Well, there are huge gaps in my ongoing blog entries but I persist....I graduated with a BS in Library Science and Information Services magna cum laud from the University of Maine Augusta in January 2014. Still not using my degree per se. I currently reside in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon. A lot of library positions require bilingualism - Spanish specifically - so I fall short in that area. Also - I have yet to work with a computerized library system so the thought of applying for jobs in a highly competitive milieu exhausts me. It is daunting. But it will happen - somehow, somewhere, sometime I will be a working librarian.

My daughter left for an eight month journey through Europe so dreams keep coming true!

A lot of time has gone by...

A New Syndrome?

While the "Stockholm Syndrome" (which is a paradoxical psychological phenomoenon in which hostages develop positive feelings of empathy towards their captors) is perhaps one of the strangest syndromes known to man, I think I may be experiencing a new strain of mental syndrome which might be a common one. I'll call it the Oscillating Pre-Graduate Syndrome.

While I should be thrilled and excited at the prospect of graduating with a BS in Library Science and Information Services and furthermore of putting my training into practice in a traditional way, as I job hunt for various jobs I am inclined to shy away from actually working in a library. This makes me ever more thankful for almost having a degree that will enable me to experience this type of vacillation and still be successful as Library Science and Information Services is eclectic and generic enough to be applicable to a variety of careers. Surely my increased knowledge and skill set will make me a more productive and full bodied Administrative Assistant or Sales professional if it comes to that.

The Dream is always better than Reality...or is it.

Bridging the Gap

Okay. So it's been a long time since I have posted. I arrived in Oregon sometime around January 13th after spending a wonderful week in New York City with my daughter who was primed to see Broadway plays. We saw three: "How to Succeed in Business" starring Darren Criss; Seminar with Alan Rickman; and Wicked at the Gershwin theater. What a great experience this was - something I would never have done without my daughter pushing for it all the way. She booked us into a really cool hotel - the Paramount which was established in 1928. This hotel offered a very vintage and authentic environment and was economical. I recommend it to anyone thinking about going to Broadway. Recalling the plays reminds me of the importance of processing literary works on different levels, through different formats and genres. Live performance is a real treat!

Moving to Oregon

My mother Connie has MS. She has the slow progressing type of MS and yet, as she approaches her 76th birthday, I fear that the wretched disease is finally catching up with her. She can no longer walk everyday and has even more difficulty puttering around her garden as she used to do after being diagnosed with the disease. She lives in Portland, Oregon - in the suburbs, and I have been living 3,000 miles away in the state of Maine. After talking with her by phone over the holidays I am convinced that it is time to return to the west coast to be near her and to help her with anything I can. She has been a driving force in my life, loving and supportive, inspiring and influential, and I rejoice to return to her and to the rest of my family in Oregon.

Hence, I am applying for library positions in Oregon using the www.pnla.org website for up to date job listings. Since I won't have a BS degree conferred until the end of Spring 2012 semester, obtaining a job as a librarian may be problematic. To date I have applied to be a librarian at the Multnomah County Library (not hired) and have a pending application submitted to the Lakeview Public Library as a Children's Assistant Librarian. I think this would be a good place for me to start my new career. My college aged daughter is already grumbling about my choice of location as she is determined to live in the Portland metro area, tired of out of the way in the sticks small towns. We are not yet ready to part ways, so I hope that we can agree to love where ever we end up.

And for now, good bye beautiful Maine. I have loved your scenic views, your open friendly agressive people, your first light sunrises, your fresh delicious seafood, your poverty and richness.....

Finis!

Well, here it is January 4, 2012 - the new year has officially come yet I am just now taking a deep breath and realizing with a sense of satisfaction that my library practicum is indeed over. It was all that I hoped for and more. At the beginning of my practicum my learning objectives were to:
1. Organize and catalog a print collection online
2. Work cooperatively in a professional environment
3. Inventory the existing collection at MMC
4. Catalog & process new & donated items to the collection
5. Improve the security of said collection.

