“Harvest Hollow” book list

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Salutations!

As promised, I am attaching the “Harvest Hollow” book list, which is my way to combine a multi-series grouping of books written by some of the genre’s top authors. All of these books are closed door or fade-to-black as far as their spice level (which usually means kisses only), the mild swearing (i.e., “freaking”) depends on the author, and some plots do feature triggering topics, such as off-page deaths of family members, chronic illness, and previous or current family dynamics that aren’t – let’s say – “The Brady Bunch.” Nothing violent or inappropriate happens or is discussed, so these are typically safe for folks wanting a low- to no-spice romcom, like a Hallmark movie that is sometimes a tad more realistic and grounded in the tricky situations people face while navigating life and love.

Note: some of these titles were originally part of the “Sweater Weather” series with themed cover art, which has sort of disbanded, with some the authors pulling their titles into their other series; I’ve tried to note when a title is across series so if you want a really deep dive into the fictional worlds of some of the character couples, there’s the ability to do so. Some side characters will be featured in their own stories, either before or after a particular title, so it’s up to you how far down the rabbit hole you go!

Harvest Hollow books

Printable book list here: link here

All of the titles I listed have been read, enjoyed, and reviewed by yours truly on Goodreads: link here

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

We are going to Harvest Hollow, North Carolina!

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In my ongoing efforts to offer recent and relevant recommendations during readers’ advisory sessions about adult fiction, I’ve stumbled across the world of contemporary clean romance that excludes the faith aspects found in Christian fiction. Personally speaking, I am a low-to-no spice reader of romance and appreciate a nicely closed door and/or fade to black when character relationships dip into the… um… intimate territory of FMC with MMC [female main character with male main character].

To totally fit the bill, there is a 3-series grouping of books written by some of the genre’s top authors that I have affectionally dubbed the “Harvest Hollow” books! I started a book list at the public library where I work to help patrons navigate the fictional world, which I will tweak a tad to reflect that flair of RLGing that I’m sure folks appreciate before posting here (and update since there’s been a surprise seventh novel in one of the sub-series recently published!).

Stay tuned for all things Harvest Hollow! I think you’re going to want to move figuratively to this small fictional town that feels like a modern Mayberry!

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Library Memes

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Salutations!

As part of my INFO 5410 Integrated Technologies in Libraries course during Spring 2023, I was tasked with creating memes by utilizing one of the platforms discussed in the textbook, so I went to Canva and made the following three memes.

The one below is my favorite (and current desktop background) because I personally identify with the different librarian-ish aspects of the pictures. All of the films/TV show librarians depicted are favorites of mine. Can you list them all?

I had way too much fun making all these. Hopefully they will make you giggle!

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Books About Women During World War II: A Library Collection Selection Project

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During my INFO 5040: Developing Library Collections during Summer 2023, I was tasked with selecting a non-fiction topic and analyzing what resources should be added to a library, based on what titles were available at two different academic libraries. It was fantastic to work on the book selection process from topic identification to title compilation, with the result being a 40-title list.

Project Topic: Women in World War II

Reason: One of my recent favorite books on the topic of women during World War II is Code Girls: The Untold Story of The American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy. The depth of research woven into narrative prose is quite appealing for a non-fiction book, and I have a few other books about the diverse ways women served during the historical period; these books from my personal collection became the foundation for this project. I found the specific Library of Congress (n.d.) Subject Heading for this category of information to be “World War, 1939-1945–Participation, Female” (p. W-255).

Reflection: From combing the internet for title suggestions, I learned to be more open-minded to reviews from unexpected yet valid sources; rather than relying on NoveList alone, I branched out to inventory available online from the bookstore of the National World War II Museum and even took a recommendation from NPR. One aspect I did not consider to be of great importance was the publication dates of the titles I chose. Given I was dealing with history, I assumed the date of publication was not as vitally important as it would be for science and technology titles, so publication dates were not included on my 40-book list. Depending on the topic, I realize publication dates might have more of a bearing on title selection. In a future position involving collection development, I also might need to provide at least an acknowledgement of having read reviews about the titles I select, a fact I discovered when working with NoveList entries that provide access to reviews from publications such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Kirkus as available depending on the title. These compiled reviews might prove useful in supporting a selection decision when submitting title lists to different groups of library constituents.

