Day 3: Independence [Be Gentle Be Love]

Freak Flag: my cute online made freak flag is here: http://pbskids.org/cgi-registry/shareables/retrieve.pl?044bceabe86e76d0.

Freak flag is so 1960s. But I like to let my independence fly. I'm even a Texan at heart and not particularly an "American". We do it big in Texas. Independence probably means different things to different people. I feel I've always been independent, but then I also have to realize that I've ALSO always relied on "the kindness of strangers." My mother told me a couple of times about how really independent I was even when I was little. In kindergarten, I waved goodbye to her while the rest of the kids were crying. She says it always broke her heart that I didn't need her. The problem is that I DID need her, just not in the way she wanted to be needed. I'm an extremely needy person, although it usually ends up looking like drama queen, or high strung, or bossy. I think anyways.

• How are you bucking the system?

I go to an all inclusive church--Unitarian Universalist. So obscure that even spellcheck says its wrong... hmm. I believe in love and the goodness in all people. I think a lot of people don't believe that. Well even I'm trying to be like that. I speak my mind and I've been told on multiple times that is a good thing. I've also been told multiple times to shut my mouth. :) I'm also trying to get over the keeping up with the Joneses attitude which I've always had and just accept myself for who I am and what I contribute to the world.

• How are you living an unconventional life?

Unconventional conventionist. I have a blended family of my sisters kids and my kids. I play video games (a lot) and I'm a 33 year old female. And I don't mean Farmville or Wii Fit. I mean Halo and Red Dead Redemption. I read a lot too. In my circle that is common, but not so common in the general population. I tried to be middle class and gave up. I just asked my husband and he asked me what do I think a conventional woman does--I guess he's hinting at me not cleaning, or cooking. ;) Or he might mean the competitive streak. I don't know. I was the only pregnant lady to march in a gay pride parade last year.

• Do you feel like you are free to make your own choices?

I don't feel that I am free to make my own choices with the amount of children I have. Although that itself was a conscious choice. I could have said no to taking care of kids. I could have had abortions. But I would never have done that. So in certain things, everyday tasks I can make my own choices, but I don't think I am ever going to make "earth shattering" choices again. But you never know.

• Do you have a story about how you won back your independence?

I went back to school in 2003, got therapy and decided that status quo wasn't good enough. Now I'm a librarian doing what I love to do. I think it worked out pretty well. There have been a couple of finding myself moments along the way. That isn't really a story per say but I know what I am talking about. :)

• How are you changing the world with your choices?

Being a better person daily. Being a librarian enables me to help people in ways I find enjoyable. Connecting with the community at large. Being. I don't recycle but I freecycle and up cycle. I'm trying to teach my kids the right way so they can change the world with their choices. Trying to convince my husband to get out of his shell...

Day 2: Wonder [Be Gentle Be Love]

Wonder and smell and wonder and coloring. It has been years since I've colored. I went through a saturday morning cartoon and coloring period during my first divorce because I always felt the need to center myself during that time and it was a good way to do it. I don't trust myself often with my hands or with my creativity but I went to work today using some OLD oil pastels of my mothers from the early 80s. I am frankly surprised they still work.

I smudged and smudged with my fingers. This was a way of connecting me with my mother in a way. She's been dead for 2 and a half years and I have daily reminders of her. The bed frame I use was hers, a couple of my kids remind me of her. I'm always expecting her to call.

The oil pastels smelled terrible. They are obviously in the process of breaking down and giving back to the earth. And while I was coloring my three year old wanted my attention with his extremely stinky diaper. Motherhood and memories at it again. My husband changed it so I could continue drawing.

I'm having a really good time just sitting and contemplating. There are clothes all over the floor and its okay. I have been trying to actively let go and just be. My sense of wonder then is a continually evolving thing. Just playing with Picnik and realizing it had so many options trying to get pictures sized right was wonderful. I spent 30 minutes messing with the different options with the picture above.

Its baby feeding time.

Day 1: Joyfulness [Be Gentle Be Love]

Take a photo of your eyes or someone else's eyes smiling.  Get real close, try to capture the essence of the smile without capturing the mouth at all. 

I had a really hard time with this one. First of all, its amazing how many people don't want pictures of themselves taken because they perceive themselves as ugly or they thought it was a waste of time. I told them I was doing a photography e-course, and I got a couple of people to let me. It was kind of fun going out of my comfort zone. A couple said I could take a picture but I couldn't put it on the internet. But one friend at work let me.

