Reading Books Can Save Your Life

I stumbled across this blog post by A.J. Jacobs, author of Drop Dead Healthy, today.  In the book, Jacobs tries "to become the healthiest person alive" (Jacobs, 2012, para. 1).  Part of his quest involved determining whether activity X was healthy.  According to Jacobs, meditating, napping, and petting dogs are all healthy activities.  Sitting, on the other hand, is "definitely not" (Jacobs, 2012, para. 2) healthy.

One activity not covered in his book is reading, so that was the focus of his blog post.

Is reading healthy?  Well, it isn't bad for your eyes, so there's that.  Jacobs also discusses Annie Murphy Paul's New York Times piece that I discussed here and points out that reading is good for your brain and makes us better human beings.  Unfortunately, there are piles of research that show that sitting is bad for you, "like a Paula Deen bacon doughnut bad" (Jacobs, 2012, para. 10).  Since most people sit while reading, that's a bad thing.  Jacobs advocates reading standing up (or even walking on a treadmill), but realizes that most people can't or won't follow that advice.  He recommends fidgeting while reading.

I have to wonder if Jacobs has spent any time with a fidgety person.  A friend and former coworker of mine is the most fidgety person I have ever met.  It's like he has daytime restless leg syndrome.  I love him to death, but his constantly moving legs are distracting and often annoying.  (Of course, he's also one of the skinniest people I know, so maybe there is something to this whole fidgeting thing.)  I can't imagine working in an office full of fidgeting people.  As for myself, it turns out that fidgeting doesn't come naturally to me.  While writing this post I've had to make a conscious effort to fidget in my chair.  I think the only hope for me is to listen to music while sitting, because I catch myself dancing in my chair all the time.  But I don't think librarianship will offer me the same sort of opportunities to spend entire workdays with earbuds in and iPod on that I had as an accountant.

The most interesting parts of the post to me, though, were the stories of reading saving lives.  Teddy Roosevelt suffered a flesh wound in 1912 after being shot in the chest at point-blank range.  How did he survive?  "The bullet was slowed by his reading glasses case and the manuscript of the speech itself" (Jacobs, 2012, para. 5).  Additionally, Ernest Shackleton took the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica on his trip to Antarctica and "ended up burning the volumes to keep from freezing" (Jacobs, 2012, para. 6).  Personally, I'd be much more interested in knowing why Shackleton took such a heavy and seemingly unnecessary thing as an entire encyclopedia to Antarctica.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jacobs comes to the conclusion that books are good for your health.  I have to say that I agree.


Jacobs, A. J. (2012, April 12). A.J. Jacobs on why reading books can save your life [blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.omnivoracious.com/2012/04/aj-jacobs-on-why-reading-books-can-save-your-life.html

Children's Literacy

Apparently March was National "March into Literacy" Month.  My college roommate posted an infographic on Facebook during March that I had meant to include here, but I kept forgetting.  It may not be March anymore, but that doesn't mean children's literacy is any less important.  Actually, since Harry Potter is a large part of the graphic and JK Rowling's next book was announced today, it almost seems fitting to write about this today.

The infographic, below, celebrates the most loved children's books and was put together by the Master of Arts in Teaching program at the University of Southern California.

My friend shared this infographic because she thought it was pretty awesome.  I agree, but at the same time some of the facts really make me cringe (see, for example: 2008 - only 24% of 13-year-olds and 17-year-olds report reading on their own for fun).  When I mentioned that, her response was that it was up to the future librarians and reading specialists (in other words, us) to save the world :)  I get her point, but that's a little too much pressure to put on me (at least).  Maybe that's why I have no real interest in being a school librarian.

Regardless of what type of librarian one is, I think all librarians believe in the importance of literacy.  And some of the facts included below are good to have in one's back pocket to quantify just how important literacy really is.

 
Via MAT@USC: Become a Teacher

Your Brain on Fiction (article)

This morning I came across a link for an op-ed that appeared in Sunday's New York Times entitled "The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction."  In the article, Annie Murphy Paul gathers the results of several recent neuroscience studies in which "brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters" (Murphy Paul, para. 2).  She cites several studies that have found that certain types of words activate more than just the language-processing areas of our brains.  For example, words with strong odor associations ("cinnamon") activate the primary olfactory cortex, metaphors involving texture ("the singer had a velvet voice") activate the sensory cortex, and words describing motion ("Pablo kicked the ball") activate the motor cortex.  Even more amazingly, with motion words "this activity was concentrated in one part of the motor cortex when the movement described was arm-related and in another part when the movement concerned the leg" (Murphy Paul, para. 5).

