An Emory University law librarian is suing Delta Air Lines, claiming she suffered permanent brain trauma when books and other items fell on her after a flight attendant opened an overhead bin two years ago.
May 2013
State of the Art Library to Open on NY’s Upper West Side in 2015…But Existing Libraries Find Funding Slashed
From New York’s “Picture Newspaper”, the Daily News:
” The New York Public Library’s newest branch is going to sparkle like fine crystal. ”
The W. 53rd St. center will be an airy, vibrant structure with multiple public spaces, modern computer labs, an audio-video collection, and walls of books, library officials said Monday as they unveiled new renderings of the three-story facility designed by Enrique Norten’s TEN Arquitectos.
The new library will also feature a sizable auditorium.
Meanwhile, the city is sucking dry its existing libraries. The Daily News also reports:
“Not only the Queens Library, but the city’s three library systems — Queens, Brooklyn and New York (which serves the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island) — that have had a tough time over the last five years, as Bloomberg has made it an annual ritual to propose major cuts to their budgets. It’s true that much of the cuts are restored by the City Council, but never in full.
One would think that Bloomberg, who supposedly values efficiency and cost-effectiveness, would go out of his way not to put the libraries through budget hell every year.
After all, they have really been able to do more with less: Despite their shrinking resources, over the last 10 years New York’s public libraries have seen a 40% increase in program attendance, and 59% in circulation, according to a Center for an Urban Future study.
From New York’s “Picture Newspaper”, the Daily News:
” The New York Public Library’s newest branch is going to sparkle like fine crystal. ”
The W. 53rd St. center will be an airy, vibrant structure with multiple public spaces, modern computer labs, an audio-video collection, and walls of books, library officials said Monday as they unveiled new renderings of the three-story facility designed by Enrique Norten’s TEN Arquitectos.
The new library will also feature a sizable auditorium.Meanwhile, the city is sucking dry its existing libraries. The Daily News also reports:
“Not only the Queens Library, but the city’s three library systems — Queens, Brooklyn and New York (which serves the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island) — that have had a tough time over the last five years, as Bloomberg has made it an annual ritual to propose major cuts to their budgets. It’s true that much of the cuts are restored by the City Council, but never in full.
One would think that Bloomberg, who supposedly values efficiency and cost-effectiveness, would go out of his way not to put the libraries through budget hell every year.
After all, they have really been able to do more with less: Despite their shrinking resources, over the last 10 years New York’s public libraries have seen a 40% increase in program attendance, and 59% in circulation, according to a Center for an Urban Future study.
Yet, despite their success, the mayor’s Fiscal Year 2014 preliminary budget is proposing to slash funding for public libraries citywide by a whopping $106.7 million dollars. That’s a 35% cut over last year’s funding level, the largest reduction ever.
Were There Robot Librarians in the 1950s?
Did you push a button for your book to appear below? How useful was a book vending machine with only eight or so different titles? And how, in the 1950s, did you automate checking out a book without something like barcode technology?
Don’t Quit Your Day Job?
CBS Money Watch reports: Librarian wins at least $1M in Lay’s chip promo.
Fans voted to keep the potato chip maker’s Cheesy Garlic Bread flavor on store shelves for at least the end of the year as part of the company’s nearly year-long “Do Us a Flavor” promotion.
The campaign is the latest promotional stunt from companies trying to engage customers through social media and direct interaction. Toy maker Hasbro Inc. recently held a Monopoly contest that ended with the addition of a cat game token and the demise of the iron for the classic board game. Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is asking people to watch show pilots on its streaming video service and vote for which one to turn into a full series.
Karen Weber-Mendham, a children’s librarian from Land O’Lakes, Wis., submitted the Cheesy Garlic Bread flavor and will receive $1 million or 1 percent of sales, whichever is higher. (The company said it hasn’t tallied sales numbers yet.) The creators of the Chicken & Waffles and Sriracha chips will be awarded $50,000 each.
Weber-Mendham came up with the flavor because her three kids love to order cheesy garlic bread at Italian restaurants. Earlier this year she traveled to Frito-Lay’s Plano, Texas, headquarters to taste the chips. Frito-Lay is a unit of PepsiCo Inc. “I was actually shocked at how good the chips came out,” Weber-Mendham, 45, said in an interview after she was named the winner late Monday in Los Angeles.
I liked the Sriracha chips 🙁
The future of the library in the digital age
At 11:00AM EDT today, On Point, WBUR’s outstanding NPR show, spends an hour asking, How Can Libraries Survive The Digital Age?
The guests are Anthony Marx, president and CEO of the New York Public Library and Eli Neiburger, associate director of information technology and production at Ann Arbor District Library.
The show is also available later in the day as a podcast.
Another paywall
YouTube Is Said to Plan a Subscription Option
Newspapers have digital subscriptions. Record labels have iTunes and Spotify. And YouTube is about to have special programming for paying customers.
This week YouTube, the world’s largest video Web site, will announce a plan to let some video makers charge a monthly subscription to their channels. There will be paid channels for children’s programming, entertainment, music and many other topic areas, according to people with knowledge of the plan, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had been asked by YouTube not to comment publicly yet. Some of the channels — there will be several dozen at the outset — will cost as little as $1.99 a month.
As Works Flood In, Nation’s Library Treads Water
Article in the NYT about sequestration and the Library of Congress
Podcast Production Suspension
Greetings from Ashtabula. My name is Mike Kellat and I am the owner of Erie Looking Productions. I am recording this on Saturday, May 4, 2013. This is for immediate release.
Stephen has received dispatch orders from the Director of the Ashtabula County Board of Elections herself this very morning. As you may or may not be aware, Stephen is thoroughly involved in local democracy by serving as a substitute precinct election official. We have a local election coming up on Tuesday and Stephen has been ordered to a new precinct to take up duty to serve the public by helping conduct the vote. Stephen first served as a poll judge during the November 2012 Presidential General Election.
Our producer continues to be away on medical leave and that is beginning its fourth week. Between that and the requirements placed upon Stephen between now and Tuesday to avoid taking positions on ballot questions which include library issues, I am suspending production of LISTen and the Burning Circle at this time. I am also factoring in the Ubuntu Developer Summit as part of this production suspension so that time is spent appropriately on that.
There shall be no episodes released on Monday, May 6th, or Monday, May 13th. Normal production releases shall resume on Monday, May 20th, which is the Victoria Day holiday in Canada.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. We’ll see you on the other side of this production suspension.
Gadgets you can borrow at the library
Gadgets you can borrow at the Stanford Law Library. Interesting collection of items. Five Fuji bicycles are on the list.
What gadgets does your library lend? Successes? Problems?
Google’s Schmidt, Cohen Describe a ‘New Digital Age’
Schmidt and Cohen authored a book – The New Digital Age
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