May 2017

A Better Way to Get Kids in Libraries: Stop Fining Them

Marx is currently on the look-out for some creative ways to not fine kids, but still hold them accountable. One idea he’s toying with: put a hold on a child’s account until they simply return their overdue materials, no fines involved. Five years ago, Marx granted city-wide amnesty to children with fines, and he says they saw 80,000 kids return to the library over time. Now, he’s trying to secure a $10 million endowment to get rid of fines in perpetuity.

From A Better Way to Get Kids in Libraries: Stop Fining Them – WNYC News – WNYC

Ancient Library Scrolls Blackened by Vesuvius Are Readable at Last

The 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius is most famous for burying Pompeii, spectacularly preserving many artifacts—and residents—in that once bustling town south of Naples. The tumbling clouds of ash also entombed the nearby resort of Herculaneum, which is filled with its own wonders. During excavations there in 1752, diggers found a villa containing bundles of rolled scrolls, carbonized by the intense heat of the pyroclastic flows and preserved under layers of cement-like rock. Further digs showed that the scrolls were part of an extensive library, earning the structure the name Villa of the Papyri.

From Ancient Scrolls Blackened by Vesuvius Are Readable at Last | History | Smithsonian

Libraries aren’t simply city buildings; they’re community building blocks

Think about it: a library isn’t just a place where thousands of books are housed on plain shelves with a dusty card catalogue squeaking every time someone opens a wooden drawer.
Libraries are public community centres: gathering places for all. In fact, a library is one of the most accessed free public services around anywhere … period. I’m hard-pressed to think of anything else that comes close.

From Libraries aren’t simply city buildings; they’re community building blocks | Commentary | St. Albert Gazette

At San Diego’s libraries, you can check out bike tools, language classes and Wi-Fi hotspots

“I want people to think about the library as, ‘This is a place where I can go and there are no limits to what I can learn,’” said library director Misty Jones. “I want people to think of us first when they are looking for something cool to do on the weekend or something cool to do at night. I want people to pay attention to what we’re doing because we’re on to something.”

From At San Diego’s libraries, you can check out bike tools, language classes and Wi-Fi hotspots – The San Diego Union-Tribune

Presidential Libraries Are a Scam. Could Obama Change That?

The National Archives and Records Administration—which operates presidential library-museums for every president from Herbert Hoover through George W. Bush—won’t be operating either for Obama. His private Obama Foundation, not the government, will own and operate the museum. And there really won’t be a presidential library. The Obama Foundation will pay for NARA to digitize unclassified records and release them to the public as they become available, but the center’s “Library,” which may or may not house a local branch of the Chicago Public Library, will not contain or control presidential papers and artifacts, digital or otherwise. Instead, according to a NARA press release that called the museum “a new model for the preservation and accessibility of presidential records,” those records will be stored in “existing NARA facilities”—meaning one or more of the agency’s research or records centers across the country.

From Presidential Libraries Are a Scam. Could Obama Change That? – POLITICO Magazine

Why Aren’t More Big Donors Giving to Public Libraries?

Which often leads us to wonder: Why don’t we see more gifts to libraries? Sure, we’ve seen some such gifts, but not many as you might think at a moment when so many new donors are showing up in philanthropy, looking for places where their money might make an impact. Libraries could certainly use a boost. In many cities and towns, public libraries are hurting because of budgetary cutbacks—and more cuts may be on the way with the Trump administration targeting federal library funding. 

From Why Aren’t More Big Donors Giving to Public Libraries? — Inside Philanthropy

Obama Presidential Center Design Unveiled : NPR

The design for the Obama Presidential Center was unveiled Wednesday at an event attended by former President Obama and Michelle Obama.

The Center, slated to be completed in 2021, will be located in the Jackson Park neighborhood of Chicago’s South side and it will include three buildings — a museum, forum and library that surround a public plaza.

The buildings will be made up of variegated stone with glass openings to allow for natural light and be certified at LEED v4 Platinum for resource efficiency and sustainability.

From Obama Presidential Center Design Unveiled : NPR