I visited an English Conversation Circle this week for the first time since they started in 2008. They were started at the Weekes branch of the Hayward Public Library. Librarian Melesha Owens has been leading them since then. Now they have expanded. We have them at a variety of times and a variety of locations. In addition to the Main Library’s Monday session which meets from 11:30-12:30, we have Tuesdays 6:00pm – 7:00pm as well as Weekes Branch Saturdays from 10:00am-12:00noon and the Day Labor Center( at 680- Tennyson) Thursdays 6:00pm-7:00pm.

We are always looking for volunteers who want to help us help people who want to improve their English Language skills. When the groups started and I helped out with a few, they had a bit of the feel of a free lunch offered to very hungry people. There was a hunger for knowledge that was responded to in an immediate, straight forward,if not necessarily, pedagogically, organized way. Now I am pleased to see a great overall organization. We talked about idioms while answering simple straight forward questions. The session dealt with health questions. Do you have allergies? Do you catch more than one cold in a year? They also taught some health related idioms; clean bill of health, right as rain,  alive and kicking. It was great fun as well as instructive.

Seeing adults learning a language is always inspirational. People don’t stop to think how complicated a trial it is. So many idioms make no sense when they are considered out of context. Raining cats and dogs; dressed to the nines, we use these expressions without thinking about what exactly they mean.

Join us, volunteer, help people learn English.

By Trudy Toll

On January 29, 2009 I wrote about the volunteer opportunities for people to help the Hayward Public Library.

Here is the paragraph on the Friends:

The Friends of the Hayward Public Library group exists simply to support the Hayward Public Library. They raise money which helps to further the library staff’s professional development, buy supplies and prizes for programs held at the library, and for many other special projects outside the library’s normal operating budget.

The Friends hold book sales every two weeks, and “Bigger than Usual” sales several times a year, as well as selling some of the more valuable books on the Internet. In preparation for the  book sales, dedicated Friends sort through donated books & other materials. There is a history of devoted Friends who have worked tirelessly for tens of hours a week, week after week, year after year. Some of them spend as much time and energy as they did on their regular jobs, because they enjoy the work so much. They also find the rewards gratifying, they can see what their efforts accomplish in the library. Other Friends only volunteer a few hours a week, or help at a book sale once or twice a year. They are looking for a range of volunteers, from people to simply help with the Saturday book sales to someone who loves to sell online and looks for the challenge involved with that. If interested in volunteering for the Friends, contact:

Friends of the Hayward Public Library

510-293-3328

admin@friendsofthehaywardcapubliclibrary.org

The opportunities have increased. The books sales for the Friends held at the Farmers Market have been going very well. The good news is that the Friends need more volunteers. If they had more volunteers, they would be able to have more books sales, maybe even every weekend. The Friends would love to have volunteers who love books, and who would like to help sell the donated books at the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. These volunteers would be friendly, outgoing and would enjoy standing at the Library’s tent at the Farmer’s Market. There are also opportunities for people who would like to assist in selling the donated books online, the Friends would love to talk to you.

Many of you have heard me talk about the importance of the Friends to our events and other programs here. The Friends supply us with the additional funds we need in these lean economic times. The friends organization is always crucial to a public libraries well being. If you can’t volunteer, remember they do take cash donations as well. I thank you in advance for any assistance you can and will give the wonderful FRIENDS OF THE HAYWARD PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Trudy Toll

Adult Services Librarian at the Hayward Public Library

What do you think about the EBooks?  Have you tried them yet? In my September 11, 2009 post, I mention that we here at the Hayward Public Library have Ebooks to check out. People sometimes think that you have to buy an Ebook reader like a Kindle but you don’t. You can read our books on your regular computer. That’s what an Ebook really is. It is a book you read on a computer screen instead of between either paperback or hardcovers. As you can see below, they have features regular books don’t have. You will note that there are dictionary features, you can take notes on the side.  These are small photos so know that real ebooks you can make the text as big as you want or need.

Many people think that all books will soon be ebooks because they cost so much less, there is no printing, no shipping, no storing, and no returning. Those are all very real everyday costs for  traditional publishing. They might not seem like much but they add up and are very significant. Ebooks also represent another advantage over traditional publishing, you can do it yourself  without a publisher.

That means that many people who might not have been published by a traditional publisher. They might not get a traditional publishing contract because of their story idea or maybe because of their point of view. Traditional publishing has to sell a certain number of books to break even.  Electronic books have a much lower cost so they can have a lower sale price. Many Ebooks sell for under $10.00. There is a movement afoot by ebook consumers to make sure almost all ebook  pricetags stay under ten dollars per book.

