Gender bias or gender difference?

I am so sick of people talking about gender bias, especially regarding management. I'm sure it happens here and there, but overall we're pretty much equal as far as employment goes. In the library world, most of us are women. Yet a much larger percentage of library directors are men. Why is that? Are people still so sexist they have to hire a man to do the job? But wait: how many women vs. men apply for management postitions? Men just tend to be more ambitious. That's how it is. Many women have no interest in having power.

Regarding salary (in)equity, I believe that men are generally more daring when negotiating salaries. I also believe that they are more proactive in asking for pay raises, if applicable. There are differences between the genders. I don't know about you, but I'm glad we aren't all the same.

Photo courtesy meganpru

We read banned books

The most challenged book of both 2006 and 2007 is a children's book based on a true story of a couple male penguins raising a chick from an orphaned egg. The book is And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. It must be a terrible book if it's been challenged more than any other for the past two years, right?

The library I work for is in a conservative community, so they never even purchased the book to begin with. After thinking about it for a while, I finally ordered the book through ILL (inter-library loan) from another library that saw value in adding this wonderful children's book to their collection. I was surprised it was as good as it was. It was so sweet, I almost cried. What on earth could be wrong with it?

What a good book to teach children about different families and about adoption. Oh no, they're gay! People really piss me off. Kids everywhere are not getting the chance to read this book that's destined to become a classic. Why? Because their parents are homophobic. This really happened, people! Get over yourselves and realize that homosexuality is perfectly natural. For goodness sake, don't teach your children to hate!

I bought my own copy, and I recommend that everyone else buy at least one copy. Buy one for family, buy one for friends. 

Note: The library where I work has bought a few copies since this post. They are shelved in the "Parenting" section.

Classify by discipline, not subject

While looking through this book I cataloged at my internship this morning, I had an epiphany. Let me begin by saying that they don't really teach the Dewey Decimal Classification System in library school anymore. We briefly covered it in my cataloging class, but it wasn't enough to learn how to build numbers. Recently, this problem has been a big topic among catalogers and library schools. That's the most important reason for an internship- to learn this stuff and get practice. Anyways, this book explained that the DDC is arranged by discipline, and not by subject. At first they sound the same, especially since we say "subject" for the classification numbers at work, but there is a distinct difference. "It is the mode of discussion that is scientific, not the subject." Since the mode of discussion for theology books is "scientific," they are cataloged as nonfiction. Otherwise they would have to be fiction, of course.

How can you read if you dont know how it works?

How do millions of people function (arguably) well in this world without logic?

• PIN number is redundant.

• Creating realistic scenarios is the way to write a good book that people might actually learn something from. These idiots apparently don't understand that. The author responded with a quick lesson, though.

• Banning a book makes it more popular.

• There is always something to do.

Creating displays:

• Put the taller items in the back.
• If you put up multiple copies (say 2) of an item (like a book), you only have to refill the display half as often!!
• Grouping like items is efficient.
• Standing up trade paperbacks is a bad idea.

Did you say bitch?

I must say, sometimes working in the library really is a hoot. Yesterday, a customer asked me if I went home and shouted after having to talk quietly all day. Sorry to disappoint, dear sir, but I actually talk like this all the time. That is part of the reason I started working in a library in the first place.

Today I helped an older lady who is hard of hearing. She was looking for a book that is titled "Skinny Bitch." She comes up to me and attempts to whisper that she is looking for a diet book that has something to do with "bitches." Only her whisper is quite loud and everyone in the building turned to look!

Shelving logic

Shelving logic. Does that mean "how do you shelve logic?" No, silly... it's how you use logic to shelve most efficiently. I suppose some people like running back and forth across the library and shelving one book at a time. They must simply not care if things don't get accomplished. This has been bugging me for a long time, so I made a quick illustration of how one might see books waiting to be shelved in the back room of a library.

Each letter represents a section of the library in which those books need to be shelved. Now, say you have a small cart and you can choose whichever of these items you want to put on the cart and take out to shelve. What do you choose? Do you just randomly grab as many books as will fit on your cart? Do you take the two A sections from the third cart? No!!! What the hell is wrong with people?? You take all of the A's from all of the carts. Or if you're in a different kind of mood, take the B's and C's from all the carts. That way you can shelve them all at the same time without randomly walking back and forth across the library! Why do people want to be inefficient? Gheez!

What I want for my career

In case you didn't know, I decided that I want to be a cataloger when I grow up. I guess that means in a couple years. Hey, I'll be almost 30. Some people make such a big deal about that age- I don't really care except that I find it kinda funny that age 30 is when I will "grow up." If I have to be a regular librarian, though, I figured out the most awesome job. I was listening to Point of Inquiry (the podcast of the Center for Inquiry), as I often do, and they had someone on talking about secular humanism. I thought it would be cool to look more into it, and it turns out they are housed within the Center for Inquiry. Not to downplay secular humanism or anything, but that isn't the topic at hand. While I was at the site, the thought popped into my head that they probably have a library. The Center for Inquiry Libraries house several large collections. Rockin'!! So, if I have to be a regular librarian, I would want to work either there or at the American Atheist headquarters (not sure how big their library is at the moment). Hey, could I then join the American Theological Library Association? LOL Wouldn't that be a trip?