Saturday, June 23, 2012
JSTOR Launches Register and Read
Saw this item back in March, and finally got around to it. Got some help in gaining some understanding of "The man in the high castle" by Philip K. Dick.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Penguin, 3M test eBook pilot
From a Twitter feed, a story
Big Six publisher Penguin Group, the New York Public Library (NYPL), the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), and 3M Library Systems today announced a pilot project to make Penguin ebooks available to patrons of The New York and Brooklyn public libraries six months after initial publication. The program will begin in August and, if successful, could roll out across the country. The move comes four months after Penguin pulled out of its contract with OverDrive.
Big Six publisher Penguin Group, the New York Public Library (NYPL), the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), and 3M Library Systems today announced a pilot project to make Penguin ebooks available to patrons of The New York and Brooklyn public libraries six months after initial publication. The program will begin in August and, if successful, could roll out across the country. The move comes four months after Penguin pulled out of its contract with OverDrive.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
ex-Libraries now Learning Centers
An article in Library Journal addresses a current in the library world: how will libraries deal with funding cuts?
Trenton’s un-libraries are still steaming ahead. Mayor Tony Mack reopened the former Cadwalader branch on June 4, according to the Times of Trenton. That’s the third of four library branches that had been closed due to budget cuts, leaving Trenton with only its main library operational. As LJ reported, Trenton’s Mayor and Council couldn’t provide the approximately $800,000 the Trenton Free Public Library (TFPL) required to keep the four branches open part time. Instead, the Mayor chose to reopen the buildings as “learning center libraries” not under the control of the library board or administration for a fraction of the cost. They can’t legally be called libraries, since New Jersey state law requires libraries to be governed by the library board and run by librarians.
Rather than leaving the buildings closed, Trenton has reconfigured them, relying on a small paid staff and volunteers.
The New Jersey Library Association has taken a dim view of staffing former library branches with unpaid and part-time workers rather than certified librarians. Under state law, public buildings that offer library services must be controlled by library boards.
Some might call that viewpoint spitting into the wind. What is the alternative, when there is not enough money?
TFPL Director Kimberly Matthews told LJ that the TFPL has proposed a number of alternatives for “providing additional library services throughout the community” in its 2013 draft budget, which was presented to Hutchinson on May 4. “We would love to explore a variety of different options of library service in an economically challenged city such as Trenton,” said Matthews. Options include “an Internet or Internet/bookmobile, and possibly book vending machines like they have in San Francisco.”
Without sufficient funds, of course, the public loses, but, is something better than nothing?
Trenton’s un-libraries are still steaming ahead. Mayor Tony Mack reopened the former Cadwalader branch on June 4, according to the Times of Trenton. That’s the third of four library branches that had been closed due to budget cuts, leaving Trenton with only its main library operational. As LJ reported, Trenton’s Mayor and Council couldn’t provide the approximately $800,000 the Trenton Free Public Library (TFPL) required to keep the four branches open part time. Instead, the Mayor chose to reopen the buildings as “learning center libraries” not under the control of the library board or administration for a fraction of the cost. They can’t legally be called libraries, since New Jersey state law requires libraries to be governed by the library board and run by librarians.
Rather than leaving the buildings closed, Trenton has reconfigured them, relying on a small paid staff and volunteers.
The New Jersey Library Association has taken a dim view of staffing former library branches with unpaid and part-time workers rather than certified librarians. Under state law, public buildings that offer library services must be controlled by library boards.
Some might call that viewpoint spitting into the wind. What is the alternative, when there is not enough money?
TFPL Director Kimberly Matthews told LJ that the TFPL has proposed a number of alternatives for “providing additional library services throughout the community” in its 2013 draft budget, which was presented to Hutchinson on May 4. “We would love to explore a variety of different options of library service in an economically challenged city such as Trenton,” said Matthews. Options include “an Internet or Internet/bookmobile, and possibly book vending machines like they have in San Francisco.”
Without sufficient funds, of course, the public loses, but, is something better than nothing?
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Outdoor library
from a Twitter post: An Outdoor Library in Ghent by Massimo Bartolini.
A young man writes: I personally haven’t visited a library in longer than I care to say, but
if I happened upon this public outdoor library installed in the middle
of a Belgian vineyard I would be tempted to grab a cork screw and picnic
blanket to make a day of it. The outdoor library entitled Bookyard was built by Italian artist Massimo Bartolini for the Belgian art festival TRACK: A Contemporary City Conversation
in Ghent. Visitors are invited to peruse the stacks and are free to
take any book they find for a small donation at a designated box.
Hopefully they empty the shelves before it rains. (via designboom)
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