Daily Thoughts 05/04/2012

Pariser Büchermarkt (Bouquinistes), 1911, Fritz Westendorp



Daily Thoughts 05/04/2012

This morning, I read some more of Straphanger.  The author is describing how people use bicycles a lot in Copenhagen and even ride their bikes to the train stations.  One thing that caught my interest is the idea of  transportation networks linking bicycles, pedestrian walkways, trains, and buses.  


I also updated the Facebook and Twitter pages for the library, checked the displays, and went to the book sale.  The Mount Vernon Public Library is having its Book and Bake sale today from the Friends of the Library.  It was pleasant walking around the sale.  I recognized a few booksellers who were picking out books to sell on the internet as well as many of the Friends of the Library who were there.  I bought two books, a hardcover and a paperback and had a piece of cake.  People were coming and looking at the books from the community.  I always enjoy book sales.  They have a very comfortable atmosphere to them.  The sale runs today, May 4 and Saturday, May 5, 2012.  I will also be here on Saturday.

I spent a little more time at the book sale and listened while one of the Friends of the Library played the piano.  I also had some coffee it was quite pleasant.  It gave me a chance to mention the May 8, 2012 panel on Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe where we have Ellen Datlow, edior, John Langan, author, and Laird Barron author .

I read the latest New York Times Book Review.

I just finished the section on HTML at Codecademy.  Next up is CSS.

On the way home, I read some more of Straphanger.  The author is describing the incredible efficiency and density of the Tokyo train systems.  One of the reasons they are so successful is that so many people prefer riding trains over cars in Japan.  Taras Grescoe also describes something called a BRT or (Bus Rapid Transit).  These are buses with station stops, dedicated walled off lanes designed for fairly fast transport of large numbers of passengers.

I am still thinking about the difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org.  I am thinking about what it would take to build a self hosted site with a dedicated host.  I would probably need a more up to date computer to do it though.  I don't see that much difference between wordpress.com and blogger in draft.  It is the self hosted site that seems to offer the msot difference.  There are even some libraries using wordpress.org as a content management system.

Web Bits

Can Barnes & Noble Balance Physical and Online Sales Without Killing Itself
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/can-barnes-noble-balance-physical-and-online-sales-without-killing-itself.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

This is one of those questions that affects the whole book industry.  You could ask the same question to booksellers who sell books both in store and online.  You could even ask the same question about libraries.

Daily Thoughts 11/7/2011

Photo of American Transcendentalist and writer James Freeman Clarke, seated and reading a book. Cropped version.

Daily Thoughts 11/7/2011

I read some more of Supergods this morning.  Grant Morrison is writing about Alan Moore and Frank Miller.  I rather like Alan Moore.  Watchmen was an interesting book, but I liked The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen much better.

This morning I also checked the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the library as well as the displays.

The Friends of the Library are packing up the books leftover from the book sale to be sent to Better World Books.  We are also sending our discards over to Better World Books As Well.  Better World Books is paying the freight. http://www.betterworldbooks.com/Info-Discards-Donations-Program-m-4.aspx  Having a book sale is more than just about making money for the library.  It is also a way to generate goodwill for the library which can seem a bit intangible to some people, but is very important.

I also spent some time on the website learning to make minor adjustments as well as watched a bit of the Lynda.com training videos for Photoshop CS5 and Microsoft Publisher 2010.

Two books came in for me to read, The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge which is science fiction and The Better Angels of Our Nature Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker.

On the way home I read some more of Supergods. I also switched back to reading The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer. The book of letters is very slow reading.  The thinking and style is very dense.  Each letter condenses a lot of living into a very small space.

Please go out and vote tomorrow.  Election day is on November 8, 2011 in New York.

Web Bits

Saving Libraries but Not Librarians Blowback
http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/11/saving-libraries-but-not-librarians-blowback.html

This is a reflection on how people are thinking of things.  Our profession has been facing a lot of changes for some time.  We are also increasingly facing competition from the business world who would like to make libraries less able to deal with a digital future.  Other people are trying to label our profession as superfluous.  It is important that we get better control over technology and start advertising the access we offer.

Net Neutrality Is Under Attack Email Your Senators Before Tuesday's Vote
http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/hutchison_nn/?source=fb

Net neutrality ensures open access to the internet.  It is important to ensure free access to information.

Sign Online Petition to Save School Libraries
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/892737-312/sign_online_petition_to_save.html.csp
 This is another example of how libraries have been challenged.  I can understand asking people to change their skills and offer retraining for relevance, but that is often not what is happening.

Pulitzer Prize Winner Jennifer Egan Just Showed Up With Jonathan Lethem At Occupy Wall Street

http://www.businessinsider.com/jennifer-egan-just-jonathan-lethem-occupy-wall-street-2011-11

Daily Thoughts 6/9/2011 (Idea Man, Book Sale)

Writing set, English, late 18th century; gold, rock crystal, and heliotrope. Exhibit in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Daily Thoughts 6/11/2011


This morning I finished reading Idea Man by Paul Allen.  The book reads very much like someone who has repeatedly fulfilled his wishes including owning two sports teams in Seattle, starting a Jimi Hendrix museum, funding Spaceship One, owning an ocean going yacht, and traveling all over the world.  At the same time it has a hard driven edge to it focused on working at computers and having repeated bouts of cancer.

Today, I did some more minor things.  Checking the displays and Twitter account, putting in some finishing touches for some flyers and policies and writing a description of the Friends of the Library book sale.

The Friends of the Library are downstairs setting up the book sale right now for tomorrow and Saturday, June 10 and June 11 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  I had to a chance to look over what was there.  There is a very nice selection of fiction, especially African American fiction as well as nonfiction.