Kelseykeyes's Blog

Gastronomica Reader

kelseykeyes — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:51:38 +0000

One of the first titles I chose to purchase for the library was The Gastronomica Reader by Darra Goldstein. At lunchtime one day, I read one of the essays from this collection in “The UTNE Reader” (an awesome magazines my library subscribes to. I highly recommend it!)

The essay was fascinating and I immediately put The Gastronomica Reader on my wishlist for the library. I love the cover image! I haven’t had a chance to flip through this book more just yet, but I think it would be of interest to anyone interested in sociology, cooking, cultural history, green living, ethics, environmentalism; or just anyone who likes to cook or eat!

~ Kelsey Keyes

New Direction!

kelseykeyes — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:17:19 +0000

I’ve been contemplating this blog in a different direction. I had been posting with little anecdotes from working at the Reference Desk at a large University library, but was bad about keeping up with that version of the blog. Now that I have a new job — as an academic librarian at a small college — it seems like the perfect time to re-envision this blog.

One of my new duties at this job is to purchase books for the library. As an avid reader, whose lust for books far exceeds my budget, it’s a dream come true to get to purchase hundreds of books on someone else’s dime!

So, what I plan to do is to start posting about the books I buy on behalf of the library. When it’s relevant, I’ll post what prompted me to buy the book (i.e. where I heard about it, who recommended it, etc.) Perhaps this will help people choose a book to read, or maybe it will be of interest to other librarians working on collection development. Or maybe it will be a way for students at this school to keep track of what new books are coming into their library.

Or maybe it will just be a fun way for me to keep a list of the books that I’m responsible for here, which would be fine with me!

What (not) to read

kelseykeyes — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:01:43 +0000

While I don’t necessarily agree with this list entirely, I *did* think it was an interesting take on reader’s (non?) advisory. So many times, it seems, people read and recommend books just because they’re “classics,” so I like this writer’s assertion that it’s not always necessary to read (and sometimes advisable to skip!) certain books.

Read the article “The Second Pass” here.

Two very different books

kelseykeyes — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:53:35 +0000

In catching up with my Google Reader this afternoon, I was particularly interested in two (very different) books discussed in two (very different) blogs. So, with no particular relevance to each other, I want to add these two books to my “to-read” list. One for professional development, one for fun (although I don’t think “fun” is quite the right word for this book…)

The first is a library instruction book: “Teaching Literary Research: Challenges in a Changing Environment” by Kathleen A. Johnson and Steven R. Harris

The second is “The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million” by Daniel Mendelsohn

I love getting book suggestions in general, and I’ve found following various blogs through Google Reader to be a great way to find out about new books!

Awful Library Books

kelseykeyes — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:31:03 +0000

I just came across this blog - Awful Library Books – today, and think it’s hilarious and awesome!

I especially like this post comment featuring a book about space travel (written in 1962). The line (taken from the book) “The United States is planning several ways of getting man to the moon and back. Whichever turns out to be the best will be the one we’ll use” really cracks me up!

Echolalia

kelseykeyes — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:24:17 +0000

Fun thing I learned today while at the Reference Desk…

A patron called asking for the definition of “echolalia” (I had to have him spell it for me!), and I was able to find it in the OED. So, for all of you interested readers out there (who may not have access to the OED), it means: the often pathological repetition of what is said by other people as if echoing them.

Fun facts at the Reference Desk

kelseykeyes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:48:28 +0000

Fun fact from today’s shift at the desk: I had an older patron call in and ask what the “D” in D-Day stands for. I looked in the Oxford Dictionary of Military Terms and learned that “D” stands for “Day” when referencing military operations; therefore, “D-Day” actually means “Day-Day”

Odd, isn’t it? If I hadn’t found the information in such a reliable source, I would have been skeptical. As it was, I was able to tell the patron the answer and he and I both laughed a bit at the fact that the name is actually Day-Day.

Library Conferences

kelseykeyes — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:38:17 +0000

After meeting with my supervisor for our weekly meeting today, I’m very excited about the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in Chicago!

We also discussed other annual/bi-annual conferences, such as LOEX which will be held in Dearborn, Michigan in 2010, LOEX of the West which will be held in Calgary in 2010, WILU which will be held at McMaster University (Ontario) in 2010, and ACRL which will be held (I think) in Philadelphia in 2011!

I’m also looking WAY ahead to future ALA Annual and Midwinter Conferences (they have it planned all the way until 2017!)

Upcoming Dates for Midwinter & Annual

2009 Annual Conference, Chicago, IL: July 9–15, 2009

2010 Midwinter Meeting, Boston, MA: January 15–19, 2010
2010 Annual Conference, Washington, DC: June 24–29, 2010

2011 Midwinter Meeting, San Diego, CA: January 7–11, 2011
2011 Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA: June 23–28, 2011

2012 Midwinter Meeting, Dallas, TX: January 20–24, 2012
2012 Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA: June 21–26, 2012

2013 Midwinter Meeting, Seattle, WA: January 25-29, 2013
2013 Annual Conference, Chicago, IL: June 27- July 2, 2013

2014 Midwinter Meeting, Philadelphia, PA: January 24-28, 2014
2014 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV: June 26-July 1, 2014

2015 Midwinter Meeting, Chicago, IL: January 23-27, 2015
2015 Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA: June 25-30, 2015

2016 Midwinter Meeting, Boston, MA: January 22-26, 2016
2016 Annual Conference, Orlando, FL: June 23-28, 2016

2017 Midwinter Meeting, Atlanta, GA: January 20-24, 2017
2017 Annual Conference, Chicago, IL: June 22-27, 2017

Wow!

Books in Print and NoveList

kelseykeyes — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:24:19 +0000

I had a great opportunity to use Books in Print and NoveList today! (Both are reference sources that I really love!)

A patron came in and was looking for a book – she didn’t know the author or the title, but she knew it was a non-fiction collection of stories about Hungarian immigrants to the US, and knew it was published in 2006.

And that information, in Books in Print and NoveList, was enough to get to the book she was looking for….“The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World” by Kati Marton.

It was a very satisfying moment!

YA Literature

kelseykeyes — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:11:28 +0000

I’ve recently been reading a lot of Young Adult literature, and have been having a great time with it! Our children’s library frequently gives away galley copies (uncorrected proofs) of books, and the last time they did this, I picked up about 18 new books for free! Hooray! I’ve gotten through about half of them. A few have been complete duds, several have been ok, but one or two, such as “Mao’s Last Dancer” by Li Cunxin, and “Nathan Fox: Dangerous Times” by Lynn Brittney have been wonderful reads! I’ve passed both of them on to friends (that’s the other great thing about getting free copies of books – I’m more than happy to pass them on!)

This foray into YA-lit has also inspired me to start re-reading some books that I loved when I was a kid. Right now I’m reading “Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself” by Judy Blume — a book I remember checking out numerous times from my elementary school library (I can still picture exactly where it was in the library, and can picture the cover perfectly!) It’s been odd how much of it I don’t remember, but also how many little parts (lines, scenes, characters) I DO remember. Good stuff!