LISNews: Librarian News

Jen Fritz writes:

\"Yesterday, PC World posted an Article titled \"Does Shopping Online Cheat
Your Library\". While the only appearance of the word \"library\" occurs in
the title, the article is smattered with the concept of public services
being slashed based on the lack of revenues achieved by taxation.

\"New figures showing roaring online retail sales spell trouble ahead for
the sales tax revenues that help fund vital local services like police,
firefighters, and school teachers, advocates for U.S. state and local
governments say.\"

\"He said only five states without any sales tax are unaffected by the
explosion in Internet commerce.\"

\"Shafroth cites a study showing states would sacrifice a total $13 billion
in sales taxes by the year 2004.\"

\"\'That\'s a lot of policemen and firemen and teachers and classrooms,\'
Shafroth adds.\"

...and librarians.

Where was this one from Oregon Live 3 weeks ago during halloween?\"She\'s described as a loving woman who liked to dress in blue. Nobody knows much about her, except that she was a dedicated librarian in Snohomish in the 1920s and \'30s.

So dedicated that some think she\'s still there.\" -- Read More

NewsNet5 has a video report on libraries that focuses on the typical problems. This story is quite a slam on public libraries.

Check it out here, you\'ll need real player.

This story does not paint a very pretty picture of todays public libraries. If I didn\'t know any better I\'d think the AFA wrote this one.

Your neighborhood library is less like a church and more like a bus station...\"

Here are the findings from the Urban Libraries Council Study on internet in libraries. The research study, The Impacts of the Internet on Public Library Use, consisted of a national random telephone survey of 3,097 adults conducted during the spring of 2000.

75.2% of Internet users also used the library and 60.3% of library users also used the Internet.

Use of the library and use of the Internet were inversely related to age.

Use of the library was not significantly related to race/Hispanic ancestry.

Use of the library and use of the Internet were positively related to educational attainment.