Dothan (AL) Editorial Board Takes Its Community to Task, New Library a Chance at Redemption

Rendering of proposed Dothan/Houston County Library

Link to November 1 Dothan Eagle editorial, "A new library will show commitment to education".

Excerpt: A few short years ago, Houston County voters had an opportunity to ease the burden of chronically underfunded public schools with a small increase in property tax millage.

That referendum was defeated by more than 80 percent of the vote. The people’s voice was loud, and what it said was that education has little value.

What else might it have said? That people were sick to death of taxes? Perhaps that’s the answer, but property taxes here are among the lowest in the nation; surely we can spare a bit more for the schools.

It was an alarming revelation, and a mindset that needs to be addressed.

[snip]

The first step is acquisition of the land, and we urge city commissioners to approve this purchase as a show of commitment to the library project and the value of education in our community. We also urge city and county officials to commit to funding the project as they would any public building — with public funds.

We hope the impetus of this project continues with future plans for branch facilities in growing parts of the city.

A community that values its libraries values the education of its young, and the continuing education of all its residents.

10 Literary One-Hit Wonders (+ Ross and Tom)

Link to March 17, 2009, timesonline article. (via planolibrary tweet)

Here's the main qualification: Luke Leitch looks at those authors for whom one novel proved quite enough. Otherwise, it would be easy to quibble with the inclusion of Salinger, Wilde, and Plath.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
4. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
6. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
7. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
8. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.
9. Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

John Leggett's dual biography (Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies) profiles two other literary one-hit wonders.

In 1948, Ross Lockridge Jr.'s Raintree County was published to great critical acclaim. Lockridge, who suffered from depression, committed suicide shortly thereafter. The book was made into a 1957 movie starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, Nigel Patrick, Lee Marvin, Rod Taylor and Agnes Moorehead. (What a cast!)

Thomas Heggen adapted his 1946 novel, Mister Roberts, based on his experience in the Navy, for the Broadway stage. He won the 1948 Tony Award in 1948 for Best Author and Best Play. A year later, at the age of 29, he was found dead in his apartment. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation by drowning.

Minnesota Legislative Reference Library Resists Effort to Remove Report from Website

Minnesota State Capitol
Source: Wikipedia Commons

Link to November 23 Star-Tribune article, "Library is pressed to take gang force report off Web".

Excerpt: Police union lawyers argued that it should be removed because it lists names of officers still operating undercover.

Bud Shaver, chairman of the advisory board of the disbanded Strike Force, asked LaFleur to take the 40-page report off the website. When LaFleur said she would not, Strike Force Advisory Board attorney Kori Land called and wrote her. St. Paul Police Federation lawyers also tried to force LaFleur to remove the names and were unsuccessful in getting Attorney General Lori Swanson and the Legislative Coordinating Commission that oversees the library to intervene.

Swanson's office said it has no authority over the library and the commission backed LaFleur. The report is still on the library website at www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl.

Amazon and Wal-Mart Price War Heats Up

DING! End of round 1. We have a winner!

Link to November 23 New York Times article, "Price War Brews Between Amazon and Wal-Mart".

Excerpt: In what is emerging as one of the main story lines of the 2009 post-recession shopping season, the two heavyweight retailers are waging an online price war that is spreading through product areas like books, movies, toys and electronics.

The tussle began last month as a relatively trivial but highly public back-and-forth over which company had the lowest prices on the most anticipated new books and DVDs this fall. By last week, it had spread to select video game consoles, mobile phones, even to the humble Easy-Bake Oven, a 45-year-old toy from Hasbro that usually heats up small cakes, not tensions between billion-dollar corporations.

Last Wednesday, Wal-Mart dropped the price of the oven to $17, from $28, as part of its “Black Friday” deals. Later the same day, Amazon cut its price, which had also been $28, to $18.

Sheboygan's Mead Public Library Likely to Maintain Its MOE Funding

Link to November 24 Sheboygan Press article, "Deal possible to protect library funding".

Excerpt: The City of Sheboygan will likely spare Mead Public Library from a $228,000 budget cut that would otherwise jeopardize the library's membership in the Eastern Shores Library System.

Under the proposal, which was unveiled at Monday night's Finance Committee meeting, Mead would transfer $459,233 in reserve funds to the city.

The reserve funds would free up cash that the city could use — instead of the library cut — to pay for four police officer positions that Mayor Bob Ryan proposed leaving unfilled in his 2010 budget. The Finance Committee earlier recommended reducing the city's property tax allocation to the library to prevent the loss of police jobs.

The proposed library-to-city fund transfer still requires Common Council approval.

Mead Library and Maintenance of Effort Funding

Shopping Online at Work: Survey Says....

Employees plan to spend two full working days on average shopping online at work this holiday season.

Link to November 24 Appleton Post-Crescent article, "Fox Valley human resources consultant says shopping online at work could cause trouble".

Excerpt: While Stroud neither condoned nor condemned the practice of work place shopping, he did say he could understand why the trend is mounting.

"With the Internet now available to almost any employee in the workplace, it's unrealistic to think that companies can completely stop the use of work computers for online shopping," he said. "What companies can and should do is educate employees about the risks of online shopping and remind them of their company's security policy."

ISACA said the potential danger is shopping can open the door to viruses, spam and phishing attacks that invade the workplace and cost big bucks in lost productivity and may compromise corporate data.

The survey was based on an online poll in September of 1,210 U.S. consumers and 1,513 IT professionals.

And conducted on behalf of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. Of which I know nothing but what's on their website. Hey, it's a poll, so it's meant to be taken with a grain of salt.

Interview with Pat Losinski, Executive Director of the Columbus Metropolitan Library

Pat is a Stevens Point native, graduate of the UW Madison School of Library and Information Studies (1983?), former Head of Circulation Services at the Oshkosh Public Library, and all-around great guy who has put together an outstanding list of accomplishments during the past quarter century.

Link to November 23 Columbus Underground post, "The Evolving Role of the Columbus Metro Library".

Excerpt: Last week the Columbus Metropolitan Library received another high ranking as one of the very top library systems throughout the entire US.

We sat down recently with Patrick Losinski, The Executive Director of the Columbus Metropolitan Library to discuss why our library system is so successful. Pat tells us about the history of the library, how the system continues to evolve, and reveals some of the things that the future may hold for the main library building located Downtown

Bonus round.