Daily Thoughts 11/27/2012

Claude Monet, In the Woods at Giverny: Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, 1887

Daily Thoughts 11/27/2012

This morning, I read some more of Help the Helper on the train to work.  The authors are describing how metrics measure individual performance, but do not measure teamwork.  They describe how it is important to find people who will support the team as a whole, not just themselves.  I also read a little more on Hegel in the book On Politics V.2.

I checked the Twitter and Facebook for the library this morning.

I am thinking of doing some more Spanish practice using the BBC languages website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

I spent a little time looking over the old services brochure for the library today.  I also checked the displays and the gift books.

This afternoon, I did a little bit more checking in the mezzanine in the 800s.

On the way home, I read some more of Help the Helper.  One of the questions in the book is posed is why do you do what you do?  What motivates you?  I think a large portion of what I am doing as a librarian is both for the self education of patrons as well as myself.  I think of self-education as practical skills like home repair, reading about health, computer use, resume writing, learning the classics, financial literacy, and similar activities.  Libraries have a civilizing influence.

 Andrew Carnegie said, "You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little."

 I also read some more of On Politics V.2 by Alan Ryan.  Right now, I am reading about John Stuart Mill.  One of the interesting things about the book is that he includes many people I had never heard of like Saint-Simon and Jeremy Bentham.  I had heard of the panopticon before, but did not know that Jeremy Bentham invented it.

Web Bits

December 1st is the Deadline to be a Host for World Book Night
http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/resources/all-resources

Independent Bookstores Find Their Footing
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/26/165911904/independent-bookstores-find-their-footing

New York Times -- 100 Notable Books of 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2012.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0