Librarians and blogging and science

It seems a perfect fit--my job is to connect people with ideas, and the blog format is perfect for that. And there's so much going on at the library that I feel like I spend a quarter of my time just letting people know about it. So here we go--I'll let you know what's happening here and, sometimes, why.

The whole issue of privacy and libraries is paramount though, so I'll do my utmost to keep details vague when speaking of individuals. But what about this story?: Last year I overheard a mom say to her kid, who was holding a simple nonfiction book on science, "Not that one, it looks boring." I was surprised and saddened. Science is so incredibly cool when stripped of the dreariness imparted by the less-talented science teachers that I was stuck with for much of my school years. So I made it a priority to include more science in storytimes, summer performances, whatever.

This effort is more for the parents than the kids, by the way. The kids will hopefully get the good science teachers and know all about the insane magic that is quantum physics, or whatever scientific field they like. But the parents who are deadened to the thrill of science may find it resurrected by super-cool shows like the Chemistry Magic show we hosted last summer. Maybe then the mom will say, "Hey, how about this book on magnets, it looks fascinating" to her four -year-old. Or not.

That's the beauty of the blog, isn't it? Now you get to answer. Tell me what you think about sciencein general, science programs in particular, our library programs (scientific or otherwise), or whatever you like. You can explore the ramifications of blogging librarians or anything else. I hope you will, anyway.--SCB