I had a great conversation this week with a student I hadn't seen before. She was carrying her new RIF book from the recent Reading is Fundamental giveaway I labored over, so she was endeared to me at once. This is a kid who has read Fellowship of the Ring and every book in the English teachers' libraries. Apparently, she was too shy last year, but Hooray! she finally came to the school library.

This girl is devouring fiction of all kinds and asking for suggestions from everyone. She wants happy endings, though. She was quizzing me about the end of the LOTR trilogy, to make sure she isn't going to wind up crying. I think anyone will cry, if just because they've finished the story and there's no more to read. Still, I encouraged her to keep going with it. And responding to her questions, "no, Gandalf doesn't have a brother, but be optimistic." (The movie trailers are everywhere, giving hints, and getting my students excited about it in a way they weren't about the first movie. It's wonderful to see them keyed up about something that their teachers love.)

Somehow, then, I asked her if she'd tried any Jane Austen. She was under the impression that Pride and Prejudice had to do with the civil rights movement, an understandable mistake! I told her about the plot, trying to add some context about the urgency of a good marriage, and that you can tell the shallow characters from the way they obsess about status and titles. And about the romance and happy ending. So now she has Austen to read over the holiday break. Later, I heard from her English teacher that she's eager to try it, and had asked her, "is this good?" I'm hoping to have added another frequent reader and visitor to the roster.

A question to think about:
Why do people approach the reference desk with the phrase "You don't have _____ , do you?"
I like to be more positive than that, and I turn the question around in my own mind as they say it. Like, "Do you have" or "Can I get" or something that exhibits some hope. It often surprises me, patrons' disbelief that the library might just answer the question/need of the moment. And of course it makes me thrilled to say, "Here it is, any time, you're welcome" and the like.

But I think this points to the fact that many people underestimate what they can get from their library. My spouse says, "it's more like a gamble than a sure thing, when you walk in the door. I know I'll find something interesting, but I don't expect to find exactly what I wanted." And we are a demanding and instant gratification-needing society, right? So waiting for interlibrary loans can seem interminable. Maybe it also depends on finding the right library yourself---my sort-of-nearby local branch serves me much better than the one down the block. (Oh well.)

Nevertheless, when student after student comes up to me and says "you don't have..." , I sometimes am overwhelmed with the need to tell them "Can you make that a more optimistic question?" And sometimes they do.

I spend my days working as a "teacher of library" at an urban high school. Now that I've been there for over a year, I thought I would start to reflect on the experience by writing about it. Maybe this will help capture the things I talk about to myself on the way to work (not out loud, almost never): the kids, the library, the teachers, and whatever else is on my mind.

Lots of the librarians I know are really cool and hip, and not like the many stereotypes of "Marion the librarian." This blog will be about trying to stay hip, keep on top of the current library and teaching news, and keep up with bestsellers and kids' interests. I've been called a hipster librarian, but I know this is a relative thing. Let's just say that, compared to some people I've worked with, I do more than read books. My special interests in comic books, movies, and musical theater have also come in handy.

Here's a list of most-requested books in the past months:
The Color of Water
The Coldest Winter Ever
Push
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, vol. I - III
Addicted
LOTR/ The Fellowship of the Ring
and books about pregnancy, witchcraft, and gangs.

I'm always glad when they ask for books. It gives me hope that kids will keep reading and keep using libraries.

I'll start with a test.