This blog entry is meant to extol the joys of journaling and diary writing. In gathering materials to extol, I read about journaling as a stress management and self-exploration tool. Julia Cameron also does some extolling in her well-known book, The Artist’s Way. In this book she instructs the reader to write 3 pages a day! – Longhand. I did this. It was wonderful.

One of the advantages to journaling is to write down your thoughts without worrying that a third party will read them. Although, we here at the Nashua Public Library have plenty of diaries which you, as a third party, could read - like Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, Anais Nin (probably on the steamier side), or Jack Kerouac.

The Nashua Public Library we have plenty of biographies about people – but their diaries offer a different look at them. I hated Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller’s memoir/diary/with some fiction embellishments. What a different style, voice, world view and set of priorities from Andy Warhol’s diaries!

There are also plenty of fiction diaries as well, like Youth in Revolt, The Lost Diary of Don Juan, or Diary of a Bad Year.

If writing in a journal doesn't grab you, perhaps reading someone else's journal will!

The Nashua Public Library Board of Trustees has appointed Jennifer Hinderer director of the library. The Nashua Public Library staff is pleased to welcome her aboard.

Jennifer, who started in the position on January 25, was previously director of the Tewksbury Public Library in Massachusetts. During her 17 years in the library profession, she has served as assistant director and reference librarian at the Amesbury (Mass.) Public Library, and has worked at the Exeter Academy and Seabrook Libraries.

"I am very excited about the prospect of directing a library in New Hampshire," she says," and the opportunity to be part of the library profession in my home state."

Jennifer is convinced that outreach and cooperation are essential to maximizing a library's effectiveness in the community. A member of Rotary International, she was the president of the Tewksbury, Mass., chapter. She also served as vice president of the executive board of the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium.

Jennifer received her master's degree in library and information science from Simmons College and a bachelor's degree in history from the University of New Hampshire. She replaces Joseph Dionne, who retired in June.

Feel free to stop by the administration office, downstairs across from the elevator, to talk to Jennifer about any library matter.

This Recording rates the 100 Greatest Science Fiction or Fantasy Novels of all Time. It's worth reading the entire list and commentary, but the top 20 titles are reproduced below, with links to the library's catalog when applicable.

I should point out that The Lord of the Rings and Dune probably belong in the top five by any objective standard. I was delighted to see George Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Ursula Le Guin placing so high (in the top twenty), and in some cases more than once. Rather unforgivable is the omission of Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant from the entire list of 100 -- something's quite wrong there. But for the most part it's a comprehensive grouping that should please most sci-fic/fantasy buffs. Many of the 100 titles are in the library's collection, and some that are not will soon be ordered. If you spot one we don't have and would like to read, please let us know.

20. The Fifth Head of Cerebus, Gene Wolfe.
19. A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin.
18. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein.
17. The Fionvar Tapestry, Guy Gavriel Kay.
16. The Master and the Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov.
15. The Man in the High Castle, Philip Dick.
14. All My Sins Remembered, Joe Haldeman.
13. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.
12. Planet of Adventure, Jack Vance.
11. Dune, Frank Herbert.
10. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess.
9. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin.
8. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe.
7. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley.
6. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley.
5. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay.
4. The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin.
3. The Dying Earth, Jack Vance.
2. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein.
1. The Book of the Long Sun, Gene Wolfe.

Over on Faith and Theology (and down under in Australia), Ben Myers has drawn up Twelve Theses on Libraries and Librarians. Ben is a theologian rather than a librarian, though evidently wise in any case, and might well qualify as the next patron saint of libraries. Do check out his entire list.

Most of the points are spot on, though number 7 needs some revision:

"7. The library is... the safest and friendliest place on earth. More than that: the library is the institutionalisation of intellectual friendship. Which of us, admiring a shelf laden with the thoughts of dead authors, has never felt that these books love one another, even as they love to dispute and declaim? When I was a boy, I played hide-and-seek with my brothers among the stacks, while my mother slaved over her PhD. If history is a tangle of weeds and briers, the library is that commodious garden in which children play and every flower blooms."

