Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema, World of Dreams, 1876
Daily Thoughts 04/14/2018
I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.
I checked the displays and the gift books when I came in to work.
I spent some time checking the oversize books. I also did shifting in the oversize section.
I checked the latest New York Times Bestseller List and Publishers Weekly Bestseller List.
I took a look at the April Bookpage.
Our Adult Literacy and Spanish Library had a conversion group for Language Learners from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.. This was followed by a colleague doing a collage program at 12:30 p.m.
I finished reading
Enlightenment Now The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker. The last part of the book is an argument for humanism over religion. I thought the book was excellent until the end where Steven Pinker criticizes religion as being irrational. I found the arguments for science, humanism, reason, and progress to be convincing. They were backed up by lots of facts. The end of the book includes extensive notes, references, and index. The book has a positive message about how violence, crime, war, hunger, and hatred have been reduced over time. It makes a good case for the advantages of the philosophy of the western enlightenment.
Urban Librarians Unite Conference—Library Revolution 04/13/2018
At 9:00 a.m., the conference had check in with coffee and
pastries.
The first speaker was Jim Neal, president of the American
Library Association. He spoke about
building solidarity inside the profession.
There was also an award given to Urban Libraians Unite.
This was followed by the Assistant Director of the Brooklyn Public Library who thanked everyone
for coming.
I am going to point some highlights of the panels which I
attended. Not everything, because having two or three good ideas in a presentation is enough.
The Keynote Spoker was Jessamyn West who talked about
community engagement. She provided a
list of community engagement tools at
http://librarian.net/talks/engage this includes a summary of the keynote
speech.
The first panel I attended was from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Librarians for All: Preparing Staff to Work With Individuals From Diverse Backgrounds.
The panelists referred to the American Library Association
Office Diversity several times. They
also said that diversity should be in the library values. Also, universal design works well because it
is meant for everyone.
I had lunch with Carl Andrews who worked for Mount Vernon
Public Library for a while.
The next panel was from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. It Was Sustainable Thinking for the Future of
Libraries. New York Library Association
has a Sustainability Certification.
http://nyla.org/sustainability
The speakers described sustainability as a triple bottom
line.
1 Environmentally sound.
2 Economically feasible
3 Socially equitable.
They also described how we were going through a variety of changes with the climate
and environment.
There was a quote which I liked from Alvin Toffler, “You’ve
got to think big things while you do the small things.”
From 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
I went to The Power of Reviews The Situation of Race in the
Bookshelf. This discussion spoke about
how there were very few reviewers of colors.
Most of the publishing profession is white and female. The 2040 Review was created to have a diverse
review.
https://www.2040review.com/
The speakers also described how the standard review
magazines like Kirkus, Library Journal, and Booklist were all old established
review magazines where people knew each other.
American Indians in Children’s Literature
The Center for the Children’s Book which has a variety of
Diversity Lists
I mentioned Mosaic
Literary Magazine and a few other things which I look at.
I also learned about the Diversity Baseline Survey in 2016 in Publishing.
Web Bits
New Group To Support Yonkers Public Library
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2018/04/10/new-group-support-yonkers-public-library/499982002/
Behind the Scenes Look at Cambridge's Oldest Library
