fasterthanlight

Camelback High School librarian Georgette Bordine said that she received a package containing the two overdue books checked out 51 years ago along with a letter, and a 1,000-dollar money order to cover up the fines. "It was just so overwhelming," the New York Daily News quoted Bordine as saying.

Bordine said that letter elucidated that the family of the former student, who wanted to remain anonymous, moved to another state and the books were mistakenly packed, Bordine said.

The letter said that the money order was to cover fines of 2 cents per day for each book. That would be about 745 dollars. The letter also says the extra amount was added in case the rates had changed.

How many could be as honest as this student?

The Neill Public Library is hosting Food for Fines this week to put together nonperishable food items for local families in need.

As the name suggests, the library will decline late fees on overdue books for people who donate food items during before Sunday.

The library services manager for the Neill Public Library, Joanna Bailey said that WSU has conducted similar events in the past, but the need this year is at an all-time high.

“We are pleased to offer our community an opportunity to respond,” she said. “Charitable organizations like Pullman Child Welfare, Community Action Center and United Way are critical in serving the needs of the community.” This year’s Food for Fines donations will go to Pullman Child Welfare to provide for families in the community during the winter season.

Debbie Thompsen, board member and volunteer for Pullman Child Welfare, said the association provides families with Thanksgiving meals, Christmas treats and gifts every year, along with giving children winter coats and snow boots.

“Please consider donating this year,” she said. “It will make a tremendous difference in people’s lives and be an investment in your community that you won’t regret.”

Denise Zenko of Green Bay visits the Brown County Central Library in Green Bay about twice a week, whether it's to read the newspaper, set aside one of the best-selling books or rent a video for her daughter.
She is part of the reason library visitation in the region is up almost 8 percent this year after seeing a similar increase in 2008.
"It's the economy," said Library Director Lynn Stainbrook. "We're on the front lines. The library has made a great deal to help out people find jobs and get back on their feet."
But the same economy that continues to boost visitors at the downtown library and its eight branches also is responsible for tight financial plan by county officials that Stainbrook says comes at the wrong time.
The 2009 county budget offered $119,727 for book and journal purchases at the Central Library, but Brown County Executive Tom Hinz's proposed 2010 budget allots just $72,227.
"For the county to cut our budget, it's sort of a backwards move," Stainbrook said. "We should be given more, not less. We're really about reading, and people want new books."

A number of communal trends have the potential to severely affect libraries, mainly because this moves into the online information delivery environment. This trend has lead an entry to the movement from flat-fee to pay-per-use models, the best-seller phenomenon, the consolidation of electronic information distributors, erosion of privacy, and issues of access and cultural diversity.

Flat fee vs. pay-per-use: The adoption to pay-per-use models is likely to severely affect user’s habits, particularly as this starts to penetrate Web-based delivery systems. Pay-per-use models that tend to discourage exploration and promote a viewer/reader to inspect items that others have already believed to be popular (favoring best-sellers over more esoteric works).

Best-seller phenomenon: Economies-of-scale formulate mass-distributed information cheap and available, and can lead to a situation where smaller-audience information is more costly and harder to find. Over time this may well lead a support to the electronic delivery of entertainment over delivery of information.

Privacy: As people have started to pay for the information that they receive electronically, what kind of privacy issues does this raise? Will reading and buying habits be traced and sold as demographic data? Can libraries continue to take their strong customary privacy stand when providing pay-per-view information?

Access: Who will guarantee access in an era when somebody must pay for each byte of information that is accessed? Can libraries continue to provide free (or flat-fee) access to all their members in a pay-per-view era?

Several libraries have started planning Halloween programs for kids. And Lafayette Public Library is starting its programs for children of all ages on Thursday. I have decided to go and have a look at it. Are you willing to accompany me?

Hey if you’re coming with you kid in order to participate in different programs better register before coming.

And that is happily all..

I can read in red. I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.
I can read in bed, and in purple. and in brown.
I can read in a circle and upside down!
I can read with my left eye. I can read with my right.
I can read Mississippi with my eyes shut tight!

There are so many things you can learn about.
But…you'll miss the best things
If you keep your eyes shut.
The more that you read, the more things you will know
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

If you read with your eyes shut you're likely to find
That the place where you're going is far, far behind
SO…that's why I tell you to keep your eyes wide.
Keep them wide open…at least on one side.

A poem that I found interesting....
Hope you too liked it ...


And that is funnily all..

Isn’t it sounding strange? In India an organization has decided to take library to the doorsteps of senior citizens and disabled, who are fond of reading but cannot make it to the libraries, has generated encouraging response.