Goodreads Book List: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/39464934-sarah-hope?shelf=women-in-ww2

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Reference

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Library of congress subject headings beginning with w [PDF]. https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCSH/W.pdf

The Goal of Collection Development

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Rather than the goals of collection development having changed drastically since the early days, the difference between collection development of then versus now lies in the process, materials, and formats having changed (Howard, 2011, p. 10). The first of these linked statements has truth woven in it, even when taking into account the historical views of quality compared to quantity of the collection and whether the librarian was acting in a predominately educational role for the community by offering “good” books (Huynh, 2004, p. 20-21). Regardless of philosophical views, the overarching goal of collection development is “building a coherently connected selection of appropriate items intended to serve an easily identifiable body of users” (Disher, 2014, p. 2). The ultimate goal of almost every library collection can well be said “to check out its material” (Disher, p. 94)!

The process, materials, and formats have changed. It is true that the materials and formats have shifted to include a wider variety than librarians dealt with in previous decades. Since collection development encompasses “all the steps from preparing a budget to eventually placing the book or material in the collection” (Howard, p. 10), the process has remained virtually unchanged, based on what I see in the literature. Materials and formats have definitely expanded over time. Libraries, once only dealing with print books, experience shelves holding audiovisual materials, including DVDs, audio books, and compact discs (Disher, p. 58), and links in OPACs to various electronic versions of items on the shelves for circulation. Within the non-book materials available, my public library offers kits patrons can borrow from the Teen collection, such as a waffle iron, popcorn machine, ukulele, and crochet hooks, akin to the “American Girl dolls” available for circulation in “Washington,” “fishing equipment in Minnesota,” and the “bicycles in Ohio,” all of which are contributing to the growing “library of things” movement across the United States (Mead & Dankowski, 2017). Formats of books and audiovisual materials have also changed over time, with print books morphing into eBooks, books on cassette moving to CDs then streaming, and VHS tapes becoming DVDs becoming Blu-rays and streaming.

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

PS. This was originally written in INFO 5040: Developing Library Collections during Summer 2023.

References

Disher, W. (2014). Crash course in collection development. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Howard, J. K. (2011). Basic selection tools: 21st-century style. School Library Monthly, 28(3), 9–11.

Huynh, A. (2004). Background essay on collection development, evaluation, and management for public libraries. Current Studies in Librarianship, 28(1/2), 19–37.

Mead, B., & Dankowski, T. (2017). the LIBRARY of THINGS. American Libraries, 48(6), 48–51.

The Purpose of Collection Development

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When one stops and think about it, the purpose of the library and collection development are tightly intertwined. If a library is located in a botanical garden, for instance, with its purpose being research on botany, then its collection development strategies will focus on botanical materials in different formats and ignore information regarding other topics, such as Shakespeare’s sonnets. Similarly on a smaller scale, Disher (2014) stated “books on the library’s shelves…share a common purpose,” so the role of the collection developer, “therefore, is to collect items that illustrate to the community that a unifying purpose or goal prevails” (p. 1). The community’s needs and interests fuel the purpose of the library, since “public libraries exist for the communities they serve” (Disher, p. 4), which resultantly informs the work of collection developers.

