July 2002

Bill Drew QuickSubmitted his story, The Wireless Student & the Library. He covers ThinkPad University at the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville. The program has allowed them to take library materials, instruction, and services to students, as opposed to requiring students to come to a physical library.

ThinkPad U.

Charles Davis writes \”The first of two weeklong library closures begins in a few weeks, as
the Seattle Public Library tries to reduce spending by $1.8 million to
help the city balance its budget next year.
All libraries in the city will shut down from Aug. 26 to Sept 1. That
means residents will not have access to catalogs, book drops,
computers, Web site, mobile services or even the automated
telephone line. Employees will not be paid.
More at
The Post Int. \”

Aaron Tunn writes \”The following links may be of interest to those wanting to check out where \’libraryland\’ employment rates…by numbers, salary, gender etc…

Library Assistants
\”

They say average pay is $810 a week, before taxes.

One From Boston on how parents are trying to turn public libraries into makeshift day-care centers – and how librarians are dealing with the problem.

They say The problem is one shared by librarians nationwide. For example, in Bristol, Conn., the problem became so severe that the library posted a policy requiring all children age 8 and younger to be accompanied by an adult – and for police to be called if a child is left for more than 15 minutes after the library closes.

Good News from Cincinnati where a handful of Tristate political leaders want the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to close the book on the possibility of shutting down five of its branches.

Commissioner Todd Portune, Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken and a handful of other elected officials Friday signed a declaration saying the library should not close five branches to help resolve a $4.3 million budget deficit.

A Neat Story on how The British Council is celebrating the best of new British publication design in The Book Corner, a new touring exhibition that acknowledges the vitality, diversity and technical ingenuity of Britain’s print industry. Launched this April in Milan at the annual international furniture fair, the exhibition will premier in London next month.

The Ledger has A Short Story on all those \”For Dummies\” or \”Complete Idiot\’s Guides.\”


They are well-known to book buyers as quick-hit sources of information. Many are written by authors who have already produced books with less deprecating titles.


After the Sept. 11 tragedies, Olson says people turned to the guides for knowledge on the Middle East.

\”We get a lot of requests for them,\” says Averil Townsley, a reference librarian at the Lakeland Public Library.

This One says the public relations director of the York County Library was arrested Friday, accused of taking donated library books and selling them on the Internet for her own gain.


Her supervisor, however, says he believes the employee paid the library for the books before selling them.

Police learned of the sales when a citizen complained that items on the Internet matched items that were donated to the library, Kitts said.

Princeton\’s open season on prospective Yale students was apparently
done using only the students \”Social Security numbers and birth dates.\”
The Boston Globe reports that according to Princeton\’s spokesperson, their
director of admissions acknowledged \”at least one \”unauthorized transmission\”
to the Yale Web site.\” He has been given a paid vacation while the offending
school conducts \”\”an aggressive investigation.\”\” In addition to admission
status, financial aid application information and personal and academic
preferences were accessible via the poorly secured logons.

20020726
\”Yale
accuses Princeton of Web prying:  Admissions
data at issue; dean placed on leave.\”  –By Mary
Leonard –Boston/Globe

Here\’s One that says a couple on holiday in far-north Queensland spent more than $20,000 creating a Harry Potter fantasy for their son\’s 13th birthday party this week.


In a stunning re-creation of J.K. Rowling\’s best-sellers, the American boy found his room at the Port Douglas Mirage Resort full of mist and flying letters, then was visited by an owl with an invitation from Hogwart\’s School of Magic.