Daily Thoughts 02/14/2012

The office and library of the Austrian industrialist Nikolaus Dumba in his Viennese residence Palais Dumba, 1877 Rudolf Van Ritter.

Daily Thoughts 02/14/2012

I am listening to Marc Eliot narrate American Rebel.  He is both the author and the narrator.  He adds a quality of both salaciousness and captivating rhythm to the story.  Right now, the author is talking about Clint Eastwood in the television show Rawhide.

I updated the library Twitter and Facebook pages.  We have lots of programming today.  We have the Biography Book Club, William Bowden reading from his poetry book Soul Sisters Sonnets II, computer classes, a bilingual Spanish/English storytime, and the College to Careers Program.  It should be very busy.

I checked the displays and gift books and made an announcement about programs today.  The book, A Universe From Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss with an afterword by Richard Dawkins came in for me to read.  As usual, I have too much to read.

The poetry program by William Bowden was fantastic.  He started by talking about what Mount Vernon was to him and growing up.  He gave a bit about his experiences with the Mount Vernon Public Library.  He even had a few poems about education.  Then he segwayed into a series of love poems, poems for his wife, and valentine poems which were very nice. It was excellent.  He read poems from his books, Soul Sister Sonnets and Soul Sister Sonnets II both of which he self published.  He is also a member of the Mount Vernon Writers Network.

The next poet which we are having is Bimpe Fageyinbo http://www.bimpefageyinbo.com/i-write.html

I was too busy to get a chance to read the latest Library Journal and New York Times Book Review which I will get to tomorrow.

On the way home, I started reading The Lean Startup How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries. It is about how to be innovative in a way that supports customers.  The objectives seems to be to quickly find out what people want then make it for them.  I have been hearing a lot about the idea, but this is the first book that I have seen that explains it.

Web Bits

How Library Power Users Help Publishers
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/how-library-power-users-help-publishers_b47034

Daily Thoughts 7/28/2011

Claude Raguet Hirst, The Bookworm's Table, circa 1890

Daily Thoughts 7/28/2011

I am reading The Successful Business Plan by Rhonda Abrams, 4th Edition.  I usually read books on business in general, not specifics for plans.  The book is quite detailed with lots of exercises.

This morning, I checked the displays and updated the Twitter account.  There is going to be a reading from 1:30-4:30 p.m. in the community room for Kabiru Mohammed who has two books which he self-published Life's Passion, a book of poetry, and The Tragedy of Ethelia, a play.  Some libraries don't encourage self-published books.  We actually have some staff members who have self-published books. Also a number of the members of the Writers Networking Workshop have self-published their poetry books.  James Fair the host for the Writers Networking Workshop at the library edited an anthology of local poets called Blood Beats In Four Square Miles of Mount Vernon, New York poets. 

I am going to the Association of Community Based Artists of Westchester http://www.acbaw.org/  tonight on 128 South Fourth Avenue tonight representing the library.  They are holding a Writers Networking Workshop there tonight from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  I will be bringing over some flyers and other material from the library to the workshop to discuss.  We had a Writers Networking Workshop at the library on July 21, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  It is important to reach out to local arts organizations.

I spent some time in the computer lab today helping patrons do very basic things.

Daily Thoughts 7/22/2011

Daniel Webster, 1782-1852 Full lgth., standing, facing left; left hand on books on table. 

Daily Thoughts 7/22/2011

This morning, I checked the displays and updated the Twitter account.  I also added 18 more ebooks to the Ereaders from Sony.  I rather like the http://www.feedbooks.com site because it has cover illustrations that are decent for free material.

I also signed up for http://www.lucy.com which is a video tutorial company for computer training.  The Westchester Library System is making this available to staff.

On the train home, I worked on two poems focused on a color for August 18, 2011.  It is our writing exercise for the next Writers Networking Event at the library from 6:00-8:00 p.m. It is fairly easy to write on a notepad on the train.  There is another Writers Networking Event at the Association of Community Based Arts of Westchester from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on July 28, 2011.  I am thinking about going.

Daily Thoughts 6/21/2011

 

Camille Corot Poetry

Daily Thoughts 6/21/2011 


Today was another quiet day.  I checked the displays and the Twitter account.  I have to get ready for the announcement of the new website on June 27, 2011 as well as the beginning of Adult Summer Reading.  I also have an order meeting tomorrow.  I think we may discuss special funds then as well.

