Music to our ears

The California economy continues to tank. The situation in LA City (and thus in my library system) is sure to get worse. Don't get me started - argh!

When faced with bad situations and decisions that I am powerless to control, I try to think Good Thoughts. For instance, the warm and sunny weather we've been having has, after weeks of gray gloom, finally caused my veggie plants to sit up and take notice. I'm finally getting more than two string beans a day, my eggplants are ready to harvest, my basil is getting bushy enough to give me pesto fantasies, and the tomatoes and peppers are going to start turning red any day now, I just know it. Only my zucchini plants are languishing. You scoff? You think a zucchini plant can be nothing but overgrown and prolific? Take a look:

And lest you think Ms. Kaya there had something to do with the tragic condition of those plants, let me assure you that only after I gave up on the sad zukes did I let my hens root away in there.

And here's another cause for joy - our new City Librarian Martin Gomez, while speaking to the YA librarians at their bimonthly meeting this morning, said he very much believed in "using technology to create community" and suggested we do some social networking at LAPL. You can imagine the storm of applause from our tech-savvy YAs, and this children's librarian was clapping hard too.

Although kids aren't reading blogs, tweets, and so on, their parents and teachers are. How valuable it would be for parents to subscribe to their branch's blog and/or follow it on Twitter in order to get the latest information on programs, great books, and more for their kids. And kids do access YouTube, meaning that videos of programs, crazy-fun book talks, silly tours of the library, and kid-created book and library-related content might be fun ways to reach out to kids in the community... and beyond.

We don't do this stuff at LAPL right now - but perhaps the time is right to plunge (belatedly but with great gusto) into the thrilling waters of the 21st century. Lead on, Mr. Gomez - you've got plenty of folks with lots of enthusiasm and great ideas (and goggles, flippers, and boogie boards) right behind you.