Category: General Interest

Goodie bags with a surprise for staff

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Everyone who picked up a dessert/surprise bag from the Thornton Room today found a poem enclosed in the bag.  I had a lot of fun selecting them and making copies to share with you (there were 6 bags still waiting for someone to take them home when I left the Thornton Room, please get yours if you missed out).  “Don’t Go Into the Library” was one of my favorites (below), and I’ll post two more next week.  I hope you enjoyed the one you got!  This is from the compilation Books and Libraries: Poems,  Andrew D. Scrimgeour (editor).  Everyman’s Library, Blackwell’s.  2021.

DON’T GO INTO THE LIBRARY

The library is dangerous –
Don’t go in.  If you do

You know what will happen.
It’s like a pet store or a bakery –

Every single time you’ll come out of there
Holding something in your arms.

Those novels with their big eyes and wagging tails.
Those non-nonsense, all-muscle Dobermans,

All nonfiction and business,
Cuddly when they’re young.

But then the first page is turned and no turning back.
And those sleek, fast, beautiful greyhounds: poems.

The doughnut scent of it all, knowledge,
The aroma of coffee being made

In all those books, something for everyone,
The deli offerings of civilization itself.

The library is the book of books,
Its concrete and wood and glass covers

Keeping within them the very big
Very long story of everything.

The library is dangerous, full
Of answers.  If you go inside,

You may not come out
The same person who went in.

–Alberto Rios

IDEA Committee Survey Regarding Workplace Amenities

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Established employees at the OC Libraries know that there are a wide variety of avenues we can take to secure workplace-related amenities. It feels like over the years, we develop a “sixth sense” about what sort of things are appropriate to ask of our department heads, of CIT, of Bill Ruth, etc. However, this information is not well-documented or codified, and especially for new employees, these resources may not be altogether obvious.

The IDEA Committee would like to address this problem by creating this documentation for current and future employees. Please help us in our efforts by answering the survey locations located here.

To clarify, by “workplace amenities” we are referring to equipment, tools, software, etc. that improves your working environment. These should not rise to the level of requests that fall under ADA accommodations. These must be taken up with Human Resources, and the form for those requests can be found here.

Please complete the survey by Friday, January 21st! Thank you so much for your participation.

PanLibrary Forum time change

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Now I remember one of those things I wanted to update you on!

The Library Council has suggested that our PanLibrary Forums should be rescheduled to allow for the maximum number of staff to attend. They suggested an afternoon time, specifically 3:00-4:00pm.

Please use the comment section to let me know if that doesn’t work for you or your department.  We are thinking of the FIRST TUESDAY of every month, beginning in February.

Thoughts?