MORE 'PUBLIC-LIBRARIES' POSTS
From the BBC: MPs have begun hearing evidence at a Select Committee inquiry on library closures. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has been requesting views on the service since November. [Clip] When MPs questioned whether libraries could compete with the technology of the 21st Century, Ms [Abigail] Barker [a member of Voices […]
New IMLS Report: State Library Agencies Continue to Provide Valuable Services Despite Severe Cuts in Funding and Staff
Data Files, Digital Preservation, Funding, Libraries, Preservation, Public Libraries
|From the Institute of Museum and Library Services: The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has released its report on the State Library Survey for fiscal year 2010. The data collected in this annual survey show that state library agencies’ revenues fell by 24.1 percent in the previous decade and that reduction in staff […]
Canada: CBC's "The National" Airs Segment About eBooks and Public Libraries (Video)
Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries, Publishing
|CBC’s national news broadcast aired a three minute report last night about accessing ebooks in Canadian libraries. The report discusses: How library ebooks work including a mention (not by name) of a “company in Ohio” Comments from an e-book/library user who says that if she reads a book and likes it she’ll, “probably go out […]
From KALW Radio: The bad news is that state funding for California libraries has been completely eliminated. There’s not really any good news about that except that it was expected. This past July, state library funding was sliced in half, and there was a trigger amendment attached to the budget that would eliminate state funding […]
Title Improving the presentation of library data using FRBR and Linked Data Authors Anne-Lena Westrum (Oslo Public Library) Asgeir Rekkavik (Oslo Public Library) Kim Tallerås ( Doctoral Student at the Department of Archivistics, Library and Information Science at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences) Source The Code4Lib Journal (16) Abstract When a library […]
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer The Seattle Public Library has a long list of rules on things you can’t do in the library, to ensure the “comfort and safety” of staff and patrons. You can’t eat, sleep, look like you’re sleeping, be barefoot, be too stinky, talk too loudly, have a ringing cell phone, or make […]
Digitization: Montreal's Jewish Public Library Yiddish Audio Collection to Go Digital
Archives and Special Collections, Digital Preservation, Interviews, Lecture, Libraries, News, Public Libraries, Resources
|From The Canadian Jewish News Thousands of hours of Yiddish audio books and literary programming taped at the Jewish Public Library (JPL) from at least the early 1950s are about to enter the digital age. [Clip] The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., has embarked on a two-year project to remaster and digitize these cassettes […]
From the Calgary Herald: The Calgary Public Library set a borrowing record in 2011, making it the sixth-busiest municipal library system in North America, behind only Toronto, three New York City libraries and Los Angeles. Borrowing in 2011 was up more than a half million from the previous year. A record 17 million items were […]
From The Measure: Forget about electricity, running water, modern sanitation and food preservation; what did people do before GIFs? Well, it turns out that some were busy entertaining themselves with stereoscopes, instruments that allowed people to view 3D images from two slightly different photographs superimposed on top of one another. The New York Public Library […]
10 Library, Publishing, and Advocacy Organizations Send Letter to Congress Opposing Research Works Act
Academic Libraries, Associations and Organizations, Elsevier, Funding, Libraries, PLOS, Public Libraries, Publishing
|Direct to Full Text Letter (3 pages; PDF) (via ARL) A letter opposing the Research Works Act (H.R. 3699) was sent to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday (January 24, 2011). It begins: On behalf of these 10 national and regional library, publishing, and advocacy organizations, we are […]