We are big fans of VR! Starting this year we have several VR/AR kits we are loaning to our school libraries, complete with lesson plans they can use to connect classes with all kinds of great resources.

Sure, it’s fun to play with these. But virtual and augmented reality is playing an increasingly important role in a lot of other areas. We are going to look at a different use each week, so you can work with your community members to help them learn about the great things possible for them today, and tomorrow.

As I’ve been looking at this topic, and collecting topics about VR, I’ve been so surprised at the range of areas where VR is possible! And this was a really interesting story, about a woman who chose to use VR to help have a more positive drug-free labor for herself and her baby. And there is a lot of information about the study the doctor has done to make the labor experience better using VR tools.

You can read an excerpt here, and click to read the entire article.

“Erin Martucci, a mom of three in New Hampton, New York, wore virtual reality headsets while giving birth to her two youngest children.

The 43-year-old had such a quick labor with her first child, a now 4-year-old son named Michael Jr., that she wanted to go drug-free giving birth to her second child, just over one year later.

Martucci said she barely knew about virtual reality, much less the fact that the technology was being used for labor. As her labor progressed, and the pain grew more intense, Martucci’s obstetrician offered the option of trying a VR headset.

“[The doctor] came in with the equipment and put it on my head and the scene was a beach and there was also a voice guidance,” Martucci said. “The voice guidance and the visual calmed me down and made me know I could get through the labor without drugs.”

“When [the doctor] came to take them off I was like, ‘What are you doing because I’m using them,'” she recalled. “He said, ‘You’re going to push your baby out,’ and literally one or two minutes later I pushed the baby out.”

Martucci’s daughter, Elizabeth, now 3, was born healthy and happy after about four hours of labor. Martucci said she wore the virtual reality headset for about half the labor, or two hours.”

Each week we assemble a collection – a bouquet, if you will – of books you can read for yourself, or use to build into a display in your library. As always, the books we link to have info from Amazon.com. If you click a link and then buy anything at all from Amazon, we get a small percent of their profits from your sale. Yay!!! Thanks!!! We really appreciate the assistance! 💕😊

We like making these little bouquets of books each week, but as anyone who has created a book collection knows, it’s not always easy to come up with the basic idea. So we like to use a random word generator, to help come up with a good concept.

I’m explaining to give the complete disclaimer: I love libraries, and will talk about them all day, every day – BUT I did not think of this week’s topic! I swear it was the Random Noun Generator telling me this was the topic! Sure, I rushed to agree; but it wasn’t my idea.

Let’s talk about books about libraries!!!

May Day: Humor and Hijinks (A Mira James Mystery Book 1), by Jess Lourey (We have been excited about this series many times, but we always like to promote our Minnesota authors!!) @jesslourey

” The not-so-proud owner of a dead-end job and a cheating boyfriend, cosmopolitan Mira James jumps at the chance for a fresh start in rural Minnesota. She regrets her move until she crosses paths with Jeff, the ultimate sexy nerd. When their romance heats up, she thinks she has it made.

And she does, right up until Jeff turns up dead.

Anxious to learn more about the man who briefly stole her heart, Mira delves into Battle Lake’s mysteries, including an old land deed obscuring ancient Ojibwe secrets, an octogenarian crowd with freaky social lives, and a handful of thirty-something high school buddies who hold bitter, decades-old grudges.

Mira soon discovers that unknown dangers are concealed under the polite exterior of this quirky town, and revenge is a hotdish best served cold. “

The Not So Quiet Library, by Zachariah OHora @ZachariahOHora

“It’s Saturday, which means Oskar and Theodore get to go to the library with their dad! It means donuts for breakfast! And it means endless quiet hours lost in stories.

But on this not so quiet Saturday, Oskar and Teddy get a rude surprise when they’re interrupted by a five-headed, hangry monster! Will Oskar ever get to finish his book in peace? Will Teddy ever get to gorge on his donuts? Or might both of them hold the secret weapons to taming the beast? “

The Night Bookmobile, by Audrey Niffenegger @AANiffenegger

” First serialized as a weekly column in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, The Night Bookmobile tells the story of a wistful woman who one night encounters a mysterious disappearing library on wheels that contains every book she has ever read. Seeing her history and most intimate self in this library, she embarks on a search for the bookmobile. But her search turns into an obsession, as she longs to be reunited with her own collection and memories. “

Read on Arrival: A Bookmobile Mystery (series #1), by Nora Page

“Septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins believes in gracious manners, sweet tea, and justice—library justice. For over forty years, Cleo has tried every trick in the book to get delinquent patron Dixie Huddleston to return the most overdue volume in Catalpa Springs, Georgia. When Dixie says she’ll finally relinquish the book, Cleo is shocked. She’s even more startled by the reason: superstitious Dixie says she’s seen the signs: she’s about to die and is setting her affairs in order.

