Daily Thoughts 11/1/2011

The Pen ts'ao, 1249 C.E. Printed with woodblock, this illustrated book discusses Chinese herbal medicine.

Daily Thoughts 11/1/2011

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I also spent a little bit of time on the website.  I have been learning to make minor adjustments.  I put up a brief description for a new display of hooked rugs in the Rotunda Gallery by the Hudson Valley Rug Hookers. http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/Gallery

There is a free Library 2.0 Virtual Conference between November 2-4.  I just signed up.  http://www.library20.com

I spent some more time this afternoon practicing on Lynda.com.  I also spent some time talking to people about our computer lab.  We are getting steadily increasing usage.

I also spent a small amount of time weeding in the mezzanine.

On the way home, I read some more of Rediscovering The Greatest Human Strength Willpower by Johan F. Baumeister and John Tierney.  I liked the descriptions of how changing simple habits like posture can increase ones willpower.  I also liked the description of how can increasing discipline in one area like diet or studying can increase discipline in other areas.  One piece of the writing bothered me.  The authors claim that self discipline is more important self esteem.  I disagree with this.  I think both are equally important.

Web Bits

Library With Free Online College Textbooks Makes Debut
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2011/11/ebooks/library-with-free-online-college-textbooks-makes-debut/

I am going to present two ideas that are percolating around public libraries.  The first is the increasing interest by the Maker Movement which is focused on Tech Shops, 3D Printing, and small scale manufacturing and libraries and the second is how coworking is increasingly starting to interact with the library space.

These are ideas.  I don't necessarily agree with them, but they offer interesting new opportunities which libraries could look at more closely.  Part of this comes from concepts of what libraries might look like in the future. 

Library Partners With Tek Venture

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110702/LOCAL/307029959

Is It Time to Rebuild & Retool Public Libraries and Make “TechShops”?

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/03/is-it-time-to-rebuild-retool-public-libraries-and-make-techshops.html

Public Libraries, 3D Printing, FabLabs and Hackerspaces

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/05/public-libraries-3d-printing-fablabs-and-hackerspaces.html

Making Hackerspaces in Public Libraries

http://forum.contactcon.com/discussion/34/making-hackerspaces-in-public-libraries/p1

Perpetual Beta Awesome 3D Printing Video

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/perpetualbeta/awesome-3d-printing-video

Canton Public Library 1st Hack Day Recap

http://soup.hackerspaces.org/post/93975543/Canton-Public-Library-1st-Hack-Day-Recap

The second idea which comes up is the library as an entrepreneurial space.  There already are groups which are proposing the library be used as a coworking space.  Again, this is a small piece of a possible picture.  There are many people who come in now to use the library for its WiFi so they can work.

Coworking at the Public Library

http://www.pcworld.com/article/241574/coworking_at_the_public_library.html

Making Space for Entrepreneurs and Independent Workers

http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3568&zbrandid=4634&zidType=CH&zid=8535571&zsubscriberId=1031499408&zbdom=http://ala-publishing.informz.net

Every Town Has A Public Library-- Tony Bacigalupo who is one of the founders of New Work City in Manhattan.

http://tonybgoode.tumblr.com/post/174758246/every-town-has-a-public-library

Could Public Libraries Become the Next Coworking Location

http://www.centernetworks.com/public-libraries-coworking

Both of these bring libraries back full circle in a way to their beginnings. I sometimes think that public libraries have lost their focus as a source of technical and scientific knowledge.