Better than LibraryThing?

I just found another site for cataloging your books–www.goodreads.com.  It is positioned as social networking for readers.

It seems very similar to LibraryThing.com.  However–and this is a big however–it doesn’t seem to charge you after you’ve entered 200 books.  It does allow you to post reviews and rate your books and all that good stuff.

I’m curious–Do people out there have an opinion on www.goodreads.com as opposed to www.librarything.com?  I’m thinking perhaps I should make a goodreads account and post my reviews to that site as well…  But I will probably only go with one of those two sites, and I already know of a few friends who use librarything.  What do you all think?

Thing #13

Our 13th of 23 Things for my library’s “Learning 2.0” program is to explore http://del.icio.us and tagging.

However, they didn’t want us to install del.icio.us buttons on our work computers, so it seemed to me that kind of defeated the purpose.  The idea is to tag your bookmarks–the more easily to find them later.  I’ll have to try it on my computer at home.  I do like the idea.

I was interested in the articles I read about tagging.  Especially so because next week, I’m starting a graduate class called “Content Representation.”  It’s about indexing.  I’ve already started doing a little bit of the reading.  It seems to me that tagging on websites is like a grand indexing project done by laypeople.  You won’t have standard terms used, but the sheer power of hundreds of thousands of people doing it will create some useful links.

It’s going to be interesting to see if my Content Representation class talks about how wildly popular tagging has become.

One of the articles–I can’t seem to find it now–said that the strength of Google’s gmail is that they allow you to tag e-mails rather than assign them to only one folder.

When an item can only be in one folder, that’s hierarchal organization.  But with tags, you don’t have to stick to a hierarchy.  You can assign multiple tags to each file.

I’m loving this aspect of tags with my book reviews.  I still have my main site, www.sonderbooks.com, organized in a hierarchy.  I have reviews divided into groups:  Nonfiction, Fiction, Teen Fiction, Children’s Fiction, Children’s Nonfiction, and Picture Books.  Within those categories, I have the books divided by genre.  But I can only put each book into one genre.  What do I do with the Thursday Next books, which are part Science Fiction, part Fantasy, part Humor, part Mystery, and part Literary Farce?  I think I chose Science Fiction, but it was a tough choice.

Enter tags.  Now I have a blog alongside my site, at www.sonderbooks.com/blog/.  In the blog, I post the reviews as well–but now I can tag them according to multiple characteristics.  Lovely!

In Memory of Madeleine L’Engle

I was saddened to read, a few moments ago, that Madeleine L’Engle has died, at the age of 88.

I’m not sad for her.  I’m sure she’s gone on to a glorious adventure in heaven.  I’m selfishly sad that there will be no more wonderful books coming from her pen.  And sad that I never got to meet her–someone who has affected my life deeply with her wonderful words.

Children’s Writers

I’ve decided that people who write for children and young adults are an extremely intelligent bunch.

I’m reading my new issue of The Horn Book Magazine, and this month it’s got many short essays by children’s writers on gender issues.  I’m struck afresh by how brilliant these people are.

There was an interview with Jon Scieszka.  The man is wonderfully funny, and his books are full of boyish pranks (no surprise to learn he’s from a family of all boys).  But how amazingly insightful he is as well.  Part of why I love reading Horn Book Magazine is that big issues are dealt with in a thought-provoking, powerful way.

Then I realize it’s not the first time I’ve heard wisdom from children’s writers.  Susan Patron’s Newbery Acceptance Speech.  David Wiesner’s Caldecott Acceptance Speech.  Okay, every single author I heard speak at ALA–and for the Printz Awards, even the Honor winners had to speak.  Then there’s John and Hank Green’s Brotherhood 2.0 site–full of tremendously clever, tremendously funny, nerdy humor.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people who can express profound truths through fiction also turn out to be deep thinkers.

Thing # 12

Okay, I just did the 12th “Thing” for my work’s 23 Things program:  Create your own Search Roll.

I made two.  One searches yarn shops.  After all, if there’s a specific yarn I’m looking for, I like to see who has it (or the equivalent) for the lowest price.  That’s at: 

http://rollyo.com/sondysue/my_yarn_shops/
I also did a search for several blogs that cover children’s books.  That search roll is: http://rollyo.com/sondysue/my_childrens_lit_blogs/

Could be useful, but usually I’ll just search the sites individually…. 

School Schedules

It was easier to have a kid in school when I wasn’t working.

Tonight I got the school schedule for my son starting 8th grade.  In the first month, there are already four days where I will have to move around my work hours to accommodate school stuff.  Urghh!