Cleo dismisses Dixie’s ominous omens…until she and her gentleman friend, Henry Lafayette, arrive at Dixie’s home to find her dead. Cleo suspects murder. The police agree but promptly list Cleo among the likely culprits. To clear her good name and deliver justice, Cleo uses her librarian skills to investigate, with Henry and her trusty bookmobile cat, Rhett Butler, at her side.”

The Dead Virgins (The India Sommers Mysteries Book 1), by K. M. Ashman @KMAshman

” India Sommers is a librarian and a talented historian, so when a stranger asks her opinion on an ancient coin she is happy to oblige but when the same man is murdered less than an hour later, it soon becomes apparent that there is far more to the situation than meets the eye.

Recognising her unique talents for historical reference, she is quickly recruited by Brandon Walker, a Security Service intelligence officer investigating the strange disappearance of a very special young girl.

As the facts unravel, they realize that an ancient artefact linked to the cult of the Vestal Virgins from ancient Rome may hold the key to her whereabouts and Brandon draws on India’s vast historical knowledge to unravel clues that date right back through history to the time of the great flood.

Slowly, the full horror and mind blowing truth of what they have discovered becomes clear and they become involved in a race against time in a horrific and shocking finale.”

(You can read the previous part here.)

Traveling by car is such a luxury! You can bring anything you want, you can stop any time, you can change your plans and go to new places. Car travel can be fun!

And of course, things are not always thrilling. I spent a lot of this trip whizzing along interstates – which are not great for really seeing the country. You tend to see a lot of the same fast food places, the same gas stations, the same hotel chains.

But even on interstates, there are some special, individual things you can see, and can try, and can eat. One very surprising thing I saw on this leg of the trip was armadillos. Yes: armadillos. I think I saw little guys on the side of the road in every one of these states – and it was a little weird for me – but very cool!

Keep your eyes open, and there are all sorts of interesting things to find, even in the most potentially dull environment of an interstate.

Kansas

I was only in Kansas very briefly, but I’ve been across the state on previous trips so have a good sense of the state. (Spoiler: it’s flat.)

The Persian Pickle Club, by Sandra Dallas

“It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harveyville, Kansas, where the crops are burning up, and there’s not a job to be found. For Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, a highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of local ladies dedicated to improving their minds, exchanging gossip, and putting their quilting skills to good use. When a new member of the club stirs up a dark secret, the women must band together to support and protect one another. In her magical, memorable novel, Sandra Dallas explores the ties that unite women through good times and bad.”

Arkansas

When I was a kid, we went to Arkansas a couple of times for vacation, and it was beautiful! I drove down the highway, admiring everything as I went. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve read some of her other books and enjoyed them. Another one for the TBR!

Shakespeare’s Landlord: A Lily Bard Mystery, by Charlaine Harris

“Welcome to Shakespeare, Arkansas. Lily Bard came to the small town of Shakespeare to escape her dark and violent past. Other than the day-to-day workings of her cleaning and errand-running service, she pays little attention to the town around her. So when she spots a dead body being dumped in the town green, she’s inclined to stay well away. But she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and despite her best efforts, she’s dragged into the murder case.

Lily doesn’t care who did it, but when the police and local community start pointing fingers in her direction, she realizes that proving her innocence will depend on finding the real killer in quiet, secretive Shakespeare.”

Oklahoma

This is another really flat state, where you can see for miles in every direction. (And there are armadillos!) I read this book when I came out a couple of years ago, and was horrified. I had not heard any of this, but of course in a state with a strong tribal presence as Minnesota, we know about bad stories that have happened to indigenous people in other times and settings. It’s not a happy story, but really interesting.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann

”   In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
            Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered.
            As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. “

Texas

Texas is big. Really big. It’s pretty impressive just how massive this state is. I’ve been there for conferences a couple of other times, and just whizzed through a small piece of the state this time – and still have no feeling at all that I’ve “seen” Texas.

The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr

” A powerfully funny, razor’s-edge tale of a fractured childhood, Mary Karr’s biography looks back through a child’s eyes to sort through dark household secrets. She witnesses an inheritance squandered, endless bottles emptied, and guns leveled at both the deserving and the undeserving. In a voice stripped of self-pity and charged with brilliant energy, she introduces us to a family ravaged by lies and alcoholism, yet redeemed by the revelation of truth. Karr, a prize-winning poet, uses her linguistic skills and sharp personal insights to make The Liar’s Club an utterly mesmerizing memoir. “

Try some travel yourself this week! Reading books about places you would like to go is a great way to do some armchair traveling. And look for some interesting, unique things that are all around you now!