Daily Thoughts 7/31/2009 ( Bibliomania )

Abraham Lincoln, full-length portrait, reading by fireplace. 1868

Daily Thoughts 7/31/2009

Right now I am looking at some H.G. Wells books from the mezzanine (storage). They are titles like The World Brain, Social Forces In England And America, Mankind in the Making, and The Way The World Is Going. I enjoy spending time in the mezzanine because our library is over a hundred years old. H.G. Wells wrote a number of books on history and the social sciences in addition to the science fiction he was mostly known for.

There are many titles from when our library first opened. Right now, I am looking at books to see if there are any rare titles. I probably will be looking at holdings records from Worldcat http://www.worldcat.org/ as well as maybe looking up some price records using different book search engines from the Bibliomania site list. http://www.bibliomania.net/bookSearch.html This site has lots of useful tools if you are interested in collecting books or just learning about old books. If you look at the ACRL Standards for transfer between regular collections and rare book collections it mentions both Worldcat and book pricing. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/selectransfer.cfm

In the morning, I did a bit of weeding in the large print as well as had some books shifted. In the afternoon, I read through the Publishers Weekly and checked to see what plays were currently running on Broadway.

I read some more of In Search of Excellence on the train home, only a chapter though. I was a bit tired so I most relaxed.

Even though I checked out Batman Gotham Knight the animated movie, I did not check it out for the cartoon. It includes an hour long documentary, Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story who was the creator of Batman. It is an interesting story. It shows Bob Kane's interest in cartooning; his start at Fleischer Studios, then DC Comics, and his eventual creation of batman. There is also mention of Bob Kane's book Batman and Me which is an autobiography.

The documentary has some wonderfully odd moments in it. Batmans cape and outline was modeled after Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine, and the Adam West Batman television show came about partially as a suggestion from Hugh Hefner at Playboy. Bob Kane also was supposed to have spent an afternoon with Marilyn Monroe. He seems to have tried to emulate Bruce Wayne's propensities in real life.

One of the narrators was Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Stan Lee, the creator of Spider Man and many Marvel comic books also talked about his experiences with Bob Kane. The documentary was much better than the cartoon Batman Gotham Knight.

Daily Thoughts 7/30/2009

The Great Library at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, Canada, 1870

Daily Thoughts 7/30/2009

I did some more weeding in the large print section today as well as the 700s. It is all about consistency. There has been an increase in the use of large print because we have the bookmobile going out more often to the local armory. This means we have to get better material for the seniors to increase circulation.

The library has set up two more laptops for working with the collection. So there are now three laptops to work with the collection.

I'm thinking about programming again. I have not written any poetry in a while. We are going to have a gentleman doing a session teaching poetry in August.

Our computer technician is printing up some signage for genre section in the new books area; romance, African American, mystery, and science fiction. I found another site for African American fiction http://www.mosaicbooks.com/ .

This is a list of the Eisner Awards from San Diego Comic Con. They are the premier awards for comics in the United States. The Eisner Awards are named after Will Eisner one of the greatest comic book artists. http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml

On the way home, I read some of the book, In Search of Excellence Lessons From America's Best Run Companies by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.. In its time this book was a bestselling business book. It is also considered by some to be one of the best business books ever written. I have just started on it. Mostly, it sounds like common sense so far.

Thoughts For Today 7/29/2009

Henry James by John Singer Sargent, 1913

Daily Thoughts 7/29/2009

Today has been another quiet day. I weeded some in the large print and the 700s. I also looked at the new books to genrify some sections. I am thinking of four genre categories; mysteries, African American, romance, and science fiction.

I did a little ordering for the new books focusing on recent books in the media.

Right now I'm reading Xenopath by Eric Brown. It is a science fiction novel featuring a telepathic detective. It is the second novel featuring Jeff Vaughn as the main character. The first novel was Necropath. The setting Bengal station is rather interesting. It is an East Asian space station with lots of Thai and Indian cultural elements.

I also finished reading How The Mighty Fall And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins last night. I really haven't had a chance to review it yet.

I feel a little bit scattered today. We also have a section for oversize books, 26 centimeter or taller is the measure we use for quarto books. One of the new ones sitting on my desk is The Art of Harvey Kurtzman The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle. Denis Kitchen is the founder of Kitchen Sink Press one of the early underground comics publishers. This particular edition is published by Abrams Comicsarts. Harvey Kurtzman is best known for creating Mad Magazine. They have one of my favorite of Harvey Kurtzman's comics, Super Duperman in this book. They also have a picture of Robert Crumb at a very young age which is kind of interesting to look at.

I'm starting to accumulate books again. There are a couple more which came in for me, How You Make The Sale by Frank McNair, Montmorency and the Assassins and Montmorency On The Rocks by Eleanor Updale. I think that libraries are very much like bookstores, they have a product to sell; that product is books and other media. One of the main activities in bookstores is called "handselling" where you sell a specific book to a customer based on what they want. In some ways it is not that different from "readers advisory" in libraries. There is quite a bit of crossover between the two skills.

Daily Thoughts 7/28/2009 ( How The Mighty Fall )

The Danish Royal Library, interior view of building in Fiolstræde.

Daily Thoughts 7/28/2009

I finished reading The City and The City by China Mieville. It was very enjoyable to read on the train. I just started reading How The Mighty Fall And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins. It tells the story of why very successful companies come apart.

Today was another steady day. I did more weeding in the large print books, and the sports books. The summer youth employees are shifting the 700s right now to free up some book carts. My colleague is weeding the scores. It is sometimes good to know what you are not good at. I don't know a whole lot about music scores. I am still considering where the graphic novels will be merchandised. Somtimes work is about consistency and showing up every day to do what needs to be done.

A person who worked for me for a while as a library aide came by today to ask me for a part time job. This is her second visit. Unfortunately, there are no new jobs right now. People take what they can get these days.

I am looking at Montmorency's Revenge by Eleanor Updale. On the back of the book, there are awards listed for the young adult series; Nestle Smarties Prize Silver Medal and Booksense 76 Pick. Also a starred review in School Library Journal, The Horn Book, and The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books. The book like the author has a very distinctly English style.

I read some more of How The Mighty Fall on the train home. The book mentions five business thinkers; Peter Drucker, Edward Deming, Michael E Porter, and Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman. The only one I have not read is the book In Search of Excellence by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman. I remember reading Michael E. Porter while I was working doing recruitment research during my dot com days to understand how to better get people from competitors.

