Daily Thoughts 11/30/2010 (Lynd Ward, Publishers Weekly)

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy resting in the forest. Oil on canvas. 60 × 50 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. 1891

Daily Thoughts 11/30/2010


This morning, on the train, I started reading First Break All The Rules What The World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.
It is about what makes a great manager.

Today has been relatively quiet, I checked the displays to see that they were in order, read the latest copy of booklist, and handed in the monthly schedule.  It has been one of those days where you do what is necessary because that is what makes you professional.  I am thinking about how to rearrange the ordering schedule and possibly get the Elite Street ordering system for bestsellers from BWI.

I read some more issues of Publishers Weekly.  It is a solid distraction while two more new people are let go.  I also took a few minutes to look at Lynd Ward volume II, Prelude to a Million Years, Song Without Words, and Vertigo.  This is a collection of wordless woodct novels.  They were done in the 1930s.  Art Spiegelman is the editor. These are considered by many to be the precursors to the modern graphic novel.

I am feeling quite tired right now.  For me coming in and doing my everyday work helps me face up to the changes occurring around me.  One of the things that determines professionalism is the ability to work under pressure.

On the way home, I looked through the wordless novels of Lynd Ward, it is a beautiful book, the woodcuts have a very stark Germanic feel to them with strong dark lines. They remind of the art from the Works Project Administration.  I learned that the books were made in a printing cooperative based on democratic principles which was interesting.  Most of the drawings are set in the great depression.  People are living their lives in a very stark time.  There is a sense of the poetic and the biblical in the art.  This is a link to a review from NPR.  It is a very beautiful set of books. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130915507

Daily Thoughts 11/29/2010 (Advocacy, Reduction In Force)

A logo of the United States Library of Congress following with the theme of using the outline of the Thomas Jefferson Building as an identifier.

Daily Thoughts 11/29/2010


I got a request from NYLA -- the New York Library Association to fill out a form letter to support bills that could support libraries.  I often send letters to the local politicians and the politicians around the area where my job is.  Unfortunately, libraries have become an easy target for cuts and legislation.  It is partially due to self preservation and partially due to wanting to keep my profession alive that I am active in contacting local politicians. http://www.nyla.org/index.php?page_id=925http://www.nyla.org/index.php?page_id=925

During voting time, I got eight reminders from door to door canvassers reminding me to vote as well as a dozen phone calls and tons of junk mail.  It was kind of annoying.  I think it is the result of writing about two form letters a month to politicians. Most people do little or nothing.  It does not take a lot of time to write one letter a month or simply fill out a form for a cause and add your information.

Today, I got the notice of demotion as part of a reduction in force.  The two librarian IIIs above me were reduced to Librarian IIs, all of the Librarian IIs were reduced to Librarian 1s.  Two librarians were laid off.  There was also a senior clerk that was reduced to a clerk, and a clerk who was laid off.  That means three people were laid off.  Earlier three people had taken retirement.  I have a letter which describes this as being purely budgetary.  It is supposed to go into effect on December 1st in two days.  Today is November 29, 2010.  This has effected about a third of our building.  The last attempt at layoffs and demotions affected half of our building.  It was on July 11, 2010.   Each library in our county has a separate budget.  If I read the articles about our budget with the differences between the comptroller and the mayor, there could be a several million dollar budget gap in about six months.

 I finished reading Writing That Works on the train to the job.  I had the day off, but went in to get my paperwork. Sometimes, patience is what is needed.

Um loft feminino

Olá meninas! Pra começar bem a semana, que tal um espaço bem feminino?

Esse loft que venceu completamente minha resistência pelo estilo rústico.

A grande porta de vidro enche de luz o ambiente e traz a alegria do sol para dentro de casa.

Atrás do sofá roxo (meu sonho de consumo que marido não aprova), uma parede de tijolinhos pintados de branco, que também aparecem no fundo da estante.

