REFORMA

    Okay, so I am super, duper late on this post. Grad school has consumed my life lately.  I wanted to talk about the REFORMA I went to a few months ago. REFORMA is the Latin American division of the American Library Association (ALA). It concentrates on services and outreach to the Latino community.  REFORMA also informs libraries on high quality Latino literature that accurately represents their culture. A group from the library school present posters on different issues in Latino children's and YA literature.  Our merry little band included Allison Scanlan, Lacee Nisbitt,Bekah Wood, Katy Olson, Beth Dobson, and Kelly  I did my poster on the relationship between Latino children and their parents and grandparents in picture books.  We all traveled in an Enterprise van with Dr. Jamie Naidoo from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Denver, Colorado. That is a twenty something hour drive one way. At least I had a few books with me. However, we did listen to this creepy audio book that Dr. N got at a Crackle Barrel called What the Night Knows. Do your self a favor and do not read this book. It will give you nightmares for a month.

These are some eyes that Dr. Naidoo bought and put on the back of our van.
Picture taken by Beth Dobson

    The conference was very enjoyable. I learned a lot about Latinos and the struggles they go through. I learned more about literature in general.  The poster presentation went very well.  I was a little nervous at first, but I was able to eloquently talk about what I found. I even got to meet a couple of authors and had them autograph children's books for me. I got  The Tooth Fairy meets El Raton Perez signed by Rene Calato Lainez. He also signed my poster, because I examined the father/son relation in his book My Shoes and I.  I also got Book Fiesta singed by Pat Mora. They only gave a few of those away in a drawing. A lot of us SLISers won. Was it rigged, you decide. Anyways, it was a fantastic conference. I definitely want to continue presenting at conferences throughout my career.

The SLIS winners of the Book Fiesta Drawing. Bekah Wood, Allison Scanlan, Lacee Nisbitt, and me.
Picture taken by Beth Dobson

Poster Presentation
Picture by Beth Dobson

Rene Calato Lainez signing my poster
Picture by Beth Dobson

Here is my poster for Reforma.

Favorite Moments in Library School

This is a list of my favorite moments in library school at the University of Alabama. This list will continuously be added to. These are in no particular order.If any one has particular moment that they wish to share then send me a message.
* Dr. Riter going on his long rants about how much he hates the sun.
* Miranda Webster and I going through the stacks while I was in my Hannibal Lector mask. I am pretty sure I scared the Civil War out of Katie Deale.
* Lizzy Theris accidentally making puppies into the wallpaper at one of the computers at the Information Desk. We had to call Office of Library Technology to get the puppies off. Those puppies sure were cute.
* Dr. Dalton giving a five minute lecture on the difference between its and it's. (One of the funniest moments in my life)
* Denise, Miranda, and I going to Buffalo Wild Wings to get footballs signed by Nick Saban at "Hey Coach". We sold each football for a 100 dollars and were able to buy a kids book for every student at a school of under privileged children.
* Dr. Dalton explaining the difference between the Jews and Palestinians after some people botched up one of the questions for an assignment. She then told them to read a newspaper. (OUCH!!!) I love Dr. Dalton.
* Susan DeBruin's "yo Mama" jokes.
* Helga informing me of how Iceland helped the allies in WWII. Apparently, Iceland was very essential to the war effort.
* Dr. Knuckles(Is this a real person) calling the Information Desk asking us to spell words that I am pretty sure he was making up.
* Dr. Dalton telling me that she was very proud of the job that I did in her class. ( I almost cried) [Okay I did cry]
* The Ghost Hunter coming to the Information Desk.
* Dorothy's corny jokes
* Denise Christa's pithy comments.
* The moment that Lizzy and I both realized we had plans for taking over the world. (Watch Out)
* Christian Robochaud always bringing up the topic of teen pregnancy around me (WHAT???)
* Pretending to work at the Information Desk and stealing questions from Allison Ladd, Lizzy Theris, Stuart Waugh, Rachel Rennick, Amy Yonts and Courtney Hicks.
* Benita talking about J.R.R. Tolkein for about twenty minutes.
* Planning Family Weekend Story Time at McLure.
* The Reforma conference was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life.
* SLIS students and faculty pulling together after the tornado. Many students checked on each other and dispersed information about that they had found.
* Dr. Naidoo getting pulled over for speeding in Kansas coming back from the Reforma conference.
* Trying to convince Lizzy that I was not in my thirties.
 * Claire Veach referring to a certain professor as "Dr. Stupid Head".
* Amy Yonts refusing to sing a song from a Winnie the Pooh movie for Dr. Naidoo
*  Allison Ladd's Wedding Shower Picnic
* Edible Book Festival.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay

    

       I finished the Hunger Games Trilogy this week. I just thought I would add my reviews of those books to my blog. Overall, I really enjoyed the trilogy. Catching Fire was amazing. It picked up right where the first book left off. Katniss and Peeta have both survived the Hunger Games. Which is a problem since since the games can only have one winner. However, since Katniss and Peeta claimed to be lovers and were about to commit suicide at the very end of the tournament, they were allowed to live. However, even though it was as act of love(maybe, at least for Peeta) it was a way of rebelling against the Capital. Districts start questioning and rebelling against the Capital. In order to end this rebellion, the Capital celebrates the seventy fifth Hunger Games by choosing victorious tributes from each district. These tributes are not all young. Many of them are older. Of course Katniss and Peeta have to go into the game again. Overall, I thought this book was more exciting then the first book. I was a little bit distracted by the love triangle that they put with Katniss, Peeta, and Gale (a friend from Katniss' district). I felt like it was a cop out to Twilight fans.  There are characters such as President Snow and Gale that become more involved in the story. The character of Finnick starts off as a tool, but you later see that is is quite a complicated character. This is definitely a sequel that surpasses the first one. Will they be able to survive against ruthless people who have won the games?Will they still be able to convince Panem of their love to survive again?  Does Katniss really love Peeta? What will become of this rebellion? Find out by reading Catching Fire.

       I really enjoyed Mockingjay. It was very different from the rest of the books. Instead being about the Hunger Games, the book was about the districts rebelling against the Capital. The rebellion was lead by District 13 (a district everyone was led to believe was destroyed). Katniss, Gale, and Finnick start out living with District 13 and training for the rebellion. Peeta has been captured by the Capital. Peeta is tortured throughout the book. When he is saved by the rebels, it is found that they broke his mind. They altered his mind to believe that Katniss was evil. It takes most of the book to recover. Peeta and Katniss have some very beautifully sad encounters. After seeing what the Capital has done to Peeta and to the other districts, Katniss makes it her priority to rid Panem of President Snow. This book was the most exciting of the trilogy to me. And yes, I did keep wondering if Katniss would end up with Peeta or Gale. You will be able to figure out by simply reading into the text. You can see which one she has her funny and sweet moments around. The Hunger Games Trilogy is very chilling. However, it is definitely worth reading. The ending will not disappoint you. It has a wonderful ending. I am very excited to see the movies. I have no doubt that Jennifer Lawrence will do an amazing job as Katniss. She was wonderful in X-Men: First Class as Mystique. She added a lot of depth to a non talking character that basically just walked around and killed people in the other movies.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique Darkholme in X-Men First Class

Percy Jackson and the Replacement for my Harry Potter fix

     So,  I decided to check out Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.  I knew that it was Harry Potter-ish, so I thought to give it a try. I really enjoyed it. Basically the premise is that the Greek gods still exist. They have been traveling through the ages wherever Western civilization spreads. Currently they are in America. Percy Jackson is a young boy who has been kicked out of several schools. He has never known his father. His only family is his mother and good for nothing step dad. Percy's life changes when one of Hades Furies, disguised at a math teacher, attacks him on a school field trip. However, after the incident his mind gets wiped and he things it might have all been an illusion.
    When he goes home for the summer, his mom takes him on a vacation. Everything goes well until they are attacked by the Minotaur. His mother was able to get him to a summer camp that his father always wanted him to go to, before the Minotaur kills her.  It turns out that these monsters are hunting Percy because he is a son of a Greek god. The gods still like mating with mortals and having children. The summer camp that he goes to trains these "half-bloods." Percy is not just the son of any god, but of Poseidon, god of the sea. This is significant, because Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades all agreed to longer have mortal children since they are the most powerful gods. It is revealed that WWII was caused by their offspring. After, Percy goes through some basic training and catches up on his Greek, he is sent on a quest. He is suppose to retrieve Zeus's thunderbolt, because he has been blamed for it. Zeus thinks that Poseidon told Percy to steal it in order to overthrow him. If Percy does not find it, then a huge war will break out among the gods. And that is never good. If you like Harry Potter, fantasy, or Greek myths, then you will probably want to give this series a try. 

