Showing posts with label social sciences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social sciences. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2009

Daily Thoughts

Damien L'Homme (formerly attributed to Sébastien Stoskopff): The Great Vanity Still-life - detail (1641, Oil on canvas)


Daily Thoughts

I tried to read The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson on the train to work today, but found it to be rambling, meandering, and unfocused. I did not like the style the book was written in. It was apparent to me within the first chapter of the book. I like the subject, but not the content of the book.

So, I switched The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia. This book has a wonderful poetic quality to it. The imagery is dreamy and sweet. It is in a mix of a steampunk and fantasy setting.

I spent almost the whole day weeding books from the social sciences section. Right now, I am in the section on drug abuse and social welfare. We have a lot of books in this section. I ended at the beginning of the section on true crime. I think I might get some more books on gang prevention. It is something which the community needs.

After weeding, I went and checked the books in the sections I am ordering for to see how they are circulating. The computer books section are moving very fast. So are the Job Information Center books. I think we might change the heading to a more proper one; Education Job Information Center. We also order lots of books on getting into college.

I take the time to check on all the sections which I am in charge of regularly. This gives me a sense of whether or not I am ordering the right things. As part of this, I check the new books section to see what has come in the last few days. It makes it seem like magic when I can pull out a new book which someone is looking for because I checked the section earlier. We order from the New York Times Bestseller List, Publishers Weekly Bestseller List, and Ebony magazine books list.

I set up an appointment for a lawyer to come in and do a workshop on living wills. Our books on living wills are going out faster than we can keep them. She already did a program on wills earlier. It is also an easy program where she comes in and has all the handouts already prepared. There are a number of other programs which are in the pipeline as well; a possible digital photography program, a SCORE program probably on having a home office, and a program on financial literacy.

I watched the restored edition of The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland. Sometimes, I think a librarians degree is like the scarecrow's degree, a ThD, Doctorate in Thinkology. It was fun watching it tonight.