TheLibraryDiva.com

Disco Dork

2007-12-16T21:36:00.001-08:00

I know it makes me the biggest dork in the world, but I am soooooooo excited about this.

Summer 2008 can't come soon enough for me! :-)

Still Alive...

2007-11-27T22:47:00.000-08:00

You know you are a bad blogger when you get emails from friends wondering if you are okay because you haven't blogged in eons. However, you know that you are a truly craptacular blogger when your patrons start giving you crap because you never update your blog.

So for one of my favorite patrons in the whole wide library world, consider this blog post just for you. :-)

Reason #1 I am Happy to Be a Homeowner...

2007-02-13T08:47:00.000-08:00

When it snows like it did today, I will no longer have to dig my car out because it will be protected in a garage. Woo hoo!!!

I'm over at RTB today. Stop by and say hi. :-)

Double Dipping

2007-01-30T08:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm going to do something super tacky today and use material from a blog post I created for my library's reading program. I've been meaning to blog here about this website for a few weeks and just haven't gotten around to it. However, I would like to point out that this post is a bit different in that I am including personal details that I would never share with my patrons. See. You all are special. :-)

It goes without saying that I read a lot. And as a good little obsessive reader I track what I read. I first started doing this in 1985. At the time my library did not have a summer reading club, so my grandmother decided to run her own. She gave me a small, spiral bound notebook to list the number of books I read over the summer in. At the end of summer I was promised a prize based on the number of books I finished. I read every single book I could get my hands that summer, anticipating a kick ass. While the summer reading prize I received was great (my first boombox and the soundtrack to Purple Rain -- I had the best grandma ever), something strange happened along the way. I became obsessed with tracking what I was reading as well as how much I was reading.

I soon graduated from spiral bound notebooks to loose leaf paper kept in a Trapper Keeper. The Trapper Keeper was my organizational method of choice for quite awhile, until I learned how to track what I was reading with Excel spreadsheets. While all these different methods got the job done, none of them were perfect. So I kept searching for the perfect system. And now, I think I might have found it.

With many apologies to LibraryThing, I think my new favorite website for all things book is aNobii. Although it is smaller than LibraryThing in membership and books listed (for now), its functionality for readers wanting to keep track of the books they have read makes it a much better choice. What makes aNobii so gosh darn great? In addition to allowing you catalog, rate, tag, and comment on the items you add to your shelf, aNobii allows you to track your reading progress. Each time you enter a book into aNobii you can put it into one of five categories:

Not Started
Finished
Reading
Unfinished
Reference

In addition to these categories, aNobii also allows you to note the date you finished reading a book. And for those of you who are true book nerds like me, aNobii has a "shelf stats" area that lets you see not only how many books you read in a particular year, but the number of pages you read as well. The nerd in me is going wild at the thought of being able to say, "I bet my page count is bigger than yours."

Another cool option if you are someone who lends a lot of books out, aNobii allows you to not only keep track of who has what book, but it also allows you to automatically send them gentle reminders when they are late in returning books to you.

Setting up an account with aNobii is quick, easy, and best of all free. If you haven't found your ideal method for keeping track of what you are reading, you should definitely give it a try. And if you do try it out, be sure you let me know what you think! :-)

Now I Can Talk About This...

2007-01-29T22:22:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I have been quiet over the past few weeks. I've been doing something that has had me stressed out of my mind, and I figured a quiet Kelly was better than a constantly bitching and whining Kelly. The good news is that while I'm still a little stressed, a huge weight was lifted of my shoulders this afternoon. I almost blogged about this on Saturday, but I didn't want to jinx it. But I don't need to worry about that anymore.

Since I returned from my Christmas break I have been house hunting. After several weeks of searching I finally found a place I liked and put an offer in on Saturday. After a little bit of haggling on the price, this afternoon the seller and I came to an agreement and I officially bought a home. Eeeeeeeeee!

Okay, that is the one and only squeal of excitement I will let loose. I promise.

I don't close on the place until March 15 and there is still a whole bunch of stuff to be done like getting through the inspection, but in a matter of weeks I will be a homeowner. Scary. The place itself isn't fancy, but it is sooooo much better than where I am currently living. It's a two bedroom condo that has been remodelled, so other than a few minor changes the place is pretty much move-in ready. And now that the stress of finding a place is over, I get to do all the fun stuff like pick out paint colors. Woo hoo!

