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3
What if everyone read the same book?
Filed Under Books, Libraries, Web Design | Leave a Comment
When Nancy Pearl, the model for the coolest action figure on the planet, was the Executive Director for the Washington Center for the Book, she asked the question, “What if all Seattle read the same book?” Well, she made that thought come to life by creating the first-ever “One City One Book” program and soon after libraries all around the country began creating similar community-wide reading programs.
For the past 6+ months, I’ve been a part of a dedicated group of people (mostly Library staff) committed to bringing this “One City One Book” concept to Thousand Oaks. It’s easily the biggest project I’ve been involved with since I started here, and I have to say, it’s going to be an incredible program. The book that the committee chose for the inaugural Thousand Oaks Reads is Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. If you haven’t read it yet, you really should pick it up.
In the Fall of this year, there will be several weeks when book discussions (at the Library, coffee shops, bookstores) and special events will take place all around the City. Jonathan Safran Foer is even visiting Thousand Oaks to talk about his book and his work. I’m really excited about this project because it really represents many of the positive things that libraries bring to their communities. It’s meant as a celebration of reading and literature…it’s meant to strengthen the community…and it’s meant to enrich people’s lives.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the project’s website at thousandoaksreads.org. Working on the website has given me the chance to become more familiar with Wordpress and learn a bit more about web design and CSS, so I’m very happy about that. It’s very much a work in progress, so if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, please let me know.
By the way, when I was in grad school at UM-SI, I heard Nancy Pearl give a lecture on campus and she was truly inspirational. Afterwards, I approached her to say hello and have my Nancy Pearl action figure autographed (yes, that makes me a certified librarian geek!). I told her that I planned on becoming a librarian and she asked me what type. I told her I was interested in public and academic libraries, and she encouraged me to become a public librarian. I believe her exact words were, “Public. Go with Public. We need more good people in public libraries.” I took her advice 
Mar
27
Lost Boys documentary screening and Valentino Deng visit
Filed Under Books, Libraries, Movies & TV | Leave a Comment
I’m really excited about two of our upcoming events at the Library. On Wednesday night (March 28) at 6:30pm, we’re showing the award-winning documentary film, The Lost Boys of Sudan, directed by Megan Mylan and Jon Shenk. The film tells the story of two of the “lost boys,” focusing on their journey to and life in the U.S. Watching it a few months ago reminded me of just how fortunate I’ve been in my life up to this point. Things I often take for granted, like a roof over my head and the opportunity to get a college education, are simply things that these “lost boys” have had to struggle for their entire lives. Their stories, both collective and individual, are truly amazing.
The screening is actually a prelude to the main event, which is a visit to the Library by Valentino Achak Deng. Deng is a “lost boy” and is the subject of Dave Eggers’ (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) new bestselling book, What is the What. He’ll be at the Library on Thursday, April 5 from 7-9pm to talk about his experiences and life story. If you haven’t read this book yet, start now. Copies of the book will be on sale at both the film screening on Wednesday and the Deng visit. Of course, the Library also has multiple copies available to checkout.
For more information on both events, visit the Library’s website or go straight to the flyer for the two events.
Mar
4
Books, books, and more books!
Filed Under Books, Libraries | Leave a Comment
Originally uploaded by tolrich7.
I stopped by the Friends’ used book sale this past Saturday morning. Arriving shortly before the doors opened, I was surprised to see just a small group waiting to get in. Later, I heard from a Friend that most of the serious book sellers and collectors showed up the night before, which makes sense. Apparently there were about 200 people Friday night and over 40% of the books on sale were sold. Still, I found a lot of interesting stuff on Saturday morning and came home with four nice books for the grand total of $5! By the time I left, around 10:40am, there were quite a few people there. The next time the Friends have a big book sale, I’ll definitely try to get there on the first day and take pictures of the madness
Mar
1
Used Book Sale aka “madhouse”
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There will be a 2-day used book sale, sponsored by the Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library, this Friday from 6-9pm and Saturday from 10am-3pm. Held three times a year, these used book sales have a reputation of having some great finds for serious book collectors as well as the casual reader. They also have a reputation of getting pretty rowdy as people compete for the best books. I imagine the scene to be something like a toy store a few days before Christmas, only instead of crazy parents searching for the best toys there will be no-nonsense bibliophiles and bookworms searching for the rarest (and cheapest) books. I’m going to try to make it to the book sale after work on Friday or early in the morning on Saturday to see the madness up close and personal! One colleague has advised me to wear body armor…
Jan
27
TOL Amazon Linky
Filed Under Books, Libraries, Technology | Leave a Comment
A few months ago, I created a Greasemonkey userscript that would allow someone to see whether or not the Thousand Oaks Library has a particular book while they’re browsing through Amazon.com. I think a lot of people like using Amazon to browse for books, so the idea is to make it very easy to see if your local library already has the books you’re interested in so you don’t have to pay for them. Other libraries have done it so it’s not an original idea. In fact, to develop the linky, I basically copied the AADL Amazon Linky created by the Superpatron. If you want to try it out, here’s how you can install it so it works on your Firefox browser. Let me know if you have problems getting it to work. Btw, it’s free!
1. First, download Greasemonkey from http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org. If you download it using Firefox, it should automatically install it.
2. Second, go to the following url to get the user script: http://www.umich.edu/~rkong/amazontollinky.user.js. The TOL Amazon Linky should be installed automatically if you already have greasemonkey installed.
3. Open up Amazon and search for a book title. Wait until the whole page loads and you should see a note that tells you whether or not the book is available at the TOL. If you click on that link, it will take you directly to the item record in the TOL online catalog.
Note: If you’re looking at the Amazon page for a book in paperback and the library only has it in hardcover, it will say that the book is not available at the library even though we really do have it. If you see this, I recommend that you also try clicking on the “hardcover” link in the “other formats” section. Most of our books are in hardcover. Also, this linky probably won’t work for most audiovisual materials.
Click here for an example of a public library that does a really great job of advertising their linky. Also, the instructions are great so if you can’t make sense of my brief instructions, it might help you to look at their page!
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