Daily Thoughts 6/1/2010

A portrait of Thomas James (1572/73 – 1629), the first Librarian at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, Attributed to Gilbert Jackson (fl. 1622–1640) From Wikimedia.

Daily Thoughts 6/1/2010

I'm back to work today. I distributed some of the books and publishing catalogs which Igot from Book Expo as well as some recommendation lists for titles. I also checked the displays to make sure they were in order and updated the books in the current events display. I ordered some free marketing material from Playaway as well. We are discussing budgets a bit. I also printed some flyers for my two programs this month, the graphic novels club and the poetry club.

I have a couple review journals to read, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. I also have to do some weeding later today.

My boxes from Book Expo America came in. I unpacked them and distributed to different places, childrens, young adult, and adult department. I am looking at a bookmark for Steven Moore's book, The Novel an alternative history Beginnings to 1600 and an advanced reading copy of a teen book which has a few comic book sections in it, Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin.

There is a nice pamphlet by Romance Writers of America called Romance Writers of America Presents A Quick Guide to the Romance Genre for Readers' Advisory Librarian, A Collaborative Effort by John Charles, Shelley Mosley, and Kristin Ramsdell.

We keep a patron requests sheet at the reference desk for titles which we don't have. This may we had six pages of title requests. It is growing steadily. Hopefully, we will be able to add a web form to make patron requests.

Seth Godin's book Linchpin came in for me to read.

Presentation and Representation, Symbol and Name.

I am on Facebook, Linkedin, New York Librarians Meetup, ALA (American Library Association) Connect under my own name. I use Facebook to connect with authors, colleagues, and friends. Some of the authors I try and connect with are Ellen Datlow, John Ordover, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jeff Vandermeer, Gail Carriger, and Tobias Buckell. On Linkedin, I connect with colleagues and people who are associated with the book trade. I also am a member of numerous groups on Linkedin including American Library Association, Book Publishing Professionals, Books and Writers, Comic Book Business for Creators and Creations, Ebooks Ebook Readers Digital Books and Digital Content Publishing (This group is excellent, it has over 6100 members.), Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MOCCA) which is a museum in Manhattan which is mainly an exhibit space, New York Librarians Meetup, and Tools of Change for Publishing. I use New York Librarians Meetup to go to library tours and understand library advocacy in the area around New York. I am a member of ALA Connect which is the American Library Association social network. I have mainly used this to take online classes. It has been excellent bulletin board and chat forum for the class, Collection Development and Management. I plan on taking Readers Advisory 101 in June. I am sure that they will use ALA Connect for their chat session and online message board. I use my name directly in these networks.

For my blog, I use the name Book Calendar as well as my twitter account. I do not think of these the same way as professional networks. I also use Book Calendar on Bookblogs on Ning, Blogcatalog, and Fuelmyblog. Maybe, I am stretched out too far. I feel there is a dichotomy between professional spaces and online social networks. It made me a little uncomfortable when I was at the Book Bloggers Convention. I even received a comment that it seemed a bit dangerous to blog as a librarian. Some people find it a bit outrageous. I think part of it has to do with acceptance of technology. There are a number of questions that are raised. Where is it important to be a symbol? Where is it important to be a name? I am thinking this over right now.

There are spaces where the line blurs between the personal and the professional. Going to author tours, book signings, library tours, reviewing books, librarian socials, networking meetings, and even gallery openings where there are lots of people in the book profession blurs the line between the professional and the personal. This can be a little bit uncomfortable. I felt a bit disconcerted at the Book Bloggers Convention because of this. Where do you stand?