She's At It Again...

2007-01-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

Oh, Oprah. Every single time it's announced that you are going to be unleashing another one of your book club picks on the world I'm always so hopeful that it will be something fun, something cool, something maybe I would enjoy. Sigh. When will I ever learn?

In case your wondering, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier is O's latest pick. I'm off to work now so that I can answer the many requests for this book that will soon start pouring in.

Over at RTB Today

2006-12-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

Number of people registered: 89.
Days left until program officially begins: 16.

Taking a quick break from wrapping presents to let you know that I am over at RTB today. Be sure to stop by! :-)

If You Think Your Holiday is Bad...

2006-12-14T08:45:00.000-08:00

Number of people registered: 86.
Days left until program officially begins: 18.

Courtesy of the Sportslady, check out pictures of kids losing it (and not in a good way) when they visit with Santa at the Scared of Santa Gallery. The first picture completely cracks me up. My mom has this same Santa!

Sadly, there are no pictures of me with Santa. The one and only time my parents took me to see Santa there was an incident. Let's just say Santa was not exactly photogenic when I was through with him and leave it at that. After that my parents weren't really up for taking me to see Santa again.

However, that is not to say that I don't have Santa horror story of my own. One year my parents bought a giant, light up Santa head and hung it in our living room's picture window. They thought they were expressing their holiday spirit. I thought they had decapitated Santa's head. I remember running past The Head at bedtime, terrified of looking at it. At night when it was all lit up it looked like it was floating.

How about you? Were you ever terrorized by Old St. Nick (or his likeness)?

When the World Isn't Enough

2006-12-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Number of people registered: 83.
Days left until program officially begins: 19.

Do you ever have days where you feel stupid as a reader? That's the way I've been feeling for well over a week now, and it's getting to the point where I am about to throw in the towel and give up on finishing the book. The book that is causing me fits? Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow.

I really enjoyed the first book in the Dante Valentine series (Working for the Devil), and expected to enjoy the second book just as much. And don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the story. But there is something in this novel that has me off kilter and the only thing I can point to is the world building.

There is so much going on in Dante's world, and a lot of it sounds interesting. The problem is that Dante does not give the reader a lot of background and just assumes that we know what she is talking about. Part of the problem is that I am making unfair comparisons in my head to Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, and the phenomenal world building in those books. Then again, much of the world created in the books by Candace Havens is a mystery to the reader due to the fact that the stories are told completely through diary entries. Yet with the books by Havens I have no problem filling in the blanks. Why am I frustrated by one novel that doesn't spell everything out for me, yet love another where much of the world is unknown?

What about you? When it comes to the world an author creates, do you want everything spelled out for you or do you prefer more ambiguity?

Where on the World Wide Web Is...?

2006-12-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

Number of people registered: 79.
Days left until program officially begins: 21.

Oh yes. I really have 79 people now registered for my program. I hustled my booty off on Sunday at our open house and got 32 people registered. Woo hoo!

An article in this morning's PW Daily caught my eye: One-Fifth of Readers Visit Pub/Author Sites. Reporting on a recent survey conducted by an advertising firm, this article notes that "18% of readers have been to a publisher's Web site, while 23% of readers polled have visited an author's site." This poll also showed that the younger a reader was, the more likely they were to have visited an author's website. When looking at readers under the age of 35 the percentage of them that had visited an author's website jumped to 35%.

This got me thinking. If a decent chunk of readers are going online to learn about authors/books, why does the lack of information about some authors/books continue to be a problem. I've seen this topic come under discussion periodically in the blogosphere, but I continue to be surprised by the number of authors who just don't get it. If I had to parse the time I spend at work on the Internet into categories, I think it would be fair to say that I spend 30-35% of my online time looking at author websites (and that would be a conservative estimate). I think it will also be fair to say that I spend a good portion of that time frustrated.

I visit author websites to do everything from learn more about a book I've just read a review of to answer reader advisory questions for patrons to help me create promotional materials. What I find on an author's website can make the difference between me ordering their book or passing on it. What I find (or more importantly don't find) on an author's website can make the difference between me booktalking new and future releases to my patrons (some of whom are book buyers themselves) or not even mentioning them. Maybe it is the bitchy librarian in me, but I can't help but ask myself why should I help an author when they haven't done anything to make my job easier?

