Month: March 2016

Abstract Art Juxtaposed With Muralist Book Discussion

Tour for FYI Book Group Saturday 3/19/2016
FYI book group given tour of relevant art by Nelson-Atkins Curator of Modern Art, Jan Schall, Ph.D.

I received an invitation from Kaite Stover, Director of Reader Services for the Kansas City Public Library, a few weeks ago, asking me if I would like to read The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro (also author of The Art Forger) and attend the discussion to be held at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on Saturday, March 19th.  I readily agreed because the book sounded interesting and there was the added bonus of a special tour of the Contemporary Art gallery conducted by the curator, Jan Schall, Ph.D. Continue reading “Abstract Art Juxtaposed With Muralist Book Discussion”

In Search Of: An Austen Audiobook

I’m starting a new blog post series today.  I hope to help people navigate the local library’s online catalog and successfully find the items they want to read, listen or watch. For purposes of this blog, I define “Local Library” as the Lansing Community Library, one of the many regional libraries participating in the NExpress regional shared catalog of the Northeast Kansas Library System.

I’m calling this series “In Search Of: ” as a practical guide to finding materials I want to check out.  This series will contain real world examples taken directly from my everyday routine life.  If you have a question, situation or scenario that you struggled with, please post a comment or email me the particulars and I’ll be glad to assist or connect you with the correct library resource personnel.

What I’m Searching For and Why

Today’s conundrum brings us to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.  Next month, my Local Library’s adult book group will be reading and discussing this classic.  My preferred format for reading these days is to listen to audiobooks from my smartphone through my Bluetooth headset while commuting to work.  My two hour daily commute would otherwise be wasted time when I could have been reading!

The challenge with a book like Sense and Sensibility comes from its classic status.  All libraries will have multiple editions, in print, ebook and audiobook formats.  In this case, there are also videos thrown into the mix because Sense and Sensibility has been adapted for television and film many times.  So, when I first search at the NExpress online catalog, I know my results are going to be many and I will need to filter them down to get to the format I prefer.

NOTE: You should already have a NExpress library card and PIN (issued by your Local Library) and have successfully logged into your NExpress account.  This allows you to place a hold on any item you find in your catalog search results and have it delivered to your Local Library and held at the front desk for your pickup. Continue reading “In Search Of: An Austen Audiobook”

The Fallacy of Corporate Leadership

Great post (again) by Modesitt and here’s my favorite quote/excerpt:

Study after study has shown that stress levels actually are lower in upper management and higher in those who work for them and that the highest stress levels are created at lower levels of management when the expectations of upper management conflict with the lack of adequate resources for achieving those expectations and when the compensation differential between those tasked with a job and those supervising them is highest.

Source: The Fallacy of Corporate Leadership

Local Library Makes Computer Access Easy as Pie

Easy as pie?  For me, it is way easier.  I’ll explain that later.

My local library, the Lansing Community Library, recently installed software created by EnvisionWare which makes accessing a computer a snap.

Here’s a quick ‘how to’ to give you an idea of just how easy this is.

Don’t have a library card?  No worries.  Just stop at the front desk and the friendly library techs will give you a guest pass or issue you a brand new shiny Lansing Community Library card.

Continue reading “Local Library Makes Computer Access Easy as Pie”