No lugar de uma mesa de centro, duas mesinhas, que também podem servir de apoio em caso de reuniões informais.
Adorei a luminária cromada e o lustre.

Na cozinha, uma geladeira vintage cor-de-rosa. Nada mais Penélope Charmosa que isso!

Vários guarda-roupas iguais juntinhos parecem ser um só.

No banheiro, muito cimento queimado. O que até ontem pra mim, era o mais triste dos materiais, prova que ao lado de belas peças pode ficar lindo.

Imagens daqui.

Uma semana de muita paz para todos

Que suerte !

Si te has despertado hoy con fuerza..tienes más suerte que otros muchos
Si nunca has conocido los peligros de la guerra, la soledad de la prisión, el hambre ... estás por encima de 500 millones de personas del mundo.
Si puedes ir a la Iglesia, al templo o seguir tus creencias sin ser perseguido tienes... tienes más suerte que 3 millones de personas en este planeta.
Si tienes tus necesidades básicas cubiertas.. eres más rico que el 75% de los demás.
Si tienes unos ahorros.. eres parte del 10% de la población próspera del mundo entero.
Si has visto a tus padres hacerse viejitos juntos.. eres un caso poco común
Si llevas una sonrisa en tu cara y estás agradecido por todo... tienes suerte porque la mayoría de la gente lo puede hacer pero no lo hace.
Si puedes tomar la mano de alguien, abrazarlo o solamente tocar su hombro... alégrate, nunca te sentirás solo.

Daily Thoughts 11/28/2010 (Get Glue, Writing Tools)

First page of a miniature of Cicero's De oratore, 1400s, Northern Italy, now at the British Museum.


Daily Thoughts 11/28/2010

I've been reading more of Writing Tools this weekend. There are a lot of ideas about writing that I had not thought about before.  The author describes when to use unusual words as well as how patterns of words on the page effect stories. I learned quite a bit about things like sentence length, length of of words in series, patterns in writing, and other mechanies.  I learned about how important it is to look for unique names and find the names of even the most unimportant characters in your writing.  So far, this is an excellent book that has introduced me to many new concepts about writing.




I am still playing around with Get Glue http://getglue.com/BookCalendar/books.  It is very easy to get drawn into sites like this because they appear that you are doing something important when it is really more for frivolous enjoyment.  However, it does make you more visible if that is what you are seeking.

I went in and added a few more links to my selected links page from the last month. It is slowly growing.  I also pulled out a few more books and topics to add to Get Glue.

Holding On!

This is another painting taken from one of Shelley Smart's blog, A Year at the Beach.  Thank you Shelley!

As usual I've not been blogging or visiting this past week, for which I (yet again) apologise.  And with Summer and looming holidays and sports fixtures, I keep falling behind.

But to celebrate Summer (although it's very peculiar weather we're having at the moment!), I thought I would post this one.  I loved it when I started it, but was not all that happy with the end result.  Oh well, another learning curve!

And on a final note, and I KNOW it's late, but I hope all my American and Canadian blogging friends had a great Thanksgiving.  Because it's not an event we celebrate, I tend to forget.  Sorry.

Um domingo com o coração apertado

Hoje talvez seja o dia em que poderemos comemorar uma grande vitória da Polícia sobre o narcotráfico.
Mas até lá, será o pior momento de toda essa guerra.
E o que vejo não são policiais fardados entrando no Complexo do Alemão, dentro de cada farda enxergo uma família.
Que Deus proteja todas as famílias vítimas desta guerra e permita que a paz volte ao Rio.
Beijos

Os blogs que eu sigo sumiram!

Acabei de entrar no blog e tomei um susto: Simplesmente eu não tinha atualizações de outros blogs para ver porque não estava seguindo mais ninguém!
Aconteceu com mais alguém?

Daily Thoughts 11/27/2010 (Get Glue, LinkedIn, Social Media, Budget)

Interior View of the Astor Library, 1854

Daily Thoughts 11/27/2010 

Using Social Networks To Select Material.


I have two books that I placed on hold after reading Linked In; What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelley and Letting Go Of Words, Writing Web Content That Works.  Librarians often talk about the books they like on Linked In.  It is often career oriented material.  While I was on a thread in Linked In on LISCareers, they had a number of career books they were discussing.  The thread is called Best Books For Career Professional/Personal Development http://linkd.in/f0VYYT%20  Two books that caught my attention were First Break All The Rules: What TheWorlds Greatest Managers Do by Marcus Buckingham and Creating A Life Worth Living: A Practical Course In Career Design For Aspiring Writers, Artists, Filmmakers, Musicians, and Others Who Want to Make A Living From Their Creative Work by Carol Lloyd.

I also spent some time on Get Glue looking at different book lists.  I ended up picking out three books Rules For Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki who also is on Twitter, Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson, and Paper Cities an Anthology Urban Fantasy, Edited by Ekaterina Sedia.  This is my list on Get Glue of books http://getglue.com/BookCalendar/books

I find looking through lists of books on social networks sometimes very interesting and useful.  There are a lot of people with computer backgrounds who have lists of new computer books which are often not available from standard review sources.  People also recommend a lot of book that are never reviewed in the standard review sources like Library Journal or Publishers Weekly.  I think only 1% of published books are reviewed professionally.  This leaves a vast array of books with little or no coverage.  They are often things like computer books, books on construction, textbooks, and other materials.

Also many social networks have lists where people give what they are currently reading.  These are sometimes curious to look at because they tend to have a wide cross section of books.

Budget and Politics

It is almost the end of the year.  I learned we have enough money to make it until the end of the year without layoffs.  This is a relief in a way.  I am waiting to hear about the finalization of people retiring.  On November 29, 2010 we are having a union meeting to discuss the budget with union representatives from the state. The mayor announced there would be no layoffs in the city.  However, our library is moving away from being part of the city, we are in the process of becoming a school district library at the request of the Board of Regents of the New York State Library.  This would put our budget up to vote in 2011.  It also means that the board of trustees would have to be elected as well.  It is very political.

I now know that there will not be any furloughs, it goes against the CSEA statewide union policy.  It is something I would have liked to consider.  It requires a lot of patience to think about these things.

In the city itself, there is some dissension, the city comptroller has announced that she is against the mayors budget.  This makes things even more complicated.  Right now in Westchester County, they are having budget hearings.  Funding for libraries in Westchester County are being considered.  The Westchester Library System which does some of our services is being cut.  They already have cut the bookmobile.  In our city, it went to the homes for the aged and the local armory.

It gets even more complicated, because the civil service has to work with the library if there are layoffs or a reduction in force.  They already did a reduction in force for our library on July 11, 2010 which was rescinded.  This makes them very careful.

In the surrounding area in the five boroughs of New York City, Mayor Bloomberg has suggested a $16.5 million dollar budget cut.  This would eliminate 404 librarians leaving a lot of librarians out of work with a limited amount of open positions.  Many of the open positions are for technically oriented positions, systems librarians, metadata specialists, digital image specialists, information architects, content specialists, and web technology specialists.

The whole profession is in a shift, much like the publishing industry is shifting to new technologies, libraries are slowly starting to do it as well.  It is a very disruptive time period.

It also is a very important time to learn how to advocate for your library and find advocates in the community.  Choices which are made now, will affect how or whether libraries will exist in the future.  In my personal opinion, reform is necessary, not elimination.

Writing That Works How To Communicate Effectively in Business, 3rd Edition by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson

Writing That Works How To Communicate Effectively in Business, 3rd Edition by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson





Writing That Works is an updated book on business writing that includes sections on email, presentation decks (bullet pointed lists often in powerpoint), and a reminder that computers are only as good as what you put into them.



The writers describe when it is appropriate to use paper memos and letters to add a personal touch or appear official. They also talk about how to give presentations to sell your product or idea in person.