What about you? As a reader, which do you find more frustrating: an author who has no web presence or an author who has a sparse, incomplete website?

Counting Down to 100

2006-12-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

So you know that yearlong reading program I mentioned awhile back? It's up and running now. Well, sort of.

The program officially begins January 1, but we have already started the process of registering people to participate. My goal is to get 100 people registered before the actual program begins. So far I have 44 readers registered to participate, which I think is pretty good considering that we've only be doing registration for one week. I hope to get a buttload of people registered on Sunday at my Library's annual holiday open house. The sooner I hit 100 the happier I'll be. I've been working on this program for so long and looking forward to it, it's kind of hard to believe it's almost here. Forget Christmas, I dying for New Year's Day to come!

In other news, I think I am going to be ending 2006 on a high note. In addition to finally starting my program, my arch nemesis (who works for my village, not the library) is leaving her position. She has made my life miserable every other month (when we worked on a joint project together) for the past four years. So when I heard the news that she was leaving it was really hard for me to not break out into the happy dance. In even better news, this week I was asked to be the godmother of Baby Kraft. While I'm not sure how fantabulous of a godmother I will be, I guarantee that my future godchild will have a kickass YA collection that will be the envy of their friends. How thrilled their parents will be about that, only time will tell. :-)

What about you? Are you getting ready to end this year on a high note?

Just a Test...

2006-12-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

I switched to Blogger Beta and have been unable to get a post to go live ever since. I think I've got the problem licked, but who knows. I just want to see if this goes up. I'll be back with something far more interesting in a bit.

Drive By Request

2006-10-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today I am over at RTB. Stop by and say hi if you have the chance.

Out of curiosity, is anyone currently reading (or already finished) Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn? I'm half-way through the book and loving it, but I don't think I agree with the genre my bookstore put it in. Let me know what you think! :-)

One Night at the Copa

2006-10-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Never let it be said that I am not a good daughter.

My mom has this wish list of things she would like to do, things that she would never in a million years think she would ever get to do. Most of the things on her wish list involve traveling by plane, and that is something that she is too chicken to do. But when the opportunity arose for her to knock one of her items off the list without her having to get on a plane, I couldn’t say no. And that’s how I found myself taking my mother to see Barry Manilow on Saturday, even though I am not a Fanilow.

Even though I am not a fan of his music I do have to say that Mr. Manilow does put on a pretty good show. And I am very ashamed to admit that even I was up shaking my groove thing during his encore of Copacabana. I’ve probably lost a few cool points now with that admission. Oh well.

The thing that I found fascinating was how completely nuts some of the people in the audience went. I thought this concert would be a bit more tame in comparison to other shows I’ve been to. After all, when I saw Britney with my friend Penny she almost bitchslapped a girl in front of us. And the Eminem/50 Cent show was definitely rowdy. So colored me surprised that Fanilows are the craziest concert crowd of them all. To be fair, everything started off pretty calm and sedate. But the longer Barry was on stage the more wound up the crowd got. By the end of the show all these people had built up an incredible amount of energy that needed to be spent. This led to some ugly scenes at the memorabilia stands (yes, I stood in line for Barry Manilow concert memorabilia – my shame continues to grow).

Damn. Now I have Mandy going through my head again.

I've Been Blogging, Honest...

2006-10-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

Just not here.

I mentioned awhile back that I was working on a yearlong reading program for my library. The centerpiece for the program is a blog I have been working on for awhile. In addition to serving as a promotional device for the program, I plan on loading the sucker up with lots of booktalks, booklists, author profiles, monthly columns written by my some of my uber-cool coworkers, etc.

You know how I like to plan? I have a big color coded calendar where I have mapped out everything that is going to take place on the blog over the course of next year. Forget Super Librarian. Look up in the sky. It's a bird ... It's a plane ... It's Anal Retentive Girl!

Since I have everything mapped out, I have been blogging like a madwoman and trying to get as far ahead as possible. It's a sickness, I know.

The program begins January 1, but we are going to be doing a countdown/pre-registration period beginning December 1. So the madness should end soon. On the other hand, in 42 or so days I will kick-off what could be the most successful program of my library career so far or I could completely fall on my face.

