Public Libraries

Poll: Should Libraries Charge Fees for 'Popular' Books?

Poll: Should Libraries Charge Fees for 'Popular' Books?
portsmouth.patch.com asks... In a declining economy and time when libraries are closing their doors, is it acceptable to charge patrons to read books?

In a time when more and more libraries are closing their doors, like the Anne Ide Fuller and Rumford Branch Libraries in East Providence, does it make sense to charge fees for public services? Even Benjamin Franklin, who is credited with founding the first lending library in this country, sold "shares" to borrow literature.

FoxNews Video Report On Library Fine Phone Call Scam in Alabama

There's no date on this, but judging from the phone in the video it's from the 1970s.

Redesigning UK libraries for today's climate and tomorrow's needs

Redesigning libraries for today's climate and tomorrow's needs
The financial pressures facing libraries today are arguably the most challenging for years, with cuts and closures making the headlines. What is less evident is the way that libraries are tackling the challenges they face through radical new ways of working: merging services across authorities, forging new partnerships, and moving into community management.

Sacking a Palace of Culture

Sacking a Palace of Culture
It was with a surge of emotion, therefore, that I read newspaper reports about the determination of Anthony W. Marx, the president of the library, to spend $300 million to transform the main building, long devoted to reference, into what sounds like a palace of presentism. He wants to close the library system’s biggest circulating branch, the Mid-Manhattan (located just across the street) and the Science, Industry and Business Library (also in Midtown) and somehow wedge their contents into the already overstocked central research library.

Community Libraries and Mental Health

Community, Libraries and Mental Health
Libraries aren’t just a place to borrow books or get on a computer. They are places where we can feed the mind, affirm our membership in our community and maintain our sense of belonging. Adler would have seen them as an essential support for a community’s mental health.

Death at Salt Lake City Main library a suicide, police say

Death at Salt Lake City Main library a suicide, police say
Police said a man committed suicide Thursday by jumping off a balcony at the Salt Lake City Public Library.

SLCPD Detective Carlie Wiechman said surveillance footage shows the man deliberately jumping, and no evidence has shown the fall could have been an accident or involved foul play.

Mack seems headed for takeover of Trenton Library branches, circumventing board and deposing director

From NJ.com

Trenton, NJ, mayor trying to repurpose closed branches as Mayor's Learning Center Libraries, bypassing library board and administration:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/04/mack_seems_headed_for_takeover.html

Mayor asks library board why it allowed Occupy Bangor to break citys after-hours park rule

Mayor asks library board why it allowed Occupy Bangor to break city’s after-hours park rule
Five months after the Occupy Bangor movement occupied Peirce Park and the Bangor Public Library grounds for almost a month, the library’s administration and board faced some tough questions during a City Council budget session.

Former library finance chair mum on credit card scandal

Former library finance chair mum on credit card scandal
Alex Cameron has resigned as chair of the Windsor Public Library board's finance committee.

The move comes in the wake of a credit card scandal involving Al Maghnieh, the former chair of the library board who resigned after it was learned he used a library-issued credit card to make nearly $9,000 in personal purchases.

Patron attacks children's librarian

Patron attacks Auburn children's librarian
The Auburn Public Library (ME) is reviewing security after a children's librarian landed in the hospital with a concussion after an attack by a patron. Police say a 19-year-old suffered what they called a "psychotic break" Friday when he attacked a librarian in front of several children.

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