Redhaired Future Librarian

Another Semester

It’s almost the start of a new semester. I’m working on finalizing the syllabus for Literature for Children. This is my first time teaching adults and it’s one of my favorite subjects, so I’m very excited.

I’m starting the semester in Seattle. I’m attending my first ALISE conference and then attending the ALA Midwinter conference. I’ll be observing and recording a focus group on romance novels. I also hope to gather audio for LISRadio shows for this semester. I plan to try to live-blog the conferences as much as possible, with pictures.

The first semester went by in a kind of haze. I was overwhelmed by the transition… it was much more difficult than going from being an undergrad to a graduate student. I wonder if it was made harder because I was in the same institution, so I was used to things being a certain way. Being a doctoral student is definitely an education.

I was pleased with how my classes went in the fall. I came out of them with two ideas that I’m going to work into presentation proposals.

LISRadio: Adam Nelson

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with University of Wisconsin professor Adam Nelson. Professor Charley Seavey attended a session with Adam at a recent conference and was intrigued by what he had to say about the connection between print media and education. I was especially interested in what he had to say about how video games and new media can lead kids back to books. As kids learn about events and subjects from their games, they look for more information about those things… in books. New media allows kids to learn guided by their own interests.

LISRadio: Michael Powell

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with Michael Powell, owner of the famous Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. Interviewer Charley Seavey went to Portland in the spring and conducted the interview in the store. This is the first airing of the interview.

LISRadio: Librarian John Furlong

This week’s LISRadio library podcast showcase is an On the Job show interview with John Furlong. He is a Missouri librarian and a graduate of Missouri’s SISLT. The most fascinating part of this interview is his discussion of his experiences with a lending library in Nicaragua. He also talks about training other librarians on how to use circulation software.

LISRadio: Alexandra Sokoloff

This week’s LISRadio showcased author interview is an interview with author Alexandra Sokoloff. Charley Seavey ran into her at the Sisters in Crime booth at the ALA annual conference in New Orleans this summer. I think this is the last of the New Orleans interviews.

LISRadio: O.R. Melling

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with author O.R. Melling. Charley Seavey interviewed her at the ALA conference in New Orleans. It is the next to last of the New Orleans interviews.

LISRadio: Kids Love Comics

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with Jimmy Gownley and John Gallagher of Kids Love Comics, an organization that promotes G-rated comics for kids. The interview was conducted at the 2006 ALA Annual conference in New Orleans.

LISRadio: Rukhsana Khan

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with Muslim Canadian author Rukhsana Khan. After recording this interview, I bought two of the books she mentioned for my personal library of children’s books. Roses in My Carpets is a wonderful story about a refugee child in Afghanistan in about the mid-1990s. The Beduin’s Gazelle by Frances Temple is cited by Khan as an example of a novel written by a non-Muslim that gets the culture right. It would be a wonderful book for a fifth- or sixth-grade student who loves reading fiction about other cultures and times.

LISRadio: Wayne Wiegand

This week’s LISRadio showcase show is library historian Professor Wayne Wiegand of Florida State University’s College of Information. Professors Seavey and Wiegand talk about reading, an element of libraries and librarianship that is sometimes ignored. (After this week, it will be available in the archive.)

LISRadio: Jim Nelson

This week’s LISRadio showcase audio file is an interview with history author James Nelson, who happens to be a friend of the interviewer, Professor Seavey. The Professor interviewed Mr. Nelson during the ALA Annual conference in New Orleans. He had an interesting take on the difference between history writing and fiction writing. It sounds like they had a lot of fun together!