There are those people who think ebooks take away from ones appreciation of traditional books. I don’t think so. I think they are an additional way to enjoy getting stories. I can now read hardcover books, paperback books, I can listen to books in my car by using books on cds or cassettes,  I can download audio books into my computer and transfer  it onto an MP3 player so I can listen to it when I am walking, raking leaves, cooking, or waiting in a jury waiting room. I now can add to all that an ebook that I can access on my computer, or I can use one of the specialty proprietary readers like a Kindle. Kindles are made by Amazon and they of course want you to buy their ebooks. Our Ebooks are through Net Librrary so they can be used with the nook from Barnes & Noble, Sony Digital Readers (PRS-300, 505, 600, 700 and 900), as well as the COOL-ER.

Let me know if you have used Ebooks, how you like them and when you use them. I would be interested in what kind of books you use in which category.

Trudy

Are you reading something great? How did you find it? Working in a public LIbrary, of course, I have an advantage. Many people come in and recommend great books. I also have friends who are always asking me if I have read x or y.

How do you choose?  Sometimes I choose it by the cover, or the blurb, sometimes by the author, but sometimes it is by the person who recommends the book.

I love it when someone recommends a book to me and I read it because of my friendship but then end up enjoying the book because of its content.

A friends of mine and I enjoy J.D.Robb books. She read them first and then insisted that I read one. Insisted. I obeyed. Wow! Now I have 30+ good memories because we share this enjoyment of this one author. I even found a friend at work who has read all of J.D. Robb so I can bask in a JDRobb fest whenever a new book by her comes out. We can ask each other; “Have you read her latest? Did you see where it was going?”

 This same friend also enjoys the Elizabeth Peters novels about Amelia Peabody. That one I told her about. I didn’t insist, but I did suggest that I thought she’d enjoy them. She did.

This friend loves Ancient Rome. I don’t. I havent’ read her favorites about Rome simply because I am never that desperate for books. I love India. She ignores my recommendations about books about India because she is never without reading material. It works out as reading friendships go.

I find it awkward when someone new in my life says,”You have to read X! You will love it!” I always wonder what makes that person omniscent, how they will know with such certainty that I will love this X.  Recommending a book is more complex than some people lead you to believe.

There are the beach reads. Grafton, Patterson(before his plots and charcaters got too sociopathic to read) you know novels that you don’t expect to remember, that you will enjoy for the moments you are reading them but they will not change your life, you will probably not comment to yourself about the skill of the writing, you will not copy any phrases out to remember and you probably will prefer to borrow them from the library versus fork over the  full list price of the hardcover. These are easy to recommend with the comment that they are popular and so they are probably a fun read.

Then there are the books which are more customized. These are not for everyone. They have some specialized content. They might be about a particular era or certain area. They might involve some life based drama. They might be an Oprah book club choice, they might be some book that your best friend is pleading with you to read and she has taken into consideration your personal history, your  attention span, your language useage, and what you usually like. These books are the bigger risk and often the bigger reward.

Then there are the books you find on your own and even when you love them, you can’t recommend them to anyone because they are so tricky. The book A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is one of those books for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I would not recommend it to anyone unless I knew they liked long, India and real human misery. I thought it was amaing. I believed almost every word of it but I know very few people would go through the whole book.

Do you have books that you loved but you can’t recommend to anyone? What are they? I do think it’s interesting what we read, why do we enjoy it and who we share these tastes with.

Let me know what books you are enjoying and why.

Good Reading…

Trudy

I want to tell you about part of Hayward’s History. Jody Snyder is a Public Librarian.

Jody started here at the Hayward Public Library as a Library Assistant, then became the Library secretary in the administration office to then Library Director Webster. In 1982 she was hired as a Librarian at the Hayward Public Library. She has seen us through the invention of the internet, of computers, of faxes, of photocopying machines, of music cassettes, of CDs, of VHS, of DVDs, of the computerization of both the card catalog as well as the start of data bases and electronic resources, through shifts in collections (she remembers when the Public Library loaned art, sculptures, LPs, reel to reel movies, when the card catalog consisted on cards, when the process of circulation involved photographing the date due cards from the pockets inside the library books), she has seen the physical building change, grow, get remodeled, get re-arranged. She has seen hundreds of staff members come and go, some come and grow. She has trained people. She has learned the new technologies as they came and went and as they came and stayed. Throughout all these evolutions, she has provided great service to the people of Hayward.

