Daily Thoughts 10/22/2011
This morning, I spent some time checking Twitter and Facebook.
I was looking at LIS News and someone posted a comment on the aesthetics of libraries. They also posted a link to a number of famous libraries. http://www.thebestcolleges.org/amazing-libraries/ The articles is called The 35 Most Amazing Libraries in the World.
It reminded me that the library I work in is a Carnegie library which has an aesthetics of its own. The library building we are in was finished in 1904. The structure itself began construction in 1896. This means there is a lot of history in the building. This includes a local history room. Art and history are as much a part of the library as the collection.
We have a number of galleries of images of the library. These come from the local history room. The Fresco Painted by Louis Brann http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/Library-Fresco , From The Edge of Our History , http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/Library-in-pictures , The Bookmobiles Gallery http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/BookMobiles
A few of the pieces of artwork in the building include a Doric Hall entranceway with murals by Edward Gay painted in 1924 and mosaic glass ceiling by Edward H Freeman at the top of the stairs. There are also plaster casts on the walls of the reference room of The Triumphal Entry of Alexander Into Babylon. These were originally created by Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen for the apartments of the Quirinel in Rome in 1812.
Our book and bake sale is on November 4 and November 5, 2011. The library takes donations of books for the book sale. We also add some of the books and other materials which are donated to the collection. We especially appreciate donations of classic paperbacks and assignment titles for the local schools.
http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/298
October 16 to 22 was National Friends of the Library Week. The Friends of the Library make the Book and Bake sale possible.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/altaff/events_conferences/folweek/index.cfm
We do not sell library discards as part of the book sale. The library discards which are salable go the Better World Books program for libraries. http://www.betterworldbooks.com/Info-Discards-Donations-Program-m-4.aspx
I have been reading more of Just My Type. There are lots of nice details in this book like the type used in the New York Subways is Helvetica. There are also quite a few tongue in cheek references. For example, on P. 105 there is a picture of a page from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle set in Baskerville type.
Web Bits
Five Challenges Every Librarian Must Face
http://21stcenturylibrary.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/five-challenges-every-librarian-must-face/
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