Daily Thoughts 7/27/2009 ( Books On The Air )

"Haiti. A drama of the black Napoleon by William Du Bois : With the New York cast." Poster for Federal Theatre Project presentation of "Haiti" at the Copley Theatre, 463 Stuart St., Boston, Mass., showing bust portrait of Toussaint Louverture. From Wikimedia. I liked the image.

Daily Thoughts 7/27/2009

I have been thinking about books in the media. We get a lot of requests for material which people have heard about on the radio, television, and the internet. I think I'm going to have to pay more attention to this. We have been aiming to boost our circulation a lot. These are some places to look for media tie ins.

Books In The Media
http://news.bookweb.org/mediaguide/

NYPL Books On The Air
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/showfab.html?sid=5796&qlname=NLAIR

There is also ICV2's movies and television section if you want to know which comics are going to be turned into films. http://www.icv2.com/search/index.php?q=movies/+tv

This is a video of China Mieville talking about The City and The City.

Today has been a quiet day. I have been watching things happen slowly. They have been moving ahead with the shifting project in the 700s. I showed someone how to do weeding with the laptop. I talked about creating a section for genre fiction-- mysteries and science fiction in the "New Arrivals" area who was returning from vacation.

I am thinking of merchandising the graphic novels. It should happen fairly soon.

I checked out Xenopath A Bengal Station Novel by Eric Brown. It is a science fiction novel. I also read the latest copy of the New York Times Book Review. I am also looking at a copy of How The Mighty Fall And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins. Very every day stuff.

Wildfire A Novel by Sarah Micklem

Wildfire A Novel by Sarah Micklem

This novel is about a woman in a fantasy setting named Firethorn. It is the second book in a trilogy. I liked the first book, Firethorn. I rather like that the main character survives by her wits. She is the concubine of a knight who follows him to war. There is magic in this novel, but not the magic of blessed swords and wizards throwing lightning bolts. Firethorn is a healer and is sometimes touched by visions and dreams. She also comes from a conquered people.

The novel is very visceral. There is a lot of violence and sex (often artfully described, maybe with a hint of the Kama Sutra) . Also because the main character is a healer, we get descriptions of diseased people being cured with herbs, or women giving birth. The descriptions in the writing seem to draw from history. I can recognize ideas or images from the myths and history of India, Japan, the Celts, and the Germanic peoples.

The novel is full of surprises. At one point the main character is a bonds woman in a foreign land and eventually rises to become a courtesan. It does not end in the way I expected at all.

This novel is quite literary. It feels like it was very well researched. The descriptions are often very intense; being bitten by poisonous snakes, collecting herbs by the river beds, praying to Ardor Hearthfire, divining with finger bones.

Wildfire is 519 pages long making it an epic tome. It was hard to put down at points. It is not a typical novel at all. I like the cover art for the novel. I also liked the poetry and the few drinking songs in the novel. The authors background in graphic design shows in how well the novel is paced and laid out. Publishers Weekly gave this book a starred review.

Daily Thoughts 7/26/009

John Buchan author of The 39 Steps which was made into an Alfred Hitchcock film.

Daily Thoughts 7/26/2009

I have been downloading Windows Defender to deal with spyware. Somehow the updates to Spybot Search and Destroy were being blocked so I had to go around the problem.

I tried to start watching Waltz With Bashir, but found it to be a very heavy, serious, dark, and philosophical film. It was not what I expected at all. The style of animation was different than any other I had seen before. Lots of somber greys, browns, and other dark colors. It was almost photorealistic but with more muted colors. The film was about memories of Israeli soldiers from the Lebanon war. The animation and story were very well done, but they are not what I wanted to see at the moment. There is a lot of dream imagery mixed in with memories, some of it sexually charged. I might watch it later. I was hoping for something less somber. Ths is definitely a serious film.

Daily Thoughts 7/25/2009

Herbet Spenser

Today started quietly. I finished reading The Golden Rules for Managers. It was interestig. I went and got my hair cut this morning and took a long walk. I am looking at a dvd film called Waltz With Bashir by Ari Folman. It is an animated film about an Israeli soldier of the First Lebanon war who has forgotten much of what happened. It won the Golden Globe for best Foreign Language Film and National Society of Film Critics Film of the Year. I have not watched it. Last Night I watched Bolt. It is an entertaining animated kids film about a dog who does not realize he is not a superdog.

I am procrastinating a little bit on writing a review of Wildfire by Sarah Micklem. I am still thinking about it. I also have a copy of The City and The City by China Mieville sitting in front of me. They are all good books. I try not to spend too much time on books I do not like.

I have started reading The City and The City by China Mieville. The book is a murder mystery set in an imaginary city Beszel in what would be contemporary Eastern Europe. It reads like the present, but everything is just slightly off. The names sound real, but if you look closely, they are just slightly off from reality.

Daily Thoughts 7/24/2009 (Golden Rules For Managers )

Tatyana from Evgeni Onegin, by Elena Samokysh-Sudovskaya. 1900-1904

Daily Thoughts 7/24/2009

I had some time to do some weeding in the oversize books and the sports section. I still have quite a bit to do. They are still shifting the 700s as well.

I took some time to look for award books. I looked at the Edgar Award for mysteries, the RITA award for romance, and also looked at the Horror Writers of America association. I picked out the 2008 Pulitzer prize for poetry book, The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin.

One of my favorite young adult adventure series of novels is the Montmorency series by Eleanor Updale. It just reminds me so much of Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. The writing is truly intriguing. It is a tale of a gentleman thief with a very dark side.

I have been reading Golden Rules for Managers 119 Incredible Lessons For Leadership Success by Frank McNair. It reads like a management book for people who like to read motivational business titles. The book reminds me a little bit of Who Moved My Cheese. We have a few people who come in regularly for authors like Norman Vincent Peale or Og Mandino.

The book has lots of acronyms, business fables, anecdotes, maxims, and sayings. It would be excellent for a salesperson or gregarious customer service person to pull pithy quotes from. Unlike many other motivational titles it also includes a number of recognizable business terms like SMART targets, participatory management, and performance appraisals which are listed in the index. Frank McNair rolled many loose business ideas into one coherent book. This book is a 2009 reprint of the 2000 edition. The book itself is very presentable. The typeface is very clean and the page layout is vey readable.

