Being based at a school again has been an absolute treasure! The biggest week for school libraries is Book Week where the CBCA announces the awarded books for the year in a number of categories. You can find out the winners by clicking here. I absolutely love ‘Do not lick this book’ and delighted in hearing kids laughing excitedly during a reading of it this afternoon.

This year the theme is ‘Find your Treasure’ and at my school I went a step further to encourage interactivity in engagement.

Our theme is Find, Make and Share a Treasure.

What this equates to is the following:

Find a Treasure by exploring the newly added shortlisted books that are on display and the student created Zines in the Treasure chest.

Make a Treasure by participating in a Zine making workshop during lunchtime and adding to the new Zine collection of the library.

Share a Treasure includes a number of facets because we all love sharing. The inclusions are:

A Bookfair hosted by Readings to enable community selection of books that will be donated to the library.

Recommendations of favourite books shared by students on to paper leaves that are stuck to the bare tree branches on display. I can’t wait to watch the forest grow. We have had twenty leaves stuck up on the first day of the display and it’s not officially open yet. It’s always an insight to find out what books young people love.

A book parade where students share their favourite character by dressing up. Everyone loves cosplay!

Book Week is always super fun and an exciting time in the school calendar. Kids light up as they share the delight of reading and books.

Now that the posters have been created and posted up, the newsletter write-up is complete, events are scheduled, booked and the display is complete, I can start the fun. Phew! Next week I join the community and enjoy the celebration of books and reading.

I’ve wanted to share my journey as a librarian working in a public library over the past year. It is the first time I have worked in a public library and the journey has been remarkable. However, I have struggled to find a place to begin and this attempt is an example of the struggle…

Today, whilst participating in a professional development activity, we were asked to introduce ourselves, mention how long we have worked in the organisation and a value that represents who we are.

I mentioned that I am the Multicultural and Diversity librarian, that I have worked in the library for just over a year and that equity and fairness are the values that I am connected with.

The facilitator asked me if I like what I do and this gave me a moment of reflection and affirmation.

‘Yes, I do love what I do’ I responded.

‘why?’ she asked.

‘Whilst studying I imagined a role that would encapsulate my social justice passion with an ability to transfer my community arts background into a library setting. At the time such roles had not been advertised or existed and I believed it was possible. This role has allowed that to happen and I’m pleased I could bring this focus to my role’

…So a year in and I’m still hoping to summarise and encapsulate my learning in this role. For now this is what I’m sharing as I continue to reflect.

Burial Rites is a very popular book, on the book club circuit, at my library. This made reserving the book difficult due to its popularity. In my mind, I needed to read this book and once a copy became available I grabbed it. The expectations were confounded further upon discovering it is the first novel written by Hannah Kent, translated to over 20 languages, optioned for a Hollywood film and boasts an impressive list of awards as follows;

Hannah Kent spent some time in Iceland, on an exchange as a teenager. During this time, she learnt of Agnus Magnusdottir, the last woman to be executed in Northern Iceland, for her part in the murders of two men in 1829. This historical moment/story inspired Hannah Kent to go back, later in life, with intent to research the story and write this novel. The detail of the research process is outlined in the back pages of the book. At the beginning of the book is an outline of Icelandic genealogical passing on of names based on patrilineal heritage. Sometimes genealogical links can become unclear depending on social circumstance, position in the household and desires to keep infidelity hushed up. This provides an insight into relationships.

When I first started reading the novel, I found it difficult to become fully engaged. Even though the writing was great and I enjoyed trying to map names and relationships, it seemed somewhat held back. I discussed this with a friend who felt that the language was too contemporary for the period it was set in and thus detracted from the work, for her reading pleasures. Whilst I understood her point, I can’t see how the language could have been written differently. It may have made it even less accessible. Even though I was enjoying the read, I put it down for a week only a third of the way into the story.
When I picked up the novel again, I found I became more enthralled with each revelation in the story. At the outset of the novel Agnus barely spoke, as if her words could not be heard even if she tried. The language snippets suggested the power of society was how her story was being told and she had resigned herself to there being no point in trying to be heard. This concept of storying became something that needed to be questioned. As Agnus started opening up and storying, I became engrossed wanting to learn about her character, to understand her, to see the injustice in her in life. I became engrossed in examination of power relationships, the complexities of social and economic power and how women were intertwined with power, disempowerment and a process of finding power in the gaps that presented themselves.
Once engrossed, I wanted to keep reading. When I finished, I wanted more. By the end, I realized the sophistication of the story, the research and the capturing of power relations. I fell in love with the writing of this story. It is fiction yet somehow resonates a truth.
When you finish reading a book and you want to reread it again, because you may discover something overlooked in the first reading, is when you know how great the storying is.
You may be interested in the following review on Burial rites:Fire and ice – written by Steven Heighten and published September 27, 2013 in The New York Times

In the Author notes, to The Convent, Maureen McCarthy shares a note written to herself from 1991. This note outlines a desire to find out more about her mum’s past, and her life as a ward of the state at the Abbotsford Convent. This is the seed that Spurs her extensive historical research in the development of a novel spanning four generations of women and their connections to The Convent over time. McCarthy declares ‘Like no other book I’ve written The Convent feels like mine’, highlighting the personal connection felt for the stories being told in the fictitious weaving of lives and interactions.