All of these findings from the neuroscience research are fascinating in and of themselves, but the real appeal of the article for me was the way Ms. Murphy Paul used the research to support reading fiction in general and novels in particular.  In fact, the article's pro-fiction stance was the reason I read the article in the first place and then sent the link to my college roommate (who is currently studying to become a reading specialist).

The article almost made me feel guilty for the fact that I'm currently reading a biography and not a novel :)  In my defense, though, it's a biography of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and I have been fascinated by the two of them for years.  Plus, I (finally) just read The Hunger Games in a matter of hours, so it's not like I've been neglecting fiction.  On the contrary, I'm far more likely to read fiction than nonfiction.

The last pair of studies cited in the article found that "individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world from their perspective" (Murphy Paul, para. 9).  Ms. Murphy Paul closed the article by noting that "these findings will affirm the experience of readers...who have found themselves comparing a plucky young woman to Elizabeth Bennet" (Murphy Paul, para. 11) and in doing so managed to combine my love of novels in general and Pride and Prejudice (and Lizzie Bennet) in particular with my fascination with the human brain.


Murphy Paul, A. (2012, March 17). The neuroscience of your brain on fiction. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

Ten Ways to Make Yourself Indispensable (article)

The title of the last article in the current issue of Information Outlook, "Ten Ways to Make Yourself Indispensable," caught my attention.  In fact, it almost brought me up short.  For the simple fact that I've read countless business articles that give the same advice: avoid becoming indispensable.

In the business world, the logic is that your boss won't promote you or support your quest for a new position if he or she considers you indispensable.  After all, who else could possibly perform your (current) job as well as you do?  I don't know how often that really happens.  I've been lucky to have bosses who supported my efforts to climb the corporate ladder (and believe you me, I was pretty much indispensable).  Now that I think about it, though, maybe that's the reason my former director (boss's boss) refused to promote me: she thought I was indispensable in Suspense.  (Yes, I know it sounds weird, but I promise you that suspense is an accounting thing.)  I even had a boss who kept trying to push me up the corporate ladder by encouraging me to apply for a job I really didn't want.  Instead, I quit and moved to Florida (go figure).

Whether the assertion that indispensable employees don't get promoted is true is beside the point.  I've read it quite a few times (all in the four years since I moved to Florida) and it stuck with me.  So you can see why I found an article that not only promoted becoming indispensable but also gave tips on how to do so surprising.  But then I thought about it in the context of libraries and the current economic downturn and I could see the logic behind making one's special library indispensable.

Except that wasn't Abram's point.  "Remember, this isn't about protecting the library, but about communicating your value as a librarian" (Abram, 2012, p. 30).  Several of his tips boil down to keep your skills current and, if possible, become a SME (subject matter expert) in something that will distinguish you from your coworkers.  He also suggests taking on new tasks as a way of networking within your company and "excel[ing] in an area in which your boss is weak" (Abram, 2012, p. 31).  I suppose I can see his reasoning for advocating that librarians become indispensable to their organizations.  But I'm having trouble seeing the difference between making oneself valuable as a librarian and making one's library valuable.  Especially since this article's audience was special librarians and many (if not most) special librarians work in one-person libraries.  I don't see how the powers that be at a company can separate a librarian from his or her one-person library.

Whether or not one is able to promote one's value independently of one's library's value, I think Abram's main point of becoming indispensable is a good one.  In an Information Age, it seems almost silly that a librarian has to prove his or her value, but that is the world we live in.  If we want libraries (especially small, corporate libraries) to continue, librarians have to become indispensable.


Abram, S. (2012, January/February). Ten ways to make yourself indispensable. Information Outlook, 16(1), 30-31.

Library Fail

Over the summer I started visiting my local public library, the Brandon Regional Library.  After all, I'm in library school, it seemed only natural to get a library card (especially since I can't really afford to buy books right now).  The first book I checked out was Lev Grossman's The Magicians.  I loved it and read it in two or three days.  In fact, I had to force myself to stop reading it the first day.

Naturally, I was dying to read the sequel, The Magician King.  Unfortunately, it was brand new and there was a waiting list to check it out.  But that wasn't really a problem since I could place a hold on it from the  Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative's website and add myself to the waiting list.  Isn't it wonderful to be living in the future?

So I placed my hold in the summer (I think it was August, but I don't remember exactly) and waited to be contacted when it was available.  And waited.  And waited.  Eventually I just forgot about it.  Once in a while it would pop into my head, but I just assumed that the people in front of me were slow readers and forgot again.

