LISNews: Librarian News

Fang-Face writes "A quivering administrator in Fairfax County, Virginia, has banned the film 1776 from middle school civics curricula. The reason for this censorship is sexual innuendo due to Jefferson saying he "burns" for his wife, whom he has not seen in six months. I had to do a search through Google to find an article with enough information to build a context (in most cases the article had been abstracted down to the first four paragraphs only) and finally found this report at WashingtonPost.com. This article also mentions how Fairfax has been the subject, for some time, of a trend towards stipping classrooms and libraries of materials."

We've covered PABBIS and other Fairfax stories in the past.

To follow up on This One, Dan Lester and sharmor sent over this Denver Post Story with an interesting opening paragraph:\"Marisa Gohr will think twice before checking out any more library books.\"

She\'s the 12-year-old that appeared Thursday in Littleton Municipal Court, charged with unlawful retention of library materials.
The judge accepted a guilty plea and sentenced the seventh-grader to 90 days of probation.

\"Marisa is scared to check out books,\" Norma Gohr said. \"This whole situation is ridiculous.\"

The National Library Board in Singapore receives 200 suggestions a month. However, they liked one patron\'s suggestion so much, they developed the idea and patented it. The idea was a book drop that uses radio frequencies to detect returned books.The story doesn\'t say if the patron will receive any money from the patent, which has interested libraries from New Zealand, Australia, and Scandinavian countries. Definitely \"good value for money,\" as is the new Public Service slogan.

Don Saklad Sent in this
boston.com Story on a new ad campaign in Boston. Another Story on the same things says the campaign was developed after library officials held focus groups with area residents, who told them why they didn’t go to the library. This Story, from L.A., says all it takes is internet access to bring\'m in.

\'\'One of the big misconceptions at the library is that there will be a huge fine if they haven\'t returned a library book in years, like you\'ll need a second mortgage on your house,\'\' said library spokeswoman P.A. d\'Arbeloff. \'\'The maximum fine for any book is $1.25. The money is not what\'s important here. We want you in the library.\'\'