I took a break and read the local newspaper on the train home today.

There is another special board of trustees meeting on June 27, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.  Hopefully, it should be interesting.  I do plan to attend.


Web Bits

What Big Media Can Learn From New York Public Library
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/what-big-media-can-learn-from-the-new-york-public-library/240565/

Daily Thoughts 6/18/2011 (Poetry)

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; 100 Aspects of the Moon #25, "Gravemarker Moon" - The famous poetess Ono no Komachi meditates on the arrogance and heartlessness she displayed to her suitors as a young beauty; 1886, third month.
 
Daily Thoughts 6/18/2011

I rested a bit on the subway to work today.  Sometimes I do this.  We have the Writers Networking Event hosted by James Fair today on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m..  This time we are opening with a theme on summer.

This is a short piece I wrote.  I am not really sure it is poetry, but it is something that just came out of me.

Summer In Santa Barbara

Hot rain, steaming asphalt
and orange sherbet

Old cars, yellow trees
and sticky fingers

Grandfathers, swimming pools
ten cents a scoop

Patio chairs, portable radio
sweet summer dream

Orange trees, purple pansies
memories that stick

In a Santa Barbara Summer

I updated the Twitter account and checked the displays.  I took the reference desk for most of the morning.

Daily Thoughts 5/5/2011 (poetry)

Peter Schöffer (1425-1503) Bookseller from Germany

Daily Thoughts 5/5/2011

This morning, I updated the Twitter account, I also checked the displays.  I am learning a little bit more about setting up poetry readings.  I redesigned the sign in sheet, got a bell for timing people, and made some minor changes in how things are arranged based on the requests of people who attended.  I am hoping it will go well this time.

This evening the Poetry Networking Event went well.  We had Sistah Sassy talking about Memoirs and Magic.  We also had a brief session afterward with an open microphone where people read their poems.  This time it was a little smoother.  We are planning on writing poems about summer for next time.  The group is interested in possibly going to the nursing homes to read to the aged.

Daily Thoughts 4/14/2011 (Poetry, Getting More)

Sibyl reading a book Print showing the Cumaean Sibyl, full-length, seated, facing right, reading a book by the light of a torch held by a child.  Date Created/Published: [between 1500 and 1530]

Daily Thoughts 4/14/2011

Today has been fairly quiet.  I read some more of Getting More on the train to work.  The author is focusing on building incremental steps to get you want.  He is describing how to systematically come up with goals, find things which people value, and get solutions to common problems.

I also had a chance to update the Twitter account, check the book sale, and enter a few more surveys.  Things are moving steadily along.

Our library book sale is coming up on June 9 and June 10, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We had a late program tonight for the Writers Networking Event.  It ran from 6:30-8:00 p.m.  There were more people than we originally expected. It was enjoyable to sit and listen.  Right now, I am mainly facilitating the event so it happens; getting the snacks, making the coffee, making sure the room is set up, making sure everything is put away, giving a brief introduction, making sure people are comfortable.  James Fair is moderating.  I am thinking we may have to have a more moderated structure with specific time limits, a bell, and more formal rules.

I read some more of Getting More on the train home.  The author is writing about trust and cultural differences. He points out that in many countries where the legal systems are not strong people are much more careful about who they are willing to do business with.

Web Bits

The State of America's Libraries
http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries2011/index.cfm

Daily Thoughts 3/31/2011 (Poetry, Adult Summer Reading)

"Le premier livre des cachets, marques et monogrammes" (inside title page, p. vi)by George Auriol (Paris: Librairie centrale des beaux-arts, 1901)

Daily Thoughts 3/31/2011

This morning, I spent a little more time reading The Wise Man's Fear. 

Today, I checked the displays, updated the Twitter account, and spent a little bit of time making sure that the display for old photographs of the library was in order.  I also put up a display for National Poetry Month which is in April.  On April 14, 2011 we are doing a Writers Networking event from 6:30-8:00 p.m. focused on poetry.  I also picked out a few poems for the Poem In Your Pocket event on April 14, 2011.  http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/409

We had a meeting this afternoon focusing on summer programming.  We are going to have an Adult Summer Reading program.  I am thinking about two events for the program, a Scrabble hour, and a Lunch Hour Book Chat where we talk about books which we are reading.  This is part of a program where we sign up people to read books.  At the end we have a celebration where we raffle off a gift basket and some books for people who participated in the program.  Last year The Friends of the Library helped us with this.

