collection and am continuing to work on this as frequently as I can.  (I’ve found some real treasures in the old library space y’all TvT)

Drafted (like literally sketched out) a plan to reorganize the current library space to make it more functional and inviting.

Created artwork on my whiteboard and collaborated with my work study students in making themed decorations with supplies I purchased with my own personal funds (I know this was overboard, but I couldn’t stand another day of how lifeless this room feels so I took matters into my own hands -.-’).

Created a spreadsheet to keep track of our eResource links and subscriptions; trained my work study students in link-checking.

Joined an Electronic Resource Management policy group with other librarians in my state to try to learn via osmosis.

Applied for a grant to get a small, modern Reference Collection (something I believe is a bare minimum for every library).

This also involved days of researching and vetting materials to make sure they were relevant and inclusive of students in ALL of our program divisions - even the trade divisions - as well as writing a one page essay and a detailed budget of the materials I desire this library to purchase.

Spoke with library support service providers (whose help we pay big $$$ for so we may as well use it) only to find out that we have always had Interlibrary Loan capabilities, through not one but two different state programs.  Our ILL services were apparently completely forgotten about during the pandemic...

Created a customizable presentation on the library’s services/information literacy and a form so faculty can request educational sessions on precisely what they think will be most useful to their classes (unfortunately, while many have verbally expressed interest in this, I have not actually gotten to give any presentations yet :c ).

Began reworking this concept into info sessions that I will host as  events in the library space; I just need to adjust my materials, plan dates, and advertise them.

Got us access to a free, open source application to make “LibGuides” and began creating the framework for a guide for each of our program divisions.

Joined the campus Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee as part of the event-planning sub-group in addition to accessibility/inclusivity improvements I intend to kick-start in the library specifically.

Was then invited to join an EDI campus training sub-group, which I accepted.

Tried (and am still trying tbh) to establish lines of communication with our various eResource vendors, as well as with orgs at my former university to initiate collaborative events between our institutions.

(Admittedly minor) management of our bibliographic records.

Started vetting and collecting Open Educational Resources.

Started teaching myself standard library-related protocols and procedures like RDA (Resource Description and Access) guidelines and MARC records, as well as the complexities of copyright laws, both on and off the clock.

A bunch of other little things as they come up.

Things I haven’t done (yet) but that are also the bread and butter of library worker duties:

Un/Cataloging of materials - I have been previously trained in the Library of Congress sorting system, but I have yet to catalogue anything, probably considering we’re not doing acquisitions at the moment (if I/we get the Reference Collection grant, we probably won’t even be cataloging that stuff; I am working on a means to acquire that small collection without cataloging it so we don’t risk being ordered to uncatalogue again within the next couple years -.-).

Probably a bunch of other stuff that I don’t know about yet.  I’ll add to this list as I learn.

[cumulohimbus]

I am shaking. Just learned that the grant I got my library was one of only five given out this semester. I thought more departments were going to get these...

I feel both kinda guilty for taking away from other people's monetary requests and also deeply hopeful? afraid? of what this means about my ability to write grants. Maybe this was just a rare case of good luck for me? Ahhh...what does it all mean?

[cumulohimbus]

Today I received very good news re: my library...not sure I really get to say it's my library yet per se, but I'm feeling just a little bit of hubris after the delightful news.