Bookmobiles bring books to people, meeting the people where they are. But what if the place where the people are doesn't have roads? Bookmobiles can't go there. Imagine yourself camping along the great coast of Northern Lake Michigan. You might be on Beaver Island. Imagine yourself running out of books to read. You are without roads. No bookmobile to save you. You are in danger of getting bored. Life Plan B is your saving grace.
Life Plan B is to commandeer a sail boat and turn it into a Book-mo-Boat. The Book-mo-Boat works like a bookmobile, except it specializes in locations only accessible by water. I'm creating a search committee for a qualified crew (p.s. I'm the Captian and Katie is the First Mate). Here are the main qualifications:
Applicants must:
- Put water safety first, understanding that if they do not know how to swim, they will be wearing a life preserver at all times.
- Have a sense of adventure, and dream of a life on the high seas of Lake Michigan.
- Like to read. There won't be anything else to do on the Book-mo-Boat.
- Be able to go for long periods of time without internet access.
- Not susceptible to sea sickness.
- Be a master at the art of the reference interview.
- Have experience in fending off Somali pirates.
There are some Book-mo-Boats already in existence. We'll model our best practices on their experiences:
Norway has a book boat!
The book boat made the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Library and Information Science!
Sweden also has a book boat!
Lao Children's Library Boat (just photos)
Please just write a little sentence or two about why you want to sail on the Book-mo-Boat with me and First Mate Katie and leave it in the comments to this post. The Book-mo-Boat, should Life Plan A (full-time library employment) not come together, will leave port at dawn on July 1, 2009.
Posts
Yes, I would like to apply for this job. I have experience in the high seas of Lake Michigan, and I also have experience with assisting an "expert" in "collection development" for the East African ethnic group you mentioned. Even though I'm sure Life Plan A will eventually work out, I sort of hope that Life Plan B gets a chance at existence!
ReplyDeleteUnlike the above poster, I am not so sure "Life Plan A" will work out, thus, I am putting in my application for Support Staff with Knowledge of Nautical Knots person. I hope I can at least get a phone interview for this position.
ReplyDeleteI would like to suggest SE Alaska as a destination for the Book-Mo-Boat - I know a lot of isolated villages and bored park rangers who would enjoy a stream of new reading material. To preface my interest in this position I would like to flash my credentials from Cost Guard approved classes in Basic Safety, Survival at Sea, and Fire Fighter training. I have been coached in repelling pirates and rarely get sea sick in anything under 5 ft. seas. Do I have the job yet? If not I can also donate almost an entire Young Adult collection.
ReplyDeletePer the above post, I humbly submit my interest in this position. I have a strong sense of adventure and wanderlust. While I may not have the qualifications needed to successfully deal with pirates, I'm guessing that throwing hearts and love at them might make them not hate on us. I could also serve as a metadater maven if need be.
ReplyDelete