Daily Thoughts 02/11/2012

Personal effects of Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. He died for a century. This image can be considered a derived work of public domain.


Daily Thoughts 02/11/2012

I have been reading more of Thinking, Fast and Slow.  I am learning that it is often easy to lose money in stocks because people have a hard time letting go of poorly performing stocks.  They regret their losses and don't sell in time.

I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.

I am going to the Book 2 Camp Unconference tomorrow which is free.  I will probably go early to volunteer to help with setup.

I am listening to Marc Eliot narrate the audiobook American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood.  It is a download from Overdrive.  It is the first time I have listened to an audiobook on a computer.  We are having the Biography Book Club on Tuesday from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m..  We are reading about a person in a current event.  Clint Eastwood's recent superbowl commercial, Halftime in America was a bit controversial and in the news.  I rather liked it.

Web Bits

Occupy Wall Street Claims The City Ruined Its Library
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/occupy-wall-street-charges-city-ruined-its-library/?ref=nyregion 

Occupy London's School of Ideas
http://schoolofideas.org.uk/

Daily Thoughts 02/10/2012

Palmer Cox's "The Brownies" reading a book, from "The Palmer Cox Brownie Primer" 1906

Daily Thoughts 02/10/2012

This morning, I read some of Thinking, Fast and Slow. The author is writing about how we overestimate the chance of a rare event happening like winning the lottery or getting attacked by terrorists.  A lot of the lottery is about dreaming.  A dollar will give you a pleasant daydream even if you win nothing.

I have been working on my annual schedule for programming.  The Adult Summer Reading program starts on June 25 and ends on August 10, 2012 with the annual End of Summer Reading Tea.  I also have been looking at some of the other programs as well.

I am thinking a little more about the Book Squared unconference.  It should be interesting to attend.

I spent some time updating the Facebook and Twitter account this afternoon and checked the displays.

Web BitsThe New Pew Data on E-readers Shows How The Digital Divide Persists
http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2012/01/Pew-Report-Will-eReaders-Help-or-Hinder-the-Digital-Divide

Daily Thoughts 02/08/2012

[Robinson Hall reading room, Brown University Library, Providence, R.I.]  Date Created/Published: [ca. 1900]
Daily Thoughts 02/08/2012

I read some more of Thinking, Fast and Slow.  Daniel Kahneman is writing about overconfidence in decision making.  He is describing why people believe their small business will survive, or their stock pick will do well.  He shows how people believe that they will do better than everyone else.


This morning, I checked the displays and the gift books and updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I also worked on a flyer.  We have the Computer Lab for Academic Use from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. today.

We have the Women's Enterprise Development Center today in the Computer Lab from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  They are doing a session on computers for business.

I also spent some time picking out books on collage, assemblage, and sculpture to display in cabinets or vitrines next to the Rotunda Gallery in case they are needed.

On the way home I read some more of Thinking, Fast and Slow.  The author is writing about loss aversion and how we value what we have more than what we plan on buying. 

I got a place at http://www.book2camp.org which is an unconference. It happens before the Tools of Change in Publishing Conference which is in the coming week which should be very interesting which is on February 13-15 this coming week.  http://www.toccon.com/toc2012   Incidentally it is also the same week as the New York Social Media Week on February 13-17. http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/   Social Media Week is mostly free.  There is a session on New York Public Library's Social Media Labs.
http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2043


Web Bits

Ebook Talks The Details
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/e-content/ebook-talks-details

Daily Thoughts 02/07/2012

David Laing by Sir William Fettes Douglas, 1862


Daily Thoughts 02/07/2012


This morning, I read some of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Khaneman on the way to work.  I just finished reading about regression to the mean in the performance.  The idea is that over time our performance tends to average out.  It shows me that in order to perform well, one has to improve ones basic performance.

I checked the displays and gifts and updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.  There was a copy of Love In The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in the gifts.  There were a number of flyers to post on Facebook for events.  I am getting a better grasp of how to do events at the library.  I have been working with the board of trustees on this.

The book, The Age of Austerity How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics by Thomas Byrne Edsall came in for me to read.

I spent some time talking to people about programs today.  I spoke with a gentleman named Kabiru Mohammed who self published a play, The Tragedy of Ethalia and a book of poems, Life's Passion.

