Daily Thoughts 06/12/2017

 

Paperweight, Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1902

Daily Thoughts 06/12/2017

I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.

I read some more of Walkaway on the way to work.  I am enjoying the language being used to describe utopian technology in a science fiction setting.  I am reading about people getting brain uploads.

I checked the displays and the gift books this morning.  I also spent some time on scheduling.

I also put in an order for new books.  I finished putting together an order for Adult Summer Reading Prizes and an order for a book, The Small Hours which is going to be read on Saturday, June 24.

I have three new people I am working with, a part-time librarian, a full time electronic resources librarian, and new computer clerk.  I had to a variety of training today.

I spent time in the computer lab, looking over the Spanish books, and discussing our Adult Summer Reading Plans.  I am going to be looking at the bookmarks I made earlier.  I still have all the templates.  We will be a bookmark for the Adult Summer Reading program and the Teen Summer Reading Program.  I also discussed the Hispanic Film Brochure with one of the new hires.

I checked out the book, How We'll Live on Mars by Stephen L. Petranek which is a TED book.

The trains stalled on the way home.  There were signal problems.  I ended up finishing Walkaway because of this.  It came across as very idealistic leftward thinking.  The Walkaways don't win the battles, but they grow anyway.  The story is about a clash between those who have nothing and seek to make a community where there is disaster and the ruling elite.  At the end of the book, there are acknowledgements for three titles which Cory Doctorow read, Debt The First 5000 Years by David Graeber, Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Pikettty, and A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit.  I placed a hold on A Paradise Built In Hell.

This book seems to draw from the recent commentary on the 1%, the Occupy Movement, and protests about inequalities in wealth.  There are also a lot of references to contemporary groups like Anonymous, the Maker Movement and open source manufacturing.

In addition it is easy to spot ideas about transhumanism, abundance, post scarcity, and future systems of economics.  The content is very speculative.  I found it entertaining to read.

Web Bits

Library of Congress making 'good progress' on IT management recommendations

https://www.fedscoop.com/library-of-congress-it-management-progress/


Why Social Media Isn't Working for Your Library
http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/05/why-social-media-isnt-working-for-your-/library