Money Issues

Florida Prison Library Awarded Grant

GAINESVILLE, FL: The Alachua County Public Library branch operated at the county jail has been selected to receive a Great Stories Club grant from the American Library Association.

As a result of the grant, the county jail will receive free books that are geared toward the young adult inmate population. Major funding for the Great Stories Club has been provided by Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network.

The jail library, an actual branch of the Alachua County Library District, has more than 5,000 books and is very popular among the inmate population.

Earlier this month, two juvenile inmates who had conducted their research at the jail library, were recognized by the Gainesville Chapter of the Links Incorporated, for essays they had submitted for a community-wide essay contest.

Oprah, show us some of that library love too! OPRAH, LIBRARIES NEED YOU!

An Alaskan Collection Now Without a Home

Streaming radio from Public Radio in Sitka, Alaska:

In the three years since Sheldon Jackson College, founded originally as a Tribal College has closed, there’s been much attention directed on the efforts of the trustees to settle the school’s debts while leaving something behind for some future institution. That legacy will not include a library. Earlier this year SJ’s trustees announced that a transaction was underway to sell the Stratton Library to the state for just over $2-million. The building will join the Sheldon Jackson Museum next door and become part of the state museum system. But only the building is going to the state. The future of the collections inside is a longer story.

Local librarians have been working hard to redistribute the most valuable items in the Stratton collection. Earlier this month (December 2010) the public had the unusual opportunity to buy books right off the shelf.

“I don’t want to disrespect the collection, because it’s a phenomenal collection. But it’s a collection without a home.”

Remember 'The Kickass Librarian' Video? She's Lost Her Library

One week ago we posted this funny video, The Kick Ass Librarian. It's worth a second watch.

Particularly now that we've learned from the scriptwriter, Jason Wilkins, that the library where it was filmed, the Reiche Branch of the Portland, ME Public Library is now CLOSED.

The video is very amusing, but the situation of libraries today IS NOT. Want to join our grassroots facebook campaign to get Oprah to help Libraries? Please visit & join our group Oprah, Libraries Need You! and get in on the ground-floor of our postcard campaign. We're inundating Oprah with 5,000 identical postcards calling on her to publicize the drastic situation of our libraries!

Library Board Spends Money It Doesn't Have...oops

Dedham’s MA Library Board of Trustees made an embarrassing confession last week: They never had $40,000 they thought they had to cover the Main Library staying open for 25 Sundays.

The money also was supposed to go toward hiring three library helpers, or pages, and for overtime.

As a result, the Main Library will close Sundays, starting Dec. 19, after being open for eight Sundays this fall. The Main Library already is closed on Saturdays.

“We can’t add or subtract properly; I’m sorry, folks,’’ said board member Mike Chalifoux. “We were looking at money that didn’t exist. It was an error. . . . We thought we had money, and we didn’t.’’

2011 Will Bring Changes in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Live reports that Barbara K. Mistick will step down as president and director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in May, and the system has shelved a plan to close four branches at least through 2011.

"It's an opportunity for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to really think about how they want to serve the city of Pittsburgh and chart a course for being a thriving library system with all of its neighborhood branches open," said Chuck Staresinic, president of the Friends of the Lawrenceville Library.

The library board last year approved a plan to close the Lawrenceville, Beechview, Hazelwood and West End branches, and to relocate the Mt. Washington Library from Grandview Avenue to Virginia Avenue. The problem was declining funding, especially from the state.

After community outrage, the board left the four branches open this year, but their fates were uncertain until the board adopted a balanced 2011 budget of nearly $24 million that kept the branches open another year. Plans to merge the Carrick and Knoxville branches, however, will continue.

Please Raise Taxes To Support LA County Libraries

The Los Angeles Library Commission and County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd on Tuesday submitted a report asking the Board of Supervisors to call for a 2011 ballot measure that would raise taxes and drastically increase the number of property owners who pay the tax.

