Almost Family Town

The Lady With the Red Hair, although born in Indianapolis, was raised, and has spent a fair portion of adulthood, in Mooresville, Indiana.  Her mother's family lived in Kentucky; her father's in central Indiana (particularly Indianapolis and Greenfield).  But there is a tiny town in extreme southwestern Indiana named after her father's surname. Perhaps it's their "family town."  Who knows about such things?  Well, genealogists, for one, but that's Scowl-Face's department.

Griffin, Indiana became a petroleum boom town in 1938, which was a welcome respite from the Great Depression.  As this handy state historical marker indicates, oil production continued steadily through the 1940s and 1950s, peaking in 1956.

 "Flat" Cauli VI and the Lady With the Red Hair

Pose In Front of This Griffin, Indiana Historical Marker

(Click Images to Bigify)

I would have enjoyed reading what was written on the back of that historical marker, but Scowl-Face stupidly failed to photograph it.  In future, perhaps "Flat" Caulis (there are many, you know) should be entrusted with securing our photographs.  Fortunately, you can find anything on the Internet.  Click here to read the back of the above sign.

Thanks for No Picture of the Back of This Sign, Scowlly (Eye-Roll)
(Click Here to Read the Back of This Sign)

Before economic prosperity struck Griffin, the famous, deadly Tri-State Tornado of 1925 hit town in a terrible way.  Griffin was fully obliterated by the cyclones.  But the town rebuilt; Hoosiers are resilient stock, to be sure. The mythological griffin (gryphon, or griffon), after all, was king of all creatures.  It was the mythological phoenix, however, that arose from its own ashes.

Today, Griffin is a sleepy rural community that has seen better times. Like many such places in the American Midwest, people keep them going because everywhere is home to somebody, and, after all, we want our hometowns to perpetuate.  It provides continuity amid constantly changing lives and times.  Think about that next time you're walking around my (maybe yours, too?) hometown of Mooresville, Indiana, or wherever your hometown may otherwise be.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

We Love Our Volunteers!

April 21-27, 2013 is National Volunteer Appreciation Week.  See, we have a PowerPoint slide and everything.

Click Images to Bigify

Thanks to the BizMeister and Programma Mama, we have a photo display thanking this year's volunteers.  You will observe, of course, that I am prominently displayed.  Well, my photo, I mean.  Don't be so literal (eye-roll).

 

We LOVE Our Volunteers!

As is our usual custom at my Library, we will again be having a volunteer appreciation luncheon bigbash in our community room.  This year's date is Wednesday, April 24.  We hope ALL of our wonderful volunteers will join us to celebrate their terrificness.  (Some words just need to be invented.)

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  I'm guessing, without bothering to check my previous postings on this topic, that we've repeatedly used this tune as a musical closer.  "Volunteers," by Jefferson Airplane, appeared, quite naturally, on the LP Volunteers (1969).  The original album cover photo dated from 1967, but the content was clearly different than previous themes.  The band had moved from psychedelic rock to anti-war, proactivism rock.  Social protest was the big thing back in the mid- to late- 1960s.  Scowl-Face still has his peace sign t-shirt, which was a decent fit when he was 13.  Now, the whole thing probably won't fit over his head.

My Minions Join in the Roving

My minions (i.e., everybody else working at my Library) will be joining the roving once the new self-checkout stations are installed in about a week.

Well, actually, it will primarily be our circulation staff that will be roving around the library.  If you visit our staff web page, you'll see members of the circulation team are now called "RIS/Circulation Team."  What is this RIS, you may wonder?  I'm not certain what any official title might be, but Scowl-Face says that RIS stands for Roving (or Roaming) Information Specialist.  It's also the acronym for a computer medical patient database at Wishard Health Services, on which ol' Scowlly trained employees about 15 years ago.  (That was also abbreviated as RCIS.)  For us, it's staff rotating around the Library, looking for trouble patrons to assist.

Since most of our check-out stations will become self-serve kiosks, our RIS circulators (that has a nice sound to it) will move about the Library performing a variety of tasks, including this brief (but not all inclusive) to-do list:

• Providing reference assistance to patrons;
• Helping patrons in the computer lab;
• Discharging (i.e., checking-in) returned items that will not be processed by our new automatic discharge station;
• Pulling holds;
• Re-tagging collection items with new RFID labels;
• Shelf-reading;
• Reshelving;
• Performing special projects; and
• Whatever else Boss Lady tells them to do.

As for moi, I'll be happy to teach my minions the finer points to this roving game.  After all, I've been official feline roving reporter at MPL for over two years.  Come to think of it, I can simplify matters.  Here's what our new RIS circulators should be doing:

Just Saying

Works for moi.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  "The Roving Kind," by Jessie Cavanaugh & Arnold Stanton, was most famously recorded by Guy Mitchell (1950), although folk legends The Weavers recorded an earlier version (reprised on The Best of the Decca Years [1996]). It was adapted from a traditional English folk tune. Mitchell's version reached #4 on Billboard's pop charts.  Let's compare it with the Weavers' rendition (below).

World Rattermeece Day

Today (April 4) is World Rat Day.  Why do we honor the rattermeece with such a holiday?  According to the (official?) website, rats make wonderful pets for humans, and the celebration recognizes "rat fanciers" and their fancied friends.  Fair enough.

How should we celebrate?  Well, we've got a relevant book trailer, for starters.

MPL Book Trailer #125

Mike Nelson's Death Rat!, by Michael J. Nelson

If you have an Evergreen Indiana library card, you may check-out this book.  Just saying.

Then there's "Flat" Cauli's friendship with our local rattermeece, who hangs out at Technigal's work station in Technical Services.

 "Flat" Cauli celebrates World Rat Day with a pal

I'm inclined to let sleeping rattermeece lie, as the saying goes.  (Well, it goes that way now.)

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  British pop singer Crispian St. Peters (1939-2010) had a huge top ten hit single with "The Pied Piper" (1966).  Flute's a little shrill in the studio recording, so here's a live performance (1966) at the NME, which has been called "Britain's best small music venue."  Having never been, I'll have to take their word for it.

April 16 is Self-Checkout Starter Day

Tuesday, April 16, 2013, is Self-Checkout Starter Day at my Library. That's when patrons may begin checking-out their own items without having to wait at the circulation desk.  Great for those in a hurry or who like to avoid interpersonal contact, like Scowl-Face.

Technigal, MPL assistant director, says that the new self-checkout stations will look like this:

Click Image to Bigify

These units are so easy to use--even a human can do it.  You simply place your Evergreen Indiana library card under the little laser light that shines down onto that white area on the bottom so it reads the bar code, then you follow the instructions from there.  I'd tell you what they are, but I haven't actually seen one of these bad dudes operating yet, so I'll wait until staff training on Monday, April 15.  Meanwhile, we'll probably have some helpful videos uploaded to our website somewhere (or our YouTube Channel) closer to launch day.  Nothing has been filmed yet.  We won't even have the self-checkout stations installed until around the fifteenth or thereabouts. So perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves here.  Still, better informed than not, I'll venture.

You'll like this new system--trust moi.  If there's one thing we felines truly appreciate, it's being self-sufficient.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  "Check It Out," by Hoosier John Mellencamp, appeared on the album The Lonesome Jubilee (1987).  Bet he wasn't thinking of our high-tech gizmo, but maybe.  Who knows?  Here's the official music video for the song (1987).