Daily Thoughts 12/3/2012

Ein Besuch, Carl Spitzweg, Circa 1850

Daily Thoughts 12/3/2012

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook account for the library.  I also checked the new books.  We spent some time switching some of the new books to the regular library collection.  It is nice seeing new material going into the shelves.  It helps refresh the collection.

There are a lot of very nice new books.

I also checked the displays today.  I read the latest New York Times Book review which is the December 2, 2012 holiday issue.  A holiday book that looked interesting was Vogue: The Editors Eye, Edited by Eve McSweeney. 

I also spent some time working with the clerks on weeding the 900s.  The clerks have been inventorying the main floor collection.

There is going to be a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees on December 6, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. for the Mount Vernon Public Library.

On the way home, I finished reading Help the Helper Building A Culture of Extreme Teamwork by Kevin Pritchard and John Eliot, Ph.D.  The book focuses on concepts around teamwork.  There is some discussion of scouting and how athletic scouts pick people.  Character is very important in picking players for a team.  The authors describe the limits of metrics.  Metrics don't determine how well a player works with their teammates.  I found the sports based approach to management interesting.  I especially liked the sections on swim teams.  I was on the swim team during middle school.  I also watched a lot of baseball with my grandfather.

Web Bits

Help the Gates Foundation Decide How to Spend Money on Libraries
http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/help-the-gates-foundation-decide-how-to-spend-money-on-libraries-time-to-free-the-great-gatsby-and-other-classics-and-support-national-digital-library-systems/

Daily Thoughts 11/27/2012

Claude Monet, In the Woods at Giverny: Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, 1887

Daily Thoughts 11/27/2012

This morning, I read some more of Help the Helper on the train to work.  The authors are describing how metrics measure individual performance, but do not measure teamwork.  They describe how it is important to find people who will support the team as a whole, not just themselves.  I also read a little more on Hegel in the book On Politics V.2.

I checked the Twitter and Facebook for the library this morning.

I am thinking of doing some more Spanish practice using the BBC languages website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

I spent a little time looking over the old services brochure for the library today.  I also checked the displays and the gift books.

This afternoon, I did a little bit more checking in the mezzanine in the 800s.

On the way home, I read some more of Help the Helper.  One of the questions in the book is posed is why do you do what you do?  What motivates you?  I think a large portion of what I am doing as a librarian is both for the self education of patrons as well as myself.  I think of self-education as practical skills like home repair, reading about health, computer use, resume writing, learning the classics, financial literacy, and similar activities.  Libraries have a civilizing influence.

 Andrew Carnegie said, "You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little."

 I also read some more of On Politics V.2 by Alan Ryan.  Right now, I am reading about John Stuart Mill.  One of the interesting things about the book is that he includes many people I had never heard of like Saint-Simon and Jeremy Bentham.  I had heard of the panopticon before, but did not know that Jeremy Bentham invented it.

Web Bits

December 1st is the Deadline to be a Host for World Book Night
http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/resources/all-resources

Independent Bookstores Find Their Footing
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/26/165911904/independent-bookstores-find-their-footing

New York Times -- 100 Notable Books of 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2012.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0