Daily Thoughts 11/2/2011

Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot, Poetry



Daily Thoughts 11/2/2011

I finished reading Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Willpower this morning.  I enjoyed reading it.  It gave me some ideas on how to manage my own weaknesses.  I like food a little too much.  Three ideas seemed very good; precommitting to what I would do in the future, placing a bet on how much weight I might lose, and putting off snacks.  Apparently, procrastinating on whether you want to drink, smoke, or do some other habit is a way to help quitting.

This morning I checked the Twitter and Facebook account.  I have been asked to post a little extra about our Book and Bake Sale on November 4 and November 5.  We are opening on Saturday for the event.

http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/298  We even have a countdown widget on the page which reads 1 day and 16 hours until the sale.

I also checked the donations.  We had the complete Seasons 1, 2, and 3 for the television show Lost which is being added. 

I put together a display of biography books on a variety of poets including Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Alice Walker and others.  We are reading a biography of a poet for the Biography Book Club on November 15, 2011 from 3:00-4:00 p.m..  I like tying the collection with programming.

In the afternoon, I was in the computer lab for two hours helping people.  I helped people look for jobs and helped someone with basic word processing he was learning as part of the Beginning Computer Class on Tuesday from 6:00-7:00 p.m.  I have also been looking at the Popular Software Tutorial package that is currently on Learning Express and is available to all of our patrons.  http://www.learningexpressllc.com/datasheets/Popular_Software_Tutorials_Product_Sheet.pdf

On the way home, I read some of The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer.  The book was written in 1963.  I got it from our mezzanine area.  It is very old fashioned. 

Daily Thoughts 11/1/2011

The Pen ts'ao, 1249 C.E. Printed with woodblock, this illustrated book discusses Chinese herbal medicine.

Daily Thoughts 11/1/2011

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I also spent a little bit of time on the website.  I have been learning to make minor adjustments.  I put up a brief description for a new display of hooked rugs in the Rotunda Gallery by the Hudson Valley Rug Hookers. http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/Gallery

There is a free Library 2.0 Virtual Conference between November 2-4.  I just signed up.  http://www.library20.com

I spent some more time this afternoon practicing on Lynda.com.  I also spent some time talking to people about our computer lab.  We are getting steadily increasing usage.

I also spent a small amount of time weeding in the mezzanine.

On the way home, I read some more of Rediscovering The Greatest Human Strength Willpower by Johan F. Baumeister and John Tierney.  I liked the descriptions of how changing simple habits like posture can increase ones willpower.  I also liked the description of how can increasing discipline in one area like diet or studying can increase discipline in other areas.  One piece of the writing bothered me.  The authors claim that self discipline is more important self esteem.  I disagree with this.  I think both are equally important.

Web Bits

Library With Free Online College Textbooks Makes Debut
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2011/11/ebooks/library-with-free-online-college-textbooks-makes-debut/

I am going to present two ideas that are percolating around public libraries.  The first is the increasing interest by the Maker Movement which is focused on Tech Shops, 3D Printing, and small scale manufacturing and libraries and the second is how coworking is increasingly starting to interact with the library space.

These are ideas.  I don't necessarily agree with them, but they offer interesting new opportunities which libraries could look at more closely.  Part of this comes from concepts of what libraries might look like in the future. 

Library Partners With Tek Venture

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110702/LOCAL/307029959

Is It Time to Rebuild & Retool Public Libraries and Make “TechShops”?

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/03/is-it-time-to-rebuild-retool-public-libraries-and-make-techshops.html

Public Libraries, 3D Printing, FabLabs and Hackerspaces

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/05/public-libraries-3d-printing-fablabs-and-hackerspaces.html

Making Hackerspaces in Public Libraries

http://forum.contactcon.com/discussion/34/making-hackerspaces-in-public-libraries/p1

Perpetual Beta Awesome 3D Printing Video

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/perpetualbeta/awesome-3d-printing-video

Canton Public Library 1st Hack Day Recap

http://soup.hackerspaces.org/post/93975543/Canton-Public-Library-1st-Hack-Day-Recap

The second idea which comes up is the library as an entrepreneurial space.  There already are groups which are proposing the library be used as a coworking space.  Again, this is a small piece of a possible picture.  There are many people who come in now to use the library for its WiFi so they can work.

Coworking at the Public Library

http://www.pcworld.com/article/241574/coworking_at_the_public_library.html

Making Space for Entrepreneurs and Independent Workers

http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3568&zbrandid=4634&zidType=CH&zid=8535571&zsubscriberId=1031499408&zbdom=http://ala-publishing.informz.net

Every Town Has A Public Library-- Tony Bacigalupo who is one of the founders of New Work City in Manhattan.

http://tonybgoode.tumblr.com/post/174758246/every-town-has-a-public-library

Could Public Libraries Become the Next Coworking Location

http://www.centernetworks.com/public-libraries-coworking

Both of these bring libraries back full circle in a way to their beginnings. I sometimes think that public libraries have lost their focus as a source of technical and scientific knowledge. 

Daily Thoughts 10/31/2011

William Michael Harnett, Still Life With Three Castles Tobacco, c1880
Daily Thoughts 10/31/2011

This morning I read some more of Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Willpower.  The book is describing how glucose and other sugars affect peoples thinking.  It reminds us to eat a good breakfast with fruit and other foods that slowly release glucose.

This morning, I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts and the displays to make sure things were in order.

I also spent some more time on Lynda.com studying Photoshop CS5.  I checked with a librarian visiting from Westchester Library System about the length of Lynda.com and hopefully I can still continue using it.  If I can, I will start on Microsoft Publisher 2010 and Dreamweaver CS5.

Happy Halloween. There were a lot of programs for children today.  We had a storyteller come in and a bilingual Spanish and english storytime.  Many of the staff are in costume.  There is also a lot of candy in different places around the building.

I spent some more time weeding in the mezzanine.  I also confirmed that we will be having two sessions of computer training on Tuesday nights starting on November 15, 2011.  One session will be from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and the next session will be from 6:45-7:45 p.m.

On the way home, I read some  more of Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Willpower.  The authors are writing about how to set goals.  One of the best reminders is to set goals which you can work on every single day.  Another reminder was to not set goals which conflict with each other. 

I have been thinking ahead a little bit.  I am looking forward to the Book and Bake Sale on November 4.  I usually stop by and talk to the Friends of the Library there and have some coffee and a cookie during my break.  The book dealers usually come at the beginning of the sale to buy up the best material first.  They also tend to come at the end as well when they can try and get a bargain.

Web Bits

Survey Says Library Users Are Your Best Customers

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publishing-and-marketing/article/49316-survey-says-library-users-are-your-best-customers.html

Reading a Book Versus a Screen: Different Reading Devices, Different Modes of Reading?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020094337.htm

Daily Thoughts 10/30/2011

Carl Spitzweg: Kunst und Wissenschaft. Ca. 1880. Oil on canvas. 56.5 × 35.2 cm. Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

Daily Thoughts 10/30/2011


I updated the Twitter and Facebook for the library this morning.  I am reading Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Willpower by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney.  This book is about the psychology of self regulation and self control.  Self control seems to me to be a better term than willpower which has some very dark connotations.