Personal Statements. We meet again. (For PostGrad)

In case you didn't realise, I'm hoping to go to University again next year. I would like to go to Manchester Metropolitan University. I would like to study Information Management and Librarianship. Full time. I would like to move back to the glorious north and I would like to become a real Librarian.

*Prays very hard to the Library spirits*

Please?

Of course all of this doesn't just come poof out of no-where. There's a big long application form, and you gotta delve right back into something you though you'd left behind forever.
Writing a personal statement.

Now having completed a Creative and Professional Writing degree, this should be fairly straight forward. And it was, sort of. It just takes me a fair bit of time getting everything down, remembering what sort of order it should go in and making it sound all crisp and professional, like I really know what I'm talking about.

But I don't! I've only been in my new job for less than I month and I have to start writing statements for people who decide whether I get to go study for my dream job. I don't know everything yet. Hell there are some days when I swear the alphabet goes right out of my head. So it takes something else. Here is a rough structure of how I wrote my personal statement. Perhaps it will help anyone else out there who feels in exactly the same rut I do.

First Paragraph: I talk about what I did at university and how I decided I wanted to begin a career in Librarianship. I talk about the various work experience placements I did to help decide this.

Second Paragraph: I talk about my current work situation. I talk about the types of things I'm doing and learning, being very specific. I talk about the Library Management System they use and the fact I'm keeping a blog to help track my progress. Then I talk about the things I hope to be able to do by the end of it all. Basically showing I understand the sort of things I should be able to do by the end of the year.

Third Paragraph: I talk about why I want to be a Librarian, rather than just remain in an assistant position. I natter about my main interests in the field, linking it to the modules MMU provides. I talk about elements of the course that excite me and how I could apply my existing skills.

Fourth Paragraph: Why I want to study at MMU, a little bit about how the course is credited by CILIP and why that's good and how I'm making good use of living near London - what kind of talks, bookshops and events I'm attending that are relevant to the field.

Fifth Paragraph: A conclusion, basically saying all of the above, reduced into like, four sentences.

DISCLAIMER: I haven't got into university yet. Don't follow my example, then come and kill me in my sleep when it doesn't work out for you. Kapeesh?

I'm just waiting on my referees to write (hopefully glowing) references, then I can email the whole load off and cross all my fingers until I get a reply.

I hope this helped anyone out there who felt daunted, like me, about writing a personal statement again. If anyone thinks I've missed something widely important, let me know!

Over and out.

Hot off the shelf: What I'm reading - 'The Woman in Black' Hill, Susan.

I apologise for inundating this blog with the 'review' posts. I read fairly quickly, and working in a school library gives you access to lots of books right at your fingertips. You don't have to wait for your pay check to come in so you can go book shopping. There's no having to trudge into town to their library (although I do make use of my local library as well as the school one). I'll be shelving, or weeding and I'll come across something and think, "hmm...I should probably have read that". Because I have very little else, other than work, going on at the minute, a lot of my spare time is spend reading. I'll be grateful for it whilst it lasts.

Spoilers here! Spoilers everywhere! A good one in time for Halloween though...

So onto this review! This is another book I managed to finish whilst travelling over half term. My only past experience with Susan Hill was in high school. I had to read 'Strange Meeting' for AS Level English Literature. Not being a fan of the war genre, I was slightly put off, but did enjoy the language and style if I remember correctly (I can't believe that was about five years ago!). I decided to read The Woman in Black, as it was rather short - perfect for packing into my hand luggage for the plane, and yes...I watched the film adaptation they released fairly recently. *Hides head in shame* I must read books before watching the films!

Before I go on I'll admit...I am easily scared. And I think maybe your enjoyment of the book may vary depending on how easily creeped out you are. It's a great ghost story, in my opinion. She builds suspense very well and just at the end, when you think all is well, and Arthur is free from the torment of the Woman in Black - BAM. It's that chilling sense of heart-stopping fear. She's back, she was never finished with him. He pays his price and the story ends on an eerie note of awful realisation. It gives you shudders. The house, to which Arthur Kipps is sent to handle the affairs of the sole inhabitant who died there, is brilliantly portrayed. Having the location of the haunting across the marshes, cut off by the tide for much of the time gives us the real sense of being trapped, as Arthur is, in the situation. You can't escape it, because he can't.

