Superpatron - Edward Vielmetti is Mobilizing the Friends of the Library

New Orleans tool library at Hands On New Orleans

2009-12-03T14:09:36-05:00

Here at HandsOn New Orleans we are firm believers in sharing the wealth. That is why we created the Tool Lending Library, because we would like to make those items which we are not currently using available to the community. Years of organizing volunteer projects has caused us amass an impressive collection of landscaping, painting and construction tools. So instead of allowing the vast majority of these tools to sit and gather rust we have decided to make them available to you. These tools can be borrowed by any community member, non-profit partner, or volunteer with the hope that with access to tools you will be able to make your personal service or home projects a reality.

Copenhagen Living Library

2009-09-03T16:56:47-04:00

As noted in Der Spiegel (english version)

A Danish initiative to discourage prejudice has had a global impact. The Living Library, in Copenhagen, allows "readers" to borrow "human books." Among the titles at the biggest such library to date: tales of an ex-stripper, a refugee who lived in a shipping container and a policeman working the city's roughest beat.

Many more details on their site at http://living-library.org/

Michigan Genealogical Council "Hands Around the Library" August 5, 2009 to show support for the Library of Michigan

2009-07-26T01:33:02-04:00

Cut and paste directly from email to MICHLIB-L

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Fellow Michigan genealogists and library supporters -
Now is the time for Michiganians to come to the aid of our state's history and learning.
Your Michigan Genealogical Council is planning a public assembly in Lansing to show our legislators and fellow citizens that we care about our state's past.
On Wednesday the 5th of August, let's assemble at the State Capitol, on the lawn. We have reserved the North and South lawns, and the steps. Time, 9:45 a.m. The State Senate goes into session at 10 a.m., the only time in the next few weeks we can be certain our legislators will be assembled at Lansing.
At 10:30 a.m., we will process/march over to the Michigan Historical Center and form our *Hands Around the Library* -- in hopes of good media coverage! Since the perimeter of the building is a round 1800 feet, it is obvious we can use as many genealogists or friends of libraries/history of all types as possible. Please definitely let your local Society know you are coming for sure, since you can see that we need coverage - flags and ribbons can be held between people as well as hands and arms.
We'll stay around the building probably 20 minutes starting at 11:00 a.m. -- then off to lunch, research, or museum viewing!
Thanks for your support of Michigan's past … and our future. Please let us know how many from your Society will be able to participate -- and questions to Sue Irvine sjirv@yahoo.com <mailto:sjirv@yahoo.com>.
Your Michigan Genealogical Council

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More information on the Michigan Genealogical Council web site, including this press coverage to date:

July 24 press includes articles in the Toledo Blade and the political blog Capitol Chronicles.

The Hands around the Library is featured in the July 23 Genealogy Guys podcast. Thanks George and Drew!

Shirley Gage Hodges has written an article in her column in the Global Gazette (22 July 2009) Crisis Facing the Library of Michigan.

State of Michigan dissolved Dept. of History, Arts and Libraries; more changes pending for FY10

2009-07-14T00:02:23-04:00

From Nancy Robinson, State Librarian of the Library of Michigan, on reorganizations and budget cuts that affect state-wide library services in Michigan. As posted to MICHLIB-L
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Today Governor Granholm issued the executive order (EO 2009-36) that dissolves the Dept. of History, Arts and Libraries effective 10/1/2009. The details of the EO are posted on her website:
http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21975---,00.html

Of course, some of the details define big changes for parts of the Library of Michigan (significantly, the Census/Demographer functions go to DIT and the Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped go to the Dept. of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth's Commission for the Blind). The remainder of LM will go to the Dept. of Education (MDE). Requirements for the Dept. of Education to look at collection and programming cuts to effect budgetary reductions will be our major challenge, but we will work with the Superintendent of Schools and his MDE administrative staff to review and evaluate how those changes in collections and programming and the resulting staffing changes might or might not work.

Nothing about all of that is settled at this point, and much of our future is also dependent upon the still unknown outcomes for the budget for FY10. So, more is known at this point and planning is made more feasible in many ways. But, there is still more information pending that will help us to plan for the future of the Library of Michigan, our collections, our programming, and our staffing. Thanks for your patience and support.

Nancy

Nancy R. Robertson
State Librarian

Ray Bradbury and the HP Wright Library, Ventura County (CA)

2009-06-24T15:02:44-04:00

via the NY Times: A Literary Legend Fights for a Local Library

“Libraries raised me,” Mr. Bradbury said. “I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

Property tax dollars, which provide most of the financing for libraries in Ventura County, have fallen precipitously, putting the library system roughly $650,000 in the hole. Almost half of that amount is attributed to the H. P. Wright Library, which serves roughly two-thirds of this coastal city about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Here's a video of Bradbury talking at a Los Angeles library in 2007.