Math Counts is the only after school activity which I have the faintest hope of getting my son to participate in.  Fortunately, this year the Math Counts coach knows about him–so I’m hoping she can keep him from skipping it and saying, “I forgot.”  🙂  He’s completed Geometry and is good at Math, so I think he could enjoy this.  But they start September 19th–and the late buses don’t start until October–so there are 2 times I will need to reschedule my work hours.

Back to School Night is held at 7 pm, so working parents should be able to go.  Unfortunately, they picked Thursday night, which is the one night per week that I work.

Then, the first Wednesday in October, they’ve scheduled a parent information meeting about the local magnet high school.  It’s supposed to be strong in science and technology, and so might be just the thing for my Nerdfighter son.  The meeting’s from 3 to 4:30, however.

Still, I only work half-time, and my boss is very supportive and accommodating.

And the truth is, when I think back to last year, even though I wasn’t working, things were a whole lot more stressful.  We weren’t in our apartment yet and didn’t have our household goods, but were living in my friend’s basement–so we had to register as Homeless!  We had to buy all new school supplies.  I was trying to get my older son ready to start college in Florida.  I was trying to get myself ready to start online graduate school.

Yeah, okay, I’d rather be settled in and working!

Thing #11

I’m back at work, continuing in the “23 Things” program.

For Thing 11, I tried out Library Thing.  My account is at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/SondySue.

Library Thing is a site to catalog your library books.  A fun idea!  You can catalog 200 books for free–seems like a kind of piddly amount.  Still, for $25 you can get a lifetime subscription and catalog as many as you want.

One fun thing about this–After cataloging five books, I decided to see what books Library Thing would recommend I should read next.  Sure enough, most of the books listed are ones I already have–and love.  But the first one was new to me–so I’m going to check it out and read it–the comments do make it sound like a book I’d like.

So, the question is:  Is Library Thing worth it for someone who has a bad habit of buying books?  Would I really even begin to get them entered?  Would it maybe embarrass me and help me finally control my book-buying?

I do have my own system of keeping track of my books–and I review everything I read (Well, okay, I’m a year behind–but I try!) on www.sonderbooks.com.  Library Thing could be interesting in “meeting” people who enjoy the same books, but I’m not sure I have time or interest in keeping it up….  Maybe I will enter some more books, or maybe enter books as I review them, and see what I think.

I Love Libraries!

Today our branch manager mentioned that last month our juvenile circulation was up by 40%.  She said she believed this was because a second children’s librarian and I have been added to the staff.  When the library only had one person in the children’s department, she naturally wasn’t able to keep the children’s desk manned.  Now we have someone sitting among the children’s books almost all the time.

It felt good to be told that my presence has made a difference.  Sometimes I sit back there and feel like I’m only getting the opportunity to smile at babies, hear clever children read, and start the computer for kids.  Fun for me, but is it helping anyone?

But yesterday I got to help a Dad find summer reading books for his first grader.  I got to find more train books for our little friend Miles.  And I even got to help my friend Darlene’s adorable children find books to check out.

(I know my former boss will wonder if the stats are up simply because I use that library now.  However, I’ve been checking out more YA books than Juvenile ones, honest!)

And really, even if I don’t hand them a book, surely it’s a good thing to win the heart of a toddler, as I got the chance to do today, simply by smiling at him.  The mother was one of our many, many immigrant patrons, and I think she felt a little more welcome when I obviously thought her son was adorable.

I do love libraries.  You get to meet parents who care about their kids enough to read to them.  You get to share amazing books with amazing kids.  It was nice to be reminded today how privileged I am to work at a library.  Also nice to hear that my having fun at the library might even be making a difference!

The Latest

Here’s what I sent in an e-mail to my friends, just what’s going on in my life these days:

