#4 and #10 are of particular interest.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Retiring Guy's New Year's Resolution for All of Us
Not to paint an entire generation with overly broad brush strokes.
Link to January 1 New York Times article, "Boomers Hit New Self-Absorption Milestone: Age 65".
Excerpt: They are living longer, working longer and, researchers say, nursing some disappointment about how their lives have turned out. The self-aware, or self-absorbed, feel less self-fulfilled, and thus are racked with self-pity.
Guess this will always be our song, fellow Boomers. (Interesting to note that of the 4 original members of The Who, only Keith Moon is a Boomer by birth. 8/23/1946. Daltrey and Entwistle were born '44, Townshend in '45.)
Link to January 1 New York Times article, "Boomers Hit New Self-Absorption Milestone: Age 65".
Excerpt: They are living longer, working longer and, researchers say, nursing some disappointment about how their lives have turned out. The self-aware, or self-absorbed, feel less self-fulfilled, and thus are racked with self-pity.
Guess this will always be our song, fellow Boomers. (Interesting to note that of the 4 original members of The Who, only Keith Moon is a Boomer by birth. 8/23/1946. Daltrey and Entwistle were born '44, Townshend in '45.)
Friday, December 31, 2010
Douglas County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use
Part 16 of a county-by-county overview.
Douglas County:
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009
Yeah, I'm curious about the precipitous drop in circulation from 1960 to 1970. Was circulation at school libraries ever included in public library totals back in the day in some communities? Chippewa Falls also shows this pattern.
Douglas County, 1960-2009
Douglas County public libraries:
Link to Wisconsin Library Heritage Center.
Letter writer complaining of library fees hears the sound of the.....
Link to December 30 letter to the editor in the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Firemanemt does the math in the Comments section.
Adults 55 and Older Have Their Own Space at Johnstown's Glosser Memorial Library Building
Link to Johnstown (PA) Tribune-Democrat article, "Library creating area for 55+ users".
Excerpt: A $4,000 grant has allowed the Cambria County Library to develop an area of its Johnstown facility that will be geared especially for adults 55 and older.
A 450-square-foot area on the first floor of the David A. Glosser Memorial Library Building at 248 Main St. will house the new Classic Corner.
The area is intended to create a parlor-type atmosphere with a new gaming table, puzzles, board games and a Wii game system.
The library’s large-print books and periodicals also will be housed in the area.
[snip]
“As the baby boomers retire, they will be looking to their public libraries to provide recreation, lifelong learning, civic engagement, ideas for second careers and meaningful volunteer opportunities,” she said.
Myers said the library already has a space designated for teens on the third floor.
“Teen Escape is based on the same order,” she said.
Cambria County and Johnstown have been steadily losing population since the 1940s.
Source: Wikipedia
Nearly 20% of Cambria County's residents are 65 and older, compared to just under 13% nationally.
Pennsylvania's Indian Valley Public Library Goes with 'Bookstore Arrangement' for Nonfiction
Link to December 31 Souderton Independent article, "New setup encourages visitors to browse at Indian Valley Public Library".
Excerpt: Want information on aging?
At the Indian Valley Public Library, you can find books that cover theological issues surrounding the topic, sociological works about it, as well as ones regarding health and places to retire.
And they’re all grouped together.
“Things were always in two, three, four places and it was confusing to people,” said Linda Beck, the library’s director.
Nonfiction books, though, are now being displayed more like in a bookstore.
Topic areas include computers and consumer, nature, the sciences, history, leisure, biography and health and medicine.
Excerpt: Want information on aging?
At the Indian Valley Public Library, you can find books that cover theological issues surrounding the topic, sociological works about it, as well as ones regarding health and places to retire.
And they’re all grouped together.
“Things were always in two, three, four places and it was confusing to people,” said Linda Beck, the library’s director.
Nonfiction books, though, are now being displayed more like in a bookstore.
Topic areas include computers and consumer, nature, the sciences, history, leisure, biography and health and medicine.
A 2011 Centennial Celebration at Merrill's T. B. Scott Free Library
The timeline continues here.
Link to December 31 Wausau Daily Herald article, "Historic library building turns 100".
Excerpt: On Aug. 11, 1911, T.B. Scott Free Library opened to the public in its own building. For the previous 20 years, Merrill's public library had been located in City Hall.