This afternoon, I printed up some more flyers for a few programs in the library.  I also spent some time typing the paper surveys into the computer.

Daily Thoughts 3/21/2011 (Poetry, Sony Reader Program)

Edmund Körner "In der Klosterbibliothek". Öl auf Leinwand. Signiert "E. Körner. Dresden" 110 x 89 cm c1910

Daily Thoughts 3/21/2011

This morning, I checked the displays and am working on the marketing material for the Sony Reader program for libraries. I already put out a couple tent cards that are available on the website. We are currently putting together a poster to go above the sample reader station.

I also spent some time on the surveys and updated the Twitter account this afternoon.  The book, The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss came in for me to read.  It is a fantasy novel.

I did some more weeding in the storage area or mezzanine today in the 800s.  It is a slow, steady process.

For April, I think I might print out some of the Poem In Your Pocket poems for a monthly poetry display. http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/409

I talked to a local poet with a book, Camouflaged Drama Finding Wholeness Through Poetic Transformations  by Mary Jones.  She is doing a Camouflaged Drama Soiree on March 28, 2011 Afterwork from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Sweet Potatoes, 393 North Avenue, New Rochelle, New York.


Web Bits

No Ebooks Without Authors
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/no-e-books-without-authors-atwood-reminds-us/article1943785/

Today is World Poetry Day
http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/%20

Transforming Libraries At C2E2 With Greg Baldino
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/18/transforming-libraries-at-c2e2-with-greg-baldino/

Daily Thoughts 2/19/2011 (ebooks, poetry, the world in 2050)

Mikiri no fuji, Print shows a man writing in calligraphy on a large box in front of a building; on the left, in the background, is a view of Mount Fuji.  Date Created/Published: [ca. 1836]

Date 2/19/2011

I have been reading more of The World In 2050.  Laurence C. Smith is describing how the ice melt in the Arctic ocean will open up shipping, mining, and new resources around the arctic.  He is also describing how the United States, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia are going to be able to use the changes.  It was interesting looking at a picture of a potato farm in Greenland.

Article about Poetry Networking Workshop which was held at my library in the Mount Vernon Inquirer. http://www.mvinquirer.com/poetry_networking_workshop.htm

I put the ebooks, The Bed of Procrustes Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson on hold.  They will notify me by email when I can download them to my computer.  I also found out that there was an enhanced ebook of Life by Keith Richards which was available to check out.

Web Bits

TED Launches Quora Like Platform for Intelligent Discussion
http://mashable.com/2011/02/16/ted-conversations/

Daily Thoughts 2/17/2011 (Events, Books, poetry, WEDC)

This little boy would persist in handling books above his capacity And this was the disastrous result.  Two panel cartoon showing Thaddeus Stevens standing on the top step of a step-ladder and lifting a large, heavy book from a high bookshelf; he falls off the ladder and is crushed by the book, the "Constitution of U.S." Date Created/Published: 1868 March 21.

Daily Thought 2/17/2011

There are two events of interest tonight.  We have the computer training for business in the computer lab from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and we have an Open Microphone Poetry Event featuring a local poet from 7:00-8:15 p.m featuring Mary Ann McCarra-Fitzpatrick.  She is one of the poets in an anthology called Blood Beats In Four Square Miles edited by James Fair who writes the poetry column for the Mount Vernon Inquirer.

I checked the displays this morning as well as looked over some of the items which we are inventorying in the mezzanine or storage area.  Three new books came in for me to read last night, Bite-Sized Marketing Realistic Solutions for the Overworked Librarian by Nancy Dowd, Mary Evangeliste, and Jonathan Silberman, Data Driven by Thomas C. Redman, and Redemption In Indigo by Karen Lord.

I had a chance to read through Library Journal, The New York Times Book Review, and Publishers Weekly Today.  I rather like the forthcoming title, The Most Human Human What Talking to Computers Teaches Us About Being Alive by Brian Christian.

The event for poetry went extremely well. We had the Mount Inquirer come in and take pictures of the event which was very nice.  It should provide some excellent publicity.  James "Jafa" Fair introduced the opening poet.  He is with the ACBAW Association of Community Based Artists of Westchester http://www.acbaw.org/main2.html  .  He video taped and took photographs of the event.