It seems that the librarian receives nearly four to five calls every day from senior citizens and disabled for delivery of books and magazines they wanted to read. Most of the calls come from those residing in sectors which were located at a distance from the library.

Day by day the libraries are vanishing as more of online books and resources are available. In such a world it’s nice to hear that somewhere there are people who still love libraries and at the same time there are people or organizations to encourage and help such people.

I wonder if those of us who've declined to spend any time in the genetic crapshoot are culpable, by virtue of withholding our superior genes, for any unpleasantness that happens down the road?

*1/2 jk*

Actually, the one thing that surprises me here is the notion that people are going to become even more finicky about picking partners. I didn't think we could get any choosier than we already are. Rly.

*nose wrinkle ponder*

Le mot quotidien = patina.

In the brave new world of technology, a good enough set of reasons to avoid the shiny, for the moment. I try to stay at least two steps behind technological advances of any kind. That way, by the time I'm ready to use the new geegaws, they'll actually be the old geegaws with the bugs ironed out, and the techomages will have gone on to create shinier whizbangs with brand-new pitfalls to avoid. It's a commonly-held notion, and the basis of many jokes, that the inventor-type folks don't understand end-users' real-world problems. I'm inclined to agree in this instance, if only because, dude, it's a bank card that you wave around. Common sense tells me no good can come of that.

*headdesk*

Oh well. I suppose it takes a lot of experimentation, and some goofups, to keep moving forward. Which is what I should probably do, right about now. It's supposed to snow in Metropolis, an event to which I am looking forward with keen delight. Probably because I will never, ever have to drive in it.

*g*

That is rly all.

I read an article the other day with this title and it was interesting .So felt like discussing it with you all .It was all about the revolution in the world of libraries that has been taking place. Libraries are becoming less significant for the resources they collect or house, and more important for the kind of material they can get in response to user requests.

Along with the transformation in libraries as institutions have come changes in the roles of librarians. With the explosion of networked digital information, the librarian's role is shifting from caretaker of a physical collection to someone who identifies resources in collections housed elsewhere.

This is presently evident in major research libraries where librarians spend much of their time creating (World Wide Web-based) electronic pointers to resources on the Internet. Efforts like this can great chance of increasing the foreseeable future. These trends involve less in-person mediation by library staff (as patrons access information directly), but more of a behind-the-scenes mediator role in selection and creating annotated/evaluative guides to external resources. This also means a greater role for library staff as instructors, trouble-shooters, and guides.

That is energetically all.

Because teensy’s chunk of text are better than no text at all.

Anybody who argues that consumer culture is wrecking democracy is somebody deserving of my time and awareness. Yes, one should widen one's mind by reading rebellious opinions. But at times it's nice to read folks with whom you agree, if only to reassure yourself that you are not bull goose looney. Much. Yet.

*g*

Word of the day = plinth.

Quick opinion poll: if there's a job posting, and you lack one of the vital academic qualifications, do you go for it anyway? Or does that tend to make one look like a jackass?

That is obediently all.

It's called Public, it's regarding librarians, and no, you may not look at it just yet. Especially as I'm not writing much about it, and have no idea what I'm going to end up with.

*g*

Am also bound and strong-minded not to write another word in this journal unless I dig out my Lady of Shalott tapestry and start stitching it. The damn thing's been with me for years, and it's a striking pattern, and I haven't made anything for myself in ages. So I'm holding myself to that one. If you don't hear from me for a few days, you'll know what taken place.

Word of the day = rhadamanthine.

That is cheerfully stubbornly all.

I came across Better World Books while I was creating a class on associates of the Library and looking for an opening to a neat material. You may by now be dealing with them, but if not, read the CNN article and keep them in mind when you’re annoying to figure out what to do with your unsold books after your next sale. Heck, you can even start accepting those dread contributed textbooks - they could turn out to be your biggest money maker.

The company will offer shipping supplies and pay for shipping and you will be able to earn about 15% of the net sale of your things. Moreover you can also feel happy that you’re indirectly helping charities like Books for Africa and the National Center for Family Literacy. They have increased over 7 million dollars for literacy so far.

And by chance if there is anything that they can’t sell, they recycle it, thereby creating a better world to live in.

That is energetically all.

Reading: Lisey's Story. Do you know why I stick with Stephen King? Because he knows a hell of a lot about what's truly scary. All those stuff bottled up in the dark corners of the human heart. Don't let his aw-shucks demeanor fool you, particularly in those charming columns he writes for EW. I dance in the dark with him as he knows true things, and every time he shows up at my doorstep, I will drop the whole thing for him and go dance. So there.

*flushes*

That is snickerdoodlingly all.

Today's poem is simply too brilliant to skip: Perpetuum Mobile: The City.

