Daily Thoughts 8/5/2011

Lady in White - Portrait of Mrs. Théo Van Rysselberghe, 1926, Theo Van Rysselberghe

Daily Thoughts 8/5/2011


On the train to work, I read a little bit more of The Successful Business Plan. Right now, I am reading about keeping track of technology. I also read some more of Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen and Blue Ocean Strategy. Right now, I am reading three books at the same time.


Today has been fairly quiet. I checked the donations, updated the Twitter and Facebook account, and checked the displays. This morning, I wrote a summary of the Social Media for Nonprofits conference. It was interesting going over some of the strategies that might work.


Some of the ideas which seemed to stick with me were that all the different communication channels needed to be linked together in a complete plan; Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, email, and website. This plan includes a complete story which people can follow easily so you can raise money and gain advocates. Part of the raising money and gaining advocates included finding people who would spread your message, making sure you have pictures of what you are buying with donations, and keeping thorough track of statistics for all your communications.

This is a list of Slideshare Presentations from Social Media For Nonprofits.  It covers more than what was at the conference.  http://www.slideshare.net/SM4nonprofits/presentations


I have been taking the time to talk to different people about our Social Media strategy.

On the way home, I finished reading Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen.  This is a very politically charged and interesting book.  I don't really think that I have the military or intelligence background to really comment on the contents.  My undergraduate degree was in cultural anthropology.  I was surprised at the amount of material related to ethnography in military actions.  It made for very interesting reading.

I also spent a little bit more time reading about Blue Ocean Strategy.  It is not so much about competing with other businesses but creating alternative pathways to new markets and reaching out to people who have not used your product before.

Web Bits

September is National Library Card Month.
http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/card/CRipken_PSA_FINAL_8.5x11.pdf

Daily Thoughts 8/4/2011

Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Reading Boy, 18th Century


Daily Thoughts 8/4/2011


I went to the Social Networking for Nonprofits conference today.  It was one speaker after another.  There was a session by New York Public Library on Geolocation and Foursquare which was quite interesting.  The conference was sponsored by Microsoft.  There was a lot that was covered.

It inspired me to work a little bit more on the Facebook page today.  I also contacted the Friends of the Library about the Facebook and Twitter page as well as emailing a number of people about the new social media tools as well.  I still have quite a bit more to do.

I will work on a more complete writeup tomorrow.  Afterwards there was a reception for the book, Nonprofit Management 101 A Complete and Practical Guide For Leaders and Professioals Edited by Darien Rodriguez Heyman.  There is a very web 2.0 feel to the book.

I also read a little bit more of Blue Ocean Strategy today as well as a bit of the book Counterinsurgency.  It has been very busy.

Daily Thoughts 8/3/2011

"Robert Browning," oil on canvas, by Michele Gordigiani. 28 1/2 in. x 23 1/8 in. (724 mm x 587 mm). Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Daily Thoughts 8/3/2011

Today I checked the displays, updated the Twitter and Facebook page, and checked the gift books.  We are getting a security upgrade for the computers right now.  I also printed up some civil service position announcements which go to the reference desk.  There are going to be 4000 openings for Fire Fighters in New York City soon.

We had the Internet Job Search Hour this afternoon from 2-3 p.m..  There was a person working on their resume, and another person was working on business related material.
I am also going to a conference tomorrow called The Social Media for Nonprofits Conference.  It should be very interesting.  http://www.meetup.com/NYC-Tech4Good-a-NetSquared-group/events/25337891/

The book, Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne has come in for me to read.

Daily Thoughts 8/2/2011

Eva Gonzales, Secretly, 1877-1878

Daily Thoughts 8/2/2011

I am reading Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen.  It is a book on military counterinsurgency.  I sometimes read these things.  For me it is contemplative much like reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu, or The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.  It is on modern counterinsurgency in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.  It reminds me of the film The Battle For Algiers which is about an insurgency in Algeria against the French.

This morning, I updated the Twitter account, checked the displays, and checked the gift books.  There were a few books by Omar Tyree which I added.  I also looked over the new Mount Vernon Public Library facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Mount-Vernon-Public-Library/155068971235018

I also took some time to listen to a presentation on ebooks http://www.westchesterlibraries.org/ereaderprogram

The book Successful Business Research Straight to the Numbers You Need -- Fast! by the Planning Shop with Rhonda Abrams came in for me to read.

I spent some time this afternoon making sure the computer lab was ready for the computer class this evening.  We are trying to make sure all of the computers in the lab work.  We got overflow in the lab for the first time. 



Web Bits

Internet archivist seeks 1 of every book written


http://globegazette.com/news/national/internet-archivist-seeks-of-every-book-written/article_39bfcc14-944a-595d-9281-d73f770e74a7.html

Daily Thoughts 8/1/2011

The Two Sisters, oil on canvas, Pierre-August Renoir, 1889

Daily Thoughts 8/1/2011

Today has been a steady day.  I updated the Twitter account, checked the displays, and checked the donations.  There were a bunch of urban fiction books that were donated as well as some classics.  I also checked the Ereference.  We get lots of Local History questions in Ereference.

I am looking at doing some social media things for the library which should be interesting.  I started working on a a Facebook page for the library today. It is very different doing an institutional facebook page compared to do a personal Facebook page. It also feels different between doing a personal Twitter account and an institutional Twitter account.

I stayed late tonight to discuss technology in the library.  We talked about the computer lab, laptops, internet connections, the website, and a variety of different subjects.  A lot of patrons would like more wireless access and more laptops.  We also discussed possibly purchasing some magazine subscriptions for the Sony Ereaders which seems like an interesting idea.