Daily Thoughts 11/24/2010 (Writing That Works, Writing Tools, Layoffs)

Thanksgiving Day. Happy Thanksgiving if you are in the United States.

Daily Thoughts 11/24/2010

I had the day off today. I relaxed mainly. I finished reading Writing That Works How To Communicate Effectively In Business by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson, Third Edition.  Both authors were executives at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide.  The book is very concise and useful for business writing.  It gave me a better understanding of how to write to ask for money as well as to write a resume.

Reading , Writing Tools 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark.  Roy Peter Clak makes  words interesting.  I liked the statement it is as important to talk about books as it is to write and read. In one of the exercises he asks me to read the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln and "I Have A Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr.  It is the first time that I have read "I Have A Dream."  Roy Peter Clark also recommends the esssy, "Politics of the English Language" by George Orwell which is excellent http://www.george-orwell.org/Politics_and_the_English_Language/0.html

Web Bits

New York City library systems suffer $16.5 million 'adjustment' http://bit.ly/eWN4Zr Bloomberg makes a mid-year trim.  I don't particularly like this because it helps justify trims in other library systems.  There is a kind of follow me effect.  Our budget has not been announced yet to the public.

Daily Thoughts 7/26/2010 ( Cognitive Surplus, Queens Library, libraries )

Benjamin Franklin., 1767, Oil On Canvas, In the White House

Daily Thoughts 7/26/2010

It is clear that advocacy is becoming a central fact with libraries in the United States these days.  If you are not willing to speak up for your library you may not have one in your community.  Also, if you work in a library and do not speak up for your library, you might even get laid off.  Being quiet is not really an option. It may make some people uncomfortable, but it is necessary.



To Close Budget Gap, Queens Library To Lay Off 46
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/886041-264/to_close_budget_gap_queens.html.csp




With Library Campaign Materials Libraries Must Navigate Between Education and Advocacy
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/886037-264/with_campaign_materials_libraries_must.html.csp




I checked out a book called Design And Launch An Online Social Networking Business In A Week by Entrepreneur Press and Julien Sharp.  It provides an outline of the process of creating a social network from scratch.


I am looking at the Fostering Digitally Inclusive Communities Grant offered by the National Broadband Plan.  To even begin applying to the grant we would have to put some social media into effect in order to get it.  The grant mentions blogs, email, and other digital tools as being part of communicating with the public.  I have already been looking at MP3 players and ebooks because of our recent promotion of Overdrive Digital Media Catalog at our library.  It should be very interesting.




This morning, I went through and updated most of the displays as well as set up meetings to understand the invoicing process for electronic data interchange.  I also emailed Poets House about their Poetry In The Branches Program and talked to BWI about electronic data interchange.  Posters for the Library Express database also came in as promotional material.




On the train home, I finished reading Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky.  I like the descriptions of how people donating time to social media adds to real life connections through groups like Wikimedia and Meetup.  He does an excellent job of describing the intrinsic value of giving time to social platforms that can reach into the real world.  A very real example of this for me is my going to places with the New York Librarians Meetup group.

Daily Thoughts 7/20/2010

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st BaronLytton, English novelist (1803-1873)

Daily Thoughts 7/20/2010

Joann Sfar is doing a rendition of The Little Prince in graphic novel form. It is being released in France as well in October. Her graphic novel, The Rabbi's Cat was excellent. She also did the children's graphic novel, Little Vampire. I am looking forward to this.

The story of the layoffs and the rescinding of the layoff is in Library Journal online. http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/885960-264/mount_vernon_pl_ny_loses.html.csp

It is hard to read this kind of material. It is giving me butterflies in my stomach.

I had a chance to work on ordering today. We are doing our ordering meeting tomorrow. It is the first time we are using books from the patron recommendation form from our website which is kind of interesting. Some people have requested us to buy self published books through the recommendation form.

We also have a new donation button on our library website which I hope has some effect.

I also picked out some more graphic novels for the Graphic Novels Club tomorrow. One of our patrons recommended an original english language by Svetlana Chmakova called Nightschool which should be interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightschool . We also are picking out some books for a raffle for a literary tea for the Adult Summer Reading program. This is the second year we have done an adult summer reading program.