I think yes and no. While libraries are known for a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere, and staff (hopefully) go out of their way to be friendly to patrons, it would be misleading to characterize libraries as necessarily "safe". As we often tell parents who think it perfectly reasonable to leave their kids in the Children's Room, a public place is a public place. One shouldn't leave children unguarded anymore than pocket books unattended. (To be fair, Ben has academic libraries more in view than public libraries, but I don't think "safe" is the best descriptor in either case.)

I especially like the way points 2, 4, and 5 blend into a wonderfully ambiguous portrait of librarianship -- radical and conservative at the same time:

"2. [Librarians] are in truth the most progressive and visionary figures... like bloodhounds, always hot on the trail of the future. Their demure appearance is a cunning disguise which allows them to perpetrate their radicalism all the more effectively. It is a camouflage net thrown over an armoured vehicle.

"5. In all the world there is nothing more dangerous than a library. Within any library are the seeds for the overthrow of the world. What bloody revolution cannot be traced back finally to a library? Or to some book that lay waiting through silent centuries for the day when it would be unsheathed? The rule of silence – upheld in all libraries since time immemorial – is a ruse. It is the silence of a tiger crouching in the reeds."

And yet:

"4. There is nobody more conservative than a librarian. Their enthusiasm for constant change and reinvention springs from an even deeper commitment to what has been received from the hand of the past. The library is an angel whose wings are spread out in fierce and loving protection of the past, while its face stares deep into the eerie light of the future."

I'll mention one more point concerning the autonomy of head librarians:

"10. Every head librarian is (or ought to be) vested with virtually unlimited executive powers. The library is one of those institutions in which benevolent dictatorship is not only desirable but essential. The head librarian is the captain of a ship at sea: her word alone is law. The importance of these executive powers lies in the fact that the librarian is answerable only to the collection, just as the pope is answerable only to God and a ship’s captain only to the devil."

A rather creative way of framing the issue of accountability (and timely for us in Nashua: Ben even gets the gender right, as it so happens, for our new director, Jen Hinderer, who started three weeks ago). It would be interesting to come up with a list of institutions/careers where "benevolent dictatorship" is highly esteemed.

Thanks to Ben Myers for these wonderful theses.

Americans eventually get around to recognizing and preserving our heritage. It took a bequest from British scientist John Smithson to create the Smithsonian in 1846. Congress created our National Park System in 1916 to preserve sites of historical and natural significance, a visionary effort beautifully documented in Ken Burns’ magnificent new 6 DVD documentary "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea", along with the companion book by Dayton Duncan. The National Archives was created in 1934 by Congress to preserve documents of importance, and not that long ago in 1989, Congress established the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress for the preservation of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films.” A year later the National Film Registry was created to designate and preserve films of “enduring importance to American culture.”

The selection process to the National Film Registry is quite different from the Academy Awards or Golden Globes. Hollywood egos and marketing hype are removed from the equation, replaced instead by a rigorous nomination process that includes public input. Nominees must be at least ten years old and do not have to be feature films, and at the end of each December only 25 films are selected by the Librarian of Congress for inclusion.

The films named to the 2009 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress include Al Pacino’s "Dog Day Afternoon", Tyron Power’s "The Mark of Zorro", "The Muppet Movie", Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" video, 1967's "The Jungle", shot by teen gang members in Philadelphia, Doris Day and Rock Hudson's "Pillow Talk," and "Hot Dogs for Gauguin," a 1972 student film featuring Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman in her debut role. The 525 films in the Registry include films from animations ("Steamboat Willie"), shorts ("Duck and Cover" and the "Zapruder Film" of the Kennedy Assassination) and recognized classics ("Singing in the Rain" and "The Godfather"). The oldest film in the Registry in 1893's "Blacksmithing Scene" and the newest is 1996's "Fargo".

Daniel Eagan’s recently published "America’s Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, 2010", covers them all through 2008.

You’ll find most of these films in DVD in the Music, Art and Media department, and along with many other best films lists. And if you're a fan of film, don't forget to vote for 2010 nominees to the Registry.