LaRue's Views

Former county commissioner Melanie Worley told me recently about her first job. She was a fairy princess.

A local movie theater hired her, gave her a gown, cape, and wand, and instructed her to supervise the frequent hordes of children. Sometimes, she said, she had to bonk them with her wand.

It was excellent training.

Years later, when conflicts were running high between various government agencies, she suggested the formation of a group now known as the Partnership of Douglas County Governments (PDCG). It is comprised of representatives from Douglas County, the towns of Castle Rock, Larkspur and Parker, the cities of Castle Pines North and Lone Tree, the Highlands Ranch Metro District, the Douglas County School District and the Douglas County Libraries.

I went to library school at the end of the 1970s. A big change was taking place in the world of book publishing.

The old bookmen, proud of their ability to find promising new literary voices, were giving way to a new breed: the MBA. Forget the gamble on the unknown. The future of publishing was the blockbuster. A book deal came with a big advance, established authors, and paperback and movie rights all sewn up.

Then began the round of acquisitions and mergers. HarperCollins. RandomPenguin (I love that). TimeWarner.

The upshot? New writers, particularly the ones with something a little different to say, didn't get picked up. Last year, one major American publishing house announced that it was accepting no new manuscripts at all.

Almost everybody uses Google, even librarians.

And it gets easier all the time. It used to be, if you wanted to find the location of the nearest chain restaurant, you would type in the restaurant name, then look for locations.

That still works. But now, on that golden first page of hits, you'll also find a map of the Denver or Douglas County area.

How does that happen?

The short answer is "geocoding of IP addresses." That is, your Internet provider can be identified; the ranges of Internet Protocol numbers can be matched up to a geographic location. Helpfully, Google gives you results that are customized to your region.

Years ago, a friend of mine adopted a dog from the pound. The dog, a beautiful German shepherd/Doberman mix, had clearly been mistreated. The first time I met him, I greeted him with a happy "hello!" and put out my hand to pet him. He was so frightened he wet the carpet. Other dogs so treated turn vicious.

For humans, trust probably begins as our earliest childhood experience. As infants, we laugh or cry; somebody comes to see that we're OK.

If nobody comes, or they behave different each time, our openness to the world closes. We get suspicious and paranoid. We have trouble trusting.

Our early treatment in the world, while not absolutely definitive, touches our feelings about all kinds of things.

Sometimes it's hard for me to imagine the life of the politician.

I pondered that as I sat in the iMax theater of Douglas County's astonishing Wildlife Experience and listened to gubernatorial candidates John Hickenlooper and Scott McInnis.

The forum was sponsored by the Douglas County Business Alliance, which keeps a close eye on Colorado legislative matters. Each candidate answered five questions from the DCBA, then took questions from the crowd.

Hickenlooper is the current mayor of Denver. McInnis is a former House Majority Leader for the Colorado House of Representatives, and a former U.S. Representative.

I know who created most of the new jobs in this country over the past ten years. I know how many job-makers we're talking about.

I know how old they are, what gender they are likely to be, and a little bit about their background.

I know where they live.

And - thanks to the wonderful research of a librarian friend of mine, Christine Hamilton-Pennell - I know how to help them. (See http://growinglocaleconomies.com.)

It's not a secret. On the other hand, despite all the information that's out there, you don't hear much talk about it. That's odd, since the economy is surely one of the most important issues faced by Douglas County.

There are several big ways to promote economic development.

What should you do when you have a strong response to something you read in the paper?

Let's say you like a particular column. You can pen an approving letter to the editor, or send a glowing email or voice mail to the writer. It is pleasant to find people with whom one agrees. Too few of us take the time to compliment others, and thereby build communities of interest and mutual support.

Not the writing kind? Well, you can always clip the column and pass it around to friends. Or find it online and forward it.

On the other hand, maybe you think the writer missed something important, or was flat out wrong. Maybe you have some special area of expertise that fills in significant gaps in the writer's presentation.

[This week is yet another wonderful guest column, this one by one of our "behind the scenes" librarians making great things happen for our patrons.]

05/06/10 Looking for Adventure? - Deb Margeson

Who doesn’t want a little adventure in their lives? Especially if it’s free.

But, before I get to the adventure part, I should introduce myself. I am Deb Margeson, a Collection Development Librarian here at Douglas County Libraries. I know that I have the best job possible here at our library district.

I have the opportunity to choose all the adult fiction and nonfiction books for our branches (and no, if you are wondering, I don’t get to read them before I decide to buy them…). But don’t tell anyone else that I have the best job here; they might get ideas…