Traits that Hufflepuffs and Librarians share

*non-potterheads might want to skip this one*

I've been in a Potter mood as of late. Not sure why, however it may have something to do with a wonderful Hufflepuff t-shirt I purchased about a month back. I've been contemplating Hufflepuff values for some time in relation to my job. I know it might sound a bit weird to apply a set of values from a fictional house in a fictional school to my real world, but I've always said one of the whole points of reading is that it help you relate to other people and concepts. Even if they're not based in reality, you apply the reality to it. Get it? No, I'm waffling.

Madam Pince, the Librarian at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry is largely an unlikable character. The ability to do her job is never called into question, however her thin, vulture-esque description, coupled with her strictness paints an unappealing image. She is suspicious of Hermione when she attempts to get a book from the restricted section, despite her note from the teacher. She screeches at Harry and Ginny after catching them eating an Easter egg in the Library and bewitches their belongings to hit them on the head as they rush out. And her reaction to Harry's old, written-in copy of Advanced Potion Making? "...what have you been doing to that book you depraved boy? // Despoiled! Desecrated! Befouled!" It didn't even belong to the Library.

Movie Madam Pince [picture credit]

I don't think it's ever mentioned which house she hails from, assuming she attended Hogwarts herself. I think you might have gathered from this post so far, that I (yes, I realise it's not real) am a Hufflepuff. I joined Pottermore, was sorted and placed into Hufflepuff and thought that to be the best choice for me personally. I am a happy Huff.

But how does being a Hufflepuff tie in with my library work. Well I personally have decided that Library work is perfectly suited to me and my Huffly nature. Lets go through three reasons...

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
The key word here being patience. If you engage in Library work that has anything to do with other humans, you need to be patient. You need to show the 100th person in that day how to use the printer, even though you're sure at least half of them have been shown a million times before. You need to sit down with people and explain what might be to you a very basic thing, like saving a document to a memory stick and how to access that same document again afterwards. You need to patiently explain about reservations when people get annoyed that the book they need isn't available right this very second. Patience is definitely a virtue in this work.

The Sorting Hat rains praise on Huffs [picture credit]

I'll teach the lot and treat them just them same
Inclusion and equality. Big players in the Library sector. A misunderstanding about this line is that you don't have to have anything special about you to be in Huff. It's exactly the opposite. Huff doesn't care if there's anything special about you or not at face value. When you first come to the Library desk, my job is to assume nothing and give everything possible. I wouldn't turn anyone away until they give me a reason to. The library concept treats everyone equally (or tries to) by giving everyone access to free materials, allowing everyone to share the same space and applying the same rules to everyone using that space. Rich, poor, struggling student, honours student, it's all the same to us.

Much smiling  [picture credit]

The Badger
The house emblem. Badgers dig their homes, they dig for food. They do make good finders, (I know the fact that Hufflepuffs are good finders is a running joke from A Very Potter Musical, but it applies here :D).  Give a Librarian enough time and we'll try our utmost to find what you need. At library school you're equipped with your searching tools and tactics, just as a badger is equipped with it's nose and claws at birth to find what it needs to survive. Also, "A badger ... has loosely fitting skin which makes it difficult for an antagonist to get a firm grip of a badger in a fight" (badgertrust.org.uk). Libraries have been under fire from cutbacks for years and years, but we haven't lost the battle yet. To back this up it's said somewhere the J. K Rowling chose the Badger for Huff because it is often underestimated, but when provoked can fight off animals much bigger than itself. Libraries are quite often underestimated. You should give us a chance :) Also, have you ever heard of a badger character in a book that's been evil? I can't think of one. (Would love to be corrected here though!)

Beautiful Huff illustration by Skaralett [picture credit]

So there you have it. Three traits that I think Hufflepuffs and Librarian's share. I personally think Ravenclaws would make great Librarian's too! Scary Madam Pince was a funny, stereotypical character, but Librarians now are usually much friendlier! We'll also probably have snacks to share too.

Over and out.