She's got super gorgeous eyes so that helps. I asked her to "smize" a la Tyra Banks--I learned it off of Ru Paul's drag race. The second picture was easier: Take a photo of either yourself or someone else's mouth smiling.

I took this picture first thing in the morning. Corbin is three months old and she has just really started to smile. She is an extremely SMILeY baby. It is awesome. The third prompt was to take a photo of something that makes you smile. Well I already did that right? :) I ended up taking my camera to the park with the kids and taking some pics of them. Then I went to the church rally that my older kids were at--I was sort of a night watchmen last night until 3 a.m. It was fun! I took a picture of a sconce that is on the walkway up to my church. I never see it at night.

Its a Unitarian Universalist chalice. 

• How did this exercise make you feel?

I was really nervous. I haven't taken pictures in a really long time and I felt like I would screw it up. In fact, when my husband looked at the pictures, he asked me what all the blurry pictures were for. I was practicing how to use the camera again... low light, zoom, flash, how all the stuff on the camera I have works.

• What are some of the events that transpired because of your constant smiling?

I felt funny sitting at my computer smiling, but I think overall I was a happier more productive person.

• What made you smile today?

I went outside my comfort zone again with inviting people over to my house, so that made me smile. My kids, of course. Especially the oldest, who is always so closed off to me. Since I was volunteering at the rally, I got to see him in a different light than I usually see him. He was the leader of a group and he was super confident. I wanted to go over and hug him right then but I was pretty sure he'd be embarrassed. Of course I wanted to kick him (or ask him a lot of embarrassing questions) later when during the night rounds I found him huddled up with a girl in the corner. But I resisted. :)

• When was the last time you made someone smile?

Yesterday talking to people I felt I got a couple of people to smile that wouldn't normally do it in that context.

• What was the last thing that made you smile?

Baby. She is SO smiley

• Do you smile often when you are alone?

I might laugh at something I saw but I don't really.

• When was the last time you felt the need to paint on a smile?

Everyday at work. Customer service is really hard sometimes.

• What is guaranteed to put a smile on your face?

My kids.

Copy of Blue Rays Resume

Melissa Jeffrey

5510 Heathercrest Dr.   |   Arlington, TX   |   76018   |   817.946.6833   |   melissa.jeffrey@arlingtontx.gov 

 
Objective

I strive to forward the ideals of equitable access to information and excellent customer service.

Career Related Skills
Teaching and Instruction

• Genealogy for Patrons, NTRLS workshop, Spring 2008
• Google Docs, TechNet, Summer 2008
• Genealogy on the Internet, patron program, Summer 2008
• Gaming in Libraries, Library Program Planners and Presenters,  Fall 2008
• Database training for library staff, designed and implemented, in-house 2009
• NTRLS 23 Things mentor (15 students with a web 2.0 focus) 2009
• Resume Workshop, patron program Fall 2009
• Future of Libraries, First Jefferson Unitarian Church 2010
• Prior experience: teaching assistant for philosophy, taught poetry classes to elementary school children and computer instruction for college students

Library Programming

• Planned and implemented successful adult and teen library programming including introducing the Twilight inspired band, Bella Cullen Project, to libraries and fans, which ultimately led to MTV filming at our Central location.
• Collaborated in grant proposal formulation, resulting in accepted grants including NTLP's Expanding Accessibility funding assistance for a low-vision accessibility fair, which strengthened community bonds through partnerships.
• Other successful programs include Star gazing (120 persons) and Organizing (15 persons)
• Revamped adult summer reading club, increasing 2009 participation 25%
• Prior experience: planning and implementing the Summer Reading Club as Head Librarian at Haslet Public Library as well as regular story times, graphic design in newspapers, MS Publisher expert 

Collection Development and Web Content

• Applied for (with co-worker) and received grant for expanding large print and audiobooks for the visually impaired
• Successfully weeded the collections of SE, SW, and the teen collection at Central
• On the web team, helped brainstorm and plan a redesign of our website, including being appointed point person on adult blog, providing content and leadership
  
