Showing posts with label american library association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american library association. Show all posts

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Good Morning


James Carroll Beckwith Portrait of Mark Twain -- 1890. "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."-- Mark Twain.

Good Morning.

I tried to read Dead to Me by Anton Strout, but the opening seemed very flat. I think it would have appealed to a much younger person than myself who was still caught in the world of the street and having a good time. It seemed like something which passed me by a long time ago. I lost interest in the story very quickly. The idea of a person with psychometry skills is interesting, but the execution and place seemed off.

I put in my membership dues for Westchester Library Association. This should make it easier for me to go to their conference in May. Earlier, I had put in my dues for the American Library Association, I am a member of the Intellectural Freedom Roundtable and the RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) as well. I also put in my membership for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund which provides legal defense for the comics industry in the United States.

This is a short statement by Neil Gaiman on why he supports the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.


Monday, November 10, 2008

Afternoon Thoughts

Continuing from yesterday...


Afternoon Thoughts

On the morning train, I read a bit of Writing The Mind Alive, The Propioceptive Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice by Linda Trichter Metcalf, PH.D. and Tobin Simon, PH.D. It is a very syncretic book, it combines three different methods of western medition, listening to baroque music to increase your concentration, lighting a candle to indicate the start and stop of an event, and free writing in a journal. This makes for an interesting meditative form of writing. I may try it soon. I have to buy a candle, some Bach, and a blank journal to do the exercises properly.

This morning, I checked my displays, weeded some books, and made sure my area was in proper order. Things are moving along very nicely.

I asked to do an order for financial literacy titles. The director gave the alright. So, I have one more ordering project to do. I also worked on a flier for a film program. While I was ordering financial literacy titles, I found an interesting title Kenneth Fisher with Lara Hoffman, The Ten Roads to Riches: The Way The Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!). Kenneth Fisher is a portfolio manager on Wall Street and is very wealthy. He also wrote The Only Three Questions You Need To Ask.

His father, Philip Fisher wrote Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits which is the basis for much of the growth investing strategy in the stock market. He would be a person who knows about creating wealth.



Rolling

The day goes slowly,
Rolling by with sweet predictability,
Smooth as coffee and cream

On the evening train, I read some more of Writing The Mind Alive. I contemplated the exercises in the book and realized that in terms of time, five one half hour sessions a week, it would not work out very well. I am already doing blogging and it would take up too much time.

There were a few insights in the book which were interesting. It is rather easy to be afraid of your own writing. I have learned that it is easier to express your feelings in writing than leave them simmering in the background where they make you do things unconsciously.

When I got home this evening, I found my American Library Association membership fees waiting for me. I am a member of the Intellectual Freedom Roundtable and the Reference and User Services Association as well. I don't really do anything with these memberships. I really have not figured out what to do with them. I do rather like the magazine, Reference and User Services Quarterly. So I paid my dues. Maybe, I should figure out what to do with the membership now.