I'm reading a shiny dictionary

Well, sort of. No I'm not trawling through that classic reference volume The Oxford Dictionary (yes I have heard of people who actually do that). Instead, I would like to present you with my latest purchase: Firefly: The Gorramn Shiniest Dictionary and Phrasebook in the 'verse by Monica Valentinelli.

[Image Credit: waterstones.com]

This book is new. As in, really new. It was published on the 15th April 2016. It's a fairly nice size at around 160 pages with some incredible photos, sketches and quotes that bring the pages to life. Here's the blurb:

Insult your enemies in magnificent style and learn brand new declarations of love! This comprehensive Firefly dictionary and phrasebook takes in both the history of language in the 'Verse and modern usage. Explore all the terminology used in the show, be it spacefaring-speak, medical jargon or frontier phrases. Plus, get the inside scoop from the show's language consultant. A must-have for all Browncoats.

It largely reads as a dictionary should, you know, in alphabetical order. The main idea (I imagine) was to create a definitive source for definitions of the Firefly-specific terms, such as Alliance terminology, 'verse slang and Browncoat banter. However you get much more than just this. Quite normal words have their place in this little book, words like 'strawberries'. These 'normal' words are sometimes explained in the most basic sense, but more often their meaning is described in regards to the show. As fans will know, strawberries are a super rare and delicious treat (as is most fresh produce) and Kaylee especially has a cute strawberry moment in the first episode, after Shepherd Book partially pays for his ship fare with a box of the sweet fruits. The entry for 'strawberry' reads:

Strawberry, n. Fresh berry enjoyed by Kaylee in "Serentity". The fruit is rare and hard to come by for travelers. 

But this isn't just a dictionary, oh no Sir. So what else can we expect? Well, to start, language biographies for each of the main characters (Captain Mal, Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, River, Shepherd Book, Simon, Wash & Zoe) take a page each in their respective alphabetical place in the dictionary. This explains a little about how the characters talk and how their language is influenced by their upbringing, history and surroundings. 

Kaylee does subtlety [Image Credit: buzzfeed]

The books has a forward entitled 'Language use in the 'Verse' before the main dictionary begins. One of my favourite bits of this book is toward the end. There's an interview with Jenny Lynn, who was a translator for the Chinese usage in the show (including some hilarious stories about translating curse words). Following this is 'keys to understanding Pinyin' before Pinyin translations of the Chinese used in the show in episodic order. So remember when you first watched Firefly and a Chinese phrase was flung at you and you were left like 'wait what?' (my DVD copy did not grace me with subtitles). Well this explains it alllll. Ending the book is a FAQ section with the author of the book (who btw also worked on the Firefly RPG). 

I haven't even finished the whole thing yet, but I think any proud 'fly fans out there will love love love this book. I've already started re-watching the series because it made me remember how incredible this show is, not only for its very Whedon-esque linguistic edge, but just for its absolute ability to make you fall in love after the first episode with all the characters (even Jayne).

We <3 Jayne and his hat. [Image Credit: Pintrest]

Considering this isn't even a proper review, it's getting a bit lengthy, so i'll quit rambling. Basically, if you loved Firefly, buy this book. Or I'll lend it to you if I'm feeling nice. If you have no idea what Firefly is, congrats for making it this far down the post without dying of boredom, and you should go now and binge-watch Firefly with all your might. Because hey, there's only one season (don't get me started).

Over and out. 

Why I'm beginning to like those '100 books to read before you die' lists.

A lecturer I had for Uni once said something along the lines of:

"I hate book lists. Who cares if lots of other people think it's good? I barely have time to read the books I've decided I want to read, let alone trying to complete some upperty list full of Jane Austen."

And for a long time I agreed. My 'to read' pile is large, and I keep stumbling across new books to add to it. Books that friends recommend, books that I like the cover of, the next book in a series I started once and always meant to read the sequal. However, whilst lurking around bookish sites on the web I stumbled across a list. I've mentioned this a couple of other times in other posts: The BBC's Big Read top 100 list. Way back in 2003, a poll/survey/something happened, and the BBC compiled a list of 100 best books as voted for by the general public. Two things appealed to me about the list:

1) I had read and enjoyed at least 10 books on the list already. This was appealing a) because I'm lazy, and if I'm already 10 books down, all the better and b) because if I had read and enjoyed at least 10 of the books on the list, perhaps my reading taste mirrored that of whoever was surveyed and I would enjoy more of the books on the list.

