Tales from the library

[AbbyTC]

Bait them with small piles of rice.

Ants eat rice and drag it back to the nest. The next liquid that enters their world will result in death by explosion.

Rice swells when it comes into contact with liquids. They will explode physically and any rice left in the nests will expand and crush them.

That's interesting.  Never heard of it.  I don't think our facilities manager will go for it, though.  He seems to prefer chemicals.   

[AbbyTC]

I was leaving the library and walked past the fishbowl.  It's a meeting room, first come first served, with three sides of floor to ceiling glass, so everyone can see into and watch the people inside.  When I looked over into it, I noticed the glass on the table had a large crack in the one corner.  Damn!  So much for going home!  Even though I was clocked out, I knew I had to report it.  Turns out the one corner was broken off completely, about 8 inches of loose glass.  I told my co-worker about it, and she quickly made a sign while I emailed our administrator about it.  Because some people can't read, or choose to ignore signs, we also put yellow caution tape across the door.  What makes me really mad is I saw three women sitting in the room only 15 minutes before hand.  If they are the ones who broke it, why not tell us?  Why create a hazard for the next patrons that use it?  If they didn't break it and it was like that before them, again, why not  tell us?     There's a lady who tutors a little boy in that room, don't people realize how dangerous that is?  This has happened two other times and neither of those times were we told, either. 

[Locutus]

People are assholes. 

I'm blaming the three women. 

[AbbyTC]

People are assholes. 

I'm blaming the three women. 

Nope, not the three women.    Turns out it was broken before that.  One of our staff was using it for orientation and noticed it was cracked but didn't tell us because she thought we knew.  So it cracked the day before or maybe even over the weekend. 

Moral of the story:  If you see something broken, empty, etc. tell the staff.  You may think other people have said something, but more likely no one has.

[AbbyTC]

Grrrrr.  Some parents really piss me off.  A guy was using the computer today in the adult section and he left his two year old boy to run around basically unsupervised.  At one point he almost went out the automatic doors, but our reference librarian stopped him before he could get out.  She tried to get him to go back to his dad, but he stopped outside of my office to play on the reading chairs.  He was jumping around, holding onto the arm when he must have brought his face down onto the arm.  I looked up right when he made the "ouch I hurt myself" face and let out a wail of pain.  His dad said to him as he slowly crossed over to pick him up, "I told you not to leave me.  Why did you do that?"  Seriously?  You blame the kid for hurting himself when your supposed to be watching him?  He could have easily used the computers in the children's section and his little boy would have had toys to play with. 

[Locutus]

I can't stand parents who don't tend to their kids in public regardless of where they are -- library, supermarket, the mall, etc.

[AbbyTC]

What was even worse was the guardian that ignored her 2 year old while he was messing up our stuff.  We have a display of non-fiction DVDs and the little boy went over to it and started to play with them.  Some he threw to the ground, others he took off the display and moved around.  I was walking toward them when I saw all this.  As I was about to say something, he opened one up and let the case fall to the ground and then proceeded to pick up another case to open.  I got down on his level and asked him to give me the DVD in his hands.  He did, but proceeded to go after the ones on the ground.  I asked his guardian to keep an eye on him explaining what he was doing.  She said to me that he wasn't doing anything wrong and she was watching him!  She never looked his way once and after I talked with her she took his hand, leaving the mess, and walked out.   

[Locutus]

Anything new at the library Abby? 

[libby]

I've got something for her. Will try to get it on this evening.

[AbbyTC]

Anything new at the library Abby? 

Just the normal rude people.  Like the twenty something girl I encountered.  There was a chair outside my office I needed to clean as there was a spot of something on it.  I put a "out of order" sign on it so nobody would sit on it or move it.  Fortunately I was in my office when this girl comes over and throws the sign off and then sat in the chair.  I saw the sign flutter down to the floor and went out to investigate.  I saw her sitting there and told her the sign was there for a reason as there was spot on the chair and I wasn't sure what it was.  She didn't even look at me, but instead grunted and had a disgusted look on her face.  I don't understand why some people think signs don't apply to them.   

[AbbyTC]

I've got something for her. Will try to get it on this evening.

Looking forward to what you have Libby!

[libby]

Here it is! From the Washington Post:

Major Libraries unite to explore the impact that a warmer climate may have on the Arctic

Arctic Imagination
New York Public Library
Dec 5

The Arctic's expanse of ice has mesmerized humans for millennia  -- and now it is slowly disappearing.

What might that mean for humanity? For the next year, Arctic Imagination, a  multi-library collaboration, will search for answers with events, conversations, readings, and Web-based exhibitions.