Huynh did a fantastic job providing an overview tracing the history of book selection from the early 1900s to what we now know today as collection development. I found the comparisons of such categories as philosophy, selection, and evaluation to be quite helpful in seeing the shift in thinking over the years. One particular statement struck me as corroborative of my views on the linking of library purpose with collection development, in that Huynh (2004) declares that “the collection development philosophy is heavily dependent upon the purpose of the libraries” (p. 31), so it follows that what items are purchased and made available fluctuate while the purpose “has swung like a pendulum, from educating to entertaining or ‘edutaining’ the public” throughout the decades (as cited in Huynh, p. 31). The current trend regarding collections and services for public libraries “heavily leans towards public demand” (Huynh, p. 19), evident in Woodward’s goal for libraries to morph into bookstores, driven by evaluating circulation rates and responding to customer demands (as cited in Huynh, p. 36-37). As Huynh points out this customer-driven model illustrates how quickly perspective of what is important enough to last beyond popular culture fads and “raison d’être” (p. 31), that is “reason or justification for existence” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.), can be lost. Without a balance of reason coming from clearly delineated purpose, as well as collection development policies and procedures, libraries will not be able to handle the stressful expectations society places on them. “Instead of being many things to all, should public libraries strive to be a few things to some?”  (Huynh, p. 31).

 

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

PS. This was originally written in INFO 5040: Developing Library Collections during Summer 2023.

References

Disher, W. (2014). Crash course in collection development. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Huynh, A. (2004). Background essay on collection development, evaluation, and management for public libraries. Current Studies in Librarianship, 28(1/2), 19–37.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Raison d’être. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved May 11, 2023, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raison%20d%27%C3%AAtre

 

Reflections on using TinyCat and Wix

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For my INFO 5410 Integrated Technologies in Libraries course during Spring 2023, I was tasked with various product reviews and mini-research projects dealing with several aspects of library technology that made me quite happy that I truly need to know out in the real world is the email address of my library’s IT department when something happens in the Reference and/or Children’s departments and not that I have to be fixing such things myself.

Two of the assignments I am most pleased with my work are:

Hopefully my reflections on these two technology products and their usability for those of us in library work who are not IT computer people will be useful.

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Sense of Purpose, Peace, and Professionalism

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Among the myriad of important things I gleaned from INFO 5000: Introduction to Information Professions in Fall 2022, the top 3 things are as follows. I really felt like I had grown so much both academically and and professionally in my understanding of LIS during this course.

  1. I found a sense of purpose in Rubin and Rubin’s (2020) detailed discussion of the library’s basic organizational structure (p. 71), since it highlights the vastness of the profession I’ve chosen to enter. The organization, broken into three categories of User services, Technical services, and Support services (Rubin & Rubin, p. 71) which, regardless of type of library being analyzed, provide numerous employment opportunities for many different individuals, whether or not they are in the field of librarianship, such as IT, HR, and personnel facilities maintenance, and security (pp. 76-77). Libraries can be highly important in the communities they serve, beyond merely the patrons and librarians who interact around materials.
  2. I found a sense of peace on all the different types of libraries expounded upon in the textbook, since it helped me over some of my guilty feelings from my choice to switch decidedly from the role of school library media specialist to anything else library-related when beginning this MSLIS program this past January [of 2022]. I now see more clearly and firmly that the switch has nothing to do with my supposed “failure” in one realm of library, as I wrongly thought; rather, it is my adventurous nature and the ability to see all the open doors this degree will offer that I want to try out in my professional life; there are so many different types of libraries and different roles within those organizations that it will become merely a question of what do I want to do for the present season, not “here’s what I am duty-bound to do for the rest of my career, whether I love it or not.”
  3. I found a sense of professionalism through the coursework that helped me grow in my evaluative skills when it comes to scholarly sources and forced me to think about aspects of librarianship as a profession that I had previously considered; before this class, neither I had considered what impact one important LIS figure can have on today’s practices, nor had I even thought about the various men and women responsible for great strides in our profession, often by merely doing their jobs to the best of their abilities and becoming famous in the process inadvertently. As Shakespeare (1601/1988) penned in Twelfth Night, “ ‘Be not afraid of greatness’– ’twas well writ. / ‘Some are born great’ – /  ‘Some achieve greatness’ – / ‘And some have greatness thrust upon them.’ ” (3.4.37, 39, 41, 43).

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

References:

Rubin, R. E. & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.