Frank McNair has an MBA from Wake Forest University and a certificate in Presbyterian theology. He also runs a well respected consultancy, http://www.mcnairandmcnair.com/ He does not make any direct religious statements though except for the Golden Rule . It is the kind of book a company might bulk order for their whole sales department as part of a motivational seminar.

Daily Thoughts 7/23/2009 ( New Arrivals )

Daily Thoughts 7/23/2009

I finished reading Sarah Micklem's book Wildfire. The book is full of surprises and did not turn out how I expected at all. I am thinking about how I am going to review it. It is quite good, but it is also very visceral with lots of sex and violence. Surprisingly, this is not described in an inappropriate manner. The writing still maintains a strong sense of style and voice. I am going to review it in the next couple of days.

I spent some more time reading review material this morning. Later in the afternoon I took a few minutes to look at the Romantic Times Website and the Black Expressions site. I am looking for a good general place which lists recent novels translated into english.

We received two end slat wall panels for the "New Arrivals" area. This finishes the furnishings. It is looking excellent. We checked the bestseller lists to see if there were any to display in a bestsellers area. It turned out that all of our bestsellers are being checked out which is a very good sign for circulation.

I did a small amount of weeding in the large print also today. We are also shifting books in the 700s. Today has been a productive day.

Daily Thoughts 7/22/2009 ( Wildfire )

Le silence intérieur, af Carlos Schwabe (1866-1926).

Daily Thoughts 7/22/2009

I have been reading more of Wildfire by Sarah Micklem. It is very raw and visceral. The story is excellent. It is a story of hardship and adventure. The main character, Firethorn, is a concubine of a knight, she is also a healer and touched by her gods. I really like the opening passage where she is struck by lightning and becomes a bit addled for several chapters.

I am looking at Yoshiro Tatsumi's A Drifting Life published by Drawn and Quarterly. It is the story of a manga artist who lives a wandering life. The book is a slice of life manga. It was recommended to me at this years Book Expo America. I really liked the Drawn and Quarterly publishers booth. There was a lot of very avant garde material.

Today has been an interesting day. I have been weeding the large print collection. I also changed the pattern for ordering large print. The bookmobile is going to be taking recommendations and I am going to be ordering from the holds purchase alerts.

I also spent some time looking at the Indienext bestseller list of the American Booksellers Association and the staff picks for Powell's bookstore as well as some staff picks from the Strand Bookstore. I often think it is good to look outside the standard library magazine sources of Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews.

I am using a laptop with a wireless connection and a hand scanner to check the circulation on the books. It makes the process much easier and much faster. It is something new for me. I am using just getting used to using a touchpad instead of a mouse. Sometimes I feel, I am bundle of contradictions, both very up to date and very behind.

Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World Class Performers From Everyone Else by Geoff Colvin

Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World Class Performers From Everyone Else by Geoff Colvin

This book is an argument for "deliberate practice" over long time periods to create superior performance. It separates regular practice from "deliberate practice" by describing it as practice under expert guidance with specific goals for improvement. Some of the types of deliberate practice described are Tiger Wood's golf practice, Jerry Rice's football practice, practicing to become a concert musician or a master chess player.

The book describes how "deliberate practice" can be applied in more mundane situations. For example if you wanted to improve your writing skills, you might read The Elements of Style, analyze the stories of O. Henry, and study print design in a focused manner. What is described is not easy to do, and requires quite a bit of concentration. I can see how it could be done with something like blogging or poetry.

There are three focuses in practice which are talked about; improving knowledge, improving memory of the subject being studied, and percieving more. The book states that it takes ten years to master most subjects. This is why it is so important to start at a very young age in so many fields like ballet and music. I don't see why it is not perfectly applicable to gardening or any other interest.

This book is an argument against the concept of nature versus nurture. It says that focus and concentration on a specific skill under expert guidance for many hours a day are what make superior performance. I rather like the idea and can see some of the point. However, I am not completely ready to count talent out. It is a very intellectual book. It makes you think.

Daily Thoughts 7/21/2009 ( Twitter )

Sculpture Maigret (1966) by Pieter d'Hont in Delfzijl/The Netherlands. Maigret is a fictional detective by Georges Simenon.

Daily Thoughts 7/22/2009

I read some more of Talent Is Overrated. At this point in the book, they are talking about innovation. They tell us that most major innovations come after at least ten years of "deliberate practice" in a given field. This is a rather interesting idea. It is different explanation than the one of natural talent. It says you must develop deep knowledge of what you are doing to create breakthrough innovations.

I picked up Wildfire by Sarah Micklem from the new books section. It is the sequel to Firethorn which is a fantasy novel. I like the cover art on these books by Mark Stutzman. I think he did an excellent job. http://www.workbook.com/portfolios/stutzman Sometimes, the artist who an author chooses to illustrate a book cover is very critical in how a book sells.

I weeded some of the large print books and the mystery books. I am also considering changing how we order large print books.

Web Bits

A book vending machine in the subways in Spain. I am wondering how long a machine like this would last in a Manhattan, New York subway. http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/the-literary-vending-machine/

http://news.bookweb.org/6924.html
Savvy Booksellers Use Twitter to Draw Crowds, Boost Sales

An opinion piece on libraries from the Christian Science Monitor. http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090717/cm_csm/ywisner

Daily Thoughts 7/20/2009 ( Talent Is Overrated ) ( Kreativ Blogger Award )

This was an appreciation award given by William Bentrim http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/

Herodotus and Thucydides

Daily Thoughts 7/20/2009

We created a new section for citizenship books and material next to the ESL books. I think it is the right practical thing to do. I also have been checking for books to mend and clean. They are mainly replacing plastic covers on books.

My orders were put in for the month this morning for July. I am putting in fiction orders for August. I like to be well ahead of time on ordering things.

Right now the computer technician is setting up a laptop with a handheld scanner so I can check the shelves without bringing the books upstairs and downstairs. It will make things go much faster.

They are shifting books to make room in the 700s. Hopefully, when they are done, I think there will be a little extra room and I will be able to merchandise the graphic novels.

We have a new part time librarian who came in today. I am looking forward to working with him. It has been a nice quiet day today at the library.

