OJT or Expanding my eHorizons

A little while ago I decided to investigate the downloadable audio books available via the SLFL and CEF’s websites. What brought this about was that a patron came in one evening and ambled over to the books on cd collection. Sometimes when you go to the library no matter what is available nothing strikes you. Our patron had this experience. I went over and we talked about different authors, narrators and books available. Still, no dice. Now I’m thinking, “Hmmm, what to do?” Luckily our patron likes both fiction and non-fiction offerings so we were able to locate an appropriate item. As we returned to the Cric Desk the question of the downloadable books available from our website came up. So we quickly went online to see what the deal was. After a few frustrating minutes I discovered that this was going to take some focus and vowed to learn how to do it before our patron returned to the library. When I got home that evening I sallied forth to download something, anything. I’ll cut to the quick. I did successfully download an audio book.

Here is what I did.

First off don’t be in a rush. In fact, if you like watching baseball you might want to combine the two activities. Don’t worry, if something really good happens on the diamond you’ll see it again on the replay. And as in downloading any software or files, read all the available information on the screen first and then click “okay” or “next”. You might also want to check out the FAQs before you begin.

The first thing you’ll have to do is set up an account with NetLibrary. I went through the CEF webpage to do this. You will need your local library card. Actually what you need is your library card number. That fourteen digit bar code number that lets you take out books etc from the SLFL. So, unless you’ve memorized your library number, you’ll need your library card. You need an account from NetLibrary so that you can download the necessary management software to then download and run the audio books. It is not hard, just follow the prompts. You set up a user name and password, you know the drill. Then you can download the management software. Just to let you know, you are now about half way to actually getting a downloadable book on your computer or device.

Once you have the account and have the management software you can begin to browse the offerings. When I first saw the search mechanism for browsing I was a little suspicious. It appeared to be kind of clunky. Being the person that I am I scrolled to the bottom of the webpage to see who owned / managed the website. There it was: EBSCO. EBSCO is a well know aggregator of both print and on-line databases for journal, newspaper and magazine articles. That was why the search tools looked both vaguely familiar and not so user friendlily. But that was okay. Now I knew what I was dealing with and so forged ahead. I choose to download an audio book of poems and letters by Emily Dickinson.

The actual downloading took a bit of time. If a major league pitcher was really struggling on the mound the opposing team could have sent all nine players to the plate. But I did get the entire work. I now had two hours and eight minutes of narration on my computer. So I listened. The listening quality was very good and the controls are very easy to use. The bad parts are that there is no way to bookmark where you are if you decide to stop for a while. The FAQs suggest you write down the track number or time stamp to find your place again. Like with a pen or pencil on a piece of paper. That is so 1980s. The audio book is actually checked out by you, just like any lending library material, and so it is available to you for a limited amount of time. After three weeks your access to the file expires. That’s all okay. Here is the other bad part: the file does not automatically delete from your computer. If you want the file removed from your machine you need to do that yourself. Alright, I can find the file and do that. Oh, and just in case you where thinking of downloading the audio book to your computer and then burning a cd of the audio book and listening to it in the car, don’t bother. The file is encrypted. I choose to download to my laptop. You can choose to download to a more portable device. Since I didn’t do that yet I can’t report back as to how easy or difficult that process might be. But I will be sure to let you know. Right now, I’m going to go listen to some of Ms. Dickinson’s work.

See you at the Library,
Pete

The Blue Boat

As most of you know I recently read The Healing Woods by Martha Reben. A little bit ago my wife and I visited Weller Pond. We wanted to make sure that we got to Weller in the month of May, just as Ms. Reben did 79 years ago.

We didn’t travel by the same route. Nor did we travel in the same type of craft. But both of those aspects didn’t really matter to us. Our most important reasons for going are another set of whys. Ms. Reben traveled to Weller Pond to cure. And in a sense we did too. Neither BethStar nor I are ill, as Ms. Reben was. But we were looking for a quiet place, with blue skies and clean water; a spot that could renew our sense of why we continue to travel on lakes, ponds and rivers, up mountains and deep into the woods. In that we were successful.