The lead poet was Maryann Mccarra-Fitzpatrick who read several poems from the anthology Blood Beats in Four Square Miles edited by James Fair.  http://mccarra--poetry.blogspot.com/2011/02/poetry-reading-mount-vernon-public.html  Five other published poets also read. Sister Sassy read a chapter from her memoir called "Guerrilla Girl".  It was an excellent reading.

We also filled the computer lab for the computer basics for business class from the Womens Enterprise Development Center. http://www.wedc-westchester.org/

I had a chance to read a bit more of The World In 2050.  The author is describing the relationship between water and energy.  Nuclear power plants, biodiesel, hydroelectric, and coal plants tend to use lots of water.
Solar and wind energy don't use as much.  I am surprised that the author does not touch on tidal power or tidal turbines.

Web Bits

TOC 2011: Keynoter Margaret Atwood Highlights Author Role
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889316-264/toc_2011_keynoter_margaret_atwood.html.csp

Daily Thoughts 7/3/2010

Portrait of romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821)., August 1819, Charles Brown

Daily Thoughts 7/3/2010

I am talking to a slam poet to do another set of poetry events. We have some patrons who are very determined to have a well done poetry reading series. Most likely we will do it during an evening. You learn from experience when the best time to do events are.

I am also looking at the page for why you should support New York Public Library. What are the good reasons. I think there is more clarity there now after facing deep cuts. http://www.nypl.org/support/why-support-new-york-public-library

I have not been reading that much. I have been focusing on thinking about what I will do next.

Daily Thoughts 6/16/2010

Pierre August Renoir, Camille Monet Reading, Oil On Canvas, 1873

Daily Thoughts 6/16/2010

I finished reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card on the train to work. It is the book which made Orson Scott Card's career. The book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. It is on the top 100 books to read for young adults by the American Library Association. If you like science fiction, you should read it. The book speaks for itself.

We moved a lot of books in the storage area today including law books and fiction. It is moving along very nicely. Also, I looked at magazines for ordering; booklist and publishers weekly.

I had the graphic novels club today. It went alright. The anime club from the high school borrowed two dvds, Steamboy and Kiki's Delivery Service, both which are fun to watch.

I had a little bit of time to pick out some poetry books for Saturday. I picked out books by Edward Hirsch, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Charles Simic, Rita Dove, Alice Walker, Diane Wakoski, Jack Kerouac, and many others. I made sure that the new poetry books were ready for Saturday. I am looking at two poetry books right now, Bright Wings An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds Edited by Billy Collins with Paintings by David Allen Sibley and Jorge Luis Borges The Sonnets. The Sonnets is a dual language edition with Spanish on one side and English on the other. Both of these books are copyright 2010.

The Viscount Who Loved Me was truly awful. It surprised me that it was one of the books which was requested for my Readers Advisory 101 Course. It was better than Danielle Steel, I'll give it that much. I am not a fan of her writing. Sometimes, we are asked to read things which we don't like to understand what patrons want. I read a few urban fiction novels when they were first coming out to see what the genre was about. Omar Tyree is a fairly entertaining writer of street literature. I still have not read any chick lit. I probably should.

