Kaoss!

Today I had an impromptu quiz at the Roslyn Library, and four intrepid young 'uns put their brains on the line and attempted it. Here's a photo of one of the victorious ones, enjoying her prize. No, I didn't actually give her my beloved Kaossilator, the prize was a ten-minute play on it!
Here's what a Kaosillator does: http://youtu.be/aeQOuNBuJwg

I brought it to the Library a little while ago because I wanted something special that the children might not usually get a chance to play with. I also wanted something musical because that's my passion, and it had to be something that didn't disturb other patrons. Because the Kaossilator is all-electronic, once the headphones are on, only the user can hear it.
I am very pleased to be able to report that, once I told them that it's fragile and expensive, everyone has been really careful with it.
But the main thing is seeing how kids absolutely love using it!
Give them an instrument like this and they just instinctively start playing with it and making music.
How cool is that?

Is it bad that my favourite parts of this job have nothing to do with "traditional" librarianship?
Answer: no. It's freakin' awesome.

Song of the day: well, it has to be something by an electronic musical group really, doesn't it? How about Devo's Whip it?

Edit: It's not quite true that "my favourite parts of this job have nothing to do with 'traditional' librarianship". I had a full library the other day with people reading the newspapers, taking out novels, looking things up on the internet, getting picture books and DVDs for their kids, and checking out the latest magazines, and it so completely fit my idea of what a Library is that I was absolutely stoked!

And, just in case you're interested, here's the quiz I made up (answers in the next blog post):

1.       Harry Potter and his friends catch the train at platform number what?

2.       Diary of a (what) kid is a book written by Jeff Kinney

3.       Roslyn Library has Woman’s (or Women’s) Weekly magazines from how many countries?

4.       In which section of the library would you find Tintin cartoon books?

5.       If Craig finds out you’re using someone else’s card to use the internet, he will terminate your session. True or false?

6.       Most of the Mills & Boon romance books are what colour?

7.       How much does it cost to use the free wifi service?

8.       How many items can you issue on your library card at one time?

9.       Who is performing at the next Tuesday Bluesday on August 14th?

10.   Who wrote the novel The Lost Symbol?