Sometimes I don't have a huge amount to say. I read some more of Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. I am learning about the difference between practice and "deliberate practice". Deliberate practice is practice focused around improving specific skills using expert instruction. This is what separates the practice of experts like Jerry Rice, the football star, and Ben Franklin who spent hours every single day practicing his writing.

An example of how I might use "deliberate practice" to improve my writing skills would be for me to read Fowler's English Usage and then The Elements of Style, followed by learning more about wordprocessing software, then taking O. Henry's short stories and rewriting them in my own words.

As a condition of the award, I have to list seven of my favorite things.

1. Walking, I try and walk a lot on the weekends.
2. Libraries ( I go there a lot)
3. Bookstores (Especially ones like the Strand)
4. Conventions ( Comic and book conventions are best )
5. Reading ( I even like reading labels on cereal boxes )
6. Cartoons (The old ones are best, Superman, Betty Boop, Popeye )
7. Coffee ( I drink too much coffee)

My favorite blogs:

1. Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/
2. Kimbooktu http://kimbooktu.wordpress.com/
3. Read Street http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/
4. I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book http://residentreader.blogspot.com/
5. The Thin Red Line http://libdrone.info/
6. Cromely's World http://cromely.blogspot.com/
7. Pick of the Literate http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
   
   

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Thoughts)

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This is a literary fantasy set in the Barcelona of the 1920s and 1930s. David Martin the main character walks the line between heaven and hell. His life is one of loneliness and darkness haunted by the bad pulp novels he writes.

This book has a wonderful sense of the symbolic. The main character lives in a tower house whose previous inhabitants have all suffered terrible fates. The villain, Andreas Corelli, has piercing eyes and wears a lapel pin in the shape of an angel. There is a nice sense of contradiction as well. David's father who is shot to death in an alley is given a heroic funeral.

The work he is commissoned to write by Andreas Corelli will damn him no matter what he does. It is through the power of literature he is saved. My favorite scene in the novel is where he is taken by a bookstore owner to the cemetery of forgotten books. The description reminds me of old library storage stacks.

This book very much reminds me of the fantastic side of books. Bibliophiles will like the literary allusions. The Angel's Game is well worth reading.

Sunday Musings 7/19/209 ( Facebook, Bookmarketing Ning )

Sinclair Lewis, Nobel laureate in Literature 1930

Sunday Musings 7/19/2009

I just joined http://bookmarket.ning.com/ I am hoping I can learn a few new things.

I just joined Facebook again. http://www.facebook.com/BookCalendar Facebook is not supposed to allow anonymity. For your eddification, I am now Charles Dickens writer of Tale of Two Cities an excellent book. I cannot be Jack Kerouac that is not allowed. My friend asked me to join Facebook so I could look at pictures. I am not that fond of all the little applications, but I will give it another try.

I have started reading Talent Is Overrated What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin. This book gives a different answer than nature versus nurture. It talks about starting at an early age, being intensely interested in what you are doing, concentrating very hard, and practicing a lot every single day. The author describes this in the context of John D. Rockefeller, Warren Buffett, and Tiger Woods so far.

It is free online to read Chris Anderson's Book Free: The Future of a Radical Price on SCRIBD.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17135767/FREE-full-book-by-Chris-Anderson

Wandering Thoughts 7/18/209 ( Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg )

Franz Kafka 1906 Photographer Unknown

Daily Thoughts 7/18/2009

I was watching Fleischer studios Popeye this morning while doing my floor exercises. Something which I learned was that Popeye is quite often set in Manhattan. In the cartoon King of the Mardi Gras, Bluto makes a reference to Coney meaning Coney Island. Betty Boop has a Brooklyn, New York accent, also produced by the Fleischer brothers, and the early Superman cartoons look like they are set in New York in the 1930s. I find the idea rather interesting.

Last night, I read some more of Say Everything. This time the book was discussing journalism. Are bloggers journalists? Does my conference coverage count as journalism? Or my coverage of library events or visits to bookstores? The very nature of the First Amendment in the United State means anyone has the freedom to publish their thoughts. Blogs are syndicated content. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a form of syndication. Most blogs have this. Unlike "real journalists", bloggers don't have to be stuck on todays news. They can beat a dead horse and obsess on any subject they like. I don't pretend to have journalistic aspirations, but I do know that I have a professional knowledge of books.

Maw Books invited me to Book Blogger Appreciation Week on Septembr 14th- September 18th http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/ . I signed up as Anon Ymous , another variation which works is Sue Doe Nim.

Thinking back to Spanish language literature, there is also Schoenhof's in the United States. The selection looks quite interesting. http://www.schoenhofs.com/Spanish_Literature_s/1400.htm

I had a chance to finish reading Say Everything by Scott Rosenbrg this afternoon. I especially like a quote from P. 319, "We publish then filter. Say everything first; ask questions later." Scott Rosenberg is referring to an inversion in the publishing process where anyone can practically publish many things over the web. There is often no way to know whether it is good o not until you look at it. This is the opposite of editing first. Now, to filter out the junk you often turn to blogs and social networks to choose what is good. Those blogs with higher ratings get read more. We also turn to services like Twitter to pick out blogs or news stories which are interesting. There are many places exactly like this. I use the Ning Bookblogs group and Blogcatalog for this. On a more professional level, I use American Library Association Connect and Linked In.

This book does a very good job of both providing a history of blogging as well as give a much better understanding of the purpose of blogging. It is not a how to book, there are no tips and tricks. However, it does give many examples of the best and most historied blogs. The notes section has lots of citations from the internet. It is very much a list of some of the best posts on blogs.

My Thoughts for 7/17/2009 (Spanish Language Books)

Benno Caspar Haurisius, Scriptores historiae romanae latini veteres, qui extant omnes, notis variis illustrati, Heidelberg: Haener, 1743

Daily Thoughts 7/17/2009

Library Journal is reviewing a number of titles from Criticas Magazine which specializes in Spanish language reviews. The magazine was recently restarted. There needs to be more review material which is easier to find for Spanish language titles as well as Portuguese language titles. http://www.libraryjournal.com/microsite/49055/Criticas+Spanish+Language+Authors+and+Book+Reviews.html

There used to be a bookstore in Manhattan called Libreria Lectorum. It closed a while ago. Now there is a website, http://www.lectorum.com/ . It is sad to see the old fashioned bookstores go. I used to walk past it when I was going to Roger's Time Machine to buy comics on 14th street. I would stop sometimes and look in the window.

