Daily Thoughts 9/3/2011

[Painting by Edgar Ritchard of two books and an unframed painting] [picture]1931.]


Daily Thoughts 9/3/2011


I read some more of No Shelf Required Ebooks in Libraries this morning.  I have been learning about the major ebook distributors for libraries; Ingram Digital Editions, Overdrive, and Netlibrary,  I have quite a bit more to learn.


I also spent a little bit of time on Facebook and Twitter.


I put the book Blur: How To Know What's True In The Age of Information Overload by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel on hold.

I also went to Barnes and Noble today.  The first thing which you see when you come into the store now is the Nook e-reader.  The whole window display in the front of the store was for ebooks. It is clear that Barnes and Noble is pushing ebooks.


Also when I was in the store, I noticed that there were tables for summer reading assignments for the schools.  I heard one of the clerks at the front desk tell someone they even kept a binder for the assignments from the different schools in the area.  We do this at our library.  It is the first time I am seeing this at Barnes and Noble.  Part of the job of libraries is to visit the schools to talk about books and other materials, distribute library cards to students, and check on the different assignments that occur in the schools.

I read a bit more of Lincoln As I Knew Him tonight.  The people writing the anecdotes and statements are interesting; John Wilkes Booth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Walt Whitman are among the writers. 

I read a review of Goliath by Scott Westerfeld.  I very much like the cover http://bookyurt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Goliath.jpg   The book is coming out on September 20, 2011.  I liked the other books in the Leviathan trilogy.


Web Bits


It is Banned Books Week on September 24 through October 1st.
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

The Dog-Eared Paperback, Newly Endangered in an E-Book Age by Julie Bosman http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/business/media/mass-market-paperbacks-fading-from-shelves.html?_r=2&hp

Daily Thoughts 6/29/2011

William Sydney Porter--    O.Henry, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library

Daily Thoughts 6/29/2011


Today was another very steady day.  I checked the displays and the book sale.  I also tabulated another survey.  I discussed the Central Library District allotment with the director this morning and looked over peoples ordering assignments.

I also spent some time helping people with job search in the computer lab for an hour.  It is something we do on occassion. 

A lot of the teenagers are coming in for their assignment lists and signing up for summer reading.  Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, and Animal Farm by George Orwell are very popular.  The short classics are what the teenagers want to read; The Pearl and The Red Pony by John Steinbeck,  Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and The Prince by Machiavelli are quite short.

The book, How The Hippies Saved Physics, Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser came in for me to read.

I am looking forward to The Death Ray by Dan Clowes.  It should be an interesting graphic novel.  It is coming out in September.   I also think Lidia's Italy in America published by Knopf should do quite well.  I occassionally watch the cooking show on Channel 13 while I am folding laundry.