Daily Thoughts 12/4/2011

A Young Student at His Desk: Melancholy (1630-1633) by Pieter Codde Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille


Daily Thoughts 12/4/2011


I spent a little bit of time updating the library Facebook and Twitter pages today.  I also watched a PBS Nature  dvd, Voyage of the Lonely Turtle.  I find nature dvds relaxing.

I also read a little bit more of Spontaneous Happiness.   Andrew Weil is reminding us that we should have some control of what we put in our mind.  It is not good to absorb too much.  He also reminds us that too much noise and the wrong kind of noise is bad for us.  It is important to be able to understand when too much information is being pushed at you.

In the laundromat, I read some of the graphic novel, Zahra's Paradise.  It is a very stark story about a nineteen year old who goes missing during the demonstrations against the 2009 election of Ahminejad in Iran.  The story is in black and white and is clearly a protest against the current administration in Iran.


Web Bits

How The Internet Is Destroying Everything
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/how-the-internet-is-destroying-everything/

Selling Books by Their Gilded Covers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/books/publishers-gild-books-with-special-effects-to-compete-with-e-books.html?_r=2&scp=4&sq=books&st=cse
This does not surprise me.  Coffee table size books and books with illustrations and complex art work are hard to duplicate on the internet.  It does not have the same look and feel.

Occupy Wall Street Library

Flash Mob Cataloging-- This is something I can't explain.
http://www.librarything.com/groups/flashmobcataloging

I have been thinking about what will happen to the Occupy libraries.  Currently, Occupy Toronto library has been dismantled, Occupy Wall Street Library has been dismantled (you might call it mobile) their website exists but the library itself does not have a physical location, and Occupy Los Angeles has been dismantled.

Occupy London library has expanded.  Occupy DC library is working so is the Occupy Boston Library, if you look on Library Thing there is an Occupy Portland library, an Occupy Maine Library, and an Occupy Seattle Library, there is also Biblioteca Acampada Del Sol, and the Oscar Grant Plaza Library in Oakland California.  This leaves a much larger grouping than when the Occupy Wall Street Library started on September 17, 2011.  Most are on Librarything  http://www.librarything.com  which is quite flexible as a social media tool for cataloging.

For me, it is conceptually interesting.