Daily Thoughts

Damien L'Homme (formerly attributed to Sébastien Stoskopff): The Great Vanity Still-life - detail (1641, Oil on canvas)

Daily Thoughts

I tried to read The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson on the train to work today, but found it to be rambling, meandering, and unfocused. I did not like the style the book was written in. It was apparent to me within the first chapter of the book. I like the subject, but not the content of the book.

So, I switched The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia. This book has a wonderful poetic quality to it. The imagery is dreamy and sweet. It is in a mix of a steampunk and fantasy setting.

I spent almost the whole day weeding books from the social sciences section. Right now, I am in the section on drug abuse and social welfare. We have a lot of books in this section. I ended at the beginning of the section on true crime. I think I might get some more books on gang prevention. It is something which the community needs.

After weeding, I went and checked the books in the sections I am ordering for to see how they are circulating. The computer books section are moving very fast. So are the Job Information Center books. I think we might change the heading to a more proper one; Education Job Information Center. We also order lots of books on getting into college.

I take the time to check on all the sections which I am in charge of regularly. This gives me a sense of whether or not I am ordering the right things. As part of this, I check the new books section to see what has come in the last few days. It makes it seem like magic when I can pull out a new book which someone is looking for because I checked the section earlier. We order from the New York Times Bestseller List, Publishers Weekly Bestseller List, and Ebony magazine books list.

I set up an appointment for a lawyer to come in and do a workshop on living wills. Our books on living wills are going out faster than we can keep them. She already did a program on wills earlier. It is also an easy program where she comes in and has all the handouts already prepared. There are a number of other programs which are in the pipeline as well; a possible digital photography program, a SCORE program probably on having a home office, and a program on financial literacy.

I watched the restored edition of The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland. Sometimes, I think a librarians degree is like the scarecrow's degree, a ThD, Doctorate in Thinkology. It was fun watching it tonight.