I gave it four out of five stars on Goodreads. But why not give it five stars, is it did it's job - being a scary story - so brilliantly. Truth be told, I found Arthur Kipp, the protagonist, ever so slightly...not unbelievable...just a little frustrating at times. But perhaps that just shows how well Hill draws you into the story. I didn't want him to go back to Eel Marsh House after he had his first horrendous experience. No-one would. But he does. I suppose it was necessary for the plot to continue. It would have been very boring had he gone home and the story finish there. But his feelings about the house seem to be all over the place. First he's determined to go back, then he resolves never to go again, then he feels better when he has a dog for company...it's all a bit wishy washy. Make up your mind man!

Apart from this, I really enjoyed The Woman in Black. I don't think I'd read it alone at night, by candle light, but I was very happy reading it on a busy plane to distract me from the fact I was thousands of miles in the air (I'm not the biggest fan of flying). It kept my mind occupied, and now when I turn the light off to go to bed at night, I occasionally take a double glance at the shadows in my room, to make sure none of them are old woman shaped!

Over and out.

Hot off the Shelf: What I’m reading - 'Year of the Flood' Atwood, Margaret

No Spoilers

Wow.

But first, a short explanation.

I really like Margaret Atwood. I'm not sure, if a person already really likes an author, that that means they'll like everything ever written by them. But so far, I've loved all the MA books I've managed to read. Which is like...three. I'm working on this.

'Year of the Flood' is sort of a second book in sort of a trilogy. I say 'sort of', because you can read the books in the trilogy as stand alone books and they will still make sense and be lovely and make your emotions all zingy. They run kind of parallel to each other...you don't need to know one story to understand the other.
However.
The three books all feature overlapping characters, plots and time frames. So you could read them as a series and have a more magnificent overview of the whole situation that's going on in the 'trilogy'. Reading the first could enrich your reading of the second, lets say.
Here's the 'order' of the 'series' Maddadam Trilogy:

Oryx and Crake
The Year of the Flood
Maddadam

It's clever. And that's why I love it. As well as this it's one of those dystopian-y type books I do so love. A man-made 'flood' has swept the earth (for the details, read Oryx and Crake), and there's a few survivors. A good dose of female heroes, weird new/old religions and gene splicing all combine for a fabulous book that you need to read. Right now. There's themes that make you think. It maintains it's human elements whilst being unmistakably sci-fi. What I love so much about it is that IT COULD HAPPEN. I swear she's some kind of prophet. She can see the future! (On a serious note, I seriously hope note...her futures are never very optimistic).

I'll leave you with that. I realise it's not very detailed, but I actually finished the book a week-ish ago, I just haven't been able to blog about it yet because of my travels. I can't wait to read Maddadam. I may ask for it for Christmas. However my soul might collapse if I have to wait that long.

Over and out

A cool invention for book lovers

One last post about Berlin! I visited a market on Sunday and came across this beautiful stall selling things like homemade bags and phone holders. What caught my eye instantly, was this...

I'm not the worlds best photographer. But bear with me. It's not a little handbag. It's a book holder. Here it is from the back...

And here it is opened up:

The ribbon down the centre is a bookmark. The pockets on the left and right, hold the front and back cover pages of your book, and allow you to read, like this...

And this is what it looks like when it's closed:

It's perfect! They were all handmade, and there's even a zip pocket on the front of the 'book bag', where you could pop your phone, keys and a bit of money if you were just popping to your local cafe or something for a cozy hour of reading and eating (a good combination of things to be doing). It cost me 15 euros and there were so many designs to choose from. It took me a while to pick this one! The website, should you wish to order one, is in German unfortunately, and there are not so many designs to choose from. But the nice lady on the stall informed me that it would be best to email her, should I want to order another one, and so I guess she could tell you all of the designs and fabric choices available if you didn't like any on the site. She spoke perfect English, so if you emailed her in English I'm sure she would happily reply!

Here's the website, linked straight to the 'book bag' page: http://www.moneandme.de/epages/62382373.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62382373/Categories/Buchertaschen

There's some better pictures on the website too! She also makes holders for e-readers, if that's how you prefer to read your books. The book bag I bought is a good size to fit a standard paperback in comfortably. You might struggle fitting anything overly fat or tall into one, but on the whole, a very practical and funky invention!

Over and out

A Bookstore in Berlin - Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus

JJ and I hopped across the sea this weekend, to Berlin! It was fabulous, in every respect. I got to see my beautiful best friend (and her boyfriend!) who is living there for the time being - and as such, we had the perfect tour guides to help us navigate Germany's capital (thanks guys, huge love to you!).

