You’ve Got a Mystery on Your Hands

You've got a mystery on your hands

H1N1 may be a Novel Virus but separate the Fiction from the Non-Fiction and get the facts. Hand washing prevents the spread of germs.  Encourage your customers and staff with these helpful hand washing posters available from Yale University Emergency Management.

Improve your customer experience by following the 2009 Bathroom Blogfest posts on their Facebook Fan Page and via Twitter @BathroomBlogfes to “Flush The Recession & Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces”.

When You Care Enough to Clean the Very Best

Does your business hire a housekeeper?  Maybe you employ a maintenance crew.  Does anyone still have janitors?

No matter what you call your clean-up crew, they have to truly care about what they do.

Clean-up crew by Xanboozled / xan latta Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike

Hands-down, the very best housekeeper we ever had at work was a retired school janitor.  She took everything personal.  It mattered to her that the windows were finger-print free and that the bathrooms smelled of citrus cleaner no matter what time of day you visited.

Outside trash receptacles were not just emptied but cleaned daily.  Ashcans were swiped to a shine and no butts were left to linger at curbside either.

Oh! the joy of dispensers always fully stocked with soap and toilet paper.  You know what I mean?  Surely you do if you have ever visited a ladies room to find only a shred remaining on the roll of TP.

It is wonderful to have lovely designed facilities but more heavenly to find them immaculately clean.  Thanks to those housekeepers, maintenance crews, and janitors who care enough to make a sparkling difference that can be seen!

Follow this year’s official, Bathroom Blogfest Community as we celebrate Bathroom Blogfest ‘08 – Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us!  Consider the customer experience and all of those forgotten spaces that need cleaning up, including the bathrooms.

Bathroom Blogfest

Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads
Katia Adams at Transcultural Marketing
Shannon Bilby at Floor Talk!
Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop
Jo Brown and the blogging team at Kohler Talk
Lisbeth Calandrino at Lisbeth Calandrino
Sara Cantor at The Curious Shopper
Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!
Katie Clark at Practical Katie
Iris Shreve Garrott at Circulating
Ann Handley at Annarchy
Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution
Elizabeth Hise and C.B. Whittemore at The Carpetology Blog
Maria Palma at Customers Are Always
Sandra Renshaw at Purple Wren
Kate Rutter at Adaptive Path
Claudia Schiepers at Life and its little pleasures
Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose
Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology
C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer

Review – Baby Love

Photography, quotes, poems and babies…!!  What a lovely coffee-table book this turned out to be.

Baby Love: An Affectionate Miscellany

Filled with precious cherubs captured in cute settings and with gorgeous light, Baby love : an affectionate miscellany by Rachael Hale is full of inspiration for new parents and grandparents alike.

Sure does make you want to get your own camera out and try your luck making photos like these of your special little one.  ABC’s Good Morning America recently featured Rachael Hale and Baby Love where Hale offered tips for doing just that!

Well-known for her bestselling animal portraits, Hale’s previous books — which include 101 Salivations, 101 Cataclysms, It’s a Zoo Out There, Smitten, Snog, and Dogs: 101 Adorable Breeds, have sold millions of copies in 11 languages. She has been designated as a Master of Photography at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography Awards

Baby love : an affectionate miscellany by Rachael Hale is published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

McNet Librarians Get Physical

McNet Librarians have once again out-performed themselves! This talented and fun-loving team were stars of the show during the Kentucky Library Association annual meeting’s “Out of the Stacks and Onto the Stage IV” KLA Talent Show.

A recent Los Angeles Times story reported on a Duke study that finds reading may be new way for tweens to slim down.  But leave it to these creative librarians to demonstrate working out with an encyclopedia and a computer mouse!

Representing the Paducah and McCracken County consortium of public, school and special libraries, the McNet Librarians getting physical are:

• Terri Kirk, Reidland High School
• Jennifer Wetzel, Hendron – Lone Oak Elementary
• Sheila Swab, Lone Oak Middle School
• Lisa Hughes, Heath High School
• Bobbie Wrinkle, McCracken County Public Library
• Brenda Metzger, Lone Oak High School
• Lynda Hiles, Graves County High School

The talent show was sponsored by the Special Libraries Section, KLA Recruitment, Mentoring and Diversity Committee, the African American Librarian & Library Employees Round Table, and KLDivERS of Kentucky Library Association.

Liang Receives Carol J. Parris Mentoring Award

Marie Liang, McCracken County Public Library Director

McCracken County Public Library Director Marie Liang has received the Carol J. Parris Mentoring Award during the annual Kentucky Library Association (KLA) conference held this week in Louisville, KY.  She was nominated by the library’s department managers team of Libby Childers, Adult Services Manager; Iris Garrott, Youth Services Manager; Kim Hunt, Business Manager; and Patti Sallee, Technical Services Manager.

Her letter of nomination was created in honor of her guidance and friendship.  Their words follow:

Marie has encouraged each and every member of the library team to continue their education.  She has supported us emotionally and has successfully encouraged the Board of Trustees to provide funding for continuing education.  The 2008-09 budget provides over $31,000 for staff education.  This includes tuition support for approximately 16 employees.

When Marie began working at the McCracken County Public Library in 1992 there were only a few employees with KDLA certification.  Presently all but one of our librarians has their Paraprofessional certification.  The one exception should complete her certification within a year.  There are others that are working toward higher degrees of certification.