Fun times ahead my friends. :-)

Friends Stalk Friends Because They Care

2006-10-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling special today. It turns out that I have my very own stalker! I was in the middle of my desk shift when I got a phone call from them. And before you think that I have gone completely off the deep end, let me just say that I've known this stalker for well over a decade. For those of you who knew me in my college days I'll give you a hint: this person bears an unholy resemblance to Jessie Spano.

That's right, Melina aka Melinka Patinka aka Weena aka The Trophy Wife called me from KC to inform me that she was stalking my happy ass. More proof that Google in the wrong hands can be a dangerous thing. Kidding! :-) Anyway, besides informing me of my place on her to be stalked list, Melina harassed me about doing something with the MySpace page I created ages ago and did nothing with. So I'm caving to peer pressure and doing something with it. Any suggestions?

Throwing Up Patron Roadblocks

2006-09-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

The other night while working the reference desk I had an encounter with a longtime patron that still has me thinking. This particular patron has been a heavy user of the library in the seven and half years I've been here, and probably was long before I came. She recently moved to a new community that is very close to us, and has subsequently been less than impressed by the not so stellar service she has received at her new library.

This patron came in Monday night not to check out books, not to use the computer, and not to get help with a research question. She came in specifically to ask me (the poor unfortunate librarian at the desk) why she is receiving such craptacular service. To be fair, she didn't say that she is being treated rudely or anything like that. What my former patron was upset about was a service that her new library was flat out refusing to offer her: interlibrary loan.

Whenever this patron has asked for a book that the library does not own they tell her that they can't get it for her. She isn't asking for books that are new, out of print, or really, really rare (the usual reasons why libraries can't ILL materials), and her new library doesn't tell her why they can't get the items for her. They just tell her no. So she asked me, "Why can't my library get me the things you use to get for me all the time without any problems?" which was quickly followed by "What should I do to change this situation?"

In all honesty, I didn't have a good reason as to why this library can't do any ILL requests for her. They are in the same library system as my library, and they have access to the same resources I do. We live in a state that is very into reciprocal borrowing. If we don't have an item, it generally doesn't take a lot to get it. The only way I can't ILL an item for a patron is if 1) no libraries own it or 2) a few libraries own it but are unwilling to send it. The type of books this patron usually requested do not fall into either one of these categories. If I had to guess why they won't ILL for her, I would probably boil it down to laziness or ignorance. Not that either one is a good excuse, but I could easily imagine some of the staff at this library thinking to themselves, "I don't want hunt down this ILL request. It's too much work (which is so not true)." I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that the staff there had never been taught how to do ILL, In that case the blame doesn't lie with the staff but the library director. So I recommended the patron do the only thing that seemed logical: talk to the director. I don't know how much satisfaction she will get from that library's director, but I hope for this patron's sake that some change does occur at that library.

I haven't been able to get my former patron out of my head since her visit Monday night. As far as patrons go, I think she is a rarity: the patron who is willing to stand up for their rights as a library patron. I probably won't get any fans for saying this, but there are so many libraries out there who treat there patrons horribly, whether it be by denying them basic services, not considering their request/suggestions, etc. And at the same time I think very few patrons stand up to their libraries and say, "Wait a minute. This is a service you should be providing me. Why aren't you?"

And that has left me wonder exactly what is a library's responsibility in empowering patrons to the point were they are willing to advocate for themselves? Because as I see it, so many patrons out there won't, and that's a shame.

Moving Day

2006-09-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

Today is Moving Day! Audra's condo downtown is ready and the movers should be delivering her stuff within the next hour. We spent most of the weekend painting, and my entire body is now killing me. But I'm still more than ready to help her unpack her stuff today.

Consider me extra motivated. :-)

Have a happy Monday! :-)

You Can Go Now

2006-09-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

For the past several months I’ve been working on a yearlong reading program for my library. The program itself was something that I wanted to do as a staff reading program, but my director liked it so much she wanted to make it a community wide reading program. While I was flattered that she really liked the idea, I’ve been stressing about how I’m going to pull it off ever since. So I’ve been doing what I do best – planning.