Library funding crisis in Ohio

2009-06-24T12:03:57-04:00

from the Save Ohio Libraries site:

The Governor wants to cut the budget for public libraries by 50%. About 70% of public libraries in Ohio are funded solely by this fund, so cutting the already shrinking budget means library closures, layoffs and cutbacks in hours and materials.

We have until June 30th to get our voices heard. ACT NOW!

You can get more official information from the Ohio Library Council here.

Thanks to Jenny Levine for the heads up.

Michigan state budget cuts and the impact on MeL interlibrary loan

2009-06-23T12:49:31-04:00

from the Ann Arbor Chronicle, "State Budget Cuts Affect Library"

If funding is cut, Parker said there might be some discussion among libraries about how to pay for it independently of state and federal aid. That would require hundreds of thousands of dollars, she said. Though AADL pays only a nominal fee to be part of MeLCat, they also pay for 2.5 staff positions dedicated to processing materials for MeLCat, at a cost of about $100,000 annually. She said about three libraries in the state, including AADL, are shouldering the load for MeLCat in terms of providing materials, and they’d need to have a serious discussion about true costs if they were to continue the service, should state and federal funding be cut. “It’s old fashioned, it’s labor intensive, it’s expensive, but it’s loved,” she said.

The article continues that audio-visual materials will no longer be able to be borrowed via MeL by Ann Arbor due to a requirement that borrowing libraries also lend similar materials; there's a concern that the AADL would be overwhelmed by requests for CDs and DVDs, and the high cost of packaging those fragile materials would be prohibitive.

More details on MeL from the Michigan Libraries Consortium wiki.

BYU library puts Kindle lending program on hold

2009-06-18T23:23:46-04:00

As seen in the Deseret News

BYU's Harold B. Lee Library is suspending a short-lived pilot program using Amazon.com's electronic book, the Kindle, as a substitute for interlibrary loans.

The program, which has been available to faculty members for about a month, created some buzz on library-related blogs for breaking ground in the uncertain area of lending books on the Kindle.

Although BYU had verbal permission to proceed with the program, Roger Layton, communications manager for the library, said the program is on hold until the university has a clearer picture of Amazon's legal concerns.

I found a Kindle blog with a list of other libraries who are doing Kindle lending, plus a handful who are lending Sony readers. Amazon doesn't appear to have given anyone explicit written permission for lending, but that hasn't stopped about a dozen libraries for going forward. Those who have reconsidered have looked at the cost, e.g. this note on Tinfoil + Racoon:

Before I heard from White today, I was talking with our IT manager, who wondered if it was time for us to check out some Kindles. I did some math and could not come out with a number that made me think "good value." We're cancelling a bunch of databases for abysmal cost-per-search numbers, and a Kindle, loaded with a small number of titles didn't come out with a good cost-per-circ. When I mentioned this to White, she said that they looked at loaning Kindles as a try-this-tech program. It's not about the content, according to White, but about the experience.

Note the metrics used to evaluate services!

Controversy in Seattle over proposed fine increases

2009-06-18T15:53:19-04:00

The Stranger, which bills itself as "Seattle's Only Newspaper", writes about a revenue enhancement scheme at the Seattle Public Library to increase money received from fines.

The librarians are making some noise. Saying "someone in the outside world should know," a Seattle Public Library (SPL) staffer forwarded The Stranger a series of internal documents proposing policy changes designed to decrease services and extract money from the library's most vulnerable patrons: old people, poor people, immigrants, and children. (The staffer requested to remain anonymous, citing a "sort of 1984 atmosphere at the library these days... morale is low.")

This comes after the annoucement that the Seattle library is closing for a week to save money.

that new-book smell

2009-06-09T16:22:42-04:00

As seen on "now smell this", a perfume blog

Does your Kindle leave you feeling like there’s something missing from your reading experience?

Have you been avoiding e-books because they just don’t smell right?

If you’ve been hesitant to jump on the e-book bandwagon, you’re not alone. Book lovers everywhere have resisted digital books because they still don’t compare to the experience of reading a good old fashioned paper book.

But all of that is changing thanks to Smell of Books™, a revolutionary new aerosol e-book enhancer.

Five scents are offered: Classic Musty, New Book Smell, Crunchy Bacon Scent, Scent of Sensibility and Eau, You Have Cats. More in The Guardian., including suggestions for other book scents, and a actual perfume inspired by the book Madonna of the Almonds (true!).