As we all know, rainy weather is a great excuse to spend hours indoors reading. It’s also a great excuse to play around with the READ CD software! It had been a while since I’d had the time to sit down and look into the newly optimized version of the READ CD Box Set, so in homage to the old adage–which is holding painfully true here in Chicago–I opened up my Photoshop Elements. In doing so, I remembered a few things I thought I would share:

1. Don’t forget that you can add text in Photoshop. You can tailor the various READ backgrounds using props (as we’ve seen done in earlier posts), but you can also use words to expand and further customize the “READ” to fit your specific poster, school, or library.

2. In addition to using words, you can also use clip art to fill up empty space, further customize your poster, or just add more books! (Or add accessories. Waterwings, goggles, etc.)

3. When adding text, clip art, or another image Photoshop will turn each added item into a “layer” that appears in the layer box in the lower right corner of the Photoshop window. To quickly manipulate the order of your layers, all you have to do is click, drag, and pull an item within that box. You will find that dragging a layer down in the layer box will cause that image to go behind any layer that is above it on your READ poster. In this way, you can quickly reorder images and help make your poster more visually appealing!

Wishing you more May flowers than April showers, and lots of beautiful READ posters regardless!

What’s black and white and re(a)d all over?

 Well, READ posters, of course!

In my family, my dad has acquired the jokester role leaving my mom to a more discplinarian role. My dad typically found an audience at the dinner table– where no one could escape. His telling of jokes really became his joke tell because he would, without fail, begin “–Insert friend’s name– was telling me that…” Immediately, you knew a joke disguised as a true story was coming. One day, however, my mom took us all by surprised and unleashed a little something. She posed the question, “What’s black and white and red all over?” My elementary mind mulled this over for about 30 seconds before begging for the answer. When “newspaper” was revealed, I thought it was genius. Both the memory and riddle have obviously stuck with me for a long time.

Recently, it appears as if the printing of finished READ posters has been a bit of a riddle to some. First know, there is a lot of flexibility with the printing of these posters. The files comes sized at 11″ x 17″ but can easily be increased or decreased in size in Photoshop. From a simple black and white rendition printed on 8.5″ x 11″ paper on the ol’ desktop printer to a full-size 22″ x 34″ printed in full color on a HPz2100 poster printer, the choice is yours!

Here’s some extremely helpful words from Alexandria Arnold, Assistant Director at the Summit Free Public Library in New Jersey.

On this page, there’s a link on the right to printers/supplies compatibility. It provids a list of large-format HP printers and all the paper model numbers that are recommended for use with them. It was just what I was looking for.

As to actually buying the paper, I finally went to Amazon.com.  Since I know how heavy paper is I was worried about shipping charges. Their prices were competitive with the vendors other librarians recommended on the PR list,  and by choosing carefully, I was able to get most of the paper with free shipping (according to Amazon, I saved about $50 in shipping on a $250 paper order). The paper arrived in three separate shipments, but all within 10 days of placing the order – the first shipment arrived the day after I placed the order!

Don’t forget that your local print shop is also a great resource. Not only can they print your posters if you supply them with the digital file on a thumb drive or CD, but they also have the paper and ink you need if printing yourself!

As always, please share your own printing methods or questions in the comments!

It seems like books are full of main characters who are just a little bit different – they think a little differently, they act a little differently, they make slightly different choices. This shouldn’t be a big surprise to me, since I think most of us think we are a little bit different than everyone else; we’re all our own special unique person, right?

The first character that came to mind was Marcus from last year’s book Little Brother. With Teen Tech Week having just come to a close last week, it’s no surprise that such a technologically savvy book was at the forefront. Marcus is willing to risk everything, even his freedom, to avoid giving up his rights and betraying the rights of those in his city of San Francisco. He absolutely refuses to conform.

But then literally dozens of characters who forge their own way or follow their own, unconventional dreams sprang to mind. Jo March in Little Women. Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. The whole group of teens in The Outsiders. Frankie in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Ender in Ender’s Game.

I think we like these characters because they make us think that maybe we are brave enough or strong enough to throw off the expectations of our society or our family or our school and do what we really want to be doing.

Many of the celebrities in the READ posters are holding books that contain characters that march to their own beat. For instance, Alan Rickman holding Catcher in the Rye, Jeffrey Dean Morgan holding Watchmen, and Keira Knightley holding Pride and Prejudice.  Who is your favorite character that marches to their own beat? Who are the favorite unique characters of your patrons or students? Their answers could turn into a great READ CD Poster project for this month!

Last week, Marti Fritz at the Kalamazoo Public Library shared her library’s READ posters with me. Their Flickr pool showcases the great variety of not only kids and adults, but local patrons and celebrities, including Kalamazoo’s mayor, Kalamazoo Public Schools’ superintendent and dozens of principals, and Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra’s maestro/musical director. 

This wonderful mix of smiling faces appears on some incredibly well-made posters! I love how the patron is typically posing with their favorite book and one other prop, and then featured against a corresponding READ background for an incredibly cohesive effect.