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

   

       So, I saw this book at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest a few weeks ago and I had to check it out. It is the story of a boy named Tommy who is trying to figure out if Origami Yoda is real. Origami Yoda is a paper puppet that exists on the finger of a boy named Dwight. Dwight claims that Origami Yoda speaks through him. However, Dwight is the weirdest boy in school. He is the kind of guy who wears the same t-shirt everyday, fails every class except math, and sits in holes. Origami Yoda is able to prophesy and give good advice. So, Origami Yoda has to be real. right? He has to be channeling the Force. How else can Dwight be able to give good advice and tell the future? However, Tommy needs to know if Origami Yoda is real, because he needs to ask him if a certain girl in his class likes him. If you are a Star Wars fan, then you will love this book. I was pretty much laughing on every single page. They also make references to Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings. This is a terrific book for children from fourth to sixth grade.

An End of an Era

    So, I recently saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I have to say that it was a pretty emotional experience for me. My generation got to be apart of something special. We got to grow up with Harry Potter.  The books and movies were being written and filmed as we were in middles school, high school, and college.I was in middle school when I started reading the Harry Potter books. The first movie came out when I was in eighth grade.
     Harry Potter is wonderful and exciting to read. I recommend it to any one of all ages who like fantasy. I very deep connection to Harry Potter. I was never much of a reader before I started reading those books. Reading was very difficult for me. I had trouble with comprehension. Many books that my mom got me to read never gauged my interest. However, J.K. Rowling's books helped me love reading. I remember that Harry Potter was a way for me to escape from the real world. The first movie came out about a week after I had written a suicide letter in eighth grade.You see I was going through some rough times. I was diagnosed with depression. I also remember reading the third book  in the office when my parents were meeting with the counselors, teachers, and principals at the school. Harry Potter was a place I could go to where I didn't have to worry about bullies in PE, hard classes, and self image issues.
     It is almost a miracle in that Warner Brothers signed on to make movies from all seven Harry Potter books. The movies were so well done. J.K. Rowling was very involved in ensuring the movies were faithful adaptations. The movies aren't perfect. They leave out a lot of important details, but overall they were well done. I consider the movies as companions to the books. The acting was amazing. My personal favorites were Alan Rickman as Severus Snape(One of the greatest characters ever created) and Emma Watson as Hermione Grangier (aka my one true love). The effects were fantastic.  The musical scores were fantastic (I do wish John Williams could have done the score for all eight movies instead of just two).
     It is with a heavy heart that I say good-bye to Harry Potter. There has never been anything like and there will probably never be anything like it that will come about. I hope that J.K. Rowling does write again. I would like her to write another book that takes place in the Harry Potter world. However, even if she does not visit that world again, I know that whatever she writes will be brilliant.

If only you were real, Hermione.

One of the best HP characters. I wish he could have had more screen time.

I want to go to school at Hogwarts.

Hunger Games

    Since I entered library school, I kept hearing people talk about .The Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins. This book is about a post apocalyptic society called Panem. Panem rules its twelve districts with an iron hand. Many of the people are starving. Every year Panem has an event called the Hunger Games. Each child must submit their name into a lottery. They are required to more entries into the lottery as they get older. The more times they submit their names, the more food their family gets. Okay, so at this point I am sure you are saying "So what, that doesn't sound too bad." If you win the lottery, then you are selected to participate in a fight to death tournament with twenty three other children.
     The story revolves around Katniss Everdeen. She is a girl from District 12. District 12 is a coal mining district and is one of the poorest. She volunteers for the games so that her younger sister does not have to go. Katniss is the leader of her family. She endures a lot in her life. Katniss is very natural and real. She does not want to kill. She is just a victim just like every one else in the tournament.
     This is a very well written story; however, it is incredibly graphic. It is even horrifying in parts. For parents who are concerned about their children reading violent content, I would suggest they read the book first. Katniss is a very dominant and focused young woman. She would be a good character for girls to read about. She is definitely superior than most of the girls that are on any modern T.V. show.