She was entitled the “Crackerjack Librarian” by Hayward Daily review columnist Ray Orrick. She was often referred to by San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen. To Hayward Public Library staff, she was, is and always will be Jody. Jody who would find the answer to any question. Jody who would be able to find any piece of music because music is one of her life’s passions. She knows so much about movies, about Hayward history, Hayward geography, Hayward people, she is in short a living resource. In Library School, when one takes a reference course, they list the resources available to any type of inquiry; there are electronic resources of all types, there are print resources, and then there are PEOPLE. Jody is one of those PEOPLE. She willingly searches for an answer, a solution, a lyric, an obituary. Jody is customer service personified. She represents so much of what the field of Public Librarianship stands for. There is never a profit motive near her consciousness. She is never interested in personal recognition. She is a team player. I don’t know that there is even an “I” in her personal alphabet.

I am sorry to see Jody leave the Hayward Public Library, but I will keep her on my shoulder instructing me how to mentor, she has mentored me, as well as tens of others. I will keep her on my shoulder to remind me how to be cheerful in the face of sometimes exhausting work. Jody has a great sense of humor as well as being a punster. I will keep Jody on my shoulder to remind me to be willing to look silly sometimes to inject whimsy into the Library. Jody is known as a Librarian who would wear hats, costumes or celebratory tee-shirts at work to celebrate Halloween, to celebrate Bastille Day, to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Jody brings a hard work ethic to anything she does.

Like so many parts of History, there will be many versions of why people admire Jody Snyder. I have just told you my version of why I admire Jody Snyder, why her example is going to always be with me of how to be a dedicated public Librarian and my example of how a little whimsy can make any library just a bit better.

Jody you will be missed, remembered and your example will be followed. Keep in touch. Though you never received the official designation from the City of Hayward, to me, you will always represent the qualities of the Heart of the Bay award. Service, service, dedication to the city, and service. Thanks from one colleague and I know I speak for many others.

by Trudy Toll

I am interested in hearing from the people who would like to be part of a group focusing on these forms of writing.

Contact me by email at :

trudy.toll@hayward-ca.gov

or you can sign in and comment on this blog.

I look forward to hearing from you.

By Trudy Toll

By Trudy Toll, Adult Services Librarian at Hayward Public Library, Hayward,CA

Once again I am going to talk about being touched by the intersection of people and history. I have mentioned more than once the Digital Story Project I am working on here in Hayward. Sunday May 23, the city of San Leandro held a great event. They presented 19 digital stories on the Nisei internment. There was a power to having all the stories around not only one theme but also such an incredibly, egregious period of our history. To make the afternoon more amazing still, the storytellers were there, alive and in person.

We here at Hayward, are going to have an afternoon where we show many of our movies made in the last two years. I can only hope that ours will be nearly as powerful. We have not limited ourselves to one topic so there will be diversity where they had depth. We have people speaking about many aspects of the past, their own and this city’s.

Do join us on Saturday, June 12, 2010, here at the Hayward Main Library. The screening will start at 12:00 Noon. The storytellers when possible will be attending. Come see history, be a part of history.

Call me at (510) 881-7974 for more information. Remember it is never too late to come forward and have us record your Digital story.

By Trudy Toll, Adult Services Librarian at Hayward Public Library, Hayward,CA

Someone was talking about quotes the other day. Quotes and poetry. It got me thinking.
We used to say that greeting cards,( Hallmark etc) could say for us what we ourselves couldn’t say.
I think books of poetry used to fulfill that function as well as Bartlett’s Book of Quotations. Let’s say I admired someone greatly, but I felt awkward going up to a co-worker and saying that I thought they were super great. I would feel awkward if it were Trudy speaking but if it were a poet or a quote from someone of note, then the sentiment would be received but it would be less personally delivered. It wouldn’t be Trudy speaking, it would be Plato, or Mark Twain or whomever.
These last two weeks a co-worker helped me repeatedly with a computer problem. I say, “ Thank you Cornelio, you really helped me. I appreciate it.”

But if I felt awkward, or didn’t know him I might chose that other method. I might use other people’s words not my own.
I would say to him;
“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) from Essays, ‘Friendship’
“A friend in need is a friend in deed” a Proverb.
These are from The Macmillan Dictionary of Quotations, Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books.(2000)
A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.
Elbert Hubbard
A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world.
Leo Buscaglia
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
Arnold H. Glasow
From http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_friendship.html
Be A Friend
by Edgar A Guest
This is just an excerpt taken from http://www.famous-poems.biz/friendship_poems/Be-A-Friend-new-friendship-poem-by-Edgar-A-Guest.html
Be a friend. The pay is bigger
(Though not written by a figure)
Than is earned by people clever
In what’s merely self-endeavor.
You’ll have friends instead of neighbors
For the profits of your labors;
You’ll be richer in the end
Than a prince, if you’re a friend

I think that these were devices used by our predecessors to say what they couldn’t say to their friends, colleagues and countrymen.  I think we still do that by using the internet and clicking and dragging.
We can now send a whole page listing songs about friendship
http://www.friendship.com.au/media/songs/
movies about friendship
http://www.friendship.com.au/media/movies.html

This is all from the Friendship webpage!
http://www.friendship.com.au/index.html
�
So we’re still saying things using other people’s words instead of our own. Use your own or other people’s words  but just always say thank you to those who help you.
Thank you again Cornelio. I appreciate your help.