I at least partially fulfilled each of these objectives but fell short of the full realization of these ambitious goals. Retrospectively, out of all of these outlined objectives I believe that the most important objective was to: "work cooperatively in a professional environment". This can be more difficult than it sounds. Every workplace, no matter how positive, has its intricacies and subtle nuances which an individual staff member must adapt to. From the webpage "Quips and Tips for Achieving Your Goals" 8 suggestions are listed to enable people to be more effective in the workplace and to enjoy their job:

1. "Pull Your Own Weight"
2. "Write thank you notes - even to co-workers you dislike"
3. "Don't date your co-workers"
4. "Be flexible with change at work"
5. "Be sincere with co-workers"
6. "Treat everyone equally" within the hierarchy, from the lowest to the highest
7. "Focus on the future"
8. "Ditch negativity"

Hmm...these tips are food for thought. For me, working cooperatively in a professional environment meant constantly curbing my more independent nature to conform to the reality of other personalities at play in the workplace, individuals effecting my own work...listening to their ideas before acting on my own, not succumbing to corporate drama or participating in gossip, respecting the authority of the positions around me, staying focused on my own intended function within the team even when others were losing their focus.....

During my practicum I was privileged to work with very professional, able, energetic, experienced, and most importantly FUN people who had charisma and were open to mentoring me. I learned how pleasant a work environment could be and how important it is to be physically and mentally fit and balanced as an individual in order to be a cog rightly connected to the wheel. The importance of being discrete came to the forefront as staff changes occurred during my time as an intern and consequently subtle divisions and rumblings began to stress the internal personnel structure of the organization. Furthermore, the merits of being friendly and compassionate were pronounced when other staff members began to open up to me relating their more personal life stories and challenges.

As the new year progresses towards the apocalyptic end of the Mayan calendar in December 2012, I am filled with gratitude, amazement that I have come so far, excitement that my dreams are being realized (i.e. I am writing professional book reviews for School Library Journal) and hope for the future.

In the wake of resolutions already compromised, I am staying in the swim of things, peacefully treading water in a good place, enjoying the potentials inherent in my anticipation of things to come.

What does a bowl of oatmeal have in common with a librarian?

You may have a vague idea that oatmeal is a healthy food choice or you may be an alien from another planet in a distant galaxy far away







and have no idea that a hearty bowl of oatmeal can serve to reduce bad cholesterol, fight food cravings, contains lignans and antioxidants which strengthen one's immune system, and is heart healthy and simply an all around smart choice for librarians to make. But, just like the stereotypical image of a librarian spinster wearing thick framed glasses and a dour countenance;

















oatmeal has a bad rap as being bland and tasteless. Move over quaking oats to be replaced by this wonderful super-bowl of heart and brain healthy nutrients that taste delectable!







Kathie's Favorite Oatmeal

1 cup quick cooking oats
2 Tblsp flax seeds
2 Tblsp coconut
2 Tblsp dried cranberries (or blueberries)
1 Tblsp raisins
2 Tbsp slivered almonds

Peachy Keen Oatmeal

1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1 whole peach diced or canned sugarless peaches diced
2 Tblsp coconut
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp chopped walnuts


Pig in an Oatmeal Bowl

1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
2 Tbsp raisins
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 sausage patty diced (use a vegetarian sausage if preferred)

* coconut has anti-bacterial properties and is actually very good for teeth (when unsweetened). Toasted coconut adds a nice texture to oatmeal and releases coconut oil.

Ernst Haas

"Photography is a bridge between science and art. It brings to science what it needs most, the artistic sense, and to art, the proof that nothing can be imagined which cannot be matched in the counterpoints of nature" - Ernst Haas.

The library at Maine Media Workshops + College is named after Ernst Haas, a notable photographer who was born in Vienna, Austria in March 1921 and who died of a stroke in New York City in 1980. Haas was a renowned photojournalist whose work greatly contributed to new developments in the art of color photography. He also filmed many significant movies such as "The MisFits" and John Huston's "The Bible". Early in his career Haas photographed for Heute Magazine and Life magazine. For a chronology of his life events and career please view Silverstein Photography's Chronology at : http://www.brucesilverstein.com/documents/489364b15abdd.pdf.

In this chronology it is noted that Enrst Haas was invited to Maine Photographic Workshops between 1970 and 1974, a visit which began his teaching stints at various workshops throughout the world. Since the "Maine Photographic Workshops" weren't officially founded until 1980, Ernst Haas was involved with this organization from its earliest inception.