An Internship in the Forest

           

  I really enjoyed my internship this summer at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. It was a wonderful learning experience for me. I got experience in adult, technical services, children's, and teen departments. The Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest is a new facility that opened in December 2010. Previously the Vestavia Hill Library had been in a very small location that is down the street from its present site. The new facility is LEED certified.  LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Over eighty percent of the trees from the site were used in the building to create floors, furniture, desks, and doors.  Trees beyond forty feet from the building were left alone.  There is a garden on the rooftop that provides insulation to decrease energy use and costs.  The building has a very modern look and it was exciting for me to come into this library everyday.

  
      My supervisor's name was Leslie West.  She is the adult services librarian at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest.  The whole summer she had historians and event planners come to the library and talk about the history of Birmingham and things to do in the city.  The library patrons really enjoyed these programs.  Leslie also has a book club that she does every month.  About twenty people show up every time.  She has a wonderful group of people that likes to discuss the books.  Leslie always chooses the books.  She wants her patrons to have exposure to a variety of literature. They might not always be comfortable reading the books, but they at least are willing to have an open mind to the material.

My favorite departments to work in were the children and teen departments.  This is where Leslie would send me most of the time to work. The children’s department is where I spent most of my time. I helped them put their books on the shelves, because they circulated hundreds of items a week. The children’s department head, Amanda, charged me with many important tasks. All through the summer she had me call different businesses to get them to donate items for the library’s children summer programs. I felt I gained a lot from this. It helped me become better at talking to strangers and developing a relationship with them. Amanda would suggest some businesses like Alabama Art Supply and Rave Motion Pictures. She allowed me to come up with my own businesses.  I was able to get items donated from local comic book and sports card stores. I found that this was important as well, because it got me thinking about activities that children might like to do like laser tag or paint ball. Amanda also asked me to assist her in story time. I helped both the children and the teen departments with programs that they had going on during the summer. I had the most fun in these departments. Amanda and Terri (the teen librarian) asked me to put together read alikes and reading lists together for them.  Before doing this internship, I did not know how I felt about children and teen service, but now I will look for jobs in these departments when I graduate.

  
    Overall, I enjoyed my internship at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. I found it to be a valuable learning experience. Everyone there was very respectful to me.The employees at this library were very friendly and eager to teach me about things that they have learned while working in this field. I felt that the work that I put into this internship was valued by all of the departments. This library has many different programs and events going on. It will be interesting to see what this library will be doing five year from now.I would recommend Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest as a good place to do an internship.

The Dragon Reborn

     A few days ago I finished reading The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan. This is the third book in the Wheel of Time series. I really enjoyed this book. The book continues to tell the story of Rand as he begins to embrace that he is the Dragon Reborn. The book concentrates heavily on the adventures that his friends have. Many of them have powers. In this one it is revealed that one of his friends has the power of luck??...!!!??? I am not sure what that is all about, but I am sure it will be explained in future books. Robert Jordan has created a very complex, but coherent world. He does a wonderful job at developing his characters.  I recommend this series to those who enjoy reading fantasy.

The Great Hunt

   First of all, I apologize for not doing a posting sooner. I have been really busy between my internship, my job at Gorgas, and church. I did want to inform my readers that I am continuing to read The Wheel of Time series. I finished the second book, The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan, last week. It was a really good sequel. These books are a little overwhelming at first because they are about 700-800 pages each. But I am ready through them pretty quick. I find the story to be very captivating. In this book, it is revealed that one of the three young men is the Dragon Reborn. He is kinda like Neo from the Matrix. That is the only thing that I can compare him too. The book expanded the roles of characters that only made small appearances in the first book. Some major characters from the book took a back seat in this one. Overall, I really liked how Robert Jordan expanded his world. I just started the third book in the series. I look forward to finishing this series and I am excited to see how it ends.

