November 2008

Local libraries reporting large increase in DVD checkouts

Looking to save wherever he can in a tough economy, Paul Otto scooped up bargains the other day at his local library.
“When you can get the same movies for free, why would you go out and pay for it?” asked a savvy Otto, who thumbed through the rows of DVDs a Pasadena Public Library.

And he’s not alone. Movie fans increasingly are combing their local libraries’ selections of DVDs and videos available to check out for free – a cheaper option to buying them or spending $3 and up to rent them from the local video store.

Full story here.

Finalists Picked for the Seattle Library

Time to do the ‘Director Job Shuffle’ dance.

Seattle PI: A search committee on Tuesday, announced three finalists for the top position of the Seattle Public Library.

The committee, appointed by the library’s board of trustees, narrowed the field for the position of city librarian/CEO to the following: Susan Hildreth, the state librarian of California; Jane E. Light, director of the San Jose (Calif.) Public Library; and Rivkah K. Sass, executive director of the Omaha (Neb.) Public Library.

Running this state of the art library system will not only take an extraordinary director and librarian, it will require someone who can handle all the many needs of the $290.7 million “Libraries for All” project. In the past ten years, there have been four new libraries in communities without library service, the replacement, expansion or renovation of 22 existing branches, and of course the new Central Library.

Who would be your pick?

UNC Remembered in Librarian’s Will

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science will receive more than $1.1 million for student scholarships.

Jane Iris Crutchfield, who died at the age of 92 on Dec. 10, 2006, was a lifelong teacher and school librarian. She taught at public schools in Virginia before returning to UNC in the 1950s to earn a bachelor’s degree in library science.

Crutchfield’s gift will go to the library science school’s Susan Grey Akers Scholarship Fund, named after a former dean at the school. That endowment fund gives aid to students who are admitted to the school’s master’s program. It’s the largest gift ever given to the library science school. Bizjournals.

Would You Believe…”Savior of the American Publishing Industry”?

Guess we’re not through with her yet…Sarah Palin that is.

According to Tony Allen-Mills in London’s Times Online, but she “may yet emerge as the savior of the American publishing industry.” Literary agents are lining up to sign the former Republican vice-presidential candidate to a book deal that could earn her $7 million, and sales should justify the price.

Not bad for a “small-town Alaska girl turned beauty queen,” said the blog OhMyGov!. It’s too soon to know whether Palin is paving the way for a run for national office in 2012, or simply “defending herself from being labeled an intellectually weak, shop-a-holic, ticket-spoiling, loose cannon.” But one thing’s for sure—she’ll soon have enough money “to keep her living large in ‘real’ America for life.”

Saving the Story at MIT

Article in the NY Times about research into how (motion picture) stories have been told, are being told and will be told in the future.

In league with a handful of former Hollywood executives, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory plans to do something about that on Tuesday, with the creation of a new Center for Future Storytelling.

The center is envisioned as a “labette,” a little laboratory, that will examine whether the old way of telling stories — particularly those delivered to the millions on screen, with a beginning, a middle and an end — is in serious trouble.

Press release from MIT includes the philosophy of the project: “Storytelling is at the very root of what makes us uniquely human,” said Frank Moss, Media Lab director and holder of the Jerome Wiesner Professorship of Media Arts and Sciences. “It is how we share our experiences, learn from our past, and imagine our future. But how we tell our stories depends on another uniquely human characteristic — our ability to invent and harness technology. From the printing press to the Internet, technology has given people new ways to tell their stories, allowing them to reach new levels of creativity and personal fulfillment. The shared vision of the MIT Media Lab and Plymouth Rock Studios allows us to take the next quantum leap in storytelling, empowering ordinary people to connect in extraordinary ways.”

High School Knitters & Librarian Help Infants in the Developing World

Some students at Lower Cape May Regional High School (LCMR) are picking up a new hobby and saving lives. The NJ school’s knitting club kicked off this fall when Art Teacher Susan Wolfe and Librarian Tish Carpinelli invited skilled and novice knitters to the library to learn about and improve their knitting skills while making caps that can help save the lives of babies in the developing world.

Simple health measure are the key to saving many of these children: antibiotics to fight infections, training for skilled birth attendants, immunizations, on education on breastfeeding and basic care such as drying a newborn baby and keeping it warm. (That’s where the hats come in.) The program is Save the Children’s Knit One Save One.

The program has attracted knitters from around the world, including high profile knitters like actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Debra Messing and about two dozens LCMR students. Just a few students showed up for the first meeting, but the excitement spread (fueled by Wolfe’s homemade cookies), and more students are participating every week. Story from Cape May County Herald. Sounds like a great activity!

Librarian’s Widow Wins Damages

Lakewood NJ: The Board of Education has agreed to pay $32,500 to settle a lawsuit brought by the widow of a former librarian whom she said died partly because of harassment from his co-workers and superiors.

Cheryl A. Watson, in her complaint filed with the state Superior Court in April 2007, claimed Assistant Superintendent Joseph C. Attardi, Assistant Principal Anne D. Luick, teacher and librarian Roz Renner, and other school officials discriminated against her late husband, George Watson Jr., because of his race and disabilities.

Here is his 2005 obituary.