Library work: Refreshing change in environment

During my weekly stint as a library volunteer, I see a growing stack of books — and CDs and DVDs — that will be sent to people who requested them. These successful connections are the direct result of my volunteer effort. Those 800,000 hold requests a year throughout our three-county system are tangible results. (Figure based on number of holds placed by Sonoma County Library cardholders during Fiscal Year 2009, as reported in the Winter 2010 issue, Sonoma County Library Newsletter.)

Lake County Library: What’s next after pulling holds

The column I wrote for next Tuesday’s Lake County Record-Bee is about the time I spent pulling requested items from the library shelves last Saturday. Today I got hands-on experience in the next step of the process.

Toastmasters ad lib Dewey-shelved books

For the Table Topics exercise on Thursday at our local Toastmasters meeting, I had the speakers pick a number between 1 and 999. I gave them the corresponding classification under the Dewey Decimal System and they had to describe a book, real or imaginary, that might be shelved under that category.

I noticed that 020 corresponds to “Library Science” so I went looking for books today while at the Lakeport library. I checked out a few that looked interesting: The Library in America: A Celebration in Words and Pictures by Paul Dickson, Getting Political: An Action Guide for Librarians and Library Supporters by Anne M. Turner and Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library.

Resigning from Lake County Arts Council newsletter

I have decided to step down as editor of ArtNotes in order to devote time toward earning my Master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

Lake County Library: First volunteer shift

Today I worked my first volunteer shift at the Lake County Library, pulling requested books from the shelves so that they can be transported throughout our three-county network of branch libraries. I started at just before 3 p.m. and worked for an hour and 45 minutes.