I am thinking about what a friend said. He told me that once I bought an Iphone, I would never go back to using a regular phone. I should do it. He also asked me to open a Facebook account under my real name. I have a Linkedin account under my real name as well as an ALA Connect account. I am social networked.

I read some more of Say Everything on the train home. What I am reading about now is anonymous blogging. It reflects on my own experience writing this blog. I am in that semi-anonymous blogging zone. I learned about the most famous blogger who was "dooced" or fired for blogging about their job. I think my posts about my job are pretty uninflammatory. This book seems to also do a very nice job of touching on the different experiences prominent bloggers have. We just got a copyof this book at our library. The one I am reading now came through interlibrary loan.

I often request books through interlibrary loan because I am waiting for books as they come in for me. I can return and pick up books from the library very easily. It is one of the perks of the job. It is not that easy to run out of books to read, cds to listen to, or dvds to watch.

We put the express dvds in the new materials section today. A lot of them went out very quickly. I am also handing over my law responsibilities to my colleague.

I did a tour of the building for a new board member, going through many of the different areas in the building; reference, periodicals and newspapers, law, young adult collection, adult nonfiction, oversize adult nonfiction, large print, music cds, scores, dvd, audio, video, videogames, playaways, mezzanine (2 floors of closed stacks with many rare items), rotunda, job information center, computer lab, computer center, local history room, community room, childrens room, staff areas, maintenance, business offices, and administrative offices.

Daily Thoughts 7/16/2009 ( America Reads Spanish )

Sebi Ryffel from Los Angeles took this picture under a creative commons share alike license on July 17, 2008 Entrance pathway to the Rose Garden, Temple of Love, at Huntington Library ( a botanical garden, art museum, and library).

Daily Thoughts 7/16/2009

This morning I read some more of Say Everything. I just finished reading a section on the founding of the company Blogger by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan. At one point, Blogger almost shutdown, it was being run out of Evan Williams's living room. It is very much a story of audacious risk and success. It shows how it is possible to start a company with very little, run it out of ones basement and then turn it into a successful web business. It is a very good example of "bootstrapping."

I have been thinking of switching this blog to wordpress.org. However, I am following my ideal of not spending money to blog. I found out that Wordpress charges to have the ability to post videos. Wordpress considers this a value added service. I don't, I like posting videos. This leaves me with sticking with Blogger. If I wanted to spend money to blog, I would probably be using Movable Type.

I like the new Peace, Love, Books poster for the American Booksellers Association. http://www.redbubble.com/people/indiebound/art/3349361-2-peace-love-books

I am looking through a site called http://www.americareadsspanish.org/ to find titles that are popular in Spanish which have been translated into english. There are two new authors which I have found which look interesting, Don Miguel Ruiz and Rosa-Mendoza Gladys.

On the way home, I read some more of Say Everything. I have hit the halfway mark. At this point Scott Rosenbergy mentions Cory Doctorow and The Clue Train Manifesto obligatory subjects for books on blogging. I think The Clue Train Manifesto is rather silly. I am not a huge fan of Cory Doctorow's blog Boing Boing. I however, am a fan of his novels. My favorite was Eastern Standard Tribe. I also like his essays which appear in Locus Magazine. Say Everything is turning out to be a very entertaining book.

Daily Thoughts 7/15/2009 ( Weeding )

John Steinbeck, 1962, Nobel Prize for Literature photograph.

Daily Thoughts 7/15/2009

Today has been another busy day. We finished designing the graphic novels label which looks quite nice. We printed some spine labels to make sure it looked right.

I also spent some time looking at the purchase alerts. We are getting a lot more fiction on our purchase alerts list. I think this is because of the new books display area. We are displaying a lot of new material. The fiction is moving much faster.

The gentleman from Ghana came to take away our deaccessioned books today. He took all of them. He is going to be volunteering to create a high school and they need books. There are very few resources over there.

We had a collection development meeting today. I suggested that we might want to order some more Latin American and Latino authors for our collection. We have a very large Brazilian popularion. I do not know the major authors that well, but I would be looking for authors like Jorge Amado, Jorge Luis Borges, Isabel Allende, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Paulo Coelho, and other Portuguese or Spanish language titles translated into english. I have all my orders pretty much in place right now.

We also have the graphic novels label created which looks quite nice. I hope the ebooks poster will be displayed soon.

I read some more of Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg. The latest chapter is about Dave Winer one of the early programmers of blogging software. He envisioned a world where a billion different web pages could talk to each other. Also people could voice their opinions without interference. He was very much a free speech advocate. The book gives some very interesting history of the internet which you might not see in other titles.

Daily Thoughts 7/14/2009 ( Collection Development )

Jack Vance, the science fiction writer, with a banjo and a kazoo, photograph taken by Hayford Peirce

Daily Thoughts 7/14/2009

Today was an excellent day. I finished reading The Angels Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It is an excellent literary novel and a nice train read. I will be writing a review shortly.

I read my usual Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and New York Times Book Review. I am going through and selecting new titles to order. I have been taken off of doing the law collection and am now being asked to focus solely on collection development and management in the main collection. We are discussing the idea of building special collections and doing more bookmarks, flyers, and other promotional material.

We are working on designing a new label for the graphic novels. Pretty soon we will be merchandising the graphic novels collection as well. I am looking forward to seeing this done.

I am going to be going through the collection tomorrow and checking for books to be mended and those which need covers replaced. We have a man from Ghana who is coming to pick up some of our deaccessioned books to be sent abroad to Ghana. They badly need books. I found this to be very interesting.

I read some more of Say Everything on the way home. It already has a bit of interesting history of the internet, the author is writing about Justin Hall and Wired magazine as part of the founding of the blogging phenomenon.

I also did some floor exercises while watching popeye. It was a nice break from thinking a lot about books.

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2009 ( Popeye )

John Muir American Conservationist (1838-1914)

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2009

I wrote my first draft of an ebooks poster in publisher today. It is based on an ebooks flyer which I did earlier. It needs to be edited, then I will put it up next to the computer center.

I also picked up a couple of things to read and watch. There is a dvd, Popeye The Sailor, 1933-1938, 60 Theatrical Shorts on 4 Discs published by Warner Brothers. I rather like the original popeye more than the later cartoons. Most are designed to be shown in the theater as a trailer before films. They are also not just written for children. Many of the episodes are from the early Fleischer studios which did the original Superman and Betty Boop cartoons. This is the original popeye song.