Both of us had been to Weller before. But this time we saw everything a little differently. This time, we had read about this spot and time spent there prior to our traveling to it. To be fair I’m only going to write about my thoughts. When I read about a place I get the benefit of the writers’ impressions, thoughts and emotions. I also get their reactions and perceptions to any and all events that take place, no matter how significant or mundane. By the writer sharing these events and thoughts I now get to see the area in a completely different light. It doesn’t matter that my trip was this last May and that the one I read about was taken in 1931. What matters is that we both went to the same places. And by following I am able to fold in the thoughts, emotions and perceptions of the previous traveler into and with my own experiences. My trip is greatly enhanced because an earlier person had taken the time to share what they had discovered. When we went to Weller it was almost as if we were also traveling with another person. We could appreciate what she had seen and thought and add those items to our trip. In addition, by traveling to this place we were able to personally connect with the book in a very physical way.

A lot has changed since 1931. Ms. Reben saw virtually no other travelers besides Mr. Rice during the months she stayed at Weller. We did see a couple of folks on the creek, lake and pond; a number of whom we know. We were able, to our own satisfaction, to identify the spot where Ms. Reben and Mr. Rice camped. And here is just one of the pleasant surprises we discovered on our trip: the view is virtually the same as it was almost 80 years ago. You can still see the pond, islands, peninsula and wild forests as they saw them. The sky cleared off to a pale blue and the clouds reflected with a wispy white on the surface of the water. Butterflies flitted around and fish jumped from the lake. You can also still see Ampersand rising in the background over a few layers of hills. The camping spot is now well overgrown. But many of the older trees are still the same ones that they saw and she wrote about all those years ago. How fortunate for all of us.

See you at the Library,
Pete

Scout, Jem & Atticus Turn 50

Somehow I had never gotten around to reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. When I read that there were a number of celebrations this summer to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the work I decided it was time to find a copy and read it. When I casually mentioned to others that I hadn’t read the book, or even seen the movie, they all looked at me in sort of a stunned disbelief. I’m not exactly sure how I had gotten to this point in my life without ever reading the work. But I did know how to remedy the situation. The copy I read I found in the oversized paperback collection just to the right of the paperback carousels and just to the left of the VHS collection at the SLFL.

I’m not going to review the work from the storyline standpoint. There is no need. The book won a Pulitzer Prize; it is considered an American classic and has been in print continuously for fifty years. If it wasn’t good on a number of different levels it never would have lasted this long. What I do want to talk about is my personal experience to the crafting of the work and the development of the reader that the characters and the events written about provide.

Ms. Lee leaves nothing to chance. The work is crafted in the most wonderful of ways. Part way through the work the reader realizes that when Ms. Lee brings in a new character, encounter or setting you can be sure that this character or event will reverberant forward and add to the unfolding of the story. As a reader I found that nothing was wasted and that, if I choose too, I could delve into what might be coming round the bend. I didn’t. And the reason I did not was because I was happy to leave my imagination and intellect in the good hands of Ms. Lee. She did not disappoint me and like all good reads, she did at times surprise me. She also caused me to wonder. I thought about the characters, time and setting. I also thought about when the work was published and about life in America right now. The story takes place in 1935. The work was first published in 1960. It is now 2010. A lot has happened in the past 75 years but the story still has power. The moral and ethical questions examined and pursued in the work continue to be wrestled with even today. I would not doubt that human beings will continue to raise and think about the issues surrounding human dignity and the frailty of human institutions for many centuries to come. At least, I would like to think so.

I am still confused as to why I had never read the book prior to this week. I must have been in the wrong English or American Literature classes. What I will say is that I’m glad to have met the characters in To Kill A Mocking Bird. I’ll also say that I personally believe that when you read you only get out of the book whatever you are ready to take in from that work. Now, because of my age, education and experiences I can appreciate the Ms. Lee’s efforts on a number of different levels. It is rich writing and rich reading. You can also be sure that I won’t wait another fifty years to reread the book.

See you at the Library,
Pete