Confusion on the Menu

Link to April 7 LibraryJournal.com post, "Mixed Answers to 'Is It OK for a Library To Lend a Kindle?'"

Excerpt: As a few more libraries begin lending the Kindle, the ebook reading device from Amazon, the company continues to offer ambiguous messages regarding its policies.

Learning From our Mistakes?

Neal Peirce wonders if we've finally reached a turning point in U.S. criminal justice and drug policy, at Stateline.org.

At Random

Link to April 6 cnet news post, "Nine tools that let you randomly browse the Web".

Checkout Assistance

Link to April 6 Beloit Daily News article, "Library patrons stock up on books".

Excerpts: An hour after the Beloit Public Library on Pleasant Street opened for the last time Saturday morning, patrons were bustling in and out, many carrying stacks of books in their arms.

It was the last day of operations at the downtown location as library staff prepared for the move to the new, more spacious location in the Eclipse Center. Because staff need a lot of time to move everything, patrons were asked to check out as many books as they could. As a bonus, books aren't due back until May 4 or later. The library will be closed for three weeks while employees move to the new location.


An open house and ribbon cutting ceremony will be held from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. April 25 at the new library, 605 Eclipse Boulevard. Regular library services will resume April 27 from 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

BE SURE TO VOTE TODAY

And in this corner....

THR.com April 5 post, " E-book idea was lit a long time ago", explains how the battle lines are drawn in ebookland.

Excerpt: Discovery Communications chairman and founder John Hendricks waited 17 years for the moment when Amazon and Sony would battle for dominance in the world of portable electronic book readers.

That's how long ago Hendricks filed for a patent on what he called the Everybook, which now appears to be quite similar to the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader.

Now Discovery has sued Amazon, alleging patent infringement.The lawsuit came after Discovery asked Sony and Amazon to pay royalties and both balked.

As Sony watches from the other side of the ropes.

When is Easter Sunday This Year?

During the 30 years I worked at a public library reference desk, I could always count on fielding this question numerous times during the first few months of the year. (For those planning ahead, there was this variation: "When is Easter Sunday next year?")

By now, just about everyone knows that Easter falls later this year (April 12), which means that many students are just starting their spring breaks. (And with snow on the ground for many in Wisconsin.)

Never been able to figure out why Easter is so variable? Snopes.com provides a brief and informative summary here.

Key facts.

1. Easter falls on the Sunday following the first full moon occurring after the vernal equinox. (For example, in 2009 the first day of spring is Friday, March 20. A subsequent full moon occurs on Thursday, April 9, which places Easter on Sunday, April 12.)

2. The earliest Easter can fall is March 22, which last took place in 1818 and will occur again in 2285. (Guess I'll have to miss it. At least in this life.)

3. The latest Easter can fall is April 25, which last took place in 1943 and will occur again in 2038, when I'll be 88!

Roll away the stone!

And as long as we're on the subject, Leon Russell should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Colby Public Library Update

Link to April 4 Marshfield Daily Herald column, "Activities abound at library in April".

Library supporters in the area will want to attend this event. On April 22, the annual Lions Smelt Fry is being held from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Colby Lions Shelter. The Friends of the Colby Public Library has been chosen to serve at the dinner, with the Lions group graciously offering a monetary compensation to the library for each person dining in the shelter that evening. We are looking for people to help bus tables and serve patrons that night in two-hour shifts -- call or stop in the library to sign up.

The 50-page rule?

Link to April 3 Wall Street Journal post, "When to Put a Book Down".

What a coincidence. We were just talking about this topic in my SLIS class yesterday.

In my 20s and 30s, once I started a book -- always after careful consideration as I'm a big fan of reading lists -- I had to finish it. Now that I'm approaching 60, that rule has gone out the window. I've been known to toss aside a book before the end of page 1.

Drop Everything and Read

Link to April 3 Fond du Lac Reporter article, "High school community drops everything and reads".

Excerpt: According to a recent scholastic inventory, 87 out of the 525 ninth graders at Fondy High tested below a basic reading comprehension level. The findings led to a 14-month investigation by a literacy team into student reading patterns.

“It’s a big concern at any public school and we are trying to address it,” Wiltzius said. “Students who can read with comprehension and understanding achieve in all areas of their lives.”

Senior Tori Fanetori said when she heard about D.E.A.R. she told her principal it was a lame idea.

“Now I can’t put the book down, I even take it home with me,” she said of the novel “Please Stop Laughing at me” by Jodee Blanco.

"Lighten up, Boss, I'm just resting my mind."

Link to April 2 techdirt post, "Those Who Surf Facebook And YouTube At Work Are Often More Productive".

Excerpt: People who do surf the internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office - are more productive by about nine per cent than those who don't.... People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration.

"He hopes people don't Google his name."

As quoted in this article in today's New York Times.

Well, hey, let's help them out.

"Richard L. Scott" +fraud

Digging Into the Past

Link to April 1 Janesville GazetteXtra.com post, "Volunteers devoted to digging up Rock County history".

Excerpt: When four Los Angeles private detectives contacted the Rock County Archives & Research Center, archives manager Ruth Anderson knew there had to be a sizable estate involved.

"We had to locate a daughter of a daughter of a daughter of an ancestor who came to Beloit early on," Anderson said.

Two research center volunteers in January traced the family history through various indexes, including obituaries.

"Because we had indexed marriage license applications for Rock County from 1918-88, we were able to get information off one application to identify the current generation and with a couple phone calls she was found in Texas," Anderson said.