The next book is Give Me Back My Legions by Harry Turtledove. Harry Turtledove is a professor of Byzantine history. He often writes fantasy novels, but this is a historical novel about the Romans in Germany. It covers the Battle of Teutoberg Forest where the Romans were defeated.

The final book I picked up is Say Everything, How Blogging Began What's It's Becoming, And Why It Matters by Scott Rosenberg. Rosenberg is an editor at Salon.com. He also wrote Dreaming in Code. I am hoping it is useful both as a history and as a way to improve the quality of my blog.

Web Bits

American Library Association conference coverage by Library Journal.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/microsite/49047/ALA+Annual+Conference+News.html

Marketing Without Advertising Easy Ways To Build A Business Your Customers Will Love & Recommend by Michael Phillips & Salli Rasberry, 6th Edition

Marketing Without Advertising Easy Ways To Build A Business Your Customers Will Love & Recommend by Michael Phillips & Salli Rasberry, 6th Edition

This book is how to attract and keep customers without buying advertising. It claims it is better to do your own marketing and create an atmosphere where customers will come back and use your business repeatedly. Advertising is often deceptive and can lead to bad publicity.

The book suggests that you should buy listings in places like the phone book and get your name listed in as many places as possible instead of spending money on advertisements. In addition to buying listings, you should create your own customer lists and market directly to them.

There is a focus on creating customer recommendations and testimonials. Some ways they suggest to do this are to keep a clean site, make your business conform to industry standards, and build a theme which customers can identify with. It is important to be consistent and treat people fairly.

There are tips on how to create an honest, open business which people can trust. This includes descriptions on how to identify the business you are in and make clear statements about your purpose.

A central idea is that more hand holding equals more customers and better information leads to more sales. Several examples of information which can help a business like how to create an informational video, make business labels, and make easy to read signs that explain what you do are given.

The book also covers technology. It reminds you that it is important to have an email account, join listservs, have a newsletter, build a website, and offer marginal additions like bookmarks and fliers to keep people informed.

The book taught me something new there are three types of marketing. Peer to peer marketing is where you market your business to colleagues. Direct marketing is where you market your business directly to customers, and parallel marketing is where you invite similar institutions to work with you.

This books shows how to build a business without using deception and without investing in advertisements. The pattern which is explained here is based on honesty, integrity, personal recommendations, and useful information. The publishers of this book, Nolo very much fit this mold.

There are a number of different ideas like creating a calendar of events, making brochures, and creating displays which are discussed in this book. If you want to get ideas on how to build a business based on building your own client base without outside advertising this book will be very useful. I think I learned a few things from reading it.

Daily Thoughts 7/12/2009 ( Twitterers at the American Library Association )

Vladimir Nabokov's Scrabble Board

Daily Thoughts 7/12/2009

I am still reading Marketing Without Advertising. There is a blog which goes with the book, http://phillips.blogs.com/mwa It gives lots of tips on how to market your business without using advertisements.

I have started reading The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. There is a lot about writing in this novel as well as excellent use of symbolism.

Web Bits

Based on the Book-- Movies based on books.http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/movies/

Library Website Hall of Fame from Library Success Wikihttp://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Website_Design

Microbloggers (Twitter) at the American Library Associaton Conference. http://wikis.ala.org/annual2009/index.php/Microblogging_Annual There is a virtual conference for the American Library Association, but it costs money-- $215 to look at the virtual sessions. I think I will stick to looking at blogs on the conference and reading Twitter.

The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick

The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick

This is a wonderfully written fantasy novel. What sets this novel apart is that it is not just big men with swords and wizards. Everything in it from the pipe smoking woman with a red talking cat to the giant ancient magical sailing ship where most of the story resides is beautifully described. The details of the characters are very well done. For example the villains don't just fight and cast magic; they deceive, poison, bully, steal, and enslave.

The heros are quite intriguing, a tarboy (child which mends sales and ropes on ships) named Pazel with a gift for tongues, an intelligent rat, an ambassadors daughter and her bodyguard, and a wizard in the body of a mink. They face many trials from a villainous conspiracy whch is trying to start a war and disguising it as an attempt at peace.

The writing makes the escape into another world seamless. I especially like the creatures in the story, like the ixchel; tiny men who are treated like rats, and the flickermen; men who light up like fireflies and steal children into slavery.

This is a very entertaining story that is intelligently thought out. I look forward to reading the next book in the trilogy which comes out in 2010. If you want an fantasy novel that will keep you up late at night reading this is one of them.

Daily Thoughts 7/11/2009 ( Chris Anderson, Michael Jackson )

Pearl Buck receiving the Nobel Prize from King Gustavus V in Stockholm

Daily Thoughts 7/11/2009

The book Free by Chris Anderson is generating a lot of controversy. It is something we ordered a while ago. I think the controversy will make more people want to read the book. I read The Long Tail also by Chris Anderson and was not that impressed. It reminded me of a new way to package niche marketing. Thttp://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6670080.html?desc=topstory

I walked up to my local library and dropped off a few books. It was very pleasant outside today. I did not get any more books to read.

I have been reading Marketing Without Advertising. It is a fairly dense text. The premise is that advertising is not the best way for small businesses to get customers. It describes ways to build a client base by having excellent customer service, generating recommendations, using informational products like brochures, and generating goodwill. The book has lots of recommendations in it.

Sometimes when you are looking through the magical land of the internet, you find odd things. Michael Jackson's visit to the Strand Bookstore. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-bass/the-day-i-met-michael-jac_b_225954.html

Daily Thoughts 7/10/2009 ( Small Press Distributors)

book wall at House of the Book in the city of Leipzig/Buchwand im Haus des Buches in Leipzig

Daily Thoughts 7/10/2009

I spent some time looking at http://www.spdbooks.org/ Small Press Distributors which is a nonprofit organization focused on distributing small press titles. Many of the titles are unique and high quality. There is a lot of poetry here, especially modern fiction and poetry. Some of it is experimental and would never be distributed by large publishing houses or book distributors.