Good Reads Recommendation

A photography book recommended by "GoodReads.com" this month is:

"Linked Photographers' Guide

to Online Marketing and Social

Media"

by Rosh Sillars, Lindsay Renee Adler

Here are some more books photographers may be interested in:

The Dawn of the Color Photograph: Albert Kahn's Archives of the Planet
by David Okuefuna

Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
by David duChemin

Doing Documentary Work

by Robert Coles

Painting With Light by John Alton

Recipe of the Day November 12, 2011

Add some flavor and brain boosting power to your tuna sandwich.

"Brainy Tuna Sandwich"

Mix 1 can of tuna with 1 broiled salmon filet (flaked)

finely dice and mix in 3 tbsp purple onion

3 tbsp chopped walnuts

1 tbsp fresh dried dill or tarragon

Moisten with low fat mayo or "soyanaisse"

Serve on your favorite whole wheat bread

After lunch you may want to visit this site to exercise your brain:

http://www.positscience.com/games-teasers

Librarian's Recipe of the Day

As I stand each morning on the precipice of my spiritual terrain, expectantly overlooking the formidable field of my future hopes and aspirations sprawling before me (which include working as an Information Specialist or Librarian), I am saturated with the realization of how important it is to become fit, not just physically but mentally and spiritually – indeed, holistically. To work effectively, both competitively and collaboratively, in today’s information marketplace – I deduce that it is very important to have a healthy sense of self. What I’m getting at is the commonly widely accepted platitude that “IT IS IMPORTANT TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF”.

In the interest of balancing my self care and enhancing it with healthy nutrition, I have decided to frequently post a “brain healthy” recipe for librarians on the go. Nutrition can really impact the way you feel and improve brain function. If you don’t believe me listen to what Hippocrates, the father of medicine said in 460 B.C., approximately 2,500 years ago:

"Each one of the substances of a man's diet acts upon his body and changes it in some way, and upon these changes his whole life depends, whether he be in health, in sickness, or recovery." -Hippocrates

While working on my internship at Maine Media College I began to realize how important health is to a professional life – again not just physical well being but the mix of a well balanced life and outlook. Financial crisis was an almost overwhelming factor which I experienced throughout this semester, an ominous dark cloud looming over every day threatening to crash down upon me with bolts of lightning and sounding thunder, but I did not let this storm distract me and the courtesy and support of the staff at Maine Media College as well as the understanding and encouragement from my Professor Jodi Williams somehow pulled me through to the end of what is turning out to be a successful practicum. I was plagued with worries that impeded my level of functioning on some days, but my interest in the project and again, the encouragement and support of others, proved too strong a positive to allow any negative to win. Here follows a recipe for “Librarian’s Trail Mix” which is filled with brain boosting ingredients such as curry, a spice which, according to BBC News purportedly “appears to prevent the spread of amyloid protein plaques - thought to cause dementia - in the brain” as well as valuable omega 3’s from nuts such as cashews which according to Andrew Saul, author of “Fire Your Doctor! How to Be Independently Healthy” (2005) “.. a large handful of these tasty nuts provides one to two thousand milligrams of tryptophan which serves as a precursor for the syntheses of neurotransmitters (like serotonin)” . The inclusion of dried fruits such as cranberries and blueberries energize the mind and help improve blood flow which is essential to healthy brain function. To make “Librarian’s Trail Mix” start by roasting and seasoning pumpkin seeds and cashews by mixing the following:

2 large egg whites

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon garlic salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

juice of 1 lime

2 ½ cups cashews

2 cups pumpkin seeds

Generously coat the pumpkin seeds and cashews in the above mixture and roast in an oven at 350 degrees for approximately 30-45 minutes. After the nuts have dried and cooled, mix in some dried cranberries, blueberries, and sunflower seeds, Throw in some sesame stick crackers and voila! A healthy snack to nourish you throughout the roughest day. And remember: Take Care of Yourself!

“A study of one million students in New York showed that students who ate lunches that did not include artificial flavors, preservatives, and dyes did 14% better on IQ tests than students who ate lunches with … additives.”

(from: Nursing Assistant Central http://www.nursingassistantcentral.com).