Marie doesn’t limit her encouragement to just a few, it is across the board from full-time to part-time.  She believes that any education provided to employees just makes them better employees.  Under her guidance the following have received degrees:  Libby Childers, Masters Degree in Library Science; Bobbie Wrinkle, Bachelors Degree from Murray State University, and Kim Hunt, Associate of Arts from West Kentucky Community Technical College.

Not only has she supported us with continuing education at the college level she has encouraged us to be involved in the local community.  The library participates as a member of the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce.  We have employees that are active members of the Business and Professional Women’s Association, Rotary Club, and the Lions Club.  Three of us have been through the Leadership Paducah program.    We have employees that volunteer for Kiwanis Club’s McCracken County Fair, serve on the Market House Museum board and work as Precinct Officers for local, state and national elections.  All are paid on library time for their service to our community.

Marie has taught us as managers that communication is the key to management.   Document, document, document and email in triplicate is her mentoring motto to prove that more heads are better than just one when it comes to decision making.

One employee attributes Marie to helping her grow up since she has worked with her from her teenage years.  Marie has helped many of us through marriage, child rearing, divorce, and loss of loved ones.  She has always encouraged us to keep on keeping on.  She has truly counseled, guided and advised us to help shape our personal lives as well as our professional capabilities.

We are so proud to have Marie as our leader and our friend and happy that KLA has recognized her exceptional guidance with this award!

Corduroy Jump Starts Read for the Record

Jumpstart’s Read for the Record

Help bring national attention to the importance of early childhood education by making Jumpstart’s Read for the Record the largest shared reading experience ever.  You can make a difference just by reading with one child in your life.

Jumpstart is asking adults and children to support early education opportunities for all children by reading the official campaign book, Corduroy, together on October 2, 2008 to break the record for the largest shared reading experience ever, which was set by 258,000 people on September 20, 2007 during the 2nd year of Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign.

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Learn more about the value of quality early education and acquire new tips on how to make the most of reading time with a young child.

Reading Resources – a variety of great early reading tools and links for parents and professionals.

Best Books – Jumpstart’s list of favorite books to spark a conversation with a young reader!

Corduroy Lesson Plan – Courtesy of Pearson and the Pearson Foundation

New Release – White Sands, Red Menace

Listen to a Penguin Audio excerpt by author Ellen Klages

Great news for all the fans of Ellen Klages‘ The Green Glass Sea.  Suze and Dewey’s story continues in White Sands, Red Menace, set to be released October 2, 2008.

Several exciting advance reviews are available so get ready to look for it in a bookstore or library near you!

Banned Books Week: I’d Like To Find *BLEEP*

“Closing Books Shuts Out Ideas”

Celebrate the Freedom to Read

more about “Banned Books Week: I’d Like To Find *…“, posted with vodpod

Banned Books Week

September 27- October 4, 2008

Find them on Facebook

Banned Books Week on MySpace

Review – Sweetsmoke by David Fuller

Do you delve into murder mysteries?  Then I highly suspect you will devour Sweetsmoke.

Do you desire love stories?  Sweetsmoke should thoroughly satisfy your cravings.

Do you revere historical fiction?  Your journey though Sweetsmoke is sure to be enlightening.

Screenwriter David Fuller’s first novel, Sweetsmoke, combines all three of those genres by brilliantly entwining intrigue, romance and fact.

Sweetsmoke by David Fuller

We navigate the story by following the personal agenda of Cassius, enslaved but favored by his Virginia master Hoke.  His soulful narrative makes twists and turns much more resembling the undercover paths of the Underground Railroad than the long straight tracks that the troop trains travel of the time.

Fuller carries us along with a story of courage, faith and devotion that honors the lives of slaves most often left unrecorded.   Sweetsmoke provides us with a safe passage through the uncertainty doubt and fear.

Newly released by Hyperion, you can may read more reviews and ratings for Sweetsmoke on LibraryThing or find it in a library near you.

Review – Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Please allow me to repeat myself:

“I want to know the answers to questions about ancient legends and mythical monsters, impossible fairytales and absolute truths, magic and ghost stories.

I cannot wait for Bella to help me figure those out.“

And most fantastically did Breaking Dawn deliver exactly all of that…!!

The above quote is from New Moon and was used in my review of Stephenie Meyer’s second book in the Twilight Saga. So, let’s see… did I get my answers… did I figure it out… with Bella’s help…??

Did we find answers to questions about:

Ancient Legends ? CHECK

Mythical Monsters ? CHECK

Impossible Fairytales ? CHECK

Absolute Truths ? CHECK

Magic ? CHECK

Ghost Stories ? CHECK

Well, I was so satisfied with all those answers. But also, in that review, I wondered:

With love this strong, how do you live with difficult choices? What kinds of love are the most sustaining? Can you really go home again?

Breaking Dawn helped me realize those answers as well. You sometimes get lucky with difficult choices if you are determined to make those multiples of those choices work. Sustaining love comes in so many different forms and yes… you can go (or stay at) home again.

And finally, after reading New Moon, I had noted that I loved the contrasts of hot versus cold, dark versus light, and puberty versus maturity. How abundantly all those contrasts were continued in Breaking Dawn!

Thank you Stephenie Meyer for the most happily completed book series that I have ever read. After Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse you left me desperately wanting more. I spent so much time trying to figure out what might happen next and I was so seriously wrong with my predictions.

But with the conclusion of Breaking Dawn you truly happily-ever-aftered Bella, Edward and Jacob for me and that, my dear author, left me totally satisfied and so very very happy.