Daily Thoughts 4/9/2010

Gemälde zeitgenössischer spanischer Schriftsteller von Antonio Maria Esquivel y Suarez de Urbina (1846) Abgebildete Personen: Antonio Ferrer del Río (1814-1872), Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch (1806-1880), Juan Nicasio Gallego (1777-1853), Antonio Gil y Zárate (1793-1861), Tomás Rodríguez Rubí (1817-1890), Isidoro Gil y Baus (1814-1866), Cayetano Rosell y López (1817-1883), Antonio Flores (1818-1866), Manuel Bretón de los Herreros (1796-1873), Francisco González Elipe, Patricio de la Escosura (1807-1878), José María Queipo de Llano, conde de Toreno (1786-1843), Antonio Ros de Olano (1808-1887), Joaquín Francisco Pacheco (1808-1865), Mariano Roca de Togores (1812-1889), Juan González de la Pezuela (1809-1906), Ángel de Saavedra, duque de Rivas (1791-1865), Gabino Tejado (1819-1891), Francisco Javier de Burgos (1824-1902), José Amador de los Ríos (1818-1878), Francisco Martínez de la Rosa (1787-1862), Carlos Doncel, José Zorrilla (1817-1893), José Güell y Renté (1818-1884), José Fernández de la Vega, Ventura de la Vega (1807-1865), Luis de Olona (1823-1863), Antonio María Esquivel, Julián Romea (1818-1863), Manuel José Quintana (1772-1857), José de Espronceda (1808-1842), José María Díaz († 1888), Ramón de Campoamor (1817-1901), Manuel Cañete (1822-1891), Pedro de Madrazo y Kuntz (1816-1898), Aureliano Fernández Guerra (1816-1891), Ramón de Mesonero Romanos (1803-1882), Cándido Nocedal (1821-1885), Gregorio Romero Larrañaga (1814-1872), Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Pimentel, duque de Frías (1873-1851), Eusebio Asquerino (h.1822-1892), Manuel Juan Diana (1814-1881), Agustín Durán (1793-1862).

Daily Thoughts 4/9/2010

April is National Poetry Month. Take some time to read some poetry. I am going to put up a poetry display today of poetry books. We have two new copies of Nikki Giovanni's collection of poems called Bicycles which is pleasant to read. Tomorrow, April 10, 2-4 p.m. is the day for the poetry reading at the library. Hopefully some people will come to read poetry. I've picked out a few books to show at the beginning including The Collected Poems of Audre Lord, Words in Your Face A Guided Tour of The New York City Poetry Slam, and The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. The April issue of American Libraries has a poster in it for National Poetry month.

We are looking at setting up Overdrive on our webpage. I have to think about it a little bit. I have been reading some more of The Value of Nothing. A lot of it is about enfranchisement of the impoverished into todays market economy. He talks about ways that tomato pickers, people in South African townships, and the very poor can share in the global economy. A lot of it is very social policy oriented, union oriented, and politically left. It has a utopian feel to it.

I finished reading The Value of Nothing on my train ride home. There are parts of it which come across as impractical and even extreme, and other pieces that I can identify with. I like that he describes that many people are looking at Wikipedia and Creative Commons as models for more direct democratic governnance. He also brings up quite a bit about how cap and trade only limits pollution and does not really stop it. There is quite a bit to think on in this book. The beginning is a series of criticisms on objectivist philosophy and laissez faire economics. There are points where he goes too far toward government control of economics. The book is starry eyed enough in its thinking to be impractical at points and can get fairly radical. I will write a review soon.

I am looking at Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. Apparently it made it onto the New York Times Bestseller list. There is also a sequel, Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates Using Philosophy (And Jokes!) to Explain Life, Death, The Afterlife, And Everything Else in Between.

I also read a bit of Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar on the train. The jokes are more moral vignettes than true jokes. They are the kind of stories you use to make a small point with humor. They cover different philosophical subjects like metaphysics, inductive logic, and epistemology. Some of the jokes are a bit ribald. A good example from the book is, The Optimist says, "The glass is half full." The pessimist says, "The glass is half empty." The rationalist says, "The glass is twice as big as it needs to be." They make you think.

Daily Thoughts 3/16/2010

Stamp of USSR, 13th Definitive Issue. Symbols of art and literature, 1988-1989

Today has been a relatively quiet day. I checked the displays and did some weeding this morning. I am going to finish weeding the storage fiction this week. Try and do are two different concepts. When you try to finish something, it puts in mind that you might not finish it. I am almost done. I also spent some time reading Publishers Weekly this morning.

Brandon Sanderson has a new book coming out called The Way of Kings. I like the cover art. It is done by Michael Whelan. Hopefully it should be a very enjoyable fantasy title. I also just put Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley on hold. It is the sequel to The Quiet War which I enjoyed a lot.

I was reading the Oxford University Press blog which had interesting book suggestion; A Better Pencil Readers Writers and the Digital Revolution by Dennis Baron. It makes the argument that people are already becoming writers because of computers, so it is almost a moot point on whether or not it is particularly wonderful writing.

I spent some time talking to people about a poetry program I am working on for April 10, 2010. I am going to try a Saturday afternoon this time. I also think that I will have more local people interested in this kind of program now.

