Daily Thoughts 07/16/2012

One visual interpretation of the Galactic Library glyph (Library Institute emblem), based on the verbal descriptions in David Brin's "Uplift" series of science-fiction novels (a five-fold spiral with a vertical bar through its center).  I like David Brin.


Daily Thoughts 07/16/2012

I took a break from social media this weekend. I also have been reading Existence by David Brin which I am finding enjoyable and interesting.  I especially like a reference in the book to an imaginary book title, Pandora's Cornucopia which is about all the different ways that humanity might go extinct.  There are lots of big ideas in this book including making animals more intelligent and alien contact.

This morning, I checked the website, updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  Made some suggestions about the $100 Startup including a bit about New Work City, Skillshare, and General Assembly.  I also checkd the displays and gift books.

I am waiting for a new graphic novel to be ordered by the library system, The Lovely Horrible Stuff by Eddie Campbell which is about money.

This afternoon, I did a little more inventory in the mezzanine.  I also finished reading the latest copy of Booklist and looked at the Purchase Alerts which lists items which are on hold for us.  Many of them are items which we do not own.

I finished reading Existence by David Brin.  It has a lot of interesting concepts in it.  The story makes you think.  David Brin brings in a lot of ideas from Von Neumann probes to alien contact stones and alien memes.  

Web Bits

Bookyard, A Library In Ghent
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/bookyard

Creating the Future: a 2020 Vision Plan For Library Service in the State of New York
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/2020final/index.html#r24

Daily Thoughts 07/13/2012

Anton Chladek (1794 - 1882) - Portrait of Romanian poet Alecu Văcărescu, National Art Museum of Romania, Bucureşti

Daily Thoughts 07/13/2012

I have been reading David Brin's Existence.  The book is enjoyable, it is about alien contact.  There are a number of discussions threading throughout the book about SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), artificial intelligence, and humanities generally meddlesome nature.  There is a very chaotic lively feeling to the writing.  I am a fan of David Brin's writing, I especially liked The Uplift War series, and I follow him on Facebook and Twitter.  I also occassionally read his material from Reason magazine which is a libertarian magazine.

This morning, I checked the displays, gift books, and updated the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the library.  I still have some New York Times Book Reviews to catch up on for my professional reading.

I finished going through the New York Times Book Reviews today.  I am caught up on my professional reading.  I also checked the Collection Management sheets for patron requests.  Sometimes you learn little details like many military personnel prefer the McGraw Hill version of the ASVAB.  This helps make ordering books better.