thesaint

Cortez writes “By the end of a day, sometimes you would like to be able just refer certain patrons and colleagues to a general purpose site where their particular questions could be answered….”

Just Google It

Anonymous Patron writes “roanoke.com – Extra Stories -Libraries just aren’t the same“

Nicholson Baker has railed on this topic in the past as well (in pre-Double Fold days).

This article
from the delcotimes, publicizes Banned Books Week, through many examples of citizen involvement in the challenge process. The author quotes many librarians and authors, including Judy Blume:

“(It’s) not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read, and all due to the fear of censorship,” she is quoted as saying. “As always, young readers will be the real losers.”

An Anonymous Patron writes “EDP24 News reports Gorleston Virginia Library will be the first of nine across Norfolk to offer police services in a pioneering experiment.

The public will also be able to report crime and seek advice about police matters, including issues such as anti-social behaviour.”
In my city the library and city hall are already too close for comfort…

Anonymous Patron writes:

”

Those are good memories. The baseball and Boys Club “firsts” won’t be coming my way again. They only happen once.

The wondrous thing about the ones about the library card and books, though, is that they can be experienced again – for me, at least.

A library is like a giant train station with thousands of routes you can take to different places, just by lifting a book off a shelf and checking it out. It’s a great place.”

This piece was written by a patron who, like many of us, move from city to city. Being a person who does not, I was moved by the author’s thrill to be in possession of a new library card.

Anonymous Patron writes:

”
The recent trend of books being adapted for the screen is making America stupid. More stupid than it already is. It’s a phenomenon with a tag line (sung to the tune of “Amazing Grace”): “I once was worldly, but now I’m ignorant,” or “I once was literate, but now wouldn’t pick up a novel and read it if I was being forced by a pitchfork-wielding Truman Capote.” Basically, this trend is making the stories that first appeared in books-many of them award-winning-too easily accessible. Our society is all about convenience. Why go to the book store and choose one based on its pretty cover (admit it, we all do) when you can go to Cinemark and watch the same book acted out for you, in a comfortable two-hour timeframe?”

The rest of the story
clearly indicates that this “study” is really more of a case history.

The Journal-News reports that A Kids’ Guide to America’s Bill of Rights: Curfews, Censorship & The 100 Pound Giant, has been donated to a number of New York school libraries. The book explains our civil liberties to fifth and sixth grade students.

Anonymous Patron writes This opinion piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, extolls the virtues of Seattle as a technology and library-savvy hub. The guest columnist, Lizabeth Wilson (director of university libraries at UW), also gives much credit to Bill and Melinda Gates.

nbruce writes “Today’s Wall Street Journal had an article about a disappearing author (sorry, no link). Apparently, an employee of Merck Carolyn Cannuscio was the epidemiologist co-author of a Circulation (American Heart Association) article that was funded by Merck. The usual admissions were made about support for the research, but Merck had her name removed from the author list because the article was not kind to Merck. Apparently her name was in the on-line version in April, then removed for the final print version, but she is referred to and thanked anonymously in a footnote as the person who provided the epidemiological work for the article. One of the editors of JAMA thought Merck missed an opportunity to take the high road and set a good example for other corporate funded research.”

nobennlibrarian writes “The May 9th [May 15] National Public Radio Weekend Edition Puzzle Challenge winner was Julie Zelman, Director of the John G. McCullough Free Library in North Bennington, Vermont. Her “Puzzle on the Air” game was to guess a list of two word phrases, with the initial letters of the words being “L” and “I”, as in Long Island. One of the hints was “Salary below $15,000 a year” and she said “Librarian income”, followed by the correct answer, “low-income”.