I also spent a few minutes talking to the Friends of the Library.  We have the Biography Book Club on February 14, 2012 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m..  I have to pick out a biography of a person who is in the news to read.  I think I am going to read about Clint Eastwood.  I think I will read Clint The Life and Legend by Patrick McGilligan.

Web Bits

The TOC Perspective: A Call for a Unified E-book Market
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/50484-the-toc-perspective-a-call-for-a-unified-e-book-market.html
I am a fan of Joe Wikert's blog and always his writing and perspectives.

BEA Bloggers Conference
http://bookexponews.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-bloggers-convention-at-bea.html

How to be an Indie Booksellers Dream
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/02/03/how-to-be-an-indie-booksellers-dream/?mod=google_news_blog

Occupy Elsevier A boycott of the publishing giant swells, but is the criticism warranted?
http://the-scientist.com/2012/02/07/occupy-elsevier/

Daily Thoughts 02/06/2012

Forbidden Fruit by George Agnew Reid, 1889

Daily Thoughts 02/06/2012

This morning, I checked the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the library.  I also checked the gifts and the displays.  I usually read the news online to update the current events display. 

I read the latest New York Times Book Review and am starting on reading the February 1, 2012 issue of Booklist magazine.  I called a few people about programming and returned the microphone to the business office.  So far, it has been a very mundane day.

I also spent some time writing up the monthly statistics for programming.  It has been a not too exciting day.
Our statistics are steadily rising.

I continued reading Thinking, Fast and Slow.  Daniel Kahneman is describing different mistakes which people make psychologically when they are making decisions.  We learn about anchoring statements and different ways our emotions can override our ability to think clearly.   There are examples of why we fail with statistics because of our personal preferences and other logical fallacies.  Some of it can get a bit confusing.  The book challenges how you think.

Daily Thoughts 02/04/2012

Die Lesenden. (Breyers Frau und „Nini“). Öl auf Leinwand, 150 x 136 cm. Signiert und 1909 datiert, Robert Breyer, 1909
Daily Thoughts 02/04/2012

This morning, on the way to work, I read some of Thinking, Fast and Slow.  It is about decision making.  I learned that if you have any easier name for people to understand for your company it is more likely to be invested in on the stock market.  People seem to prefer what is easily understood or recognized.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the library.  I also checked the displays and gifts.  It is the first Saturday of the month, and the library is open right now.

On the way home, I read some more of Thinking, Fast and Slow.  The author is describing how we tend to confirm our own biases and often not think clearly when we are too comfortable.  This is called confirmation bias.  He also describes the Halo Effect where we tend to attribute more positive things to a person if we already like them.

Web Bits

20 Most Beautiful Bookstores In The World
http://flavorwire.com/254434/the-20-most-beautiful-bookstores-in-the-world?all=1

Daily Thoughts 02/01/2012

Kuniyoshi Utagawa (1797-1861), The Station Kambara

Daily Thoughts 02/10/2012

I spent some time looking at the Community Calendar on the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce.  Quite a few of the libraries events are listed there.

On the train to work, I started reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.  It is about the intersection of intuition versus reason.  There is a lot in this book which covers how we make decisions.
I also updated the Twitter and Facebook accounts this morning for the library.

I checked the gift books this morning and the displays and contacted a few people about events.  The Central Library District orders for test books have come in.  It should help our Job Information Center.

Jack Kerouac has a lost novel which is coming out in March 2012 called The Sea is My Brother.  It is his first novel.

We had the Computer Lab for Academic Use today from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m..  Some people were practicing from Tuesday's computer class and a few people were looking for jobs.

Tonight we have The Women's Enterprise Development Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. doing an Enhanced First Steps for Small Business Program which is focused on entrepreneurship.

The book Fab The Coming Revolution On Your Desktop-- From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication by Neil Gershenfeld has come in for me to read.  It should be quite interesting.

I started reading Fab on the way home.  It is a bit different.  The focus is on personal fabrication; producing things that you have always wanted to produce, but were not available as a mass manufactured item to your specifications.  I rather like that the systems being designed at the MIT Fab Labs are open source and flexible.


Web Bits

Publishing's Ecosystem on the Brink: The Back Story
http://blog.authorsguild.org/2012/01/31/publishings-ecosystem-on-the-brink-the-backstory/