Calling All Harlequin Junkies

Every year my employer wants me to take on a special "project." Essentially something that goes above and beyond my normal job duties. In the past I've done everything from weeding, to committee work (blergh!), to giving a reader's advisory talk on the romance genre. I had my annual review this month, and once again, as am I sure will shock no one (Ha!), it was declared in writing that I am full of awesome. It also means it was time for me to come up with a new "project."

This year the lucky winner is Harlequin. Our branches receive a crap-load of donations, and naturally Harlequin is a healthy representative. The problem? Most of our librarians are confounded by those little category romances. They have no clue where to begin, what they should think about cataloging, and what should be tossed on a cart to sell for 10 cents. I proposed my idea to my boss (who naturally loved it) although I will admit that in the back of my mind I figured the librarians were likely to roll their eyes heavenward and mutter, "Oh dear Lord, Wendy is blathering about romance novels - again."

That is until I went out to a branch a couple of weeks ago and the adult services librarian swept her hands around her office and said, "Wendy, I got five big grocery bags full of Harlequin donations and I have no idea what I'm doing. I added those titles we already had in system at other locations and they've already checked out! Now I'm at a loss. Help!"

Oh Wendy, you're a frackin' genius.

So I'm in the process of putting together a presentation on all things Harlequins, with a strong focus on the category lines (although I plan on mentioning the single title lines like MIRA, HQN, and Spice as well). Now, I need some help from you all.

I want to mention those now-defunct lines from recent memory. The lines that libraries are likely still going to get donations from, but that line itself is no longer in existence at Harlequin. Here's the list I've come up with so far:

• Silhouette Intimate Moments (renamed Silhouette Romantic Suspense)

• Silhouette Romance (folded into Harlequin Romance)
  

• Harlequin Next

• Silhouette Bombshell

• Harlequin Temptation

• Harlequin Everlasting Love (folded into Harlequin SuperRomance)

• Silhouette Yours Truly/Harlequin Love & Laughter which beget Harlequin Duets which beget Harlequin Flipside

I'm also going to mention Bantam Loveswept and Zebra Bouquet - even thought they were never affiliated of Harlequin. They're still category lines, and we still do occasionally get Loveswept (in particular) donations. So probably worth mentioning.

So my question is: am I missing any obvious discontinued lines? Lines that were just discontinued within the last...oh ten years or so?

The Librarian's Dirty Secret

Today we're going to talk about the one aspect of library work that generally horrifies the public and that some librarians drag their feet on. Yep, I'm talking weeding. That process where librarians actually get rid of books. As in, take them off the catalog, stamp them "discard" and either 1) toss them in the nearest dumpster or 2) give them to the Friends Of The Library to sell.

The horror!

My experience with weeding is that the public doesn't understand it, and that some librarians really suck about doing it. Weeding has to be done people. It's part of the circle of life in Library Land. As much as we would like them to, books just plain flat-out wear out. Spines get busted. Pages turn crispy brown. And accidents happen. Someone drops the book in the bathtub. Or leaves it outside in the rain. A curious tot thinks it's a neat-o new coloring book. Or the dog thinks it's a tasty new chew toy. Shit happens. Sometimes literally (ewwww!) to library books. So they have to go.

When it comes to fiction, I tend to preach condition, condition, condition. Always weed on condition, first and foremost. Look people, I don't care if the darn book is The Great American Novel, if it looks like it was buried in someone's backyard for the past 10 years, it's time for it to go. If it's truly that important and vital, sooner or later some publisher will realize they can make money off it and reprint the darn thing.

But weeding is sometimes about hard choices. I had to make one today. Yep, it's time for my library to say goodbye to The Tender Texan by Jodi Thomas. Published in 1991 and currently out of print. According to OCLC, we have the only copy in the entire state. We've been housing it in our closed-stacks-storage section for a while now, given it's borderline fragile, not- so-appealing condition. This bad boy has been a circulation stats machine. We've sent it hither and yon. However, when I stumbled across it today in our InterLibrary Loan department, I knew it was time for it to go.

