LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Unfortunately, due to an anticipated budget shortfall, the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA will probably cut part-time staff at the circulation desk, possibly resulting in a cut in hours. Also, it will have to cut its outreach program -- "which delivers books to people in nursing homes and other individuals" -- by about half.

Wisconsin public libraries return $4.06 for every dollar taxpayers invest in them, according to an economic impact research report produced by NorthStar Economics Inc. of Madison.

The research showed the total economic contribution of Wisconsin public libraries is more than $750 million every year.

Wisconsin public libraries serve a total state population of 5.6 million and in the past 10 years library visits have grown by 28 percent, the report states.

According to Wicked Local, there are problems ahead for the town of Holbrook, Massachusetts. The public library might close, the senior center might close, the schools might lose more teachers.

Town Selectmen Vice Chairman Paul Currie said that he is concerned about the effects of closing the library and the Council On Aging. “It saddens me that the library and the Council On Aging would be closed,” he said. “There are a number of young people and a big population of the elderly who use the library. Not all elderly people have access to computers. A lot of the elderly depend on the Council On Aging to get to doctors’ appointments.” Currie said that the town is in an overall bad financial situation and the proposed override is a temporary fix.

Selectmen Chairman Paul Stigas said there is a lot of misinformation floating around relative to the town’s budget woes, adding that the town’s financial crisis and likelihood of massive service cuts are real. He also said it would ultimately be up to the voters if the library and Council On Aging stay open. “If the town doesn’t want the library, so be it,” he said.

“Let me tell you, the sky is falling,” he said. “It’s no joke. We’re not blowing smoke.”

Tampa Bay Online reports on what might be the end of an era.

Dressed in regal, navy blue "Battle of The Books" T-shirts, the elementary school students sat onstage on the edge of their seats in proper "game show" style Thursday, poised and ready to pounce on their buzzers with the correct answer.

Adrenaline pumping, they conferred with teammates and answered tough book questions with ease, such as, "In what book was there a note that said, 'I'm here on a dare, don't tell?'" and "What author had a character that spoke Albanian?"

Thursday night, students from Spring Hill's Westside Elementary School and Parrott Middle School won the Hernando County School District's annual Battle of the Books competition, held in the gymnasium of Challenger K-8 School of Science and Mathematics in Spring Hill. The 13-year-old competition is part of a statewide reading initiative in which students in grades 3-8 read up to 15 books in The Sunshine State Young Reader's Award Program, selected based on their appeal, literary value, curriculum connections and diversity.

Money can't buy you love...but it can buy you a library. And if you are billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, founder of the private equity firm the Blackstone Group, it can buy you not just any library, but the main beaux-arts building of the New York Public Library.

Schwarzman's gift, announced last month, was the largest ever to a cultural institution in New York and in return, the authorities proposed renaming the city's 98-year-old marble central library building on Fifth Avenue in his honor – as the Stephen A Schwarzman building.

To re-christen the ornate structure, home of the lions Patience and Fortitude, the plan was to carve Schwarzman's name in five places – twice on plinths at each of the two main entrances and once in a plaque set into the floor of the porch.

But the local community board, which scrutinises planning matters, was unimpressed. It ruled that five carvings were "unreasonable" and out of keeping with a beloved landmark and it only approved three mentions of Schwarzman's name. Reports from The Telegraph and Guardian UK.

Library Journal reports that a plan to raise money for the Los Angeles Public Library by charging a dollar for book holds has been rejected.

Activists and preservationists Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, who regularly use LAPL resources for historic research, created the saveLAPL web site and generated nearly 900 email messages asking the library not to impose the holds fee. (The web site also encouraged readers to contribute to LAPL, given the library’s effort to help with the city’s $400 million shortfall.)

The campaign worked. “I am overwhelmed by the passion and concerns for the value of library services in our city expressed by hundreds of people in the e-mails," wrote City Librarian Fontayne Holmes. "Had we anticipated this kind of a response, we would not have made the recommendation for the fee in the first place.

Bad news from Florida where Just as people have less money to buy a new book from Barnes & Noble or a DVD from Best Buy, local libraries also may be strapped for cash.

Property tax cut measures are bleeding libraries while their visitation and circulation numbers stack up, as is customary during economic slowdowns.

Now state legislators are proposing cutting millions more for the institutions. A House budget, approved last week, takes $10 million from this year's $32 million in state aid to libraries. A Senate proposal slices $2 million.

On the front of the Metro Section in today's New York Times, this article shows that no place, even here in the Big Apple, is exempt from the current money crunch.

The article describes kids at story hour and seniors at Tai Chi. It goes on to report on a probable budget cut: "Here’s one version of what the end of the boom could look like, among other things: the absence of those 70 or so adults and children crowding the Elmhurst (borough of Queens) library children’s room on Saturday mornings, a locked door greeting the usual crowd. Among Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts for 2009 — necessitated, he says, by Wall Street woes that don’t appear to be going away soon — is a 5 percent reduction in financing for libraries citywide, with an additional 3 percent on the table. The cuts would mean the end of six- and seven-day library service at most libraries around the city, quite possibly Elmhurst among them, says James Van Bramer, the director of government and community affairs for the Queens library system. "

3M Sent Out This Release: The seven-branch library system of Douglas County, Colorado, has reported that collection of fines and fees rose by 48 percent in 2007, the first year following the addition of fines and fees payments to its 3M RFID-based SelfCheck Systems, compared with the previous year.

“About half of our fine intake over the past 12 months has been from credit and debit cards, which helps explain the faster collections,” says Bob Pasicznyuk, associate director of virtual services for Douglas County Libraries. “Customers enjoy using the SelfCheck Systems, and once we added the payments option, it became very convenient to make payments when they don’t have the cash with them.

Another Report From The Buffalo News on $2 million donated to the school for an academic endowment and library addition, the donors allege St. Bonaventure University failed to provide a complete accounting of how it spent the money in a lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court.
“I just want to see why the project has gone over budget so dramatically,” Paul Bogoni said. “It could have been rebid and redesigned to stay within budget. Instead, the university changed the scope of the project far beyond what we originally intended without first discussing it with us.”

The university raised additional funds to cover the cost overruns, and the project is 75 percent complete.