libraries

link dump – libraries in the news

A few stories that I didn’t want to do fill write-ups for, collected using the Fargo ND airport’s free wifi.

Wanted: detainee librarian, Guantanamo Bay
“It’s All Acting” T Scott Plutchak discusses being a shy librarian, and why he’s so good in front of crowds as a result.
“the cultural heritage, the intellectual heritage, of humans … too important to be left to one company” – Google, Privacy and Libraries in the Wall Street Journal
The SF Maritime Museum is making their library appointment only, starting next week. Why? Budget cuts.
Delta librarian retires, from a town where 41% of the 40,000 residents can’t read.

how it should work: book donations @ your library

From Daniel Cornwall, via LISNews comes a good example of how a public library can be friendly and firm about accepting book donations. Here’s the example from the blog of the Seldovia Public Library.

Recently, a very large donation was left outside the library, without notice, for days in boxes too large for our volunteers to lift once they did discover them. In that time, the books became weather-damaged as well as suffering from the territorial marking practices of local dogs. Would you want to read these books or have your children read them? What a sad waste, and one that could have been prevented with a phone call.

Providence Public Library, updates and activism

Posted on 10Sep0610Sep06 by jessamyn

Sadly, the Providence Library Defense website is no longer going strong. However, there are two new websites that have been launched concerned with the layoffs and branch closings that have been happening in the beleaguered Providence Public Library system. The Library Reform Group and Not About the Buildings [read more here, here and here].

SPL’s signage woes

Posted on 09Sep06 by jessamyn

I’ve talked before about Seattle Public’s newish Big Beautiful Library, and others have mentioned the weird juxtaposition of amazing architecture with crummy laser-printed signage or post-it signage. It’s no surprise that you can have cleaner lines and more striking architecture without little notes everyplace saying “this way to the restroom” but those are the choices we have to make as librarians. Now it looks like Seattle is finally paying someone to fix their sign problem. [thanks carolyn]

cARTalog – card catalog art

Posted on 08Sep0608Sep06 by jessamyn

Cartalog is an online gallery of card catalog art, a great companion to John Blyberg’s Catalog Card Generator, check this post for more information about how the generator came about. Sadly, by the time I heard about the cartalog, they were no longer sending out cards.