Money Issues

School Librarians Getting the Boot in Arizona

birdie — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:12:08 -0500

Mesa Public School librarians and their supporters demonstrated again Tuesday over job cuts and what they called the "dumbing down" of services for students.

The district, facing $13 million in cuts to the budget, plans to move librarians back to the classroom and replace them with aides. The district also plans to replace some nurses and speech experts with aides and assistants over the next three years, saving an estimated $3 million.

Protest organizer Ann Ewbank said she and others met with board president Rich Crandall and Superintendent Debra Duvall on Monday to voice concerns about the new plan.

Ewbank said the new advocacy group, Fund Our Future Arizona, would propose alternative librarian models before the next Mesa school board meeting, May 27 . AZ Central story.

Cuts may add layer of dust to library shelves

Blake — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:53:21 -0500

Cuts may add layer of dust to library shelves : Just four years ago, Clearwater demonstrated one more time its long-standing devotion to libraries by opening a new $20.2-million Main Library overlooking Clearwater Harbor. It offers everything a library user could want, and in a beautiful setting.

But if a proposed deep cut to the library system's budget is approved, no one will be able to enter that great building on weekends. It will be closed. And it will be open only one evening a week, and then only until 8 p.m.

Comparing Sales of Books, Movies, Games and Music

Blake — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:23:12 -0500

Everyone follows along with the biggest box office draws, top selling games, Billboard Top 100, and best seller lists, but how can you compare them? How Iron Man was trounced by a scruffy car thief tries to quantify the GTA lucrative launch against other mediums. The book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" sold more than 10 million copies at launch. That's actually four million more than Bellic, but the Hogwarts student's final adventure cost about half as much as the game. *NSYNC beats them both, the pop quintet's "No Strings Attached" holds the record for biggest first-week CD sales with 2.4 million copies when it was released in 2000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's far meeker than the first-week success of "Iron Man," "Deathly Hallows" and "GTA IV."

Follow Up On Schenectady Library Closure

Great Western Dragon — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:17:08 -0500

The Schenectady Daily Gazette has a follow up story to the one posted here about the Schenectady Public Library closing for a year while they remodel and retrofit the library with new HVAC and electrical equipment.

From the article:

Officials announced Saturday that the county will solicit additional bid requests for revised construction plans, with the hope that the alternatives will cost less than the current $7.7 million plan, tackle many of the same overdue updating priorities and close the library for considerably less than the 10 to 12 months forecast, which drew a firestorm of protest.

Northampton (MA) Public Library to cut hours, outreach services

cogscilibrarian — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:08:37 -0500

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.

Report: WI Public libraries boost economy

Blake — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:36:51 -0500

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.

The Sky Might Be Falling in Holbrook MA

birdie — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:57:23 -0500

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.”

Successful "Battle of the Books" Kid's Quiz Program May End Due to Funding Loss

birdie — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:33:23 -0500

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.

The transportation, books, lunches and T-shirts for the event costs about $35 per student. The District covers the transportation and the books. The library media specialist covers the lunches and T-shirts herself or uses book fair funds (so often the case). If parents were asked to pick up that cost, many local families would not be able to afford to participate. That would be a shame.

Money Can Buy You a Library, But You Can't Go Scrawling Your Name All Over It

birdie — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:10:34 -0500

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.

No Charge for Holds at LAPL

birdie — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:48:30 -0500

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.