No...don't go yet!

Because all those end-of-year orders are finally coming in. Lovely, juicy new books. Check out these covers:


On the shelf at 322.44083 L569.


On the shelf at 782.42164092 B38l.

and...

On the shelf at 808.02 H231y.

Yes, we ARE open this summer!

Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to noon. I've promised Michelle that we'll e-mail her when new issues of Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat come in. I also promised to bring her any freebie manga I pick up at the ALA annual conference in New Orleans. Any other requests?

It's not fair that I've got a horrible cold now that the weather is warm. I suppose it's my penance for not having to take finals. The library is full of serious crammers.

And later that same day...

Same table, this time seniors. No cramming for these guys. Just a rousing game of Command and Conquer Generals. Rank has its privileges.

Beginnings and endings

The beginning I'm thinking of right now is the rollout of the new design of the school's website. Pretty slick! I kind of miss the abundance of rollover candid photos, especially on the library link, but I have to admit that they were slow to load and not actually necessary. The ending I'm referring to is, of course, the end of the school year, which was officially launched during yesterday's awards ceremony. I was delighted by the honor given to Principal/Director Kassie Patton, who was selected as Administrator of the Year by the Illinois Journalism Education Association. She was nominated by journalism teacher, Mr. David "Never-Sleeps-A-Wink" Porreca, who praised her unstinting support of a student free press. If I ever had a challenge in the library, I am sure she would be just as supportive of students' rights to access information.

And what would the end of school be without some last minute cramming? Chelsea has found a comfortable spot in the library to do just that.

Manga Club rules

It's past time that I give props to the Manga Club, newly formed this year. They have single-handedly revived the otherwise moribund Book Chat. Check out their thread , which has topped 400 posts, w00t! The small-but-mighty club is now immortalized in the Photo Gallery as well.

I can't believe that the regular class schedule ends tomorrow, with finals next week. It's been wildly busy around here lately, with last minute projects, interviews for a new social studies teacher, various audio-visual equipment mishaps, and the usual assortment of end-of-the-year activities. Then suddenly, too suddenly, it will get all quiet around here and we'll be sad.

Staff picks

Just in time for summer, we've put up a display of staff picks for your reading pleasure. Here's a glimpse of the student assistant "wall." These guys are so photogenic, I'm thinking we should consider a calendar for next year...

Too much 21st century

I'm experiencing one of those it-could-only-happen-in-the-21st-centuries evenings. My husband, my son, my son's girlfriend and I are sharing an AIM chat while the three of them watch the season finale of 24. Daniel and Kathy are in Chicago, Mitch is upstairs, and I'm downstairs. Mind you, I'm not watching the show and haven't, except for the odd episode or two. I figure Grey's Anatomy is enough to keep up with. So I'm observing this conversation scroll by and, let me tell you, it doesn't make much sense. Found poetry, that's what it is. Here are some snippets.

revenge of the bald guys.
jack bauer, army of one
army + spy + counter-terrorist + diplomat (not) all in one
he was fired earlier today!
is morris her one-night stand?
he's already found a retail job!
well if he can fix the recording in his sleep, why doesn't he?
is she going to start undressing?
that is a good tactic
oh, too good. now she is stuck with him
she's totally repulsed
he's slime personified
he needs a quarter for the copy machine
she had to go to the necessary room
isn't it a crime to assault a navy pilot?
the pilot doesn't buy it
he looks suspicious
jack has his dark visor down. that seems a bit odd, i think
ha! look at those eyes
the electricity on in the warehouse?
logan is caving already
10 minutes is like a month to jack

And finally, from the cat:
tgyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyhtggggggggggggggggggg

Stupendous seniors

Today was the last RifRaf meeting with our seniors. Next week they'll be on their class trip to Six Flags. It was only fitting that Batia should read aloud to us, for the VERY last time, from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. Not a dry eye in the house.

That time of the semester

Today was the first day for Computer Literacy 2 project presentations. Each group of three students will take its turn in the spotlight. The students will describe how they worked together for nine weeks to achieve a common goal, demonstrate the project itself, and publicly evaluate their work. It can be kind of scary to stand up in front of your peers and four teachers (who all have evaluation forms to fill out) and recount what you would have done differently. I thought I'd capture the moment by pointing the camera lens at some of these judges. Which ones do you think are the nice judges and which ones are the mean judges?

Delete DOPA

DOPA is the Deleting Online Predators Act introduced last week by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA). This bill would update the federal law that currently requires schools and libraries that receive federal E-Rate money to install Internet filtering software. Specifically, the bill would prohibit access to commercial social networking websites or chat rooms. The idea is that these virtual spaces make it easy for online predators to subject minors to "unlawful sexual advances, unlawful requests for sexual favors, or repeated offensive comments of a sexual nature."

I am reminded again of all the dangerous things that can happen when the wrong person gets ahold of a pencil.

But sarcasm aside, this whole topic has generated very interesting commentary in some of the blogs I read. Check out Andy Carvin's post on the PBSLearning website and Doug Johnson's excerpt from Nancy Willard's analysis of the political pressures that encourage legislation like this. Politicians always look good if it appears they are trying to protect children. Doug also posted the opposition letter he sent to his representative. Additional thoughtful commentary can be found on Joyce Valenza's blog and Christopher "Infomancy" Harris's blog. Infomancy links to Meredith Wolfwater's discussion of the many ways social networking software can enrich library services.