And so far everything seems to be going really well. I’ve managed to create a program plan that is doable with a small staff, yet doesn’t cost a lot of money. I’ve already created a fair amount of supporting materials, and have been brainstorming other ideas with Penny. I also have two monthly programs in the works that will appeal to readers regardless of whether or not they participate in the program, but should hopefully encourage them to do so. All in all, I’m doing the most I can to make this program a success. It turns out, however, that I shouldn’t even bother.

Yesterday a former co-worker stopped in to say hi and check out books. While she was roaming around she noticed some of the program materials on my desk and asked me about them. I told her a little about the program, and she said something along the lines of “That sounds interesting.” After a brief pause she then launched into a tirade about how people (including herself) don’t have time to read. After leaving our library this co-worker became a stay at home mom. And even though her child is in school full-time now, she just doesn’t have time to read. And if she doesn’t have time to read (someone who loved reading and books so much that she chose librarianship as a career), then how can I really expect others to have time to read?

I tried to explain to her that the program’s overall goal is not to have participants read a set number of books by the end of the program, but to have them make reading part of their weekly lives, even if they only managed to read 20 minutes a week. But she wouldn’t let it go. She kept going on and on about how people don’t have time to read, and reading just a few minutes a week is still a lot to ask of our readers.

I did a really good job of biting my tongue and telling her to get the #$?% away from me, but I’m pretty sure the expression on my face was not pleasant. While I’m not surprised to hear someone say that they don’t have time to read, I was a bit surprise to hear the words come from a former librarian – especially one who was in charge of the library’s reading programs when she was here. I am at loss for words.

Last year Manogirl had a great post about people who say they love to read but just don’t have the time for it, and it pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. Check it out here.

Vote for Your Favorite Banned Book

2006-09-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Banned Books Week is coming up (September 23-September 30), and this year the American Library Association is running a survey on your favorite banned book. You can vote for your favorite banned book here. Is your favorite banned book not on the list? If not they have a spot for you to suggest your favorite. The results will be announced Monday, October 2.

I have to admit that I am a bit dense when it comes to figuring out why some books get challenged. Unless I have the complaint in front of me, I usually have absolutely no idea what a person would find objectionable. Even when one of our more infamous patrons came in to complain about Jenna Jameson's How to Make Love Like a Porn Star I was a bit befuddled. It's called How to Make Love Like a Porn Star. What did you expect? An uplifting tale about a reformed Mormon nurse who rescues blind kitties in her free time?

Looking at some of the titles that are listed on the survey, I found myself shaking my head. Someone actually lodged a complaint about A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein? That's just crazy talk. I did some searching and learned that in 1993 the book was challenged at the Fruitland Park Elementary School library in Lake County, Florida, because the book allegedly "promotes disrespect, horror, and violence." Another website said the book was challenged as it included "a suggestive illustration that might encourage kids to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." Still another website noted that "the book has been banned from some libraries for its irreverent attitude towards child behavior (at times encouraging messiness and disobedience)."

Are you kidding me? Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends was the cornerstone of my kindergarten and first grade years. Getting to hear Miss Nelson read poems like Sick and Peanut Butter Sandwich was the reason I went to school everyday. That and recess of course.

If I ever have kids I am so reading them every banned book that I can get my hands on. And if I don't kids then I am bookpiming those books to my friends kids. So friends, consider yourself warned. If you have a daughter she's getting a lifetime supply of Judy Blume, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and Lois Lowry. And your sons? I'm setting them up with Roald Dahl, R.L. Stine, and Robert Cormier. I'm a kids best friend and a parent's worst nightmare. Yup. That's me. :-)

Books for All Seasons

2006-09-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

I spent a good portion of yesterday (and plan to spend a good portion of today writing order cards for my library's fiction collection. In addition to reading journal reviews, I've been trolling author and publisher websites as well as reader blogs to see what is coming up that I might not know about yet. I'm already seeing things that are coming in 2007 that I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on.

This is where my mother would break in and say, "Can we get through 2006 first?"

What can I say? I tend to plan things to death.

Anyway, as I was busily noting the books I wanted to buy for the library I couldn’t help but notice that certain books looked more appealing to me than others, and not for the reasons you would assume. I’ve noticed over the past year or two that my reading tastes fluctuate from season to season. That’s not saying I don’t read all genres through out the year, because I do. However, I have noticed that I am much more likely to want to read mysteries in the Fall than any other time of the year. Most of the year I probably average 3-4 mysteries a month. Now that it is Fall, however, I will be averaging 8-10 mysteries a month. Why is that? Am I suffering from some sort of offshoot of seasonal affective disorder? Have I been conditioned by publishers to want certain books at certain times? Or maybe I’m just crazy?

