I don't know which one tickles me more. Is it that people seem to be talking more and saying less? Or is it that they say things they surely don't mean?

By "talking more and saying less," I allude to jargon. I wish I could tell you that librarians are immune. We're not.

Take our most basic service: "circulation." In our view, the books go out and come back. It's like blood through the heart. Hence, our materials (not just books anymore) "circulate."

Readers of this paper have probably noted the weekly listing of library events elsewhere. But I thought I'd call out some of the notable events coming up this month.
In addition to our weekly story times, we have a number of reading groups. Here's a gander at March literary gatherings:

March 1 - the Mother-Daughter Book Club at Highlands Ranch will be reviewing "Julie of the Wolves" at 7 p.m.

When I was in sixth grade, I noticed something about myself.

Suddenly I couldn't stop talking. My hand was always flying into the air. Sometimes I'd just shout out the answer, or a comment.

Part of this was because I had an extraordinary teacher. His name was Mr. Smith. Every Monday, he drew a cartoon on the top right corner of the chalkboard. It was always original, funny, and thought-provoking.

Librarianship is like any other business. You have to watch the numbers. But -- like any other business -- the question is, "which numbers?"

The traditional measure of library services is "circulation." In some respects, this is like sales. Circulation is what people check out the door. (Let's just ignore for the moment that most of our sales are also, technically, "returns." In business, that's bad. In librarianship, that's good.)