On the lighter side, there's Snubster.com, a new "reverse" social networking site I just read about in School Library Journal. On Snubster, instead of adding friends, you add people or things you don't like. I like these entries from random member Carlos: people who bring kids to R-rated movies (they are noisy and annoying), flip flops (he doesn't want to see your feet), Patty's Dry Cleaning (they charge too much), and self control ("It always fails me when I'm in front of a pizza, cookies, or cake").

MY radio

I can't believe I didn't know about this. Now that I do, I may not come up for air for awhile. The folks at the Music Genome Project have developed Pandora, software that "learns" what music you like and streams it to your desktop. You enter a song or an artist and Pandora creates a "radio station" that plays music it thinks you will like. Here's the blurb about how it's done:

For almost six years now, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of thirty musician-analysts have been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

The "learning" part comes in as the user gives song feedback. The songs that play from that point on will change to reflect those preferences. Now THAT'S cataloging.

Strange courtships

It's very odd when the merits of your life get reduced to the information you can squeeze onto a form or a resume, into a couple of essays, or during a face-to-face interview with people you don't know at all. For our seniors, this strange dance gets played out in the college application process. This simple posting of college destinations belies the huge amount of effort that goes into the process, on both sides.

I am on two search committees right now, one for a new social studies teacher and the other for the Associate University Librarian for Services at the University Library. The hiring process bears a lot of resemblance to the college application process. As well as scrutiny of one another, there is definitely a courtship ritual. Max told us about colleges throwing food at him. But our last AUL candidate has him beat. He had a couple of hours with a realtor, who picked him up in a white stretch limo. No lie. But when the college decision is made or the job is accepted, no more free food and no more limo rides. Courtship over.

From the "What were they thinking?" department

When Tanya was processing our new four-volume Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport this morning, she couldn't help but notice the humor in how the volumes are divided:



Volume 3 is sort of unfortunate, but volume 4 is just downright funny.

I guess we're not the only ones

While catching up with my feed of the Resource Shelf, I came across this link to an entry in Andy Carvin's blog about a school that has been banned from editing Wikipedia articles after repeated acts of vandalism. The comments in response to Carvin's blog entry reveal just how pervasive the Wikipedia vandalism problem has become in many high schools. I was plenty annoyed when similar hijinks went on right under my nose one day during a lesson I was teaching on website evaluation. But I like to think that our students are generally more respectful than the students at these other schools, though I may be overly optimistic.

I also like to think that the absence of filtering and other artificial barriers in our environment means that the temptation to vandalize (or download pornography or otherwise behave inappropriately online) loses its luster. I'm sure other factors like school size and student-teacher ratio come into play. Or maybe I'm all wet about the rate of vandalism perpetrated by Uni students. But, you know, I don't think I am. Let me know if you think otherwise.

The power of print

There's been some hooplah around here about the fact that Uni has been named one of 21 "public elite" high schools by Newsweek Magazine. The front page of the Online Gargoyle has a picture of Jessica reading it in the library. And there's also an editorial from Michelle about what it really means to be pegged for such an honor.

The Newsweek cover story is about successful high schools and I thought the list of 21 was only on their website. But no, it's in tangible form on slick magazine paper. Somehow that feels different to me, don't really know why. Here's a scanned image of our bit of hard copy fame:

Final installment on comics, for now

I had originally promised to compile a list of web comics that people read regularly. I wanted to do this, honest, all categorized and with live links too. But I just don't have time. And others have told me that it's not necessary, as long as I'm linking to the original post (see above) with all the suggestions in the comments. So I'll compromise. The link to the post with the lists is above and I'll add here some new suggestions from Joy:

Inverloch
No Need for Bushido
Ctrl+Alt+Del
The Order of the Stick
VG Cats
Chooken
Vendetta (which doesn't seem to be working today)

Silver screen

The theme of this year's prom is "All the glitter and glamour of the silver screen." So Corinne and Jenny (with help from Sara and Rose) put together a display of books with dance scenes in them. They put up everything from Pride and Prejudice (Fiction Au7p1996) to Boy Meets Boy (Fiction L57922b). Joy (with input from Leslie) and Aliisa contributed their artwork to effort. Joy's figures are on the right, Aliisa's are on the left:



Joy is the new cartoonist for the online Gargoyle.

More on comics

A few entries ago, I asked people to tell me what web comics they read on a regular basis. I got some lovely long lists (thanks Rose, Emy1, and Manga Lord!) and others stopped by to just tell me in person. One comic that came up several times was Dinosaur Comics. Go there, read today's strip, and be sure to notice the "moral" as you hover over the images. Then look at yesterday's strip. And the strip from the day before that. Get it? How hard would it be to make this happen EVERY DAY?

I worry a bit about how comic strip creators make a living. That's one reason I'll buy the Dinosaur Comics book, "The Best of Dinosaur Comics: 2003-2005 AD," as soon as soon as the new fiscal year starts and I can spend money again.