Daily Thoughts 01/17/2012

Herbert Putnam in his office. Librarian of Congress Date Created/Published: [between 1890 and 1910]

Daily Thoughts 01/17/2012

This morning, I read some of Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands A Tourist on the Axis of Evil.  Tony Wheeler is the founder of  Lonely Planet travel guides.  He travels to a variety of places as a tourist that are somewhat closed to westerners.  The book is entertaining.  So far, I have read about visiting Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, and Iraq.  There are constant little reminders that these places are potentially dangerous and one has to watch what one is doing carefully.  However, the people are also friendly and interesting.

I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  We are also working on the website and the e-blast.  I gave a colleague my collection of monthly calendars so she could check what we had done during the year.

We had the Biography Book Club today.  I talked about the book The Life and Legend of Jay Gould.   We also talked about the book The Warmth of Other Suns:  The Epic Story of America's Great Migration.  One of our patrons suggested we might want to change the focus of the book club to books on current events.

I spent some time making calls to people about the Mount Vernon Writers Network http://www.mvwn.org  to confirm their attendance.  I also showed another colleague Tumblebooks which are E-books for children.

I spent some time at the beginning of the Intermediate Computer Class this evening talking about the E-readers.  I showed the Kindle and the Sony E-readers to the people at the class.  I am going to be going over the Nook with the career counselor who comes to visit on Tuesdays next week.  It should be interesting.

On the way home, I read some more of Tony Wheeler's Badlands.  In both North Korea and Libya, Tony Wheeler had to travel as part of a group of people with a guide who directed what they could see.  Everything was well planned beforehand.  There is quite a bit of historical commentary thrown in with his experiences visiting these countries.

Web Bits

20 Heroic Librarians Who Save the World
http://io9.com/5671047/20-heroic-librarians-who-save-the-world

Book Clubbing: On Living and Learning In Bookstores
http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/11965/book-clubbing-sonya-chung-on-living-learning-in-bookstores.html

Daily Thoughts 1/4/2012

Yallourn Public Library bookplate [picture] / Allan Jordan

Daily Thoughts 1/4/2012

I finished reading The Life and Legend of Jay Gould in the morning.  I am definitely prepared for the Biography Book Club on January 17, 2012 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  A few of the Friends of the Library go to the book club.

This morning I checked the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I also opened the Computer Lab from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Right now, I have the Sony E-reader charging.  I also spent some time with a colleague discussing the Kindle and how it worked.  Her Kindle does not have Wifi so she has to sync it with her Kindle application on the pc.  Tomorrow we are going to spend some time looking over the Nook tablet.  I rather like the Nook tablet.

During the last few minutes of my shift, I showed someone how to download books for the Kindle Fire tablet.  It was much easier than I thought.  Kindle does not require the user to download a separate app to use Overdrive.  Also all their new devices have wifi. 

I finished reading World On the Edge How To Prevent Economic and Environmental Collapse by Lester R. Brown on the train home.  It is a very pure left of center vision of how to solve the worlds problems.  I found it to be too idealistic at points.  I agree with his ideas on planting trees, reducing poverty, promoting local agriculture, family planning, and stabilizing failing states. It is idealism at its finest.  I am not sure his descriptions on how to make the ideas work seem practical.



Web Bits

Biblios
http://www.guylaramee.com/index.php?/biblios/text-1/

This is a video on how to use Adobe Digital Editions for the Nook.  Adobe Digital Editions is used for the Westchester Library System Digital Media Catalog.
http://nooktalk.net/news/loading-books-with-adobe-digital-editions-on-your-nook


Which ebooks are most borrowed from libraries and why?
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-which-e-books-are-most-borrowed-from-libraries-and-why/

Daily Thoughts 12/17/2011

Alexander Kanoldt: Stilleben mit Büchern und Krügen, Öl auf Leinwand, 85 x 65.5 cm, 1920

Daily Thoughts 12/17/2011

I updated the Twitter and Facebook for the library.  There are still negotiations going on over the budget.  Hopefully things will go well for us. Please support libraries.

I read some more of The Life and Legend of Jay Gould.  The book discusses the ties between the railroads and the telegraph.  At one point Jay Gould worked with Thomas Edison.  He also had a rivalry with Cornelius Vanderbilt.

I plan on going to the board meeting on December 21, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. for the library.

I started reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.  I am finding it rather odd. It comes across as muckraking progressivism versus a kind of rampant free market fundamentalism which the author, Naomi Klein is opposed to.  The writing is quite bombastic with strong statements. There is very little that seems factually neutral.  It is very much a right wing versus left wing book.  Her main target initially seems to be Milton Friedman who I am not a fan of.   Because I think of myself as independent thinker in many ways, some of the statements by Naomi Klein are puzzling to me.


Web Bits

Austerity's Attack on Knowledge Assaulting Libraries
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/12/16/assaulting-libraries/
A British view on libraries.

Take This Book: The People's Library At Occupy Wall Street
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/melissagiragrant/take-this-book-the-peoples-library-at-occupy-wall?ref=search
This is a Kickstarter Project designed to crowd fund a book.

