Retiring Guy's Digest: 2012-10-21

Saturday, October 27, 2012

A Day in the Life @ the Lansdowne Public Library

Sorry, Lansdowne, but if you can produce this excellent video, you can create a much more effective webpage.

@ the Library: Walk Right In, Sit Right Down, If You're Carrying a Gun in Michigan

Michigan libraries can't ban guns, court of appeals rules. (Detroit Free Press, 10/26/2012)

But we want to keep our day job so we're voting with those Gomers in Lansing you elected, I imagine Janey and Hank saying, defensively.

In some states, you need a license to sell hot dogs.

Tennessee Court of Appeals Ruling Pisses Off Republicans

Tenn. appeals voter ID ruling over library card. (SFGate, 10/26/2012)

Excerpt: Tennessee election officials on Friday filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court seeking to overturn a ruling that enabled voters to use photo identification issued by the Memphis Public library at the polls.

The petition argues that particular ID isn't valid because it wasn't issued by state government.

On Thursday, the Court of Appeals ruled that the state's new law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls was constitutional, but also said the library card qualified as a government-issued photo ID.

Tennessee Governor: Bill Haslam (Republican)

Tennessee Senate: 20 Republicans, 13 Democrats.

Tennessee Assembly: 65 Republicans, 35 Democrats.

Oh, and guess what's Tre's political persuasion.

Cutting off free and fair elections at the knees.

Related posts:
Judge finds at least one aspect of Tennessee voter ID law "nonsensical". (8/1/2012)
Judge to weigh in on voter ID skirmish. (7/30/2012)
Library card/voter ID fray in Memphis. (7/10/2012)

Friday, October 26, 2012

Take a Trip Through the Open Book Library

EME Arcihitects (Spain)

All About the Cobb County Public Library System

Cobb County Public Library System

Are You Convinced?

Wrightwhite Public Library

Pew Research: Campaign News Sources

Full report

January 2000 rankings

Local TV News
Network News
Local Papers
Cable News
Internet

October 2012 rankings (previous)

Cable News (4)
Local TV News (1)
Internet (5)
Network News (2)
Local Papers (3)
National Papers (x)

...lies, lies, lies

LINK

Wisconsin Public Libraries: Circulation Per hour

The Wisconsin Public Library Service Data does not provide circulation for individual branches. If that were the case, 2 Madison branch libraries would appear on this bar graph.

Sequoya - 283
Pinney - 194

Other tables:
County revenue including non-system county payments. (10/25.2012)
Municipal, county, all other revenue. (10/17/2012)
Total programs and attendance. (10/14/2012)
Other (i.e., mostly adult) programs and attendance. (10/12/2012)
Young adult programs and attendance. (10/12/2012)
Children's programs and attendance. (10/11/2012)
Books, audio, video. (10/9/2012)

Adjustment to Services to Save $300,000 @ the Milwaukee Public Library

Photo source: Wikipedia

Central Library to trim hours; branches limit librarian service. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/24/2012)

From October through April, the Central library is open 61 hours per week. After Christmas, the West Wisconsin Avenue facility will open at noon instead of 9 a.m., reducing the total weekly hours of operation to 58.

The other change involves six branches: Bay View, East, Villard Square, Washington Park, Zablocki and Center Street. Librarians will not be available to provide assistance until noon at these locations.

Year-to-date @ all MPL locations
Visits up 14%
Circulation up 8%

Year-to-date at new Villard Square Branch
Visits up 75%
Circulation up 95%

Who's Running for State Office in Wisconsin 2012: 99th Assembly District (General Election Edition)

Public libraries in the 99th Assembly District
Delafield Public Library
Hartland Public Library

The Republican incumbent

Due to redistricting, Kapenga is running for re-election in the 99th District. Don Pridemore (R-Hartford) currently represents the 99th but is running for re-election in the 22nd.

Biography. Born Zeeland, MI, February 19, 1972; married, 2 children.

Graduate Holland Christian (Holland, MI) 1990.

B.S. in accountancy, Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI) 1994.

Business owner. Former certified public accountant.

Member: Elmbrook Church Financial Counseling (dir.). Former member: WSCA School Bd. (vice chm., treas., secy.); AICPA; Brookfield Chamber of Commerce; Institute of Management Accountants (bd. mbr.).

Elected to Assembly 2010. (Won a 4-way primary with 40% of the vote. Unopposed in the general election.)

The Democratic challenger: Thomas Hibbard

Biography from WisconsinVote.org (Bold added)

Tom Hibbard was born in Madison, WI, and grew up in the small Wisconsin town of Watertown.

He attended college preparatory school in Hartland WI—University Lake School. He graduated with a B.A. from Amherst College in Massachusetts in 1969, worked as a Teaching Assistant for one year at UW-Whitewater and began writing as a newspaper reporter for the progressive afternoon daily in Madison, Wisconsin, The Capital Times.

Hibbard has lived in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Kansas. Although he has worked at other jobs, including at the reservations center for Best Western in Wichita KS and Godfather’s Pizza, his main occupation is as a writer.

Hibbard’s writing has been published in many places on and off-line, including Jacket, Exquisite Corpse, Midwest Review, Word For/ Word and Big Bridge. Besides his poetry, he has also published essays and reviews of contemporary poets, including David Meltzer, Amiri Baraka, Larry Sawyer and Mark Wallace. Among Hibbard's collections are Critique of North American Space (Bronze Skull), Human Powers, Ghotki Crater, Place of Uncertainty (available online at Otoliths storefront) and most recently Sacred River of Consciousness (available at Moon Willow press, Vancouver, and Amazon.com). He has done readings in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

For nearly the past four years has been Secretary of the Waukesha County Democrats. In 2010 he ran unsuccessfully for the Wisconsin state legislature.

Who's Running for State Office in Wisconsin 2012: 98th Assembly District (General Election Edition)

Public libraries in the 98th Assembly District
Pauline Haass Public Library, Sussex
Pewaukee Public Library
Waukesha Public Library (service area)

Academic library
UW-Waukesha Library

The Republican incumbent

Biography. Born Milwaukee, July 17, 1964; married; 2 children.

Graduate Marquette U. H.S. 1982; A.D. Waukesha Co. Tech. Coll. 1987; B.A. Carroll Coll. 1991.

Self employed. Former owner of home inspection business.

Elected to Assembly 2010. (Won primary with 60% of the vote and general election with 76% of the vote.

Son of Margaret Farrow.

Campaign website

Wisconsin Eye interview (9/11/12)

The Democratic challenger: Eric Prudent