Multi-Type Advisory: Ready Player One

So. It has come to my attention that "multi-type advisory" is the second most popular keyword search by which people are finding this blog.  I guess that means people enjoy them - which means I should continue to post them!  Here we go.

Ready Player One
By Ernest Cline
Audio book read by Wil Wheaton
Copyright 2011

I haven't yet finished this book.  I'm listening to the audio in my car, and I've got one disc left.

And I love it.

The OASIS is a virtual world created by James Halliday.  People plug in to play games, watch movies...in short, be and do pretty much whatever they want.  Before his death, James Halliday hid some "easter eggs" with the promise that whoever found them would inherit the OASIS itself.  The clues are ensconced in 1980s pop culture.  The story is set in 2045, so the 1980s are long gone.  Egg hunters must track down keys by solving puzzles that lead them to various planets and sectors around the OASIS.  They have to pass tests that involve things like old arcade games and knowing the lines to old movies.

Wade Watts was the first person to find the first key.  There are others - huge corporations made up of Egg Hunters - who are willing to literally kill for that key.  Wade must win the game before they do because they will ruin the OASIS with corporate notions like membership dues.  He must also stay a step ahead of them in order to save his very life.

Read-Alikes

Reamde 
By Neal Stephenson

I haven't read this, but it is about virtual reality, fantasy games, and a rogue corporate gaming company.

Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United
Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

Rush plays a big part in Ready Player One.  Such a philosophical group with deep, storytelling lyrics!

Feed
By M. T. Anderson

Consumerism and virtual reality play into this story as well.  People in this futuristic story  have implants in their brains that connect them to the internet.













Music Suggestions
Anything 1980s!  They're making this book into a movie, and it will have the BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER. If you like 80s music, that is, which I do.  Here are some albums mentioned in the book.

Duran Duran - Rio - 1982

Devo - Freedom of Choice - 1980

Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust - 1988

Rush - 2112 - 1976

Movie and TV Show Suggestions
Again, this is almost too easy since there are a lot of movies mentioned in the book.  Such as:

War Games

Godzilla

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Silver Spoons

Family Ties

Director Material

The Director of my library is retiring.  Her job has been posted by Hartzell-Mika Consulting.  We're all excited, and probably a little nervous, about who our next Director will be.  One of the methods Harzell-Mika uses to fill executive positions like this is to ask for nominations.  What a great way to put someone on their radar who is known and liked (at least, by the nominator) for open positions!  I really like having the ability to nominate someone I know and trust - and who I would like to work for.  Surprisingly enough, I've been nominated.  Am I Director material?  Sure, maybe!  I believe I could do the job.  Here's the thing, though: I'm really not interested.  Like...at all.

I've been saying that I would miss my current job too much.  I would have to scale waaaay back, or even eliminate, some most of my favorite activities, like collection management, reference service, and working with interns.  Everyone keeps telling me that as the Director you can do what you want, so if I wanted to do a little of these things I still could.  That's true, to a point, but then there's The Big Reason I do not want to be a Library Director:

I do not find the main responsibilities and activities of a Library Director appealing.  At. All.

It's nice to say I could still do some of the things I love, but I would still have to spend 90-95% of my time doing things I don't love.  I have no interest in pretty much everything Directors spend most of their time doing.  The best Library Directors are people with passion.  It takes a specific passion and specific set of interests to do the job well.

It also takes a specific passion to be a great Teen Librarian, a great Tech Services Librarian, a great Youth Librarian, or whatever.  The things that excite me most about my career are so closely aligned with what I am currently doing that I can't see trading in my passion for mostly discontent and a few perks (the schedule is fantastic and the salary bump would be nice).  I don't want to be ho-hum about my daily work; I want to be passionate about it.

I am open to continuing to learn and grow.  I can't say that I won't become more interested in Director work over time.  I have to work for another 15 years before I retire, minimum, so who knows what will happen in five years or ten years?  My career plan is to continue to learn as much as I can about my profession.  I want to stay engaged and interested.  I want to contribute to the "bigger picture."  It's entirely possible that I will reach a point where the things that engage and interest me most are the bigger picture.

For now, I'm all about patron service and creating a positive working environment for my co-workers on a departmental level.

But hey - calling all great, passionate Library Directors! I want to work for you!

February and March Reads

Holly's bookshelf: read

I'll Walk Alone

by Mary Higgins Clark

Love Anthony

by Lisa Genova

Sarah's Key

by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Cotton Queen

by Pamela Morsi

Summerland

by Elin Hilderbrand

Fool Moon

by Jim Butcher

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford