Daily Thoughts 07/08/2017

Thomas Paine, Laurent Dabos, 1791

Daily Thoughts 07/08/2017

I checked the Twitter and Facebook for the library this morning.

I have been helping a colleague with restarting the literacy program.  I am playing a minor part in this.   I also have been talking with colleagues about the schedule for the Teen Coding Camp in the computer lab which is starting next week.

I have been steadily planning the programming for the next year.

Yesterday, I read some more of Visual Intelligence.  I am reading about "willfulness blindness" or refusing to see things which we don't like or make us uncomfortable.  People have a tendency to look for what they want to see.  There is also a section on inherent biases or how we tend to view the world in certain ways which can limit our vision.

I finished reading Visual Intelligence Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life by Amy E. Herman.  This book helped me understand better how an artists training changes the way they see the world.  In order to draw or paint the world, people need to catch the small details and encompass the bigger picture.  I found this book helpful in understanding this.  Also, the methodical approach was excellent because it described what to look for in many images.  Also, Amy Schumer discussed uncertainty, looking at unpleasant images, personal biases and other things which limit our ability to see the world around us.  If someone wants to pay more attention this book is helpful.

I wrote my monthly report today.

I started reading Homo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.  Yuval is making an argument that the threats of famine, war, and plague have been greatly reduce.

Web Bits

Libraries Are Not Neutral Spaces: Social Justice Advocacy In Librarianship

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/07/shows-events/ala/libraries-are-not-neutral-spaces-ala-annual-2017/

TSA Ends Tests of Separate Scanning for Books

http://cbldf.org/2017/07/tsa-ends-test-of-separate-scanning-for-books/

Making Sense of A New America: A Reading List

http://www.bookclubcentral.org/2017/06/23/making-sense-of-a-new-america-a-reading-list/

Funding Cuts In State Libraries Leads to a Domino Effect

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2017/07/07/funding-cuts-state-libraries-leads-domino-effect/456119001/

This is an example of how funding cuts at a higher level spread to a lower level.  It shows what might happen nationally if the IMLS were cut at the federal level.

Distilling Key Trends to Rethink Libraries

https://www.cilip.org.uk/news/distilling-key-trends-rethink-libraries


Long Island Libraries Evolve and Add Coffeeshops
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/long-island-libraries-evolve-and-add-coffee-shops-1.13785614