Trudy

By Trudy Toll, Adult Services Librarian at Hayward Public Library, Hayward, CA

Have some of you noticed all the authors websites and blogs? These are great fun if you have a favorite author and want to know more about their books, their characters and the authors themselves. I went to a couple this week and thought how easily you could spend hours online just looking at all your favorite authors sites and reading their blogs. I was mentioning this to a friend and they said they heard that if you are an aspiring writer that you should start your website and blog even before you have found an agent let alone a publisher. I thought how different this is from the author of the 1940s typing in the cold garret, smoking their last cigarette down to the butt and then trying to warm their freezing hands on the radiator. Theirs was a clichéd lonely existence devoid of anything but their art, their adventures, their loves, their liquor, their smokes and their poverty. Now the picture is filled with interaction with your readers. I wonder if it is hard to keep writing your fiction if you have so much socializing to do online. And I haven’t even mentioned the people who are self publishing, and are ebooking it….

What would your normal day look like? Would you get up and spend an hour or two online doing your blog, uploading photos, answering your emails, checking your publicity opportunities, checking in with all your online social networks(facebook, myspace, YahooGroups, Ning, Shelfari, LibraryThing, GoodReads, and all the others I haven’t even found yet) then you would check in with your webmistress to see that there are no pressing issues with the site itself(this is assuming you don’t choose to do all the behind the scenes work on the site yourself).

Then you could begin to write if your family, work(if you still have to have a day job to support yourself) and all the rest of the real world concerns are taken care of at least temporarily.

Wow. That garret has some appeal if writing is really what you want to do. I suppose that the new version will be healthier, definitely fewer cigarettes, maybe different adventures since now you could chronicle yourself while you are bull fighting( with your digital camera or your cell phone which ever is better at catching you before the bull does…), you don’t have to wait till you are in a bodega drinking later to recount it.

You can spread your love of Paris on Twitter and have people follow you virtually and literally. You don’t need to marry five times, you can get mental health care so you need no rifle to put yourself out of your own misery. Now there would also be some money in you writing about your misery or chronicling that on Twitter, misery in bits and pieces of only 160 characters.

It’s a new universe and that extends to both reading and writing. We as readers have so many more options in how we read our authors, how much we want to know about them and how much we want to interact with them.

I know that many people feel that there are so many more distractions, they don’t read books as much as they used to but for those of us who still do, it’s a great time to be a reader since we have so many choices, so much to read but there’s still that little issue of never enough time…

By Trudy Toll, Adult Services Librarian at Hayward Public Library, Hayward, CA

This week I have been working on the Digital Stories Project. One of my colleagues here at the Library was telling me his stories of working with Cesar Chavez. He mentioned a couple of marches and demonstrations in which he had participated. It was wonderful to be able to go online and find through Calisophere and other digital photographic archives, photos of these marches, images that brought his stories alive to me. I think that we all listen to history in different ways. I love hearing the stories even when there are no photos, but then to be able to see images of the places he discussed, the riots he remembered was incredibly powerful.

I think it’s a wonderful thing that now there will be more and more images to choose from when we discuss any aspect of our recent history. We need to worry about how these images will be stored, archived and catalogued so we can access them when we need to.

Remember you are history. Think about documenting your own life. All too often we do not take photos of those nearest and dearest to us. Take some photos of the people in your daily life. Your co-workers, your family, your neighbors, your pets.

Save them in a place where they can be labelled by you( for accuracy) and build your history day by day, week by week, year by year.

History is fascinating - it’s people like you and me living day to day. It’s just their days were documented and ours are less documented so far.

Enjoy their history, make yours….

A little add on; I went a walk in a cemetery in Oakland to learn about history. At one point in the tour one of the docents said, “Now I was told by my mentor, that a student of his, claimed that he had walked from here to Lake Merritt underground” The disbelief in his tone was loud and clear. From the back of the crowd listening to this man, came the shout;”I did that!”

Everyone turned around. There was a man in his seventies, smiling at his memory. He explained, he had been about twelve and he and a friend had entered a pipe and walked in the dark until they got to Lake  Merritt. He acknowledged that it was a stupid thing to do. To me it was yet another proof the importance of each of us documenting our own personal history. Here was a docent telling what he thought of as a tall tale and yet here was all the proof any of us needed that it was possible to do and it had been done and specifically done by this very elderly man. History lives!