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Showing posts with label Library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library. Show all posts

Thursday, March 15, 2012

THURSDAY RAMBLINGS - CHELSEA, IOWA LIBRARY

I did not understand why it was so important to Qaptain Qwerty and why it made him happy when he found free WiFi at a coffee shop or at a library wherever he happens to be while travelling. Now I do. Since we have wireless internet connection at home, there would be no need to sign up for data service for "Bo" except when we are on our road trips. All of the library branches in St. Louis have free WiFi and most of the restaurants/coffee shop, even supermarkets now offer this service. I think it is a smart business decision. Last week when I met a friend for lunch at a restaurant that has free WiFi, I brought along the iPad and we were able to do research on the topics we discussed. I like taking pictures of library or post office when driving thru small towns. The town of Chelsea, Iowa has only one building to house both its City Hall and Library. I am sure the good people of Chelsea are proud of their town because any town that has a library, no matter how small the collection is, would get my respect.
When I mentioned to my husband that I got a few really good books from the library, he said, "I never knew you ever gotten a book that you did not like or think it was a good book." Reading has always been one of my favorite activities besides watching hockey/football. One of the books I recently read was about I.M. Pei, the world renown architect, and I found so many interesting things about his life. I always thought Mr. Pei only designs museum like the Louvre Pyramid in Paris and the Guggenheim in New York. I learned that he works included John Fitzgerald Kenney Library in Boston, MA; Four Seasons Hotel in NYC; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio; Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado and so many others. If you did not already know a lot about I.M. Pei, please accept my humble suggestion to read about this giant of modern architecture. From his acceptance speech for one of the many awards he earned, I.M. Pei "Let us all be attentive to new ideas, to advancing means, to dawning needs, to impetuses of change so that we may achieve, beyond architectural originality, a harmony of spirit in the service of man." Would you like to share something interesting you read recently?

Friday, July 15, 2011

NEWS FROM MY LOCAL LIBRARY

No, it is not an assembly line from my favorite show "Unwrapped" hosted by Marc Summers, a program broadcasted by the Food Network. This is the latest equipment recently installed at a local library branch in an attempt to be fully automated.

Since Qaptain Qwerty mentioned about NYPL Donnell Branch library, I am taking a break from posting about my recent road trip on Lincoln Highway to give an update on the changes at my local library. Instead of the traditional return box, library patron will slide the items in the slot (the slot will automatically open by sensor) as shown in the above and below photo. The items would be "sucked" in and then go along the conveyor belt (top photo). The machine reads the bar code and immediately records that the items were returned. Books/magazines would be dropped into the side bins while DVD or CD would travel all the way to the end to be deposited into a separate bin.

Hey Qap, this is the library branch (the Asian Center in the lower level) we went to when you were here. I am all for modernized and efficiency. The draw back from this automated return system is the misleading that the items might be recorded that they were returned and available for check out but they are not on the shelves because they are still in the bins waiting to be sorted and put back on the shelves.


No, I am not giving anyone "the finger" - just pulling the lid open to show the old system where you normally would drop the books/magazines and other items to be returned. The items would remain in the receptacle waiting for the librarian to take them out to record that they were returned and put back onto the shelves.

Only if the wall could talk, what interesting or boring stories would it tell?

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