2) I was sadly lacking in 'classic' reading. I read what I had to for school, sixth form and university and so far not much had appealed to me and from then on I avoided the classics like some suspicious looking stain on a hotel mattress. I decided that I was now an adult, therefore a) my reading tastes may have also matured a la some tasty french cheese and b) I work in a library and people keep assuming I've read everything by Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Bronte. Which I haven't and it's embarrassing to tell people much younger than myself this awkward fact.

When I'm asked if I've read all the books in the Library

[Picture Credit]

Another reason to complete these lists full of classic books, is that they're usually fairly easy to get hold of from a library. Because they're classics. And everyone loves them, right?

I have now read almost 50 of the titles on this list, and I HAVE ACTUALLY ENJOYED SOME OF THEM. They're books that I would never usually go near if I had the choice, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. Who the hell would known that I would actually love that book. Like...I could not stop turning the pages. Jane Eyre.

Okay it hasn't been all sunshine and daisies. I tried Perfume by Patrick Suskind, number 71 on the list over Christmas and considered it possibly the most ridiculous and unnecessary piece of asshattery that ever made it to print. I honestly felt slightly nauseous the whole way through. They made a film based on that book. Who would do that? But on the whole things have been surprising. I am slightly dreading reading more Jane Austen - I keep ignoring it but I suppose I'll read it one day, if only to say I have read all 100 on the list.

Most challenging length-wise on the list so far has probably been Gone with the Wind by Margeret Mitchell, clocking in at 1011 pages. Most disliked (aside from Perfume) probably Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (see my grumbless in a post I did at the time). Currently reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo and somewhat enjoying it. More than I thought I would anyway. But this, I suppose, is the whole point. I'll probably do some more reviews about books from the list along the way and I'll update with my progress when I reach a suitable milestone.

Me reaching the end of Gone with the Wind

[Picture Credit]

My point here, after all this garbling, is perhaps try to complete a booklist. If you don't fancy 100 books, I'm sure there's shorter versions out there. You might just find a new favourite genre.

Over and out.

Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading ' 'I capture the castle' by Dodie Smith

*No spoilers*

I gave this a four out of five on Goodreads and I still don't know whether that was the right decision.

(Image credit)

I just got an overwhelming feeling of 'British'. I think perhaps most of all in the description of the poverty suffered by the Mortmain family in the beginning of the story. It's all a very quaint sort of poverty - crumbling castle, with no furniture because it's all sold, and everyone in the village being very nice to them and giving them books and the occasional ham so they don't totally starve. There's no illness, no dysentery, everyone can read and write. I just found it all a bit make believe and insulting to those suffering from dire poverty. I understand that there are different kinds of poverty, and their situation is by no means desirable but my main bug bear was this:

The only reason they're in this poverty is because everyone in the house old enough to earn money wants to earn it creatively, and they've all lost their 'spark' (poor dears). Daddy Mortmain has writer's block, Step Mummy Mortmain can't be bothered to go and pose for paintings as she used to. Older sister Rose Mortmain is literally just sitting around waiting for someone rich to come and marry her and Cassandra Mortmain (our first person narrator) is too busy practicing her shorthand writing the damn story to be of much use. Thomas Mortmain, the youngest child, is still at school and so at least has that excuse. 

This was my biggest issue with this book - practically none of the characters I found likable. I found everyone a bit selfish. Stephen seems to be the only hard worker in the whole novel and mainly has a solid moral compass unlike everyone else. I suppose the vicar's okay too. Everyone else is just kidding themselves and being selfish or lazy or mopey. 

Literally everyone in this book (Image credit)

So why the four stars? Because Dodie Smith can WRITE. This is the first book of hers I have read. It was also, weirdly, the first one she wrote. She made me keep turning the page. She made me read like a crazy person, until my eyes hurt. She managed to get me to enjoy a story in which I detested nearly all of the characters. I don't think an author has managed that before for me. I could picture everything. I could see Topaz wandering naked in the fields. I could feel the freezing moat that Cassandra and Neil swam in. And I needed to know what happened next no matter what. This book enraged me, and I fell in love with it.