This morning it popped into my head again and I decided to check on the status of my hold.  Well, it turns out that the people in front of me were not slow readers because the hold expired on 9/23/11.  I assume that means that it became available to me a week or so before that date.  I just checked my cellphone and there are no missed calls in the entire month of September.  Nor do I have any unread emails dated September.  This means that no one contacted me to let me know that the book I was dying to read was available to me.  Good job, Brandon Library and HCPLC, you've given me every reason to distrust your ability to provide me with books I can't take from the stacks myself.

Now, to play devil's advocate, it is possible that it was my responsibility to monitor the status of my hold.  But I checked and, nope, the Hillsborough County procedure for requests and holds states that customers are notified by phone or email.

Personally, this isn't a big deal.  As a matter of fact, I walked into the Brandon Library this afternoon and walked out less than five minutes later with a copy of The Magician King.  But as an aspiring librarian, it bugs me.  For one thing, this is a process that should clearly be automated.  But the much bigger issue is that this is not a good way to encourage customer loyalty.  I have no idea if other people have ever experienced this issue (and I dearly hope not).  I want to be a librarian.  I have a vested interest in the survival of libraries of all types.  But even I have no intention of ever requesting or reserving a book through the HCPLC again.  I can't imagine how someone who doesn't really care one way or another about libraries would react to this.

All of that being said, I will continue to frequent the Brandon Library.  Provided that I know ahead of time that the book I am interested in is in the stacks.

Interacting with Senior Management (article)

I found Cindy Sullivan's article, "Interacting with Senior Management," very interesting.  In it, Sullivan discussed how and why she developed "a series of workshops that would focus on interacting with the senior management in an organization" (2011, para. 3).

Some of the things I found most interesting were her reasons for focusing on interacting with senior management.  For example, she believed that "it was necessary [for the library] to be perceived as a partner in order to contribute to the strategic direction of the organization and demonstrate the leadership qualities that are valued by management" (Sullivan, 2011, para. 4).  Furthermore, she felt "it was extremely important for library managers to be perceived as being on the same plane as their senior team in terms of management techniques, thought leadership, and implementing the overall organization's strategic plan" (Sullivan, 2011, para. 5).

The techniques Sullivan espoused in her workshops are all about face time and "[providing] regular, personal interactions with the members of the senior team" (2011, para. 8).  Such interactions are essential to "1. demonstrate business acumen; 2. exhibit expert knowledge; and 3. build a relationship" (Sullivan, 2011, para. 8).

Elsewhere in the article, she gave examples of how other SLA members were "providing library services to [the executive] segment of their client base" (Sullivan, 2011, para. 8).  The one I found most interesting was a public library that provided "proactive research and reference services to prominent individual in different types of organizations and fields (e.g., lawyers, medical professionals and business professionals)" (Sullivan, 2011, table 1).

Sullivan's basic premise, that it is more important than ever to make sure that the powers that be in an organization understand the value they receive from an in-house library, is nothing new.  It is, in fact, an idea that has been beaten into my brain in my 2+ semesters of library school.  However, rather than simply state that fact and move on, Sullivan took the initiative to create a way to help her fellow librarians show their value to senior management.  For that, I applaud her.  I also applaud the unnamed public library she mentioned that adapted an approach that feels very "corporate library" and applied it to its public setting.


Sullivan, C. (2011, September). Interacting with senior management. Information Outlook, 15(6). Retrieved from http://www.sla.org/io/2011/09/1050.cfm

The Information Partnership: Recognizing a V.I.P. (video)

I found this video interesting, though I admit I had to force myself to pay attention to what people were saying.  I kept getting distracted by the terrible fashion (especially the glasses).

Each of the four companies profiled seemed to really prize information as a resource and that led to an appreciation for the library.  I believe it was Dave Printz, the VP of MacNeal Hospital, who said that "we don't use the term library because it really is a resource for us."

For their part, the libraries all considered themselves an integral part of the company.  Timeliness of service and quality of information provided were of the essence at each library.  One librarian even said that timeliness was most important because if information was too late it was too late.  Each of the librarians acknowledged that it was important to position the library as a value-added service.

This video made me wonder about my previous employers and whether or not they had libraries.  I imagine at least two of them did since they were giant multi-nationals, but I never heard a word about a library (or information center).  Of course, you could make the argument that accounting shops are a form of information center, albeit one that only contains information about the parent company.  But if I had ever wanted to know something about the budget, I knew the people who put it together.

I'm also curious about what happened to the companies profiled in the past 20 years.  Do they still exist?  If so, do they still pride themselves on their libraries?  I think it would be fascinating to find out.