Daily Thoughts 4/28/2009

Religious Freedom In America 3 Cent Stamp, 1957

Daily Thoughts 4/28/2009

I spent some more time going through the technical processing area today. We are starting to put out the new video games for patrons. We have Fallout 3 for the Xbox 360. It has a bobblehead doll of the vault dweller that comes with the packaging. We are going to use it as part of the display of the new game material. We also have Guitar Hero II. This is the first time we are going to circulate video games.

I also spent time filing looseleafs and weeding some more of the 700s area. Things are getting a bit more organized.

I am looking forward to going to the Westchester Library Association Conference on May 8, 2009. It should be very interesting to go there.

On the train here, I read Eat This Not That by David Zinczenko. It is very interesting. It is a menu guide comparing different foods and which ones you should eat. It gives the pictures of the best and worst items from fast food restaurants like Taco Bell, McDonald's, Appleby's, Denny's and others. There are also comparisons of different food items in the supermarket; popular brands of cereal, salad dressing, snacks, ice cream, and other food items. There were also guides to choices for food during holiday meals. Do you pecan pie or pumpkin pie?

I learned a few things about food. Green tea and grapefruit help you with losing weight. Sherbet and frozen yogurt are better for you than ice cream. Oatmeal is one of the best foods you can have for breakfast. The tips were simple and useful. The pictures were all in full color. The descriptions and layout were well designed. I can recommend this book. It is a fast easy read.

I am looking forward to getting the Eat This Not That Supermarket Guide.

On the train home, I tried to read Ideas Triumphant Strategies for Social Change and Progress by Lawrence Lader. I could not read that far into the book. The problem was one where the author always seemed to present his side as winning. There was never a retreat from a losing argument, or an attempt to regroup around an idea. I found that it did not portray the full span of conflict between opposing ideas. I believe in the concept of a "war for ideas" where there is continuous conflict about what ideas will become prevalent. The book was too one sided in its presentation for me to read.

The second book I attempted to read was The Anarchist In The Library How the Clash Between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System by Siva Vaidhyanathan. The thing which threw me off with this book is how he portrayed freedom as anarchistic and control as oligarchic in a kind of dialectic. I am not a big fan of dialecticism. I follow with the idea that Descartes was wrong about people being divided into two parts, rational and emotional or the mind and body. People develop rationality and spirituality from baser emotions.

I find myself thinking back to a book called Descartes Error which has influenced my thinking considerably. I like to think of things in a more holistic way. I often find the concept of everything being split into two sides fractious.

Daily Thoughts 2/26/09

Rembrandt (1606-1669) "Rembrandt Drawing at a Window" Etching Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Daily Thoughts 2/26/2009

This is a really interesting article. http://kotaku.com/5160610/librarians-investigated-for-playing-rock-band . I am rather surprised that the librarians in Nebraska got in trouble for this. I think the Benny Hill theme song might have done it more than the Rock Band video game. A lot of libraries have video games as part of their collections these days. Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Dance Dance Revolution are some of the most popular video games to use in teenage programs. It gets teenagers to come into the library. We want them to come in and read and use books. Music video games are a lot better than most violent videogames. We have a video game machine, a Nintendo Wii which we use in some of our teenage programming. It looks like the librarians are testing the machinery to see if it works.

Right now, I have a day off. I am reading the Caryatids by Bruce Sterling. The writing is very dense for science fiction. It is saying a lot more than most science fiction novels which I read. The story is in a near future setting in a world torn apart by global warming and pollution. Much of what is being described is very relevant to some of the things which are happening today.

Today has been a quiet peaceful day. I had a chance to walk up to my library and drop off a few books, as well as do my exercises in the morning. I spent some time relaxing, reading on the computer. I read some more of David Drake's Starliner on the Baen free library. I am on chapter 3 of Starliner now. So right now, I am reading an ebook and a regular book at the same time.

Todays Thoughts

Jan Van Eyck

Todays Thoughts

I haven't really had a chance to write up a summary of The Other Wind. Life has been too busy. I napped on the train coming in to work. I'm a bit tired today. I had three cups of coffee at lunch time to keep myself awake.

Right now, I am working on three programs. The first is an estate planning workshop from a local lawyer. We have found that creating a sign up sheet beforehand guarantees a certain amount of audience. We have seven people signed up for the workshop tomorrow evening. Usually we get another group of people who come in who don't sign up as well. In addition, I do traditional announcement over the intercom half hour before the program starts as well as make sure there are fliers around the building for the program.

The next day, we are showing Cars by Pixar. The director has asked me to show a "Family Film" suitable for all ages. At first I tried Because of Winn Dixie and Madagascar, but they didn't seem quite right. We usually buy small packets of popcorn and apple juice for the films. Next month, I am showing The Jackie Robinson Story starring Jackie Robinson because there is a baseball program in the evening.

Next week, I am doing a poetry program where we do an open microphone. I like to serve fruit and juice for the poetry program. I think we might get eight to ten people who will read poetry next time. I actually get up and read a few of my own poems. There are several audience members who do as well. Hopefully, there will be some momentum and we will get more people.