I won't ramble about my short but ever so sweet escape to the coolest capital in Europe too much. But there is one thing I wanted to do a post about -  Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus. The coolest bookshop ever. The UK could take some serious notes here. I'm a big bookstore lover, and this for me, was awesome. I did the tourist thing and took some snaps.

For one thing...it's huge. Massive. If you like pokey, small, maze-like bookshops (and I do too!), then this won't be your cup of tea. But seriously...check this out!

All those floors are filled with books! I know the picture doesn't show you very well, but there's even more to either side...it's wide as well as tall! Here's another view - straight down the middle towards the back is the main entrance.

If you walk in through the main entrance and continue straight down the middle walkway, you get to this...

A funky sort of chill-out area. See the big green wall at the back of the picture? This is what it looks like close up:

That, my friends, is a vertical garden. In a bookshop! The plants are real and beneath the balcony from which I was taking the picture is a cafe. I think all bookshops should have a cafe. It looked so tranquil down there.

In case you're wondering, no I don't speak German. Obviously, being a German bookshop, the majority of all these wonderful floors were filled with German books. But just to the side of the vertical garden was this:

Voila! English! How amazing is that? An English bookshop, right in the middle of a massive German one! In the UK you'd be lucky to find even a few shelves of books in other languages, let alone a whole dedicated section. This is what it looked like inside:

There was two floors to this mini-English bookshop and even a children's section. There was lots of sofas where you could sit and read the time away, the shelves were divided by genre and there was even a specific till you could pay at downstairs if you didn't want to face the huge crowds to find the other tills dotted around the larger bookshop.

Obviously being this size, it didn't sell just books. I'm not sure what Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus translates to exactly, but I think it's something to do with culture. There was a couple of floors with DVD's, a large selection of CD's and other audio and I think they sell tickets to various music/art/book events too. But it wasn't the situation in which the books are shunned to one side to make way for all this other media. The number and selection of books far outweighed the other types of media for sale. I cannot rate this place enough, totally worth a visit if you're a book lover and in Berlin.

If you can read German, here is their website: http://www.kulturkaufhaus.de/

Oh take me back there! I hope to visit some bookshops in London whilst I'm living so close, so perhaps I'll find something close to this beauty. For the time being, I'll have to dream about it from back in soggy England. Seriously, the rain at the moment? Not fun. But perfect reading weather if you don't have to be anywhere!

Over and out

ISBN. Not just a bunch of pretty numbers.

Which is what I assumed they were, up until recently. I recognised that old books didn’t have them, and that most of them started with 978. That was about the range of knowledge I held on the matter.  Here are five points, that I learnt about ISBN’s this week.

·         ‘ISBN’, stands for international Standard Book Number.

·         They consist of 13 numbers (since 2007 anyway), and these 13 numbers are separated into five chunks, each with a different purpose.

-          The first chunk is always, (post 2007), 978. I don’t know why. More research methinks.

-          The second chunk is a country identifier

-          The third is a publisher identifier

-          The fourth, a title identifier/edition identifier

-          And lastly, there’s one lonely digit perched on the end. This is called a Check Digit, and it validates the ISBN.  – The one’s that end in an X? That just means ten. Roman numerals suddenly come into play when you want to use 10, as 10 has 2 digits, as opposed to the 1 needed. 

·         They were invented in 1965, by a guy called Gordon Foster. They had 9 digits back then and were called a ‘Standard Book Numbering’ code. He was good at maths.

·         A 10 digit version, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (try saying that ten times fast) replaced this in 1970. Apparently the UK clung onto the old 9 digit version until 1974, when it decided to get with it and update to join the rest of the world.

·         Then the lovely 13 digit version arrived in January 2007, making superstitious people everywhere twitch, and it’s been that way ever since.

There you go. A brief history, with huge gaps in it, of the ISBN and what its role is. 

 

Over and out.

An ILIG informal talk by Book Aid International

(Note: Book Aid International are not to be confused with 'Book Aid', who I believe are a charity that provides Christian literature to areas of need).

I went to this talk mainly for two reasons:
1) I wanted to learn more about Book Aid International, as I'm really lacking knowledge on any book based charities and
2) It was held at the CILIP headquarters in London. I wanted to have a nosey at the building!

