July 2007

Michael R. Balmer writes “RSS is blossoming into the de facto protocol used by many websites as the means of distributing their news and information. However, not all websites support this feature yet.

Highly recommended for any tech-savvy librarian.

Michael R. Balmer writes “RSS is blossoming into the de facto protocol used by many websites as the means of distributing their news and information. However, not all websites support this feature yet.

Highly recommended for any tech-savvy librarian.
Feedity is a simple, fast and very useful web service to create rss web feeds. Although there are many similar tools available (some downloadable and some web-based), but I’m hooked to Feedity because of its quick automated results (no manual work, no programming, no downloads) and sleek usability.

Feedity aims to make it easy and possible for anyone to extract and reuse content from any website. By doing so, we hope to allow others to realize their creativity, and implement new exciting services & applications.”

Joe Hodnicki writes “Meet Julie M. Jones, a member of the Cornell Law Library public services staff at http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blo g/2007/07/spotlight-on-la.html“

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: It may seem a little out of order.

But Sandra Treadway became Virginia’s state librarian July 1 before she ever had a library degree. Treadway learned about library operations the old-fashioned way — climbing the ladder to the top one rung at a time.

She’ll pick up a master’s degree in information and library sciences from the University of Tennessee in August. Her master’s thesis, “State Libraries in the United States: Identifying and Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century,” also gave her an opportunity to examine what will be required for state libraries to survive and prosper.

In recent years, state libraries in Florida, Washington and Minnesota came under severe threat of being eliminated. The Minnesota State Library closed but subsequently reopened. How’s the health of your state library?

effinglibrarian writes “Dark Horse Comics announces a relaunch of Dark Horse Presents, a seminal 1980s b&w periodical anthology, as a free online comic in collaboration with MySpace.com. DH is the latest comics publisher to launch a digital comics venture. The revived anthology series debuted July 27, 2007, at MySpace.com/DarkHorsePresents.
The series begins with a Joss Whedon comic called Sugar Shock! so if you’re still suffering from Buffy, Angel, and Firefly withdrawal, check it out. Where else can you read dialog like: ‘Robot Phil, I’m gonna need your strong metal arms’?”

The library is downtown Medford closed in April, and lots of nearby businesses are suffering because of it. There are differing opinions among town residents…

Somkanay Dechasiri, owner of The Tasty Thai restaurant a few blocks south of the library on Central has seen a dip in business that has been more significant than other summers. “I’m sure closing down the library has not helped at all.This summer has been a little slow.”

“The loss of the library is a blow to downtown Medford” said Ben Tresser, owner of the Yellow Submarine Sandwich Shop, also pointing to the empty lot of the proposed Bella Vita, a commercial and residential project. “This whole renaissance and rejuvenation of the downtown is stalled,” he said

But Jackie Rodgers, MURA (Medford Urban Renewal Agency) director, said she didn’t see any dramatic problems for the revitalization of the downtown caused by the empty library.

“We see no negative impact from the closure,” she said. “There’s no panic, no reason to say that everything has stopped for what we see as a temporary closure.”

Tragic story from Wisconsin where 16-year old Eric Hainstock, who has been in trouble practically all his life and has been diagnosed with ADHD among other developmental issues, is now on trial for shooting and killing his high school principal, John Klang, last September. He is being tried as an adult.

The shooting had been preceded by an incident when Hainstock threw a stapler at a teacher.

Librarian Kay Amborn testified Friday that Hainstock, 16, seemed “proud” a week later on Sept. 21 when he saw a story about the incident published in the Reedsburg Independent, showed it to several other students and asked Amborn to make a copy of it for him. She declined.

“He said he wanted a copy for his dad, because his dad didn’t get the newspaper,” Amborn testified. Wisconsin State Journal reports.

Friends of the Jackson, MI library are spreading the word to promote a tax rate increase to support their libraries. This article from the Jackson Citizen Patriot reports on their efforts to try to get the word out to the public about the library millage (i.e., tax; relates to local community fund raising to match federal funds for specific projects) said president of Friends of the Carnegie Library Nancy McCormick.

On Aug. 7, the Jackson District Library will ask voters to approve a 0.8 millage increase over 20 years for a $28 million expansion plan. Because of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, library employees cannot ask people to vote ‘yes’ on the millage during work hours. All they can do is share information about the millage.

However people decide to vote, the Aug. 7 election turnout is expected to be low.

If you’re reading this one at work, you might want to skip it, because a) you’ll spend the next 2 hours reading it, and b) you’ll end up laughing out loud at least a few times.

Over on The Dilbert Blog, Scott Adams has asked his active readers to post their favorite jokes. The result is About 500 really funny jokes. The one that made me laugh the loudest (so far):

“A guy is sitting at home when he hears a knock at the door. He opens the door and sees a snail on the porch. He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can. Three years later, there’s a knock on the door. He opens it and sees the same snail. The snail looks up and says ‘What the hell was that all about?’ “

The York (PA) Dispatch has a profile of Kathy Weigel, who wants to raise $500 for Operation Paperback, which consists of a network of individuals across the country who ship books to U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving overseas.

Operation Paperback was founded in 1999 by Dan and Shirley Bowers of York Township.

Weigel said she’ll use the money she raises to pay for packaging and postage needed to ship the books.

Who’d have thought that a library would be the target of experienced thieves?

According to the Winnipeg Sun, The Red River North Regional Library in Selkirk was the scene of a well-planned break and enter July 16.

Thieves gained access to the building by scaling the wall, removing the air conditioner from the roof, climbing through the vent and dropping 12 feet into the washroom without setting off the motion detector.

The brazen robbers made off with a 32-inch flat screen T.V. and a 100-pound safe, which were both hoisted back up the roof and down the outside.