We’ve Moved

Our blog has moved to become part of the all-new Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh website! Follow us there for the same great library news, updates, book reviews and more:

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/category/eleventh-stack/

Thank you for for your faithful readership during our time here at WordPress. We’ve been honored to be featured as one of the community’s best book blogs, and we intend to build on that excellence at our new digital home.

See you in the future!

Team Eleventh Stack

 

This Thank-You is Overdue…

A funny thing happened on the way to today’s regularly-scheduled post: Eleventh Stack was chosen as the winner in the Public Institution category of the Salem Press Library Blog Awards. This was about as shocking as–albeit much more pleasant than–coming back to your desk to find a goose head in your in-box.

Strange things happen around here sometimes. Photo courtesy Amy E.

In fact, even after mulling it over, I’m still not sure what, exactly, constitutes an appropriate thank you.  It should be short and sweet, but not dismissive, and it should acknolwedge that a lot of people, who have no reason to do anything I ask them to (I’m not their manager, after all), carve out time in their workdays to write thoughtful, informative, and often hilarious essays about books, library programs and services, and other items of community interest. It should express gratitude to upper management for supporting our creative risks, the contest judges for grokking what our blog tries to do, and the other library bloggers nationwide who share our collective struggle to make libraries–which are, alas, still bogged down in horrible stereotypes–visible on social media. (Solidarity, brothers and sisters!)  And, of course, it should give a shout-out to our Constant Readers, both those who have read along with us from the get-go, and those who have come to know as we’ve grown and (hopefully) matured as writers.

Hm.  I think I’m on to something here.

Seriously, though:  thank you. Whether you’re here in Pittsburgh or on the other side of the world, we hope that our blog remains a bright and cheerful five minutes in your regularly-scheduled daily pandemonium. We have a few ideas up our sleeves about how this blog could get even better, and we’ll gradually roll those out over the course of the next year.  But because this blog is both for and about you as readers and thinkers, we want to remind you that suggestions and feedback can be sent to eleventhstack@carnegielibrary.org. Without your input, we’re just a bunch of people who know things and are inclined to be helpful, but have nobody to share them with.  And that would be very, very sad.

When I logged in this morning to finally put the finishing touches on this essay–the perfect is, indeed, the enemy of the good–I discovered that Eleventh Stack had been Freshly Pressed again for the third time in two years. Words now seem horribly inadequte. I’ve got to up the ante on this thank you. It should involve cake.  Loads of cake. And champagne. And a group serenade of our adoring fans, culminating in a rousing rendition of Queen’s “Fat-Bottomed Girls.” And…

…and there I go, getting carried away again. Thank you, internet. We owe you one.

Leigh Anne

who loved Salem Press digital reference books before the award, and is still one of their biggest fans.

Pittsburgh Loves Its Libraries

We interrupt your regularly scheduled bookish goodness to offer our sincere thanks.

Thank you, Pittsburgh, for loving your library.  Thank you for caring enough to go to the polls, consider the library referendum, and make an informed choice.  Thank you for making it possible for us to continue providing books in multiple formats, quality programming for patrons of all ages, access to technology, and neighborhood library services.  You have demonstrated a great deal of faith in us and the work we do, and we couldn’t let another day go by without acknowledging how much that means to us.

In return, we promise to repay your trust with the high-quality service and skills to which you have become accustomed.  Have questions?  We’ll answer them, via whichever medium is most convenient for you.  Want book recommendations?  We can do that.  Help with your job search, resume, or cover letter?  Easy peasy. Quench your undying thirst for knowledge? Happy to oblige. If you can dream of it, the library has the resources to help you achieve it, whatever “it” might happen to be.

It is an honor and a pleasure to work for you.  And if you haven’t visited us in a while?  Please consider this your invitation to come back and experience all the wonderful things we have to offer. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.  This is, and is not, your grandparents’ library: the 21st-century Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh combines the best of its traditional services with continual improvements and innovations.  Stop by and get to know us all over again.

—Leigh Anne, for the Eleventh Stack blog team

with a special tip of the hat to all the library workers in less visible positions, who make magic “behind the curtain.”

Gifted: 29 Thank-Yous for Reading Eleventh Stack

Once a year, everybody in Allegheny County is invited to read and think about the same book, courtesy of the One Book, One Community initiative.  This year you’re invited to experience Cami Walker’s 29 Gifts: How A Month of Giving Can Change Your Life.  The official One Book website is filled with information that can enrich your reading experience via book club kits and discussion questions, related readings and resources on the themes of kindness and civility, and other ways to get involved, which will be updated as the official start date approaches.

The Eleventh Stack blog team has decided to participate in this countywide celebration of goodwill and bonhomie by giving away a gift every weekday for the next 29 days, starting tomorrow, February 1, 2o11.  At the end of each blog post, you will be prompted to leave a comment that reflects on that day’s essay.  A random winner will be chosen each day, and if it’s you, you’ll receive an e-mail with details on when/where to stop by and choose your prize.

Yes, I did say choose.  The blog team has assembled a prize closet of cool stuff for you to pick from, which includes:

• copies of popular books, DVDs, and books on CD
• $5.00 Crazy Mocha gift cards (good at any CM location)
• $10.00 pre-paid fine cards (good at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh locations)
• handmade items crafted by library workers and library supporters
• fashionable black and gold “Pittsburgh Protect Your Library” tote bags
• other whimsical surprises as we think of them

We’re even assembling a special prize package for the person who wins on day 29, just in case “the good stuff” is already gone. (It’s all good stuff, but who likes to choose last?  Nobody–that’s who.)

The only things we ask of you in return are:

• Be an Allegheny County resident.  We love our expatriate readers, but postage is a wee bit dear these days.
• Include your e-mail address with your blog comment. (Otherwise, how can we tell you you’re a winner?)
• Add the e-mail address eleventhstack at carnegielibrary dot org to your list of approved senders. (So any mail from us doesn’t end up in your spam folder.)
• Tell us what’s on your mind when you comment!  Responses like “Awesome, dude” make us feel warm and fuzzy, but don’t really help us become better writers.

On an even warmer, fuzzier note,  February 2011  marks the third full year the Eleventh Stack team has been blogging for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.  When we started the project, we had no idea whether or not this method of communication would be a good way to reach out to our community.   Over 170,000 visits and 9,400 click-throughs to the catalog later–not to mention the lovely, thoughtful comments you’ve made–we can tell that you really, really like us.

 Of course, that makes us want to work even harder to demonstrate–via our sometimes serious, sometimes silly, but always heartfelt, essays–just how much the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has to offer.  Your attention to, and continued support of, CLP is a great gift.  Please stick around and allow us to continue to give back in our quirky, writerly fashion.

Leigh Anne
who would take you all out for milk and cookies, except that it’s been done