The new year, 2011, marks the centennial of the Carnegie building's service to Merrill and surrounding area. Library Director Stacy Stevens reports that staff members are gearing up for a year-long celebration.
Link to Wisconsin Library Heritage Center.
Wisconsin Stories: Telling Wisconsin's History One Town at a Time
Link to December 31 Wausau Daily Herald article, "Film highlights Wausau area's history".
Excerpt: The Wausau story is the fifth in a series of documentaries featuring the history of Wisconsin communities, made through a partnership between public television and the Wisconsin Historical Society. To tell the local story, producers received plenty of help and support from the Marathon County Historical Society, said Jon Miskowski, development director for Wisconsin Public Television. Dozens of local history experts also were interviewed for the show.
"The show is really about pride of place," Miskowski said.
A comprehensive history of Wausau can't be told in an hour, Miskowski said, so filmmakers focused on cornerstones in the Wausau area's history, including its founding, the growth of the timber industry, the efforts of business leaders called the Wausau Group to diversify the community's economy, stories about businesses that gave Wausau a national profile and the story of Hmong immigration.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Door County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use
Part 15 of a county-by-county overview
Door County Library
Door County:
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009
Door County, 1960-2009
Door County Library
TIME Magazine Picks the Year's Best Fiction: 1960
Listed in the order that they appear here.
3 copies in LINKcat; none checked out.
11 copies in LINKcat; 1 in transit to fill hold.
3 copies in LINKcat; 2 checked out.
123 copies in LINKcat; 93 checked out.
No copies in LINKcat.
3 copies in LINKcat; none checked out.
5 copies in LINKcat; none checked out.
2 copies in LINKcat; none checked out.;
No copies in LINKcat.
By Abram Tertz; no copies in LINKcat.
No copies in LINKcat.
1 copy in LINKcat; in storage.
1 copy in LINKcat; not checked out.
Captain Cat by Robert Holles
No copies in LINKcat.
16 copies in LINKcat; 3 checked out.
37 copies in LINKcat; 3 checked out
Indiana Offers Incentives to File Tax Forms Early, Electronically
Link to December 29 Chicago Tribune article, "Ind. to stop mailing out state income tax forms".
Excerpt: Indiana's decision to stop mailing tax forms in 2011 follows the Internal Revenue Service's announcement in September that it was no longer mailing tax forms because so many people file their federal returns online.
Eliminating mailing out tax forms is just one of a handful of changes affecting Indiana taxpayers this coming tax season.
The Department of Revenue is urging people who plan to claim tax credits to file early or electronically because the General Assembly capped those benefits in the biennial budget. For example, McFarland said, the pool for Energy Star tax credits is capped at $1 million, and once that money is gone, no more credits will be issued.
The caps also affect the state scholarship tax credit, which is limited to $2.5 million, and a teacher summer employment credit that is capped at $500,000, she said.
McFarland said filing electronically would put taxpayers in line for the credits quicker, since those returns are processed immediately and paper returns can take days.
She also warned taxpayers who file by mail to check with the post office to make sure they include their proper address on their envelope, since she said the U.S. Postal Service plans to strictly enforce standard addressing and may not deliver mail that bears the wrong address.
Camden County Library System Takes Over Camden Free Public Library
Link to December 30 Philadelphia Inquirer article, "Camden library staff to be laid off; county to take over".
Excerpt: All 20 staffers at Camden's two remaining public libraries will be laid off effective Feb. 11, officials said Wednesday, although the county plans to take over one of the branches and allow employees to reapply for their jobs.
The layoffs, prompted by budget cuts, mean that the main branch on Federal Street in downtown Camden will close and that the city will cease providing library services for the first time in 105 years.
The Ferry Avenue branch, which Camden County built for the city five years ago, will be taken over by the Camden County Library System, according to a statement from the county.
To replace the main branch downtown, the county is in talks with Rutgers University-Camden about carving out a space in the university's nearby Robeson Library, a school spokesman said. The county library system would staff that facility.
The county plans to fund its operations in the city with a dedicated tax assessed to city property owners.
A third library in South Camden was closed earlier this year because of budget cuts.
