Daily Thoughts 7/14/2011

[Group of young women reading in library of normal school, Washington, D.C.]
Date Created/Published: [1899]


Daily Thoughts 7/14/2011


I read a bit more of On Leadership on the train to work.


This morning, I checked the Twitter account, got a donation of books, checked the displays, and checked the Ereference.  There were a number of interesting donations; Catullus the Complete Poems, The Life of Pi by Yan Martel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson were a few of the books worth adding to the collection.


I received an invitation to Google+ in my email this morning.  Hopefully, it should be interesting.

We added a set of eight more pictures to our Historic Library Images, Adult Circulation Through Time...
http://www.mountvernonpubliclibrary.org/node/282

We have two programs.  One is a Wills Workshop where wills are being discussed.  We are also opening the computer lab on Thursdays from 2-4 p.m. to help with the overflow from the cybercorner.  People seem to mainly be doing job search online.

The books, Curation Nation Why The Future of Content Is Context How To Win In a World Where Consumers Are Curators by Steven Rosenbaum came in for me to read.  This is a book on content.   Also the science fiction book, Out of the Dark by David Weber came in for me to read.  It is a book about alien invasion of earth.

Web Bits


What skills does a Digital Archivist or Librarian Need?
http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2011/07/what-skills-does-a-digital-archivist-or-librarian-need/

The 5 Most Stolen Books by Gabe Habash
http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/?p=5788

Daily Thoughts 1/7/2011 (Yonkers Public Library)

Portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn's son by Saskia van Uylenburgh, Titus van Rijn.
Signed and dated bottom left: Rembrandt f. 1655

Daily Thoughts 1/7/2011

This morning, I read a little bit more of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.  The writers were explaining the concept of blueprints for websites and wireframes or mockups of websites.  I found it kind of interesting.  It is a relatively new concept for me. On the way home, I read a little more of the book.  The authors were pointing out some of the duties of being a professioinal; following an ethical code in choosing words, selling the profession, and being willing to follow a path of continuous eduction.

Today is another quiet steady day.  I looked over the new materials donation form and checked on some gift books.  I also updated the collection management sheet for patron requests.

We got a few gifts in and I did a little bit of weeding in the paperback section.  It was a very predictable day.  I have been thinking a little bit about how to reach out for donations.

I also read read a little bit more I live in the future and this is how it works.  Nick Bilton was describing how social networks act as filter for internet content.  Your social networks separate out the material you want to look at by creating a pool of selected links, images, and articles.  I fint Twitter quite useful for this.  I try and follow people who are in the book or library industry.  It serves as an alert to new occurrences and new technology as it emerges.

Web Bits

This is an article about Yonkers Public Library.  Many libraries are feeling the pinch of budget cuts.  Often libraries are viewed as an easy way to reduce funding.  A Properly Funded Library Essential for Yonkers Community.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011101070306

Daily Thoughts 8/20/2010 (winning grants, ingram, donations)

Koninck, Salomon, Der Eremit, 1643

Daily Thoughts 8/20/2010

On the train to work I started reading Winning Grants A How To Do It Manual for Librarians by Pamela H. McKellar and Stephanie K. Gerding.  Right now, they are talking about planning and vision statements.  They have a bunch of steps to go through before the grants are actually applied for.  I read most of it on the train home.  The book included a lot of information on how to organize a team to create grants not just a single person.  I find one of the grant projects particularly interesting http://www.getgraphic.org/ which is a literacy program through graphic novels.  There is also a cd rom which comes with the book.  This includes a presentation on a subject relevant to each chapter in the book as well as a variety of forms to fill out.  It helped me think of an idea for business sponsorship. I still have quite a few video clips to watch.







We had a gentleman from Ingram come in to talk about his vendor services.  It was kind of interesting.  Ingram owns Lightning Source http://www.lightningsource.com/ the largest print on demand services as well as has a number of small imprints exclusively distributed through them.  They are the largest distributor of books in the world.  They also distribute video games which is interesting. 




I did a little more spot checking in the 300s.  I also took a bit to look at the oversize 300s.  Like every morning, I checked the displays to see if they were in order. 




