A few former employees of the Sacramento Public Library find themselves in trouble with the law and face charges ranging from grand theft to conflict-of-interest.
Prosecutors allege that a company owned by the employees overbilled the library for routine maintenance work, receiving a kickback in the US$90,000 range.
More from The Mercury News.
OverDrive, Inc. (www.overdrive.com), a leading distributor of digital books to public libraries, has unveiled drawings and details of a traveling community outreach exhibit entitled the Digital Bookmobile (www.digitalbookmobile.com). Starting in August 2008, the Digital Bookmobile will host hands-on, interactive training events at public libraries in cities around the United States, including Boston, Cleveland, New York City, Phoenix, Seattle, and Washington, DC. Libraries will be encouraged to make the Digital Bookmobile a part of multi-day community events, book fairs, and other reading initiatives.
Some Interesting Numbers from a school district in Pennsylvania. The cost of running the school libraries will be $1,259,090, with $873,101 going for salaries and $258,139 for benefits. The district will pay $94,740 for library supplies, books and periodicals. There will be $868,710 spent on instruction and curriculum development, with another $382,404 going to staff development instruction.
Some Good News from the San Diego area where New libraries for Alpine, Fallbrook and Ramona took major steps forward Tuesday. County supervisors approved funding for an $11.6 million Ramona library and a $10.3 million Fallbrook branch. The county will cover the bulk of the costs, while citizens’ groups in each community have raised more than $1 million for the projects. Each of the libraries has been on the drawing board for nearly a decade and failed in their bids for state funding following voter-approved propositions.
Pottermania lives on in college classrooms: Drawing on their expertise in theology, children’s literature, globalization studies and even the history of witchcraft, professors have been able to use Harry Potter to attract crowds of students eager to take on a disciplined study of the books.
Danielle Tumminio, a Yale Divinity School graduate student and the instructor for Yale’s Harry Potter course “Christian Theology and Harry Potter,” said her academic background in literature and theology, combined with her personal interest in the books, inspired her to design the course.
Good News For Wikipedia: The award, to come in $1 million installments over each of the next three years, will help the Wikimedia Foundation become more financially secure as it hires more staff and seeks to improve the quality and reach of Wikipedia content, foundation leaders said.
“We think it will pave the way towards more donations as it is a signal that a major foundation sees good in what we are doing,” said Jimmy Wales, the project’s leader and a board member of the Wikimedia Foundation. “And it should take away a lot of the questions people have had about whether we will need advertising to survive.”
Good News for fans of “Goosebumps”, Scholastic, hoping that another generation of readers ages 8 to 12 is ready for R. L. Stine’s stories, is releasing the first of 12 books in a new series called “Goosebumps HorrorLand.” The author and his publisher must know the odds are against lightning striking twice.
Then again, Mr. Stine said, he often receives requests for new “Goosebumps” books.
Revenge of the independent book stores: something odd is happening in Toronto: New little bookstores are popping up like crocuses in the spring earth. Type, the eclectic bookshop that two Toronto scholars opened two years ago on Queen Street West across from Trinity-Bellwoods Park, last November opened a second store in a nook in Forest Hill Village. And two weeks ago, Book City, the 32-year-old chain of small bookstores, gave Type some competition of its own, opening a location on Queen West. Type and Book City share the same streetcar stop, Niagara Street.
What gives? It appears that, Internet age be damned, a growing number of people like to read actual books, and seek them out in little shops with literate staff.
Nancy Rips is the author of Seder Stories: Passover Thoughts on Food, Family, and Freedom.
Passover is the Festival of Freedom in the Jewish community worldwide. More than any other holiday, it symbolizes what it means to be Jewish: family, food, and fun coupled with an obligation to pass on their story to future generations.
Seder Stories contains the memories of childhood Seders from 101 Jewish people. Some of them are famous, like Rabbi Harold Kushner and attorney Alan Dershowitz. Others are famous only within their circle of friends and family. Some of the stories are funny, some poignant, some thought provoking and worth reading. All of them are charming.
Following up on a previous article here on LISNews, we now know the identity of the new Director of the beautiful Salt Lake City Library. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that it’s Elizabeth Elder, up til now, planning director at the Denver Public Library, who has been selected to replace retired Director Nancy Tessman.
“I just feel so honored to have a chance to bring my experience and knowledge to share with others,” Elder said Tuesday. “And I see this as a great learning opportunity for me.”
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