Programming is not something which I have done that much of before. It seems like it kind of sneaked up on me. I'm just starting to get the hang of creating fliers and get the feel of writing simple press releases for the calendar of events in newspapers.

This morning, I did more ordering of social science books. I went through The New York Review of Books for the last several months looking for titles in the 300s. I am actually not that fond of The New York Review of Books, it seems to be a bit exclusive in its taste aiming for the upper middle class. I did find several titles to order however. Some titles which looked interesting were Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, The Warhol Economy, and I Don't A Contrarian History of Marriage. I also took a look at the latest several issues of Choice magazine.

In addition, I took some time to look at New York Public Libraries recommended reading lists which are quite interesting. They have links to lists of books which have won various literary prizes. Queensborough Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library also have recommended reading lists which I look at occassionally. Libraries tend to compile these lists on their websites. http://www.nypl.org/branch/books/

I also took a few minutes to look at the graphic novels I ordered. Most of them have already been taken out by patrons. I have Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham in my hands as well as DC Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown Volume 2. Challengers of the Unknown is a classic science fiction comic book with golden age science fiction stories.

Several boxes of new books from my orders are coming in as well. The order of Manga and science fiction books is being processed as we speak. Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the new Vampire Hunter D manga are sitting on the cart as well as the science fiction novel, Space Vulture.

There is a lot happening very quickly right now. There are a lot of new books for me to examine. I find myself busier than usual right now.

Tonight, I erased a video game which I had purchased from my hard drive. I had it for about a week. I found that I felt compelled at times to play it a little bit too long. Get to the next scene or go to the next level. It was eating into my time and making me a little bit tired. The game promised 1000+ hours of gameplay. This is a bit much.

Something in me said stop you are spending too much time on this thing. For me video games can be hypnotic and distracting. They are hard for me to stop playing sometimes. It is like alcohol for some people. I enjoy playing them for a short time. But, the games they are designing these days can be very long complex and overly involved.

I think I will step back and go to my other distraction right now, blogging.

Games In the Lbrary Setting

Games In the Library Setting

One of my personal weaknesses is a liking for video games. I can get very obsessive about them. They have a kind of hypnotic effect on me much like tabletop games do everything from strategy to roleplaying.

I have seen a rather interesting thing happen. Libraries are purchasing video games for the teenagers. There was a Halo tournament at one of the local libraries. In a way this bothers me a little bit. I am still not sure the exact place of videogames in the library. The type of games being purchased are Xbox, Wii, and PS3 (Playstation 3) games. Nothing like Grand Theft Auto because of the problems with sexual innuendo and the M rating for mature content, but other things.

A few libraries have SimCity 4, Lego Starwars, and Starcraft on CD-ROM to check out. I think one of the local libraries has uploaded a variety of games for use for the teenagers in the teen section, things like Spiderman 3, and Ghost Recon for the Xbox. A different library has Playstation 2 games, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, and God of War among their titles. So they are just starting up on this process. I checked the catalog for the library system I work at and these are there.

Considering there are a variety of different formats for games, buying for a variety of different systems, pc, playstation, xbox, and nintendo could get complicated. I could see libraries buying for the two major systems, xbox and playstation.

CD-Rom games have been part of the childrens room for quite some time. They are mostly things like Little Bear, Thomas The Tank Engine, Reader Rabbit, Dr. Seuss's Kindergarten Learning System, and Carmen Sandiego. They are learning games to teach children geography, spelling, and similar things. I also can see where buying typing instruction software would not be a bad idea to lend out.

I am not sure the exact value the games would offer. I know it would be entertaining. In fact something like historical simulations could have value in a vague way like Civilization for the PC, Zoo Tycoon, or the various business simulations.

I am really not sure how a library would select videogames. There are some sites like http://www.gamerdad.com which rate games for children and parents. This is the ideal situation, some guy wants to play a game with their kid.

I have been looking at the concept. Apparently, the American Library Association started covering games on their website. http://gaming.ala.org/news/

What is more important is that there is a new program being created to combine gaming with literacy sponsored through the American Library Association. I think this is where it could get quite interesting.

Ah, here is where it gets interesting, American Library Association is mentioning a gaming night at a public library for teenagers. The games are not your typical shoot em ups, they are Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero II, and Sports Videogames. This is something which could be quite interesting if done right. The title of this articles gaming @your library.
http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/presscentera/piopresskits/nationallibraryweek2008a/gl08.cfm

I don't think I would have much of a problem with the Sims, sports, games, historical simulations, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero and Karaoke style games. I am still not too sure about the heavily violent war games like Halo in some ways.

I found a blog which looks kind of interesting. It covers games and libraries. The site looks to have been created in 2005, about the time when games were pushed as a format to enter libraries. http://libgaming.blogspot.com It lists lots and lots of resources on games in libraries.

I almost think this is a logical extension of librarians becoming fascinated with virtual worlds. I still am a little bit shaken by how many librarians are heavily into Second Life.

The reason I originally wrote this is that I went into Gamestop yesterday to see if there was anything which I wanted to buy. There was a game I tried out, Ufo Afterlight, the controls were so terrible that I plan on returning the thing.

This is just some thoughts.