On the way home, I read some more of The New How. It is describing how there is more than enough information out there for strategy, it is easy to get information. Now, it is more important to get people to act on ideas than create new ones. Basically to collaborate and work together. Nilofer Merchant describes something called an "Air Sandwich" where there is a giant fluffy disconnect between people who manage and people who work. The management is on top, air is in the middle, and the line workers are on the bottom. In the middle is a lot of hot air.

Daily Thoughts 2/1/2010

Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey, taken circa 1900.

Daily Thoughts 2/1/2010

My first thought for the day is that Barnes and Noble in its Business to Business accounts has a library accounts section. I find it kind of interesting. They are starting to compete with the large book distributors. http://btob.barnesandnoble.com/bn-at-school/library-services.asp?btob=Y&cds2Pid=17562&linkid=1444099

I met with a gentleman to discuss doing a poetry program in April for the library. I am going to try and do it on a Saturday afternoon. This way, people will be able to come to the program. Usually, about two months is about the right window to advertise and promote a program so people come. This will give me time to write the flyer and get it out to the newspapers and community organizations. On another thought, I am planning to do a Shojo (girls manga program this month.)

We had a meeting discussing how we might reduce costs. There was quite a bit of talk about recycling paper and what to do with our discards. We also talked a bit about donations to the library. We will probably also be doing more ordering in bulk.

I designed two fliers today, one for my poetry program, and one for the graphic novels club. I am hoping that they will turn out well. There has been quite a bit of interest lately in poetry at the library.

I have picked out a number of books to read, Poe 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, edited by Ellen Datlow, Starship Flagship by Mike Resnick, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget Save Money, Save Time, Save the Planet by Josh Dorfman, and The book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley. I also picked up two dvds to look at, the Disney Pixar film UP, and Mystery of the Nile produced by Orbita Imax. Hopefully this will be as good as the dvd Dinosaurs Alive which was narrated by Michael Douglas.

I have started reading The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley on the train home. It is an overview of philosophy giving the account of some 200 different philosophers and how they died. Each entry varies from a few sentences to a few pages. The book is full of wonderful tidbits of useless knowledge. There is a legend that Pythagoras was killed because he refused to cross a beanfield even though he was being chased by his enemies. There are asteroids named after Lao Tsu and Kongzi (Confucius). In the 14th century Aesop was considered an important philosopher in the Western philosophy. This book is a reflection on philosophers and their deaths. Some of it is ironic and funny. Other parts are reflections on how to live well and die well. It is enjoyable reading.

Daily Thoughts 12/18/2009

Photograph of author Michael Chabon at a book signing at WonderCon in 2006. Taken by Charlie Reiman. Licensed under Creative Commons attribution 2.0.

Daily Thoughts 12/18/2009

Thinking about how you might incorporate reading challenges into the library environment. We are going to do the 52 books 52 weeks program where people log what they read each week. It is an encouragement for reading. I'm thinking that there are ways to incorporate smaller challenges throughout the year like a graphic novels reading challenge, a classics reading challenge, or a poetry reading challenge.

Today is a day to think of programming. People have been asking about poetry programs. We are also going to continue with the Graphic Novels Club. I am thinking about which writer or artist to do next. People also like manga. We may have the local high school comics club coming to the library Graphic Novels Club.

It is almost time to make my new years resolutions. Haven't decided on what I am going to make as a resolution.

It has been a while that I have been writing on this blog. I am past my 1000th post which I think is pretty impressive. I will continue writing every day. I think it is a good exercise to improve my writing as well as reach out to people.

Writing this blog has led to some very interesting experiences. I got to go to Tools of Change for Publishing because of it. It also encouraged me to get out more and try a lot of different things. I feel like social media has opened a lot of new venues for me which I would not have tried before like the New York Librarians meetup, attempting to build contact lists on Linked In, and reaching out to authors on Facebook. I would have never been so willing to reach out to colleagues without the impetus of a blog. It gets me to try new things.

Sometimes, you find interesting things while going through the internet. This is a relatively new human powered search engine. It looks to have fairly high quality content. The content reminds me a bit of the newspaper site, Arts and Letters Daily. http://www.findingdulcinea.com/home.html
Finding Dulcinea Librarian of the Internet. The tagline is what makes me interested.

I checked out two more books today; Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld which is on the Locus Bestseller list and The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology edited by Gordon Van Gelder.

