Kansas Library Express - Coming This Week!

On July 1, HPL will become a stop on the Kansas Library Express (KLE) courier system.  I know, "What the heck does that mean?" is surely what you are thinking.  The KLE is a system set up to rapidly exchange library materials between Kansas libraries.  A sort of turbo-charged inter-library loan (ILL) system.  There are about 240 of the 600+ Kansas libraries on the fledgling system so far.  HPL will be able to send and receive books and other material from those libraries with a much faster turn around than by using USPS book rate delivery.

What does that mean for the patrons of the library?  It means that if we can borrow something from a participating library, once ordered through the ILL system, that "something" will arrive within a day or two.  For staff, it means (hopefully) an easier way to ship library material back and forth.  From my point of view, I hope both of those things happen plus I hope HPL saves a little money on postage.  Time will tell for all those things, so please bear with us as we test out the new system.

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:

Book Review

I just finished reading Matthew Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft and I have to say that despite an affinity for casting about fancy words, Mr. Crawford makes tremendous sense.  In fact, I wish all those who are in positions of influencing education policy would read it.  The gist of Shop Class as Soulcraft is that we have, as a society, gone too far down the path of separating thinking from doing.  In the rush to accommodate the "Information Age", shop programs and the like were gutted from public schools.  This was a huge mistake in the sense that it virtually eliminated any alternate paths to what we think of as a satisfying or successful career and life.  It will make you want to read up on Aristotle and his ideas of a stochastic art or techne.

I invite you to take a look at this book and think about the implications for our society.  There is merit in Mr. Crawford's argument that should be seriously considered.

Make a Splash!

We made one.  Some of us did so literally!  I think I went in the tank at least 20 times.  A big thank you to all our hard-working staff members.  The Hutchinson Public Library has the best staff in the world!  Also, a big thank you to the wonderful group of volunteers who helped make all the fun possible.

I hope that everyone who attended had a great time.  I saw a lot of smiles from my rather unstable perch in the dunk tank.  A special thanks to Chris Orwoll from the Kansas Cosmosphere for coming over and helping us out - he's a good sport!

I didn't get to see much of what went on today outside my little cage, but photos are coming in so I thought I'd put a few up here.  I'll post more of them as they become available.  (Thank you Michelle for this batch of pictures!)

This is the Overdrive Digital Bookmobile.  They rolled in and demonstrated all the cool things you can download from their service.  HPL subscribes to OverDrive - all you need is a library card and you can download audiobooks to your heart's content!

I have no idea what is going on here, except it looks like fun!

Hutchinson Fire Department rocks!  They brought the big ladder truck.  I love the ladder truck.