Daily Thoughts 6/9/2010

Miniature painting of a scribe writing at a desk. Found on http://fromoldbooks.org

Daily Thoughts 6/9/2010

On the way home last night, I read some more of the book Drive by Daniel H. Pink. At this point, the author is talking about the concept of increasing autonomy in the work environment. He is describing how there are less people being put in management positions. He also talks about homesourcing where companies are increasingly hiring people to work at home for routine jobs like customer service and clerical work. Computers can be used from almost anywhere. Another concept in autonomy is the idea of the Results Only Work Environment where some companies like Best Buy allow very flexible work hours in return for a very goal oriented workplace. The final concept in autonomy is encouraging people to experiment for a certain amount of time in their jobs constantly. Google encourages their engineers to spend 20% of their time on their own projects to create new ideas.

I have to get ready for my upcoming class on Readers Advisory 101. I have four fiction titles I am supposed to read. It starts on June 28, 2010.

• Romance - The Viscount who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
• Mystery - Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron
• Speculative Fiction - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Action/Thriller/Suspense - Ice Station by Matt Reilly

The only book which I have already read from the list is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

An article from the New Yorker The Trouble With Recommending Books http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/06/the-trouble-with-recommending-books.html

　
Thinking about Web 2.0 in and if I should apply for a press pass... http://www.web2expo.com/webexny2010/?cmp=em-conf-web2ny-EM1-webny10ema5 Maybe, I can show that I am a journalist. It would be an interesting aim to get a third press pass because of my blog. I haven't really decided yet. It could be fun.

Just joined the Save Libraries Twibbon on Facebook http://twibbon.com/cause/Save-Libraries/facebook

This morning on the train, I finished reading Drive on the train. It was a very interesting book. Now, I have two books to review this weekend, Drive and Rex Riders.

Today was an interesting day. We had a call from an author who was interested in coming in. We also had an order meeting today where we discussed our different orders for the month. I have to look at MP3 players as a possible circulating item. With Playaways sometimes the devices don't come back with batteries. We have the Overdrive Media Console on most of our computer workstations.

I also spent some more time working with Bookletters. The page is starting to come together. We are also working on creating a patron requests form for our website. This will hopefully make our website more responsive for patrons.

Tomorrow, I will be looking at the Evance site which is used to manage an adult summer reading program. Hopefully, it should be interesting.