I was slightly disappointed by the latter, which was totally my fault - it looked like a nice, impressive building. But I was running very late, and the talk was held in one of the first rooms you come to when your walk through the entrance, so no chance to have a better look! That one room I did see was very nice, however!

The talk was insightful, and really well put together. I ran in five minutes late (thank goodness they'd delayed the start time for a few late-comers, myself included) and threw my sweating self into a chair near the back so no-one would have to hear me pant to death for a few minutes (it's time to hit the gym, sister). People milled around, drinking wine and having nibbles, chatting sociably. Being more on the introvert side of life, and someone not very good at talking to new people (especially after running from the nearest tube station), I extracted my notepad and pen and scribbled some notes down before the talk actually commenced. I scolded myself internally, and made a mental note to check travelling times before going to new places.

We sat in small rows of chairs facing a projector at the front of the room. It was a small, modest talk - which was a good thing. I could both see and hear the whole presentation. Book Aid International are approaching their 60th year as a charity, and as a celebration are planning some exciting new projects based around the children's libraries in some of the places they operate. But I'll talk more about that in a minute. First one of the two ladies giving the presentation, explained who Book Aid International were, and what they did. Here's a exert from their leaflet, 'An Introduction to Book Aid International':

Books Aid International works in partnership with libraries in Africa providing books, resources and training to support an environment in which reading for pleasure, study and lifelong learning can flourish.

They work primarily in Africa, in twelve different countries, but also do work in Palestine. Recent developments from around the 1990's onwards means that:

All the books sent to the libraries, schools, hospitals, universities, prisons and refugee camps are new or unused.
Publishers over print books, it's a known fact. What they don't sell often just gets pulped. Book Aid International attempts to work with publishing houses to salvage these books and send them to places that could really make use of them. But they don't just send them books willy-nilly and expect them to be grateful. They work with the individual libraries (and these can be anything from big, central library buildings to a shipping container in a slum) to choose the books that get sent out. Every year the staff working at these libraries fill in a form. It determines what books have been well used, which books not so much, and the sort of things they'd like more of. For the areas where it is possible, they're working on an online way of doing this, so the libraries can choose specific books online for BAI to send over.
They also work with some local publishers, getting material in local languages. These books are primarily for the children. In secondary school, the lessons are given in English, so the English language books are vital. But to help encourage reading in the first place, local language books are bought so that children can help progress onto the English books. To ensure the publishers that the stock given to Book Aid International won't be re-sold here in Britain, every book is stamped before it is shipped, so it is easy to identify which books are theirs and where they've gone. There's small group of volunteers in the London based packing centre who do this. They sent every 'level' of book, and make sure the necessary ones are up to date. They send books suitable for children, right through and up to textbooks for students and adult readers. They make sure any medical type books are up to date, because they don't just do library work. They've installed 'health hubs' in some libraries and have trained librarians to use the health resources. They have installed computer services for some communities where otherwise it would not be available. They train librarians, and provide training in managing the large amounts of children that visit these libraries. They hold writing workshops in some centres, and sports facilities in others. To summarise they're doing a fabulous job and receive no government funding to do it all. 

I realise this is a long post. But bear with me.

Two third of their finding comes from individual donors. People doing fundraising etc. Book Aid International have made it their mission, for their 60 year anniversary, to create 60 more 'children's corners' in their libraries across Africa. 'Children's corners' are areas of the library that are brightly painted, have tables and chairs where they can sit and read (bearing in mind, there may not be much furniture at home), or do some work. They have the right height of shelves and are welcoming, safe areas for children to come to. As I mentioned before, librarians are trained to manage children right from babies to teens, to keep them all happy, so adult library users are not overly-disturbed. There's so many good things about these children's corners, and 60 more of them would be fantastic.

You can check out more of the work Book Aid International do on their...
Website: http://www.bookaid.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookaid
and Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/BookAidInternational
And I think they have a Twitter account too. You'll have to check that one out as Twitter is still a mystery to me!

I'm pretty sure if you wanted to donate, it's easily done via their website. Keep them sending of 500,000 books per year, to places that value them so much. I actually asked if they could come and do a talk at the school, as it could maybe teach the students here that a library is a communal place, where other people have to use the books - basically, it's not good when you wander off with a book and don't bring it back!

It's late. This post probably has big gaps in it, and a whole bunch of stuff I forgot to write. But it's cool. It's bedtime! Work tomorrow!

