Daily Thoughts 05/23/2012

Woman With A Child In A Boat, Berthe Morisot, 1892, Oil on Canvas

Daily Thoughts 05/23/2012

I read some more of Ulysses on the Kindle Touch.  I am at the point where Ulysses contends with Circe the sorceress who turns men into swine.  There is a certain truth to this when you read this story.  It comes across as allegorical.  I also read a little more of Javascript: The Missing Manual.

This morning, I checked the displays and updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  The library has the computer lab open between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.  I spent some time talking about how to download library e-books with the Nook.  It is a little bit different than the Kindle.

I read the latest Publishers Weekly magazine.  There was an article called Disintermediating Amazon which I enjoyed.  You often can pull up the articles from the magazine online.  http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/52000-disintermediating-amazon.html

I also read the latest Booklist and finished reading the Baker and Taylor Forecast.  I like to check the catalog to see who is also ordering copies of different books and how many holds there are.  The Westchester Library System functions cooperatively.  Each library has a separate budget and administration.

I also spent some time and updated my thought experiment, Inflatable Space, some new ideas have come along.  For example, Space X has successfully launched a rocket for NASA.  They also have teamed up with Bigelow Aerospace to promote the Genesis Inflatable Space Station.  In addition, a new company called Stratolaunch has formed to launch rockets from high altitude airplanes.  Pieces of the original thought experiment are startting to happen.   http://bookcalendar.blogspot.com/2010/11/inflatable-space-thought-experiment.html    This of course is more about creativity than books, but I do it sometimes to stretch my thinking.

Web Bits

More Than Just Text
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/05/book-digitisation?fsrc=gn_ep

A Model for the New Bookstore
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/05/23/model-new-bookstore-essay

American Libraries Econtent Supplement May/June
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/f8ac9caa#/f8ac9caa/1

Daily Thoughts 04/19/2012

Evening Reading, oil on canvas, 74 x 90.5 cm, Frederick Zezin


Daily Thoughts 04/19/2012

I read a little bit of Too Big to Know Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Eveywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room is the Room by David Weinberger.
David Weinberger is writing about networked information inside computer systems.  In this environment none of the information is destroyed, and it is also often filtered by groups of people in a social network.  This is a very different method of filtering information than what happens inside a library where people acquire books then deselect them when they no longer are needed.  His descriptions are quite interesting.  They remind me of the concept in science fiction of the "Final Encyclopedia" or a computer system that contains the sum total of all human knowledge.  This book also introduces concepts like the data commons.  It also reminds me to find out a little bit more about "Big Data", or emerging ways to view very large amounts of knowledge.

There are very real applications in the library setting for big data.  Overdrive Inc. is bringing "big data" to the world of library e-books. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120412/FREE/120419952  It is also an emerging concept in ASIS the American Society for Information Science.  With very large open source systems, massive amounts of data can be sifted to learn new things about libraries, library patrons, and how we read and learn. 

This morning, I finished checking through the New York Times Book Review and checked the current events display.  I am also going to look for some more books on abstract art.  I spent some more time finding books on abstract art, mostly American abstract painting.

I also spent some time this afternoon in the computer lab helping people with job search and how to fill out basic online applications.  We had the computer lab open between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. today.  I also took time to speak to our computer instructor who comes in on Tuesdays to teach a basic and an intermediate computer course.

I read a little bit more of Too Big to Know on the way home.  He is describing how the idea of facts was created.  It is a relatively recent invention.  With the idea of "facts", we get the creation of experts and knowledge.  Books store static knowledge creating a "canon" of acceptable and vetted facts in a limited contained area.  In contrast, the internet is a giant ever expanding mass of often self-contradictory, inaccurate information.

One idea that strikes me is that e-books are not similar to books, yet they are still packaged and sold as a self-contained product.  I rather like this O'reilly article called The Line Between Book and Internet Will Disappear.http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/09/beyond-ebooks-publisher-as-api.html  I do not agree with the idea that all books should be locked to the internet.  Many are perfectly fine as self contained objects.

I also had a chance to read some more of An Economist Gets Lunch New Rules for Everyday Foodies.  I rather like that the author likes food trucks, local ethnic cuisine, barbecue, and disdains fast food, big name restaurants, and junk food.  His tastes are appealing to me.



