LISNews: Librarian News

Occasional LISNews contributor Thomas Hennen also does his Hennen\'s American Public Library Ratings that are often discussion in the press after they come out.

JS Online has a In Depth look at the Ratings, and includes an interview with Thomas.

\"There\'s a whole group of people who don\'t want to measure or compare anything because if we compare, we\'ll hurt each other\'s feelings,\" Hennen said. \"I\'ve never said this is the only way to evaluate libraries.\"

PressRepublican.com has a Long Story on The Clinton-Essex-Franklin(NY) Library System Bookmobile. They want to add a rolling connection to the internet some day!

\"The libraries are becoming increasing important They’re no longer just (for) books; they’re part of the Information Age. They’re teaching schoolchildren how to access the information that’s available worldwide. They’re getting kids in the North Country ready for the dot-com jobs that are there.\"

After hunting for library oriented stories for over a year I think I\'ve gotten a good idea of the typical library story. Most Public Library stories are something like, Library launches improved Web page, or Library board to discuss plan to allow drinks upstairs, then there is the Funds short for library, and the most popular We Need or are Building a New Library.

Most of the stories I find are rather boring, or too \"local\" to be of much interest to many people.
Occaisionally I\'ll run across a good one like A Profile of a Library Director, or
This isn\'t your parents\' library and finally the lovely Renaissance of Libraries. There\'s good news out there, it just takes awhile to find most of the time.

Sfgate has a story on the big \'ol mess at the SFPL. San Francisco Public Library administrators want $5.3 million for a first round of fixes. This after a $240,000 report that offered a long list of ways to fix the $137.5 million building. I guess money grows on trees around there.

\"Because the main library has these problems, that\'s what we focus on. But the library is working, and lots of people are using it every day. These changes will make it better,\"