Book Review

I recently began working in Youth Services at my library. This gives me a great excuse to read more juvenile and Young Adult fiction, both of which I enjoy. One of my favorite recent reads was Ashfall by Mike Mullin.

I heard about Ashfall when Mike Mullin came to our Open Book event a couple of years ago. At the time, I was still working for my bachelor's degree and wasn't doing much reading at all. I finally picked the book up this summer and hate that I waited this long to read it.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is gritty, realistic, and gory. The protagonist, Alex, is disrupted from his daily life when a formerly dormant super-volcano beneath Yellowstone Park erupts, creating an apocalyptic hellscape across much of the United States. Alex lived in Iowa, not directly next to the volcano yet close enough to be affected by the pounds of ash that it produced. Since his family was traveling during the time of the eruption, he decides to go across the state to try to find them.

What I loved about this book is that Mr. Mullin definitely did his research. He portrays hunger, injuries, sickness, and more in a very realistic fashion. His characters do not miraculously get lucky in their survival. The dystopian genre is one of my favorites, so I've read quite a few, and none have come close to this level of realism. This book will unnerve the reader and definitely will make them worry about the possibility of this event actually happening.

This is a book that I would recommend to any teen or adult that wants a refreshing take on a Young Adult dystopian novel.

MUVE

The main MUVE I interact with is XBox Live. Players on XBox Live can add friends, then send them messages or chat with them in real time while playing games with them. It is useful because there are some games where communication is necessary. XBox Live features make it easy to talk with your friends or just people you may be teaming up with temporarily.

Libraries can use MUVEs to their advantage, and gaming is actually a great way to do that. Some games, such as Minecraft, are played on a multi-user server environment. Libraries can provide these services so that users can learn technology and socialize with others all at the same time.

Compare & Contrast

Two social media sites I have seen being used for library and information science are Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook is useful because of the liking and sharing abilities. If someone likes a post, their friends may see that they liked it. If someone shares a post, their friends are almost guaranteed to see it. This is a great way to get the word out about library news and events. For instance, in May, the IUPUI Library Facebook page warned students that the entryway was undergoing a renovation and that they would have to use an alternate entrance.

Twitter can be used for some of the same features as Facebook, but it has some different features. Users can retweet posts to put them on their personal profiles, making the posts visible to their friends. Twitter is more reliant on hashtags so that users can talk about specific topics. By placing hashtags in a Tweet, other users can search for information they want to see.

Social media is integrated into so many parts of our daily lives. It would be a horrible idea for libraries not to get involved in social media- we can benefit from it just like any other organization. By sharing news and events on our social media pages, we can better reach our patrons on a platform they enjoy and understand. 

Social Network Experience

My first social network experience was with the once-popular MySpace in the late 2000's. While MySpace is now used more for musicians, it was once a social network for photo sharing, keeping in touch with friends, and customizing pages. Once MySpace began to lose popularity, I joined Facebook, and later joined Twitter and a few other social networking sites.

On a daily basis, I use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest. Facebook is the best way for me to keep in touch with both friends and family and see what they're up to. Twitter is an easy way for me to get news since it contains many posts with links, plus I get to see what my friends are interested in. Tumblr, a popular blogging site, is something I use both professionally and personally. I have a blog for my network-marketing business and one for entertainment. Pinterest is a social networking site that I use for finding recipes, craft ideas, and more.

It is difficult for me at this point to picture my life without social media. I don't remember the last day I had without checking any of these websites. While that may sound a little sad, it is the easiest way for me to keep updated on the lives of those around me, and I find all four of these tools very helpful to me in my everyday tasks.