Over and out.

Hot off the Shelf: What I’m reading – ‘Life of Pi’ Martel, Yann

Some spoilers. But nothing mega, especially if you’ve seen the film/ a trailer for the film, and get what it’s about anyway.

I wish it was easier to be positive about some books. But I agreed to see the good in all the books I read, so here we go.

The beginning was actually very enjoyable. The story about a little Indian boy named Piscine, whose family own a zoo and who struggles with the many religions he is presented with is very endearing, funny and moving. I especially enjoyed the chapter in which his religious beliefs are questioned by three followers of the three religions he is trying to be a part of all at the same time. Can you be a Christian, Muslim and Hindu all at once? I myself follow none of these religions, but Piscine thinks you can for sure. The language is lovely, despite it being told through an adult’s perspective, there’s something pleasantly boy-ish about the way it’s written in the beginning. Then we get to the middle. Which is the bit I had a problem with.

He’s stuck in a lifeboat, out at sea. With a big, 450 pound tiger. It’s an interesting plotline, but this bit, where he’s out at sea, take up the majority of the book. It drags. I sometimes felt I was on the lifeboat with him. Pi’s practicality and the description of what it’s like to be at sea for so horribly long is fantastic…I just wished there was a little less of it. After trawling through the big chunk of sea-faring based plot, there’s a random bit at the end with a man-eating island and suddenly we’re at the end, being presented with the finale of the book through Japanese interpreters who’ve come to question him about the sinking of the ship. It’s very sudden and abrupt. I understand the point it was trying to make about the relativity of truth, which was one good bit about the end. I saw a review on Goodreads that made me laugh: LITTLE INDIAN BOY GOES ON WEIRD BOAT RIDE WITH MEAN CAT. To me that’s exactly what it was (though the cat wasn’t so mean in the end). And I’m not a particularly religious person either, so most of the religious enlightenment it was supposed to hold washed over me too.  

So overall, I loved the beginning, the middle (in my opinion) needed chopping down a bit, and the end was short, abrupt, but sort of finished things off nicely with a message about ‘what you can and can’t believe’.

That was a surprisingly mean review from me. I’ll keep it nicer next time.  Sorry Yann Martel! Maybe I’ll try one of your other books…

 

Over and out

Hot off the Shelf: What I’m reading – ‘A Clockwork Orange’ Burgess, Anthony

No Spoilers.

Wow. I don’t want to sound corny, but this book actually blew me away. Burgess’s own story is actually quite sad – in 1959 he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and decided to become a full time writer. Despite only initially being given a year to live, he apparently wrote the equivalent one book per year until he died in 1993. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is a dystopian tale, something I’m a fan of anyway, set in a future England that harbours a culture of extreme youth violence where the teens speak in ‘nadsat’, the slang of a not-too-distant-future.  I’ll give you an example:

“Our pockets were full on deng, so there was no real need from the point of view of crasting any more pretty polly to tolchock some old veck in an alley and viddy him swim in his blood while we counted the takings and divided by four, nor to do the ultra-violent on some shivering starry grey-haired ptitsa in a shop and go smecking off with the till’s guts. But as they say, money isn’t everything.”

I promise, once you get used to it, it works. The long sentences start to roll off your tongue too.  The language was part of why I liked it – once you’ve got it – you’re in. You follow Alex’s story, a somewhat unreliable narration, with amazement. It’s morally horrible and will tear you to pieces if you let it. You’re following Alex’s story, in his language, and sort of sympathise with him because it’s him telling it. Even though what he’s doing, on a nightly basis, is shocking and horrific it’s complemented with all these sophisticated elements Alex possesses.  He listens to Beethoven, his language is eloquent. And later on, in his reformation period, the manner in which he is treaded by the system is just about as torturous as the crimes he committed; you don’t know whose side you’re on in the end!

If you’re easily put off my strong violence, rape, murder and emotional/moral confusion, don’t read it. Anyone else – read it. I cannot rave on about this book enough. It’s a novella, it takes a couple of days to get through but it will stick in your head forever. Literally.

Over and out.

Quick note. Blogger got Blocked!

My blog has been a little inactive of late. The website ‘blogger’ was blocked at the school where I live and work, so I couldn’t post anything until begging with the IT department to unblock it! Prepare for an overflow of posts to make up for lost time, including a couple of ‘reviews’ and a post about a talk by Book Aid International that I went to this Wednesday.