Daily Thoughts 06/13/2015

Magnus Enckell, Reading Room, 1899

Daily Thoughts 06/13/2015

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

I am steadily reading more of The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl  The whole book rests on the idea of Bookaneers agents who seek out manuscripts from writers in different countries to steal or sell to places where they are not under copyright.  It is an interesting concept, but I am finding it a bit overdone in the novel I am currently reading.  Because I am not required to finish every book I read I am putting this one down and getting something else.

Last night, I finished reading Improbable Libraries A Visual Journey to the World's Most Unusual Libraries by Alex Johnson.  This book is more about unusal places for books than libraries.  If you can call a shelf of books inside a phone booth a library then this might be accurate.  There are a lot of outdoor bookshelves in this book.  There are also a lot of art projects using bookshelves.

Among the bookshelves, there are some libraries which are intriguing like boat libraries, hotel libraries, libraries on the back of elephants.  The difference for me is that these have a person to curate or manage a collection.  There are bike libraries, bookmobiles, libraries in old trolley cars, libraries in gardens, and pop up libraries.

The photographs are very interesting to look at.  However, the nomenclature is a little off.  It is as if all "Little Free Libraries" where you can exchange books are the same as libraries.  A book exchange in a telephone booth can be interesting and taxis with books for the passengers is a nice diversion, but it is a little bit different than a library.

I checked the displays and the gift books.  I am working on setting up an event for Lowes Moore: From the Boys and Girls Club to the NBA.  Peter Sherrill of Sherrill Enterprises Publishing Company published the book.  He is a local publisher in Mount Vernon, New York.

The people doing the documentary about the Doles Center are here today.

I checked out the book, The Martian by Andy Weir.

I read the latest bestseller list for the New York Times and Publishers Weekly.

I spent some time working with Booksite today.

I read some of Andy Weir, The Martian on the way home.  It is very hard science fiction.  A man gets left behind because he is caught in a dust storm and his companions think he is dead.  The story is a classic survival on mars story.  It uses current technology which would be used in a NASA Mars mission.  The story hinges on series of life or death decisions focused on food, shelter, life support, electrical power, and communication.  The book is a New York Times Bestseller.  Matt Damon is starring in the movie which is being produced by Ridley Scott.

Web Bits

The National Digital Platform for Libraries and Museums

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/06/11/the-national-digital-platform-for-libraries-and-museums/

ALA and APA Respond to Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act

http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/ala-aap-respond-to-copyright-office-for-the-digital-economy-act/105017