Library Advocates Fight Mayor Bloomberg's Outsized Budget Cuts

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Library advocates fight to stave off budget cuts. (Queens Times-Ledger, 5/18/2012)

Excerpt: “The mayor’s executive budget, if enacted, would cut $26.7 million in funding to vital services provided by the Queens Library,” said City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), chairman of the Council Cultural Affairs and Libraries Committee. “These cuts would 

• put over 600 librarians out of a job, 
• close 18 libraries altogether, 
• eliminate Sunday services at all branches and 
• potentially keep 30 libraries closed four or five days a week.

A Little Shadowy but 3,609 "Likes"

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Conservative Republican will run against Petri.  (Fond du Lac Reporter,  5/17/2012)

And her regular website.

Americanism.  "I want my country back."   Is this some kind of code?

http://www.i-want-my-country-back.com/

Wonder if Lauren is disturbed by this headline.

Lauren's blog.  14 posts from December 29, 2011, through February 21, 2012.

Scott Walker sez, "The facts are my friends"

With red flags highlighted in, well, red, of course, and the world turned upside down in orange.

"Our opponents are spending breathtaking amounts of money...."

Scott Walker:  The Gold Standard in Power Grabs

Puts a new spin on "friends in high places"

ALEC, are they even from Wisconsin?

So this is what John Gard is up to nowadays!

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And what he and his wife were up to 2 years ago.

Rhetorical Question?

Man stabbed for watching porn at Brooklyn Heights public library: cops. (New York Daily News, 5/16/2012)

Excerpt: Blood flowed in a Brooklyn library Tuesday night when a man — enraged because another library user was viewing porn — stabbed him in the chest, fire and police sources said.

The alleged attacker, Ralph Neptune, 46, who is homeless, was with his wife on the second floor at the Brooklyn Heights Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library when he spotted the racy videos on the 52-year-old victim’s screen around 7:20 p.m., police sources said.

“He was with his wife and he accused the other guy of looking at porn,” one police source said. “The guy looking at porn picked up a chair and hits him. The guy who was offended said, ‘I have a knife,’ and stabs him in the chest,” the source continued.

Then Neptune’s wife started screaming, “How are we going to get back to Peekskill?” the source said.

What TV Show Do You Love Most?

Ad Age Looks at Who's Watching What Where. (Ad Age Media News, 4/16/2012)

Guess I'm living in the right county.

Time Check for the Philadelphia Free Library?

How Jason views the Free Library of Philadelphia

Op-Ed. Does the Free Library even know what century it’s in? by Jason Kaye.  (Philadelphia Daily News, 5/16/2012)

Excerpt:  To say that the Free Library of Philadelphia is doing a subpar job at adapting their service platform for the 21st-century patron would be an understatement. There are more free books you can download from Amazon.com than from the Free Library’s website.

You'll need to pay for 50 Shades of Grey

Not to mention the fact that Amazon offers a larger catalog of books to purchase than the Free Library has to check out.

The library bureaucracy has parallels with the VHS tapes that are most likely collecting dust at your local neighborhood branch: They take up precious space and have over-extended their stay in the system. The current library administrators have proven time and again to present a short-sighted yet costly vision to the Philadelphia community.

VHS and DVD holdings, an alphabetical sampling

Guess I leave it to the Bushrod Branch Library manager, for example, to determine whether or not that single shelf of videos -- or however they're displayed -- is taking up precious space.

Knowing next to nothing about the Free Library of Philadlephia, I'm willing to cut Jason some slack, but his VHS analogy causes me to wonder if he's prone to overstating whatever case he wants to make.

Retiring Guy needs to put on his detecting cap.

Press "V" for Vexation: Cheryl Becker and I are on the Same Page Here

She screams; I utter a profanity or 2.  Or 3.

Making Customers Work Too Hard, a 5/14/2012 post from Cheryl Becker's blog.

Take a look at how some Wisconsin public libraries go beyond the basics.  (Good examples of how to do it.)

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[Hover arrow over staff member's name on this webpage and a picture will appear in upper right-hand corner.]

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Pulling "Shades" Doesn't Keep Out the Noise @ Brevard County Public Library

 

Library Ban on Best-Seller Sparks Florida Censorship Debate.  First Coast News, 5/15/2012.

Hmm.....takes on a new meaning

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On Facebook (383 "likes", compared to 2102 for Appleton, 3124 for Milwaukee, 1096 for Hedberg.)