This Batman in particular brought a smile to my face and seemed to fit in quite well with the profusion of comic books and graphic novels that have been debuting on the big screen of late. In the past year, we’ve seen Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Persepolis and, as of last Friday, Watchmen. (And as someone who is admittedly fairly naive about the genre, there are probably many more I’ve left out!)  

Like the READ CD Box Set, the genre seems to be particularly adaptable– reading well both off the page and off the screen. This led me to wonder what a comic strip of READ posters might look like… I’m going to have to ponder this, play around, and come back with my results later, but I challenge you to give it a try as well! Who says a READ poster has to be contained to just one frame?!

Despite my lack of knowledge on the subject, one thing is clear– once a fan, always a fan. Whether you’re our masked friend above or my winged friends to the right, trying to decide what to make for dinner, there’s always room for your love of superheroes on a READ poster!

The celebration of this month provides many great ways to use your READ CD to build relationships between community members, community leaders and the library. Here are some of our favorites from when we were brainstorming earlier today.

1. Invite notable women community leaders from your local legislatures to come into the library and have their READ poster created. This not only gives them some visibility, but it provides a way for your patrons to know who is representing them in their local government.
2. Reach out to local female personalities like radio hosts, TV anchors and local sports figures. We’ve received many stories from libraries across the US who have been able to get publicity for their library due to having READ posters created with popular celebrities, both local and national.
3. Have your patrons create a READ poster with their favorite female author or character. This gives the patrons a chance to be featured on a READ poster showing their mentors and influencers while promoting your library’s collections.

Have you used your READ CDs for Women’s History Month celebrations or activities? We love to hear your stories, so share them with us in the comments!

At the end of the year, I published on my blog the complete list of books I’d read during 2008 (it totaled 149 books).

It’s a good feeling to finish that list off and begin a new list. So far, I’ve added three books to the “Books Read in 2009″ list, the most recent of which was “It’s Like This, Cat” by Emily Neville.

I picked that book based solely on the Newbery sticker on the spine of the book at the library. One of my goals this year is to read ten Newbery books I’ve never read before (this is an attempt to make progress on one of my lifetime goals of reading all the Newbery-winning books). “It’s Like This, Cat” makes for one down, nine to go this year. Not bad for twelve days into the year!

In addition to the Newbery goal, I have a few other reading goals, including reading all of the Printz-winning books and reading ten adult books. I tend to spend most of my reading time on young adult and middle grade books, so I’m trying to force myself to act like the adult my drivers license says I am.

I like reading goals because it stretches my reading comfort zones a little – it helps me find books I might not have picked up otherwise and makes me – I think – a more literate and well-read person (and it’s a lot more fun than trying to lose weight, which I hear is the number one most popular New Year’s resolution, to no one’s surprise).

What are your reading goals for 2009? Do you have some?

The other day a few friends and I did a little “higher” math and decided that winter in Chicago is twice as long as summer. Based on our calculations, we figured that we endure six months of winter, 3 of summer, 1 of spring, and 2 of fall.

To get through the six relentless months of snow, sleet, and ice, I’ve observed that Chicagoans do a few key things. First, we discuss it. Be it predicting, complaining, hoping, surmising, or simply chatting, we talk about the weather. I think this gives a sense of community. Like, I may freeze to death, but at least I won’t be alone. Second, as soon as winter is over, we unanimously decide that that was the worst winter in years. No way it could be that bad again. Third, and most obvious, we dress for it. In coats that look like sleeping bags, in gloves that reduce us to just apposable thumbs, in hats that appear as if a small woodland creature has alighted on our head, in boots that look as if we’re wearing said woodland creatures as footwear, there is no end to the bundling and wrapping and layering and zipping and buttoning and donning that goes on. In fact, with the only skin exposed being the two-inch slit across the eye/upper nose area, you can easily walk down the street and not recognize your friend, roommate, or colleague.  

But weather isn’t the only way to disguise yourself! I recently got a peek at these fantastic READ posters made by Harry Coffill, Media Center Specialist, at East Grand Rapids Middle School. His 6th grade class did a reading project that incorporated the READ CD, and each student came dressed in the theme of his/her book. They then got to suggest backgrounds and themes for their individual READ poster, and I think the results are fabulous!

Do you have ways you’ve also disguised your students in a READ poster? Or other creative ways you’ve integrated READ posters into your curriculum or library programming? If so, drop us a line at graphicsmarketing@ala.org, we’d love to hear about them! 

Ok, maybe it’s not entirely new, but it is newly optimized and includes new file formats! The newest version of the READ® CD Box Set became available last November, and it offers a variety of new features for READ CD users.

First, a new file type has been added (.png). What does this mean for you? Well, it’s a file type that’s smaller than a .gif file and has more color capabilities. It also works well with web applications without any loss of image quality. That means that you can use these file types for posting your READ® images on the web, and they’ll look just as good as the versions you print.

Next, the content on the four CDs has been reorganized to make it easier to use. Now, you’ll find all of the READ Me files on disc one with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements and the video tutorials. Disc one also contains 8 type treatments in the four available file types. The second disc contains the remaining 26 type treatments, four layered READ poster files, four layered READ bookmark files and nine READ poster files. Disc three contains the four more layered READ poster and bookmark and eight READ poster files. Finally, the fourth disc contains the remaining layered READ poster and bookmark files, three READ poster files and twelve background files. The updated organization of the discs will prevent you from having to switch discs constantly to find what you need among the various discs.

