It’s no news that many libraries across the country have reduced book purchases because of budget cuts. A few have even stopped purchasing books altogether, hoping that funds will be restored before the public notices.

Queens Borough Public Library CEO, Tom Galante, however, is making no bones about his library’s decisions. Last week, he told the local NPR station, WNYC (via Publishers Lunch Automat, subscription only), that they chose to maintain hours rather than buy books,

Galante said the mission of the library has shifted subtly, from lending books to providing English lessons, aiding job seekers and providing Internet access.

“It really comes down to libraries being about community — being a place for seniors in the morning, kids after school,” Galante said.

Running the Books, prison librarian Avi Steinberg’s memoir gets an additional dose of press attention (see earlier stories) from USA Today, which calls it “a smart new memoir” and says it is “about the ways in which the library provided refuge, companionship and solace to the people [Steinberg] met,” and praises the author for “leaven[ing] his often-grim memoir with unexpected bits of comedy and insight, weaving his family’s story into the narrative.”

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Avi Steinberg Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385529090 / 9780385529099

The L.A. Times today publishes a remarkably clear-eyed story about the issues libraries face in the digital age (with only a few laughable overstatements, like “Libraries are reluctant to digitize new bestsellers”).

Unfortunately, the article states that some libraries show declining circulation of books, without noting that the culprit could be reduced hours and book budgets.

Featured is the Rangeview, Colorado library as well as the L.A. Public Library.

What are the odds? While being mugged, you suddenly recognize the knife-wielding attacker as one of your former library patrons.

The odds are greater if you are a prison librarian, as Avi Steinberg recounts in his memoir, Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian, excerpted in this week‘s NYT Magazine.

Steinberg, who worked in a Boston prison, says that inmates’ reading tastes, unsurprisingly, run towards true crime. Coincidentally, the AP backs up that observation today; “Connecticut Prison Inmates Reading True Crime And Other Violent Books.” The article quotes State Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, who says he will ask that In Cold Blood and “other true crime or graphically violent books be removed from prison libraries. If the department does not remove the books…he will introduce legislation to force them.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut said it would oppose any such ban.

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Avi Steinberg Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385529090 / 9780385529099

On NPR’s All Things Considered last night, W. Ralph Eubanks talked about how the bookmobile shaped his life [Listen to the Story],

…it is my identity as reader that shaped the type of writer that I am. And I owe that to an old Ford bookmobile, a summertime pleasure that changed the way I see the world. Rather than feeling alone and isolated in turmoil-ridden Mississippi, a cool, air-conditioned library on wheels connected me to a world beyond the limits of where I grew up. In my life, that has made all the difference.

Eubanks, the Director of Publishing at The Library of Congress, wrote the memoir Ever is a Long Time, called one of the best books of 2003 by the Washington Post’s Jonathan Yardley and The House at the End of the Road.

Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi’s Dark Past A Memoir W. Ralph Eubanks Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 264 pages Publisher: Basic Books – (2005-01-03) ISBN / EAN: 0465021050 / 9780465021055

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The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South W. Ralph Eubanks Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Smithsonian – (2009-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 006137573X / 9780061375736

We’re not sure how much this will do for libraries, but thanks for the effort (and the great abs) Old Spice Guy.

The nonprofit digital library, Internet Archive has created the “Digital Lending Library” (Openlibrary.org), a project that scans public domain books and makes them available for borrowing through libraries. The project is covered in the Wall Street Journal.

The scanned books are available through OverDrive’s Digital Library Reserve.

The story is also covered in a WSJ video:

Fox News Chicago asked “do we still need public libraries?” (via GalleyCat). Despite the oh-my-god-look-how-much-libraries-cost (all of 2.5% of annual property taxes in Chicago) tone, most of the interviewees and email responses are pro libraries

The Boston Globe reveals a shocking secret about Boston.

They have never had a One Book program.

When questioned about the lapse, the mayor’s office replied, “There are so many different interests here that we encouraged local groups to do their own reading. The mayor doesn’t want to impose a book on people.”

It seems the mayor is not alone in his view. Says the article, “Critics argue the idea is one more example of officials intruding on people’s lives by telling them what to read, or that it’s simply trying to fill a void that doesn’t need filling.”

Boston’s not the only major city without an ongoing program; New York ran a program in 2002, but hasn’t held one since.

However, Boston will put a toe in the water during the Boston Book Festival this Fall, with a One City, One Story event. 30,000 copies of a short story by a local author (as yet unnamed) will be distributed around the city and made available online.

Stanford University’s Physics and Engineering Libraries are undergoing some very heavy weeding. The two libraries are being turned into a smaller electronic library, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The new facility “saves its space for people, not things. It features soft seating, ‘brainstorm islands,’ a digital bulletin board and group event space,” as well as access to online databases and scientific journals.

Manga is extremely popular in the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Bayside, Queens, where young adults crowd the library to read and discuss their favorite series, reports the NYT, also noting “the genre has colonized young-adult rooms in libraries around the country.”

Beware what this can lead; “One young woman discovered a love of languages and now studies Russian in college,” says the Christian Zabriskie, Assistant Coordinator for Youth Services.

The article also notes the harsh reality that the collection is threatened by budget cuts.

A Bucks County, PA, resident was outraged to find that a book that hadn’t been checked out in five years was removed from the shelves of the Doylestown branch of the county library system.

He took his case to the local newspaper. Happily, the newspaper quoted Director Martina Kominiarek at length about the reasons for weeding library collections. It’s a model response.

The article closes by pointing out that the book the man was seeking is available online for $.01. Put that up against the cost of housing and storing a book for five years with no usage.

(via Library Link of the Day)

Just posted on the NPR site, a review of Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue (warning: some librarian stereotypes, but used to illustrate how outdated they are).

We’re also expecting a review in the upcoming 3/7 NYT Book Review.

The book hit #130 last week, its highest point to date on Amazon sales rankings. Clearly, the general public is more interested in us than we imagined.

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

It’s a book that couldn’t have come at a better time. Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue is giving the media an opportunity to take a new look at libraries.

Thursday’s USA Today publishes a photo of a Carroll County (MD) librarian setting up for a Rock Band 2 video game session as part of a story about the book. Johnson explains that libraries are crucial to everyone in the current climate, “The middle class is squeezed and needs libraries more, information is multiplying at an alarming rate so we need librarians more, and the jobless are streaming to libraries in droves.”

Carroll County library director Lynn Wheeler adds, “The demand for technology access and the teaching role for librarians will only continue to grow.”

The public is showing strong interest in the book; it rose to #130 on Amazon this week, putting it ahead of some titles on the NYT best seller lists, such as The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova and Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. Holds are heavy in many libraries; as high as 89 on 7 copies in one large library system.

Publisher HarperCollins has created a “Browse Inside” widget that librarians can add to their sites:

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

When was the last time you heard the Boston Public Library’s “Statement of Purpose” quoted on TV?

For us, it was Monday night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (see below; if you want to skip ahead to the specific section, it’s 2:30 minutes into the piece).

Sadly, the Boston Public Library is currently facing budget cuts and may be forced to close ten branches.