
Excerpt: If you teach for a living, you’re called a teacher. If you go to work at a firehouse, you’re likely called a fire fighter. But if you work in a public or private school library, you are probably not a librarian.
Nearly a month after the Carnegie Library Board of Trustees voted to close the Beechview, Hazelwood, Lawrenceville and West End branches, and merge the Carrick and Knoxville branches, City Council President Doug Shields proposed pledging $600,000 from the city's flush fuel fund now, and the same amount from its healthy savings account next year, to keep the libraries open.
The city's fuel fund is the amount of money the city budgets to fill the gas tanks of its fleet of vehicles. Mr. Shields said the fund is expected to finish the year with a $1.6 million surplus because the city anticipated that gas prices would be higher than they were.
While stopping short of admitting that the 30-minute videos, which often feature classical music or introductory sign language lessons, didn’t turn babies into geniuses, the extensive refund offer from Baby Einstein does acknowledge a growing dissatisfaction and skepticism among researchers, educators, and certainly parents, that the DVDs are unlikely to speed up developmental pathways among infants.
Excerpt: During discussion Oct. 13, council members asked the city staff to look for ways to assist the library expansion and fund Concerts on the Square. At the meeting, Baraboo Public Library proponents urged support for the plan to as much as double the 100-year-old library building.
Baraboo resident Merri Lindgren said when she, her husband and their children moved to Baraboo 10 years ago they were attracted to the library.
"I actually work at UW-Madison, but because of the system and services the public library is able to provide in Baraboo, I can spend some of my time working from home," she said. "Please think strongly about supporting an expansion of the library."
Library supporters heard good news when City Administrator Edward Geick said the 2009 budget is expected to have a surplus of about $100,000. Council members had earlier agreed that surplus should be put into a "sinking fund" for future library expansion.
City Clerk Cheryl Giese said the mayor has also recommended they allocate $75,000 to match future donations library supporters obtain.
"If they are successful in raising at least $75,000, the city would match that and they would get up to S175,000 from the city," she said.
An attorney representing Mary Ellen Close sent notice to Marlene Goodson, president of the Community Library Board, announcing Goodson’s intent to fight her demotion. In the letter, dated Oct. 13, attorney Nicholas Infusino alleges that Close had been “arbitrarily and capriciously” harassed by some members of the library board, and had been targeted, at least in part, because of her age and gender.
“Families are struggling and businesses are closing because of increased burdens from their government. This must change,” Leibham said in a statement. “I will aggressively work to advance an agenda that supports job creation and works to remove Wisconsin from the list of the highest taxed states.”
The challenge for the Wisconsin Library Association.The students perpetrated many a gibe over the fact that the nearest streets and the teachers had the same names. The school enrolled nearly 100 students, and was free to all residents of the city who could pass an exam in geography, arithmetic and grammar.
Flash forward to today. Fond du Lac is home to a $39 million state-of-the-art high school, opened in Sept. 2001 and boasted to be the largest in the state. Over 2,000 students are enrolled.
Principal Jon Wiltzius said sesquicentennial festivities will culminate with an all-class reunion to be scheduled in spring 2010.
Just under 11.5 million students, or 39.6% of all young adults ages 18 to 24, were enrolled in either a two- or four-year college in October 2008 (the most recent date for which comprehensive nationwide data are available). Both figures -- the absolute number as well as the share -- are at their highest level ever.
Nevertheless, responding to Mayor Greg Nickels' directive to city departments to cut budgets in response to a $72 million revenue shortfall, the library is proposing a 23 percent reduction in library hours.
Under the proposal, 21 out of 27 branches in the city would be closed Fridays (when all branches are now open) and Sundays (right now, 16 out of 27 branches are open).
Library Board President Noreen Lake said laying off employees is not an option.
"Because of the economy we are trying to be sympathetic, and yet, we still want to provide the best service to our residents," Lake said. "It's unfortunate that the city has to do what it has to do. We only have 45 full-time employees. Right now, the library board doesn't see the need to fire somebody. It's not like we are asking for an increase in the budget for next year."
Moylan said while the city has no power over the library's budget, the appointed board members can be replaced if they don't do their job right. (RG's emphasis)
"We'll keep all options open," he said.
The American Library Association (ALA) is working with Safeway Inc., on a roll-out of the first two of five Safeway-brand cereal boxes with back-panel content about libraries and librarians. The boxes will launch this October and will be available at Safeway’s 1,500 stores across the nation.
” We are proud to partner with the American Library Association and collaborate in the creation of educational panels for our line of Safeway Brand cereal. This is a way we can support the efforts of the ALA and bring education and enjoyment to our consumers,” said Mike Minasi, Safeway president, marketing.
“We want to thank Safeway for presenting us with a unique opportunity,” said ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. “The cereal boxes will bring information about some of the exciting ways to enjoy libraries – and about the value of libraries -- straight into people’s homes.”
The first boxes to feature the library-related content are Toasted Oats and Honey Nut Toasted Oats. There will be a staggered launch for the rest of the panels.