The collective -- its members include the New York Public Library, the National Library of Norway, the Royal Danish Library, the National Library of Sweden, the Central Library of Greenland, and the Stockholm Public Library -- appropriately skews Scandinavian. Its focus, however, is international. That makes sense: Arctic ice affects ecosystems worldwide, and it holds scientific and symbolic meaning in art, culture, and law beyond Scandinavia.

In the past, the Arctic was seen as a distant, ungovernable frontier, a place for adventure and discovery. But as the ice melts, the region has become uniquely vulnerable. That change presents what the Collective calls "an intellectual and artistic challenge."

To address that change, Arctic Imagination has facilitated public talks with such figures as avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson and hunter Lars Jeremiassen, who helps monitor Arctic ice using sled dogs.

On December 5th at 7 P.M. Canadian author, journalist, and filmmaker Naomi Klein will join journalist Martin Breum at the New York Public Library for Arctic Imagination's next United States-based event, a convention about climate change and Arctic ice. Tickets for the discussion are $40, and the event will be live-streamed on the library web site.

Can't head to New York or Scandinavia to ponder the once-endless Arctic?  You can join the conversation without leaving your laptop. The collective's online "Polar Treasures" exhibition features  Arctic Explorers' vintage diaries, old advertising images that imagine the icy perils of the North Pole, and more. Learn more at articticimagination.com

-- Erin Blakemore 

[AbbyTC]

Here it is! From the Washington Post:

Major Libraries unite to explore the impact that a warmer climate may have on the Arctic

Arctic Imagination
New York Public Library
Dec 5

The Arctic's expanse of ice has mesmerized humans for millennia  -- and now it is slowly disappearing.

What might that mean for humanity? For the next year, Arctic Imagination, a  multi-library collaboration, will search for answers with events, conversations, readings, and Web-based exhibitions.

The collective -- its members include the New York Public Library, the National Library of Norway, the Royal Danish Library, the National Library of Sweden, the Central Library of Greenland, and the Stockholm Public Library -- appropriately skews Scandinavian. Its focus, however, is international. That makes sense: Arctic ice affects ecosystems worldwide, and it holds scientific and symbolic meaning in art, culture, and law beyond Scandinavia.

In the past, the Arctic was seen as a distant, ungovernable frontier, a place for adventure and discovery. But as the ice melts, the region has become uniquely vulnerable. That change presents what the Collective calls "an intellectual and artistic challenge."

To address that change, Arctic Imagination has facilitated public talks with such figures as avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson and hunter Lars Jeremiassen, who helps monitor Arctic ice using sled dogs.

On December 5th at 7 P.M. Canadian author, journalist, and filmmaker Naomi Klein will join journalist Martin Breum at the New York Public Library for Arctic Imagination's next United States-based event, a convention about climate change and Arctic ice. Tickets for the discussion are $40, and the event will be live-streamed on the library web site.

Can't head to New York or Scandinavia to ponder the once-endless Arctic?  You can join the conversation without leaving your laptop. The collective's online "Polar Treasures" exhibition features  Arctic Explorers' vintage diaries, old advertising images that imagine the icy perils of the North Pole, and more. Learn more at articticimagination.com

-- Erin Blakemore

Thanks Libby!  That's interesting and I'm going to check out the website.  But we all know climate change isn't real.   

[libby]

Thanks Libby!  That's interesting and I'm going to check out the website.  But we all know climate change isn't real.   

Oh Yeah! Seriously, reading that article made me think about something my son, who was a Farm Operator at Mt. Vernon (George Washington's Home) told me -- there is a seed bank in Scandinavia that has tried to save as many 'old' seeds as possible:  Svalbard Global Seed Vault - Crop Trust:

"Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies the Global Seed Vault."

Thinking about that and now the library project made me think about Fahrenheit 451. All in one way or another trying to save what we have for future generations.

[AbbyTC]

Oh Yeah! Seriously, reading that article made me think about something my son, who was a Farm Operator at Mt. Vernon (George Washington's Home) told me -- there is a seed bank in Scandinavia that has tried to save as many 'old' seeds as possible:  Svalbard Global Seed Vault - Crop Trust:

"Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies the Global Seed Vault."

Thinking about that and now the library project made me think about Fahrenheit 451. All in one way or another trying to save what we have for future generations.

I looked that up.  Currently they have 930,000 samples, but can store 4.5 million varieties of crops!  Wow!  Here's the link in case anyone else is curious.  https://www.croptrust.org/our-work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/ 

Thanks for the info, Libby!