Author / monica

by monica

My First Six Months as a Librarian

Six months ago, I realized my dream of becoming a public librarian. Ten years ago, I started my first library job as an on-call substitute library support worker. Since then, I’ve worked in four branches in different communities. I spent some time in technical services and two years as a supervisor. Each role taught me something new, and I enjoyed them all in their own way. Yet, around six years into my library career, I realized I wanted more. I wanted to play a more significant part in building community and creating the library I wanted to see. It took three long years of working full-time and earning my MLIS online to get there finally.
 As usual, I have impeccable timing, stepping into my first librarian job when librarians are at the center of what many call a “culture war.” Book challenges have sky-rocketed since the pandemic, and even in my backyard, librarians are subject to verbal harassment at board meetings. Library support staff struggle to pay the bills and grapple with safety concerns. Even with all these challenges, I can’t think of any other place I’d rather be than in the library every day.
I wanted to take some time to document the projects I’ve worked on since becoming an adult public services librarian:
June – September 2023:
I put on my first library program as a librarian! I put together a silent dance party using library resources like Hoopla and Freegal.
I joined a fellow librarian from our district operations center to work at a local community resource fair. We gave out many library cards and information about free services available at the library.
I also started working with two local nonprofits to teach basic computer classes. It was a six-week series, and initially, my role was to provide the computers and to help set up the classroom. As the class continued, I took a more active role in assisting the instructor. I also had the opportunity to demonstrate learning resources available through the library.
I recognized a colleague for his work by nominating him for an employee recognition award. He won an honorable mention for developing a cheat sheet that staff across our library district can use.
I took over the art committee and display committees at my branch.
Art Team work: 
  • Recruited five artists for the 2024 season.
  • I met with the marketing department to get the ball rolling on a flyer that will entice artists to show their work at the library and lead classes or workshops in the future.
Display Committee work:
  • The Display Committee received great feedback on a horror-themed display in our atrium, “a patron came up to accounts and told us that they’ve been shopping the horror display next to the desk every time they come in and that they’ve checked out a few each time. They said they were books they never would have checked out independently. The patron was shocked to find out that they like horror books after all!
  • We welcomed five new members to the Display Committee and were able to plan out our displays for the next two months. The four remaining members of the Display Committee will take an active role in mentoring the newcomers.
October- December 2023:
I did a bit of outreach in October. Here’s a rundown of the events:
I continued as a facilitator for the computer basics class that started in September. I worked with a small but dedicated crew of women who began at varying experience levels. By the end, all of them had a success story to share. One woman said, “My husband was watching me practice on my computer, and he said, “Wow, you know what you’re doing now!”
I went to a resource fair at a local retirement community with a colleague from the operations center. We met many enthusiastic library users and mostly spent our time informing them about some of our lesser-known services, like passes to local museums and parks.
One of my favorite outreach events was a local Dia de Muertos/ Day of the Dead celebration that I attended with two fellow librarians. We gave out over a hundred free bilingual books and helped children create a skeleton craft. Seeing many Spanish speakers in attendance was especially great, and the children seemed to connect with the craft. At times, there was a line of kids patiently waiting for their turn to make a skeleton.
I also had the pleasure of attending the first community event by a new nonprofit organization aimed at helping adults transition out of the carceral system and keep kids out of the school-to-prison pipeline. This event had free food and gave away free Halloween costumes for kids. My colleague and I gave out candy and books while helping kids create a little monster craft. This was a fantastic event, and I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful new partnership with this group.
I worked with the Free Comic Book Day committee to solicit speakers for our Free Comic Book Day event next year.
I met with a representative from a local nonprofit that works with Latino business owners. The library has worked with this group in the past. Still, this meeting was about finding new ways to collaborate with this community organization. I invited them to attend our Community Resource Fair and recently learned they will be attending.
I attended the open house for a local community group focusing on equity work. I’m hopeful that my library will join this group.
I also confirmed three guest speakers for the upcoming Free Comic Book Day/May the Fourth Be With You program. All three are working in the local comics industry.
Art Team work:
  • The marketing department completed our Call for Artists brochure, and we have begun distributing it to art organizations and artists.
  • We have also booked all of our two-dimensional artists for 2024.
  • We have also begun incorporating the third floor into our gallery space, emphasizing art for and by children.
by monica

Perks of Being a Book Selector

One of the best things about my job? I get to learn about new books before they even hit the shelves—sometimes I even snag an early read! The downside? There are just way too many to get through. Enter this blog, my way of keeping track of what I want to read and sharing the gems I’ve already enjoyed.