Take A Quiz

Here's a fun quiz for catalogers using Library of Congress call numbers to use in order to hone their skills!

http://people.wcsu.edu/reitzj/lcquiz/lcquiz.html

Job Listings for information Specialists & Librarians

If you are a Librarian or Information Specialist and are looking for a job, here are a few sites that might be helpful in steering you towards your ideal position. For Maine residents or "wanna be" Maine residents, visit the Maine State Library's job page found on their website: www.maine.gov/msl/libs/jobjar/shtml . Want to go farther away? Check out the jobs page for listings in the Pacific Northwest: www.pnla.org/jobs which is frequently updated. For a nationwide job search specifically geared towards librarians visit this site which was first developed by Sarah Johnson of East Illinois University in May 1995: www.libraryjobpostings.org. This site is the most comprehensive geographically and can enable you to follow your professional dream where ever it may lead!

A few things I've learned

Mini "Post-Its" are a librarian's best friend - a valuable inclusion in a librarian's toolkit.

Maine Media College Internship

It will be sad to see my library practicum at Maine Media Workshop + College come to an end. The staff there have made me feel right at home and the many hours I have spent re-arranging the materials has been therapeutic. It is a wonderful meditative environment, classical music playing in the background and a friendly casually professional staff interacting with each other, students, and always encouraging me with praise and appreciation for my efforts.

On Monday I am going to push to finish everything since the weather seems to be flirting with snow showers and an early winter seems around the corner. I can't drive long distances with my un-winterized car. I am bringing my daughter and her friend Amelia (both college aged) to help scan film scripts involving a time consuming process using the copier, naming files and storing them on the main drive.

Also working on two or three grants, one with a deadline of November 10th! I was happy to come home last week and find another assignment from School Library Journal on my doorstep waiting for me. I read a book about Biotechnology this morning and will begin the review soon.

Here are some photos showing the library "in process"

My first Book Review

On Sunday I emailed the book review editor of SLJ my first book review. It was for a children's art book. I hope they publish my review. It was fun writing it. Before 10/25/2011 I have to finish 3 reviews of non-fiction materials. I have perused them and find them acceptable but rather customary and predictable.

Back to Work

Last night I spent the night in accommodations provided by MMC so that I can get a bright and early start on finishing the inventory of the library collection and culling rare books so that I can start the actual process of re-shelving and in this re-organizing the library so that it can be more functional. Issues of space will immediately come into play.

I think I can make better use of the back wall of shelves by removing magazines and placing them in another space. As the collection is now, the biography section is separated (not all shelved in one space) and reference items are intermixed with other categories. Today I will continue with the inventory but will also make a list of my proposals to date. Before acting on them I will check with my site supervisor, Chris Urquart. I will also ask her if I may take some boxes of uncatalogued materials home with me to catalog over the weekend.

At breakfast this morning I met a lovely woman from New York City who is attending photography workshops with her husband. She is planning on soon retiring from real estate to pursue her hobby of photography. We talked about places in Maine that are picturesque, about the air quality which led to conversations about Portland, Oregon, my hometown where most of my family members still reside. I feel so fortunate to have lived most of my life in two healthy, beautiful states, Maine and Oregon.

I began my work day by clicking some digital photos of the library in order to gather some "before" photos which I can later upload for my graphic documentation of this internship.

Fighting for my Education

Traveling down the road, windows open, the breeze flowing through your helplessly chaotic hair, you delight in the limitless potentials lying ahead of you (all dappled in sunlight) when suddenly you hit that disastrous bump in the road that sends you careening to the right or left of your dreams.

Well, that happened to me this past week. I was thrilled and happy to begin my internship with the Maine Media College and even more thrilled when my first book review assignment from School Library Journal arrived by UPS on Thursday. But in the midst of all of these successes a devastating financial development cast a pall over everything as my future (and my college aged daughter's) hangs tenuously in the balance.