 OK, readers advisory specialists, and anyone else who wishes to weigh in.  Is Jen providing a worthy suggestion?  I don't know Laurel K. Hamilton from Adam Hall.

 

Related posts:
"We do not collect erotica @ Gwinnett County Public Library"  (5/13/2012)
Will Fond du Lac residents be clamoring for this book? (4/12/2012)

National Restaurant Association Members Adding Technology to the Menu

Slowly, perhaps.

From 2008.  (Not a development I've yet to encounter.)





The goal? To boost sales with tantalizing pictures. Better service? Meh!

Field Library in Peekskill New York Celebrates Its 125th Anniversary

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College Grad Job Prospects: Point/Countertpoint

Green Bay Press-Gazette

Excerpt:    Technical college graduates find jobs quicker than graduates of four-year schools, mostly because they often are training for specific jobs. And more of their students are older and have some work experience.

New York Times

Excerpt:    Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought by the sour economy is more widespread than just a few careers led astray or postponed. Even for college graduates — the people who were most protected from the slings and arrows of recession — the outlook is rather bleak.

Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is “worth it” after all.

"We do not collect erotica @ Gwinnett County Public Library"

Gwinnett County Public Library

"We've had 12 requests."

Wonder how many more there'd be if patrons could place holds online.

To me, a better response to the "are you going to purchase" question is.....

E. L. James's trilogy is a publishing phenomenon.  It currerntly holds the top three places on both the New York Times ebook and paperback best sellers lists.  It's sold millions of copies.  Most public libraries have enough holds to keep the books in circulation for a year.  With this much demand, we have an obligation to purchase the book.

Related post:
Will Fond du Lac Residents Now Be Clamoring for This Book? (4/12/2012)

Book discussion preparation.
50 Shades of Grey’ Speed Read: 14 Naughtiest Bits.  (The Daily Beast, 4/18/2012)

Cat Reactions @ the Ada (Ohio) Public Library

Home of the "Chew On This" book discussion group for tweens.

Joint Library Negotiations C...o...n...t...i...n...u...e

Library agreement may be near. Consolidation referendum may delay agreement. (Sussex Sun, 5/8/2012)

Excerpt:   Negotiators for the Town of Lisbon and the Village of Sussex are apparently closing in on a new formula for funding the Pauline Haass Library, but the Town Board is not likely to vote on the proposal until after an Aug. 14 advisory referendum on consolidating the two communities. 

Village Trustee Tim Dietrich and Town Supervisor Ryan Lippert have been the lead negotiators in a nearly yearlong effort to craft the funding formula as part of a new long-term agreement between the municipalities. Sussex and Lisbon jointly own the library. 

The existing agreement calls for the communities contributing to operating costs of the library based on their respective tax base, which is about a billion dollars for each community. 

Town Chairman Matt Gehrke has been insisting on a new formula that would require the village to pay about $80,000 to $100,000 more than the town because village residents use the library more than town residents, according to library circulation figures.  

Related articles: 
Jane Stadler on Paying Taxes: "...it is something that you do because you're part of the community.  (11/26/2011)
Lisbon town chair not likely to get his way on Pauline Haass Library funding. (11/22/2011)
Lisbon Town chair advocates paying for library services on the cheap.  (11/22/2011)
The challenges of shared governance and funding.  (9/28/2011)
Consensus building for new joint library agreement.  (7/22/2011)
Sussex, Lisbon:  Local politics and library negotiations.  (5/28/2011)
Negotiation to continue after information-gathering process.  (10/8/2010)
And the beat goes on.  (10/4/2010)
Differences of opinion of library funding continue.  (9/18/2010)
Leaders of Village of Sussex, Town of Lisbon clash over funding for library. (8/26/2010)
Will annexation resolution interfere with negotiations over joint library agreement?  (8/4/2010)
Proposal to change library funding formula gets cool reception.  (6/7/2010)
Town of Lisbon Chairman proposes new funding formula for library.  (5/31/2010)

Except When He's Pandering to his Base

  

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How come when I google "11th drunk driving offense" I can find 2 additional Wisconsin news stories like [finger snap]?

 

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Excerpt:   Police say he fell off his motorcycle while talking to an officer, repeated himself and slurred his words. 

The Green Bay Press-Gazette reports the man said he drank two beers over lunch about an hour before the accident. Moore had cuts to his head and hand.

Neglecting to mention the 12-pack, with numerous shots of Robetussin he drained for breakfast.

 

It's a rhetorical question, folks.