Daily Thoughts 08/11/2015

Allegory of Poetry and Music, Angelica Kauffman, 1782
 
Daily Thoughts 08/11/2015


I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.


Last night, I went to the working Board of Trustees meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  I was there mainly to listen to the board talk. It was various resolutions like paying the HVAC maintenance, what to do with the treasurer, applying for a New York State Library Construction Grant, and signing checks.  There was some new discussion about weeding, the new library logo, instituting the software Board Docs, and e-rate for broadband.


This morning, I read some of Digital Gold.  This is the story of the founding of Bitcoin, one of the first cryptocurrencies.  It is about how people sought a safe way to do transactions outside the banking system with minimal government interference.

I checked the displays and the gift books.  I also read through a copy of the Times Literary Supplement.

I spent some time discussing a program which would done by a local professor, John Howard, on the Jacob Lawrence exhibit which is currently happening at the Museum of Modern Art.  http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1549 

The crochet class was today in the afternoon from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  It was well attended.

We also had two sessions in the computer lab one on Fundamentals of Computers from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and one on Beginning Microsoft Word from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Arlen Schumer did a lecture on his book, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  It was fantastic to watch.  There was a lot on social change, different aspects of the 1960s from the Vietnam war to Ken Kesey to the first black superhero who was Black Panther, and the first superhero with facial hair, Green Arrow.  The presentation was quite interesting.   We went to dinner afterwards and discussed a variety of things about comics and libraries. http://www.arlenschumer.com/home.html

On the way home, I read some more of Digital Gold.  I learned that the founder of Bitcoin disappeared anonymously.  No one knows who he really was.


Web Bits

Science Proves Reading to Kids Really Does Change Their Brains

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/science-proves-reading-to-kids-changes-their-brains_55c26bf4e4b0f1cbf1e38740?linkId=16161340

Scott Bonner Interview-- Director of Ferguson Municipal Library

http://circulatingideas.com/transcripts/scott-bonner/