Sun-baked brain

I have recently returned from a vacation - a much needed vacation.  In fact, since I did not really start to unwind until a couple of days into the vacation, I would have gladly taken another 2 days off at the end.  Alas, duty called and I returned to work instead.  One of the onerous modern-day chores of "getting back to work" is going through all the figuratively piled up email, Google Reader feeds, etc.  As I did this, I came across an interesting blog post at In the Library with the Lead Pipe.   Basically, it is a musing about what librarians really are these days.  The best point made, I think, is that we seem to know more what we aren't rather than what we are.  This is quite true, in my opinion.  Librarians have worked feverishly to shed the stereotype of the uptight, bun-wearing, bespectacled keeper of quiet.  But we have yet to come up with an distinct new  identity.  And in the meantime, though we are still masters of navigating what is now a torrent of information, we seem to have lost the acknowledgment of that authority and skill by the general public.

Somewhat related to that article, but not entirely:  Right now we are making transformations on many fronts at HPL.  Most of them are not showy.  A few of them will be visible, but not in the "Hey look at that shiny new ______ that wasn't there before!"  Many of them have to do with the changing role of the library and the job of "librarian".  One of the visible ones is the changing "Information Desk" area.  Over the next weeks and months, this area and the function of the librarians staffing it will be changing.  We are focusing more on assisting patrons where they are, rather than making them come to a desk and feel as if they are interrupting our "work".  In fact, our work at the Information Desk has always been to be the spot to get a quick answer.  We have had varying degrees of success with that, so we are trying something different.

What's a summer time post without pictures from Summer Reading programs?  Nothing, I say!  Here's a picture of me reading Roger, the Jolly Pirate as part of this week's pirate-themed story time: