Daily Thoughts 4/29/2011 (the earthshakers, advocacy)

The future George III of the United Kingdom (right), pictured with his brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, and their tutor, Francis Ayscough, Dean of Bristol. The Prince of Wales sits regally, as befits the heir to the throne. Near his left hand is a globe and a volume bearing his crest, the Prince of Wales feathers. His brother symbolically serves him by offering him a book (albeit in a playful and distracted manner). Richard Wilson, circa 1749

Daily Thoughts 4/29/2011

I finished the first part of The Earthshakers this morning.  This first half was originally titled The March of the Barbarians.  The ending describes the fall of the Mongols.  It was quite interesting.  The Mongols attacked Japan and were thoroughly routed.  They also attempted to invade Vietnam and won the battle in the cities, but ended up fairing poorly on horseback in the jungle.  I am starting on the second part, Tamerlane.

Today has been another quiet day.  I updated the Twitter account, checked the displays, checked the gift books, and turned in my monthly statistics for programs, email reference, and now Twitter.  I have to work on the bimonthly report.  I also spent some time on getting ready for future programs.  Things like a mortgage workshop for seniors, and adding a few more open hours to the computer lab.

We did a few minor things to the web site like an adding a search inside the site box.

Web Bits

Advocacy: Public Library as Amenity and Necessity
http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/002169.html

Daily Thoughts 4/28/2011 (the earthshakers)

Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the US Library of Congress from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. Composite image assembled from LOC source images on April 12, 2006 by Jim Harper. Any copyright ownership of the composite image is hereby released to the public. Source images are identified as public domain and can be found in this collection, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pan.6a36107

Daily Thoughts 4/28/2011

Today was a steady day.  I read some more of The Earthshakers.  I am reading about how the Mongols were driven out of the Islamic world by Baibars-- (Lord Panther) who was a mamluk who seized the sultanate in Egypt.  It is a very interesting story.  Baibars was reviled by the crusaders and is considered a national hero in Egypt and Syria.  Baibars was also Kipchak Turk and very familiar with Mongol methods of warfare.

This morning, I updated the Twitter account, checked the displays, and checked the gift books.  Most all of the gift books go into the library book sale.  I make a few exceptions.  For example, I added a 2009 Phil Mickelson book called The Short Game on golf.  There is a simple truth here.  The better books you put out for the book sale, the more likely you are going to get better donations.  I like to think of the library book sale as a good will gesture to the community.

I called a few people about programs in the afternoon.  We are having another poetry program on May 5, 2011 with a speaker on memoirs.  I also put in a few more surveys this afternoon.

Two more books came in for me to read, Spade and Archer The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon by Joe Gores, and All The Lives He Led by Frederik Pohl.

Daily Thoughts 4/27/2011 (The Earthshakers, earth week)

Be kind to books club Are you a member? /
Poster showing a group of children with their book club banner.
Date Created/Published: Chicago, Ill. : WPA Illinois Art Project, [between 1936 and 1940] 

Daily Thoughts 4/27/2011 

It is interesting reading The Earth Shakers.  At this point in my reading, Harold Lamb is describing the Mongol invasion of Russia.  There a lot of quotes and individual stories of survival peppered throughout the account.  Genghis Khan has passed away and his spirit is supposed to reside in the mongol banner.

This morning, I checked the donations, made sure the Twitter account was updated, put in the surveys, and made sure the displays were in order.

We had three bike racks donated to the library from Habitat For Humanity today for Earth Week which is from April 25 to April 30.  They are going to do some landscaping on the building this week to make it a little prettier.

I also met to discuss some use of the computer lab.  Things might change a bit.

I put 63 documents the government doesn't want you to read by Jesse Ventura on hold.  It is #7 on the New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller list.  There were several New York Times book reviews which I read during my dinner hour.

I also noticed that there is new A. Lee Martinez novel out Chasing The Moon.  I like his humorous fantasy novels.

Web Bits


Overdrive Amazon Kindle Integration for Libraries
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/newslettersnewsletterbucketljxpress/890302-441/librarians_hope_for_a_seamless.html.csp

Daily Thoughts 4/26/2011 (The Earthshakers, Gifts)

Illustration of "The Rock" Gold Blocking and Inking Press, no. 4, from an advert for Kampe & Co of 78 High Holborn, London as printed in The Art of Bookbinding by Joseph William Zaehnsdorf, 1890

Daily Thoughts 4/26/2011

This morning I read some more of The Earthshakers by Harold Lamb.  The book was originally published as The March of the Barbarians and Tamerlane.  It has that old fashioned feel of history written with an upright Rome, an exotic East, and pillaging hordes of barbarians.

Today has been quiet and steady.  I checked the displays and checked the gift books.  We received some donations of books on music.  One of the books, The Beatles Anthology written in 2000 is the first book by the Beatles on the history of the Beatles.  It is a quarto book and has lots of photographs.

As usual I updated the Twitter account and entered some more surveys for the library.  We are going to be ordering again soon which should be a nice change.

I put the book, All The Lives He Led by Frederik Pohl on hold today.  It is his newest book.

I am thinking ahead about a discount to Book Expo America http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/ which is on May 23-26 this year.  It should be excellent.  I registered for the May 23, 2011 Day of Dialog Today http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/articlereview/889795-457/story.csp

Web Bits

Librarians at the Gate an article from Publishers Weekly on Book Expo America
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20110425/46943-librarians-at-the-gate.html

Daily Thoughts 4/25/2011 (The Earthshakers)

1891 NorthReading public library Massachusetts

Daily Thoughts 5/25/2011

Today has been a quiet, steady day today.  This morning, we met with the Sony Reader person to discuss how we were going to set up the three donated readers for the public to use.  We got some more marketing material, and he promised to send us a dummie reader.

I just got back from vacation, so there were quite a few surveys to talley this morning as well as a bit to catchup with on the Twitter account.  I also went through the gift books.  There were a number of nice art books which are going to be added to the collection.

I also checked the displays to make sure they were in order. The book, The Earthshakers by Harold Lamb came in for me to read.  It is a history of the Mongols.