You know how the paper in mass market paperbacks goes yellow? Well this book has gone right past yellow and is now the color of dirt. The discoloration has gotten so bad, that the dirt brown is now bleeding past the margins and landing on the first few words of each line.

Ewwwww.

In the grand scheme of things, considering it's a 18 year old paperback that has circulated 67 times in the past 6 years, it could probably look worse. That said, it didn't look anywhere near "good." So even though we had the last copy in the state, and even though it circulated a ton for us, it's time for it to go. The Tender Texan has moved past tender, and is now overcooked and chewy.

So yes, while a little piece of me died inside - I weeded it.

Because that's how all good librarians should roll.

Oh, and in case anyone at Berkley is reading this? Maybe it's time to reprint some older Jodi Thomas. Just sayin'.

Assuming I'm doing my math right (always doubtful) this book circulated 32.6865 times every year, for the past 6 years. That sounds awfully high though. Especially when considering a 3-week check-out period. I wonder if this was an instance where our circulation stats actually carried over from our previous automation system? Either way, I'd say we got our money's worth out of the $4.95 this title originally cost. Holy crap!

And since I'm sure someone will bring it up in the comments section, yes - an ebook version would be nice. However I don't see libraries throwing print out on it's ear anytime soon. So yeah, print would be good.

I'm Not Above Begging

It's that time of year again. Time for my library to start planning our next literary event. This will be year four, and even though the budget news has been hovering around dire, they've given us the go-ahead. So we hit the ground running yesterday, tossing around author names, panel ideas and all that jazz. The good news is that we have a Huge Honkin' New York Times Bestselling Author mostly confirmed for one of our keynote speakers. And no, I can't say who. Administration wants us to hold off on shouting it from the rooftops until we have a hard and fast official confirmation. Preferably signed in blood.

I was given the go-ahead to to dig up some romance authors. One thing I really adore about RWA is that they have chapters and those chapters tend to be very pro-active. California is chock-full of romance authors (I'm convinced we're second only to Texas), and I have a fantastic RWA chapter right in my back yard. So I guess this is a warning to any local romance authors who read my blog. Gird your loins. I might coming knocking on your front door, in the form of an e-mail, and start begging mercilessly.

This year I feel like we're sort of "established" - which is nice. I know the first year I had one romance author kind of worry about the "literary" label because she didn't want to be treated like a second-class citizen at the event. Then she found out I was moderating the panel (we "know" each other) and that seemed to put her mind at ease. That's the thing about romance authors. Just like romance readers, they tend to get irked when they have to constantly justify their right to exist.

Right now I'm working with a short list of 6 possible authors, although only three will end up on the panel. I also try get authors from different sub genres (historical, paranormal and contemporary). I like variety on the panel, mostly because it's more interesting for me as the moderator, but also because I really strive to showcase the diversity of the romance genre. Whenever I've given my reader's advisory talks about romance, that's the part that tends to shock the non-romance readers the most. Wow, they just had no idea that romance was so "big" in scope. Who knew there were so many ways to tell a love story?

I've also been charged with scaring up some mystery/suspense authors. That's going to take some work actually, but I do have a game plan. My mystery contacts there aren't anywhere near the level of my romance contacts - although last year I was able to work the romance community to get one of the mystery panels together. Seriously. One of the mystery panels completely sprang up from a local RWA chapter, my Harlequin Historical addiction, and bestselling author Stella Cameron. Bless her heart. I can't wait to meet her at RWA in D.C.

Now, back to work.

Ahhh, blessedly beautiful Friday.

I'm still reading Bad Moon Rising by Katherine Sutcliffe. I knew I should have called in dead when I had the chance. Drat! I find myself on page 168 and am trying to scheme in some serious reading time this weekend so I can finish it. The suspense thread is still keeping me glued to the pages - and these characters keep surprising me, in a good way.

In Library Land, the kiddies are out of school which means 2 things. 1) Our annual summer reading program has begun and 2) we have kids camping out here for hours at a stretch. I'm talking like 4 hours at a time folks.