Shakespeare, W. (1601/1988). Twelfth night, or what you will. (S. Wells & G. Taylor, Eds.). (Compact Edition). (Original work published 1601)

Books Filled with Culture, Education, and Pleasure: WPA Library Services Across the US

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During the Final Research Project for my INFO 5000 Introduction to Information Professions, I felt like I was working in a mini-thesis and thoroughly enjoyed myself since I was getting to delve into a historical aspect of librarianship that has long fascinated me – packhorse librarians in my native Kentucky in the 1930s – and even broaden my originally narrow topic to see the vast assistance afforded libraries during the Great Depression by the WPA.

Aside from a meticulously-written paper, I turned my extensive research into a narrated PowerPoint presentation entitled “Books Filled with Culture, Education, and Pleasure: WPA Library Services Across the US.” Here is the link to the resultant YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeL03PEhGys. Enjoy!

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Stereotypes: What do The Pagemaster, Dr. Abigail Chase, and Larry Daly all have in common?

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Most are likely well aware of the pervading “librarian stereotype,” — middle-aged female with graying hair in a tidy (or messy) bun wearing glasses and cardigan who owns cats — and I, for one, feel completely at home embracing and embodying most of the perception of the LIS profession nowadays, with the exception of “crazy cat lady” being a synonym of “librarian” since I’m a dog kind of gal. Glasses used to be part of my “librarian” persona complete with neck chain and hair in a bun; cardigans will forever be my superhero cape.

To my knowledge, there is not a stereotype for “information scientist” that has to do with gender, physical appearance, personality, and habits. The first mental picture that comes to mind when I think of the term “information scientist” is a combo deal of Doc Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy in the 1980s and Mr. Dewey the librarian-turned-pagemaster from The Pagemaster movie in the 1990s. Great Scott! I just keep seeing Christopher Lloyd in my mind’s eye. It seems ironic to me that gender roles in librarianship began as male-dominated where “bookmen” worked in sophisticated academic institutions “because they were scholars, not custodians” (as cited in Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 272) in the middle of the nineteenth century and completely morphed into a profession dominated by females, so much so that Garrison was quoted as referring to nineteenth-century librarians as “tender technicians,” because “women occupied professions distinguished by their nurturing characteristics… librarianship among them” (as cited in Rubin & Rubin, p. 541). I think Garrison must have been alluding to the late nineteenth-century or even the twentieth-century, due to the fact Rubin and Rubin point out, that by 1919, out of the fifteen library education programs in the country, ten had been founded by women (p. 278), with the majority of students in such programs at the time being women. 

I also find it interestingly doubtful that Stauffer’s masculine model in LIS schools is discussed as still existing today, having roots in the dominant cultural view of Dewey’s day, notably “a distinct separation between the appropriate work for males (leadership, administration, bibliography) and females (routine clerical duties and nurturing functions such as children’s work)” (as cited in Rubin & Rubin, p. 276). The gender pay gap specifically does not seem to play a role in the librarian and information scientist stereotypes; Rubin and Rubin reported on a 2014 Library Journal salary survey which declared “women made 89 cents for every dollar made by men” generally in different positions across library types (p. 310), while “data from 2017 showed that women were paid less in systems, web development, and programmer positions but had a slight advantage in digital acquisitions and digital curatorial positions” (as cited in Rubin & Rubin, p. 310).

The stereotypes regarding archivists and museum workers that spring to mind also come from the entertainment industry; they are either highly intelligent and sophisticated consistently like historian-cryptologist Dr. Benjamin Gates and archivist Dr. Abigail Chase in the National Treasure movies or extremely bumbling and inept, at least at the onset, like the night watchman Larry Daley in the Night at the Museum movies. Honestly, I think I watch too many bookish or library-themed movies and absorb them way too easily; I find myself actually adding bits of different characters I admire or connect with on some level into my personality and modus operandi, sometimes even my speech pattern, which one of my work-friends finds hilarious. I’m totally going to make a librarian meme someday with solely film/TV librarian images that are important to me in the style of the “What My Friends Think I Do” memes.

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Reference: Rubin, R. E. & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.