I read The Sons of Liberty written by Alexander Lagos and Joseph Lagos on the train home from work. It is a graphic novel set during the American revolution. Two young African boys escape slavery eluding their pursuer. They gain super powers and study the ancient art of Dambe (Nigerian boxing). They are part of the fight to end slavery as well as active in the American revolution. The story is very entertaining. The artwork is in muted earthtones. It is an interesting mix of facts and fantasy. http://www.thesonsoflibertybook.com/

PLA is offering a free online advocacy training course for libraries http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/pla-offers-free-online-library-advocacy-training

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2010

Mary Pickford, writing at a desk in a kimono, February 1918
This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID ppmsca.18842

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2010

Seeing Stars: How I ignored my inner librarian and got kids excited about books again! This is an entertaining comic. http://www.slj.com/slj/home/885428-312/seeing_stars_how_i_ignored.html.csp

The city found emergency funds to restore the laid off people as well as prevent the demotions. It makes me quite happy to say this. Sometimes things change for the better. Now, it is on to the next step that deals with advocacy, trying to make sure this does not happen again. This means playing closer attention to fundraising.

I picked up a copy of Booklife Strategies and Survival Tips For the 21st Century Writer by Jeff Vandermeer. It is about how to have a writing career in the modern publishing world. Jeff Vandermeer has done many anthologies, has a blog, facebook account which I follow, and is very up to date with the latest technology. He writes weird tales and fantasy.

I had a little bit of time today to read Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Book Review, check the donations for items to add, and look through the new books. I had a chance to pick out some of the new graphic novels which I ordered recently for the Graphic Novels club which is tomorrow. As always, I checked the displays to make sure they are up to date.

Tomorrow, my colleagues come back and it should even be busier than usual. I have a lot to do. There is also a Brown Bag Book Chat from 12:15-1:45 p.m. in addition to the Graphic Novels Club which is later in the afternoon.

I have been reading more for my Readers Advisory 101 course and learning more about reviews. I know most of the review sources, Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the New York Times Book Review. I just learned that the Washington Post Books is also a standard for reviews. I guess I might have to start reading it. I have an assignment to do tomorrow for the class which compares review database that looks interesting.

There were a few new sources for reviews which I saw, NPR Book Reviews http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1032, Overbooked, http://www.overbooked.org and the Amazon New York Times Bestseller Page http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/549028/ref=b_tn_bh_ny/002-7565199-2545635

I started reading Jeff Vandermeers' book Booklife. Jeff Vandermere has a blog called http://www.jeffvandermeer.com which is entertaining. He also runs a site with his wife Ann Vandermeer called http://www.booklifenow.com which is about being a writer. I follow Jeff Vandermeer on Facebook as well. It is rather entertaining to follow writers on Facebook.

Daily Thoughts 7/7/2010

National Library of Bhutan, Thimphu. Main buiding in a snowfall, 23 January 2008, Christopher J. Fynn, Creative Commons, Share Alike Attribution 3.0 Unported

Daily Thoughts 7/7/2010

This is a link to an article and video from News 12 on the layoffs at Mount Vernon Public Library http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=255625&position=1&news_type=news I also posted it on Twitter which feeds into my linked in account now. I want to have maximum linkage and exposure for what I am saying. Part of that process is creating links between social networks

It felt odd coming in today. I was reading the New York Times Book Review and looked at the routing list. It had my initials only, with four other initials crossed out. It reminded me of how many people were affected. I also took some time to read Publishers Weekly. One book which caught my eye was The Vertical Farm The World Grows Up by Dickson Despommier. It is about urban agriculture. Vertical farms, are hydroponics and aeroponic farms inside skyscrapers. They are often designed to be mimic ecology. I find them to be fascinating. Part of this concept originates in The New Alchemy Institute which developed the bioshelter concept. It is radical science at its most interesting. http://www.thegreencenter.net/

I also had a chance to log in to my first online chat session of The Readers Advisory 101 Class. I learned quite a few interesting ideas. Joyce G. Saricks suggested The Adult Reading Roundtable as a resource for readers advisory www.arrtreads.org/ which is in Illinois.

There were a number of suggestions on how to pick books for patrons.
1) Check on the last book they read. 2) Check on the last book they returned to the library. 3) Suggest they read the jacket blurb, and read two pages at random to see if they like what they are reading. The librarians also use Goodreads a lot to pick out books to read. They think of it as an excellent social network for readers advisory. http://www.goodreads.com/ It is also important to make displays of books which you can recommend. Many also used Novelist which is a database about books and book reviews to find read alikes, or similar titles between authors. Some librarians used Fiction Connection which is a readers advisory tool created by Bowker. http://www.bowker.com/index.php/bowker-brands/fiction-connection

There is a difference between a book which you can recommend. A book which you can recommend is a book or author you have read and like. A suggestion is something you think a person may like based on other peoples reading habits or literary reviews. This is the general idea.