• Working knowledge of xhtml, photoshop, css, beginner javascript, crystal reports manipulation 
• Prior experience: freelance web designer 2000-2002; editorial assistant at Hoovers editing web content for possible inclusion to book form; editor in chief for Southwest File, an alternative newsweekly 1997-1998; freelance writer 1996-2000

Education

2005	Texas Woman's University, MLS Focus: Reference, Internet, Collection Development
2000	Southwest Texas State University, BA Focus: English, Philosophy, Film Studies

Work Experience

2007-	Arlington Public Library, Librarian I, Adult Services
2006-07	Haslet Public Library, Head Librarian
2006-07	Carrollton Public Library, Contract Librarian
2003-05	Dallas Morning News, Weddings Consultant
2001-03	Waco Tribune Herald, Obituaries Clerk
2000	Hoovers Inc., Editorial Assistant

Thing 23: Reflection

I don't know how I feel about 23 Things. I think it is worthy for people to know these things in order to do their jobs, and certainly most people (esp. librarians) aren't as interested in tech as I am, but I feel that these are all things that shouldn't have to be "taught" to people. If you come across it, if patrons are asking about it, I think that the onus is on the library staff to find out what it is instead of passively waiting for someone to teach it to them. But then, I also realize that some of these things are hard for people who are not tech savvy to understand, less do. In fact, technology is going at such a fast right that I don't feel on top of it. I heard a story about a movie that was coming out this weekend (District 9) that uses augmented reality where you can scan the picture on their ads into a webcam and it does something to your computer. That makes less than no sense to me!

All right, so let's decipher that: Evan is holding up a postcard that has the District 9 logo on it. You might have seen it on billboards -- the outline of an scary beetle-like creature. Evan puts the card in front of the camera that's attached to his computer. Out of nowhere the scary beetle thing shows up on the screen and bingo, you're controlling it in an augmented reality game.

How crazy is that? The game's website doesn't work without an ad and camera...

But back to libraries I think that technology evolves and it is up to us to keep up. And 23 Things helped me do that in a formatted way

Thing 22: Develop my own 23 Things

This is sort of my ideal 23, not necessarily for librarians, but the things I find important.

1. One massive multi-online role playing game (MMORPG) that is NOT Second Life. Repeat, NOT Second Life! I don't know why librarians think this is so great but its not. I've only ever met two people IRL that played second life and one of them was my sister who is always looking for ways to make money and she had heard that SL might be a good way. The other was the TechNet 2008 main speaker who hilariously told the audience that they might even want to be furries on second life if they like cats. I am afraid she doesn't know what kind of negative, sexual connotation being a "furry" is.

2. Facebook--for obvious reasons.

3. Myspace--because FB and Myspace are two separate identities with very different missions and people on them. Some overlap, but not all. Our lower income people use this.

4. A useful online photo manipulation website such as http://picnik.com. This would be much more useful to librarians in general than how to make a lolcats poster. And it would also free up money from having to buy Photoshop for people who only use it to crop and touch up pictures.

5. Flickr does go along with the previous post but I think any site like Flickr should mainly be in context of how the library can use the content (creative commons).

6. RSS Feeds--we use these at our library and it would be good to let the staff know what they are

7. blog readers--useful tool for librarians to keep track of professional development blogs... although I've personally noticed specifically library blogs are not that up to date or relevant anymore.

8. Tagging in a library context

9. delicious-- we are going to try to use this instead of old style link lists on our website.

10. Library Thing--in context with tagging, like the Bedford Public Library's site.

11. blogs--our staff isn't even all that familiary with blogs in general much less blog readers

12. widgets--widgets are tools that make other sites part of your site and vice versa and that is a useful marketing tool/relevancy issue

13. instant messaging--focusing on ask a librarian type things. We use meebo in a limited context right now.

14. twitter/texting--since twitter is so similar to texting, I think these should be lumped together.

15. Online Video--I think YouTube is too simplistic. I think this should encompass more than just youtube. Youtube is a brand... "vodcasts" existed before these... and will continue to exist afterwards.

16. GoogleDocs

17. "Learning 2.0"--except I think 2.0 isn't anything except a faster form of distribution... I challenge people to learn... especially from presentations such as this:

The social media revolution

View more presentations from Richard Stacy.

I don't know what else would be useful... but not wikis or podcasts...