Interview with the Vampire

   So, I have wanted to read Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice for a while now. I enjoyed it very much. The premise of the novel is that a vampire named Louis recalls his life as a vampire to an unnamed news reporter. It was a very fast paced story. I was never bored and hated to put it down. Since this is a vampire book there was a lot of blood and gore. Any sex that is in the story is merely implied. Everything is up to your imagination. I felt that all the different relationships could be interpreted different ways. There was not a whole lot of cussing, which I appreciated. The last book I read, The Gunslinger, had several cuss words on every page. This book might bother you if you don't like violence, because there was a whole lot. Also, if you don't like vampires you won't like this book. Also, if you like vampires that appeared in Twilight, you probably won't like this book either. These vampires are not vegetarians. They feast on blood and some enjoy torturing people.
    If you enjoy books about myths,supernatural activities, or like real vampires (not ones with spiky hair) then you will like this book. I want to see the movie with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise; however, I want to wait a while. There are a lot of other books in the series. I want to read those as well.

The Gunslinger

    So, I decided to branch out and start a new series. Last week I read a book called, Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King. It is the first book in the Dark Tower series. I have wanted to read it for a while. I have an aunt who has talked about it a good bit. I thought it had an interesting premise, so I decided to give it a try. It takes place in a world that is somewhat similar to our own. The story is about a gunslinger (kinda like a knight), named Roland Deschain, pursuing an evil man referred to as the "Man in Black". Roland is also trying to get to the Dark Tower. I don't want to say too much about it for fear of giving away too much information. This book is a mixture of fantasy and western genre. I felt that the book was very clever and entertaining. However, it was really confusing. I am willing to give the series a chance, since there are many books in this series. Perhaps, it will make since as I read into it. I will say that this was an easy book to read. I knocked it out in a weekend.

Where are the Spaceships?

    So, this month the Adult Book Club at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest are reading a book called gods in Alabama.  This summer the adult program has a theme of Alabama. Anyways, the book is about a girl who returns home after so many after leaving Alabama. I hated it. I hated it alot. I thought the characters were unbelievable, unrelateable, and plain jerks. The only character I liked was Lena's (the main character) boyfriend's mother.  She was only in the book for about three or four pages, but she made an impression.  I thought it was awful.  The characters never lifted off the page for me. They were very two dimensional. The book was very jumbled. The plot wasn't very exciting in the least bit.
    Of course it may not be the book. Maybe it is just me. I like science fiction/fantasy, history, and Christian theology/religious books.  I didn't care for this book.  I just don't like this type of fiction. It wasn't very exciting. I need dragons, vampires, tormented hero, or anything of that sort. This book did not strike my fancy at all.

Reflections on my Internship

     So far I am really enjoying my internship at Vestavia Hills. They have me doing everything imaginable. I find the books that are on hold, replace the new magazines, helping put together a new computer lab, work with the children, and work with the teens. I have enjoyed learning about putting the computers together. I have to admit that it was pretty intimidating working with these at first. I have very little knowledge about hardware. But I have been hooking computers up and recording their serial numbers on an i-Pad (i-Pads are cool, but they are a little awkward at first.) I have really enjoyed working in the children's department. I spent several days making paper passports (each week the kids learn about a new continent). The other day I helped issue the passports. This week I have helped out with the the teen department a little bit. I helped the teen librarian, Terri, do read alikes for the library. A read alike is a suggested reading list, for example if you liked Harry Potter then you might want to try the Pendragon series. I had a fun time doing that. This Tuesday I will be working with the Teen department again as week kick off for summer reading with a Sumo Wrestling Tournament. It is going to be fun.

