Daily Thoughts 01/07/2014

Daily Thoughts 01/07/2014

I have been reading some more of Strategy A History. I am reading about the Rand Corporation which was an early military and social think tank. I am also reading about the cold war and nuclear deterrence. George Orwell had some very interesting ideas about client states and superpowers with nuclear weapons.

This morning, I checked the displays and the gift books. This month is Financial Wellness Month.I also spent some time discussing the website with colleagues. We are working on updating the website.

 I checked the Twitter and Facebook for the library.

The computer lab was open from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. today. We are restarting the computer classes. There was a short break for the holidays. Tonight we have a Beginning Microsoft Word Class from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and a Fundamentals of Computers class from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. 

I have been going through review magazines today. I put the book, Orfeo by Richard Powers on hold.

On the way home, I read The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida with an introduction by David Mitchell, translated by Ka Yashida and David Mitchell.  Naoki Higashida is a teenage nonverbal autistic boy who communicates via writing.  The book describes his different feelings and the reason he jumps, likes arranging things in rows, watching running water and many behaviors tied to his disability.

The book is also quite beautiful in some places where he writes tales, about his love of nature, his thoughts about the afterlife, and his desire to write and communicate with people.  A lot of it is his desire to be heard and not ignored.

The book is illustrated with black and white patterns which are often floral.  They accentuate the story nicely.

The book is a very quick read.  It is 135 pages long.  It can be read in one sitting of about an hour and a half.  It is a small hardcover book about the size of a mass market paperback.  Most of the sections are short thoughts of 1 to 2 pages with some longer stories added in.  This was well worth reading.

January 10, 2014 is the Budget Estimate Meeting at 7:00 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers.  There is a line for the library in the proposed budget.
http://cmvny.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Proposed-2014-Annual-Estimate1.pdf

We are supposed to go out for a vote for the library budget in April which should be interesting.

Web Bits

The PW Digital Publishing Startup Review 2014

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/60525-checking-up.html