You can tell I haven't done a review in a while. This one is all over the place. I'll try better next time. But for now, go and read this book. I didn't know whether to burn it at the end or start it again. 

Over and out.

P.s: Literally just read a commet about this book on Goodreads "If you like Jane Austen, you'll love this". I think here lies my issue. I bloody hate Jane Austen. 

Happy news. Breathing space. Nice emails.

I did it. I passed my Masters Degree.

(thegiflibrary.tumblr.com)

My dissertation mark came though, and I passed. I passed it. It hath been passed. Have I said it enough times yet?

Basically I've had time to recover from the shock and considered that I can now add MA to my name (though who does that nowadays?) and I never have to go near education ever again. Except for being employed in the education sector. But you know what I mean. 

Ya, I still have my new*ish* job, working as a LRC assistant at a further education college. I had my six month review recently and they've decided to keep me on so I mustn't be doing too terribly. I've had some fun times and some trying times. I have very rollercoaster-y feelings towards my job. Probably because my place of work is mainly populated by teenagers who are almost adults but seem to act like children a lot of the time, and they themselves can be very rollercoaster-y. But they can be incredible people to work with too. Here's a snippet from an email that was sent to me by a student after I helped them sort something they'd been stuck with:

"Thank you, your a champion it there was more of you this world would be a better place."

Like, I don't even care about the grammar slips, that email made me feel on top of the world. The student didn't have to write that. They could have just been all cool, like "yeah, ta" or not even replied. It's nice to feel appreciated. 

I'm not longer kipping back at my parents. I have a place to call my own again with JJ. I've got my evenings and weekends back too, when I can do whatever I want. I have breathing space. I'm slowly becoming sociable again. Life is sunshine gold. 

I hope to start doing some book review type posts again, as I have now started to read books i actually want to read again. Like, I'm crazy reading right now. I just finished I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and I really want to try and wrestle with my feelings about it because one minute I hated it and the next minute I couldn't put it down. But that's for another post. I also want to talk about my feelings on completing 'reading challenges' or those '100 books to read in a lifetime' lists. 

Some more things to come basically. I am writing again. To those still reading, you have my love.

Over and out. 

New everything. A day in the life of newness. *Ironically, an old post. See Intro*

IMPORTANT This was a post I drafted just after Christmas and never got around to posting. I thought about deleting it as it's now massively out of date but it still does an okay job of describing my day to day activities so I thought I'd post it anyway (in March. Yes it's been a while). I will be writing a more recent post shortly.

I'm free! Dissertation has been submitted and I've had Christmas break to chill out a bit. So, what's new. Everything. I have a job that I love, working in a college library. Thought I'd do one of those 'day in the life of' posts. This isn't a typical day, but that's why I like my job... there isn't a typical day. But here's what happened yesterday....*fade out music*

“Yes, you can borrow the stapler.”

Sometimes people think that because I work in a library, all I do is shelve, stamp books and act as an endless supply of stationary. Well, yeah, I do that and yeah, you can borrow that pen. But I do other stuff too. 

11am. I don’t usually rock up at this time, but today I’m on the ‘late’ shift – 11am-7pm. There’s three members of staff and we each do one late shift per week. After a quick catch up with colleagues on how the morning has been and answering a couple of emails I scoot up to floor one. Floor one is where the art books live and after a library ‘meet and greet’ with the art staff before the Christmas break I’ve offered to put together a selection of materials for a tutor for a project she’s doing with her classes. This includes a lot of educated guesswork, as although she sent me the project brief, as with many art projects, the students are left to interpret in it their own way. Basically there’s going to be lots of topics covered so my job is to get the books that could be used by as many as possible.  I begin the search.

11.30 I stop the search to go with a colleague to visit the science staff room. Earlier in the week we put up a notice in the staff room to let them know we’d come and visit so they could talk to us about resources they need, or what we can offer them. We’re armed with i-pads, journals and e-resource guides. Unfortunately, we don’t have a copy of everyone’s teaching timetable so have to guess at when people might be on a break. We tend to avoid dinner time, as there is nothing tutors hate more than finally getting a break then being harassed by the library staff whilst they try to eat their sandwich. We meet one teacher, who advised us that we might catch more tutors by visiting at the end of the subject staff meetings.