Purchased:

One bottle of scent with a pleasing name and smell. You could argue that one cannot purchase a personality trait. My counter-argument would be that if I didn't possess at least a small of said trait, the perfume wouldn't have smelled nice to me in the first place.

*g*

A pretty box for my new desk, and numerous little things to put in said box.

A small Chinese "lucky cat," same purpose. You knew there would have to be a kitty.

*g*

Fashion has still passed me by, though I have apparently dropped another dress size, unintentionally. Don't be hatin'.

*twinkle twinkle*

And with that, we scatter dash.

That is excitedly all.

NaNo count = 24,846. Have also written two sonnets, which was a pleasurable surprise. The first line of one had been jangling round the brain for weeks, and all of a sudden decided it wanted to be on paper as opposed to just up in the noggin. Followed, hours later, by another, not quite as good, but that's what revisions are for. Heh. Sonnets. If poetry is a side effect of everyday life, then that's wholly fine.

Have also cranked out a sketch of the latest review assignment. NaNo certainly makes one sympathetic to the effort concerned in creating even a bad novel; yet, one must call a spade a spade, if the ditch fits.

Birds do it, and bees do it, but pandas have to be taught, apparently.

*dies*

Recreational reading = I'm the Vampire, That's Why, Michelle Bardsley. Unless you've been existing under a rock, you've probably noticed that chick lit has taken a turn for the supernatural. Mary Janice Davidson, Charlaine Harris, and a host of other writers (see the small story collection My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding) have attempted to marry, if you'll pardon the pun, romance with elements of traditional horror. Horrors lite and cute, as it were. I follow this trend for two reasons:

1) Patrons eat it up like sushi.

2) There's a conference presentation in here somewhere.

But for now, it's off to the salt mines. And I’d say that with both love and affection.

That is cheerfully all.

Ever since the 1980s every new step in library automation has changed library services. In perception we can see a number of trends, among them: access from multiple locations, making more possessions available, making information available in rawer forms and a diminishment in the role of mediators. These trends have been enabled by technological growth in the areas of networking, file storage, and more graphic user interfaces (Besser 1997).

Access from many locations: A key result of computerization efforts was to make access more convenient to library users. In the days of card catalogs, library systems often enforced users to travel to a central catalog or multiple branches just to discover holdings. Today those users can consult all holdings from workstations all through the system (and often from home).

Making more resources available: For many years library computerization systems were thought of as just ways of delivering only bibliographic records. Many library computerization systems presently deliver indexing and abstracting services.

Making information available in rawer forms: The type of information offered to users in digital form has sustained to grow. If we consider a bibliographic record to be a "representation" of an original book or article, then over the past decade we have been providing users with progressively truer depictions (i.e. representations that are closer and closer to the original raw material).

Diminishing roles for intermediaries: The success of library automation has meant that users progressively interact with online systems, and have less dependence upon library staff. Many of today’s systems allow users to check the flow of information without ever contacting the circulation department. Many ILL experiments allow the user request a work without ever interacting with a library staff member.

We've slacked dreadfully on matters interesting, often because I look at what's going on in the world anymore and think, do I really want to bitch about this? Generally, not. Have arrived at saturation point, and find it much smarter to focus on matters close to home that I can actually influence for the better. And yet, every now and again, things come up. Observe.

THE 21st Century Library? I am wondering, possibly "one kind of" 21st century library. The goals here are praiseworthy, and I will not argue with them. However, they provide a very specific principle. If you actually want to FIND anything, another tactic is needed. And while your heroine's a big fan of unanticipated discovery, she also knows that closed stacks materials often end up there since if not they'd be stolen. Particularly all that stuff up in tier 17 of 7th stack. Just saying.

Bottom line? We need both. And we privilege one library example over the other at our professional peril. JMHO, YMMV.

As the library rapidly emerges into something that looks quite strange than it did just a few decades ago, it is significant that librarians not only become conscious of this evolution, but that they vigorously get involved to help redesign the foundation in ways that are reliable with the core mission of libraries. Changes to libraries are unavoidable, and if librarians do not get actively concerned in determining those changes, it is likely that the 21st century library will bear very few of the core missions and ideals that have historically been connected with libraries.

A call for greater courage in library service. I envision this will disturb a few administrative feathers somewhere, but your heroine can't help but agree. So much of the world is, apparently, driven by fear; why should libraries be any different? They should, of course, but what I meant was, nobody's excused from the problem of dealing with fear. It's a problem of what kind of world you want to live in, one supposes.

*roo-minates*

Yeah, like we can deal with something as complicated as fear in one blog entry. Good thing none of us are leaving anywhere for a while.

*smiles*

And with that, back to cleaning out my desk.

That is satisfactorily all.