LISNews: Librarian News

A new report by a conservative watchdog group concludes the nation's universities have become less efficient over the years by dramatically increasing the number of administrators they hire per student.

"Like any addiction program, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Higher education needs to admit they have a problem of administrative bloat," said Jay Greene, the report's author and head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas.

The debate over who is considered an administrator in public education is not a new one. Arizona K-12 schools have objected to the way they are evaluated in state audits. Employees fall into one of two categories: "classroom dollars" or "non-classroom dollars." Principals, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and librarians fall into the latter category, even though many parents consider them essential to schools. The Arizona Auditor General's Office has maintained that while classroom dollars shouldn't be the sole measure of evaluating a K-12 school, high spending outside the classroom is a potential sign of inefficient operations.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/08/17/20100817collegeadministra...

Gig Harbor, WA: When Marie Bassett received a phone call from the Pierce County Library System telling her she had won a free laptop computer, she first thought it was a hoax.

Bassett filled out a little piece of paper when she renewed her library card a while back, but she had forgotten about it.

The countywide library system held a raffle for two laptops during its annual card drive, and Gig Harbor’s Bassett won one of them.

“It was a funny story,” she said. “I went to have my library card renewed, and they had me fill out this little slip of paper. I said, ‘What do you want me to do with this?’ ”

Bassett said she regularly checks out items at the library with her husband, and she decided to get her own card updated. “I thought, ‘That’s dumb. I might want to go without him some time,’ ” she said. “It’s ironic, because I’m really a raffle nut, but I had totally forgotten I had filled out this slip.”

Winning the laptop turned out to be perfect timing for Bassett, who recently lost her job.

“It was a heartbreaker,” she said. “It was truly a dream job. I thought I was going to be there forever.”

Nonetheless, Bassett hopes to turn bad luck around. “Now I think I want to start my own bookkeeping business,” she said. “This laptop is so timely.”

A mad Dad reports his unhappiness with the Hoboken NJ Public Library due to his four-year old son being denied a library card. Here's the story from Hoboken 411.

Letter-writer Dave Dessel goes on to say: "My wife called several libraries in the area, including Millburn, Maplewood, Summit and Ridgewood, to find out what their policies are. Every librarian she spoke with was appalled by HPL’s policy. One went so far as to say that the story was heartbreaking, and the policy archaic, the kind of thing that was done away with forty years ago.

I wonder if the library administration has changed much since On the Waterfront?"

Possibly later today, one of three finalists, profiled and pictured in this Seattle PI article will be named Director of the Seattle Public Library.

A selection committee will recommend one of three finalists to the post as early as today. They are Susan Hildreth, the California state librarian; Jane Light, who heads the San Jose Public Library; and Rivkah Sass, director of the Omaha Public Library. The previous Seattle city librarian, Deborah Jacobs, left in July to take a job at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

If you hear/see the announcement, please let us know the results...THANKS Heidi, it's Susan Hildreth.