Adrenaline fueled the "chase" that Rock County Historical Society Volunteer Coordinator Tina Love likened to a treasure hunt.

It's one example of many requests to the archives and research center. In 2008, nine center volunteers donated nearly 3,000 hours researching requests from walk-ins, phone calls, e-mails, letters and appointments.

The Downside of the Downturn

The Arlington Heights Memorial Library

featured in NYT article.

Numerous articles have been published during the past few months about the boom in library use. More visits. More circulation. More computer use.

An article in today's New York Times, "People in Need Are Filling and Taxing Libraries", describes the stresses on staff that accompany the increased business libraries are experiencing. It also shows how some libraries are coping in these difficult times.

Excerpt: As the national economic crisis has deepened and social services have become casualties of budget cuts, libraries have come to fill a void for more people, particularly job-seekers and those who have fallen on hard times. Libraries across the country are seeing double-digit increases in patronage, often from 10 percent to 30 percent, over previous years.

But in some cities, this new popularity — some would call it overtaxing — is pushing libraries in directions not seen before, with librarians dealing with stresses that go far beyond overdue fines and misshelved books. Many say they feel ill-equipped for the newfound demands of the job, the result of working with anxious and often depressed patrons who say they have nowhere else to go.

The stresses have become so significant here that a therapist will soon be counseling library employees.

“I guess I’m not really used to people with tears in their eyes,” said Rosalie Bork, a reference librarian in Arlington Heights, a well-to-do suburb of Chicago. “It has been unexpectedly stressful. We feel so anxious to help these people, and it’s been so emotional for them.”

Homelessness has been a long-term problem for many libraries, but now librarians are dealing with these types of situations more frequently.
1. People lacking the skills to fill out job applications. (This trend will only accelerate as the availability of forms for employment and social services, to name two major areas, shifts from paper to online.)
2. People wanting to use the Internet but not knowing a thing about it. (Not mentioned in the article is the likelihood that they also have no keyboading skills and have never seen, let alone used, a mouse.)
3. Cubicles (study carrels?) used as sleeping spaces on a much more frequent basis.

Sign of the times? When I visited the Arlington Heights Memorial Library's homepage minutes ago, here's what immediately caught my eye. Meet Security Manager Mike Klean. Security Manager Mike Klean heads up a staff of four trained security personnel who monitor the Library every hour that it is open and enforce the Library´s Rules of Behavior. Get to know Mike and learn what the Library is doing to ensure the best possible experience more...

There is obviously some cause for concern and a need to assure people that the library is a safe place to visit. One Arlington Heights mother is quoted as saying, "I don't like my 16-year-old son to study at the library at night anymore." Although she doesn't like it, but she still allows him to go there.

Arlington Heights has taken some measures to address these new needs.
1. Welcome desk. (Not a regular library feature -- usually a circulation desk takes care of this function -- and this may not be a new feature at Arlington Heights.)
2. Job-search desk.
3. Volunteer professionals to review resumes.
4. Support and networking group for the unemployed.
5. Web site resources

Is there still anyone out there who thinks that libraries are a stress-free environment?

Joint Finance Committee Hearing at Appleton

From the Wheeler Report.

From Terry Dawson's The New Cybrary blog.

Guide for Bloggers and Nonprofit Organizations

The Litigation Group of Public Citizen has published an online Guide for Bloggers and Non-Profit Organizations About Writing With Libel in Mind.

Here is what's covered:
PART I - Why a Libel Review.
PART II - Basic Libel Principles.
PART III - Protocols for Libel Reviews.
PART IV - Conclusion and Appendix of Resources.

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts.

Lots More Where This Came From

Link to March 31 New York Times post, "Spam Back to 94% of All E-Mail".

Excerpt: Spam, that annoying but ignorable scourge of the Web, has finally recovered from the jolt it received last November, when Internet backbone providers cut off McColo Corporation, a California Web-hosting service that spammers were using to coordinate e-mail attacks.

The average seven-day spam volume during the latter half of March is now at roughly the same levels as October of last year — around 94 percent of all e-mail — according to the antispam company Postini, a division of Google.

"Crazy tasty"?? Thankfully, I can't remember.

2008 Books Sales Report Card

Link to March 31 Publishers Weekly report.

Total sales: $24,250,000,000. Down 2.8%
Biggest gainer: e-books, $113,200,000. Up 68% but representing just 0.5% of overall sales.
Biggest loser: spokenword audio, $172,402,000, down 21%

Link to Association of American Publishers 2008 S1 Report, Estimated Book Publishing Industry Net Sales, 2002-2008.

Update: West Bend Reconsideration of Library Materials

Link to March 31 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, "West Bend couple circulate petitions to remove library books they consider obscene".

Excerpts: A West Bend couple are circulating petitions this week asking the [West Bend] community library's board to remove books they consider to be obscene or child pornography from a section designated "Young Adults."

The books should be reclassified and placed in a restricted area requiring parental approval prior to being released to a child, Ginny Maziarka said. Also, such material should be labeled with a warning about its content, she said.


The petition drafted by Maziarka and her husband, Jim, also asks the Library Board to balance its collection of books about homosexuality with books "affirming traditional heterosexual perspectives" that are faith-based or written by "ex-gay" authors.

The couple object to "the overt indoctrination of the gay agenda into our community youth," Ginny Maziarka said.


And then there's Ginny's definition of pornography: Any sexual activity that is spelled out explicitly, even crudely.

That's Why YOUR Vote is so Important in this Race

Link to April 1 Capital Times article, "The face-off for schools superintendent generates little interest".