We were talking about appeal what makes a person interested in a book. This is different than whether it has quality. It is about what people like to read no what matter what it is. Joyce G. Saricks, the instructor has a quote, "Never Apologize for Your Reading Tastes." A lot of the discussion was about popular genre fiction. A lot of appeal is about how a book affects us.

We discussed how people track their books. They often keep a log of their reading in a binder. I don't. I use this blog and Goodreads right now. This is a good enough way to track my reading.

A lot of appeal is being comfortable talking about books and recommending what people may like. I picked ups some ideas that the small group of librarians taking the class have about literature. Character centered books tend to be literary oriented, plot centered books tend to be more action oriented, women tend to read authors by both men and women, and men often only read books by other men. Romance tends to be better when there is an element of suspense. Books that are banned often become even more popular because of censorship. Political views can skew whether or not people will like a book.

It was an entertaining session. I am looking to catch up for my next session. I was really supposed to start last week, but the potential of layoffs before it happened upset me a little bit.

Daily Thoughts 7/4/2010

Popeye in Patriotic Popeye. The work is in the public domain as its copyright wasn't renewed. Paramount Studios Famous Pictures 1957.

Daily Thoughts 7/4/2010

I am doing my patriotic duty to stay employed today. I am contacting my legislators, assemblypersons, congress people, senators, and others involved with my library. It should be quite interesting on Tuesday. I have not read anything today. Happy 4th of July. I can hear the fireworks.

This is a response to Are Libraries Necessary from Fox News. http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/library-taxes-closed-commissioner-reaction-letter-mary-dempsey-20100702 I took it from one of the comments. I find Fox news to often be partisanly self interested. Fox is a media empire and sells magazines, newspapers, ebooks, and books. Maybe, they believe that they will get some of the revenue if the library closes. You'll get your information from Fox. Libraries are an indirect competitor.

I put aside the book Managing and decided to read something more light weight, Dean Koontz, Frankenstein Lost Souls.

I am putting up my resume today on Linked In. Did not want to do that, but might as well. Sometimes, there needs to be a little bit of motivation. I have it as a Google Doc. Did not want to buy the Microsoft suite.

Layoffs and Demotions 7/2/2010

Asakusa Library, Meiji Era, 1881

Layoffs and Demotions 7/2/2010

There was a reduction in force today where I am working. The proper term is layoffs. These were because of budget issues. 13 people were laid off and 8 People were demoted because of lack of funds out of a staff of 33. In January all the part-time peoples hours were cut in half. The demotions started at the top and worked their way down. Librarian IIIs became Librarian IIs, and Librarian IIs became Librarian Is. I was a Librarian II. Reduction in force is a specific type of layoff associated with civil service in New York. http://www.cs.state.ny.us/pdf/rif_guidelines.pdf

Apparently, a 10% cut in funding is enough to layoff half of the staff, that is a $400,000 shortfall.

I asked if I had the right to ask to be laid off and collect unemployment. Apparently, you cannot ask to be laid off in the civil service system of New York, you must take a reduced job or resign without unemployment.

There was something cold about standing in a quiet building where half of the staff were gone, many who had worked more than 25 years in the place. The layoff notice was for several weeks away. Maybe, there is hope in a hard way. It was strange helping people while everyone else was sent home.

Needless to say, I have become much more interested in advocacy. None of this had to do with the performance of the people being let go. At least that was what I was told. It was supposed to be purely budgetary. I feel like being a cypher right now. Sometimes acting is better than feeling.

Needless to say, I will be going to job related functions and seeing many of my colleagues at them. There is the ACRL NY Libraries Skill Share on July 13, 2010 listed on New York Lbrarians Meetup. http://www.meetup.com/NYLibrarians/calendar/13874759/ Oddly enough, I feel more tired than afraid.

I have been collecting information on advocacy groups. I guess now is the definite time to contact them about this. There certainly are enough organizations. I started contacting my senators and assemblypeople in New York.

