LISNews: Librarian News

Nice idea. Patrons with overdue books are allowed to "forGIVE and forGET" during fine amnesty week at the Richland County Public Library in Columbia SC.

To receive a “Forgive and Forget” ticket, bring in a new or gently used book to donate to the Friends of RCPL along with your overdue items. Visit any of RCPL’s 11 locations and all fines and fees will be forgiven. For more than one library account to be forgiven, a different new or gently used book needs to be donated to the Friends of RCPL.

“The library is more important than ever to the health of our community,” said RCPL’s Executive Director Melanie Huggins. “And it’s important to us to welcome back customers and eliminate any barriers created by overdue materials and fines.”

RCPL offers this one-time only opportunity to help respond to the economic downturn and reduce further pressure for people who may have library fines or fees, and welcome them back to the library.
This effort is made possible by the Friends of RCPL.

HULL, MA - Calliope Pina Parker is a sixth-grader who reads as many as 10 books a week and favors Harry Potter. She dresses as Potter characters for Halloween, plays Potter trivia with friends, and regularly revisits the series - all seven books and 4,167 pages.

Calliope is also an avid user of libraries, borrowing from across the region and frequenting branches throughout the South Shore on her way to and from school, ballet, and karate practice. So it came as a particular blow when budget cuts in Hull not only sheared the local library’s funding and hours but also cost the town its state certification last month.

“Now people from Hull can’t go to any other library,’’ said Calliope, whose card is no longer welcome at many other certified libraries.

Wanting to do something about it, the 11-year-old organized an all-day reading of the J.K. Rowling book that started it all, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.’’ Yesterday’s readathon and bake sale, with wizardly cupcakes and “magic wand’’ frosted pretzel rods, raised awareness about the library’s circumstances and collected money for the nonprofit Friends of the Hull Public Library.

I need your help.

A few months back, after an exchange of emails with Steve Lawson following his fundraiser for the Louisville Free Public Library, I was trying to think of a way to help libraries in general. I am hoping that what I am going to propose right now will do just that.

Friend of a Friend’s Group is a wiki set up to collect information and resources for everything dealing with a “friends of the library” group. From starting a friend’s group to fundraising and advocacy, I’m hoping to harness the combined knowledge and expertise of the library community for this important purpose. -- Read More

After sixty-two years of service, and now as head of the Newark NJ Public Library’s Special Collections Division, Bill Dane has amassed one of the finest public collections of prints in the country, including works by Rembrandt, Matisse, Picasso, Miró, and Warhol. But today, he is curating his own departure.

The 86-year-old Dane is retiring, and his final act as Keeper of the Prints — a title he appropriated himself and snuck past a civil service clerk by insisting he had passed the (nonexistent) exam — is to give the biennial John Cotton Dana lecture at the library tonight.

"It’s a good time for the institution and for me, because things in this particular division are very positive," Dane said. "It seems to be just a fine time to pursue other things, like perhaps going to back to school and traveling a bit more. Cleaning house."

Dane wanted to slip out the door after a cup of coffee with his colleagues but, said Patricia Bender, president of the Friends of the Library, "We wanted one more opportunity to celebrate the phenomenon that is Bill Dane." NJ.com reports.