Friday, December 2, 2011

Daily Thoughts 12/2/2011


Le Pêcheur à la ligne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1874

Daily Thoughts 12/2/2011

On the way to work, I read a little bit more of Survival of the Beautiful.  It has a lot of interesting ideas in it.  I rather liked the idea of cuttlefish being able to signal different meanings with their body from desire to anger.  I also liked the section on paintings by elephants and what they mean.

I have been spending a little bit of time on the website. I also have been updating the Facebook and Twitter account for the library.  The announcement for the Kenneth Davis author reading on January 12, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. is up on the website.  http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/KenDavis

We also have an ancestry display in the First Avenue Display Case called Early Scarsdale Along Saxon Woods Road. http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/First-Avenue-Window

We spent some time discussing the website, the library survey, the computer lab, ordering, and other issues.  There are so many different things that need to be worked on.

Yesterday we got donations of DVDs and VHS tapes.  We have been getting a lot more VHS tapes lately.  People must be clearing them out of their house.

The Holiday Tree is up in the front lobby.  There is a lot of gold decorations on the tree. We also have a small display requesting that people donate bestselling books.  We are also seeking donations of new books, CDs, and DVDs.  The display has gift wrapped boxes and other holiday decorations to express the spirit of the season.

On the way home, I finished reading Survival of the Beautiful, Art, Science, and Evolution by David Rothenberg.  There is a wonderful quote on P. 187, expressing how art can sometimes appear more real than nature.  "Field guides to nature use painting and diagrams far more than photographs because they show more possible marks of identification than one could ever actually see when confronting an actual, real bird, , though I'm sure computer-animated video field guides are just around the corner."  For the author, David Rosenberg, beauty is the most important and aesthetic quality in life.  It is a different and refreshing view of the world.

Web Bits

Libraries: Are They Obsolete?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ramon-resa-md/libraries-are-they-obsole_b_1123887.html?ref=libraries-in-crisis

The Huffington Post has a Libraries in Crisis Section which is very interesting reading.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/libraries-in-crisis/

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