What about you? Do you notice any changes in your reading as the seasons change?

Over at Romancing the Blog Today

2006-09-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

My first column for Romancing the Blog is up today (Monday, September 11). Be sure to stop by and say hi! :-)

Summer Vacation 2006 – Are We Done Yet?

2006-09-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

I know we are almost a week past Labor Day, but my brain is still in vacation mode. I would probably have snapped back to normal by now, but not teaching a class for the Fall semester has my brain all sorts of confused. And then there is the issue of the world’s longest sleepover that I am participating in. Participating, being held hostage, whatever you want to call it.

My friend Audra, who I mentioned many moons ago would be moving to the area, has been staying at my apartment since late June. She needed a place to stay because her house in Tampa sold faster than she expected, and her condo downtown was not going to be ready for another month. I said yes because that is what good friends do. I knew it was going to be crowded in my tiny LG apartment. I knew that living with someone after several years of living alone would be incredibly weird. I knew that the chance of us getting on each other’s last nerve was high. Still, I said yes.

At first everything looked like it was going to turn out like I expected. Despite cleaning out an entire closet and taking a whole bunch of stuff to my mom’s house for her to store, my apartment is proving to be way to small for two people. Especially when one of them has a “design center” set up in the living room. And no, I’m not making that up. Audra has an entire wall filled with catalogs, pillows, quilts, rugs, paint samples, etc. all selected for her new place. And despite the length of Audra’s stay, I still haven’t adjusted to having someone living with me. Maybe it’s the only child in me, but I can’t help but look over at her sitting on the couch and think to myself, “Why are you here?” Unless I get up at the butt crack of dawn when she leaves for work, I get very little alone time. I now get up hours before I have to be ready for work just so I can sit in my living room alone, reading and enjoying the quiet. I didn’t realize how important alone time was to me until now. I’ve always thought people who said they needed it were a bit nuts, but it turns out I’m one of them. Who knew?

I’ve deliberately been keeping myself offline so I wouldn’t crab endlessly, and trust me, there would have been a lot of crabbing. Not because I hate having Audra stay with me. I don’t. We have been having a lot of fun together, and I am still happy that she is moving to the area. What’s making me crabby is the length of her stay. Her condo was suppose to be ready by the end of July, which meant she would be spending about five weeks at my place. Then it was suppose to be ready by the end of August. Now she is suppose to be ready on September 12, with her moving in on September 18. That brings the grand total of her stay up from 37 days to 85 days.

Feeling my pain yet?

So that’s been my summer vacation for 2006. How about you? Did you do anything exciting for your summer vacation? :-)

The Secret of All Victory Lies in the Organization of the Non-Obvious

2006-06-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

If you can't tell by the quotation, I'm feeling very upbeat today. I had my dreaded meeting with The Cheater, and it went well. Really well.

Yesterday morning I received a surprising phone call from my boss at the college. She had finally gotten around to looking at the evidence I had accumulated, and finally understood what I meant when I said that the student didn't have a leg to stand on. That's how blatant the cheating was. Anyway, because she finally realized that I wasn't 1) crazy, 2) making it up, or 3) lying about how extensive the cheating was, she was calling to let me know that the plan was changing for the meeting. She was going to lead the discussion rather than have me lead it. The main goal of the meeting was to impart one piece of knowledge to the student (plagiarism is bad) and to inform her that she would be failing the class. She could either accept it or challenge, but because of the evidence I could provide she didn't have a challenge that would be successful.

The meeting itself was bizarre. The student was given the opportunity to give her view on the matter, and her explanation took me completely by surprise. While I fully expected her to bring up the fact that English is not her native language (which she did), I thought she would say that she misunderstood the instructions or at the very least say that she thought what she doing was allowed. Instead, she flat out denied copying and pasting from the Internet. She said because she wishes to be a better writer in English, she spent many hours reading reviews of all the books so that she could eventually "match" what they said. But she didn't copy and paste.

