2009

My favorite movies this year (in no particular order):

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Up!
3. Julie & Julia
4. Away We Go
5. Funny People
6. The Informant!
7. Adventureland
8. Public Enemies
9. The Blind Side
10. The Proposal
11. He's Just Not That Into You

Favorite pastimes:

1. College football
2. Wii
3. Mahjong
4. ER
5. EW.com
6. How I Met Your Mother
7. Tennis
8. Monk marathons
9. Nebraska antique shopping
10. Searching for library jobs

Signs that I'm an old lady:

1. See list of pastimes
2. Use of the word pastime
3. Cardigan collection
4. 9:30 Friday night bedtime
5. Vacuum for Christmas

At the end/beginning of the last decade, I was in the St. Dominic's gym, dancing with Eric Pratt at the elite KH/AH dance party. I watched whatshisname be the first million dollar winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire right before I left for the dance. "I just wanted to call and let you know that I'm about to win a million dollars." So cheeky. I came home from the dance and vowed to do something, and ten years later I have no memory of what or how or if I accomplished it. However, here are some things that I accomplished in the past 10 years:

1. Graduated from High School
2. Graduated from K-State
3. Made it halfway through Graduate School
4. Qualified for Nationals in 2 events
5. Got a full-time job WITH benefits
6. Survived a semester of substitute teaching
7. Attended a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting
8. Got a short story published (in a course manual, but still)
9. Traveled to New York City, Salt Lake City, Houston, Austin, Corpus Christie, Madison, Memphis, Nashville and Oxford.
10. Turned 21 and then some
11. Recorded a CD (with a group)
12. Bought a truck
13. Lived with 3, 2, 1 and 0 roommates
14. Learned to cook... a little bit
15. Escaped my teens without a tattoo, criminal record, baby or permanent body piercing (you can hardly tell my nose was pierced).

So tonight, as I ring in the next decade with a wild round of Bananagrams, I leave these and other things behind, hoping for a surprising new decade. A decade that brings the end to OU's football dominance, and the resurgence of the Snyder dynasty. A decade where the literary world is set on fire by Steven Miller and Susan Alsop. Or maybe just new Lorrie, Miranda, Antonya and Dan. A decade of wispy female folk music and indie picaresque films full of cutesy dialogue and thrift store wardrobes. The summer of George? The decade of Susan. Bring it on.

Lucy Wainwright Roche

Is anyone else out there listening to Lucy? I love her a little more each day.

New link - maybe it will work longer

Have you hugged your library today?

My family laughed at me this year when I mentioned that I was thankful for libraries because they do such good work.

But it's no joke. They really do! Here's an example:

At University of Nebraska-Omaha, the reference department was looking for a new answer to the Interlibrary loan problem. Students wanted materials faster, and couldn't wait the 48 hours to receive an article via email because their paper was due in 10. The library purchased Kindle's so that students could purchase the article and walk away with the technology right then and there. Unfortunately, Amazon's collection of peer-reviewed journal articles is not quite as extensive as their popular fiction, so the service flopped.

Rather than giving up entirely, the reference staff came up with a new idea. Academic libraries do not historically build popular fiction into their collection development each year, even though students from all subject areas ask for it. Rather than trying to build a collection from scratch, they used the Kindle's. This eliminated the space issues, and made sure the technology investment was put to good use. Before budgets became tight, UNO students could request a new book, and the library would purchase it for them on the Kindle and then rent out the machine for 2 weeks (with an option of one renew). Now that budgets are smaller, students can still rent the Kindle and purchase what they want, with the understanding that the library will delete the purchase when it is turned back in. Not only can students get the books they want at a fraction of the cost, but they also get to test drive the Kindle to see if they like it. The way I see it - Amazon owes UNO quite a bit of money. I'm sure if UNO wanted to expand their collection, they could even get Amazon to donate the product.

The next time you're at the library, thank a librarian for all that they do. Then ask them to give me a job. We're all in this together.