July 2006

Encouraging Reading With Dogs…and Cats

Most pets thrive on attention, and kids do too, which is why they make a perfect team for youngsters learning to read. This article is about R.E.A.D. — Reading Education Assistance Dogs, a division of the mid-Atlantic organization, PAWS for People .

What happens? Kids read to animals. Think about it: Dogs won’t laugh if you stutter. They won’t correct a mispronounced word. Their loyal attention makes children feel supported as they practice reading. And recently, two cats, including three-legged Luke have been welcomed to join the READ team.

Super Size Yourself @Your Library!

Anonymous Patron writes The Middletown Press is reporting Ronald McDonald, complete with yellow jumpsuit, bright red hair and ear-to-ear smile, entertained tots at the Levi Coe Library in Middlefield during the afternoon. Earlier in the day, he performed a similar show at the public library in Deep River.
The fast food icon met with children to promote his favorite hobby: reading. He performed tricks and sang songs about the wonders of books.

“It’s probably the most rewarding thing someone can do,” Ronald said.
“To try to motivate them to read and become lifelong readers, that is what it is all about… just like the Hokey Pokey.””

New FGI Discussions: July 31, 2006

This week the volunteers at Free Government Information (FGI) (http://freegovinfo.info)
  were very busy as we bid farewell to June/July guest blogger Jessamyn West and updated our Best titles ever! page with cover art and more titles suggested by govdoc-l members.

Along the way Daniel started the following discussions we hope you will join:

There was significant FDSys related activity at both at the main FDSys site and the FDSys blog in the past week.

The main FDSys site posted a GPO Road Map to the Future and a white paper on optimizing OCR accuracy.

The FDSys Blog featured another biweekly update that announced that the Master Integrator contract is likely to be awarded in early August and provided information on a meeting of the “Interagency Council for Digital Content Submission.” Please see their blog for full details.

If you use Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/) or some other RSS reader, consider subscribing to the FGI Feed at http://freegovinfo.info/blog/feed to get FGI stories as they are posted.

This week the volunteers at Free Government Information (FGI) (http://freegovinfo.info)
  were very busy as we bid farewell to June/July guest blogger Jessamyn West and updated our Best titles ever! page with cover art and more titles suggested by govdoc-l members.

Along the way Daniel started the following discussions we hope you will join:

There was significant FDSys related activity at both at the main FDSys site and the FDSys blog in the past week.

The main FDSys site posted a GPO Road Map to the Future and a white paper on optimizing OCR accuracy.

The FDSys Blog featured another biweekly update that announced that the Master Integrator contract is likely to be awarded in early August and provided information on a meeting of the “Interagency Council for Digital Content Submission.” Please see their blog for full details.

If you use Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/) or some other RSS reader, consider subscribing to the FGI Feed at http://freegovinfo.info/blog/feed to get FGI stories as they are posted.

Arizona Libraries Crack Down on Annoyances

Anonymous Patron writes Libraries crack down on annoyances: Aggressive petition circulators and rowdy teenagers are prompting the Chandler Public Library Board to post warning signs and toughen its solicitation policies.

The board voted unanimously this week to install signs outside municipal libraries that read “Disorderly or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated” and that cite state criminal disorderly conduct laws. Members also approved a policy prohibiting “aggressive or harassing behavior” by solicitors and petition circulators that requires them to back off when patrons say “no.””

UK Perspective on the Possibiliity of Banning MySpace

The BBC reports on the Republican-led legislation (the ‘Deleting Online Predators Act’, or DOPA Act) aimed at turning off funding to U.S. schools and libraries that allow children access to social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Friendster and many others. The Senate will vote on it next month.

Chapter of Shame for British Librarian

Follow-up on our report last month of the Manchester UK librarian who stole rare books from the Central Library and sold them on e-bay (Manchester Evening News).

Norman Buckley took valuable copies of the works of Chaucer, John Donne and others valued at more than £250,000. Buckley admitted stealing the books and when he returned to answer police bail, he accounted for each individual item, telling police that he had started to steal after breaking up with his long-term girlfriend. Some excuse.

It’s Mystery Time!

That’s right, it’s nearly time to celebrate the twentieth anniversity of Sisters in Crime, an organization created to acknowledge and support the work of female mystery authors. Founded by Sara Paretsky at the annual Bouchercon Conference in Balitmore in 1986, S-in-C has a free packet of materials on women authors for your library, just by clicking here and requesting one. They also offer grants to selected libraries affected by last year’s hurricane season. Deadline is August 10.

Man Arrested for Photographing Cops

We’ve covered the idea of inverse surveillance previously. By “watching the watchers,” a la George Holliday, it keeps their behavior in check. The ferocity with which some law enforcement personnel — right up to the top — have opposed such oversight seems to far outweigh any realistic concerns over security.

Maybe they know that they too can “have something to hide.”

Since 9/11, there has also been a steady stream of incidents involving overzealous security guards and police officers hassling people exercising their rights by taking pictures of public places.

Combine these trends and you get last week’s story from Philadelphia, where a man was cuffed and jailed allegedly after doing nothing more than taking a picture of another bust with his cell phone.

So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, there’s a lot of chatter about how Library 2.0 could take off more if we would just lighten up about that
pesky privacy tenet of our profession. But before we run out and start storing and sharing patron data without proper safeguards and policies, we should be prepared for others abusing the power that this gives them.

We’ve covered the idea of inverse surveillance previously. By “watching the watchers,” a la George Holliday, it keeps their behavior in check. The ferocity with which some law enforcement personnel — right up to the top — have opposed such oversight seems to far outweigh any realistic concerns over security.

Maybe they know that they too can “have something to hide.”

Since 9/11, there has also been a steady stream of incidents involving overzealous security guards and police officers hassling people exercising their rights by taking pictures of public places.

Combine these trends and you get last week’s story from Philadelphia, where a man was cuffed and jailed allegedly after doing nothing more than taking a picture of another bust with his cell phone.

So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, there’s a lot of chatter about how Library 2.0 could take off more if we would just lighten up about that
pesky privacy tenet of our profession. But before we run out and start storing and sharing patron data without proper safeguards and policies, we should be prepared for others abusing the power that this gives them.