Saturday, May 26, 2007

Hot Tamale?




Hot Tamara was not a good title for this book. Mary Castillo's book about Tamara, a twenty something Latina and how she deals with her Mexican parents is not what you expect from this title. The title implies that you are going to be regaled by the escapades of liberated Latina and her adventures in single-hood. The book is more about how Tamara had to struggle to leave the nest and make her life the way she wants, rather than how her mother wants it to be.






I really enjoyed the book because the relationship with her mom is so familiar. The point of this story is that Latinas, you have the choice to do what you want with your life. Despite the fact that your parent's are traditional and want to protect you from the world, it's up to you what you make of it. Tamara is the example of the woman who broke away from tradition and survived to tell the story. Yes, your mother will get over you moving out and getting your own career. Tamara's best friend Isa is her counterpart who is a "good" girl and did whatever everyone expected of her which has lead her to unhappiness. I recommend this book is a great example of Chica Lit.


Privacy Issues

I had my first run in with a patron who asked information on his child. As you will learn (you future librarians out there) in Library Class 101, when someone comes into the library and asks information on another patron's library record you are not allowed to disclose said information. I had a gentleman come in today asking one of our pages to tell him if his daughter checked out any books today. Our page directed the patron to me and I explained that we cannot disclose this information. He said that his daughter had told him that she was going to be at the library doing homework and she had been here all morning, so he wanted to check to see if in fact she came to the library. I told him we could not look that up for him. He said, "Why? Doesn't her name come up when you enter the library card number?" I said, "yes, it does. But it is our policy that all library records are confidential and we cannot disclose this kind of information to anybody." He was shocked. He just wanted to know if his daughter had been here. I told him it was a security measure and we had to protect our patrons. We have no way of knowing that in fact he was her father. He was about take out his wallet to prove it, but I stopped him telling him it was not necessary for him to prove anything, because he was still not going to get the information. Just to make sure, I consulted the lead reference librarian and she backed me up. He finally left but I was a little shaken from the experience. I didn't think I would encounter this issue so early in my librarian career, though they do prepare us for this in library school. Having spoken to my collague again about the situation, she was surprised because she had never had to encounter something like that in all her years as a librarian (which have been a lot). I was pretty proud of myself. Bring on the Patriot Act!! (just kidding)


Yeay Reading!

I love it when I discover a new author and find out that they have written more than that one book. Right now I am reading Nancy Martin's Blackbird Mysteries and have found there are several, so I have my summer reading list ready!

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