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Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley is catching flack for what the Sun-Times calls “the largest property tax increase in the city’s history”. The $108 million proposed increase will go to “build and maintain” public libraries. Unfortunately, it is coming at a time when increases also look likely from the County and State.

This looming three-prong assault on the taxpayer’s wallet has sparked an initial wave of resistance from City Aldermen as well as from the various local editorial boards where the Mayor has been hawking his plan this week.

Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley is catching flack for what the Sun-Times calls “the largest property tax increase in the city’s history”. The $108 million proposed increase will go to “build and maintain” public libraries. Unfortunately, it is coming at a time when increases also look likely from the County and State.

This looming three-prong assault on the taxpayer’s wallet has sparked an initial wave of resistance from City Aldermen as well as from the various local editorial boards where the Mayor has been hawking his plan this week.

At a press conference on Thursday, the (at times volatile) Mayor declared himself “insulted” at suggestions that he doesn’t understand “struggling families” who might have problems meeting the increase in this and a number of other taxes.

He also lectured the assembled reporters on the importance of libraries in the community: “Libraries are anchors in communities. None of you people have to use them. You’re wealthy. But, a lot of people do in Chicago.”

Read the whole article here…

Banned books don’t exist just in libraries — in fact, they don’t even have to be books.

The New York Times has a story today about how WBAI, a radio station in New York, decided not to air ‘Howl’, the well-known poem by Allen Ginsberg.

This is the 50th anniversary of the court decision that found the poem not obscene due to its “redeeming social importance”.

Unfortunately the radio station felt they might get slapped with punitive fines by the FCC if they aired the piece, so they decided to stream it over the Web instead.

The poem has been broadcast several times since the court decision. But one lawyer familiar with First Amendment issues observes that as a consequence of the FCC’s so-called “zero-tolerance” policy, “it’s a completely different era”.

UPDATE: Here’s the segment WBAI didn’t broadcast, “Howl Against Censorship“.

ALA has been in the process of redesigning their website for a while now. They did a Usability Assessment Report (pdf) at the end of last year. Now, Rob Carlson, ALA's Manager for Web Development, has just posted a link to wireframes for the new site. He’s also posted a link to an online survey for user feedback.

Carlson cautiones that the wireframes are just "rough early sketches" without the visual detail or content of the finished site. They're there to give you an idea of where things are heading and how they'll be arranged. With that in mind, have a look yourself. The survey runs till the end of the month.

You can find out more about ALA's Website Redesign Project by going to the ALA Web Planning Wiki.

Are academic libraries the new “Third Space” for students — an area wedged in between living and working with just enough “intellectual vibe” to make them appealing?

That’s part of the argument in this article titled, “College Libraries Not Just Books” that appeared in WaPo a day or two ago.

The focus is Rhodes College (Tenn.) whose new library is described at the “campus living room”. That serves as a starting point for discussing the role of college libraries now that books are no longer our only attraction.

While the terrain may be familiar (cough, information commons, cough), the reporter puts the subject into an interesting perspective.

(Springfield, IL) Talk about hot! The Lincoln Library, opened just 2 years ago [see update], had to go without air conditioning for almost a month. The system was out of order and all they had for ventilation were fans. “Sweltering temperatures” is how the Journal-Register described it. Since Monday, the Air has been back on but, as Library Director Nancy Huntley puts it, “it takes a long time for a building of this kind to cool.” [Wetterich, Chris. “Library Air Conditioning Kicks Back In“, Springfield Journal Register: 7/10/2007 2:14:55 PM]

UPDATE: imiller explains that the air conditioning problem happened at the Public Library called “Lincoln Library” and not the 2-year-old Presidential Library of the same name.

Tech publisher Tim O’Reilly is touting a new service where customers have the option of buying individual chapters instead of the whole book. He likens this to digital music though he concedes that “books tend to be more of an essential organic whole than albums…”

I ‘spose it’s important to try new ideas but I’m trying to imagine which of my books I would rather have just a chapter of. There aren’t many but maybe it depends on the individual.

Update: Someone in comments intelligently writes: “Do you think this will affect the way chapters are written…?”

The Senate Finance Committee is holding a public hearing today on the proposed 700 MHz auction by the FCC.

This bandwidth, made available thanks to the switch of TV from analog to digital, is potentially the proverbial “third pipe” in internet service, offering an alternative to the Telephone and Cable Companies.

Unfortunately there’s much concern (including a petition signed by 250k people) that the “third pipe” may be auctioned off to the very same companies that already own the first two pipes, thus negating any increase in competition.

Susan Crawford has a good overview of what’s transpired at the hearing so far.

The five best videos have been selected and the public has till June 11 to vote on which video best expresses a “love of libraries” in this contest sponsored by Gale.

Called “I Love My Library”, the contest has a prize of $10,000 that will go half to the lucky winner and half to the lucky winner’s library. 177 original videos, all under 2 minutes, were submitted to Gale’s “Librareo Group” on YouTube.

You can view the five finalists and vote on your favorite by going to Gale’s own “Librareo Page“. The grand winner will be announced on June 24th at ALA.