Dracula: The Undead

     So, I decided to do another short review on a book I read. This book was called Dracula: The Undead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. This was the official sequel to the original Dracula which was written in 1897. Dacre Stoker is a decedent from the legendary Bram Stoker. It was a pretty good book over all. If you liked the original Dracula, you will probably like this one. There were things in this book that contradicted the original novel. But this book explains those contradictions very well.  This book does a pretty good of tying in a lot of historical characters and weaving them together. Bram Stoker was even a character which was kind of weird, but it worked for this book. This book is set in 1912. Mina and Jonathan Harker have a son named Quincey, who was named after Quincey Morris (one of the main characters in Dracula who died in the fight against the "dark prince"). Quincey is completely ignorant of the events that happened before his birth. After people involved with the death of Dracula start being killed one after another, Quincey starts investigating and uncovering the truth. As he seeks answers he wonders, "Did his parents hunt down a vampire called Dracula? Is Dracula still alive? And if not who is trying to kill all of his parent's friends and his family?" If you like horror or Dracula you will enjoy this novel.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

   Okay, so first off I want to say that I am not one of those zombie fanatics. I don't dress up like them.  I don't secretly wish that a zombie apocalypse will occur. I am not storing up weapons for when the zombies come. Honestly, I think these people are weird and they need serious mental therapy. The truth is that I am terrified of zombies. When I was fourteen, I had a panic attack when I forced to watch Resident Evil. I mean I was crying. Of course then I was afraid when I saw Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. At least with vampires and werewolves, there is an internal struggle. You can see the tortured person within them. But not zombies. . They don't get to choose evil or good. They just eat brains.
     However, I decided that I would give Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a try. I really enjoyed the original book by Jane Austin. And I thought this might be pretty cool. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Basically Seth Grahme-Smith, who also wrote Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, took the original novel added his own scenes and created alternate explanations for the behaviors of the characters. It was very amusing for me to imagine Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters killing zombies. It was truly amazing. A lot of the dialogue was changed slightly for example. However, the characters do remain mostly the same. For example, even though England is plagued with zombies and death, Mrs. Bennet only concern is that her daughters put away all of their "silly fighting and find husbands". In the original novel, Lady Catherine de Bourgh inquires if the Bennets had a governess. She replies that they did not. Lady de Bourgh exclaims "Five girls and no governess!". In this book, she exclaims" Five girls and no ninja". Yes, this book had ninjas too. It was fantastic. I recommend it to any one. Although you will need to have read the original novel in order for this book to mean anything to you. There is suppose to be a movie coming out soon. I can't wait.

Stupid Zombie movies. These movies used to keep me up at night.

My Epic journey that led to Epic Failure

The following story is true. The names were not changed to protect the innocent.

     My story begins on a day in March in 2007. So, I was studying earlier that for my Geography test and I decided to take a break and enjoy this nice weather. I went to the Quad  at UA and continued reading a novel I just started, Son of a Witch by Gregory MacGuire(the sequel to Wicked), which my neighbor,Jacob Burnett, let me borrow.
         An international student asked me to take a few pictures of him. So I put my book down and picked up his camera. He asked me to take some pictures of him near the benches close to Denny Chimes. We also got some pictures of him sitting on the bench with Gorgas library in the background.The cameras I was taking pictures with were an strange sort of thing, they had two lenses and he said that they used for 3-D imagery or something.
          So after we get done taking the pictures I look to find my book and it is gone. Nobody had passed us but this one Indian girl.Neither one of us had seen her take the book nor had we seen it since she passed. The both of us were wondering why would somebody just pick up book. While we were debating this the Indian girl, who was our prime suspect was getting away. The oriental, international student guy went on his bike extremely fast to try to catch this vandel and see what she knows. Meanwhile I am kind of walking around the Quad seeing if I might have just misplaced the book. I was also trying to formulate how I was going to tell Jacob that I had lost his book that he had entrusted upon me.
       After about five minutes, the oriental/international guy came back. He said he lost her. Even though he felt extremely guilty, even though it was not his fault. He thinks that this Indian girl might have been another international student such as himself. He got my e-mail and said he would send out an e-mail to all the internatiol students to see if this girl would return the book. I guess she was implementing the Finders/Keepers theory. I always thought that rule was stupid.
      This event just reminded me that life is completly unpredictable and sometimes unexplainable things just happen. .....

Present Day
      So, I decided to check the book out from the library where I intern at. At first, I was very excited about this opportunity to finish the story I had started. The story seemed a little disconnected as I got through it.  The main character, Liir had a  sorta kinda girlfriend who was lovely but he cheated on her. Liir never knew what he wanted and never accomplished his main goal which was to find his half sister. The villain was never seen once he became the villain. Very little in the book made since.  This turned out to be one of the worst books that I ever read in my life. I loved Wicked, but I hated Son of Witch. It was just plain horrible. The moral of the story is that if an Indian girl takes something from you, then you probably don't need it.jk. Actually, perhaps the moral of the story is that maybe you should read the review of a book before you check it out. You know it is just one of those things. With all the books in the world, you run into a bad apple every once in a while. I just really hoped that I would get an awesome ending to go along with my awesome journey.

