LJ reports that the Ohio state senate has given a one-week extension to the current budget, giving legislators more time for budget negotiations and a reprieve for Ohio libraries. LJ also reports that the Save Ohio Libraries campaign has been a tremendous success, but, depending on how the negotiations go, libraries may need to “re-energize their efforts to mobilize patrons.”
Over 40 UK libraries are now using Twitter to network and spread information among themselves, according to the Guardian (UK). To encourage more libraries to join, a “Twitter for librarians” course will be held by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in September.
More than 400 individual librarians are using the service in the UK, putting it behind the U.S., where are least 300 libraries (and many more librarians) use the social network to communicate with patrons. “Some authorities are getting on board in a more formal way [in the U.K.], but there also seem to be a lot of librarians who are trying Twitter out spontaneously and having fun with the system,” said Benedicte Page, libraries expert at the Bookseller.
Several organizations are rallying support for Ohio libraries, now facing a 50% budget cut (unlike libraries in the rest of the country, libraries in Ohio depend on state support for most of their funding).
The Save Ohio Libraries blog has information on how to get involved.
Library Journal has more details on the story and editor-in-chief Francine Fialkoff published an appeal today to Ohio’s governor, Dear Governor Strickland, which describes how important Ohio libraries are to their communities and to the rest of the country.
Vendors are also joining the fight (see Tutor.com’s blog).
To all our friends in Ohio libraries; you’ve created some of the most innovative library systems in the country and a huge base of loyal users, which gives us hope that they won’t let you down.
Nancy Pearl gets a nice shout-out from john Marshall, the book critic for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer in his final print column. This was included in his “farewell list of the extraordinary, the strange, the faves and flops”:
Most enterprising Seattle book people: Seattle’s uber-librarian Nancy Pearl; Kim Ricketts of Kim Ricketts Book Events.
Among the flops?
Biggest celebrity interview dud: Jane Fonda. Ice queen on auto-pilot.
Seattle P-I ceased print publication as of Monday, but will continue as an online pub, including the book section.
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This week, as part of their series “The Future of Reading”, the NYT ran a story by Motoko Rich on a Brooklyn school librarian who, like many others around the country, teaches her students to read critically on the Web (while also encouraging them to enjoy books).
On the NYTBR podcast (second story), Rich talks to editor Sam Tanenhaus about the story, explaining effectively why schools need trained librarians.
We all know this, but it’s great to hear it from someone outside the profession.
The third in the NYT’s series on The Future of Reading focuses on school libraries in the digital age and features Stephanie Rosalia, librarian at Brooklyn’s Public School 225, in Coney Island (The Future of Reading – In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update).
As the article makes clear, even though school librarians are on the front lines of the future of reading, their own futures are not rosy,
Yet as school librarians increasingly teach students crucial skills needed not only in school, but also on the job and in daily life, they are often the first casualties of school budget crunches.
A video of Rosalia interacting with her students accompanies the article; it effectively shows how central school librarians are to learning. Here’s hoping it will help the argument to save school libraries.
The two previous articles in “The Future of Reading” series are:
Newpapers around the country are noting a common phenomenon — the good news, the library is particularly needed during an economic downturn; the bad news, the economic downturn affects libraries, too.
The most recent of these stories is in yesterday’s Washington Post, “Business Brisk at Area Libraries; In Bad Times, Free Resources Are a Hot Commodity.” The article focuses on the three-year-old Germantown Library in Montgomery County, but also mentions other area libraries – “Circulation in the last six months of the year rose as much as 23 percent in libraries around the region.”
And, as often is the case, the reporter expresses some surprise at what libraries offer these days,
…[people] can access databases, read Chinese newspapers or the latest graphic teen novel. Users have more and more access from home; they can text in reference questions to a Fairfax County librarian, for example, or listen to podcasts. Fairfax card holders can read an e-book online. Librarians are trying to tailor services to community needs, hoping to add more babysitting certification classes in Silver Spring or résumé-writing workshops in Prince George’s County.
We can only hope that articles like these will help rally library support.
To shorten the wait time for popular titles and DVD’s, the Dallas Public Library is expanding its “StreetSmart Express” program, which sets aside copies of popular books and DVDs and charges users $5 each to check them out, reports the Dallas Morning News.
Library customers can still check out copies for free, but the paper warns that the wait can be six to eight weeks for the free copies of popular titles; “On Thursday, more than 250 patrons had placed holds on the popular DVD Mamma Mia! The library has 54 copies through its regular loan program. Twenty-six copies are available for StreetSmart users.”
The program has grown since its introduction and has raised money for the libary. Says the Morning News,
[the] StreetSmart program doubled in size from its launch in October through December. In total, consumers spent $10,405 on 2,081 items during those three months… [these] revenues have covered the costs of buying extra copies of popular titles.
The Dallas Morning News puts a positive spin on the story, saying the it’s cheaper for residents than buying a book.
Last night, NBC Nightly News did a story about the booming library business (”At certain times, it’s kind of like wild in here,” says a librarian from LA Public), while library budgets are suffering because of the tight economy.
(Thanks to Tina Jordan at AAP for pointing this out!)
If you haven’t already, check out the “For Fun” section of today’s Shelf Awareness, (scroll down to the final story), which imagines what VP Sarah Palin would do with the Library of Congress.
“One Book, One Chicago” has picked Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book on the Project Mercury astronauts, The Right Stuff as their fall selection. Mayor Daley explained the selection in his announcement yesterday;
by selecting a book about the early days of space travel we take part in celebrating the 50th anniversary of NASA this year, as well as the city-wide celebration of science and technology, “Science Chicago.”
Wolfe, who will come to Chicago to receive the Carl Sandburg Literary Award in October, will discuss his work at free public program. The city will also feature an outdoor screening of the movie based on the book and many other events. The Chicago Public Library has 2,000 copies of the book available for circulation, in addition to copies of the movie on DVD.
Time Out Chicago praised the library’s choices;
…the Library’s done an impressive job with selecting books that are both intriguing and have wide appeal… It’s a tough assignment: The best choices seem to be minor classics, books that people feel they should have read by now, but for whatever reason haven’t. But they also have to appeal to new readers, so they should seem somewhat fresh. That’s why recent choices like Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye and now The Right Stuff make smart selections: They’re great books that don’t feel like reading assignments.
According to the Library of Congress database of “One Book” programs, The Right Stuff has been selected by just one other program; Bakersfield, CA in 2002.
Whenever disasters strike, I immediately wonder what’s happening to the libraries and pets in the area.
On Friday, Library Journal posted an interview with Marie DeVries of Cedar Rapids Public Library. Astoundingly, despite heavy damage to the library’s main branch, the staff has managed to continue their summer reading program in temporary quarters (a shoe store!). Other staff members are working at a 24 hour crisis hotline.
In Des Moines, the central library has become the city’s emergency management center. Even the city’s tv station has been broadcasting from inside the library.
As for the pets, the National Geographic reports that 875 have been rescued and are being cared for by volunteers. (Photo from “Franny’s Cats Blog” on About.com).
The Sayreville Library in North Central New Jersey got a lovely shout out from Junot Diaz on yesterday’s CBS Sunday Morning. The Pulitzer prize winner (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) said that when he was growing up, he would secretly escape his grim neighborhood by going to the library. “My friends would have laughed their asses off if they found out I was walking down to the Sayreville Library to read books,” he said. Why did he risk ridicule? “I was convinced that I could stumble upon the key text that would maybe describe why I was in the United States.”
There’s a powerful statement to bring to funding authorities, “We help create Pulitzer Prize winners.”
With Father’s Day approaching, the show also featured CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, whose book about his father, Always by My Side (Gotham), is now #11 on the New York Times Nonfiction list, after two weeks on the list.
From a list of what defines today’s broad (or, “kick-ass woman”), on PopMatters:
Today’s broad:
• Would never be caught speaking the words “that’s hot.”
• Doesn’t own any pairs of Manolo Blahniks…
• Is not the librarian with glasses and her hair in a bun who then tosses her glasses and shakes out her hair to lure a man. She’s the librarian. Period.
We just got our copy of Macmillan Library Marketing newsletter and were delighted to see Chicago PL’s Collection Development Director, Megan McArdle selected as their “Librarian of the Month.”
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