This is an article on book donations which I found kind of interesting.  http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/ask-ala-librarian/book-donations

Daily Thoughts 1/15/2010

Library of William Jennings Bryan, 1896

Daily Thoughts 1/15/2010

Right now, I am thinking about donations. We get a lot of them regularly. They are handled by our friends group. We occassionally add some of them to our collection, but we are selective. We also sometimes pick up donations from other places as well. This is always something worth thinking about.

Yesterday, I worked a bit on flyers for the graphic novels club. Hopefully, it will go well this time. I am looking forward to doing it again. We are focusing on Watchmen this time. In February we are going to focus on shojo-- girls manga for the graphic novels club which would be a good choice for valentines day. Manga like Fruits Basket, Maison Ikokku, Blackbird, Nana, and others.

I also did a little more weeding. I am trying to do it a little bit every single day.

This is a new button for my sidebar. It is also a pledge to continue reading the printed word, not just ebooks.

Sometimes, you find things that are interesting. There is a Book Blogger Convention on May 28, 2010. I am not sure about this one, but it looks quite interesting. http://bookbloggerconvention.com/

I learned that Shannon Hale has a new graphic novel, Calamity Jack out. It is drawn by Nathaniel Hale. She drew Rapunzel's Revenge which I enjoyed a whole lot. I think it might be worth getting.

Daily Thoughts 9/24/2009

Calligramme de Guillaume Apollinaire

Daily Thoughts 9/24/2009

Today I had a visit from a slam poet. We were discussing how slam poetry was set up. He told me some interesting things. They usually serve tea, coffee, water, and cookies at the libraries where he does the slam poetry. They also don't use a podium, just a microphone on a stand or a wireless microphone. As a prize, they usually give a book and a coffee mug to the winner. The prize is more of a token than anything else. His slams run three hours, first there is an open microphone, then a featured poet, and then a slam. They usually do it once a month in the libraries where he does slams. He often contacts the local schools to get the teenagers to come in.

We also have some new display tables out in front of the "new arrivals". I put out some books for the tables.

Someone also donated some books today. There were two worth adding. We usually try and get more donations closer to when the Friends of the Library hold their book sales. The next one is in November.

I read some more of The Whuffie Factor on the train in to work this morning. I finished reading it on the way home this evening.

Next week is banned book week which runs from September 26 through October 3, 2009. I took some time to look up banned comics on the Comic Book Legal Defense fund. We really don't have any them. A few of them looked interesting like The Salon by Nick Bertozzi which was about Picasso. It had a few nude scenes in it and was part of a court case. There was also a case about the graphic novel Jonah Hex, Riders of the Worm which was interesting to read about. http://www.cbldf.org/ There is also Aaron Magruder's comic, The Boondocks which a number of newspapers in the United States refused to carry.

What Learning Leaves by Taylor Mali was very enjoyable to read. The book is very different thatn most poetry books. Taylor Mali is both a junior high school teacher and a performance poet. He won the National Poetry Slam competition four times in the United States. The poems are meant to be performed from memory. They have a lot of visual imagery in them which can be very arresting.

There is very little introversion in these poems as well. Although they are stories about love, grief, and teaching, they are not overly self reflective. He seems to be making a declaration about the world to his audience in clear terms. There is a little bit of strong language, but it is not overused.

Many of them poems are making statements about the value of teaching and bringing intellectual value to the world in a concrete way. It is a refreshing contrast to whiny intellectualism. Dogs, sex, death, and love also have a place among these poems. Concrete things, important things which speak to everyday life. This book brings a poetry which is easy to relate to because you can close your eyes and imagine hearing the word, "declare!"

Morning Thoughts, Afternoon Thoughts

A World War II Poster Which I liked produced by the government.

Morning Thoughts (Rummaging Through Donations.)

This morning, I spent some time going through the piles of donated books in our basement. Many of them are old and musty. Some can never be added because of water damage, age, or poor condition. Many of them will be sent to the booksale so we can sell them to buy new books. A considerable amount of the paperbacks which we cannot use get sent to the prison libraries. This is where the Friends of the Library sends a lot of the material they cannot sell in the booksale. Hardcover books are a problem for prison libraries. A lot of it simply gets recycled.

As usual, there were piles and piles of old romance paperbacks. Lots of Harlequin and BET black romance paperbacks. Mixed in these were various nonfiction titles from the 1980s and 1990s which had long since gone by the wayside. Most people were shortly interested in them, then they faded into someones attic. Sometimes, if you look closely, you can see garage sale stickers. These are the books that didn't get sold at the garage sale.

