September 2013

http://www.ltgsummit.org/

As libraries grow increasingly digital and technically complex, how will the gender inequities that are also prevalent in the information technology field impact librarianship? The field of librarianship is largely made up of women, and yet women are significantly underrepresented in leadership positions.

This summit will convene a group of dynamic, invested, and creative people from varied backgrounds and types of libraries to discuss these issues and examine how we might build a future for libraries and librarianship free from gender bias. We hope to inspire practical, actionable approaches for a brighter future. What is the library community doing right? Where can we improve?

The LTG summit will provide the opportunity for focused attention on a big challenge for our profession. It is the organizers’ intent to include thoughtful library professionals at all levels of the field and regardless of gender who wish to participate in a dynamic set of conversations about leadership, technology and gender in libraries and related fields.

Mark your calendars for March 19-21, 2014 in Austin, Texas. This event will immediately follow the Electronic Resources & Libraries conference with overlapping workshops focused on coding and project management skills.

Piece on NPR about the book: I don’t know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t)

Excerpt from NPR piece:
This year’s graduating high school class will be the first generation to have grown up entirely under the No Child Left Behind Act, so this is an entire generation of kids that’s been raised in an educational environment where there’s a premium on knowing the right answer, being able to fill in the correct oval on a test. I worry that we may not be teaching enough the value of experimentation and failure and risk-taking and the process of inquiry.

Book: I don’t know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn’t)

From Rocket News a report of a furry assistant librarian manning (or should we say…catting?) the circ desk in Novorossiysk Russia.

Kuzya showed up at the library’s door one day and impressed staff with his uncanny ability to look cute and fluffy. After arching his back and running his face along people’s legs he was able to procure food and (secretly) a warm place to spend cold winter days.

Unfortunately, Kuzya lacked the proper documents to be kept in a public space such as a library, so the staff, seeing the cat’s potential, worked to acquire it. Kuzya would need a cat passport, which apparently does exist. To get it he had an ID chip embedded along with a rabies vaccination.

With the paperwork in order, Kuzya could now openly roam the aisles of the library. Under his new title of “pet” he worked hard licking himself, looking cute, and taking naps so much that the library saw a significant increase in patronage. It turned out that people would come for the cat but stay for the book lending service.

Due to his success, the library promoted Kuzya from “pet” to “assistant librarian”.

Yet another library closes! The La Crosse Library Board has recommended the South Community Library be closed as a cost-cutting move, the city’s mayor said Thursday.

The board voted Thursday to propose shutting down the branch library, open since 1922 and at its 1307 S. 16th St. site for more than 60 years, when the city’s Board of Estimates begins meeting Monday on the 2014 budget.

[I’m kidding about the “yet another”, I know the research has been done 🙂]

These library has been discussed before on LISNEWS. NPR is now reporting the library is open.

Mentor Public Library in Ohio has contracted with Hoopla to provide streaming rich media to patrons in addition to other electronic content on offer from Zinio, Overdrive, and other vendors.

Small blurb at Wired.com about bedbugs and libraries.

Visiting Libraries and Other Smart Things Bedbugs Do
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/qq_bedbugs/

Book Country is a website from Penguin Random House that enables thousands of amateur writers to exchange manuscripts and notes. Some even go on to get their work published. It’s like an online MFA program from the comfort of your laptop. Bob speaks to Molly Barton the Global Digital Director for Penguin at Penguin Random House, and Carl E. Reed, an active Book Country user, about the site.

On the Media:  http://www.onthemedia.org/2013/sep/06/book-country/

From the Falls Church, VA News Press: Mark September 11, 2013 on your calendars. That is the date the Fairfax County Public Libraries (FCPL) Board of Trustees will meet and vote on the FCPL Administration’s “BETA Project” to “streamline” services at all county libraries. If approved the “BETA Project” is scheduled to go into effect initially at Reston Regional Library, the system’s largest, and Burke Centre Community Library. The changes include, but are not limited to:

• Drastically reducing the number of staff available to serve library patrons

• Eliminating the requirement for ANY staff member to have a Masters of Library Science (MLS) Degree

• Eliminating children/youth services librarians

Reduction in Staff– At Reston, the model for regional libraries like Tysons-Pimmit, the staff will be reduced from 20.5 to 13.5 positions and at Burke Centre, the model for community libraries like Thomas Jefferson, it will be reduced from 9.5 to 7 positions.

Elimination of MLS– Not only will the staff be reduced, but so will their pay grades and salaries. FCPL will be the only library system in the regional consortium of libraries not requiring any staff member to have an MLS. Librarian positions will no longer exist, because under Virginia law, librarians must have an MLS/advanced certification for any political subdivision with a population of at least 15,000.