Daily Thoughts 12/16/2011

Bibliotheksinterieur mit lesender Magd. Öl auf Hartfaseroplatte, signiert, 23 x 18,5 cm, 1915

Daily Thoughts 12/16/2011

This morning I read some more of the Life and Legend of Jay Gould.  Quite a bit of the book is about railroads.  Jay Gould invested heavily in the Union Pacific and the Erie railroads.  It makes for a ruthless story of board room intrigue, union busting, legal chicanery, political lobbying, price manipulation, and business excess.  It is very much about the roots of American capitalism.


This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook account.  I also checked the displays and gift books.  I also spent some time reading the latest Forecast from Baker and Taylor, the BWI Titletalk catalog, and the latest copy of the New York Times Bestseller list.  One of our patrons challenged me to read Suicide of A Superpower by Patrick J. Buchanan who I am not fond of.  I plan on doing this.


I also plan on reading Never Would have Made It the Rise of Tyler Perry by Melvin Child.  It is coming out in January.

I showed one of my colleagues the Lynda.com service today.  I also spent some time clearing my desk off because I am going to be off next week from work.

I decided to read the books on the Occupy Educated primer reading list.  http://occupyeducated.org/primer/  I already have read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan which is about eating organic, unprocessed, locally produced food as well as eating less meat.
I checked out The Shock Doctrine The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein.

On the way home, I read some more of The Life and Legend of Jay Gould.  It has become clear at this point in the biography that Jay Gould's speculations are about more than money.  He is clearly trying to build a lasting business empire which will carry on after he is gone. 

Web Bits

Best Independent Bookstores on Twitter
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/best-bookstores-on-twitter_b44000

Special Merchandise: When Is a Bookstore Not a Bookstore?
http://publishingtrendsetter.com/industryinsight/special-merchandise-bookstore-bookstore/

Occupy UCONN Takes the Library During Finals
http://www.thenation.com/node/165183

HackLibSchool On Occupy Wall Street: Part II
http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/hacklibschool-on-occupy-wall-street-part-ii/

Daily Thoughts 12/15/2011

Interior with poppies and reading woman (Lizzy Hohlenberg), 1905
Daily Thoughts 12/15/2011

On the way to work, I read some of The Life and Legend of Jay Gould by Maury Klein.  It is a book about ruthless ambition.  Jay Gould was considered the wickedest of the 19th century robber barons by many.  His financial transactions and business dealings are legendary for their double dealing and trickery.  The book describes a man driven by greed, absolutely loyal to his family, and continuously driven to self- improvement.  I am reading this book for the biography book club.

Today has been a quiet, steady day.  I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  I also checked the displays.  We got our desk calendar for the new year yesterday.  I printed up some flyers for events that are coming up.  I am also working on the January, February schedule for programs.

Web Bits

The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries In The World
http://flavorwire.com/240819/the-25-most-beautiful-college-libraries-in-the-world

Daily Thoughts 12/14/2011

Depiction of Joseph reading to the Pharaoh. Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1878 Ebers, From the book, "Egypt: Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque." Volume 1. Cassell & Company, Limited: New York, 1878. p 096b.

Daily Thoughts 12/14/2011

This morning, I updated the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the library.  I also checked the displays, checked the gift books, looked over the flyers, and printed some more bookmarks. 

We spent some time discussing the computers. Techsoup has some very good deals on software for libraries http://www.techsoup.org/ , especially for Microsoft products.

The computer lab is going to be open from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for academic use.  More people are coming in for the lab lately.  A lot of them are from the computer classes on Tuesday nights.  We are installing Open Office in addition to Microsoft Office.

I am reading The Life and Legend of Jay Gould by Maury Kleint.  Jay Gould was known for being a robber baron and industrialist on the railroads in the 19th century.  We are going to read biographies of people who worked with the railroads as part of the biography book club for next month.

I put together the beginnings of a book display on trains, subways, and trolleys.  There is some information on old railroad lines in Westchester that have since stopped operating in the Local History Room which I hope to look at.

Significant Changes at the Mount Vernon Public Library
http://www.mvinquirer.com/mount_vernon_public_library_chan.htm

Web Bits

Ebooks Shmee Books; Readers Return to the Stores
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/books/steve-jobs-biography-and-other-hot-titles-bookstore-lures.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all?src=tp

For Amazon Lashes and Backlashes
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/for-amazon-lashes-and-backlashes/%20
Is it alright to be ambivalent?

A "New" Digital Divide
http://www.ors.ala.org/libconnect/2011/12/13/a-new-digital-divide/
I like to think there are a number of divides:
1) Access to computers and computer training.
2) Access to smart devices-- smart phones, tablets, digital cameras
3) Access to broadband internet and wifi
4) Access to electronic content-- databases, ebooks, and other electronic content like music and film.

Each of these divides adds to the ability to interact in the increasingly digital world.  I keep on trying to convince myself to buy a smart phone and a tablet.