LISNews: Librarian News

Someone passed along This Story from the great city of Columbus, OH.
The Bexley Library has taken to auctioning books on the web to help raise money.
They\'ve been doing it for 2 years and have raised $1,800 by selling about 100 books online. The library\'s biggest items: two pamphlets and a signed letter from Booker T. Washington that went for $500.

\"They knew that they had some gems they were getting,\" said Sandy Lemkin, a reference librarian at Bexley Library. \"It\'s a wider audience that you can appeal to. When you\'re on eBay, you have wonderful exposure.\"

There\'s a follow up Editorial (by a man who looks quite a bit like Santa) on that \"Christian Fiction\" section in Florida. Santa makes an interesting point when he points out labeling a group of books by subject is just as much help to those who don\'t want to read them as to those who do.

\"If Citrus folks ever get their underwear in a bunch the way some people from the Christian right in Spring Hill did a few years back over a gay-pride display in a local library, the current Christian Fiction display will be a fine tool for pointing out to them that the sword of diversity cuts both ways and that a library that encourages multiple points of view is a good thing.\"

Florida\'s Lakes Region Library set up a display of
books titled \"Christian Fiction\" sitting near the check-out
desk with about 100 books. A patron raised a ruckos,
so they changed the name of the display to
\"Inspirational Fiction\". They even talk about how The
Library of Congress classifies \"Christian fiction\" books,
but, there is not an equivalent category for Buddhist
fiction or other types of religious fiction. She plans to file
a complaint in U.S. District Court against the county.
Full Story

\"We try to provide a broad diversity of viewpoints
and many types of subject matter,\" Rogers said. \"That
does not mean the library endorses those ideas. We
are a neutral provider of information, so you can come
in and select what you choose.\"

Salon is carrying an AP article that says the Minneapolis Public Library has temporarily banned the game of chess because the players were becoming disruptive.

I guess some people just can\'t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.