Monthly Book Swap: High Point Cafe, Mt. Airy (Philadelphia)

The High Point Cafe at the Allens Lane R8 Train Station in Mt. Airy is sponsoring a monthly book swap the Third Thursday of every month from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Come bring books to swap and enjoy some coffee and dessert while you are at it!

Starting Today, Thursday, May 21, 2009
Third Thursday of every month

High Point Cafe
Allens Lane Train Station
Mt. Airy

Book swapping is a most excellent and phrugal idea!

P.L.

Your Brain as an Index

Occasionally, I hope to delve into a few topics related to librarianship, as I am studying at the Drexel University iSchool for a Masters degree in Library and Information Science.

Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan and The Daily Dish, I saw this blog post by Peter Suderman @ The American Scene postulating how Google is tranforming our brains into indexes.

Money quote from Your Brain as an Index:

Why memorize the content of a single book when you could be using your
brain to hold a quick guide to an entire library? Rather than memorize
information, we now store it digitally and just remember what we stored —
resulting in what David Brooks called “the outsourced brain.” We won’t become books, we’ll become their indexes and reference guides, permanently holding on to rather little deep knowledge, preferring instead to know what’s known, by ourselves and others, and where that knowledge is stored.

This is an interesting concept which I would like to explore further. As I get older I am less and less interested in memorization, and more interested in quick and easy access to information, so on an anecdotal level Suderman's comment rings true.

Comments?

P.L.

BookCrossing

I recently heard about a cool site called BookCrossing. The purpose of the site is to recycle and re-use books by placing them anonymously in public places and then tracking them over the web. It's kind of treasure hunting + serendipitous re-gifting of used books, that helps to promote literacy. According to the website, the definition of bookcrossing is: "“the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.”

Membership is free. If you choose you can become a paid member to support the organization. What a great phrugal way to share books that you no longer need or want! I'm going to set aside some older paperbacks to try it.

P.L. the Phrugal Librarian

FLP Book Corner Big Book Sale

The Friends of the Free Library Book Corner is having its annual Big Book Sale from May 15-17. Everything is on sale! Every day, the store offers a 10% discount for students with student ID. (I don't know if discounts are combined, but you can try!) Volunteers are needed - call 215.567.0527 for more information.