Thing 21: podcasts

I am a religious user of podcasts, even though I feel that many of the modes of transmitting them are outdated. I have an iphone and can get many podcasts that way, although its not easily browseable. On my iphone I've listened to The Meditation Podcast, as well as the Rachel Maddow show in podcast format, among others. I listen to NPR while I am doing the money at work. My favorite shows are To The Best of Our Knowledge, This American Life and Radiolab. TTBOOK uses windows media player (and always crashes my browser), This American Life uses .mp3s that you download (they used to stream, but I think it was costing too much money), and Radiolab has a player embedded on its site.

As far as library podcasts, I did not dig the voice of the guy doing LisNews (it grates on my nerves, and he sounds full of himself). NTRLS has done some useful podcasts with Nell and others asking questions, but the sound production isn't great and sometimes the podcasts get too talky. I guess that is why my all time favorite is Radiolab because its a sound experience reaching into my brain and pulling out wonder and excitement. And their subjects can be pretty boring. We've been thinking about putting a couple of stories up on our website done by the children's librarians, but I think we should focus on getting our website out of the year 2000.

My new favorite is Stuff You Should Know by howstuffworks.com. Chuck and Josh have a good rapport and it is like listening to someone having a conversation with another person. They make even toxoplasma sound like something I should know about.

Thing 20: Youtube

I actually just saw the best You Tube video that was posted on librarian.net.



I think that it is essential that libraries "get with the times" about digital technology. Our library did a commercial with the mayor that I'm not sure where it was shown, but it was "typical library". This time we are getting teens to do a commercial of their own where they can win $500 (the prize is sponsored).

Thing 19: Google Docs

So I use Google Docs alot and in fact did a talk for TechNet 2008 about the possibilities of using it for presentations that are portable instead of using a gigantic Powerpoint file. I find it pretty decent. My husband and I have a budget we share on the Excel portion of it and my resume is in the document form. I took the template from one of google's online templates that was submitted by its users.

There are parts of google docs that are simply not as good as word, but the potential for use is too great to ignore.

Thing 18: Wikis

Ugh. This is the one I do not, do not want to do. I do not like them, Sam I am! And being a mentor, I saw all the emails about the problems that different people had with the wetpaint wiki. What I don't like about most wikis is that you need an account on the wiki server to change any content. Sure I have a wikipedia account, but why do I need one for every random wiki I come across. I know that NTRLS uses them with some of their committees, but I'm still not feeling this one--unless the software is more like wikipedia and less like a clunky web page editor.

See, I've even edited some wikipedia pages...

20:22, 5 June 2007 (hist) (diff) Audiobook ‎ (Removed opinion sentence)
17:00, 15 February 2007 (hist) (diff) Talk:Sedition Act of 1918 ‎
15:47, 10 February 2007 (hist) (diff) David Sedaris ‎

More than that, but you get the idea.

Well after doing the paint, it is a lot easier than the pbwiki and has a nicer editing surface as well. Recommended much more than pbwiki

Thing 17: LibWorm

The last thing that was "blogged" about the arlington public library that is not virginia or ohio was a job posting from a year and a half ago. That was kind of disappointing. I also had trouble searching for The Time Traveler's Wife which I tried searching without the apostrophe, but it didn't like it either way because it took forever to load. It doesn't have all libraries and it looks like they aren't trying to be comprehensive, which is a shame. It also says its in beta, and I think this site has been around for quite awhile, so that is not good in my eyes. Doing a work related subject also did not turn up much. I don't think I would recommend this to anyone.

Thing LibraryThing

I'm at work so I can't catalog things I own truly, so I am going to try to remember which version I have on a couple. I chose Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper. It asked me which site I prefer LibraryThing to browse which I think is kind of interesting. I am going to choose the Library of Congress since it might save more metadata than amazon. I've used goodreads and I can definitely seen the difference. GoodReads is for the books I've read, and LibraryThing is for the books I own, and even if those two groups overlap, they are not the same. One thing that bothers me is that I have to pay to put more than 200 books on there, but they also let you do a lifetime sliding scale membership. I remember when they had $10 on there. I should have done it then!