Now this wouldn't be a bad thing except many of these kids are only here because Mom and/or Dad want them out of their hair. So far we haven't had too many disciplinary problems - but the summer is still young.

It is fun though to watch the real little kids get excited about reading - the preschoolers especially. When we give them stickers and allow them to put their name up on our "Reading Honor Roll," you'd think we'd given them the moon. I had one mother tell me that her daughter wants to come to the library every day. A future librarian no doubt.

Back from the frozen Upper Penisula and glad to be home. In true idiot fashion, yours truly forgot to pack her winter coat (ok - I didn't forget. I just haven't washed it yet, and it's white - so it's really dirty and doesn't look so good) - but I made due with my spring jacket, long sleeve shirts and sweatshirt. Naturally, Mackinac Island warmed on Wednesday - the day all the librarians left!

This conference I attended is always a good time because it's just for librarians serving rural communities. A lot of practical information that one can implement in their day-to-day routines. While the state and national conferences are nice, a lot of what is discussed is technology oriented and "theory." As in, this computer software will be available in a couple of years.

I also like workshops that address the bulk of my job description. I am the back-up computer person where I work - which means most of day is spent on "little" things like collection development. I like attending workshops that actually talk about fiction.

Picked up some world famous Mackinac Island fudge for some folks, got a Mother's Day present for my lovely mother, and picked up a new tea mug over at Monkey Business - a store one must see to believe.

Monkey girls of the world unite! (Inside joke {g})

I haven't posted in a while because it's been one of those weeks at work. Nothing dire to report, I've just been super busy trying to get everything done.

I'm leaving obscenely early on Monday morning for a library conference up in lovely Mackinac Island, Michigan. I'm really looking forward to getting away for a few days - even if it is a working vacation. This conference is just for rural libraries, which is always fun, since there are adult services oriented workshops on other topics beside computers. I am merely the back-up person when it comes to our library's computer issues - so to actually see workshops scheduled on fiction and collection development is fabulous.

However, let us get down to the real issue at hand - what books am I going to pack? No clue yet. Shameful isn't it? Since I'll probably only have reading time in between workshops, I think I'm going to just grab a handful of Harlequins and call it good. I'd also like to go on a little series binge - if only to knock a couple of books off my ever-expanding to-be-read pile that is quickly turning into a small mountain range.

See you all later next week!

For those of you not in the know - people actually go to college to become librarians. Not only that - we are misguided enough to earn Master's degrees (I'm grossly overeducated and don't make nearly enough money to show for it, but that's another blog entirely).

Like most college educations - there were certain things that just weren't covered during my 5.5 year tenure at SUNY Buffalo. Like on most days librarians are nothing more than free daycare. Or those times when one has to crawl on the floor with duct tape (don't ask). Or like today - when I found myself lying on the floor, on my side, while dismantling shelving with little more than a screwdriver and some fervent prayers.

How's that for glamorous?

I'm in a much better mood today - promise! No more ranting about the idiot boys who live upstairs from me, for now at least.

The NHL playoff games need to stop going into overtime. Don't these guys know that I have to get up for work in the morning? So as much as I wanted to finish watching the Toronto/Philly game last night - I just couldn't make it past the first OT. Thankfully Toronto won and I'm currently crossing my fingers for Game 7.

I'm also counting down the days until May 5, when I get to go to lovely Mackinac Island, Michigan for a library conference. For those of you who have never been to Michigan's Upper Penisula let's see if I can sum it up for you. Lots of trees, lots of deer, and a few people.

It's truly lovely, and even though I'll probably freeze my who-has off the 3 days that I'll be there - I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a working vacation - but in between attending workshops, I'm hoping to get a little sightseeing in - and as usual, a little reading.

Well I've been MIA for the last few days mainly because I've been rather busy at work. Since they pay me the big librarian bucks to do my job, and I've been near exhaustion by the time I get home, my blog has lapsed.

