LISNews: Librarian News

I'm a librarian groupie

"After that summer I became a librarian groupie. My fierce, passionate, story-loving librarians taught me that when a story is told it’s more important for the listeners to see the story than the teller. I learned that, in a world where people think memory can be bought on a chip, the word-of-mouth and the word-of-heart still matter. You can’t double-click on wisdom. Most of all, they taught me that the listener is the hero of the story. "

The curious case of the librarian and the detective

When Colin Campbell Ross was sent to the gallows at the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1922, few would have guessed his name would be cleared by a humble librarian more than 80 years later. Kevin Morgan was the librarian, historian and author whose book, Gun Alley, was instrumental to Ross receiving a pardon in 2008 for his wrongful conviction for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in a Melbourne alley. To coincide with the release of a new edition of Gun Alley with an epilogue detailing Ross's pardon, Morgan yesterday launched a second book, Detective Piggott's Casebook, based on a detective's scrapbooks he discovered researching the Gun Alley case.

Retired librarian keeps the written word alive
After 40 years of being a librarian, Marlene Heard wanted to continue to share her passion for books, so she started her own little library.

Marlene tells TODAY'S TMJ4's Jesse Ritka she can't live without books, "I have to be with a library, I just have to be."

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Philadelphia Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the nation's oldest book collection serving the visually impaired and one of only two in the commonwealth, is slated to be dramatically diminished this week, as services and the collection are slashed.

The plan calls for moving most reading materials to the smaller, less-used Pittsburgh branch; foolishly dumping half a million recorded cassettes; and halving the caring, veteran staff that helps disabled patrons in 29 counties. [ed: I heard about this plan while at PLA in Philadelphia in March; word has it that its the plan of Governor Tom Corbett, a native of Pittsburgh].

The merger makes absolutely no sense and will not save the commonwealth a cent, while providing slower, less efficient service to an already underserved population. Indeed, critics believe the merger will cost more money in unanticipated operating costs.