Lilly Pulitzer Cosmetic Bag Giveaway

This is a GORGEOUS bag! And you can enter to win it at

http://www.laurennicolegifts.com/liputogienat.html

Thing 15: Digg

I don't know how I feel about Digg. It seems like an interesting site to see what the current "news" of the day is, but I already use SO many other 2.0 things... It reminds me of fark.com which aggregates news stories in a funny way, which is a 1.0 site. It is pretty sad, but I tend to use Boing Boing as my news source since I don't seem to find time to read newspapers or other magazines. I feel well read in books, but not in current events. Case in point: the Sotomayor hearings. The only thing I've heard about them is that one of the senator's asking her questions had once been turned down for a federal judgeship because he was (an accused) racist.

It is personally gratifying to see that one of the Harry Potter actors is a drug dealer on a visceral reality show, entertainment tonight way (I don't watch either of those things).

Thing 14: Delicious

So I like my delicious account because it is a portable bookmarks device. I've used it for awhile now, my first bookmark being in April 2007. It became really useful at my job because I am always moving from computer to computer and it wasn't keeping my favorites. Also when I go home and am trying to remember something I saw during the day? Forget it. My links are at http://delicious.com/butterflyvertigo/. The only thing I don't like are the random tags where I've only tagged one thing. Hello startrek and starwars! We are starting to use this at work thanks to a senior reference assistant at the main branch who is also doing 23things. I find great potential in using it as a depository of links so we can remember them and not just email them to each other when we think it might be useful.

Thing 13: Tagging

I love tagging. I know that there should be some set of agreed upon words to describe a thing, or a subject, but we as librarians need to get away from the antiquated versions of these. "Young Adults" or "Juvenile" anyone? How about my favorite pet peeve from our OPAC: "nonmusical sound recording"... perhaps you mean audiobook?

This is where my other pet peeve comes into play. It is almost impossible in a traditional OPAC to look up a genre. Or especially a subgenre. One place you can is at the Bedford Public Library because they have embraced library things tags and integrated them in the system.

For instance, when I look up Neuromancer, it gives me the regular subject headings, such as

Science fiction.
Hugo Award winner -- 1985.
Hugo Award winners.
Nebula Award winner -- 1984.
Nebula Award winners.

But it also gives me the option at the bottom to look up these tags

20th century artificial intelligence computers cyberpunk cyberspace dystopia Gibson Nebula
Award sci-fi science fiction sf sff speculative fiction virtual reality William Gibson

which I find much more useful if I am wanting more books like this.

Twitter 2

I just have to give props to Brent Spiner on Twitter. He was Data on Star Trek and I am not a HUGE star trek nerd but his tweets are almost like reading a story or sitcom or ... they are FUNNY.

Thing 12: Twitter

I started a twitter account a couple of months ago. My first tweet:

Playing with the iPhone and twitted10:02 PM Apr
2nd from mobile
web

The last time I heard about twitter? I guess that was in my car yesterday morning listening to 102.1 the edge and they said something about how they were on Twitter as they talked... I didn't try to look them up. [ed. I just did and I couldn't find it on their website so maybe I was wrong]. Diane Rehm from NPR does the same thing. The guys on MSNBC's Morning Joe do it too. And on NPR this morning they were talking about how the rest of the world is getting information out about Iran. You guessed it: Twitter...

My library is doing Twitter... we've got it posted on the front page http://twitter.com/ArlingtonTXLib. I'm not in charge of it but it looks interesting (I'm nominally "in charge" of the adult blog).

Thing 11: Instant Messaging

I used to instant message 9 years ago. I stopped doing it, partially because I only have one friend that still uses AIM (he won't get a facebook page). There was some point when it was cool to randomly chat with people that lived near you and I remember doing that was kind of fun... and I guess potentially dangerous as well even though I never tried to meet up with anyone. Our library is practicing with meebo and I really hope we start using it in a more publicized manner because I think that it would give people who either are shy on the phone or perhaps even our deaf patrons a way to communicate with us. I've used the facebook IM fairly recently as well as the Yahoo Messenger via Yahoo Mail.

Thing 10: Ning

From what I can tell about ning from an administrative standpoint, it would only be useful if you have a specific use for it. Arlington Reads tried to set one up for its volunteers to be able to connect and get useful information. You can see that there are sort of spammer joiners, which isn't helpful.

From a user standpoint, I don't see what the point of it is, unless I went to a website that I really liked and their community pages were on ning. For instance, Texas Prairie Farms updates the people that buy their produce on what is going on.

I don't think I will use this beyond this Thing, especially with their terms of service.