I'm back to pulling some part-time shifts at one of our branch locations - so for the next few Mondays I'll get to see how the other half lives. Children coming into the library with parents - actually checking out books - and not driving me insane. That's the life. I spend a great many of my afternoons at the home office just doing basic crowd control. The last 2 afternoons have left me feeling so crispy around the edges that all I can think about afterwards involves the fetal position, alcohol and 12 hours of sleep.

My part of the Midwest got zapped with a minor ice storm last night - and while every school in the area ended up closing - it really wasn't all that bad. If I can drive 50mph on my way to work - all is right with the world. The hardest part of my commute was the 20 minutes or so it took me to scrap off my car. I really had to throw some muscle into it - and with my scrawny girlie arms, it wasn't easy.

I'm still working on the trashy Thea Devine novel that I started earlier this week. I have a mere 100 pages left - and the convoluted suspense thread is started to heat up. When I get 2 dead bodies in one book - life is good. And in true Devine fashion - there's been enough sex to cause the rest of my father's hair to fall out. Mindless trashy fun - but life is short right?

Being a librarian is not easy. I can just imagine you sitting out there in cyberspace thinking "Yeah, sure Wendy. What do you do stamp books and shush people all day?" Actually, I don't. For one thing, we're automated and I used a stamp for the first time last week (I've had this job for 4 years). I do shush people - but only rowdy children who are screaming at the tops of their lungs. And then I don't shush, I advise them to use an "inside voice."

Librarians do not have easy jobs. In between the Internet filtering debate that just won't die and the Patriot Act, we have a lot on our table. Let's analyze these shall we?

Internet filters don't work. If they did work, I have no doubt that librarians would jump on the bandwagon faster than you can say "The Bill of Rights." Filters block out some of the good and not all of the bad. They promote a false sense of security. That's why librarians don't like them.

No - we don't want children to access porn. We don't want anyone accessing porn. Hey, whatever you do at home to get your jollies is fine by me, but don't bring it into a public place - that's just icky.

And let's get this out of the way right now - kids are going to look at porn. It's a natural curiosity thing. Everyone (and I mean everyone - don't even try to deny it) stole a peak at a Playboy in their day. What is dangerous are chat rooms. Personally I would much rather catch my child looking at boobs than chatting with a 56 year old man who claims to be a 13 year old girl. That's just me though.

As for the Patriot Act - well this is a mess - just take a look at the link and see why librarians are so rankled. In a nutshell - it's a privacy thing. Not every person who checks out The Catcher in the Rye has plans to kill a Beatle. Not every high school kid who reads Rage by Richard Bachman (Stephen King) wants to shoot up their school. It's that simple. Sure there is the "well if you don't have anything to hide why should it bother you" argument - but that's pretty ignorant.

What makes America great is the incredible amount of freedom we as citizens have. Take a look at the Bill of Rights some time. It's fascinating stuff - and the freedoms it allows are incredible.

Which brings me to my final point - it's my right as an Ameican to disagree with the actions our government takes - but does that mean I want to live in any other country in the world? Nope. Well - maybe England. I'd finally be able to get copious amounts of tea without any sort of hassle. Americans and their coffee - humpfh!

Don't let the fact that librarians have Master's degrees fool you, we don't make a lot of money. Oh sure, my yearly income allows me food, shelter, and the ability to support my book habit, but one does have to be frugal. For instance, I drive a 13 year old car. Now, I love my Honda. I hold a certain sentimental feeling for it - that and the insurance is dirt cheap and it's paid for. However, when the temperture dips to 2 above 0 my car doesn't really like to start. It will turn over - but only reluctantly and frankly it sounds really sad.

So why don't I just bite the bullet and get a new car? I'm cheap. I have this issue with spending a bunch of money in one pop. Buying my furniture was a life altering experience. That, and this car is paid for. I'm driving it until the wheels fall off.

Hey, did anyone watch "The Simpsons" last night? Besides an appearance by Ralph Wiggum, the highlight of the show for me was watching British chick lit author Helen Fielding run around like Benny Hill. I about wet my pants.