The Convent covers the lives of four generations of women who have had connections with the Abbotsford Convent. Sadie, Ellen, Cecelia and Perpetua. Sadie’s three year old daughter Ellen is forcibly taken from her and raised at the Convent during the 1920’s. Ellen’s daughter Cecelia becomes a nun at The Convent during the 1960’s and Perpetua works in the cafe at The Convent after it has been reopened as an arts precinct with studios, cafes and galleries in contemporary times.

The intersection of stories is mapped through each of the women, their connection to each other, to The Convent and the connection with Perpetua (Peach) who is at the centre of these intersecting stories as the heart of the novel.

The structure of the novel aids the delivery of the complexity of character and story development over an historical timeline spanning a century. This is easily achieved with each chapter in the novel titled by the characters name; from which the perspective is to be delivered. As historical moments shift in narrative, dates are provided to indicate moving back and forth in time, revealing situations, life changing incidents and the impact of social forces on the lives of women at different points in time.

For me, the strength of this novel is its ability to capture the strength of the stories of women, despite hardships, different social mores in different socio-historical time periods, and the choices made impacting on lives lived. These choices are either by self or imposed by others contributing to life paths travelled. In some ways the stories in this novel capture the complexity of female empowerment and disempowerment at the same time across the different periods of time that is mapped.
I will definitely reread this novel!

This morning a friend forwarded the following clip. The possibilities started racing in my mind. I love analog photography and have some old SLR’s hanging around awaiting a revival.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about getting back to the chemical process and developing film. However, whilst I have the tools and ability to develop film to negatives, I don’t have an enlarger to then take the next step and print the film. I also have numerous negatives, that have been sitting around in storage, awaiting a form of revival….

… Let’s get creative and imagine the analog/digital possibilities with the following simple hack… I do need to buy new Asics though 😉

Like this:

I’ve been in a love-hate relationship with Facebook from the moment I joined the site in September, 2011. In fact, I was avoiding Facebook for years but succumbed to the relationship. My favourite features of Facebook are the events calender and the private messaging function. I enjoy some connections I have made, the ability to share content and engage in conversation. However, I dislike a great deal about Facebook and my dislike of this social media platform is growing. This Pew research study in the USA indicates many people share this attitude.

I have shared posts to Facebook specifically pointing out what’s wrong with this social media behemoth. In reality, I’m continually reaffirming my need to finally leave. There are many reasons to dislike Facebook. Some include privacy concerns, unethical studies, and the use of personal information for corporate gains . In recent times, I’ve noticed my feed became more and more controlled by Facebook in terms of what I see. My diminishing control over my feed provides even more reason to leave. After all, who wants to continue in a relationship that feels controlling?

I can’t help but liken this social media platform, that is Facebook, to the monopoly/duopoly control of traditional media platforms before the internet. Remember when you couldn’t control when ad breaks came on or what program to view because it was all programmed for you?

I have taken a break, for a couple of months, in the past and didn’t miss my time away. However, I came back again, took more mini breaks here and there and kept coming back. It seems, attempts to disengage haven’t been successful and I’ve been a glutton for this love-hate relationship. This gluttony needs to end and my focus will be the exit strategy as a New Years resolution.

To affirm my commitment, to breaking up with Facebook, I’ve had discussions with close friends who took the plunge and left successfully. Two of my close friends have been away from Facebook for over a year and touted the benefits of leaving, including how easy it is to stay away. Considering I took the plunge with Television, years ago, and rarely watch it now, it’s time for me to break up with Facebook.

Besides, I’m already engaged across other social media platforms and they don’t elicit these feelings of the love-hate relationship that is Facebook.

Here are a few articles for more inspiration and to remind me, over the next two months, why leaving Facecrack is the best decision to make.

Barek is really quite an extraordinary artist. Today, I spent some time having a preview and a chat, at Off The Kerb Gallery with Barek and Shini, the director of the gallery. Barek’s first exhibition in Melbourne called ‘Tales from the sketchbook’ will open on 17th October, 2014 at Off the Kerb and is just wonderful.

Barek’s art is recognisable by his signature character drawings. His drawings often depict a similar face, including the Barek eyes and round face. Yet, in this face, emotion is captured that invokes a certain empathy. This is how I came to the works of Barek, and still understand the art of Barek, personally.

Speaking to the director of Off the Kerb, I realised that there is a word that captures some of the feeling, and it is my favourite word; Melancholy. We held a shared understanding of melancholy as a beautiful concept. It can’t be universally defined, yet it invokes empathy. This empathy speaks to something we know, feel or have experienced. It is difficult to understand yet easy to feel.