The final change to the READ CD Box Set is the updated Getting Started booklet. Many users have commented that the Getting Started Guide was difficult to understand and navigate. We’ve used that feedback to update the Guide so it’s more user-friendly.

So what has really changed in the READ DC Box Set? The type treatments, background files and layered poster and bookmark files are the same. All we’ve done is enhanced what was already a great product and made it even easier to use! For those of you who are interested in the READ CD and want to learn more about it, visit the READ CD Info Page at the new ALA Store!

Last week I returned from the Mile-High City, where ALA’s Midwinter Conference was held. Having never visited Denver before, I mistakenly assumed the city’s moniker was a result of its inhabitants navigating frigid, snow-covered streets nestled away in the mountains. As our plane touched down and the pilot greeted us with a cheery, “Welcome to Denver. Local time is 1:30p.m. and temperature is 63F,” I was proven quite wrong. Having just left the Windy City and temperatures of -20F wind chill, I’d never been happier to be wrong!

In addition to the beautiful weather, I had a great time visiting with members and customers in the ALA Store. Over the weekend, I did two READ CD demos, and, as is usually the case when teaching, I think I learned more than I taught! The READ CD is being used in great and inventive ways in libraries and schools, and upcoming posts will relate those and other fabulous ideas from our very creative READ CD users! In the meantime, here’s a PDF of the READ CD handout I used during the demos. It details both a “quick” and more involved way to make a READ poster, two methods of extracting the background from your reader’s photo, and some quick tips.

And I feel I can’t mention the conference without also mentioning what I found to be a very amusing coincidence. Denver’s giant convention center was holding not only the ALA conference but also the Sportsmen’s conference. This led to quite a mix of interests wandering the large halls. One ALA attendee phrased it quite well when she said, “It’s the buns and guns show!”

Admittedly, I’m not one for resolutions. Instead, I try to reflect back on the past year to assess the good, the bad, and the ugly. The first round that came to mind is as follows:

The Good. I entered January 2008 without a job but with enough money saved to keep the landlord happy and optimism to boot. I entered March 2008 with just over $89 and the disposition of a disgruntled porcupine. As I stood weeping to my mother about how my luck had run out, HR phoned. It was perhaps the most dramatic mood reversal to date—going from porcupine to happy clam. Thus the story of how I had gained employment and mastered the art of transmogrifying all in one day.

The Bad.  My mother graciously gave me her old Toyota Prius a few years ago, and I have loved driving it. The GPS is perhaps the most useful feature, and sometimes I turn it on even when just going to the grocery store. Oh, to know your surroundings! In the stpring, I was visiting Columbus and was directed to park on the grass around a fenced-in track. When it was time to exit, I decided that, to avoid hitting the car behind me, I would simply pull forward and navigate around the fence. GPS will tell you a lot—where exit 50B is located, how to get to the nearest Indian restaurant. Unfortunately, it will not tell you when a rock, large enough to be classified as a boulder, is situated just to the front left of your vehicle. GPS can also not identify the horrible scrapping when said rock digs into the exterior paint and then into the metal of your automobile. GPS can also not comfort the driver as she discovers the only way to get out of the predicament is to reverse the car, thus repeating the exact action she is attempting to undo. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

The Ugly. In October I adopted a kitten into my home. After days of cooing, calling, and bribing, I finally wooed this once-feral calico out from hiding behind the stove. Soon the super shy Matilda was super comfortable sitting on my face while I attempted sleep. Last week she came home spayed and groggy with strict instructions to put the “cone” on any time I couldn’t keep an eye on her. Easy, right? I soon discovered that what this six-pound kitten lacks in body weight she makes up for in puma-like reflexes and sheer determination. After wrangling the post-op cat into the couch corner, I was able to finally snap the cone around her neck. As I celebrated, she rolled around as if she was on fire. I watched in awe as this innocuous piece of plastic induced such anxiety. Then I watched as she managed to get both hind legs, both forepaws, and all 25 claws behind the cone. To my horror she started to push, forcing the cone right up under her chin, emitting a chilling half-growl, half-gurgle. I ripped the cone off in hopes that Matilda’s self-destructive tendencies were a direct result of the cone and not me. Needless to say, I lost that fight. The score stands at Matilda: 2 (also lost claw clipping), Katharine: 0. We are currently in our third battle—administering medication. For each dose she has successfully swallowed, I have an armful of claw marks, so this will probably end up a draw.

What this first round of reflections on 2008 really goes to show is that in life you cannot Undo. You can’t rewind to take back the complaining about being unemployed right before a job offer comes through; you can’t choose a different parking spot (although you can reverse!); and you certainly can’t fight battles already lost again.

But take heart because you can always Undo in Photoshop when making your own READ posters. Whether you Control + Z or Edit>Undo, Photoshop always gives you a second (and third and fourth…) chance!

For the last days of 2008 and all through 2009, I wish you the courage to use the undo button with reckless abandon and the reality of using it hardly at all!