Daily Thoughts 12/13/2012

Daily Thoughts 12/13/2012

On the train to work, I read a little bit more from Management Basics for Information Professionals.  I finished the chapter on delegation which had quite a bit on teamwork in it.  I also read some more of The Signal and the Noise.  Nate Silver is writing about how scouts and statisticians choose which players will become major league players from the minor league teams.

I also did a quick check of the new books and the displays this morning.  Everything appears to be in order. In addition, I updated the Twitter and Facebook for the library.  I also am putting together a fiction order right now.  I confirmed that I am going to Book2Camp as a volunteer as well.

The Mount Vernon Public Library now has access to Freegal with a 3 tracks per week download limit.
https://mountvernonpubliclibrary.freegalmusic.com/users/sdlogin    In addition, the Mount Vernon Public Library has access to Freading which is an ebook download service available as Adobe PDF or Epub.
http://mountvernonpubliclibrary.freading.com/index

I finished reading Crisis in Employment a Librarian's Guide to Helping Job Seekers.  There was a section of examples on how libraries helped people find employment.  They included several examples of library practices which we do like help people search for jobs in the computer lab, bring in a career counselor, have basic computer classes, and have typing training programs.  There are some other ideas which are interesting as well.

I bought a few of the series of books called The Tech Set which is edited by Ellyssa Kroski and published by LITA, the Library Information Technology Association.  Book #6 is Technology Training in Libraries by Sarah Houghton-Jan.

I am looking at First Contact, Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth by Marc Kaufman.  There are some interesting developments recently which have identified planets in other solar systems.  It is something I might read in the near future.  I have too many books to read right now.

The library has the computer lab open from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. today.

This evening, I went to my union meeting.  We discussed the city budget, our director leaving, and other issues.  It was an informative meeting.  One of the staff members prepared the meal for us.  The food was excellent.  Part of it was to prepare for the Mount Vernon Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting on  Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 6:30 p.m.  If you live in Mount Vernon please come.

On the way home, I read some more of Management Basics for Information Professionals.  Right now, I am reading about Performance, Quality, and Control.  There are some ideas about customer service which are tied to quality which are worth reading.  Once again, a lot of reading this is learning the language so I can understand it.  I prefer persuasion and knowledge over control.

Web Bits

How to De-Risk Book Publishing
http://toc.oreilly.com/2012/12/how-to-de-risk-book-publishing.html
It has a bit of digerati speak in it. Curation Nation had some interesting things to say.

Lynda.com, NYPL Explore New Library Wide Access Model
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/12/public-services/lynda-com-nypl-explore-new-library-wide-access-model/
I have access to Lynda.com training as a MyMetro member and as part of training through the Westchester Library System.  The online video training is excellent.  It would be nice to see this in public libraries.

New York Times to Publish Ebooks with Byliner and Vook
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/nyt-to-publish-ebooks-with-byliner-vook_b62404