I’m terrible at blogging, so I’m keeping it simple:

  • Three books per post
  • Quick overviews—no deep dives
  • No judgment—every book has its reader, and I’m just here to play matchmaker.

Let’s dive into the first three!

The Last Dangerous Visions 
edited by Harlan Ellison
People always ask me which books have had the biggest impact on my life. While I can’t choose just one, Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions series always makes the cut. These sci-fi short stories were too weird for mainstream publishers—my kind of weird. And now, 50 years later, The Last Dangerous Visions has finally arrived, with stories collected by Ellison and new ones commissioned by J. Michael Straczynski. If you’re into strange and mind-bending sci-fi, this is your next read.

The Nightmare Box and Other Stories
by Cynthia Gomez
I virtually attended a talk by Sylvia Moreno Garcia—huge fan moment—and she recommended The Nightmare Box by Cynthia Gómez. It’s a “magic-soaked love letter to Oakland, brimming with feminist rage.” Yeah, I’m all in. If you love horror anthologies or modern Latine culture with a twist of the uncanny, you’ll want to grab this one.

Currently Reading:
The Staircase in the Woods
by Chuck Wendig
NetGalley hooked me up with an early read of The Staircase in the Woods—it’s like skipping the line at a club, and I’m loving it. Think Stranger Things meets Stephen King’s IT. A group of friends reunites years after a wild party where one of them disappeared up a mysterious staircase. Now, they’re trying to find him. If you’re into 90s nostalgia, horror, and eerie mysteries, add this to your TBR. Coming out in April of 2025.

And that’s it for now. Three books, three vibes—get them at your library!

by monica

The Legend of Bob Rundell, part III

After his retirement from the Port of The Dalles, he kept himself busy by finishing his dream home, building a two-story barn, two carports, and finally a home for his daughter. He restored a 1963 Chrysler New Yorker to pristine condition, insisting that everything was original, right down to the radio. Those were just the big projects. There were a million little projects too. Antiques he refinished, dog houses he built, cars he fixed, trees planted, neighbors’ driveways he plowed. He could do it all.

After his retirement from the Port of The Dalles, he kept himself busy by finishing his dream home, building a two-story barn, two carports, and finally a home for his daughter. He restored a 1963 Chrysler New Yorker to pristine condition, insisting that everything was original, right down to the radio. Those were just the big projects. There were a million little projects too. Antiques he refinished, dog houses he built, cars he fixed, trees planted, neighbors’ driveways he plowed. He could do it all.

As he got older, his greatest struggle became the limitations of his body. First his hearing all but left him, and then his sight started to go too. Finally his heart started to show signs of strain, but despite these limitations (or perhaps in spite of them) he continued working. Even when his legs wouldn’t hold him up, he set up a strategic system of chairs around the property and used his four-wheeler to get around for longer distances. “I’m just not worth a damn,” he’d say on his way out to water the two hundred trees he and Jerry had planted in the fields behind his home.

“You’re still worth more than most people,” his family would say.

He was just as proud of his family as they were of him. He was proud of his marriage that lasted sixty years. Of his son who literally followed in his footsteps. He would marvel at the work Jerry could do and the things he could build. Similarly, he bragged about Jackie’s strength. He liked to tell people that she could work as hard as any man, but the truth is she often worked much harder. Despite his long standing feud with institutions of learning, he still managed to be proud of his granddaughter when she earned a couple of college degrees and went to work in, of all places, a library.

In his last years, he seemed positively delighted by his great-grandson, no doubt owning to Killian’s remarkable resemblance to a young Bob Rundell. Killian was smitten with him too, at least partially owing to all the lawn-mower rides with Boppa at the farm. Sometimes he’d watch Killian playing with his dad and he would say, “I wish I’d done more of that.”

Maybe he didn’t play with his kids, but he was always teaching them. He didn’t play with me either, but he took me for many hikes around the property pointing out interesting plants or animals tucked among the brush that I hadn’t noticed. Once he woke me up on a Saturday, and beckoned me out to his workshop where he had built, just that morning, a working incubator that held twelve recently abandoned goose eggs. Together the two of us sat and watched the goslings hatch, and later even though I was the one that fed and cared for the flock, it was him that they would follow around (to his chagrin) like a waddling trail of honking and fluffy groupies.