The book covers written documents, presentations, and the internet. The chapters are short, clear, and present clear business objectives; getting a job with a resume, getting money for your ideas, saving time by managing email properly, and selling yourself in writing.



Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson open the book with a statement that the point of business writing is to get things done, not just to be clear.



There is a reminder to edit your work, be understandable, and write for a specific objective. Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson do this with ease. They make excellent use of bullet pointed lists, indented italicized text, and bold headings which catch your attention.



Kenneth Roman retired from being CEO of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide and Joel Raphaelson retired from being Creative Executive Director of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide. This makes them very qualified to write about business. This book is well worth reading.

Daily Thoughts 11/26/2010 (Get Glue, The Copia

Paul Cesar Helleu, Woman Reading, Circa 1895, Drypoint on Paper

Daily Thoughts 11/26/2010

I have been reading a little more of Writing Tools and trying out Get Glue. It is quite interesting.  I learned it has some qualities that are not so great.  Synching it with twitter will fill your twitter messages full of Get Glue which can appear spammy.  It is very easy to create a very large list of books you have read.

I spent some time going through The Copia, http://www.thecopia.com  It is a social network for books. I started out by downloading the seven free books which they are offering on their network.  I first had to get a license from Adobe to do this and create an account with Adobe.  I think they are mainly using the Adobe Epub format.  Once I was logged on, I had the choice of either downloading an application for Mac or PC that would synch with the website.  There was also an Ipad application.  This was fairly easy to do.

Once I had the application downloaded, I decided to do a little free riding which is the nice word for looking for free things.  I searched the catalog for free downloads and downloaded Walden or Life In The Woods by Henry David Thoreau, The Novels of Jane Austen, and An Account of Egypt.   This left me with ten books.  I then looked through the community list of books.  Many were also downloading free items.  Computer books from O'reilly publishing and public domain history texts were also downloaded. I downloaded Vikram and The Vampire by Sir Richard Burton which is another public domain classic.  I now have eleven books to try out and read on the system.  The downloads were fast and easy to do.

I also went through and looked at the groups and joined a few under my name to see how they worked as well as made a few comments to check on how that worked.  It was an interesting experience.

I also updated my profile with a thumbnail for this blog.  There was only one thing which did not work that well.  I tried to search people for librarians, publishers, authors, writers, editors, and other book people.  I was not able to find any in the people search.

There are supposed to be some features which are not available in other social networks for books.  You should be able to annotate books with notes by the book, the page number, and highlighted text.  This all should be shareable.  I am looking forward to trying it out tomorrow.  I like to spread out these kind of things over time.

Renato Russo - O filho da Revolução

O livro de Carlos Marcelo foi escrito para quem é fã, mas também para quem não é.
A biografia de Renato Manfrdini Júnior é narrada ao mesmo tempo que o autor descreve a formação da sociedade brasiliense. Paralela à formação do Aborto Elétrico, e mais tarde, da Legião Urbana, está o surgimento de várias bandas, que culminaram na explosão do rock nacional, no começo dos anos 80.
A revolução cultural acaba por fazer parte de um período de transformações políticas e sociais.
O amadurecimento de uma geração criada em uma cidade planejada, que valorizava o saber, a cultura , e trazia de todo o território nacional e do exterior tudo o que julgasse necessário, fez surgir jovens contestadores.
Renato foi um deles. O ídolo de gerações surpreende por, anos após a sua morte, suas músicas ainda continuarem atuais, conquistando quem nem mesma havia nascido quando ele morreu.
Culto, inteligente e sem papas na língua. Renato falava e fazia o que queria. Mas também havia outro Renato, alcóolatra, drogado, cheio de conflitos pessoais.
O livro traz um Renato sem maquiagem, com uma narração que nos transporta aos fatos. Uma aula de história. Uma aula de cultura. Uma aula sobre música.
O site do livro traz informações sobre o autor e trecho do livro, além da opinião de leitores.
Um livro que vale à pena, para ser apreciado a cada página.