It’s now been almost a year since I came to Virginia with Timothy and Josh.  I’ve been very blessed this year.
We spent the first few months living in Darlene’s basement–so generous of them to let us stay there!  I especially enjoyed the chance to get to know Darlene’s brilliant and adorable kids, Ryan & Michelle.  But by far the hugest blessing of living here has been the chance to interact so frequently with two such wonderful friends–Darlene and Kathe.
And they go to a wonderful church, Gateway Community.  I joined the home group that Kathe and Darlene attend, and that group helped me tackle the daunting job of moving in when my furniture came in October–completely dissassembled.  I still haven’t completely finished the job of unpacking and moving in, but it’s getting close, and these dear people pitching in to help, right at the start, made an enormous difference.
Josh left in October to attend Full Sail Real World Education in Orlando, Florida.  He’s studying film, and is already only a year away from getting his Bachelor’s degree.  (It’s an accelerated, intensified program that goes year-round.)  He has already directed his first short film, and he loves it!  I’m thrilled to see him enjoying it so much, and excelling.
Timothy attends the school where our church meets on Sundays.  I can’t say that he enjoys it, but I can tell it’s a great school–You know it’s a good sign when every teacher at Back-to-School Night says how glad they are to get to teach there.  Timothy did have a rough year, but at his lowest, I was impressed at how his teachers noticed and cared and helped him get back on track.
Though his biggest boost came when he got to visit his Dad in Japan over Spring Break.  And he’s thoroughly enjoying having the summer off.  In this year, he became a teenager and shot past me in height, and seems to be still growing.  He completed Geometry in 7th grade, and at this school that’s not even unusual, so he will smoothly go into a computerized Algebra II class next year.
I’ve been taking online classes with Drexel University to get my Master’s in Library and Information Science.  I’m now on my 4th quarter.  I’ve loved my classes, and only have two classes left–I’ll finish in December.  It worked out nicely that I was able to be a full-time student until this summer.
And I got a great job!  I was starting to feel desperate, applying for jobs that didn’t show any interest.  I had started looking at jobs in DC, even though that would be an awful commute.  Before Spring Break, I hated the thought of spending so much less time with Timothy, as well.
And then, at just the right time, when Timothy was doing better, and I had almost finished my 3rd full-time quarter, a job came up at the local library my friend Kathe uses, and I got it!  It’s a half-time Library Assistant position in the Children’s Department–perfect for me.  On a good day, I can get to work in 7 minutes, which is fabulous as well.  Sometimes I get to see my friends at the library, or get to have lunch with them.  It’s a real treat to work there.
And they are very supportive of my classes, and very encouraging about the possibility of getting a promotion to a librarian job after I finish my degree.  So that’s tremendously encouraging.
Lately, I’ve gotten my website of book reviews revised and I’m posting again:  www.sonderbooks.com.  I’m also enjoying writing a couple of other blogs.  To keep an attitude of thankfulness, I’m trying to post every day something I’m thankful for at www.sonderbooks.com/sonderblessings.  And I’m also collecting inspiring quotations at www.sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes.  For just “ordinary” blogging, and pictures, I’m using www.sonderbooks.com/sonderjourneys.  They all have links to each other, so you can go to one and be able to access the others.
I guess using these blogs, I’m not feeling as much need to send out general e-mail newsletters.  With the blogs, people will only read it who want to read it, and I don’t feel like I’m clogging anyone’s inbox.  But I did get to thinking that I should let people know they are there!  So now I’m telling my friends and family:  take a look at my blogs now and then!  🙂  Life is good, and I’d like to share it with you.
God has been very faithful this past year.  I feel very loved and cared for by my friends and the people at church.
I got to go to the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC, this past June and got to meet lots of authors and got very excited about becoming a librarian.
This month, Steve will move from Japan to Langley AFB, in the Southeast corner of Virginia.  It’s about 3 to 4 hours away.  We are still married, and I am still praying with all my heart for our marriage to be restored.  In the meantime, it’s a distance where it will be much easier for Timothy to spend time more regularly with his Dad.
On August 26, Steve will arrive, and on August 27, I’m going to drive Timothy down so he can spend a week with his Dad before school starts the day after Labor Day.  My own summer quarter ends at midnight the night of Labor Day, so Timothy and I don’t have any overlapping vacation left–but at least I can do most of the hard work on projects during that week when Timothy’s with Steve.
Timothy and I didn’t really do a summer vacation this year.  Josh came to spend a week with us around Independence Day, but with my classes, we’re mainly just hanging out at home–which is what Timothy prefers, anyway.  Next year, I should have some vacation time built up, so maybe we can begin seeing America.  (Oh, and next year, ALA Conference is happening in Anaheim–sounds like a great reason to visit family!)
So–that’s the latest with us!  I love hearing from you all–and will do my best to answer.  Please forgive me if I’m too scatter-brained to do it–just e-mail to me again!  Right now I really should be working on my class projects, but it was nice to take a break!

Thing #10

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Thing 10 is to play around with image generators.  I thought I’d make a sign in honor of the logo of http://www.rejoiceministries.org — God Heals Hurting Marriages.

The catch is that the image I generated on the site, http://www.letterjames.com/, is much bigger and easier to read than what I was able to save.  A little bit frustrating.

However, on the site you can upload your own pictures and then make albums and calendars and things like that.  Could be a lot of fun.