I also spent a little bit of time looking at the New Releases section of the Mysterious Bookshop. They include a few espionage novels which look quite interesting. http://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/?page=shop/browse&category_id=21&CLSN_2723=12472333322723e70ee980e4654b4b63

Today was another fairly busy day. I used the content of my postcard on ebooks to redo it as a flyer which should look very interesting. I also did a display of some of our rare books from storage. Some of them are quite interesting. We have a first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica which is interesting to look at. We also added some more baskets for the nonfiction area of our slat walls. I am still doing some evaluation of the 700s.

I picked up two books to read this weekend, Marketing Without Advertising Easy Ways to Build a Business Your Customers Will Love & Recommend by Michael Phillips & Sally Rasberry and The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Both look like very interesting books.

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

This book is about how people make decisions. The book cites many scientific studies on decision making and brain science. Jonah Lehrer focuses on emotions and how they affect our decision making. He argues that emotions are the primary source of decision making. The ability to make the simple choice between yes and no is an emotional one.

We learn about the weaknesse in reason which lead to faulty thinking like spending too much with credit cards; why too much information can lead to bad decisions; and when it is best not to analyze and go with your feelings.

There are many examples of high pressure decisionmaking illustrated in this book; crashlanding an airplane, football quarterbacking, and surviving a forest fire are a few of them. A lot of these decisions are intuitive and analysis of the decisions are made afer they are done.

The book also describes decision making in poker and backgammon where there is both an element of feeling and a certain level of logic. Champion poker players know the odds but they also must be able to bluff and gage their opponents reactions.

I found the book useful. It reminded me that sometimes it is a good idea to let a decision wait a while and not think abut it consciously. I waited a couple days before writing this review.

This book challenges the idea of pure Cartesian logic. It argues that we are in a constant dialogue between our reason and our emotions. This is often not at a conscious level. Our emotions are the startng point. It describes a model of decision making centered in emotions and modern brain science. It also cites one of my favorite books, Descartes Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio.

Jonah Lehrer writes for the Mind Mattrs blog for Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/section.cfm?id=mindmatters

Daily Thoughts 7/9/2009

Menander, A Painting from Pompeii

Daily Thoughts 7/9/2009

I am off by a little bit today, it really is the ninth, I put the tenth down by mistake and then corrected it. A whole day disappeared. Today was another day. I have been working with the collection. We had a meeting to discuss technical services. I am going to be shifting some books in the 700s pretty soon.

Daily Thoughts 7/8/2009

Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer and scientist.

Daily Thoughts 7/8/2009

This afternoon, I discussed the Official Overstreet Comics Price Guide 2009, 39th Edition in a reference meeting. It is the standard price guide for old comic books in the United States. The major weakness in the guide is that it does not cover underground comics that well. However, I find it to be an excellent place to look not for prices, but to find new titles I have never seen before.

I also have done some more weeding today, mostly in the 700s and the mysteries.

I put another book on hold about blogging, Say Everything How Blogging Began by Scott Rosenberg. Scott Rosenberg is a writer for Salon.com.

Daily Thoughts 7/7/2009

Arthur Miller, Playwright

Daily Thoughts 7/7/2009

Today has been a quiet steady day. I have been weeding the 700s and mysteries. It is a slow steady process which I am going to be doing every single day. I also am evaluating the law books for weeding.

Right now, I am working on a flyer for ebooks. It is being written in Microsoft Publisher which is becoming more and more understandable for me lately. I am still running through the Professor Teaches program on my computer to learn Publisher. Right now, I am editing it.

In this months Searcher The Magazine For Database Professionals there is an article on Ray Kurzweil called The Future Still Ray Kurzweil's Singularity on Wall Street by Katherine Bertolucci. It is very interesting. Kurzweill has made a lot of predictions about the future. Kurzweil is utterly fascinating and very controversial. http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1 He believes that computers will become smarter than we are. He writes about it in his book The Singularity Is Near. There is something funny about the article when it says we should prepare our businesses for when computers are smarter than we are.

I also have a copy of Report of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee To Study Publication of Comics 1955 sitting on my desk. This report is important in the history of comic books because it is one of the things which led to the Comics Code Authority. The book is very interesting. It has comics like Juvenile Delinquent, My Gun Is The Jury by Melvie Spillane, and excerpts from EC comics. The report is fascinating to look at. It is part of the partial government depository in our library.

Daily Thoughts 7/6/2009

Zürich, Wasserkirche (Water Church) : Former 'Bürgerbibliothek' (public library), as of 1719.

Daily Thoughts 7/6/2009

Today has been a steady day. I have spent most of the day weeding more 700s, mostly in the film section. I found a guide to Creature Features the old television show that came on when I was a child and a copy of Chekhov's Enterprise: Personal Journal by Walter Koenig. I also deaccessioned some mysteries.

There are a few other minor activities which I am doing like putting in inserts for the law books and making sure the flyer is out for a financial literacy program. Tomorrow, I am going to do some weeding with the law books. I need to review a visit to the county law library I did earlier.

Another book came in for me to read, The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert S. Redick. It is a fantasy novel. I am also looking at J.R.R. Tolkien, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun edited by Christopher Tolkien. The Genteel Arsenal was discussing this epic poem. It intrigued me. We have a copy of it at our library.

I read some of The Red Wolf Conspiracy. The imagery is rich and vibrant. From page one it immediately grabbed my attention. It is already worth reading and telling other people about it after the first chapter. The writing is as good as many of the best fantasy writers like Peter S. Beagle, Tanith Lee, or Michael Moorcock.

Daily Thoughts 7/5/2009

CowParade Prague 2004. #002 KNIHOMILKA, Artist: Šárka Vokurková. "Book-lover Cow". The design of the cow is a self-parody of its sponsor, Levné knihy (literally: "Cheap Books") bookstore (LEVNÉ KYDY literally: "Cheap Twaddle").

Daily Thoughts July 5, 2009

Yesterday, I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was a piece of escapism. I liked the space alien archeologist references. They reminded me of Erich Von Donikens Chariots of the Gods books. The movie was fun to watch. Harrison Ford still did most of his own stunts which surprised me.

There was plenty of flim flam in this movie. All of the real crystal skulls which have been looked at indicate they were created in 19th century Europe. They were not Mayan. Indiana Jones was of course seeking El Dorado where the skull and aliens resided. He had to follow the Nazca lines to get there. I was surprised that they did not make reference to the now debunked theory of ancient hot air balloons over Peru.