Mayor Dana L. Redd, facing a fiscal crisis that also means deep layoffs for the Fire and Police Departments, cut city funding to the libraries this fiscal year from $923,000 to $390,000.
Related articles:
Reformatting the library. (10/16/2010)
2011 budget outlook remains bleak for Camden New Jersey. (10/9/2010)
Fairview branch library is closed for good. (9/8/2010)
Library board postpones decision on closing branch. (9/2/2010)
"An oasis in the desert". (8/15/2010)
Camden New Jersey squeeze play? (8/11/2010)
Camden mayor plays an odd game of library advocacy. (8/9/2010)
The library dumpster solution. (8/6/2010)
Mayor proposes 70% cut in library funding. (7/19/2010)
Dedham Library Innovation Team: Creating a State-of-the-Art Library
Excerpt: To that end, Reynolds helped start a booster group for the library — the Dedham Library Innovation Team — at the end of October, when word got out that the Board of Trustees was weighing options for cutting hours at the Main Library and Endicott Branch Library.
The new group, which has close to 200 members on Facebook, aims to create enthusiasm about the library, and find ways to keep it open and improving, Reynolds said.
Colorful posters went up around town asking “Got card?’’ and urging residents to get library cards and support the institution. Three founding members of the group applied for a vacancy on the library Board of Trustees, with one winning the seat.
Members have been meeting with people in other communities to see how they’ve revived flagging libraries or expanded thriving ones, looking particularly at the use of volunteers.
Related article:
The math doesn't add up @ the Dedham Public Library. (12/16/2010)
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Mashable: 5 E-Book Trends That Will Change the Future of Publishing
Link to December 27 Mashable post by Philip Ruppel, president of McGraw-Hill Professional.
Excerpts:
1. Enhanced e-books are coming and will only get better. Imagine video that shows how to fix a leaky faucet or solve complex math problems in statistics; audio that pronounces foreign language words as you read them, and assessment that lets you check what you remember and comprehend what you just read. These interactive features and more are being developed now and will be on the market in a matter of weeks, not months.
2. The device war is nearly over. Because most developers are developing e-reader software that will work on multiple other devices (Kindle also works on the iPad, iPhone, and computers, for example), consumers will care less about the device and more about the user experience of the e-reader software, portability of titles from one device to another, and access to a full catalog of titles.
3. The $9.99 e-book won’t last forever. The real opportunity for publishers will be to develop e-books that offer the kind of interactive features mentioned above. Our customers will demand interactive books that provide a much better, more informed and enriching experience. For them, the experience (not the cost) is often the primary driver.
4. The contextual upsell will be a business model to watch .....going nowhere.
5. Publishers Will Be More Important Than Ever. At McGraw-Hill, the average technical and reference book engages teams of editors, copy editors, proofreaders and designers to produce a single book. In the digital world, the role of publishers will be larger as new technologies provide for an even greater user and learning experience. If people can be bothered to care about the facts.
Related articles:
Christmas 2010 the tipping point for ebooks? (12/24/2010)
Ereader as brown paper bag. (12/9/2010)
The ebook reader compatibility surprise. (12/3/2010)
Ereader ownership: Survey says.... (11/30/2010)
David Carnoy asks, "Does the Kindle pay for itself?" (11/29/2010)
Need to repair that ebook reader? (11/19/2010)
Who uses an ereader: Survey says.... (9/22/2010)
Book industry wrestles with print vs. pixels. (9/2/2010)
Coming soon to a screen near you: Ads in ebooks. (8/20/2010)
Ebooks now comprise 8/5% of book sales. (8/12/2010)
Genre paperback publishers drops print. (8/6/2010)
Ebooks and libraries. (5/4/2010)
Ebooks eliminate a free form of adversiting: the book jacket. (3/31/2010)
Ebooks: another round of false promises? (3/19/2010)
The skinny on ebooks. (3/8/2010)
Hardcover vs. ebook: Breaking down the costs. (3/1/2010)
Dodge County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use
Part 14 of a county-by-county overview.
Dodge County public libraries.
Dodge County:
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 1970, 1981, 1990, 2000, 2009)
Dodge County, 1960-2009
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 1970, 1981, 1990, 2000, 2009)
Dodge County public libraries
Circulation, 1960-2009
Source: Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 1970, 1981, 1990, 2000, 2009)
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