The first time she said this my brain sort of went (in it's best Krafty voice) "What, what, WHAT?" But then my boss started talking and I snapped back to the present. The second time she insisted that she had absolutely not copied anything from the Internet, I jumped into the conversation. I pulled out her assignments and started doing a side by side comparison. Everything was highligthed and color coded. A 4-year-old could have followed the chain of evidence. I showed her not only a big chunk of information that had been copied verbatim from Wikipedia, but I showed her that I knew the websites she had only taken a sentence or two from. As her face had started to look like that of a kicked puppy, I only showed her one assignment. But I had more. Lots more.

In the end the student capitulated and received a failing grade for the class. She will not challenge it. She did try to make a last ditch effort to say that she had worked hard compiling those assignments and didn't think she should receive an F, but it was explained to her that the time she spent cheating did not matter. It was not her own work she submitted.

After the meeting my boss just shook her head at me. She wondered why the girl tried to claim that she had written the assignments. I've had some time to consider this, and the only theory I can come up with is that she didn't think I knew where she had taken the information from. I'm sure didn't realize that I would be able to track it down so easily. My guess is that when she got that first email from me saying that I didn't think the work she submitted was her own she thought I was suspicious because it was so well written. Hence her emulate argument.

So that whole mess is over, and I feel like celebrating. Any suggestions? :-)

An Ally Carter Weekend

2006-06-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I decided to do something I haven't done in a while as far as my reading rotation goes (yes, I'm still vainly attempting to keep myself to a genre rotation). I treated myself to a double dose of the same author: Ally Carter. First up was Cheating at Solitaire. Because I'm feeling lazy, here's the publisher's blurb:

Self-help guru Julia James is so good at being single that she's become famous for it-advising women that they don't need a man to be happy. Then the unthinkable happens. Just when her newest book, 101 Ways to Cheat at Solitaire, is about to hit stores, a trumped-up piece of gossip linking her to a gorgeous actor hits the papers. Their pictures are splashed all over the tabloids, and now Julia's credibility is about to hit rock bottom. But she isn't going down without a fight. Unless, that is, the actor is going down with her.

This book had everything I love about Chick Lit: humor, great characters (both main and secondary), fun plot, and an instant relatabilty to the main character. What makes this book extraordinary to me, however, is that Julia is one of the few heroines in recent memory that is fine with who she is. She doesn't spend the entire book bemoaning the fact that she doesn't have a boyfriend, her job sucks, her family doesn't understand her, etc. Instead Julia serves as a role model to the women in her world, an ideal of being comfortable in your own skin. It was so refreshing and enjoyable. Each chapter of the book begins with a piece of wisdom from Julia's 101 Ways to Cheat at Solitaire, and I found myself looking forward to reading those bits of advice just as much as I looked forward to seeing the story unfold. I would recommend Cheating at Solitaire to anyone who enjoys reading Chick Lit, as well as anyone who has heard of the Chick Lit genre and wondered what the fuss was all about. According to Amazon the follow up, Learning to Play Gin, is scheduled for release on November 7. I am so there.

After finishing the greatness that was Cheating at Solitaire, I read Ally Carter's YA novel, I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You. Here's the publisher's blurb:

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school – that is, if every school teaches advanced martial arts in PE, chemistry always consists of the latest in chemical warfare, and everyone breaks CIA codes for extra credit in computer class. So in truth, Gallagher Academy might position itself as a school for geniuses but what they really mean is spies. But what happens when a Gallagher girl falls for a boy who doesn't have a code name? Cammie Morgan may be fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti), but the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women hasn't prepared her for what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without him ever being the wiser, but can she have a regular relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her school (it's really not a last resort place for snooty heiresses with nowhere else to go), her family (her mother is a retired spy and headmistress of the school for goodness sake) or her life (daughter of spy royalty and destined for great things)? Cammie Morgan may be the next generation of an elite sisterhood of female spies, but in her sophomore year, she's doing something riskier than any Gallagher Girl has ever done before – she's falling in love.

This book is the first of Carter's Gallagher Girl books, and it is just as smart, fun, and unique as Cheating at Solitaire. While reading it I couldn't help but think what a lovely alternative it made to books like Gossip Girl (for those of you who have parents coming in and schnarring at you about that series and others like it). It's just as cool as the Gossip Girl books, only smarter.

So lucky me. Two days, two books, two great reads.