May I lie down on your couch as I tell how my troubles all began? All summer long my used vehicle intermittently flashed its engine light on; first it was the thermostat, then the brakes, and then (after letting one of my daughter's friends who is just learning how to drive gun the engine through a mine field of pot holes in the parking lot at the Ed Center) a huge piece of plastic molding from the underside of the car fell off leaving the underbelly of the vehicle wide open for disaster. All of these repairs took an unwelcome bite out of my summer earnings but I managed to squeak by and still finance my daughter's vacation to Florida. (She had a very rough junior year in college and deserved a get away). Her vacation paid off by the way, she was able to meet see interesting people and see some interesting things while getting lots of rest and rejuvenating sunshine. However, near the end of the summer the car broke yet again (this time it needed an adjustor kit and a new starter) and I had to resort to taking out a short term payday advance from one of those loan companies. Well, I finally found a company online which seemed credible and which had reasonable terms. I took out a series of three loans and successfully paid each back (with interest). However, in all of my shopping around online for the perfect loan scenario, a couple of these companies processed my inquiry for a loan as an automatic acceptance of their terms and loan amounts (see http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/cmg_group.html) for more details of this terrible company and to view similar complaints about them. Now I, who have been just barely making it from paycheck to paycheck, am in deep financial "dew dew". They have apparently hired a mediation company called "Worldwide" to serve me with papers to appear in court for a charge comparable to writing a bad check. I never approved this loan and when I tried to repay it they would only accept a debit or credit card. I wasn't about to give them this information and didn't think at the time about the alternative of purchasing a prepaid debit card. Anyway, they have humiliated me at work and threatened to serve me with papers in the workplace. I had to call in sick from work yesterday to avoid them. I work at a retirement community as a waitress in the dining room where 3 centenarians and other elderly enjoy fine dining. I'm not about to expose them to a potentially dramatic and/or traumatic scene in which I am served with papers by a bounty hunter. I feel like I have lost this job and my hours were being cut back anyway. Now, on top of this I have learned that the Maine Department of Labor did not approve my application for unemployment stating that my leaving a part time seasonal job I had processing blueberries on the pick over table (in addition to my waitressing job at night) in order to attend school full time was a personal reason. Huh? Obtaining a degree is a personal reason, not a legitimate reason to leave a PT seasonal job? I explained to the adjudicator that this semester I am taking Biology with a lab, and Statistics (which is hard for me as I have never really liked math all that well) and a library practicum which is a 2 hour drive from my home and requires me to work 20 - 30 hours per week. Needless to say I am discouraged. I don't even have enough money to pay rent on time or the rest of my daughter' tuition. She wasn't all that happy living on campus in Machias, Maine so we have mutually decided to withdraw her from her classes and to regroup. This is her senior year yet I feel relieved to have her leave the traditional college scene which customarily includes overindulgence in alcohol and casual or experimental sex (things which she has blessedly escaped to date).

So, I need to deal with these things and gain control of my emotions and fears and study math and prepare for a test in Biology and make a plan for the future and decide how to make everything work.

Wednesday, September 21st

Today was another sunny clear autumn day in Maine which found me traveling on the road from Blue Hill to the Camden-Rockport area to work on site at the Maine Media College. I arrived on the campus around 9:30 after stopping in at the Ed Center in Rockland to print some inventory forms. After saying hello to Chris Urquart (who continues to be a phenomenal contact for me there - getting me set up with housing and free meals, and connected to IT personnel like Peter Kuhns who issued me a complimentary laptop today in order to work) I jumped right in and went to work. My first objective is to take an inventory of the current collection, getting an idea of what kind of order it is in while becoming familiar with their classification of books. The collection seems to have most everything classified as TR = Photography (using the Library of congress classification system- instead of a more detailed Dewey Decimal organization which separates books by type and topic more than the general designation of "photography". While sorting through the very interesting yet haphazard shelves of books, I culled the Rare Books (as per the advisement of Charles Altschul) and placed approximately 10-12 rare books in his office where they will be safely stored until we can purchase some type of lockable book case which will display them nicely. I told President Altschul that I will keep my eyes open for yard sales and estate sales, looking for an affordable yet distinguished piece of furniture in which to store the laudable collection of rare books.

Tonight I am weary from the drive and from working a waitressing shift this evening. The call to study math and biology fades as my heavy eyelids answer the beckoning voice of sleep. I have a lot to do tomorrow and am so happy with my progress today though I will be more focused on my project next week when my hours at the waitressing job are cut back to a minimum.

When Peter Kuhns issued my laptop today we had a chance to discuss my objective to create an online presentation of the print collection and photo collection using Omeka. He suggested that I research using the college's current proxy which is Drupal instead so that whatever I do will be integrated with the college's website. It makes perfect sense and by using Drupal he may be able to help me troubleshoot and implement open source API's as necessary.

I have a lot to do tomorrow! Stay tuned!