Beijos

Daily Thoughts 11/25/2010 (Get Glue, Writing Tools, Thanksgiving)

Lithograph, Home To Thanksgiving, published by Currier and Ives., 1867


Daily Thoughts 11/25/2010


Happy Thanksgiving, hope all is well with you.  I am home today which feels very well.  Anyways, today is a day to relax.


I read some more of Writing Tools.  I spent some time going through the New York Post  crossing out words that ended with ing in them.  It was a writing exercise.  There were not a lot of them. The Post, despite its tabloid reputation, has very tight writing with very few errors in structure or grammar.  I may think there may be errors of opinion, but there are few technical errors.

I also registered with Wikipedia as a user.  I am not sure why, but there is a BookCalendar account on both Wikimedia and Wikipedia.  I have never attempted to provide any input into their database, but I have used them quite often.

In addition, I now have an account on Get Glue http://getglue.com/BookCalendar%20

Rio: Purgatório da beleza e do caos

Estou a quilômetros do Rio de Janeiro.
Teoricamente o que acontece lá não me atinge de forma direta.
Teoricamente.
Na verdade, minha agonia é constante. Minha irmã mora no Rio, com ela, meu cunhado e meu sobrinho. Desde segunda minha mãe também está lá.
Acompanho os notíciários com tristeza e preocupação. Sei que todos têm suas rotinas e precisam mantê-las, afinal, não há como simplesmente deixar de trabalhar.
Imagino a agonia do meu cunhado que, obrigado a viajar a trabalho, acompanha à distância o perigo que ronda a sua família. Minha irmã, que deixa o filho pequeno e tem que fazer o seu trabalho como se nada a preocupasse lá fora. Minha mãe, por sua vez, vê a filha sair de casa em meio a essa guerra (sim, isto definitivamente é uma guerra) e tenta aparentar tranquilidade, para não deixá-la ainda mais nervosa. Feliz o Matheus, que na sua inocência, considera o máximo sofrimento apenas não poder ir brincar na pracinha.
Como eles, todas as milhares de famílias no Rio. E todos os milhões que, como eu, se preocupam com seus parentes e amigos que estão lá.
Com o blog, fiz muitas amigas que vivem no Rio e também me preocupo com cada uma delas. Algumas, são casadas com policiais, e a preocupação neste caso é redobrada.
Dizem que Deus é brasileiro. Que ele se lembre disso.

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.

Meu filho agora faz programa e elogia decoração cor-de-rosa

Meu filho tem 16 anos. Sempre foi um menino tranquilo, nunca me deu trabalho. Nunca passou da hora na rua, aliás ele pouco sai à noite.
E aí que, de repente, eu descubro que ele está fazendo programa. Chega a passar a noite inteira fazendo programa, e ainda acha bom.
MORRI DE ORGULHO!
Como assim? Gente, ele está fazendo curso técnico em informática, lembram? Se ele está conseguindo concluir um programa, por mais básico que seja, eu babo mesmo!

E ele tem se esforçado bastante, porque agora cismou que quer ir estudar nos Estados Unidos. Não duvido dele, todas as vezes que ele quis alguma coisa, correu atrás e conseguiu. Foi assim nas provas que fez para as escolas onde estudou, quando foi avaliado e adiantado em uma série (ele fez 16 no fim de agosto e está no segundo ano) e quando quis adiantar o curso de inglês, fazendo quatro livros em um ano.

Quanto a elogiar decoração cor-de-rosa? Repetindo a frase dele: "Nunca pensei que fosse gostar de um lugar cor-de-rosa, mas o armário ficou muito bom. Você fez um ótimo trabalho."

Viu como sua mente foi maldosa? kkkkk

Só pra constar: Ele visita o blog diariamente e me passa um relatório de críticas, de dar medo. Desde a cor, o tamanho da foto, até uma palavra escrita com letra trocada. O novo layout do blog recebeu e-mail enorme de críticas. A quem será que esse menino puxou?