I think somewhere I lost my focus a bit. It is becoming apparent to me, I should cut back on reading about social media and start getting back to reading about business and science fiction. My readership has been dropping a little bit.

Please let me know what you would like to read about. It would be helpful. I would like to get back to my original focus. I probably should be getting back to writing a little poetry as well.

Anyways, I noticed something interesting. Apparently, New York Public Library is working on a new website. This is a link to the preview. http://new.nypl.org/

Daily Thoughts 10/5/2009

La Grammaire (1892) by Paul Serusier, 71.5 x 92 cm, Musée d'Orsay

Daily Thoughts 10/5/2009

I went and straightened up some displays this morning. I also did a bit more weeding in the 800s. I have a copy of the magazine Booklist on my desk to read.

I have started working on a bookmark which lists several different books on writing including Writing Begins With The Breath, The Elements of Style, Spunk and Bite, The Reader Over Your Shoulder, and other titles. I am about half way finished putting it together. Microsoft Publisher is becoming more familiar for me to use.

On the way home, I read some of Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep. You can read the influence of Charles Bukowski in this work. The main character, Alice bets the horses which reminds me a bit of Charles Bukowski. Also, the author, Maggie Estep is both a slam poet and a novelist. The poet and novelist combination has that Bukowski edge to it. The characters are also bohemian in their lifestyle. There is a lot of sex. This also reminds of the poetic character of Charles Bukowski.

Running out of tags is rather interesting on Blogger. I can't use the term Maggie Estep in the tags because it goes over my tag limit.

Daily Thoughts 8/21/2009

Gore Vidal at age 23, November 14, 1948, Carl Van Vechten Photographer, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Daily Thoughts 8/21/2009

Today was a nice quiet day. I spent more time weeding the poetry section. There are a lot of books with literary merit, many of our poetry books are part of the Pitt poetry series, the National Poetry Society Awards, the Yale Younger Poets series, and from various university imprints. There are also a lot of recognized names like Allan Ginsberg, Diane Di Prima, Billy Collins, W.S. Merwin, Jack Kerouac, Theodore Roethke and other poets.

Tomorrow I am going on vacation so I spent a little bit of time making sure everything was in order. We had a rastafarian poet teach a poetry class last night. There were nineteen people there. A large number of them were from the local youth shelter which was a surprise. We also had a business computer class in our computer lab which has eight terminals. It went pretty well.

I am thinking about how to do a graphic novels club. One of our library aides reviews manga. Hopefully, it will be a success. I have to figure out what to do right now for the club. We are also thinking about getting a poet who can slam. I know a bit about poetry, but I think a slam poet might draw a larger group of interested people.

Web Bits

100 best twitter feeds for the librarian of the future. http://ow.ly/kznE

Daily Thoughts 4/13/2009

Poster from 1940 Promoting Children's Reading

Daily Thoughts 4/13/2009

When I get back I will start helping one of the new librarians with selecting reference books for the business section. I plan on showing her a few things about selecting books. We subscribe to the American Reference Books Annual which compiles reviews for all reference books and also have a nice core list of business reference titles.

My library system finally has copies of Pride and Prejudice with Zombies. Of course, there is a waiting list when you place a hold on this book. I look forward to reading it.

I walked up the hill to my local library and dropped off a few books. I picked up a copy of The Wikipedia Revolution How A Bunch of Nobodies Created The Worlds Greatest Encyclopedia by Andrew Lih with a Foreword by Jimmy Wales Founder of Wikipedia.

Web Bits

A link to the books available through creative commons. I mostly look at the computer books in the nonfiction section and the science fiction books in the fiction section. Some of them are quite odd. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Books

I was looking through http://www.acqweb.org/ which is a site for acquisitions and collection development librarians. It has lots of information on this subject. From there, I went to Queens Library Collection Development policy. I found it interesting because it lists the journals they use for collection development as part of their policy.

What Is The Measure of A Man?

Do you do things in increments?

The new digital order does.

Do you measure each action?

The new digital order does.

Are you tethered to a smart phone?

The digerati are plugged in.

Is your laptop with you at all times?

Company people are always on.

Are you linked into social networks?

Company people are linked together.

Are you incremental, measured, tethered,

Plugged in, always on, linked together

Welcome to the new digital machine.

You have become the measurer of man.