04.13.08
Posted in Books tagged Booklamp, Books, EBSCO, music, narrative nonfiction, nonfiction, NoveList Plus, Pandora, reading, recommended reading at 10:19 pm by andreak64
One of the best things about reviewing vendor cataloging and processing is that I get to see all of our new nonfiction titles. Nonfiction is my favorite genre to read. I love to learn and almost everything interests me, from Attention-Deficit Disorder to Zoology. Quite often, I hear about an interesting book on our local NPR affiliate, then I check for the title in our catalog and place a hold on it. Other times, I discover an interesting book or two (or three) on my truck and flag them with my hold. A day or two later, I’m walking away from the circ desk with an armload of knowledge.
Our database vendor EBSCO has released a new product called NoveList Plus, which will profile narrative nonfiction. This means it would list a book that was a personal account of travel, rather than a travel guide. Our library will subscribe to it in the near future and it’ll be interesting to see if it profiles any of the nonfiction I like to read.
I also saw a post in the Everything is Miscellaneous blog, written by David Weinberger, about a beta website for book lovers called Booklamp. Booklamp expects to analyze patterns in writing and recommend books to registered users, much like Pandora analyzes patterns in music and delivers music according to your profile. My nonfiction reading interests jump around so much, I don’t know if there’s a reader’s service out there that can recommend new nonfiction to me, but I’m willing to try them all. If I find a good one, I’ll be sure to share it here.
Permalink
03.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized tagged Books, delicious, Organization, organizing, sharing, social networking, web sites at 9:54 pm by andreak64
I did it! I figured out how to add my web site collection in del.icio.usto my blog. I added it as a widget on the right column, below my Blogroll. It’s set up to display my 10 most recently bookmarked web sites. My focus will be on libraries, technology, cataloging, and trends– and maybe I’ll throw in some web sites with organization tips. I hope you enjoy the Packrat’s collection of web sites.
The next thing I plan to organize online is my list of books I’ve read. I’ve kept a list in my head, then in my PDA for years. But the file on the PDA disappears from time to time and I have to dig it out of my backup and restore it. I’m tired of losing it, so my next project is to figure out which social networking site is best for organizing my ‘books read’ list. New sites keep popping up every day and existing ones continually add new features. I have a long list and I read a lot of books. I don’t want to spend hours setting it up, only to find a better site a week later. Wish me luck on this one.
Permalink
02.04.08
Posted in Uncategorized tagged Books, counting, numbers, statistics at 5:27 pm by andreak64
Gaaah! I just spent the whole day compiling several months’ worth of statistics for August-December of last year. That’s a lot of numbers for a person who doesn’t like ‘em. I’m not sure if it’s worse to have piles of numbers or piles of books and papers. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have let them pile up to begin with. But there’s been so much to do since last fall, I felt compiling statistics was the least of my worries.
I will admit that a marathon session of statistical compilation gave me some good ideas on how to revise our departmental statistics. One thing’s for sure– we keep track of way too many things! For example, we could stop counting corrections and transfers of attached records. We can stop manually counting cataloging and added copies statistics. I can get those numbers from creating lists and compiling reports in Millennium and Excel. But I still want to keep track of hours spent on work activities, so supervisors can have an idea of where their employees spend their time.
I feel confident I’ll get a handle on these squirrelly numbers soon enough and wrestle them under control. I can’t wait to tell staff what they can stop counting.
While I was immersed in numbers today, trucks of vendor shelf-ready books appeared outside my office. I could feel them staring me down, especially the one with holds. Sigh… there are never enough hours in the day to do it all…
Permalink
01.30.08
Posted in Uncategorized tagged Books, piles, placing holds, reading, sharing, social networking at 9:21 pm by andreak64
I checked a truck of adult nonfiction shelf-ready books today and put on way too many holds for myself. I have no Earthly idea when I’ll have enough time to read them all. But I couldn’t help myself. They all sounded so interesting! When I get them home, I throw them in a pile on the kitchen counter, dining room table, or my nightstand, all to be read later, whenever that is. Sometimes I get a book home and I wonder why I was interested in it enough to place a hold on it. Each night presents me with a game I call, “Which book do I want to start, but know I will never have time to finish?” It’s an endless game.
I once had the maximum number of books checked out. It was close to a hundred titles. I didn’t read them all, of course. I was working on a bibliography for our Girl Scouts and their parents. We were trying to educate the girls about their changing bodies and we encouraged the parents to join us in the discussion. But the parents were more than happy to drop off their girls for an hour or two and not bother participating in our meeting. I bet nobody read my bibliography.
I’m going to start a blog to share some of my reading interests, since they are so varied. There’s just something neat about finding out what you’re reading or have read is of interest to someone else. I recently heard that books were one of the most frequently shared things on social network sites like blogs and Facebook. If so, count me in…
Permalink