You didn’t often see him smiling, but he did have a sense of humor and every now and then he couldn’t help but let that wry grin peek out from the corners of his mouth.

“What are you grinning at?” I once asked him when I caught him watching me cook dinner.

“Just admiring how broad your shoulders are,” he replied.

“Oh, jeez, Gramps is that supposed to be a compliment?” I asked.

He laughed. Of course it was a compliment. When a man who once held up a thousand pound safe tells you that you have broad shoulders, that’s probably the highest compliment he can pay.

Bob and Jerry in front of the workshop.

Bob and Jerry in front of the workshop.

The day I graduated from PSU.

The day I graduated from PSU.

by monica

The Legend of Bob Rundell, part I

You know those so-called “facts” about Chuck Norris? I hate to tell you this, but those facts are all wrong. Oh, the facts themselves aren’t in dispute. There really was a man who pushed the earth down when he did push-ups, and inspired fear in the boogeyman. He just wasn’t an actor named Chuck Norris. He was a man named Robert Rundell.

My grandfather, Robert Rundell, passed away on Saturday, August 8th at the age of 81. According to his wishes, we are not having a service, but I felt like I needed to do something to honor him. He was such a big personality that nothing short of an epic eulogy would do, so I wrote one here in the hopes that people who knew him will find it, read it, and maybe add there own epic Bob Rundell story in the comments. This is my celebration of his life.

You know those so-called “facts” about Chuck Norris? I hate to tell you this, but those facts are all wrong. Oh, the
facts themselves aren’t in dispute. There really was a man who pushed the earth down when he did push-ups, and inspired fear in the boogeyman. He just wasn’t an actor named Chuck Norris. He was a man named Robert Rundell.

Robert, or Bob as most people knew him, was born to hard times. He came along in August of 1933, smack dab in the middle of the Depression years. He was the fourth of six kids born to Minnie and Paul Rundell on a farm in a small town called Pillager, Minnesota. His childhood was spent getting up early to do farm chores and then going to school, and finally returning home to do more chores until it was time to sleep. As far as he was concerned, school was the worst part of his day. All that work made him a strapping lad with a wry smile and wary eyes, handsome enough to sometimes elicit comparisons to Elvis Presley. He left school in the tenth grade to put his muscles to work earning money to help support his family.

As a young man he moved to Iowa City and worked near the University of Iowa. He didn’t much care for the kids his age attending the university. He knew he could work harder than any of them, and as far as he was concerned that was as good a way to measure a man as any. While he was there, he met a foxy redhead named Carole Johnson, and the two of them were hitched the summer of 1955. About nine months later, Carole gave birth to their first child; a daughter they named Jackie.

Around this time the new family decided to move out West. In a move that was surely more bravado then good sense, Bob hooked a travel trailer up to their car and drove it out to Oregon. In his later years, he’d tell his family that they should never try anything half that foolish.

A few years later, Bob and Carole added a son named Jerry to the family, and not long after that they moved to The Dalles. Once again, all those muscles he built up working on the family farm were put to good use when he got a job with a moving company called Ralph’s Transfer. His company sometimes moved families, but often they were called out to businesses to move heavy equipment. It was on one such occasion that he found himself and his crew of two staring down a half ton safe located on the second floor of a bank building. I don’t know how big the other two guys were, or how they formulated their plan, but what I do know is that they strapped that safe to a dolly and while the two other guys stood at the top of the stairs, Bob Rundell took the position below the safe. Recalling it as an old man he would just shake his head and say, “I could have easily been crushed to death. Pretty stupid.”

One day he and his boss were moving a power bay* out of a telephone company. They had it tied up with rope and were slowly lowering it into place when his boss unhooked it from the winch too soon and the bulky equipment came crashing down. In a split second, Bob pushed his boss out of the way and the hunk of metal landed on his leg instead, crushing it. He begrudgingly took several weeks off from work, but he made good use of his time, driving his entire family out to Minnesota for a visit with his parents.

*I don’t really know what a power bay is, but I’m sure it was big and heavy.

Part II

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