More Thoughts, Subway Reading, Working With Books

I have been at jury duty all week. This is the first week I haven't been to a library or bookstore in a long time. It is kind of relaxing. I got plenty of rest. I read the paper in the morning. I don't read the New York Times except for occassionally. The New York Times is a national newspaper and rather weak on local news. I read the Daily News. It is pretty light weight in its presentation.

My case is luckily not in the papers or I wouldn't read the paper. I had a nice relaxed lunch at a small Colombian restaurant. The coffee was very strong and bitter just perfect.

When I had free time during the day, I continued to read Oil by Upton Sinclair. I am about half way through the book. I am not going to go see it in the movie theater. I will wait until it comes out on dvd.

Two other people out of the group I was with were reading books, one was reading a book by Tom Brokaw, the other was reading a paperback.

It was very funny. I've noticed that less and less people are reading books these days. They are reading the newspaper or the internet but not books. They would ask me what I was watching on television and I would say sorry, I don't watch television, if I really want to see the democratic or republican debates, I'll watch them on Youtube. That may sound funny, but all of them are there.

I read on the subway coming home for a little bit. Now I am home. It is too late to wander down to the library. In the subway, only a few people were reading. Sometimes I try and look to see what a person is reading. Often they will stare back at me, close the book and hide it. It is considered rude to try and find out what someone else is reading on the subway.

I see a lot of people reading bibles on the subway. They are reading the bible in a variety of languages, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and English. You usually can tell it is the bible because it is a black book with a cross on the cover, or it has the format of the the bible when it is open. Occassionally, they are reading the Koran as well. Maybe they are using it as a protective talisman. Some of the riders are fingering prayer beads, or staring at the ceiling in meditation.

At Grand Central and Times Square you will see lay preachers yelling about the new testament, sin, and hell. The Jehovah's Witnesses stand inside many of the subway stations and hand out their magazine "Awake". If you are in chinatown or Main Street in Queens, or Grand Central Terminal in New York you will also get Falun Gong pamphlets.

Also people read books in a variety of different languages on the subway. You see a lot of foreign language books on the subway, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and other languages. Most of the time people are reading paperbacks or trade paperbacks which are easier to carry or read on the subway than hardcovers.

Occassionally, people will ask what I am reading. I usually will show them the book, and read them the title, but not let it out of my hand. I don't go into too much detail what I reading about and say simple, "It's a good book."

I have to pace myself, and figure out where I am supposed to get off the subway before I start reading. If I get too absorbed, I will miss my stop. I usually put my book away one or two stops before I have to get off the train. I also get on the train in about the third car. There are usually just enough people around to avoid trouble if you avoid the front two and the back two train cars. I carry a big shoulder bag with me most of the time. A man bag.

I'm also a little paranoid. Because I am reading, and seem a little distracted, I put my wallet inside my coat and leave loose stuff in my outside pockets. I try and see the hands of people who are sitting next to me. Pickpockets have to use their hands to get at things.

I never wear earphones on the subway. I am worried that I won't hear something which is happening like a fight, a distraction, a repairs announcement, a police activities announcement, or that a passenger is sick. There is a lot which can happen on trains.

I currently have one other book in my book bag which I have not read, Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. I am used to carrying around five or six books which I might decide to read. Briar Rose is one of the Mythopoeic society award winners.

When you are not thinking of books most of the day, it makes it difficult to think about what new books or subjects to come up for this blog. I am actually feeling pretty good right now.

For a year while I was working at an ISP, I stopped working with books. This was during the dotcom boom. I helped find people. The internet is about creating connections between people mainly. We like to think of it as connections between two pieces of information, but it is really not that at all.

Doing jury duty is a kind of deja vu experience. It makes me realize just how much I like working with books, information and the internet. I don't really miss the library aspect of the thing. It could just as easily be in a publishing house, bookstore, or online site.

One of the directors I worked with suggested that I should be working for an online publishing house or online business, I would do well there. About four years ago I took the Introduction to Publishing class at New York University. I was thinking about taking the certificate in publishing course for online publishing. http://www.scps.nyu.edu/areas-of-study/publishing/ . They discontinued the digital publishing course, but kept the magazine and book publishing course at New York University. The real stumper was that I was told if I finished the the certificate, they suggested I might be able to get a sales position in one of the larger publishing companies.

I have been told various things about where I fit in the library world, some by recruiters, some by other people. I know I am not quite a match for a traditional corporate structure. However, I know I would probably do well in a business casual environment. I have looked at law librarianship, corporate librarianship, and academic librarianship and none of it quite seems to fit. The recruiters I talk with are really never able to help me. I have always found the positions I have held on my own after I have been told there was nothing available by recruiters. There were always a lot of places open when I was looking. Many more than the recruiters even new about.

I am really not interested in most levels on doing competitive intelligence. The confidentiality bit bothers me too much. I also like my ego too much to submerge it and my ethics are a bit too strong for dumpster diving, rusing, or cracking. For a bit I was a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals which was an odd experience. I went to some of the meetings to see what it was about. Virtually every aspect of information fascinates me.

I also joined the SLA-- Special Library Association for a while, but it did not get me where I wanted to be. I did not seem to fit in with the special librarian crowd that well. I let the dues slide and looked elsewhere.

I've looked at what it takes to start an information brokerage, the Association of Independent Information Professionals is the main association for independent researchers. I really don't think I would do well as an independent searcher. It is the books which interest me not just the searching.

I have an entrepreneurial streak in me. Venture capital is actually pretty interesting. I went to a couple pitches to see how it was done and watched people pitch their ideas. I am interested in business. If you are interested in learning about business, it is easily worth the $40 or $50 to go to an evening where people do pitches to sell their venture capital ideas.

http://www.mitef-nyc.org/mc/community/eventdetails.do?eventId=148346&orgId=mefny

I pulled this event out of Bernardo's List for New York, a kind of amalgam of networking for business events and schmoozing events. http://www.bernardoslist.com/ Take a look at the events list, I find it quite entertaining. If you are looking for business networking events, he lists a lot of them.

One of the real stumpers for me is to advance in librarianship, I have to take either extremely specialized positions which are hard to get, director of collection development or director of reference. I am not entirely sure I want to manage librarians. I could stay in my current position, but I really don't want to stagnate. I could try and learn a whole set of technical skills like content management, but I am not sure that I would do well with it.

For a while, I had a dream of opening a bookstore, then I stepped back when I saw so many of the small independent bookstores closing up. I talked with a few people at SCORE-- Service Corps of Retired Executives about a business plan to start a small bookstore and it wasn't quite right. I also considered taking the American Booksellers Association course on bookselling. I could take the course in 2009 when Book Expo America comes back to New York. I have had SCORE in a couple of times to do workshops at the library where I work.

I look at the publishing world and it makes my teeth grind. There is very little that looks like a viable business opportunity right now. The book world is changing. Publishing is like the headless horseman right now. It looks to have a direction, but there is no understanding why.

I always dreamed of being a librarian, but when I got there, it was different than what I expected. It is still fun, but I am not sure where it will take me right now.

I've also thought of writing, but not as a career, more of a pastime and hobby. At one point I took a seminar on writing science fiction short stories. I was told my grammar is bad. Maybe, I don't need to write lies (novels), people seem to be more interested in my every day opinions, reviews, and experiences than in galaxies far far away. I guess it is hard to make things up when you already have interesting things happening to you.