The villains were cartoonish kgb agents. One of the agents of course was psychic which was quite slly. In many parts of the film, especially the chase scenes it reminded me a bit of a video game. The best part of the film was when Indiana Jones hid in a lead lined refrigerator to survive a nuclear blast. Silliness at its best. A fun afternoon of free entertainment rented on a dvd from the library.

One of the subjects which many people ask about is the paranormal and the occult in the public library. We get a lot of junior high school and high school students coming in with assignments on big foot, Nostradamus, and psychics. There are also a lot of believers in various ideas from various authors like Carlos Castaneda, Sylvia Browne (television psychic), and Edgar Cayce. I try to be as neutral as possible with these questions because you don't know why they are asking for these books.

Watching films like The Da Vinci Code can be useful because many people at least partially believe the stories behind the films. They want to know about The Knights of Malta, Opus Dei, the Masons, and other groups. Often after films like this one we get spikes in requests on occult material. Popular entertainment at least partially drives the purchase of this material. It also often causes controversy which attracts people to reading about it. It is good to remember the public library is supposed to be a neutral institution not supporting specific religious and philosophical viewpoints. The library is a government institution and the separation of church and state can and sometimes does come up as an issue.

Some of this material has made me a fan of James Randi, the author and magician who debunks psychics and mystics. I may believe in certain phenomena, but I also sometimes feel it is necessary to protect yourself from being too gullible. He explains how fakery and flim flam happen. He is also a very entertaining speaker. His book The Mask of Nostradamus: The Prophecies of the World's Most Famous Seer is quite popular.

We also get quite a bit of other practical books of psychology which can cross over a little bit into mysticism. One of my favorite books in this category is The Relaxation Response (Paperback) by M.D. Herbert Benson (Author), and Miriam Z. Klipper (Author) which is about meditation from a scientific standpoint. Some people consider this material to be religious which can be surprising. Being polite is very important around other peoples beliefs. Even things like books on yoga floor exercises can be considered religious by people.

I finshed reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. It is an intriguing book. This book definitely deserves a review. It says many things which are counterintuitive about how decisions are made. I liked the discussions about poker, strawberry jam, flight simulators, and having too much information in decision making. Right now, I am pondering how I will review the book.

Happy 4th of July

The Syng inkstand, an inkstand made by Philip Syng with which the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, on display at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Photograph taken by Dan Smith.

Happy 4th of July

I bought a new keyboard for my computer. Things were getting a little sticky. I also got a memory stick today and went through my email looking for documents to put on it. It gave me a chance to review my old email and collect old documents from email. I found a few things which may be useful like a review from visiting the county court library, a link to the New York Council For The Humanities Program for libraries. This is a link if you are in New York http://www.nyhumanities.org/speakers/adult_audiences/eligibility.php . There was also a flyer for a Home Health Aide training program.

I will also probably be reviewing a few other places where I kept my documents.

Daily Thoughts 7/3/2009

Self Portrait of William Hogarth with A Pug Dog

Daily Thoughts 7/3/2009

Librarian temporary tattoos. http://www.epartyunlimited.com/the-illustrated-librarian-temporary-tattoos.html

I am off today because July 4,2009 falls on a Saturday. It has been very relaxing so far. I watched The Librarian Curse of the Judas Chalice on dvd. The Librarian is a hero who works in a secret repository of mystical objects. He must retrieve mystic objects and prevent them from falling into the hands of evil.

This film was appropriately silly. The hero goes on vacation and gets pulled into a romantic interlude in New Orleans, Virginia. At the same time, he must recover the Judas Chalice which will resurrect dead vampires.

There are numerous historical references to Vlad Tepes and various cryptic gimmicks like a coin with a secret code on it to keep the story going. The Librarian makes references to things in books when he needs to show how he succeeds in a specific piece of knowledge. He even makes a reference to Houdini when he escapes being tied up.

This is an afternoons escape. It is a mix of adventure, heroism, and romance with vampires. There is no swearing, no explicit content, the romantic lead is well done and appropriate.

I am about half way through reading How We Decide. It is the brain science of decisions. Concepts like loss aversion, short term versus long term thinking, and high stress decision making are explained in terms of brain science. The book explains a lot about how decisions are made. I can understand exactly why I don't have a credit card now.

Daily Thoughts 7/2/2009

Walter Crane a book illustrator.

Daily Thoughts 7/2/2009

Today was a pleasant day. I spent more time weeding the 700s, the oversize 700s, and the mystery. I also took some time to look through Library Journal online at their review section. I am pretty much caught up with my ordering for this month. There should be some interesting titles coming in.

Tomorrow is vacation time. I picked up a few books to read as well as some dvds. I am looking forward to reading Mucho Mojo by Joe Lansdale. I also plan on watching The Librarian 3: Curse of the Judas Chalice on dvd over the weekend.

I started reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. It is about the decision process. The book reminds me a little bit of Descartes Error by Antonio Damasio. It posits that emotions are extremely important in decision making, and that we are more of an emotional being than a rational one. I know this is true of myself.

Web Bits

Barbara Genco has joined Library Journal as its editor of collection development. I think this will be a big improvement in their coverage of selecting materials. http://www.lisnews.org/barbara_genco_joins_library_journal_editor_collection_management

Daily Thoughts 7/1/2009

Daily Thoughts July 1, 2009

Today has been another quiet day. I spent some time ordering a few fiction titles. I still have to check through a couple of different sites for African American, inspirational, mystery and suspense titles. While I was looking at Locus Magazine online, I noticed that The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon was on the bestseller list. I put it on hold. I am going to look at http://www.indiebound.org for fiction titles tomorrow.

I also spent some more time weeding the music section. I have to be very careful. It is one of those subjects like history, biography, and art where books can remain quite relevant for a very long time. I spent some time looking at a book on the discography of Sun records.

I am looking at weeding the mysteries and suspense also. Mysteries and suspense are our most popular fiction titles. Ruth Rendell, Hugh Holton, Stuart Woods, John Sanford, and James Patterson are extremely popular. My current favorite mystery author is Joe Lansdale. I also like Sparkle Hayter, Andrew Vachss, Max Allan Collins, and Sharyn McCrumb. Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sharyn McCrumb is one of my favorite mysteries; it lampoons science fiction conventions. Max Allan Collins also writes comics in addition to novels as well as television shows.

On the train home, I read some more of Building A Special Collection of Children's Literature in Your Library.