Web Bits

Why One in Five U.S. Adults Doesn't Use the Internet
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/13/tech/web/pew-not-using-internet/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Daily Thoughts 01/28/2012

Harper's Magazine cover by Edward Penfield, June, 1896

Daily Thoughts 01/28/2012

I had a chance to update the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library this morning.  On a more personal note, I went and got a haircut which has nothing to do with this blog.

29% of US Adults Own a Tablet or an E-reader
http://mashable.com/2012/01/23/19-percent-adults-tablet/
E-reader software is also available for the PC and Personal Digital Assistants (another word for Smart Phones).  This means that anyone with access to a computer or laptop probably has access to E-reader software.


The Mount Vernon Writers Network has updated their website with biographies and pictures.  http://www.mvwn.org    It is looking excellent.


Unpopular Mount Vernon LIbrary Director Leaves
http://www.lohud.com/article/20120127/NEWS02/301270018/Unpopular-Mount-Vernon-library-director-leaves-confidential-deal
I can only hope that we find someone positive who will be good for both the community and the library.

I read some more of Debt The First 5000 Years.  The author is writing about Early Medieval Ireland where a persons honor and social status was measured in terms of cumal or slave girls.  This was translated into cattle and silver.  People literally had to pay debts of honor for insulting or harming another person.  The greater ones social status the more value in terms of cumal.  I found it interesting that to be a noble one had to have at least five cattle.  This was before money was a regular medium of exchange.  This book is full fascinating tidbits of information that I will probably will never use again.


Web Bits

J.R.R. Tolkien and George Orwell Removed from the Public Domain
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/j-r-r-tolkien-george-orwell-removed-from-public-domain_b45725

Moore's Law Publishing And Why Michael Fraser is right about generation Y.
http://blog.publishingtechnology.com/digital-solutions/moores-law-publishing/#.TyQaxj9uAkM.facebook 

How Will Social Media Effect the E-book
http://socialtimes.com/how-will-social-media-affect-the-ebook_b88288

Daily Thoughts 01/23/2012

Yeats at Petitpas Scene depicts artist John Butler Yeats eating, drinking, and smoking with his friends at a long narrow table in an outdoor seating area of Petitpas restaurant in New York. Hanging over the table is a bright pendant lamp, which illuminates the faces of the artists, poets, writers, and actors seated around the table. In the background a Mlle. Celestine Petipas stands by the table, a bowl of apples and oranges held in her hands. Artist: Sloan, John, 1871-1951, painter. Medium: Oil on canvas.


Daily Thoughts 01/23/2012


I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  I also spent a little time talking to people about the E-blast and the program tonight for preventing forclosure from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

I read a bit more of Debt the First 5,000 Years.  I rather like the idea that credit was invented before coinage.  The Egyptians and Sumerians would issue credit based on the silver bullion in their temples.  Coinage came later. There are also some interesting ideas about how taxation creates debt obligations to empires and states.  Debt is more than just money, there are also social and religious debts.

I put the book, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey on hold.  It was part of the RUSA 2012 Reading List http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2012/01/22/2012-readinglist/

• Mount Vernon Inquirer Article about the Budget from January 13, 2012
• http://www.mvinquirer.com/2012_budget.htm
• The Mount Vernon Public Library got $3.6 million dollars for 2012 the budget which was $100,000 more in funding than last year.

Web Bits

Tablet and E-book reader Ownership Nearly Double Over Holidy Gift-Giving Period
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets.aspx
We are getting a lot more requests on how to download library E-books.

Low Income People Versus E-books Controversy Shows Why The DPLA (Digital Public Library of America) Library Should Care More About the Needs of the Nonelite
http://www.teleread.com/library/low-income-people-vs-e-books-controversy-shows-why-the-dpla-library-should-care-more-about-the-needs-of-the-nonelite/ 

Moving Towards A Hybrid Market E + P
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/retailing/article/50304-moving-toward-a-hybrid-market.html
In my view, there is a place for both.  I think I will always prefer graphic novels in print as well as heavily illustrated, art books, instructional books, and oversize books as print books.  I think plain fiction and books with not a lot of illustration are better as E-books.


What Future for Occupy Wall Street from the New York Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/feb/09/what-future-occupy-wall-street/?page=1