Many of the books are still in cardboard boxes. I sometimes wonder how old the cardboard is since it costs money to buy cardboard boxes these days and the supermarkets are not as willing to give them away.

You have to be careful because if you move too quickly, one of the stacks of books will fall over. They are piled very high. They are either on tables or in deep shelves where they are stacked willy nilly. One of our retired librarians comes in to select which books will get picked out for the booksale. She usually has a couple of retired people with her who are sorting through the books. They are in old clothes so they do not get too dirty.

The first thing which I look for are the classics, these never go out of style. We will always get asked for Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 51, Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth, and any good old classic books. I find a copy of Voltaire Candide which was recently assigned to the local high school students.

Among the romance books, I find a few urban fiction books. These are very hot titles. There are two copies of Zane Books, a Wendy Williams books, and a copy of the author Noire's book. We have trouble keeping urban fiction in our library because it is so popular.

There are a few very new books which I like, a brand new Elizabeth Lowell Bestseller, and several new books on business innovation. After digging a bit more, I find some new mystery paperbacks as well, a 2007 copy of a book by Faye Kellerman.

Also, among the stacks, there a few books on subjects that really never go out of style. A fairly new book on sailing and a book on pet hermit crabs.

I've managed to pull about 30 books from the piles. Now, I go to the computers and check them on the computer to see if we have them. 15 of them are good enough to be added to the collection.

Later in the morning, I did some more weeding. It is more tedium that needs to get done. I will be doing it every single day until I am done with the 300s which is basically all of social science. It is slow methodical work.

Afternoon Thoughts

The T. Boone Pickens book, The First Billion Is The Hardest Reflections On A Life of Comebacks And America's Energy Future (With a Plan for Reducing U.S. Oil Dependency) came in for me today through interlibrary loan. It is one of the books which I am hoping to read.

It has been a long week and I am very tired.

Things are piling on very fast. I have to work this Saturday. I don't particularly like working on Saturdays. In winter time, I work every other Saturday. During the summer, I manage to have no Saturdays. Things don't always make sense.

I like to think that libraries operate in another zone of time where the clocks are set slightly off cue. Libraries and bookstores seem to somehow be a space where you can step into which isn't quite the same as the rest of the world.

Afternoon Thoughts

Afternoon Thoughts

This morning I filled our display for Banned Books Week 9/23/2008-9/28/2008. Most of the books had been taken out by patrons. We make it a point to allow patrons to take out books in our display if they ask for them. One of the major points of displaying books is to increase the amount of books being used. Two of the books were The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Color Purple. I believe banning books lessens freedom and reduces democracy in many cases. I can see red sometimes over the causes which people want things banned for.

I've taken a little bit of time to also prepare for the poetry open microphone this afternoon. I've printed out some of my poems and am ready to read some of them. I also have picked out some poetry books to display. Right now, they are on a cart in the back office. I usually pick out a mix of popular poets; Nikki Giovanni, Allen Ginsberg, Daniel Berrigan, Diane Wakoski and anthologies; From Totems to Hip Hop and others. I also try to include some poetry from France, China, Arabia, and different places around the world.

The juice and cookies are in the refrigerator next to the community room. I am hoping that they have the new microphone for the reading. They promised they would buy it today, but they are having some payment issues right now.... It is a minor frustration. The layout is ready.

I also picked out two books from the new books section to look at. I don't read everything that I pick out. The first book is Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi. John Scalzi writes in the Old Man's War universe. This book is military science fiction. The other book which I am looking at is Sinner A Paradise Novel by Ted Dekker.

I did my short program. Not many people came. I find this very frustrating. Programming is not my strong point, nor is outreach. It is not something which I like doing. No one else is willing. It is very frustrating. I would much rather be working with the books and reference. I am also very good with doing displays, ordering, and materials.

I worked out my frustration a bit by sorting through the donations. I've found five books which are new and acceptable, all of them are 2007 titles by popular authors which should be added to the collection. I'll probably be going through the donations tomorrow. I really like doing this. It helps me release tension. It also reminds me of when I used to go through garage sales and flea markets to find old and valuable books. It is a kind of meditation exercise for me. I can concentrate completely on sorting through books and evaluating them for currency, condition, and relevance to our collection. The first thing I look for is condition.