$1 Book Sales

Yesterday I went to the monthly $1 Book Sale at the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library Book Donation Center - not far from my brother and sister-in-law's house. We found some good children's books in relatively good condition - including one of our favorites Go Dog Go. Each year the San Francisco Public Library receives more than 600,000 books through donations and they sell them back to the public through a number of book sales. I have heard that their biggest book sale, and the largest on the West Coast, the Big Book Sale, is quite the event. If you are looking for good deals on books, see if your local "Friends of Library" put on any book sales and go wild!

Room to Read

This Charlie Rose interview of John Wood, founder of Room to Read and former Microsoft employee, is music to my ears - it also explains why I became a librarian. I became a librarian because of my experience developing a library for the secondary school in Namibia where I was an English teacher with the Peace Corps. In my spare time, I solicited and secured books from international and local donors; labeled, registered and arranged the library according to the Dewey Decimal System; and educated students and staff on the proper use and maintenance of the library. The most vivid memory I have is of the students huddled excitedly around a book showing an illustration of the ascent of man. Their faces showed what a revolutionary idea this was to them and that look in itself was why I became a librarian. I thought "wow, if books can do this, I want to bring books to children." It was really amazing. My goal at that time was to get my Masters In Library Science and then go off to build libraries in developing countries. I did get my MLS and have been working in academic libraries for 15 years, but I have yet to take my know-how to the developing world. Mr. Wood is living my dream.

Where Good Ideas Come From

One of my favorite sessions at the recent California Library Association Conference was Steven Berlin Johnson's talk on innovation. He is the author of the book Everything Bad is Good for You - a book that has been on my "want to read" list for some time. His newest book is Where Good Ideas Come From: the Natural History of Innovation. In his presentation promoting his new book, he talked about the spaces that cultivate innovation - obviously an important question for libraries! How can libraries continue to be spaces of innovation in today's digital world? A lot of food for thought. He also talked about the history of commonplace books and inspired the title of my blog! Here is an animated and shortened version of his presentation:

Ohlone Library

The nearest community college to my home in Fremont is Ohlone College. I've been wanting to check out the library so today I finally drove up there to take a self-guided tour. The Fremont campus is up on the hillside overlooking the bay - a beautiful location. I got a couple of ideas for Christmas gifts on the new book shelf! Here are some pictures of the library:

The outside of the library.

Entrance.

Circulation desk and new book display.

Beautiful views from the study carrels on the upper level.