Daily Thoughts 11/22/2010 (Writing That Works, Ebooks, Shelving)

Thomas Sully, Portrait of a Young Girl, circa 1824, Oil on Canvas


Daily Thoughts 11/22/2010

I spent a little bit of time straightening out the displays.  I also called a a number of different people about ebooks.  I am applying for the Sony Library Program for ebooks.  It is a free program.  I also called Apple about Ipads and learned that they offer Ipads to libraries in New York through their Government Program with 3% discount.  I also learned about that Nook can sink and share books with up to six nooks through a single account.  This is good to know for libraries.

I received a quote for the cost of Freegal, a download service for libraries for music MP3s.  I like the way the service works.  You can listen to a minute sample of each song, but not the full song. Then you can choose to download the song based on the patrons available quota of downloads each week or month.  We are paying based on our circulation and community size.  This can be found on the IMLS library statistics search engine.  http://harvester.census.gov/imls/search/index.asp

I am also looking at the Elite Street service from BWI.

We may also be looking at new shelving for the oversize books.  These books are often quite heavy and regular shelving won't hold them very well.  We may be looking at steel shelving.  I have to look through the Highsmith, Gaylord, and Demco catalogs tomorrow.

I am reading Writing That Works How To Communicate Effectively In Business by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson. It is a very practical work.  It reminds you to use plain language, eliminate jargon, and write things that get work done. Writing that gets work done is even more important perfect clarity.  There is also a reminder that what you do with a computer is more important than having the latest model.

Partly because I had a computer virus yesterday and had to have my machine cleaned and clear out the registry, I did not get a chance to write any reviews yesterday.  I now have a variety of new software on my machine, Hitman Pro antivirus, Hijack This, Malware Bytes antimalware software, a new firewall, a new registry cleaner-- Ccleaner, Google Chrome, and other software.

I decided not to review The Referral Engine or Content Strategy for the Web.  I guess I was a bit computered out.  There is a lot of new media language and jargon in these books.  When you have been trying for six hours to get everything working on your computer, it can be a little much. I am probably going to review Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk soon. It is a bit lighter and more humorous.

Web Bits

Library cuts are not just happening in the United States, there is a lot of reporting of cuts in England.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/22/library-cuts-leading-authors-condemn