12-2.30ish: I shelve some books then carry on with my art task. I put together a selection, make a list (1 copy for me one copy for the tutor) and re-cover some books that were looking a bit tatty. Tatty can be a sign of a good book – it might look knackered because loads of people have used it and lots of people might have used it because it’s useful. Don’t overlook them. But when you're devilering books to other departments who you've only just started working with it's good to have the books looking their best :) 

Many students visit the desk with book type questions. I sign out books, return books and order books. Yesterday I had a chat with a French tutor and an English tutor and some materials that they ordered have arrived (wahoo next day delivery!) so I begin to get them ready to be added to the system. It’s important to be quick as possible about turning around orders. We need to shake the image that libraries are slow and not worth the effort. There’s a lot of socialising too: I have a long chat with a student about a business he wants to set up, another student comes to tell me she has had offers from three universities. Students often stop by just to ask how we are, or how our Christmas was. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like all the students love the library folk, but a few who visit often will usually come and say hello, or to chat about something. Lots of people ask to borrow the stapler. Students need printer help, computer help, want to book out a room. I don’t sit still for long and can often fix the smaller issues myself. Sometimes I sit with a student for half an hour or so, just helping them to use Microsoft word, or showing them how to save their work to different places. The variety of things I get asked to help with is nice. I also get ask for the time twice today. (?)

 After a talk from my colleague about the Reading Ahead scheme, the Entry Level students arrive en mass to choose books to begin their challenge. I photocopy some articles from magazine for those who didn’t like the idea of reading a whole book.  We have a chat between ourselves about the best option for students who cannot read. This is a topic that we’ll discuss more later in the week, as it require careful preparation and co-ordination between departments.

3pm: Delivery of the art trolley. I dropped off the books, and after the tutor had had a quick glance over them she seemed to like what I’d brought and asked if I could do the same sort of thing for a project running with one of her other classes. I'm in my happy place (praise sponge). That’s put on the list of things to do this evening, when it goes a bit quieter, as is the task of locating a box, as I the previous selection already filled my trolley (yes I have my own trolley. It’s purple and fabulous). I make a note to come and collect the books early March, when the project is due in, as they’ll no longer be needed and I’ll be missing my trolley too much by then.

3.30pm A second visit to the science staff room. It is empty, so we decide to definitely enquire about visiting the staff at their weekly learning hour or subject meeting. There we’re guaranteed to see people and interact with staff about their needs and what we can offer them. Outreach is important. Myself and the other library assistant have the two faculties at the college divided between us, so that we can be the main point of inter-department communication for specific subjects and the workload is shared evenly. It’s still a hell of a lot of subjects each though.

4.30pm-7pm: The college buses leave at 4.45 today which means the majority of students have left by this time. The library gets much quieter and I help prepare floor one, which is being used for an induction evening just before a lotttt of people appear looking to enrol at the college for a variety of courses. I’m not actually involved in that process, they’re just using the library space. But during the evening I often direct a lost looking person up to the correct place. I do a quick tidy downstairs and check the social media accounts as well as the reservation and holdings on the LMS. The library in the evening is usually used by higher education students, those doing a degree via the college. Sourcing the correct level of material for these students is important, as not everything on the shelves will be of degree level. If I see higher education students looking at the shelves I make sure to go over and point out which sections are degree level or relevant to what they’re studying. A student asks about getting Microsoft Office for his computer at home, and I let him know about how it should be free for students and email him the link so he can set it up on his computer. An adult learner comes to ask about English grammar books to help with his G.C.S.E. Towards the end of the evening, just because I love it, I shelve some more books that have been returned. Even when I leave the college is still busy. Some classes go on till 9pm. TBH I’m glad I’m only working in education right now, rather than being in it.