Daily Thoughts 5/7/2009

Martin, David, 1737-1797 -- Artist, Benjamin Franklin Reading

Daily Thoughts 5/7/2009

I enjoyed reading Information Tomorrow Reflections on Technology and the Future of Public and Academic Libraries, edited by Rachel Singer Gordon. There is a lot to read in this book. Each chapter is on a different subject by a different librarian. There are twenty different authors in this book. I found some of the chapters very useful and others completely unrelated what I am doing.

I even learned a new word, "Amazoogle." created by Alane Wilson. As part of reading this book, I also put another book on hold, Got Game, How The Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever by John Beck.

This book is very forward looking. There are a few themes which come across, the user is the center of the library whether the library is online, or in the library building. Librarians need to go where the users are. The technology is always secondary to what the user wants.

The second theme is that technology changes constantly, we need to be up to date with what people want or people will go to search engines and corporations to find the information they need.

This is a practical book, different people will get different things from it. I read it to learn what may be happening in the future. I learned about gaming in libraries, more about open source, and about how mobile computing will eventually overtake and replace desktop computing.

I walked up to my local library today. I like visiting libraries, most librarians do. I returned a book and looked around. I picked up three books, Streamlining Library Services What We Do, How Much Time It Takes, How Much It Costs, And How We Can Do It Better by Richard M. Dougherty, Thinking Outside The Book Edited by Carol Smallwood Introduction by Joy M. Gainer, and Learn Library Management by Bob Pymm and Damon D. Hickey.

When I was at the desk checking out books, I noticed a petition to save our libraries and signed it. There was also a postcard to the mayor. New York Public, Queens Public Library, and Brooklyn Public Library face very large cuts. This is despite increases in circulation and use. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6656778.html

Queens Public Library is supposed to have the highest circulation in the nation. I am not sure an argument purely based on use or circulation will work for public libraries right now. I think that other arguments have to be brought to the fore; we provide information on how to find jobs, we provide assignments for school children, we are a cultural institution that provides higher aspirations for people, having a unique high quality collection brings prestige to the community, and other strategies might work better.

Good Morning, Prince of Stories, Hard Times For Book Trade

Artwork by E. Burne-Jones, April 1888, for the first book edition of William Morris' A Dream of John Ball, illustrating medieval equalitarian slogan.

Good Morning

This morning, I finished reading Prince of Stories, The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman on the subway to work. I very much enjoyed many parts of this book. The writing is interesting. There are unique pictures including a complete comic book story called Blood Monster written by Neil Gaiman, artist: Marlene O'Connor, Lettering: M. Kelleher.

The section on movies talked about Beowulf and Mirrormask neither of which I have seen. It made me like the idea of them so much that I reserved them to view. I was previously reluctant to do this because I had mixed opinions on the movie Stardust. My understanding is that the next movie that Neil Gaiman will be scripting is Neverwhere after Coraline.

There is a very long complex interview at the end of the book. Gaiman talks about his early obsession with reading all kinds of fantasy books. He could recite Lewis Carroll's entire Alice In Wonderland when he was six years old. I have a deep appreciation for Alice. He also had a fondness for C.S. Lewis's Narnia books as well as everything written by Michael Moorcock.

It reminds me of a truism that I have experienced, the more you read, the more likely it becomes that you write because to understand reading properly it becomes necessary to write. Also, I love his statement about dreams fueling his writing of sandman, and I especially like this little quote from the interview, " I like [Charles] Bukowski more than I suspect I should."

The last thing I can say about this book is that it is very well designed. Everything falls into place nicely, the interviews, the pictures, the stories, the art work, the original articles, absolutely everything seems to fit just right.

Hard Times For Book Trade

Hard times may be coming for the book trade. This is across the board, libraries, publishers, and bookstores. Books are not an essential item in many peoples mind during an economic downturn. I don't think most people live on books and chicken, or intellectual stimulation.

From Bookselling This Week:
http://news.bookweb.org/6457.html

From Library Journal:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6619406.html

New York Magazine:
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52761/

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/business/04publish.html?_r=2

Add in the general malaise in the economy and we are facing some hard times ahead. Peoples reading habits have also changed. This will further cause problems because of the problems with the newspaper industry. Publishing looks to go through a very turbulent period. Online publishing may grow, I am not so sure about traditional books right now.

Maybe, the big companies will throw off the most unsatisfied and create little companies that are lean and mean. We are living in interesting times...

Publishers are already calling the event Black Wednesday for Wednesday, December 4, 2008 when it was officially announced.