The Board of Supervisors declined to take action on the request and instead chose to file the report for consideration.

Library officials said they did not know how much the tax would be, but said the proposed change would generate between $12 million and $23 million each year over the next decade. Any tax increase would need a two-thirds vote to become law.

The commission wants to extend to the tax to every parcel in neighborhoods served by the library system.

In Duarte, the parcel tax keeps the library open six days a week while libraries outside the assessment area are open only four days per week, according to Pamela Broussard, Los Angeles County Library spokeswoman. Duarte Public Library manager Reed Strege said extra days are important for those who don't have Internet access at home.

"We're kind of like the Internet provider for the city if they don't have it," said library manager Reed Strege. "Our computers for the public are in use all day, every day."

Read more: Los Angeles County Library Commission proposes special tax to close budget deficit - Whittier Daily News http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_16745189#ixzz16yDFrwv0

Buffalo's Monetary Woes Continue

The conundrum over how to support dozens of arts groups and replenish the libraries for 2011 comes to a head in the Erie County Legislature today with no clear strategy at hand according to the Buffalo News.

Most lawmakers say they would like to restore some or all of the approximately $4 million that County Executive Chris Collins cut from the library system when he proposed a budget for next year.

Most lawmakers also want to provide taxpayer money to some or all of the dozens of theaters and galleries that Collins froze out.

However, none of the four plans hatched by assorted camps of lawmakers has yet drawn a Legislature majority. Those four include the set of revisions proposed Monday by Legislature Chairwoman Barbara Miller-Williams, D-Buffalo.

Miller-Williams said she sought a middle ground that Collins would not veto, “to assure that at the end of the day the library and the cultural organizations actually will see the funding.”

However, the $1 million she would restore for the library system was considered too little by both Republican Minority Leader John J. Mills of Orchard Park and Democratic Majority Leader Maria R. Whyte of Buffalo.

Library Director Bridget Quinn- Carey was not wowed, either.

Library Cuts Are An International Issue

News from the mother country, the UK: Writers Philip Pullman, Kate Mosse and Will Self have criticised government cuts that could see up to a quarter of librarians lose their jobs over the next year. Widespread library closures are expected as councils cut their services and look to volunteers in an attempt to balance budgets hit by the coalition's spending review.

Mosse said "frontline support for literacy" was being cut, while Pullman declared that the librarian "is not simply a checkout clerk", and Self condemned the "crude calculus of cost-benefit analysis" involved.

North Yorkshire is considering reducing its 42 libraries to 18 over four years, while Leeds is proposing to axe 20 smaller libraries. Cornwall, Brent, Lewisham, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond, Barnsley and Warrington are also planning closures. In Buckinghamshire, 14 libraries could become volunteer-run; in Gloucestershire, 12 will be closed if volunteers do not step forward. Camden, Westminster, Oldham, Southampton and Cambridgeshire are among the councils whose plans include greater use of volunteer staff.

Guardian UK reports.

Budget Watchdogs Warn of Worsening Deficit, Explore Strategies to Cut

Budget Watchdogs Warn of Worsening Deficit, Explore Strategies to Cut

Washington Cty (OH) Librarian Thanks Voters

They did the right thing.

The Washington County Public Library thanks all who voted for the library system's 1-mill, five-year levy on the Nov. 2 ballot. By voting yes, voters affirmed the importance of their libraries' services to themselves and to their communities.

As a lifelong resident of Washington County, I had faith in the citizens of our county; but I certainly did not take anything for granted during this election since library services were at stake. We recruited some of the county's outstanding citizens to lead our levy effort: Rick Peoples, Dave Combs, and Emerson Shimp. I would like to send special thanks as well to all our supporters, volunteers, library trustees, Friends of the Library groups, staff, and loyal patrons who together assured our levy's success. The library levy was vital to help maintain library operations. Everyone benefits.

Justin J. Mayo, librarian
Washington County Public Library

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