It’s different to working in a school, but there are some similarities. I might do another post comparing the two one day. Basically the one main aspect of my job that no-one seems to imagine is that it’s a massively human job. Like, you’re constantly talking with staff, students, external agencies and sometimes yourself. I haven’t lost my voice yet, though one student did ask if I was Canadian (eh?). For now, chill time.

Over and out. 

When life gives you lemons and you throw them away.

This is just going to be one long moan, so perhaps skip it and go and bake a cake or something.

I'm going to sit and write this evening. There's fifty seven other things I need to be doing. But it's time for a reflection before I actually give up on everything.

This dissertation mark the last ever academic piece of work I plan to do in my whole entire life. The whole process has been one long stress inducing, panic overloading nightmare. I've been sick, tired and nervous for months. And it's not getting any better.

In hindsight, deciding to write a dissertation on Mobile Libraries was a poor choice. Yes, it is a neglected research area. But I'm slowly learning why. Mobile libraries are, well, mobile. The communities they serve are rural, out of the way and tiny. Gathering enough data to analyse is difficult. This is not due to the mobile library staff, who are amazing, and have been ever so supportive. This is simply due to the fact that THEY ALL LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Seriously, I was trying to find one of the villages on one of the routes. I passed some houses, kept going, then ten minutes down the road realised that that tiny collection of houses was the village. And I cannot go around knocking on peoples doors or posting things through letterboxes due to the universities ethical guidelines, so I am relying on the help of a few willing local people and businesses who are leaving my questionnaires in waiting rooms and handing them out after church to get data from people who don't use the service. As for gathering data from the people who do use it, I've been essentially taking days off work to stalk the van around it's usual route then hover awkwardly in the vehicle asking anyone who comes aboard if they could possibly spare five minutes to fill in a questionnaire that may or may not be the difference between me passing or failing this thing. I am inept at asking people for things, and it usually ends up with me babbling and melting into an awkward floop.

I love my new job, I really do. But working every weekday, knowing all I have to come home to is an unfinished rambling about elderly library users and grounded theory is soul destroying. And also, most of the time,

I have no idea what I'm even doing.

Like literally.

I have a vague notion of the theories I'm using. I know that my interviews produced qualitative data. My research questions are changing by the minute to fit whatever theories are developing. Does my questionnaire produce qual data or quan? Because I've written an awful lot about qualitative data, then realised a few days ago, that maybe, just maybe, I'm doing a mixed methods approach. Who knows? I certainly don't. All the reading I did seemed to be hell bent on design of the study. Analysis? Anyone? I'm 23, and when I was in my teens, I honestly thought being 23, I would be the ultimate adult. Sure of everything and powerful, like Tina Fey or something. But I'm not. I'm sitting in my old bedroom at my parents house worrying about whether internet access affects mobile library usage in elderly people.

One glimmer of hope is that at the end of November I get to move to my new apartment. But however shiny this thought is, what plays on my mind most of the time, is that that moving in weekend will be a whole other weekend lost that I probably need to spend working on this nightmare. My emotions are warring right now. Sometimes I'm happy, especially at work. I'm doing a job I enjoy. Then half an hour later I'll be in work worrying about data analysis and thinking that I should be at home typing away like some possessed thing. The worst thing is waiting for data to come back. Twiddling my thumbs wondering if anything that comes back will even remotely fit the theories I'd drawn up. Or just wondering if anything will come back.

I'm tired of feeling guilty for doing fun things too. Like at the weekend I'll do some gaming with JJ and spend the next week internally beating myself up for it. It's wasted time. I'm constantly moaning about lack of time, so why take time to game, or watch anime, or see friends. Because I'm a massive hypocrite and my own worst enemy, that's why #emo.

I paid mucho moneys to do this course, which is why I wanted to do this dissertation, y'know, to get the most degree for my money. I have a supportive family, friendship group, supervisor and new boss. I've had so much time to write this thing. Life is hurling lemons at me and I just feel like I'm stomping them into an acidic, pulpy nothing.

This will literally be the most boring, whingey post I've ever written. You probably just skipped all of it. But writing it down helps. It always has. So, sorry, and maybe the next post will be more uplifting (but probably not, unless it's after Christmas). I hope the rest of the human world is happy today.

Over and out.