July 2005

Illinois Library districts facing upheaval

One From The Chicago Tribune on some interesting political wrangling in Illinois.
Legislation that would allow growing communities across Illinois to secede from their library districts and create their own public libraries is awaiting the governor’s signature, but how new districts would be funded remains uncertain.
The bill outlines a six-step process for creating a new district by disconnecting from another. The steps include holding referendums, creating new ordinances and asking a court to determine the dividing of assets and tax liabilities between the old and new districts.

In the end it could cost taxpayers in both districts more for library service, said Aaron Lawlor, Cook’s board chairman.

July 29, 2005 by Legal Issues Librarians Libraries

Poll names ‘top book group novel’

The BBC Reports British book groups have voted Barbara Kingsolver’s 1998 novel The Poisonwood Bible, about a US missionary in 1950s Africa, their favourite read.
Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time came second in the survey of groups entering the Penguin/Orange Reading Group Prize.

July 29, 2005 by Books

LISWiki: The First 30 Days

This Week’s Exlibris is by John Hubbard. He writes about his work on LISWiki.com and his reasons for starting the site. It’s understandably alarming to surrender your work to public editing, but Wikipedia demonstrates that such sharing can be highly effective; a community-built knowledge base has the capacity for far greater scholarly achievement than the sum of its individual contributions. Since our profession is built around facilitating access to information, we owe it to ourselves and to our successors to freely contribute to an open community encyclopedia of library-related knowledge.

Be sure to check out LISWiki.com to see what’s going on.

July 29, 2005 by Libraries

Painting Moved In VA Library, Local Children Now Safe

And here I was thinking people only complained about books being bad for the children, two patrons complained about children seeing an artwork in Chesapeake, VA, Public Library’s central branch. Virginian Pilot – Norfolk,VA says For almost two weeks this month, the painting, called “Morning Dreamer,” appeared on a wall near the library’s main entrance, along with other works by local painter Karen Kinser. Roughly 12,000 people walked past the piece, based on library estimates that a thousand people a day visit the building on Cedar Road.

But after two patrons complained about children seeing the artwork, the library staff in mid-July moved the painting to the other side of the building, behind some bookshelves.

They say the painting shows a woman lying in bed, daydreaming . The side of her breast and hip can be seen, but the woman’s nipples and genitalia are not exposed to the viewer.
“More nudity can be observed at any public pool, beach or shopping mall,” said Kinser, who questions the mindset of the patrons who see the work as “titillating.”

July 29, 2005 by Librarians Libraries

MLA issues Call to Action for public libraries

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has presented England’s public libraries with five major challenges to be met over the next three years.

In its response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s report on public libraries, published today, MLA is calling on local authorities and other funding bodies to back its improvement programme for libraries by:

extending opening hours, particularly at evenings and weekends
diversifying both the library workforce and the services on offer and involving the community in service development programmes sustaining free internet access in all public libraries co-ordinating book procurement, reducing overheads and increasing the range of resources available to users establishing a major investment programme to renovate and sustain public library buildings.

More @ Egomonitor.com

July 29, 2005 by Internet Libraries

D.C. Facility Offers Audiobooks, Equipment Tailored to Needs of Blind Patrons

Stephanie Holbrook sent over This Washington Post Article on the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Located within the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at Ninth and G streets NW, the special needs library serves more than 1,250 readers and institutions, according to Phil Wong-Cross, chief of adaptive services.

Some library systems, including the District’s, began offering services for blind and physically handicapped patrons in the 1930s, and the D.C. facility was opened in 1973, according to Wong-Cross and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

July 29, 2005 by Books Libraries

Navy drops by for story time

Seems like more people are getting interested in story hour!


Source: Defense Department

Naval Recruiting District Michigan Commanding Officer Cmdr. Paul Gardner reads the classic children’s story “The Sailor’s Dog” to children at the Detroit Public Library’s Skillman branch in Michigan on July 21, 2005. Sailors came to the library to read stories to local children and their families as a part of the “Navy Day” festivities in Detroit.

The Defense Department invites people to send an electronic postcard of this event.

I realize that some people may be bothered by this photo, but I think we should be celebrating any group that helps literacy along with read alouds.

July 29, 2005 by Libraries

Self-help book prescription grows

The Beeb Reports on Plans to prescribe self-help books to people with mental health problems throughout Wales have been cautiously welcomed by patients’ groups.
A two-year pilot project in Cardiff has treated more patients with books than were seen by psychologists.

July 29, 2005 by Books

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