LM_NET 11/20/98: No Subject

I realize that a short note can't convey a library's philosophy, but I wonder
about your stress on senior's concerns for things like health.  Indeed, health is
a major concern, but I wonder if we librarians should not be stressing a
well-rounded lifestyle and materials and services to support that approach.  For
example, if I go to a library and want to learn basketball, can we provide a book
which doesn't show either a group of youngster on blacktop or a group of sleek
men/women in their early 30s on an indoor court?  I know, I know, who want to see
a plump grey-haired old fellow puffing his way along? But, I think we will be
having the same problem of always featuring muscle-bulging hunks smoking
cigarettes to our teenage boys or diet-deficient girls posing with the latest
panyhose for our girls.  Publishers, from what little I see over here, will be
more and more missing the point (and the $$$$) unless they start producing more
for the ever-growing senior market.

There's probably not much we can do about that, but as a librarian I would
certainly want to tackle the attitudes that our library has about other age
groups.  That little old lady coming through the door just might be more
interested in karate lessons than embroidery.

I deal mainly with grades 6 through 12.  What I have discovered over the years is
that there is a large population that, indeed, likes R.L.Stine, but there is also
a large population that would rather have a Dickens. Or that we do have to provide
areas that kids can sit and talk about something they've just discovered in the
collection.  So, at the other end of the age spectrum, I have to keep aware that
there are lots of factors that say to our users "You are very Welcome!" and we
don't try to stereotype any group.

Once again, thanks for the note, and thanks for taking the time to allow me to
spout off on one of my most favorite topics, providing realistic library services.

Earl.

BSAllen wrote:

> Forgive the posting but I hit the delete button before I realized that I
> actually had insight on the question of what seniors might be interested in on
> the Internet.  There is a wealth of medical and health awareness information
> on the Internet and I have answered medical questions for several of my older
> relatives by looking on the web.  Unfortunately, there is no single site that
> will answer all questions so I can't give you sites.  The search engine that I
> use is metacrawler (www.metacrawler.com) which queries excite, yahoo, lycos,
> infoseek and webcrawler and returns the top 10 hits from each.  I just enter a
> symptom or diagnosis and see what I get.  As an example, my mother-in-law was
> able to cure her vertigo (for which her doctor had been prescribing dramamine)
> by using exercises we found at a medical clinic site on the web.  A good
> starting search as an example is probably blood pressure since many seniors
> have high blood pressure.  A lot of the information is general information
> like the phamplets your doctor hands you, if he has them and remembers, so
> it's easily read and understood.  There are also patient stories and really
> detailed clinical information.  I think a lot of seniors are interested in
> more and better information about the health problems they face.
>
> Have fun!
>
> Barbara Allen
> Program Analyst / Library Services
> Tucson Unified School District
> Tucson, AZ
> bsallen@aol.com
>
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--
Earl Sande, Upper School Librarian,
International School of Tanganyika,
United Nations Road,
Post Office Box 2651,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(e-mail : sandes@wilken-dsm.com)

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Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 06:20:53 -0500
From: Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@tenet.edu>
Subject: Re: Costs of Elec. BookShelf & Acc. Reader

Eliece and Group, I also believe that you can now purchase "customized"
test diskettes from Accelerated Reader. That way you can purchase tests
for the books you already own. Although that's a bit more expensive, I
think, (I haven't done it yet) being able to use your present collection
should save a good deal of money.

Betty
--
Betty Dawn Hamilton , LRS * bhamilt@tenet.edu
Librarian * Tenet Master Trainer * News Group Moderator
LM_NET Internet Volunteer * Freelance Writer/Editor
TEXAS LIBRARY JOURNAL Contributing Editor
Brownfield High School * Brownfield, Texas
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/bhamilt

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