The Eye of the World

So, I figured I should write about the books that I read since this is a library blog. A couple of days ago, I finished a book called, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. It is the first book in the Wheel of Time series. Well actually it is the second book if you include the prequel. But apparently you are not suppose to read the prequel until you have read most of the books in the series. Wikipedia lists The Eye of the World as the first book in the series. And you can't argue with Wikipedia. Anyways, a friend of mine, Lizzy Theris, let me borrow her copy of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was exciting and entertaining.  It is a fantasy book, so if you don't like fantasy then you probably should not read it. Since I have only read the first book, I don't think I have got an idea on the overarching plot of the series.  It is also really hard to describe in a few words as to what the book is about. Basically a small village comes under attack at the beginning of the book. It is discovered that an evil force wants something to do with three young men of the village. These men are named Rand, Perrin, and Mat. These men leave with an Aes Sedai (She is kinda like a witch. I think she is good. At least she was in this) and a Warder (A guy you don't want mad at you) to take them to a place of safety. They have many misadventures along the way. If you liked Lord of the Rings or anything like that than you probably would enjoy this book.

Why We Need Libraries

       Yesterday, something heart breaking happened at the library. This lady who was about forty needed help with her e-mail. She had about five combinations of log ins and passwords. Eventually she called her daughter who set it up for her and I was able to log her in. She wanted to put her resume on an online application. Her current place of employment   now but they are laying off a lot of people. I made some edits on her resume. She could barely remember where she had worked and when she had worked at different places.She didn't even know the name of her current supervisor. She did not even know what her current job title was. She did not know the full names of her references. This lady did not know how to fill out an application or a resume. It was up to me, someone half her age to help her.
      I spent about an hour and half typing her application for her, because she did not know how to type. In fact she had never used any Microsoft Program before. I only worked until 10, but I was with her till 10:30. My heart was broken because I knew for a fact that this lady was not qualified for the job she was applying for. I do hope that she will  find a job somewhere that she can be successful.
      This is why libraries exist. They are not places with old books that no body cares about. Libraries function to serve and help people in the community. Whether it be suggesting a book to read, helping with research, or helping fill out an application for a job. Libraries are vital and active. People who say libraries are things of the past have no idea what they are talking about.
 

Celebration

   So, I yesterday I got a letter in the mail saying that I had been approved for an assistantship for the Library School. I am very excited abou it. I am not entirely sure what I will do. I will either work at a library or work for a professor. We will just see what happens in the future.
     I got another letter today saying that I had been approved for a scholarship in the summer. This is really amazing and unexpected. I thought I would only get an assistantship or scholarship. I did not think I would get both. This is truly a blessing.
     Also, I am very happy that my website that I spent weeks building for my Information Technology class is completely finished. I am very proud of it. I created a fan site for my favorite show, Smallville. Here is the link: http://www.bama.ua.edu/~rlburgess/Smallville%202.html

Edible Book Festival

Every April 1, the Library School has the Edible Book Festival. Basically you bring book inspired food or food shaped like books to the festival. It was an awesome experience. It is actually an international day.  I brought a Harry Potter cake.  I think that the best one was a Winnie the Pooh cake that Carla Leake made. I can't wait until next year. Here are some pictures from today:

My First Blog Post

My name is Robert Lee Burgess. I am a library student at the University of Alabama. I have really enjoyed my time in library school. The purpose of this blog will be to share my stories in my library career. I have a job as a student worker at the Information Desk in Gorgas Library. My job is to answer basic reference questions, answer directional questions, fix the printers, and handle small emergencies on the first floor. It is a very enjoyable job. I also volunteer once a month at The Library at The Botanical Gardens. It is a very small library located in the back of the information center at The Botanical Gardens. This summer I will be interning at Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest. I am very excited about it.